Saturday thoughts

This morning I went to church and joined the Altar Society in cleaning the candle holders, polishing brass and arranging the altar floral display for Palm Sunday. It was fun. Fr. Theoden came out and offered a few suggestions. I'm tired and smell like chemicals but it was a good thing. I can see that I won't be able to do it every Saturday morning because of my crazy schedule but today was good.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

Today Rocky and I went to the Ukranian Holy Family Shrine in DC for Mass with his bible study group from church. They are Catholic but use the Byzantine rite. It was amazing. Except for the homily every part of the Mass was sung either by the priests, deacons or the congregation. Communion was administered using a silver spoon. We Latin rite Catholics have lost so much beauty and dignity in our liturgy. It's really quite tragic how ugly the average Novus Ordo Mass is.

Afterwards we all went to the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception for lunch and a tour. That was very nice. The tour guide got a couple of dates wrong but she had a huge amount of information to remember so that's understandable. After the tour Rocky and I visited the Poor Clare's convent and the Franciscan monastery. And then we came home so Rocky could cheer Georgetown on to victory.

Fr What-a-Waste and other thoughts

• 
  This phrase has irritated me for years. When a woman refers to a priest that way she's saying that the only men who should serve God are the ones who are uglier than a fatherlesss billy goat and/or so socially inept that no woman would want them.

• Here's a lovley new blog written by a young fellow who's on his way to the Missionaries of the Eternal Word.
  
  
  
• I suspect that the whole Iraq thing is hopeless. This is a country that has a 40% literacy and where most marriages are between cousins. Cousin marriage leads to idiots and tribalism, two things that you really need to lose if you want a democracy.
  
  
  
• I dearly love John Paul II but let's not declare him a saint just yet. We have time and it's no offense to our late Papa if a slow, thourough investigation is done. Remember even the remarkable St. Therese had to wait twenty some years after her death to be cannonized. St. Maria Gorretti's then teenaged murderer was an old man by the time Pope Pius cannonized her. There is no need to rush.
  
  
  
  
• Fr. Fessio got fired. I haven't followed the whole Ave Maria thing so I'm now I'm curious. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
  
  

Was that water really holy?

I have a question. Last week I was asked to fill the Holy Water font at church. I was directed to get the water from the sacristy sink that Fr. Théoden and Fr. Aragorn use to wash up. There was no salt and no blessing so how can it be Holy Water? Can you pre-bless all the water that comes form Father's sink?

Apostolic exhortation on the Eucharist

I wish I could get more excited about this but to be brutally honest it means almost nothing in practcal terms. If your bishop is more Mahoney than Sheen then he's going to keep on doing what he's doing.

thursday night thoughts

Mary Alexander at Against All Heresies has a post on something that has made me uneasy for a while now: lay people who set themselves up in their own "ministries". Mark Shea, Jimmy Akin, Karl Keating and Stephen Ray all hawk their books, tapes, and speaking engagements on their sites and "generously" share their views on Catholicism and the world. Some Catholics hang on to their utterances as if these guys were the pope. This is dangerous ground to tread on.

All these guys are self appointed experts who remind me way too much of Protestant ministers. Something just doesn't seem right.

What's up with the earring?

This man is a priest. Wrap your mind around that for a sec and then read this on Catholic World News to see what he's been up to. It aint pretty.

St. Pio, pray for us!

St. Peter Damien, pray for us!

St. John Vianney, pray for us!

Servant of God, Archbishop Sheen, pray for us!

Thoughts for a Thursday night

Dominic Bettenelli's wife, Melanie has cancer. They have a baby and are still practically newlyweds. Dom is sometimes a bit pompous but he loves his family and his heart is in the right place.

St. Peregrine, patron of cancer victims please pray for this young wife and mother.

