Lost Lambs

IMAG0147.jpg on Flickr.Divine liturgy of St. Basil… ...

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 00:59:54 -0500

Divine liturgy of St. Basil… Coming soon….

Is it wrong to be excited to give up something for lent?

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:54:14 -0500

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, things have been busy, focusing on other “Real Life” issues - darn those things….

Anyway - I think I know what I am going to be giving up for Lent - my Smartphone….

I have been somewhat of a cell phone addict since about the age of 16 - always wanting something latest and greatest, and I am always found punching away at that lovely Motorola Photon 4G.

I have found on ebay an old phone - one with no camera, no GPS, no internet, and it may or may not have text messaging capabilities.

Here in lies the crux of my question…..
This phone was once my favorite phone… it was once THE phone to have.

So in me there is a bit of excitement and nostalgia going back to it….

Is it wrong to be so excited to give something up for lent?

Saturday - Dedicated to Our Lady

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:37:00 -0500

This is the first Saturday of the month.

Dedicate it to Our Lady.

Pray your rosary, do as your mother asks….

All photos taken from my personal collection - hosted on Flickr - Click the Photo for the set / larger version

I was given an special grace today to go to have my confession...

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:12:48 -0500

I was given an special grace today to go to have my confession heard, witness to benediction of the blessed sacrament , get my throat blessed, and receive Holy Communion. If only more parishes around here were as Catholic as this hospital chapel.

On the feast of St. Blaise....

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:13:25 -0500

As a kid, I wanted to be a priest, for the longest time whenever anyone asked that was my response. I would “play mass” and I even have vivid memories of blessing peoples throats with the St. Blaise prayer as a kid. Well as Gods will would have it I am a different kind of father than what my child self envisioned.

The photo above is of my oldest child, Blaize - Named from St. Blaise Bishop and martyr.

St. Blaise Ora Pro Nobis

"‎”The root principle of birth-control is unsound. It is a glorification of the means and a..."

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:26:36 -0500

“‎”The root principle of birth-control is unsound. It is a glorification of the means and a contempt of the end; it says that the pleasure which is a means to the procreation of children is good, but the children themselves are no good. In other words, to be logical, the philosophy of birth-control would commit us to a world in which trees were always blooming but never giving fruit, a world full of sign-posts that were leading nowhere. In this cosmos every tree would be a barren fig-tree and for that reason would have upon it the curse of God.””

- Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Susan Komen Backs out of Planned Parenthood

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:00:18 -0500

Susan Komen Backs out of Planned Parenthood:

Some great news - Susan G Komen Foundation - stops Money to Planned Parenthood.

I hear lots of little baby hands applauding this move.

Infamous Johnson County Kansas Planned Parenthood
Photo I took while protesting

Benedict XVI releases doves only to have them re-enter his...

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:36:00 -0500

Benedict XVI releases doves only to have them re-enter his window (by romereports)

This was Hilarious - I love his response, ” Mama Mia! They want to live in the Popes house!”

restlesshippo: “If someone a year ago had told me that ...

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:20:20 -0500

restlesshippo:

“If someone a year ago had told me that Catholic social service agencies in Illinois would be forbidden by law to arrange adoptions or place children in foster homes, I would have said that he or she could not be serious. If others had said that a well-established Catholic college in the archdiocese would be told by a government agency that it is no longer Catholic, I would have thought that impossible. If two years ago I had been told that Catholic hospitals and universities and other institutions that are securely part of the church’s ministry would have to insure their employees for medical “services” that are immoral, I would have thought that we were still protected against a decree that would force our institutions to close or to secularize themselves. If I had imagined that the church could not go to the aid of women who have been trafficked or of refugees needing care without offering them “the full range of reproductive services” (including abortion and sterilization), I would have dismissed the thought as a mere fantasy. If the thought had occurred that the U.S. government would attack in court the right of a church to determine who are its properly recognized ministers and who are not, it would have been dismissed as pure fancy. Similarly fanciful would have been a law, actually introduced in a State legislature, revising the church’s internal governance, taking it from priests and bishops and vesting it in committees dictated by State law. These developments have made me anxious. The church’s work with the poor and the disadvantaged, the sick and the uneducated, the hungry and the homeless has never been threatened before. Loss of these ministries, as well as a weakening of our right to govern ourselves and to worship God in an orderly and regular fashion, will affect not only Catholics but also our whole society.”

- Cardinal Francis George

"Take away self-will and there will be no hell"

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 02:47:57 -0500

“Take away self-will and there will be no hell”

- St. Bernard
Side Altar of St. Bernard in the main Chapel at Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg MD.
Fr. Z Said a Mass at this Altar a few months after this photo was taken
All photos taken from my personal collection - hosted on Flickr - Click the Photo for the set / larger version.

