The Protomartyr St. Stephen

Oh how I love you Stephen,

I love the precious stones

which ornamented your

body...

I venerate the blood

which flowed from your

wounds ...

Pray for me ...

pray for us ...

and be

with us

at the hour 

of our death,

when God's mercy

allows us 

to see

the heavens opened

and the Son of Man

standing

at the 

right hand of

God.

Amen.

The grace of martyrdom.

One may desire it,
pray for it,
prepare for it,
desire it with all one's heart ...
perhaps even seek it out.
And,

if it be God's will ...

It isn't a passive desire for suicide.

Nor an escape from a difficult life.

It is a call.
A vocation.

It is a grace ...

Everything is a grace.

It is the unitive way ...

Blessed Christmas

Where God is born, mercy flourishes. Mercy is the most precious gift which God gives us, especially during this Jubilee year in which we are called to discover that tender love of our heavenly Father for each of us. May the Lord enable prisoners in particular to experience his merciful love, which heals wounds and triumphs over evil.

Today, then, let us together rejoice in the day of our salvation. As we contemplate the Crib, let us gaze on the open arms of Jesus, which show us the merciful embrace of God, as we hear the cries of the Child who whispers to us: “for my brethren and companions’ sake, I will say: Peace be within you” (Ps 121[122]:8). - Pope Francis

Christmas Mass was beautiful.

The priest at the church I went to, welcomed those who only go to Mass on Christmas and told us these folks give him great joy, every single Christmas.  I was so happy.

After Mass the organ resounded and everyone broke into conversation so loud, so joyous - I wondered if the townsfolk of Bethlehem would have acted just like that, after hearing the news of angels appearing to shepherds in the fields.  I smiled and my heart seemed to swell.

Blessed Christmas!

The Unpredictability of Christmas.

Abbey Regina Laudis

I often think of the 'Christmas conversion' of St. Therese ...

When she 'grew up' as it were.  It maybe sounds trivial to us, but St. Therese was convinced of its significance for her 'little way'.  That one Christmas, little Therese sacrificed her sorrow so as not to disappoint her dad.  She heard his exasperated tone when he expressed surprise that she expected her shoes to be filled with goodies from St. Nicholas upon returning home from midnight Mass.  She normally would have 'burst into tears' upon hearing such a disappointed tone from her father.

"It was December 25, 1886, that I received the grace of leaving my childhood, in a word, the grace of my complete conversion . . . I felt charity enter into my soul, the need to forget myself and to please others; since then I've been happy!"   

Thérèse calls this "my complete conversion" because a dramatic change happened, she says, "in an instant." The permanent change in direction is from being a girl who "was really unbearable because of [her] extreme touchiness" to a "strong and courageous" young woman whose "source of tears was dried up and has since reopened rarely and with great difficulty." She who "wasn't accustomed to doing things for [herself)" now experienced "the need to forget [herself] and to please others." She now had a great desire to work for "the conversion of sinners". - Source

Christmas is very often a time of conversion and extraordinary graces.

Even for the 'unlovable'.

Christmas Catholics.

Pay no attention to that label - or the people who use it.  Some people use it like the Pharisee who thanked God he wasn't like the rest of sinful humanity.

The mystery of Christmas - the mystery of the Nativity extends through time.  Just as the shepherds were invited to Bethlehem by angels, so are the lapsed and fallen away called at Christmas.  This night is perhaps similar to the Gospel invitation:  The master then ordered the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedgerows and make people come in that my home may be filled.' [Luke 14]

I believe the grace of Christmas is an irresistible attraction from the Infant Jesus himself.

Especially for those who no longer feel Christmassy, or who are disappointed that the holidays are not what they used to be, or who are just far away and maybe don't care to, or even know how to pray.

The reason for the void, for the darkness of this night.

Looking out, looking around, everything might be sad ... or just another day to get through.  Yet that emptiness can free us - detach us.  It can free us to notice something else moving within our heart, grabbing our attention, wherein we can discover the authentic, primitive meaning of the holy day.  Maybe it's just a momentary glimpse of a tacky looking creche that awakens, or rather, ignites a spark in our hearts.  Christmas really is about the birth of Christ - who came to save humanity and atone for sins - to make reparation, to repair, as it were.  It is the little holy child who asks for our confidence and trust - but even more deeply - our love.  If we feel no love, have no love, or have been disappointed in love, that may be the call which compels us to respond:  "In this is love: not that we have (first) loved God, but that he (first) loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins." [1 John 4:10]

So don't look down on anyone - no matter who.  If they are at church, if they are at Mass - God called them there.  If they are at your table on Christmas day - love them.  Even if they are unlovable - love them, and keep on loving them.  Never give up - because God never gives up on us.

