It is nice to hear good news and even how grace is working in people’s lives.
How about it?
‘Sup?
Fr. Z’s Podcasts RSS Feed
About this blog…
“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
YOUR RECENT COMMENTS
- on Card. Sarah: “Many Western prelates are tetanized… the dream of being loved by the world”: “Oh, yes. My hearty AMEN! We are very privileged to still have brave, vocal, devoted, and blessed shepherds such as…”
- on Your Sunday Sermon Notes: 2nd Sunday after Easter (N.O. 3rd of Easter) 2024: “I’ll note (in case people question) I had the Eucharist in one of the masses (not both as they were…”
- on Card. Sarah: “Many Western prelates are tetanized… the dream of being loved by the world”: “Spot on I’d say.”
- on 15 April 2019 – Notre-Dame de Paris: “@Charles E Flynn If it was possible to die from sheer boredom, those pictures would need a warning label. I…”
- on Card. Sarah: “Many Western prelates are tetanized… the dream of being loved by the world”: “I was once told at a retreat that, if you are getting along well with the world, you need to…”
- on Card. Sarah: “Many Western prelates are tetanized… the dream of being loved by the world”: “My Nephew by marriage is the son of a former Priest and Nun. They served together at the same location…”
- on 15 April 2019 – Notre-Dame de Paris: “@ Tom of John of God and Raphael OSB Obl. There are some photos here: Inside Notre-Dame: Guillaume Bardet’s furniture…”
- on Your Sunday Sermon Notes: 2nd Sunday after Easter (N.O. 3rd of Easter) 2024: “I have a particular love for this parable…and in fact, all the “sheep” parables. I spent thirty years raising a…”
- on 15 April 2019 – Notre-Dame de Paris: “I’m almost more horrified over what the interior designers will have come up with for inside the cathedral, frankly. I’ve…”
- on Your Sunday Sermon Notes: 2nd Sunday after Easter (N.O. 3rd of Easter) 2024: “The padre had an interesting point on the gospel of the Good Shepherd yesterday- The sheep know the shepherd, but…”
- on Your Sunday Sermon Notes: 2nd Sunday after Easter (N.O. 3rd of Easter) 2024: “I would say, Why have a Generic Cola, when you can have COKE the real thing.”
- on Your Sunday Sermon Notes: 2nd Sunday after Easter (N.O. 3rd of Easter) 2024: “Saturday night I was as a Novus Ordo mass (as the KOC was having an exemplification after). The Pastor preached…”
- on Your Sunday Sermon Notes: 2nd Sunday after Easter (N.O. 3rd of Easter) 2024: “At our NO parish, Father spoke on forgiveness, telling the story of Maria Goretti, and giving us the things to…”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 24: Fave and vongole with The Great Roman™: “Wow. That happened to me too! I woke up one day, and had lost the ability to hear in my…”
ABORTION PILL RESCUE NETWORK
Everyone, work to get this into your parish bulletins and diocesan papers.
Federated Computer… your safe and private alternative to big biz corporations that hate us while taking our money and mining our data. Have an online presence large or small? Catholic DIOCESE? Cottage industry? See what Federated has to offer. Save money and gain peace of mind.
Polls
Loading ...Use FATHERZ10 at checkout for 10% off
Donate using VENMO
GREAT BEER from Traditional Benedictine Monks in Italy
CLICK and say your daily offerings!
A Daily Prayer for Priests
NEW OPPORTUNITY – 10% off with code: FATHERZ10
Fr. Z’s VOICEMAIL
Nota bene: I do not answer these numbers or this Skype address. You won't get me "live". I check for messages regularly.
WDTPRS
020 8133 4535
651-447-6265
This REALLY helps! And it’s great coffee (and tea)
I use this when I travel both in these USA and abroad. Very useful. Fast enough for Zoom. I connect my DMR (ham radio) through it. If you use my link, they give me more data. A GREAT back up.
This blog has to earn its keep!
PLEASE subscribe via PayPal if it is useful. Zelle and Wise are better, but PayPal is convenient.
A monthly subscription donation means I have steady income I can plan on. I put you my list of benefactors for whom I pray and for whom I often say Holy Mass.
