Getting ready for Christmas

Gabby decorates.

This year seems different ...

The cat decorated.  Well, she only just kitzles the decorations which have been put up. She's crazy about shiny stuff.

Nevertheless, this year Advent and Christmas are different for me - wonderfully different.  I do not have a sense of waiting or looking forward to Christmas.  Everything seems to me artificial about that.  The liturgy is alive for me, Christ is present in it - he lives and makes intercession for us.  besides, he has already come - he is here - he is present.  The Bridegroom is here.  I wish I had language to express that sense - yet the liturgy does it for me.  When Our Lady carried Christ in her immaculate womb, did she anticipate his 'coming'?  Now you see what I mean ...

Secular Christmas, lights, decorations, outlandish outdoor displays with electronic music, Santa impersonators all over, silly ads, sappy Christmas specials, sentimental Christmas stories, carols, costumes, I am completely indifferent to these.  It's not Christmas.  It is simply entertainment.  That stuff doesn't matter - it is what it is and that's just fine - take it for what it is.  let no one take your joy away.  Giving presents, giving alms, working with the poor - even just at Christmas, that's fine too, and it's probably better, more satisfying - yet Christmas is more than what we do.

Oh - and the war on Christmas?  It isn't real.  No one can stop Christmas - it already happened and happens now.  It is beyond any one's power to abolish it.  It is a mystery unfolded and unfolding, revealed and revealing - for those who are able to accept it, able to receive it.  Christmas is a gift to be received - and the gift we receive we give as a gift.  Nothing stands in our way except the desire to control and construct the holidays into an idol of our personal preference - an ideal we imagine to suit our taste, with the decree, 'this is how it should be' - only when it disappoints, or someone breaks the rules, we become disgruntled and annoyed.

Every year it becomes clearer to me - and I hope for you:  Christ is already born - he dwells amongst us - now.  He is risen and lives to make intercession for us, and we participate in that, in and through the liturgy, the prayer of the Church.

 

Something to think about.

"The priest who is slow in granting generous and ready forgiveness, who wastes his words on detraction, who succumbs to the pettiness of gossip, resentment, vindictiveness, moodiness, and all such miseries of self-love, to such a priest Jesus will certainly not grant an increase of charity.  He may even withdraw his ordinary assistance, and thus the priest will remain all his life poor in grace and charity, wallowing in self-pity." - Sr. Nazarena

"Praying the Mass is the most beautiful and efficacious sermon a priest can give." - Sr. Nazarena

So I think it's more than just saying the black and doing the red.
 

"My little son, am I not your Mother?"

 

"Know, know for sure, my dearest, littlest, and youngest son, that I am the perfect and ever Virgin Holy Mary, Mother of the God of truth through Whom everything lives, the Lord of all things near us, the Lord of heaven and earth. I want very much to have a little house built here for me, in which I will show Him, I will exalt Him and make Him manifest. I will give Him to the people in all my personal love, in my compassion, in my help, in my protection: because I am truly your merciful Mother, yours and all the people who live united in this land and of all the other people of different ancestries, my lovers, who love me, those who seek me, those who trust in me. Here I will hear their weeping, their complaints and heal all their sorrows, hardships and sufferings. And to bring about what my compassionate and merciful concern is trying to achieve, you must go to the residence of the Bishop of Mexico and tell him that I sent you here to show him how strongly I wish him to build me a temple here on the plain; you will report to him exactly all you have seen, admired and what you have heard. Know for sure I will appreciate it very much, be grateful and will reward you. And you? You will deserve very much the reward I will give you for your fatigue, the work and trouble that my mission will cause you. Now my dearest son, you have heard my breath, my word; go now and put forth your best effort." - Our Lady to St. Juan Diego

Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun? Ecclus. 50: 8. As the rainbow giving light in the bright clouds, and as the flower of roses in the days of spring.

Happy feast day!

 

Fake signer at Mandela memorial service ...

Story here.

 

I could so see myself doing that.

St. John of the Cross in free verse ...

             "Malice, rancor, pusillanimity, discouragement,

sluggishness, and dissipation of spirit."

"The soul began to set out on the way of the spirit,

... wherein God Himself teaches and refreshes the soul without meditation or any active efforts that itself may deliberately make."  

Nevertheless the soul continues to struggle to remove the obstacles to this grace and to be faithful to it.

Hence, the necessity of purification

arises from the defects of beginners, which may be reduced to three:  

spiritual pride, spiritual sensuality, and spiritual sloth.

Yet the mystical doctor considers only the disorder that results from them in our relations with God; he does not speak of all that taints our dealings with our neighbor and the apostolate which may be under our care.

Spiritual sensuality...  spiritual gluttony, consists in being immoderately attached to sensible consolations ... The soul seeks these consolations for themselves, forgetting that they are not an end, but a means; In others, this self­seeking is in the exterior apostolate,  

in some form or other of activity. 

