YOUR URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS

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In your charity would you please take a moment look at the requests and to pray for the people about whom you read?

Continued from THESE.

Let’s remember all who are ill, who will die soon, who have died recently, who have lost their jobs, who are afraid.

I get many requests by email asking for prayers. Some are heart-achingly grave and urgent.

As long as my blog reaches so many readers in so many places, let’s give each other a hand. We should support each other in works of mercy.

If you have some prayer requests, feel free to post them below.

You have to be registered here to be able to post.

In your kindness continue prayers for my mother, who has been diagnosed with something grave, progressive and incurable.

Pray for me, for my circumstances and wisdom in my decisions.

Also, I received this note:

Posted in Urgent Prayer Requests |
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Daily Rome Shot 1196 – A note to donors

In Rome at The Parish™, the beautiful presepio has been set up. I would like to see it in person. It is without doubt one of the finest in Rome and it underscores also the history of the church and the Archconfraternity which St. Philip Neri founded there.

This is entirely Roman but the figures are in the “Neapolitan” style of nativity scenes.  Here you see, in the right, two members of the Archconfraternity in their red habits, a pilgrim, and St. Philip, seated.

There are two clerics, one a priest one a prelate, in the foreground.  Note the buckles on their shoes.

A NOTE TO DONORS / BENEFACTORS:

If you are using CONTINUE TO GIVE to send donations, please contact me.  I really want to end my relationship with them (fees… clunky… complicated).  Please help me out.  Drop me a note?   Reply to one of my thank you notes or use this link HERE.

As you may know Nancy Pelosi has openly stated to Fishwrap – who else? –  that she disregards her Archbishop’s letter that she should not receive Communion in the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

I received Communion anyway. That’s his problem, not mine. My Catholic faith is, Christ is my savior. It has nothing to do with the bishops.”

How should Archbishop Cordileone respond?

Here’s an idea.

YouTube thumbnailYouTube icon

There there’s this:  HERE

An AI companion suggested he kill his parents. Now his mom is suing.

In just six months, J.F., a sweet 17-year-old kid with autism who liked attending church and going on walks with his mom, had turned into someone his parents didn’t recognize.

He began cutting himself, lost 20 pounds and withdrew from his family. Desperate for answers, his mom searched his phone while he was sleeping. That’s when she found the screenshots.

J.F. had been chatting with an array of companions on Character.ai, part of a new wave of artificial intelligence apps popular with young people, which let users talk to a variety of AI-generated chatbots, often based on characters from gaming, anime and pop culture.

One chatbot brought up the idea of self-harm and cutting to cope with sadness. When he said that his parents limited his screen time, another bot suggested “they didn’t deserve to have kids.” Still others goaded him to fight his parents’ rules, with one suggesting that murder could be an acceptable response.

Skynet is setting the board.

Speaking of setting in the board, in chessy news… HERE

White to move and mate in 3.

Please remember me when Christmas shopping online and use my affiliate links.  US HEREWHY?  This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc..  At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.

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My View For Awhile: Wind Bound – UPDATED – ADVENTURE!!!

A few days in the cool breezes of the Second City will be good.

A little anxiety passed on his morning. Power was going on and off. Not knowing what was up, I got my car out of the garage and power went down for about an hour.

I don’t like starting trips like that. Hopefully, that will be the sole glitch.

In the other hand I got to the airport about a half hour earlier than I needed because in my distracted state I took the boarding time as the departure time. Hence, here I am, hungry.

And another thing! Must people speak so loudly on their phones? REALLY?

UPDATE

Good soup in the lounge.

So far so good.

UPDATE

Remember that part about “sole glitch”?

On planes they relentlessly tell you about seat belts and tray tables in the upright and locked position.

We landed in Chicago, whereupon, a few seconds later – BAM!

Did you know that airplanes can brake really fast?

Everyone lurched forward in their seats as the brakes brought us to an abrupt stop.

After a few seconds the pilot turned the plane about 45° to port, whereupon there was a bright white light shining in the our starboard windows. Being on the the starboard side, I could see less about 100 yards away the nose of an aircraft with its headlight on. It seems we were playing chicken.

It took a while to sort out, but eventually we did a 180 on the runway and went to the gate. No one was hurt.

Objects may have shifted in the overhead compartments!

That took care of our “early arrival”.

But we got here.

Why no pic?  Because I was, alas, in a middle seat, and the guy at the window, who was the size of a refrigerator, never budged from blocking it long enough for me to grab anything.

Posted in On the road |
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Daily Rome Shot 1195 – Better shot

Right click for larger.   A better shot of the vestments for the Immaculate Conception at The Parish™ in Rome.  Spiffy.

This is interesting…

This…

A favorite… I miss them.

Please remember me when Christmas shopping online and use my affiliate links.  US HEREWHY?  This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc..  At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.

3:16 isn’t just in John.

