Sat Feb 17‚ 2024 - 12:01 am ESTFri Feb 16‚ 2024 - 12:15 pm EST (LifeSiteNews) — The station for today is‚ as noted in the missal‚ in the church of Saint Trypho‚ martyr; but this church having been destroyed‚…

"I can dance to it‚ I can sing along to it." The post ‘Young Americans’: The one song Tracey Emin couldn’t live without first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

If you’re a Taylor Swift fan (or a resident of Kansas City) you may have thought Sunday’s Super Bowl went rather well. Hosts Melissa Mackenzie and Scott McKay are neither of those things‚ and so‚ in today’s episode of The Spectacle podcast‚ they talk about everything that went wrong at the biggest game of the year. Scott points out that the infamous He Gets Us “Jesus” ad was not only deeply misguided and offensive to Christians; it was intended to demoralize them. It counted on the ignorance of the audience to inject a message into the culture that undermines‚ rather than promotes‚ the message of the gospel. (RELATED: Christians Battle Scientology at the Super Bowl) Meanwhile‚ Melissa has a bone to pick with Travis Kelce‚ who screamed at his coach on the field mid-game. The problem‚ she argues‚ goes much deeper than game excitement — it’s the end result of bad parenting. This is an episode you won’t want to miss! Order Scott’s new book‚ Racism‚ Revenge and Ruin: It’s All Obama‚ here. Read Scott’s and Melissa’s writing here and here. Listen to The Spectacle with Melissa Mackenzie and Scott McKay on Spotify. Watch The Spectacle with Melissa Mackenzie and Scott McKay on Rumble.  The post <;i>;The Spectacle<;/i>; Ep. 72: Everything Wrong With the Super Bowl appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

Some people find God after falling off a horse‚ but most Christians approach faith on a day-to-day basis through a cocktail made up of God’s grace‚ prayer‚ the cultivation of virtues and sacraments‚ and also‚ to some extent‚ human affections. Although sentiment is neither essential nor constant in our relationship with God‚ often‚ in moments of spiritual drought‚ we comfort ourselves remembering days when our human heart experienced God’s love‚ in that famous shrine of the Virgin‚ in that inspired homily from the village priest‚ in a Good Friday procession‚ in the solitude of that hermitage where you went to weep in front of the tabernacle.  And‚ beyond grace‚ if anything moves the affections of man‚ if anything can lead our feelings toward God‚ it is the aesthetics. There is an official liturgy‚ to avoid abuses and doctrinal errors‚ to guarantee respect for the Holy Sacrament‚ but also so that we learn to approach God‚ not only with the soul‚ but also with the senses. Beauty is paramount. St. John Paul II wrote about it in his 1999 Letter to Artists: In perceiving that all he had created was good‚ God saw that it was beautiful as well. The link between good and beautiful stirs fruitful reflection. In a certain sense‚ beauty is the visible form of the good‚ just as the good is the metaphysical condition of beauty. If the aesthetic and the emotional were not important‚ they would not have been a priority target of the enemies of God in postmodern times. From within the Catholic Church itself‚ hundreds of people have sought to destroy the beauty of the rite‚ art‚ and religious architecture for the sake of a supposed renewal: They tried to do away with the liturgy for being too old fashioned and to attract young people (who never came); they strove to change the classical religious architecture for the architectural ugliness of the 20th century (and were surprised that this did nothing to fill the churches either); it is as stupid as if‚ to fill a church with atheists‚ some priest chooses to innovate and preach in his homilies that God does not exist.  READ MORE by Itxu Díaz: Wokies Claim Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Creations Exemplify ‘White Fragility’ Those who defended the building of new churches in industrial-style architecture — we should really call it “Soviet architecture” — used the same failed reasoning as those enlightened adepts of liberation theology. Fin-de-siècle relativism‚ which also wreaked havoc within the Church‚ was used as an argument for not rejecting the new religious ugliness: They figured that a church built like a concrete sports hall‚ diaphanous‚ with the tabernacle hidden behind some stone off to the side‚ was as equally a valid artistic manifestation as the imposing Gothic‚ Baroque‚ or Renaissance church‚ accepting the same relativist theory that also destroyed secular art giving way to the intricate jungle of horrors that is today contemporary art. And forgetting almost by accident all the valuable Thomistic philosophy of beauty‚ which orbits around a central idea: Beauty is the splendor of truth.  Otherwise‚ whatever is born ugly dies much uglier and loses all its attractiveness (if it every managed to muster any) as soon as the novelty wears off. Thus‚ the churches built at the end of the 20th century to the new canons of urban ugliness are today remnants from a time when the current crisis of the Church was only just beginning. Today almost no one doubts that it is necessary to create a beautiful environment that moves hearts to worship God: with inspiring architecture‚ deeply religious art‚ and even respect for the liturgy‚ which is generally under ever less abuse from the revolutionary priests from the ’70s and ’80s.  Of course‚ other aesthetic evils remain associated to our faith. Churches that neglect the liturgical vestments of the priest‚ monasteries devoid of monks‚ existing exclusively as tourist attractions‚ or the using of churches for activities completely unrelated to prayer and adoration. By the way‚ in my parish‚ yesterday‚ next to a beautiful image of the Immaculate Conception‚ the parish priest hung a horrible‚ huge poster vindicating the importance of recycling plastic; I admit that it moved me to prayer … but for God’s forgiveness for the priest.  Privately‚ older priests in the most traditionally Catholic countries in the West speak of their sadness at their inability to attract young people. The truth is that certain parishes‚ certain religious movements‚ do manage to attract them. And they are not exactly the most groundbreaking‚ revolutionary‚ noisy‚ modern Catholic movements. So I sometimes take the trouble to explain to those sad priests‚ with as much charity and fraternal love as I can‚ that all the aesthetic transformation attempted by the Church in recent decades has failed for one reason only: Young people‚ whatever the media may say‚ are still attracted today by the same things they have always been attracted by‚ righteousness‚ truth and beauty. Which is incidentally also the path that leads to God.  We should all read more of Colombian writer Nicolás Gómez Dávila‚ who expresses in one line what others of us need pages to say: “If we want something to last‚ let’s make it beautiful‚ not efficient.” Translated by Joel Dalmau. Buy Itxu Díaz’s new book‚ I Will Not Eat Crickets: An Angry Satirist Declares War on the Globalist Elite‚ here today! The post We Built Ugly Churches and Still Do Not Attract Young People: How Is This Possible? appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

