Welcome registrant:
tractorcrazy
From the wonderful new presepio at Ss. Trinità dei Pelegrini.
Use FATHERZ10 at checkout
Meanwhile, …
White to move and gain material.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
Great monks. Great wine.
Interested in learning? Try THIS.
I’m heading into the proverbially windy urban zone.
I look forward to catching up with friends even at the cost of dealing with flights and airports.
UPDATE
It is still hard for me to get my head around all the dogs in airports and on flights. And some of them are big enough that they should be ticketed.
UPDATE
In the jammed lounge we had the enjoyment every few minutes of flashing strobe lights and a tinny announcement. Not sure if I can upload it from my phone… 22-12-26-atl-lounge-emergency.m4a
It worked, sort of. I found a new thing my app will do.
Gosh, how I enjoy traveling.
UPDATE
SO! With a measure of irritation I head all the way back across the airport for the flight and hear over the speakers in the concourse…
UPDATE
The flight was delayed to begin with and boarding delayed by assistance for 8 people in wheelchairs and only one chair guy – one by one.
On the other hand I got upgraded.
UPDATE
As the seemingly endless boarding process … stasis? … continues, I’ve gotten a couple games of chess in with the plane’s system. It’s not bad.
Here’s a position. Black to move,
And Delta told me after I got on the plane about the problem at the airport several hours after I discovered it first hand. Thanks, Delta!
UPDATE.
Still here! The pilot says there are “load issues”. I suppose they are rearranging things in the hold. I’ll resist additional observations using “load”.
UPDATE:
And the saga continued.
They decided to unload the plane from the middle, or at least not the forward hatch. Hence, being in 1a it took a sometime to get off the plane. Remember: there were some 8 wheelchairs involved.
Getting into the terminal was an experience unlike any I have had in these USA. I might have been in, for all I could tell,…. I dunno.
The hunt for my bag began. The monitor said the my fight’s luggage would come in at carrousel 2. 2. I walked past 11 and 10 – which had Delta signs – and into an area that seemed like it was the outlet for customs and international flights. Many dogs were by now out of their carriers and two of them had begun litigating some dispute. I saw a sign for Domestic Carrousel 9 and headed that way thinking, obviously, that, give the way of numbers, 2 would be after 9.
When I reached the dead end an ingress from the flight arrivals area where a woman – quite definitely not born anywhere near these USA was seated with a palpable attitude of indifference I had no more clues as to the location of 2.
“May I ask where carrousel 2 is, please?
“Carrousel 2 is not be here.”
“Where is be it?
“There! There! Is be there!”, pointing back the way I came.
I made my way back through the dogs and swarms of travelers from the once rifted supercontinent of Gondwana to 10 and 11. Having spotted two guys in uniforms who looked like they handled the unclaimed luggage I asked,
“Where is carrousel 2.”
“There is no carrousel 2.”
“The monitor says that that’s where my flight’s bags are going to be.”
“Oh yeah, we know about that. But they’ll be here.”
“Here? Not 2.”
“Here.”
“Isn’t that a little confusing?”
I looked around and, although I had literally been to the end of things where 2 is not be, and come all the way back, there were very few people I recognized from the flight. I suspected that most of them were finding out that 2 is not be there, too, and wonder what is be to do next.
“Yeah, well, we told them about it. But the bag will come here.”
“The monitors here mention three cities but none of them where I came from.”
“Yeah, that’s another problem. But all the bags come here.”
I thanked them and moved to is be between the two lone options, 10 and 11.
My phone whimpered and I spied a text from Delta that my bag was arriving on carrousel 11.
As I turned and stepped toward 11, I heard a rumble behind me. Bags were coming down the chute to carrousel 10.
I collected my bag and made my way back through the uncased-dogs and denizens of the subcontinent. Never was I so happy to exit an airport terminal.
Tonight.
Chinese food and conversation with friends.
In addition to Boxing Day, and the day good King Wenceslaus went out, it is the feast of St Stephen. I hope all your snow is neat and crisp and even.
For my part I am, at the time this posts, journeying today back into the region of snows.
St. Stephen’s feast has been celebrated this day since the earliest centuries of the Church’s life.
We are also in the Octave of Christmas. Octaves are mysterious. For Holy Church time is suspended so that we can rest in the mystery of the feast. In her wisdom, Holy Church “stops” her clock so that we contemplate the mystery of the feast from different angles, through different lenses.
St. Stephen reminds us of the consequences of discipleship. He is usually depicted surrounded by people who are beating him to death with rocks.
Today, agents serving the “mystical body of Satan” – witting and unwitting – use Twitter to do that. Within the Church, agents are doing that even to priests and bishops.
As I said, there are consequences of discipleship.
Are you ready for consequence in the days remaining to you? Consequences can be more or less dramatic.
We need to get our heads into mental places wherein we can imagine even dire consequences.
I also congratulate all the members of the Archconfraternity of St. Stephen! This is a guild of altar boy that started in England. The first chapter ever outside of England was at my home parish of St. Agnes, in St. Paul. In the sacristy there was a letter from the Archbishop of Westminster approving the chapter and each year on this day the new boys were enrolled.
I am enrolled! Just after I entered the Church.
May many more chapters rise up!
From the presepio at Ss. Trinità!
Use FATHERZ10 at checkout
Meanwhile,…
White to move and gain a winning position.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
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 Christmas?
Tell about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass. I hear that it is growing. Of COURSE.
Any local changes or (hopefully good) news?