In view of the rapidly changing challenges I now face, I would like to add more $10/month subscribers. Will you please help?
For a one time donation...
To donate monthly I prefer Zelle because it doesn't extract fees. Use
frz AT wdtprs DOT comBe a “Zed-Head”!
PLEASE RESPOND. Pretty pleeeease?
Loading ...This is really useful when travelling… and also when you aren’t and you need backup internet NOW! I use this for my DMR “Zednet” hotspot when I’m mobile. It’s a ham radio thing.
If you travel internationally, this is a super useful gizmo for your mobile internet data. I use one. If you get one through my link, I get data rewards.
WDTPRS POLL
Loading ...Fr. Z’s stuff is everywhere
Help support Fr. Z’s Gospel of Life work at no cost to you. Do you need a Real Estate Agent? Calling these people is the FIRST thing you should do!
They find you a pro-life agent in your area who commits to giving a portion of the fee to a pro-life group!
GREAT causes to support
Help Monks in Wyoming (coffee – UPDATED LINK) and Norcia (beer) and the wonderful "Soap Sisters" of Summit, NJ!
Please follow me on Twitter!
Loading ...
My second book, “A Commentary on Virgil, Aeneid XI” has been published by the Societe des Etudes Latines in Brussels.
Every time my colleague presents a unit on Gregorian chant to her college class, demand for her materials and audio CD’s greatly outstrips supply. Her students, most of whom are Catholic and attend a Catholic university, have never heard sacred chant in its natural context. My colleague reports intense interest, year after year. Consequently, it appears that chant remains both holy and vocative, and that is happy news. As for grace, it tends to correlate positively, but we can leave that in good hands.
My good news is a sudden increase in infant baptism requests here at our parish, and that my vicar provincial came by to tell me that they’re thinking about sending me and my STL to the Antonianum.
RCIA report: At our parish in Northern Virignia, we are having 17 individuals receiving sacraments at the Easter Vigil. 7 of those are Catechumens and will receive Baptism along with the other sacraments of initiation, 7 are candidates from various Christian Denominations and 3 are Catholics receiving 1st Communion and/or Confirmation. Of those 17, 5 marriages have been validated to bring those or their spouses back into a state of grace, 3 of which have children. And our Pastor celebrates the “family Mass” ad orientem. How’s all that for good news?!
This Summer we’ll have a “retirement” party at the parish for the last altar girl!
I’ll be ordained to the Sacred Priesthood of Jesus Christ on June 13, 2009, and will be offering my first Mass in the Extraordinary Form!
The first Monday in Lent marked the return of the Tridentine Mass (EF), absent since Vatican II, to the high altar of St. Mary’s in Peru, IL (my hometown). The EF continues through Lent. The first two offerings boasted attendance comparable to Sunday. Please pray for the success of this “Lenten Special” so that it may continue into Eastertide and beyond. Please also pray for the holy priests, Fathers McCarthy and Gardner, who are responsible for its availability
My brother will be coming into the church at the easter Vigil.
Please pray for him.
Well, it’s just a small thing..but I finally have a nice wooden crucifix for in the house – am going to ask parist priest to bless it tomorrow :)
Had word confirming my first publication in an academic journal, ‘New Biographical Notes on Robert Mannyng of Brunne’, Notes & Queries.
Te Deum laudamus!
I passed my comprehensive exams in the seminary. Deo gratias.
Yes…Grace…I have an up and down fight at times with scruples…And recently I had the grace to remember that I used to call on my Guardian angel a lot, but then I stopped praying to him. I have once more begun speaking to this fine companion and he reminds me of God’s love and mercy, and also gives me shelter from unwelcome spiritual ‘visitors’. What a truly unique gift a guardian angel is…I also saw that Pope Benedict, in an address recently to Italian workers who might be laid off, also emphasized how important it is to pray to angels.
God Bless and thank you for your site Father!
My good news is that im studying in Germany at the moment for a semester abroad and find this website to be a wonderful refuge against the secularism that is Europe. However, that is not my good news, it is that when I was in Paris last week, while visiting Notre Dame, seeing the interest and the devotion of the people that went to visit the cathedral was amazing. God works even in the most hostile areas to Him.
