Alabama Pro-life Law Goes Into Effect, Protection from Violence Against Unborn

Tomorrow, July 1, 2006, a law will go into effect for Alabama.

It will "...protect pregnant women and their unborn children from acts of violence. The measure holds criminals who kill or injure a mother's baby accountable for two crimes when he attacks a pregnant woman. The law applies throughout pregnancy and makes the state one of 24 to protect women during all nine months of pregnancy and one of 34 that offer legal protection through all or part of pregnancy."

Source: LifeNews

This was previously signed into law by Governor Riley back in April 2006.

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St. John of the Cross: We are judged on love

"In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone" (St. John of the Cross)

Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain

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"Mother Angelica" by Raymond Arroyo

Last night I just finished "Mother Angelica" by Raymond Arroyo. At approximately 320 pages, it took me a significant amount of time because of work and other things that forced me to put the book down. Overall, the book was good. I really respect Mother Angelica now. Before reading this, I never thought about everything she experienced and did in her life.

She came from a poor family and just barely survived. As a child, she was miraculously healed through the intercession of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Mother Angelica entered a Canton Convent even though her mother strongly disapproved. Later on, it took tremendous work just to establish her convent in Indiana. Then she worked to spread the Gospel through writing. After all of this came EWTN and the world's first Catholic shortwave radio station called WEWN. She went further and created another convent in 13th Century style. All of this was done trusting in God. She started off with nothing with each project and left the rest to God. For that she encountered much debate and problems mainly from several liberal US bishops.

If you are a fan of EWTN, this book is a must read.  If you don't have the time but want to learn more about the book, check out the CatechismClass Book Summary on "Mother Angelica".

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Behold, the Lamb of God!

"Man should tremble, the world should vibrate, all Heaven should be deeply moved when the Son of God appears on the alter in the hands of the priest" (St. Francis of Assisi)

The Eucharist is only valid when consecrated by a validly ordained priest, which is not possible for the protestants. I ask for prayers that all protestants, non-believers, & other non-Catholics will see the Truth of the Sacrament and embrace it.

Image Source: Cafeteria is Closed

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New Bishop for the Diocese of Joliet

On June 27, 2006, the Diocese of Joliet, IL welcomed J. Peter Sartain, 54, as the fourth bishop of the diocese. He replaces Bishop Joseph Imesh who had to retire because he reached the mandatory retirement age of 75. Bishop Imesh has led the Diocese of Joliet since 1979 and was no supporter of the Traditional Latin Mass or Traditionalism in general.

Bishop Sartain appears to be a wonderful man, and I'm extremely happy that Illinois has this good bishop now. Bishop Sartain was previously the Bishop of Little Rock since 2000. In Little Rock he allowed four Tridentine Masses. Right now the Diocese of Joliet has zero, so please pray that the people there will be able to experience the Tridentine Mass. Please pray for Bishop J. Peter Sartain as he leads his 600,000 member flock.

Photos:


MMichael R. Schmidt/ Staff Photographer


AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

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Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul

Solemnity (1969 Calendar): June 29
Double of the I Class (1955 Calendar): June 29

The Catholic Church honors many, many saints and today is one of principal importance since ancient times. Today, June 29, we celebrate the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, who both loved God so fervently they died for the One True Faith. Can we imitate the humility of St. Peter, who was crucified upside down since he claimed that he was unworthy to die in the same manner as Our Lord?

For more on the lives of all the Apostles, pick up a copy of "The Twelve: Lives and Legends of the Apostles" on paperback or as part of the online course on the Apostles, which includes a Certificate of Completion.