19th wedding anniversay

I've finally figured out what has been wrong with me this week. I've been uncommonly weepy and day dreamy. My wedding anniversary was yesterday (we went to Ruth Chris's Steak House and it was the best steak of my life!) and the memory of those early days when Rocky and I first met and got married are so intense that I'm emotional.

19 years ago when I was 21 and Rocky was 23 we drove to Baltimore (no blood tests) and got married in the city court house. Two US Marshals and a shackled prisoner wished us luck. Afterwards we went to the Baltimore Inner Harbor and had shrimp. Later, we walked into the rectory of Saint Ignatius Chruch in Maryland and asked Fr. Wermer to help us. He gave me a stern talking to about getting married civilly and reminded me that it was no more than living together and then he got to work at the diocese marriage tribunal. We were married in church per the bishop's approval and lived happily ever after.

I remember that it was night and the there were no lights in the church except for candles. We had no flowers except for my corsage and baby's breath crown. I had on an old dress and my satin shoes from my high school prom. Rocky was sweating like Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull and we forgot about getting pictures. Rocky's family did not attend.

His family didn't like me at first. I was not their class, I was Catholic and they were Baptist (Rocky converted after our marriage) and I was too quiet, too smart and just too different from what they expected their son to marry. His little brother frankly told him that he didn't care for me all. Rocky told him thanks for the opinion and pursued me like the Colts going after the Lombardi trophy in the Superbowl anyway.

When I met Rocky I was seriously involved with someone else but he just blew that other guy away. One day as we were walking along I realized that this boy was The ONE. I swear I heard Judy Garland singing. And then I got nauseaus. I had planned to marry someone who was well, weak, tame and who'd let me be in complete charge. Rocky wasn't tame then and he sure isn't now.


Here's an essence of Rocky story:

Last year I organized my family's reunion. It was hard, hard, hard work to pull off an event that large; it was like running a small business for a year and Rocky really didn't have a wife for months. He never complained. He was an advisor, the reunion accountant and cheerfully shuttled me and my mother to various meetings. On the day of the reunion banquet I was so exhausted that I lay down (collasped really) to rest before getting dressed in my evening finery. Rocky immediately went into protector mode. I have a vaugue memory of relatives coming to our room door needing various things and hearing R. say, "No you can't talk to Dym, she's trying to sleep. Talk to me." He made change, rustled up extra t-shirts, gave directions, conferred with the banquet manager and straightened out a couple of my wild cousins. He didn't let anyone in to see me or pester me on the phone until the color came back into my cheeks. Forget cards and flowers I thought that was the most romantic thing….

random thoughts for a Monday night

• DC's first opera company was formed at my old church. I never knew this. Amy Welborn has the rather interested story here.
  
  
• I just saw this on the Catholic Conservation blog. Cardinal Egan plays rough!
• 
  Der Tomissar doesn't post much anymore but this reflection on love and what we do for it is really quite beautiful in a way.

Behold the Man

This Lent, behold Him as you never have before. Draw closer to Him as you never have before.

Chaplet in Honor of the Sacred Face

Most Sacred Face, we call on You until You hear our prayers. You are able to help us wonderfully, Holy God, Mighty God, Holy Immortal God! Have mercy on us and on the whole world! Turn Your Face towards us and we shall be saved!

At the large beads we pray:
Heavenly Father, humbly and fervently we offer You the infinite merits and sufferings of the Sacred Face, His Precious Blood, all the wounds and tears of Jesus, to Your greater Glory, for help in our great need!
At the small beads, instead of the Hail Mary, we pray:

FIRST DECADE
O Sacred Face, covered with wounds, have mercy on us, who call on You!

SECOND DECADE
O Sacred Face, covered with blood, have mercy on us who call on You!

THIRD DECADE
O Sacred Face, shedding tears with infinite Love, have mercy on us who call on You!

FOURTH DECADE
O Sacred Face, despised and insulted, have mercy on us who call on You!

FIFTH DECADE
O Sacred Face, silently bearing the most bitter pain, have mercy on us who call on You!

