The Fruits of the Rosary

Don Marco (Father Mark Daniel Kirby, O.Cist) writes: ... What are the fruits of the Rosary in the life of one who perseveres in praying it? They are, I think, among others, the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit enumerated in the Catechism: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self–control, and chastity.

The Rosary is a sure means of abiding in communion of mind and heart with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Where the Holy Mother of God is, there too is the Holy Spirit. One who, praying the Rosary, over and over again repeats Ave, Maria is, by the repetition of that greeting, imploring the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit.

It pleases the Holy Spirit to fashion the saints through the Blessed Virgin. Mary is the minister, the dispensatrix, the mediatrix of the Holy Spirit's gifts. It is a matter of record that where Mary is absent, there is nought but sterility and hardness of heart. Where Mary is present, on the other hand, there is spiritual fecundity and compunction. Where Mary is present, there the Holy Spirit is mysteriously and prodigiously active.

If you would open the door of your heart to Mary, pray her Rosary. She will enter in and with her will enter the Holy Spirit. "And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?'" (Lk 1:41–43).

* * * And I say: Amen!

A Musical Gem

Karl Kohlhase - He describes his music as "a little like John Michael Talbot meeting James Taylor ..." not at all what I usually listen to but ... I was really moved. And, best of all, all of his music is available for free download! How did I learn about him? He was the guest on tonight's "Journey Home" program on EWTN.

On Peter and the Keys

Watched a fascinating episode of "The Gospel of Matthew" (basically a Bible study led by Dr Tim Gray) on EWTN this past Saturday... So ... why didn't I ever see (or know or hear about) this earlier?! I.e. the relationship between (and explanation of) Christ giving Peter the keys of the kingdom and the Old Testament references to the chief steward/prime minister and the keys that were the symbol of their office. Matthew 16 18. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Isaiah 22 15. Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, "Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household..." 19. I will thrust you from your office, and you will be cast down from your station. 20. In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, 21. and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your belt on him, and will commit your authority to his hand; and he shall be a father [papa!] to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 22. And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. 23. And I will fasten him like a peg in a sure place, and he will become a throne of honour to his father's house. 24. And they will hang on him the whole weight of his father's house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. *** Additionally, the name change, Simon -> Peter (Cephas, Rock), as with, for example, Abram -> Abraham, also signifies a change in role or vocation. Simon the fisherman becomes Peter the Rock ... the Vicar (Prime Minister) of Christ (the King.) Indeed, immediately after Christ has finished assigning Peter as chief steward of his kingdom/Church, we read, "From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised." (Mt 16:21) In other words, his earthly mission of preparing and establishing the Church completed, our Lord can now head directly to Calvary and to the Cross. Hmm. Definitely food for thought here. So much controversy about who/what is this Rock on which Christ promises to build his Church ... and, yet, so much vital information all around it as well! * * * More from Dr Tim Gray: Roots of Church found in Old Testament "The papacy could not be more rooted in Scripture. People don’t understand the papacy because they don’t understand the Old Testament." "Jesus came not only to save us from our sins but for sonship, that we may become children of God. We cannot say ‘I like the King, I just don’t need His kingdom.’ The Kingdom is central to the faith and you cannot follow Jesus if you do not want to go through His kingdom."

Feast of Christ the King

Aeterna Imago Altissimi O Thou eternal Image bright Of God most high, thou Light of Light, To Thee, Redeemer, glory be, And might and kingly majesty. Sole hope of all created things, Thou art the Lord and King of kings, Whom God, long ere creation's morn, Had crowned to rule earth yet unborn. Fair flower from the Virgin's breast, Our race's Head for ever blest, The stone that Daniel saw on high, Which, falling, o'er the world doth lie. Priest, Teacher, Giver of the law, Thy Name the rapt Apostle saw Writ on thy vesture and thy thigh: THE KING OF KINGS, THE LORD MOST HIGH. Fain would we own thy blessed sway, Whose rule all creatures must obey; For happy is that state and throne Whose subjects seek thy will alone. All praise, King Jesu, be to thee, The Lord in all majesty; Whom with the Father we adore, And Holy Ghost, for evermore. Amen. -- From the Anglican Breviary

How Many of Me?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Wow. I am unique.

