Recta Ratio

Democrat senators may stall the confirmation vote on Judge Alito for a week.

This news is just breaking. Details are not available yet. Singer Lou Rawls has died of cancer. Requiescat in pace.

Cacciaguida makes the case for reasonable reform of the 1962 Missal: give the priest a clip-on mike, make his part of the Mass, especially the Canon, audible, just read the Epistle and Gospel in English, and allow the congregation to join the server in the responses.

Let's face it, the folks going to Latin Mass today are not illiterate peasants, but the most highly educated, vocal, and involved Catholics out there. They are fully capable of learning the Latin responses, just as easily as they learned the English responses in the Novus Ordo Mass. I have only been going to Latin Mass once or twice a month for a little over 2 years (and had no previous experience of it), and I pretty much have got the responses down.

I love the 1962 Missal, but the 1970 Missal rightly corrected these problems. Had the post-Vatican II response to the Mass been a genuine reform instead of a complete revolution, these things, plus reserving the Last Gospel for special feasts or abolishing it and replacing it with an Old Testament reading as part of the Mass of the Catachumens would have been organic developments. And for those who want to chisel the 1962 Missal in stone, remember, living things need to be allowed to live. They cannot be preserved in amber, because that will kill them.

The social services that utilize Holy Trinity have been given until March 31st to find new quarters. Presumably, that means the Archdiocese is not planning on closing the parish until at least then.

Via Save Holy Trinity Yahoo Group

South End News, January 5, 2006 [Vol. 26, No. 50]

Archdiocese silent about funds transfer
Holy Trinity parishioners set to meet with Archdiocesan officials
next week

BY LINDA RODRIGUEZ

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Amid growing confusion about the circumstances surrounding the
improper transfer of money from Holy Trinity German Church in the
South End to St. James the Greater. Church in Chinatown by the Rev.
Hugh O'Regan, who administers both parishes, Archdiocese Chancellor
David Smith confirmed in an e-mail this week that "St. James did pay
some bills for Holy Trinity."
On Dec. 22, the South End News reported that O'Regan had transferred
the funds without the knowledge of Holy Trinity parishioners. The
transfer of $176,390, which took place over six years from 1999 to
2005, was revealed in a Dec. 15 letter from Smith to parishioners of
the Shawmut Avenue church. Smith had conducted an audit of parish
finances at the request of Holy Trinity parishioners; the audit
uncovered the transfer of funds. In his letter, which summarized the
audit's findings, the $176,390 was characterized as an overpayment of
funds from Holy Trinity to St. James the Greater to reimburse St.
James for having paid bills owed by Holy Trinity. Members of the
parish and finance councils of Holy Trinity said they were unaware
that St. James the Greater had been

Continued on page 14

Page 14,
paying Holy Trinity's bills. They also said they were not told of the
transfer of funds prior to their receipt of the letter.
On Dec. 23, following the South End News report, the Boston Globe
reported that O'Regan had used funds from Holy Trinity to pay bills
owed by St. James the Greater and attributed that information to the
archdiocese.
This week, when asked if Holy Trinity had been paying bills owed by
St. James the Greater, Archdiocese spokesman Terrance Donilon refused
to comment. "We would prefer to sit with the people from the parish
and talk to with them and have a thorough discussion with them," he
said.
Smith also said he would not elaborate on his e-mailed comments that
St. James had paid "some bills for Holy Trinity" until he met with
parishioners.
Joe LoPiccolo, a member of the Holy Trinity Finance Council, said
that parishioners have set a tentative date of Jan. 11 to meet with
Smith to discuss the results of the audit. Parishioners requested the
audit in the wake of the Boston Archiocese's announcement in May 2004
that Holy Trinity would be one of approximately 65 churches to close.
Parishioners said they believed that decision was made, in part, on
information that misrepresented the financial health of the parish.
Duringa preliminary meeting between Smith and parishioners July 27,
Smith told them that Holy Trinity was operating in the red.
Parishioners disputed the findings. As LoPiccolo told South End News
two weeks ago, "Money was coming into the parish, but it was really
unclear where it was going." Since the July meeting, parishioners
have refused to meet with Smith because they lacked confidence in his
audit. But they now want to hear what Smith has to say.
"Hopefully, the meeting with Chancellor Smith will shed some light on
it," LoPiccolo said.
But, said LoPiccolo, parishioners still want an independent audit
conducted of parish finances. "To really get down to the nitty-
gritty, we're probably going to need an outside audit, a real
professional outside audit is probably the only way we're going to
get a real answer," he said.
Attempts to contact a finance council at St. James have failed and
neither Donilon nor Smith would say if parishioners at St. James had
been made aware of the transfer of funds.