Spiritual sloth comes as a rule from the fact that, when spiritual gluttony or some other form of selfishness is not satisfied, one falls into impatience and a certain disgust for the work of sanctification as soon as it is a question of advancing by the "narrow way." 

 [It's] called acedia. 

[It] leads to malice, rancor, pusillanimity, discouragement, sluggishness, and dissipation of spirit ... in regard to forbidden things. 

Spiritual pride manifests itself quite frequently when spiritual gluttony or some other self-seeking is satisfied, when things go as one wishes; then a man boasts of his perfection, judges others severely, sets himself up as a master ... 

To the defects of spiritual gluttony, spiritual sloth, and spiritual pride, are added many others:  

curiosity, which decreases love of the truth; 

sufficiency, which leads us to exaggerate our personal worth, to become irritated when it is not recognized; 

jealousy and envy, which lead to disparagement, intrigues, and unhappy conflicts, which more or less seriously injure the general good.  

Likewise in the apostolate, the defect rather frequent at this time is natural eagerness in self-seeking,  

in making oneself a center,  

in drawing souls to oneself or to the group to which one belongs instead of leading them to our Lord.

 Finally, let trial, a rebuff, a disgrace come, and one is, in consequence, inclined to discouragement, discontent, sulkiness, pusillanimity, which seeks more or less to assume the external appearances of humility. 

However ... 

Rancor ... the critical spirit ... often gives us away. - Adapted from Three Ages

That's a good thing.

 

 Art: St. John imprisoned in the conventual jail in Toledo, incarcerated by his own brothers of the Ancient Observance.  Teresa wrote to the king for his release, exclaiming: “I would rather see (him) among the Moors, for (he) might well show (him) more pity.”  The king did not intervene.

 

 

 

 

In contemporary life a lie is making itself known ...

 

I think that if a Christian tells himself that he's a contemporary Christian, he's already losing the battle. He should remember that he's a CHRISTIAN, and that he is carrying on the same battle that has been going on for two thousand years - the battle for the knowledge of God, for that which remains forever, for that which forms man and his relationship to the world, God, and other people. If he understands this, then he's on the sure path to discovering what he's striving for. Christ is the same yesterday, today, tomorrow, and unto the ages of ages, as the Apostle Paul said (cf. Heb. 13:8). I think that in contemporary life a lie is making itself known, which is brought to us by the devil: that now there is some kind of special situation, for which there are not yet any methods or rules; that now is the time of computers and modern technology, that the path of salvation is now different. I think that along with this lie that he's instilling in us, he's foisting a parallel religion on us, a religion of this world. The fact that modern technology exists now, that we dress differently, that social relationships have changed, does not separate us from the Gospel in any way. The Gospel remains as it was before, for it's outside time, and was written not only for the time when the Lord walked the earth, but for all times. - By Archimandrite Luka of Dajbabe (+ February 8, 2013) From The Orthodox Word, No. 287, 2012, pp. 302-303.

Feast of Our Lady of Loreto and the Translation of the Holy House

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Loreto.

Commemorating the miraculous translation - by angels - of the Holy Family's house in Nazareth; this feast recalls its transfer from Croatia to the hilltop of what is now known as Loreto, Italy.

Since a little boy, I have never had the least problem with this story. In fact, when I lived as a pilgrim in Italy, in imitation of St. Benedict Joseph Labre, I spent some time at Loreto.

Every day I would stand praying within the Holy House, which is enclosed within an ornamented marble edifice, a sort of tabernacle or aedicule. I would stand in a back corner of the interior so as not to be in the way of the groups of pilgrims as they passed through. Occasionally I'd step out to pray Our Lady's office from time to time, seated on a bench outside the House, since the light was easier to read by. My experience there convinced me the Holy House is authentic.

It was there I prayed most especially for my family. Years later, my older brother died on this feast day.  It was the year when the feast of the Immaculate Conception was observed on the 9th of December because the 8th fell on Sunday.  I had an intuition Our Lady would come for him.  I stayed by his bedside praying, hoping Our Lady might be there on the 8th.   My brother hung on throughout the day and night.  I thought, 'Well then, maybe she will come on the day the Church transferred the solemnity.'  The next day, the observance of the solemnity, I asked my brother, who had been in and out of coma "When is Our Lady coming?"

He lifted his head from his pillow and opening his eyes, looking directly at me, responded clearly like a little boy, "I don't know?" Then he fell back into the coma.

The following day was Tuesday of course, and the feast of Our Lady of Loreto.  Before going to be with him I went to Mass.  After communion, I had a conviction he had just died. When I got to his house, his nurse told me he had died about 20 minutes earlier, and I said "I think I knew that." When I got to him he was still warm.

My brother had a vision of Our Lady a few years before his death. he told me she just suddenly appeared as Our Lady of Grace - for a few seconds - he described it as just a glimpse. He began to pray again, wondering what it meant. I always believed it was Our Lady, I think that accounts for my intuition that she would come for him, as well as why I asked him when she was coming for him as he lay in the coma.

