Luxury line...

"Fly from riches and luxury; love poverty and silence; have charity, even for bad people.” - Our Lady to Bl. Jacinta Marto

The Voris cruise turned out to be a pretty hot topic.  I can't really speak for anyone else but me - which is why I remain an independent blogger and never sign on with blogomerates nor have I aspired to be a regular on major websites or news portals.  Nothing wrong with those places, but as Michael Scott liked to say, "I just can't be managed."

That said, I think I have an idea why some people think the Year of Faith* cruise is perceived to be a little much.  Forgive me, I may be wrong.

A luxury cruise in Lent. 

Why is that so bad?  I'm not sure it is.  I know lots of people with money who go to exotic spots such as Fiji for vacation during Lent simply because the deals are great, the kids are on Spring break and it is the only time a Catholic family can vacation together.  Obviously such people are not on welfare, default-on-the-mortgage financial dupes, nor are they among the working poor struggling pay check to pay check.  People can travel and still observe Lent.  Lent is easy anyway.  You can give up candy and abstain from meat on Fridays and you're pretty good to go.  

"All Fridays through the year and he time of Lent are penitential days and time throughout the universal Church" (CIC 1250).

So I suppose the cruise isn't necessarily a problem in itself.  However, other Catholics seem to think the timing is inappropriate, and I would have to agree.   The Church usually never permits weddings and fun receptions in Lent, and although they often give a dispensation to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, the season is really supposed to be penitential.  For me, adding to the irony of a Lenten retreat at sea during Lent, is how two popular figures of Catholic whistle-blowers and everything orthodox, who've been known to call out CINO's for their extravagances, as well as faithful Catholics who may not share or endorse their interests and/or lack of observance in ritual, decide to get on board with the luxury cruise business and provide an exotic retreat experience.  Many religious groups do the same thing of course - centering retreats at spas are always nice.  Retreats in our era, much like the pilgrimage-tour industry, tend to be on the luxurious side anyway.  No doubt they can be spiritually beneficial as well.  So what's wrong with that?  Probably not much.

It's just not my idea of a retreat.  A conference maybe, but not a retreat.   To each his own I guess.

Comedic verve.

Personally, I thought the idea of pairing Fr. Z and Voris cried out for parody, and I blogged about it.  Saps at Sea - one of my favorite films.  I didn't necessarily mean to infer that Father and Voris were saps though...

After due consideration, it seemed to me that a priest who lives on the kindness of others probably could use the stipend, and probably deserves the break.  Nevertheless, I still think it isn't the best move to align oneself with a man who has become persona non grata to many bishops and clergy - a priest in need of an assignment has to be careful.  To be sure, it's none of my business what he does - please forgive me my concern. 

Oddly enough, followers of CIA director Michael Vortex Voris consider it their business to defend the project.  Many are offended Voris has been made fun of and criticized in some sections of the Catholic blogosphere.  Some people even want a couple of his critics fired from their jobs.  It amazes me these people go after their opponents with such vehemence and spite - frequently in exactly the same way they accuse others of doing to them.   Don't they realize both Voris and Fr. Z make fun of other Catholics and Catholic organizations themselves - CINO's though they may be?  Whenever the duo exercises any sort of discretion in their sometimes harsh and demeaning critiques, their followers pick up the thread and go in for the attack all on their own - on their blogs, forums, Facebook, Twitter, and in comboxes.  The Church Militant TV ground troops swell when their heroes are criticized or parodied online, accusing anyone who expresses an opinion contrary to theirs of heresy, modernism and liberalism.

So there you go - that's my take on why I think some of us who are weaker in the faith regarded the Lenten cruise as amusing, if not scandalous.

Let me talk to Arroyo:

Now! 

 

 

 

*To my knowledge, Year of Faith use does not denote the event is sponsored by, nor authorized by a particular diocese, nor does it mean it is an official Year of Faith event.  No indulgence attached.

By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert." (CCC 540).

Christmas gift ideas for mums and dadums and aunt Betty Mae.

How about a cruise?

Amazing. Simply amazing.

"He has confused the proud in their conceit."

Incredulity after reading the comments and posts in reaction to the title of Venerable conferred upon His Holiness, Pope Paul VI...

This stood out:  "He wasn't a very good pope.  He was a weak pope."  And: "In trying to make sense of this, in connection with Paul VI and what seems to many to be a lack of positive accomplishments according to his state in life..."

Simply amazing.

Christ then wasn't a very good Messiah, was He...

He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, One of those from whom men hide their faces, spurned, and we held him in no esteem. 

Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, While we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. - Isaiah 53

Christmas gift ideas for grandpa, dad, or uncle Bill... even friar Tuck.

Catholic gifts for men.

Booze.

Really.  Booze is always good - get the girls candy, but get the guys booze.