Conclude:

Let us adore the Sacred Face of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Our Savior, Whose merits are infinite and Whose mercy is fathomless. May He grant us the remission of our sins and true conversion. Let us console His Sacred Face by the purity of our lives, by fearless witness to our Faith and by the depth of our love!

Amen.

THE GOLDEN ARROW PRAYER

MAY THE MOST HOLY, MOST SACRED, MOST ADORABLE, MOST INCOMPREHENSIBLE AND UNUTTERABLE NAME OF GOD BE ALWAYS PRAISED, BLESSED, LOVED, ADORED AND GLORIFIED, IN HEAVEN, ON EARTH AND UNDER THE EARTH, BY ALL THE CREATURES OF GOD, AND BY THE SACRED HEART OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, IN THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR.

AMEN.

Oh Lord, show us thy Face and we shall be saved!

Saturday I got up early and caught a cab to church. We only have one car and my husband was at work and I missed the bus. Oh well. Fr. Theoden reccomended a group to me that cleans up after Mass. I met the leader of the group but they weren't doing their thing that day. As my stomach was curling up in knots (nerves--- I'm shy and talking to new people sometimes makes me ill) I was relieved. I'll come back next Saturday.

After Mass I read the little office of the Blessed Virgin and did the Stations. Fr. sat a few pews in front of me saying his Breviary. That was inspiring. I missed the bus on my return trip and decided to walk instead of standing in the cold at the stop. I enjoyed the walk, I met friendly people and was "kissed" by a happy giant poodle which was really great.

It was a three mile up hill walk and my legs are aching today. Rocky, was somewhat cautious about the whole thing. He argued that one : I normally don't get up until ten on Saturdays and since my job is so stressful that I need the rest. and two that that keeping up after him is grueling enough so why do I want to do more cleaning? Funny man. My darling mother argued that I should be doing something more intellecutal. I was talking to her on the phone and could see her lip curling in disgust in my mind's eye. She thinks I should be sponsoring someone as a catechuemen or arguing in a bible study class. We'll see.

Fr. Richard Sparks---- warning deeply offensive content

Years ago, decades really, a book was published called, Memoirs of an Anti-Apostle. It's still in print and you can buy it from Tan. It was the story of a false priest--- a man who with his communist comrades went to the seminary, got ordained and worked quietly to do evil from the inside of the Church. Fr, Richard Sparks is a perfect example of what can happy when the priest is not 100% orthodox. I'm not saying he's a deliberate anti apostle but if he can get up in public and say foul things like this about the holy mother of Our Lord and Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse, then something has gone seriously wrong in his vocation. Fr. if you do not believe why do you stay in the priesthood? What the heck happened to the Paulists?

This Lent may Our Lady, queen and mother to all priests touch his heart.

Ash Wednesday & bird watching

Rocky and I went to Mass at St.Mathhews Cathedral in DC for Ash Wednedday. We got there early and it was packed to the door. There were three priests, one deacon and a small army of Eurchasristic Ministers. There must have been at least 15 of them. Instead of a priest everyone in my section got a cute 20 something year old girl who really needed to button up her top. Fr. Jameson's homily was not his best but everyone has an off night and I'm sure the poor man was tired.

I love Lent, each blessed one brings me closer to Our Lord and nothing is better than that.



This morning a pair of Canada Geese landed on the roof. They looked so funny up there. Added to the black vultures, American Kestrel and the RedShouldered Hawk that I saw last week this is turning out to be a pretty good bird watching month.

random thoughts for a Monday off from work

• Yesterday morning I heard a mourning dove singing outside my window. It's the first dove I've heard this year. The ice outside is so think I can stand on it without making a dent but Spring is coming.
  
  
  


• I'd love to see Queen Isabella be cannonized. She and her daughter Queen Catherine are two of my great heroines but the human odds against Isabella are high. The whole weak Western world trembles in fear before Islam and the Muslims would probably object to her Cause. A number of Jewish groups would also protest.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• For Lent I've decided to take up the Holy Face devotion and I'm going to start a curse jar. Every time I say something spicy I'll put 50 cents in the jar. At the end of Lent I'll give whatever the amount is to one of my Catholic charities.
  
  
  
• I want to do something at my parish but I'm not sure what. After visiting North Carolina I was struck once again by unfriendly Virginia suburban parishes are. Rocky and I attended our parish for a year before anyone other than Fr. Theoden and Fr. Aragorn spoke to us even to say hello. I don't want to be a greeter---- I'm shy and the whole concept is lame and better suited to a church where they dance with snakes anyway---- but something needs to be done. Unless you've been attending my parish for 15 years or have kids at the school you will be largely ignored and that's not good. I'd like to bring it up with Fr. Theoden but I don't want him to think that I am one of those wretched church ladies that are obsessed with running their own little fiefdoms. Maybe what we need is a sodality. I think I'll get into the habit of saying hello to people and see what happens. Maybe it will spread.
  
  
  
• The annual Catholic Charities gala was held last week and from the published photos I've noticed something: several of the women partygoers were dressed immodestly. In one pic a priest stands looking (too his credit) somewhat uncomfortable while surrounded women in strapless gowns. Why would you go to a Catholic function half naked? Why would you ask a priest to pose with you and your heaving boobs? What the heck is wrong with people?
  

Weep for Orlando and our bishops

In an age when Catholic schools and churches are being closed this bishop decides to give $10,000 to a Protestant sect. It's time to stop giving to the bishops appeals. Hat tip to Some Have Hats.

Carolina Cannonball has a fantastic post on feminism

Sometimes I wish I could give American women a collective smack upside the head. We are the most free-- although we confuse freedom with license, best educated, most pampered women on the face of the earth and yet becuase of the feminist movement many of us are miserable. Carolina Cannonball's post on this topic is awsome.

I've never (even in my wild college years) had any use for feminism. I like men, love being a woman and I know full well that a man's life is not something I want to live. Besides feminism is satanic. Anything that encourages you to worship yourself instead of God comes from the heart of the devil.

random thoughts on a Tuesday evening

• Archbishop Wuerl has written his first pastoral letter on confession. Some people are cheering but it seems tragic to me that the church in America has fallen so low that people are impressed because a bishop tells people to go to confession during Lent. Didn't that used to be a no-brainer?
  
  
• On Amy Welborn's and Mark Shea's blog there is an conversation going on about immigration and comments that Karl Rove supposedly made. I think condemning his alleged comments are hasty and hypocritical. Hasty because we don't really know that he said this. Reporters have been known to lie before. Jayson Blair did it at the New York Times and Janet Cooke did it at the Washington Post.
  
  And it's hypocritical because let's face it : Many Middle and upper class Americans don't like manual labor and would prefer to have someone else do what they consider to be a lowly, nasty job.. When was the last time, outside of the Southa small MidWestern town that you saw a white or black kid bussing tables in a restaurant? When was the last time a middle class white kid knocked on your door and asked if he could cut your grass? Rather than paint our own living rooms a lot of couples are choosing the degrading and potentially dangerous practice of picking men up at the day labor lot next to Home Depot or Lowes and dropping them off on the side of the road when the job is done.

i have returned

It was close to 50 degrees in Carolina so coming back to the ice and miserable cold was no fun. Still, it was a great trip and we had such fun. I saw an American Kestrel fly past our car and when we done furiture shopping we went to a tiny little church for Sunday Mass. It was Christ the King and the Mass was lovely. Later we visited High Point's only other parish, Immaculate Heart of Mary. The people there were so nice and one of the ushers took us on a tour. We were both struck by how friendly everyone was. At my parish if strangers walked in they'd either be ignored or stared at. I think I'll mention that to Fr. Theoden. We could be doing a lot better.