1) My parents come to Mass regularly again!
2) The congregation at my parish has finally learned the Sanctus from Jubilate Deo!
3) Tomorrow we celebrate the 50th anniversary of ordination for one of our faithful retired priests! (It seems very strange to have an anniversary party during Lent, but oh well!)
Like IngridAiram, my graces may seem small, but continually remind me that the Lord is nearby and holding my hand. A few examples…
Last week, due to several factors-work related mainly-I felt defeated (the opposite of what Santiago states in,”The Old Man and the Sea,” ‘Man is not made for defeat….A man can be destroyed but not defeated’). The main concern was that this year, for the first time since my return to the Church, I wanted so much to make this Lent meaningful and my sense of defeat and what I can only describe as a barrage of negative/stressful events at work were disrupting my Lent work. I felt defeated and was very tempted not to go to Mass last Sunday. I did anyway and the Holy Spirit was truly working thru Father. His Homily spoke directly to my heart. During Mass, a burdeon was lifted and I felt transformed. This was a grace given to me.
The barrage of negative stuff at work continues and I have continued to struggle with what to do this Lent(I think the evil one is having a field in my life just now!). My second small grace came last Thursday when I was listening to Morning Air on Relevant Radio. Fr. Albert & Sister Bridget Haase were on and discussed how to approach sacrifice/penance during Lent. Their hour of discussion/suggestions was some of the best spiritual direction that I have ever gotten and it put me back on track. For anyone who is interested in listening to this show. Go to Relevant Radio. Click on Archives for Morning Air. The program is the second hour of Morning Air from 3/12/09.
The Institute of Christ the King will have diaconate ordinations on this coming Saturday, March 21st, the feast of St. Benedict( this is also their patronal feast). H.E. Cardinal Rode, Prefect of the Congregation of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life will be ordaining six young men to the diaconate at their seminary in Gricigliano….that is good news!
This “God News” thread is a great idea. : )
-My younger brother made his confession after 23 years away!
-My youngest daughter who has health issues is doing better
-I made a brief guest appearance on Ave Maria Radio yesterday (Al Kresta’s show) to talk about Vatican II and I don’t think I said anything too terribly embarassing
My self-proclaimed atheistic brother seems to more and more these days confide a sense or glimmer of acknowledgement of the actual existence of God.
A “Buddhist” friend of mine who happens to live with same sex attraction and hold radically lefty views has told me that he as of late watches EWTN and especially Mother Angelica because he says he perceives “some truth” coming from the teachings of the Catholic Church. He surprised me and told me once that he has prayed more than once the Divine Mercy Chaplet and obtained a favor once.
I have a number of agnostic friends that have on some level begun to allow the Gospel on some level way penetrate their lives. One of them not minding in the past, mockery of the Catholic Church, now tells me that he often listens to Catholic radio and specifically to Fr. Corapi regularly.
In about the past two years about five of my close relatives went to confession for the first time in many years and most of those continue to do so, as well as attend mass again regularly. About two months ago one of my nephews went to confession for the first time since his first confession about 10 years ago. A few years back it might have been my mother and I in a pew. Now we take up an entire pew and I pray we will fill up a second pew not long from now.
There are six weeks and counting for my fifteen catechism students to make first Holy Communion. I am thankful our priest is encouraging more than one confession for them before then.
A daily TLM is available five minutes from my house of which, due to God’s grace, I take daily benifit from.
All praise and glory to God for the flow of graces he generously gives.
Viva Christo Rey!
Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!
Viva Il Papa
When I was in high school (many, many years ago), I was a liturgical dancer (Hey guys, I used to dance to “The Age of Aquarius” during the mass – terrible), but a strange thing happened over the years since. 90% of my class fell away from the church but God gave me the grace to, not only ask for forgivness for what I did, but to be able to use my experience to explain the depth of His love in the Holy Eucharist and how this modern mish mash does nothing for our spiritual life, in fact, leads us away from what is holy. This grace has helped me to explain to Confirmation students and youth the absolute beauty of the Holy Mass.
