Sigh

It was never about tolerance. The end game was always about the power to force people  to stand by and cheer whether they wanted to or not.  And so the band plays on. We all smile and smile and smile  'cause the rent is due, the kids need braces, the car needs work and we all need our jobs.

Some people think 'Well, I run my own business. This will never apply to me. Oh yeah? You too must dance to the tune and if you don't there will be a judge to force you to go along. 

That being said, I also think this all came about because normal people sinned openly and without shame or rebuke for the last 50 years.  From the '60s on there has been an explosion of straight people's perversion and cheerful fornication. There was no way we could live in a world where Hugh Hefner is a beloved, cool old grandfather figure to millions of people and his brand of pornography is so mainstream that it can be on the coffee table without anyone daring to raise an eyebrow and not have all kind of poisons nobody thought about hatching out of the mud of our sick society. Sow the wind and you reap the whirlwind. Society says "Oh come on. Everybody's doing it. You'll be fine. The kids will be fine. You can do what you want and getaway clean." No, you can't.

Poetry of St. Therese

PRAYER OF JEANNE D’ARC IN PRISON

St. Therese portraying St. Joan

My voices this foretold: I am a prisoner here, No aid can I expect, except, my God, from Thee; For love of Thee alone, I left my father dear; My flower-decked fields, blue skies, my flocks, no more I see. For Thee I left my home and her who gave me birth; Then, lifting in my hand the standard of Thy choice, Lord, in Thy holy Name, I led an army forth, And far-famed generals then gave credence to my voice.

Behold my recompense — this gloomy prison-place, The price of all my toils, my prayers, my blood, my tears! No more my flowery fields my longing eyes shall face, Nor shall I see the home of all my childhood years. No more shall I behold the mountains far away, Whose distant summits seemed to pierce the azure sky; And I shall hear no more the church-bells sweetly play. How soft upon the air those holy notes swept by!

Here, in this gloomy cell, the star I seek in vain, That used, at vesper hour, to shine so clear and fair; In vain I seek the leaves, that when upon the plain Beside my flock I slept, gave cooling shelter there.

Here, when at last I sleep after long bitter weeping, Of morning’s flowers I dream, and perfumes of the dawn; But then my clanking chains disturb that happy sleeping, — I wake — my dream is past — the verdant fields are gone.

Lord, for Thy love I go, martyrdom to embrace; For Thee I dare to meet the lingering death of fire. Now but one wish is mine, — to see Thee face to face, No more to part from Thee: — behold my heart’s desire! To die for love of Thee, — what happier lot than this? I will take up my cross, and walk where Thou hast trod. Ah! how I long to die, and enter into bliss! Ah! how I long to die, and thus to see my God!

My armor by St. Therese

MY ARMOR.

 

“The spouse of the King is terrible as an army set in array; She is like to a choir of music on a field of battle.” Canticles vi. 3; vii.

“Put you on the armor of God that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil.” Ephesians vi. II.

With heavenly armor am I clad to-day; The hand of God has thus invested me. What now from Him could tear my heart away; What henceforth come between my God and me? With Him for Guide, the fight I face serene; Nor furious fire, nor foe, nor death, I fear. My enemies shall know I am a queen, The spouse of God, most high, most dear.

This armor I shall keep while life shall last; Thou, Thou, hast given it Me, my King, my Spouse! My fairest, brightest gems, by naught on earth surpast, Shall be my sacred vows.

My first dear sacrifice, O Poverty, Thou shalt go with me till my dying hour. Detached from all things must the athlete be, If he the race would run, and prove his power

Taste, worldly men! regret, remorse and pain, The bitter fruits of earthly, vain desire; The glorious palms of Poverty I gain, I who to God alone aspire.

“Who would My heavenly Kingdom have from Me, He must use violence,” so Jesus said. Ah well then! Poverty my mighty lance shall be, The helmet for my head.

The pure white Angels’ sister now am I; My vow of Chastity has made me so. Ah, how I hope one day with them to fly! Meanwhile to daily combat must I go. For my great Spouse, of every lord the Lord, Struggle must I, with neither truce nor rest; And Chastity shall be my heavenly sword. To win men’s souls to Jesus’ breast.

O Chastity,my sword invincible! To overcome my foes thou hast sufficed; By thee am I — O joy ineffable! — The Spouse of Jesus Christ.

