Thought for the day:

"Give me grace to amend my life, and to have an eye to mine end, without grudge of death, which to them that die in thee,
good Lord, is the gate of a wealthy life."
St. Thomas More

THREE THINGS

"Three things are necessary for the salvation of man; to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do."
St. Thomas Aquinas

Rights of Man?

"The people have heard quite enough about what are called the 'rights of man'. Let them hear about the rights of God for once". Pope Leo XIII Tamesti future, Encyclical

Eternity

All souls owe their eternity to Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, many have turned their back to him.


Wednesday, November 30, 2011

1st Wednesday of Advent

I'm a little late today with a post, since we had an instant winter, with a few inches of that white stuff on everything. And, I had 8 homes to plow out, as well as picking up a couple more. I used some muscles that I haven't used for some time. Come to me, Epsom salts! Anywho, here's today's installment. It is from the Mozarabic missal:

It is meet and just, and available to us in all things, that we always should extol, by all possible praises, thy clemency, O almighty Father, who didst create us in holiness and nobleness, and, when the fraud of the old serpent had seduced us, didst in pure mercy deliver us from death. Thou didst foretell, in past ages, that the Son, whom thou wast to send in the flesh for us, would come on this earth and would be born of a Virgin, and by thy holy prophets didst foretell the advent of his birth; and this to the end that he who had been promised, having been long expected, might give great joy to the world when he should come in the fulness of time. Wherefore we pray and beseech thee, that thou, who didst not suffer thy creature to perish, because thou art truly compassionate and merciful, but didst restore what was lost by the humble coming of thy Son, wouldst now so protect, so keep, so heal, so defend, so free, what thou hast found and repaired and restored, that in that dread coming, whereby thy Son shall come a second time to judge those by whom and for whom he himself was judged, he may so find the creatures that he has redeemed, that he may eternally possess those whom he purchased with the price of his Blood.

And now, a prayer for Holy Communion. This is from a book which I have not been able to track down. It's probably in Latin anyway, so I would be at a disadvantage. It is called "Paradisus Animae", and it is in the 'Thanksgiving prayers'; this one is for the act of trust:

'O Lord of Hosts, blessed is the man that trusts in thee. Why art thou sad, O my soul, and why dost thou trouble me? Hope in God, the fountain of all good, and the Author of all grace, whom thou hast present with thee in this Sacrament; go to him with all confidence for he is sweet and meek, and of great mercy to all that call upon him. He alone is able to give us all things, nay he is willing to give us all things, because he is supremely good. O God, my hope! my heart rejoices when I receive thee in this Sacrament, because I clearly trust that there is nothing thou wilt not give us, who hast given us thyself. In thee, O Lord, do I trust; let me not be disappointed in my hope.'

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

1st Tuesday of Advent

As promised, another entry from 'The Liturgical Year'. This is is a hymn, composed in the 9th century, and taken from the hymnarium of Blessed Joseph-Maria Tommasi:

May the sun, and stars, and land, and sea, sound forth the coming of the most high God: may the rich and poor unite their songs of praise to the Son of the supreme Creator!
He is the Saviour promised to our fathers; the glorious offspring of a Virgin: the Son of the mighty God born of him before the morning star.
He is the King of glory, and is coming to rule as God over kings, trample our wicked enemy beneath his feet, and heal this sick world of ours.
Let the angels rejoice, let all nations exult; he that is high is coming in lowliness to save what had been lost.
A God-Man is born, and the holy Trinity reigns; the Son co-eternal with the Father, our Lord, descends upon our earth.
Let the prophets cry out, and prophesy: Emmanuel is nigh unto us. Let the tongues of the dumb speak, and ye, poor lame ones, run to meet Him.
Let the lamb and the wild beast feed with each other:: let the ox and the ass know him that lies in the manger.
The royal glittering standard ushers in our divine Chief: ye kings prepare your gifts for the noble and royal Babe.
O the blessed message sent to the Virgin Mary! By believing she conceives; she is a Mother, and a Virgin knowing not man.
All ye nations and islands applaud this grand triumph. Run swiftly as the stag, lo! the Redeemer is coming.
Let the eyes of the blind, who have been sitting in darkness, now learn to throw off the murky night, and open to the true light.
Let Galilee, and Greece, and Persia, and India, receive the faith: a God deigns to become man, and remains the Word with the Father.
Praise, honour, power, glory, be to God the Father, and to the Son, together with the Holy Ghost, for eternal ages. Amen.