I was actually a member of the schola for this: http://www.cantemusdomino.net/2009/03/13/smtv-vol-ii-no-32-quis-non-amantem-redamet-dvd-trailer/
It appears something has finally come of it.
The MEF now firmly is established in North Carolina, and I don’t think there’s a chance that it will go away anytime soon. For the list of MEFs see http://honneurs.free.fr/Wikini/wakka.php?wiki=CarolineDuNord
a website I’m trying to keep current for churches under the jurisdiction of the bishops of Raleigh and Charlotte.
A new Una Voce chapter has been established in NC, and, God willing, a website will be forthcoming this spring.
After completing a social justice class, our Catholic college student center (located at a non-Catholic school) will be making a trip to Guatemala over our spring break to work at the mission that the Diocese of New Ulm, MN runs. It’s refreshing to see students give up time and money to work for and be with the poor.
My stepdad will be recieved into full communion this Easter Vigil and he and my mother will have their marraige co-validated. My youngest brother and sister will be confirmed this spring
My boss delights in mocking my Catholicism and tells me he is a ‘devout atheist’. What a great grace to have been able to meet this man and pray for his conversion. May I beg your prayers and sacrifices for him also.
Old good news, but good nonetheless. I was confirmed by my pastor (who is back from his treatment and doing very well!) the week before Lent started.
My nose started bleeding five minutes ago. It has now stopped bleeding. Happy days.
I fell in love with the Catholic Church and are starting to study Theology at the ITI in Austria to serve the church hopefully fulltime one day after working as a gardener for ten years. Please pray for me that I manage the studies.
Dear Fr Z, the good news is that there will again be Tridentine Masses (even in a new city) and catechesis given in Finland in the beginning of April by a FSSP priest, Fr. Benjamin Durham, who has been appointed to take care of the apostolate here (Finland). Please do advertise this programme (http://fsspfinland.wordpress.com/2009/03/10/messuja-huhtikuun-alussa/), at least the one-day-retreat in Tallinn (Estonia) on Palm Sunday, since we hope that many people from Scandinavia and the Baltic Countries could join us there… More details will be given shortly on the FSSP Finland website http://fsspfinland.wordpress.com.
And please: do pray for a good new Catholic Bishop for Finland!
This week God gave me the courage to rescue an abused teenage girl, and the grace to not kill the abuser. We are pursing guardianship. Please keep this child in your prayers. She is, oh so, precious!
She asked if she can go to church with us on Sunday. God’s love abounds! We attend (TLM) at St. Stephen the First Martyr Parish(FSSP)in Sacramento.
A program and home for trafficked women, that some friends and I have developed, is closer to opening. Please pray that we may find a sustained stream of funding soon.
My good news is that I am back receiving the Sacraments frequently, Deo Gratias!
I have a wonderful family, many friends, a wonderful parish, and holy priests!
God has blessed and loved me abundantly, despite my unfaithfulness to Him.
This isn’t so much good news as a glimmer of grace: I hate my job and have been praying for deliverance from it. And God keeps sending me people to effectively say, “You’re gonna be here for a while.” At least He’s giving me the grace to know this and is not leaving me guessing, eh?
I share my good news here as an act of thanksgiving, and an encouragement to others.
The older, better news first: I am to be married to the most marvellous Catholic girl in May. But this week my job was officially put at risk of redundancy in my organisation\’s cost-saving strategy. Since my lovely residence also comes with my job, and since I will be principal breadwinner in our household, this was doubly bad news.
Just this morning, however, I had a letter confirming officially than my name has been removed from the “at-risk” list. There’s nothing like a threat lifted to make you count your blessings!
I am inexpressibly grateful for the many prayers I know have been offered for me and my wife-to-be — from both the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant. AMDG.