 

So that's my Loreto story.  My brother's funeral Mass and burial took place on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A brief history on the Holy House.

"According to Catholic tradition, the Holy House came under threat during the turmoil of the Crusades, so in 1291, angels miraculously translated the house from its original location to a site in modern-day Croatia. An empty space was left in Nazareth, while a small house suddenly appeared in a field. The bewildered parish priest, brought to the scene by shepherds who discovered it, had a vision in which the Virgin Mary revealed it was her former house.

On December 10, 1294, the house was again moved by angels because of the Muslim invasion of Albania. It landed first in Recanti, Italy, but was shortly thereafter moved for a third time to its present location in Loreto.

The Holy House of Loreto, or Santa Casa di Loreto in Italian, has been venerated by pilgrims great and small, including many popes and saints, and numerous miracles and healings have been reported. Scientists are said to have confirmed the materials to be the same as those found in Nazareth and the house lacks any foundations."

Comments about stuff other people are saying....

So anyway, Fr. Z wrote about talking like a girl.

I hate it that he has more screen time than I do and can write about all that stuff I set aside to write about when I get some time.  Oh to be a priest with nothing to do.  What?

More men speaking in girl's dialect ...

That's the title of the article on a study conducted by a linguist at the University of California, which the BBC reported on here.  It's called uptalk.

More young men in California rise in pitch at the end of their sentences when talking, new research shows. 

This process is known as "uptalk" or "valleygirl speak" and has in the past been associated with young females, typically from California or Australia. 

But now a team says that this way of speaking is becoming more frequent among men. - BBC

Finally someone is pointing this out.  I've noticed it for a long time in younger men - and not just amongst gay men.  You hear guys talk like that in interviews, on the news, or on late night talk shows.  Voice inflection amongst young men, and fast talking conversations amongst guys can sometimes sound a bit how women talk amongst themselves.  For instance, sometimes when I'm at the store or some other public space - even church, I can't help but overhear conversations.  Many times I look around to see who is speaking and very often it's a guy with his kids or with his wife or girlfriend.  I look around because the guy is talking that way. 

Maybe guys just feel they are wrong all the time?  Especially when speaking to women.  Maybe they use the uptalk to demonstrate they are not being sarcastic, hostile or aggressive with their significant other?

"One possibility is that this is an extension of a pitch pattern that we actually find in most varieties of English which is used when you're making a statement but you're [also] asking indirectly for the interlocutor to confirm if they are with you," Prof Arvaniti said. - BBC

I first noticed the trend when guys came back from Europe.  I'm not sure it is always related to  valleygirl speak, nor is it necessarily related to the 'feminization' of men - yet both of those categories may derive from the way boys are educated these days, as well as the influence of pop culture and media.  I have to wonder however, if the study overlooks a European connection - when Americans attempt to emulate the accent of some of their European counterparts when they speak English.  "Non?"  "Oui?"

I've also noted the inflection used by people who worked in India, and most especially those who worked with the Missionaries of Charity.  I had several religious friends who did the uptalk thing back then. 

Now everybody does it.   (No big deal, but that's all I wanted to say on the study.)

The cassock coat.

The black traditional cassock deserves decent outerwear.

Here we have a long, full trench which stops

about 6 inches from the hem of the cassock.

The trench coat is constructed of soft black microfiber

with a contrasting french khaki lining.

Extra wide collar and belted (not shown).

What?

Fr. Z again: How to upbraid an outspoken deacon... Soooo many thoughts and responses. ^

Play the celibate-continence card:  Remind the pertinacious permanent deacon of the “canons about sexual continence for all clerics, including deacons?”

Fr. Z can get a little bitchy sometimes, and his commenters can be worse.  The post was about cassocks and Fr. Z gets pretty defensive about that stuff.  However - when it comes to permanent deacons, I think people need to be a lot more respectful and avoid any sign of clericalist snobbery related to hierarchical status.  A couple of commenters to Fr. Z's post addressed the problem this way:

adeacon says:

8 December 2013 at 6:02 pm

I would like to chime in. It seems that this conversation is becoming anti-deacon – because of the comments of one deacon about cassocks. The deacon should probably have kept his thoughts to himself. Still, we know comments like this come from all sides – deacons to priests, priests to deacons. Who here is not a sinner?
I am a permanent deacon. The Lord called me to this vocation, the same as he called all my ordained brothers. I am not a liberal heretic. I have no issue with cassocks. I feed the “poorest of the poor.” I am conservative – as many of my deacon brothers are. Some are not conservative. Still, we give our all for Mother Church. Please, love your deacons.

Subdeacon Joseph says:

8 December 2013 at 10:00 pm

I am a married priest who always wears the cassock whenever I serve. I also have children. There are 22 particular churches within the Catholic Church who ALL have married priests, and in all of these particular churches the cassock is the norm, not the Roman collar. There is only one particular church within the Catholic Church that suppresses their priests from marriage, and canonically expects their deacons to abstain from normal and healthy relations in marriage, and that particular church is the Roman church. Bringing up “canons about sexual continence for all clerics, including deacons?” is painting with a real broad brush, and offensive to the majority of particular churches in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

 

Fr. Z's post was about cassocks of course and what to say to a deacon who upbraided a priest for wearing one.  Oh the persecution!  Why does something like that have to turn into a bitch fight? 

