"The Five Wounds of the Liturgical Mystical Body of Christ"

"The Five Wounds of the Liturgical Mystical Body of Christ"
"The Five Wounds of the Liturgical Mystical Body of Christ" according to Bishop Athanasius Schneider: 1. Mass versus populum. 2. Communion in the hand. 3. The Novus Ordo Offertory prayers. 4. Disappearance of Latin in the Ordinary Form. 5. Liturgical services of lector and acolyte by women and ministers in lay clothing.

Friday, October 31, 2014

The Stableness of Everlastingness





The world itself compels us to despise the world
that is so full of wretchedness;
in which is –
abiding malice,
destroying persecution,
swelling wrath,
fretting lust,
false blaming for sin,
and bitterness of slander;
where all things are confused and withouten order;
where neither righteousness is loved nor truth approved;
where faithfulness is unfaithful,
and friendship cruel,
that stands in prosperity and falls in adversity.

There are yet other things that should move us
to the despising of the world:
the changeableness of time;
the shortness of this life;
death sure;
the chance of death unsure;
the stableness of everlastingness
and the vanity of things present;
the truth of joys to come.

Choose what thou wilt.
If thou love the world, with it thou shalt perish;
if thou love Christ, with Him thou shalt reign.

~ Richard Rolle of Hampole, Hermit [1290-1349]

Friday, October 24, 2014

In Whose Hands Are All Graces





You know how We place amid present dangers Our confidence in the Glorious Virgin of the Holy Rosary, for the safety and prosperity of Christendom and the peace and tranquillity of the Church. Mindful that in moments of great trial, pastors and people have ever had recourse with entire confidence to the august Mother of God, in whose hands are all graces, certain too, that devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary is most opportune for the needs of these times, We have desired to revive everywhere this devotion, and to spread it far and wide among the faithful of the world. Oftentimes already We, in recommending the pious practice of devoting October to honouring Our Lady, have pointed out Our reasons and hope for so doing, and the forms to be observed; and the entire Church, docile to Our desires, has ever replied by special manifestations of devotion; and now is making ready to pay to Mary, during a whole month, a daily tribute of the devotion so dear to it.



~ Pope LEO XIII, ENCYCLICAL ON THE ROSARY AND PUBLIC LIFE: VI È BEN NOTO

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Times of Such Brazen Impiety: The Mighty Conflict

To the Queen of the Most Holy Rosary

Queen of the most holy Rosary, in these times of such brazen impiety, manifest thy power with the signs of thine ancient victories, and from thy throne, whence thou dost dispense pardon and graces, mercifully regard the Church of thy Son, His Vicar on earth, and every order of clergy and laity, who are sore oppressed in the mighty conflict. Do thou, who art the powerful vanquisher of all heresies, hasten the hour of mercy, even though the hour of God's justice is every day provoked by the countless sins of men. For me who am the least of men, kneeling before thee in supplication, do thou obtain the grace I need to live righteously upon earth and to reign among the just in heaven, the while in company with all faithful Christians throughout the world, I salute thee and acclaim thee as Queen of the most holy Rosary.

Queen of the most holy Rosary, pray for us!

Monday, October 20, 2014

An Admirable Union of Hearts

Ven. Pope Pius XII in his Encyclical Ingruentium Malorum:

The custom of the family recitation of the Holy Rosary is a most efficacious means. What a sweet sight - most pleasing to God - when, at eventide, the Christian home resounds with the frequent repetition of praises in honor of the High Queen of Heaven! Then the Rosary, recited in the family, assembled before the image of the Virgin, in an admirable union of hearts, the parents and their children, who come back from their daily work. It unites them piously with those absent and those dead. It links all more tightly in a sweet bond of love, with the most Holy Virgin, who, like a loving mother, in the circle of her children, will be there bestowing upon them an abundance of the gifts of concord and family peace.






Hymn: O Queen of the Holy Rosary


O Queen of the Holy Rosary,
O bless us as we pray,
And offer thee our roses
In garlands day by day,
While from our Father's garden,
With loving hearts and bold,
We gather to thine honor
Buds white and red and gold.

O Queen of the Holy Rosary,
Each myst'ry blends with thine
The sacred life of Jesus
In ev'ry step divine,
Thy soul was His fair garden,
Thy virgin breast His throne,
Thy thoughts His faithful mirror,
Reflecting Him alone.

O Queen of the Holy Rosary,
We share thy joy and pain,
And long to see the glory
Of Christ's triumphant reign.
Oh, teach us holy Mary,
To live each mystery,
And gain by patient suff'ring
The glory won by thee

Ven. Pope Pius XII: We do not hesitate to affirm again publicly that We put great confidence in the Holy Rosary for the healing of evils which afflict our times. Not with force, not with arms, not with human power, but with Divine help obtained through the means of this prayer, strong like David with his sling, the Church undaunted shall be able to confront the infernal enemy, repeating to him the words of the young shepherd: "Thou comest to me with a sword, and a spear, and with a shield; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of armies . . . and all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear, for this is his battle, and he will deliver you into our hands" (I Kings 17, 45-47) Ingruentium malorum
 

Thursday, October 16, 2014

A Sign of Contradiction

"And do not follow the customs of the present age, but be transformed by the entire renewal of your minds, so that you may learn by experience what God's will is - that will which is good and beautiful and perfect." ~ Romans 12.2



One of the recurring themes at a retreat, some years back, was that we are to be (if we are not already) signs of contradiction in our families, circle of friends, and in society. One of the sisters at the retreat center spoke about "silent martyrdom," i.e., being this sign of contradiction in her own extended family. Her parents were both converts to Catholicism from the Baptist faith. She talked about being shunned by her wider family as a child because of their Catholic faith; how the family ridiculed and disparaged them for having "too many" children. "White Martyrdom," if you will....