Having said all of that, people don't need to hear or read this stuff from a hypocrite like me.  Non-religious people tune out the Bible thumpers and moralizers and sermonizers.  Ironically, that may be why they sneak into the back of the church for Midnight Mass on Christmas in the first place.

So maybe let's mind our own business in order to allow others to have a Happy Christmas too!  Then we'll maybe be just like little St. Therese ... and receive a deeper conversion of our own.

Merry Christmas again and again and again!

Christmas Memories ...

Mrs. Davis, Connie, and Minerva the cat, 

and the best Christmas tree ever.

Pope Benedict Receives Christmas Visit From Bavarians.

Pope Emeritus Makes Rare Public Appearance to Thank Visiting Bavarians ...

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has made a rare public appearance 

to thank civil and ecclesiastical authorities from Bavaria 

for donating this year’s Vatican Christmas tree. - Full story

After formal greetings, they broke open the

brewskies...

He was then told that the Christmas tree has two tips, 

one dedicated to the reigning Pope Francis 

and an extra one for emeritus Benedict.

"Oh! Well I never!" he said. - Source

Folk dancing ensued, and ...

Cases of Papst were distributed

for those fired from the curia...

They pulled out all the stops for the Bavarian Pope.*

Fröhliche Weihnachten

*Trivia: Pull out all the stops - this saying originates with the organ, pulling out all the stops to play as loudly and boisterously as possible.

NB: This post has been edited for holiday cheer.

Maybe don't go home for Christmas after all ...

Guns are at the top of many Christmas lists...

Song for this post here.

What to give the Infant Jesus for Christmas ...

“Offering everything, pure and impure, is the best and quickest way to develop spiritually.
If you offer everything to the Divine, the Divine will accept and change it, even the worst things.
It is not what you offer but that you offer which is important.”  - Mother Meera*

Pope Francis said something like that recently - that Christ wants us to give him our sins.  He was citing the mystical experience of St. Jerome, the penitent.

I think it's right.  

Thinking of the sentimental song 'Little Altar Boy', even 'Little Drummer Boy', or the story of the 'Juggler of Notre Dame' - some of us have nothing to give to the Infant Jesus except our sins, our faults, our failings - in other words, our greatest 'talents' - sorta.  After all, he came to set prisoners free... the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life...  He tells us to come to him, the weary, the burdened.  You who have no money, come, buy grain and eat; Come, buy grain without money, wine and milk without cost!  You who have no merits - Come.

*h/t Jeron

Before I forget: A very special Christmas greeting for all of my 'satisfied customers' here at Abbey Towers, and elsewhere in the universe ...

I love this episode - so Christmassy!  (It probably should have been posted for my "I unfriend you" post instead of this one.  Joking, of course.) 

I had to send a 'bio' to the very kind shopkeepers who took me in, - it's for their website.  I write 'about me' all of the time on the blog, but I'm not very good at writing a biography.  (I read somewhere a successful art blog needs more than the photos of your work - people want to know who the artist is.)

Anyway - I wrote the following:

About me: 

Terry Nelson. Minneapolis, Minnesota. A man of indeterminable age.

I usually tell people I'm a painter. I like saying that better than artist - although I consider myself an independent painter, outsider artist.

I don't like doing commissions - though I have very often done so in the past.

I began work in art and design as a very young man at Dayton's in Visual Merchandising. My expertise was windows and cases in the fashion area.

I was in management towards the end of that part of my career - but wasn't very good at it. I don't like to be managed, nor do I like to manage people.  I began painting in the late 1970's - concentrating on the making of icons - Orthodox iconographers seem to prefer saying they 'write' icons, but I prefer to say I paint icons. After being told non-Orthodox people can't paint 'real' icons, I evolved and began to paint western saints in the icon style. I have works in convents, monasteries, and churches throughout the Midwest.

I've also worked with interior designers and applied my skills to murals, painted furniture, faux finishes and decorative objects.  I've sold many such things in fine stores locally and around the United States. Although I have done very little of that in the last 10 years. 

My love is Spanish Colonial style retablo, relicarios, and santos - the Catholic religious art of Latin America and Southwest US.  I have shown my work in two galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico - both are now closed. I also have small pieces in the collection of the Cathedral there, as well as a monastery and a couple of mission chapels. 

For the past several years I've devoted my time to what I call a sort of neo-magic realism, inspired very much by the work of George Tooker, Jared French, and Paul Cadmus. My paintings are also influenced by the surrealists and a few contemporary Latin American artists. My compositions, though obviously representational and therefore readable, are a sort of pastiche or painted collage of figures and settings which I pull together to form the narrative. I consider my work as a sort of visual documentation of events and their effect upon me. I find this type of painting cathartic. 

What?

tumblr image h/t Jeron 

Attrition and contrition...

Come back as often as you need to.

One more comment.

