Time change

Don't forget to reset your clocks next Saturday, November 4. Move them BACK! 1 hour! Wouldn't want anyone to get to church at the wrong time. Especially when it's in the spring, when you would get there early, thus giving some time to prepare for Mass. At this changing, you would be late, and therefore, NOT attending Mass, since you would be after the Gospel.

Feast of Christ the King!

Tomorrow is the Feast of Christ the King. Hopefully, He will be recognized as the true King He is, especially by the church of the new order. I will let Pope Pius XI explain it to us.


"That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those
that are in Heaven,
on earth and under the earth:
And that every tongue should confess that
the Lord Jesus Christ
is in the glory of God the Father."

Philippians 2:10-11

Christ Himself speaks of His Own kingly authority [see link for Bible Citations]: in His last discourse, speaking of the rewards and punishments that will be the eternal lot of the just and the damned; in His reply to the Roman magistrate, who asked Him publicly whether He were a king or not; after His resurrection, when giving to His Apostles the mission of teaching and Baptizing all nations, He took the opportunity to call Himself king, confirming the title publicly, and solemnly proclaimed that all power was given Him in Heaven and on earth. These words can only be taken to indicate the greatness of his power, the infinite extent of His kingdom. What wonder, then, that He Whom St. John calls the "prince of the kings of the earth" appears in the Apostle's vision of the future as He Who "hath on His garment and on His thigh written 'King of kings and Lord of lords!'." It is Christ Whom the Father "hath appointed heir of all things"; "for He must reign until at the end of the world He hath put all his enemies under the feet of God and the Father."

It was surely right, then, in view of the common teaching of the sacred books, that the Catholic Church, which is the kingdom of Christ on earth, destined to be spread among all men and all nations, should with every token of veneration salute her Author and Founder in her annual liturgy as King and Lord, and as King of Kings. And, in fact, she used these titles, giving expression with wonderful variety of language to one and the same concept, both in ancient psalmody and in the Sacramentaries.

Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Letter, QUAS PRIMAS, #11-12



Christ, the King of Heaven, Earth, and all things, have mercy on us.

Just thinking

Tonight on the nightly news, it was mentioned that the race between B.O. and Romney was 47% apiece. Is this the 47% Romney was talking about?

Also, here's the difference between B.O.'s supporters and Romney's. B.O.'s sign their checks on the back, while Romney's sign theirs on the front. Think about it!

VOTE RESPONSIBLY!

21st Sunday after Pentecost

Tomorrow is the 21st Sunday after Pentecost. I especially like the reading of St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians. We are to guard and gird ourselves with the armor of God.

Ephesians 6:11-18.

Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and supplication, pray at every opportunity in the Spirit.

What does Ephesians tell us? Notice that the first line doesn’t say put on the armor of God just in case there will be tactics from satan. Right away we are told to put on God’s armor so that we will be able to stand firm against the schemes of satan. We are told, quite clearly, what our struggles will be; they will be against a presence that we cannot see, not flesh and blood, but of a nature that grips our minds, hearts, and souls. Struggles that gain a stronghold and are often more relentless than we are able to handle: anger, envy, greed, addictions, self-doubt, and self-loathing. Without God’s armor we will be as helpless as a newborn babe in the woods against these powers. But what is this armor?

This is where the imagery used in Ephesians is priceless. Our loins are to be girded in Truth. What Truth? The Truth of the Gospel. How do we gain that Truth? Through bible study and time set aside to meditate upon Scripture and allow it to permeate every cell of our being. We gain the Truth by reading Scripture and asking the Spirit to imbue our hearts and souls with discernment. Notice that it is our loins that are to be girded in the Truth. This is because we all have that “gut” reaction to life’s events and circumstances. That feeling way deep down in the pit of our stomach that signals to us that things are “right” and “true.” We have an internal compass that will always point north, if we understand that “north” is the Truth of His word.

