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“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
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YOUR RECENT COMMENTS
- on Faith practice declining far and wide…. except…: “Dear Masked Chicken, thank you for pointing me to your post of 22 March, which which I largely agree. My…”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “Yes. Let all the poisons come out! After seeing it on TV many years ago and reading the two volumes,…”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “Perhaps world events are making some nervous international travelers. Personally, I would have loved to go to Poland on a…”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “The bit about Claudius thinking that a return to the republic was likely or even possible may take its inspiration…”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “Pray for Derek Jacobi! Such a talented actor, but sadly, an irregular life.”
- on 15 April 2019 – Notre-Dame de Paris: “I was wrong. It’s not a Cramnerian table. It’s a……. Ikea coffee table made to resemble a half Easter egg,…”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “The BBC “radio play” of I,Claudius is also rather good. https://share.libbyapp.com/title/505092”
- on Faith practice declining far and wide…. except…: “To MB: THE BEST TIME was a long time ago before Paul VI and Bergoglio and their hand-chosen sycophants decided…”
- on Faith practice declining far and wide…. except…: “I don’t know where MB lives, but it’s objectively false to assert that the FSSP “now have a virtual monopoly…”
- on 15 April 2019 – Notre-Dame de Paris: “Looking at the pictures, one can be grateful that the artist at least didn’t use this as an opportunity to…”
- on Faith practice declining far and wide…. except…: “@MB “When a man feels like he has something no one else can give, something essential, and no one to…”
- on Faith practice declining far and wide…. except…: “There was a time when if you wanted to know the miracles of the Church, the great teachings, the stories…”
- on Faith practice declining far and wide…. except…: “Out of my wife and my siblings & spouses, half are not RC anymore but are probably still on the…”
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A couple of things have recently happened:
1. I got a tenure-track job teaching at a Catholic school, which brings into view a future I’m very excited about, and:
2. I just published my first piece on Catholic social thought as it relates to business.
I have been praying the Baronius Press Brevarium Romanum as part of my Lenten prayer discipline, and have been finding it to be an extremely rich resource of spirituality, tradition and Liturgical beauty. It is also helping me in my study of Latin! At almost 2 hours per day, it certainly is requiring discipline to create temporal space for it, but well worth the time invested!
My parish is going to have what sounds like an excellent Lenten Evening of Recollection. In this Year of Mercy it is going to emphasize how the sacrament of confession enables us to encounter the power of God’s mercy. There will be talks for English speakers and Spanish speakers and then Exposition, real confessions with priests™ and then Benediction.
I am familiar with the priest giving the talk in English and I know he is well qualified in the best sense of the word. I imagine the Spaniah speaking priest is, too.
It has been a long time since my last confession. I was moved to go to confession after reading “The sadness of Christ” by St. Thomas More, hearing again an excellent version of the “Miserere” by Gregorio Allegri and hearing Fr. Paul Scalia’s homily during his father’s mass of burial…
The good news is Fr Scalia’s homily was superb. The bad news is that it was at his father’s funeral.
A nearby parish includes many migrant farm workers, most of whom are also immigrants. I just learned that 300 children in that parish are preparing for First Holy Communion, and that 100 teens are preparing for Confirmation. They had similar numbers last year, too. The local Catholic college is very orthodox, and the students are helping the parish with their sacramental preparation classes. God is at work and it is always humbling to observe.
Perhaps I’m the only one who missed this, but the Latin Liturgia Horarum is now available from Universalis for download to ebook readers, both Kindle and other formats.
http://universalis.com/latin.htm
I’ve just downloaded the book that will take me through to Pentecost. I’m almost sorry that I’m going to an Anglican Vespers service today and will have to wait till Compline to use it! (If it wasn’t Lent I’d use the A-word). This is great.
I was having a bad day/week/month. Reading everyone else’s good news has made me smile. Thank you :)
Our newborn daughter will be baptized this Sunday! I am overwhelmed with a feeling of thanksgiving for a perfect labor and delivery and perfect health for all. I am so thankful that our Lord nourishes even the littlest ones with grace through His Church. I’m especially excited because this blessed event will be in the Extraordinary Form!!!
I went to confession.
The kids don’t have school on Friday, so their weekly school Mass was moved to today. School Mass for the youngest will be tomorrow. Both priests are solid and engage the kids well. In about 3 weeks, grades 5 and up will be packing THOUSANDS of meals to send to Honduras. Thanks be to God for our Catholic schools & may He bless the donors who make their financial aid possible.
Mom’s (2nd) brain surgery was a success. She’s already back to her regular self. Praise God for modern medicine and doctors who heed his call to that vocation!
