Cut to the Heart and Random Thoughts Before Michaelmass

Mary, the Divine Shepherdess

• I was reading a Catholic site and came across a man's comment that he checks his son's tablet and phone every week and changes the passwords in order to keep the boy from looking at porn. Other people congratulated him for his vigilance but I thought that if I knew this man personally and if I had a daughter she'd never be allowed within ten feet of this his son. Dude, you just admitted to the whole world that your son can't stop looking at pornography.
  
  
  
  

  The always interesting blogger and reader of this blog, Hans Georg Lundahl   points out that this man could also be inadvertantly telling the world

  that he is an overly suspicious  father.  I hadn't thought of that and I am reminded

  of a sad story from  many years ago. A Baptist preacher was so strict and 

  distrustful of his five daughters that the youngest simply snapped.  

  She got married to a relative of mine, mainly to get out of the house and proceeded

  to become the monster that her father feared she could be. She had an affair, toyed with
  witchcraft and did other things I won't go into here. My my relative divorced her and got
  custody of their child. She  later had a child out of wedlock and turned to 

  alcohol. Yes, her choices were horrible but her father's super tough approach 

  helped make that way. Parents, you can drive an good kid crazy.  As St. Paul 

  said, "Fathers, provoke not your children to indignation,  lest they be discouraged.
  
  
  
  
• Maybe Catholic and any other serious academic establishment should drop Homecoming and the Prom.  Half, if not most of what goes on at our schools has nothing to do with education.
  
• Anybody who makes their living from talking to your kids about sex day in and day out and who gets angry and insulting if you object is probably a pervert. A pervert is what he or she is just as a rabid raccoon is what it is. You can't reason with the pervert or expect any mercy.The really infuriating people are they useful idiots who go along with the pervert because they don't want to lose social status or their jobs. The Nashville debacle is going to force parents to take their kids out of Catholic schools or try homeschooling.
  
• An old woman in her 70s wrote on another site that Mass at her parish is too solemn now and that there is less room for socializing. I don't know why, because I have heard such talk before,  but it cut me to the heart.  The only ones having a jolly time at Mt. Cavalry were Our Lord's enemies. 
  
  

  The Holy  Mass only has four precious aims. They are to adore God, to may reparation for sins, to petition God, and to thank Him. That's it. Socializing has no place in Mass. Save that for the parish hall or the parking lot afterwards.

  
  
• Be very careful with people who pay their bills according to what they write or say about the Church. When the mortgage or their kid's tuition is on the line people can be dangerously....flexible.

•  My parish, St. Rita's is having a sung Mass on Thursday, September 29,  for Michaelmass at 7:0 PM. 

St. Michael, the Archangel

Um... about that smell of the sheep thing...

 Most people's experiences with sheep is meeting a groomed pet at someone's hobby farm or seeing them at the fair. Sheep that aren't pets can get a bit whiffy when their wool gets wet from the rain or when they get sick and suffer from diarrhea. In ancient times shepherds weren't always welcomed at the finer establishments because they smelled like their sheep or to speak plainly, they stank.  When a priest or a bishop or a pope says go be among the people and smell of your sheep they're saying in a roundabout way that the laity are so dumb and sinful that we actually stink of it and that's okay. Our Lord never said "Go right along with the stinking, dumb sinner and don't hold them to any standard or ask them to mend their ways." He really didn't.

Dearest, clergy, how about washing the sheep with the sacraments and cleaning yourself while you're at it?

Random thoughts after vacation

Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Shrine, Philadelphia

• Rocky and I went on vacation in Pennsylvania last week and took my mother with us.  We ate Pennsylvania Dutch cooking, gazed upon the beautiful farms and quilts and admired the animals. On Friday we went to Philadelphia and visited the Miraculous Medal and St. John Neuman shrines and we went to the Holy Spirit nun's Divine Love chapel for adoration. The chapel is gorgeous and we listened to the nuns praying their Office. We also saw both the extern sister and a cloistered nun who was adoring. We went to the vigil Mass at a Redemptorist parish and while it wasn't horrible it wasn't very good.  Mass at a Redemptorist parish always seems to mean no Confiteor and lots of jokes but on the bright side, the parishioners are very friendly and don't mind tourists at all. Another good thing about St. Anthony of Padua church in Lancaster, PA is that it is handicapped accessible with ramps and an elevator which was great for my mother.
  
  
• If a guy pulls out a knife and cuts your throat it really doesn't matter if he's a lone wolf or a member of an organized international pack. You are still dead and your family is still miserable and the people who stood helplessly and watched you be butchered are still terrorized.
  
  
• Are you in the Navy?  It's time to get out. Oh and please, if you belong to another branch of the military don't think this won't be forced on you too. It's coming.
  
  
• Two priests in Mexico were kidnapped and found dead.  They are not lions or gorillas so their deaths will not make the world news.
  
  
• Our Lord was not a social worker. 

St. Maximilian

When I was a child someone told me that a messy desk is sign of a disorganized person.  I cant' tell you how delighted I was to find this photo of St. Maximilian at his desk.

Tailor Monks

This Walter Dendy Sadler painting shows Dominicans at work on either habits or vestments. I love his domestic monastery scenes.

Confession

St. Augustine has something to say to you

Lust indulged became habit,

and habit unresisted

became necessity.

St. Augustine of Hippo

Life in the Dark Ages

I was working while to this homily on what Catholics need to do to survive living in a depraved culture. The priest speaks about the so-called Benedict Option.  I don't put too much stock in the Benedict option partially because the idea comes from an author I'm highly skeptical of and partially because I'm not sure it would work.

Dies Irae

Eternal rest, grant unto them oh Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

The Catholic Church has got to STOP taking money from secular governments

Ladies and gentlemen. We've been sold out.   I'm not shocked or even sad. The USCCB is simply following the example of Judas, the first bishop to take government money and we know where that led.

Every Mass

Oh Bone Jesu!

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Our Lady of Sorrows, Pray for Us!

The Earth is Not A Person

The earth is an unique planet. God designed it as the one place where Man, the only creature made in His image was to live. The Earth is estimated to be over 10,000 °F at the core. Rising from the core the earth forms plates.  As you go higher from layer to layer it gets cooler and life becomes possible. Planet Earth is not your mother.  That title belongs to Eve by nature and Mary by grace. If you insist on anthropomorphism concerning our planet then you might do better to consider Mother Earth as a lovely but unstable step mother. Sometimes she's in a good mood and can be so sweet and sometimes she kills you.   You cannot sin against the Earth. It has no soul and and is not sentient. The fact that something is natural and of the Earth does not make it good or bad in itself. Arsenic and strychnine are both  perfectly natural. Both will in high enough doses kill you in particularly horrible ways. 

Once again, I need to remind myself that not every single utterance  from the The Holy Father's lips is infallible. When he is not  speaking ex cathedra  he is a man giving his welcome or unwelcome opinion just  like my  Uncle Clyde who insists that the secret to thinness and happiness is regular vinegar drinking and a big dose of mineral oil after dinner. Bless his heart, he usually does this when he thinks somebody in the family needs to lose weight  but we're used to it and love him so we let it pass. 

Reparation

May the Most Holy, Most Sacred, Most Adorable, Most Mysterious and Unutterable Name of God be praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified, in Heaven, on earth, and in the hells, by all God’s creatures, and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. 

Amen

First Friday for the Sacred Heart

Sacred Heart of Jesus, make our hearts like unto Thine.

Stuff happens...go to Confession now while you can

There are millions of people in Hell today who thought they had one more day to repent.