Good news is since we got a new priest at our parish about seven months ago, the following has happened:
– we have the Extraordinary Form of Mass every Sunday and Monday morning
– now have adoration from 8:00 in the morning until 7:00pm every Thursday
– now have adoration after our Tuesday night Mass from 7:00 – 9:00pm (confession available during this time)
– after the 7:30am Saturday morning Mass, our priest teaches a class on the catechism that is very good
– our parish website now offers our priest’s Sunday homily and Saturday catechsim class as a download to listen to every week
– More people at Saturday confession – I used to be able to go directly into confession, now I have to wait because there are a lot more people coming to confession
All of this is due, praise be to God, because our new priest is young (45) and very orthodox. He makes time for confession (sometimes spending two hours), preaches about sin, and makes one want to be a better Catholic. Additionally, he recently published a two-page letter in our bulletin showing how Latin is the language of the Church and how Vatican II didn’t do away with it after receiving complaints from adding the Traditional Mass.
After 5 years of trying, my son (15) and I made our 9 first Fridays!
Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother, I passed another week without falling into a sin that has been my bane for years!
I am so very grateful!
“I hate my job and have been praying for deliverance from it.”
Brian:
Providence has also done this with me and there has been tremendous suffering at times(including my health)…I think I understand (finally) why I have been held in my current post and what lesson He is trying to teach me. I also feel-due to other changes- that I may be allowed to move on at last…
FYI:
The time noted on posts is one hour behind…did we spring ahead?
Following an exhausting week, ending with someone attacking my work, I got a phone call from a Mother asking me to take her children to Stations of the Cross as she and her husband needed to go to a meeting.
Thus, I spent some time with 4 delightful children who told me what they are up to and we discussed Lent, Stations, Birthdays, giving up sweets etc. A real tonic.
Thanks to the Grace of God I’ve been invited to spend a month with the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest as I continue to discern a vocation to the priesthood. If that wasn’t enough, it starts off with Holy Week. May God continue the good work He has begun in all of us and the good work He has begun through this blog.
My oldest child, a sophomore in high school, has long struggled to find his “niche.” He loves baseball with a passion, but has a condition affecting all his motor skills which makes it impossible for him to play on any kind of competitive level. He also has Asperger’s Syndrome, making it very difficult for him to make friends in any meaningful sense. This spring, however, he has been taken on as the scorekeeper for the high school baseball team, and they have treated him marvelously. He has a team hat, gets the same tournament t-shirts as the players, and truly feels like he’s “part of the team.” It warms this mother’s heart enormously to know that he’s got a place where he feels valued and welcomed.
Hello. I am currently studying about grace in a Masters’ degree class for religious education.
Praise Be! On the anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun, Oct., ’07, St. Stephen’s (FSSP) in Sacramento held the first TLM in Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in 40+ years, a Solemn High Mass with procession, rosary and Benediction. 54 altar boys and the full schola, choir and choristers made it a glorious occasion. In Oct., ’08, God bless now retired Bishop Weigand, the Solemn TLM was repeated. This year, for the third time in three years (would that it could be more – someday, God willing) a Solemn High Extraordinary Rite Mass, with the blessing of now Bishop Soto, will take place on May 9. St. Stephen’s will lead a May procession, carrying the statue of Our Lady of Fatima, on a three mile pilgrimage through the streets of Sacramento to the Cathedral. Following the Mass will be the May crowning. Once again, the schola, choir and choristers will sing the Mass. All parishes are invited to join, meeting at East Lawn Memorial Park, 43rd & Folsom, at 7:30am. Mass is at 10:30am. We count our blessings.
We’ve got an awesome new priest at our parish. Our 3rd in 6 months after losing a previous wonderful priest. This one seems to be in the mindset of bringing back traditions. Dare I say, we may be seeing the last of altar girls? Here’s hoping he recruits more men to be EM’s and we see the last of the ladies too. There’s just something about a Mass where all men read and E.M. It just feels right!! Women still have their important “roles” behind the scene. Perhaps I’m just hoping, so I can step down and fully participate in Mass without having to worry when it’s time to do “whatever” and myself can comfortably go back to wearing the veil which I’ve always loved as a child. My daughter has just started to wear one along with her daughter…she’s only 25 and my granddaughter is 5.
Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum: I got a friend who I NEVER though would go to a EF Mass to come with me tomorrow!!
Our fifth son, Gregory Raphael, age 2 weeks, will be receiving the sacraments of Baptism, First Eucharist, and Charismation next Sunday (as is customary for infants in the Melkite Eastern Catholic rite. Will be a beautiful liturgy!
