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Saturday, May 22, 2004

Blogging Light This Weekend

Just the basics. I've got my hands on Bernard Cornwell's latest Sharpe novel, Sharpe's Escape, and am about a quarter of the way in.

Seems good so far, but the dust jacket design is terrible.

Friday Is Still A Penitential Day

So keep that steak in the freezer until Saturday.

Saw this over at The Shrine of the Holy Whapping.


Fourteen Ways To Improve Catholic Liturgy

Looks good to me. It is in PDF format.

Found it at Confessionsof a Recovering Choir Director. It is originally from the May 2004 Crisis.

St. Rita of Cascia


Memorare, O Domina Nostra

Remember, O our Lady of the Sacred Heart, what ineffable power thy divine Son hath given to thee through His own adorable Heart. Filled with confidence in thy merits, we come before thee and implore thy protection. O heavenly Treasurer of the Heart of Jesus, that Heart which is the inexhaustible source of all graces, which thou mayest open to us at thy good pleasure, in order that from it may flow forth upon mankind the riches of love and mercy, light and salvation, that are contained therein; grant unto us, we beseech thee, the favors which we seek ... We can never, never be refused by thee, and since thou art Mother, O our Lady of the Sacred Heart, graciously receive our prayers and grant our request.
Amen.

Memorare, o Domina Nostra a Sacro Corde, quam ineffabilem tibi potentiam Filius tuus divinus contulerit in suum ipsius Cor adorabile. Pleni nos fiduciae in meritis tuis, accedimus implorantes tuum praesidium. O Cordis Iesu Thesauraria caelestis, illius Cordis, fontis inexhausti gratiarum omnium, quod potes ipsa pro tua voluntate recludere, ut defluant inde in homines divitiae amoris et misericordiae, luminis et salutis, quae in ipso continentur; concede nobis, obsecramus, beneficia quae petimus ... Nulla nobis, nulla a te erit repulsa, et, quoniam Mater Tu nostra es, o Domina Nostra a Sacro Corde, preces nostras benigne habe et benigne exaudi.
Amen.

Daily Marian Reflection For the Month of May

From yeoldewoburn.com:

Mary: Ever Virgin

"The purity, humility, and generosity of Mary are in sharp contrast to our wretchedness and selfishness. To the extent that we realize this, we should feel moved to imitate her. We too are creatures of God, and if we strive to imitate her fidelity, God will surely do great things in us. Our small worth is no obstacle, because God chooses what is of little value so that the power of his love may be more manifest."

Let us offer to our Mother today:

The Prayer, "Blessed be your purity"

Blessed be your purity,
May it be blessed forever,
For no less that God takes delight,
In such exalted beauty.
To you, heavenly Princess,
Holy Virgin Mary,
I offer on this day,
My whole heart, life and soul.
Look upon me with compassion;
Do not leave me, my Mother.


Friday, May 21, 2004

Recta Ratio: The Yahoo Group

I've been working on the Blessed Mother's Photo Album (appropriate for the month of May). It has about 50 images now. If you have the time, open the album, and select Slideshow. I only regret that some of the images, including some of my favorites, are too big for the slideshow. You need to open them individually in the album, and scroll up and down and side to side to enjoy them. But each image shows up even in the slideshow, at least partially.

Most of the images are from what might be called the "Great Art" school of sacred art. But I have selected a few of my favorite holy card images as well.

I have never been able to figure out how to manipulate the settings to post images here in Blogger (especially since I am using free Blogger). But the Yahoo Club allows me to do just that.

Meanwhile, the Marian Prayers subfile under the Catholic Prayers File continues to grow. By the end of the month, I hope to have over 31 Marian prayers there.

If you haven't joined yet, click on the link in the headline and do so now. It is free, and always will be. And if anyone spams you, I will personally use him to re-enact the Defenestration of Prague.

Liturgical Atrocity

Bryan Baldwin at Catholic Light tells us all about it. I've seen worse, though.

Some In the Vatican Are Aware of the Grave Cultural Cris In Western Culture

Of course Cardinal Ratzinger is one of them.