The breastplate we are told to put on covers our heart. It is a breastplate of righteousness. Noah was considered a righteous man. St. Peter calls Noah a “herald of righteousness.” What characteristics did he possess? While there are many adjectives that can help us understand righteousness (just, true, sincere), at the core of it would have been Noah’s relationship with God and with man. It can be said that Noah was in “right relationship” with God. When the world was filled with evil actions that grieved our Creator, Noah was found to be different, he was deemed “righteous.” This begs us to ask ourselves is we are, in fact, in right relationship with our Creator and with one another.

Scripture also tells us that the Lord knows our heart and this is why the breastplate covers that area. It is in our hearts in which God looks at us in the most intimate of ways. And so a sturdy, impenetrable breastplate covers our heart. This is because our hearts are so very vulnerable and we do well to protect them against the slings and arrows of life. They are meant to be filled with love, kindness, and compassion. A breastplate will help protect them so that they do not succumb to the things that may otherwise be their undoing, their hardening.

While our loins are girded in Truth and our hearts are protected by righteousness, our feet are shod in peace. We are all called to walk our earthly journey in tranquility. Christ gave us His peace because He knew its immense value. From calm and acceptance come joy, strength, and an ability to persevere. How fitting that while we walk in peace our minds are helmeted with the knowledge of our salvation in Christ? It is no surprise that we must continually remind ourselves that His ways are not our ways or the ways in which the world operates. We are able to do this with our mind covered in the awareness of our salvation. From this knowledge we can continually bring ourselves back to Him when our inclinations pull us elsewhere.

Finally, we walk into the world with a shield of faith, while in constant prayer and supplication. That shield is our first line of defense and the calling card that identifies us as followers of Christ. As Catholic Christians we understand faith to be one of the three, God-given theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity). We profess our faith in numerous ways: baptism, Apostle’s Creed, evangelization and so on. Complimenting the shield of faith are the words of our mind and our lips that call out to our eternal Father. As St. Augustine said, “Prayer is communication with God.” So we pray, constantly and without ceasing. In all things we move with God and He moves with us. We are dressed for eternal success.

This is Our Lady, Undoer of Knots, undoing the knots of our life.

20th Sunday after Pentecost

Today is October 13. This is the 95th Anniversary of the Miracle at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917. Tens of thousands of people were. Many were skeptics. When the Blessed Mother of Heaven appeared, she performed a miracle that even the skeptics could not explain. Many were converted; even those whose faith had gone cold. On a rainy, muddy day back in 1917, the Sun did sort of a dance in the sky, much to the terror and awe of all on earth in Portugal that day. Even from miles away, it was witnessed.

Our Blessed Mother had warned us, through these kids, what was to happen on earth if her requests were not heeded. FAST FORWARD! Here we are. In a mess that only the mother of our Lord can help us out of. PRAY THE ROSARY!

And now, to the Mass for tomorrow. Jesus will heal the son of the ruler of Capharnaum. Jesus, of course, answers this man's prayer. Our beloved Abbot Gueranger draws from this Gospel, its meaning. The saints of the Church concur:

'The world is drawing towards its end; like the ruler's son, it begins to die. Tormented by the fever of the passions which have been excited in Capharnaum, the city of business and pleasure, it is too weak to go itself to the Physician who could cure it. it is for its father--for the pastors, who, by Baptism, gave it the life of grace, and who govern the Christian people as rulers of holy Church--to go to Jesus, and beseech Him to restore the sick man to health. St. John begins this account by mentioning the place where they were to find Jesus: it was at Cana, the city of the marriage-feast, where He first manifested His power in the banquet-hall; it is in heaven that the God-Man abides, now that He has quitted our earth, where He has left His disciples deprived of the Bridegroom, and having to pass a certain period of time in the field of penance, and of consolation, which penance brings with it. Such was this earth intended to be, when man was driven from Eden; such was the consolation, to which, during this life, the sinner was to aspire; and, because of his having sought after other consolations, because of his having pretended to turn this field of penance into a new paradise, the world is now to be destroyed. Man has exchanged the life-giving delights of Eden for the pleasures which kill the soul, and ruin the body, and draw down the diving vengeance.