Just attended a Lenten symposium that was better than I expected: edification and levity.
Tom, that is some good news you have there. Where is your parish and how are you managing such a feat? How are the parishioners in general responding? How long did you have altar girls and what is the situation in the rest of your diocese?
I was dumped by my fiance and the love of my life at the end of December, just one month after my father fell off a roof, breaking his heel and his back rather severely, and after my youngest nephew (2 weeks old) contracted RSV. Today, my nephew is much better, as is my dad (doing better at 3 months after the accident than another guy with similar injuries from a car crash 6 mos ago) WHOM I saw WALKING today WITHOUT a cane (HOORAY!!!), I am happier than I’ve been in a long time, thanks be to God and Fulton Sheen, and there is a Dominican-rite mass offered at my parish tomorrow. I am counting my blessings!
AND … Dr. Fratantuono (the first commenter) was a former Latin professor of mine. And I’m happy for him!
My 6th grade catechism class wants to learn about the saints who’ll be canonized in October.
I just got back from a wonderful surprise 80th birthday party for the gentleman who runs our local Catholic bookstore. This man has worked tirelessly for the last 15 years to make the all volunteer bookstore into a success. It was a wonderful gathering with terrific stories and testimonials. Personally my faith has been enriched by the many books that I have bought there. We should all be grateful to the many volunteers in the Catholic Church who spend so much time helping others.
Our new son, Leo Gerard, was born last week!
I think God is calling me to be a Passionist Nun…and I’ve been overjoyed ever since that revelation hit me.
Um…need prayers, please. I still haven’t spoken with the community and there’s a lot to do…but the spirituality FITS!
How’s this for good news… The exact hour I showed up at a local abortion mill for the 40 days of life campaign, was the exact moment my friend decided to contact me after ignoring me for weeks. You see, my friend is pregnant and has been considering abortion.
I spoke briefly of going to this mill last night in Z Chat and took a St. Michael holy card, per your advice. Apparently being properly armed for spiritual battle helps.
I wasn’t home to take her call, but I am just relieved she decided to open the lines of communication again. Thank you for your prayers, please continue to pray. It is working.
I have had an absolutely wonderful day. Great meeting, reception for a new SFO candidate, worked out details for June area visitation and annual report, lots of good friends, happy for Fr Finigan, bills are paid, and I am cantor for tomorrow’s Mass with the schola. AMDG :)
You are in my prayers Julie
I have heard of yet another woman who has made the decision to transition out of the sex industry. :)
An unexpected visit from my daughter!
I am gratefully empolyed as Music Director at an FSSP parish. After years of trying to convince people of the beauty of Latin and chant, I am now in a place where I can actually use my music degrees for the Church. This has been a huge blessing, as has been getting more familiar with the EF. My family and I are loving it.
I have been terribly stressed about my MA comprehensive exam, which will be April 1-3, but sometime during the last week, my anxiety vanished. I will still spend the next two weeks cramming, and I am not confident that I will pass, but I am at peace about the outcome of the exam.
My grandmother (who broke her hip) is out of the hospital, into a nursing facility for physical therapy, and will be home in two weeks.
Our little choir is chanting Vespers (pre-conciliar form) before the Sunday evening (Ordinary Form) Mass during Lent; this is a good thing in itself, but it’s even better that our pastor really, really likes the way we do Vespers.
Father, as I was praying my rosary for you, Our Lady let me know just how much she loves you.
My pastor, who possesses precious little musical formation, nailed the melody for the Credo III incipit last week. And has had the melody for the Asperges Me down pat almost since the day he learned it.
Well, here’s my grace-related story. I have been seriously discerning a vocation to the priesthood this past year, and have felt conflicted for a variety of reasons, one of which is that I have a lot of student debt. Recently I decided that I would take two years to teach English in South Korea and erase my debt so that I could present myself as debt-free to a house of formation.
I said a novena to St. Theresa, the little flower, asking for some confirmation that I had made the right decision. Well, after finishing the novena I found a great job, in a very nice suburb of Seoul, South Korea. I’ve been here almost two weeks now.
