SPECIAL YEAR OF ST. JOSEPH!

Posted on 8 December 2020 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

On the 150th anniversary of Bl. Pope Pius IX’s proclamation of St. Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church, a special “Year of St. Joseph” has been declared from today to 8 December 2021.

The Apostolic Penitentiary has yet to update their website. However, a Plenary Indulgence is granted under the usual conditions (sacramental confession, Eucharist Communion, and prayer according to the intention of the Roman Pontiff) to the faithful who, with no attachment to sins, participate in the special year in the manner prescribed by the same Apostolic Penitentiary.

In 1870,  Pius IX of happy memory wrote in Quemadmodum Deus:

[N]ow that in this most sorrowful time the Church herself is beset by enemies on every side and oppressed by heavy calamities, so that impious men imagine that the gates of hell are at length prevailing against her, the Venerable Prelates of the whole Catholic world have presented to the Sovereign Pontiff their own petitions and those of the faithful confided to their care, praying that he would vouchsafe to constitute St. Joseph Patron of the Catholic Church.

The 2020 Apostolic Letter declaring the special year is entitled in Latin (absurd since they didn’t release a Latin version) Patris corde.

Bl. Pope Pius IX’s document, in English, was – excluding title and ending, 434 words.  Patris corde is, in English, 5560 words.

Several things.

Firstly, this is the best birthday present this blog could have.  Today this blog is 15 years old.

Next, I am convinced that St Joseph will ask for great graces to be given to Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger.  He must be very happy today.  Many people will be praying to St. Joseph this year.

Moreover, St. Joseph has been for me a great intercessor in my life when I have really been in a jam.

Additionally, let us not forget the wisdom of the Bux Protocol, which invokes St. Joseph.

I have asked you to pray to St. Joseph for the conversion or overturning of the Fishwrap.  HERE  A link to that prayer is always in the top menu of this blog.

Personally, I will say Votive Masses in honor of St. Joseph during the year.

Here is a great resource St. Joseph

US HERE – UK HERE

Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father
by Fr Donald Calloway

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Daily Rome Shot 18

Posted on 8 December 2020 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Photo by Bree Dail.

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#ASonnetADay – 111. “O, for my sake do you with Fortune chide…”

Posted on 7 December 2020 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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Two important pieces for your reading and watching.

Posted on 7 December 2020 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I bring to the readership two offerings which merit your close attention.

A First Things there is a piece by Archbp. Charles Chaput – that he is not a Cardinal is a scandal – about …

Mr Biden and the Matter of Scandal

Chaput clearly and succinctly lays out the issues about why bishops who will allow Biden Communion are giving scandal to other bishops and to priests and “to the many Catholics who struggle to stay faithful to Church teaching”.  They undermine the bishops conference. My emphases.

When bishops publicly announce their willingness to give Communion to Mr. Biden, without clearly teaching the gravity of his facilitating the evil of abortion (and his approval of same-sex relationships), they do a serious disservice to their brother bishops and their people. The reason is obvious.

And…

This is not a “political” matter, and those who would describe it as such are either ignorant or willfully confusing the issue. This is a matter of bishops’ unique responsibility before the Lord for the integrity of the sacraments. Moreover, there is also the pressing matter of pastoral concern for a man’s salvation. At minimum, every bishop has the duty of privately discussing these vital moral issues and the destructive effect of receiving Communion unworthily with public figures who act contrary to Church teaching. Reception of Communion is not a right but a gift and privilege; and on the subject of “rights,” the believing community has a priority right to the integrity of its belief and practice.

Cann. 915 and 916 apply.

The whole piece is short and lucid.  And it could be helpful to print it out and give it to people who don’t get this, including priests and bishops.

The next thing to which you should attend carefully is Mark Levin’s TV spot from Sunday night on Fox (which, with the exception of Levin and occasional videos of excerpts online I hardly give the time of day since Election Night).

Levin masterfully lays out the situation in Pennsylvania and the blatant violations of the state and federal Constitutions, resulting in an entirely illegal scenario for the verification of the vote.  It is jaw-dropping when you hear it explained so plainly.  And also listen to his guests, who explain the downright weird, galactically implausible voting results. The video is only 38 minutes (which demonstrates how much garbage advertising there is in each hour).

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I have good news and bad news….

