This is awesome

The pagentry, the patriotism!

Universal Truths

Going through Crescat's archives in school might not be a great idea - I end up shaking with suppressed laughter. She's just hilarious.

Here's a great music video - so true!



Also, check out Kat's series: My Religion is Cooler Than Yours. Wonderful!

Serendipity

Ferninda told me that she was watching a movie called Serendipity. So I asked her if she knew the origins of the word. It has its origins in the ancient Arabic/Persian name for Sri Lanka: Serendib.

I discovered that 'serendipity' has been listed by a British translation company as one of the 10 hardest words to translate.

Here's the list:

1. Plenipotentiary
2. Gobbledegook
3. Serendipity
4. Poppycock
5. Googly
6. Spam
7. Whimsy
8. Bumf
9. Chuffed
10. Kitsch

 They also have a list of non-English words that are hard to translate.

Here are a couple:

For specificity there's Selathirupavar  (செல்லாதிருப்பவர்), tamil for a certain type of truancy and for meaness there's Klloshar,  Albanian for loser.

Check out the rest here.

Trinity Sunday

In the very highest place, deep within a mansion

dwells a family perfectly united, loving and devoted.

Beyond past, beyond present, the three Persons are one;

penetrating heaven, penetrating earth,
the one family is three!

- Wu Li, SJ

Go here for the rest.



And on Trinity Sunday one would be remiss not to feature the Athanasian Creed:

Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith.
Which Faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled; without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.
And the Catholic Faith is this:
That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity;
Neither confounding the Persons; nor dividing the Essence.
For there is one Person of the Father; another of the Son; and another of the Holy Ghost.
But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one;
the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal.
Such as the Father is; such is the Son; and such is the Holy Ghost.

...So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.
in this Trinity none is before, or after another; none is greater, or less than another.
But the whole three Persons are coeternal, and coequal.
So that in all things, as aforesaid; the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity, is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved, let him thus think of the Trinity. 

Crusader Cat

A really hilarious photo on AmP:




Reminds me of some of the knights in Kingdom of Heaven.

Psalm XIX: The Heavens Declare Thy Glory, Lord

Isaac Watts

The heavens declare thy glory, Lord,
In every star thy wisdom shines;
But when our eyes behold thy word,
We read thy name in fairer lines.

The rolling sun, the changing light,
And night and day, thy power confess;
But the blest volume thou hast writ
Reveals thy justice and thy grace.

Sun, moon, and stars convey thy praise
Round the whole earth, and never stand;
So when thy truth began its race,
It touched and glanced on every land.

Nor shall thy spreading gospel rest
Till through the world thy truth has run
Till Christ has all the nations blest,
That see the light or feel the sun.

Great Sun of righteousness, arise,
Bless the dark world with heavenly light:
Thy gospel makes the simple wise;
Thy laws are pure, thy judgments right.

A Prayer for Priests

John J Cardinal Carberry

Keep them, I pray Thee, dearest Lord.
Keep them, for they are Thine
The priests whose lives burn out before
Thy consecrated shrine.
Keep them, for they are in the world,
Though from the world apart.
When earthly pleasures tempt, allure --
Shelter them in Thy heart.
Keep them and comfort them in hours
Of loneliness and pain,
When all their life of sacrifice
For souls seems but in vain.
Keep them and remember, Lord,
they have no one but Thee.
Yet, they have only human hearts,
With human frailty.
Keep them as spotless as the Host,
That daily they caress;
Their every thought and word and deed,
Deign, dearest Lord, to bless.




Prayer and photo via Jean

The Spacious Firmament on High

Joseph Addison

The spacious firmament on high,
And all the blue ethereal sky,
And spangled heavens, a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim.
Th' unwearied Sun fron day to day,
Does his Creator's power display,
And publishes to every land,
The work of an Almighty hand.

Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The Moon takes up the wondrous trail,
And nightly to the listening Earth,
Repeats the story of her birth,
Whilst all the stars that round her burn.
And all the planet in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll.
And spread the truth from pole to pole.

What though in solemn silence all
Move round the dark terrestrial ball;
What though no real voice or sound
Amid their radiant orbs be found;
In Reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice,
Forever singing as they shine,
The Hand that made us is divine.

What a pity Christians no longer worship here

It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in.

More about CHIJMES here.

Inaugurating my new camera

My initial plan was to by a DSLR camera, but I opted for a normal Sony digital camera instead, primarily because the basic lens that comes with a DSLR cannot zoom in to distant objects and I use that a lot. Additional lenses are very very expensive.