And now a hymn by Thomas Aquinas (1227-1274), for Holy Communion:

This faith to Christian men is given--
Bread is made flesh by words from heaven:
Into his Blood the wine is turned:
What though it baffles nature's powers
Of sense and sight? This faith of ours
Proves more than nature e'er discerned.

Concealed beneath the twofold sign,
Meet symbols of the gifts divine,
There lie the mysteries adored:
The living Body is our food;
Our drink the ever-precious Blood;
In each, one undivided Lord.

Not he that eateth it divides
The sacred food, which whole abides
Unbroken still, nor knows decay;Be one, or be a thousand fed,
They eat alike that living Bread
Which, still received, ne'er wastes away.

The good, the guilty share therein,
With sure increase of grace or sin,
The ghostly life, or ghostly death:
Death to the guilty; to the good
Immortal life. See how one food
Man's joy or woe accomplished.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Monday of the first week of Advent

I'm going to try to enter something every day of this Advent season, because I need to be reminded of why I am here. Most of what I put down will be from the "Liturgical Year", by Abbot Gueranger, from the late 1920's.

Today's entry is a prose from the 11th century, and taken from the ancient Roman-French missals.

Thou our eternal salvation, the never-failing light of the world.
Light everlasting and our true redemption.
Moved with compassion to see the human race perish by its idolatry offered to its very tempter.
Thou didst descend to these depths of our misery, yet not leaving thine own high throne above.
Then, by thy own gratuitous love, assuming our human nature,
Thou didst save all on earth that was lost.
Giving joy to this world.
Come, O Christ, purify our souls and bodies.
And make them thy own pure abode.
Justify us by thy first coming.
And in thy second, deliver us;
That so, when thou judgest all things, on the day of the great light,
We may be adorned with a spotless robe, and may follow thy footsteps wheresoever they are seen. Amen.

I also would like to offer some prayers from a book that I have, "Devotions for Holy Communion". It was put together in the late 1950's, and I think that it has just some awesome prayers, which we never hear any more. It's also very hard to find, but I have two of them. Anyway, here is one from the Gothic Breviary in the 7th century.

We blush with shame, O Lord, to call thee Father, we who have forfeited the dignity of sons. Yet, because with Fatherly affection thou dost save us, even when judging our faults, so, unworthy sons as we are, we may still make our appeal to thy Fatherly care. In this moment of true sorrow, then, let our sins be forgotten. So, if not by our deserving, at least by our love, we may be entitled to call thee Father.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

And so it begins again!


Another liturgical year is upon us. Seems like the last few months just flew by to me. Winterizing my yard, as well as doing it to about 8 others that I maintain. Anyway, we are given yet another chance to straighten out our lives, so as to get closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ. Let us hope that this time we can get it right, in order to be acceptable to God.

Isaias gets us started this year by condemning the Jewish nation, which could be all of us these days. He says: "...my people hath not known me, and my people hath not understood. Woe to this sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, ungracious children. They have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the holy One of Israel, they are gone away backwards. For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad. From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness therein; wounds, and bruises, and swelling sores; they are not bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil."

Our beloved Abbot Gueranger sums it up far better than I can: 'The whole world is in expectation of its Redeemer; come, dear Jesus, show Thyself to it by granting it salvation. The Church, Thy bride, is now commencing another year, and her first word is to Thee, a word which she speaks in the anxious solicitude of a mother for the safety of her children; she cries out to Thee, saying: 'Come!' No, we will go no farther in our journey through the desert of this life without Thee, O Jesus! Time is passing quickly away from us; our day is perhaps far spent, and the shades of our life's night are fast coming on; arise, O divine Sun of justice. Come! guide our steps and save us from eternal death.'