Cassocks - wear them if you want.  It's like chapel veils - wear them if you want.

I wear jeans to Mass, and I don't care what people think.

These are stupid issues.

Chinese lady say:

"I like a man in uniform.

My man wear Changshan.

Ching-chong!"

Notice the lift in her voice?

 

The Immaculate Conception

Hail, city of refuge!
Hail, David's high tower!
With battlements crown'd
And girded with power!

Filled at thy Conception
With love and with light!
The dragon by thee
Was shorn of his might!

O Woman most valiant!
O Judith thrice blest!
As David was nurs'd
On fair Abisag's breast;

As the Saviour of Egypt
Upon Rachel's knee:
So the world's great Redeemer
Was cherish'd by thee:

Amen.
 

Modern miracles of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker

I told you he is still active in the Church and the world, didn't I?

In the province of Tambov a family bought an old abandoned home. Furthermore, the building was deserted and an old door was thrown under the shed.

On a rainy day the daughter went out to the garden and saw an icon above the door. Having venerated it she went home happy saying: "There was a miracle! St. Nicholas the Wonderworker appeared!" - Finish reading here.

Eighteen more stories here.

Who knows?  This Sunday many churches will probably host a special visit from St. Nicholas.  I just found out St. Peter's in Richfield is hosting a pancake breakfast with the Saint tomorrow morning.

O Immaculate Conception, Consoler of the Afflicted, help those suffering persecution.

 

O PURE and immaculate and likewise blessed Virgin, who art the sinless Mother of thy Son, the mighty Lord of the universe, thou who art inviolate and altogether holy, the hope of the hopeless and sinful, we sing thy praises. We bless thee, as full of every grace, thou who didst bear the God-Man: we bow low before thee; we invoke thee and implore thine aid. Rescue us, O holy and inviolate Virgin, from every necessity that presses upon us and from all the temptations of the devil.

 

Be our intercessor and advocate at the hour of death and judgment; deliver us from the fire that is not extinguished and from the outer darkness; make us worthy of the glory of thy Son, O dearest and most clement Virgin Mother. Thou indeed art our only hope most sure and sacred in God's sight, to Whom be honor and glory and majesty and dominion for ever and ever world without end. Amen. - St. Ephraim the Syrian

 

 

Urgent prayer need for the Christians of Central African Republic

 



BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Thousands of Christian civilians sought refuge at an airport guarded by French soldiers Friday, fleeing from the mostly Muslim ex-rebels with machetes and guns who rule the country a day after the worst violence to hit the chaotic capital in nine months.

Outside the barbed wire fences of the airport, bodies lay decomposing along the roads in a capital too dangerous for many to collect the corpses. Thursday's clashes left at least 280 dead, according to national radio, and have raised fears that waves of retaliatory attacks could soon follow. 

"They are slaughtering us like chickens," said Appolinaire Donoboy, a Christian whose family remained in hiding. 

France had pledged to increase its presence in its former colony well before Christian militias attacked the capital at dawn Thursday. The arrival of additional French troops and equipment came as the capital teetered on the brink of total anarchy and represented the greatest hope for many Central Africans. - Source

Most holy Virgin, who wast pleasing to the Lord and became His Mother, immaculate in body and spirit, in faith and in love, look kindly on those suffering from persecution and violence as we implore thy powerful patronage. The wicked serpent, against whom was hurled the first curse, continues fiercely to attack and ensnare the unhappy children of Eve. Do thou, then, O Blessed Mother, our queen and advocate, who from the first instant of thy conception didst crush the head of the enemy, receive the prayers which, united with thee in our single heart, we implore thee to present at the throne of God, that we may never fall into the snares which are laid out for us, and may all arrive at the port of salvation; and, in so many dangers, may the Church and Christian society sing once again the hymn of deliverance and of victory and of peace. Amen. 

 

Let's prepare today to honor the Immaculate Conception ...

Vestimentum tuum candidum quasi nix, et facies tua sicut sol.

Thy raiment is white as snow, and thy countenance as the sun (Ct 1:3, 4).

Let's start today.

Today is the First Saturday of Our Lady and this evening the traditional vespers for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception would normally take place, although the feast day is transferred to Monday since tomorrow is the Second Sunday of Advent.  Privately we can enter deeply into the grotto of the Immaculata and keep vigil, as if the feast has been graciously extended to assuage our longing to honor the Holy Virgin.  How much the Blessed Virgin loves us!  This week is her week.  The Immaculate Conception is patroness of the United States.  Within the 'octave' the Immaculata is again honored on the 10th as Madonna of Loreto.  On the 12th she is highly honored as the Virgin of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas.  Advent is Our Lady's season.