The great Liturgist Dom Guéranger, O.S.B. said thus of this day:

It would be difficult to insist more than does today’s liturgy on the episode of Peter’s captivity in Jerusalem. Sever antiphons and all the capitula of this Office are drawn from thence; the Introit has just sung the same; and the Epistle gives in full the history of the event in which the Church is particularly interested on this feast. The secret of her preference can easily be divined. This festival celebrates the fact that Peter’s death confirms the queen of the Gentile world in her august prerogatives of sovereign lady, mother and bride; but the starting-point of all this greatness was the solemn moment in which the vicar of the Man-God, shaking the dust from his feet over Jerusalem, turned his face westwards, and transferred to Rome those rights which the Synagogue had repudiated. It was on quitting Herod’s prison that all this happened. “And going out of the city,” says the Acts, “he went into another place.” This other place, according to the testimony of history and tradition, is no other than Rome, then about to become the new Sion, where Simon Peter arrived some weeks afterwards. Thus, catching up the angel’s word, the Gentile Church sings this night in one of her responsories at Matins: “Peter, arise, and put on thy garments: gird thee with strength to save the nations; for the chains have fallen from off thy hands.”

Just as in bygone days Jesus slept in the bark that was on the point of sinking, so Peter was sleeping quietly on the eve of the day fixed for his death. Tempests and dangers of all kinds are not spared, in the course of ages, to Peter’s successors. But never is there seen in the bark of holy Church the dire dismay which held aghast the companions of our Lord in that vessel, tossed as it was by the wild hurricane. Faith was then lacking in the breasts of the disciples, and its absence caused their terror. Since the descent of the Holy Ghost, however, this precious faith, whence all other gifts flow, can never be lost in the Church. It is faith that imparts to superiors the calmness of their divine Master; faith maintains in the hearts of the Christian people that uninterrupted prayer, and humble confidence which silently triumphs over the world and the elements, even over God himself. Should the bark of Peter near the abyss, should the Pilot himself seem to sleep, never will holy Church imitate the disciples in the storm of Lake Genesareth. Never will she set herself up as judge of the due means and moments for divine Providence, nor deem it lawful for her to find fault with him who is watching over all: remembering that she possesses within her a better and surer means than any other of bringing to a solution, without display or commotion, the most extreme crises; never ignoring that if intercessory prayer does not falter, the angel of the Lord will surely come at the given hour to awaken Peter and break his chains asunder.

Oh, how far more powerful are a few souls that in their unobtrusive simplicity know how to pray, than all the policy and all the soldiers of a thousand Herods put together! The small community assembled in the house of Mary, mother of Mark, were few indeed in number; but thence, day by day and night by night, arose one continual prayer; fortunately, that fatal naturalism was unknown there, which, under the specious pretext of not tempting God, refrains from asking of him the impossible, whenever there is question of the Church’s interests. This pest of naturalism is a domestic enemy harder far to grapple with, at a critical moment, than the crisis itself! To be sure, the precautions taken by Herod Agrippa not to suffer his prisoner to escape his hands do credit to his prudence, and certainly it was an impossible thing asked for by holy Church, when she begged the deliverance of Peter at such a moment: so much so, indeed, that even those who were praying, when their prayers were heard, did not at first believe their own eyes! But the prevailing force of their strength was just in that—namely, to hope against all hope—for what they themselves knew to be holy foolishness; that is to say, to submit in prayer the judgment of reason to the sole view of faith!

Bishop Bonaventure Giffard

Ss. Peter and Paul As A Holy Day of Obligation

The first catalog of Holy Days comes from the Decretals of Gregory IX in 1234, which listed 45 Holy Days. In 1642, His Holiness Pope Urban VIII issued the papal bull "Universa Per Orbem" which altered the required Holy Days of Obligation for the Universal Church to consist of 35 such days as well as the principal patrons of one's one locality. In that listing, Ss. Peter and Paul was listed as a Holy Day of Obligation.

In fact, all of the feasts of the Apostles were Holy Days of Obligation on the Universal Calendar from 932 AD - as cited by Father Weiser on page 279 in his "Christian Feasts and Customs" - to 1911. However, most localities did not observe all of these feastdays as Holy Days. The Feast of Ss. Peter and Paul was the most commonly observed Holy Day among the feasts of the apostles. Even after the changes to Holy Days of Obligation in Ireland in the mid-1700s, Ss. Peter and Paul remained a day of double precept.

