Random thoughts and St. Paul

• St. Paul has something to say to you:
  
  1 Cor. 11:26-27.
  As often as you shall eat this Bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord, until He comes. Therefore whoever eats this Bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily, will be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. Alleluia.
  
• Sometimes it's more interesting to me what the big Catholic news sites and blogs don't mention rather than what they do. When Nellie Gray, the founder of the March for Life died in 2012, most Catholic news sites didn't even mention it. When David Bowie, the rock star died, there were loving tributes everywhere. Even a cardinal felt the need to embarrass himself by Tweeting a quote from Bowie's song Space Oddity. When singer, Chris Cornell killed himself I was surprised to see long posts on multiple blog but so far, I haven't seen anything except Twitter posts about the torture and murder of Bishop Balla in Cameroon.
  
  
• I have come to loathe some of the attorneys and co-workers at my job. They haven't changed. I have. Either my tolerance level has lowered or it's because they have become completely unhinged since the election and are not careful with what they say. I come from a working class family and it is unnerving to hear how much my Harvard and Yale bosses despise normal people. Whenever they have to go on trial outside of the East or West Coasts they moan and groan as if they are going to Calcutta. I over heard two attorneys talking about how they ventured beyond Whole Foods, Trader Joes and their favorite farmer's market and ---gasp--- went to a regular grocery store (Harris Teeter to be exact), as if they went on safari. I think if they went to Walmart or Sav-a-Lot they'd have a stroke. It's like the Floating World of Edo era Japan. The inhabitants have their drivers, their cheap illegal nannies, gardeners and to Hell with everybody else. I guess I need to start looking for another job.
  
  
  
• I read a comment on another blog saying that Christians have lost every social battle for the last 50 years and maybe it's time to give up. I remember wondering what this person was talking about. Most American Christians of all sects have gone along with the moral decline bit by bit and Catholics with the deathly fear that seems to afflict many of us, of looking different have trailed along.
  
  
• I've never liked Mark Shea. This does not improve my already low view of him.
  
  
  
  
• Maureen Mullarkey is not backing down on her opinion of St. Fautsina and Divine Mercy.

O God, our Father, Hear us...

OGod, our Father, hear us.  We plead before You, O Sacred heart of Jesus, for all who tonight in this great city stand in the most need of Your merciful love and protection.

On souls beset by temptation, have mercy.

On those who have fallen into sin, have mercy.

On those who are given up to worldliness and are forgetful of You, have mercy.

On those who are, at this moment, in danger of losing You forever, have mercy.

By Your agony, save them, Jesus.

On those who carry on wicked trades and profit by sin, have mercy.

On those indulging in sinful amusements, have mercy.

On all who are imperiling their souls by self-indulgence and luxury, have mercy.

On all frequenting haunts of sin, have mercy.

By Your scourging, save them, Jesus.

On all who are out tonight, the homeless, the weary, the starving, those tempted to suicide, the intemperate, have mercy.

On those who are out for sin, have mercy.

To those who are out to rescue others, grant help and protection.

For those who work at night, the police, railwaymen, firemen, those engaged on the stage, soldiers and sailors, sentries on duty, editors and journalists, let Your Presence be with them, Jesus.

For the sick, and suffering and all who are enduring any agony of mind and body, comfort them, Jesus.

For all undergoing surgery, strengthen them, Jesus, and help them in body and soul.

For the sleepless and lonely, be near them.

For those in anxiety, nervous or mental distress, calm them.

For the mentally ill, keep them under Your protection.

For those who care for the mentally ill, make them tender-hearted and compassionate.

For night nurses, give faithfulness and sympathy.

For priests and doctors, called out this night, reward them.

By Your crown of thorns, deliver them, Jesus.

For those who this night must suffer bereavement, visit and sustain them.

For those for whom this will be their last night on earth, deepen their contrition and receive their souls.

For those whom sudden death summons before Your Judgement, have mercy.

