A magnificent crucifixion painting

There isn't a whole lot of good modern Catholic art out there so I am delighted to discover Bradi Barth , a lovely Swiss born artist who passed away in 2007. Her crucifixion painting does exactly what religious art is supposed to: teach and inspire contemplation. In one painting we see the result of Adam's fall, the hope given by God with the Immaculate Conception and Our Lord the Fruit of the Woman's womb hanging on the cross made from the Tree of Life saving us. And we see Our Lady crush the head of the serpent. 

Our participation in the Mass

A Nun

Servant of God, Sr. Jeronima de Fuente

Dear parents: Not all those who frown are meanies

If you want to make people mad suggest that parents make an effort to control their children during Mass.  You will called mean, judgmental, nasty, a child hater, a sour old maid or a bitter old man, and a bad Catholic.  I say "phooey" to most of  that because I've seen way too much. 

At my parish Sunday Mass I watched a moment of whimsy almost turn bad. A child was lying on the floor probably because the cool stone felt good. Normally I wouldn't even mention this but he wriggled into the aisle during Communion. I guess he wanted to get a good look at people's shoes as they went by but he scooted out just has Rocky and an elderly man were going down the aisle. The elder deftly stepped over the kid and Rocky shifted to the side to avoid him. The parents just sat there and then suddenly  the red faced father grabbed his child and went to the vestibule.  Folks, Jesus said to let the little children come to Him but He did not say let them run wild. No decent person wants to see your child get burned while playing with the candles. Nobody wants to see your unattended young child get squished by the eight foot tall, solid oak door he was playing behind. None of us wants to see your child fall down the choir loft stairs, and truly, nobody wants to kick your kid in the face because he got underfoot. Sometimes people are  frowning not because they are meanies who need to learn patience but instead they're because they are good souls who are genuinely concerned for your child's sake.

Madonna and Child

This painting our Our Lady and Baby Jesus is by Vardges Sureniants an  Armenian artist.
HT to Gina for the ID!

A NUN

Carmelite Nun in her cloister in Poland 

The Church Suffers

Some look at Pope Francis and say "How can this be? It can not be. This man is not the real pope."  They forget the sufferings of Our Lord. His agony in the garden, the scourging which was much worse than most of us imagine.  Thanks to the Passion of the Christ movie we got a glimpse of it. The flagellum was a multi thonged whip with bits of bone, rock or  metal attached along the length. This not only caused  initial pain in being whipped but also ripped through the victim and tore off flesh which each lash.  Our Lord suffered. It was not enough to torture Him by scourging but the Romans drove a crown on thorns onto His Sacred Head causing exquisite pain throughout His Holy Face. Every nerve affected by the thorns must have been on fire. Our Lord suffered. He was rejected by His own people, which must have caused more pain than all His physical agonies and then given a cross. Even if He carried the cross beam instead of the entire cross that was an appalling weight for a man in His condition. Our Lord suffered. Even without the scourging and the falls along the way to the Via Dolorosa, crucifixion was a horrible death.  Our Lord suffered. Do you think His bride, Holy Mother Church should not imitate Him?


Holy Mother Church suffers from lousy Catholics, high and low. She suffers very much from lazy Catholics. She suffers from cowardice among her clergy. She suffers from bad priests who never should have been ordained. She suffers from monstrous bishops. She suffers from traitorous religious orders and she suffers when her children fall into heresy, fantasy, and childishness.

Saying that a pope who does funky, kick in the gut things is not a pope at all is just too easy, too much of a cop out. Unless someone credible can prove that Pope's Francis' election was invalid we need to leave that fantasy and face reality. Christ never said that the popes would all be like Peter or Gregory the Great and remember, the pope is NOT the Faith. The pope is the vicar of Christ. You don't have to like him. Just pray for him because things are bad and are going to get a lot worse.

Sacrifice

This painting shows young missionaries who are saying good bye to their families and parish probably forever because they are going out to take the Gospel to foreign lands. Disease, the dangers of travel, endless toil and pagan violence would kill many of these young men and women but they lit a spark. Millions of souls will not be lost because some forgotten missionary loved Our Lord.

The Virgin and Her Child

Mass without pews

These pilgrims and their priest were stuck on the Pennsylvania Turnpike for hours before and after Fr. said Mass. God bless them.