The proud, proud angel, in the realms of light, Cried out, rebellious: “I will not obey!” But I shall cry, throughout earth’s dreary night, “With all my heart, I will obey alway!” With holy boldness all my soul is steeled, Against hell’s wild attacks I bravely dart; Obedience is my firm and mighty shield, The buckler on my valiant heart.

O conquering God! no other prize I seek, Than to submit with all my heart to Thee; Of victories th’ obedient man shall speak Through all eternity. If now a soldier’s weapon I can wield, If valiantly like him the foe I face, I also long to sing upon the field, As sang the glorious Virgin of all grace. Thou mak’st the chords to vibrate of Thy lyre. That lyre, O Jesus! is my loving heart; To sing Thy mercies is that heart’s desire. How sweet, how strong, how dear, Thou art.

With radiant smile, Thou Spouse, my heart’s Delight, I go to meet all foes from hell’s dark land; And singing I shall die, upon the field of fight, My weapons in my hand.

March 25, 1897.   

Ave Verum-- music for Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi sequence

Sequentia
O Sion, thy Redeemer praising,
Songs of joy to Him upraising,
Laud thy Pastor and thy Guide:

Swell thy notes most high and daring;
For His praise is past declaring,
And thy loftiest powers beside.

‘Tis a theme with praise that gloweth,
For the bread that life bestoweth
Goes this day before us out;

Which, His holy supper taking,
To the brethren twelve His breaking
None hath ever called in doubt.
Full, then, be our praise and sounding,
Modest and with joy abounding
Be our mind’s triumphant state;

For the festal’s prosecution,
When the first blest institution
Of this feast we celebrate.

In the new King’s new libation,
In the new law’s new oblation,
Ends the ancient Paschal rite;

Ancient forms new substance chaseth,
Typic shadows truth displaceth,
Day dispels the gloom of night.

When He did at supper seated,
Christ enjoined to be repeated,
When His love we celebrate:

Thus obeying His dictation,
Blood and wine of our salvation,
We the victim consecrate.

‘Tis for Christian faith asserted,
Bread is into flesh converted,
Into blood the holy wine:

Sight and intellect transcending,
Nature’s laws to marvel bending,
‘Tis confirmed by faith divine.

Under either kind remaining,
Form, not substance, still retaining,
Wondrous things our spirit sees:

Flesh and blood thy palate staining,
Yet still Christ entire remaining,
Under either species.

All untorn for eating given,
Undivided and unriven,
Whole He’s taken and unrent;

Be there one, or crowds surrounding,
He is equally abounding,
Nor, though eaten, ever spent.
Both to good and bad ‘tis broken,
But on each a different token
or of life, or death attends:

Life to good, to bad damnation;
Lo, of one same manducation
How dissimilar the ends.

When the priest the victim breaketh,
See thy faith in no wise shaketh,
Know that every fragment taketh
All that ‘neath the whole there lies:

This in Him no fracture maketh,
‘Tis the figure only breaketh,
Form, or state, no change there taketh
Place in what it signifies.

Bread, that angels eat in heaven,
Now becomes the pilgrim’s leaven,
Bread in truth to children given,
That must ne’er to dogs be thrown.

He, in ancient types disguised,
Was the Isaac sacrificed,
For the feast a lamb devised,
Manna to the Fathers shown.

Bread, whose shepherd-care doth tend us,
Jesu Christ, Thy mercy send us,
Do Thou feed us, Thou defend us,
Lead us where true joys attend us,
In the land where life is given:

Thou all ken and might possessing,
Mercies aye to us largessing,
Make us share Thy cup of blessing,
Heritage and love’s caressing
With the denizens of heaven.
Amen. Alleluia.

Sometimes you need to hold your fire

I wish conservative and traditionalist Catholics would choose their battles better. Those sound like coward words and that's not how I mean it. Let me try to explain. Recently I saw photos of a new priest's first ordination. One of them showed him giving Communion to his little niece. The child was not dressed in the traditional First Communion outfit and someone wrote in to comment. The little one's pretty outfit wasn't completely traditional but it wasn't scandalous either. If I had a child that age I'd have no problem with her wearing that dress.  My own First Communion dress was actually midnight blue with white Swiss dots.  I wore a wreath of flowers instead of a veil like the other girls. I didn't look like the others but I was perfectly modest...honest. The commenter angered other commenters who remarked that Traditionalists were mean. The people who reacted that way were silly, but people are silly. They make snap judgements based on little things.

