Meanwhile,… white to move and mate in 2.
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NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
The battle in Fischer Random is underway in St. Louis. Legend Garry Kasparov (the oldest by far and the only non-American) did really well! Action continues today. Crazy openings.
The traditional Benedictine monks of Norcia make terrific beer. Three kinds! I’ll be your parish priest would like some!
From today’s Bollettino:
Possible agenda points: How to deal with “the Americans”. How to deal with a particular American bishop “pour encourager les autres”.
Today’s feast, the Nativity of Mary, is older than the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, which was precisely nine months ago.
Stop for a moment. Consider what our eternal prospects were before the birth not only of Our Lord, but also before the birth of His Mother, from whom He took our human nature, the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Ponder the state of slavery to sin in which we were bound and, after death, the strong possibility of everlasting separation from God.
Given what our prospects were, celebrating the birth of our fallen humanity’s solitary boast is a really good idea.
Holy Church, in celebrating liturgically her holy birth for a long time, ultimately reasoned back to Mary’s holy conception. As St. Thomas Aquinas argued,
“The Church celebrates the feast of our Lady’s Nativity. Now the Church does not celebrate feasts except of those who are holy. Therefore, even in her birth the Blessed Virgin was holy. Therefore, she was sanctified in the womb.” (STh III, q. 27, a. 1)
As we worship, so do we believe.
As we believe, so do we worship.
Change our worship you change belief, and vice versa.
We are our rites.
Here is the entry in the Roman Martyrology for today’s feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary:
Festum Nativitatis beatae Mariae Virginis, ex semine Abrahae, de tribu Iuda ortae, ex progenie regis David, e qua Filius Dei natus est, factus homo de Spiritu Sancto, ut homines vetusta servitute peccati liberaret.
The feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, sprung from the seed of Abraham [and] from the tribe of Judah, from the line of David the king, from which was born the Son of God, made man of the Holy Ghost, that he might free men from the ancient slavery to sin.
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ElizabethG
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Meanwhile, black to move and mate in three.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
I saw an interesting article at Crisis about the best US cities in which to raise a Catholic family right now.
Ave Maria, Florida
Cincinnati, Ohio
Front Royal, Virginia
Greenville, South Carolina
Kansas City, Missouri
Knoxville, Tennessee
Lincoln, Nebraska
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
South Bend, Indiana
Steubenville, Ohio
Bonus: St. Mary’s, Kansas
Go there and find out the reasons.
In chessy news, there was a fun event at the St. Louis Chess Club (I might to to slither St. Louis into the list because of the STLCC). The Fischer Random (Chess 960 aka Chess 9LX) tournament is starting 8 Sept. But before the tournament they had a regular chess team event of rapid games wherein each member would play 5 moves and then the next member of the team took over. And the players were encouraged to “tr ash talk” (there wasn’t all that much). It was fun. HERE
Former World Champ Garry Kasparov and Fabi hazing Wesley So (who made a couple of “interesting” moves) .
Looking for a read? This is by Scott Hahn.
It Is Right and Just: Why the Future of Civilization Depends on True Religion.
I was so pleased to see in it an emphasis on the virtue of Religion, which for years I have been writing and talking about in terms of the renewal of our sacred liturgical worship.
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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 is much better but recovery is slow.
ALSO… UPDATE
Back 0n 22 August I posted:
Also, for my physical next-door neighbor, “Mike”, who knocked my door the other day for a ride to the hospital. He has been diagnosed with leukemia which came on, BANG!, without warning. The jab is suspected. He’ll be in the hospital for over a month. I am taking care of his house, lawn, etc.
I stayed in touch with Mike via text and then he went silent. I had a phone call from his sister yesterday who got my number from Mike’s phone. Mike died. His sister said that he just couldn’t stand the treatment anymore and asked for hospice care. She told me that they got a priest there – THANKS BE TO GOD – who heard his confession, anointed him, and gave him Communion. I hope he got the Apostolic Pardon, too.
Anyway, I’ll be taking care of his house and lawn for a while until the family (who are in another part of the country) figure things out.
Please pray for the repose of soul of Mike M.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
And as far as you readers are concerned, remember the most important petition in our Church’s great Litany:
“A subitanea et improvisa morte… From a sudden and unprovided death, spare us O Lord.”
A sudden death can be a blessing.
A sudden and unprovided death – unprovided in the sense of having no recourse to the sacraments when you are not in the state of grace – is a horrifying prospect.
Make plans for, provide for, the needs of both body and soul for yourselves and those in your charge.
You don’t know when your death will come, natural or not.
Everyone….
GO TO CONFESSION!
Fathers! Bishops! You will be called to account for the souls entrusted to you.
Preach about sin, about the Four Last Things, about the Sacrament of Penance.
