Little boys...

Little boys and their toys. That's what my wife was saying before Mass yesterday. While she went along inside I stood out in the rain with my umbrella watching an F-22 fly over Chicago. Along with a couple of other guys, I noticed. Mass at St. John Cantius is always special. But yesterday had that extra added coolness factory. Only wish I'd had a camera.

Gratzy A Plenty

The Lair of the Catholic Cavemen has a post by a Mr. Norv S. Hordo about his experience at a recent "Traditional Latino Mass". I found myself laughing out loud and just had to offer him the above box of "Gratzy A Plentys".

Feast of the Assumption

The Feast of the Assumption evening mass at St. John Cantius was very special. The music was so beautiful it was almost stunning. And it was very nice to see Fr. Phillips say mass again after his knee surgery. Add to that Bishop Joseph Perry was in attendance. But what may very well be the most memorable thing for me was that there were a group of sisters from the Missionaries of Charity. It's a testimony to Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (Lord may it be soon that we can officially address her as St. Teresa of Calcutta) that just the site of those distinctive white and blue trim habits is inspiring.

Feast of the Assumption

Today is the Feast of the Assumption. I took quiet a few political classes back in my college days and ran into the phrase "vanguard of the proletariat" quiet a bit. The Blessed Virgin Mary to me is the vanguard of humanity. She is what we should have been all along and what we should aspire to be at the end of time. Eat your hearts out commies.

St. Maximilian Kobe

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for those who have recourse to thee, and for those who have no recourse to thee, especially the enemies of Holy Mother Church, and those in most need of thy mercy.

Today is the feast day of St. Maximilian Kolbe under the new calendar. We are blessed in Chicagoland to have the National Shrine to St. Maximilian Kolbe nearby in Libertyville at Marytown. Following is a synapsis of the life of St. Maximilian Kolbe from the Marytown website:

St. Maximilian was born Raymond Kolbe in Poland, January 8, 1894. In 1910,
he entered the Conventual Franciscan Order. He was sent to study in Rome
where he was ordained a priest in 1918.

Father Maximilian returned to Poland in 1919 and began spreading his Militia of the Immaculata movement of Marian consecration (whose members are also called MIs), which he founded on October 16, 1917. In 1927, he established an evangelization center near Warsaw called Niepokalanów, the "City of the Immaculate." By 1939, the City had expanded from eighteen friars to nearly 900, making it the largest Catholic religious house in the world.

To better "win the world for the Immaculata," the friars utilized the most modern printing and administrative techniques. This enabled them to publish countless catechetical and devotional tracts, a daily newspaper with a circulation of 230,000 and a monthly magazine with a circulation of over one million. Maximilian started a radio station and planned to build a motion picture studio--he was a true "apostle of the mass media." He established a City of the Immaculata in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1930, and envisioned missionary centers worldwide.

Maximilian was a ground-breaking theologian. His insights into the Immaculate Conception anticipated the Marian theology of the Second Vatican Council and further developed the Church's understanding of Mary as "Mediatrix" of all the graces of the Trinity, and as "Advocate" for God's people.

In 1941, the Nazis imprisoned Father Maximilian in the Auschwitz death camp. There he offered his life for another prisoner and was condemned to slow death in a
starvation bunker. On August 14, 1941, his impatient captors ended his life with a fatal injection. Pope John Paul II canonized Maximilian as a "Martyr of Charity" and “Patron Saint of our difficult century” in 1982. St. Maximilian Kolbe is the patron of journalists, families, prisoners, the pro-life movement and the chemically addicted.

Yet Another Question Answered

There's a great painting behind the altar at St. John Cantius called "The Miracle of the Jug". (Reproduced over to the left.) I've wondered about the story behind the scene depicted and finally remembered to ask one of the priests about it. One day a girl was fetching water and on her way back home she dropped her jug and it broke. St. John Cantius happened to be there and miraculously repaired the jug, when the girl arrived back home with her newly repaired jug and water she noticed that the jug no longer held water, but sweet fresh milk. The milk was apparantly a huge deal at that time and place. I guess the lesson is that God will repair us, fill us up and give us more than we had hoped for. If not in this life then in the next.


And another "Cantian" bit of trivia. The gentleman in this picture is John Cantius Garand. He invented the M1 Garand rifle which was carried by many American servicemen in World War II and Korea. All told almost 5 and a half million of these rifles were produced.

The Rosary at War

Anita Moore over at V for Victory! had a great idea last February, to pray the Rosary for victory. Definitely go over and read the intentions for the decades of the Glorious Mysteries. And if this idea sounds odd to you, remember that Pope St. Pius V asked for the Rosary to be prayed for victory in the Battle of Lepanto. I had been thinking that it seems since September 11th many of us have been looking for some way to contribute to the war effort. This isn't going to be like World War II with scrap medal and war bond drives. This would be the way to bring out a secret weapon, to pray for victory and for the conversion of our Muslim brothers and sisters. And to think that Anita Moore is a lawyer! Well, was bound to happen eventually. We've only been waiting on a good lawyer since 1535.

Pray for Victory

The Catholic Caveman had a recent post about seeing a bumper sticker that said, "Peace Through Music". I left a comment that I've heard alot about praying for peace, peace is a good thing. The trick is how peace is achieved. As Eisenhower once said, "Americans, indeed all freemen, remember that in the final choice, a soldier's pack is not so heavy a burden as a prisoner's chains." And so I pray for victory and that we may be worthy of victory. Because victory also brings peace.

