Friends of God

A long time ago, a Jewish friend at university asked me what my first thought was on waking up.

"Coffee and a cigarette," I replied. "And yours?"

"I thank the Lord that I am a Jew."

Not so long ago, when I was working in a homelessness hostel in London and trying to learn Somali, I asked a young client, a Somali lady, how to say, "What a horrible day!" in Somali. It was pouring with rain.

"We would not say that," she replied.

"Why not?"

"Because every day is a gift from Allah and we should not insult it, but thank Him."

Our ears and minds must always be ready to hear the wisdom of others. They too can be friends of God and open to the Holy Spirit.

Do we wake up, thanking God for our Faith and the day to practise it in?

I often forget.

In Praise of Nasty Catholics

As I see it, we are faced by three enemies: the first a recrudescence of Mohamedanism, aggressive, virile, and often undeniably courageous. I have to agree with them about the decadence of the West, but I greatly dread Islam's solution to our ills.

The second enemy is an effete post-Christian West, dedicated to the vain belief that liberalism will prevail and everything will be all right if we are nice enough.

The third enemy is a Catholic hierarchy which has largely forgotten the battles of Lepanto (1571), Vienna (1683), and Warsaw (1920), and, under the cloak of ecumenism, has adopted the second, liberal position, as above.

Remember the Canadian Catholic teacher corrected by a pupil when he said that Jesus was crucified so we could be nice to each other?

It was time for us, years ago, to stop being nice. We should thank God for all the "nasty" Catholics who fought for the survival of our Catholic Faith.

Our betrayal of them over the last 50 years has been shameful.