That was all wonderful and I credit St. Theresa with all of these events, but God’s grace and the results of St. Theresa’s intercession made an even more obvious appearance than that. On the day I arrived, at 6am, it was a gray morning, I had been traveling for over 24 hours, and I was momentarily questioning the wisdom of my decision to leave home and pursue this for the sake of my long term goal of becoming a religious. I was picked up at the airport by a friendly Korean fellow and dropped at my apartment. It was nice, cozy, but nothing special, except: on one wall there was painted what I could only describe as a “shower of roses”, on another, fastened to the wall, was a deep red rose (apparently received as a farewell gift and left for me by the previous occupant, whose teaching position I have assumed). I almost broke down then and there. I feel so fortunate to have received such an outward visual manifestation of God’s approval of my path. It is so wonderful when consolation comes at such an opportune time.
That’s my grace-filled story for today.
I was able to finish my two square-foot gardening projects this weekend and found a source for FREE!!! leaf mulch which helped me fill the containers with good material. I’m thinking about building a third box just for potatoes! Now, I’m praying for the seeds to sprout, the worms to show up and the bunnies to stay away!
I’ve also discovered that if I get really busy with something that takes me out of the house, I’m much less anxious about the state of the world.
Yesterday was a day of so many incredible graces that I can hardly comprehend them let alone describe them.
I just wanted to say that I did not know until now about the Mass Fr. F offered yesterday. It certainly explains some of the glory of the day. Thanks be to God!
Our baby, John, is now two weeks old. He get bigger and cuter every day! :)
My ‘Good News’ this week is mostly negative: no tantrums from or fighting amongst the children, no disgruntlement between the parents, no bad news about family or friends anywhere. “What good happened to you today?” at dinner was nothing spectacular, just little grains of goodness that fed us during the day. We had a plain old ordinary week, quiet and calm and what I think normal should be.
Quiet extraordinary, actually!
Fr. Z,
I will thoroughly understand if you don’t wish to post this but I wanted you to know it.
I love reading the good news posts because I have been very depressed and worried about many things of late. And before I read through them last night, I had no good news to post.
My good news now, ironically enough, is that I was able to read the sulphuric posts on this thread by Publius(?) late last night that have since been removed. It was a like a peek at a battle that you are too kind to allow us to help you fight.
At first, the hair on my neck stood up that anyone would address a priest with that kind of disdain. It almost made me physically sick. My pity for you changed to terror as it occurred to me that that very voice will turn to address me at the moment of my judgment—if not sooner. In my fright, I reached for Jesus out of the waters that were closing above my head. Then it became clear that the accusatory voice would turn upon the poster him/herself at that same time. And I wondered to Whom that poor soul would reach at such a time and realized his/her peril.
Hence, the tiles that came tearing off the Tabernacle as I prayed with an intensity that I have been too whiny and self-consumed of late to attempt. And this is just one soul! Out of a world, a history, a future of so many! Fasting and prayer, little as they are, came into great relief as the weapons they truly are. “Publius” will be in my prayers from now on and I desperately hope to see him in the next world, clothed by God and in his right mind.
I came to a very deep respect for you, Father, and what you must deal with every day and the fact that every good priest is a lightning rod for the devil. Respect, combined with a profound gratitude for God’s gift of the priesthood engulfed me. We have little appreciation what you go through for us.
So God *does* make all things — even really nasty posts — work for good.
I am accepted to enter the monastery after I graduate college! (Cheers, Julie!)
Plus, my cousin, just married last year, just had an adorable baby.
I have been very blessed reading the comments on here.
The 2-year reconstruction of our church has been completed and the archbishop will be coming next week for the re-dedication. The reconstruction includes an adoration chapel and we are only a few people short of 24×7 adoration. Please pray for us. We are almost there.
I was fortunate enough to be born into a Catholic family who are all STILL in the faith. My wife and I are very blessed with four beautiful daughters ranging in age from 17 – 8. The Sacraments are readily available to us and a Latin Mass chapel (in danger of schism) provides us once a month enough balm to keep our sanity. We are able to home educate and I have a job that pays the bills and enables me to read Fr. Z between helping customers which also helps with the sanity. So I guess you could say I’m a profezzonal, or a member of the PZL. Thanks Fr. Z, that cup of coffee is coming, I discussed that with the wife this morning.