Get one better than this.

An expensive scotch...

A fine vodka - no flavored stuff.

Traditional is good.

Save the wine and flavored stuff for the girls.

It's Catholic!

Beer.  Really good, expensive beer and ale - stuff he wouldn't buy on his own.

He can quit later.

If he smokes - get him some tabacco he likes.

If you must give candy - make sure it is liquor filled.

Better than Centering Prayer.

Then throw in a nice pair of leather gloves or something.

Always try to buy luxurious stuff for Christmas - nothing practical.

Who needs practical?

Don't give gift cards or money - unless you are just not that close.  It's very unoriginal.  Cold.

Don't get cheap beer either.

 

You know what's really weird?

Santa might get sleighed - but he's always dodged the bullet.

Considering all the people in the United States who have guns, Santa and all his reindeers have never even been shot at.  Imagine him down in the living room, what would happen if mom or dad thought it was an intruder? 

See - Santa is real.

The Little Jesus

Everyone knows he was born 2000+ years ago already, right?  Still, we celebrate his Nativity and the mysteries surrounding the Incarnation and Birth of the Lord every year at this time.  Likewise, faith prompts us to keep ourselves ready and to anticipate his final coming - Catholics know that and do that at every Mass.

Nevertheless, we prepare for the Holy Nativity, anticipating the solemnity with great care, and sometimes, anxious cares.  We have wants and needs.  I think we forget God already knows that however - hence our anxiety.  Yet he gives little favors, little signs of his loving providence all the time - to increase our hope, our desire.  Sadly, we fail to thank him for the little stuff - most times we don't even notice them.  Fr. Solanus reminded me of that this morning.

Try to notice the little signs, the little lights twinkling in your life, albeit reflected in a darkened window, as it were.  Treasure these little signs in your heart with thankfulness - give thanks more than you give things...

Keep thanking God and the Little Jesus will be so thrilled with our prayers of thanksgiving he's sure to give increase - in abundance. I thought I should tell people that.  Wrap, swaddle the Little Jesus in warm, loving prayers of thanksgiving.  Let us welcome him into our heart and care for him there - carry him there.  The poorer we are, the more grateful we are.

Prayers In Thanksgiving

Declared Venerable:  Servant of God Paul VI, Giovanni Battista Montini, Italian, Supreme Pontiff (1897-1978).

I do not hate the MSM.

Though there is bias, and they make big mistakes...

I'm grateful they have covered the massacre at Sandy Hook so closely.  I felt as if the people gunned down were my family.  I wanted to know what happened, to whom, how, where, and why.  I wanted to know the victims, the families.  I wanted to hold them close, in my imagination, my heart, my prayer. 

Beyond that, I'm grateful for the brave journalists who risk their lives to cover the wars and terrorist assaults upon ourselves and other countries.  I've worried and prayed for NBC's Richard Engel who had been held captive with his crew in Syria - my heart filled with gratitude to God when I learned they had escaped and are now free.

I think of the sacrifice of Daniel Pearl, a journalist beheaded doing his job.  I think of Laura Logan who was sexually assaulted doing her job.  These are brave men and women who put their life on the line.

I don't care if it is the

week before Christmas,

I want Amanpour off the air!

 

A Prayer: "...and, and don't let anybody hurt anybody."

"Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!"

This morning I suddenly realized Christmas is less than a week away!  I've got stuff to do!

Read this with the Sandy Hook Massacre in mind...

Killing kids...

Abortion: Every sixth foetus showed signs of life.

For the first time ever in Denmark, a survey has shown how many foetuses show signs of life following a late term termination, according to Kristeligt Dagblad.

Previously, conventional wisdom has suggested that 10 per cent of foetuses gasped or showed other signs of life following a late term abortion between the 12th and 22nd week of pregnancy.

But statistics from Denmark’s second largest maternity clinic at the Aarhus University Hospital Skejby show that out of 70 late terminations between August 2011 and November 2012, 11 – or 16 per cent - showed signs of life.

Translated into national figures from 2010, during which 877 foetuses were terminate after the 12th week, the statistical figure for life signs in aborted foetuses would be 140.

Midwives surprised

The Chair of the Midwife Association and Member of The Ethical Council Lillian Bondo says she is surprised at the figures.

“But I get the feeling from my colleagues that handling the issue is not a major problem, although it is an unhappy situation,” Bondo tells Kristeligt Dagblad.

“It requires a good level of information and agreements and procedures on how to gently and calmly treat a foetus that is born with signs of life so that it does not suffer,” she says.

Denmark has free abortion until the 12th week of pregnancy. Late term abortions are only allowed in Denmark if the foetus is found to have a serious illness, or if special social circumstances make the mother unfit – for example a very young woman.