It's a common thought now that there is nothing good about war, that there is no glory in it. But there is. It is the glory of being honorable. The glory of taking up arms and sacrificing. The old saying "all gave some, some gave all" is true. Some give their lives, some live having seen their brothers mained and killed and some live with the damage done to their soul because they had to take a life. By not recognizing and paying respect we do not dishonor the warrior as much as ourselves. We've become shallow, "men without chests" as C.S. Lewis would say. As an example we all know who Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan are, but how many of us know who Paul R. Smith and Jason Dunham are? As George Orwell said, "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." May Our Lord have mercy on those rough men and give them peace in this world and the next.

Question answered

I've had a question buzzing around my head lately. What would a "womanpriest" expect to be addressed as? Father doesn't make any sense. Mother? Parent? I did get an answer from "Fr. Tim" over at the Spirit of Vatican 2 blog. You can find his answer at http://spiritofvatican2.blogspot.com/2007/08/clarification-on-womyn-priestesses.html. Not sure it answers what the "womenpriests" would expect, but I do like the answer.

And if you're not currently drinking anything, aren't squeemish check out The Lair of the Catholic Cavemen and see what I'm calling the "ManNun".

Interesting quote...

I'm originally from Nashville and still love the old hometown. As one would assume there's not a huge Catholic presence in Nashville so it brightens my day to find a mention of Nashville Catholocism. In this case a quote from Bishop William Adrian about the Second Vatican Council:

"These liberal theologians seized on the Council as the means of decatholicizing the Catholic Church while pretending only to deromanize it. By twisting words and using Protestant terminology and ideas they succeeded in creating a mess whereby many Catholic priests, religious and laymen have become so confused that they feel alienated from Catholic culture."

No comments from me on this... for now. Just something to think
about.

Sancta Missa

The Cannons Regular of St. John Cantius have launched a new website at http://www.sanctamissa.org/EN/index.html for a tutorial on the extraordinary mass of the Latin Rite said according to the 1962 Missale Romanum. I attend St. John Cantius and if you're in the Chicagoland area I would strongly encourage and even plead with you to attend the 12:30 Tridentine High Mass. It may take a while to catch on, it did for me. And while the hand missals are useful I found a personal one listing all the readings and mutable prayers even more useful. Words can't begin to describe the beauty of the parish and the services.

Cafeteria v. Banquet

It's a pretty safe bet that you've heard of cafeteria Catholocism. It unfortunately is probably the majority of Catholics in America. It's the belief that the dogmas and teachings of the Church are lined up for us like the entrees and veggies of a buffet and that we can subscribe to those we like and ignore those that we find distasteful. Hence we have politicians who on the one hand proclaim themsleves good Catholics and use their faith for political advantage and on the other hand loudly and proudly proclaim their disagreement with the Church on abortion. Large percentages of Catholics practice birth control. When it comes to the teachings of the Church we are obligated to obey and follow those teachings. Even if we dissent, we are still obligated to obey.

But thinking about cafeteriaism has led me to think about a spread put out for us by the Church where we are given the opportunity to choose as we wish. This is the many forms of devotions given to us by the Church and by God. I like to think of it as a banquet of faith. There's almost a dizzying array of medals, scapulars, chaplets, saints and prayers. All there to lead us ultimately to the Truth and to help us conform to the Truth. Marian devotion is one of the largest sections of this banquet. When I converted a dozen years ago it wasn't one that I felt particularly drawn towards. Being raised Southern Baptist will do that. The Marian teachings of the Church were hard for me. But because I believed in the Magisterium of the Church I believed in the Truth of these teachings, even if I did not avail myself of the grace, comfort and wisdom that they impart. That was ok, the Church has multitudes of avenues to apply the grace of our Lord. And that's part of the genius of the multitudes of these avenues of faith that God has made available for us. Oh, as I've gotten older I've been more drawn to the Blessed Virgin. It actually began with a single word, "theotokos". But that's another post.

Prayer to Our Lady of America

Oh Immaculate Mother, Queen of our country, open our hearts, our homes, and our land to the coming of Jesus, your Divine Son. With Him, reign over us, O heavenly Lady, so pure and so bright with the radiance of Gods light shining in and about you. Be our leader against the powers of evil set upon wresting the world of souls, redeemed at such a great cost by the sufferings of your Son and of yourself, in union with Him, from that same Savior, Who loves us with infinite charity.
We gather about you, O chaste and holy Mother, Virgin Immaculate, Patroness of our beloved Land, determined to fight under your banner of holy purity against the wickedness that would make all the world an abyss of evil, without God and without your loving maternal care.
We consecrate our hearts, our homes, our Land to your Most Pure Heart, O great Queen, that the kingdom of your Son, our Redeemer and our God, may be firmly established in us.
We ask no special sign of you, sweet Mother, for we believe in your great love for us, and we place in you our entire confidence. We promise to honor you by faith, love, and the purity of our lives according to your desire.
Reign over us, then, O Virgin Immaculate, with your Son Jesus Christ. May His Divine Heart and your most chaste Heart be ever enthroned and glorified among us. Use us, your children of America, as your instruments of peace among men and nations. Work your miracle of grace in us, so that we may be a glory to the Blessed Trinity, Who created, redeemed, and sanctifies us.
May your valiant spouse, St. Joseph, with the holy Angels and Saints, assist you and us in "renewing the face of the earth." Then when our work is over, come, Holy Immaculate Mother, and as our Victorious Queen, lead us to the eternal kingdom, where your Son reigns forever as King.

Papa Ratzi in Shades

Is it just me or is this the Papa B XVI we'd expect to find in the Matrix?

Is it believable?

Wow. I may need to take some time off from posting. I mean two posts in 2 and a half years? What a taskmaster I am.