I have a few thoughts about the Epistle in the Vetus Ordo for Midnight Mass: HERE
For a couple years I’ve posted about this custom. This year I had pretty much forgotten about it until I got an email from a priest who asked for a recording of this year’s version. The main text does really change but the intro does. It all has to do with the Moon. It’s complicated.
It was a custom for centuries to sing the Kalendas, the solemn announcement of the birth of the Savior at Prime. Since Prime isn’t being sung in many places, and since we need to have these good customs in far greater use, I say go ahead and sing it before Midnight Mass in the Vetus Ordo. Heck, the Novus Ordo too. Why not?
In the proclamation, the birth of Christ follows a list of important events, set points in history, which therefore puts the birth of Christ into the context of the history of salvation, beginning with the Creation of the world and culminating in the Nativity.
Remember that in the ancient world there was no standard calendar. So, one way to pinpoint events was to say what else was going on at the time according to other reckonings of time. The overlap of the dates would then give you the desired result, like a chronological Venn Diagram. The overlapping of the dates of the events cited in the Proclamation results in an accurate dating of the Nativity, that is 3/2 BC. There is good scholarship that reinforces 3/2 BC and cleans up a dating error for the year of Herod’s death.
The older Roman Martyrology has the notation for the Modus Ordinarius. It is rather like the “prophecy tone” and you raise the pitch at certain places.
There is a fancier rendering which is provided by Cappella Gregoriana Sanctæ Cæciliæ olim Xicatunensis. HERE
Here’s what the Kalendas sounds like more or less, if you can stand my singing without much of a review. I also find it interesting that as I started this there was one noisy interruption after another.
And keep in mind there is also on Epiphany the singing of the announcement of the moveable feasts for 2023, the Noveritis, “Let y’all know”, which does change quite a bit from year to year for obvious reasons.
Merry Christmas!
Alas, this is not from the new presepio of Ss. Trinità dei Pelegrini e Convalescenti. I had hoped for a close up of the Holy Family for today, but it was not to be. Instead this is from the same rione of Rome, Regola, but from the little national church of the Neapolitans, whom you would expect to have a Neapolitan style presepio. I appreciate the presence of the Ox and Ass and a Lamb.
Meanwhile, …
Black to move and win material and dominance.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
Interested in learning? Try THIS.
Many thanks to DSP for this spiffy Christmas present from my wishlist. This is a mini set, as you can see from the nearby penny. It’s a different color than the one as it appeared on my list. “Different” indeed.
Tiny magnets are in the bases of the pieces and the board itself is bit of flexible magnetic sheet.
Everything can be put inside and the pieces slide together to shut.
This is definitely not a set for blitz! The bishops are a little hard to distinguish from pawns… which is ironic since in some positions your bishops wind up being tall pawns! And you just about need a tweezer to move pieces without disturbing other pieces.
Anyway, it’s fun and it gave me a smile today. Thanks!
The St. Paul’s Boys Choir has a CD of Christmas music. It is available also in MP3. UK link HERE
Welcome new registrant:
John21601
From the magnificent new presepio at Ss. Trinità dei Pelegrini. Simply fantastic.
Use FATHERZ10 at checkout
Meanwhile,…
BLACK to move. Sorry I didn’t put this in at first.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
Priestly chess players, drop me a line. HERE
Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance. US HERE – UK HERE
May I now suggest that you order up your discs of CHRISTMAS CAROLS by the Benedictine of Mary, Queen of Apostles? They are building their new daughter house and your purchase will give them income.
Caroling at Ephesus
I received this email.
First, let me say… GO TO CONFESSION! That means PRIESTS too!
Next, use my tips for making a good confession. HERE
Now… I received this email.
Good afternoon, Father.
In the middle of a recent confession, something I said must have triggered the ever-listening Amazon app on the priest’s phone, and Alexa suddenly blurted out, “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite get that.”
This set me to speculating over the possibility of surveillance through our cell phones. Just think of how many apps we happily grant access to our microphones (including the CCP-beholden TikTok)–I fear a scenario wherein a well-intentioned person can inadvertently undermine the privacy of the confessional through lack of vigilance.
In the past, you have (rightfully) criticized efforts to introduce long-distance phone confession/absolution as a serious threat to privacy. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to consider this angle as well. [It is not only a threat to privacy but the absolution would be INVALID. Absolution cannot be given at a distance over a phone or by ham radio, etc.]
I hesitate to bring this up anywhere because I would hate to discourage anxious penitents or for people to start hounding their priests about it, but might it be prudent for Church leaders to discuss the possible consequences modern technology has for confession privacy and issue guidance for priests, if they haven’t already?
Fathers… is it necessary to take your phone into the confessional? Really?
Lay people… is it necessary to take your phone into the confessional? Really?
Bottom line. It is probably a very bad idea to take your phone into the confessional.
Lastly, Fathers, if you are parish priests, pastors, and you aren’t providing adequate times for people to go confession, and if you are not teaching about confession, you should consider the Four Last Things, and in particular Hell.
Use FATHERZ10 at checkout
Meanwhile,…
Black to move.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
Priestly chess players, drop me a line. HERE
If you are looking for a nice last minute gift, how about a 1 year gift diamond membership to chess.com? Heck, who wouldn’t want that? I just had a flash of a bunch of readers here with an online private chess club.
Interested in learning? Try THIS. 60%-80% discounts until 31 Dec.
Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance. US HERE – UK HERE These links take you to a generic “catholic” search in Amazon, but, once in and browsing or searching, Amazon remembers that you used my link and I get the credit.
Welcome new registrants:
Ufly4flee2
mu********@gmail.com (Friends, please don’t use your email as a username)
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