Mass without pews

Random thoughts while watching the snow

• There is much talk about where the men are in Church these days. Some are attempting to solve it by making safe spaces for men, which is rather pitiful right there. Louis Verrechio  has in this video sampled the Fix the Men movement and doesn't like it at all.
  
  
  
• We are supposed to get up somewhere around 30 inches of snow tonight.  With some reluctance the powers that be at my job let us all leave early at noon. Even with that I just managed to catch the last bus home. When I got here I tried out Gordon Ramsey's scrambled eggs method (too much work and no more fluffy that my usual method), ate the eggs and decided to go take a nap.
  
  
  
• Rocky and I went grocery shopping on Wednesday and I saw something interesting and somewhat chilling. People were really aggressive. One man even tried to shove his way into the check out line.  A lot of people think that as long as you aren't in a city during a national emergency you'll be okay. Not so. The barely controlled individuals that I saw two days ago were all comfortable suburbanites. Some of the worse savages that will arise in a national emergency just might be our own neighbors.

• In parishes around the world, Holy Thursday has been a sad and sometimes sacrilegious side show for years. Now the side show is official.
  
  
  
• I just found this video of my parish's Silver Jubilee Mass. It looks like they were remodeling or the church wasn't finished yet.
  
  
  
  
• My great Aunt Lucy passed away last week and the funeral was yesterday. She was 88 and according to cousins who were able to make it, the funeral was ruined by the pastor. People who want married priests tend to think that it will work like the Orthodox. Nonsense. The average American Catholic outside of New York City has never seen a Greek or Russian Orthodox person. Most of us have never seen a Byzantine Catholic church, much less met a Byzantine Catholic. Let's face it, we live in  what was once a Protestant country and most of us act just like Protestants.  The odds are that a married priest and his parishioners would behave like Baptists.. I bring this up because there is a fight going on in my late great aunts church and part of is it  is due to the head preacher being single and dating. He has chosen a woman in the congregation and given her an engagement ring. Some factions in the church are unhappy because they think this woman will not make a good First Lady. Others are unhappy because they think the preacher should've chosen one of them instead. Naturally, the family members of the woman the preacher did choose are defensive of her.  Lines have been drawn and sides have been taken. The preacher's love life has tongues flapping and the fight over him and with him spilled over into my great aunt's funeral. Open the door to a married priesthood and Catholics will get be "enriched" with these kinds of scenes. 

Christians in the Middle East have been completely abandoned

I've noticed that Protestants, especially the Evangelicals have with few exceptions said nothing and done nothing to help our brothers and sisters in the Middle East, particularly Syria. This goes back to their hostility to Catholicism and their prideful ignorance of Faith before their sects were invented. But I haven't been impressed with the US bishops either. They seem eager to bring in young Muslim men but have forgotten all about the brethren of  the Blessed Massabki brothers, three Syrian  laymen who were martyred in 1860, and beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1926.

Our Lady of Africa

I've been looking for clear image of Our Lady of Africa for ages. 

random thoughts on a Saturday afternoon

• Fr. George Rutler has a couple of wise things to say about  the people who have lost their minds over David Bowie including clergy who should know better.
  
  
  
• According to EWTN the Church has over 20 valid rites.  EWTN does not mention the unofficial rites such as the gay Mass, the contemporary music---usually from the 70s-- Mass, the  Spanish Mass, the Charismatic  howl and faint Mass or the gospel music Mass. All of these unofficial rites have passionate defenders and are either left in peace or have bishops who lavish them with praise.  Only one rite seems to get the Catholic speech givers, essayists and book sellers all hot and bothered. Only one rite turns mild seeming people into Captain Ahab spitting at the white whale. It is the indult Mass, the Ancient Mass, the Traditional Latin Rite Mass, the Tridentine Mass , the Extraordinary Form, the Old Mass or the TLM . Whatever you call it, I guess  the key to the executive washroom in the Catholic talker/writer circuit is take part in the mobbing of "traddies," ritual. How sad. How utterly sad. Imagine--- grown men (especially sad when it is a priest) and women turning themselves into  mean high school girls in order to make a few bucks.
  