Bondo says a report is needed on conditions that can be seen as least upsetting for the terminated foetus.

The Danish Infant Death Association says parents should be given the possibility of choosing a potassium chloride injection to stop the foetal heart before a termination in order to ensure that the foetus is stillborn. 

The method is in use in the United States and elsewhere. - NewsSource
 

I wouldn't worry too much about the guns...

Prayers in reparation for the massacres.

You just never know.

Judging by appearances... not a good idea.


There is a story from the desert fathers wherein a monk went to see another, renowned for his wisdom and holiness. The monk was scandalized that the father lived in relative luxury compared to what he had been used to in his skete. The father drank wine, slept on a bed of straw, bathed, and ate rather well, although he fasted and was faithful to the rule of psalmody and other exercises peculiar to the eremitical state.

The young monk left the father to return to his skete. The father knowing he had been scandalized called him back and questioned him as to his life. It turned out the monk had been a poor shepherd, sleeping in the fields and eating a very meager diet, without any comforts, no bathing, except in the river, and so on. In the skete, he had regular meals, a mat to sleep upon, and a hut for shelter.

The father then told him of his past. He had lived like a prince in Rome, with many attendants and great luxury, dining sumptuously every day. Upon his conversion he renounced all of that and went into the desert to live the ascetic life as the young monk could see.

Filled with compunction, the young monk recognised his presumption and asked the father's forgiveness, often returning to him for spiritual instruction.

Less than a week ago...

Evidently NOT a persona non grata...

Professor Carl A. Anderson*, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus was received in private audience by Pope Benedict XVI.

I thought Michael Voris once said something about Anderson and the Knights of Columbus being 'no damn good'?

I wonder how many Catholics online have ever been received in private audience?

*In Rome for Ecclesia in America Conference, Vatican City.  Somehow I think he has the Pope's approval and blessing on his side. 

What?

Back online, with attitude. Redux.

 

Editor's note:  I composed this out of frustration after getting shutdown by a virus.  I was on a trusted Catholic site - but found out the virus could have been lurking on my computer for awhile - possibly received in and through an email.  Hard to tell.  Geek Squad says they get at least 2 computers a day to get rid of what is called the FBI virus.  It blocks your computer from accessing the Internet until you pay to be unblocked.  Posing as a government entity - some people are foolish enough to actually pay to be unblocked - that is the intent of the fake intrusion.  They obviously count on the fact that people use their computers for porn - it's a type of blackmail.  I do not use porn, never have.  I was totally disgusted by the porn displayed by the virus.  I took the computer in and paid no ransom.  I was pissed.  I felt invaded, my privacy violated and contaminated.  Which is why I wrote this post.  My apologies if it hit a little too close to home for some readers.  If you have online voyeurism disorder, just remember, you are picking up ITD's and infecting others.  Maybe get some help, or stay offline.

ITD's

Our Lady of Guadalupe took my computer away and sent me back to the abbey - sort of.  It was a wonderful break Poodles!  Listen to this:

"If any man thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, he's nuts!" - St. James

This blogging crap is empty bombast Poodles!  We are shouting into a vortex... 

We can't evangelize if we go on tearing one another to pieces.  Anyway - most blogs simply preach to choir.

Just think about it.  Envy, jealousy, stats, glorying in our conversions and graces and insights and degrees and accomplishments - listing all the books we read, making a wish list for more. Pumping up our friends count - pumping our friends full of...

"Oh children!  There's just so much to tell you!"  Said Maria excitedly, then she sang her "Favorite Things"!  And told the Captain to go to ... no she didn't.

But I'm back - and I never ever want to write to please any of you ever again!

"You never did!"  Said Cath, adding.

Which is why I love you!

So anyway - what a wonderful break from the Internet!  What a wonderful life!  Life is beautiful! 

Yes - I had the FBI virus - along with 700 other icky things, cookies, trojans, creepy filthy things.  The infected computer is a metaphor for the soul - we go online, engage in intercourse - even with trusted friends... ahem - and pick up ITD's - Internet Transmitted Diseases.  Just punishment for our online sins.  You get where I'm going.  Adulterers.  Adulterous generation.  Greedy little pan-handling ... oops!  How'd that get in there?  So you see, we bring it on ourselves.  Step into traffic...

So anyway.  I'm no longer opening e-cards, attachments, photos, stupid office hi-jinks kitsch, or stuff like that any longer - not even from those people I know - I don't really know any of you BTW - Oh?  Have we met?  Not really Poodle.  I deleted all of my recent emails without opening, and I'm not sure I'll ever open an email ever again.  I don't know where you people have been or what you do with yourself, or your computers ...

So anyway - I'm back online.  My hope renewed that I may be the most unpopular person ever to write a blog.  I will never return to Facebook, I will never be on Twitter... the Pope can do what he likes. Ganswein too.