HEAR CONFESSIONS!
This vide of Bp. Strickland of Tyler is a pretty good analogy about the Novus Ordo and the Vetus Ordo.
I’ve known priests who think that adding elements of the Traditional Latin Mass their celebrations of the Novus Ordo, “enriching” or “enhancing it” that they’ve really accomplished something, that they’ve solved the problem, threaded the needle, navigated the shoals. They haven’t. Sure, they’ve improved the Novus Ordo a bit. However, if you have to add elements of the TLM to the NO to make it better, why not just use the TLM and then, perhaps bring in aspects of the ars celebrandi we have learned from the Novus Ordo over the last few decades?
In my discussions with Card. Ratzinger in the early 90’s I had the sense that his desire for “mutual enrichment” aimed at, principally, bringing the Novus Ordo into line with the Roman Tradition. As the years past, I think his emphasis shifted. Rather than see the Novus Ordo as a foundation of the liturgical renewal, he came to see the TLM as the foundation. The enrichment between the two rites would take place organically but the TLM would have the logical priority. That’s how the renewal of sacred worship would take place. I think that that is also going to be how it comes about. It might not be in my lifetime, but I have an inkling that that is where things are going.
Anyway, here is Bp. Strickland in a video I picked up. UPDATE: I learned that it is from Mass Of Ages
Welcome new registrant:
Charles D. Fraune
Meanwhile, white to move and mate in 2.
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NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
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In chessy news, Tata Steel India is underway. The World’s Women’s Team Championship is taking place in Bydgoszcz, Poland. There is a piece at chess.com about a new study recently announced by the Journal of the American Medical Association. Playing chess can reduce the risk of dementia. HERE Old and young alike, let’s play chess!
BTW… the new registrant, above, has authored a book which I have mentioned in the past.
Slaying Dragons
Note the subtitle: “What exorcists see and what we should know“.
US HERE – UK HERE
A couple chapters might be of particular interest
Chapter 9 – Resisting Diabolical Influence
Chapter 10 – Protecting Your Spiritual Life
Here is an excerpt from the Introduction:
Anyone who is paying attention to spiritual matters at this time in the history of the world is aware that things are quite destabilized. The practice of the Christian faith is dying in most parts of the world. The majority of Catholics do not believe the teachings of the church and do not even attend Sunday mass regularly. Many Catholics, in addition to many Protestant groups, are capitulating to the spirit of the world and embracing as good those acts which have always been seen as gravely immoral. Exorcisms, and a demand for them, are on the rise all throughout the world. In the US, the number of adherents of paganism and witchcraft have risen two figures surpassing the number of registered Presbyterians. Satanists feel quite comfortable being out in the open and US laws have been proven powerless to stop the spread of this evil into the public sectors of our society.
In the midst of this perfect storm, many church leaders have demonstrated themselves to be unwilling to teach the fullness of the Church’s traditions in matters of belief and practice. As a result, most Catholics do not believe, or even think twice about, the existence of the devil or spiritual warfare, even though Sacred Scripture is filled with references to this aspect of our spiritual lives. Further, due to the rising number of Catholics who live and remain in a state of mortal sin, exposure to the influence of the diabolical is extremely high. These Catholics, though, are completely unaware of the spiritual danger they are in, and of the weapons they can use to protect themselves and combat the demons that pursue them.
Perfect storm, indeed.
Folks, we are at war.
From a reader:
Dear Fr. Z,
I thought you might appreciate this poem on the Synod on Synodality. It was generated by ChatGPT. Pretty good, eh? All the more impressive is that the GPT-3.5 Large Language Model is only trained on news events through September 2021…meaning the Synod’s agenda was already detectable two years ago, even to an AI chatbot!
It was too good not to share, so feel free to post! Maybe your readers can try to outdo each other in the combox with Synod-inspired poetry of their own (AI-generated or not)…
Also attached is a screenshot.
God bless,
Synod on Synodality: A Poem by ChatGPT
In chambers where agendas play,
A Synod’s dance begins its sway,
A masquerade of “dialogue” they say,
Yet veils are thin, truth’s price to pay.
Synod on synodality, a modern scene,
Where liberal dreams may intervene,
A clever ruse, a cunning scheme,
In name of progress, they convene.
With every vote and subtle nod,
A liberal agenda seeks to prod,
Traditional hearts, they aim to sway,
But through the haze, we see their play.
Oh, Synod’s charade, you’re quite the show,
A liberal fest, with pomp aglow,
They whisper change and “open minds,”
Yet core beliefs, they leave behind.
Synod on synodality, a circus grand,
Where principles shift like shifting sand,
Tradition’s voice they try to drown,
While “tolerance” is their new crown.
But we’re no fools, we see the game,
Behind the curtain, it’s all the same,
A liberal masquerade, oh what a sight,
Where truth and orthodoxy take their flight.