Fr. Mark of Vultus Christi posts edifying meditations on the Blessed Virgin ... I'll excerpt a couple for today.  The first is on hope - and a holy priest Fr. Mark knew.  The photo from Lourdes at top is from father's post. 

From Hopes to Hope 

Many years ago, as I was standing in the rain in front of the grotto at Lourdes on a cold February morning, Chanoine Croset, the saintly old priest whose anniversary of death occurs today, told me that it was time for me to pass from having hopes to having hope. Passer des espoirs à l’espérance. He said something like, “Little brother, now it is time for you to let go of your hopes so as to live in hope.” It is a fearful thing to die to one’s cherished hopes, to pass from clinging to one’s own hopes so as to practice unconditionally the theological virtue of hope.

Darkness and Light 

Father Croset practiced the virtue of hope to an heroic degree.  As a young priest, successful in his diocesan ministry and full of promise, he was maligned by an unbalanced person. Overnight, his reputation was ruined. Without being given a hearing, he was exiled from his diocese and told never to return. Thus did he enter into years of profound moral suffering and, paradoxically, an extraordinary fecundity in the care of souls who sought him out for spiritual direction. Fifty years after the shame of being banished from his diocese, his case was reviewed by the bishop then in charge. The old accusations were proven false and Father Croset was declared innocent. Father Croset was invited to return to his diocese on 7 October 1986 in order to concelebrate with Pope John Paul II who was there on pilgrimage. - Vultus Christi

 I love how Fr. Mark notes Fr. Croset 'was maligned by an unbalanced person'.  How often that must happen in cases involving priests today?  I often reflect on posts I've written - how unbalanced was my point of view?  How subjective my opinion on certain situations?  How distorted by my own failures were my observations on the vocation and conduct of others?  What did the Pope say about such people?  "Those who live judging their neighbours, speaking badly of them, are hypocrites because they don’t have the strength, the courage to look at their own defects.”  Who can heal me?


 "Where Mary is present there will always be joy. Where Mary is absent there cannot but be sadness and gloom." - Fr. Mark

Sadness and gloom makes us mean.  With Our Lady there is hope for healing and purification - and balance - Our Lady is the Cause of our Joy.  "Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors. He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord." - Proverbs 8: 34-35

Draw me!

“Thou art all fair, O Mary, there is no spot of original sin in thee.” (Ct 4, 7).

Let's start today!  Daily!

"Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates,

and waiteth at the posts of my doors." - Proverbs 8:34

Mary, a Garden Enclosed - "I am a Wall: and my Breasts are as a Tower" Canticles 8:10 -
by LOCHNER, Stefan - from Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne

 

Important things to remember.

Mr. Rogers with Daniel Striped Tiger. 

“Discovering the truth about ourselves is a lifetime’s work, but it’s worth the effort.”
― Fred Rogers

“There is no normal life that is free of pain. It's the very wrestling with our problems that can be the impetus for our growth.”
― Fred Rogers, The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember

“It's a mistake to think that we have to be lovely to be loved by human beings or by God”
― Fred Rogers

I watched Mr. Rogers and Me on PBS last night.  I think Mr. Rogers is kind of like St. Nicholas, and Pope Francis is kind of like both of them. 

I liked something else Mr. Rogers said:

“I feel so strongly that deep and simple is far more essential than shallow and complex.” - Mr. Rogers

 

St. Nicholas Day

 

St. Nicholas,  detail, the Bari icon.

O God, who has glorified blessed Nicholas, your illustrious Confessor and Bishop, by means of countless signs and wonders, and who does not cease daily so to glorify him; grant, we beseech you, that we, being assisted by his merits and prayers, may be delivered from the fires of hell and from all dangers. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Pray to St. Nicholas

St. Nicholas Resuscitating Three Youths - Bicci di Lorenzo

St. Nicholas is a wonder-worker.

His miracles are not confined to the past.

His power with God is as efficacious today

as it was in his lifetime.

His wonders as abundant

as the innumerable miracles of history.

St. Nicholas gave me the childhood I had lost. 

He restored my soul and healed my sorrows.

He blessed me with wealth immaterial.

He rescued me from a wretched life.

He delivered my soul from a stormy sea.


It is the eve of St. Nicholas,

Pray for those held captive,

those suffering abuse,

and those lost at sea.

St Nicholas of Bari Rebuking the Storm - Bicci di Lorenzo

Bonus factoid:  St. Nicholas promised to help those who remember his parents, Theophanes and Nonna.  For more about the life of St. Nicholas, go here.