This has been an Abbey Roads status update.   Thank you for tuning in.  Comments are reopened.  Donations never requested or accepted.  

Penetrating to the core of what took place in Newtown, Connecticut

From Dom Kirby...

Massacre of the Innocents

A Hellish Crime

The massacre of innocent children and of others ten days before Christmas, in my own home state of Connecticut, is evidence enough of the implacable hatred of the Evil One, the incorporeal Herod, who everywhere seeks and finds breaches in the souls of men, in families, and in society, into which he sends his infernal troops, full of contempt for human life, to plunder, ravage, and destroy. The devil, mocking the liturgical calendar of the Church, follows his own calendar of feasts of death and seasons of destruction. 

A Harsh Christmas - A reflection from Alfred Delp, S.J.

"This year the temptations toward a picturesque Christmas are probably reduced."

The harshness and coldness of life have hit us with a previously unimaginable force. Some of us, whose homes cannot even offer the cold shelter of the stable in Bethlehem anymore, perhaps begin to forget the picturesque little ox and little donkey and to approach the quesiton of what Christmas is really all about. Is the world more beautiful and life healthier because of that first Christmas? Because the angels finally and publicly sang their Gloria? Because the shepherds awestruck, ran and adored? Because King Herod panicked and murdered little children?

Release of tension (whether through avoidance, indifference, resignation, insensitivity, physical atrophy, destruction of the metaphysical nerves, overexertion,or weariness with life) is one of the deadly wounds from which modern man is bleeding to death. Eliminating the tension that strained one to the last nerve may have seemed life a relief at first, like liberation from an uncomfortable burden. Yet over time, one cannot avoid recognizing that these burdens are among the fixed conditions and prerequisites of life. - Alfred Delp, Letters
 

Title and quotes taken from A Spacious Place, by Christopher Page, 2 December 2010.  Rev. Page wrote:

If we are to truly live, we need to be willing to hold the tension of the fact that things are not always as we might hope they would be. Life is often painful, difficult, and messy. “These burdens are among the fixed conditions and prerequisites of life.” We can rail against them, fight with all our might to make the world different than we know it is, or we can accept the realities of life as they present themselves and live from that place of honesty, openness and surrender.

Like Father Delp in Germany in 1944, many people in the world today can only anticipate a harsh Christmas. It is important, particularly for those of us for whom Christmas may be less of a struggle, to hold tenderly the reality of suffering that this season embodies for so many. - Christopher Page

 

The one thing the good guys and the bad guys have in common: They all love guns.

"Mom!  Mom! 

Can we shoot the ornaments off the tree?"

 

"No shooting in the house honey!

You know how your dad gets"

They all love guns.

I remember when my brother Skip got his first gun.  I know!  My crazy family really had guns!  Skip went hunting with a neighbor guy, and sometimes I could even go along.  I was actually trained to shoot.  I know! 

It all sounds so crazy today, doesn't it?  The Nelson family armed?  But times were different back then.  I know, I know, my mother threatened to kill me holding a butcher knife to my throat, and my sister had to pull her off - but I was whining about something... I think I was hungry.  "Okay then mom, I'll wait until exactly 5 PM to eat."  And then life that day returned to normal.  Things were different by high school of course, as a convicted felon, I'm thinking my dad no longer could own a gun, so I'll never know if he would have used it on me instead of chasing me out of the house with a meat clever one evening before super.  We Nelson's were so darn dramatic, weren't we?  I just have to laugh now.  The good old days!

Seriously, they were - in a way.  Back in the late fifties, early sixties, we never would have thought about shooting passerbys on the street, much less one another, or even shooting noisy planes down from the backyard.  It just wasn't done.  We had respect for our weapons, we used them legally and appropriately, for hunting, target practice, as well as protection - although , come to think of it, my dad did threaten us once...  But that was unusual, an exception... and it was a squirt gun anyway - though it looked like a real gun. 

Anyway, real guns were for protection.  As dad always said, "If you gotta shoot the son of a bitch and he's still on the doorstep, drag him in the house so you won't be charged - that way it's self defense."  Guns were treated with respect.  My mom wouldn't touch them, and my dad never threatened us with real ones.  He might beat up mom or one of us, even bad enough to be hospitalized, but no guns were used in the process.  They were just for hunting, target practice, and protection.  It was an Ozzie and Harriet, Leave It To Beaver idyllic life.

Things are much different today.  People have great 'blow 'em up good' 'exterminate the bastards now' video games the whole family can enjoy.  It's a new mindset these days.  Killing is taught at an early age.  Guns are the source of power and control - and of course, protection.

Mrs. Lanza was a gun collector and was convinced she needed them for protection - she and the boy might one day have to defend themselves after the inevitable collapse of the United States.  How ironic, the guns she collected and practiced self defense with were the same weapons her kid used to shoot her face off.

