random thoughts while fighting off a sinus attack

• Fr. Chad Ripperger  has given an interesting homily on problems in the Traditionalist movement .  I didn't agree with everything he said and I wish that someone would boost the spirits of traditionally minded people once in while. Even constructive criticism can wear people down if that's all they get.

• For the first time in my life I don't feel good about my country's future.

• Rocky and I went to St. Alphonsus in Baltimore. It's so gorgeous it will make your mouth fall open and is far more impressive than the cathedral. I got to go to confession with Mnsgr. Bastress-- a very kind man-- and Rocky was able to get a blessing for his knee after Mass. If the parish office is open you may also visit the room that St. John Neuman lived in while he was pastor at St. Alphonsus. When I stepped inside I was immediately touched. It's such a tiny room. The church gift shop is one of the best I've ever seen and you can get books I've never come across before as well as veil,s statues (we bought a very cute Infant of Prauge)  and big quart bottles of Lourdes water. And the people are nice.
  
  Later we went to Little Italy for lunch and visited the Inner Harbor and stopped by the Divine Mercy shrine at Holy Rosary Church. The little Polish ladies are absoltute dolls. We just loved them.
  
• Maryland's abortion rate is 50% higher than the national average. The diocese is asking for 100,000 rosaries for the unborn. Please join them. Although I'd never leave Virginia I have soft spot for Maryland becuase of it' s the birthplace of Catholicism in English speaking America and because Rocky and I were married in that state. What happened to Our Lady's land? How did it get so twisted?
  
  
• After Ted Kennedy's funeral a friend of mine sighed and said "Teddy could've driven drunk into a bus load of of nuns and orphans in Boston and he still would've gotten off." All I could say was "you're right." One of these days people are going to get over the Kennedy worship. Until then, thank you Bishop McManus.

•   Watch your daughters. Even if you live a "nice" neighborhood pay attention to whom your daughter is associating with. Even if you don't allow her to date until she's 18 pay attention. The Underground Crips gang was running a huge pimping operation right here in my own town. The range was near my church and included areas where I've shopped and where friends live.

The Annunciation

This lovely painting was done in 2002! Great art that honors the holy is still being made.

The Holy Stairs

Sometime this year I want to go to Pittsburgh and visit the replica of the Holy Stairs.

Somewhere

Somewhere in China a newborn baby’s head is being bashed in by her own mother. You can only have one child in China and this poor little miss is not the one her parents want.

Somewhere in South Dakota a Sioux girl is going to be cold tonight. Her family uses wood to heat the home and her father has sold it all for beer money.

Somewhere in Afghanistan a 12 year old girl has been raped with the full approval of her parents and tribal elders. The rapist is her 50 year old husband and this tragedy was called her wedding night.

Somewhere in West Virginia a little girl is frightened. Her parents are meth heads and she hasn’t seen them in days.

And meanwhile in Georgetown, one of the most expensive schools in America a 30 year old adolescent is demanding that we the people of the United States pay for her birth control. She thinks she and her female classmates are victims. Victims? This poor woman has no idea how lucky she is. 

Ave Maria

Two beautiful things

• Rocky and I look forward to Thursday night every week because that's when St. Rita's has the Tridentine Latin Mass. It's such an uplifting, powerful, beautiful thing. We have young couples, single guys, well behaved children, and worshippers from all over the world. When I hear the words, "I will go to the altar of God..," and the response "to God who gives joy to my youth," I get a thrill every time.
  
  
  
• Every Sunday my mother and I go to the nursing home to visit my uncle. The commute over there isn't fun by any means but when we walk in and he lights up  as soon as he sees us, it's a beautiful thing. If you ever get a chance to visit a nursing home please go.  The residents are so grateful for any little scrap of attention, Reading a book, bringing a magazine or just bringing a pack of cookies brings them so much pleasure. It will fill your heart.
  
  So many residents are just dumped by their relatives and forgotten. Visiting once a month or every couple of weeks doesn't cut it. I don't care how chi chi the home is, residents who don't get visitors don't get anything beyond the barest legal minimum. You need to be your loved one's guard dog. My uncle's nurses know that he has a devoted sister with an eagle eye and a niece who is nuts about him -- or maybe just nuts. Thankfully, he's such a sweetheart and his RNs and LPNs and the CPAs are kind hearted people that they go out of their  way to make him happy. Being my Unkie's (that's what I call him) guardian is not something that I take lightly. It's time consuming but he is my beautiful thing because being in charge of his care is  a kiss from the Cross. 

a visit to St. Michael's

For our anniversary, Rocky and I took an overnight trip to St. Michael's Maryland. We ate crab, and shrimp and looked at bald eagles and wild turkeys. It was a nice little break and one of the nicest moments was visiting the St. Michael Mission Church. It's an adorable little church in the Federalist style and the people are so nice! We prayed the rosary and the Divine Mercy chaplet while we were there and we were invited to the St. Patrick's Day luncheon by parishioners. We had to get down the road so we declined but we were quite touched by their genuine friendliness.

Via Dolorosa

Behold, the Man

My King! My King!

Fr. Marcel Guarnizo must be a good priest

Fr. Marcel Guarnizo must be a good priest because the devil doesn't bother with Fr. Skippy or Father Mass-is-about-me-me-me. The devil frets and stews about the good guys. With all the lesbians in the DC area ---and DC has a huge gay population-- why did the Washington Post, a major newspaper with a national and worldwide audience, pay any attention to the complaints of one idividual in particular and why did they put her story on the front page--- THE FRONT PAGE----was there no story in the whole world more important than this one? The whole scene was obviously a set up.

St. John Vianney, you who know so well what attacks a priest is heir to, pray for your brother priest.

Follow Me

This would make a good gift for a seminarian or young priest but it's an excellent reminder for all Christians that following the Lord is not a bed of roses with smiles and candy raining from the sky.

Catholicism is not for sissies.

Today's gospel

Our Lady of Sorrows

Follow Me

If the invisible were visible

HT Phlip Johnson who is going to the doctor. today.

If you could see the invisible at every Mass would you leave the Daisy Duke shorts at home, Missy? Sir, would you dress your 50 year old self like a a grown man and not a teenager? Would you stay for the whole Mass instead of leaving while still chewing on the Bread of Angels? Madam, would you still lean over and tell your freinds --and everyone else in earshot about your grandson's soccer game? Would you rush out so you can get to brunch early? And you, poor little lost girl, would you still strut into God's house and harass His servant and then make a spectacle of yourself when that good servant refuses to play along with your narcicism? Or would we all fall on our faces in awe?