The School of Love & Other Essays, May 15

THE SCHOOL OF LOVE

[continued from yesterday]

...Yes, as we have already said, when we look at love aright we see that to love demands great courage.

To love perfectly is the greatest heroism; even lesser heroism is what it is because of the love that inspires it.

There is something terrible in love. It is exacting, it is almost merciless; it will have the whole or nothing; above all it will have no rapine in the holocaust; it wilI abide no giving with one hand, and taking back with the other.

If you would love well and deeply you must be prepared to lose; to "lay down your life for your friend"; and to lay down if need be everything that is of less moment than life.

What in matter of fact you may be asked for you do not know. It may be the laying down of life; it may be the taking of it up. It may be the torture of wounds; it may perhaps be the greater torture of ministering to the wounds of others. It may be action, it may be its opposite, inaction and endurance.

"Those also serve who only stand and wait." But undoubtedly it will be something, and you will not be consulted as to what it shall be.

Does the prospect appal you?

If it does, very well; but be assured there is no other road to the real understanding of love. If it does not, if in spite of the dread there is still hope and courage, if you can still say that love can find strength to do whatever love may demand, if you would know by experience the meaning of love, then make your prepara­tions.

Put a check upon self-seeking, on self-gratification, on looking for self-reward, and you have cleared the ground.

Be led by something more than mere argument, mere reasoning of your own, that dead and fallacious thing that is the offspring of man's short sight; see without turning aside, submit to without drawing back, be guided by without flinching, the compe11ing force of truth in it­self, of nobility in itself, of beauty in itseH, of goodness in itself, wherever these may be found....

[continued tomorrow]
___________
From The School of Love and Other Essays
by The Most Reverend Alban Goodier, S.J.
Burns, Oates, & Washburn, Ltd. 1918

Thoughts of St Augustine for October 11

You invoke God when you call in God to yourself. To invoke him is to invite him into the house of your heart. You would not dare to invite so great a Householder unless you saw your way to prepare him a habitation.
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont

Thoughts of St Augustine for September 21

FROM what going astray shall not he be free, who looks into and loves and follows the actions and sayings of that Manhood, where­in the Son of God rendered himself unto us as an example of life?
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont

Dr Edward Peters: The Canadian Communion blunder

Dr Peters writes:

Video tape shows Abp. Andre Richard (Moncton, New Brunswick) giving holy Communion to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper at a state funeral. It is, of course, inconceivable that Richard did not know that Harper is an evangelical Protestant. Obviously unsure what to do, Harper apparently slipped the Host into his pocket (!), and his office has not said what he eventually did with It.

Read what it means here.

Online Documentary Video - The Shrine of St. Joseph: Church of Miracles

Spreading the word about this little known but magnificent, miraculous Catholic shrine:

 

A high-quality, hour-long documentary video concerning the Shrine of St. Joseph in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA, has been placed online for free viewing:

The Shrine of Saint Joseph: Church of Miracles

The documentary was shot and produced back in 2000, paid for by the Shrine of St. Joseph's Friends, a non-profit lay group that helps to oversee the Shrine's renovations and daily/weekly operations. Permission has been given to make the video available on the Internet, in hopes of furthering public awareness of and interest in this beautiful church. This same video has been aired several times on EWTN.

Please enjoy the video, and feel free to pass the link to friends and family (please do!).

About the Shrine and the video:

In the stillness of its grand and silent Sanctuary, the Shrine of St. Joseph stands as a modern-day witness of faith, perseverance, and commitment. The quiet speaks powerfully to its simple beauty and impressive sense of dignity.

The Shrine of St. Joseph is an extraordinary Catholic shrine in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. The majestic and stately appearance of this 19th Century architectural treasure is almost breath taking. The handcrafted wooden statues stand guardians of the historical richness, which is both extraordinary and miraculous.

Since 1864, this church has been the Church of Miracles. A German immigrant, Ignatius Strecker, was healed from terminal illness after he venerated a relic of Peter Claver. This miraculous healing led to the canonization of Peter Claver as a saint of the Catholic Church. Two years later there was another miracle at the church, and then another, and another. How many more miracles have taken place in connection with this church over the past 150 years, no one knows.