Another time on another site I saw remarks of a presumably traditionalist woman who ranted about the cheap fabric and sequins on the dresses of the little First Communicants at her parish. I thought she came off as a snob whom I would not care to know---not everybody can afford silk. Are working class or underclass girls not allowed to have the sacrament?  Both these ladies made a very bad impression. If a teen aged girl or woman comes to Mass dressed like a streetwalker I'll be the first to frown but picking on a tiny little girl recieving her First Communion from  her uncle, a brand new priest was just stupid. As I've said before the pope can be a shinning example, the local parish priest can be a beacon of holiness and it all gets shunted aside because the people in the pew are stupid jerks.


There are things that we must fight about.  If we see sacrilege, if we see a deacon acting like he's the pastor, if we see a priest forget that he is supposed to be an alter Christus that's one thing but don't pull out the ma deuce to kill a flea. It makes you look like a damn fool and it sabotages all the efforts to reclaim reverence, beauty and actual Catholic teaching for our parishes.

A visit to Assumption

My mother and I visited my uncle at the nursing home yesterday instead of our usual Sunday. He was in pretty good spirits but he's been giving the night staff fits all week. Dementia patients are very sensitive to change and are disturbed by things so subtle that most of us don't even notice. It may seem odd but when dealing with someone whose mind is breaking down the caregiver has to get smarter.

We kept him company while he ate lunch, then got him a shampoo and shave and we went for a walk. Once Rocky arrived to pick us up we all went to Assumption, a nearby Catholic church. The dear woman who is across the hall from my uncle is a parishioner and when we brought her back a bulletin she was thrilled.

Assumption is a tiny parish in a rotten neighborhood.  I wouldn't want to be on foot but driving through in the day time is okay provided you mind your own business and keep your wits sharp. It's not a neighborhood to wander around daydreaming in. Assumption itself is one of the prettiest little churches I've ever seen. It's made of brick and has exquisite stained glass windows. They have an antique statue of Our Lady and a very nice icon of Our Lord. The Blessed Sacrament is right in the middle of the sanctuary. The priest's chair is off to the side and in a little alcove.  My uncle did great. Right before Communion he needed to go to the restroom which is downstairs. The stairs are long and narrow and my mother couldn't handle that with her cane  and just as she was figuring out what to do a parishioner kindly took him there and brought him back to her. God bless that man.

Father preached the longest homily I've ever heard in a Catholic church but it was good. He summed up our whole  Faith. How long was it? Well Mass started at 4:30 and didn't end until 6:30. Father can preach!

Next time we'll try to visit St. Thomas Moore or Our Lady of Perpetual Help which are the next closest churches to the nursing home.

Pange Lingua

Hush

This painting of our Our Lady adoring her Child while little St. John the Baptist tells the veiwers to hush is just darling.

random thoughts

• I admire the dedication and organization skills of home schooling parents. Public education is really about breaking the will and teaching kids to shut up and go along with the crowd.
  
  
• Reading New Liturgical Movement isn't any fun anymore. The commenters aren't happy about anything ever. They can see photos of a beautiful TLM offered by a bright, shiny young priest and in a place that hasn't had one in decades and still complain that the third deacon's hair is too long or that the altar boy's shoes are scuffed.
  
  
  
• Facebook is a dangerous toy. I was reading a co-worker's page at her invitation and it left me almost quesy. I learned a few disgusting things about some other co-workers that I REALLY would have prefered not to know. None of these people would stand up in a conference room at work and say these things but they cheerfully wrote it up on Facebook. When you get on Facebook you are exposing your personal business and the business of your friends to the whole gawking world.  You may think nobody but your nearest and dearest are going to read it but that's just wishful thinking. Once it's online it's public and it's forever. It only takes one person to pass on a post that they read and then boom you have some 'splainn' to do at work or school or home. People have gotten divorced, fired, demoted, expelled from school, arrested and even been exposed to death threats becuase of things they stupidly wrote on Facebook. I've told my friends and family that I'm passing on this fad.
  
  
  
• I bought a new veil. It's going to be for special occasions.
  
  
• I suspect that Miss Ann Barnhardt is right. HT Sancte Pater. Warning. Her language is frank. Very frank.
  
  
  
• Pay, pray, pray for the Holy Father.
  
  
  
• Some people got all snippy at seeing the Dalai Lama at a Pentecost Mass in Germany. I wasn't among them. Unbelievers are welcome at Mass as long as they behave and don't try to take Communion and many conversions have been made this way. Once in what is now France a barbarian king went to the Christian church out of curiosity. He'd resisted all the efforts of the missionaries but was converted by when he saw the priest raise the Host. Suddenly he realized that there was only one God and that the One God was present on the Christian's altar. That barbarians curiosity changed history. Something made the Dalai want to go to Mass. Something may come of it. Who knows?
  
