First Night in the Cloister

Rocky and I saw this painting at the Chyrsler Museum in Norfolk. We liked it so much that Rocky bought me a magnet with the picture on it.

Daughters of Charity

Priesthood Sunday

Do you have a good priest in your life?

Tell him thanks.

Offered without comment

 Offered without comment because I simply don't know what to say...

The most darling Infant of Prague I've ever seen

Pray for us, Mother

Random thoughts

• I was sick at work today and felt shaky. Luckily it didn't turn into a migraine and worked it's way out my system in time for Rocky and I to go to the Tridentine Mass at St. Rita's. We have the sweetest little altar boys and a sterling young priest.
  
  
• We daytripped to Leesburg, Virginia  last Sunday and I noticed as we drove through the very pretty historic area that the local atheists had put up a really hideous billboard on the court house grounds. Other than showing all the locals and tourists what poor taste they have I don't think they accomplished much.
  
  
• I wish that no-one who was mentored, connected to or worked for the late Cardinal Bernadin would ever get a position of power ever again. They’ve caused a lot of trouble and misery.  
  
  
• On Fr. Z’s blog a person wrote in to whine about not being able to confess because the priest had to leave to say Mass. Oh the humanity! Oh the nerve of that priest putting Mass before the parishioner’s precious little feelings.  And then other people wrote in to whimper as well. Some used the my-kids-are-such-a-handful-that-I-can’t-get-to-church-on-time excuse, which never cuts anyice with me. If you kids are that challenging you need to figure something out but don’t expect the priest to somehow know that you are running late and that he must wait around for you and just dear little you to get to church.
  
   Rocky actually dislikes confessing in his home parish and prefers to go the Basilica in DC  or to the Franciscan monastery. I’ve stood in line and been turned away a few times and no it's not fun. Usually I go somewhere else as soon as I can or if the priest is willing and has time I’ll ask if I can see him after Mass. Needing to go to confession is uncomfortable, it's even frightening and painful at times but getting mad at the priest because he has to attend to duties is just selfish and petty.
  
  
  
  
• I noticed something odd about Khadafy’s death. The American commentators and Catholic bloggers who cried and moaned about Osama bin Ladin’s demise are silent this time and Khadafy died a far worse death.  A bullet to the head was a much easier way to go than the beating, and torture the monster of Libya got. Was the mourning over binLadin just anti Americanism, self-hatred or citizen-of-the-world platitudes? It's a curious thing.
  
  
  
• Catholic University is being sued because according to the really jerky guy who has no connection at all the Catholic U., yet is  pursuing the suit, it’s not accommodating enough for  its Muslim students.  We need a loser pays clause in tort law and we really need some sort of punishment/deterrent for people who bring up nuisance suits.

With love to all my nuns....

Like most Catholic school girls who admired their teachers I wanted to be a nun from age 8 to about 13. At 14ish I began to realize dimly, that I didn't really have  the right stuff  for the religious life and was meant to have a vocation in marriage and the world. God bless all the good sisters and all the young girls who love them.

Sr. Jeanne Marie, Sr. Immaculate Heart, Sr. Ricardo, Sr. Roddy, Sr. Librarian and Sr. Marcella, I love you, rest in peace.

Profession of two Domincan nuns

I saw this gorgeous video on the Godzdgogz site. I always dreamed of  showers of rose petals for my own wedding so it was especially delightful to see that the Domincans do this.

The Sung Gloria

At Mass we tried out the new translation of the Gloria with the bishop's permission. Father Eagle assured us that we'll get better as time goes on but I really thought the singing from the pews was no worse than usual. I'm going to try to practice this.

a funeral, an accident and the twists of fate

On the day of Catherine of Aragon's funeral King Henry fell from his horse and lay unconsious for two hours. He developed a painful ulcer on his leg that never quite healed for the rest of his life. Some historians say the accident changed him and made him mean and paranoid. I think Henry was pretty nasty long before that but the amount of physical torment he was in couldn't have been good for anyone's temprement.  Anne Boleyn, upon hearing about the king's accident was seized with a terrible panic and she miscarried a son and thus sealing her doom. Six months later Henry signed her death warrant. I've sometimes wondered if this wasn't a case of the windmills of God grinding slow but fine or if it was just one of the weird but true quirks of history.

Vir Dolorum

This unusual painting done in 1495, shows Our Lady remembering the Passion many years later.

Bishop Finn

Oh man, this is just so sad. Bishop Finn is in a lot of trouble.  I don't know if he is being unfairly treated or not but there is a lesson here for all superiors. When in doubt, let the cops sort it out, even if the abuse accusation seems ridiculous. Anything else just  attracts the wolves and plays right into the hands of the Enemy.  

Kramarik's Christ

I know not everyone likes her work but I think the painting style of of Akiane Kramarik is actually fascinating. Her portrait of Christ is one of the best modern ones I've ever seen and when was the last time you saw a modern depiction of a nun that was this tender and respectful?

This seems like a really bad idea

Someone in the Vatican wants  dispensed priests to have a function in parish life. First of all remember that whenever a news story starts off saying "the Vatican says...", that does not mean the pope says, nor does it mean that the Holy Father's right hand man says... This is Cardinal Dias probably speaking his own opinion and it seems like a bad idea. How can a priest who forsook his vows--- the biggest committment of all--- be trusted to be helpful in the parish? He might set himself up as a thorn in the parish priest's side especially if he returns to his old parish. That's totally unfair to the pastor in charge.

