It has been some time since I’ve asked.
What is your good news? Share something good and positive with the readership.
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 ASK FATHER: Kissing the priest’s hand in the Latin Mass v. the liturgical spirit of Judas. Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “Thank you Fr Z. Then there’s the scene of Pope Francis violently ripping his hand away from the faithful attempting…”
- on ASK FATHER: Kissing the priest’s hand in the Latin Mass v. the liturgical spirit of Judas. Wherein Fr. Z rants.: ““That’s just a remanent of an imperial court…” Sold! I’ll take a double order, please!”
- on ASK FATHER: Kissing the priest’s hand in the Latin Mass v. the liturgical spirit of Judas. Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “Beautiful post Fr.The poem is wonderful.I am 71 yrs of age and i thank God for the Latin Mass.You write…”
- on ASK FATHER: Kissing the priest’s hand in the Latin Mass v. the liturgical spirit of Judas. Wherein Fr. Z rants.: ““Liberals accuse traditionalists of clinging to the useless bowing and scraping of ancient court practices. They won’t kneel! No! They’ve…”
- on ASK FATHER: Kissing the priest’s hand in the Latin Mass v. the liturgical spirit of Judas. Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “When you got to “Sounds like a ritual to me,” it reminded me of the wonderful book by Thomas Edward…”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “I agree with the above sentiments, given that our government seems hell-bent (literally) on starting a war with Russia over…”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “Fr Z I agree with MaternalView above. The world situation is shaky and a trip to Poland… next to Ukraine…”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “I‘ll assume black goes „upward“ and down left is h8. 1. f5+ forcing gf6 (xf5 e. p.) 2. h5+ forcing…”
- on Faith practice declining far and wide…. except…: “Lori announced massive parish closings, along with the suppression of the Latin Mass in diocese. Sure suicide by cutting off…”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “I think people have lost confidence in all manner of things, airplane manufacturers, airlines, FAA, government agencies who are supposed…”
- on Wednesday after the 2nd Sunday after Easter – traditional Solemnity of ST. JOSEPH! – Terror of demons, Protector of Holy Church!: “Aw, dear St. Joseph. I love him so much. I was blessed to go to a mass of this feast…”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “1. . . . . .. . . . . . . h7-h5+ 2. g5-h6(×h5) . f7-f5+ 3. K-g5 .…”
- 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…”
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 ...
Starting this Sunday, Epiphany, there will be a new monthly TLM on the first Sunday of the month in the San Francisco Bay Area. The first Mass was actually a Solemn High Mass at Midnight Christmas Eve. The Sunday Masses will be at 5:00 PM at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Belmont.
I would say that the Midnight Mass was well attended even though it was not heavily promoted…at least I didn’t see it in the diocesan newspaper. But word of mouth works well in Traditional circles.
Photos: https://tlmofsf.smugmug.com/Christmas-Midnight-Mass-IHM-Belmont/i-jvjzrgV
Also check out the carefully worded announcement of the introduction of these Masses: https://sanctatrinitasunusdeus.com/2018/12/30/latin-masses-on-the-first-sundays-of-the-month-begin-at-ihm-belmont-ca/
The Midnight Mass was a joint effort of the TLM communities in other parts of the SF Bay Area. If you are in the area, please show your support by attending on one of the first Sundays of the month!
Somewhat late in life and out of necessity I’ve gone back to school for a masters in social work. My good news is that my first semester grades were the highest marks across the board. One semester down and three more to go!
A colleague came up to me this week, said how much she likes some of my work, and asked if I’d be interested in doing some small side gig work to help her with her side gig. Since I work for peanuts at a non-profit and money’s been really tight, this was music to my ears. I really need the extra money, but the vote of confidence in my talents was also a sorely needed morale booster.
My impossibly accomplished wife is the new Delegate to the AKC for the Borzoi Club of America.