At the time of America's formation, the holy days of obligation, in addition to every Sunday, were as follows for the new country: the feasts of Christmas, Circumcision, Epiphany, Annunciation, Easter Monday, Ascension, Whitsun Monday, Corpus Christi, Ss. Peter and Paul, Assumption, and All Saints. But even though these were the "official" holy days, practices varied across the dioceses in the United States as there was no uniformity until 1885. 

In 1722, Bishop Giffard, the Vicar Apostolic of London, approved a dispensation "on behalf of the mission of Maryland for the ease and quiet of poor Catholics of that Mission" to sanction a dispensation of holy days. He granted the Maryland Superior the faculties to dispense Catholics from holy days and fasting obligations. As American Catholic Quarterly Review notes, "Bishop Giffard permitted the Jesuits to dispense Catholics in Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania from the obligations of all holy days for just cause, e.g. getting in crops at harvest, between May 1 and September 30, respect for the feasts of Ascension, Easter Monday, Corpus Christi, and Assumption." 

On March 9, 1777, Pope Pius VI "dispensed all Catholics in the kingdom of Great Britain from the precept of hearing Mass and abstaining from servile works on all holydays except the Sundays of the year, the feasts of Christmas, Circumcision, Epiphany, Annunciation, Easter Monday, Ascension, Whitsun Monday, Corpus Christi, St Peter and St Paul, Assumption, and All Saints." As the Catholic Dictionary of 1861 further states: "The Vigils of the Feasts thus abrogated his Holiness transferred to the Wednesdays and Fridays of Advent, on which he ordered that fast should be kept as in Lent or Embertide, 'although it is an English custom to keep fasts and vigils on Friday.' The pope adds a power to the Vicars Apostolic to dispense from the precept of abstaining from servile works on SS. Peter and Paul falling in the hay-harvest, and the Assumption in the wheat-harvest, provided Mass has been previously heard, if possible."

And Ss. Peter and Paul seemed to have been dispensed for those Catholics in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, America's first Archdiocese. An 1818 Ordo for the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Baltimore does not list Ss. Peter and Paul as a required day of precept.

Before 1885, holy days varied within various jurisdictions in the United States. Those formerly French colonies (which followed the Holy Days as set by Quebec) differed from the English. This disunity continued for the young United States since new territories (e.g. Florida, Texas, and Oregon) did not follow the same holy days of obligation and the same fasting days.

In 1840, Pope Gregory XVI dispensed the remaining dioceses then in the United States from keeping Ss. Peter and Paul as a Holy Day of Obligation. Permission however was granted to the United States on December 19, 1840, to solemnize the Feast of Ss. Peter and Paul the Sunday following June 29th. Such permission had been given for this Feastday in addition to Epiphany, Corpus Christi, and the patrons of the place to the French by Pope Pius VI on April 9, 1802. 

In fact, it was a requirement for priests in the United States to continue to solemnize the feast on the following Sunday - a requirement that continued even through the 1962 Missal. Matters Liturgical from 1959 notes: 

"The external solemnity of the feast of Corpus Christi must be transferred in the United States and celebrated on the Sunday following; this is also prescribed for the feast of SS. Peter & Paul (June 29), when this feast falls on a week day (Indult of Nov. 25, 1885). Hence, where on Sundays the principal Mass is usually a sung Mass, on the Sundays following these feasts this sung Mass in churches and public oratories must, and in semi-public oratories may, be of the transferred external solemntiy (S.R.C. 2974, IV; 4269, IX). This Mass shall be celebrated as on the feast, with only those occurring Offices to be commemorated as are noted in n. 209 f, even if the Mass is one of two or more different sung Masses, the rubrics in M.R.: ADD., v, 4 being now abrogated."