Not that many days ago, a grandfather in Minnesota shot his granddaughter believing her to be an intruder.  He was simply protecting his castle.

Shortly before that incident, two little boys found their dad's gun - he kept it in the headboard of his bed for protection.  The older boy shot and killed the younger boy.  They were both under the age of five.

Guns are legal, and that's just fine with me. 

I just don't want one.  I don't trust myself.

Here's an interesting factoid:  The original rule of St. Francis forbade tertiaries from carrying weapons.  Of course, Francis talked a wolf out of eating the populace of Gubbio too.  So I highly doubt he would be a gun advocate.

That said, I still can't get over the irony of Mrs. Lanza having all of those guns for protection, only to become a victim of matricide.  I suppose it's not all that unusual these days - it's happened before and will happen again.  New laws won't change anything.

A king is not saved by his army,
nor a warrior preserved by his strength.
A vain hope for safety is the horse (gun)
 - despite it's power it cannot save. - Psalm 32

Cigarettes don't kill - people do.

 

This week Paul VI to be declared Venerable

This is welcome news for me.

I was in Rome in my early twenties, a pilgrim who frequented St. Peter's.  While there, I was blessed to attend Masses with the Holy Father, Pope Paul VI.  At the time he was 'my pope' - I expect not unlike young people considered Blessed John Paul II to be 'their pope' while he was alive.  Truth be told, the pope is the pope - the one who occupies the chair of Peter, he is the Vicar of Christ.  Each pope has his own personality - each pope I love and cherish with a special devotion.  However, the reigning pontiff radiates a particular attraction, in a charismatic sense, especially to the young and the faithful.

In those days, I wore a crucifix, a copy of the gnarled crosier Paul VI initiated, the same one used by John Paul II, and for a short time by Benedict XVI.  My devotion for the Holy Father was intense, and for that reason I wanted to be identified with him by wearing a small replica of his crucifix.  I recall two priests mocking me one day, in a little cafe near the train station, for speaking of him as the "Holy Father' - they were certain that since I was an American, it was an affectation.  As I attempted to convince them otherwise, they made fun of me even more.  I was used to stuff like that.

Years later, a friend of another priest friend of mine, a somewhat pompous, if not arrogant professor at the local university, once corrected me in a conversation involving Pope Paul VI.  I mentioned I thought that Pope Paul was 'great' - not at all in the sense people like to attribute to Blessed John Paul II however - I was simply trying to express my enthusiasm for the late pope.  I believed him to be holy, a 'suffering servant' and a prophet - due in part to Humane Vitae of course.  The priest interrupted me, saying, "I wouldn't call him great... not at all!"  And then he proceeded to denigrate the late pope, pointing out his weaknesses and faults.  My enthusiasm for Paul VI wasn't at all diminished, although my respect for the foul-mouthed professor certainly was.

In my opinion, the declaration of venerable is a much greater honor than being titled 'great'...

For some reason the arrogant things priests say make a deep impression upon others.  Much more so than the things lay people can say - often in their ignorance.

The arrogant are sent away empty.

If you really want to make a difference, pray.

Be faithful to the duties of your state in life.

The novena for Christmas begins on the 16th of December.  On the 17th, the Liturgy itself is the source of the most suitable prayers in anticipation of the Nativity of Our Lord.

If you want to make a difference in the world, pray.  Pray without ceasing.

 

The Innocents

My eyes stream with tears... - Lamentations

In Ramah is heard the sound of moaning,

of bitter weeping!

Rachel mourns her children,

she refuses to be consoled 

because her children are no more. - Jeremiah 31:15
 

Art: Bruegel, Slaughter of the Innocents 

Even now, I dare not speak...

The unspeakable.

O Lord, set a guard over my mouth
and upon my lips an effective seal,
that I may not fail through them... - Sirach 22:27

Gaudete

Psalm 136

By the rivers of Babylon
... there we sat and wept ...

How could we rejoice?
 

The Passage of Souls

Louis Janmot

 

Prayers for the little victims of the Newtown School shooting.

Ze Peup on Tweeter

Yes, yes, yes.  Even TMZ is talking about it.

Now, my angel, I'm waiting for the world to decry the nasty tweets he gets in return.*

You walk into traffic - you're going to get hit.

BTW - I did - my laptop was invaded by a sort of porno virus claiming to be US Government and I'm locked out as it eats my files.

Thank you Holy Mary of Guadalupe for rescuing me from being online!

Let us pray:

Pray for us, and pray for the Holy Father, O Mary, conceived without sin; as Virgin of Guadalupe, you continue to evangelize culture and demonstrate for us how to draw souls to Christ, our Saviour.

*They ought to be beaten with fists!

