Random thoughts on a hot Thursday afternoon

• Chris Jackson has such a way with words. I used to think Anthony Abbate was an interesting alternative to the Trad Inc. beard-and-whiskey-look-at-us-we're-so-manly crowd. Yes, he laid the stereotypical loud mouth New York Italian act on so thick it seemed like he was playing a bit part in a bad TV show, but  he had a real job which was refreshing. In the past six months whenever I read his stuff on Twitter I've had a feeling that something-- well, two things really, are off.  Chris Jackson writes about one of the things here.  
  
  
  
  
  
• Did you know that Sudan is on its third civil war? The first one was from 1955-1972. The second was from 1983-2005, and the current war started in  April of 2023. In fact, there's over 100 armed conflicts going on in the world right now.  The world is not suddenly on fire.  The fire has been burning since the Fall of Adam. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• This may blow some people's minds but if the pope is not speaking ex cathedra you are not bound by pain of mortal sin to pay attention to every word that falls from his lips.  To use a ridiculously broad example, if the Holy Father says "I think Arabian horses are the best pets. Everyone should have one, " that does not mean you should buy one or get rid of your dog. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Easter Vigil was fantastic this year. There were 37 baptisms and confirmations at the cathedral so Rocky and I went to the Franciscan Monastery instead. The homily was great. The music was beautiful. Every year I think I can't do another vigil, and when we do, I'm always so grateful that we did.
  
  
  
  
• Have you noticed that nobody on social media seems to be happy with Catholic converts? The liberal Catholics are afraid that the new Catholics aren't flaky enough. The conservatives and trads almost all posted sarcastic stuff like  "Welcome home. It's a mess. Now shut up."  
  
  
  
  
  
• This is interesting. I can't imagine the Vatican court will say "Oopsie, the resignation was invalid."

Christ Crucified

 Christ Crucified

.

by 
Richard Crashaw

THY restless feet now cannot go

  For us and our eternal good,

As they were ever wont. What though

  They swim, alas! in their own flood?

Thy hands to give Thou canst not lift,

  Yet will Thy hand still giving be;

It gives, but O, itself' s the gift!

  It gives tho' bound, tho' bound 'tis free!

Wednesday of Holy Week

 

Dream of the Rood

The Dream of the Rood 

(Rood ---Old English for Crucifix) 

Listen! I will speak of the sweetest dream,

what came to me in the middle of the night,

when speech-bearers slept in their rest. 

It seemed that I saw a most wondrous tree

raised on high, wound round with light,

the brightest of beams. All that beacon was

covered in gold; gems stood

fair at the earth’s corners, and there were five

up on the cross-beam. All the angels of the Lord looked on;

fair through all eternity; that was no felon’s gallows,

but holy spirits beheld him there,

men over the earth and all this glorious creation.

 

     Wondrous was the victory-tree, and I was stained by sins,

wounded with guilt; I saw the tree of glory

honored in garments, shining with joys,

bedecked with gold; gems had

covered worthily the Creator’s tree.

And yet beneath that gold I began to see

an ancient wretched struggle, when it first began

to bleed on the right side. I was all beset with sorrows,

fearful for that fair vision; I saw that eager beacon

change garments and colors––now it was drenched,

stained with blood, now bedecked with treasure.

And yet, lying there a long while,

I beheld in sorrow the Savior’s tree

until I heard it utter a sound;

that best of woods began to speak words:

“It was so long ago––I remember it still––

that I was felled from the forest’s edge,

ripped up from my roots. Strong enemies seized me there,

made me their spectacle, made me bear their criminals;

they bore me on their shoulders and then set me on a hill,

enemies enough fixed me fast. Then I saw the Lord of mankind

hasten eagerly, when he wanted to ascend upon me.

I did not dare to break or bow down

against the Lord’s word, when I saw

the ends of the earth tremble. Easily I might

have felled all those enemies, and yet I stood fast.

Then the young hero made ready—that was God almighty—

strong and resolute; he ascended on the high gallows,

brave in the sight of many, when he wanted to ransom mankind.

I trembled when he embraced me, but I dared not bow to the ground,

or fall to the earth’s corners––I had to stand fast.

I was reared as a cross: I raised up the mighty King,

the Lord of heaven; I dared not lie down.

They drove dark nails through me; the scars are still visible,

open wounds of hate; I dared not harm any of them.

They mocked us both together; I was all drenched with blood

flowing from that man’s side after he had sent forth his spirit.

