Jesus Christ, the Apple Tree

This hymn was published in 1761 and compares the Lord to the fruit of the tree of knowledge.

random thoughts

*This male is a priest. He is uh....performing at a youth party on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in Spain. Everyone was in costume and I guess he was trying to be hip and "with it". Poor man. When I was a teenager I loathed hip priests and did not like when they tried to be on my level. "Esto vir", Father.  Don't be a grown up kid. Don't be a big ole doofus. You are a priest forever, a son of Adam. You have such great dignity. Don't throw it away. What's even more horrifying is that this priest is in good standing but these are being swatted around like flies. HT Eponymous Flower and Katholishes.


*Christmas Eve Vigil Mass was much, much better this year. Rocky was ushering and it was incredible watching him and the other ushers work. It takes skill, patience and good eyes to do this job when there is a huge crowd. Most folks were well behaved but one man was surprised that Rocky couldn't find seats for him and his whole family. Note: if you come half way through Mass on Christmas Eve, you will probably have to stand. Sorry.


*My aunt Mavis had a colonoscopy in January. It went wrong and she ended up nearly dying and having to wear a colostomy bag. This month she was well enough for the bag to be removed. She's back to her normal life! Praise God.



*St. Joseph was not going to Bethlehem to beg or party. He was there to pay his taxes. Mary was NOT an unwed mother. Please do not tolerate that blasphemy to be spoken in your presence by anyone who should know better.  She was married to Joseph from the day of their betrothal. Recently some "expert" wrote that Our Lord wasn't born in a stable but in the main room of some nice family's house. A poor family with no locked stable couldn't risk having their animals stolen so it was common to  bring one's animals in for the night and to leave hay out for them, hence the manger.  Well okay.... I'm reminded of my Great Uncle John. In his middle age he developed either agoraphobia or a serious depression  and stepped back from the world into his cabin. He brought his chicken flock inside to live with him. Sounds cute? No. Imagine chicken manure everywhere and then consider how "charming" a living room with a donkey or goat would be. Both animals are a lot bigger than chickens and they are not housebroken but go when and where nature calls. In my Great Uncle's case only my grandfather could stand to go visit because it was just plain nasty. Even if Mary and Joseph were inside a house it was no means cozy or sweet smelling.

However,  I do doubt the living room of somebody's house theory because Mary needed privacy if the  birth was to be painless. Had Our Lord been born with witnesses they would've told everybody about it and probably squealed to Herod's men  for the right amount of money.  Mary and Joseph were able to slip out of Bethlehem without anybody taking notice after a year or two of living there because nobody outside of a few shepherds and the Wise Men knew how special the Baby King was.


*This  could've been avoided if Andrea Bocelli had been in the choir loft instead of at the pulpit. HT to Adrienne's Corner 




*WARNING! The following is distasteful. If you don't want to read anything gross skip this post.

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Still with me? Okay. My mother started out as a housekeeper and worked her way up to the inspector level  at a big luxury hotel in DC.  Once, and this is the one of the tamest stories I can relate, she was walking down the hall when she saw two males leave a suite and head to the hotel lobby. One was  middle aged, well dressed and the other was young,  The younger one apologized for well....relieving himself all over the other. The older man patted him on the back and said it was okay. My mother checked the room. Human waste was in the bed, on the floor and in the bathroom.  The bedding was thrown away but the room and furniture had to be cleaned and sanitized and a team of men were paid extra to deal with it.  Austin Ruse wrote  about a few Catholic writers who look at the two males in this little drama and sugar coat the whole thing. I think they are Grima Wormtounges smoothly attacking a sick Theoden while smiling in his face and being oh so reasonable.

Madonna and Child

Thy Almighty Word Leapt Down from Heaven

For while all things were in quiet silence, and the night was in the midst of her course, Thy almighty Word leapt down from Heaven from Thy royal throne, as a fierce conqueror into the midst of the land of destruction

The Book of Wisdom, Chapter 18, verse 11.

At Prayer

Rocky's late father has been on my mind every day.Lord have mercy on his soul. Lord have mercy on Rocky's mother. She's suffering an exquisite level of pain right now. 

Girl with a Missal

Rocky's Father's funeral was today

Thank you all for your prayers and kind words. Rocky really appreciated it. Sitting and watching my mother-in-law today I realized something that most young women don't get the privilege of knowing. When you truly love even fifty years is not nearly enough.

