My Friend's Funeral

I hadn't attended a Mass in the new rite for some time now.  I mostly attend Divine Liturgies with a couple of Traditional Latin Masses thrown in every month.  However, my friend's funeral was today and I honestly think it was an insult to him.  I don't like the new rite and I think it should be banned.  One of the worst aspects of it is of course the funeral liturgy.  Gone are the grave black vestments.  Gone is the haunting Dies Irae.  Gone is the idea that we need to pray for the person because he can no longer help himself.  Instead of this, we were fed with garbage sentimental "music", a congregation that largely looked disinterested with most of the women dressed immodestly in the House of God.

Death is a serious thing and it needs to be treated as such.  If you look at the Requiem Mass in the Old Rite, the Divine Liturgy and the Islamic Janazah prayer, what is the one thing you find in common?  A deep gravity regarding the ceremony.  This idea that a man has crossed over the veil into eternity and has seen what no eye has seen or ear has heard.  A deep masculine seriousness that is founded on the love of God and the proper ceremonies that honor Him.

Rest in peace, my dear friend. 

Sadness

"Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on Earth."

-Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment

27 Not Out

27*

Today is my 27th birthday.  I have basically spent the day watching cricket (another horrific performance from England's top order!) and am spending the rest of the day with my family.  I must confess, I am not big on birthdays but I think a birthday should be a day we should reflect on our mortality.

How many more years do I have left?  When will the end come?  Am I ready to meet my Lord?  How do I root out those hidden vices in my heart?

Condemned

Abba Poemen said: If we remembered that it is written, "By your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned," we would choose to remain silent.

-From the Desert Fathers 

The Stars

"Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them."

-Marcus Aurelius

Memory Eternal

Please pray for my two dear friends, Tim and Jesus, who both died last week, exactly two days of each other via automobile accidents.  They both had short innings, Tim was dismissed for 27 and Jesus for 25.

They have crossed over the bridge into the hereafter.


A pertinent sermon.

The Mystery of Iniquity

More savage violence in the war in Yemen.  The United States backed Saudi Coalition dropped a bomb on a school bus.  29 children perished in the attack.  These cowards have no fear or shame.  Oh Trump and Bin Salman, fear God.  Fear the Day of Judgment.

Also, another Israeli airstrike in my beloved Palestine led to the death of a pregnant woman and her child.  Oh blessed Theotokos, please intercede for them and for all innocent mothers and children who die at the hands of diabolical forces.

There is just so much senseless violence in this world. So much death. So much suffering.

My heart feels a deep pain everyday when I read what goes on in my land.  I am taking an indefinite leave of absence from my blog in order to retreat from the online world so I can engage in prayer and penance.  Please pray for me, the chief of sinners.

Protect Your Heart

When we sin, we shouldn't think of it as a legalistic failure.  Instead, we should think of it as a disease.  Sin is a disease.  If a disease is left untreated, it will grow throughout the body until it destroys your spiritual heart.

When sin destroys your heart, you will suffer spiritual death.  Is there anything worse that can happen to us?

Only God

“Everything in this life passes away — only God remains, only He is worth struggling towards. We have a choice: to follow the way of this world, of the society that surrounds us, and thereby find ourselves outside of God; or to choose the way of life, to choose God Who calls us and for Whom our heart is searching.”

-Fr. Seraphim Rose 

Start Now

One of the most dangerous lies of the devil is the one that tells us to delay our repentance to another day.  This is a huge temptation and can lead us into a deeper mess.  He will tell us to wait until tomorrow or wait until our Confession to change.

This is wrong. We must never allow these diabolic voices to interfere with our spiritual progress.  If you are struggling with a particular sin, don't put off your repentance.  Start now.

Passes By

“O son of Adam, you are nothing but a mere collection of days. Whenever a day passes by, a part of you passes away.

“Death made life tasteless for the wise. Sadness in life regenerates many rewards.”

-Hasan al Basri

Equally Privileged

"Do not disdain those who are deformed from birth, because all of us will go to the grave equally privileged."

-St. Isaac the Syrian

Shadow

“If you know that all visible things are a shadow and all pass away, are you not ashamed of playing with shadows and hoarding transitory things? Like a child you draw water with a bucket full of holes; do you not realize it and take it into account, my dear friend? As though there were nothing more serious than appearance and illusion, as though reality has been taken from them?”

-St. Symeon the New Theologian

Divine Mysteries

“One should not think about the doings of God when one’s stomach is full; on a full stomach there can be no vision of the Divine mysteries.”

-St. Seraphim of Sarov

Tranquility

Burdensome

“But nothing causes such exceeding grief as when anyone, lying under the captivity of sin, calls to mind from where he has fallen, because he turned aside to carnal and earthly things, instead of directing his mind in the beautiful ways of the knowledge of God. So you find Adam concealing himself, when he knew that God was present and wishing to be hidden when called by God with that voice which wounded the soul of him yourself? Why are you concealed? Why do you avoid Him Whom you once longed to see? A guilty conscience is so burdensome that it punishes itself without a judge, and wishes for covering, and yet is bare before God.”

-St. Ambrose of Milan