  
• Pay attention to this story. It could be rotten kids or it could be a sign that France is about to have a really bad time. St. Joan, pray for us.
  

Pray for the Pope

"For even the man of peace, in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, hath greatly supplanted me. "

Please pray for the Pope. His butler, a man whom he obviously sees every day, who handles his meals, and runs his household has betrayed him. He must feel it very keenly.

Sacred Heart

  Thank You Lord for Your wonderous mercy.

random thoughts

• It blows my mind that that the archdiocese of New York only produced one priest this year. I've read various explanations for this but it's still shocking. God bless Fr. Patric D'Arcy and send the Church more like him. Cardinal Dolan has a LOT of work to do.

• Speaking of Cardinal Dolan, why do photographers always wait until his mouth is wide open before they take the photo?
  
  
• I have no use for Patheos but posts like this are why I keep reading Katrina Fernandez.
  
  
  
• If the SSPX decides to accept the Vatican's terms I wonder if the same bloggers who went into estacy over the Anglicans will muster up even a lukewarm welcome?
  
  
  
• It's awesome that 43 Catholic institutions are suing over the contraception mandate but this is only a start.
  
  
• I recently read a post from a blogger I won't name who bemoaned the frumpiness of Catholic women. I say nuts to that. I have a friend who has 8 kids. She has had at least two babies in her house concurently for her entire marriage. Who in their right mind expects her to go faffing about in Dior? She's produced 8 nice little Catholics, two are altar boys, one is an Eagle Scout and she teaches CCD at her parish. On top of that she's the first one to volunteer when her priest needs something.  She doesn't own any Jimmy Choos but so what? If your life is like my friend's go ahead and wear your Keds and sensible denim jumper if that is what suits you.
  
  When I was in high school if I wasn't wearing my uniform I lived in Gunne Sax and Jessica McClintock. I looked like a cross between Sara Crewe from A Little Princess and Meryl Streep in The French Leutienent's Woman. Since it was the '80s and everyone else was trying to be Madonna my look was not popular. In fact, I caught flack for it. I didn't care. As long as your attire is not sinfully immodest wear what floats your own boat.  Ignore the mean girls.

Cuzco School art

What a sweet face.  I love Peruvian colonial esclesiastical art.

Pray for our priests

Blessed Jerzy

Father Vera

St. Maximilan

St. John Nepomuk

St. John Fisher

Please pray for your brother priests.

Our Lady Consolation of the Afflicted

the fort is betrayed, even by those who should have defended it

In the last few days I've noticed a number of professional blogger writing these farewell to traditional marriage posts. Some, like the Anchoress, whom I just can't bear to read anymore, say give in to the state and push for the Revolutionary French solution*: everyone, gay, straight, whatever goes to the courthouse and get your legal, civilly acknowledged union and let then go to your own church, synagogue, generic faintly Christian worship space, coven circle or fetish hut ...and get married according to your own rite.

As I've said before, that sounds inoffensive, at least on paper and the suggestion that Christians simply ignore the State altogether and only have Church weddings sounds interesting as well. The people who argue for this alternate solution point out that wives and children need not fear for their financial future under this plan because the State says that children born out of legal wedlock get the same as children born in wedlock and that a legal concubine of long standing can end up with just as much money as a married wife. They insist that the only way the State can pick on Christians who refuse a civil union would be if it goes after all the single mothers on welfare and all the people who are living in sin together and that's not going to happen.

These arguments are interesting in a dry, clinical sort of way. It's rather like dissecting a frog in Science class. I suspect that most of these compromisers were never really down for the cause of traditional marriage anyway. Instead of the trenches they were always in sick bay or the canteen  but never mind that for now. What all these people fail to mention is that the reason it seems like the proponents of traditional marriage are losing the fight is that, to paraphrase St. John Fisher, the fort has been betrayed. I've said before, normal people degraded and defiled marriage decades ago. We are like the Romans who woke up and were horrified when the Vandals and Visigoths broke in and started killing, looting and raping. Rome had been in decline for a long time. There were huge cracks in both civil society and in the military defenses. Their own decadence, and stupidity made it easy for the barbarians. And here we are. It's impossible to hold the line when the fort has a huge gaping hole in the wall.


