The Nativity of St. John the Baptist

The Birth of Saint John the Baptist by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Oil on Canvas, Completed in 1655

Solemnity (1969 Calendar): June 24

Double of the I Class (1955 Calendar): June 24

Today is the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. Six months before the birth of Our Lord, we celebrate the birth of St. John the Baptist to Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary's cousin. It was St. John the Baptist who prepared the way for Our Lord and bore witness to Him.

 In "Christian Feasts and Customs," Father Weiser writes of the importance of the Feast of St. John's Nativity:

"The Council of Agde, in 506, listed the Nativity of Saint John among the highest feasts of the year, a day on which all faithful had to attend Mass and abstain from servile work. Indeed, so great was the rank of this festival that, just as on Christmas, three Masses were celebrated, one during the vigil service, the second at dawn, the third in the morning. In 1022, a synod at Seligenstadt, Germany, prescribed a fourteen-day fast and abstinence in preparation for the Feast of the Baptist. This, however, was never accepted into universal practice by the Roman authorities."

Today was, for some time, a Holy Day of Obligation.

Gospel Reading:

Now the time came for Elizabeth to be delivered, and she gave birth to a son. And her neighbors and kinsfolk heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they would have named him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said, "Not so; he shall be called John." And they said to her, "None of your kindred is called by this name." And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he would have him called. And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, "His name is John." And they all marveled. And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea; and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, "What then will this child be?" For the hand of the Lord was with him...And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness till the day of his manifestation to Israel.

Luke 1:57-66, 80

Prayer:

O God, Who hast made this day worthy of honor by the birth of blessed John: grant to Thy people the grace of spiritual joys, and direct the minds of all the faithful into the way of eternal salvation. Through our Lord.

Prayer Source: 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

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Do the Laity Pray the Liturgy of the Hours?

Fr. Richard John Neuhaus comments on the growing practice of praying the Liturgy of the Hours among the laity. This is a great sign for the future of the Church:

"With, it seems, increasing frequency I come across lay people who are daily praying The Liturgy of the Hours. That is required for priests and members of religious communities. The daily office, as it is called, varies according to the traditions of some religious orders and in most communities is prayed in common or, as it is said, in choir. It is an encouraging thing that lay people, and especially younger lay people, are taking up this spiritual discipline. And even more encouraging when they are able to pray the office with others, as in the family."

Pray the Liturgy of the Hours!

Image Source: Solemn Traditional Divine Office with the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter/NLM

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Prayers for the Faithful Departed: In Paradisum

In paradisum deducant te Angeli; in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Ierusalem. Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere æternam habeas requiem.

May angels lead you into Paradise; may the martyrs receive you at your coming and lead you to the holy city of Jerusalem. May the ranks of angels receive you, and. with Lazarus, the poor man, may you have eternal rest.

Download The Order of Mass for the Dead in Latin and English

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Holy Trinity Prayer

Consecration to the Three Persons

In order that I may be a living act of perfect love, I offer myself as a whole burnt offering to Thy tender love, beseeching Thee to consume me continually, letting my soul overflow with the floods of infinite tenderness that are found in Thee, that so I may become a martyr of Thy love, O God! Let this martyrdom make me ready to appear before Thee and at last cause me to expire; let my soul cast itself without delay into the everlasting arms of Thy merciful love. With every beat of my heart I desire, O my dearly Beloved, to renew this offering an infinite number of times, until that day when the shadows shall vanish and I shall be able to retell my love in eternal union with Thee!  (Indulgence of 3 years)

In Praise of the Trinity 

 With our whole heart and voice we glorify Thee, we praise Thee, we bless Thee, God the Father unbegotten, the only-begotten Son, the Holy Ghost, the Paraclete, the holy and undivided Trinity.  For Thou art great, and dost wonderful things: Thou alone art God. To Thee be praise, to Thee glory, to Thee thanksgiving forever and ever, O blessed Trinity!  (Roman Missal)

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Saints and Their Pets

I wanted to post about saints that had animals as pets. Of course, virtually all of us know of St. Francis' love for animals, but several other holy men and women had pets.

St. John Bosco had a pet dog in his youth while St. Philip Neri had a cat in his old age. St. Francis of Paola had a pet fish that was cooked one day. So, St. Francis of Paola raised it from the dead by the power of God.