For those dying alone without priest or sacrament, have mercy.

For the dying who reject the ministry of Holy Church, have mercy.

On those dying unconscious, have mercy.

On those dying blind to their sin, have mercy.

On the souls of unbelievers who are hear death, have mercy.

On those who are trying to turn to You even in their last hour, have mercy.

For those who are afraid to die, turn their heaviness into joy.

For dying priests and religious, have mercy on them and receive them to Yourself.

For the faithful departed, grant them light and peace.

For ourselves in our last hour, grant the pardon of our sins, our negligences and our ignorances.

By Your holy death, deliver us all, O Jesus.

On behalf of those who have said no prayers today, let us say:  Our Father… Hail Mary…

On behalf of those who neglect to praise God and thank Him, let us say: Blessed be God.  Blessed be His holy name.

On behalf of those who blaspheme and neglect the Blessed Sacrament, let us say: Blessed, praised, worshiped and adored be Jesus Christ on His Throne of Glory and in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

The marriage of the Virgin from the Visconti Hours

When I was a child my mother brought this  book home for me. It was the Visconti Hours, an illustrated book of prayers painted for ruler of Milan, Gian Galeazzo Visconti in the 14th century. I spent many hours looking at the pages. The book was published in 1972 and my copy is in pretty good shape except for a cracked spine. 

St. Remigius and St. Clotilda pray for us

I just listened to an inspiring homily that mentioned two saints who didn't take the so called Benedict option.

Bishop Balla, rest in peace...

Western bishops, particularly American ones have a lot of time on their hands. While they are meddling in politics, indulging sinners with abnormal sexual penchants, pursuing dubious theories about the weather and scuffing around for refugee resettlement money, Catholics in places like Cameroon really have more pressing concerns.

Bishop Jean Marie Balla of the Biafa diocese was kidnapped, tortured and murdered. His body was thrown in the Sanaga river. Priests and nuns have been attacked before in Cameroon and the bishop reportedly had reason to believe that at least one of those murders might have been at the hands of government assassins.

Eternal rest grant unto him Oh Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace.

At prayer

Mass in Wartime

St. Charles Lwanga, pray for us

A photo of the saint taken a year or two before his martyrdom.

The lovely, Obianjuj Ekeocha, the founder and president of Culture of Life in Africa, visited the shrine to the Ugandan martyrs and got to see the prison, torture tree and place where the martyrs were burned.  It's a frightening sight even today. You can see more photos here 

I'll point it out again, a married priesthood will not prevent pedophile cases

The Orthodox have married priests and yet they have  had pedophilia cases. Rabbi's get married and yet although it doesn't make the national news, rabbi's have been arrested for seducing boys and girls.  In order to avoid the mess of a dating pastor some  Baptist congregations never  hire a pastor unless he shows  up to the first interview already married. The situation of the married preacher having sex with women members of the church is such a common story it's the subject of many, many jokes, books and films. Those married preachers have been caught with under-aged boys and girls too.  And don't forget, multiple Protestant denominations have had scandal, misery and financial expense over the Youth Minister.

The pervert who enjoys sex with pre-pubescent children or teenagers is a crafty monster.  He will assume any disguise in order to get access to them. He will marry a woman he has no sexual interest in just to get at her children and in some cases, their friends. He will join organizations that cater to children. The Boy Scouts have paid out big settlements due to  predatory Scout Masters.  Numerous Summer camps have had "trouble" with married and presumed normal, camp counselors molesting the young campers.  A new story about teachers and their students seems to make the headlines every day. Dedicated perverts have sat for years in seminary  classrooms and gotten themselves ordained in order to  hide behind a clerical collar or cassock. . Do you actually think that sex with a woman or even just a farcical marriage can cure perverted sexual desires? Malignant narcissists wouldn't have any qualms about using some woman as an extra layer of disguise. Anyone who thinks that a married priesthood would stop pedophilia is about as pitiful and dangerous as the South African men who cling to the filthy superstition that sex with a virgin will cure AIDS.