It’s mid-February 2024. In a desultory way‚ I am packing up and getting ready to leave Sandpoint‚ Idaho. I have spent the happiest days of my life here. Tommy and I and Tommy’s best friends here‚ Peter Feierabend and his son and daughter‚ played together‚ hiked together‚ were inseparable. READ MORE from Ben Stein: True Facts About America In Sandpoint‚ a father could leave his kids to play all day‚ tell them to return at dinner‚ and the kids would do it. Now‚ 25 years have passed. Tommy entered immortality on July 4‚ 2023. That horrible day‚ much of me died as well. So‚ Sandpoint has never been quite the same. I cannot tell you just what a gash losing your one and only son causes in your life. Many years ago when both my Pop and I worked together at the White House for the Peacemaker‚ Richard Nixon‚ I asked my father for an obscure statistic. “Please only do it if you have nothing more important to do this afternoon‚” I told Pop. He smiled at me and in one drag inhaled his Marlboro so deeply that he turned half of it to ash. “What do you think I have to do that’s more important than helping my one and only son?” he asked‚ and then he stood up from his brown leather chair and hugged me. I tried to follow that general principle with Tommy for all of his life. I follow it with my wife and my closest friends so far‚ and it’s been a pleasure. I followed it with my father and sat by his bedside at the Washington Hospital Center in 1999 for eight weeks until he expired‚ with my sister and I holding his hands and reading the Psalms to him. I try to do it with my glorious wifey every day. She is a Goddess‚ and if I don’t act upon that truth I am a fool to live. I often fail‚ and I am ashamed about it. Now‚ I am leaving the home where Tommy and I lived out so much of his childhood. I hurt all over keenly from that truth. I will never again be young. I will never again have a son young enough to hide behind a parked car at midnight and hurl snowballs at me. “Life goes by pretty quick. If you don’t slow down and look around‚ you might just miss it.” Ferris Bueller said that‚ and of course he was right. Now‚ I live a life of astonishing privilege. Part of that‚ a huge part‚ was having Tommy for 37 years. I’ll be leaving my home here soon. But how long before we meet again. I’m 79. There are not many rivers to cross and to watch my son leaping into Priest Lake‚ swimming under my boat for an adventure as a bubble monster. Life goes by pretty quick. I make prime rib eye for my wife every evening‚ and it’s a privilege. READ MORE from Ben Stein: Everything Is Leading to a Bigger War There Is Insanity — But There Is Also Love Why Are Republicans Ready to Abandon Freedom and Ukraine? Gaza: What Nixon Would Do The post Goodbye to Sandpoint appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

A Question for My Democrat Friends...

EU Policy on Iran — a Legacy of Failure

Hey‚ Lefty‚ America Is Worth Saving—From You