A Prayer of Impetration to Saint Nicholas

Glorious St. Nicholas, my special patron, from thy throne in glory, where thou dost enjoy the presence of God, turn thine eyes in pity upon me and obtain for me from our Lord the graces and helps that I need in my spiritual and temporal necessities (and especially this favor [mention your request], provided that it be profitable to my salvation). Be mindful, likewise, O glorious and saintly Bishop, of our Sovereign Pontiff, of Holy Church, and of all Christian people. Bring back to the right way of salvation all those who are living steeped in sin and blinded by the darkness of ignorance, error, and heresy. Comfort the afflicted, provide for the needy, strengthen the fearful, defend the oppressed, give health to the infirm; cause all men to experience the effects of thy powerful intercession with the supreme Giver of every good and perfect gift. Amen.

• Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be

V. Pray for us, O blessed Nicholas.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.
O God, who has glorified blessed Nicholas, Thine illustrious Confessor and Bishop, by means of countless signs and wonders, and who dost not cease daily so to glorify him; grant, we beseech Thee, that we, being assisted by his merits and prayers, may be delivered from the fires of hell and from all dangers. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.  - Source



Song for this post here.

Disordered attachment.

Fr. James Martin, SJ has a wonderful counsel on the subject ...

St. Ignatius Loyola often used to talk about "disordered attachments," those things we are so attached to that they keep us from God. It could be a desire for popularity or a love of money or an obsession with perfect health. Or maybe it's something even darker, like an unhealthy relationship that keeps you from freedom.

Another way of looking at this is as an entanglement. When Jesus first calls the disciples by the Sea of Galilee, the Gospels say the fishermen "dropped their nets," to follow him. Those nets are a great emblem for all that keeps us entangled in life.

Advent, when we prepare for the coming of Christ into our lives in a new way, is a good time to let go of those disordered attachments and to drop our nets.

Let it go. Leave it behind. Drop it.

You'll feel better.

We need to free ourselves to be open, so to be receptive to God, who is always present.

Art: Scene from Nights of Cabiria, Fellini, 1957.

The film is about a prostitute.  In the scene, Cabiria and Wanda (holding candle) join a procession to a shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Cabiria prays tearfully, “Madonna, help me to change my life.”  Then the next day, “We’re all the same as before.”

Sometimes it is difficult to disentangle our lives, sometimes we return to pick up where we left off.  The point is, we keep trying.  At each attempt we open ourselves to God - and he rushes in, and we, little by little become receptive to his presence, to his grace.  Without these attempts, these openings, these little responses of ours, we only close ourselves off.  So if we go one night to beg the Madonna, 'help me to change my life' and yet the next day we think, 'I'm the same as before' - don't give up. 

It is not true.  The Madonna hears those prayers and obtains the grace to change our life.  Maybe not always right away, but she enkindles a little flame which brings us back to keep asking, until, little by little, we are ready to walk away free, un-entangled by disordered attachment.
 

Just for fun! Fr. Z commemorates Archbishop Annibale Bugnini and the Novus Ordo and ...

Sacrosanctum Concilium or, Sanctimonious irreconcilable differences.

Just kidding.  The Novus Ordo is the Mass - but some people don't see it that way.  Fr. Z posts photos here which may explain why.

That said, the Novus Ordo, aka Ordinary Form of Mass is still the Mass.  It's the Mass all the popes since Vatican II have celebrated.  It's the Ordinary Form for the Latin Rite. 

What?

 

Spiritual warfare.

Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; rather expose them.

A friend sent a comment regarding spiritual warfare this morning, mentioning that much of the writing these days - not unlike this month's article in Vanity Fair - are 'darkness' not 'light'.  My friend suggested Christians should be encouraged as they recognize the inconsistencies and errors in these things, because they affirm the teachings of Christ.

Everything exposed by the light becomes visible.

I agreed.  When I look back over the years, I see how the teaching of Christ always became most clear to me when the greatest evil around me was unmasked.   St. Paul sums it up here:

 Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the disobedient.  So do not be associated with them.  For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.  Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.  Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; rather expose them,  for it is shameful even to mention the things done by them in secret; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible ... - Ephesians 5

Elsewhere, St. Paul asks:

What fellowship does light have with darkness? - 2 Corinthians 14

These lessons have been learned the hard way - through falling and rising - and more importantly, through rejection.

It is good to be rejected.  It is a grace.

Vanity Fair - Christmas Issue: The Vatican's Secret Life

Just about everything you have ever read about gays in the Vatican is compiled in this article.

Even the accusations against Pope Paul VI.  I dislike the tone of how the accusation is treated in the article, but I do recall the situation clearly. 

The Catholic priesthood’s contemporary gay cultural memory begins in the middle of the last century. When Paul VI assumed the throne, in 1963, by one account he took his papal name not from any predecessor but from a former lover, a film actor. That at least was the contention of the provocative gay French writer Roger Peyrefitte, whose 1976 allegations about Paul VI caused such a stir that Paul took to the balcony of St. Peter’s to denounce the “horrible and slanderous” accusations. - VF

The author writes "Paul looked a laughingstock".  I never thought so at all.  I admired his courage in denouncing such outrageous lies.  It was one of the many sufferings Pope Paul endured - even from those closest to him.