There is one remedy for all this, and only one: it is the zeal of the pastors, and the prayers of that portion of Christ's flock which has withstood the torrent of universal corruption. But it is of the utmost importance that, on this point, the faithful and their pastors should lay aside all personal considerations, and thoroughly enter into the spirit which animates the Church herself. Though treated with the most revolting ingratitude, and injustice, and calumny, and treachery of every sort, this mother of mankind forgets all these her own wrongs, and thinks only of the true prosperity and salvation of the very countries which despise her...That we may fulfill her wishes, let us, as Tertullian says, 'assemble together in one body, that we may, so to speak, offer armed force to God by our prayers. God loves such violence as that.'

We need to pray even harder these days, since our pastors do NOT seem to pass on what has been handed on for almost 2000 years.

Kyrie, eleison

19th Sunday after Pentecost

"Bind his hands and his feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness; thee shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen."

Tomorrow is the 19th Sunday after Pentecost. We've heard this parable before about the wedding garment. The following is what the early Fathers thought about the Gospel we hear tomorrow.
'Wedding garment', which Calvin erroneously understands of faith, for he came by faith to the nuptials. St. Augustine says it is the honour and glory of the spouse, which each one should seek, and not his own; and he shews this, in a sermon on the marriage feast, to be charity. This is the sentiment of the ancients, of St. Gregory, St. Ambrose, and others. What St. Chrysostom expounds it, viz. an immaculate life, or a life shining with virtues, and free from the filth of sin, is nearly the same; for charity cannot exist without a good life, nor the purity of a good life, without charity. In his 70th homily on St. Matthew, he says that the garment of life is our works; and this is here mentioned, that none might presume, (like Calvin and his followers) that faith alone was sufficient for salvation. When, therefore we are called by the grace of God, we are clothed with a white garment, to preserve which from every stain, from every grievous sin, depends upon the diligence (the watching and praying) of every individual. (St. John Chrysostom) --- It was the custom then, as it still is in every civilized nation, not to appear at a marriage feast, or at a dinner of ceremony, except in the very best attire. (Bible de Vence)

Those who don't have a clean garment at their particular judgment are not allowed into heaven. Either it has to be cleansed in purgatory, or will be cast into hell for eternity. Period!

St. Alphonsus Liguori, a Doctor of the Church, says the following concerning an unfavorable judgment:

'Thus the damned see that God deserves infinite love, and that they cannot love him. St. Catherine of Genoa being one day assailed by the Devil, asked him who he was. He answered with tears: "I am that wicked one who is deprived of the love of God. I am that miserable being that can never more love God." They not only cannot love God, but, abandoned in their sins, they are forced to hate him: their Hell consists in hating God whom they at the same time know to be infinitely amiable. They love him intensely as their sovereign good, and hate him as the avenger of their sins. Their natural love draws them continually to God; but their hatred drags them away from him. These two contrary passions, like two ferocious wild beasts, incessantly tear in pieces the hearts of the damned, and cause, and shall for all eternity cause them to live in a continual death. The reprobate then shall hate and curse all the benefits which God has bestowed upon them. They shall hate the benefits of creation, of redemption, and the sacraments. But they shall hate in a particular manner the sacrament of baptism, by which they have, on account of penance, b which, if they wished, they could have so easily saved their souls; and above all, the most Holy Sacrament of the altar, in which God had given Himself entirely to them. They shall consequently hate all the other means which have been helps to their salvation. Hence, they shall hate and curse all the angels ad saints. But they shall curse particularly their guardian-angels,--their special advocates; and, above all, the divine mother Mary. They shall curse the Three Divine Persons,--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; but particularly Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, who suffered so much and died for their salvation. They shall curse the wounds of Jesus Christ, the Blood of Jesus Christ, and the death of Jesus Christ. Behold the end to which accursed sin leads the souls which Jesus Christ has so dearly bought.'

Many are called, but few are chosen.

NRA: A Defenseless Population

My friends, you need to watch these videos if you wish to try to save our country.  Altogether, they take about 40 minutes.  Please?!

NRA: A Defenseless Population