 

Our Lady of Guadalupe... Virgin of the Apocalypse.

"Patroness of the Americas

and of the Philippines"

Modern researchers say the star alignments represented on the mantle of Our Lady, as imprinted on the tilma of Juan Diego, match exactly the night sky as it was on Dec. 12, 1531.

 By superimposing the night sky over Our Lady's image a miraculous story unfolds.

For instance, the Corona Borealis, a small constellation in the northern sky whose Latin name means "northern crown," is located on Mary's head — a crown representing Mary as the queen. The constellation Virgo, Latin for Virgin, is located on her heart.

Over her womb is the constellation Leo. "Leo represents the lion, and Jesus was called the 'Lion of the tribe of Judah,' in Revelation 5:5 to symbolize His victory over sin," says Fr. Anthony. "The star Regulus, meaning royalty, is Leo's brightest star and symbolizes Christ's kingship."

The constellation Orion is located where the Aztec warrior (or St. Michael or Juan Diego) is located. Orion represents the hunter. The hunter is pointing his bow at the constellation Taurus, the bull with the two horns. "There you have a battle between the warrior, or St. Michael, and the beast," says Fr. Anthony.   

Indeed, just to review, Revelation 12:1-2 describes how "a great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars. She was with child." Sound familiar?

Revelation 12 goes on to portray the power of evil, represented by a dragon, in opposition to God and His people. First the dragon pursues the pregnant woman, but her Son is saved and "caught up to God and His throne" (Rev 12:5). Then Michael and his angels cast the dragon and his angels out of heaven. After this, the dragon tries to attack the Child by attacking members of His Church. A second beast arises from the land, symbolizing the Antichrist, which leads people astray. The dragon continues to wage war against the rest of the women's offspring, "those who keep God's commandments and bear witness to Jesus" (Rev 12:17). - Read the whole story here.

Image source

 Happy feast day!

Confidential memo from Bishop Morlino leaked...

Wisdom Well - turns out to be a leaky cistern.*


This story demonstrates - to me at least - though we do not often see public rebukes, corrections, disciplines applied to 'recalcitrant' religious persons or groups, Bishops do indeed take action to correct, admonish, and do whatever else is necessary before canonical censure, interdict, or excommunication is applied.

Bishop Morlino bans Madison Dominican sisters from conducting workshops and offering spiritual direction. 

Two longtime Madison nuns who lead an interfaith spirituality center have been banned by Madison Catholic Bishop Robert Morlino from holding workshops or providing spiritual direction or guidance at any Catholic churches in the 11-county diocese.
Sisters Maureen McDonnell and Lynn Lisbeth, both Sinsinawa Dominicans, have diverged too far from Catholic teaching, according to a confidential memo sent Nov. 27 to priests on behalf of Morlino. A copy of the memo was leaked to the State Journal.

Two other women connected to the interfaith center, called Wisdom's Well, also have been banned as part of the same action.

The memo says Morlino has "grave concerns" about the women's teachings, specifically that they "espouse certain views" flowing from such movements as "New Ageism" and "indifferentism." The latter, according to the memo, is "the belief that no one religion or philosophy is superior to another."

The women "may not share an authentic view of the Catholic Church's approach to interreligious dialogue," the memo said.

Brent King, a spokesman for the diocese, said three other potential parish guest speakers, all male, have been banned "in recent years." The women are not prohibited from attending Mass or, if Catholic, from receiving communion, King said. Asked whether they could contribute to parish life in other ways, such as reading Bible passages from the pulpit or chairing a church committee, King said that would be up to individual priests. - Read more here.

I suppose the Wisdom Well Holiday Retreat Cruise is off now too?

Wisconsin Dells Cruises

* Click here for musical accompaniment to this post.

h/t to Badger Catholic 

Our Lady in Advent

Get ready!

If you haven't made the novena - you can start and finish one today - the day before the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Offer your prayer today, and ask Our Lady to accept it as if you had prayed and fasted all nine days.

If you can't make a pilgrimage to Guadalupe, you can visit your parish church in honor of Our Lady and ask her to accept your visit as if you had walked barefoot to her shrine in Mexico City.

If you can't do that, you can sit quietly in your room, prayerfully unite yourself to all of those who have made the pilgrimage, as well as the whole Church, who honors Our Lady on her feast, and be confident that your desire to honor Our Lady is pleasing to her and gives glory to the Blessed Trinity.

The laborer, the poor, the lame, the shut-in cannot always make costly pilgrimages, but they can do so spiritually, in their hearts.  It can be as efficacious as making a Spiritual Communion.  Some of the saints did such things with so much fervor, some were given the grace of bilocation.

You don't have to do any of that however, and you surely do not have to take my word for it.



 

Driving dogs...

Yeah, big deal, cats did it first.

