Signs: The Storm ...

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The cross atop St. Helena’s Catholic Church in Minneapolis was struck by lightning on September 2 at 3 AM, causing it to crash to the ground, cracking the pavement below and scattering debris as far as across the street. - Story here.

What does it mean?  

The storm is upon us.

St. Helena discovered the True Cross.

The feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross - or the Finding of the True Cross is September 14.

Stock up on beer people!  Preferably Trappist beer - indulgences permitted.

Remember 'The Omen'?

What?

Song for this post here.

Altered altars and the relic trade.

Did you know?

Altar stones contain relics of saints and martyrs.  They are placed in fixed, permanent altars in Catholic churches.  Altars are dedicated, usually by the Bishop of the place.

I once came across some altar stones containing sacred relics in the basement of a parish church which had merged with another parish and obviously removed them from the altars of the closed church.  The altar stones containing the relics were unattended and carelessly stored, the saints relics contained in the stones were unidentifiable without the original documents.  That is too bad.  Sometimes relics appear online for sale, that is too bad as well.  I used to 'buy' relics - not altar stones - or rescue them when I could, which is why I know about relics and what can be done with them.  A priest once told me that I should never give them away as they belong to the Church and should be returned to the Church if and when I am unable to care for them.  I'm not sure that is rubric however.

Distinguished relics and those which are publicly venerated cannot be alienated or transferred without the permission of the Apostolic See.  I'm assuming that doesn't apply to altar stones?  Can they be given away for private use?

I read someplace that the placement of relics in a movable altar is not allowed - I think that refers to a movable altar in a church, and not a travelling altar however.  I suppose the Bishop would make that call.

[I know how important it is to be faithful to the letter, saying the black and doing the red.]

An example of a very nice movable altar.

Disaster preparedness and Sandy...

All your stored up goods... gone.

Fr. Z was right about one thing - go to confession because you never know the day or the hour - we all could die unexpectedly or from some disaster like Superstorm Sandy.  The death toll on the East Coast alone is at 109 and may continue to rise.  For those people who lost their lives, no disaster preparedness or stockpile of food and drink and warm clothes or fuel or ammunition could have helped them. 

The same with the folks on Staten Island and the Jersey Shore - especially Breezy Point.  Though many escaped with their lives, they lost their homes to the tidal waves as well as fire.  It is shocking to see the fottage of the neighborhood that was burned out - nothing survived save the foundations of the houses - everything else was consumed and reduced to rubble.  If these poor people had stockpiles of anything on the premises - it was gone - not just left behind, but gone.   No electricity, no water, no gas - no nothing.

I've been thinking of these things while praying for the victims.

So what can man do?  What can a man provide in exchange for his life? 

But God said unto him, You fool, this night your soul shall be required of you: then whose shall those things be, which you have prepared? - Luke 12:20

For no man buy his own ransom,
or pay a price to God for his life. - Ps. 49:8

Another moving tribute: PETA seeks a commemorative sign...

Desperate search for survivor fish after the October 11 accident.

A commemorative sign to mark a tragic fish accident.

The heart breaking story:

An Irvine resident is requesting that the city install a sign to memorialize the hundreds of fish killed in a traffic crash in early October as they were being taken to Irvine Ranch Market.

The sign would read, "In memory of hundreds of fish who suffered and died at this spot," to remind tractor-trailer drivers of their responsibility to the animals who are "hauled to their deaths every day," according to the letter provided by PETA.

The crash occurred Oct. 11 when a truck, carrying 1,600 pounds of live fish and several tanks of pure oxygen, crashed with two other vehicles.

The oxygen was used to keep saltwater bass alive as the fish were being taken to market.
"Although such signs are traditionally reserved for human fatalities, I hope you'll make an exception because of the enormous suffering involved in this case," the letter read.

"Research tells us that fish use tools, tell time, sing, and have impressive long-term memories and complex social structures, yet fish used for food are routinely crushed, impaled, cut open, and gutted, all while still conscious. Sparing them from being tossed from a speeding truck and slowly dying from injuries and suffocation seems the least that we can do," the letter continued.  - Orange County Register
 

How many fish were injured, killed, tossed out of the ocean in Hurricane Sandy?

I don't know how much more I can take.  How many more fish have to die?!