Attrition, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia comes from the Latin attero, "to wear away by rubbing"; p. part. attritus.  The Council of Trent stated very clearly:

Wherefore attrition, the council in Canon v, Sess. XIV, declares: "If any man assert that attrition . . . is not a true and a profitable sorrow; that it does not prepare the soul for grace, but that it makes a man a hypocrite, yea, even a greater sinner, let him be anathema". - New Advent

I just mention that because the grace of the sacrament of penance, the merits of Jesus Christ, 'perfects' our contrition.

This is also why frequent confession is so necessary in breaking free of habitual sins - that occurred to me the other day when reading the root meaning of attrition - the Latin attero - 'to wear away by rubbing'.

Have confidence...

1423 It is called the sacrament of conversion because it makes sacramentally present Jesus' call to conversion, the first step in returning to the Father⁵ from whom one has strayed by sin.
It is called the sacrament of Penance, since it consecrates the Christian sinner's personal and ecclesial steps of conversion, penance, and satisfaction. 

1424 It is called the sacrament of confession, since the disclosure or confession of sins to a priest is an essential element of this sacrament. In a profound sense it is also a "confession" - acknowledgment and praise - of the holiness of God and of his mercy toward sinful man.
It is called the sacrament of forgiveness, since by the priest's sacramental absolution God grants the penitent "pardon and peace."⁶It is called the sacrament of Reconciliation, because it imparts to the sinner the live of God who reconciles: "Be reconciled to God."⁷ He who lives by God's merciful love is ready to respond to the Lord's call: "Go; first be reconciled to your brother."⁸

1453 The contrition called "imperfect" (or "attrition") is also a gift of God, a prompting of the Holy Spirit. It is born of the consideration of sin's ugliness or the fear of eternal damnation and the other penalties threatening the sinner (contrition of fear). Such a stirring of conscience can initiate an interior process which, under the prompting of grace, will be brought to completion by sacramental absolution. By itself however, imperfect contrition cannot obtain the forgiveness of grave sins, but it disposes one to obtain forgiveness in the sacrament of Penance.⁵² 

Everything is grace and mercy.

It's all good.

Christmas Scene

source

Last minute Christmas gift ideas for the religiously-inclined pop-culture addicts in your family ... or the office worker who is seriously Orvis Dei

... or just those little-nippers at the Oglethorpe Orphanage outside Savannah:

I actually like these.  

I think it works as contemporary religious art.

The St. Joseph is cool.  So is St. Sebastian.

They don't move me to devotion, but

they might someone else.

Have a Merry little Christmas - and don't forget the little-nippers!

Song for this post here.  What?

This is fascinating: The Sufi mystic who spoke about Medjugorje.

Islamic Virgin Mary and Jesus.

On the Fourth Sunday of Advent ...

Days before Christmas.

This morning.

I came across an interesting article on Hasan Shushud, a Sufi mystic.  I don't know a lot about Sufism, but I know it is the mystical dimension of Islam, and of great interest to Christian contemplatives.  I've read a few stories and met religious people who are attracted to aspects of the spirituality, but I've never been attracted to such 'ways'.

What is so interesting in this story is how closely it echoes the events at Medjugorje.  I'm just taking it at face value.  With all the troubles in the world and the Church - the message of peace is so needed in our time.

Today's Gospel of the Visitation, as well as the Collect - which is in fact the Rosary prayer - we glimpse the meaning of the whole, as it were - we glimpse the meaning of Christmas.  Providentially, the announcement that Bl. Teresa of Calcutta will be canonized next year fits right in with what I've been trying to articulate.  It fits in with the purported messages of Our Lady at Medjugorje.

Mother Teresa's holiness - her contemplative union with God - seems to me to be perfectly suited to our times.  In fact, much is being made of her 'dark night' and doing so much for God without any consolation, without any spiritual experiences or sensible experience of faith.  That is a trait so much in keeping with the greatest saint of modern times, St. Therese of the Child Jesus.  Little Therese was Mother Teresa's patron - and she did pretty much what Therese said she would do if she hadn't been called to Carmel.  She would sit at the table of sinners and unbelievers, go into the brothels to demonstrate and tell of God's mercy.  Catholic theologians do a disservice to Christians in acting as if this 'living on faith alone' is somehow not THE WAY of perfection.  It animated Teresa as perfectly as it animated the Blessed Virgin who journeyed 'today' to visit Elizabeth.  Teresa of Calcutta lived the mystery of the Visitation, anticipating the changes in the Church and religious life, as well as the spirituality flowing from the phenomenon of Medjugore.

And she was poor - and her daughters remain poor, detached - never fundraising, renouncing private ownership - sharing the life of the poor ... praying the rosary as they go.