Our impossibly lovely girl Miss Delilah had her entry to next month’s Westminster Kennel Club show accepted. Her grandmother Lacey was Best of Breed there in 2004.
I visiting family in Indiana and went to mass at St. Bernard in Rockport and at the Mass on the Sunday before the new year, at the end of mass, the Priest told the assembled that the 1st was a Holy Day of Obligation and you must attend and mortal sin not to attend. He further stated that “it would be a bad way to start the year with a mortal sin” – how
http://stbernardrockport.org/
I sent the following a week or so ago to some friends as part of a longer note on the topic of miracles and how God works; seemed right to post it here.
God always surprises us in every possible way, miracles are all around us that so many attribute to this or that natural explanation rather than admit to His most personal work for each of us. Miracles are His thing, and He decides when they happen.
Many of us have been praying for a few months now for a friend’s son who had an aggressive cancer. He had just left Portland for a last shot at a cure, some new experimental treatment in Texas. It did not look good, but all prayed so much the harder; whatever medical care shortcomings we might have here in Portland, cancer treatment is not one of them. In Texas they did an array of initial tests on him, and he returned home to Portland to await his next trip back down when they would begin treatment. They contacted him a few days later with some startling results. His mom called us hardly able to get the new out, and it was almost as hard to hear it rationally for the stunning news: He was cancer free.
The hair on my arms stands up every time I speak about it as it does for all of His actions on our behalf which are non stop; when He is not acting so obviously, He is simply giving us what we need in letting us work out the details.
My own health situation may not be a bona fide miracle like this, but assuredly it is at least God’s being incredibly caring: I am 23 years from a medical diagnosis (still true) of a few years remaining, and I have been medically treated weekly now for 16 years; the usual therapy course is only a few, with death usually following. And I say Thank You every day, every day.
My eldest son is home for Christmas. Small joys.
Lost 65 pounds…blood sugar under control. Another year HRC not president.
One of our priests (we have a rotating triangulation of three priests among 4 parishes) has restored some key elements of the Liturgy during Mass: He gives the Final Blessing properly, as in: “May Almighty God bless YOU”, instead of “Us”. One down and two to go. The bishop may have helped, since it came only after a lengthy conference with him that cited doctrinal and liturgical issues.
Also, the “pro multis” formula is done properly during the Consecratory Prayer for the Precious Blood.
Two down and one to go.
We will not discuss the sermons here.
This past Christmas marked one full year of having semi-regular Solemn High Masses at my parish (the cathedral of the diocese). Those of us who have been serving have come a long way, and we’ve gained some new guys during the year!
The news is even bigger when you consider that the last Solemn High Mass celebrated prior to that was probably in the sixties.
There will be a Missa Cantata at my home diocesan parish for the Epiphany – I am guessing the first one in at least 50 years and possibly much more! The first one for the Epiphany, that is…we just had a Missa Cantata on the 1st Sunday of Advent which I am fairly sure was the overall first since the 60s.
So overall, in general the good news is that the new boarding school in our small Kansas town has brought the TLM daily (well, when school is in session) to the town and is exposing the parish to it, and already, after only a few months, there is definitely a “stable community” – though still somewhat small – which would fit requirements for Summorum Pontificum to apply, which will be important for when the school completes its own chapel and no longer needs to use the parish church for Masses.
It is just interesting how things work out, because when I left the monastery (one at which I attended both High and Low Mass every day) 9 months ago and was very, VERY much dreading the prospect of not having even at least a weekly Latin Mass readily available, I had absolutely no idea that just 5 months later, there would be DAILY Latin Mass in my own home parish. God is good. We all (I know I do, at least) certainly need to more often recall the “good news” i.e. blessings God gives us each and every day. Even when those blessings take the form of suffering…
16000 college students like me have gathered in Indianapolis for FOCUS’ SEEK2019 conference. That’s 16000 students and ~500 priests who have given up 5 precious days of winter break to learn how to more fully and earnestly encounter the Person of Jesus Christ. Tonight (Saturday) we will gather for a full conference Eucharistic Adoration during which thousands of confessions will be heard. When my generation comes of age, we will be a small but incredibly energized Church ready and equipped to re-Evangelise the world.