Posted on 7 December 2020 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

GREAT NEWS!

I read that the European Space Agency has created a 3D map of the universe that we can see with tracking of some 1.8 billion stars.  Very cool right?  Surely that’s good news.

That’s the good news.

Since every silver lining as a cloud, the bad news is that is we are about 25800 light years distant from being sucked into a black hole, Sagittarius A.

Remember that if your planet is on the move around your yellow star, that same yellow star is on the move through the galaxy.   And there is a black hole in your path.

That’s going to suck.

YouTube thumbnailYouTube icon

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CQ CQ CQ: #HamRadio – INAUGURAL ZedNet report

Posted on 7 December 2020 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

We started up our very first ZedNet on Sunday evening at 8PM EST.   We had five check ins.

I had a devil of a time connecting (cf. Zuhlsdorf’s Law) because Brandmeister has been making changes for security and… I did NOT get a notice from them!   Eventually the change I had to make was communicated to me and it worked after I altered the settings on my DMR hotspot.

Anyone who uses Brandmeister ought to know this about their changes: HERE

I will now have to fiddle around and make the other changes they recommend.  In effect, they want you to set a personal password.  Okay.

One of the participants in the ZedNet mentioned the possible conflict with the St Maximillian Kolbe Net on 80m on Sunday nights.

We are going to stick to this slot for a while, at least, to try to get it going.

So, success!

More later.

If you were trying to connect to us and couldn’t hear us, let me know.

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Daily Rome Shot 17

Posted on 7 December 2020 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Photo by Bree Dail.

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#ASonnetADay – 110. “Alas, ’tis true I have gone here and there…”

Posted on 6 December 2020 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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CQ CQ CQ: #HamRadio – ZedNet will activate on SUNDAY 6 Dec, at 2000h EST (0100h ZULU 7 Dec).

Posted on 6 December 2020 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

ZedNet will activate on SUNDAY, 6 Dec, at 2000h EST (0100h ZULU 7 Dec).  HERE

Our colleague WB0YLE has built various bridges to ZedNet through

WIRESX (28598)
ALLSTAR (28868)
Brandmeister (31429)

NO ECHOLINK YET
NO DStar YET

UPDATE

THE ZEDNET CONTROL STATION (WB0YLE’s!)

 

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Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 2nd Sunday of Advent – 2020

Posted on 6 December 2020 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at the Mass for your Sunday (obligation or none), either live or on the internet? Let us know what it was. Too many people today are without good, strong preaching, to the detriment of all. Share the good stuff.

Also, are you churches opening up? What was attendance like?

For my part,…

I explained Christ’s response to John the Baptist’s question, “Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?”  People assume that John wanted to know if Christ was the Messiah or not.

It is more complicated than that.   Are you “he who is to come” refers more to Almighty God than to the Messiah.

Christ tells John’s disciples to return and tell John what they have seen and heard, all of which things prophesied by Old Testament prophets not about the Messiah, except for one of them, but rather about the LORD, that is, God.  Isaiah says that when God comes, the blind will see and the lame will walk and the deaf will hear and the dead shall be raised.  By saying that lepers are healed he references what Elisha said in 2 Kings to Naaman the Leper who asked for healing: “Am I God?”  If lepers are being healed, then the one healing is God.  That “the good news preached to the poor” is, in fact, reference to the Messiah.  So Christ answered John indirectly by reminding him of Scripture about the coming of God while He also acknowledges that He is the Messiah.

That also explains two other things in the passage, one, and enigmatic part of Christ’s answer and, also, what Christ says about John.

After Christ gives the list of what is going on, he added: “And blessed is he who takes no offense at me.”   Hence, Christ is underscoring that He was talking about Himself as DIVINE, not just as the Messianic Davidic King.   People later would in fact take offense at Christ’s divine claims and He would be put to death.

Moreover, Christ says that John is MORE than a prophet and then He quotes the prophet Malachi, who said that there would be a forerunner, a “messenger” to prepare the way of God’s – not the Messiah’s – coming.  That makes John greater than all the other prophets and, in fact, the greatest man ever born of woman.  It also points to Christ as more than just the Messiah.

This was for a sung Mass at the parish at University of Wisconsin at Platteville, for the pastor who was struck by the Wuhan Devil.  I filled in.

 

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