The purported messages from Medjugorje emphasize a similar way of prayer in ordinary, daily life.  It emphasizes the way of peace and accompanying one another, no matter our religion, no matter our station in life, or our 'worthiness', in seeking the Kingdom of Heaven.  I'm not a Medjugorje devotee, but the essential message seems to me to be played out right now - especially during the pontificate of Pope Francis who calls us to go out to the peripheries - as Our Lady did in her journey to Elizabeth, and her journey to Bethlehem, and her journey to Egypt and back again to Nazareth - until finally, she climbed Golgatha, to accompany her son unto death.

Long introduction to the story that caught my attention today - the Fourth Sunday in Advent.  

Click the source after the section I've reprinted below.  It doesn't mean I am promoting the apparitions or that anyone has to believe it.  I was simply impressed by this particular story - which coincided with a few things I've been thinking about - as noted above.  Otherwise, I await the decision of the Church.  That said, I don't think the contempt, scorn or condemnations coming from lay people against those involved in Medjugorje is pleasing to God, and is probably something that repels most people may be searching for God.

A long and decisive apparition predicted

With Medjugorje celebrating the 30th anniversary of the apparitions this year, Hasan Shushud’s prediction of a long apparition has also come true. So has his prediction that peace would be a main topic of the apparition:

“You will see that Mary will suffer, wait, hope and continue to call for a long time, as she is inviting to the way of peace. During this period Satan will get the opportunity for his plans of godlessness, chaos, suffering, death”, Hasan Shushud told Inger Jensen.

In recent years, the Virgin Mary’s suffering and waiting have been particularly expressed in messages passed on by visionary Mirjana Dragicevic-Soldo.

“Mary needs a firm, truthful “yes!” to her plan, and this will not be given at the beginning. Therefore, Mary will be forced to take up a stand-by position. During the period when Mary suffers rejection, earthquakes the like of which have never been seen before will occur. Storms more violent than ever. Thunderstorms. Flooding. Fatal, contagious diseases. And egoism, materialism and violence will pervert societies”, Hasan Shushud continued.

“If Mary and her plans are accepted quickly, the suffering will be short-lived. If, however, Rome does not meet Mary with the needed firm, truthful acceptance when God grants to Rome the time and freedom to choose, then God once more will have offered peace, joy and love in vain, and mankind will feel the consequences of Satan’s plans”, Inger Jensen recounts Hasan Shushud’s words from 1980. - Source

The Ghosts of Christmas.

My old friend.

I see dead people.

In the upper Midwest if you don't have snow it just doesn't feel like Christmas - in Minneapolis we've had very little snow, and that can be depressing for some.  This morning there were flurries, so a little spark of joy was felt in my Scrooge'd-up heart.  I'm not really a Scrooge, am I?  Who wants to be a Scrooge - unless you can get to see ghosts ...

The other day, I discovered a quaint little shop in the neighborhood and asked them if they'd be neighborly and accept some of my piled up artwork to sell in the shop.  I mentioned I wasn't interested in making a profit - I just didn't want my work to rot away ...

The owner was delighted, asked if I could bring in the paintings right away, and so I returned home, packed up a couple dozen items and returned.  I presented them, and she was thrilled with the work.  As I was leaving, she immediately began to set out the little gems all around her shop.  I walked by late that night and spotted a few pieces hanging on the wall, "They mixed well, I thought ..."

Relicarios

The next day I came to photo some of the work I had not yet catalogued.  I looked at the pieces and noted the pricing was barely a third of what I have sold items for in the past - even privately, that is outside gallery representation and retail markup.  As I looked more closely at my 'collection' with daylights fresh eyes, it seemed to be broken up - the individual pieces disappeared and no longer related to the 'continuum' I imagined they had, or what I felt made them a collection.  I suddenly felt ... anxiety.

Really?

I discussed my situation with a friend, only to be scolded.  "You're always like this.  You are too precipitous.  You jump into things without thinking them through."  The worst was, "This is why you are not a successful artist."  I begged him not to torture me with what I already knew.  I already knew that I sell myself short ... always have ... and I live in a dream world of rabbits and hermits and sprites and lights and in that world every little brush stroke means something.  Every little highlight becomes a golden thread in the strange tapestry which cloaks a naked, ignorant, little homeless kid - a ghost of Christmas past.

Interestingly, my critical friend told me I was seeing what my 'stuff'  (I know! 'stuff' - he's seen Devil Wears Prada - he should know better!) will be worth after I'm dead.  It will end up in an antique shop or junk shop, at bargain prices, to be sold just for the frames or to recycle a used canvas.  He said he was simply being the ghost of Christmas future, and telling me the truth.  I was afraid of that - which may help explain why I'm this eccentric guy painting crazy stuff for imaginary galleries and museums to exhibit after I'm dead.