Ecce Agnus Dei on Flickr.Ecce Agnus Dei, ecce qui tollit peccata...

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:45:44 -0500

Ecce Agnus Dei on Flickr.

Ecce Agnus Dei, ecce qui tollit peccata mundi.

I'm looking for some Catholic love up here on my dash...

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:31:53 -0500

carryacrossandasong:

If you’re a Catholic Tumblr-er, reblog so I can follow you!

A First time for everything...

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 02:08:00 -0500

Well this evening the search for a parish to call home continued. I have posted about this before, and the disappointment we have when we see liturgical abuse, and other various deficiencies found in the most of the local parishes.

Tonight we decided to try St. Matthew’s Parish in Glendale Heights. Normally we attend the Extraordinary Form, but since my sister from Kansas City is probably coming over tomorrow for a quick visit around the time we would normally go to the Extraordinary Form I thought it would be a good opportunity to continue to search for a local parish to feed our souls when we’re not able to make it to the Extraordinary form.

I chose St. Matthew’s because on their website it states they are staffed by the Carmelites, “Great! I think to myself - this could give real promise, perhaps our search was over.” so I clear the half of a foot of snow off the driveway, get the four kids ready, clean off the snow on the car, and we arrive a little early.

My firs thing I questioned was where the Tabernacle was - as usual; can you find it in the photo above?? I’m not sure what it is with Illinois, but it sure seems that there must have been an order from the Bishops that all Churches must hide Jesus in the Tabernacle to some side / lost area of the Church as every local parish we have visited has not had a prominent tabernacle.

During the Mass the liturgy was prayed well - the priest seemed a bit annoyed at something - but he didn’t change any of the words and for the most I could tell he did the red and said the black, so far so good - perhaps this parish could be our go to parish for us when we can’t make it to the Extraordinary Form. There were no glass or clay chalices - there were altar girls but those are usually the least of my problems in a parish that allows them.

After the Agnus Dei - the throngs of Extraordinary Ministers engulfed the sanctuary and then Communion was given. For communion time my family and I waited a bit and walked around the back to go get in the line for the Priest instead of receiving from an non ordained person. It was at this moment I approached our Lord, and in great awe and reference for the gift of the Eucharist I knelt down to receive him on my tongue, a reverent gesture fit for the king of kings.

I see the priest hold up Jesus and prepare to feed my soul, but then as if the needle had been pulled from a great resounding record, as if I had gotten shot right in the back, the priest then puts Jesus back and says:

OH! NO! NO! - WE DON’T DO THAT HERE - THE BISHOPS HAVE FORBID THAT IN THE UNITED STATES

(Which I am fully aware that this is not True: Source 1 - #91 and Source 2-#160 )

Shame, embarrassment, and hurt flood my being. I stagger upward onto my feet and hear, “The body of Christ” - “Amen” I reply and in shock and awe as I then return to the pew. I was not the only one, as my 9 yr old son who as well has always received kneeling was told he could not either and was deeply confused as to what had just transpired.

As soon as I kneel back in the pew I pray for this priest, I pray that God opens his heart to the truth of the teachings of Holy Mother Church , I pray that he may become holy, become the priest God intends him to be. This is something that I have heard and read about but nothing I had ever experienced myself. I could do my best to keep praying and try to focus on being a walking tabernacle and the last bits of Mass.

After mass, there was great applause, and great socializing in the pews as we tried to give a proper thanksgiving after Mass. People would come up to us and comment on how beautiful our baby girl is. Others to comment on the size of our family - the winning comment comes from a woman who first looks and compliments the baby and then as she sees the rest of the kids in the pews asks,:

“….Are…. All… These [ as she glares up and down the pew]….Your family???”

What to go from here with my experience? My initial thought was to write the local Bishop / ordinary, explaining that we are new to the area looking for a parish to call home, and a possible Catholic school for my children, and write in the letter how I was denied our Lord on my knees, ~~and how we were gawked at for having a “large” family~~. After further research online, perhaps I should write to Rom about what happened during communion? On the flip side if I am not going to be a member of the parish perhaps I should just let it go, keep praying for the priest and parish and not voice my concern, but what about the next communicant here that gets denied?

Prayer, Fasting, Abstaining.... Mortification

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:44:00 -0500

Everyday when I drive home I listen to the Catholic Radio ( 950 / 930 AM ). In Kansas City we did not have Relevant Radio, but we did have EWTN Radio (1090 AM). I really enjoy listening to Catholic radio and even had Sirius for unintrrupted EWTN and also The Catholic Channel. I was a regular caller in on “The Catholic Guy” program - I even won a Popener.. but I digress

Usually on my drive home I get to listen to the replay of “Go Ask your Father”, a call in program where anyone can ask a priest just about anything (I enjoy all the priests but Fr. Rich Simon has really grown on me). Tonight a caller called an and stated that if we wanted to really see the end of Abortion in this country we need to add fasting to our prayer. Shes was very upset that she didn’t hear fasting preached and wanted to get the word out that by fasting is the way scripture says we should add to our prayer.