  
• Judging by the English and German news I've been reading for the most part Germans and Swedes and Norwegians are grumbling about the sudden descent of young and aggressive Muslim males on them but they aren't yet willing to do anything but complain. Even the rapes are being  downplayed. Some people theorize that  European males, especially the Germans  are so beaten down by the aftermath of WWII that they'll never stand for anything ever again, good or bad including self preservation. Others theorize that this has something to do with feminism. Having been told that woman is superior all their lives the instinct to defend females has been gelded out of them. Whatever the reasons, I think the European leaders gambled and lost. They see that their people do not have enough babies to keep the welfare system going and they see that their people will never give up their cushy benefits so they bring in hostile foreigners in hopes that these men will go to work, pay taxes and keep the gravy train going. The trouble is, these young men seem  interested in something other than keeping dying countries afloat.

Our Lady of Akita, pray for us.

"As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests."

"The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres...churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.

"The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them"

This made me ill

Our Lord is not a one god among a pantheon of gods. 

A woman to admire

Lou Xiaoying saved over 30 babies from death. Because of China's one child only law many people killed their second child particularly if it was a girl.  Let fools idolize models, actresses and singers who did God knows what foul things to achieve their fame. This is a truly great woman.  HT to the Why I'm Pro Life blog. 

Words of sense from Fr. Goffine and Fr. Lapide

Apparently a lot of people were disturbed by the Holy Father's latest homily about the Child Jesus. Calm down and read some traditional teaching.

Why did the child Jesus remain in Jerusalem? Because of His love of prayer and communion with His Heavenly Father, and to show, even then, some rays of His divinity, by which to make known that He had come for the glory of His Father, and to procure our salvation. The glory of God and the salvation of our souls should be our chief object in life.... from "The Church's Year" by Fr. Goffine. 

For an even meatier discussion read what Fr. Lapide had to say. 

 And He said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?  S. Ambrose holds that these are the words of one administering reproof. And Christ, as the Messiah, and as a Lawgiver, might rightfully have reproved His mother had she sinned. But there was no blemish of sin in His mother, neither therefore was there any reproof on the part of Christ. Still, there is in the words a certain sharpness of tone, savouring of reproof, that He may teach them by His question and incite them the more keenly to learn the things that concerned Him, just as parents are wont to stimulate their children to zeal and diligence with sharp words, and masters their pupils. These words of Christ, then, are the words of one instructing and consoling; excusing himself, and defending what he has done:— From Fr. Lapide's Commentary

Random thoughts on 2015

• For me and my family, 2015, was a  challenging year, not completely horrible by any means but there were huge testing moments that I've written about all year. May God have mercy on my beloved dead and may Saints Martha, Dymphna, Appollonia, Alphonsus, Martin, Jerome and Therese continue to watch out for us and pray for us.
  
  
  In Catholic blog land things were interesting as always.  
  

• Traditional Latin Mass blog remains my favorite blog that I visit every day.

• A member of the feminist group, Femen, has written a book rejecting the group and apologizing to  Christians for her previous behavior. IF she's sincere this is huge.  It might be one of the biggest stories of the year.

• Michael Voris took a big hit in 2015. I gave up reading him early this year and I don't even watch his videos because I got sick of Church Militant's sometimes imprecise reporting and his Captain Ahab obsession with the SSPX but it was this video attacking Pope Benedict that turned off a lot of people who formerly sang his praises. Yes, it's undeniable that for whatever reason, Pope Benedict walked out and gave us Pope Francis but since Mr. Voris is don't-criticize-the-pope-man, people were shocked.

• I enjoyed the Mahound's Paradise blog  , St. Corbian's Bear  ,  The Catholic Table , What's Up With the Synod , One Mad Mom and DC Latin Mass this year.

• I very much admire the writing and spunk of Maureen Mullarkey.

• One Peter Five is one of the best Catholic sources on the Web and they did a post on Islam 101 that is worth studying.

• The saddest thing I read all year was in a comment on another blog. An elderly person said that she stopped going to church after her cat died because a  Baptist (correctly) told her that animals do not go to Heaven. She said that if her cat wasn't there she doesn't want to go.

• The most popular post I ever published was Should Priest's Blog?  I find that very interesting. It shows me that more than a few people are uncomfortable with celebrity priests.

• Who the heck is Matthew Kelly and why is he so popular? Restore DC Catholicism and Traditional Catholic Thoughts are on it.