So here's an inaugural shot, of my beautiful icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour (a gift from Chithra in my first year :))

Let us pray to our Father in heaven,
who has given us this camera for our use.

(Moment of silence.)

Blessed are you, Lord God, king of the universe:
you have made all things for your glory.
Bless + this camera.
and grant that we may use it in your service
and for the good of all your people.

Father,
we praise you through Christ our Lord.

Amen!

(Source)

"No the Communist Party, no the new China" :D :D

HAHAHAHAH. These are hilarious. So blatantly stupid!





The English lyrics are parodies, but they're not too different from the originals I bet (at least in spirit).

Thanks KC! :D

HAHAHAHA

Sweet!

A little girl taking a photograph of Cardinal Spellman 

Source: The Far Sight

Francis Cardinal Spellman

As a young priest, Francis Spellman was not able to serve as military chaplain to the U.S. Army because of a height requirement. His appeals to the U.S. Navy were rejected, twice, by then Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Later on as  Archbishop of New York and Military Vicar, Spellman would spend many Christmases with the U.S. troops in Japan, Korea, and Europe.

Check out this interesting Time article on the creation of creation of cardinals (of which Spellman was one) by Pope Pius XII in 1946. The article provides an interesting look at the US-Vatican relationship back then.

"I think the time has come to fill the sad vacancies in the Sacred College." Thus Pope Pius XII this week addressed about 30 oldtime cardinals who had foregathered, along with the Pontiff, in the Vatican's Consistory Hall. His Holiness read the names of 32 prelates whose domains were scattered from Mozambique to Berlin, from Armenia to Australia (TIME, Jan. 7).

"Quid vobis videtur?" ("What do you think?") inquired the Pope. The Princes of the Church stood up, removed their red skullcaps, bowed in assent. The papal proposal was not a surprise to them: the Pope's intentions had been announced to all the world two months ago.

The ceremony opened the five days of public pageantry and secret meetings which made up the Church's first Consistory since 1940. The ceremonies, a reminder to the world of the venerable traditions and teachings of the Church of Rome, had been preceded last week by a no less significant reminder of how fantastically the world had changed since the Sacred College first met in the 12th Century: two giant planes had brought to Rome the new U.S. cardinals—Archbishops John J. Glennon of St. Louis. Samuel A. Stritch of Chicago, Edward Mooney of Detroit and Francis J. Spellman of New York.

And on Cardinal Spellman:

Like few prelates, Spellman had a secular education in the public schools of Whitman, Mass. He delivered groceries, peddled papers, played baseball and was a trolley-car conductor at an age when most of the solemn little Italian boys who are now his contemporaries in the Church had already begun their education for the priesthood. He was a good but undistinguished student at Fordham, a Jesuit college but no seminary. He wrote poetry, excelled in Latin, helped build a wireless set as a member of the Secchi Scientific Society. He was a careful dresser, and liked convivial company.

His decision to enter the priesthood surprised college friends. The clergy at once marked him as able, and Boston's William Cardinal O'Connell sent him to Rome's North American College, where young Americans of exceptional promise are given the Church's most careful training. He developed a scholarly flair, impressed a tall, eloquent professor of theology named Borgongini-Duca. Spellman too was impressed: when he returned to the U.S. as a priest in 1916, he translated two of his master's books of devotions.
In Rome again in 1925, as the first U.S. priest to serve as assistant to the Papal Secretary of State, Spellman became a leader in the $1,000,000 playground system erected in Rome by the Knights of Columbus, startled dignified Italian clerics and Italian urchins by his boxing and skill at tennis.

He Americanized the Vatican press department, for the first time issued papal documents to newsmen in all important languages. (This week, with typical American awareness of the press, he agreed to argue with Vatican authorities that over 100 secular reporters and photographers should be admitted to the Hall of Benedictions when Pope Pius presents the biretta to the new cardinals.) He also became the Vatican's first radio adviser, followed the Pope's first broadcast with an English translation.

In 1929 he awed his colleagues with a typical American solution to a deadlock in negotiations between the Papacy and Italy over the sovereignty of the Vatican: both Church and State claimed jurisdiction over marriages. Spellman suggested the U.S. procedure—a civil license followed by a religious ceremony.

Two years later he showed his American dash by smuggling to Paris a papal indictment of Fascist attacks upon the Catholic action and youth movement; he turned it over to the A.P. and U.P. for release to the world. In Italy Spellman learned to fly, became the first Catholic bishop to win a pilot's license.

Back in the U.S. in 1932 he showed other American qualities: almost overnight he pulled a bankrupt parish in a Boston suburb out of the red. Much more the administrator than the philosopher, he moved up as Archbishop of New York, richest see in the U.S. (and the world), managed its complex charities and institutions with a sure hand.