“Rumors are O.K., but not scandal”

The article perpetuates centuries of rumors - many of which may be documented and credible, yet without effect upon Catholic moral theology - in other words,  homosexual behavior never got approved.   I also think the historical accounts demonstrate there never was, nor is there now, a desire on the part of gay clergy to pursue any type of approval for homosexual acts or change in moral teaching, nor to establish any sort of gay culture as we experience it in secular society today.  It seems to me it was mostly about lust.

Tales of gays in the Vatican have been told for more than a thousand years. Pope John XII, who reigned from 955 to 964, was accused of having sex with men and boys and turning the papal palace “into a whorehouse.” While trying to persuade a cobbler’s apprentice to have sex with him, Pope Boniface VIII, who reigned from 1294 to 1303, was said to have assured the boy that two men having sex was “no more a sin than rubbing your hands together.” After Paul II, who reigned from 1464 to 1471, died of a heart attack—while in flagrante delicto with a page, according to one rumor—he was succeeded by Sixtus IV, who kept a nephew as his lover (and made the nephew a cardinal at age 17). Some such stories are better substantiated than others. Even while their reliability is questionable, they demonstrate that playing the gay card (even if you yourself are gay) is an ancient Curial tactic. “There are closeted gay priests who are vipers,” observes the theologian Mark D. Jordan, the author of The Silence of Sodom: Homosexuality in Modern Catholicism. “They are really poisonous people, and they work out their own inner demonology by getting into positions in power and exercising it” against other gay men, women, and anyone whom they perceive to be a threat. “Alongside that are suffering priests who seem sincere all the way down, who are trying to be faithful to God, and also to take care of people and change the institution. They are the ones who are always forgotten, and read out of the story from both sides.” - VF

"They may not act as a collective but are aware of one another’s existence."

The Vanity Fair piece is pretty much based on gossip and hear say - I'm not saying it isn't true - it seems fairly impossible to verify however.  Anyone who has ever been in a seminary or monastery, or who has spent a lot of time around clergy, or who has spent any time in Rome, might know the stories are true.  Gaydar is real.

One gay former priest, who still lives in Rome, describes clerical camp as “a natural way of expressing [gay identity] while celibate.” Socially, he says, it is “a key that unlocks a further element of trust.” There’s nothing earth-shattering about this—it’s what every institution does—but “the Church has a lot more experience and practice at protecting itself. As far as that goes,” he says, with a nod to Cole Porter, “they’re the tops.”

[...]

Where silence can’t strictly be kept, word games can compartmentalize the truth. In the Vatican office of a monsignor who I’d been told might have some firsthand knowledge concerning recent gay scandals in the Church, I asked, point-blank, “Are you gay?,” and he serenely answered, “No.” I replied, “I wonder, if a priest is homosexual—but does not participate in mainstream secular gay culture—could he say that he is not ‘gay’ and still think he’s telling the truth?” “What an interesting question,” the monsignor said, immediately standing up and gesturing me to the door. “I’m afraid I don’t have any more time to talk.” - VF

I knew that.

Post script:  The Vanity Fair piece - true, partly true, or not true - is a smear piece.  It is 'bar talk', gay-cocktail-party talk.  The major give-away is the vulgar speculation regarding Pope Benedict and Ganswein.  That's simply evil.  Gay priests and seminarians have always used 'drag names' for other clergy they do not like.  Likewise, 'functionaries' in Rome thrive on gossip.  Once again I'm sorry I posted this - but just remember, gays will be gays and history demonstrates that they come and go, much like the plague.

Link:

The Vatican’s Secret Life - By Michael Joseph Gross

 

Prayers needed: Syrian rebels - al Qaeda - abduct Syrian nuns from Mar Takla Convent

This is another horrible situation.

DAMASCUS, Syria — The head of a convent accused opposition fighters Tuesday of abducting 12 nuns from a predominantly Christian village near the capital that was overrun by rebels, and Syria's Greek Orthodox patriarch appealed for their quick release. 

Mother Superior Febronia Nabhan, head of nearby Saidnaya Convent, said the nuns and three other women were taken the day before from the village of Maaloula to the nearby rebel-held town of Yabroud, which also has a large Christian population.

Greek Orthodox Patriarch John Yazigi called for the release of the Maaloula nuns. "We appeal to the seed of conscience that God planted in all humans, including the kidnappers, to release our sisters safely," Yazigi said in a statement issued Tuesday. 

"We call upon the international community and world governments to (help secure the) release the nuns of Mar Takla Convent and the orphans who are being held since yesterday," he added. - Source

Pray.  Especially pray to The Blessed Virgin and St. Nicholas, the Wonderworker.

Fresco of St. Nicholas saving the Three Maidens from Decani Monastery

 

You revealed yourself, O saint, in Myra as priest, / For you fulfilled the Gospel of Christ / By giving up your soul for your people, / And saving the innocent from death. / Therefore you are blessed as one become wise in the grace of God.

 

Deliver your daughters from all violation, save the innocent from death.

