Here is a sermon from a priest friend of mine in my native place, Fr. Thomas Dufner, pastor of Epiphany Church in Coon Rapids, MN.
He gave this sermon on 15 October 2017, just after the 100th anniversary of the final apparition of the Our Lady at Fatima.
He makes a reference to a Mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul, which was packed. You should look up the Cathedral to get a sense of the size of the crowd.
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A few things caught my eye this morning.
First, I was amused by an faux pas from the loony anti-gun deranged Left which made wild claims about possible after market customizations of an AR-15 rifle system. HERE
In a tweet, USAToday said that the Texas Church Massacre nutjob could have modified his rifle with – wait for it – a “chainsaw bayonet”. Not only that, these “chainsaw bayonets” are widely available! Gotta git me one o’ them!
A look at the gun used in the Texas church shooting. https://t.co/xdxIf5fR77 pic.twitter.com/sUY1mCCLZC
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) November 8, 2017
Whoa! THAT’s scary!
But wait… there’s more scarier scary to come! My emphases:
But where would USA Today get the idea that such an attachment was widely available and widely used? Trying to find such a device on the internet leads to results largely made up of the popular video game series Gears of War, where the super-muscular heroes use rifles with chainsaws to slay subterranean terrors. There were also plenty of DIY projects for such devices and there was a small company that claimed to sell them, but they’re marketed as a way to kill zombies.
The internet was the internet it and didn’t hold back as the paper was put through the wringer on twitter. #ChainsawBayonet was trending with image after image from people who photoshopping other ridiculous attachments onto USA Today’s AR-15 image. Such attachments included a lightsaber, a taco, a little corgi, (my personal favorite) 10 smaller AR-15s, and failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. [The most terrifying mod of all!]
Proving that the criticism went completely over their head, USA Today put out a second tweet to clarify their first one, saying: “To clarify, the video shows both the shooter’s modifications, as well as other possible modifications. The shooter did not use a chainsaw bayonet.”
[UPDATE: On Twitter check out hashtags… #PossibleModifications and #ChainsawBayonet ]
Also, the DailyWire reports on how the Left is lying about the legally armed citizen who shot the wack-job perp when he came out of the church he was shooting up (and still able to kill more people. No, no! That legally armed citizen had nothing to do with stopping the perp. HENCE… abolish the 2nd Amendment.
Next…
Pope Francis has banned, beginning in 2018, the sale of cigarettes through Vatican City. Vatican employees have been able to purchase cigarettes at a much lower price than in Italy, with its taxes, etc. There is quite the “black” market of fags that flow from the opportunity, as you can imagine… so that’s going away.
If Pope Francis didn’t have a food-taster before, he might do well to get one now. I can see beady-eyed monsignori, gardeners, and uscieri eyeing him from shadow filled corners, clenching and unclenching their shaky hands.
Speaking of Pope Francis, he has embarked on a new Wednesday audience series topic: liturgy.
I admit that my arrhythmia set in full force with that news.
However, he has started out with a topic that bodes well for all of us: the use of mobile phones and cameras at Mass. Hopefully the next speech will be on the pressing problems of coming to church with open or closed toed footwear, mercy and chapel veils, and, of course, checking watches during sermons… or perhaps, even worse… iWatches.
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At the Italian site La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana there are two stories which merit attention.
First, they report on the current kerfuffle stirred by the Left against Most Reverend Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison. The Extraordinary Ordinary. HERE
Here’s a taste…
Attack on the Bishop of Madison: The Devil’s design on the Church
[…]
It’s clear that the world, whose Prince is the Devil, today does not want any longer to eliminate the Church, that is, the Body of Christ the Son of God, from the face of the Earth, but is determined to bend it to its power and to its “anti-creation”. In fact, having entered into her, seducing the faithful and prelates. Satan aims to subvert the norms of the Creator, designed to help man find life, is such a was as to reach the even greater result of the elimination of God: to submit Him to himself, a creature who has never been able to bear being one, rendering God into a subject, and His Body, which is the Church, into an infernal kingdom where one lives in rebellion to the laws of creation.
But as the simple who continue to follow God demonstrate, and pastors such as Morlino and Cordileone, ready for persecution so in order to defend the divine law and the truth about man, the shadows will not prevail. For, “I wake up every morning convinced that God’s will will be done for the world and my life that day,” Morlino declared, smiling peacefully in the face of the assertion by those who accuse him of not being welcoming, asking his removal by Pope Francis, in the awareness that the place prepared for whoever chooses Christ as his Lord is not of this world.
That’s about it, isn’t it.
The Enemy and the Enemy’s human agents want to bend the Church to the will of Hell – of course in the friendly guise of worldly concerns and human respect (not to mention the twisted and murderous DNC platform). Consider the distribution of Communion to those who are in the state of mortal sin and who are unrepentant. That’s making God into “subject” of the Devil, in a way. Of course God cannot be diminished by that sacrilege, but WE are diminished and souls are lost from the glory of Heaven.
Another story at LNBQ concerns the former Prefect of the CDF, Gerhard Ludwig Card. Müller. HERE It has been reported that Müller had sort of caved in about the controversial chapter 8 of Amoris Laetitia. Müller says, not. He clarified himself in an interview.
I don’t have the energy to translate it at this late hour, but here is the summary:
Müller: I never said that there are exceptions about Communion for the remarried
“No, no change and no demolition of the Dubia. The point of my speech is only to affirm that the only way to interpret Amoris laetitia is in continuity withi the World of God in the Bible, the preceding Magisterium, with the Tradition of the great Councils of Florence, Trent and Vatican II.” On the telephone, Card. Gerhard Müller… immediately distanced himself from partial interpretations of some media outlets which attributed to him an openness to access to the Eucharist for the “divorced and remarried”.
Finally, be sure to SUPPORT Bp. Morlino!
First, at LifeSite…. HERE
Then, at Change… HERE
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I saved my DVD recording from last year’s election returns and I reviewed it this evening.
The reaction of the Hilary cult members was … memorable.
Some videos are available of lib reaction to the news that Trump was victorious. You might make your own review.
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Even as I repeat my plea to everyone on our side of the continuum to work together – amicably and patiently – at Rorate I found a wonderful image of a beautifully painted modern canvass. They picked it up – felicitously – from Il Foglio.
Behold, Giovanni Gasparro’s “St Pius V and St. Charles Borromeo defending Catholicism against Islam and the Protestant Heresy.” HERE Oil on canvass 220×160 cm (it’s big!), 2017.
This is a splendid find.
The composition is circular overall, with interior square and triangle above. There are great lines slashing downward. For example, follow the vector from the celestial hand (divine? Mary’s?) delivering the Rosary to Pope St. Pius, through the extended pointing arm of the putto, through the parchment of 95 Theses, down Luther’s clenched fist the hog’s leg. The banner with the Crucifix separates the 95 Theses (on fire!) and the Koran. Luther and the Islamic figure (Mohammad?) have unattractive infernal “halos”. The postures are pretty much standard and reminiscent of 16th and 17th predecessors, but that doesn’t make them any less pleasing to the eye. And the work is very fine indeed. The delightful putti give be the impression of being real children. I wonder if they aren’t the commissioner’s or painters kids or grandchildren. Sincere kudos.
I read that this was commissioned by a layperson. Perhaps for the 500th anniversary? Who knows. At the article in Il Foglio the writer says, after mentioning the Vatican postal stamp honoring Luther and Melancthon and the “infatuation” some clerics have developed about the revolt, “dove cedono i preti resistono i pittori…. where priests are caving in, painters are holding out…”.
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You know about the BIRETTAS FOR SEMINARIANS PROJECT. I reminded you of it the other day.
I had a note from a seminarian in these USA:
First, I wanted to thank you on behalf of my seminarian brothers and myself for all that you do. Also, we signed up for the biretta program (seven of us in our theological studies) and were told this week that they are on their way. [HURRAY!]
Second, we were moved by the program with the birettas that after talking to my brother seminarians, we thought we should do something similar. [That’s the spirit!]
We had recently purchased cassocks through a company out of India. The cassock is roughly $140, and they are quite nice. For some of us though coming up with $140 was a struggle which is why we came up with this idea.
100 Cassocks for 100 Seminarians.
Ideally, it’s your concept, people donate to the gofundme account, and we send cassocks to seminarians who wish to have one.
[…]
That being said, we hope to spark an increase in love for the traditions of the church, and we think we can accomplish this by supporting those who are now becoming aware of what Holy Mother Church truly expects from us. [Form your habits now, early on. Get ready for a tough ride. I don’t say this to discourage, but to let you know that we are in for a real fight down the line. But you guys have perhaps already figured this out: hence, the cassocks.]
We have realized that most seminarians and younger priests are moving towards the traditions of the mother church. So we would like to do our part.
The gofundme account is;
https://www.gofundme.com/100cassocks
We were hoping you could help by sharing it. Thanks again for all that you do Father!
Peace.
P.S. Last week we sat in choir in our cassocks and surplice at a
Tridentine Latin mass. It was beautiful. After a group of people came up to us, saying how awesome it was to see seminarians/ future priest in their cassocks.
Well, folks, there it is.
Biretta by biretta… cassock by cassock… brick by brick.
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First, even as Advent draws nearer and nearer, fix it in your mind to do your online shopping using my search box on the side bar! Time flies. I like to get my shopping done well in advance so I don’t have to think about it during Advent.
And now if you don’t want to play a lot of explicitly Christmasy music before Christmas, try playing Advent music.
There is an album of Advent music available. The wonderful (and award winning) Benedictine Nuns in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph provide it.
Here are a few little samples.
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There are zillions of Christmas music offerings out there. Advent? Not so much.
This disk can help you keep Advent as Advent.
Be sure to read Sam Gregg’s super piece at CWR on the 100th anniversary of the Communist revolution in Russia… which had the focus of Our Lady at Fatima.
A taste:
Herein we come face-to-face with the true nature of the evil of Marxism which was unleashed by the Bolshevik Revolution. Communism authorizes and even celebrates the suspension and suppression of moral norms that absolutely prohibit certain actions like lying—or theft or killing or being envious. It’s one thing to be, for instance, dishonest but acknowledge you are doing evil. It’s altogether different to say that no such moral absolutes exist: that morality is in effect a fiction, a mere set of customs to be dispensed with, whenever convenient.
The Sunday massacre at the Texas church should give pause to pastors of souls.
I don’t know if that Texas church had signs at the doors indicating a “No firearms” policy, however, I know that a lot of churches do have those signs. They strike me, and apparently nut jobs, as an indication that, here, they will find little resistance.
If I am not mistaken, an armed citizen played a role in subduing the perp who shot those innocent people in Texas. It was a good thing that he was there. After all, when seconds count, the police are only minutes away. God love ’em, law enforcement officers. I have the deepest respect and gratitude for them, but they can’t be everywhere.
Once again, I urge everyone to develop strong situational awareness skills. Watch what is going on around you and think about what you see. If there is something “wrong” say something. Look at your surroundings. Really look.
We are probably going to see more of this sort of thing. There is also right now a strong up tick in requests for exorcisms. Coincidence? I think not. In addition, watch the tone and the targets of civil unrest. Watch and ponder the tactics of the Left… even the catholic Left. All these things are part of an interrelated matrix.
I’ve been on the road and watching much news, but did I really see protests against protestations of prayers for the victims of the shooting?
Si vis pacem para bellum.
I sincerely enjoy hearing about GOOD news. Especially in the life of grace, but also in the daily hurly burly.
What is your GOOD news?
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
A Daily Prayer for Priests
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