• I discovered how much fun Twitter is and then I broke down and got a Pinterest account.

The feast Mary Mother of God

I had to work to 4:30 so there was no way Rocky and I could make it to St. Rita's by 5 which is why we went to the vigil Mass for Mary Mother of God at the Basilica in DC. It was very good. There were so many people in the crypt church that the smell was overwhelming. Usually when I ask, "What's that smell?" Rocky answers, "What smell?," or "It's not that bad." This time he leaned over to whisper in my ear, "Something stinks!"

The monsignor saying Mass was okay. His dramatic delivery reminded me of Archbishop Sheen and he adlibbed a bit but said nothing offensive. In his homily he pointedly reminded everyone that the New Year is not for getting drunk and acting a fool-that's the secular world's way. The New Year is dedicated to Our Lady and formerly was the Feast of the Circumcision.

The Knights of Columbus did a fantastic job of getting all the elderly and disabled seated.

It's a Christmas miracle

Every now and then outrageous and irreverent behavior by a priest during Mass gets smacked down by his bishop. This was one of those precious few times. A priest in the Phillipines forgot the dignity of his office and turned the holy Mass into a show all about him. The videos taken by parishioners went all around the world and I guess it was just too much for the bishop to stomach. Praise God.

In the House of the Virgin

And the Word became flesh... Merry Christmas and may God bless you all.

 The Burning Babe 

As I in hoary winter’s night stood shivering in the snow,Surpris’d I was with sudden heat which made my heart to glow;And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near,A pretty Babe all burning bright did in the air appear;Who, scorched with excessive heat, such floods of tears did shedAs though his floods should quench his flames which with his tears were fed.

“Alas!” quoth he, “but newly born, in fiery heats I fry,

Yet none approach to warm their hearts or feel my fire but I!

My faultless breast the furnace is, the fuel wounding thorns,

Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke, the ashes shame and scorns;

The fuel Justice layeth on, and Mercy blows the coals,

The metal in this furnace wrought are men’s defiled souls,

For which, as now on fire I am to work them to their good,

      So will I melt into a bath to wash them in my blood.”

      With this he vanish’d out of sight and swiftly shrunk away,

      And straight I called unto mind that it was Christmas day.

by St. Robert Southwell S.J.

Requiem

I've always thought that my husband was wonderful but lately when I look at him I marvel. The man really is a walking miracle. My father-in-law was an extreme narcissist. He was the corpse at every  funeral and the bride at every wedding.  He was the sun and anyone who didn't want to revolve around him forever was in trouble.  He was affectionate with his sons when they were little but changed when they became teenagers. Perhaps it was because he couldn't cope with them growing up. Maybe something bad  happened elsewhere in his life and that is what made him mean. Perhaps he was afraid. As the boys grew, he may have felt like an old lion who had to defend his territory.  We'll never know. At any rate, Rocky made it out of that household being sane, decent and kind. My father-in-law never got over Rocky  leaving home and his "humorous" tongue was so toxic  that the only way for Rocky to deal with him without getting emotionally torn up every time we visited was to severely limit contact and then to only talk about safe things like football.

My mother-in-law simply adored her husband. He could do no wrong. If he said the sky was green. She would agree and get angry at anyone who said otherwise. Now that she is gone, Rocky is left with only his brother and sadly, it is now obvious that while Rocky got away, "Clipper," never really did. When I look at him, it's like seeing a 6 foot tall marionette with no visible strings.


Kyrie Elieson!
Eternal rest grant unto my in-laws Oh Lord. Let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace.

Very good Christmas advice from a priest

Fr. Peter Carota has very good advice on how a Catholic should celebrate Christmas.

Before Bethlehem

Blessed art thou among women....

Gaudete

Reparation prayer

REPARATION PRAYER

Eternal Father, turn away Thy angry gaze from our guilty people whose face has become unsightly in Thine eyes. Look instead upon the Face of Thy Beloved Son, for this is the Face of Him in Whom Thou art well pleased. We now offer Thee this Holy Face, covered with shame and disfigured by bloody bruises in reparation for the crimes of our age in order to appease Thine anger, justly provoked against us. Because Thy Divine Son, our Redeemer, has taken upon His Head all the sins of His members, that they might be spared, we now beg of Thee, Eternal Father, to grant us mercy. AMEN.