*The French, really? Post Vendee, a thousand cowardly surrender jokes come to mind but you've heard them all.

Confession

I love this painting by Edmund Leighton. Judging by the look on the Domincan priest's face the old gentleman had one humdinger of a burden on his soul.

Madonna of the Arbor

A veil giveaway

The lovely Gina of the My Broken Fiat blog is having a veil giveaway. It's a very pretty item that comes from Liturgical Time. The owner/seamstress does really fine work. I'm going to order one of her triangle mantillas or a princess style one and I am definitely going to get this little treat.

Motherhood is forever

To every mother who ever lost a child.....it's a tough day and some people are so spectacularly dense...may you find comfort and  peace.

Ascension Thursday Mass

St. Rita's is having a high Mass in the Tridentine form on Thursday at 7:30.

Did you know that Time used to be a serious magazine?

My mother once mentioned to me that all of her mother's friends breastfed until their children were about four or five as a birth control method. However, none of those women exposed their naked breasts in public and none of them did it with the intention of being an exhibitionist. My mother says that ladies either left the room if someone other than a family member was present or they covered themselves with a shawl. Discreetly feeding your baby is a long, long way from the freak show on this month's Time Magazine cover.


Someone may be thinking, 'Dymphna, what about all those paintings of Our Lady nursing?' Well, what about 'em? Those paintings show a private moment in Our Lady's life. There is nothing in the Bible or in archaeology that suggests that respectable, married Jewish matrons allowed their bare bosoms to be seen by strangers.

Two cool things and one that is definitely not

• My parish has the Vatican II hymnals by Corpus Christi Watershed press. When I first saw them I was a bit worried. Despite the name, I'm happy to report, the book does not contain any hippy dippy music, no Lord of the Dance, no Eagles Wings. It does contain simple, sober hymns, beautiful artwork, and the readings for every Sunday and Feast so we have been able to get rid of those nasty, flimsy misalettes. It has the order of the Mass in Latin and English for the Novus Ordo and the TLM and all the sung propers. If your church musician uses the hymnal the way it was designed you will hear chant at Mass. Well played, Father Eagle!

• I just downloaded the Laudete Catholic app for my  Droid phone and I love it. It has the rosary, chaplets, daily readings, the liturgy of the hours and hundreds of prayers. It's also free. 

• I was reading Crisis magazine and came across this old chestnut by Steve Skojec. He was going on about how Christians need to be engaged in the culture. Here is a culture story for you: Last week a co-worker went to an after work get together at a local bar. At the party a man told a "hilarious" story about his adventure with a stripper/prostitute at his friend's bachelor party. It was disgusting. To put it delicately, he performed a sex act with the prostitute in public that I can not describe. If anyone at the table found this shocking or even mildly distasteful they did not show it My co-worker said that the women as well as the men laughed and egged the man on to tell more. These people were all middle and upper class. All were college educated. They were to sort of people who are held up as examples by the rest of us when we talk to the underclass kids.The man who told the foul tale is a corporate attorney. My co-worker is Catholic. That's your mainstream, pornified everyday normal culture folks and had I been there I would not have been engaged. I would've walked out. Life in America is a magnificent banquet. There are wonderful things on the table and there's some poison items as well. Refusing to eat everything on the table does not make you a sheltered, delicate, useless, humourless geek.

What a bunch of brats

A group of Georgetown students vandalized the steps of the campus chapel with condoms strewn about. I’ve been to Dahlgren Chapel. It was more like a pagan ceremonial room than a church and I was happy to get out of there  but the Blessed Sacrament was and is there so this ugly act is inexcusable. It costs $40,920.00 to go to Georgetown U. full time. For that kind of money--and lab fees, room and board are not included in that figure, I expect a kid to act like he or she wasn’t raised in a saloon. What a bunch of spoiled brats. Clearly somebody needs to be expelled and have their extended adolescence brought to a sudden but overdue end.

P.S.

Georgetown University has just announced that Kathleen Sibelious, is going to be the 2012, graduation speaker. Oh come Cardianal Wuerl, what will it take to say that this aint a Catholic school anymore?

Presented with a raised eyebrow

After reading this and this  and this I am reminded that lay apologists shoud be looked upon with great care. 

Oh Mary, seat of Wisdom, pray for us.

feverish thoughts

 I came down with an upper respiratory infection and have been sick for days.  I won't be going to the nursing home to visit my uncle this Sunday which worries me but I can't risk bringing my germy self in contact with people who are already fragile.

