A Treasure To Be Shared

Caritas Sunday Veritas Monday Bonitas Tuesday Pulchritudo Wednesday Sanctitas Thursday Unitas Friday Haereditas Saturday + + + Charity Sunday Resurrection Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. A heart of love offers the mercy of healing to others. Be ready to accept humiliations. They can hurt terribly but they can help to keep you humble. (Whether trivial or big, accept them). All these can be so many chances to be a little nearer to our Lord. There is nothing to fear if you are near to the Lord and in His Hands. Michael Ramsey, excerpt from  Five Helps for the New Year . Almighty Father, help us to be ever mindful of Thy gift of salvation in Christ Jesus, Thy Son, who died so that we might have life and love Thee for all eternity. May we abide in humility, that we be numbered amongst those within Thine everlasting Kingdom. Grant that we be ever merciful, welcoming others into Thine embrac...

preach  (v.) - from www.etymonline.com Middle English prechen , "deliver a sermon, proclaim the Gospel," from late Old English predician , a loan word from Church Latin; reborrowed 12c. as preachen , from Old French preechier "to preach, give a sermon" (11c., Modern French précher ), from Late Latin praedicare "to proclaim publicly, announce" (in Medieval Latin "to preach," source also of Spanish predicar ), from Latin prae "before" (from PIE root * per - "forward," hence "in front of, before") + dicare "to proclaim, to say" (from PIE root * deik - "to show," also "pronounce solemnly"). Meaning "give earnest advice, especially on moral subjects" is by 1520s. To preach to the converted is recorded from 1867 (the form preach to the choir attested from 1979). The Role of Preaching in the Church The Catechism explains that preaching is central to the Church’s mission of sharing t...

When Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope, this blogger, like many, wept for joy. When Pope Benedict XVI resigned, this blogger, confused and disappointed, wept in sorrow. Yesterday morning I woke up to the news that Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Prevost, had been elected by his fellow cardinals to the Office of Peter. The video that popped up on the phone captured His Holiness visibly emotional. A man in his position unmoved by the moment would be suspect of pride. Instead, it was not pride but utter sincerity on display, a sincerity of heart born by a man appreciating the profundity of the moment and the intensity of the crowd gathered to acknowledge God's gift to the Church: the ministry of Peter. Projection One's predisposition toward a conclave can say much more about us as individuals than about the man now occupying the Office of Peter. Thankfully, the distraction of personal goings on has provided this blogger with a useful dissociative state that is helping him to avoid gravitat...

[Estimated Read Time: 8 minutes] Disclaimer By "Ordinariate flavour," one should not attribute to this author final say nor conclusive authority.  This blogger is merely an agent (member, messenger) gathering treasures from primary sources and distributing those pearls to a wider audience to celebrate the shared Catholic charism localized in the Personal Ordinariates, to stimulate awareness of the transcendentals, and to foster zeal for the Catholic Church founded by Jesus Christ for the salvation of souls. +  +  + Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul. | Saint Augustine The radiant season of Christmas invites us through the transcendentals to mission.  The story of the Incarnation and birth of Christ inspires a wonder, joy and peace that leads us beyond narrow perceptions to the glory of the ultimate reality of salvation in Jesus Christ, a renewal, a revival and a restoration in Christ now and for eternity. The great theol...

Is it even possible to issue a charge against anyone for violence against the Sacred Liturgy?  Why issue a charge of abuse?  To identify the abuse of the Holy Eucharist, which is at the core of our faith as Catholics, is a step toward identifying reasons for a loss of faith among Catholics, a drop in Mass attendance and a rise in other forms of abuse. As a concept, liturgical abuse barely appears on the radar screens or in the vocabularies of many - most? - Latin Rite Catholics because of poor formation in the ritual languages and practices of the Church.  An Eastern Catholic tends to have a much clearer understanding of that which constitutes fitting liturgical worship.  Why is that? Like our Eastern brethren, Ordinariate Catholics share a strong sense of liturgical propriety. Liturgical action must comport with the Church's theology of the Holy Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist is defined as the Sacrament that contains the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Chr...

The Battle of Lepanto For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. - Ephesians 6:12 Times like these are not unlike other eras during which the Church has been compelled to reorient her approach to evangelization for the sake of souls, for the sake of remaining faithful to the mission of Christ. However, by adapting to circumstances, the Church does not surrender the integrity of the content of the Faith. Ever. Never. The world needs the hope of the Gospel unvarnished, not some chimera of worldly ideologies and feel-good pseudo-spiritualities. Translating the Catholic Faith into terms that the unchurched can understand is an act of charity. However, too often, as the headlines readily confirm, Catholics who don't know the Faith and substitute a Jesus made in their own image for the revealed Son of God - a lamentable fact which too frequently inc...