Its observance as an external solemnity in other nations (e.g. France) is optional. As such, liturgists like Father J.B. O'Connell do not mention this requirement in his rubrics for Votive Masses as he did not write from an American perspective.

Despite these changes over the centuries, the fact that so many observed Ss. Peter and Paul as a Holy Day for so long underscore our own need to keep this day holy, to attend the External Solemnity of Ss. Peter and Paul on the upcoming Sunday, and our need to keep the Vigil of Ss. Peter and Paul as a day of fasting and abstinence.

Holy Mass in 2008:

Prayer:

O God, Who hast made this day holy by the martyrdom of Thine Apostles Peter and Paul: grant that Thy Church may in all things follow the precepts of those through whom she received the beginnings of the Faith. Through our Lord.

Prayer Source: 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

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Can I please have your prayers and advice?

For the past day or so I've been rather frustrated and extremely disappointed. I have been engaging people in dialogue. Some of them are atheists that hate you and me for the Truth. Others are Catholics thinking of leaving the Church. And others are Protestants insulting the Truth that we hold dear.

On the Catholic Community Forum I was insulted and told I display "contempt, pride, and disobedience."

After all of this I am questioning whether I have made a difference through my Internet work on my blog and on the Forum? Our Lord said that not everyone who says Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven but only those that do the Father's Will. Am I doing the Father's will here? Am I truly doing His will? I am trying and I just pray that I am doing His will.

I have really been thinking about this lately. And today I read that I display disobedience and pride. I have tried to live humbly this whole past year. In essence, I was told by being called prideful that this past year was a failure.

But, that is worked out now. I forgave that person and she issued an apology. I am thankful to move on.

But, the world really saddens me because it saddens Our Lord. People just don't care. He died on a Cross with unbearable pain and love for each of us. The King of Kings was mocked and beaten with a rod. He was insulted and led off to be Crucified. The man of love who forgave sinners and healed the sick became the man of sorrows.

A few days ago I ran across the horrible site, God is 4 Suckers. I tried desperately to bear witness to the light. I am trying to just sow seeds of faith. And for that I am insulted and ridiculed. I am turned away and pushed aside. For they do not just hate Jesus Christ but all that love Him including myself. But, what hurts me is they hate My Master and Lord. One point I asked them for proof God doesn't exist. After all, atheists claim such a lie. They refused to answer. Of course, because there isn't any! They asked for proof that He does exist and I said this:

I can not prove God’s existence with science because God is above science. Science and creation all point to God but can not explain Him 100%. No one can know God 100%. You have to look at the big picture. And you have to understand love. Then you will truly know God. I speak from experience.

Earlier I said this:

I’ll come right out and say that I can not prove God with science. God is above science as he is the creator of everything. Aside from the great proven miracles of the Eucharist, Marian apparitions, incorruptible saints, miracles proven through the intercession of saints, and others I can offer no proof.

I will let you know that through faith you receive proof. If you honestly believe and trust Jesus then you will receive the proof and feel His presence. I’ve heard this time and time again from atheists that convert to the Catholic Church.

I am not desperate for a crutch. God is my Creator and Master. He is a friend, the greatest of them all. Someone that loved me so much He died my death. Quite honestly if Heaven was not possible I would still praise God. If I knew for sure that I was going to hell no matter what, I would still give Him glory because He is my Creator. Those are my honest words.

I don’t look at life negatively. Just because one thinks about death it doesn’t make life negative. There are countless positive things each day.

For that, they created a post calling us cannibals. They just don't love. This is the real problem in our society - a lack of love. I have discovered that honest love and humility are always lacking in an atheist.

I believe they have banned me from commenting there now. If you do comment there, use caution. Don't speak too fiercely but with "veiled" words because their comment policy is against those that believe in spreading the Gospel.