So Synod, dance with your intent,
Your liberal leanings, blatant and bent,
A spectacle of “dialogue” and “new,”
Yet through it all, tradition rings true.
At The Catholic Thing today, my friend Dr. Robert Royal asks the elephantine – nay, rather, mastodontic question: Is there something wrong in Rome?
The obvious answer is YES. Only a fool or fanatical ideologue (in the real sense) would deny it. The question to be asked next is, “What is wrong in Rome?”
Can everything be laid at the feet of Francis? No. The Enemy is really good at being an enemy. The best of men can be twisted and corrupted through the quest for, proximity to, and attainment of honors, influence and power. Corruptio optimi pessima.
We go forward also with the knowledge that, yes, there is something wrong in Rome because there has always been something wrong in Rome, just as we are reminded by Boccaccio in the Decameron’s second story, or as Hilaire Belloc said: “The Catholic Church is an institution I am bound to hold divine — but for unbelievers a proof of its divinity might be found in the fact that no merely human institution conducted with such knavish imbecility would have lasted a fortnight.”
So there’s simple human weakness – thanks Adam! And there’s the work of the Enemy. The Enemy is going to be very active in Rome. It stands to reason. Where better than there? There you have both the brightest and best as well as the less impressive in the dusty chandelier of humanity. No one, in any position, powerful or not, is entirely immune to the world, the flesh, and the Devil (cf. James 3:15).
We might get some traction scrabbling after and answer by saying that, if Francis is not the problem, those surrounding him are. Those who write his speeches and prep him for questions sure are.
“Personnel is policy”, as they quipped in the Reagan years. A leader such as a pope inherits secular, financial, diplomatic, religious personnel from his predecessor. Then he will make changes that reflects his policies, positions… beliefs, especially in the case of a pope. Look at those with whom Francis has surrounded himself, especially in key positions. He has gone through the Curia with a scythe, eliminating the vast majority of those aligned with the views and works of his two closest predecessors. More and more, all things that rise converge in him. Far from decentralizing governance, it seems that he is taking more and more control. And if institutions with visible governing figures remain? “Personnel is policy.”
In my own experiences in Rome, where my antennae are fully extended and spidey-sense tingling, I’ve had a dire feeling of gloom the closer I would get to St. Peter’s. The last time, I forced myself to go there only twice, for personal business at the “bank” and to see the head of the Swiss Guard, who is a friend, and attend the swearing in of the new Guards. Even then, I did not set foot even a single time inside the colonnade. It was as if there was an darkly invisible fog or blocking shield that felt depressing. Last October when I went to the Basilica, afterward I felt like I needed a long soak in something astringent. And to think that I used to say Mass in the Basilica every morning for years. Such a glorious place. Corruptio optimi pessima.
NB: When Pope Sixtus V set up the great obelisk in the center of the St. Peter’s Square it was exorcised and place as a kind of permanent exorcism to all who might approach the Basilica. The base is even inscribed, on the outward face, with a line from the rite of exorcism. Back in the day, clerics were encouraged to say prayers of exorcism as they approached. However, I think that that exorcism in the square – and in a lot of other places too – ought to be renewed. After all, manifestly demonic idols were brought in, venerated, and even placed on the MAIN ALTAR over the bones of the apostle.
My conversations with people regularly in Rome bear out a consistent impression: the ecclesial scene feels like East Germany. Everyone is on edge.
Things are the way they are in Rome right now because that’s the course Francis set. It is hard not to conclude that he wants things this way.
Is there something wrong in Rome?
There is no need to make a list of indicators of wrongness here.
Another great English convert, G.K. Chesterton responded to the question “What’s wrong with the world?” with the simple, “I am.”
Here is some rightness. Let us look to our own houses before we do anything else.
Robert Royal. I started this post with him and then started to ramble. Go over to The Catholic Thing and read his thoughts, especially on what Francis’s latest statements reveal and what might be coming in the Synod (“walking together”), now to be shrouded in secrecy in order to avoid “gossip” and “ideology”.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Photo by The Great Roman™
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Al Jolson
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Black (Karpov) to move and mate (Korchnoi) in 3.
These two really hated each other. Their rivalry is legendary.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
Interested in learning? Try THIS.
Yesterday in one of the opening matches of the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship, my guy Wesley So defeated Levon Aronian handily. Still in the Round of 16. Big names are playing: Magnus, Ding, Hikaru, Fabi, Gukesh, MVL, etc. Format, three segments: 90 minutes of 5+1, 60 minutes of 3+1, and 30 minutes of 1+1. A total of $150K prize money.
I was happy to see that more of you are doing the puzzles and that some of you went to visit Chess House.
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
A Daily Prayer for Priests
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