South End News, January 5, 2006

Holy Trinity closing date set

Although Boston Archdiocese spokesman Terrence Donilon said Tuesday
that no formal date for the closure of the Holy Trinity German
Catholic Church has been set, Joe McPherson, executive director of
the Cardinal Medeiros Center, confirmed that the Archdiocese has
asked them to leave the church by March 31.
On Dec. 6, the `Cardinal Medieros Center, which serves homeless
elders and has been housed in the basement of Holy Trinity for more
than 20 years, sent a letter to the Archdiocese, requesting an
extension of its Dec. 15, 2005 eviction date to March 31, 2006. In a
letter dated Dec. 21, Bishop Richard Lennon responded by granting the
extension. As of Tuesday, the other social service organization
housed at the church, Bridge Over Troubled Water, had not heard
anything from the Archdiocese, though they had also sent a letter
requesting an extension.

Parishioners at the church have yet to hear anything regarding a
prospective closing date, and the announcement of a date for the
Cardinal Medeiros Center, they said, has little impact on them. "That
was their date, they asked to be able to stay to April. Had they
asked for June, they may have gotten it," said Kathy Stone, a member
of the Holy Trinity Parish Council. "We were never notified, we
haven't been notified off the altar, we haven't gotten a letter, the
parish council has gotten no notification that anything has changed."
In May, 2004, the Archdiocese announced that Holy Trinity would close
on June 30, 2005. As that date approached, it became clear that the
Cardinal Medeiros' Center and Bridge Over Troubled Water'' would not
be able to find new homes by then.
The Archdiocese extended the closing date to Dec. 15 and announced
that parishioners would be allowed to worship at the church - through
the Christmas season and that the " church would officially close
Dec. 26.
After inquiries from South End News Dec. 12 about the status of the
church, Donilon confirmed in a statement that the two social service
agencies would be allowed to remain in the church beyond Dec. 15.
Many parishioners learned of the extension of the closing deadline by
reading the Dec. 15 issue of South End News, the Dec. 16 issue of The
Pilot, the Archdiocese paper, which announced the extension, or by
attending Mass Dec. 20 and reading the church bulletin, which
included a Jan, schedule for religious education classes.
-- Linda Rodriguez

In the US, the USCCB has moved Epiphany to the second Sunday after Christmas Day. But in the universal Church, January 6th remains Epiphany. And Epiphany at Recta Ratio always immediately follows Twelfth Night, not before, not after, no matter what the benighted American bishops vouchsafe to decree.


Adoration of the Magi by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1470-75, Florence, from the Uffizi

The Golden Legend has this to say about the Epiphany.

Epiphany sermon by St. Pope Leo I.


Reliquary said to contain the remains of the Three Magi, Cologne Cathedral (we all remember this from WYD2005).

We Three Kings of Orient Are
We three kings of Orient are;
Bearing gifts we traverse afar,
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star.

Refrain

O star of wonder, star of light,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain
Gold I bring to crown Him again,
King forever, ceasing never,
Over us all to reign.

Refrain

Frankincense to offer have I;
Incense owns a Deity nigh;
Prayer and praising, voices raising,
Worshipping God on high.

Refrain

Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes a life of gathering gloom;
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in the stone cold tomb.

Refrain

Glorious now behold Him arise;
King and God and sacrifice;
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Sounds through the earth and skies.

Refrain

Adoration of the Magi, by Rogier Van der Weyden, c. 1455, central panel of altarpiece tryptych from Saint Columba's parish church, Cologne

Journey of the Magi, by T.S. Eliot

'A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For the journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.'
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins,
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death,
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

Adoration of the Magi, by Juan Reixach, active late 1400s in Valencia, central panel of an Epiphany Altarpiece whis was in a church in Rubielos de Mora, Spain.