Slum-dog driver story here...

 

I like nuns who look like this one.

I like habits like the one shown here for nuns.

Notice the soft-skull wimple - no greasy hair showing.

The veil without any coronet or molded plastic insert.

She's free to drive a car, and even use her peripheral vision in the classroom, when she needs to.

Natural fabrics, light and carefree.

Thin.


What?

Hell, is anyone there?

A healthy fear of hell is good.  It is a sign of good faith. 

The discussion-mushion about hell these days is good too.

Not everyone is saved, that is pretty much the non-mushy side of the discussion, and it's the right one.

No one knows exactly who is in hell - but it's probably pretty crowded.  A few excellent points from Monsignor Pope helps us to understand:

But permit just a few summary bullet points:

1. The biblical teaching, that there is a Hell, and that many go there is in no way ambiguous. When asked directly whether many would be saved Jesus answers soberly, and I would suppose with great sadness, that “many” were on the wide road that led to perdition, and that the road that led to salvation, was narrow, and difficult and that “few” found it.
2. Jesus the main source – No one loves us more than Jesus Christ, and no one has worked more to save us than Jesus Christ. Yet no one spoke of Hell more than Jesus Christ, or warned of judgment with greater sobriety.
3. Words mean things – However one may wish to interpret the biblical data, “many” does not mean few, and “few” does not mean many.
4. Hell is, in a sense, necessary if human freedom is to have any meaning. All while Hell has mysterious aspects, understanding its existence must be rooted in the fact that God respects the freedom he has given us, even if he may regret the choices we make. But we are summoned to love, and love requires freedom, and freedom requires that our choices be about real things.
5. That hell is an eternal reality is also mysterious, but is caught up in the mystery of the eternity itself. It would seem that as we move from this temporal world toward eternity, our decisions become forever fixed and final.
6. Devastating – It does not require an advanced degree in sociology to understand that, to remove the unambiguous biblical teaching on the very real and possible outcome of Hell, is to remove strong motivation to seek a Savior and salvation. It is therefore no surprise that as the teaching on Hell has been largely set aside by the modern world, that recourse to the sacraments, prayer, Church attendance and any number of spiritual remedies have suffered significant declines during the same period.
7. More can be read, if you wish, in the articles I have written elsewhere, referenced above. - Monsignor Pope

 

And I might add, don't be afraid to teach your kids that either - Our Lady wasn't.

After showing the children the vision of Hell, Our Lady said: "You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart." - OL of Fatima
 

Which is why this prayer Our Lady taught is so necessary as a work of charity, mercy, and justice:

O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to heaven, help those especially in need of thy mercy. - OL of Fatima

Who could refuse our Blessed Mother's urgent request to pray that prayer at the end of each decade of the rosary, or whenever?

Our Lady of Lipa.

 

 

Tiny monkey...

Shopping all by himself.  Toronto animal services eventually caught the monkey inside the store.



...and shot it.




Just kidding - it happened in Canada, not Texas.


 

Les Miserables 2012

Jean Valjean shot in Walmart parking lot by off-duty sheriff's deputy working security...

An off-duty Harris County sheriff's deputy said Friday that he was afraid for his life when he fatally shot a suspected shoplifter in a Walmart parking lot.

Deputy Louis Campbell was working an extra security job at the store in the 10400 block of the North Freeway about 9:45 p.m. Thursday when he fired the shot that killed 27-year-old Shelly Frey. - Finish reading the story here.
 

Sounds like over-kill to me. 

When I worked in retail, security guards maybe wrestled people to the ground - but even then, the store could be sued if the suspect was injured.  Security guards were trained to never put themselves in danger. 

 

Our Lady of Loreto

The Holy House...

Once again, we remember the feast of Our Lady of Loreto, or the miraculous translation of the Holy House of Our Lady from the Holy Land to Italy. People don't believe it happened though. I do, and several saints and popes believed it too. I'm not bragging - indeed I lost that grace long ago - but while I was in Loreto, I stayed in the Holy House for hours, and outside it, for hours, every day - with no concept of the passage of time until one day a Capuchin priest grabbed me by the hair, shook my head, and said in Italian, "God has grasped you!" I left the shrine shortly after, and the next day I returned to Assisi, never to return to that little paradise. But I knew the house was the House of the Virgin, the Gate of Heaven, the House of God. I knew it.
.
My brother died on this date. One day he confided to me, just before his illness was diagnosed terminal, that Our Lady had recently appeared to him in a "Flash!  A second!" - while he was trying to exercise. I asked what she looked like and he described Our Lady as she is depicted upon the Miraculous Medal - the Immaculate Conception.
.
"Did she say anything?" I asked.
.
"No, she just smiled."
.
"What did you think?" I inquired further.
.
"I don't know. I felt good... I felt at peace... I felt as if everything was going to be okay," he stammered, asking, "do you think it was her?"
.
"Yeah. Skip. I really do. She does that - that's just how she does it sometimes, and you know it's her." I assured him.
.
My brother made his confession and received the sacraments shortly before he died on the feast of Loreto, 1990.
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O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee and for those who do not have recourse to thee, especially the enemies of the Church and those recommended to thee.