 

     “Much have I endured on that hill

of hostile fates: I saw the God of hosts

cruelly stretched out. Darkness had covered

with its clouds the Ruler’s corpse,

that shining radiance. Shadows spread

grey under the clouds; all creation wept,

mourned the King’s fall: Christ on the cross.

And yet from afar men came hastening

to that noble one; I watched it all.

I was all beset with sorrow, yet I sank into their hands,

humbly, eagerly. There they took almighty God,

lifted him from his heavy torment; the warriors then left me

standing drenched in blood, all shot through with arrows.

They laid him down, bone-weary, and stood by his body’s head;

they watched the Lord of heaven there, who rested a while,

weary from his mighty battle. They began to build a tomb for him

in the sight of his slayer; they carved it from bright stone,

and set within the Lord of victories. They began to sing a dirge for him,

wretched at evening, when they wished to travel hence,

weary, from the glorious Lord––he rested there with little company.

And as we stood there, weeping, a long while

fixed in our station, the song ascended

from those warriors. The corpse grew cold,

the fair life-house. Then they began to fell us

all to the earth––a terrible fate!

They dug for us a deep pit, yet the Lord’s thanes,

friends found me there… 

adorned me with gold and silver.

“Now you can hear, my dear hero,

that I have endured the work of evil-doers,

harsh sorrows. Now the time has come

that far and wide they will honor me,

men over the earth and all this glorious creation,

and pray to this sign. On me the Son of God

suffered for a time; and so, glorious now

I rise up under the heavens, and am able to heal

each of those who is in awe of me.

Once I was made into the worst of torments,

most hateful to all people, before I opened

the true way of life for speech-bearers. 

Lo! the King of glory, Guardian of heaven’s kingdom

honored me over all the trees of the forest,

just as he has also, almighty God, honored

his mother, Mary herself,

above all womankind for the sake of all men.

 

     “Now I bid you, my beloved hero,

that you reveal this vision to men,

tell them in words that it is the tree of glory

on which almighty God suffered

for mankind’s many sins

and Adam’s ancient deeds.

Death He tasted there, yet the Lord rose again

with his great might to help mankind.

He ascended into heaven. He will come again

to this middle-earth to seek mankind

on doomsday, almighty God, 

the Lord himself and his angels with him,

and He will judge—He has the power of judgment—

each one of them as they have earned

beforehand here in this loaned life.

No one there may be unafraid

at the words which the Ruler will speak:

He will ask before the multitude where the man might be

who for the Lord’s name would taste

bitter death, as He did earlier on that tree.

But they will tremble then, and little think

what they might even begin to say to Christ.

But no one there need be very afraid

who has borne in his breast the best of beacons;

but through the cross we shall seek the kingdom,

every soul from this earthly way,

whoever thinks to rest with the Ruler.”

 

     Then I prayed to the tree with a happy heart,

eagerly, there where I was alone

with little company. My spirit longed to start

on the journey forth; it has felt

so much of longing. It is now my life’s hope

that I might seek the tree of victory

alone, more often than all men

 and honor it well. I wish for that

with all my heart, and my hope of protection is

fixed on the cross. I have few wealthy friends

on earth; but they all have gone forth,

fled from worldly joys and sought the King of glory;

they live now in heaven with the High Father,

and dwell in glory, and each day I look forward

to the time when the cross of the Lord,

on which I have looked while here on this earth,

will fetch me from this loaned life,

and bring me where there is great bliss,

joy in heaven, where the Lord’s host

is seated at the feast, with ceaseless bliss;

and then set me where I may afterwards

dwell in glory, have a share of joy

fully with the saints. May the Lord be my friend,

He who here on earth once suffered

on the hanging-tree for human sin;

He ransomed us and gave us life,

a heavenly home. Hope was renewed

with cheer and bliss for those who were burning there.

The Son was successful in that journey,

mighty and victorious, when he came with a multitude,

a great host of souls, into God’s kingdom,

the one Ruler almighty, the angels rejoicing

and all the saints already in heaven

dwelling in glory, when almighty God,

their Ruler, returned to his rightful home.

Tuesday of Holy Week

 

Monday of Holy Week

 It's Whip o'clock Monday.....

Passiontide and Holy Week from From Dom Gueranger

 This is fascinating. 