(from the Holy Face Devotion prayers)

This Little Babe by St. Robert Southwell

This little Babe so few days old,

Is come to rifle Satan’s fold;

All hell doth at his presence quake,

Though he himself for cold do shake;

For in this weak unarmèd wise

The gates of hell he will surprise.

With tears he fights and wins the field,

His naked breast stands for a shield;

His battering shot are babish cries,

His arrows, looks of weeping eyes,

His martial ensigns, Cold and Need, 

And feeble Flesh, his warrior’s steed.

His camp is pitchèd in a stall,

His bulwark but a broken wall;

The crib his trench, haystalks his stakes;

Of shepherds he his muster makes;

And thus, as sure his foe to wound,

The angels’ trumps alarum sound.

My soul, with Christ join thou in fight;

Stick to the tents that he hath pight,

Within his crib is surest ward;

This little babe will be thy guard.

If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy,

Then flit not from this heavenly boy.

St Robert Southwell

A letter from a man I'd never heard of

A year ago I read a letter written by a dying man. He was Mario Palmaro, a Catholic journalist in Rome. He was terribly worried about his children and the silence of the Church in the face of the homosexual lobby. I never forgot what that man wrote.
Eternal rest grant unto him Oh Lord....

At prayer

In your charity, could you pray for a damaged relative of mine?

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,

We people on the pavement looked at him:

He was a gentleman from sole to crown,

Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,

And he was always human when he talked; 

But still he fluttered pulses when he said,

'Good-morning,' and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich - yes, richer than a king -

And admirably schooled in every grace:

In fine, we thought that he was everything

To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,

And went without the meat, and cursed the bread; 

And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,

Went home and put a bullet through his head. 

Edwin Arlington Robinson

Last night I found out something horrible. It was something that I had suspected but now I know it for sure. No-one killed themselves  but an image surely died. A relative that we all thought simply golden, the favorite child, the one with the big job, the biggest house, the newest car, the most money and the surgically enhanced wife, the one who had all the world says is good, is actually angry, miserable and has carried a frightening level of resentment for years.  Rocky and I were stunned and when the evening came to a merciful close we were glad to see this person leave our home.  Poor soul. 

Hail, the God bearer

REPARATION PRAYER

REPARATION PRAYER

Eternal Father, turn away Thy angry gaze from our guilty people whose face has become unsightly in Thine eyes. Look instead upon the Face of Thy Beloved Son, for this is the Face of Him in Whom Thou art well pleased. We now offer Thee this Holy Face, covered with shame and disfigured by bloody bruises in reparation for the crimes of our age in order to appease Thine anger, justly provoked against us. Because Thy Divine Son, our Redeemer, has taken upon His Head all the sins of His members, that they might be spared, we now beg of Thee, Eternal Father, to grant us mercy. AMEN.

(from the Holy Face Devotion prayers)

At prayer

The pope is the vicar of Christ

The pope is God's highest servant. He is the steward. He is the visible head of of the Church but he is not the ultimate head so no, it is not his church to do with as he pleases. Everything he has power over to loose and bind is given to him by Christ and he must answer to the Master one day. The bride belongs to the bridegroom and the bridegroom is Christ.

It is HIS church.

at prayer

This painting of a nun at prayer looks like the Oblate Sisters of Providence habit.

que soy era Immaculada Councepciou

There is going to be a light show projected onto St. Peter's Basilica in support of environmentalism/making everybody but the rich live like livestock in order to "save the planet" on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  My Jesus, mercy!

Random thoughts

Never forget what Mary's Baby came to do

• Have a blessed Advent!"
• I can't stand poor mouthing.  I come from a family and a culture that drilled it into my head that you did not discuss your money with anybody outside the house. Even if you had to spend the month eating grits with no butter, you got on with it, made sure the rent was paid, looked presentable when you stepped outside  and did not shame your people.  A few weeks ago a blogger mentioned that he went to France and ate something nice at a restaurant. Two readers  wrote in to say passive aggressive things like, "Oh I'd like to eat something besides Cheerios but I have 9 kids and can't do (frivolous, it's implied) stuff like that.  On another blog I read the author's advice on housekeeping. Two people responded with the sugar coated insult along the lines of "Well, I can't do that because my husband and I are real Catholics and have chosen a modest lifestyle instead your (it is hinted) wordly way." Folks, the lady blogger was writing about keeping your house clean and neat.  I see this frequently from commenters and it is not attractive.  How about, "Oh, that's nice," and nothing more or if that's too much, how about no comment at all? Begrudging what other people have and do does not make you and your lifestyle look holy, it just makes you look small, discontent, and leads other people to think, 'Wow, I feel sorry for your family.'
  