 I felt like reading a bit today and I saw this on the Anchoress blog. I really would not describe the fuss over the recent correction of the Leadership Conference of Religious Women (LCRW) as operatic. The LCRW has been pretty much a low farce for some time. When I was in high school I walked into a music class one Monday morning and discovered that the middle aged lady at the desk was a nun. She didn't wear a habit and shopped at the same clothing stores as my mother and she wore pearls. She also had the bad perm/man hair cut that has become ubiquitous of the habitless nuns. Sr. J. was wonderfully insane and got some pretty good music out of us but nothing, NOTHING in her made me respect her as a Bride of Christ. She was ill tempered and the best way to describe her is to tell you to read the Harry Potter books that had Dolores Umbridge in them. That was Sr. J. I was still having thoughts about going to the convent one day but I knew I'd never, ever look at Sister J's order.  Interestingly enough, when I graduated the one girl who did try her vocation  didn't bother with her order but went to the fairly conservative Daughters of Charity.

random thoughs

• Peggy Noonan has a new column about American character. Poor woman. She needs to leave Manhattan and go back to New Jersey for a bit.
  
• Larry D. explains his feelings about Patheos  and I agree.

• Father Groeschel is coming to St Anthony of Padua in Falls Church, Virginia to give a talk this Sunday. It is an Institute of Catholic Culture event.
  
  
• I'm not sure how I feel about the new Blogger dashboard.
  
  
• Thank you Pope Benedict. In your old age and sufferings with your health you are stunning your enemies and leaving the rest of us amazed. You've called out those who needed correction (The Neocats and the LCWR) and you boldly opened your arms to the Anglicans and to the SSPX.
  
• Speaking of the SSPX, this post was very interesting.
  
  
• If you had a beautiful Triduum, thank your priest. Father Eagle at my parish is a young, energetic man but even he looked a bit peckish by the time Easter Monday rolled around so imagine what it's like for an older priest. So many Catholics do nothing but bitch and moan. We act as if our priest has nothing to do but make us happy and so, so many of us never think to even  say so much as a "God bless you." on their behalf.
  
  
   
• I don't understand the US Bishops who are throwing a fit over a proposed budget. After decades of cheering as the government takes over more and more of American  private life they were shocked when the government told them that they'd have to pay for birth control and abortions. With all due respect to these men who are far more intellectual than me but sirs, where are your heads?

I'm a middle aged woman and this is what I know

Young ladies if you would be happy

Don't read trashy magazines
Don't imitate celebrities

Don't try to drink like a man

Don't party every weekend

Be sexually chaste

Don't start drama to get attention

If married, don't take your husband for granted

Don't be a shrew- it's not strong womanhood, it's just ugly

If you mess up go to confession

and

 Love God with all your heart

Stand up for your priests

Don't let the media fool you. A kid is at  far greater risk of sexual molestation  from

his public school teacher than he is from a Catholic priest.

If you go to see the Three Stooges movie...

...then you are part of the problem.  No excuses. No "C'mon all my friends have seen it."

 What, are you twelve? Would you follow your friends over a cliff?

No,"It's a joke, don't you have a sense of humour?"

 No, "I'm a devout Catholic and it made me laugh."

None of those crappy excuses will do.  You are part of the problem. That is all.

Christ, Risen

Jesus I trust in You

In your charity

Please pray for my Uncle Bubba. His furnace broke down and so he got out his ancient space heater and you guessed it, the heater shorted out and ignited his bedding. Flames went down the hall and into the attic. Through the grace of God, Bubba was not in the house at the time but was taking his afternoon walk. It's  a total loss. Bubba is 69 years old and has nothing but the clothes on his back.  Red Cross gave him $138, and three nights in a hotel. He's a proud man who has always taken care of others and is not used to be cared for. I'm hoping that my cousins can convince him to stay with them.

a puzzlement

Some of the same people who moaned and groaned about the deaths of bin Laden were pretty nasty, almost gleeful about the death of artist, Thomas Kinkade. I found that puzzling and I think I won't be visiting their sites anymore. 

A few Triduumm thoughts

After the Maundy Thursday Mass we visited seven altars of repose at different parishes around us. Queen of Peace in Arlington was the saddest. There was nobody there but us and a parish staff member. St. Anthony's in Falls Church, Virginia was the most impressive. There must have been 70 people sitting in silence adoring Our Lord. I've never seen that many people at adoration before. St. Mary's in Old Town, Alexandria was the most beautiful. It really looked like we were in a garden. We ended the night at the Cathedral.

