All Hallows' Eve

Not many people know this but Halloween or All Hallows' Eve is a day when Catholics should meditate on the reality of Hell and how people who die in a state of mortal sin enter such a place.  Thus, the days of Hallowtide remind of us of Hell, Heaven, and Purgatory in that order.

Here is a pertinent link from Fisheaters which will explain the Catholic nature of Halloween.

Feast of Christ the King

"This kingdom is spiritual and is concerned with spiritual things. That this is so the above quotations from Scripture amply prove, and Christ by his own action confirms it. On many occasions, when the Jews and even the Apostles wrongly supposed that the Messiah would restore the liberties and the kingdom of Israel, he repelled and denied such a suggestion. When the populace thronged around him in admiration and would have acclaimed him King, he shrank from the honor and sought safety in flight. Before the Roman magistrate he declared that his kingdom was not of this world. The gospels present this kingdom as one which men prepare to enter by penance, and cannot actually enter except by faith and by baptism, which, though an external rite, signifies and produces an interior regeneration. This kingdom is opposed to none other than to that of Satan and to the power of darkness. It demands of its subjects a spirit of detachment from riches and earthly things, and a spirit of gentleness. They must hunger and thirst after justice, and more than this, they must deny themselves and carry the cross. Christ as our Redeemer purchased the Church at the price of his own blood; as priest he offered himself, and continues to offer himself as a victim for our sins. Is it not evident, then, that his kingly dignity partakes in a manner of both these offices? It would be a grave error, on the other hand, to say that Christ has no authority whatever in civil affairs, since, by virtue of the absolute empire over all creatures committed to him by the Father, all things are in his power. Therefore by Our Apostolic Authority We institute the Feast of the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ to be observed yearly throughout the whole world on the last Sunday of the month of October - the Sunday, that is, which immediately precedes the Feast of All Saints. We further ordain that the dedication of mankind to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to be renewed yearly."

-Sixth Lesson of Mattins, Feast of Christ the King 

A tip of the cap to Josh Tomlin

Behold, the Bridegroom cometh at Midnight

The Blessed Virgin

"And thus also it was that the knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the Virgin Mary set free through faith."

-St. Irenaeus 

Seventh Inning Blunder(s)

A pivotal moment last night came in the seventh when the Cubs somehow got the bases loaded against Andrew Miller.  Down 3-0, they had Contreras, Russell and Ross coming up to bring them in.  The Indians formula is quite simple.  They want their starting pitcher to go six or seven innings, Miller for one or two, and Allen to shut it down.  If they follow this formula for the next couple of days, they will win the World Series. Nevertheless, last night, Miller seemed to be slightly off his game as he was missing with his slider by a few inches.

However, after getting Contreras to hit on a weak fly ball (not deep enough to score), Russell to strike out, he was left to face David Ross.  Now, here is where Maddon makes his mistake.  David Ross, for all the nice work he does as a catcher, can simply not hit.  The much better option would have been Jorge Soler.

The fact of the matter is that Maddon stuck with Ross in a high leverage situation (3.29) and all he did was strikeout.  It hurt their WPA by -.083.

Thank God for the World Series

“In high school I wrote an essay on baseball and my teacher told me I had to rewrite it on a more serious topic. So I wrote an essay about the World Series and my teacher gave up.”

-Tucker Elliot

On the Rosary

"It has always been the habit of Catholics in danger and in troublous times to fly for refuge to Mary, and to seek for peace in her maternal goodness; showing that the Catholic Church has always, and with justice, put all her hope and trust in the Mother of God. And truly the Immaculate Virgin, chosen to be the Mother of God and thereby associated with Him in the work of man's salvation, has a favour and power with her Son greater than any human or angelic creature has ever obtained, or ever can gain. And, as it is her greatest pleasure to grant her help and comfort to those who seek her, it cannot be doubted that she would deign, and even be anxious, to receive the aspirations of the universal Church."

-Pope Leo XIII, Supremi Apostolatus Officio #2

The End.

"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops. Today, October 2, a Sunday of rain and broken branches and leaf-clogged drains and slick streets, it stopped, and summer was gone."

-A. Bartlett Giamatti, The Green Fields of the Mind

World Mission Sunday

"8. Everyone can pray, of this fact there can be no question. Everyone, therefore, has at hand and can make use of this all-important help, this daily nourishment of the missions. For these reasons you will act according to Our desires and will also do something in keeping with the religious spirit and feelings of the faithful, if you order that special prayers for the missions and for the conversion of the heathen to the true Faith be added, for example, to the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin or to the other prayers which are customarily recited both in the parish and other churches. It would be well, Venerable Brothers, to make a special point of inviting and encouraging children and the religious orders of women to take up this holy practice. We are particularly desirous that in all institutions, orphan asylums, parochial schools, colleges, and convents of Sisters there should daily arise to heaven the prayer that the Divine Mercy may descend upon so many unhappy beings, inhabitants of the densely populated pagan countries. Can the Heavenly Father refuse anything to the innocent and chaste who ask it of Him? On the other hand, such a pious practice leads to the hope that these children, who have been trained to pray for the conversion of the heathen from the first moment when the flower of charity begins to bud in their young and tender hearts, may, with the help of God, themselves receive a vocation for the apostolate, a vocation which if it is nurtured with care may perhaps in time supply capable workers for the mission field."