During the war he became one of the world's most widely traveled men, covering some 120,000 miles by plane. His four war books sold 300,000 copies; his war-inspired blank verse, popular but undistinguished, appeared in Collier's and Good Housekeeping. In the past three years his writing brought in $250,000, which went to charities. He became the first archbishop to sell a book to Hollywood, when M-G-M decided to film his wartime parable, The Risen Soldier.

Spellman's sure progress in the Church led some to suspect that he was ambitious, a church politician, an organizer who in secular life might have become chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He has never worn his piety on his sleeve, and even in an age of publicity, an archbishop's devotional life is largely a personal matter between him and his God. His rule has been the Biblical injunction: ". . . When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and -when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret... ." (Matthew 6:6).

A more obvious explanation of Spellman's rise in the Church is that he has qualities the Church wants in its leaders. The hierarchy is always eager to make the most of its personnel, and an industrious young cleric can be sure that a strain of humility will not handicap his rise in the Church Militant. His superiors will see that he learns the art of patience. When Rome first suggested to Cardinal O'Connell that Spellman join the Vatican Secretariat, the Cardinal, who did not always look kindly upon the rising young cleric, kept Spellman in suspense for months before ordering him on his way.

No Primacy. 

If, as many observers rate him, Spellman is Catholicism's No. 2 man, the position is entirely unofficial. He cannot even be called the leader of U.S. Catholicism, although he has done much to make U.S. Catholicism more American. The red hat itself is a badge of honor, not of sacerdotal rank. Neither Spellman nor the other U.S. cardinals has more power (except to help choose the next Pope) than have their 17 fellow archbishops.

Yet signs are unmistakable that Cardinal Spellman is Pius XII's right-hand man. When Spellman flew into Rome last week, the Holy Father sent his three princely nephews to extend his personal regards. And this week the Pope will give Spellman as his titular church the Church of SS. John and Paul-which he himself held, as Cardinal Pacelli, before he was elected to St. Peter's throne.

Spellman worked with Pacelli for seven years, joined him on mountain-climbing vacations in the Swiss Alps. In 1932 it was Pacelli, then Papal Secretary of State, who consecrated Spellman a bishop. Spellman wore the same vestments Pacelli (and two previous Popes) had worn at his own elevation to the episcopacy.

When Pacelli, with a portable typewriter his most conspicuous piece of luggage, visited the U.S. in 1936, Bishop Spellman guided him on a whirlwind 8,000-mile airplane tour, which included a meeting with Franklin D. Roosevelt. In Boston Pacelli paid a proper call on Cardinal O'Connell, but stopped overnight at Spellman's rectory in Newton Centre.
Cain's Soldiers. Seven weeks after Pacelli's elevation to the Papacy, he announced the appointment of his closest American friend to succeed Cardinal Hayes as Archbishop of New York. World War II doubled Spellman's value to the Pope as the Vatican and Washington both strove to prevent the war's spread and to precipitate a peace. Spellman was the go-between in discussions which led to Roosevelt's appointment of a "personal representative" at the Vatican.

Pacelli's appointment of Spellman as Military Vicar to the U.S. Armed Forces and chief of some 5,000 Catholic chaplains gave him an unrivaled opportunity to see a world at war. Six times his travels took him to Rome to report.

In 1943, after a visit to Franco Spain, Spellman outraged many Americans by saying in Collier's: "Whatever criticism had been made of General Franco (and it has been considerable), I cannot doubt that he is a man loyal to his God, devoted to his country's welfare. . . ."

Apparently, the Archbishop was aware of the ideological storm he had raised, for this statement was omitted when the article was reprinted in his book Action This Day.
Spellman viewed World War II with a mind trained in tradition, familiar with mankind's ageless history of baseness ("Cycle without end! Once more it is the innocent who die"), but inspired by its possibilities and occasional evidences of goodness. Hitler, he wrote, "makes me think of anti-Christ." Nazi advances reminded him of a "march of the soldier-slaves of Cain, incarnate again."

His war reports reveal: i) a ceaseless apprehension that peace may not bring justice; and 2) a continued preoccupation with "war's cardinal crime," the suffering of children.

Wrote Spellman after one of his wartime tours of Europe:
"Injustice, poverty, disease, and squalor are increasing and spreading. Cruelty is becoming normal, and sadism is as virulent and as contagious to the mind as typhus is to the body. . . ."Formerly, statesmen tried for balance of power to keep peace among nations; now some statesmen have swung to the theory that monopolies of power may be solutions to world peace. ... It would certainly be a mighty advance if human beings could regard other human beings, not as pawns in a game, but as individuals with sacred rights to life and liberty."

