The descent among the dead ...

The silence ...

Except for those still clamoring.

"Take warning from the example of Lot's wife who, because she was disturbed at the destruction of Sodom, and all of those perishing, turned back to look. God punished her for this, and she was 'turned into a pillar of salt' (Genesis 19.26). This teaches you that it is the will of God, even if you were living among devils, you should so live as not to turn back in thought to consider what they are doing, but forget them utterly. You are to keep your soul wholly to God, and not to suffer the thought of this or that to disturb you." - John of the Cross

Holy Saturday

Bryan Singer: Accusations of sexual abuse of minors, but he keeps working?

Singer is wearing the shirt.

Source

If he was a priest or a bishop of the Catholic Church, he'd be suspended until proven innocent.

But I digress.

Singer, the famed director of the ever popular X-Men has been accused of sexually abusing a 15 year old boy in the the late '90's with a promise of a part in one of his productions.  It wasn't on a casting couch but at a mansion in LA, in a hot tub.  The mansion was notorious for drugs and sex parties involving under aged boys.  Is Hollywood upset?  Is Hollywood condemning the industry the way the Catholic Church has been condemned?  Is Bryan Singer dragged through the mud, put on suspension, his work boycotted?

What about gay activists and those who claim homosexuals are not interested in under aged boys and that gays have cleaned up their act and just do not do perverted things anymore?

Recently a blogger complained about Disney, corrupting her kids.  Really?  People are only now waking up to the sexual exploitation that takes place in Hollywood?  Are they only now coming to terms with the social engineering and morality changing propaganda that dominates the entertainment media, as well as informs news media?

Bryan Singer allegedly told his victim, "how ‘this group’ controls Hollywood.”  What group was he talking about?  Take a guess.

News story here.  It's pretty disgusting.

Good Friday

Widows dumped from planes in Alabama.

They were thrown out like cord wood.  Story here.



To see the original ad the gif is from, click here.

Chiara Corbella: A love story.

This is such an amazing story.

I never read her story before today, though I've seen photos and heard stories about her.  What a beautiful young woman of faith - a holy wife and mother.  I was especially moved by what she said to her husband Enrico before she died.

The day of her death, Enrico asked Chiara, if she found Christ’s promise had come true, that the cross was easy, even sweet. She smiled and said yes, it was “molto dolce.” - Story here.

We need to love one another.

The Mandatum

"This is how all will know you for my disciples: by your love for one another."

That is what it is all about, isn't it?  Loving one another.

Why can't we understand that?  Why can't I?

If the local ordinary of the place permits variations to the ritual of washing the feet of the faithful in imitation of Christ when he washed the feet of the disciples, who am I to make a big deal of it?  If the pastor of the parish I go to does it and I'm uncomfortable with it (I'm not) then I can go to another church or offer it up and pray a chaplet or something.  Getting upset or angry, or watching for errors and recording abuses is probably not the best disposition for approaching Holy Communion.

The USCCB addresses the question here:

Because the gospel of the mandatum read on Holy Thursday also depicts Jesus as the "Teacher and Lord" who humbly serves his disciples by performing this extraordinary gesture which goes beyond the laws of hospitality, the element of humble service has accentuated the celebration of the foot washing rite in the United States over the last decade or more. In this regard, it has become customary in many places to invite both men and women to be participants in this rite in recognition of the service that should be given by all the faithful to the Church and to the world. Thus, in the United States, a variation in the rite developed in which not only charity is signified but also humble service. - Read more at USCCB

"This is the latest statement of this Secretariat on the question. No subsequent legislation or instructions have necessitated a modification in the statement."

Top photo:  Evidently there is a trend amongst Protestants of the bride and groom washing one another's feet.  I used the photo because it reminded me of Christ the Bridegroom washing the feet of his disciples.

Christ the Bridegroom

A note to BG of Crown of Stars Blog

Dear BG, I'm sorry for my unkind words in my com box.  I misunderstood some comments and replied without charity.  Please forgive me.

I wish you well and continuing good recovery from open heart surgery.

Anti-papist sentiment.

Yet nothing has changed for me.

Years ago when I returned to the Church and the sacraments, progressives and dissidents were establishing their roots.  Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, Our Lady and the rosary, as well as obedience to the Holy Father were considered pre-Vatican II.  The Holy Father was often derided - especially Paul VI after Humanae Vitae - it all went downhill from there.  Odd visionaries and locutionists - ostensibly traditional Catholics, promoting devotion to Our Lady, promulgating their private revelations, and so on, also distanced themselves from the Pope, claiming the Pope had been replaced by an impostor, who allowed heresy to flourish.  Their silly messages continue to be spread, and people continue to be led astray.