So, tonight I found two more blogs from Catholics that are thinking of leaving the Church for Episcopalians. Is the entire world turning away from Christ? I ask for your prayers for the bloggers from One Foot in the Boat... and Ramblings from the 4th. Please go there and just be a witness for Jesus Christ and the truth of Our faith. Please help them. Please!

This comes after finding several blogs attacking the Church and Catholics on our policy for condoms. The world just continues to sin and pull further away for Our King! O, how it hurts me! How it hurts to see that Cross and know they tell him each day: "Jesus, I don't care what you did for me." It hurts to know that some people don't love Him. I just pray that they see the Truth so that on the last day we all may be together forever with Him, who is the Light of the World.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. John 1:1-10

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Excommunications

L'Excommunication de Robert le Pieux (The Excommunication of Robert the Pious), a painting by Jean-Paul Laurens.

What is Excommunication?

Excommunication is defined as "An ecclesiastical censure by which one is more or less excluded from communion with the faithful. It is also called anathema, especially if it is inflicted with formal solemnities on persons notoriously obstinate to reconciliation. Two basic forms of excommunication are legislated by the Code of Canon Law, namely inflicted penalties (ferendae sententiae) and automatic penalties (latae sententiae). In the first type, a penalty does not bind until after it has been imposed on the guilty party. In the second type, the excommunication is incurred by the very commission of the offense, if the law or precept expressly determines this (Canon 1314). Most excommunications are of the second type" (Modern Catholic Dictionary by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.)

Through excommunication, the most serious of all penalties, the excommunicated person is forbidden to "...have any ministerial participation in celebrating the Eucharistic Sacrifice or in any other ceremonies whatsoever of public worship,to celebrate the sacraments and sacramentals and to receive the sacraments, to discharge any ecclesiastical offices, ministries or functions whatsoever, or to place acts of governance (Canon 1331)" Excommunication, aside from those involved in abortion, applies to priests that reveal the sins of penitents (Canon 1388), people that throw away the consecrated bread or wine or keep them for sacrilegious purposes (Canon 1367), or for a heretic, apostate, or schismatic (Canon 1364).

Similar to excommunications are anathemas. See Overheard in the Sacristy for more information. The following is an excerpt from that aforementioned blog:

Ceremony:

While "minor excommunication" could be incurred by associating with an excommunicate, and "major excommunication" could be imposed by any bishop, "anathema" was imposed by the Pope in a specific ceremony described in the Pontificale Romanum. Wearing a purple cope (the liturgical color of penitence) and holding a lighted candle, he, surrounded by twelve priests, also with lighted candles, pronounced the anathema with a formula that concluded with the phrase:

"Wherefore in the name of God the All-powerful, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, of Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and of all the saints, in virtue of the power which has been given us of binding and loosing in Heaven and on earth, we deprive (Name) himself and all his accomplices and all his abettors of the Communion of the Body and Blood of Our Lord, we separate him from the society of all Christians, we exclude him from the bosom of our Holy Mother the Church in Heaven and on earth, we declare him excommunicated and anathematized and we judge him condemned to eternal fire with Satan and his angels and all the reprobate, so long as he will not burst the fetters of the demon, do penance and satisfy the Church; we deliver him to Satan to mortify his body, that his soul may be saved on the day of judgment."

The priests responded: "Fiat, fiat, fiat" (Let it be done), and all, including the pontiff, cast their lighted candles on the ground. A notice is sent in writing to the priests and neighboring bishops of the name of the one who has been excommunicated and the cause of his excommunication, in order that they may have no communication with him. Although he is delivered to Satan and his angels, he can still, and is even bound to repent. The Pontifical gives the form for absolving him and reconciling him with the Church.