The shop owner is so nice and so kind - she's the one doing me a favor.**

I guess I have to let go of my ego, my possessiveness, and go out and buy a Christmas goose for the Cratchit's before Timmy dies.

What?

What do you want on your tombstone?

Song for this post here.


**(And at the end of the day - today - the prices ended up to be just right!  It's a Christmas miracle!)

Little Altar Boy

Altar boy begging statue in Merchants Street

in Valletta, Malta*

The song.

I always thought of it as a drunk's song.  It's a sinner's prayer actually.  A guy asking a little altar boy to pray for him.  Recognizing his sinfulness, feeling like a failure, he sees the innocence and devotion of a young kid - he recalls how he himself was once so pure, so innocent, so sincere, so devout ...

Little altar boy, I wonder could you pray for me?
Little altar boy, for I have gone astray
What must I do to be holy like you?
Little altar boy, oh, let me hear you pray

Little altar boy, I wonder could you ask our Lord
Ask him, altar boy, to take my sins away
What must I do to be holy like you?
Little altar boy, oh, let me hear you pray

Lift up your voice and send a pray above
Help me rejoice and fill that prayer with love
Now I know my life has been all wrong
Lift up your your voice and help a sinner be strong

Little altar boy, I wonder could you pray for me?
Could you tell our Lord I'm going to change my ways today?
What must I do to be holy like you?
Little altar boy, oh, let me hear you pray
Little altar boy please let me hear you pray!

Patron of altar boys.

*The story of Merchants Street abbati starts around 60 years ago with a society called Pro Sacerdotibus Christi, which had an office in this same house, and was tasked with praying for more young men to join the priestly vocation, as well as the more practical work of raising funds to aid poorer seminarians financially in their journey to the priesthood. The society purchased three identical statues from Spain, and in fact, on a recent visit to Spain, my uncle happened upon a long lost sibling of his own abbati in a quiet chapel somewhere in Western Spain.

The Pro Sacerdotibus Christi society is long gone now, however, coin donations still trickle through from the arms of the abbati, and the money still goes to the same purpose. - Source

Pray for little altar boys that they can

become holy priests.

Really old song for this post here.

"The greater the sinner, the greater the right he has to My mercy." - Source

Alone

"The greater the sinner, the greater the right he has to My mercy." - Source

Surprised by Mercy ... What does true repentance consist of? Got perfect contrition?

"Some say that I am too good. But if you come and kneel before me, 

isn't this a sufficient proof that you want to have God's pardon?

 God's mercy is beyond all expectation."

-St. Leopold Mandic

One priest online had this to say: 

It is not simply feeling bad or guilty or ashamed or afraid we’ll get caught. The church calls this “imperfect contrition”

It’s okay, but it’s not good enough “Perfect contrition” is the realization that we have not reached God’s glory for us. It is the deep understanding that we have failed God and his love and that we have “done what we ought not to have done and left undone those things we ought to have done and there is no health in us.”

Once we truly repent we can truly receive mercy. - Fr. L

Imperfect contrition not good enough?

Yes it is.  To be fair, I don't think Fr. L was saying it wasn't - it just read like that to me.  When a person is struggling with habitual sin and making frequent confessions, the fear of only having imperfect contrition can discourage one from seeking reconciliation and continuing to struggle, with the help of sacramental grace, to overcome a particular sin.

Imperfect contrition, or attrition is certainly 'enough' to receive mercy, the forgiveness of sins.  To gain a plenary indulgence, one must be free of any attachment to venial and mortal sin, and truly repentant. Therefore, it is necessary to make Sacramental Confession.  Imperfect contrition is enough to receive absolution and the complete forgiveness of sin in confession.  That is what happens in the Sacrament of Penance, reconciliation, confession - the priest in persona Christi absolves the penitent from sin.  The confessional is the 'tribunal of mercy'.

Go and understand the meaning of mercy.

I think a lot of things will be said during the Jubilee Year of Mercy which could have the potential of keeping some souls from even trying to be reconciled or making an effort to receive the Jubilee Indulgence.  In trying to understand 'the meaning of mercy' one can get tangled up in the theological strings attached to it - the formal, technical conditions and dispositions attached by the Apostolic Penitentiary to obtain the gift of Indulgences for the Jubilee.  Ordinary people can be easily discouraged because they do not understand Catholic teaching.

To gain the Jubilee Indulgence, one must be free of any attachment to venial and mortal sin, and truly repentant. I tell people to not let that deter them because imperfect contrition can be perfected in and through the sacrament of penance.  Likewise, one may have the 'will' to be free of attachment.  It is better not to get too scrupulous over it. We need to trust in what the Church teaches and especially place all of our trust in the Divine Mercy remembering God's mercy is inscrutable.  In other words - do not let anything stop you from running to the Divine Mercy with confidence and love. The Holy Year has been proclaimed to attract the greatest sinners, and even the not so great - the lukewarm, the fallen away, the sanctimonious, the cino, the poor, the rich. Trust is the key. One does not have to be perfect - far from it.  Don't wait to 'feel' perfect contrition - just go to confession.  As alcoholics like to say - let go and let God.

