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Bp. Matano (D. Rochester) ends decades illicit practice of “lay preaching”

Posted on 21 July 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

For your Brick by Brick file.

Catholic diocese upends custom on homilies

For the better part of 40 years in churches across the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester, clergy ceded the floor to laypeople for the delivery of the homily — the sermon that follows the reading of the Gospel at Mass.

The practice, which dated to the mid-1970s and was simultaneously derided by the faithful for running afoul of church law and praised for its inclusiveness, has come to an end.

In an extensive interview, Bishop Salvatore Matano said he has been confronting the issue on a case-by-case basis since his installation in January and is now drafting guidelines to clarify that homilies are reserved for ordained priests and deacons, as prescribed by canon law.

“It is not a policy shift as regards to the universal law of the church,” Matano said. “I am trying to help the faithful understand what is the universal law of the church and how important it is that in the celebration of Mass, we do what the church asks of us.”

The reversal is perhaps the starkest example yet of the contrasting stewardship of Matano with his predecessor, Bishop Matthew Clark, under whom the diocese earned a reputation as among the most liberal in the country.

Although laypeople were giving the homily before Clark’s time as bishop, it was during his tenure from 1979 to 2012 that such preaching blossomed into a regular occurrence in multiple churches.

Matano called the ubiquity of the practice “a bit perplexing” and attributed it to a misinterpretation of canon law.

“In the life of the church today, there are many interpretations that people might give to a particular ruling with no malintent present, but that do need clarification,” Matano said.

Many in the church have welcomed the shift as a long-awaited return to doctrine. Indeed, Matano said he began addressing the matter in response to complaints from parishioners.

But it also has been received with disappointment, particularly among women, who made up the majority of lay homilists and viewed the practice as a way to play a more active role in their faith.

[…]

Read the rest there.

This is excellent. Fr. Z Kudos to Bp. Matano.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Brick by Brick, Fr. Z KUDOS, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged Bp. Matthew Clark, Bp. Salvatore Matano, D. Rochester, homilies, lay preaching, sermons
40 Comments

Divide et impera: KGB influence on Middle East violence

Posted on 20 July 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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As I watch the nasty business with the Gaza Strip, I continue my reading of Disinformation: Former Spy Chief Reveals Secret Strategies for Undermining Freedom, Attacking Religion, and Promoting Terrorism. It was written by the former head of Romanian intelligence together with a law professor who is an expert on evidence (and on the smearing of the reputation of Pius XII). (UK link HERE)

Here is an excerpt, which pertains to what is happening in the Middle East right now:

By 1972, Andropov’s disinformation machinery was working around the clock to persuade the Islamic world that Israel and the United States intended to transform the rest of the world into a Zionist fiefdom. According to Andropov, the Islamic world was a petri dish in which the KGB community could nurture a virulent strain of America-hatred, grown from the bacterium of Marxist-Leninist thought. Islamic anti-Semitism ran deep. The message was simple: The Muslims had a taste for nationalism, jingoism, and victimology. Andropov pontificated that “we” should make them feel sick to their stomachs just thinking about that “Council of the Elders of Zion” (meaning the US Congress), the aim of which was to have the Jews take over the world. We should whip up their illiterate, oppressed mobs to a fever pitch. Terrorism and violence against Israel and America would flow naturally from the Muslims’ anti-Semitic fervor, Andropov explained. The Kremlin has always been a strong advocate of divide et impera. The split between the Judeo and the Christian worlds generated by the framing of Pius XII proved that this archaic strategy of divide and conquer worked in modern times as well. In 1972, Andropov launched Operation “SIG” (Sionistskiye Gosudarstva, Zionist Governments). This was the code name for a “socialist division of labor” aimed at turning the Islamic world into an “explosive” enemy of the United States. The Romanian DIE’s [Romanian intelligence agency] sphere of influence for the operation embraced Libya, Iran, Lebanon, and Syria, where Romania was involved in building hospitals, schools, and roads and maintained large colonies of builders, doctors, and teachers. The DIE’s task was to scour Romania for trusted Communist Party activists belonging to Islamic ethnic groups, train them in dezinformatsiya and terrorist operations , and infiltrate them into its target countries. They would be charged with the task of implanting a rabid , demented hatred for American Zionism by manipulating the ancestral abhorrence for Jews felt by many people in that part of the world. Before I left Romania for good, in 1978, the DIE had sent about five hundred undercover agents to its Islamic target countries— and, as I later learned, it continued to send such agents until the Soviet bloc collapsed, in 1989. Most of them were engineers, medical doctors, teachers, and art instructors. According to a rough estimate received from Moscow, by 1978 the Soviet bloc intelligence community had sent some four thousand such agents of influence into the Islamic world. The assumption was that about 70– 75 percent of those assets would end up being really useful. In 1972 , the DIE received from the KGB an Arabic translation of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion along with “documentary” material, also in Arabic, “proving” that the United States was a Zionist country whose aim was to transform the Islamic world into a Jewish fiefdom. The DIE was ordered to “discreetly” disseminate both “documents” within its targeted Islamic countries. During my later years in Romania, every month the DIE disseminated thousands of copies throughout its Islamic sphere of influence. In the meetings I had with my counterparts in the Hungarian and Bulgarian services, with whom I enjoyed particularly close relations at that time, I learned that they were also sending such influence agents into their own Islamic spheres of influence. (Kindle pp 256-257)