Read the entire article here. It's good! Journalists back then had a much better grasp of the Church than many of the clueless reporters that try to write about the Church today.

 

"Follow God"

With John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon

The Cardinal (1963) and Theodor Cardinal Innitzer

Finished watching The Cardinal with the Legionaries today, after meeting. The movie's great for its artistic work, its wonderful glimpses into traditional Catholicism, but the storyline wasn't that great - it was often anticlimactic. The original novel must be much better. Must borrow it from John some time.

The story is based on the life of the very famous Archbishop of New York, Francis Cardinal Spellman.

One character interested me and made me want to find out more. From Wiki:

Theodor Innitzer (25 December 1875 – 9 October 1955) was Archbishop of Vienna and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.

Innitzer was born in Nové Zvolání, Vejprty, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary. He was the son of a factory worker and, after completing the minimum mandatory school, became an apprentice in a textile factory. The Dean of his home parish supported him, which allowed him to attend a gymnasium (1890–1892 Communal-Gymnasium, 1892–1898 Staatsgymnasium in Kadaň).

Innitzer's role in early 20th century Austrian history remains disputed, because of his involvement in politics. This assessment stems from his cooperation with the Austro-fascist government of Engelbert Dollfuß and Kurt Schuschnigg from 1934 to 1938, which based many of its economic and social policies on the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. He and the other Austrian bishops signed a declaration endorsing the Anschluss, set up by Gauleiter Josef Bürckel, and signed by Innitzer with “Heil Hitler!”. Without the bishops' consent the Nazi regime disseminated this statement throughout the German Reich. Pope Pius XI ordered Cardinal Innitzer to sign a clarification, which was then published in L'Osservatore Romano.

Vatican Radio had immediately broadcast a vehement denunciation of the German action, and Cardinal Pacelli ordered Innitzer to report to Rome. Before meeting with the pope, Innitzer met with Pacelli, who had been outraged by Innitzer's statement. He made it clear that Innitzer needed to retract; he was made to sign a new statement, issued on behalf of all the Austrian bishops, which provided: “The solemn declaration of the Austrian bishops... was clearly not intended to be an approval of something that was not and is not compatible with God's law”. The Vatican newspaper also reported that the bishops' earlier statement had been issued without the approval of Rome, with fairly neutral Pope Pius XI disagreeing totally with Innitzer.

In the subsequent months Germany cancelled the concordat in Austria and forbade Church institutions and Catholic newspapers. In April 1938, in honor of Hitler’s birthday, Cardinal Innitzer ordered that all Austrian churches fly the swastika flag, ring their bells, and pray for Hitler. In October 1938 thousands of Catholic youngsters followed an invitation given by Innitzer to gather in the Cathedral of St. Stephen in Vienna for prayer and meditation. In his sermon Innitzer stated: There is just one Führer: Jesus Christ. The following day about 100 Nazis, among them many older members of the Hitler Youth, ravaged the archbishop's residence.

From the movie:


Isn't it beautiful how the first concern was for the Blessed Sacrament, and how, even when fleeing for their lives, Catholics back then used to bow as they passed the Tabernacle? Today the slightest rush is sufficient for us to dispense of such gestures.

Cardinal Innitzer's coat of arms:

 From the Time magazine of Oct 24, 1938:

Day after day in Vienna last week, Theodor Cardinal Innitzer stayed indoors. Hollow-eyed, bewildered, unhappy, warned by police not to stir outside lest the sight of him "provoke" angry Viennese, he secluded himself in his archiepiscopal palace near St. Stephen's Cathedral.

Vienna's Archbishop was bewildered, and no wonder. After Anschluss he had attempted to temporize with Nazis, had been given the backhanded accolade of "a reasonable man" by the pagan Nazi ideologist, Dr. Alfred Rosenberg. Suddenly, last fortnight, Cardinal Innitzer's palace was sacked by an obviously stage-managed Nazi mob. Last week the Cardinal was, to Viennese Nazis, a "black dog," a "traitor," a "political priest." To the rest of the Catholic world he was a hero. All this was because he had advised Ostmark Catholics to proclaim their faith, and had spoken up for religious marriages, religious education of Catholic youth.

... 

In his palace Cardinal Innitzer switched on his radio, listened to an open-air rally at which 100,000 Nazis shouted "Pfui Innitzer!" and "Hang the black dog!" during a furious speech by Nazi Commissioner Josef Bürckel. Calling the Cardinal a friend of Jews, burly Herr Bürckel declared that negotiations with the Catholics to settle the matter of religious schools and seminaries—hitherto kept secret—were definitely off. Cardinal Innitzer switched off his radio, retired to his chapel to pray.

