By Hannah Brockhaus, EWTN News – St. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, is one of only three people in history — after Jesus and Mary — whose birthday is celebrated in the Church’s liturgy… In fact, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist on June 24 is a solemnity, meaning it is the highest form of Catholic feast day. And because it falls exactly six months before the solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord, it is sometimes known as “Summer Christmas.”… “The Church observes the birth of John as in some way sacred; and you will not find any other of the great men of old whose birth we celebrate officially. We celebrate John’s, as we celebrate Christ’s,” St. Augustine of Hippo said …
By St. Augustine, Posted on The Catholic Thing – Behold, pay more attention to this, my brothers; pay more attention to this, I beg you, which the Lord Christ said, extending His hand over His disciples: “These are my mother and my brothers; and whoever does the will of My Father who sent Me, he is My brother and sister and mother.” Did not the Virgin Mary do the will of the Father, who believed in faith, conceived in faith, was chosen from whom salvation would be born among men, was created by Christ before Christ was created in her?
By Msgr. Charles Fink, The Catholic Thing – It’s a commonplace observation that most people think more readily in pictures than in abstract concepts, and that stories move and transform us in ways that logical arguments often don’t. God, who of course knows this, therefore has revealed Himself to us, as C.S. Lewis put it, by writing Himself into a part in our story – at once author of the whole and character in the play, so to speak – and over the centuries, bequeathing to us a series of vivid images
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Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations: You Will Know Them by Their Fruits
Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Matthew 7:15-20 – 15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. 18 A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. ….
LISTEN: Fr. Robert McTeigue Discusses Fulton Sheen’s Darker Prophecies
By Fr. Robert McTeigue, The Catholic Current – Fr. Robert McTeigue examines Fulton Sheen’s warnings about a counterfeit “ape of the Church” that imitates Christianity while rejecting God, and the ways in which social morality can supplant personal repentance in modern culture. Father concludes with Weekend Readiness to help prepare you for Sunday Mass.
83 Pro-Life Groups Urge Attorney General Todd Blanche to Stop Mail-Order Abortions, by Anna Callahan
By Anna Callahan, LifeNews – A coalition of 83 state and national pro-life groups, led by SBA Pro-life America, sent a letter to Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche urging the Department of Justice to resolve the Louisiana v. FDA lawsuit by agreeing to a court-ordered consent decree that would get abortion drugs out of the mail immediately while the FDA completes a prompt, rigorous safety review.
St. John the Baptist: Called by the Father, Filled With the Spirit, Proclaiming the Son, by Carl E. Olson
By Carl E. Olson, Catholic World Report – The greatest of these solemnities is, of course, the Nativity of our Lord, Jesus Christ. The second is the Nativity of the Mother of God, the blessed Virgin Mary, who was conceived, born, and lived without sin. The third is John the Baptist, whose role in the mystery of God’s plan of salvation is difficult to exaggerate and yet is often taken for granted… While Mary was chosen to bear and mother the Son of God, John the Baptist was chosen to prepare the way for the Lamb of God and to announce Him to the world. “John surpasses all the prophets,” remarks the Catechism, “of whom he is the last. …
‘Perilous Seas’: Abp. (Paglia) Who Led JPII Institute on Marriage and Family Life Aimed to Reform Idea of Natural Law, by McKenna Snow
By McKenna Snow, Zeale News – Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, who was grand chancellor of the (John Paul II Institute on Marriage and Family Life) … from 2016-2025, made his remarks in a May 21 interview with Settimana News… According to an automatic English translation of Archbishop Paglia’s interview, he said Pope Francis asked him to spearhead a reorganization of both the Pontifical Academy for Life and the John Paul II Institute on Marriage and Family Life.
Abp. Salvatore Cordileone: Catholics Should Debate ‘Postliberalism’
By Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, National Catholic Register – For the past several years, a lively debate has emerged among Catholics and other political thinkers over what has come to be known as “postliberalism.” The heart of the debate concerns a basic question: What principles should guide public life and political institutions in an age when many people have lost confidence in the moral and social assumptions that have shaped the modern West? …
Fr. John A. Perricone: Priests Among the Enveloping Chaos
By Fr. John A. Perricone, Crisis Magazine – Our world has become a place of beasts.. Only the priest possesses the supernatural powers to wrestle those beasts and render them helpless… Only the priest can turn around souls who have made fateful alliances with the beasts… Only the priest can give succor and strength to those whom Heaven desires to fight the beast… Only the priest can give supernatural hope to war-weary little ones. Though the fight be long, marked by defeat after defeat, the victory will be ours. …
Resentment as a Prison of the Soul: A Reflection Inspired by Mother Teresa and Irene Villa, by Juan Miguel Ibáñez de Aldecoa Quintana
By Juan Miguel Ibáñez de Aldecoa Quintana, Catholic Exchange – The phrase attributed to Mother Teresa of Calcutta, “The worst feeling: resentment,” offers a profound reflection on the human condition and the way emotions shape the course of our lives. While there are painful feelings such as sadness, fear, frustration, and loneliness, resentment has a distinctive quality: it endures over time and feeds on the memory of a wound. It arises not only from suffering itself but also from the decision—conscious or unconscious—to hold on to it.