We were all sick last week, but I had a pantry full of tictures that I made from plants we gathered last Spring/summer and so we didn’t have to spend $450 in doctors visits nor $100 in cough syrup and antibiotics and our immune systems are that much stronger. Praise God for the abundant pharmacopeia he has given us FOR FREE!!!
*His
My good news is that I’m on the upswing from a very nasty cold that’s knocked me flat. Thanking God that it so far hasn’t become a sinus infection (to which I’m prone) and for a job with generous sick leave so I can stay home and rest and also keep my icky germs out of the office. Oh, and I’m grateful too for prescription cough syrup with codeine, which is the only thing keeping me from coughing all night long and allowing me to sleep.
Well, a pipe broke in Mom’s kitchen the other night. That wasn’t good news in and of itself, but could’ve been much worse – and led to some interesting good moments.
The sink trap gave up the ghost – while the dishwasher was running, no less! Fortunately, she was not out for hours or in the next room (hearing’s a bit rough these days) or asleep upstairs – she was standing in front of the sink!
She had been on a recent clean & clean-out binge in the kitchen – and so had bought a new mop!
Promptly informed and properly armed, she contained the spillage with minimum fuss and additional damage.
It led to her discovering an inadequacy in the kitchen construction (the source of a draft) that she can investigate and have fixed.
She was casting about for a plumber when she remembered the business card of the firm (the principal lives just up the street from her) that had done a good job installing new furnace/boiler/circulating valves a few years ago when my father came out of the hospital – nice when the family tendency of never throwing anything away pays off!
The fella came over the next morning, took a look, brought back his brother (the actual licensed plumber in the operation) to itemize and measure the parts needed – and they had her back in business by the end of the day!
To top that off, while the brother worked under the sink, the boss man noticed Mom’s Connemara marble holy water font (on the wall next to the front door) was empty. He slipped out, went back to his house, and returned with a bottle of Holy Water. As he explained to Mom, dear Uncle makes a trip to the Auld Country yearly, and never fails to bring back fresh stock from Knock. He filled the font for her! She rummaged at the hall mirror shelf to find the empty holy water bottles she had sitting there, and he topped off her Knock bottle as well (they left the Lourdes bottle empty)!
It’s been a tough Lent for me. The weather has been mostly bad and has prevented me from going to extra Lenten services and even kept me from Mass one Sunday. 12 and half inches of snow will do that to you. But the weather is supposed to get better soon – I hope. Our parish is planning a small camino in October from our church which is a designated Chapel of Mercy to another Chapel of Mercy about 15 miles away. I plan to do that pilgrimage walk – I feel God is calling me to do it.
My good news is that I finished the book Meditation on the Passion Rev. Reginald Walsh, O.P. which I purchased from my Church’s bookstore ( I also purchased another copy online to share !) . It is a wonderful blessing for this season of Lent. Now , I’m reading Spiritual Combat by Scupoli.
May you all experience a fruitful and blessed season of Lent.
pax et bonum
Our parish book study on Saint Teresa’s The Interior Castle was reasonably well attended and the participants now want to read The Way of Perfection, another book by Saint Teresa of Avila.
The book I wrote was a comfort to a young person involved in an institution sponsored by the heterodox religious sisters the book is about.
The elderly lady I care for at her home is getting stronger thanks to doing physical therapy exercises.
My 6th grade catechism students are each reading a book about a Saint for Lent (mostly Ignatius Press “Vision” books) and some have already finished their book or are well into it, and enjoyed it.
My First Confession Prep how-to-examine-your-conscience class ended felicitously with large class of 2nd graders all yelling “happy! happy!” when asked how God feels when they are sorry for their sins, and then again yelling “happy! happy!” with equal enthusiasm when asked how they will feel when they confess their sins to the priest and Jesus forgives them. Homeschool mom who sat in on class with her child said “great class” afterward.
I went to confession and Jesus forgave my sins! Happy! Happy!
My class of 11 brother seminarians (including myself) will be installed to the ministry of Acolyte later this evening.
Please pray for us!
The books Time for God and The Way of a Pilgrim are helping to make this Lent an especially fruitful one.
After being laid off in November, I’m gratified to have been able to build a solid book of consulting business. Please pray for my clients and me.
My good news is that my wife and I are currently taking RCIA classes and will be joining the Church at Easter Vigil (along with our four children).
Hubby, the kids, and I are all better after a nasty round of flu that left all of us some number of pounds lighter. The 11mo old didn’t catch it – Deo Gratias!
Tomorrow our polyphony choir begins work on Lotti’s 8-part “Crucifixus”. The plan is to sing it during the Good Friday liturgy at our FSSP parish.
I forgot to say, so good to read all the news here. and JCHanson – welcome to you and your wife and children!