Up Jumped the Devil-- Pachamama's back

By now you've probably seen the 1995, photo showing then Fr. Robert Prevost  at a Pachamama ritual, during a symposium held by his order, the Augustinians.  He doesn't appear to be unhappy and there's nothing to indicate that he was there under protest. Some people are horrified. Others are desperately trying to downplay the story. 

The Pachamama abomination in the Vatican under Pope Francis didn't just happen because Francis alone was horrible. It happened because there's some really dark and  funky stuff going on in Latin America and it's been that way for decades. The Church is not healthy there and  don't be surprised when a bishop or cardinal from any of those countries is soft on paganism and some very particular sexual sins  under the guise of being culturally sensitive. It looks like the Augustinian order, like the Jesuits, and a huge swatch of the Franciscans are not sound.  

In time, I'm sure more stuff is going to come out. Pope Leo was in Peru for a long time, but whatever hits the news next, don't let his failings run you away from Christ's church. 

Georgetown U. has been secular in all but name for a long time.

 If there are any parents who still think Georgetown University is a Catholic school then this ought to wake them up. Interim President Groves will be hosting a Shabbat dinner. The fact that there are enough Jewish students at Georgetown to have a Jewish Life office says that the university is soft pedaling Christianity and treating Our Lord like the embarrassing uncle at Thanksgiving. Georgetown has been secular in all but name for a long time. 

On Hearing Mass During Lent by Dom Gueranger

 

Random thoughts on the first Friday of Lent

•  The higher the monkey climbs, the more he exposes himself. A young woman named Sara Stock worked for Elijah Shaeffer, and allegedly had an affair with him right up until she  married a very unfortunate man in January. Shaeffer has a lot of enemies  and his alleged affair with Stock  became public as part of an attack on him. She had also had a lot of ill-wishers who seeing her exposed, exulted in her disgrace and the ruin of her life. In addition to working for Shaeffer, Stock was a Catholic influencer.  Was she ever sincere? God only knows for sure. One thing is clear though.  The whole Catholic e-girl industry is a dangerous thing. All the gullible people, (probably mostly young women), who followed her have got to be pretty disappointed. Hopefully, none of these people hung their faith on her example. 
  
  
  
  

• For the last two or three years Cardinals and now the pope are praising Ramadan.  I shouldn't be surprised but it's so disgusting.

• Never, ever, ever take a job with your diocese.  Joe Enders was a business manager for a parish in Michigan. Now he has no job and no severance. He has a family and a baby due in May. 
  
  
  
  
  
• Rocky and I are really enjoying the Great Fast videos from the Norbertines at St. Michael's Abbey.

Litany of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Litany of Reparation to the Sacred Heart

of Jesus

O Sacred Heart, hear us.

Sacred Heart, graciously hear us.

For the forgetfulness and ingratitude of men,

We will console Thee, O Lord. *

For the way Thou art deserted in Thy Tabernacle, *

For the crimes of sinners, *

For the blasphemies uttered against Thee, *

For the sacrileges which profane Thy Sacrament of Love, *

For the coldness of the greater part of Thy children, *

For the abuse of Thy grace, *

For our own unfaithfulness, *

For the incomprehensible hardness of our hearts, *

For our long delay in loving Thee, *

For Thy bitter sadness at the loss of souls, *

For Thy long waiting at the door of our hearts, *

For Thy loving sighs, *

For Thy loving tears, *

For Thy loving imprisonment, *

For Thy loving death. *

Learn of Me:

Because I am meek and humble of heart.

O Heart of Jesus, by Thy sorrow for those who know Thee not,

Have mercy on me as Thou seest best. **

O Heart of Jesus, by Thy sorrow for those who do not believe in Thee, **

O Heart of Jesus, by Thy sorrow for those who are inconstant and ungrateful, **

O Heart of Jesus, by Thy sorrow during the whole course of Thy mortal life, **

O Heart of Jesus, by Thy sorrow in Thy agony and in Thy death, **

O Heart of Jesus, by Thy sorrow for those who neglect their eternal salvation, **

O Heart of Jesus, by Thy sorrow for those who offer the most Holy Sacrifice unworthily, **

Heart of Jesus, by Thy sorrow for the scarcity of those who love Thee fervently, **

Sweet Heart of Jesus:

Be not my Judge but my Saviour.

O Jesus, loveliest of all beauty, wash me more and more from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin, that, purified by Thee, I may approach to Thee, the pure One, and may be worthy to dwell in "Thy Heart all the days of my life, that I may both see and do Thy will. For this cause was Thy side pierced, that an entrance might be opened for us. Who is there who would not love this wounded Heart? Who would not return love for love to Him that hath loved so well? Amen.