Malachi Martin On Celibacy

Excerpt from a taped interview of Fr Malachi Martin by Bernard Janzen: ... the idea is to do away with the priesthood. The thing that really militates against the popular taste today about priesthood is celibacy. They regard nowadays, in the society in which we live, the expression of sexuality whether within marriage ... outside of marriage whether by yourself or with somebody of the same sex, or with an animal is regarded as quite normal ... If you don't "frighten the horses" so to speak. Provided you don't violate any "rule of decent living". The idea that men, young men of twenty say ... take a vow of celibacy. That they will never get married. And that they can keep that without getting twisted and psychologically moronic and finally ending up in pedophilia or sadism or in some twisted psychology. That is the normal attitude towards priests today. So the idea of Roman Catholic celibacy is something that is utterly alien to the mind. Why? Because the idea of priesthood is. And this is where the great lack in teaching in seminaries and in the Catholic populace lies. You see ... a priest ... Christ was once asked, ... "Lord what do you think of the eunuch? And he said,"There are three kinds of eunuchs. There's the man who's born like that from nature." ... "There's the one who men made a eunuch." ... And then he said, "There is a third kind of eunuch who does it to himself for the sake of the kingdom of God. He said, very mysteriously, "whoever understands, let him understand," [Fr. Martin then quotes the phrase aloud in Latin] ... meaning there is a very deep mystery. The mystery is this: I can look on my celibacy if I am a priest, as a chastity belt. And the Church has locked it and thrown away the key. In that case then, I'm just somebody deprived of what I should have a right to by a greater force that's thrown away the key. That's not celibacy at all. That is enforced continence. I can look on celibacy then as something acceptable to the Church but a pain in the neck or a pain somewhere else. I still am very far from it. The celibate is somebody who says to himself or herself (a nun), "My greatest power of love is in reproduction and in living with another human being. And in having children and in exchanging our love and warmth and friendship and confidence. And giving each other the intimacy of our very being, soul and body, which a true marriage does. But, I will give that up because, when I become a priest, Christ puts a seal on my soul. The seal of his priesthood. And that seal cordons me off for a higher destiny. And the destiny is to have a very, very particular union with God, with Christ. And that union is the union of somebody who is going to hold God's body in his hands at Mass. And is going to be a special emissary bringing blessing and shriving people from their sins and healing their souls. That's what true celibacy is. It's a segregation of your soul from all the lovely things in life that human love can bring and marriage can bring. By the way, Look. It also has its ills and its difficulties but in general, it's regarded as a great benefit to be married. Or to live with somebody as we do nowadays. [sarcasm from Fr Martin] But to cut that off deliberately and to do it lovingly and to make it a positive contribution, and to devote all the energies that nature has given us for human love ... to devote them to Christ. And to concentrate all that on ... the Sacrifice of Christ and the preaching of his Gospel and the transmission of his message of love and salvation to souls and healing them and shriving them and helping them supporting them guiding them and welcoming them to the truth. That is the highest vocation a man can have. ... And in the beginning it is a sacrifice. And then, with the passage of time and fidelity, suddenly ... this flower blooms in their souls. And they achieve this marvelous tranquility and this marvelous warmth that people always saw in the traditional priest. This amazing power to get inside you. This light, this feeling that they were there for you. They weren't riven in their sympathies. And they were there for you because Christ was their man, Christ was their King, Christ was their High Priest. That idea of priesthood ... you won't find that anywhere today in Catholic manuals or preached in sermons or anything like that. Celibacy is regarded as ... like Fish on Friday, a law we want to change and do away with.

The Horn of the Unicorn

... and another WOW experience! What gives? One of these per day?!? Just finished reading The Horn of the Unicorn (A Mosaic of the Life of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre) by David Allen White ... probably not on any politically correct/hierarchically-approved reading list but ... simply fantastic nonetheless.

In the mid 1980s, a French Catholic Archbishop, noted for his adherence to tradition, under sanction, labelled a rebel, making his way through the ruins of the post-Second Vatican Council Church, knelt in prayer and asked God for a sign. What was his responsibility? What should he do? What did God want of him? Had the current path of the Church become so crooked that he must act to keep the direction clear, so the pilgrims of the future could be assured of treading the same road those of the past had trod? A sign; he prayed for a sign. *** In 1986, Pope John Paul II announced that he would bring together at the great Basilica of St Francis in Assisi 130 religious leaders from around the world to pray, each to his own god, for world peace. The event took place on October 27, 1986. *** "I saw a strange church being built against every rule...No angels were supervising the building operations. In that church, nothing came from high above...There was only division and chaos. It is probably a church of human creation, following the latest fashion...I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines and opinions. There was something proud, presumptuous and violent about it, and they seemed to be very successful. I did not see a single angel or a single saint helping in the work. But far away in the background, I saw the seat of a cruel people armed with spears, and I saw a laughing figure which said: 'Do build it as solid as you can; we will pull it to the ground.'" --Blessed Anne-Catherine Emmerich, 1820

And so the story begins...

