It's not quite true....

The Vatican denies that the Holy Father uses the 1962 Missal, although he does say Mass in Latin facing the east. (Via The Western Confucian) Share

The Mopses

Freemasonry was so popular among European aristocracy in the 18th century that some ladies joined a bizarre offshoot which was supposed to bypass the papal ban. It involved kissing the backside of a pug dog but other than that gross peculiarity it seemed to be nothing but a ridiculous waste of time. (Via The Lion and the Cardinal) Share

Signs of Abuse

Here are some guidelines for parents to detect signs if their children are being abused. Share

Weathering the Storm

The Church goes on, in spite of everything. (Via Pewsitter.com) Share

Death in Philadelphia

Gun control is not the answer. To quote:


Could it be that Philadelphia simply isn't doing such a great job at law enforcement? Since 2001, Philadelphia's arrest rate for murder has fallen by 20 percent, according to the Pennsylvania Uniform Crime Reporting System. Nationally, and among cities with more than 250,000 people, arrest rates have remained virtually unchanged. It isn't so surprising that Philly's murder rate has gone up more than in other cities. After all, criminals are getting away with murder in Philadelphia. Share

How could I have forgotten...

...the anniversary of the massacre of the Russian Imperial family? It was the night of July 16-17, as Serge reminds us. (Sorry, my mind has been buried in the new novel.)

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The Blessed Virgin Compared to the Air We Breathe

WILD air, world-mothering air,

Nestling me everywhere,

That each eyelash or hair

Girdles; goes home betwixt

The fleeciest, frailest-flixed

Snowflake; that ’s fairly mixed

With, riddles, and is rife

In every least thing’s life;

This needful, never spent,

And nursing element;

My more than meat and drink,

My meal at every wink;

This air, which, by life’s law,

My lung must draw and draw

Now but to breathe its praise,

Minds me in many ways

Of her who not only

Gave God’s infinity

Dwindled to infancy

Welcome in womb and breast,

Birth, milk, and all the rest

But mothers each new grace

That does now reach our race—

Mary Immaculate,

Merely a woman, yet

Whose presence, power is

Great as no goddess’s

Was deemèd, dreamèd; who

This one work has to do—

Let all God’s glory through,

God’s glory which would go

Through her and from her flow

Off, and no way but so.

I say that we are wound

With mercy round and round

As if with air: the same

Is Mary, more by name.

She, wild web, wondrous robe,

Mantles the guilty globe,

Since God has let dispense

Her prayers his providence:

Nay, more than almoner,

The sweet alms’ self is her

And men are meant to share

Her life as life does air.

If I have understood,

She holds high motherhood

Towards all our ghostly good

And plays in grace her part

About man’s beating heart,

Laying, like air’s fine flood,

The deathdance in his blood;

Yet no part but what will

Be Christ our Saviour still.

Of her flesh he took flesh:

He does take fresh and fresh,

Though much the mystery how,

Not flesh but spirit now

And makes, O marvellous!

New Nazareths in us,

Where she shall yet conceive

Him, morning, noon, and eve;

New Bethlems, and he born

There, evening, noon, and morn—

Bethlem or Nazareth,

Men here may draw like breath

More Christ and baffle death;

Who, born so, comes to be

New self and nobler me

In each one and each one

More makes, when all is done,

Both God’s and Mary’s Son.

Again, look overhead

How air is azurèd;

O how! nay do but stand

Where you can lift your hand

Skywards: rich, rich it laps

Round the four fingergaps.

Yet such a sapphire-shot,

Charged, steepèd sky will not

Stain light. Yea, mark you this:

It does no prejudice.

The glass-blue days are those

When every colour glows,

Each shape and shadow shows.

Blue be it: this blue heaven

The seven or seven times seven

Hued sunbeam will transmit

Perfect, not alter it.

Or if there does some soft,

On things aloof, aloft,

Bloom breathe, that one breath more

Earth is the fairer for.

Whereas did air not make

This bath of blue and slake

His fire, the sun would shake,

A blear and blinding ball

With blackness bound, and all

The thick stars round him roll

Flashing like flecks of coal,

Quartz-fret, or sparks of salt,

In grimy vasty vault.

So God was god of old:

A mother came to mould

Those limbs like ours which are

What must make our daystar

Much dearer to mankind;

Whose glory bare would blind

Or less would win man’s mind.

Through her we may see him

Made sweeter, not made dim,

And her hand leaves his light

Sifted to suit our sight.

Be thou then, O thou dear

Mother, my atmosphere;

My happier world, wherein

To wend and meet no sin;

Above me, round me lie

Fronting my froward eye

With sweet and scarless sky;

Stir in my ears, speak there

Of God’s love, O live air,

Of patience, penance, prayer:

World-mothering air, air wild,

Wound with thee, in thee isled,

Fold home, fast fold thy child.

by Gerard Manley Hopkins

(Picture courtesy of Cause de Joie)

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Apocalypto (2006)

I finally got to see Mel Gibson's Apocalypto. It is a brilliant film. Yes, it was violent, but not as violent as Braveheart, at least not in my opinion. The depth of spirituality and subtle Christian symbolism made the film very inspiring, even as the adrenaline flowed. It showed a husband and father putting his family first and being determined to save them no matter what the cost to himself. One of the underlying themes was that fear paralyzes the will and the intellect but when fear is reined in than the mind can come up with solutions. I would not recommend it for children or pregnant ladies but otherwise it was not as horrifically violent as I was originally led to believe. Share

The Martyrs of Compiègne

Today is the feast of the Blessed Martyrs of Compiègne. Here is a post that sums up the essence of their ordeal. It is important to recall that the Prioress, Blessed Theresa of St. Augustine, was given her dowry by Queen Marie-Antoinette; otherwise, being impoverished, she would not have been able to enter the monastery. The nuns were ultimately convicted because they had in their posession a portrait of King Louis XVI as well as some Sacred Heart badges, items which branded them as being "counter-revolutionaries." William Bush wrote an excellent book about the martyrs a few years ago called To Quell the Terror. I highly recommend it. Share