Ben Sira [Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus] 2.1-7 (Good News Translation with the 'Apocrypha'):
1 My child, if you are going to serve the Lord, be prepared for times when you will be put to the test. 2 Be sincere and determined. Keep calm when trouble comes. 3 Stay with the Lord; never abandon him, and you will be prosperous at the end of your days. 4 Accept whatever happens to you. Even if you suffer humiliation, be patient. 5 Gold is tested by fire, and human character is tested in the furnace of humiliation. 6 Trust the Lord, and he will help you. Walk straight in his ways, and put your hope in him. 7 All you that fear the Lord, wait for him to show you his mercy. Do not turn away from him, or you will fall.

There was a time, really not so long ago, when just being a practicing Catholic meant that it was assumed one would be a sign of contradiction to the world. The 'World' didn't expect anything else from Catholics - that was just how they were. This was obvious in terms of modesty, piety, family size: Catholics were different from the world. They dressed differently, did not go to worldly or immoral films, etc. Catholics did not 'contracept'. They did not eat meat on Fridays. They did not miss Mass on Sundays. They said grace before meals. They often prayed the Rosary as a family after supper. They went to confession on Saturdays. They would never have considered cohabiting before marriage. They would vote en bloc for Catholic principles. They lived in the world but were not to be a part of the world. We can know from our own experience whether or not this is the case today. It should be obvious that something has gone terribly wrong.

I noticed when I was at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama, two startling contrasts. The first day I was there, a mother and father about my age (40-something) with thirteen children (all dressed for the occasion) came into the Shrine and all the children, from oldest to youngest, did their double genuflection with their prayer book in hand, honoring and worshiping their Eucharistic Lord, and remaining perfectly recollected (!) and behaved. (That is a miracle in itself, and a reflection on those parents). The next day, a bus load of what seemed to be CYO teens arrived and, as they filed into the pews, a few (if any) genuflected (most did not). I was elated that they had come there (to the Shrine), but I was left wondering how their elders had failed them, and what terrible catechesis (or lack thereof) was at fault. There was a time when this would have been unthinkable.

I give the Shrine a great amount of praise for actively and conscientiously enforcing the modesty code. I have noticed and observed that, in traditional chapels & parishes, the people in attendance are made up of large families (for the most part). There is never a question about modest dress and or decorum. There is always a permeating sense of recollection, piety and devotion from young to old. Unfortunately, this is not the case in most modern Novus Ordo parishes I have visited. All of that has eroded in varying degrees. Those families (and individuals) who seek to live the fullness of the Catholic faith and are faithful to the Church's teaching have become signs of contradiction within their own parishes and families and among their friends. Pray for these families. They are really heroic. They are the seed bed of Catholic civilization.

This reading from a recent ferial Mass struck me, and gives much matter for meditation:

Wisdom 2.1, 12 - 22:
1 For they reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves, "Short and sorrowful is our life, and there is no remedy when a man comes to his end, and no one has been known to return from Hades. 12 "Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions; he reproaches us for sins against the law, and accuses us of sins against our training. 13 He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord. 14 He became to us a reproof of our thoughts; 15 the very sight of him is a burden to us, because his manner of life is unlike that of others, and his ways are strange. 16 We are considered by him as something base, and he avoids our ways as unclean; he calls the last end of the righteous happy, and boasts that God is his father. 17 Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; 18 for if the righteous man is God's son, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries. 19 Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. 20 Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected." 21 Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray, for their wickedness blinded them, 22 and they did not know the secret purposes of God, nor hope for the wages of holiness, nor discern the prize for blameless souls

Friday, October 10, 2014

Only Jesus Christ Receives Sinners



Retreat meditation on the mercy of Jesus

The world makes sinners of men, and then having made them sinners, it condemns and insults them adding to the morass of their sin the muck of its scorn. Mire upon mire this is the world: the world does not receive sinners. Only Jesus Christ receives sinners.



St John Chrysostom writes: “My God have mercy on me! You ask for mercy? Then fear nothing. Where there is mercy there are no judicial investigations regarding guilt, nor courts, nor the need to offer reasonable excuses. Great is the torment of my sins, O my God but far greater is the treasure of your mercy!”



Upon his coming into the world, whom did Jesus call to him? The Magi and after the Magi? The publican. And after the publican? The prostitute. After the prostitute? The thief. And after the thief? The inflexible persecutor.



Do you live like a pagan? The Magi would be considered pagans. Do you make a profit on the needs of others? The publican was such. Are you impure? The prostitute was also. Are you a murderer? The thief was one also. Are you an inflexible persecutor? So was Paul because he was first a blasphemer and later an apostle and an evangelist… Don’t tell me: “I am a blasphemer; I am sacrilegious; I am impure.” Haven’t you seen the example of so many sinners pardoned by God?



Have you sinned? Do penance. Have you sinned a thousand times? Do penance a thousand times. Satan will stand at your side at times to make you despair. Don’t listen to him; remember these few words: Jesus receives sinners, words that are a heartfelt cry of love, a pouring out of inexhaustible mercy and an unbreakable promise of pardon.



~ Saint Alberto Hurtado, S.J [Luis Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga], + 18 August 1952

Texts 05. Jesus Receives Sinners