Joe Sobran On "Catholic" John Kerry

Nice piece. Joe is sometimes a little over the top on some issues. But he is right on here.

You Lose Some, You Gain Some

As I said a few weeks ago, I was disappointed to find out that idol of my youth Lynda (Wonder Woman) Carter was a stridently pro-abortion Democrat (actually, I knew she was a Democrat, but didn't know she was stridently pro-abortion). Particularly upsetting because she was from Texas, where women are supposed to be better than that.

But I just found out that 6-time Ms. Olympia and actress Corey Everson is a Republican. She and Bo Derek and Delta Burke make up for Carter.

Change In US Liturgical Norms Ordered

Regarding chalices for wine that will be consecrated.

A good change.

Empty Pews In Empty Churches

A great filk of a number from Les Mis. From Confessions of a Recovering Choir Director.

Shoe Is Good Today

I have met my lousy agent, and he is me.

Might As Well Hang A "Closed" Sign On the City for the Duration

The road and rail closures to accomodate the hypersensitive security worriers for the Democrat convention in Boston will be so bad, forget about the eastern Massachusetts economy showing any sort of net gain for the event.

All you really need to do to make the Democrat convention-goers happy is to be sure the local pet stores are well stocked on gerbils.

Good!

Now off with their heads, after giving them a goodly diet of pork, something sure to send Musselmen straight to Hell, in their eyes.

You can't win a war by being all sweetness and light. The enemy has to fear you more than he hates you. Then he will sit quietly while you do your business.

The bad thing about the prisoner "abuse" was that it was silly. All it did was give US troops the reputation of being jerks, not a reputation to be feared. Liquified processed pork injections for the inmates and their families, chopping off right hands, stepping on them, or hitting them with shoes, and other methods designed to make the prisoners objects of scorn and (even better) Hell fodder in the Moslem world would make people fear to take up arms agains the US, and would be much more effective than panties on the head and glow sticks in the keister.

Saint Eugene de Mazenod

Patron of dysfunctional families.

Pray for us.

Saint Hospitius

I have a fondness for hermits, perhaps because I need a lot of solitary quiet time.

Angelus Ad Virginem

Angelus ad Virginem subintrans in conclave
Virginis formidinem demulcens inquit:
Ave, Regina virginum, caeli terraeque Dominum
concipies et paries intacta salutem hominum,
tu porta caeli facta medela criminum.

Quomodo conciperem quae virum non cognovi?
Qualiter infringerem quod firma mente vovi?
Spiritus Sancti gratia perficiet haec omnia;
ne timeas, sed gaudeas, secura quod castimonia
manebit in te pura Dei potentia.

Ad haec virgo nobilis respondens inquit ei:
Ancilla sum humilis omnipotentis Dei.
Tibi caelesti nuntio, tanti secreti conscio
consentiens et cupiens videre factum quod audio;
parata sum parere Dei consilio.

Eia Mater Domini, quae pacem reddidisti
Angelis et homini, cum Christum genuisti:
tuum exora Filium ut se nobis propitium
exhibeat et deleat peccata: praestans auxilium
vita frui beata post hoc exsilium.
Amen.

A very early carol, mentioned by Chaucer in The Miller's Tale. There are several versions in Latin, and an English translation of one version, but there is no good translation of this version (and I don't have the time to try one now).

Daily Marian Reflection for the Month of May

From yeoldewoburn.com:

Mary's Prayer

"Let us ask the Blessed Virgin to make us contemplatives, to teach us to recognize the constant calls from God at the door of our heart. Let us ask her now: Our Mother, you brought to earth Jesus, who reveals the love of our Father God. Help us to recognize him in the midst of the cares of each day. Stir up our mind and will so that we may listen to the voice of God, to the calls of grace."

Let us offer to our Mother today:

A visit to Jesus truly present in the Blessed Sacrament.


Thursday, May 20, 2004

Political Responsibility of Catholics

From Women For Faith and Family.

Thanks to Dom Bettinelli for pointing it out.

Archbishop Myers On the Real and Ever-Present Culture War

I like this prelate more and more.