"The table at which the King sat was richly decorated and groaned beneath the good fare placed upon it, for there was brawn, roast beef, venison pasty, pheasants, swan capons, lampreys, pike in latimer sauce, custard, partridge, fruit, plovers, and a huge plum pudding which required the efforts of two men to carry. Afterwards plays were performed and there was much music and dancing, and in the large kitchens after the spit had ceased its ceaseless turning and the King had dined...a merry crowd gathered...and we had besides a good chine of beef and other good cheer, eighteen mince pies in a dish..."

Diary of Samuel Pepys, January 6, 1662 (the king referred to is King Charles II)

Adoration of the Magi, by Giotto, Scrovengi Chapel

A pretty good analysis from The National Interest.

Saint John Neumann was part of the generation(s) when beauty in Catholic worship continued to mean something, and was sought out. When looking over some sites about Saint John, I came across a couple of images I wanted to share.

Saint Philomena's, Pittsbugh, a church Saint John built on a wing and prayer, and precious little money in 1846.

Exterior of Saint Alphonsus, Baltimore, a German parish of which Saint John was the first rector.

Interior of Saint Alphonsus. Now that is what I call a Sanctuary!

The Neumann Chalice, a gift to Saint John from German Catholics on his elevation to Bishop of Philadelphia

Shrine containing the body of Saint John at Saint Peter's, Philadelphia

The 77 year-old former general clings to life.

The implications for Israeli politics are enormous.

Bishop Anthony Pilla, head of the Diocese of Cleveland for 25 years, has asked the Holy Father to accept his retirement, two years short of the mandatory retirement age.

Redemptorist, Bishop, and Confessor

The last night of Christmas, and the eve of Epiphany are the traditional time for the last of the Christmas merry-making. The wassail flows again tonight, and the enormous fruitcake, wrapped in layers of marzipan and iced in Royal Icing and often decorated, known as the Twelfth Cake is served.

The Twelfth Cake itself was the center of games related to the feast. Symbolic items were hidden in the cake, much as with an Irish barmbrack at Halloween. A king and queen of the feast were selected based on what items showed up in whose slices of cake. This is related to the Lord of Misrule custom.

Election of the Bean King, from Chambers' Book of Days

Herrick had this to say about the Twelfth Cake:

Now, now the mirth comes
With the cake full of plums,
Where Beane's the King of the sport here;
Besides we must know,
The Pea also
Must revell, as Queene, in the Court here.
Begin then to chuse
This night as ye use
Who shall for the present delight here,
Be a King by the lot,
And who shall not
Be Twelfe-day Queene for the night here.
Which knowne, let us make
Joy-sops with the cake,
And let not a man be seen here,
Who unurg'd will not drinke
To the base from the brink
A health to the King and Queene here.
Next crowne the bowle full
With gentle lamb's woll;
Add sugar, nutmeg and ginger,
With store of ale too;
And this ye must do
To make the wassail a swinger.
(Robert Herrick, "Hesperides, Twelfe Night, or King and Queene", 1648).

In my reading of the various charming books by the late Sir Alec Guiness (a Catholic convert, btw), he mentioned the custom of the Drury Lane Cake.

In the Green Room of London's Drury Lane Theatre, however, Twelfth Cake still is eaten and a toast drunk in honor of Richard Baddeley the comedian, who died in 1794. The ancient ceremony, interrupted by war, was revived in 1947, and will continue — God willing — for centuries to come.

Richard Baddeley was a pastry cook who later became an actor. Upon his death he left the sum of one hundred pounds, invested at three per cent interest, to provide a cake, known as the "Baddeley Cake", which was to be eaten annually, in his memory, by "His Majesty's Company of Commedians".

From CatholicCulture.org.

Here is a history of Twelfth Cakes.

And the excellent devotional site, recently renamed Fish Eaters (formerly Apologia) has two superb articles on Twelfth Night and Epiphany, for all of your Catholic end of Christmas needs.

O holy Magi,
who were the first among the Gentiles
called to the knowledge of Jesus Christ,
and who persevered in the faith until thy deaths,
obtain for us from the Lord
the grace of living always in conformity
to our baptismal promises
and especially in accordance with our religious vows
(or 'the duties of our state of life'),
leading ever a life of faith,
so that, like thee we may attain to beatific vision
of that God Who now is the object of our faith.