H/T Ora et labora blog

I'm at the car dealership...

If I was on Twitter that would be tweet...

So this will be random.  Guess what?  Traditional religion sites are blocked on this system.  I'm at Honda in Richfield/Bloomington.  What that means is that I can't check Catholic news sites or people like Fr. Z.  I can get into my own site - but that is because I'm a Catholic who blogs - evidently my blog isn't categorized as a Catholic blog.

What does that mean?

I'll tell you what it means - all the Catholic sites are blocked so there are people not getting all your evangelization materials and religious fight club posts.  It means my posts do get through, because I am not a bigot like the rest of you.  What?  I'm kidding.

So anyway - I'm waiting for my tune up Mr. Honda.  I intended to blog while here, but if I can't access bigoted sites, how can I write what I intended to write?  I don't think I can load pictures either - oh wait, I can - not that they will make any sense.

I should do a list for something.

It is supposed to snow this week.

What should I write about?

I'm hungry.

My cat loves me.  She didn't come to the dealership today, but otherwise she goes with me everywhere.  In the house I mean.  She tucks me into bed at night, wakes me in the morning, goes to the bathroom with me, she sits with me all day when I paint or pray - she loves the rosary said out loud.  I never had a cat so attached to me.

Wasn't that interesting?

Let's see... what else?

I'm hungry.

Oh!  Oh!  This morning I ended up on a sedevacantist site.  I was searching for pictures depicting attributes of Our Lady from the Litany and I came across the site.  I was so impressed with the images and the commentary.  I intended to post about it until I noted they had a post on Francis as the anti-pope.  I think some Catholics could fall for that nonsense.  Creepy.

This key board is really dirty.  I wonder what is on it?  What if I contract a disease and die?

I'm hungry.

He's over there!

Escudos de monjas: Nun's shields and crowned nuns.

Escudo de Monja

Spanish colonial art is my favorite religious art - even the folksy Santa Fe style.  Icons were piously correct for me to paint and venerate when I was younger, but Spanish devotional art was not at all in favor.  Icons were preferred, while the Catholic Baroque was considered pre-Vatican II.  Which may be one reason why it is so desired by secular collectors these days.

Anyway - in preparation for the feasts of Our Lady: The Immaculate Conception, Guadalupe, and Loreto, I found a scrap of copper to paint my version of an escudos des monjas, depicting the Virgin of the Apocalypse.  It is such a small painting and I do not see very well at all - even using magnifying glasses.  I'm using acrylic on copper and I need to be careful to avoid any glaze build up as I paint.  The work isn't as refined as I'd like, although it is a wonderful meditation.  The Immaculate Conception is all joy to ponder over... Mary of Agreda called her the mystical City of God, didn't she?  As did St. Louis de Montfort, "The saints have said wonderful things of Mary, the holy City of God". Blessed are those found in Her.

So, for the first Sunday of Advent, I'll share a couple examples of these wonderful nun's badges - escudos de monjas.

Escudo with saints.

 

 

 

Monjas coronadas:Women who chose the monastic life

had dedication and purity worth celebrating. 

            Life-size crowned nun portraits appeared first in Mexico

to commemorate a young woman's profession of religious vows.

 

 

An early 20th century example

of a Conceptionist nun.

Note the rosary around neck.

 

 

What?

 

Mass Chat: The Vatican Survey

Pastoral Challenges to the Family In the Context of Evangelization

The Vatican survey was distributed at Mass this weekend.  The introduction seems rather long, and the questions may seem complex for the average person.  The responses are supposed to be limited to so many words, although I'm sure some people will need to write essays in response to each topic, which makes me wonder who will review all those responses?  As it stands, it will mean a lot of reading and data.

It's fine if people want to do it.  It's nice the Vatican is interested. 


I think I'll pass.


Besides - the web site address on the handouts must be wrong - I can't pull up the document - I can get the Australian site, the U.K. site, as well as other parish sites - but not 'our' site.  Links to other interested parties sponsoring the survey also pop up:

This project is sponsored by the following members of Catholic Organizations for Renewal (COR):
American Catholic Council
Call To Action
CORPUS
DignityUSA
Federation of Christian Ministries/Roman Catholic Faith Community Council in the Church
FutureChurch
New Ways Ministry
RAPPORT
Roman Catholic Womenpriests
Southeastern Pennsylvania Women’s Ordination Conference
Voice of the Faithful
Women’s Ordination Conference

Co-sponsored by:
Catholic Church Reform
Fortunate Families
WATER: Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual 

I have my doubts as to how informative the survey results will be. 

I rejoiced when I heard them say ...

I rejoiced when I heard them say,

let us go to God's house.

Even now our feet are standing

within your gates O Jerusalem. - Psalm 122

I love this psalm so much.  It is the responsorial for the First Sunday of Advent.  For me it transcends time.  It signifies the great joy of entering the deepest recesses of our soul, into the house of God. 

Even now ... our feet are standing ...



A blessed Advent!