Arvo Part - Festina Lente

Advent

Advent is my favorite liturgical season of the year for many reasons.  One major reason is that it balances the themes of penance and joy.  The season is penitential because we are waiting for Our Lord and without His Birth, we are living in the darkness of sin.  However it is joyful because we know He is coming and He will be coming soon!

As I drive around and notice all the Christmas lights and decorations around town, my heart warms to know how many people love Our Lord and celebrate His Birthday.  Even if many of those who are celebrating are doing it for "secular" reasons, their hearts are wired to Christ and they are doing all of it for Him, even if they do not know it.

I spent my first twenty-one years in darkness.  I celebrated Christmas for all the wrong reasons however Christ showered His Mercy on me and brought me into the Church in 2013.   As I begin this Advent, the thoughts of "why me" have come into my mind.  Why did the Lord pull me off the hellward ship that I was going on?  I am a horrible sinner who does not deserve to be in the comfort of the Church.

Oh Lord, please continue to guide me into the only place I really want to be, Paradise.

Arvo Part-Magnificat

The Road

I heard this today on Pandora and found it to be deeply moving.

Marriage

“A marriage which does not constantly crucify its own selfishness and self-sufficiency, which does not “die to itself” that it may point beyond itself, is not a Christian marriage. The real sin of marriage today is not adultery or lack of “adjustment” or “mental cruelty.” It is the idolization of the family itself, the refusal to understand marriage as directed toward the Kingdom of God. This is expressed in the sentiment that one would “do anything” for his family, even steal. The family has here ceased to be for the glory of God; it has ceased to be a sacramental entrance into his presence. It is not the lack of respect for the family, it is the idolization of the family that breaks the modern family so easily, making divorce its almost natural shadow. It is the identification of marriage with happiness and the refusal to accept the cross in it. In a Christian marriage, in fact, three are married; and the united loyalty of the two toward the third, who is God, keeps the two in an active unity with each other as well as with God. Yet it is the presence of God which is the death of the marriage as something only “natural.” It is the cross of Christ that brings the self-sufficiency of nature to its end. But “by the cross, joy entered the whole world.” Its presence is thus the real joy of marriage. It is the joyful certitude that the marriage vow, in the perspective of the eternal Kingdom, is not taken “until death parts,” but until death unites us completely.”

– Fr. Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World

Arvo Part and "Fur Alina"

"Like two people whose paths seem to cross, and then they don't."

Fidel Castro

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.

Even though Fidel Castro was responsible for many atrocities against the Church and Her members, we must never forget what Our Lord told us.  We must love our enemies for that distinguishes us from the world.  The best way of showing this love towards Castro is to pray for his soul now that he has entered into the Hereafter.  

May God have mercy on him and may Christ the King lead Cuba into the heart of the Church.

Control

Abba Pambo asked Abba Anthony, "What ought I to do?" and the old man said to him, "Do not trust in your own righteousness, do not worry about the past, but control your tongue and your stomach."

Great Work

Abba Anthony said to Abba Poemen, "This is the great work of man: always to take the blame for his own sins before God and to expect temptation to his last breath."

Please pray for Fr. Ray Blake

He just came back from the hospital and needs our prayers so that God may give him peace and good health.

The Presentation of Our Lady

Pray for us, Dear Mother.

Will of God

"The soul that is in all things devoted to the will of God rests quiet in Him, for she knows of experience and from the Holy Scriptures that the Lord loves us much and watches over our souls, quickening all things by His grace in peace and love. Nothing troubles the man who is given over to the will of God, be it illness, poverty or persecution. He knows that the Lord in His mercy is solicitous for us. The Holy Spirit, whom the soul knows, is witness therefore. But the proud and the self-willed do not want to surrender to God's will because they like their own way, and that is harmful for the soul."

-St. Silouan the Athonite 

My Priest!

Today, on EWTN Live, Fr. James Fryar will be on talking about the Traditional Latin Mass and our nascent community.  He is the leader of our community here in Los Angeles and so catch it if you have time.

Here on the West Coast it will be on at five P.M (now) and later on at ten.

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EDIT:  The video below is for those who might have missed it.