I didn't follow them.

Today the same old thing is happening again - this time by faithful Catholics, who claim the rights of apostles and saints to resist the Holy Father to his face, claiming he is teaching error, that he may be a heretic, or even deranged.

I don't follow them.

At Fatima in 1917, Our Lady told the children that if her requests for conversion, penance and reparation were ignored, among other suffering, the "Holy Father will have much to suffer."  All of the Popes since the Council have had much to suffer.  For me that's pretty much a sign the Holy Father remains Christ's vicar on earth.  No matter how bad things get.

At Akita - if the message is to be believed - Our Lady said that in the end the only thing that will remain will be the sign left by her Son, and the prayers of the Rosary.  What could that sign be but the Holy Eucharist.

I have the Rosary, the Eucharist, and the Pope.  That is what I have always had since I returned to the Church.

I do not follow blogs that malign the Pope or foment doubt as to how the Holy Father is guiding the Church.  I especially do not read posts by anyone presuming to resist the Holy Father to his face or by those who have the audacity to take upon themselves the task of publicly correcting what he says, or pointing out that which he may not do.  Be they priest or layman.  Therefore, please do not embed links to such websites in my combox.  Get your own blog.

Thanks.

A blessed Triduum to all.

More on Judas

Alain Sportiello as Jacques Fesch*

Pope Benedict describes the betrayer as a sycophant.

"[...] a sycophant who bows down before the anonymous power of changing moods and current fashion." Not a 'master of evil' or some scary, demoniacal figure. - Benedict XVI

I agree.  He goes on to point out that Judas felt let down by Jesus - because he expected something different from him.  This too works in with my meditation from yesterday.

We envy and seek revenge because we don't get what we want - because we are not recognized and appreciated to the degree we imagine we deserve.  I'm like that.

How can I repair?

The cup of salvation I will raise ...

I will call on the Lord's name.

This morning I reminded myself of how St. Francis had many Masses said as he recovered from his illness and went through his conversion.  Conversion is ongoing - it isn't confined to a moment, or an experience, hence we can never rest on those signal graces, thinking of ourselves as having arrived or as something we won, or achieved, even as something which sets us apart.  "From my hidden faults save me!"

Those of us who aren't priests, or may not be able to attend Mass every day, much less able to afford to have Masses offered - we can still participate in the saving action, we can still offer the cup of salvation in atonement and reparation.  We can spiritually unite ourselves to Christ's saving action in the Eucharist - the memorial of his Passion.

We can also offer the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, which is analogous to the Holy Sacrifice, since we offer the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ to the Father - incessantly.  That is what takes place at Mass, that is what priests throughout the world do when they offer Mass.  We can participate in that - in our prayer; the Office, Lectio, aspirations which help us to recollect ourselves throughout the day, and very simply, in the prayers of the chaplet.

Then of course, there is Our Lady's rosary.  What if we prayed many rosaries as Our Lady instructed Bl. Francisco Marto to do?  What if we prayed the Divine Mercy chaplet incessantly as our Lord instructed St. Faustina to do?

Today I pray for all the people I've treated unjustly, unkindly, and insincerely - to please 'management' or people I wanted to impress and gain favor with.

"Perhaps he is (Judas) jealous of any intimate relationship Jesus has that does not include him.  This jealousy and revolt against a gentle, loving Jesus pave the way for the devil to enter his heart.  Satan then can take over and inspire Judas to betray Jesus and hand him over." - Jean Vanier

* Jacques Fesch (April 6, 1930, Saint-Germain-en-Laye – October 1, 1957, La Santé Prison, Paris) was the murderer of a French police officer, who became such a devout Roman Catholic while in prison awaiting execution that he has been proposed for canonization as a saint. 

St. Benedict Joseph Labre

I've decided St. Benedict Joseph was not mentally ill, contrary to what modern experts have claimed.

"The layperson is a layperson and has to live as a layperson with the power of baptism, which enables him to be a leaven of the love of God in society itself, to create and sow hope, to proclaim the faith, not from a pulpit but from his everyday life. And like all of us, the layperson is called to carry his daily cross — the cross of the layperson, not of the priest." --Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio in an interview, now Pope Francis

And Happy Birthday to Pope Benedict XVI! 

Wednesday of Holy Week

What?

The story of Judas scares me.

Blood and water flowing from the side of Christ as a font of mercy for us, I trust in you.

I never really considered myself a Judas, that is I never  wanted to place myself in a meditation that he showed up in.  In fact I always tried to avoid thinking too much about the man who betrayed Christ.  He was just a warning for me, something to be feared and put off.  This year is different.  The Gospel passage where Judas feigns innocence, asking Our Lord, 'is it me who will betray you?'  'surely it's not me?' has resounded in my heart.

