Category Archives: Look! Up in the sky!

Did God make the universe so huge in order to give us some idea of what “eternity” is?

It has been a long time since I’ve read St. Gregory of Nyssa, but when I saw this video in an x-tweet, something jumped to mind. If memory serves, Gregory described our experience of the Beatific Vision as a spiral. … Read More

Posted in Four Last Things, Look! Up in the sky! |
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“The sky is crying…” – The Vigil and the Tears of St. Lawrence

The sky is crying, look at the tears roll down the street. Thanks to flaming comet dust moving at 60km per second. Today is the Vigil of St. Lawrence, in the older, traditional Roman calendar, replete with purple vestments. Before our … Read More

Posted in Look! Up in the sky!, SESSIUNCULA |
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Summer 2023 etc. Why is so hot? It’s YOUR fault. Or… maybe not.

It has been a hot summer.  CLIMATE CHANGE!  WE ARE ALL GOING TO DROWN IN THE GLACIERS! This was spotted at American Thinker. What NASA and the European Space Agency are admitting but the media are failing to report about … Read More

Posted in Look! Up in the sky!, TEOTWAWKI, The Coming Storm |
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16th Anniversary of Summorum Pontificum – Thoughts on how this might end and a fitting song.

Sincerely, I think all this madness will pass one way or another. Today is the anniversary of the release of Summorum Pontificum, the saintly Pope Benedict XVI’s “emancipation proclamation” for those who desired what they ought to have had all along: freedom … Read More

Posted in Look! Up in the sky!, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices, Traditionis custodes | Tagged
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SUMMER SOLSTICE 2023: “He must increase.  I must decrease.”

Today is the Summer Solstice.  From now, our northern hemispheric days get shorter, as the world’s tilt starts changing our daily/seasonal clocks. I was so aware of how the days were changing while I was in Rome, especially because I … Read More

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Happy AEQUINOCTIUM!

In the North, which is where most of you readers are, it is the first day of Spring, the Vernal Equinox, today.  We are interested in this day in particular because we date Easter as the 1) first Sunday 2) after the first full … Read More

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A peek at the Moon

Last night I watched a great documentary about the Apollo 8 mission.  What days those were!  So, that being fresh in my mind, look at this. The hidden colors of the regolith are revealed in this 81 megapixel shot of … Read More

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SOLAR FLARE AND RADIO BLACKOUT: Possible CME in bound, which means Aurora on 14 February

From Spaceweather.com POSSIBLE EARTH-DIRECTED CME: Yesterday’s X1-class solar flare attracted all the attention, but it did not produce a CME. Another explosion did. Five hours before the X-flare, a filament of magnetism erupted from the sun’s northern hemisphere and hurled … Read More

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Ad repellendas tempestates… Prayers for the repelling of storms.

In the 1962 Missale Romanum there are prayers “in order to repel storms”.  I am using these prayers now in the face of hurricane Ian. The prayers are ancient, to be found in the 5th c. Gelasian Sacramentary (PL 74) in “XLVII. … Read More

Posted in ACTION ITEM!, Global Killer Asteroid Questions, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Look! Up in the sky!, Save The Liturgy - Save The World, SESSIUNCULA | Tagged
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Serotinal autumnal nycthemeral parity

Today is the Autumnal Equinox. The Sun crosses the celestial equator on its southerly course at 21:03 EDT (1:04 UTC of 23 September 2022). You knew that Autumn has come because in the traditional Roman calendar, so much more closely … Read More

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Do know what “Maranatha” is in the Catholic Church? Really?

What passed through my mind when I read this… I’ll say, below. From NASA: Watch Live as NASA Spacecraft Collides With Far-Off Asteroid NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), the world’s first mission to test technology for defending Earth against … Read More

Posted in Hard-Identity Catholicism, Just Too Cool, Look! Up in the sky!, SESSIUNCULA | Tagged , , ,
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Just Too Cool: Mars rover Curiosity is 10 years old

For your amazement… Curiosity takes us everywhere… even up a Martian mountain! It's been 10 years since @MarsCuriosity's daring landing on the Red Planet. Set a reminder to join the celebration and chat with mission team members. Submit questions with #AskNASA … Read More

Posted in Just Too Cool, Look! Up in the sky! |
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Daily Rome Shot 481, etc.

Photo by The Great Roman™ This, from Chess.com, is almost too easy, but perhaps some readers here are not quite as practiced. Consult your “checks, captures, threats”. White to move and completely win. Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks … Read More

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Miscellaneous observations

A few interesting stories… First, call about a long distance call.  HERE   In 1977 Voyager 1 was sent to the outer edge of the solar system.   In November, NASA wanted try to extend the probe’s life by doing a course … Read More

Posted in Ham Radio, Just Too Cool, Liberals, Look! Up in the sky!, Random Thoughts, You must be joking! | Tagged , , ,
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Macro and micro.

There is an amazing image at APOD today, a representation of the “Observable Universe”. There is something simultaneously elevating and visceral about this image, forward looking and yet primitive. I have a sense that the cosmos is so large because … Read More

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Hurricane paths mapped from 1985 to 2005. Wherein Fr. Z rants about life-saving stuff.

Take in this photo from APOD.  These are hurricane paths mapped from 1985 to 2005. A few really bad ones are in there. Disasters always happen to other people… until it’s your turn. You should have plans and backups, especially … Read More

Posted in GO TO CONFESSION, Look! Up in the sky!, Semper Paratus, The Coming Storm, Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged ,
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Supercell

At APOD today there is an amazing video of a supercell. Click over for the explanation.

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Two portentous items: wonders in the heavens above

Today during Holy Mass for Ember Wednesday in the Octave of Pentecost, I read in Latin from Acts 2 what Peter said about the End Times… I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth beneath, … Read More

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26 May 2021: Blood Supermoon Total Lunar Eclipse

Tomorrow, 26 May 2021, there will be a Blood Supermoon Total Lunar Eclipse. It will be visible from southeast Asia, across the Pacific, to the southwest Americas. “Blood” refers to the color of the Moon during full eclipse.  Supermoon means … Read More

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A missed anniversary: Freedom 7

At APOD today we find a pic of the Mercury-Redstone 3 lift-off from Cape Canaveral of Alan Shepard in Freedom 7.  5 May 1961… 60 years ago. 60 years. Alan Shepard would later command Apollo 14 and walk on your … Read More

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