  
• My parish, St. Rita's got new hymnals and missals. The old ones from CC Watershed  were beautiful but a  not tough enough to survive my fellow parishioners. The ushers were frequently finding books with the covers and backs torn off after Mass and the arrangement of the missal/hymnal combination just seemed to confuse people. The new books are from Illuminaire. Hopefully they will survive  for a few years.
  
• The Texas nuns make good soap. 
  
• This is a gorgeous blog.
  
• In a parish in North Carolina they had a Rorate Mass. I've never been able to go to one but I mean to.
  
• Disorder in the nation starts with disorder in the home. We obviously have a LOT of work to do.
  
• Rocky is going to be ushering on the early Christmas Vigil. This is typically a suit up and be ready for anything Mass. The ushers face, among other things, visiting horribly spoiled children who are confused and upset because rude behavior that was okay all year long is suddenly not okay. I watched many young parents, sometimes the father, but usually the mother just lose it in the vestibule because they are mortified in front of their  in-laws.  Occasionally it is middle aged parents who snap. It's most often  the father who upon seeing the expressions on the faces of his shocked relatives looks at his daughter's strapless, thigh high dress and gets embarrassed.  The poor kid can't understand what the big deal is because Dad said nothing all the other times she wore the dress. This leads to a scene at home, being late and then going off on the usher when he offers  a fold up chair to sit in the back instead of miraculously finding  spaces together in the front half of the church.  Then there are the C&E Catholics who sometimes come to church with a grudge and get ridiculously upset because the usher refuses to make a 97 year old in walker move down so they and their party of eight can all sit together.
  
  
  
  
  
  

St. John of Damascus-- pray for us!

St. John was Syrian and in his old age he was brought before the ruling Caliph and his hand was cut off. After spending the night in prayer and agony the Blessed Virgin appeared to him and restored his hand. The Caliph was astounded and let St. John return to his monastery where he lived until his death sometime between 749 and 753. His feast day is December 4.

REPARATION PRAYER

REPARATION PRAYER

Eternal Father, turn away Thy angry gaze from our guilty people whose face has become unsightly in Thine eyes. Look instead upon the Face of Thy Beloved Son, for this is the Face of Him in Whom Thou art well pleased. We now offer Thee this Holy Face, covered with shame and disfigured by bloody bruises in reparation for the crimes of our age in order to appease Thine anger, justly provoked against us. Because Thy Divine Son, our Redeemer, has taken upon His Head all the sins of His members, that they might be spared, we now beg of Thee, Eternal Father, to grant us mercy. AMEN.

(from the Holy Face Devotion prayers)

A prayer for the Holy Father

Dearest Mother, please let the Holy Father take some time off and stop giving interviews on planes.

Amen

random thoughts on a Sunday afternoon

Annunciation

• Most of pop culture really is not good for us.
  
  
• I miss my uncle. Both my mother and I  still feel restless and nervous on Sundays because we are so used to going to the nursing home.
  
  
• Wow. The Germans are being nasty again. 
  
• If you claim to be a devout Catholic but  watch Scandal or intend to watch The Night Before then you are part of the problem. That is all.
  
  
• The Shower of Roses blog has delightful ideas for mothers and children projects.
  
  
• Have you ever noticed that the cool kid Catholics always get mean and personally insulting if you disagree with them and if they're really mad they become just as blasphemous as a pagan? And have you noticed how many others go "Oh come on, he/she was only joking, Can't you take a joke?"
  
  
• France and probably Germany are toast and it's' their own fault for  not having enough children to  maintain their countries. I saw a blog that had an editorial cartoon showing the Statue of Liberty grabbing a backpack and crying out, "I'm coming!," as she rushes back to France. Well they can have the statue but I hope that not a single American young man gets sent back to France for a world war rescue mission again.
  