Glory Be...

Arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem, artist unknown, 11th century mural from Saint Aignan, parish church of Brinay, France

Years ago now, the Irish comedian Frank Kelly (Father Ted) did an album of his stuff. Most of the routines seemed fairly lame to me, but The Christmas Countdown is hilarious. Kelly makes the mistake of putting the Twelve Days of Christmas in the days leading up to Christmas (hence Christmas Countdown, the countdown to Christmas). But don't let that prevent you from enjoying this inspired lunacy. So this is the last Christmas present to unwrap.

Enjoy!

Day One

Dear Nuala,
Thank you very much for your lovely present of a partridge in a pear-tree. We’re getting the hang of feeding the partridge now, although it was difficult at first to win its confidence. It bit the mother rather badly on the hand but they’re good friends now and we’re keeping the pear-tree indoors in a bucket. Thank you again.
Yours affectionately,
Gobnait O’Lúnasa (pronounced Govnet O'Lunacy)

Day Two

Dear Nuala,
I cannot tell you how surprised we were to hear from you so soon again and to receive your lovely present of two turtle doves. You really are too kind. At first the partridge was very jealous and suspicious of the doves and they had a terrible row the night the doves arrived. We had to send for the vet but the birds are okay again and the stitches are due to come out in a week or two. The vet’s bill was £8 but the mother is over her annoyance now and the doves and the partridge are watching the telly from the pear-tree as I write.
Yours ever,
Gobnait

Day Three

Dear Nuala,
We must be foremost in your thoughts! I had only posted my letter when the three French hens arrived. There was another sort-out between the hens and the doves, who sided with the partridge, and the vet had to be sent for again. The mother was raging because the bill was £16 this time but she has almost cooled down. However, the fact that the birds’ droppings keep falling down on her hair while she’s watching the telly, doesn’t help matters. Thanking you for your kindness.
I remain,
Your Gobnait

Day Four

Dear Nuala,
You mustn’t have received my last letter when you were sending us the four calling birds. There was pandemonium in the pear-tree again last night and the vet’s bill was £32. The mother is on sedation as I write. I know you meant no harm and remain your close friend.
Gobnauit

Day Five

Nuala,
Your generosity knows no bounds. Five gold rings ! When the parcel arrived I was scared stiff that it might be more birds, because the smell in the living-room is atrocious. However, I don’t want to seem ungrateful for the beautiful rings.
Your affectionate friend,
Gobnait

Day Six

Nuala,
What are you trying to do to us ? It isn’t that we don’t appreciate your generosity but the six geese have not alone nearly murdered the calling birds but they laid their eggs on top of the vet’s head from the pear-tree and his bill was £68 in cash ! My mother is munching 60 grains of Valium a day and talking to herself in a most alarming way. You must keep your feelings for me in check.
Gobnait

Day Seven

Nuala,
We are not amused by your little joke. Seven swans-a-swimming is a most romantic idea but not in the bath of a private house. We cannot use the bathroom now because they’ve gone completely savage and rush the door every time we try to enter. If things go on this way, the mother and I will smell as bad as the living-room carpet. Please lay off! It is not fair.
Gobnait

Day Eight

Nuala,
Who the hell do you think gave you the right to send eight hefty maids-a-milking here, to eat us out of house and home? Their cattle are all over the front lawn and have trampled the hell out of the mother’s rose-beds. The swans invaded the living-room in a sneak attack and the ensuing battle between them and the calling birds, turtle doves, French hens and partridge make the Battle of the Somme seem like Wanderly Wagon. The mother is on a bottle of whisky a day, as well as the sixty grains of Valium. I’m very annoyed with you.
Gobnait

Day Nine

Listen you louser !
There’s enough pandemonium in this place night and day without nine drummers drumming, while the eight flaming maids-a-milking are beating me poor, old alcoholic mother out of her own kitchen and gobbling everything in sight. I’m warning you, you’re making an enemy of me.
Gobnait