I just learned today that a fortnight from today the Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form will be offered every Sunday at St. Paul’s Church (1050 Main St, West Warren, MA 01092). It will replace the current OF mass at 10.30 AM. A few weeks ago the priest Fr. Becker started offering daily Mass in the EF at 8.45 AM. Praised be Jesus Christ!
Fr. Ed is giving the parish mission at Christ the King: 4 nights — a document a night! — on the living out the teachings of the Second Vatican Council. Great teacher, great topic; and close enough I can get there after work :)
Saturday next, Archbishop Chaput, Sherry Weddell, and others will be speaking to many people at Sacred Heart Seminary (Detroit) about what St. Paul can teach us about the New Evangelization. We get to go :)
My brother found a place to live after his lease ended at an odd time. Thank You, Jesus!
Yesterday I attended the ordination of six men of the FSSP to the diaconite by Bishop Bruskewitz at St. Francis Church in Lincoln, Nebraska. One of them was my brother!
The Augustinians here at Villanova have just added a third day a week for regular Confessions, as well as the Saturday that is available through the parish that shares the same church as the school. So now we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation four days a week.
Recently I e-mailed our vocations director about bringing Eucharistic Adoration more visibly to campus, citing an NCR article that discussed the surge in vocations where Adoration is available. We are going to meet this week to discuss some ideas. This is good :-)
Hello Fr. Z, here is a good news update from Maine. You may remember that Bishop Malone authorized a TLM chaplaincy in this diocese beginning last July. At that time he was criticized by some (I think without justification) for asking us to cover the costs of our chaplain. Since that time we have grown and continue to do so. Our schola at the weekly Mass in Portland has gone from one person to 6. Attendance at mass has increased with new people and new families every week. Collections have increased approximately 40% per week since July, allowing us to surpass the annual budgetary goal that the finance office had set for us. Keep in mind that this success is with only 2 weekly masses, one at the cathedral chapel in Portland and one at the basilica in Lewiston. We are grateful to Bishop Malone for giving us this opportunity and to our chaplain Fr. Parent for his work especially his efforts to bring the TLM community together. Please pray for the community that it may continue to grow and that the bishop may regard it as a necessary aid to his work of evangelization.
After a 3 year prolonged reversion to the Faith, I had a convalidation ceremony last May.
The last couple of years I have been pretty much glued to EWTN, and had made a small donation last summer
to the network. The nuns at OLA monastary had a day a prayer for me on September 8th last year. A month
or so later, I found that Sept 8th was the estimated date of conception of our first child- a baby girl.
I’m now in my seventh month. I’m hoping she is born in May, just for Mary.
I attended Mass with a priest so reverent, attentive and gentle toward the Eucharist that it restored my faith that we can… and must… contend for the Gospel of Our Lord and for His Church.
My good news:
Gaude Maria virgo: cunctas haereses sola interemisti in universo mundo. Alleluia.
Thomas Louis da Victoria, sung by Anonymous Early Music Ensemble (I’m the girl sitting in the middle of the ensemble – I’m pregnant, it’s why I sit)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM26utJVLRM
I love the text, it’s so contrary to the “Spirit of SVII”.
I had the grace of being able to serve a priest’s first public Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite last Sunday in Alexandria, Virginia.
In Christ,
Don’t know if you will see this, but today, 3.17.09, a Perpetual Adoration Chapel will be consecrated at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Glendale, Arizona. We have over 800 adorers signed up and committed to keeping vigil with our Lord around the clock.
I cannot begin to express my excitement!
The Missionaries of Charity I used to volunteer for called and left a message asking me to call back. I thought, “Oh no, I’m busy, I don’t want to help them out this weekend or whatever they might be asking… maybe I’ll just pretend I didn’t get this call….”
But better nature prevailed and I called them back, whereupon I discovered that they’d been given free tickets to a really good passion play and they wanted to give me one!