Have you thought today yet about the fact that you are going to die?
Here, let me help.
I was recently told about a maker of caskets in the USA: Marian Caskets.
They are inspired by Pope John Paul II’s casket.
One day delivery in the Seattle area.
Two day delivery available throughout most of the U.S.
Pre-need purchasing available.
Sent by a reader:
In 1876, the centenary of the Declaration of Independence was commemorated with a months-long Exposition in the text’s birthplace. Though he was still to be named to the Premier See in the footsteps of John Carroll– a cousin of the Declaration’s lone Catholic signer, and in his own right a formidable leader of the Revolutionary cause — such was Gibbons’ reputation that the 42 year-old bishop of Richmond was asked to deliver the invocation at the event’s opening.
Taking as his springboard Carroll’s famous 1791 Prayer for the Nation, here’s James Card. Gibbons’ 1876 revision:
We pray thee, O God of might, wisdom and justice, through whom authority is rightly administered, laws are enacted and judgment decreed, assist with Thy Holy Spirit of counsel and fortitude the President of these United States, that his administration may be conducted in righteousness, and be eminently useful to Thy people over whom he presides, by encouraging due respect for virtue and religion, by a faithful execution of the laws, in justice and mercy, and by restraining vice and immorality. Let the light of Thy divine wisdom direct the deliberations of Congress, and shine forth in all their proceedings and laws framed for our rule and government, so that they may tend to the preservation of peace, the promotion of national happiness, the increase of industry, sobriety, and useful knowledge, and may perpetuate to us the blessings of equal liberty.
We pray Thee for all judges, magistrates, and other officers who are appointed to guard our political welfare, that they may be enabled, by Thy powerful protection, to discharge the duties of their respective stations with honesty and ability.
We pray Thee, especially, for the Judges of our Supreme Court, that they may interpret the laws with even-handed justice. May they ever be the faithful guardians of the temple of the Constitution, whose construction and solemn dedication to our country’s liberties we commemorate today! May they stand as watchful and incorruptible sentinels at the portals of this temple, shielding it from profanation and hostile invasion.
May this glorious charter of our civil rights be deeply imprinted on the hearts and memories of our people! May it foster in them a spirit of patriotism! May it weld together and assimilate in national brotherhood the diverse races that come to seek a home among us. May the reverence paid to it constitute the promotion of social stability and order, and may it hold the aegis of its protection over us and generations yet unborn, so that the temporal blessings which we enjoy may be perpetuated.
Grant, O Lord, that our Republic, unexampled in material prosperity and growth of population, may be also, under Thy overruling providence, a model to all nations, in upholding liberty without license, and in wielding authority without despotism!
Finally, we recommend to Thy unbounded mercy all our brethren and fellow-citizens throughout the United States, that they may be blessed in the knowledge and sanctified in the observance of Thy most holy law, that they may be preserved in union, and in that peace which the world cannot give, and, after enjoying the blessings of this life, be admitted to those which are eternal.
Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
May the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, descend upon our beloved country and upon all her people, and abide with them forever! Amen.
A tip of the biretta to Rogueclassicism for the reminder that today is the anniversary of the dedication of the Ara Pacis in Rome in 13 BC.
The Ara Pacis, which has new digs that look rather like a poorly designed gasoline station, now stands hard by the Mausoleum of Augustus Caesar. The long wall of the supporting structure bears the entire Res Gestae Divi Augusti in embedded bronze letters.
The first panel:
Try reading part of it aloud:
Annos undeviginti natus exercitum privato consilio et privata impensa comparavi per quem rem publicam a dominatione factionis oppressam in liberatatem vindicavi.
One of my favorite parts is where Augustus boasts about the accomplishment of closing the doors of the Temple of Janus. These doors were closed only where there was a state of peace. This was probably the occasion of the fullness of time, when the Roman state, so important for the foundation and “culture” of the Catholic Church Christ founded, was at peace… and therefore ready for the birth of our Lord into this our vale of tears.
At the site of the UK’s best Catholic weekly, The Catholic Herald, you can read about “10 of the world’s most amazing priests”.
I’ll give you just the names without the descriptive paragraphs:
UPDATE:
Please note that the list comes from a writer for The Catholic Herald. It is NOT, as some people have mistakenly suggested before, my list.
The following prayer was composed by John Carroll, Archbishop of Baltimore, in 1791. He was the first bishop appointed for the United States in 1789 by Pope Pius VI. He was made the first archbishop when his see of Baltimore was elevated to the status of an archdiocese.
John was a cousin of Charles Carroll of Maryland, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Fathers, you might want to have everyone pray it after Mass.