That night the Cardinal could hear the mob gathering again in St. Stephen's Square. He did not look out to see their fireworks or watch them brandish miniature gibbets. But he heard their shouts: "Innitzer to Dachau!"

Ron Paul on abortion

His son, Rand Paul, is making news now in his run for the office of Senator from Kentucky.

Quartet

Grading

I can really identify with this:



and, to some extent, with this:

 Thanks KC :D

Change

Hehee. Now we know.

Mary, Help of Christians

Yesterday was the feast of Mary, Help of Christians. It was also the day for prayer for the Church in China.

Dear Pastors and all the faithful, the date 24 May could in the future become an occasion for the Catholics of the whole world to be united in prayer with the Church which is in China. This day is dedicated to the liturgical memorial of Our Lady, Help of Christians, who is venerated with great devotion at the Marian Shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai.
 

I would like that date to be kept by you as a day of prayer for the Church in China...

On that same day, the Catholics of the whole world – in particular those who are of Chinese origin – will demonstrate their fraternal solidarity and solicitude for you, asking the Lord of history for the gift of perseverance in witness, in the certainty that your sufferings past and present for the Holy Name of Jesus and your intrepid loyalty to his Vicar on earth will be rewarded, even if at times everything can seem a failure.

Pope Benedict XVI
Letter to the Catholics of China
May 27, 2007

The Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians (Basilica di Maria Ausiliatrice)

Dr. Boli

Via First Thoughts:




Taken from Dr. Boli

Belonging to God and to the Church

A photo, via AmP, of Bishop Thomas Paprocki (the holy goalie), enjoying a game of hockey. How wonderful to see him in his cassock.

The Directory for the Ministry and Life of Priests, prepared by the Congregation for the Clergy and approved by Pope John Paul II on January 31, 1994 has this to say:

In a secularized and tendentiously materialistic society, where even the external signs of sacred and supernatural realities tend to bedisappearing, the necessity is particularly felt that the priest-man of God, dispenser of His mysteries-should be recognizable in the sight of the community, even through the clothing he wears, as an unmistakable sign of his dedication and of his identity as arecipient of a public ministry. The priest should be recognizable above all through his behavior, but also through his dressing in away that renders immediately perceptible to all the faithful, even to all men, his identity and his belonging to God and to the Church.

When collars were quickly taken off a few decades ago, the common argument proclaimed was, "What's really important is what's inside me . . . I don't need an article of clothing to define my priesthood".

Let us examine the importance of the Roman Collar.

...
With this visible symbol of his sacred ministry around his neck, the priest allows the faithful to approach him no matter where he is; be it at the cafe having his morning cuppa or at the grocers picking up some provisions.

A person can make a confession and be reconcilled to God, a young teen may ask a quick question about the faith and be strengthened, an lost soul may come up to the priest and ask, “Father, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”, a businessman may receive a blessing before his flight, etc... Christ's faithful (and even those outside the fold) deserve nothing less. Lay people depend on their priests for spiritual support andstrength. They feel that something is not right when their priests try to blend into the crowd and, as it were, disappear.

Read more here, at Roman Catholic Vocations.

Vessels of gold

Via Kat:



Patriarchs Bartholomew and Kirill in Moscow, Byantine Texas.

Palle, Palle, Palle!

From About.com

History
The Medicihave long been associated with a load of balls. Their family emblem—a number of red balls on a gold shield—is prominently displayed on buildings all over Florence and Tuscany which have Medicean connections or which were financed with Medici money.
 
Origin
The Medici family crest has long been the object of much historical speculation. The most romantic (and far-fetched) explanation of the origin of the palle is that the balls are actually dents in a shield, inflicted by the fearsome giant Mugello on one of Charlemagne's knights, Averardo (from whom, legend claims, the family were descended). The knight eventually vanquished the giant and, to mark his victory, Charlemagne permitted Averardo to use the image of the battered shield as his coat of arms.
 
Others say the balls had less exalted origins: that they were pawnbrokers' coins, or medicinal pills (or cupping glasses) that recalled the family's origins as doctors (medici) or apothecaries. Others say they are bezants, Byzantine coins, inspired by the arms of the Arte del Cambio (or the Guild of Moneychangers, the bankers' organization to which the Medici belonged).
 