Exclusive: James Talarico Described Himself As A ‘Christian Who Hates Christianity’, by M.D. Kittle
By M.D. Kittle, The Federalist – James Talarico has poured his leftist idea of Christianity down the throats of Bible Belt Texas for some time, even more so now in his quest for higher (political) power: The U.S. Senate. His road to Damascus moment of sorts seems to be that a “boring, straight, cis, white male” can bring a moral clarity to the nation’s political swamp… That is of course if you believe moral clarity is believing that “God is nonbinary,” that the Annunciation gave the go-ahead to murder the unborn, and that mutilating confused children’s bodies to change their sex is a manifestation of God’s love.
Biden DEA Let 1M Fentanyl Pills Flow to Streets, Whistleblower Lawyer Says, by Katherine Pugh
By Katherine Pugh, Just the News – A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent has evidence that his agency and federal prosecutors let more than 1 million fentanyl pills flow onto the streets of New Mexico during the Biden era and then tried to silence him from testifying after he blew the whistle, the agent’s lawyer tells Just the News… “DEA has a campaign that says one pill can kill, and so the DEA allowing this to happen was really significant. It was driven also by the US Attorney’s Office in New Mexico”
Bishop Burbidge Approves FSSP Latin Mass Chaplaincy in Arlington, Virginia Diocese, by Tyler Arnold
By Tyler Arnold, EWTN News – Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia approved a chaplaincy to serve Catholics attached to the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) in accordance with the Missale Romanum of 1962… The “Chaplaincy of Our Lady of Victory,” announced June 19, will be officially established on July 1. According to the diocesan announcement, the chaplaincy is being formed “to serve the needs of those who attend Mass and receive other sacraments in the Extraordinary Form.”
“Everything We Do in Our Homes Will Echo in the Halls of God’s Own Home, Forever.” by Paul Senz
By Paul Senz, Catholic World Report – “The eight principles of this book,” says John A. Cuddeback, author of The Intentional Household, “clarify the main principles of God’s amazing design, written into human nature, for flourishing households… (Cuddeback’s) latest book is The Intentional Household: Living as if People Matter (Ignatius Press, 2026). Here, Cuddeback invokes timeless wisdom to breathe new life into our homes, giving direction about how we can craft the shared life we naturally crave for ourselves and our loved ones. Taking as his starting point the fact that our souls were made for a living community at every phase of life ….
Fr. Shenan J. Boquet: Sons and Daughters, Not Products: The Morality of Embryonic Gene Editing
By Fr. Shenan J. Boquet, Human Life International – “Genetic manipulation becomes arbitrary and unjust when it reduces life to an object, when it forgets that it is dealing with a human subject, capable of intelligence and freedom, worthy of respect whatever may be their limitations; or when it treats this person in terms of criteria not founded on the integral reality of the human person, at the risk of infringing upon his dignity.”… ― Pope St. John Paul II, Address to the World Medical Association, 1983
Don’t Forget the Broader Context of the Iranian Memorandum, by Victor Davis Hanson
By Victor Davis Hanson, American Greatness – Trump’s Iran memorandum is not a surrender or a new beginning—it is the next phase of a strategy built on pressure, deterrence, and avoiding another costly Middle East war… The tentative “memorandum of understanding” with Iran has caused glee on the Left and furor among many on the Right. The Left might welcome “peace,” but surely not as much as it enjoys infighting on the Right over the details… If last week Democrats were calling Trump a fascist warmonger, now they deride his peace efforts as those of a Neville Chamberlain patsy. …
From Augustine to Auschwitz: Why Just War Still Matters, by Edward Pentin
By Edward Pentin, Edward Pentin’s Substack – Pope Leo XIV’s new encyclical Magnifica Humanitas primarily deals with artificial intelligence in the context of human dignity, but one particular passage also addresses the topic of “just war theory” which the document describes as “outdated.”… “Too often,” Leo writes, just war theory has been used to “justify any kind of war” and fails to take account of the speed, destructiveness, and dehumanization of contemporary conflict… At the same time, he explicitly preserves a narrowly understood right to self‑defense ….
Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations: You Will Know Them by Their Fruits
Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Matthew 7:15-20 – 15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. 18 A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. ….
Founder’s Quote
Patriot Post – “Never suppose that in any possible situation, or under any circumstances, it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing, however slightly so it may appear to you.” —Thomas Jefferson (1785)
Not Just Another Martyr, by Garrett D. Johnson
By Garrett D. Johnson, Crisis Magazine – St. Charles Lwanga and his companions, whose feast day is June 3rd, are red martyrs. They are patron saints of those served by the Courage apostolate, who are called to white martyrdom by striving to live according to the Church’s teachings regarding same-sex attraction… The inspiration we need to live out white martyrdom comes, in part, from bishops, priests, and deacons speaking clearly about the specific reasons for St. Charles and his companions’ martyrdom ….