Don't waste your time on my pious musings, rather check the Catechism.  These matters are explained there for the ordinary person.  Even if you approach the confessional with imperfect contrition - the Lord, in his mercy, imparts the forgiveness of sins, and he himself imparts perfect contrition.  Our actions may never be enough to satisfy - because we have no merits of our own to plead our cause - but the merits of Jesus Christ are infinitely efficacious and supply for all that we lack.

The Catechism on Contrition

1451 Among the penitent's acts contrition occupies first place. Contrition is "sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again."⁵⁰

1452 When it arises from a love by which God is loved above all else, contrition is called "perfect" (contrition of charity). Such contrition remits venial sins; it also obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if it includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession as soon as possible.⁵¹

1453 The contrition called "imperfect" (or "attrition") is also a gift of God, a prompting of the Holy Spirit. It is born of the consideration of sin's ugliness or the fear of eternal damnation and the other penalties threatening the sinner (contrition of fear). Such a stirring of conscience can initiate an interior process which, under the prompting of grace, will be brought to completion by sacramental absolution. By itself however, imperfect contrition cannot obtain the forgiveness of grave sins, but it disposes one to obtain forgiveness in the sacrament of Penance.⁵²

"The greater the sinner, the greater the right he has to My mercy." - Source

The Solemn Novena for Christmas begins today.

The most appropriate prayer for the novena is the prayer of the Church - the liturgical prayer of the Church: Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours. Today the entire Church unites in prayerful preparation for the Nativity of Our Lord.

... Let the clouds rain down the Just One, and the earth bring forth a Savior.

Ward, I'm worried about the Vortex.

I didn't know Michael Voris said something bad about Pope Benedict.

I guess he suggested Benedict called in sick and stayed home from the papacy.  He suggested it was a sham and that it might even be sinful.  Someone mentioned it in a post about someone mentioning it in their post.  Is that gossip?

Dante did that.  He put Celestine in hell because he too resigned his office, as Fr. Z noted:  Dante calls him “the shade of him who in his cowardice made the great refusal”.   Just think.  Voris is a Renaissance man.  He may be the new Dante.  Or the new Michelangelo.  Michelangelo is said to have painted some well known prelates among the damned in the Sistine Chapel Last Judgement.  Voris is going after Dolan again - in a big way.  I'm betting he won't get press credentials for any NY Archdiocesan function again.

The Vortex may be losing credibility, in addition to creating and feeding controversy.

A former employee for Church Militant explains why it was all too much to contend with in his premiere blog post, Why I Left CM.  Acts of the Apostasy introduced the new blog by the former CM employee.  It is a good read, and a great reminder to be careful of such vigilante fringe-news sources who flame those in the hierarchy and politicians with sensational news stories, highlighting their shortcomings and failures, accusing them of crimes and misconduct, cover up and conspiracies.

It happened in the Renaissance and throughout the history of the Church, and was noted by many famous and infamous personages ... who took their chances with their own salvation.  Detraction ... calumny ... sarcasm ... defamation of character ... vengeance in retaliation for censure and insult - that kind of stuff.

L’Étranger ...

Just by chance ...

I found out last night, that my uncle, my dad's brother, my godfather, died earlier this year  ...

He was very kind to me.

May the souls

... of the faithful departed

through the mercy

... of God

rest in peace.

Amen.

This is nuts: Jesse Hughes of the Eagles of Death Metal is a Reverend.

An Anglican Catholic Franciscan priest?

I say it's nuts because it just seems so New Age dysfunctional ... or something almost anti-Christ ...  I'm not being sarcastic either.  It's so like having the form of religion without any substance.

Hughes describes himself as being “unabashedly devout in his Christianity.” His mother was a Catholic who took him away from his abusive “Rock-and-Roll” father. Hughes believes that his father's disobedience to God, “abandonment of faith” and “disobedience to God” did not serve him well at all. This became what Hughes describes as a “model for the left” for him. He explains “the left” as “anyone who doesn't love Ronald Reagan and doesn't accept (without a doubt) the 2nd Amendment.” And, to anyone who does not agree, he threatens actual physical violence.

In the year 2012, Hughes was ordained as a reverend by the Order of Saint Francis. From his living room in Atwater Village, Hughes bashes Obama and praises Ronald Reagan, as he sermonizes on his Internet radio show, all while surrounded by sex, drinks, Elvis, Satan, and of course, the Bible. Hughes refers to these as his “tokens of warring, driving influences.” Hughes is passionate in his dedication to religion, rock and roll, and personal freedoms. He supports gun ownership in America and feels that the solution for America's problems and issues is that everyone needs to go back to church, like NOW. Hughes had plans to pursue political goals before his music career took of late in his life. - Source

In the last days ...