Many of this church's supporters say the fact that St. Joseph's is still standing today is a miracle in itself. It has survived declining parish membership, neglect, urban decay, vandalism, and acts of violence within its wall. More than one hundred years after the first miracle, a group of five men began an effort that would ultimately save this church. "The Shrine of St. Joseph: The Church of Miracles" is a moving testimony to the faith and commitment of the Shrine of St. Joseph's Friends to preserve this historic landmark church in a downtown St. Louis neighborhood that is also being rebuilt.

Come visit the Shrine of St. Joseph - you or your entire family can make a modern day pilgrimage that will renew and strengthen your faith for a lifetime.

The Shrine of Saint Joseph
1220 North 11th Street
Saint Louis, Missouri 63106-4614

There is an informative and accurate English-language Wikipedia entry concerning the Shrine:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrine_of_Saint_Joseph,_St._Louis,_Missouri

The same video linked above is available, in segments, on YouTube:

The Shrine of St. Joseph: Church of Miracles - Part 1 of 6

The Shrine of St. Joseph: Church of Miracles - Part 2 of 6

The Shrine of St. Joseph: Church of Miracles - Part 3 of 6

The Shrine of St. Joseph: Church of Miracles - Part 4 of 6

The Shrine of St. Joseph: Church of Miracles - Part 5 of 6

The Shrine of St. Joseph: Church of Miracles - Part 6 of 6

And it is also available on Google Video (lower quality stream):

Google Video - The Shrine of St. Joseph: Church of Miracles

HT to Michael B

Minnesota Parish "Canonizes" Three New Saints?

Click on the picture for a better view!

This is truly unbelievable, but then many have made themselves popes in their own minds!

The Saint Lawrence Catholic Parish and Newman Center for the University of Minnesota has set up a special prayer chapel area complete with kneelers to pray to the following "saints" of the Catholic Church. Notice the halo surrounding each of the "saint's" heads.

So who are these new saints? Looking at the picture, they are:

"Saint" Dorothy Day in the upper left corner.
"Saint" Martin Luther King in the upper right corner.
"Saint" Gandhi of India in the bottom left corner and,
There is a new devotional name for Our Lady - the Our Lady of the Disappeared [whoever this is]- in the bottom right corner of the picture.

According to information in the Newman Center, this prayer chapel has been located here since 1966. And Catholics wonder why Catholics in the US are so confused...

And I haven't even mentioned the "corpus" on the cross....What's wrong with these people?

Contact:
St. Lawrence Newman Center
Phone 612-331-7941
Fax 612-378-177

Email: 1info@umncatholic.org

1203 5th Street, SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414-2030

For what it's worth, let's look at the Code of Canon Law which discusses this matter:

Can. 1186: To foster the sanctification of the people of God, the Church commends to the special and filial veneration of Christ's faithful the Blessed Mary ever-Virgin, the Mother of God, whom Christ constituted the Mother of all. The Church also promotes the true and authentic cult of the other Saints, by whose example the faithful are edified and by whose intercession they are supported.

Can. 1187: Only those servants of God may be venerated by public cult who have been numbered by ecclesiastical authority among the Saints or the Blessed.

Is a Catholic to understand that some ecclesiastical authority has approved these new "saints"?

Previously posted here was a episode at a parish in the St Louis Archdiocese where a picture of "Saint" MLK, complete with a votive candle, was displayed in the sanctuary next to the altar during Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, initiated, as we were led to understand, by St Cronan's pastor.

HT to Peter Cansius for the tip!

Guadalupe Shrine draws from the Midwest and beyond

The setting is so peaceful and scenic that shrine spokesman Jack Socha makes a point of warning against the temptations it will surely bring. The shrine is not a place to take your dog for a walk, he stresses, and it's also not a place to jump out of your car, snap a picture, and leave.

"It is meant to be an all-day affair where you come here to spend time," Socha said....

With the glimmering Shrine Church opening to the public Thursday, Socha talks about history being made as the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe expands its appeal.

"We consider this not just an area shrine, but a shrine for the entire country," he said....

More on this article here.

Another aricle, "Catholic pilgrimage site is a place to find peace," can be read here.