PRAYER FOR GOVERNMENT We pray, Thee O Almighty and Eternal God! Who through Jesus Christ hast revealed Thy glory to all nations, to preserve the works of Thy mercy, that Thy Church, being spread through the whole world, may continue with unchanging faith in the confession of Thy Name. We pray Thee, who alone art good and holy, to endow with heavenly knowledge, sincere zeal, and sanctity of life, our chief bishop, Pope N., the Vicar of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the government of his Church; our own bishop, N., all other bishops, prelates, and pastors of the Church; and especially those who are appointed to exercise amongst us the functions of the holy ministry, and conduct Thy people into the ways of salvation. We pray Thee O God of might, wisdom, and justice! Through whom authority is rightly administered, laws are enacted, and judgment decreed, assist with Thy Holy Spirit of counsel and fortitude the President of these United States, that his administration may be conducted in righteousness, and be eminently useful to Thy people over whom he presides; by encouraging due respect for virtue and religion; by a faithful execution of the laws in justice and mercy; and by restraining vice and immorality. Let the light of Thy divine wisdom direct the deliberations of Congress, and shine forth in all the proceedings and laws framed for our rule and government, so that they may tend to the preservation of peace, the promotion of national happiness, the increase of industry, sobriety, and useful knowledge; and may perpetuate to us the blessing of equal liberty. We pray for his excellency, the governor of this state , for the members of the assembly, for all judges, magistrates, and other officers who are appointed to guard our political welfare, that they may be enabled, by Thy powerful protection, to discharge the duties of their respective stations with honesty and ability. We recommend likewise, to Thy unbounded mercy, all our brethren and fellow citizens throughout the United States, that they may be blessed in the knowledge and sanctified in the observance of Thy most holy law; that they may be preserved in union, and in that peace which the world cannot give; and after enjoying the blessings of this life, be admitted to those which are eternal. Finally, we pray to Thee, O Lord of mercy, to remember the souls of Thy servants departed who are gone before us with the sign of faith and repose in the sleep of peace; the souls of our parents, relatives, and friends; of those who, when living, were members of this congregation, and particularly of such as are lately deceased; of all benefactors who, by their donations or legacies to this Church, witnessed their zeal for the decency of divine worship and proved their claim to our grateful and charitable remembrance. To these, O Lord, and to all that rest in Christ, grant, we beseech Thee, a place of refreshment, light, and everlasting peace, through the same Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior. Amen.
You can’t make up this sort of thing.
This is also in secular papers (because they are organs of the Obama campaign) but I found this on Life News.
Biden brings cookies and ice cream to LCWR president’s motherhouse
BY KATHLEEN GILBERT
DUBUQUE, Iowa, July 3, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Vice President Joe Biden [who is PRO-abortion] made a quiet visit [so quiet that there is a photo and we are reading about it now] to the religious sisters of St. Francis in Dubuque last week, the motherhouse of the current president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). [Coincidence? I think not.]
David Gibson of the Religion News Service wrote that about 150 people were present at the event, and noted that the Dubuque location is the motherhouse of LCWR president Sr. Patricia Farrell, OSF. A recent newsletter also lists Farrell as one of the vice presidents of the Dubuque house. It wasn’t clear whether Farrell was present for Biden’s visit.
“The Vice-President got to know the sisters through an old friend in Dubuque, during a previous trip to the city,” said a campaign official, according to RNS. “This was nothing more than a private, casual reunion of friends of faith over ice cream and cookies.” [Blech. Just shoot me now.]
Biden’s Twitter account confirmed the visit, saying the vice president went to “catch up” with the sisters during a campaign stop in the battleground state. A photograph of Biden greeting one sister was tweeted from the account. [But it was just a quiet visit.]
LCWR, a large umbrella group of religious sisters [NO. It is a group of the leaders of communities of sisters.] well known as a lobby for liberal social causes, made headlines in 2010 as one of the most high-profile Catholic groups supporting the federal health care legislation, joining the Catholic Health Association.
Although an association of conservative sisters shot back at the time with their own statement opposing the reform effort, in union with U.S. bishops, at least one Catholic Democrat in the House cited “the [Magisterium of] nuns” as the reason for deciding to support the bill, according to a source on the Hill. [Sr. Keehan… GIVE BACK THAT PEN!]
President Obama later appointed Sr. Marlene Weisenbeck, who headed LCWR during the health care push, as the only Catholic on his Council for Faith-Based Partnerships in 2011.
More recently, LCWR expressed outrage after it was sanctioned by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith this year, following an investigation into its liberal advocacy.
The Vatican’s doctrinal assessment cited evidence that, despite LCWR’s promotion of legitimate social justice in certain areas, the group’s agenda “is silent on the right to life from conception to natural death” and does not include “the church’s biblical view of family life and human sexuality … in a way that promotes church teaching.” [In other words they are useful idiots in the eyes of the Obama Administration.]
I have made it a habit each day to look at the Martyrologium Romanum. Among the many interesting and edifying entries today, three in particular caught my eye.
13. Apud Hurones in territori Canadensi, sancti Antonii Daniel, presbyteri e Societate Iesu et martyris, qui, Missa perfecta, ad fores oratorii assistens in tutela neophytarum ab inimicis ethnicis irrumpentibus, sagittis perfusus et tandem igne combustus est. Cuius memoria cum sociis agitur die undevicesima octobris.
15. In urbe Hemceuvensi in Hunanensi Sinarum provincia, sancti Caesidii Giacomantonio, prebyteri ex Ordine Minorum et martyris, qui in persecutione a fautoribus factionis “Yihetuan” patrata, dum Sanctissimum Sacramentum a satellitum turba protege conabatur, lapidibus obrutus et lineo petrolelo imbuto involutus igne occubuit.
16. Augustae Taurinorum in Italia, beati Petri Georgii Frassati, qui, iuvenis in consociationibus laicorum catholicorum militans, in societatem excitandam et caritatem erga paupers aegrotosque exercendam totum animum alacriter impendit, donec paralysi fulminea correptus occubuit.
I will let you readers develop your own flawless yet smooth translations.
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
A Daily Prayer for Priests
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DUBUQUE, Iowa, July 3, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Vice President Joe Biden 