Palle, Palle, Palle
In times of danger, Medicean supporters were rallied with cries of Palle! Palle! Palle!, a reference to the balls (palle) on their armorial bearings. Whatever the origin of the Medici family emblem, it is interesting the note that the number of palle depicted in it varied. Originally there were 12; in Cosimo dé Medici's time it was seven; the ceiling of San Lorenzo's Sagrestia Vecchi has eight; Cosimo I's tomb in the Cappelle Medicee has five; and Ferdinando I's coat of arms in the Forte di Belvedere, six.

Art from Myanmar

I was walking about in the City on Friday and I popped by an art shop/gallery at Raffles City called Ode to Art. They were featuring several Burmese artists and found their work very beautiful!

The painting above is by Pan Kyi. I bought a postcard of another of Pan Kyi's paintings titled Bamboo Forest. Here's part of the description from the postcard:

His works, characteristic of Myanmar art, manifest feelings of peace and solitude within the viewer.
A small, yet significant, figure usually walks through the vastness.

The paintings of another artist from Burma, Ming Long, also featured the small figures walking through the vastness of the forest. I'm curious about the significance of this.

Also, I was impressed by the work of another Burmese artist - Soe Soe. His thick strokes (perhaps directly from the tube) of acrylic make his paintings take on a striking 3-D effect. Photographs/prints don't do justice to the original:

 

Bend the stubborn heart and will

A more poetic translation of the beautiful Veni Sancte Spiritus:

Come, Thou Holy Spirit, come!
And from Thy celestial home
Shed a ray of light divine!
Come, Thou Father of the poor!
Come, Thou Source of all our store!
Come, within our bosoms shine!

Thou, of comforters the best;
Thou, the soul’s most welcome Guest;
Sweet refreshment here below;
In our labor, rest most sweet;
Grateful coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.

O most blessèd Light divine,
Shine within these hearts of Thine,
And our inmost being fill!
Where Thou art not, man hath naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint of ill.

Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour Thy dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away;
Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.

On the faithful, who adore
And confess Thee, evermore
In Thy sev’nfold gift descend;
Give them virtue’s sure reward
Give them Thy salvation, Lord;
Give them joys that never end.
Amen, Alleluia.
by Edward Caswall.

Via The Lion and the Cardinal

The story, according to James of Voragine.

 

Old priest clearing the garden

"Mr. Hivet, clearing the Holy garden of Saint Waast Church". Old priest. Suburb Waast. (Soissons. Aisne. France. 1917).

Source

Every priest is a VIP

Here's something from Fr Z. Reproducing it in its entirety because it's a must-read. Support our priests!

Hey Father, I wanted to share with you an anecdote from my day at work.  I’m a consultant manager at a department store and my job consists of walking around and assisting customers and getting feedback about our store.  I noticed an older gentleman in a plaid oxford and slacks sitting in my favorite patio-furniture chair, so I went over to ask him if he loved it as much as I did.  Over the course of the conversation it came out that he was an Irish priest visiting, and I had been a seminarian for four years. 

We discussed a few things but as soon as I found out that he was a priest, my attitude changed noticeably, so sayeth a co-worker.  When Father rose to leave, he shook my hand, and out of habit, I kissed it, and Father began to weep.  He told me that no one had kissed his hand in thirty years, and it suddenly "brought forth what a priest, in his dignity, really is."  Father then embraced me on the sales floor and told me, still crying, that he was going to go back to the house where he was staying and put clericals on and continue wearing them in public from now on, even when on vacation.

In short, even though this Priest of God was not in clericals, a fairly simple, and rote act informed the coworkers, and even Father, I think, that he was a VIP.  Incidentally, it gave me a window to explain to some coworkers about the nature of the priesthood. So it really made my day!

Madonna and Child

Manner of Donatello
Italian, Florentine

On Flickr: Mauleigh

Ave Maria, piena di grazia,
il Signore è con te.
Tu sei benedetta fra le donne
e benedetto è il frutto del tuo seno, Gesú.
Santa Maria, Madre di Dio,
prega per noi peccatori,
adesso e nell'ora della nostra morte.
Amen

Pentecost

Veni, Sancte Spiritus, known as the Golden Sequence, is the sequence for the Mass for Pentecost. It is commonly regarded as one of the greatest masterpieces of sacred Latin poetry ever written. Its beauty and depth have been praised by many. The hymn has been attributed to three different authors, King Robert II the Pious of France (970-1031), Pope Innocent III (1161-1216), and Stephen Langton (d 1228), Archbishop of Canterbury, of which the last is most likely the author.