From Crisis.

Nice Compendium

By Earl Appleby over at Times Against Humanity.

Saint Augustine On the Ascension

From the Confraternity of Penitents:

"Today our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven; let our hearts ascend with him. Listen to the words of the Apostle: If you have risen with Christ, set your hearts on the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; seek the things that are above, not the things that are on earth. For just as he remained with us even after his ascension, so we too are already in heaven with him, even though what is promised us has not yet been fulfilled in our bodies.

Christ is now exalted above the heavens, but he still suffers on earth all the pain that we, the members of his body, have to bear. He showed this when he cried out from above: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? and when he said: I was hungry and you gave me food. Why do we on earth not strive to find rest with him in heaven even now, through the faith, hope and love that unites us to him?

While in heaven he is also with us; and we while on earth are with him. He is here with us by his divinity, his power and his love. We cannot be in heaven, as he is on earth, by divinity, but in him, we can be there by love.

He did not leave heaven when he came down to us; nor did he withdraw from us when he went up again into heaven. The fact that he was in heaven even while he was on earth is borne out by his own statement: No one has ever ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. These words are explained by our oneness with Christ, for he is our head and we are his body. No one ascended into heaven except Christ because we also are Christ: he is the Son of Man by his union with us, and we by our union with him are sons of God.

So the Apostle says: Just as the human body, which has many members, is a unity, because all the different members make one body, so is it also with Christ. He too has many members, but one body. Out of compassion for us he descended from heaven, and although he ascended alone, we also ascend, because we are in him by grace. Thus, no one but Christ descended and no one but Christ ascended; not because there is no distinction between the head and the body, but because the body as a unity cannot be separated from the head."

From a sermon by Saint Augustine, bishop (Sermo de Ascensione Domini, Mai 98, 1-7: PLS 2, 429-495)


Bishop Thomas Wenski (Co-Adjutor of Orlando) Joins The Side of the Angels

"You can't have your waffle and Wafer, too."

Thanks to Father Sistare at Not So Quiet Catholic Corner for the link.

Images of the Ascension

From TextWeek's Sacred Art Index.

The front page image at Recta Ratio: The Yahoo Group is, for today, a relief of the Ascension carved from glazed terracotta by Luca della Robbia around 1460 as a lunette for the portico of the cathedral at Florence.

See more of Robbia's carvings here.

Saint Bernadine of Siena


Ascension Thursday

Today is a holy day of obligation, in case you forgot.

One wonders how very alone the Apostles felt after the Ascension. It must have been rather like, but not quite as bad as, what they experienced between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. But this period of separation is tempered by the promise, perhaps better understood than the promise before Good Friday, of another advocate. But the wait was longer.

Daily Marian Meditation for the Month of May

Mary: Our Hope

"Our Lady, a full participant in the work of our salvation, follows in the footsteps of her Son: the poverty of Bethlehem, the everyday work of a hidden life in Nazareth, the manifestation of his divinity in Cana of Galilee, the tortures of his passion, the diving sacrifice on the cross, the eternal blessedness of paradise.

All of this affects us directly, because this supernatural itinerary is the way we are to follow. Mary shows us that we can walk this path with confidence. She has preceded us on the way of imitating Christ; her glorification is the firm hope of our own salvation. For these reasons we call her 'our hope, cause of our joy.'"

Let us offer to our Mother today:

A smile when we do not feel like smiling.


Sancta Maria, Succurre Miseris

Holy Mary, give succor to the helpless, strength to the fearful, comfort to the sorrowful, pray for the people, plead for the clergy, intercede for all holy women consecrated to God; may all who keep thy sacred commemoration feel the might of thine assistance.
Amen.

Sancta Maria, succurre miseris, iuva pusillanimes, refove flebiles, ora pro populo, interveni pro clero, intercede pro devoto femineo sexu: sentiant omnes tuum iuvamen, quicumque celebrant tuam sanctam commemorationem.
Amen.