I often wondered if Judas was somehow really innocent, yet it seems to me his questions demonstrated that he actually knew Our Lord was referring to him.  

Did you ever do that?  Not in big things like Judas of course.  But - he who is not faithful in small things will not be faithful in big ones.  So.  Did you ever do something like that?  Get caught in a lie?  Then dissimulate and act as if you were innocent when someone suggested that you were lying?  Or pretended that you didn't even know they knew you knew they knew you lied?  Only later to try and cover up your lie with protests that those you betrayed somehow betrayed you?  Crazy logic - blame the victim for your little lie.  Convincing yourself you were somehow justified.

I think Judas thought he was not only full of good intentions, but that he himself was good; I'll bet he never thought of himself as a liar or a thief.  I think he felt in control, in charge of his life, like the faithful steward doing his duty, although he was surely the dishonest steward.  Somehow he justified himself.  I think he always did that - and he believed he was virtuous.  Today we might call that denial.  He demonstrated that when he complained about the ointment used to anoint our Lord, suggesting it should have been sold and the the proceeds given to the poor, perhaps reserving a small 'fee' for himself.  He perhaps had 'good' intentions, but it wasn't his call.  Of course he did 'good' things - he followed Jesus, he prayed and evangelized with him, he was a 'faithful' disciple and Jew - he kept the Law.  So what happened?

He could have repented.  Our Lord would have forgiven him as he did Peter.  As he did Zacchaeus.

"Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." - Luke 19

How can I repay?  How can I repair?  I repent.  I pray for those I have offended and ask their forgiveness.  I'm sorry.

But who can detect all of his errors?

From hidden faults acquit me.

From presumption restrain your servant

and let it not rule me.

Then shall I be blameless,

clean from grave sin. - Ps. 18 

The Holy Father's good advice to seminarians.

“Dear seminarians, what you are preparing for is not a profession, you are not training to work in a business or a bureaucratic organization,”

"[T]he seminary is not a refuge for the many shortcomings we may have; it is not a refuge for psychological problems or a refuge for those who do not have the courage to go on in life and see the seminary as a place that will defend them. No, that is not what it is. If that is what your seminary was it would become a mortgage for the Church! No, the seminary is there for people to move forward, along this path and when we hear the prophets exclaim the word “Woe” it should lead you to reflect seriously on your future. Pius XI once said it was better to lose a vocation than to risk accepting a candidate who is not sure. He was a mountain climber, he knew about this things.” - Pope Francis

It is also very good advice for anyone considering religious life.  As the Holy Father pointed out: "There are many ways, in the Church, to bear Christian witness and there are many paths that lead to sainthood."

PRAYER FOR THE INTERCESSION
OF BLESSED ROLANDO RIVI
Unofficial Translation – Ad Usum Privatum

O God, merciful Father,
who choose the small to confound the powerful of the world,
I thank You for having given us, in the seminarian Rolando Rivi,
a testimony of total love for Your Son, Jesus, and the Church,
unto the sacrifice of his life.
Enlightened by this example, and through Rolando’s intercession,
I ask You to give me the strength always to be
a living sign of Your love in the world,
and I beg You to grant me the grace of [here state your petition],
which I ardently desire. Amen

Prayer from Fr. Jerabek's Blog

Gorgeous

I saw this on the Sartorialist.  He says great hair - I say gorgeous.

What's with the Pope? He keeps talking about abortion and marriage between a man and a woman.

I thought Pope Francis said we shouldn't be talking about this stuff all the time?

I thought he said, "Who am I to judge?"

What the ...

Pope Francis condemns abortion and infanticide as unspeakable crimes.

Reiterating that human life is sacred and inviolable, Pope Francis told the Italian pro-life group Movimento per la Vita today that it is “necessary to reiterate the strongest opposition to any direct attack on life, especially innocent and defenseless, and [the mother’s] unborn child in the womb is the innocent par excellence.”

In his remarks Pope Francis quoted from Gaudium et Spes [“The Gospel of Joy”] from the Second Vatican Council: “From the moment of its conception, life must be guarded with the greatest care while abortion and infanticide are unspeakable crimes.” - Source

Pope Francis insists on the right of a child to a mom and dad.

“it is necessary to emphasize the right of children to grow up within a family, with a father and a mother able to create a suitable environment for their development and emotional maturity. Continuing to mature in the relationship, in the complementarity of the masculinity and femininity of a father and a mother, and thus preparing the way for emotional maturity.” - Pope Francis

I told you so.  And yet some Catholics have been worried the Pope wasn't Catholic, while others kept saying the Pope has to speak more clearly on these issues.  Ye of little faith - you sound just like New Ways Ministers when you speak like that:

Pope Francis needs to speak clearly on LGBT issues...