VENI, Sancte Spiritus, et emitte caelitus lucis tuae radium.	COME, Holy Ghost, send down those beams, which sweetly flow in silent streams from Thy bright throne above.
Veni, pater pauperum, veni, dator munerum veni, lumen cordium.	O come, Thou Father of the poor; O come, Thou source of all our store, come, fill our hearts with love.
Consolator optime, dulcis hospes animae, dulce refrigerium.	O Thou, of comforters the best, O Thou, the soul's delightful guest, the pilgrim's sweet relief.
In labore requies, in aestu temperies in fletu solatium.	Rest art Thou in our toil, most sweet refreshment in the noonday heat; and solace in our grief.
O lux beatissima, reple cordis intima tuorum fidelium.	O blessed Light of life Thou art; fill with Thy light the inmost heart of those who hope in Thee.
Sine tuo numine, nihil est in homine, nihil est innoxium.	Without Thy Godhead nothing can, have any price or worth in man, nothing can harmless be.
Lava quod est sordidum, riga quod est aridum, sana quod est saucium.	Lord, wash our sinful stains away, refresh from heaven our barren clay, our wounds and bruises heal.
Flecte quod est rigidum, fove quod est frigidum, rege quod est devium.	To Thy sweet yoke our stiff necks bow, warm with Thy fire our hearts of snow, our wandering feet recall.
Da tuis fidelibus, in te confidentibus, sacrum septenarium.	Grant to Thy faithful, dearest Lord, whose only hope is Thy sure word, the sevenfold gifts of grace.
Da virtutis meritum, da salutis exitum, da perenne gaudium, Amen, Alleluia.	Grant us in life Thy grace that we, in peace may die and ever be, in joy before Thy face. Amen. Alleluia.

Father at today's homily told us to meditate on these verbs, the action of the Holy Spirit:
Lava, riga, sana, flecte, fove, and rege.
Wash, refresh, heal, bend, warm, and recall (from the 7th and 8th stanzas of the Sequence).

Let us seek ever more pressingly the company of the Holy Spirit and make ourselves more and more generous to His promptings.

Via J.P. Sonnen comes a video of a beautiful Roman tradition:



From EternallyCool.net:

As peals of church bells rang out across the Eternal City this morning, Romans and visitors alike began making their way to the Pantheon for the celebration of the Pentecost Mass and the performance of a beautiful ritual that’s been going on for 1400 years in which a shower of red rose petals is dropped through the oculus of the ancient building and falls to the floor.

The Pantheon, as many eCoolers will know, was build by the Roman Emperor Hadrian between 117-125 AD.  It was dedicated to all the Roman gods and its 143 foot wide concrete dome must have put certainly on the must-see list for every ancient tourist to Rome.

In the year 609 AD — exactly 1400 years ago — the Pantheon became a Christian church   when the Byzantine Emperor Phocas gave it to Pope Boniface IV who rededicated to Santa Maria ad Martyres (St. Mary and all the Martyrs).

More here

And Fr Z tells us how it's done.

Kremsmuenster Flabellum

Catholic Encyclopaedia:

The flabellum, in liturgical use, is a fan made of leather, silk, parchment, or feathers intended to keep away insects from the Sacred Species and from the priest. It was in use in the sacrifices of the heathens and in the Christian Church from very early days, for in the Apostolic Constitutions, a work of the fourth century, we read: Let two of the deacons, on each side of the altar, hold a fan, made up of thin membranes, or of the feathers of the peacock, or of fine cloth, and let them silently drive away the small animals that fly about, that they may not come near to the cups. Its use was continued in the Latin Church to about the fourteenth century... Among the ornaments found belonging to the church of St. Riquier, in Ponthieu (813), there is a silver flabellum, and for the chapel of Cisoin, near Lisle, another flabellum of silver is noted in the will of Everard (died 937), the founder of that abbey. When, in 1777, Martène wrote his Voyage Littéraire, the Abbey of Tournus, on the Saône in France, possessed an old flabellum, which had an ivory handle two feet long, and was beautifully carved; the two sides of the ivory circular disc were engraved with fourteen figures of saints. Pieces of this fan, dating from the eighth century, are in the Musée Cluny at Paris, and in the Collection Carrand... The inventory, taken in 1222, of the treasury of Salisbury, enumerates a silver fan and two of parchment. The richest and most beautiful specimen is the flabellum of the thirteenth century in the Abbey of Kremsmünster in Upper Austria. It has the shape of a Greek cross and is ornamented with fretwork and the representation of the Resurrection of Our Lord.

From the LION and the CARDINAL.

Our faith is so rich - there are so many unexpected customs, so many hidden reflections of beauty.

Rosa Mystica

Gerard Manley Hopkins S.J.

