The Church of the Meek

Hat Tip: The Catholic Breadbox

It will be hard-going for the Church, for the process of crystallization and clarification will cost her much valuable energy. It will make her poor and cause her to become the Church of the meek … The process will be long and wearisome as was the road from the false progressivism on the eve of the French Revolution – when a bishop might be thought smart if he made fun of dogmas and even insinuated that the existence of God was by no means certain … But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church. Men in a totally planned world will find themselves unspeakably lonely. If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty. Then they will discover the little flock of believers as something wholly new. They will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, an answer for which they have always been searching in secret.


And so it seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals. But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end: not the Church of the political cult, but the Church of faith. She may well no longer be the dominant social power to the extent that she was until recently; but she will enjoy a fresh blossoming and be seen as man’s home, where he will find life and hope beyond death.

--Pope Benedict XVI, predicting our current situation back in 1969 

Litany to the Holy Family

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.

God, the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God, the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Pray for us.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, most worthy of our veneration, Pray for us.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, called “the Holy Family” from all time, Pray for us.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, son, mother, and head of the Holy Family, Pray for us.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, divine child, pure spouse, and chaste spouse, Pray for us.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, restorers of fallen families, Pray for us.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, image of the Blessed Trinity here on earth, Pray for us.
Holy Family, tested by the greatest of difficulties, Pray for us.
Holy Family, with much suffering on the journey to Bethlehem, Pray for us.
Holy Family, without a welcome in Bethlehem, Pray for us.
Holy Family, visited by the poor shepherds, Pray for us.
Holy Family, obliged to live in a stable, Pray for us.
Holy Family, praised by the Angels, Pray for us.
Holy Family, venerated by the wise men from the East, Pray for us.
Holy Family, greeted by the pious Simeon in the temple, Pray for us.
Holy Family, persecuted and exiled to a foreign country, Pray for us.
Holy Family, hidden and unknown in Nazareth, Pray for us.
Holy Family, faithful in the observance of divine laws, Pray for us.
Holy Family, perfect model of the Christian family, Pray for us.
Holy Family, center of peace and concord, Pray for us.
Holy Family, whose protector is a model of paternal care, Pray for us.
Holy Family, whose mother is a model of maternal diligence, Pray for us.
Holy Family, whose Divine Child is a model of filial obedience, Pray for us.
Holy Family, poor in material goods, but rich in divine blessings, Pray for us.
Holy Family, as nothing in the eyes of men, but so great in heaven, Pray for us.
Holy Family, our support in life and our hope in death, Pray for us.
Holy Family, patron and protector of our Congregation, Pray for us.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Pray for us.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
Let us pray.
O God of infinite goodness and kindness, who has deigned to call us to this Congregation, give us the grace to venerate Jesus, Mary and Joseph, so that, imitating them in this life, we may enjoy with them the life to come. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

The Innocence of Music

It's interesting how the genre of music makes certain song not seem as morally poor.
The lyrics of the song before are still as morally questionable as the Rihanna version, but for some reason the jazzy musical interpretation and the exploding piano is so much less provocative than the short skirts, lack of shoulders on the tops, club scene (and the type of 'dance' that is common in such places.)

The Jamie Cullum version is here, below.

He's a pretty awesome pianist, imo.

Catholicism: You're doing it wrong.

Statue of Gandhi at Boston College's School of Theology and Ministry

There is a link attached to this post of The Vortex episode for the 8th of April. It's on how not to be Catholic.
Only watch it if you have a strong stomach. It is actually sickening.

Much, much more sickening than the video that you can find here.<-- that video, btw, is Cazza's favourtive clip ever. Everytime she goes on a YouTube binge, this clip comes up. I think that 9 or the 10 million views are hers. That's all.

Because Silence Is Not Golden. It's Yellow.*

 

A clip from Real Catholic TV's

The Vortex with Michael Voris

on being a faithful Catholic

RealCathoicTV is a YouTube Channel that I wholesale recommend.
Seriously, go watch all of the clips there.

*The title of this post is the tag-line of one of my favourite blogs The Last Papist Standing, another place you should check out.

Spare Change

Life is changing.

Life is always changing.
It just appears to be changing more rapidly than before.

Is that because I'm revisiting previous decisions and re-discerning them?
Or is it just that I have so very much to do and almost all that I have to do has a deadline that is closer than I would like?