Day Ten

Listen manure-face,
I hope you’ll be haunted by the strains of ten pipers piping which you sent to torment us last night. They were aided in their evil work by those maniac drummers and it wasn’t a pleasant sight to look out the window and see eight hefty maids-a-milking pogo-ing around to the ensuing punk-rock uproar. My mother has just finished her third bottle of whisky, on top of a hundred and twenty four grains of Valium. You’ll get yours !
Gobnait O’Lúnasa

Day Eleven

You have scandalised my mother, you dirty Jezebel!
It was bad enough to have eight maids-a-milking dancing to punk music on the front lawn but they’ve now been joined by your friends, the eleven Lords-a-leaping, and the antics of the whole lot of them would make the most decadent days of the Roman Empire looking like “Outlook”. I’ll get you yet, you 'ould bag !

Day Twelve

Listen slurry head,
You have ruined our lives. The twelve maidens dancing turned up last night and beat the living daylights out of the eight maids-a-milking, ‘cos they found them carrying on with the eleven Lords-a-leaping. Meanwhile, the swans got out of the living-room, where they’d been hiding since the big battle, and savaged hell out of the Lords and all the Maids. There were eight ambulances here last night, and the local Civil Defence as well. The mother is in a home for the bewildered and I’m sitting here, up to my neck in birds’ droppings, empty whisky and Valium bottles, birds’ blood and feathers, while the flaming cows eat the leaves off the pear-tree. I’m a broken man!
Gobnait O’Lúnasa

Daniel Mitsui's excellent new blog has had to shift its name, because of a conflict with another blog. It is now known as The Lion and the Cardinal. You can also find it here under My Daily Reads. The URL is the same as when it was Hieronymus Blog.

Requiescant in pace.

Yesterday, I blew through Anthony F. Chiffolo's Padre Pio: In My Own Words. It was a very short read, but was filled with wonderful insights. Yesterday's morning prayer, normally so orderly and regular, degenerated into a spontaneous "woe's me" session, and many of Saint Pio's quotations in the book seemed to be direct answers to my complaints, worries, and rants of that morning. They may not have been the answers I wanted, but they were answers. And I had just picked the book up on a whim, without knowing anything about it.

Strange how the Holy Ghost works, isn't it?

In any case, that book has inspired a new file of over 30 Saint Padre Pio quotations at Recta Ratio: The Yahoo Group. Join the Group (it is free and I do my best to keep spammers out), then check Files, Quotations, St. Pio to view.

Cole seems to have closed down her Deo Gratias blog. Blogger has no record of it any longer. She had not updated since mid-November. God bless and good luck.

I do react with a fair amount of stoicism and patience to even incredible adversity.

But mostly I'm phlegmatic because of the constant (and I mean constant!) need to clear my throat or cough between mid-November and mid-March.

Oh to be in a warmer climate!

Those of us who try to keep the whole Twelve Days of Christmas can't help but notice that secular society has thrown in the Christmas towel the last few days. Christmas decorations in stores, left up, for the most part until the New Year, are coming down. In CVS, I noticed that the 8 weeks of Christmas (which followed the 6 weeks of Halloween) has already given way to the 6 weeks of Valentine's Day.

In Boston, the Enchanted Village, which has been at the Hynes Convention Center these last few years, is being dismantled. The Boston Ballet rendition of The Nutcracker has closed for the year. The Christmas window display in Jordan Marsh, I mean Macy's, was covered yesterday. The tree and window display at Filene's, in its last year, remained. The ice sculptures, part of Boston's First Night, are knocked down or melting.

But Catholics keep Christmas in their homes, in their prayers, and in their hearts. And Christmas continues for a little bit longer for us.

O holy Magi,
who when warned by an angel
not to return to Herod,
traveled back to thy country by another road,
obtain for us from the Lord the grace that,
after having found Him by true repentance,
we may avoid all danger of losing Him again.

Glory Be...

Progress of the Magi to Bethlehem, by Benozzo Gozzoli, from the chapel of the Medici Palace in Florence, c. 1462. Likenesses of Cosmo, Lorenzo, and Piero de Medici can be seen in the mural.

Check out the website of the National Shrine of Mother Seton at Emmitsburg, Maryland.

Jeff at Hallowed Ground has an excellent post up on what he calls "Catholic resettlement" and what I like to call building Catholic communities.

