Today is the Fourth Sunday of Lent, also called Lætare Sunday.
Linggo, Marso 18, 2007
Sabado, Marso 17, 2007
Today's Stational Church is the Church of St. Susanna. For information on this devotion, see the Stational Churches of Lent Homepage. I will post on each Stational Church for Lent. Information is from the Canon Regulars of St. John Cantius:
Today's liturgy places before us three women—one in the white garment of virginity, the other in the blue mantle of chastity and the third in the purple robe of penitence. The first shows the triumph of Christ's redemption, the second, the power of faith in the coming Messiah, the third, the compassion of the Good Shepherd, who came to seek what was lost.
The first is today's stational guide—St. Susanna, to whom the vow of virginity and consecration to Christ, the royal Bridegroom, meant more than the princely hand of the unprincely Galerius Maximianus. She refused his hand in marriage and was put to death.
The other Susanna is the chaste wife of Joachim living in Babylon in the days of Daniel, the prophet. Two adulterous men, ever to be remembered as a disgrace to manhood, two judges, who perverted justice and drowned their manly honor in the pool of perjury, were this pure women's adversaries. But Susanna prefers to be a victim of the hellish vengeance of her accusers than sin against her God.
And now the third one—the woman caught in adultery. She lost her virginity, her chastity, and has broken fidelity to her marriage vows. "she must be stoned," was the cry. She was an outcast in the eyes of her merciless accusers, who themselves were whitened sepulchers inwardly full of worms. Jesus, the new Daniel, came to her rescue. He condemned her sin, but raised her from an erring sheep to a penitential follower. "Has no one condemned you, woman? No one, Sir. Neither will I condemn you. Now sin no more."
Let us pray: Extend to Thy faithful the right hand of heavenly help, that they may seek Thee with their whole hearts and deserve to obtain what they ask for worthily. Through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
Again, the American Cancer Society is funding Planned Parenthood. Read about this news on LifeNews. Contact information to write to the American Cancer Society is available via that link.
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Biyernes, Marso 16, 2007
I had to post this beautiful image from a Tridentine Christmas Mass that I found on an online message board.Note: The place is so beautifully lit not by electricity but by nearly 1,000 lit candles. This is an image from St. Vicent de Paul Church, Kansas City, MO (SSPX)
I recently found this video on Roman Miscellany showing many of the struggles in Pope Paul VI's final years as Pontiff. I found the video fascinating since I have never seen many videos of Pope Paul VI.
Isaiah 53:11b-12
"Through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear. Therefore I will give him his portion among the great, and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty, Because he surrendered himself to death and was counted among the wicked; And he shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offenses."
For the second time this week, the chaste Deacon Lawrence is our processional leader to the Savior of the world. Last Sunday, we knelt at his tomb and heard his encouraging words: "walk as children of the light …"
Today, we are making our pilgrimage to the church containing a large portion of the gridiron on which this holy Deacon made his last and most perfect oblation to God.
It was during the forty years passed in the desert that Moses and Aaron asked God to bring from the rock - a figure of Christ - "a spring of living water," so that all the people could quench their thirst. During these forty days of Lent, the Church asks Christ to give us the living water about which he spoke to the woman of Samaria near Jacob's well-the water, which quenches our thirst forever. This water is our faith in Jesus. It is grace. It is the blood, which flows from the wounds of the Savior, and which through baptism, penance and the other sacraments, purifies our souls, and gushes forth into eternal life, of which it assures us a share.
Let us pray: Show me, O Lord, a toke for good; that they, who hate me may see and be confounded because Thou, O Lord, hast helped me and hast comforted me. Through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
Huwebes, Marso 15, 2007
This is very disheartening news.
O Lord, misere nobis!
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O Lord, misere nobis!
Half of the people of the Czech Republic do not believe in God, according to a new survey.
The poll by the STEM research organization found that 50% of the country’s people reject belief in God, while 26% believe and the remaining 24% profess uncertainty.
Source: Catholic World News
This church, made from two pagan temples, holds the bodies of the holy martyrs, Cosmas and Damian, who were put to death during the Diocletian persecution. The sick came in crowds to visit the tomb of these two brothers, doctors by profession, imploring them to restore their health.What is fascinating is that the Collect Prayer or today's Lenten feria Mass mentions the station of Ss. Cosmas and Damian. There is only one other occasion, Sexagesima Sunday at St Paul Outside-the-Walls, on which the Collect mentions the Saint at whose church the station is held, even though it is not the feast of that Saint.
The "unsalaried" physicians, Cosmas and Damian, devoted time and talents to the service of the poor and the sick, so that, by curing the infirmities of the body without renumeration, they might more easily win immortal souls for Christ.
Today, the Divine Physician will again come and refresh you. He carries with him the divine antidote, the Eucharistic medicine for the healing of our infirmities.
Let us pray: May the blessed solemnity of Thy saints, Cosmas and Damian, magnify Thee, O Lord, by which Thou hast both granted eternal glory to them and assistance to us by Thy ineffable providence. Through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
Dom Gueranger, in his "Liturgical Year," also insightfully notes the connection of today's station with Lenten fasting and abstinence:
At Rome, the Station is at the church of Saints Cosmas and Damian, in the forum. The Christians of the middle ages (as we learn from Durandus, in his Rational of the Divine Offices) were under the impression that this Station was chosen because these two saints were, by profession, physicians. The Church, according to this explanation, would not only offer up her prayers of this day for the souls, but also for the bodies of her children: she would draw down upon them—fatigued as she knew they must be by their observance of abstinence and fasting—the protection of these holy martyrs, who, whilst on earth, devoted their medical skill to relieving the corporal ailments of their brethren. The remarks made by the learned liturgiologist Gavantus, in reference to this interpretation, lead us to conclude that, although it may possibly not give us the real motive of the Church’s selecting this Station, yet it is not to be rejected. It will, at least, suggest to the faithful to recommend themselves to these saints, and to ask of God, through their intercession, that they may have the necessary courage and strength for persevering to the end of the holy season in what they have, so far, faithfully observed.
Today also marks the midpoint of Lent. See: Mid-Lent Thursday Exhortation from the Mozarabic Rite
Miyerkules, Marso 14, 2007
I have just updated my page entitled What's wrong with Martin Luther? by adding a link to a papal document concerning his heretical errors. I strongly suggest all Catholics read Exsurge Domine by Pope Leo X, which was issued on June 15, 1520.
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