Recta Ratio

Labels: Hallowmas

And the background image is one of my favorites.

Labels: Our Blessed Lady

Prayer To Our Blessed Lady For the Poor Souls, From The Raccolta

OUR LADY OF INTERCESSION
[For the Holy Souls]
434

Most holy Mary, Our Lady of Intercession whose maternal tenderness gathers in one embrace all the souls redeemed by the Precious Blood of thy Son Jesus, we come before thy royal throne with sadness in our hearts as we remember those who have gone before us, but also with unlimited confidence in thine intercession. Death, which burst asunder the bonds of earth, has not destroyed the affection which binds us to those who lived in the same faith as we do. O Mary, countless souls await with unutterable anxiety the assistance of our prayers, and the merits of our good works in that place of expiation. Urged by the charity of Jesus Christ, we raise our countenance and heart in supplication to thee, the compassionate Mother of all believers, in favor of those suffering souls. Make our prayers of good effect, O Mary; obtain for them the power to move the Heart of Jesus our Redeemer through thy motherly intercession.

Let thine incomparable holiness supply the defects of our misery, thy love make good our languid affection, thy power strengthen our weakness. Grant, O Queen of Heaven, that the ardent desire of the souls of the departed to be admitted to the Beatific Vision may soon be satisfied. We pray to thee, O Mother, especially for the souls of our relations, of priests, of those who were zealous in honoring thee, of those who did good to the souls of others, of those who wept with them and for them and, finally, for the souls of those who are forgotten. Grant that one day, when we are all reunited in Heaven, we may be able to rejoice in the possession of God, in the happiness of thy dear presence, in the fellowship of all the Saints, thanking thee forever for all the blessings thou hast obtained for us, O Mother, who art our unfailing comfort. Amen.

Hail Mary three times, and once Eternal rest grant unto them, etc.

Dec. 2, 1926 and Apr. 18, 1935

Labels: Our Blessed Lady

Remember, O Beloved Jesus,
Who for the love of me didst agonize on the Cross,
and from that throne of truth didst announce the
completion of the work of our Redemption, through which,
from being the children of wrath and perdition,
we are become the children of God and the heirs of Heaven:

Have mercy on all the faithful in their agony,
and on me also when I shall be in that extremity,
and, through the merits of Thy Precious Blood,
detach us entirely from the world and from ourselves,
and at the moment of our agony give us grace
sincerely to offer Thee the sacrifice of our life
in expiation for our sins.
Amen.

Labels: Friday At the Foot Of the Cross

Remember the poor souls throughout November, and

MEMENTO MORI

Labels: Hallowmas

You know how at Benediction, the priest lifts up the monstrance, and makes the Sign Of the Cross over the congregation? When do you bless yourself? I see people doing it as soon as the priest starts to make the Sign Of the Cross, and others who wait until the priest has maneouvered the monstrance so that it is facing their side of the pews. Meanwhile, others still wait until the priest is done.

Father Z. explains that there is no hard and fast rule in the rubrics at all about when the congregation is to bless themselves, and that it is not even required.

OK, so no more glaring at people who do it at a different time than you do, or who don't do it at all. Sometimes, I think those angry little glares we throw around the church are more harmful than bushel-loads of perceived liturgical abuses.

Labels: Restorationists

The cast of national affairs is so horrendous that I am forced to retreat to private pleasures.




A well-ordered garden has always been a delight to me. Must be growing up with my parents' clipped yews.





I am ever a friend to classic good taste and proportion in architecture and interior design.





The holidays are coming fast now, and I am both an accomplished cook and a trencherman of notable persistence.





If one must worship in a church designed in the last 200 years, it is a consolation if there is something Puginesque about it.





Time, and money, spent in a hobby shop always cheer me up.





Waugh, Buckley, Tolkien, Kirk. All gone to their reward now, but all with pipe or cigar.





Are those who do not read truly alive?





I never tire of Williamsburg





Mr. Gainsborough was the most talented fellow with a brush ever.





The Aran Islands, the Shannon, the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren are ancestral neighbors.





The work of Geoff Hunt, the foremast nautical painter ever





Ah, donning a uniform and shouldering a musket to teach Cousin Jonathan to not get above himself and pretend independence from His Majesty King George III


So, te fecklessness of my fellow Americans may have given me a bad case of tedium vitae, but there are still many compensations in life to be enjoyed.

Labels: Life Goes On