New church at La Crosse’s Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe

La Crosse - High above the marble floor of the new Shrine Church, painted stars glisten against the turquoise interior of a soaring dome.

Richly symbolic, they tell the story at the heart of a 103-acre site that is expected to draw cardinals, clergy, religious and crowds of everyday Catholics to the wooded bluffs of western Wisconsin this week....

St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke, who started the movement to build the shrine when he was bishop of the La Crosse Diocese, will return for the church dedication and some related activities during seven days of celebration, which begin Monday....

Burke sparked discussion in the diocese when he announced plans in December 1999 to create a multimillion-dollar shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe, a manifestation of the Virgin Mary that many Hispanics revere. Although La Crosse has no large concentration of Hispanics, Burke noted that Pope John Paul II had declared her the Mother of the Americas.

"Because of the loss of hope in our time and the immensity of the moral difficulties which we face, there is a great desire for a place of pilgrimage in which faith and hope can be renewed," Burke said at the time....

What a beautiful shrine! It's to be dedicated this week. Wish I could be there! Maybe a road trip/vacation can be arranged?

from JS-Online here
And a picture gallery can be viewed here.

A Return to Traditions at World Youth Day

By Andrew Rabel

At a press conference this morning, Cardinal George Pell of Sydney in answer to a question from Andrew Rabel, an Inside the Vatican magazine journalist, indicated that at the final WYD Mass at Randwick Racecourse on Sunday, in line with older practices that have been used in the Vatican and inside Italy in recent months, communion will most likely be received by those kneeling, from the Pope....

Now if this could become the normative posture, we might see a return to a sense of the sacred...Where are those Communion rails?

Sacred Music that Serves the Word of God (Part 1)

Father Samuel Weber on Sacred Music Institute

From Zenit:

By Annamarie Adkins

ST. LOUIS, Missouri, JULY 4, 2008 (Zenit.org). Parish music directors -- and congregations -- in the Archdiocese of St. Louis soon will benefit from Archbishop Raymond Burke’s recent initiative: The Institute for Sacred Music.

Archbishop Burke, who has since been named to head the Apostolic Signature, the Church's supreme court, appointed Benedictine Father Samuel Weber as the first director of the new institute earlier this year.

Father Weber is a professor in the divinity school of Wake Forest University in North Carolina and also a monk of the St. Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana.

In Part 1 of this interview with ZENIT, Father Weber discusses how the Institute for Sacred Music will try to restore Gregorian chant’s “pride of place” in the liturgy....

Aug 18-Shroud of Turin Scholars to Speak at Botanical Garden

By now, most are aware of the dispute over the carbon dating results from tests some twenty years ago.

...One man who has challenged the radiocarbon dating is Avinoam Danin, a professor of botany at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has spent decades examining images of plant remains on the shroud. Danin has said the shroud was buried in the vicinity of Jerusalem — not Europe, as had previously been thought — during the months of March or April.

Danin and Petrus Soons, a retired medical doctor who has used digitized photos of the shroud to create three-dimensional holograms, will give a free double lecture at the Missouri Botanical Garden on Monday, Aug. 18, at 5:30 p.m....

This might be an interesting lecture for those in the neighborhood.

Article source, Post-Dispatch

“In Every Place There Is Sacrifice”

by Fr. F. X. Lasance
________________

“Did you ever think that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is being offered in some part of the world every hour of your life? When it is midnight in New York, Masses are beginning in the churches of Italy. There ancient altars, at which Saints have knelt, are lit up with tapers, and the Vicar of Christ and thousands of priests are lifting holy hands up to Heaven. A little later and the bells of a thousand towers of France begin to sprinkle the air with holy sounds; and in every city, town and hamlet, kneeling crowds adore the chastening hand of God and pray for sinners who despise His ordinances.

“Chivalric and religious Spain catches the echoes, and when it is one a.m. in New York, offers the great Sacrifice in countless splendid churches. And then Catholic Ireland, the “Island of Saints”, which had during many centuries suffered for the Faith, rallies anew around the altars it would never forsake. At two o’clock and after, the priests of the islands of the Atlantic- perhaps the Cape Verde – white-robed and stoled and wearing the great cross on their shoulders, bend before the tabernacle. An hour later a courageous missionary lifts up the chalice of salvation on the ice-bound coast of Greenland.