O adorable Heart of Jesus, if men did but know Thee: How they would love Thee!

Random thoughts on an icy afternoon

•  When I was a kid I picked up a book called Nurse and after looking at the blurbs and a few pages I put it right back on the bookstore's shelf. It was feminist and dreary and nothing for a 10 or 11 year old to be reading. The main thing I took from it was that nurses hate doctors and patients. That was in 1979, and I never really thought about that book again until Covid and whenever I read particularly vicious things from nurses on social media. At some point, while the eyes of the great were elsewhere, the nursing and teaching job outlook changed and we got some really scary people in charge of the kids and the sick.  The elders in my family from my early childhood to my college years were always afraid to go to the hospital because they were convinced that  they'd be neglected or given a little push towards the morgue.  I thought that was silly but knew enough to keep my mouth shut. Turns out, Great Auntie may have been on to something.  My apologies...

• As I've said before, a lot of the Catholic e-girls need to get off social media. They're just making young Catholic women look silly, terminally immature and self absorbed. This young lady apparently suffers from anxiety so the backlash to her musings can't be good for her. 

 

• I just learned that a member of a Catholic discussion forum that I used to read has died. She was a devout woman but also, due to the scandals in the Church,  one of the unhappiest and untrusting people I've ever come across. May she rest in peace.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• My sweet darling, mother will be 84 tomorrow and next week I will be 59. I am so blessed. 

Something to think about

 My diocese had its annual MLK Mass. Every year I am disturbed by it. MLK was not Catholic, so he can't be a saint.  A Mass in his honor doesn't make sense. His best friend, Ralph Abernathy and one of his lovers were both pretty frank about his unchaste private life in their memoirs. According to the FBI, He also  witnessed a rape and mocked the victim's suffering.   Dr. King should have defended that woman and the FBI agents who recorded the whole thing should have burst through the door to come to the rescue. Not one man who saw or heard walked away with clean hands.

This happened in January, 1964, in the  Willard Hotel. The Baltimore preacher who was identified as the rapist died in 1991. What happened to that young woman? Was she told to shut up for the sake of the cause? Is she still alive?  May God have mercy on her. 

Wedding notes

 I watched a live streamed wedding Mass a few hours ago. It wasn't bad and the homily was actually good but  I noticed a few things that struck me as lacking.

Ladies, don't wear strapless gowns.  You're not going to a NYC Fashion week; you're going to the house of God for a sacrament. On a practical level strapless gowns show too much when you bow or genuflect or lean forward to adjust your gown.  Show some respect to the priest and don't make him have to put up with an eyeful of heaving bosom or be photographed with an embarrassingly dressed bride.   

Be kind to your bridesmaids.  Pick a gown that doesn't make any of them look like five pounds of meat in a two pound bag or the chorus line at the Moulin Rouge.  Ease up on the makeup too. I'm not saying go barefaced by any means but resembling the Joker isn't a good look...truly.

If you're going to have family or friends do the readings make sure they can actually speak  using a microphone instead of muttering, giggling or whispering. They don't need to act out the reading either.  When you kiss your groom, please  don't grope each other, or attempt a search mission for his tonsils. Nobody needs to see that in general and certainly not in church.  

Merry Christmas

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.

Random thoughts on a lazy afternoon

 

• The rug cleaner is here and I am so happy. He's moved all my living and dinning area furniture and dirt that laughed at my Little Green Bissel machine is being removed. I'll  have brand new looking rugs for Christmas!
  
  
  
• People get really snobby about this little missal but this is the first one I ever saw and owned, and it's the missal that many people use every Sunday.  It's cheap, fits in a purse and is easy to use. 

• If you want to go further and buy a sturdy daily or Sunday only missal the Latin Mass Helper store is a great resource. 
  
  
  
  
  
• Years ago I realized two things. I needed to veil when appearing before the Blessed Sacrament and I was never going to receive Communion from a Eucharistic minister ever again. I am a very shy person and both decisions scared me because I knew I was going to get blow back. I did in the form of dirty looks but Rocky discouraged people from saying anything to me and I kept going. Today I'm not the only woman who wears a veil in church. Nobody scowls or rolls their eyes. People are used to it.  I'm not the only person who silently, politely avoids the EM line either. If your afraid of what people will say if you veil this little book offers encouragement. 
  