Also, remember what Our Blessed Mother said to the kids at Fatima: "Men must no longer offend our Divine Lord, Who is already offended too much", and, "Men must amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins."


Come Lord Jesus!

Pray for us, Blessed Mother

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Conscientious Catholic: RORATE CÆLI

I posted this last year, after I learned that Pope XII gave the United States an exemption for the Friday after Thanksgiving, allowing us to eat meat, thus, not letting turkey get nasty, and so we can keep on with Thanksgiving! At least one Pope cared about us! He was the last good one for us and the Church. Enjoy, and have a Happy Thanksgiving! CC

Conscientious Catholic: RORATE CÆLI

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Conscientious Catholic: Last Sunday

Conscientious Catholic: Last Sunday
This post was first posted last year. I want to repeat it, since I can. It also will remind me what I need to do. I'd like to end with the Antiphon of the Magnificat:

'Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful; that, becoming more zealous as to the fruit of the divine work, they may receive the greater remedies of thy goodness.'

Sunday, November 13, 2011

22nd Sunday after Pentecost

Today is the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost. According to Honorius of Autun, a Theologian, Philosopher, and encyclopedia writer of the 12th century, today has reference to the days of Antichrist. The Church, foreseeing the reign of the man of sin, and as though she were actually undergoing the persecution which is to surpass all others, takes her Introit of this Sunday from Psalm De profundis, from the 129th psalm.

Does anyone else think that we are in the end times as I do? Evil is everywhere, anti-Catholic thinking is everywhere, the Bilderbergers control all of the world's money, the US is tanking, and, moreover, everything seems to be in shambles. We are just ripe for the entire takeover of everything. Especially with idiots in charge.

This only makes sense, since towards the end of the liturgical year, we are to focus on the end of the world as we know it. We are to suppose to be the light of the world, not hiding under the proverbial basket. St. John Chrysostom says that the "stars shine in the night; they glitter in the dark; so far from growing dim amidst the gloom that surrounds them, they seem all the more brilliant. So will it be with thee, if thou art virtuous amidst the wicked; thy light will shine so much the more clearly." St. Augustine says: "As the stars keep on their course in the track marked out for them by God, and grow not tired of sending forth their light in the midst of darkness, neither heed they the calamities which may be happening of earth; so should do those holy ones whose conversation is truly in heaven; they should pay no more attention to what is said or done against them, than the stars do."

Therefore, in light of what is happening in the world today, no matter how difficult it is to speak the Truth, no matter the persecutions we endure in this life, we are still seeking the Kingdom of God with all of the great things attached to it!

One of the sayings that I have on my desk is this from St. Augustine:

"The True God will let not sheep be deceived that does not want to be deceived. Nor will He abandon any soul that has not first abandoned Him."

Another saying I have is this: It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds. Samuel Adams

Lord, grant us perseverence! Please?!

Saturday, November 5, 2011

21st Sunday after Pentecost

Today is the 21st Sunday after Pentecost. We are encouraged to fight the good fight, and also to make good the debt we owe to our Eternal Father before our demise. If we can get to that final time, hopefully we can say, "I have fought the good fight, I have kept the Faith."

St. Paul, my patron saint when I entered into the Faith, tells us in his letter to the Ephesians, just how to fight this current and ongoing fight:

'Brethren: Be strengthened in the Lord, and in the might of His power.Put ye on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore, take unto the armour of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace; in all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.'

We know that we will not be pushed beyond our strength. We also know, that if we know the Faith that comes to us from the Apostles, that we are stronger and can endure the harder tests.

Lord, have mercy

Friday, November 4, 2011

The Pastor's Corner: November 2011

How come we haven't heard of this miracle? It is apparent that abortionists and their supporters wouldn't want us to see this. Check out the short video under the main paragraph. Just click on 'the Pastor's Corner' below.

The Pastor's Corner: November 2011

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

All Souls' Day

Today we pray for all of the souls that have not met the payment of their debt, and are in purgatory. Not too many pray for them anymore, and so they are stuck. Following is a site I found, depicting what this day is about, and what to do for these souls. Pray for them! Click on the 'All Souls Day' words below, as it is a link.

All Souls' Day