-Pope Pius XI, Rerum Ecclesiae

Scenarios

There are two great sorrows for a baseball fan.  The first is when your team is eliminated from World Series contention.  The second is when the baseball season ends with the conclusion of the World Series.

Tomorrow night, my Dodgers will be in a elimination scenario for the third time this season.  They find themselves down 3-2 as they head to Chicago where they will face the arduous task of winning two at The Friendly Confines. Chicago will have a great deal on the line as they have not won a Pennant since 1945 and have not won the World Series since 1908.

T-22 Hours.

About Bishop Latour

“Under his buckskin riding-coat he wore a black vest and the cravat and collar of a churchman. A young priest, at his devotions; and a priest in a thousand, one knew at a glance. His bowed head was not that of an ordinary man,—it was built for the seat of a fine intelligence. His brow was open, generous, reflective, his features handsome and somewhat severe. There was a singular elegance about the hands below the fringed cuffs of the buckskin jacket. Everything showed him to be a man of gentle birth—brave, sensitive, courteous. His manners, even when he was alone in the desert, were distinguished. He had a kind of courtesy toward himself, toward his beasts, toward the juniper tree before which he knelt, and the God whom he was addressing.”

-Death Comes for the Archbishop

The Cleveland Indians have won the Pennant

Amazing.

Rest in Peace, King Kigeli V of Rwanda

Long Live the Church.  Long Live the King.

Miracles of the Church

“Where there is great love there are always miracles,' he said at length. 'One might almost say that an apparition is human vision corrected by divine love. I do not see you as you really are, Joseph; I see you through my affection for you. The Miracles of the Church seem to me to rest not so much upon faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly near to us from afar off, but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that for a moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear what is there about us always.”

-Bishop Jean Marie Latour, Death Comes For The Archbishop

St. José Sánchez del Río

In a time where our coward leaders are undermining the supremacy of the Catholic Church, a saint who was canonized today shows us the bloody cost of following the True Faith.

St. José Sánchez del Río, please pray for us and for all the cowards who currently infest our beloved Church.

Turn Him From Vice

“He who lives among a certain sort of people becomes accustomed to that kind of habit, behavior, and morals. Consequently the cool become enthusiastic, the stupid become sharp, the idle are aroused to activity by a lively interest in their fellow men. Spirit can give itself to spirit and act beneficially upon another and attract another to prayer, to attention. It can encourage him in despondency, turn him from vice, and arouse him to holy action.”

-The Way of a Pilgrim 

Beautiful

 "Listen carefully and one can hear the echos of some unbelievable moments."

The Legend Speaks

Cardinal Sarah is a true man of God.  How can you not admire him?

"Silence teaches us a major rule of the spiritual life: familiarity does not foster intimacy; on the contrary, a proper distance is a condition for communion. It is by way of adoration that humanity walks toward love. Sacred silence opens the way to mystical silence, full of loving intimacy. Under the yoke of secular reason, we have forgotten that the sacred and worship are the only entrances to the spiritual life. Therefore I do not hesitate to declare that sacred silence is a cardinal law of all liturgical celebration."

-Cardinal Sarah

Leo XIII on the heresy of Americanism

"From the foregoing it is manifest, beloved son, that we are not able to give approval to those views which, in their collective sense, are called by some "Americanism." But if by this name are to be understood certain endowments of mind which belong to the American people, just as other characteristics belong to various other nations, and if, moreover, by it is designated your political condition and the laws and customs by which you are governed, there is no reason to take exception to the name. But if this is to be so understood that the doctrines which have been adverted to above are not only indicated, but exalted, there can be no manner of doubt that our venerable brethren, the bishops of America, would be the first to repudiate and condemn it as being most injurious to themselves and to their country. For it would give rise to the suspicion that there are among you some who conceive and would have the Church in America to be different from what it is in the rest of the world."

-Leo XIII, Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae

Noah is Right

"Baseball has a way of ripping your heart out, stabbing it, putting it back in your chest, then healing itself just in time for Spring Training."

-Noah Syndergaard 

Piece on Silence

The great Father Blake wrote a great piece on a very important topic which is silence.  See the link below to read it.

The Silent Church

Game 162 and Death

When I woke up this morning, I was instantly struck by how bittersweet the day was going to be.  Today marked Game 162 in the baseball calendar which is the last day in the regular season.  The post-season will begin on Tuesday and will find its sorrowful end at the conclusion of the World Series.

Game 162 is always a little difficult for me to take.  Regular season baseball is one of my joys since it really becomes part of your daily routine.  It fills your summer afternoon and evenings but then it leaves you alone to face the bitter cold of November and December.  As the end of the baseball season winds down I am always reminded of death.  The season in all of its glory will eventually end.  Life with of all its glory will end as well.

In the Epistle today, St. Paul exhorts us to redeem the time:

"Brethren, See how you walk circumspectly, not as unwise, but as wise redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore, become not unwise, but understanding what is the will of God. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is luxury: but be ye filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord: giving thanks always for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God and the Father; being subject one to another in the fear of Christ."

-Ephesians 5:15-21, Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost  

Time is  important for us since we can either utilize it for the salvation of our souls or damnation of it.  I think that October represents this whole notion perfectly.  As the weather gets colder, as the baseball season is finishing, and as the days get shorter, we are reminded of how valuable time is (or at least I am).  Let us be wise and redeem the time for the days are truly evil.