Michael J. Fox

Kathy Shaidle - aka "relapsed catholic" writes about Fox' U.S. election ads on behalf of embryonic stem cell research in hopes of a Parkinson's cure:

I'm sorry a movie star has a disease, but that doesn't give him the right to sacrifice others in a quest for a cure. What if there was a chance that experimenting on, say, Parkinson's patients might lead to a cure of something else...? (Paging Dr. Mengele...)

Hmm. Well, first of all, yes, embryonic stem cell research is wrong. Always. Period. Full stop. However, the Dr Mengele reference? Groan.

God's Name is ...

MERCY! I watched Father John Corapi tell his conversion story again today. Wow! Moving. Inspiring. Pick the adjective and I'm sure it fits. As an aside, just as my work contract ended last week, a whole stack of books and DVDs that I'd ordered - almost been compelled to order!? - over the past month or so arrived at my door. And all on the same day! Hmm. My new To-Do list, obviously.

My Photo Blog

Okay. I've finally gone ahead and set up a separate blog for my photographs: an applied liturgikon I'm going to start off by posting the silly self portrait I took a couple of weeks ago - just to scare off any idle or curious passers-by ... but beware: the whole site is still very much a work in progress...

St Peter of Alcantara

From his life: "Once, when someone bewailed in his presence the condition of Christendom, Peter said: The remedy is simple; thou and I must first be what we ought to be; thereby we shall have cured what concerneth ourselves; let each do the same, and all will be well; but the trouble is that we all talk about reforming others without ever reforming ourselves."

Basement Abstraction

Self Portrait

Proverb

"Trifles make perfection but perfection is no trifle." (Found in an article about Ustad Ali Akbar Khan)

The Next Phase

So ... here we are on the last day of my Open Text contract (3 months stretched waaay out to 10+) ... time to consider: what next? Photography or Development? And/or? Or, alternatively, ... ??? No, no. One day at a time. Each day has troubles (and joys!) enough of its own. Anyway, on the programming side of things - thanks to my friends at dataWise - I learned all about the Django Project today. Hmm. Might investigate that and see if I can cobble together something truly illusionally...

Mother & Daughter 2

The sins of our fathers...

But Shem and Japheth put a cloak upon their shoulders, and going backward, covered the nakedness of their father: and their faces were turned away, and they saw not their father's nakedness (Gen 9:23.) (Note to self: especially our fathers in the faith!)

St Francis' Salutation to the Virtues

Hail, Queen Wisdom, the Lord salute thee with thy sister Holy-Pure Simplicity. Lady Holy Poverty, the Lord salute thee with thy sister Holy Humility. Lady Holy Charity, the Lord salute thee with thy sister Holy Obedience. Most holy virtues, the Lord salute all of you, He from whom you come and proceed. There is scarcely any man in the whole world, who can have one of you, before he dies. He who has one and offends not the others, has all. And he who offends one, has none and offends all. And any one of you confounds vices and sins. Holy Wisdom confounds Satan and all his wickedness. Pure Holy Simplicity confounds all the wisdom of this world and the wisdom of the body. Holy Poverty confounds cupidity and avarice and the cares of this age. Holy Humility confounds pride and all the men who are in the world and likewise all the things which are in the world. Holy Charity confounds all the diabolic and carnal temptations and all carnal fears. Holy Obedience confounds all things corporal, both carnal and one's own willings and holds the body mortified in obedience of spirit and in obedience to one's brother and is subject and submissive to all the men, who are in the world and not to men alone, but even to all the beasts and wildlife, so that they may do with him, whatever they will, as much as has been given them from above by the Lord. See: The Franciscan Archive

Mother & Daughter

Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus

Charity gave me the key to my vocation. I understood that if the Church had a body composed of different members, the most necessary and most noble of all could not be lacking to it, and so I understood that the Church had a Heart and that this Heart was burning with love. I understood that it was Love alone that made the Church's members act, that if Love ever became extinct, apostles would not preach the Gospel and martyrs would not shed their blood. I understood that Love comprised all vocations, that Love was everything, that it embraced all times and places ... in a word, that it was Eternal! Then, in the excess of my delirious joy, I cried out: O Jesus, my Love ... my vocation, at last I have found it ... MY VOCATION IS LOVE! Story of a Soul (ch IX) O Lord, who hast said, "Unless you become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven;" grant us, we beseech Thee, so to walk in the footsteps of thy blessed Virgin Theresa with a humble and single heart, that we may attain to everlasting rewards: who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.