“At half-past four the sacred lamps twinkle through the fogs of Newfoundland; and at five, Nova Scotia’s industrious population begins the day attending Mass. And now all the Canadian churches and chapels grow radiant as the faithful people – the habitant of the country, the devout citizen, the consecrated nun, and the innocent – hasten to unite their prayers around the sanctuary where the priest is awaiting them. At six, how many souls are flocking to the churches of New York, eager to begin the day of labor with the holiest act of religion! Many young people, too, gather around the altar at a later hour, like the fresh flowers open with the morning, and offer their dewy fragrance to Heaven. An hour later the bells of Missouri and Louisiana are ringing; and at eight, Mexico, true to her faith, bends before her glittering altars. At nine the devout tribes of Oregon follow their beloved black gown to their gay chapels, and California awhile loosens its grasp on its gold to think of the treasure that rust doth not corrupt.

“And when the Angelus bell is ringing at noon in New York, the unbloody Sacrifice is being offered up in the islands of the Pacific, where there are generous souls laboring for our dear Lord. And so the bells are ringing on, on, over the waters, and one taper after another catches the light of faith, making glad all the isles of the sea. At two the zealous missionaries of Australia are murmuring with haste, eager for the coming of Our Lords: “Introibo ad altare Dei.” And all the spicy islands of the East catch the sweet sounds, one after another, till at four in the afternoon China proves there are many souls who are worthy of the name of celestial by their rapt devotion at the early rite. Then in Tibet there is many a modest chapel where the missionary distributes the Bread of Life to a crowd of hungry souls.

“At six the altars of Hindustan, where St. Francis Xavier ministered, are arrayed with their flowers and lamps and the sacred vessels, and unwearied priests are hastening to fortify their souls before him Who is their life and their strength. At nine in Siberia, where many a poor Catholic exile from Poland has no other solace from his woes but the foot of the altar and the Bread of Heaven. During the hours when New York is gay with parties and balls and theatrical amusements, the holiest of rites is going on in the Indian Ocean and among the sable tribes of Africa, whose souls are so dear to the Saviour Who once died for all. At eleven in Jerusalem, the Holy City over which Jesus wept, where He wrought so many miracles, where He suffered and offered Himself a sacrifice for the whole world.

“When midnight sounds again in New York, the silver bells are tinkling again in every chancel in Rome. And so it goes on; the divine Host is constantly rising like the sun in its course around the earth. Thus are fulfilled the words of the prophet Malachias [1:11]: ‘From the rising of the sun even to the going down thereof, My name is great among the Gentiles; and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to My name a clean oblation: for My name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts.’”

“Not an instant of time passes that Mass is not offered, and the Host not adored. Talk of an Empire on which the sun never sets, of the British reveille drum ever beating as our planet revolves on its axis and the day chases night around the globe; what is that to the unending oblation of the Catholic Church? What moment is not a priest’s voice uttering ‘Te igitur, clementissime Pater!’ What moment is not counted by the bell which announces the silent and invisible coming of their God to prostrate adorers in some quiet sanctuary, in Europe, or in Asia, or in America, in the Atlantic cities or in the woods of Oregon, in the Alps or on the Andes, on the vast terra firma all along the Meridians or on the scattered islands of the sea?”

- Webster (Knickerbockers’ Mag., p. 638, vol. 38, 1851).
###

HT to Mark S. for the info.

Christian Pop Art Takes the Stage in the Alps (Chiesa)

The Sacred Mountain of Varallo is a triumph of "total art" at the service of the faith. Architects, sculptors, painters, scenographers, have reproduced the life of Jesus in 45 chapels on the mountain.

After a period of neglect, the Church wants to restore their splendor. A commentary by Timothy Verdon.
by Sandro Magister

Shroud of Turin on Display in 2010

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Shroud of Turin, the mysterious yellowing linen which some Christians believe was Christ's burial cloth and others think is a medieval fake, will go on display again in 2010, Pope Benedict announced on Monday.

Stations Receive PC Treatment for World Youth Day

In a bid to ensure the World Youth Day Stations of the Cross will not incite anti-Semitic feelings and appeal to all Christians, organisers have dropped six traditional stations which have no scriptural foundation.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports the Church has changed one of its most popular devotions and a landmark event of World Youth Day to take account of the sensitivities of Jews and draw other Christian denominations into its youth celebrations....

