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Showing posts from January, 2021

Holy Communion, the Reason for the Gathering of the Church by Francis Chan

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  A Evangelical protestant preacher acknowledges the Real Presence, the Body and Blood of Christ. Pray for Francis Chan and those hearing his message. May God grant him all the graces he needs to do God's will. May he and all those who hear the message of the Eucharist and unity come home to the Church founded by Jesus upon the rock of Peter. https://www.osvnews.com/2021/01/22/seeking-the-truth-an-interview-with-francis-chan/ Saint Francis of Assisi: pray for him. Saint Francis de Sales: pray for him. Saint Francis Xavier: pray for him. Saint Francis of Paola: pray for him. St. Francis Chieu Van Do: pray for him. All holy angels and saints: pray for him.

Judgment at hand, the earth shall sweat with fear.

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Sibilla Cumana (Cumaean Sibyl) | Domenicho Zampieri (Domenichino) 1622 Preamble 1 Thessalonians 5: 5-6 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. The Fear of the Lord, that is the beginning of wisdom, and therefore belongs to the beginnings, and is felt in the first cold hours before the dawn of civilisation; the power that comes out of the wilderness and rides on the whirlwind and breaks the gods of stone; the power before which the eastern nations are prostrate like a pavement; the power before which the primitive prophets run naked and shouting, at once proclaiming and escaping from their god; the fear that is rightly rooted in the beginnings of every religion, true or false: the fear of the Lord, that is the beginning of wisdom; but not the end.  - G.K. Chesterton, Saint Thomas Aquinas The title of this post -  Judgment at hand, the earth shall swea

Astro - NOT!

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Screenshot | Photo by Adrian Wyld / CP 2017 "I assure everyone that there are no issues that arose in the course of that vetting process that would be any reason to expect Mme. Payette to be anything other than the extraordinary governor general that she will be," Trudeau said.​  https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/payette-divorce-documents-1.4258921 2021 “Obviously, the vetting process that was in place was followed, but obviously we’re going to also look at ways we can strengthen and improve the vetting process for high-level appointments,” Trudeau responded. During his weekly Friday press conference, the prime minister said that there was a “rigorous” vetting process that led to Payette’s nomination, but did not provide any details. https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/trudeau-refuses-to-apologize-or-acknowledge-any-responsibility-in-decision-to-nominate-now-former-governor-general-payette The above information reminds us that, for all the talk of working diligently to prot

Cupich v Gomez et al.

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It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt. - Mark Twain The Pillar has a sufficient take on the bishop brouhaha. Gomez: https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/us-bishop-responses-to-gomez-statement Cupich (soup-itch): https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/the-cardinals-tweetstorm-after-cardinal In 2017, Cupich lost an election for chair of the conference’s important pro-life committee by only 14 votes. Some observers suggested that the cardinal was building a coalition of bishops who would support him in an eventual bid for leadership of the conference, and that his showing in that committee race, even while he didn’t win, was evidence of a conference divided between bishops of different worldviews, points of emphasis, or theological approaches.  But less than four years later, that suggestion no longer seems to hold. When the cardinal would seem most to need public signs of support from his brother bishops, he has not yet fou

A View To Heaven

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Carl Zeiss 50mm Planar F/0.7 – $23,100,000 If we understand that prayer is a lens through which God sees us and a lens by which we may be aware that we are (always) seen by God, we may better understand what Saint Paul was saying in his Epistle to the Galatians: Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. That lens can be a window through which we, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, may see the world more as God sees things. The expression lex orandi lex credendi comes to mind. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "The Church's faith precedes the faith of the believer who is invited to adhere to it. When the Church celebrates the sacraments, she confesses the faith received from the apostles – whence the ancient saying: lex orandi, lex credendi, or legem credendi lex statuat supplicandi (the law o

Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius

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In 1900 Elgar was asked to write a piece for the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival. And because he was the sort of person who enjoyed a challenge, he decided to write a piece about life, death and what comes afterwards. [...]  The piece follows an “everyman” character (the word "Gerontius" comes from the Greek for “old man”) as he faces death, meets his guardian Angel and goes before his God before being taken to Purgatory with the promise of everlasting glory. - Classic FM “This is the best of me; for the rest, I ate, and drank, and slept, loved and hated, like another. My life was as the vapour, and is not; but this I saw, and knew; this, if anything of mine, is worth your memory.” When he had finished composing his oratorio The Dream of Gerontius, Edward Elgar inscribed these lines by the English writer John Ruskin on the final page of his manuscript. - Paul Schiavo At the dread hour of death, an honest person would do well to embrace the truth of Newman's insight:

Quotes for a Wednesday

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E.H. Shepard, For a long time they looked at the river beneath them from The House at Pooh Corner. (Sotheby's London) On Wednesday, when the sky is blue, and I have nothing else to do, I sometimes wonder if it's true That who is what and what is who. - Winnie-the-Pooh (A.A. Milne) It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows. - Epictetus Those who make some other person their job... are dangerous. - Dorothy L. Sayers We know what we are, but not what we may be . - William Shakespeare Don't worry about being effective. Just concentrate on being faithful to the truth. - Dorothy Day Do not free a camel of the burden of his hump; you may be freeing him from being a camel. - G.K. Chesterton First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do . - Epictetus The only ethical principle which has made science possible is that the truth shall be told all the time. If we do not penalize false statements made in error, we open up the way

The Beauty of the Ordinariate Liturgy: beyond dichotomy

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Mystery, accessibility, joy, hope, Presence. In the Ordinariate Form of the Mass, one finds the best intentions of the Second Vatican Council realized: renewal  and Tradition (yep... that's a capital 'T'). Both the 'now' and the 'then'. The 'now' - where the Holy Ghost is presently leading us - and the 'then' - where the Holy Ghost has led the Church and gifted Her with an abundance of blessings. When we know where the Church has been, noting the details of faithful witness, we may then better discern where the Spirit is leading us in the present moment. Cut off from our roots, we risk falling for cheap imitations. The Ordinariate Mass offers worshippers a Liturgy unmistakably oriented to God. Papa Benedict XVI reminds us in his letter to the Bishops on the Occasion of the publication of the Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum : What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden e
The opinions expressed herein are largely those of the blog author. Every effort is made to conform to Church teaching. Comments are welcome.