Trust Our Lady.  Consecrate yourself to the Madonna.  Pray the rosary every day.  Our Lady is refuge of sinners: God gives the lonely a home to live in!

Needed: Prayers in Reparation**

Our Lady of Czestochowa attacked.

Man throws paint at icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa

AFP - Polish police detained a 58-year-old man Sunday after he threw vials of black paint at the Black Madonna of Czestochowa, an ancient Catholic icon of the Virgin Mary believed to work miracles.
A protective pane of glass over the painted protected it from any damage, local police spokeswoman Joanna Lazar told reporters.
Guards at the monastery in the southern city of Czestochowa had quickly overpowered the man responsible and handed him over to police, she added.
The detained man had been questioned and was expected to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, Lazar said. His name has not been released. - Finish reading here.

**"Sacrifice yourselves for sinners and say often whenever you make a sacrifice: 'O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.' " (Our Lady of Fatima, July 13, 1917) - Rosary Center

Pray the rosary every day.

 

Gabby's first big snowfall!

"Dad!  Is that why I'm called

a Snow-Shoe cat?"

 

"Dad!  Mrs. Rabitowitz taught me how to sit like a rabbit

when the snow gets really deep! 

Can I go out and play in it?"

 

Gabby will be one year old on December 29.

 

 

One day I asked Gabby if she wanted to go to church with me and she said, "No, cats do not need to go to church.  Anyway - they don't even let animals in church - so no wonder they say animals can't go to heaven."  I told her not to listen to people who talk like that.  She answered, "I don't."

 

The New Evangelization: Presence.

Being...  Imitating the silent, loving action of Jesus in the Eucharist...

Hidden...

Amidst ordinary life...

A reader sent me this excerpt from Little Brother, Blessed Charles of Jesus:

"I am not the slightest interested in geography or exploration.  Neither am I interested in evangelization as such.  Of this I am neither worthy or capable; and the time for it has not yet come.  My work should be the preliminaries for evangelization, the cultivation of trust & friendship, for gentling, you might say, for fraternization... " - The Sands of Tamanrasset

 

I knew that, but I had forgotten it.  Rather, I lost track of that call.

The Church calls us to evangelize culture.  To be sure, there are many in the business of telling one how to do that too.  Yet evangelization means different things for different people.

I was watching "Journey Home" last Monday evening, a Baptist convert was on telling his story.  I love those stories of conversion - his faith was alive, and he spoke about how his faith was enlivened in and through reading the Catechism.  It was a powerful witness.  It was almost as if I could see the Holy Spirit at work in him as he spoke.  I looked the guy up online and found he had a website and what looks like a full-blown 'ministry' already.  I didn't notice if there was a donate button or not. 

It seems to me as if almost everyone converting-reverting to the Catholic Church feels they have to have a ministry or an apostolate.  And of course, not a few who decide they have one, seem to rely on the scripture which says the worker should be supported/paid in his ministry.  It seems to me rather Protestant - and indeed such methods are often based upon that model. It worked for them before 'coming home', I expect it will work for them as Catholics too.  However, I wonder if there is an over emphasis on apologetics and theology degrees?  And why is everything one does in the name of Christ suddenly called a ministry or an apostolate? 

It strikes me as rather odd.  Whatever happened to converts entering religious life or the priesthood after a significant conversion experience?  What happened to them living ordinary, yet faithful lives in the state of life wherein they were called in the secular world?  I know Opus Dei members do that, hence it is already an established custom in the Church.  They neither call attention to themselves nor seek financial support - they seem to have jobs.

Just imagine if Mary Magdalen, instead of doing penance, studied theology and wrote her own gospel account?  What if Francis of Assisi decided to live in palaces and associate with the rich and powerful, instead of doing as St. Paul instructed: "associate with the lowly"?  What if Thomas Aquinas decided to continue to write books and do the lecture circuit after his revelation before the crucifix, rejecting the notion his academic achievements were simply straw?  What if Dorothy Day ran for Congress instead of sitting in jail for peace?  Just imagine if the saints all wrote best selling books, charged fees for their speaking engagements and healing ministries, and asked for donations to go on exotic retreats and luxury pilgrimages? 

Today, it seems the trend is for people to convert/revert to Catholicism, get a book deal, television interview, and then hang up a shingle and expect people to support them in their "ministry".

God bless them!  They just might already have their reward.