Once again - Fr. Z at his best: Advice to a sinner tempted to give up ...

The penitent St. Jerome.

Don’t give up hope. Don’t strive for mediocrity. Striving for mediocrity is a subtle way of telling God that you don’t believe in His gifts of grace or in his plan for you. Whatever your past may have been, you were created for holiness. You were made by God to become a saint. Don’t let the naysayers get you down. Strive for the holiness to which you were called at the moment of your baptism. It takes effort. It’s not easy. - Read the whole thing here.

It is perhaps cliche, but 'a saint is a sinner who keeps trying'.  A holy Carmelite told me that years ago.

We do not have to worry about merit or accomplishments to attract the merciful love of God. This is what St. Therese teaches and demonstrates in her little way of confidence and love. It is our misery which attracts the divine mercy. It is our sins and our faults which so attracts God that he sent his only Son to be crucified for our sins. Therefore, who cannot trust in merciful love when one is vulnerable enough, humble enough, to be embraced by it? The mystery is so deep, so wide, I can't express it.  It seems to me the person who wrote to Fr. Z must be very pleasing to the Sacred Heart - to be so aware of his imperfections, and yet thirsting for holiness ...

“Do not be afraid of holiness, of letting yourself be loved and purified by God. … Let us allow God's holiness be transmitted to us. Every Christian is called to holiness; and holiness does not consist, first and foremost, in doing extraordinary things, but rather in letting God act. It is the encounter between our weakness and the strength of His grace”. - Pope Francis

For the Feast of St. John of the Cross

 O Lord, my God, who will seek you with simple and pure love, 

and not find that you are all one can desire, 

for you show yourself first 

and go out to meet those who seek you? 

- Sayings of Light and Love

If you really listen to Pope Francis when he speaks of Mercy ... he sounds very much like St. Therese ...

Merciful love - as we hope in Him so shall we receive.


I won't take the time to compare notes - instead I'll post a few quotes from Little Therese and those who knew her ...

'We can never have too much confidence in the Good God, He is so mighty, so merciful. 

As we hope in Him so shall we receive.' - St. Therese

Confidence and love.

 "It is to recognize our nothingness, to expect everything from God as a little child expects everything from its father; it is to be disquieted about nothing, and not to be set on gaming our living. ... To be little is not attributing to oneself the virtues that one practices. ... It is not to become discouraged over one's faults, for children stumble and fall often, but they are too little to hurt themselves very much."  - St. Therese

 St. Therese of Lisieux "expected as much from God's justice as she did from his mercy.  'How nice it is to think that God is just!' she said.  'It means he takes our weakness into account and knows full well how frail we are by nature.'  She also said that she would prefer to live without consolation, because in that way she could give God greater proof of her trust in him." - Mother Agnes of Jesus

"Even if I had committed all possible crimes, I would still have the same confidence; I would feel that this multitude of offenses would be like a drop of water thrown into the flaming furnace of God's love." - St. Therese 

Jesus repairs - makes reparation for us.  As Therese wrote in her Morning Offering:  "And I wish to make reparation for my sins by casting them into the furnace of his merciful love."

"A notion which is not widespread and which, nevertheless, is very important is that Jesus, when we ask him with confidence, repairs not only the evil we have done in ourselves, but also the evil we have done around us.

.

Indeed, he has made all things right in me, but what about the evil I have done to others?  The bad example I have set, the scandal I have given, the good I would have been able to do and did not do, the injustice I committed?  I am set aright myself, but what about the others?

.

Say then, 'Jesus, from this evil also which I have wrought around me, draw forth good.  Even, I dare to ask you, draw a greater good from it than if I had not done the evil... Jesus, make reparation in me and around me.'" - I Believe In Love, Pere Jean du Coeur de Jesus D'Elbee

 Jesus, repair what I have done badly.

Guadete ...

The perfect joy of the saints ...

It's a wonderful life!

"Therese believed that God frequently allows us to experience in ourselves the same weaknesses which we deplore in others,,,  [Thus] when we see ourselves fallen into those faults we are then more prompt to excuse them in others." - My Sister St. Therese, Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face

"'Sometimes it happens,' she went on, 'that despite their best efforts, some souls remain imperfect because it would be to their spiritual detriment to believe they are virtuous or to have others agree that they are.'" - Ibid 

“A true legacy of the Second Vatican Council is being fulfilled in the person and pontificate of Pope Francis.” And that, my friendly traditionalist Catholics, is your problem.

The rejection of the Novus Ordo and Vatican II.