This started the wheels in my brain turning, when we first started attending the Extraordinary Form with the FSSP and ICRSS in Kansas City they would constantly preach about mortification. Depriving ourselves of our desires for us to grow in holiness. Some of the recommended mortification methods that were suggested were: when you kneel to pray, kneel on your hands. cut back on simple little pleasures, waking up extra early to say prayers, and of course fasting and abstaining. At the time I stopped putting cream and sugar in my coffee, drinking it straight black (another suggestion from them) and it was very difficult for me at first but then it became quite enjoyable. Now I can not drink coffee with cream and sugar, as it tastes quite odd and out of place to me.

So what is the point of this post you may ask? Well dear reader it is this: Today is Friday, will you join me in abstaining from Meat today - and every Friday - as a little mortification for your prayer intentions. I am fully aware that this is no longer required per Canon Law when you replace it with another small act of penance through the day (an extra rosary, time with the Blessed Sacrament, etc.)

With these slow, deliberate acts for our Lord, may we humble ourselves for the conversion of sinners.

St. Jose Maria Escriva + Ora Pro Nobis

The Meaning of life...

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 02:22:13 -0500

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength.
And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart: And thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising. And thou shalt bind them as a sign on thy hand, and they shall be and shall move between thy eyes. And thou shalt write them in the entry, and on the doors of thy house.

Deut. 6:4-9

6. Q. Why did God make you?

A. God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.

Baltimore Catechism

Pray for Religious Vocations... Pray for our Priests...

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:24:00 -0500

Pray for Religious Vocations - Pray for the Seminarians and Postulants ….. Pray for our Priests and Bishops…

All photos taken from my personal collection - hosted on Flickr - Click any Photo for the set / larger version.

This photo was taken in Conception MO. at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception - The Public Profession of Triennial Vows according to the Holy Rule of St. Benedict and Investiture in the Benedictine Habit for a Postulant May 19, 2007

You can Support these wonderful Traditional Sisters by visiting their Web Site

Officium Divinum

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 01:02:48 -0500

I have been trying to pray the Liturgy of the Hours when I can. Most days I end up just praying Night Prayer and reading the office of Readings. I mostly use the Ordinary Form “Liturgy Of the Hours” as I was gifted the complete 4 Volume set - In leather no less! I really enjoy the Sermons from Saints and prayers and poems.

I also was gifted the Angelus Press Officium Divinum - Divine Office for Laity, It is abridged but has a good amount of Psalms and prayers in the Traditional Office format. So I have been throwing that into the prayer rotation as well. Some days I get to say both, others just one and even some days I forget about them entirely.

Since I have an Ordinary Form Hand Missal Missal (Roman Missal 3rd Edition) and an Extraordinary Form Missal - on the Sundays that we go to one but not the other I use the Missal to read the readings I did not hear (Usually I am reading the Ordinary Form readings at home but my faithful readers should have probably guessed that by now) - It really helps to tie the Mass to the LOTH together.

My wife at one time was very devout in praying the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary before I took us away from the faith, slowly shes coming back around to it.

Ever since about the 2nd week in Advent I have tried to pray the Rosary (5 decades ) as a family - I would say we’re at about a 70% success rate. So hopefully as we continue to improve those stats my reading of the Office will continue to improve as well.

What I would really like to do is get a Google+ Hangout of other Catholics and pray the hours / rosary / general discussion etc. - but how do I go about organizing / joining such a thing - please leave your suggestions in the combox

“Protect us, Lord, as we stay awake; watch over us as we...

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 02:14:16 -0500

“Protect us, Lord, as we stay awake; watch over us as we sleep, that awake, we may keep watch with Christ, and asleep, rest in his peace.” - Liturgy of the Hours

"‎I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong and be a man!"

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:34:00 -0500

“‎I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong and be a man!”

- 1 King 2:2

Today is the feast of St. John Neumann C.S.S.R. fourth bishop of...

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 03:42:00 -0500

Today is the feast of St. John Neumann C.S.S.R. fourth bishop of Philadelphia. I have no idea how I obtained this relic, but I found it in my pajama drawer after we moved to Chicago land

We are also finishing up the “Neumann Year”, In 2011, the Redemptorist Fathers celebrated the 200th anniversary of the birth of St. John Neumann. The Neumann Year runs through June 23, 2012

St. John Neumann, ora pro nobis.