And then there is this:

On December 31, 2000 , President Putin, celebrating his first anniversary as president, announced that Russia had a new national anthem. In fact, the law signed by Putin restored the melody of Stalin’s national anthem, which had been prohibited after the collapse of the Soviet Union . Those original lyrics, written by the poet Sergey Mikhalkov, praised Stalin, Lenin, the Communist Party, and the “unbreakable” Soviet Union. At Khrushchev’s request, Mikhalkov wrote a second version of the lyrics, removing Stalin’s name, after his memory had become politically unpalatable. Mikhalkov has now again rewritten his lyrics, this time to satisfy Putin. Yelena Bonner, the widow of the Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrey Sakharov, denounced Putin’s actions in this matter as a “profanation of history.” Putin disagreed , explaining: “We have overcome the differences between the past and the present.” (p 267)

Posted in The Coming Storm, The Drill, The future and our choices, The Religion of Peace | Tagged Disinformation, divide et impera, Islam, Joseph Stalin, KGB, Middle East, Religion of Peace, Ron Rychlak, Vladimir Putin
38 Comments

What Did the Imam Really Say? Revisited

Posted on 20 July 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I read at Il Giornale today that the prayer read by the Imam in the Vatican Gardens was indeed from the Sura 2, wherein Allah is asked to crush infidels (that’s us) and let Islam triumph over the whole world (that’s us, too). Vatican Radio, at the time, tried to give this an allegorical spin. It didn’t work very well. At a certain point it seems they also tried to edit out the troubling passage.

Suffice to say that an Imam sang: “grant us victory over the heathen/disbelieving/infidel” (Sura 2: 286) in the Vatican Gardens, in front of the Pope, during an “ecumenical” gathering for peace.

I wrote about this, when it happened, in my entry What Did the Imam Really Say? I posted video there and the comments are interesting (especially HERE).

My fast translation:

He wasn’t in a mosque, but in the Vatican Gardens and, a few meters away from him, there was also Pope Francis. It’s 8 June, Pentecost Sunday. In the Vatican, at prayer for peace in the Midde East, there are, with the Pontiff, Abu Mazen and Shimon Peres. But the Sure II read by the Imam wasn’t agreed on ahead of time. This is about a breach in protcol that many have taken as an offense.

The incident, reported by Andrea Morigi in Libero, was for a long time swept under the carpet. The text read by the Palestinian Sunni Imam was not agreed upon ahead of time and the harsh tones about infidels (miscredenti) were not in line with the spirit of the day which had been proposed by Bergoglio during his visit in the Holy Land. “At that moment,” Morigi recounts, “the dignitaries of the three monotheistic religions didn’t bat an eye. Those who knew Arabic pretended not to notice anything, even if the videos of the event show them decidedly embarrassed.” Pope Francis, however, wasn’t in a position to take in the importance of what happened. On an official level, the breach in protocol was immediately minimized: Fr Bernd Hagenkord, the Jesuit head of the German section of Vatican Radio, tried to give another reading of Sura II from the Koran. It’s a pity that the passage read by the Imam was immediately excised by Vatican Radio itself.

[…]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNnFQgGY25s&feature=player_embedded

Posted in Francis, Linking Back, The Coming Storm, The Drill, The future and our choices, The Religion of Peace | Tagged Coran, Imam, Koran, Peace Tree, Sura 2, Vatican Gardens
27 Comments

Fishwrap: less than enthusiastic about new ITC document on “sensus fidei”.