• Going to Mass in Maryland can be iffy. Going to Mass in Baltimore can be like sampling a box of chocolates. Sometimes you get the buttercreme  and sometimes you get a candy coated bug  HT Restore DC Catholicism.
  
  
• My boss retired three months ago and no replacement has been hired. "Agatha" was annoying and could be maddening but that woman did a lot of work and I've called her at home to let her know how much respect I have for her now. 

Reparation prayer

REPARATION PRAYER

Eternal Father, turn away Thy angry gaze from our guilty people whose face has become unsightly in Thine eyes. Look instead upon the Face of Thy Beloved Son, for this is the Face of Him in Whom Thou art well pleased. We now offer Thee this Holy Face, covered with shame and disfigured by bloody bruises in reparation for the crimes of our age in order to appease Thine anger, justly provoked against us. Because Thy Divine Son, our Redeemer, has taken upon His Head all the sins of His members, that they might be spared, we now beg of Thee, Eternal Father, to grant us mercy. AMEN.

(from the Holy Face Devotion prayers)

a crucifixion painting

About the cardinal's apartment....

Christine Niles of Church Militant says that Cardinal Wuerl, (whom I do not like at all), lives in an apartment in a 43 million dollar complex in one of DCs nicest neighborhoods. Well, yes, but the complex is Our Lady Queen of the Americas,  a Hispanic parish and home to the Senor de los Milagros devotion.  The Washington English Center, which teaches English to immigrants from all of the world, is located on the property as well. The cardinal lives on the top floor. Short of living in one of the black parishes I don't see how much more clever the cardinal could've been. All he has to do is walk through the church cafeteria, show the happy students at the school, or visit the tiny tots in their catechism class with a photographer and he or his surrogates can say, "I live with in the midst of one of the biggest ethnic parishes in DC, and yes, it's in a nice neighborhood. Do you have a problem with Hispanics having a nice parish?" The report hints that the cardinal lives like a king but unless they have photos of of his apartment or testimony from people who have seen it and are willing to give their names, Church Militant just has accusations and loose talk.  Depending on how he wants to play this, Church Militant could end up looking silly. If you would fight an enemy  you need to have a suitable weapon. Instead of a sword this report looks more like a water balloon. Sorry.

The Prince, the Evil Fairy and a magic sword of truth

Saturday with four churches, brisket and a swamp

Rocky was took a rare Saturday off from work so we decided to take a road trip to Southern Maryland. We went to Prince Frederick County, home of the Battle Creek Swamp. If you enjoy birding this is a lovely spot. They have a spy window in the visitor's center that looks out on a huge feeder. You can sit in comfort and get a good look at even the most timid birds because they can't see you. I counted five species that I haven't seen this year.

We went to St. John Vianney Church for their annual Christmas bazaar. It was great. They have serious artisans there with high quality goods. It was worth the trip and I'll go back next year. The church is okay at first glance until you look at the windows. Seeing  Martin Luther King Jr. and Thomas Merton in stained glass as if they were saints is a head shaker. Next we drove to Immaculate Conception  in Solomons Island and said a decade of the rosary.  We were repulsed by their Resurrection crucifix. Our Lord did not lift off the crucifix like a firecracker. He stayed on His throne of pain until His work was finished and then He commended His soul to God. Our Lord did not have 1980s hair.   We decided that we weren't coming back later for the vigil Mass. After lunch at Mission Barbeque we went over the bridge to St. Mary's County and enjoyed looking at the waterfowl and boats. Evening rolled around and we scouted around  for a place to go to Mass. The clostest chruch to our location was  Our Lady Star of the Sea but  as we were walking up the path a woman came blasting out of the door with a disgusted look on her face. She was a big, sturdily built country lady so we stepped aside and watched her head to her car.  Once inside we looked around.  listened to the choir and got an idea why the lady fled. Bless their hearts, I'm sure they were sincere but it was like being sucked back into 1974. I checked my phone and saw that St. Cecilia's had a 4:30 vigil. We decided to make a run for it.

St. Cecilia's was beautiful. It is this tiny chapel sized church in the woods of St. Mary's City with an energetic priest. Inside feels like being in the wooden chapels that the first priests in Maryland built. Mass was just fine.    Afterwards we headed home with a few stops on the way.