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

Wednesday in Rogationtide and the Eve of the Ascension

The Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Thursday were traditionally marked with processions along the boundaries of a parish, sometimes along the boundaries of individual families' holdings as a way of marking them to prevent boundary disputes.

They were sometimes, in some parts of England and Scotland and Ireland, called Gang Days, which I suspect comes from the common (Scottish) word "gang" for "going," for going around the boundaries. The Rogation, or asking aspect of the ritual comes from the fact that, while processing around the boundaries, the priest would also be asking God's blessing on the growing crops in the fields.

Sometimes boys would be particularly charged with remembering how boundaries ran, and sometimes they would be rewarded with a feast at the parish's expence. However, the Rogation Days were observed by the more devout as a fast in preparation for the feast of the Ascencion. Eastertide is coming to its end. Whitsuntide is about to start. At the same time, spring is giving way to summer. Both Ascension Thursday and Pentecost were marked with processions, feasts, and special liturgies. Today, we barely notice, except that tomorrow is a holy day of obligation.

A Good Balanced Look At What Needs To Be Fixed In the Church

So that we are always on the same page.

Sad to say that the Holy Father has often said the right thing, but allowed the opposite to happen aropund him without any consequences: like some of the absolutely putrid things that happen at papal Masses, like liturgical dance, incorporation of native, pagan, savage, heathen rituals, atrocious liturgical music and informal prayers.

But the Holy Father has been on the side of the angels in trying, through written declarations to the universal church, to set standards. I just wish he was stricter, and that, when something he does not care for happens at a papal Mass, the responsible liturgist/music director is called on the carpet and loses his position, instantly. I guess I am saying that I wish the Pope was more authoritarian, so long as the authority is used for the right purposes.

Honestly, I don't know if I'd be saying that if we had another John XXIII or Paul VI (heaven preserve us from such a fate, even for a short time!). It is sort of like presidential power in the US. I favor a vigorous executive when Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush is President, and more power for Congress when it is controlled by Republicans and the occupant of the White House is a Democrat. It does matter whose ox is being gored, and who is dong the goring, because my world view is essentially idealogical and program-oriented.

This Would Be Better

For the Chapel at Ave Maria. A more comfortable, church-like design. One thing I liked about Cardinal Law was, when he visited St. James for an anniversary celebration some years ago, he said, "I like a church that looks like a church."

Not that he ever did anything to make sure all churches int he Archdiocese look like churches...

Happy Belated Birthday to the Holy Father!!!

He turned 84 yesterday. Ad Multos Annos!!!

Saint Dunstan

Dickens mentioned St. Dunstan in one of his books. Which one?

Blessed Peter Wright

Martyred by Cromwell.

Daily Marian Meditation for the Month of May

From yeoldewoburn.com:

Mary: Her Faith

"If our faith is weak, we should turn to Mary, St. John tells us that it was because of the miracle that Christ performed, at his mother's request, at the marriage feast at Cana, that 'his disciples learned to believe in him,' Our Mother is always interceding with her Son, so that he may attend to our needs and show himself to us in such a way that we can cry out, 'You are the Son of God."

Let us offer to our Mother today:

The "Memorare" for the person in our family who needs the help of our Lady.


Adjuvet Nos

Assist us, we beseech Thee, Lord, by the worshipful intercession of Thy glorious Mother, the ever-Virgin Mary; that we, who have been enriched by her perpetual blessings, may be delivered from all dangers, and through her loving kindness made to be of one heart and mind: Who livest and reignest world without end.
Amen.

Adjuvet nos, quaesumus Domine, gloriosae tuae Genetricis semperque Virginis Mariae intercessio veneranda; ut quos perpetuis cumulavit beneficiis, a cunctis periculis absolutos, sua faciat pietate concordes: Qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum.
Amen.

Tuesday, May 18, 2004

Been Busy With My Redcoats 1 Yahoo Group

I hit the mother lode of Scottish Highlander images and artifacts at the site of the 84th Regiment of Foot, the Royal Highland Emigrants, and have been busily posting them to my group. The 42nd, 71st, 74th, and 84th Regiments of Foot, the Highland regiments that served in the American War, are among the best-documented of any, thanks to the work of the 84th.