The Formula Rite of Excommunication

“[Name of the person], led by the Devil, having abandoned through apostasy the promise he had made at his Baptism, has not feared to ravage the Church of God, steal Church goods and violently oppress the poor of Christ. In our concern over this, we do not desire that he perish because of any pastoral neglect of our own. For before the dread Judgment seat, we will have to render an account to the Prince of Shepherds, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in accordance with the terrible warning the Lord Himself addresses to us with these words: If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thy hand (Ez 3: 18). Therefore, we have canonically warned him once, twice, a third and yet a fourth time so that he might conquer his malice, inviting him to amend himself, make reparation and penance, and reprehending him with paternal affection. But he – o woe! – despising the salutary admonitions of the Church of God, which he has offended, and led by the spirit of pride, has not wanted to make any reparation 

“The precepts of the Lord and of the Apostles speak clearly about what to do with such prevaricators. For the Lord says: Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offends thee, cut them off and cast them from thee (Mt 8:18). And the Apostle advises: If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or a server of idols, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner: with such a one, do not so much as to eat. (1 Cor 5:11) And John, the favorite disciple of Christ, forbids that one should even greet one who is wicked: If any one come to you and bring not this doctrine, do not receive him into the house, and greet him not (2 Jn 1:10). 

“Therefore, carrying out the precepts of the Lord and of the Apostles, let us take from the body of the Church with the iron tongs of excommunication this putrid and incurable member who refuses to accept the remedy, so that the rest of the members of the body may not be poisoned by such a pestiferous disease. He has despised our admonitions and our repeated exhortations; having been warned three times, according to the precept of the Lord, he would not amend himself and do penance; he has not reflected upon his guilt, nor has he confessed it; neither has he presented any excuse through a third party, nor did he ask for pardon. But, with his heart hardened by the Devil, he continues to persevere in the same evil as before, according to the words of the Apostle: The impenitent heart stores up to itself wrath for the day of wrath (Rom 2:5). 

“Wherefore by the judgment of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost, of the St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and of all the Saints, and by virtue of the power which has been given us of binding and loosing in Heaven and on earth that which was divinely entrusted to us, we deprive him [the person is named] with all his accomplices and all his abettors of the Communion of the Body and Blood of Our Lord; we separate him from the society of all Christians; we exclude him from the bosom of our Holy Mother the Church in Heaven and on earth; and we declare him excommunicated and anathematized, as well as judge him condemned to eternal fire with Satan and his angels and all the reprobates. So long as he will not burst the fetters of the Devil, amend himself and do penance and make reparation to the Church which he has offended, we deliver him to Satan for the perdition of his flesh, so that his soul may be saved on the day of judgment."

To this, all the assistants answer: "Fiat, fiat, fiat" [so be it, so be it, so be it]. 

“The Bishop and the assisting priests then cast to the ground the lighted candles they have been carrying. Notice is sent in writing to all the priests in the neighboring parishes, as well as to the Bishops, of the name of the one who has been excommunicated and the cause of his excommunication in order that they may have no communication with him, thus removing them from any occasion of excommunication.” 

Source: Roman Pontifical apud Catolicismo, December 1952

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Susan Tassone is Alive

This morning I received an email concerning this post of mine: Susan Tassone on Purgatory. I received my information for this post from an email from the Yahoo Group that prays for the Holy Souls.

I wrote in that post: "Before she died, an interview was conducted with her about her work to help the souls of those in purgatory. I highly recommend this interview." Today I received an email entitled "Susan Tassone is very much alive!" It was from someone that attends Mass with her. Right now, Susan Tassone is working hard to get donations for poor third world parishes who in turn offer up Masses for your intentions (family members who may be in purgatory).

Please say a prayer for Susan's wonderful work for Christ and for her health!

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Words of Inspiration: June 28, 2006

Blessed Mother Teresa:

"I serve Jesus twenty-four hours a day. Whatever I do is for Him. And He gives me strength."

Padre Pio:

"Each holy Mass heard with devotion, produces marvelous effects in our souls, spiritual and material graces, that we ourselves do not know. For such purposes do not spend your money uselessly, make a sacrifice of it and come here to hear holy Mass."

"It would be easier for the earth to exist without the sun than without the holy sacrifice of the Mass."

Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain

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