Found this article which is about ad orientum in Phoenix: http://thewandererpress.com/catholic/news/frontpage/the-further-the-aim-of-vatican-ii-phoenix-parish-reintroduces-an-ad-orientem-mass/
and a possible explanation of the philosophy of Pope Francis: https://www.crisismagazine.com/2018/pope-francis-indifferentism-and-islamization
I consider finding good articles “good news”.
My dearly beloved husband has finally joined the Catholic Church in the Anglican Ordinariate! Finally! After forty years of marriage. With thanks forever to Our Lady, St. Agatha, all the saints and angels I have been pestering all these years, and our new stalwart Ordinariate priest, who just seems to collect converts wherever he goes…. also not forgetting Benedict XVI, who so generously reached out to people like my husband and made it all possible. Alleluia!
I have a new grandson! (Our first.)
The pastor in Wichita’s Blessed Sacrament, where I grew up, is blessing the doors and teaching the children about the Epiphany Blessing.
*I mean the doors of all of the classrooms in the school.
Good as in interesting: Apparently Fr Longenecker has been smoked out by Dr Kwasniewski.
https://onepeterfive.com/twelve-reasons-longenecker/
Result: https://dwightlongenecker.com/ideologies-ideas-idols-and-insanity/
Wow, we’re now all red-headed step-fascists apparently.
Please don’t display shiny objects or throw snowballs; it may implicate you in ideology.
[How is this your good news?]
Arthur H,
I appreciate your post. Praise God for the answered prayers for both you and your friend’s son!
Your last line,” And I say Thank You every day, every day”, really made me think.
My husband was very ill last year and was healed. I pray daily for God to keep him healthy but I had stopped saying, “Thank you” to him.
I appreciate your witness and reminder that I need to contine to give thanks every day!
I received my grades report this past week and found out that I passed all my classes during my very first semester of seminary (I am in pre-theology 1)! All As except one B!
beelady:
Thanks you for your comment.
The irony of my own particular situation was that on initially hearing of my medical problem(s), I was blown away by the news: I simply could not comprehend that despite my seeming to one and all, myself included, that I looked in fine health, I was not. The shock was near overwhelming.
But, immediately after my shock dropped from acute to chronic-with-spikes, my girl friend and I– who had been talking about marriage (which I ended when I got the diagnosis)– went ahead with our plans sooner than intended, and indeed did we married; she would not accept my loss of hope as a reason to give-up what we had. 22 Happy years later, hers seemed the wiser choice.
Despite all the annoyance and some discomfort of any long term illness, the fact remains that one is STILL alive; and once being-alive is recognized for the good it is, there is nothing else to say BUT “Thank You” to Him. Far from being a curse, an unfortunate physical evil that impacts ongoing life, I really do consider my condition a blessing for waking me up to see every new day, regardless of physical state, as a blessing.
He knows I would rather not have what I have– I still would love a miracle cure– but accepting what He HAS offered (a functional life for my senior-age) makes my obedient acceptance of His will clear, recognizing also His gift that is each new day. The world changes when one sees that.
I had two Phone interviews today. I have been out of work since June and interviews have been slow in comming. So two phone interviews in one is great news! One I have been invited for a face to face interview.
Last summer I was diagnosed with Stage 2 bladder cancer and underwent aggressive chemotherapy for 3 months.
The week before Christmas I had a cystectomy (goodbye bladder) and have been in recovery mode since then.
Last week my pathology reports came back and I am cancer free!
I owe it all to my surgeon, my many family and friends who prayed for me and to the good Lord himself and Our Lady.
Tomorrow I begin my 33-day consecration to Mary in thanks!