Like the British Army of the period (when some 40% or more of the officers were Scottish), my club has taken on a distinctly Scottish flavor recently. So I replaced the English officer on the front page with an 84th Lieutenant Colonel named John Small.

Saint Felix of Cantalice


Saint Leonard Murialdo


Daily Marian Reflection For the Month of May

Mary: Who Suffered With Christ

So fully in union with her suffering and dying Son, did she suffer and nearly die; so fully, for the sake of the salvation of all souls, did she abdicate the rights of a mother over her Son, and immolate him, insofar as it was in her power, to satisfy the justice of God, that it can rightly be said that she helped in Christ's redemtion of mankind together with Christ. That gives us a deeper understanding of that moment in the Passion of our Lord on which we shall never tire of meditating: Stabat autum iuxta crucem Jesu mater eius, 'There, standing by the cross of Jesus, was his mother."

Let us offer to our Mother today:

Five small hidden sacrifices in honor of the five major wounds of our Lord.


O Domina Mea, Sancta Maria

O my Lady, holy Mary, into thy blessed trust and special keeping, into the bosom of thy tender mercy, this day, every day of my life and at the hour of my death, I commend my soul and body. To thee I entrust all my hopes and consolations, all my trials and miseries, my life and the end of my life, that through thy most holy intercession and thy merits, all my actions may be ordered and disposed according to thy will and that of thy divine Son.
Amen.

O Domina mea, sancta Maria, me in tuam benedictam fidem ac singularem custodiam et in sinum misericordiae tuae, hodie et quotidie et in hora exitus mei animam meam et corpus meum tibi commendo. Omnem spem et consolationem meam, omnes angustias et miserias meas, vitam et finem vitae meae tibi committo, ut per tuam sanctissimam intercessionem et per tua merita, omnia mea dirigantur et disponantur opera secundum tuam tuique Filii voluntatem.
Amen.

Monday, May 17, 2004

Great Ad From the American Life League


Have I Told You I'm Losing Weight?

Civilization in Massachusetts is in ashes around me, probably never to be restored in my lifetime short of a coup de etat, so I might as well discuss my weight loss.

Back on Labor Day, I weighed in at a whopping 258 pounds (at only 5'7"). With lots more exercise and strictly limiting food intake, at the start of Lent, I was 198 pounds, making a loss of 60 pounds. As usual, I did not lose any weight during Lent. But my weight loss has started again. As of yesterday, I am 193 pounds.

I still have quite a way to go. I can easilstand to lose an extra fifteen pounds, maybe twenty.

I can't recommend the method, mostly stress. But at least I'm looking less like traitorous piece of filth Michael Moore (link courtesy of Mark Sullivan at Irish Elk).


Legitimacy Versus Legality

There have been times in American history when we are confronted with the need to distinguish the legality of an action from its legitimacy. Usually, these instances have occured when a court has overstepped its proper role, and has decided to start legislating from the bench.

Two such occasions spring immediately to mind. In the Dred Scott Case, the Fugitive Slave Law which required the return of former slaves who had escaped slavery to their masters in the South even if they had reached the territory of a free state, was upheld by a pro-slavery majority of the Supreme Court.

The existence of slavery in a free republic was an offense against God and basic human dignity that cried out for change. The specific law which required re-enslaving someone who had become a free man by the law of the state he had reached was equally immoral and an outrageous extension of the power of slave states into free states.

In the 1970s, bending to a wave of feminist pressure that had been building for 20 years fed by horror stories about back-alley abortions, the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade extended the "right to privacy" it had manufactured out of whole cloth in Griswold v. Connecticut (to strike down state laws against contraception for married couples) to find a "right" to abortion under the "penumbra emanating from the 14th and 4th Amendments."

The act of abortion is nothing less than the murder of an innocent child for the convenience of the so-called mother. Any ruling that makes such a heinous act legal is not worthy of the paper it was written on. It is morally repulsive. To claim that there is a federal constitutional right to commit infanticide is deeply disordered. Any of the Founding Fathers, Federalist or Anti-Federalist, would be appalled at such a ruling.