'The Rose is a mystery' - where is it found?
Is it anything true? Does it grow on the ground?
It was made of the earth's mould, but it went from men's eyes,
And its place is a secret, and shut in the skies.
In the Gardens of God, in the daylight divine
Find me a place by thee, Mother of mine.

But where was it formerly? Which is the spot
That was blest in it once, though now it is not?
It is Galilee's growth; it grew at God's will
and broke into bloom upon Nazareth Hill.
In the Gardens of God, in the daylight divine
I shall look on thy loveliness, Mother of mine.

What was its season, then? How long ago?
When was the summer that saw the Bud blow?
Two thousands of years are near upon past
Since its birth, and its bloom, and its breathing its last.
I shall keep time with thee, Mother of mine.
Tell me the name now, tell me its name:

The heart guesses easily, is it the same?
Mary, the Virgin, well the heart knows,
She is the Mystery, she is that Rose.
In the Gardens of God, in the daylight divine
I shall come home to thee, Mother of mine.

Is Mary that Rose then? Mary, the tree?
But the Blossom, the Blossom there, who can it be?
Who can her Rose be? It could be but One:
Christ Jesus, our Lord - her God and her Son.
In the Gardens of God, in the daylight divine
Shew me thy son, Mother, Mother of mine.

What was the color of that Blossom bright?
White to begin with, immaculate white.
But what a wild flush on the flakes of it stood,
When the Rose ran in crimsoning down the Cross wood.
In the Gardens of God, in the daylight divine
I shall worship the Wounds with thee, Mother of mine.

How many leaves had it? Five they were then,
Five like the senses, and members of men;
Five is the number by nature, but now
They multiply, multiply, who can tell how.
In the Gardens of God, in the daylight divine
Make me a leaf in thee, Mother of mine.

Does it smell sweet, too, in that holy place?
Sweet unto God, and the sweetness is grace;
The breath of it bathes the great heaven above,
In grace that is charity, grace that is love.
To thy breast, to thy rest, to thy glory divine
Draw me by charity, Mother of mine.


Ercole Gennari, Virgin and Child with Flowers (“The Madonna of the Pinks”)

The May Magnificat

Gerard Manley Hopkins S.J.

 

MAY is Mary’s month, and I
Muse at that and wonder why:
Her feasts follow reason,
Dated due to season—
Candlemas, Lady Day;	5
But the Lady Month, May,
Why fasten that upon her,
With a feasting in her honour?
Is it only its being brighter
Than the most are must delight her?	10
Is it opportunest
And flowers finds soonest?
Ask of her, the mighty mother:
Her reply puts this other
Question: What is Spring?—	15
Growth in every thing—
Flesh and fleece, fur and feather,
Grass and greenworld all together;
Star-eyed strawberry-breasted
Throstle above her nested	20
Cluster of bugle blue eggs thin
Forms and warms the life within;
And bird and blossom swell
In sod or sheath or shell.
All things rising, all things sizing	25
Mary sees, sympathising
With that world of good,
Nature’s motherhood.
Their magnifying of each its kind
With delight calls to mind	30
How she did in her stored
Magnify the Lord.
Well but there was more than this:
Spring’s universal bliss
Much, had much to say	35
To offering Mary May.
When drop-of-blood-and-foam-dapple
Bloom lights the orchard-apple
And thicket and thorp are merry
With silver-surfèd cherry	40
And azuring-over greybell makes
Wood banks and brakes wash wet like lakes
And magic cuckoocall
Caps, clears, and clinches all—
This ecstasy all through mothering earth	45
Tells Mary her mirth till Christ’s birth
To remember and exultation
In God who was her salvation. Sandro Botticelli, Madonna and Child with Eight Angels

Footprints in the sand

Hahahaha.

By the Catholic Cartoon Blog.Via Kat

2 Flickr albums

Firstly, one belonging to Ryan Carreon, featured in a post by NLM on inculturation:

I would like to leave the reader with two more stimuli for thought and discussion. Firstly, a spiritual reflection from Pope John Paul II. He says that "the process of the Church's insertion into peoples’ cultures is a lengthy one. It is not a matter of purely external adaptation, for inculturation 'means the intimate transformation of authentic cultural values through their integration in Christianity and the insertion of Christianity in the various human cultures'". As such, it is a work of grace, akin to the individual Christian's growth in virtue as he is transformed by grace so that Christ truly lives in him. And grace, as we know, does not destroy but elevates our human nature. So too, human culture, can be transformed and elevated by its contact with the Gospel.

Secondly, via Kat, some beautiful photos taken at the Orthodox Church in America Chancery. Here are a few: