A Cappuchin

Suit up and be ready for anything....random thoughts on a sick day.

I've been sick off an on since June  and today  I decided to stay home in my nice dark bedroom, take my migraine pills and try to get some rest.  In between naps it has been a random thoughts kind of day.

• Last night we went to the Thursday night TLM at St. Rita's. The altar boys were just leaving after having had practice. In the parking lot we heard a  little altar boy asking a big one (he looked about 13) for advice. The big altar boy said, "Suit up and be ready for anything," Rocky and I found that funny and Rocky figures that the boy was talking about the big family Mass at mid day on Sundays but that advice is pretty good for life in general. 

• The Texas Poor Clares make some really nice soap. Speaking of nuns I was mistaken for one two weeks ago and that still stuns me. I was wearing earrings, lipstick, and a nice (although it was navy) dress and my hair comes to my shoulders and in no way resembles a truck driver. On top of all that I was with Rocky. Now granted, we were not slobbering all over each other as we walked the grounds of the Charles Caroll House which is on the St. Mary's Church property, but we were clearly a couple. What kind of crazy little  nuns do they have running around  in Annapolis, MD?
  
• What's the deal with the three days of darkness? I can not find any mention of this prophesied divine chastisement in the Catholic Encyclopedia. People I respect believe strongly in this but the Holy See has never, to my knowledge said "Yes, children, this is safe to believe." It seems to me that after the Warning there would be no need for further chastisement or that if 70% of the world is going to be wiped out the survivors are going to have a pretty tough time of it until Judgement Day.
  
  
• I really like the Pray More Novena's site. I have found it very helpful.

• I have a feeling Supreme Court Justice Ruth Vader Ginsburg is going to be very surprised one day when she finds out that the court will go on without her without even so much as a hiccup and that her eugenicist views are not going to look too good when she goes before the Ultimate Judge. At her age this will be sooner rather than decades later. 

• No matter what happens ---if anything--at the October synod nothing will really change. If you divorce your spouse, take up with your secretary with the long legs and pneumatic bosom and then strut up to Communion you will be eating and drinking your own destruction. The priest can be forced to place the Host in your hands, the rest of us can be threatened with social ostracism if we don't call your mistress your wife and you can ignore the faces of your children but all that really matters is that Jesus said :

But I say to you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, excepting for the cause of fornication, maketh her to commit adultery: and he that shall marry her that is put away, committeth adultery.

• Fr. Paul Nicholson says the SSPX praying is worse than a Satanic Mass. I don't know a single person who attends a SSPX chapel but I was really disappointed in him for saying that. Since I hold the words of Mother Vogl concerning priests dear, I won't say any more about this. 

• Colleen Hufford was 54 years old. The poor lady got up this morning and got ready for work at the Vaughan Foods processing plant just like any other normal day. She may have read or listened to music on her way to work. She may have thought about her family or about what she was going to have for dinner when she got home. She may have had plans for the weekend. When she got work a Muslim, who reportedly had been fired for harassing other employees about converting and arguing that it was okay to stone "sinful" women, beheaded her. He used a fillet knife. Colleen Hufford did not die quickly as she would've done from a machete, or a strike from a master  swordsman. She died in what must have been unspeakable agony until she finally bled out. After butchering Colleen, he stabbed a 43 year old co-worker, who was also older than him and female. His rampage was ended because a brave man at the plant shot him. He is still in possession of  his wicked life so he still has time to repent.
  
  This did not happen in California or New York City or even in some place that has a huge foreign born Muslim population like Minnesota or Chicago. This happened in Oklahoma. The Muslim who killed her did not look like he just walked out of the desert. He looks like the same ordinary guys you'd see on the bus or the sidewalk or in the apple section of the grocery store.  When that poor woman in England was beheaded one of my co-workers and her friends cracked nervous Highlander jokes. If anyone is joking now they are like the people Hillaire Belloc was talking about when he wrote, "But as we laugh we are watched by large and awful faces from beyond: and on these faces there is no smile."
  
  Eternal rest grant unto Colleen Oh Lord, let perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest in peace.

Prayers

First Communion

Anima Christi

Anima Christi, sanctifica me. Corpus Christi, salva me. Sanguis Christi, inebria me. Aqua lateris Christi, lava me. Passio Christi, conforta me. O bone Iesu, exaudi me. Intra tua vulnera absconde me. Ne permittas me separari a te. Ab hoste maligno defende me. In hora mortis meae voca me. Et iube me venire ad te, Ut cum Sanctis tuis laudem te. In saecula saeculorum. Amen. 

At prayer

Random thoughts and A few good blogs

• I know a lot of people are mad that the Archbishop Sheen's cause for sainthood has been temporarily closed but despite the way it went down, is the slow down really a bad thing? He died in 1979, and that's too soon to talk about canonization unless you're talking about a martyr or a super saint who raised people from the dead, or went to a foreign pagan country and miraculously was able to speak the language and converted millions.  I am not knocking the archbishop, I'm just saying slow down and stop running on emotion. 

• The most well known Catholic blogs seem to be on Church politics, current events and the pope's doings. This is okay, but if you're looking for something different; or something devotional, I found some fine blogs and a website that are not widely known but definitely deserve to be. 

• The Cloistered Heart is a wonderful blog, gorgeous to look at and a pleasure to read. 
• Unum Sanctum Catolicum is a chewy, meaty blog. I always learn something when I stop by. 
• Holy Card Heaven is simply beautiful. 
• Blessed is She is all about the daily missal readings. 
• Liturgica Latina is a great source of information.
• Those Catholic Men is written for men but I like it too.
• The Roman Martyrolgoy
  
  
• I've always wondered why Evangelicals and many Catholics have nothing to say about the plight of Christians in the Middle East. Other than the Franciscans I don't see much support for the beleaguered Christians in Israel either. In the comment boxes of various sites just this week I've seen many self proclaimed Evangelicals say that the Catholic and Orthodox of the Middle East aren't real Christians anyway. Archbishop Amel Nona has something to say to these people but they aren't listening. All those decades of ecumenicism doesn't seem to have produced much.

Cardinal McCarrick says that Catholic social teaching and the what the Koran teaches are pretty similar

Retired DC Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is a charming conversationalist with self deprecating humor and twinkling eyes. When he was in his 60s he looked like a Leprechaun come to life and is a master politician. He also confirmed Rocky and for that reason, my dear husband retains some fondness for him. I'd like to say his praise  of Islam is due to the mental decline that can come with old age but he's been humble and conciliatory towards Mohammed's creed for years and he's not the only one. It's like people are so afraid that they can't wait to bend their knees now in hopes they'll be spared later. Maybe this great cowardice is the reason why ISIS is having such success and why Islam in general has become so strong in the West.

St. Raymond Nonnatus, who risked your own life to rescue Christians slaves in Algeria, and who when imprisoned there, converted many of your captors, pray for your brother priests and bishops.

Mass without pews

The Church of St. Francis of Assisi by Elizabeth Nourse

Miserere

Benedict Option? I don't think that phrase means what you think it does.

Whenever I hear someone talk about the Benedict Option I wonder they know what that really means. St. Benedict did not stand up one day and announce, "This empire is doomed. Me and my boys are going to head to the backwoods and watch it burn. If any lay people show up we'll teach them all the arts and sciences they forgot after the barbarians destroyed everything." 

The saint was a hermit for years before founding his monasteries. I don't see St. Benedict and his sister, St. Scholastica as hiding from the world or deciding to build a private little community for lay people. They were serving God first, and striving to save souls. The preservation of Western culture came later, much later as a happy side effect on Benedictine monasticism.  If you and a few like minded families go off some where intending to build a utopia you won't be latter day St. Benedicts.  If you really want to imitate St. Benedict then leave all behind and head to the monastery or the convent. If you are called to the lay state then you can become a Benedictine oblate.  

A Capuchin

A litany of Our Lady

Holy Virgin of virgins, 

Mother of Christ, 

Mother of divine grace, 

Mother most pure, 

Mother most chaste, 

Mother inviolate, 

Mother undefiled, 

Mother most amiable, 

Mother most admirable, 

Mother of good counsel, 

Mother of our Creator, 

Mother of our Savior, 

Virgin most prudent, 

Virgin most venerable, 

Virgin most renowned, 

Virgin most powerful, 

Virgin most powerful, 

Virgin most merciful, 

Virgin most faithful, 

Mirror of justice, 

Seat of wisdom, 

Cause of our joy, 

Spiritual vessel, 

Vessel of honor, 

Singular vessel of devotion, 

Mystical rose, 

Tower of David, 

Tower of ivory, 

House of gold, 

Ark of the covenant, 

Gate of heaven, 

Morning star, 

Heath of the Sick, 

Refuge of sinners, 

Comforter of the afflicted, 

Help of Christians, 

Queen of Angels, 

Queen of Patriarchs, 

Queen of Prophets, 

Queen of Apostles, 

Queen of Martyrs, 

Queen Confessors, 

Queen of Virgins, 

Queen of all Saints, 

Queen conceived without original sin, 

Queen assumed into heaven, 

Queen of the most holy Rosary, 

Queen of Peace,

For the love of St. Patrick...something stinks in the NY diocese and DC smells kinda funny too

Okay, by now you've probably read that the New York St. Patrick Day Parade organizers broke under pressure from their corporate sponsors and  are going to allow homosexuals to march in the parade with their own banner. On top of this, Cardinal Dolan is going to be the grand marshal of the parade. Is anybody really surprised?  What's more interesting is an essay on the DC archdiocese website, written by  DC priest Msgr. Charles Pope who argued that it's time to do away with the parade and the Al Smith dinner too. When I read it I thought two things: First, that the monsignor was going to catch some flak for  this opinion and second, that the essay would probably be removed from the archdiocese site within the hour. Sure enough, the essay is gone. Lifesite news has re-posted the whole thing for now.   Say a prayer for the monsignor. I have a feeling that this isn't over for him.


As to St. Patrick Day itself; how does getting drunk in public honor St. Patrick? Never-mind the homosexual obsession with the parade in New York, let's be honest enough to admit that  that the day was already ruined and has been for decades.The memory of the tough, holy man who converted pagan Ireland has nothing to do with much of what goes on during his feast day and he can  not be pleased by a profane bacchanal in the middle of what is supposed to be a penitential season.  After reading Monsignor Pope's essay I was reminded of a video of a talk given by a Swiss priest last year entitled "There is a Danger that this Year's Lent Will Be the Same Joke". Here's a challenge that doesn't involve a bucket of ice water. Next year why try prayer and fasting for St. Patrick's Day? St. Patrick's adopted Irish eyes will smile on you.

A monk

REPOST---There are Four Lights

Although I'm a classic Star Trek kind of gal, I  was usually content to watch Star Trek New Generation. The show's writers got heavy handed at times when pushing certain repugnant social views  and there are some episodes that I can't stomach to this day. I was very fond of Picard, Worf, and Data,  tolerated Riker, loathed Deanna Troi and was delighted when that horrible Wesley Crusher left the show. I think one of the greatest performances Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard ever gave--and there were many---was  in the two part "Chain of Command" episode. Picard has been taken prisoner and tortured. He is told that the pain will stop and he can live in comfortable captivity for the rest of his life if he says he sees five lights flashing when there are obviously only four. Picard refuses to lie to please his torturer and says there are four lights.


In a meeting with some members of the Franciscans of the Immaculate the pope may have  paraphrased a quote from St. Ignatius Loyola indicating that if the pope says something black is really white then we must believe it is white. What did the Holy Father mean by this? It is impossible to say and I won't speculate as so many people have done. I'll only say that the Holy Father appears to have gotten the quote wrong. St. Ignatius Loyola said or wrote:


We should always be disposed to believe that that which appears(emphasis mine) white is really black, if the hierarchy of the church so decides. 

Saint Ignatius was not telling his order that they had to believe that an actual black object was white if the pope said so. That would have been ludicrous and a rejection of the logic that Jesuits became famous for. The saint was saying that if you think something is true, good etc. based on your own knowledge or experience, be docile and wise enough to realize that you don't know everything and in fact, you know practically nothing compared to the dogma of the Church. You may think it's okay to marry for the third or fourth time but the Church says it is not so. You may think it's okay to miss Mass a few times in a month but the Church says it is not so. You may think that your concubine is the same as a wife but the Church says it is not so. Really, the saint was NOT saying go be a simpleton.

If your priest, a nun, a bishop or even the pope says it's raining when you can clearly see that it is not you are not bound to believe that or parrot it back. If you are told there are five lights when you see darn well that there are only four you are free to have the courage to say like Picard, beaten, exhausted, terrorized that no dammit,"There...are..FOUR...lights!"  

The Passion of St. John

Herod by James Tissot

The House of Herod was an astonishingly sick one even by the standards of the day. Herod the Great, was a monstrous individual and the first of a long line of anti-Christs. A Roman contemporary famously quipped that it was better to be Herod's pig than his son and that was true. Herod did not eat pork--in public anyway but his paranoia drove him to kill not only his wife, her mother and her still teen-aged brother but two of his sons as well.When Herod wasn't killing his family, he was killing enemies, real and imagined and making his subjects miserable. His viciousness was such that his courtiers probably weren't shocked when he ordered the Slaughter of the Innocents.

Herodias  who was a key figure in the Passion of St. John, was the granddaughter of Herod the Great by one of his murdered sons. She was married to her half uncle, Herod II, (also called Herod Phillip) a son by King Herod's third wife.  At some point she dumped  her husband and taking her daughter, Salome went off to Gallilee  in order to be with his half brother Herod Antipas, another son of Herod the Great by his fourth wife.  Her new husband, Herod Antipas was both her brother-in-law and her uncle.

St. John the Baptist, the last of the prophets, of whom Our Lord said there was none greater born of woman, looked at the adulterous, incestuous couple and saw that they were crooked people sprung from a crooked house. Most people would've turned away, repulsed and given the situation up as hopeless  but John did not. The Gospels tell us the rest of the story. His passion is commemorated on August 29.

St. John the Baptist by Mattia Pretti

St. John, precursor of the Lamb of God, pray for us. 

Thank you Monsignor Ricci

Monsignor Giullio Ricci was Vatican archivist and sindonologist in the 60s. He created this painting based on his observations of the Holy Shroud which shows a Man who wore a cap of thorns rather than the circlet we are all used to seeing in art. There is a crucifix in St. Peter Church in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia that is modeled after one created by the monsignor. The first time I saw it I dropped to my knees and cried.

My thorn crowned Captain

"Woe to me if I should prove to be a half hearted soldier in the service of my thorn crowed Captain"

St. Fidelis pray for us

The Christ Child