To make the event more appealing to all Christians, a Vatican approved scriptural version, founded entirely on passages from the New Testament, will be adopted when it is staged in the streets of Sydney on July 18.

It is not the only concession the Church is willing to make in the name of interfaith unity: scriptural texts, reflections and video commentaries will be carefully worked so that the scene at the Sydney Opera House in which Jesus is condemned does not incite anti-Semitic feeling.....

The sensibilities and sensitivities of faithful Catholics are irrelevant, it appears...I can't count the number of people who, after praying the St Alphonsus Liguori version of the Stations of the Cross, rush out the doors looking to satisfy their "anti-Semitic feelings."

What's next? Excising 'offensive' parts of Scripture?

Oxford lab to revisit carbon dating of Shroud of Turin

Colorado Springs, May 23, 2008 / 05:01 am (CNA).- A physics professor has persuaded an Oxford laboratory to revisit the question of the age of the Shroud of Turin, the reputed burial shroud of Jesus Christ. The professor argues that carbon monoxide contaminating the shroud could have distorted its radiocarbon dating results by more than 1,000 years....

The Denver Post reports that John Jackson, a physics lecturer at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, has hypothesized that even minimal contamination of the shroud by environmental carbon monoxide could have skewed the dating by 1,300 years....

Manila Cardinal: Cross dressing homosexuals out of 'Santacruzans'

Catholic parishes that allow cross-dressing homosexuals to play female saints in the Santacruzan or Santa Cruz de Mayo procession do not honor but instead insult the Blessed Virgin Mary and will be punished, Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, Archbishop of Manila, warned on Monday.

The punishment is the removal of the faculty for Holy Masses in those parishes....

Parishes organize the Santacruzan or Santa Cruz de Mayo procession. It is actually a novena (nine days of devotion) during which the participants pray and sing the holy rosary. When sung, the words of the Hail Mary prayer are in Spanish (“Dios te salve, Maria...”), which shows that the Santacruzan novena harks back to Spanish times....

...with the emergence of empowered gay groups, some neighborhoods—independently of the local Catholic parish priest and parish council—held their own Santacruzan processions with cross-dressing gays as the saints.

Soon enough, some parishes assumed the highly successful homosexual-organized processions as their own.

Apparently, nothing is sacred when it comes to fanatical zealots pushing for the advancement of the homosexual agenda...no matter what.

Reflections on the Ascension

The Ascension, from Explanation of the Epistles and Gospels by Fr. Leonard Goffine (c)1880

The Ascension - A Lesson on the Poor in Spirit

The Ascension - The Dignity of the Human Body

The Ascension - His Heavenly Throne

The Ascension-Confession is a Key to Heaven

6th Week of Easter - Lessons of the Ascension

Homily on The Ascension - Heaven

Peruvian cardinal stops Communion in the hand

From Catholic World News:

Lima, Apr. 17, 2008 (CWNews.com) - A Peruvian cardinal reports that he has banned the practice of receiving Communion in the hand.

Speaking to the Italian web site Petrus, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne of Lima, Peru, said that in order to guard against abuses, "the best way to administer Communion is on the tongue...."

I can hear the cries of anguish already - OH! the wailing and gnashing of teeth this is sure to cause!

It's a wonderful thing to see attempts to restore reverence for the Most Blessed Sacrament! Some, however, oppose such efforts.

Thousands Wowed by Co-Cathedral

An interesting piece from Houston:

Pomp, circumstance and celebration was surely the order of the day downtown.

It was the dedication of the new Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart.....

Ten years of planning, three years of building and several trips across an ocean were needed to create the new Galveston-Houston Catholic Archdiocese Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in downtown Houston.....

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo led the congregation in a traditional Catholic mass....

But this one statement struck me as odd...a "traditional Catholic mass". Was there no liturgical dancing? No clowns? No puppets? Was Holy Mass celebrated with too much reverence, awe, and mystery? Was there no "make-it-up-as-we-go-along" bits by the celebrant?

It's telling when such a statement is placed into an article like this.