I have to admit that one of my longest-standing pipe dreams is to win the largest lottery prize in North American history, and use it to build just such a community. At one point, I even drew up a large map of what the place would look like.

There would be a large parish church, very traditional, of course, with the Latin Mass, Adoration, Stations, Rosary groups, very active groups like the Holy Name Society and the various traditional guilds. There might even be a monastic community as part of the plan. There would be Corpus Christi processions, Rogation processions, public processions on Palm Sunday, bells tolling for deaths in the community, and for All Souls' as well as the canonical hours and hours of the day, and joyous pealing at Christmas and Easter.

The houses all based on Colonial Williamsburg and 17th-18th century Massachusetts domestic architecture, but with large (1 acre+ lots) surrounded by land for agricultural purposes. There would be a Common, and a wind farm, and a solar farm, as well as orchards, berry and pumpkin patches, as well as cornfields, potato fields (and of course each hourse would have its own garden patch). The streets would be broad, and lit by reproduction 18th century lamps, with garages recessed behind the houses, so that no cars would be visible.

Who would live there? Well, for the longest time, I thought young couples from the most conservative part of Ireland, the west. Where else would you find 150-200 couples who want to live in a very traditional Catholic community? And having all the inhabitants from a common area would, I think enhance the community feeling. But now I have to doubt whether there are 150-200 couples of such a conservative frame of mind in the west of Ireland itself.

There would be an active community life, and an excellent school, of course. And in order to maintain standards, I would own all the property and lease it, with the leases renewable yearly. The rent would be nominal, essentially peppercorn rent. The objective behind leasing the properties being to maintain community life at the standard I want, not to be re-imbursed. After all, I would be living there as a sort of Catholic Squire Bracebridge, and I would want good neighbors.

Yes, I have given it a fair amount of thought. Way too much since, in order to afford to do this within 100 miles of Boston, as I said, I would need to win the largest lottery prize in North American history. But I am essentially a dreamer.

And here is a new website for those of us strongly in favor of Judge Alito's confirmation as Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the much-beloved Justice Scalia is the funniest sitting justice, according to this survey. But new Chief Justice Roberts is coming on strong.

Meeting of the Magi Near Jerusalem, The Limbourg Brothers, Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, Folio 51v, 1413-1416,

Seventh Day
O holy Magi,
who offered to Jesus Christ gold, incense, and myrrh,
thereby recognizing Him to be at once King, God, and Man,
obtain from the Lord for us
the grace never to present ourselves
before Him with empty hands,
but that we may continually
offer to Him the gold of charity,
the incense of prayer,
and the myrrh of penance and mortification.

Glory Be...

V/ Lord, have mercy.
R/ Lord, have mercy.

V/ Christ, have mercy.
R/ Christ, have mercy.

V/ Lord, have mercy.
R/ Lord, have mercy.

V/ Jesus, hear us.
R/ Jesus, graciously hear us.

R/ for ff: have mercy on us

God, the Father of Heaven,
God, the Son, Redeemer of the world,
God, the Holy Spirit,
Holy Trinity, One God,
Jesus, Son of the living God,
Jesus, Splendor of the Father,
Jesus, Brightness of eternal Light,
Jesus, King of Glory,
Jesus, Sun of Justice,
Jesus, Son of the Virgin Mary,
Jesus, Most amiable,
Jesus, most admirable,
Jesus, the mighty God,
Jesus, Father of the world to come,
Jesus, angel of great counsel,
Jesus, most powerful,
Jesus, most patient,
Jesus, most obedient,
Jesus, meek and humble of heart,
Jesus, Lover of Chastity,
Jesus, our Lover,
Jesus, God of Peace,
Jesus, Author of Life,
Jesus, Model of Virtues,
Jesus, zealous for souls,
Jesus, our God,
Jesus, our Refuge,
Jesus, Father of the Poor,
Jesus, Treasure of the Faithful,
Jesus, good Shepherd,
Jesus, true Light,
Jesus, eternal Wisdom,
Jesus, infinite Goodness,
Jesus, our Way and our Life,
Jesus, joy of the Angels,
Jesus, King of the Patriarchs,
Jesus, Master of the Apostles,
Jesus, Teacher of the Evangelists,
Jesus, Strength of Martyrs,
Jesus, Light of Confessors,
Jesus, Purity of Virgins,
Jesus, Crown of all Saints,

V/ Be merciful,
R/ spare us, O Jesus!