Saint Brigid even tamed animals. Back in her time, the law stated that if a thief was in a Church no-one was allowed to arrest him. One day a group of hunters chased a wild boar into Church and wanted to come in and kill it. The men said that the Church refuge rule did not apply to animals. Saint Brigid said the rule did indeed apply, and so the hunters were forced to leave. She then gave the exhausted boar a drink and it ended up living on her personal farm with the cows she owned.

St. Rocco and St Lazarus the Beggar are pictured with a dog, and St. Anthony of Padua even preached to fish that listened to him. St. Francis negotiated with a wolf and even preached to birds telling them to glorify God. St. Jerome had a lion, and St. Giles had a deer.

As we can see, kindness towards animals and creation is a sign of holiness and respect for God. Whether or not if we can talk with animals like some saints, we all need to show them respect.

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Be Ready to Defend the Church: Quotations

"Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness" ~ Isaiah 5:20

"You shall be held responsible if you do not warn of evil" ~ Ezekiel 33: 7-9

"Not to oppose error, is to approve of it, and not to defendtruth is to suppress it, and indeed to neglect to confound evilmen, when we can do it, is no less a sin than to encourage them." ~ Pope Felix III

"The power of evil men lives on the cowardice of the good" ~ St. John Bosco

"To recoil before an enemy, or to keep silence when from all sides such clamors are raised against truth, is a part of a man either devoid of character or who entertains doubts as to the truth of what he professes to believe. In both cases such a mode of behavior is base and insulting to God and both are incompatible with the salvation of mankind. This kind of conduct is profitableonly to the enemies of faith, for nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good very frequently, by a display of courage, our enemies lose heart and their designs are thwarted. Christians, moreover, are born for combat!" ~ Pope Leo XIII

Image: Pope Leo XIII

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Up and Running!

Well, after a few hundred dollars less, a new motherboard, and a few hours later, I am fully up and running! I still need to finish copying over my previous files because I had to completely start Windows XP again, so blogging will probably we light for awhile still. However, I am back. Thank you for your prayers.

I missed you all.

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Computer Problems

The motherboard for my computer died this morning. I'm writing this from a public computer right now, so I will not be blogging again until the computer is fixed. I took it in to get fixed today and I was told it would be done by next Tuesday. I went home and prayed the Novena to the Infant Jesus of Prague, called on Mary's intercession and the saints, and prayed two decades of the Rosary. I then received a call - it could be ready by the end of tonight!

So, whenever it is fixed I will continue blogging! I hope I will get it back tonight or tomorrow at the latest.

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Ted Harvey Introduces Gianna Jessen to the House of Representatives

Dymphna's Well posted a link to an article from CitizenLink. Te Deum has an extensive post on this as well.

Over in the Colorado House of Representatives, assistant minority leader Ted Harvey was troubled about plans from the House to honor the 90 year legacy of Planned Parenthood in Colorado. So, he invited a speaker - Gianna Jessen.

Gianna Jessen truly succeeded in the American dream. She overcame Cerebral Palsy to one day win a marathon. She is a truly legend. As soon as she finished, The House Chamber "exploded into applause which lasted for 15-to-20 seconds. Gianna had touched their souls. Ironically, Alice Madden, the majority leader and sponsor of the Planned Parenthood resolution, walked over to Gianna and congratulated her."

Mr. Harvey then went to the podeum and revealed that Gianna's cerebral palsy was caused from a failed abortion attempt on her 17 year old mother. She was born alive and adopted at the age of 4 after nearly dying.

The Speaker then announced, "Representative Harvey, I will allow you to continue your introduction, but not for the purposes of debating a measure now pending before the House."

And then there was silence - a deafening silence.

I say bravo to Ted Harvey! I hope this changed the minds of some of the representative there. For most people abortion is the murder of someone not seen. They got to see the victim of this genocide for once...it's about time.

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Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help: Day Three

This is the third day of the Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help. This Novena is prayed leading up to the feast on June 27.

Here is a novena prayer from a booklet of mine called Novena:

See at your feet, O Mother of Perpetual Help, a poor sinner who has recourse to you and confides in you.

O Mother of Mercy, have pity on me! You are called the refuge and the hope of sinners; be my refuge and my hope. Help me, for the love of Jesus Christ; stretch forth your hand to a poor, fallen creature. I recommend myself to you, and I want to devote myself to your service forever. I bless and thank almighty God, who is his mercy has given me this confidence in you, which I hold to be a pledge of my eternal salvation.

(Mention your request)

Mary, help me. Mother of Perpetual Help, never allow me to lose my God.

(Recite the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be three times each)

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