Now the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has required Massachusetts to grant marriage licenses to homosexual couples. Homosexuality itself is deeply offensive to traditional notions of morality. It shocks the conscience of the well-ordered mind. It degrades the sacred institution of marriage by calling the illicit and psychologically disturbed couplings of perverts a "marriage." Laws requiring that such a perversion of the natural order be treated in an equal manner as the institution of marriage, and be called by the same name as marriage, and treated as such, are just as illegitimate under normative notions of morality as defending slavery or the murder of innocent babies.

Yet here we are. Another act of judicial tyranny has forced a circus of (let's call a spade a spade) perverts going through the form of marriage unto society. And we are all supposed to stand up and salute.

Sorry. It is morally repulsive. I will never recognize the legitimacy of such "marriages." To me, despite whatever piece of paper the state gives them, they will never be nothing more than two perverts living together under the mistaken impression that they are "married." They can think what they want. But I don't have to tolerate it, certainly not in my own houseold. And I will support every effort from now until doomsday to overturn this act of judical tyranny.

The SJC majority (by one vote) may demand that Massachusetts become "The Gay State," But the act of the Court, or the marriages approved thereunder, will never by legitimate in my eyes. Not now. Not five years from now. Not ten years from now. Not fifty years from now. Not a thousand years from now.

Daily Marian Meditation For the Month of May

From yeoldewoburn.com:

Mary: The Sorrowing Mother

"Our Lady is there listening to the words of her Son, united to him in his suffering, when he cried out 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' What could she do? She united herself fully with the redemptive love of her Son and offered to the Father her immense sorrow, which pierced her pure heart like a sharp-edged sword."

Let us offer to our Mother today:

The Mortification of keeping quiet about any pain or discomfort, any inconvenience or disappointment, uniting it with her pain as she stood by her crucified Son.


O Excellentissima

O most excellent, most glorious, most holy and ever inviolate Virgin Mary, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, Queen of the whole world and Mistress of every creature; thou forsakest no one, thou despisest no one, thou sendest away disconsolate no one who comes to thee with a pure and lowly heart; despise me not for my countless grievous sins, neither forsake me for my exceeding iniquities, nor for the hardness and uncleanness of my heart; cast me not away, who am thy servant, from thy grace and love.

Graciously hear me, a miserable sinner, trusting in thy tender mercy; come to my assistance, O most loving Virgin Mary, in all my tribulations, trial and necessities; obtain for me of thy dear Son, Almighty God and our Lord Jesus Christ, the forgiveness and remission of all my sins, and the grace of fear and the love of thee; health likewise and chastity of body, and deliverance from all evils and dangers which beset both soul and body.

In my last moments do thou graciously assist me, and deliver my soul and the souls of my parents, brothers, and sisters and friends, kinsmen and benefactors, and of all the faithful Christians, both living and departed, from eternal darkness and from all evil, by the grace of Him whom thou didst bear in thy sacred womb for nine long months, and didst lay in the manger with thine own pure hands, our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who is blessed for ever.
Amen.

O excellentissima, gloriosissima atque sanctissima semper intemerata Virgo Maria, Mater Domini nostri Iesu Christi, Regina mundi et totius creaturae Domina, quae nullum, qui ad te puro et humili corde recurrit, desolatum dimittis, noli me despicere propter innumerabilia et gravissima peccata mea, noli me derelinquere propter nimias iniquitates meas, nec etiam propter duritiam et immunditiam cordis mei: ne abiicias me famulum tuum a gratia tua et amore tuo.
Exaudi me miserum peccatorem in tua misericordia et pietate confidentem; succurre mihi, piissima Virgo Maria, in omnibus tribulationibus, angustiis et necessitatibus meis; et impetra mihi a dilecto Filio tuo omnipotente Deo et Domino nostro Iesu Christo indulgentiam et remissionem omnium peccatorum meorum et gratiam timoris et amoris tui, sanitatem quoque et castitatem corporis, et liberationem ab omnibus malis et periculis animae et corporis.
In extremis meis esto mihi pia auxiliatrix, et animam meam ac animas omnium parentum meorum, fratrum, sororum et amicorum consanguineorum et benefactorum meorum omniumque fidelium vivorum et defunctorum ab aeterna caligine et ab omni malo libera, Illo auxiliante quem in tuo sanctissimo utero novem mensibus portasti et in praesepe tuis sanctis manibus reclinasti, Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum Filium tuum, qui est benedictus in saecula saeculorum.
Amen.