Reparation prayer

REPARATION PRAYER

Eternal Father, turn away Thy angry gaze from our guilty people whose face has become unsightly in Thine eyes. Look instead upon the Face of Thy Beloved Son, for this is the Face of Him in Whom Thou art well pleased. We now offer Thee this Holy Face, covered with shame and disfigured by bloody bruises in reparation for the crimes of our age in order to appease Thine anger, justly provoked against us. Because Thy Divine Son, our Redeemer, has taken upon His Head all the sins of His members, that they might be spared, we now beg of Thee, Eternal Father, to grant us mercy. AMEN.

(from the Holy Face Devotion prayers)

No wonder the men aren't in the pews

I just read an essay on where the Catholic men are. Hint, it's not in the pews. It's no surprise. Most suburban parishes are women's clubs and most of the women seem to like it that way.  Fr. Cruz's Easter dance has made the rounds in the Catholic blog land  recently and I present it with two comments. First, pray for Fr. Cruz. Second, I'll bet this parish is mostly female.

No-one knows the hour or the day---go to Confession

Many of the people killed in the recent Paris terrorist attacks were attendees of the performance of an American based band called Eagles of Death Metal. Although the death metal genre glorifies rape, necrophilia, suicide, murder and the Devil the band has long maintained that the name is just a joke. Is that true? Who knows but they were allegedly singing a song about the devil when real death showed up.

None of us knows the hour or the day when it is time to die but it will come, whether you are in a nursing home, an emergency room, a battlefield, eating in a restaurant or in the full flower of your youth and minding your own business while you and your buddies attend a concert. Go to Confession, now, while you have the time.

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

Amen

Well this is embarassing

Lamentations

Oh wounds of Christ

Oh Jesus, for the sake of Your Holy wounds. Have mercy on me, a sinner. 

and now, for some happy news

Sr. Alicia Torrres of the Franciscans of the Eucharist of Chicago won the Food TV Chopped competition. She cooks for hundreds of people at the Our Lady of the Angels Mission  every night. 

Let's cut to the chase.... we have one soul to save

Live in the Arlington diocese? Get to praying!

“I have much respect for gays,” including “their way of living their sexuality.”  Archbishop Jozef De Kesel



The Pope just appointed Archbishop De Kesel to  replace the retiring Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard in Belguim.  Bishop Loverde of the Arlington, Virginia diocese is retiring. He's no prize---not at all--- but I shiver at the thought of what we are going to get after him. Archbishop De Kesel sounds horrible but he is a protege of Cardinal Daneels, another horror, who is one of Pope Francis' favorites. Cardinal Wuerl in DC is another favorite the Holy Father. He will have a lot to say about who will be the new bishop of the Arlington Diocese.  If you live in the Arlington diocese storm Heaven now and plead for God's mercy.

Sometimes sitting in the pew is consent to the abomination going on

A lot of people are upset with the priest of Our Savior, in New York City for allowing this. I'm more upset with the people in the pews.While a few good folks probably did leave, the majority just sat there like cold lumps of rancid lard. Whether they liked it or not doesn't matter. Their presence approved of the whole abomination.

REPARATION PRAYER

REPARATION PRAYER

Eternal Father, turn away Thy angry gaze from our guilty people whose face has become unsightly in Thine eyes. Look instead upon the Face of Thy Beloved Son, for this is the Face of Him in Whom Thou art well pleased. We now offer Thee this Holy Face, covered with shame and disfigured by bloody bruises in reparation for the crimes of our age in order to appease Thine anger, justly provoked against us. Because Thy Divine Son, our Redeemer, has taken upon His Head all the sins of His members, that they might be spared, we now beg of Thee, Eternal Father, to grant us mercy. AMEN.

(from the Holy Face Devotion prayers)

Requiem Mass at St. Rita's

Um, Excuse me, Cardinal Wuerl, I have a bad feeling about this

The frame of reference is now going to be: ‘What does the gospel really say here?’ That’s our first task.”  Cardinal Donald Wuerl

Ode to St. Martin de Pores

I never would've known this jazz ode to St. Martin by pianist Mary Lou Williams who converted to Catholicism in 1956, even existed if it were not for My Catholic Tube.