On Good Friday night we went to the Burial of Christ ceremony at the Franciscan monastery. A young family sat behind  us and my mother began to cough. The youngest child was chewing gum or candy or had attacked a perfume bottle and the smell kicked Mama's asthma into gear. I asked my husband if we had time to move but every seat was taken by then. Rocky nodded and said, "Look there's Raymond Arroyo." I looked and yep it was him.

"Does he have his family with him?" "I can't tell. It looks like it's just him."
 And then Mr. Arroyo walked to the pew behind us, was greeted with delight by his kids and and led his family away to another part of the church. Rocky and I were amused because once you saw them altogether the kids are the spitting image of their dad and my mother was really thankful because she'd left her inhaler at home.

For the sermon that follows the burial ceremony the priest reminded us all that the Christians in Israel have a very hard row to hoe. They are caught between the Israelis and the Palestinians and that's not a comfortable spot on a good day and these aren't good days. He also spent a good bit of time wishing the Jews a happy Passover which my mother found weird but it made sense actually. The Franciscans are guardians of the Holy Land shrines. They have to be diplomatic.


One thing I want to say to all young parents is this: leave the tots at home when you go to the Vigil Mass or give them and yourself a break. You can't get upset at and threaten to punish a two year old who should've been in bed hours ago if he has a screaming meltdown at 11PM. You should've stayed home and gone to a day Mass. If you have older children (ten and up) who can't behave then you need to discipline them or figure out what mental or emotional issues they have but a two year old is really just a baby and can't be expected to be still for a whole Vigil. Jesus said "Allow the little children to come to Me." Our Lord did not say, "Let the kids throw tantrums in the synagogue aisles or play Angry Birds before the Holy of Holies in the Temple". He really didn't.

Fr. Sticha is right. I hope he hangs tough.

Easter

And He shall reign forever and ever. King of Kings and Lord of Lords..................

For God so loved the world....

Good Friday

Studies of the Shroud show that threre is more dirt on the Holy Face than anywhere else.

The Hours of the Passion

Holy Thursday

Last Supper

Communion of the Apostles

Wenesday of Holy Week

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

Matthew 23:37-39

Holy Tuesday

Monday of Holy Week



He would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. Mark 11:16





 

Palm Sunday

 

random thoughts while fighting off a sinus attack

• Fr. Chad Ripperger  has given an interesting homily on problems in the Traditionalist movement .  I didn't agree with everything he said and I wish that someone would boost the spirits of traditionally minded people once in while. Even constructive criticism can wear people down if that's all they get.

• For the first time in my life I don't feel good about my country's future.

• Rocky and I went to St. Alphonsus in Baltimore. It's so gorgeous it will make your mouth fall open and is far more impressive than the cathedral. I got to go to confession with Mnsgr. Bastress-- a very kind man-- and Rocky was able to get a blessing for his knee after Mass. If the parish office is open you may also visit the room that St. John Neuman lived in while he was pastor at St. Alphonsus. When I stepped inside I was immediately touched. It's such a tiny room. The church gift shop is one of the best I've ever seen and you can get books I've never come across before as well as veil,s statues (we bought a very cute Infant of Prauge)  and big quart bottles of Lourdes water. And the people are nice.
  
  Later we went to Little Italy for lunch and visited the Inner Harbor and stopped by the Divine Mercy shrine at Holy Rosary Church. The little Polish ladies are absoltute dolls. We just loved them.
  
• Maryland's abortion rate is 50% higher than the national average. The diocese is asking for 100,000 rosaries for the unborn. Please join them. Although I'd never leave Virginia I have soft spot for Maryland becuase of it' s the birthplace of Catholicism in English speaking America and because Rocky and I were married in that state. What happened to Our Lady's land? How did it get so twisted?
  
  
• After Ted Kennedy's funeral a friend of mine sighed and said "Teddy could've driven drunk into a bus load of of nuns and orphans in Boston and he still would've gotten off." All I could say was "you're right." One of these days people are going to get over the Kennedy worship. Until then, thank you Bishop McManus.

•   Watch your daughters. Even if you live a "nice" neighborhood pay attention to whom your daughter is associating with. Even if you don't allow her to date until she's 18 pay attention. The Underground Crips gang was running a huge pimping operation right here in my own town. The range was near my church and included areas where I've shopped and where friends live.

The Annunciation

This lovely painting was done in 2002! Great art that honors the holy is still being made.