Pray for us, Mother

Parents, don't buy that album and leave that ticket at the box office

When I was in high school I loved listening to Prince. My mother did not.  When he came to town it never even occurred to me to ask her to let me go to his concert and Hell would have frozen over before she would have ever gone to it with me. There was just no way she would have degraded herself in that manner.

Parents, don't try to be your kid's buddy and please don't go along with what's cool with all the other parents. A ten year old girl doesn't have any money of her own. The only way she gets to buy the album of a particular singer is if you buy it for her.  She can't order the singer's merchandise herself, you do it. She didn't go out and find someone to sing about various sex acts to her in the kitchen, you let the filth in the house yourself.

I would have enjoyed listening to Prince in my room with the record player cranked as high as it would go but it was my mother's house and she didn't like that nasty stuff and you know what? I respected her. I think a lot of the buddy/parents who buy crap for their kids and groove to it along with them are robbing themselves of something. You would go completely mad if you found an adult sitting in your living room talking smut to your little girl and you'd cut all ties to your best friend if you caught her instructing your daughter in how to perform a sex act so why do you go along with the nasty music?  If your little girl is singing about a wrist icicle,then the blame is on your shoulders. It's your house. It's your money. It's your child.

Ascension Thursday

There were a lot of people at Mass tonight. I think the Juventutum members really turned out in force.  I saw David Alexander of the Man With a Black Hat blog and there were several beautifully behaved children and cherubic infants in attendance.

Cold fury

I read a short notice from Rachel's Vineyard in my parish bulletin this week that infuriated me. It probably appeared in bulletins all over the diocese. I don't know if I am being fair or not but when I read the words, " Mother’s Day can be difficult for women who have lost children to abortion...."  my ears drums pounded and my cheeks began to burn, I felt a quick wave of nausea and my throat closed up. For a few seconds it felt like I had subjected to a physical blow. 

God bless and protect the women who have turned to Rachel's Vineyard because they are sad and sorry about what they have done but with the exception of the one's who were threatened with violence or whose parents threatened them with being thrown out on the street, they chose at the time to pay an assassin to kill their child. This is not the same as lying in a hospital bed and being told that once again your body has failed you and your child is dead. I lost my child. An unknown number of women in my diocese can say the same.  To put this plainly and yes, forgive me, crudely, the post abortive woman was not minding her own business when she was suddenly set upon by a team of killers from Planned Parenthood. If I knew which Rachel's Vineyard staffer wrote that notice I would probably tell her or him what I think in the most blistering words I could think of. I object to the use of the word, "lost," in the Rachel's Vineyard  context. It puts a polite gauzy veil over the hideousness of abortion and it demeans the pain of those women who suffered from infertility, stillbirth, or the  pre-birth death of an infant.  

Mass before pews

A nun

At Prayer

A nun

Happy Mother's Day

The bishop dressed in white?

Is there anybody in the Vatican who even tries to advise the Holy Father or at least do event  prep? Does he know what Sr. Lucia said happened to the bishop in white? So how does Pope Francis's comment  square with what we were all told about Pope Saint John Paul II? He was supposed to be the bishop dressed in white and his survival of his assassination attempt showed that Our Lady was pleased with him.

J.M.J.  The third part of the secret revealed at the Cova da Iria-Fatima, on 13 July 1917.  I write in obedience to you, my God, who command me to do so through his Excellency the Bishop of Leiria and through your Most Holy Mother and mine.  After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendour that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!'. And we saw in an immense light that is God: ‘something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it' a Bishop dressed in White ‘we had the impression that it was the Holy Father'. Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions. Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God.  Sr. Lucia

Cardinal Sus Volans, where are you?

When will the Massachusetts, DC and New York clergy's Kennedy fetish finally die?  Sometimes I think they'll have to be winged pork roosting in the trees before a cardinal in any of those cities declines an invitation to a Kennedy function.