Several recent articles from legitimate Catholic news sites, as well as a few of the fringe sites really reminded me of that fact.  It has been going on since Vatican II - the Remnant, descendant from the Wanderer offers documentation in that regard.  The subtle rejection of Vatican II is the thread running through the 'faithful' Catholic traditionalists.  The rejection of the Novus Ordo is what underlies the current rejection of Pope Francis and the bishops in communion with him.

It has been said progressives have rejected the hermeneutic of continuity, yet it is the traditionalist who promote the hermeneutic of rupture in their outright rejection of Vatican II, including the liturgical reforms, or the Novus Ordo, and most significantly, the documents which include Nostra aetate.  I won't spend time discussing this - others more knowledgeable can do that - but ordinary Catholics should be aware of what is going on with these people.  It has been like this since Paul VI.

A comment from Father Paulo Anto Pulikkan to Catholic News Agency reminded me of that:

“A true legacy of the Second Vatican Council is being fulfilled in the person and pontificate of Pope Francis."

As someone who routinely calls for justice and care for those who are poor and marginalized, the Pope and his plea for “a poor Church for the poor” is a concrete fulfillment of what the bishops of the Second Vatican Council asked for, Fr. Pulikkan said.

The underprivileged “was the theme of the council, but this has been recently very clearly stressed by Francis.” 

Fr. Pulikkan, director of the Chair for Christian studies at the University of Calicut in the Indian state of Kerala, was one of the speakers at a Dec. 9-11 conference in Rome on the protagonists of the Second Vatican Council as seen through the archives.

The conference was organized by the Pontifical Committee for Historic Sciences as well as the Pontifical Lateran University's Center for Research and Studies on the Second Vatican Council.

The council, he told CNA, “is the council for the poor,” which can be particularly seen in the pastoral constitution “Gaudium et Spes,” dedicated to the Church in the Modern World.

In the initial draft, “the concern for the poor was neglected,” he said noting that the same held true for the council's fourth session in 1965.

Despite the fact that the session took place right after the 1964 Eucharistic Congress in Bombay, which focused heavily on solidarity with the poor and was attended by many of the councils protagonists, concern for the poor was “totally neglected.” - CNA

How the Pope is following in the footsteps of his predecessors.

I'm not defending the Pope, as I said last week, he doesn't need me to do that.  Nevertheless, the papacy is one of the reason I stay Catholic.  The main reason I'm Catholic is my faith in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the sacraments, and the Blessed Virgin Mary, then Pope and the Magisterium.  It's not the particular pope, but the guarantee of the Petrine office.

That said, an article at NCRegister helps demonstrate - for me at least - how the Holy Father is faithfully following in the footsteps of his predecessors.

Safeguarding the environment has been mentioned to some degree in all recent social encyclicals, but successive popes have increasingly waded into the scientific minutiae of the effects of human activity on ecosystems.

1. The environment first took on a more prominent role when Blessed Paul VI warned in his 1971 apostolic letter Octogesima Adveniens of the “tragic consequence” of unchecked human activity and an “ill-considered exploitation of nature.” He later predicted an “ecological catastrophe” caused by the explosive growth of industrial civilization and stressed the urgent need for “a radical change in the conduct of humanity.”

2. Pope St. John Paul was the first pope to call for an ecological conversion and introduced the theme of human ecology. In his first encyclical,Redemptor Hominis, he warned that human beings frequently seem “to see no other meaning in their natural environment than what serves for immediate use and consumption.” He would then go on to address the issue in additional detail in his 1990 World Day of Peace Message, “Peace With God the Creator, Peace With All of Creation.”

3. Benedict XVI expanded further on ecology, introducing an ecology of peace and social ecology. “The book of nature is one and indivisible,” he wrote in his 2009 social encyclical Caritas in Veritate, adding that it encompasses the environment, life, sexuality, the family and social relations. “The deterioration of nature is closely connected to the culture which shapes human coexistence,” he said.

But most significantly, Benedict was the first pope to refer to climate change, mentioning it on seven occasions during his pontificate, the first time in2007. He also became the first pope to wade into the particulars of safeguarding the environment, trumpeting the “immense potential” of solar energy (installing it at the Vatican and signing a U.N. protocol), preserving water systems, “whose stability could be seriously jeopardized by climate change,” and implementing “appropriate policies for the management of forests.” - Pentin, NCRegister

Pentin loses me when he quotes Sirico of the Acton Institute. Yet this part of the article supports my notion, and therefore works for me.

I might be wrong of course.

Ed. note:  I already know what those who disagree with me want to say.  It goes something like this:

Thank you for revealing your dispositions. It's clear you have no clue what's happening in the Church, and that your arguments (such as they are) are ultramontanist papalotry.  I'm sure Pope Francis appreciates your blind (and dumb) loyalty.

 We love you family.

Yup.