Posted on 19 July 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Over at Fishwrap (aka National Schismatic Reporter), knickers are in twists over the recently issued document from the International Theological Commission, “‘Sensus Fidei’ in the Life of the Church“.

As you will recall, at Fishwrap, “sensus fidei“, closely related to “sentire cum Ecclesia“, means majority sentiment, deduced through an intricate algorithm involving feelings, polls, and the interpreters own liberal notions, which then can trump any divinely revealed teaching, all dogma (aka “church policy”), and, especially, “rules”, which are bad – unless liberals are making them, of course.

The Fishwrap writer, Robert McClory, (whose brief Fishwrap bio says: professor emeritus of journalism at Northwestern University, and has contributed to NCR since 1974. He is the author of Radical Disciple: Father Pfleger, St. Sabina Church, and the Fight for Social Justice and As It Was in the Beginning: The Coming Democratization of the Catholic Church), offers his insights into the deficiencies of the new ITC doc. Here is a sample (my emphases and comments:

At one point, the writers consider the most important dispositions a Catholic needs for authentic participations [sic] in the sensus fidei (sense of the faith). “No single one can be discussed in an isolated manner; its relationship to each and all of the others has to be taken into account,” they write.

“The first and most fundamental is … active participation in the liturgy, especially the Eucharist, regular reception of the sacrament of reconciliation, discernment and exercise of gifts and charisms received from the Holy Spirit … There are countless ways in which such participation may occur, but what is common in all cases is an active solidarity with the Church.”

Now, this sounds pretty rigid. [Oh dear oh dear! Can you imagine? For someone to have a true “sense of the faith” they should be able to receive Communion, having gone to … CONFESSION?!? What’s the world coming to? But I like this next bit…] If taken literally, [HA! What the ITC really meant to say, was….] it could eliminate from authentic participation in the sense of the faith that overwhelming mass of Catholics who receive reconciliation irregularly. [Ummm… yep.] But I hope that is not the intent of the writers, and I do not think the writers intend to cut off those who attend Mass on a less-than-weekly basis. [No, that’s right. Why would we call into question the perspective of those who get up on Sunday, yawn, stretch, and then go about their business without even having remembered Mass? Or who remember and then choose not to go? Or who have lived outside the state of grace for years?] Might Catholics who belong to intentional eucharistic communities [? More in this seriously messed up notion: HERE] or small faith groups [?] qualify as actively participating in the Eucharist? [No.] I think so, [Imagine my shock.] especially if they cannot tolerate abysmal liturgy, awful preaching or closed attitudes at the Catholic parish or parishes available to them. [“closed attitudes”… code for “No, you can’t do whatever the hell you want with your genitals.”] As the document notes, what is most needed is “an active solidarity with the Church” — that is, with the whole church. [Which includes, by the way, the HIERARCHY.]

And there is this:

The fourth disposition a faithful Catholic needs is “attentiveness to the magisterium of the Church, and a willingness to listen to the teaching of the pastors of the Church, as an act of freedom.” [Because there is no true “freedom” in the Church, properly understood, without willingness to “listen” (as a first step) to the Magisterium. The next step would be…. ?] The document does not say immediate obedience is required, though the “magisterium is rooted in the mission of Jesus.” [Even the writer figured out that the next step is obedience. But… hey!… why not defer it for a while?] Earlier in the document, the writers state that the sense of faith “enables individual believers to perceive any disharmony, incoherence, or contradiction between a teaching or practice and the authentic Christian faith … Alerted by their sensus fidei, individual believers may deny assent even to the teaching of legitimate pastors if they do not recognise in that teaching the voice of Christ.” [The point is that the faithful need, first, to know what the Church teaches. Then they need to submit to what the Church teaches. Then, if the hear something that is out of synch with the Church’s authentic teaching, then they can play their proper role.] The term “legitimate pastors” obviously includes priests, bishops and popes. [It is probably good that the writer included that last bit, since it wouldn’t be apparent to most readers of NSR.]

Finally, there’s this:

[T]he writers declare: “The magisterium also judges with authority whether opinions which are present among the people of God and which may seem to be the sensus fidelium, actually correspond to the truth of the Tradition received from the Apostles. … Thus, judgement regarding the authenticity of the sensus fidelium belongs ultimately not to the faithful themselves nor to theology but to the magisterium.”

