In recent months, herds of wild elephants have begun to storm villages that are home to some of the worst persecutors of Christians during the troubles. In one village, where in August a year ago the Christians had to run for their lives while their homes were being destroyed by rioters, a herd of elephants emerged from the surrounding jungle exactly one year later, in July 2009, at the same time of the day of the attack.
These elephants first attacked a rock crusher machine owned by a key leader of the persecution movement. They then went on to destroy his house and farms.
In a meeting today with the Prefect of the Congregtion for the Causes of Saints, Archbishop Angelo Amato, Pope Benedict XVI approved twenty-one decrees pertaining to canonizations, beatifications, and declarations of heroic virtue.
Blessed André Bessette, the patron saint of our own Brother André Marie, has had the way cleared for canonization. Still awaited is the date for this ceremony, after which the popular French Canadian beatus will be honored as Saint André of Montreal.
Today is the feast of Our Lady of the Expectation. This feast has an interesting history that Brother Andre reviewed for us this morning in his morning meditation in our chapel. In Spain, this feast day is Nuestra Senora de la O: Our Lady of the O, the “O” coming from the expression of longing said in the office of the Mozarabic Liturgy. In the Latin Rite, today’s feast comes in the middle of the “O” Antiphons (where we get the words for the hymn Veni, Veni, Emmanuel — in English O Come, O Come Emmanuel).
A few weeks ago, the Philosopher made another one of his unpredictable appearances on our website suggesting a proper prayer for those who doubt the existence of certain canonized saints. In this case it was the co-founder of the Trinitarian Order, Saint Felix of Valois. But, one can easily substitute …
“That’s so gay!” Not nice. It offends. It shouldn’t be used. So say the folks who coopted the innocent word “gay” and transmogrified it to mean “homosexual.” Now these same folks don’t want others to coopt their coopted word and turn it into a pejorative. But guess what? Humanity looks at homosexuality in pejorative terms, so words like “bugger” and “bad” have their origins in sexual deviancy and, by a natural linguistic evolution, came to connote other morally, physically, or ontologically undesirable things.
Cardinal Bergoglio and other bishops are ordering that baptism not be withheld from those who are far removed from religious practice. Better a Church of the people than one only of the pure. Ratzinger also thinks this way.
Sandro Magister reports. Excerpt:
Cardinal Bergoglio has explained the meaning …
Now posted on our site is the Christmas Letter that was mailed to our regular supporters on December 3. I hope you enjoy it. If you would like to get these kinds of things in the mail, it’s very easy to get on our mailing list. While you are at it, it would be a very good thing if you would make a donation, or purchase something from our online store so we can afford to send out these mailings.
An explanation is in order for why their was no correspondance from Rome, as I said I might do.
I was in the Brothers’ Priory earlier today, espying on the activities at their Richmond-based Command Central, and was particularly struck by the reading material available to these religious — specifically, the variety thereof. On the same shelf as Dom Gueranger’s Liturgical Year and Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange’s Three Ages of the Interior Life was Barnacle Parp’s Chain Saw Guide by Walter Hall.
I was considering the awful plight of the homeless in American cities as winter sets in and, as good as soup kitchens are, I was wondering about another strategy that would also help them. First, one must put oneself in their situation to appreciate what I have to say. Imagine …
Audio Sancto has posted a stunning and arresting sermon on “our” doctrine: Salvation is Only in the Catholic Church. This sermon is preached by a Catholic priest in good standing, one who is not a Slave of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. His direct, no-nonsense approach …
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