In chessy news… HERE

White to move and mate in 2.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
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Daily Rome Shot 1194 – OH MY!

In the Via dei Pettinari alongside The Parish™.  From The World’s Best Sacristan™.

He wrote: “We had put the white (candle) up this summer but it would go out with the wind, so it remained there all these months blown out, but a few days ago we found it lit and strangely, even if the wind is blowing, it doesn’t go out.”

Please remember me when Christmas shopping online and use my affiliate links.  US HEREWHY?  This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc..  At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.

The wonderful Dominican sisters of Summit, the “Soap Sisters” will keep their shop open for a few more days before they close for the end of Advent.   They have great gift options.  I get candles for my chapel from them and things for my mother.  Fr. Z’s Mother Approved.

We all saw the consistory list.  I couldn’t watch it.  However, I’m told that, through Radcliff showed up in the habit he slept in, he did get a hair cut.

Andrea Gagliarducci has a piece on the College.  HERE

Catholic Unscripted reacted to the reopening of Notre Dame in Paris.  Regarding the music and the furnishing, let’s just say GMTA.  They echoed what I wrote.  Interesting discussion HERE

In chessy news… OH MY!  HERE

Also, white to move and mate in three.

UPDATE:

Okay… that pushes it a bit. I was also reminded the the Google thing and the Microsoft logo.

However. What I find most alarming is the dash to infantalize the Catholic people through use of what you do to get the attention of babies: primary colors and critters with big eyes, like that dreadful “mascot” for the Jubilee. I’ve ranted for years, decades, about “dumbing down” worship. The result has been “dumbing down” the devotion of the rank and file. If you change how we worship, over time you change what we believe. The massive contrast between the space, Notre Dame, and the new accoutrement is a massive chaotic clash. It’s the liturgical (and therefore doctrinal) slithering of the “smoke” of the Enemy that poison’s the clarity and quality of the Faith-air.

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If it’s Immaculate Conception, then BLUE vestments on the 2nd Sunday of Advent… RIGHT??!? – POLLS

Remember the BLUE vestment craze during Advent?   Does anyone still see that?

Anyone can vote. You must be registered and approved to comment.

In Advent 2024 have you seen any BLUE vestments for Advent Sundays?

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Meanwhile, at The Parish™ in Rome, this is what people say today, but NOT for ADVENT. Rather, for Immaculate Conception! Members of the Archconfraternity in their habits are the torchbearers.

Not too shabby.

Meanwhile, remember the blue vestments during Advent? The use of blue vestments during Advent has been dying out for several years as the aging hippies drop.

Of course there is a basis for blue vestments for Marian Feasts.  There was an indult, though I haven’t seen the text, for Spanish territories.  I saw once reference: “This privilege was granted to Spain, its colonies, and Latin America by a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites on Feb. 12, 1864.” I suppose you would also have to demonstrate that your territory was under Spanish control on 12 Feb 1864.

Apart from whether their use is licit, it is clear that they were used in some Spanish territories and that they probably survive in the Rite of Toledo and in other regions too.

I learned from a commentator here that the Spanish bishops approved, in their liturgical Ordo, the use of blue (“azul”) for the Marian Feast of the Immaculate Conception. A couple years ago it read:

8 LUNES. LA INMACULADA CONCEPCIÓN DE LA VIRGEN MARÍA, patrona de España, solemnidad
(…)
Misa de la solemnidad (blanco o azul).
bl az MISAL: ants. y oracs. prop., Gl., Cr., Pf. props. No se puede decir
(…)

That’s something.

There was an old argument that the purple to be used in Lent should be on the red side of purple and the purple for Advent the blue side.

I dunno.  Frankly, I’ve gotten to a point where, in the time of Francis and the approval of Pachamama Rite, etc., just do what you want.

Over at NLM there is an interesting and serious post about Latin Rite blue vestments in Spain.

But let’s have a walk down nostalgia lane and the Official Parodohymnodists famous

LITURGICAL BLUE!

Sing this to the tune of O Come, O Come Emmanuel:

Sing along!  Lemme help you out.

O come, o come liturgical blue;
out with the old, and in with the new.
Let’s banish purple vestments from here,
the color blue is very HOT this year.

REFRAIN:

Gaudy, gaudy, gaudy chasubles,
in baby, navy, powder-puff and teal.

Since Advent is the Blessed Virgin’s time,
we’ll wear blue, though it’s canonic crime,
and in the third week, we’ll wear white.
Although it’s wrong, we’ll say that it’s alright.

R.

Around the wreath we’ll place blue candlelight,
and in one corner, we will place one white.
We’ll drape blue over our communion rail,
and use blue burses with blue chalice veils.

R.

Yah… we can and should have a little fun with this, for all the seriousness of the role of worship in our lives.

Posted in Linking Back, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, POLLS |
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Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 2nd Sunday of Advent – Immaculate Conception

Too many people today are without good, strong preaching, to the detriment of all. Share the good stuff.

Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at your Mass of obligation for this traditional 2nd Sunday of Advent (Novus Ordo), or, in the Vetus Ordo, the Feast Immaculate Conception?

Tell us about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass.

Any local changes or (hopefully good) news?

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Daily Rome Shot 1193 – The Wreath for the Immaculate Conception

I have great shots today, which I feel compelled to post.   There were sent by The World’s Best Sacristan™ at The Parish™.

Each year, the confreres of the Archconfraternity at Santissma Trinità in Rome give a wreath for Our Lady’s column at the Piazza di Spagna, set up in honor of the infallible declaration of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception (celebrated today, even though it is the 2nd Sunday of Advent).   The confreres make sure that their wreath is front and center for the eyes of which ever Supreme Pontiff will show up.

Let’s follow the wreath from parish to column.    The lovely facade. newly restored, in an artful shot.

We start at Mary’s altar in church.

   

The wreath is in the center still, but someone shoved it over.

Here’s some proof of the report that Francis has a massive bruise on his chin.  From the live stream, I think.

Did anyone watch the live stream of the reopening of Notre Dame in Paris?  I did, for part of it.

The church is splendidly bright.   The vestments and new altar etc., and the organ music, were ugly, contradictory.   The build proclaims ORDER! FAITH! which the accoutrement screams CHAOS! INSTABILITY!

 

GAH!

Check out this disc of Christmas music from the seminary of the FSSP! A great stocking stuffer!

By FSSP seminarians

In chessy news… HERE

White to play and mate in 4.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
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Daily Rome Shot 1192 – A day that will live in infamy.

Please remember me when Christmas shopping online and use my affiliate links.  US HEREWHY?  This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc..  At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.

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Talk about infamy! Try 16 July 2021.  The Traditional Latin Mass must be suppressed. BUT… this!  A whiff of hypocrisy, perhaps? Those high atop the thing are singing along “We are the poseurs! Weeee are the pooooseurs… of the Church!”

I share my outrage with my friend His Hermeneuticalness, the great Fr. Tim Finigan. I feel cheated that we don’t have jet packs by now. HERE

Behold, the Christological Goldfinch!

In chessy news… HERE

Motus ad lusorem cum militibus albis pertinent. Scaccus mattus, scilicet mors regis, duobus in motis veniat.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
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ASK FATHER: Looking for an altar stone

From a transitional deacon…

QUAERITUR:

I am searching for an altar stone because I am in the process of ordering one of those beautiful St. Joseph the Apprentice altars like the one you posted a number of years ago.

As you know altar stones are hard to come by these days and I am on the search. I know you are very busy but if you had any suggestions, advice, or contacts I would be very thankful.

St. Joseph’s Apprentice! Good choice. He makes beautiful portable altars. I warmly endorse him and I am grateful for what he has made for me.

At his website, he wrote (my emphases):

Part of our mission statement here at St. Joseph’s Apprentice is to put as many altar stones back into the service of Our Lord as we can. This remains our goal and we have been very successful. Of the 300 + altars I have built thus far, probably 95% have altar stones. Many of these stones are from the basements of churches or backrooms in rectories. Most altar stones were removed from the altars when the many changes came about with the Sacrifice of the Mass in the 1960’s. The altars, instead of representing a place of sacrifice, became more like a banquet table. Because it was so hard to find suitable altar stones, with much discussion and encouragement of several priests, I started making simple altar stones with empty sepulchers. These altar stones are not consecrated, so a priest will either have to get permission from his Diocesan Offices (Bishop) to consecrate his own stone, or he will have to ask his Bishop to consecrate it himself. I am also willing to sell my altar stones to those priests who only want a stone, not a complete altar.

NB: The cavity into which a relic is placed and then sealed in is called a “sepulcher”.

In addition to rectory basements, sometime there are stones in chancery archives or in parish vaults of churches which are old and at some point wreckovated.  I suspect that some lay people have rescued stones.

I recall how at my hell hole US seminary we seminarians were told by a super heretic traitorous dog of a disgusting priest to dumpsterize vestments and stones from the chapel’s side altars.  We rescued a lot of stuff.  Horrid days.  I digress.

Another solution could be to use an antimension, sometimes called a Greek corporal since Eastern eparchs consecrated then pretty often.  They are like a corporal with a relic sown into or placed in a pocket.  They are spread out like a corporal and are, in effect, a portable altar.

An antimension would cut down on the weight of a St. Joseph’s Apprentice (SJA) altar.

I have a couple antimensia – two sizes, one small enough for my SJA altar – consecrated by Card. Burke using the rite for the consecration of a portable altar.   That rite is not easy to find, so here it is as a public service.

Blessing of ONE – HERE

Blessing of MORE than one – HERE  (NB: You will need to change the name of the saint in the text from St. Justin to whosever relic you have)

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