Shadow of the Sun's Rays

"'Time that passeth like a shadow' (Ecclesiastes, 7.1). Watch the shadow of the sun’s rays creep silently across the dial’s face. Slowly, irresistibly it moves on. No power of man can stay its course; the fair, the mighty, the eloquent, may plead in vain, but nought can check its onward march; ever relentlessly forward man’s destiny is hastening to its end."

-Fr. William Doyle

Byzantine chant - Φωτίζου, φωτίζου

The Traditional Latin Mass: Our Pride and Our Joy

Fr. Simon Henry's wonderful reflection on the Traditional Latin Mass,

Because being a given, with a given form, it doesn't pander to any one emotion or temporary fixation. The Traditional liturgy doesn't presume everyone in the church is happy or that they are in difficulties - it just IS. So if I am happy, I pour my joy into it, if I am struggling, I empty my suffering into it. The given form gives those present such a flexibility in meeting each individual where they are and not imposing a rigid dictatorship of relativity on the congregation at the whim of someone else. Contrary to human intuition, the outward structure and form is liberating for the spirit.

Read more here.


Ad Multos Annos, Father!  If only every Priest was like you.

Gregorian Chant

Sheep Herding Video

I have always been fond of Border Collies and their ability to herd and so it was a pleasant surprise when I found this nice little gem showing that.

Seeing how serious the dogs are regarding their craft is deeply touching.

Only Hope

“The only hope of salvation from the delusions and the heresies, the innovations and the traps of wicked people and of the devil is prayer, repentance and humility.”

-Elder Joseph the Hesychast

Fr. Rutler Weighs In

Another brilliant piece on Rorate,

"It is also the duty of the clergy to make this clear and not to shrink, under the pretense of charity, from explaining the Church’s censures. Wolves in sheep’s clothing are dangerous, but worse are wolves in shepherd’s clothing. While the evils foreseen eight years ago were realized, worse would come if those affronts to human dignity were endorsed again. In the most adverse prospect, God forbid, there might not be another free election, and soon Catholics would arrive at shuttered churches and vacant altars. The illusion of indifference cannot long be perpetuated by lame jokes and synthetic laughter at banquets, for there is handwriting on the wall."

-Fr. George Rutler 

A Somber Reflection

I recommend this excellent piece by Roberto de Mattei on Rorate,

"Who are these men of power? The Popes and Saints, who from the very beginning fought against Lutheranism? The Church, which for five centuries has condemned it? The Council of Trent pronounced the decisive word on the incompatibility of the Catholic Faith with the Protestant one. We cannot follow Pope Francis along a different path."

We live in harrowing times.  Live a Sacramental life, pray your Rosaries, and engage in the spiritual warfare for yourself and for others.

Why we love our game

I found this clip on Youtube.   Beautiful.

The Chicago Cubs have won the World Series

It has almost been a day and I am still digesting this.  What a sublime way to finish another glorious baseball season.  Congratulations to the Chicago Cubs and my deepest condolences to the Cleveland Indians.

"Man, I did love this game. I'd have played for food money. It was the game... The sounds, the smells. Did you ever hold a ball or a glove to your face?"

-Shoeless Joe Jackson, "Field of Dreams" 

GAME 7

As a baseball fan, it does not get any better.

Game 7, tomorrow night.  The World Series.  Cubs v. Indians.  Hendricks v. Kluber.

The Chicago Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908 while the Indians have not been on top of the baseball world since 1948.

All Saints' Day

"TIMÉTE Dóminum omnes Sancti ejus: quóniam nihil deest timéntibus eum. V. Inquiréntes autem Dóminum, non defícient omni bono."

"Fear the Lord, all ye His Saints; for there is no want to them that fear Him. V. But they that seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good."

-Gradual for All Saints' Day

Let us pray today that all the Saints in Paradise will intercede for us so that our souls may be purified and that we may have a holy death.  At Solemn High Mass later tonight, I will ask for the prayers of the Saints who died as a ramification of the Protestant Revolt that they may pray for all those who read this blog and for the purposes of reparation for the scandalous activity of the Church leaders who are ashamed of the dogmatic teachings of the Faith.