Red crown of martrydom

If you are easily shocked or sensitive don't click on the following link-- I mean it. This picture is disturbing and yet the photo makes me wish I could paint. It should be an icon. Eternal rest grant unto them oh Lord.

“May all Christians be found worthy of either the pure white crown of a holy life or the royal red crown of martyrdom.” – St. Cyprian. 

Beautiful

Random thoughts

• Mormonism is not Christianity.  Yes, the Mormon's up the road from me are very nice and friendly and I feel great sympathy for the little missionaries rolling by on their mountain bikes in all kinds of weather----I wish I could hug them, give them cake slices and talk them into going home and quitting the whole thing---- but they are not Christians. Sorry. You either believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost or you don't. When Mormons deny that they do not believe that Christ was the only begotten Son,  it's either because they are trying to recruit the gullible (cult behavior)  or because they don't realize what their own church fathers wrote concerning the conception of Our Lord and the orgins of God the Father.

• I'm wondering if student loans shouldn't be abolished unless the student is planning to major in something useful. No more 14th century French gay mime studies. My husband works 10 hours a day, six days a week. Why should his tax dollars be used for an utterly frivolous venture?

• I'm a librarian and once again the American Library Association is having its annual celebration of banned books. I'm unmoved. My sympathies are entirely with the parents who care what their kids read. What goes into your little kid's mind is forever. Don't ever be afraid to challenge your child's teacher. She and the principal may try to portray you as a slack jawed yokel  but stand your ground.  They are doing a job. You have a God-given vocation.
  A fourth grader doesn't need to read Push, a book that horrified me at 35, and a fifth grader doesn't need to read The Awakening  and beware and give the stink eye to any teacher who thinks it's a good idea for your 12 year old to be reading,  Lolita, period.
  
  
  
• So far, I've gotten my relative's rent reduced and paid it for this month. I'm still working on the cable. I won't pay for the current package but I can not drop the TV because that is my poor relative's only enjoyment and it is calming. I've spoken to social workers (they've been angels), a government nurse, got my relative a doctor's appointment, bought clothes, and household items, contacted a lawyer about getting gaurdianship and have asked the social workers to work on applications to several nursing homes.
  
  I've contacted housekeepers about getting my relative's apartment cleaned up and so far four people are willing to do it despite the stomach turning bed bug infestation. Still it all seems so damned slow. I'm terribly worried about my mother's health. The shock of seeing how our relative is living was huge and she hasn't has had any peace since. It's been pretty bad. Last week felt like we'd descended into hell. Yesterday Rocky got me out of the house and took me to a park. I spotted two warblers, breathed the scent of the river water and relaxed so much that I went to bed shortly after we got home.
  
  
  
• Christians are being killed in Egypt and nobody seems to care. All we hear from the White House is the sound of crickets. The activists around the world have fallen silent as the Arab Spring turns into a pure red slaughter just as anybody with a brain knew it would.

Sacred Heart of Jesus

De Profundis

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord;
Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to my voice in supplication:
If you, O Lord, mark iniquities,
Lord, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness,
that you may be revered.
I trust in the Lord;
my soul trusts in his word.
My soul waits for the Lord,
more than sentinels wait for the dawn.
More than sentinels wait for the dawn,
let Israel wait for the Lord;
For with the Lord is kindness
and with him is plenteous redemption;
And he will redeem Israel from all their iniquities.

Random thoughts and rattled nerves

• In the last few weeks I've come to admire pro-life workers even more than I ever did before. They risk enduring violent attacks, arrest, rough treatment while in jail, and verbal abuse every day they go out to protest or pray. But the worst thing, I've come to see must be the stabs in the back they get from their fellow Catholics.  I'm beginning to believe that a good chunk of the people in the chanceries and the pews would like to forget about abortion altogether. Oh they'll donate to the local Unwed Mother's Home and they'll show up for the Life Mass----maybe, but they are embarrassed by anything else.
  
  
  
• I read a couple of blog post decrying celebrity priests and I thought do you mean like Father Baker, Fr. Flanagan, Fr. Bessette, Fr. Casey, Archbishop Sheen or Father Peyton?  Not every priest is meant for parish life. God has different jobs for all of us. I don't have a dog in the Father Pavonne fight  and never paid much attention to him at all but I'm shocked at how many bloggers have turned against him. Did they hate him all along or are they just instinctively reacting like a wolf pack that has come across a wounded beast?
  
  
  
• The Pentagon says that military chaplains may perform same sex marriages. Of course nobody believes this is the end game. The next shoe to drop will be that chaplains will be ordered to do such weddings. In six months to a year some poor Catholic chaplain is going to be in trouble because he'll refuse to say a Nuptial Mass or give the Nuptial blessing without Mass to a homosexual copule. I hope I'm wrong. Betcha I'm not.
  
  
  
• One of my relatives is very ill and after my mother and I were  finally  able to visit-- barge in actually-- and see for ourselves what's really going on we discovered that this relative is in appalling living conditions. I've contacted  authorities and social workers and I'm working on a rescue plan but it makes me sick to think that my relative actually came to this state. I'll write more about it later but I haven't slept well since. I guess I must be suffering from a form of delayed shock but the urge to sit and wail or vomit is very strong. Christ in Heaven, oh sweet merciful Christ! I just can't believe what I saw this week. The only comfort I've been able to find is in the rosary and in this painting by James Tissot. I know that Jesus is right there with my relative in the middle of the awfulness.