Sunday, May 16, 2004

The Fifth Sunday of Easter

That means the Rogation Days start tomorrow.

An Incredibly Beautiful Mass At Holy Trinity

Today was both First Communion and the May Procession at Boston's Indult Mass community, threatened with closing at this moment despite the orthodoxy, health, and vitality of the community.

First of all, the music throughout (it was a high Mass) was wonderful, and Father Higgins did a superb job saying the Mass and with his homily.

The sight of all those kids receiving for the first time brought tears to my eyes, reminding me of the friends I made my First Communion with so, so long ago, reminding me of innocence lost also so long ago, and renewing in me the desire, long dormant or nearly so, of having children of my own.

And the May Procession, held indoors because of rainy weather was moving too, with its familiar Marian hymns and prayers asking the intervention of the Blessed Mother, also brought tears because of a special and urgent request for advocacy I have been pestering her with lately (and very late to bring this to her, also).

Such a lovely Mass in such a lovely church! Even the incense, the same type used in my home parish growing up, and used with a generous hand, brought familiar associations.

If Archbishop Sean allows this Mass at this location to end, he is no friend of great worship and great liturgy. St James in Salem? With great regret, yes, if absolutely necessary. But Holy Trinity? Please God, no: keep the Latin Mass there.

Saint Simon Stock

The Carmelite to whom the Blessed Mother gave the Brown Scapular.

You know, I have a soft spot for the Carmelites, since they were instrumental in bringing me back to an active participation in the Faith, and because my birthday is also the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, July 16th (40th this year!!!).

A great Saint Simon Stock image and the lyrics to Flos Carmeli over at Inn At the End of the World.

Immaculata Mater Dei

Immaculate Mother of God, Queen of Heaven, Mother of Mercy, Advocate and Resort of sinners, behold, I, enlightened and inspired by the graces obtained for me abundantly from the divine treasury through thy motherly benevolence, resolve now and always to place my heart into thy hands to be consecrated to Jesus.

To thee, therefore, most Blessed Virgin, in the presence of nine choirs of Angels and all the Saints, I now give it. Do thou, in my name, consecrate it to Jesus; and out of the filial confidence which I hereby make profession of, I am certain that now and always thou wilt do all thou canst to bring it to pass that my heart may ever wholly belong to Jesus, and may imitate perfectly the example of the Saints, and in particular that of Saint Joseph, thy most pure Spouse.
Amen.

Immaculata Mater Dei, Regina Caelorum, Mater Misericordiae, Advocata et Refugium peccatorum, ecce ego illuminatus et incitatus gratiis, a te materna benevolentia large mihi impetratis ex thesauro divino, statuo nunc et semper dare in manus tuas cor meum Iesu consecrandum.

Tibi igitur, beatissima Virgo, coram novem choris Angelorum cunctisque Sanctis illud trado, Tu autem, meo nomine, Iesu id consecra; et ex fiducia filiali, quam profiteor, certum mihi est te nunc et semper quantum poteris esse facturum, ut cor meum iugiter totum sit Iesu, imitans perfectissime Sanctos, praesertim sanctum Ioseph, Sponsum tuum purissimum.
Amen.

Daily Marian Reflection for the Month of May

From yeoldewoburn.com

Mary: At The Foot Of The Cross

"We find her on Calvary, at the foot of the cross, praying. This is nothing new for Mary. She has always acted like this, in fulfilling her duties and looking after her home. As she wept about the things on earth, she kept her attention on God."

Let us offer to our Mother today:

An Act of contrition, said many times, asking her to offer our sorrow for our sins to Jesus crucified.


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