For those who have been lifted up by the pope’s more positive remarks on LGBT issues, these new words will come as a shock. Though the pontiff has been developing a reputation as being progressive, many have warned all along that his thinking on women and gender have needed development. Since the heart of these remarks focus on the outdated concept of “gender complementarity,” it seems reasonable to attribute these remarks, in part, to this blind spot of his.

Regardless of its origin in the pope’s thinking, this remark shows that Francis still needs to learn a lot about LGBT people and their families. That’s the bad news. - Bondings 2.0

 The Pope IS Catholic.

Told ya.

I knew that!

I didn't say that - you did.

Yes you did.

Holy Week and Passover

It is so holy...

The image of Exodus is reflected in the Passion of Yeshua (Jesus).  

The Lamb of Passover delivers yet again in the motif of the 

Lamb of God, taking away the sin of the world. 

Art: Marc Chagall.  No titles - just look.

What is Aleteia?

I went to the park and, and, and ...

Everyone seems to be writing for Aleteia.

What is it?

Is it the headquarters for the body-snatchers?  I thought that's what Patheos was for?  Homogenized Catholic Stepford Writer's Clubs are proliferating all over the net.  It's scary.  

I think they've got Michael Voris now.

Cathy and I ran so fast her dress fell off!

Listen here.

What?


Just kidding.

The earthquakes.

Los Angeles.

Chile.

Friday was Nicaragua.

Today Idaho.

Days, weeks apart.

Blood moon rising.

Q: A few years ago, I interviewed the authors of a book about a destructive 7.3-magnitude earthquake in Charleston, S.C. The 1886 quake not only destroyed buildings but also managed to worsen race relations.

Where else do people face earthquake risks in the US outside of California?

A: Alaska is the most seismically active place in the United States, followed by California. In third place is Utah, fourth is Hawaii. And there is a big seismic potential in the Pacific Northwest.

There is also the New Madrid area in southeast Missouri where a series of four major earthquakes struck in 1811 and 1812. A repeat of those events will cause major damage in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas.

There's also New York and New England. The largest historic earthquake in New York occurred beneath New York Harbor in 1884. It was felt along most of the East Coast. The largest New England earthquake occurred in 1755 off the coast at Cape Ann.

It is still a mystery why earthquakes occur in these areas. - Source

Shaken, not stirred.

Sixty nine years ago today ...

A young seminarian was martyred.

Blessed Rolando Rivi was shot and laid in a shallow grave by Communist partisans on April 13, 1945, in the Italian Emiliano Mountains.  Bl. Rolando was singled out because he wore his cassock and made it known he intended to be a priest.  According to one of the partisans, killing the boy would eliminate one more priest.

Rolando was only fourteen. His seminary closed when the Nazis came through the region, but the young seminarian continued to wear the cassock as a sign of his consecration and intent to be a priest.  He considered life as a seminarian a form of consecrated life already.  In the region Rolando's family lived, Communist partisans found refuge in the mountains.  They were anti-Catholic and anti-clerical:  “The fascists and Germans are almost extinct… our fight must now be made against the masters, the rich and certain priests… These are now our enemies.”

Blessed Rolando was abducted on April 10 and after beatings, torture and obscene humiliations, he was killed on April 13, 1945 in the forest of Piane di Monchio (Modena).  After praying for his parents, he was shot twice and died.  The partisans covered his body with leaves and twigs and a few shovels of dirt.

He was killed in hatred of the faith, in hatred of the Priesthood, just because he wore a cassock.  He believed the seminarians ought to wear the cassock, even on home visits or on holiday.

He is very close to me these days.  You will see why shortly.

I found a rather good biography of Blessed Rolando at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church blog.  I think Bl. Rolando is not only a special patron of seminarians and priests, but all who suffer bullying and mockery for the faith or just for being a little different.

Thanks be to God, Blessed Rolando has instilled in me a deeper respect and appreciation for the cassock and saturno, as well as other traditional clerical dress and vestments.  I also want to apologize - again - to those priests I used to make fun of for wearing traditional vesture.

Fr. Longenecker - I'm sincerely sorry.
Fr. Zuhlsdorf - I'm sincerely sorry.
Fr.s Anonymous - I'm sincerely sorry.

I was stupid and did not understand.
No better than a brute beast - communist partisan... Ps. 72

I have so much reparation to make.

Palm Sunday

I've never liked processions.  Probably for the same reason I do not like parades.  I'm not sure why however.

I wonder if it's because I know how things turn out afterwards?

"He's a fruitcake!"

"I know! I just can't figure out why he keeps blogging though."