Glossary

October 10, 2025

Plashing about in the tidal pool of infinity and then (poorly) striving to describe it leads to unique terms that describe what the Blessed Virgin Mary is trying to get through my thick skull. Here is my best attempt to define these terms I use. (cf) indicates cross referenced terms.

crux of the cross

Where meet the horizontal (cf) and vertical (cf) beams of the cross. Christ on the crucifix has His Most Sacred Heart at the crux of the cross, and it is where we are called to serve, the meeting of Truth and Justice with Love (cf) and Mercy, their union being something we can cling to on the horizontal beam of Love and Mercy uplifted out of the quagmire and miasma of sin on the vertical beam of Truth and Justice.

dark age (new)

The period of tumult and barbarians and anarchy that gripped Europe following the fall of the Roman Empire until the emergence of the Holy Roman Empire in 600, which ushered in a Catholic golden age (cf). The new dark age is what society has declined into since the rejection of God's authority on earth due to Martin Luther's sola heresies (cf). The new golden age is what faithful Catholics strive for, by reinfusing Christ into human endeavor, being leaven in society (the city of man) and thus striving to build the City of God here and now amidst the city of man (cf Saint Augustine's City of God. Further explored in Living in a Catholic Monarchy

Modern history errs in excluding the Catholic golden era, instead considering it part of the dark ages that magically ended with the disenlightenment (cf) and irrationalism (cf).

golden age (new)

Out of the ashes of the dark age (cf) rose the Holy Roman Empire, which brought about the first Catholic state and ushered in 1,200 years in which a cooperation between Church, state, monasteries, and civilian life led to improvements in agriculture, distribution, commerce, the founding of hospitals, universities, the sciences, and much more. It began to end with Martin Luther's sola heresies (cf). The new golden age is what faithful Catholics strive for, by reinfusing Christ into human endeavor, being leaven in society (the city of man) and thus striving to build the City of God here and now amidst the city of man (cf Saint Augustine's City of God. Further explored in Living in a Catholic Monarchy

horizontal beam of the cross

Easy for us to hold onto, representing the Love (cf) Mercy aspects of Love (cf), the horizontal beam by itself represents one of the common errors of shepherding throughout Church history, that of separating Love and Mercy in an false compassion from Truth and Justice—the vertical beam (cf), which we require to move toward by moving to the crux of the cross (cf) that it may raise us out of sin's quagmire and miasma. To correct this error, we are called to shepherd from the crux of the cross (cf), where meet the horizontal (cf) and vertical (cf) beams of the cross. Absent the vertical beam, the horizontal beam is experienced as a warm embrace of not only the person but also the sin, without any correction and thus endangering both sheep's and shepherd's eternal souls. To those shepherding from the horizontal beam, even the crux seems too vertical, and vice versa.

disenlightenment

What the modern world considers the Enlightenment. Beginning in the late 18th century, as a poisonous fruit of the sola heresies (cf), the thinking that naturally devolved from Luther's “God/revelation/authority is not present except in the individual discernment of each man” to a rejection of God and the rise of the belief that enlightened men turn to rigorous thought and science alone to advance himself. Leads to modernism and its many flavors, including liberalism, communism, socialism, progressivism, nihilism, et al.

halo

(1) a group of Saints; (2) any Catholic group of two to twelve people who meet regularly and discuss the joys and challenges of running toward Christ in daily life. For further details: What's a Halo?

irrationalism

The irrationalists were part of the disenlightenment (cf) and founded such errors as liberalism, communism, and other pursuits and professions that reject God's existence and insist man is solely responsible for man's progress or decline. Freud and Marx are two examples.

Love (Truth, Justice, Mercy)

God is Love (1Jn 4:7). To understand the infinite wonder and beauty of Love (God) we have the concepts of Truth, Justice, and Mercy to elucidate and deepen our finite experience of any one of these concepts. Scripture often places these in contrast with one another (Prov 16:6), and together they reveal the infinite wonder of who God is.

manful

Living our Catholic Faith in a strong, virtuous way. Either masculine or feminine, depending on one's gender. Saint Catherine of Siena in her Dialogues often speaks of the being called to be manful.

moment

Any given time span that is useful for understanding God's call in a given “now”. Helpful, for example, in elucidating the reality and needs of how to shepherd a given person/group at a given time. It can be very short (now) or centuries or even millennia long. Living in a Catholic Monarchy is an example.

office

Loosely, as used throughout Church history, including by the Saints, a responsibility in the Church bestowed by the hierarchy, by sacrament or mystically in personal prayer. Generally includes authority of some level and charisms (gifts) of faith to wield as part of the ministry of the office. Examples include: papicy, bishop, priest, deacon, husband/father, wife/mother. Holy Mary bestows the office of praying for those in purgatrory or a similar office on many who are widows or infirm.

salvation arts

Jesus gives us weapons of Faith to wield against Satan, his minions, and temptations and lies. These are all the weapons of faith, including the Eucharist and all Sacraments, prayer, fasting, virtues, corporal and spiritual acts of mercy, mindfulness, logic, and reason, among others. Defined more fully in the Shepherding Quick Guide, Nos. 7-9.

saint v sinner

The inner battle that occurs in the faithful between their inner breath of God, which gives them their soul and is a unique expression of God each is called to share with the world, and concupiscence, the scare of temptation that remains from original sin after baptism. It takes acts of the will for us to choose God's will over our fallen will, thus growing our saint and diminishing our sinner.

Defined more fully in the Shepherding Quick Guide, Nos. 10, 17, 19, 20, 28, 45, 48

sola heresies

Martin Luther's 95 theses of 1517 became the sola heresies, named for the heresies' first word being “sola”: scriptura, fide, gratia. This ended the Catholic golden era (cf) and began the decline of society into the current new dark age (cf), as described in Living in a Catholic Monarchy

vertical beam of the cross

Hard for us to hold onto, representing the Truth and Justice aspects of Love (cf), the vertical beam by itself represents one of the common errors of shepherding throughout Church history, that of separating Truth and Justice from Love and Mercy—the horizontal beam (cf), which we can cling to far more easily. To correct this error, we are called to shepherd from the crux of the cross (cf), where meet the horizontal (cf) and vertical (cf) beams of the cross. Absent the horizontal beam, the vertical beam is experienced as a cudgel bludgeoning sinners, who then tend to flee from Christ, whom they experience as a tyrant, thus endangering both sheep's and shepherd's eternal souls. To those shepherding from the vertical beam, even the crux seems too horizontal, and vice versa.

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