Support Catholic Artisans this Christmas

I've already bought my 2014 planner but I've admired this lady's stuff for a few years now.

St. Therese and the Holy Child

We often say "oh that baby is adorable," but there really was only one truly adorable Baby and St. Therese joyfully gave her life to Him.

Keep calm and listen to St. Teresa

I am not saying be a Pollyanna.  I'm not saying bury your head in a dark place and pretend to be a mushroom. The Church already has too many people like that. I am saying that Catholics need to stay calm and hang tough.  Go to Mass, pray the rosary, go to Adoration. Check out what St. Teresa said.

Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.

random thoughts

* The Franciscans of the Immaculate (one of the few orders that was actually growing), are going through a horrible time. I imagine that the FSSP, the Canons Regular, and the Institute of Christ the King are paying attention and if you attend a diocesan TLM, don't be complacent about it.  Thank God every single time you get to go to the TLM or a reverent by-the-book Novus Ordo Mass. There is an old expression: nobody ever wants water until the well runs dry. Benedict was not an exciting pope. He wasn't cute or fun. However, I think a lot of us are going to miss that old German.

* I don't ever want to go to Belgium.  Can you imagine what it must be like to be a sensitive little kid there right now? The poor things must wonder if they will be killed if they get sick.


*Is the occult really strong in Colorado? It has endured Columbine, Littleton, Aurora, Arapahoe and now you can go to jail if you don't bake two homosexuals a wedding cake. Has anybody asked out loud why this state seems to have a disproportionate amount of enraged, twisted young males? Fr. Rippenger, a exorcist once said that he was surprised by the huge number of witches in Nebraska maybe someone ought to look at Colorado.


*This young Dominican is a beautiful sight and seeing her and this cake really cheered me up today.

*Speaking of Dominicans this sister's order makes soap. 

 *Regina Magazine's priest issue was a delight to read.



*If you are a homeschooler or just want to enhance your child's education at home this looks interesting.

A word form PXI

Even in Catholic countries there are still too many who are Catholics hardly more than in name. There are too many who fulfill more or less faithfully the more essential obligations of the religion they boast of professing, but have no desire of knowing it better, of deepening their inward conviction, and still less of bringing into conformity with the external gloss the inner splendor of a right and unsullied conscience, that recognizes and performs all its duties under the eye of God.

We know how much Our Divine Savior detested this empty pharisaic show, He Who wished that all should adore the Father "in spirit and in truth." The Catholic who does not live really and sincerely according to the Faith he professes will not long be master of himself in these days when the winds of strife and persecution blow so fiercely, but will be swept away defenseless in this new deluge which threatens the world. And thus, while he is preparing his own ruin, he is exposing to ridicule the very name of Christian.

Pius XI

Divini Redemptoris

This year's Christmas Card

  

Last year, Old Bob mentioned that he made a card that had both the imagery of Christ's crib and His cross together. I thought that was great and wanted to do something similar for 2013. I was going to make it myself when I found this card on Etsy.  I bought a pack and sent them out to all our priest friends.

Imaculee Conception

Rocky and I went to Mass today at St. Mary Mother of God Church in DC.  The young Father who heard my confession was so kind.

Eternal rest....

Rocky's father passed away last night.   


Eternal rest grant unto him, Oh Lord, let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace!

From the Manger to the Cross

I came across something really wonderful today. It's the 1912, movie, From the Manger to the Cross. For its time and even today it is an impressive piece of filmmaking. The director, Sidney Olcutt and his crew traveled to Egypt and what was then Palestine to make the movie. Olcutt paid a huge tribute to the Life of Christ art work of James Tissot. The details of Our Lady's clothes, the sets and  many of the scenes are Tissot's paintings come to life. Two interesting tidbits are that the actor who played Our Lord originally didn't want to do so because he thought  the new fad of moving pictures was vulgar and could never compare to the artistry of the stage. Later he attributed his survival of WWI to having had the privilege of portraying the Christ. The actress who played Our Lady also wrote the screenplay.

After watching the movie I poked around YouTube and came across this video which is captioned in French but beautifully illustrates Olcutt's careful attention to the details.

Catholic artisans

I try to support Catholic artisans, especially at Christmas time. If you're in the market for a portable altar or need a wooden shrine, St. Joseph's Apprentice does very handsome work.

Confession in art