  
  
  
  
• One thing I've learned in my life is that when multiple men look at a priest and either clench their jaws and grunt and refuse to have anything to do with him and parish activities other than Mass or they flat out say that Fr. Skippy is too womanish for them, the best thing to do is to not argue. Wait long enough and observe you'll find yourself going, "Oh, Dad/Uncle/Son/Husband was right."

Advent

 

The news is going to get weirder the closer we get to Christmas. Hollywood will release a blasphemous movie, or some professor will say something ridiculously  foul, or a crime will happen and someone will try to blame it on a supposed Christian... don't get fooled. Keep your eyes on Jesus.

Random thoughts on a frosty Saturday afternoon

• The whole maelstrom around Erika Kirk is astonishing.  The woman has been accused of things so wild I won't repeat them. I don't have an informed opinion on any of that, but if I was advising the Widow Kirk I would tell her to make like Jackie Kennedy and say nothing in public for the next six months or more. She may be trying to keep her husband's dream alive but from a public relations stand point, she's failing. Work behind the scenes to publish a book, or create a foundation but the whole speaking gig needs to stop.  
  
  
  
  
•  I saw that 600, 000 illegals have been deported so far and I'm seeing a difference in my area. There is a gas station about two miles from my home that had a huge group of Hispanic men hanging around every day. They drank heavily, fought, regularly stabbed each other, and harassed women who went to the market next door or were at the gas station. Week after week, the police reports listed arrests for assault and battery. I noticed back in the Summer that there were less men hanging out. Now, when we drive by I see either a handful of men or nobody.  For the first time in my memory there are no large groups of men in the Home Depot or U-Haul parking lots.  I am amazed.  
  
  
  
  
  
• Mass for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception was disappointing this year. Young Father says the Novus Ordo Mass as best as it can be done but the homily wasn't great. It's not his fault. The pastor likes "fun", jokey homilies and perhaps between him and some of the more vocal parishioners, I think, young Fr. has been "encouraged" to make his homilies less like adult theology  and more like a pep talk for elementary aged school children.  Attendance was not great either. Perhaps people took off work and went to one of the day Masses instead of the 6PM, that Rocky and I went to. 
  
  
  
  
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• I was doing my Saturday cleaning while listening to You Tube and really enjoyed Stephen Kokx's interview with  Frank Walker. Later I listened to bits of Kennedy Hall's video on Nick Fuentes and his most recent one  which is meant to be an encouragement and warning to Gen Z men.  I did not enjoy the Hall experience and I don't see either  Hall video going over well with the target audience. Kennedy has a tendency to come off as somewhat  pompous and I think that the Z generation is even less tolerant of what they consider to be "Boomer slop condescension," than even my folks, Gen X are. Kennedy is either a Millennial in the older age range or a younger  Generation X so he really should know that. 

Hey US Bishops, Could You Spare a Thought for the US?

 The United States Conference of Catholic Bishop's had their  Baltimore meeting and among other things, they  voted 216–5 to condemn our country for deporting illegal aliens.   As soon as I read about it, I remembered two stories from the past. 

The first was from  a young priest who lived in one of the worst parts of Mexico. He  wrote about  four young thugs who ran afoul of their gang for beating and robbing a man who was already paying the gang protection money. They acted without permission and presumably took profits for themselves. The punishment was supposed to be execution, but due to the priest's pleading it was reduced to exile. They were told to get out of Mexico and crossed the Rio Grande that night. It's a dramatic story and the priest's sympathy was for the young men, but I have wondered what happened next. Did those violent men throw themselves at the foot of the Holy Cross and go straight, or are they now victimizing Americans?  

Here's another story for the bishops. One weekend afternoon,  a former co-worker of mine went jogging in a park that was close to her neighborhood.  At some point she realized that she was being closely followed by two men in a truck. She ran faster and they picked up speed. Finally, she came to  a side trail that had two steel bollards that may have saved her life. The driver couldn't follow her without damaging his vehicle and both men, who appeared to be from some country in Latin America, were either two lazy to pursue her  or simply realized that this  American woman was not going to be an easy victim,  chose to let her go.  She ran for her life on that trail until she made it to the parking lot. From there she ran home. If my old co-worker hadn't been fast, what would have happened to her? 

The USCCB  wrote about a "climate of fear", but ignore the fear American women and girls have had to live under for too long. We've gotten to the point where going for a walk or going to the gas station could lead to rape and murder and our bishops just blow off as if we are nothing.