V/ Be merciful,
R/ graciously hear us, O Jesus!

R/ for ff: deliver us, O Jesus

From all evil,
From all sin,
From Thy wrath,
From the snares of the devil,
From the spirit of fornication,
From everlasting death,
From the neglect of Thine inspirations,
Through the mystery of Thy holy Incarnation,
Through Thy Nativity,
Through Thine Infancy,
Through Thy most divine Life,
Through Thy Labors,
Through Thine Agony and Passion,
Through Thy Cross and Dereliction,
Through Thy Sufferings,
Through Thy Death and Burial,
Through Thy Resurrection,
Through Thine Ascension,
Through Thine Institution of the Most Holy Eucharist,
Through Thy joys,
Through Thy Glory,

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
R/ spare us, O Jesus!

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
R/ graciously hear us, O Jesus!

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
R/ have mercy on us, O Jesus!

Jesus hear us.
R/ Jesus, graciously hear us.

Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Thou hast said, "Ask and thou shalt receive; seek, and thou shalt find; knock, and it shall be opened unto thee"; mercifully attend to our supplications, and grant us the grace of Thy most divine love, that we may love Thee with all our hearts, and in all our words and actions, and never cease to praise Thee.

Make us, O Lord, to have a perpetual fear and love of Thy holy name, for Thou never fails to govern those whom Thou solidly establish in Thy love. Thou, who live and reign forever and ever.
R/ Amen.

Triumph of the Holy Name, by Baciccio (G. B. Gaulli), c. 1677, Church of Il Gesù, Rome.

See the sumptuous full-sized image of this ceiling here. Click in lower right-hand corner to enlarge, if it does not come up in full size.

Adoration of the Child, by Correggio, c. 1518.

O holy Magi, who, entering full of faith into the stable of Bethlehem, prostrated thyselves on the earth, to adore the newborn King of the Jews, though he was surrounded only by signs of poverty and weakness; obtain from the Lord for us a lively faith in the real presence of Jesus in the blessed Sacrament, the true spirit of poverty, and a Christ-like charity for the poor and suffering.
Glory be...

Superstitions associated with the New Year.

If you need a dark-haired first footer, and are willing to pay my expenses and a reasonable fee, I'm your man.

Adoration of the Child Jesus, by Andrea della Robbia, c. 1490.

O holy Magi, who were gladdened by the reappearance of the star which led thee to Bethlehem; obtain for us from God the grace, that, remaining always faithful to Him in afflictions, we may be consoled in time by His grace, and in eternity by His glory.
Glory be...

January's image from the Calendar of Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry features the Duke himself relaxed at table, warmly clad and before a fire, receiving guests. The table is set for a Christmas feast (and the Duke's puppies are allowed to walk about on the table). The illustration depicts the Duke as convivial and a good host. A bishop is seated at the Duke's right. Tidings of comfort and joy.


Important feasts during the month of January include:

1st Octave of Christmas, Solemnity of the Blessed Mother, The Lord's Circumcision
2nd SS. Basil the Great and Macarius the Younger
3rd St. Genivieve
4th St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
5th St. John Neumann (Twelfth Night)
6th Epiphany of the Lord
7th St. Raymond of Penafort
9th St. Adrian of Canterbury
10th St. William of Bourges
12th St. Benedict Biscop
14th St. Hilary of Poitiers
15th St. Paul the Hermit
17th St. Anthony the Abbot
18th Chair of St. Peter
20th St. Sebastian
21st St. Agnes
23rd Espousal of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph
24th St. Francis de Sales
25th Conversion of St. Paul
26th SS. Timothy & Titus
27th St. Angela Merici
28th St. Thomas Aquinas and Bl. Charlemagne
30th St. Aldegundis
31st St. John Bosco

The First Friday of the month of January is the 6th.
The First Saturday of the month of January is the 7th.

Our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI's published prayer intentions for the month of January 2006 are:

General: That the effort to bring about the full communion of Christians may foster reconciliation and peace among all the peoples of the earth.

Missionary: That Christians may know how to welcome migrants with respect and charity, recognizing in each person the image of God.