The Holy Stairs

Sometime this year I want to go to Pittsburgh and visit the replica of the Holy Stairs.

Somewhere

Somewhere in China a newborn baby’s head is being bashed in by her own mother. You can only have one child in China and this poor little miss is not the one her parents want.

Somewhere in South Dakota a Sioux girl is going to be cold tonight. Her family uses wood to heat the home and her father has sold it all for beer money.

Somewhere in Afghanistan a 12 year old girl has been raped with the full approval of her parents and tribal elders. The rapist is her 50 year old husband and this tragedy was called her wedding night.

Somewhere in West Virginia a little girl is frightened. Her parents are meth heads and she hasn’t seen them in days.

And meanwhile in Georgetown, one of the most expensive schools in America a 30 year old adolescent is demanding that we the people of the United States pay for her birth control. She thinks she and her female classmates are victims. Victims? This poor woman has no idea how lucky she is. 

Ave Maria

Two beautiful things

• Rocky and I look forward to Thursday night every week because that's when St. Rita's has the Tridentine Latin Mass. It's such an uplifting, powerful, beautiful thing. We have young couples, single guys, well behaved children, and worshippers from all over the world. When I hear the words, "I will go to the altar of God..," and the response "to God who gives joy to my youth," I get a thrill every time.
  
  
  
• Every Sunday my mother and I go to the nursing home to visit my uncle. The commute over there isn't fun by any means but when we walk in and he lights up  as soon as he sees us, it's a beautiful thing. If you ever get a chance to visit a nursing home please go.  The residents are so grateful for any little scrap of attention, Reading a book, bringing a magazine or just bringing a pack of cookies brings them so much pleasure. It will fill your heart.
  
  So many residents are just dumped by their relatives and forgotten. Visiting once a month or every couple of weeks doesn't cut it. I don't care how chi chi the home is, residents who don't get visitors don't get anything beyond the barest legal minimum. You need to be your loved one's guard dog. My uncle's nurses know that he has a devoted sister with an eagle eye and a niece who is nuts about him -- or maybe just nuts. Thankfully, he's such a sweetheart and his RNs and LPNs and the CPAs are kind hearted people that they go out of their  way to make him happy. Being my Unkie's (that's what I call him) guardian is not something that I take lightly. It's time consuming but he is my beautiful thing because being in charge of his care is  a kiss from the Cross. 

a visit to St. Michael's

For our anniversary, Rocky and I took an overnight trip to St. Michael's Maryland. We ate crab, and shrimp and looked at bald eagles and wild turkeys. It was a nice little break and one of the nicest moments was visiting the St. Michael Mission Church. It's an adorable little church in the Federalist style and the people are so nice! We prayed the rosary and the Divine Mercy chaplet while we were there and we were invited to the St. Patrick's Day luncheon by parishioners. We had to get down the road so we declined but we were quite touched by their genuine friendliness.

Via Dolorosa

Behold, the Man

My King! My King!

Fr. Marcel Guarnizo must be a good priest

Fr. Marcel Guarnizo must be a good priest because the devil doesn't bother with Fr. Skippy or Father Mass-is-about-me-me-me. The devil frets and stews about the good guys. With all the lesbians in the DC area ---and DC has a huge gay population-- why did the Washington Post, a major newspaper with a national and worldwide audience, pay any attention to the complaints of one idividual in particular and why did they put her story on the front page--- THE FRONT PAGE----was there no story in the whole world more important than this one? The whole scene was obviously a set up.

St. John Vianney, you who know so well what attacks a priest is heir to, pray for your brother priest.

Follow Me

This would make a good gift for a seminarian or young priest but it's an excellent reminder for all Christians that following the Lord is not a bed of roses with smiles and candy raining from the sky.

Catholicism is not for sissies.

Today's gospel

Our Lady of Sorrows

Follow Me

If the invisible were visible

HT Phlip Johnson who is going to the doctor. today.

If you could see the invisible at every Mass would you leave the Daisy Duke shorts at home, Missy? Sir, would you dress your 50 year old self like a a grown man and not a teenager? Would you stay for the whole Mass instead of leaving while still chewing on the Bread of Angels? Madam, would you still lean over and tell your freinds --and everyone else in earshot about your grandson's soccer game? Would you rush out so you can get to brunch early? And you, poor little lost girl, would you still strut into God's house and harass His servant and then make a spectacle of yourself when that good servant refuses to play along with your narcicism? Or would we all fall on our faces in awe?