You can imagine how well that part went down.

You can read the ITC document yourselves. It is good to have a bit more clarity about sensus fidei and sentire cum Ecclesia. It could have been better, but it is a start. But, if the Fishwrappers are unsettled by it, it is probably a sound piece of work.

Finally, may I remind you all of Lumen gentium (that’s from the -cue celestial music – Second Vatican Council) 12?

The holy people of God shares also in Christ’s prophetic office; it spreads abroad a living witness to Him, especially by means of a life of faith and charity and by offering to God a sacrifice of praise, the tribute of lips which give praise to His name. The entire body of the faithful, anointed as they are by the Holy One, cannot err in matters of belief. They manifest this special property by means of the whole peoples’ supernatural discernment in matters of faith when “from the bishops down to the last of the lay faithful” (Augustine, De Praed. Sanct. 14.27: PL 44.980) they show universal agreement in matters of faith and morals. That discernment in matters of faith is aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth. It is exercised under the guidance of the sacred teaching authority, in faithful and respectful obedience to which the people of God accepts that which is not just the word of men but truly the word of God. Through it, the people of God adheres unwaveringly to the faith given once and for all to the saints, penetrates it more deeply with right thinking, and applies it more fully in its life.

In other words, you can’t make it up. You can’t, in the name of “being prophetic”, pick this and refuse that. You can’t, and be Catholic, think apart from or over and against the bishops and Holy Father. An appeal to “sensus fidei” apart from them is a sham.

Posted in Liberals, Our Catholic Identity, The Drill | Tagged Intentional Eucharistic Communities, International Theological Commission, ITC, sensus fidei, sentire cum Ecclesia
27 Comments

Ecumenical consequences of C of E decision on women bishops (aka “wyshyps”)

Posted on 19 July 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

On 5 June 2006, Walter Card. Kasper, then-President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, spoke to the Church of England members gathered for the Lambeth Conference. They were discussing, and were going to vote on, women bishops [aka wyshyps]. HERE

What did Kasper say?

“What follows from these conclusions and questions? What follows for the future of our ecumenical dialogue? One thing is certain: The Catholic Church will not break off the dialogue even in the case of such a decision. It will above all not break off the personal relationships and friendships which have developed over the past years and decades. But there is a difference between types of dialogue. The quality of the dialogue would be altered by such a decision. [We can still play skittles together and then go for a pint afterwards.]

Ecumenical dialogue in the true sense of the word has as its goal the restoration of full Church communion. That has been the presupposition of our dialogue until now. That presupposition would realistically no longer exist following the introduction of the ordination of women to episcopal office. [Sure, we can talk! Communion? That train has left the gate. Another pint?]

Following that action we could still come together for the sake of information and consultation; we could continue to discuss and attempt to clarify theological issues, to cooperate in many practical spheres and to give shared witness.

Above all we could unite in joint prayer and pray for one another. All of that is, God knows, not negligible. But the loss of the common goal would necessarily have an effect on such encounters and rob them of most of their élan and their internal dynamic. Above all — and this is the most painful aspect — the shared partaking of the one Lord’s table, which we long for so earnestly, would disappear into the far and ultimately unreachable distance. Instead of moving towards one another we would co-exist alongside one another.”

Surely this reflected the thought of the Pope of Christian Unity, Benedict XVI.

What Card. Kasper read at Lambeth is surely true. Meanwhile, the Catholic Church and the Church of England can still pursue some common causes, such as… ecology!

And then there was Card Diaz, the-Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. He also spoke at Lambeth back when. He told them then:

“Much is spoken today of diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. By analogy, their symptoms can, at times, be found even in our own Christian communities. For example, when we live myopically in the fleeting present, oblivious of our past heritage and apostolic traditions, we could well be suffering from spiritual Alzheimer’s. And when we behave in a disorderly manner, going whimsically our own way without any co-ordination with the head or the other members of our community, it could be ecclesial Parkinson’s.”

Meanwhile, the Catholic Church and the Church of England can still pursue some common causes, such as… ecology!

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Our Catholic Identity, Pò sì jiù | Tagged Card. Kasper, Church of England, ordination of women, women bishops, wyshyps
40 Comments

BACK TO SCHOOL SHOPPERS REPORT 1

Posted on 19 July 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The other day I suggested that, if you have BACK TO SCHOOL, shopping to do, and you intend to use Amazon, that you might use my search box.

I can tell that some of you have. I can see the sorts of things that are ordered, but I have NO, ZERO, WAY of telling who ordered them. Thus, I could tell that university students are getting ready. Here is a sampling:

A History of US: From Colonies to Country: 1735-1791 A History of US Book Three
The Glass Menagerie
Student Workbook and Selected Solutions for Introductory Chemistry: Atoms First
Chef Boyardee Macaroni and Cheese, 7.5-Ounce Microwavable Bowls (Pack of 12)
Dr. Seuss’s Horton Collection Boxed set (Horton Hears a Who and Horton Hatches the Egg)

Okay… maybe that last one was for some place like Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. Hard to tell.

Anyway, thanks to all of you using the search box!

And, for your study sessions, you will need lots of coffee, if you get my drift.

For your convenience.

A search box for Amazon UK is at the bottom of the blog.

Posted in The Campus Telephone Pole |
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REVIEW: Movie “Persecuted”

Posted on 18 July 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

This is a public service announcement.

I prefer to be kind about Christian movies. That said, save yourself some irritation. The newly released “Persecuted” isn’t good.

“Persecution” addresses a theme which I think is real: there is/will be persecution of true Christians who don’t water down the Faith and compromise with the world.

This movie, however, is weird. It is as weird as its writing was bad.

I actually groaned a couple times, it was so bad.

I liked the fact that the flick is solidly against the “COEXIST” types… you know the bumper-stickers. The true baddies are the promoters of “indifferentism”, that all religions are equal, and all distinctions between religious need to be eliminated so that we can all just get along. Apparently, this is a government plot in order to eliminate religious terrorism.

Don’t get in the way of these baaaad government coexisters! They’ll open up a can of whupass on ya!

No! Really!

The plot is incoherent. There are numerous editing problems (I especially liked the moment when the main character presses the down button for an elevator and in the next shot we see him going up). Elements stretch credulity waaaay past the snapping point (the main character running about with a bullet in the center of his back for a looong time, even out-running various bad-guy government agents).

No no no. Just Don’t Go.

That said, the makers, clearly non-Catholic Christians, tried to get some Catholic stuff into the movie. For the most part, the Catholic stuff was treated with respect. I thank them for that. However, I suspect that nobody bothered to ask any Catholics anything about the Catholic stuff they put into the film. Actor (former Senator) Fred Thompson, who plays a priest, should have stuck with the re-mortaging commercials. Anyway, it is great that the makers treated the Catholic elements with some respect, as poorly executed as they were.

Another positive comment:

The movie made me ponder how easy it is/will be to entirely destroy the reputations of priests and bishops. Be careful, Fathers. When the real persecution comes, there is little that we will be able to do. They’ll get us, no matter how careful we are. But, in the meantime, stay frosty. Keep your heads on swivel. Watch your six. Develop situational awareness.

Meanwhile, here’s some COEXIST for ya!

Nah… that’s not provocative.

DECAL HERE
STICKER HERE

NB: NOT my design!

UPDATE

One of you readers sent this!

UPDATE:

Another option HERE:

Posted in REVIEWS, Semper Paratus, The Drill, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged anti-Christian, movie, Persecuted, persecution
20 Comments

Malaysian Airlines 17, Death and You

Posted on 18 July 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The black boxes from Malaysian Airlines 17 might indicate that the pilots attempted a vain evasion. I doubt it. I suspect that exploding death was sudden. Who knows who may have survived the initial blast and remained conscious for some seconds that followed? Only God.

Adequate time for an Act of Contrition? For an Act of Charity?

Adequate time to say “Jesus!”, “Mary!” … “Forgive!” …?

We do not know when death will come.

It will come.

A sudden death can be a blessing.

If you are in the state of grace, sudden death can be a blessing.

A sudden death can be eternal disaster.

If you are not in the state of grace and sudden death strikes you down… eternal disaster.

Eternal, personal disaster.

When was the last time you examined your conscience thoroughly and went to confession?

When was the last time you heard the priest say the words, “I absolve you of your sins…”?

Catholics have for centuries prayed in the Litany:

“A subitanea et improvisa morte… From a sudden and unprovided death, spare us O Lord.”

What is an “unprovided death”? One by which you die – and you will die – without the Last Rites from the priest or a chance to repent of unconfessed sins even with a perfect act of contrition.

You want to have your temporal affairs in order. How much more should we have our spiritual affairs in order? You don’t know the place or the hour.

A PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE FROMAN UNPROVIDED DEATH

Hear us, O God of our salvation! and issue not the decree for the completion of our days before Thou forgivest us our sins; and because penance avails not in hell, and there is no room there for amendment, therefore do we humbly pray and beseech Thee here on earth, that, giving us time to pray for pardon, Thou wouldst grant us also forgiveness of our sins. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Take away, merciful Lord, all errors from Thy faithful people, avert from them the sudden destruction of the wasting pestilence; that those whose wanderings Thou dost justly chastise, Thou wouldst vouchsafe in Thy tender pity to cherish when corrected. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Antiphon: Sin no longer, O my soul! Think upon the sudden change from sin to endless woe. There, in hell, penance is not accepted, and tears profit not. Turn, then, whilst thou hast time; cry out and say: Have mercy upon me, O my God!

Antiphon: In the midst of life we are in death: whom, then, O Lord, shall we seek to be our helper, save Thee, O Lord! although Thou art indeed angry with us because of sins? O Holy Lord, holy and strong, holy and merciful Saviour! deliver us not ever to a bitter death.

V. – Lest, overtaken by the day of death, we seek time for penance, and be not able to find it.

R. – Hearken! O Lord! and have mercy on us; for we have sinned against Thee.

We beseech Thee, Almighty God, receive in Thy fatherly pity Thy people flying to Thee from Thine anger; that they who fear to be chastised by the rod of Thy Majesty in the suddenness of death, may be made worthy to rejoice in Thy gracious pardon. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

We beseech Thee, Almighty God, graciously to incline Thine ear to the assembly of Thy Church, and let Thy mercy prevent Thine anger in our behalf; for if Thou shouldst mark iniquities, no creature shall be able to stand before Thee: but in that marvellous charity, through which Thou didst create us, pardon us sinners, and destroy not the work of Thine own hands by sudden death. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

O God! in Whose sight every heart trembles and every conscience is awed; show forth Thy mercy upon us Thy suppliants, that we, who trust not in the excellence of our own merit, may never know Thy judgments in the suddenness of our death, but may receive Thy pardon. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayer

Most merciful Lord Jesus! by Thine agony and bloody sweat, and by Thy death, deliver me, I beseech Thee, from a sudden and unprovided death. O most gentle Lord Jesus! by Thy cruel and ignominious scourging and crowning with thorns, by Thy cross and most bitter Passion, and by Thy goodness, I humbly pray Thee, let me not die unprepared and pass from this life without the Holy Sacraments. Jesus, my best Beloved, my Lord! by all Thy labours and sorrows, by Thy precious Blood, and by Thy most holy Wounds, and by those last words spoken on the cross by Thee: “Deus meus, Deus meus, ut quid dereliquisti me?? – “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” and again: “Pater, in manus tuas commendo spiritum meum,” – “Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit,” most ardently I pray Thee, save me from a sudden death. Thy hands, O Redeemer! have wholly made and formed me: ah! suffer not death to take me unawares; give me, I beseech Thee, time for penance; vouchsafe that I may pass from this life happily in Thy grace, that I may love Thee with my whole heart, and praise and bless Thee forever and ever.

Amen.

Our Father…
Hail Mary…
Glory Be To The Father…

My dear people… dear readers… GO TO CONFESSION.

Parents of small children… teach your children their Faith and make sure they are making good confessions and good Communions.

Give them a good example.

Reverend Fathers, please… go to confession and hear confessions.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Four Last Things, GO TO CONFESSION, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged A subitanea et improvisa morte, De novissimis, death, Four Last Things, unprovided death
6 Comments

VIDEO Aurora: just… wow

Posted on 18 July 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I have been watching the news a lot over the last couple days. Given my mood, I can imagine also yours.

Here’s something very cool as a change of pace.

Real time – not time-lapse – video of aurora borealis.

Meanwhile, as I type, your Earth’s Yellow Sun is eerily quiet. No sunspots. None. Nada.

SUNSPOT NUMBER DROPS TO ZERO: Solar activity is very low. July 17th brought the first spotless day in nearly three years. The face of the sun was completely blank and the sunspot number dropped to zero. Now, however, two small sunspots are emerging, circled in this image from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory: