Words of Inspiration: January 11

"Don’t let the many snares of this infernal beast frighten you. Jesus, who is always with you, and who will fight with and for you, will never permit you to be tricked and overcome" (St. Padre Pio).

"Many souls go to Hell because there are none to sacrifice themselves and to pray for them" (Our Lady of Fatima).

Reminder: Did you pray your Morning Offering today?

Image Source: Blessed Giles of Assisi levitating.

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Prayer for Final Exams

I imagine most of my readers have noticed that I have posted much less this week than typically. It is simply because I have finals this week. Next week I hope to again continue my frequent postings!

Also, I have been having some trouble lately with an online Catholic forum because of my love for the Tridentine Mass and the Traditions of the Church. I would appreciate your prayers for the improvement of this situation.

This powerful prayer is very effective in examinations. It has to be said before appearing in the examination. There are two variants to this prayer. Both the prayers are equally effective. You can choose any one of these:

First Prayer

O Great St. Joseph of Cupertino who while on earth did obtain from God the grace to be asked at your examination only the questions you knew, obtain for me a like favour in the examinations for which I am now preparing. In return I promise to make you known and cause you to be invoked.

Through Christ our Lord.

St. Joseph of Cupertino, Pray for us.

Amen.

Second Prayer

O St. Joseph of Cupertino who by your prayer obtained from God to be asked at your examination, the only preposition you knew. Grant that I may like you succeed in the (here mention the name of Examination eg. History paper I ) examination.

In return I promise to make you known and cause you to be invoked.

O St. Joseph of Cupertino pray for me

O Holy Ghost enlighten me

Our Lady of Good Studies pray for me

Sacred Head of Jesus, Seat of divine wisdom, enlighten me.

Remember, when you succeed in the exams then you should thank St. Joseph of Cupertino.

Image Source: Ordo Fratrum Minorum Conventualium

Remember, when you succeed in the exams then you should thank St. Joseph of Cupertino. And if you would like a prayer card you can use and include in your books, find a great option here.

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The Tridentine Mass in the Diocese of San Jose

There is great news for Catholics that feel particularly attached to the 1962 Tridentine Liturgy. As a proud Catholic, who loves the Tridentine Liturgy, I am very happy for those Catholics in the Diocese of San Jose. The following is via PerpetualHelp.org:

CANONICAL ESTABLISHMENT:

Bishop Patrick J. McGrath has decreed the canonical establishment of the Oratory of the Chapel of Our Mother of Perpetual Help on 1298 Homestead Road, Santa Clara, California for the Catholic faithful in the Diocese of San Jose who are attached to the rituals in use in 1962 effective January 1, 2007. The Oratory is entrusted to the pastoral care of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.

Bishop McGrath formally welcomes the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest into the Diocese of San Jose.

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Prayer for the Week of Christian Unity

[Please prepare to say this prayer daily during the Week of Christian Unity which is January 18-25]

English:

May they all be on as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, so that the world may come to believe that you have sent me.

R. You are Peter

V. And it is upon this rock that I will build my Church.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus Christ, who said to your apostles: I leave peace with you; it is my own pace that I give you; look not upon our sins but upon your Church's faith, and graciously grant her peace and unity in accordance with your will. You who live and reign forever and ever.

R. Amen.

Latin:

Ut omnes unum sint, sicut tu Pater in me et ego in te; ut mundus credat quia tu me misita.

R. Tu es Petrus.

V. Et super hanc petram dificabo ecclesiam meam.

V. Oremus: Domine Iesu Christe, qui dixisti Apostolis tuis: pacem relinquo vobis, pacem mean do vobis ne rspicias peccata nostra, sed fidem Ecclesie tuae, eamque secundum voluntatem tuam pacificate et coadunare digneris. Qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum.

R. Amen

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Saint for the Year 2007 Updates

I am continuing to get Saint for the Year Requests. It is amazing! There have been exactly 708 requests already for 2007! I am working extremely hard to email people back, and most people do let me know they receive their message. If you do not give me an email address or a blog url, then please see my Results Page to find your saint. Then comment on that page giving your name/screenname to let me know that you have received the results.

If you have requested a saint over 2 weeks ago but have not yet received a reply, then please email me again. I have a list of requests I am still trying to take care of, though, and they are from the past two weeks.

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The Baptism of the Lord

Today the Church celebrates the Baptism of the Lord, recalling the glorious event in the River Jordan. For more information on this feast as well as on Baptism, see my post from last year.

Collect:

Almighty, eternal God, when the Spirit descended upon Jesus at his baptism in the Jordan, you revealed him as your own beloved Son. Keep us, your children born of water and the Spirit, faithful to our calling. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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Bishop Asenjo: No Use of the Cathedral Allowed by Muslims

A few weeks ago, a group of Muslims from Spain asked Bishop Juan Asenjo Pelegrina of Cordoba for permission to worship in the Cathedral of Cordoba, which used to be a mosque in medieval times. Thankfully, the bishop has denied their request.

In a Dec. 27 statement responding to the request, Bishop Asenjo said he believed Cordoba's "relatively small" Muslim minority -- less than 1 percent of its 350,000 inhabitants -- did not need extra facilities
......................
However, he added, the Catholic Church held "irrefutable historic titles" to exclusive use of the cathedral and believed that sharing it would "only generate confusion among the faithful and give rise to religious skepticism."

"The Christian roots of Cordoba and its 1,700-year Christian history deserve respect," said the bishop. "Catholics in Cordoba wish to live in peace with believers of other creeds. But we do not want to be continually subjected to pressure that contributes nothing."

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St. Raymond of Peñafort: Third Dominican Master

Optional Memorial (1969 Calendar): January 7
Semidouble (1954 Calendar): January 23

St. Raymond was born in 1175 in Peñafort, Catalonia, Spain to noble parents. He became a philosophy teacher around the age of 20 and later a priest. St. Raymond joined the Dominicans in 1218. In 1230, he was summoned to Rome by Pope Gregory IX and assigned to collect all official letters of the popes since 1150. St. Raymond gathered the letters and published five volumes known as the Decretals.

In 1238, St. Raymond became the Master general of the Dominicans. After reviewing the Order's Rule to ensure everything was legally correct with Church law, he resigned his position in 1240 to dedicate himself to parish work. He also declined the offer to become archbishop to focus on the parish work he loved in Spain.

His compassion helped many people return to God through Reconciliation - the Sacrament of Confession. St. Raymond started a school to teach missionaries the language and culture of the non-Christians needing to be evangelized in Northern Africa and Spain. Along with St. Thomas Aquinas, he wrote a booklet to explain the truths of faith in a way nonbelievers could easily understand.

He died on January 6, 1275, in Spain of natural causes.

Dom Gueranger writes of him in his work "The Liturgical Year." The following is an excerpt:

St Raymund has the honour of having been intrusted to draw up the Church's Code of Canon Law. It was he who, in the year 1234, compiled, by order of Pope Gregory the Ninth, the five Books of the Decretals; and his name will ever be associated with this great work which forms the basis of the actual discipline of the Church. 

Raymund was a faithful disciple of that God who came down from heaven to save sinners by calling them to receive pardon. He has merited the beautiful title, conferred on him by the Church, of excellent Minister of the Sacrament of Penance. He was the first who collected together into one body of doctrine the maxims of Christian morality, which regulate the duties of the confessor with regard to the faithful who confess their sins to him. The Sum of Penitential Cases opened the series of those important treatises in which learned and holy men have carefully considered the claims of law and the obligations of man, in order to instruct the Priest how to pass judgement, as the Scripture says, between leprosy and leprosy. 

In fine, when the glorious Mother of God, who is also the Mother of men, raised up for the redemption of captives the generous Peter Nolasco—whom we shall meet, a few days hence, at the Crib of our Redeemer—Raymund was an important instrument in this great work of mercy; and it is with good reason that the Order of Mercy looks upon him as one of its Founders, and that so many thousand captives, who were ransomed by the Religious of that Order from the captivity of the Moors, have honoured him as one of the principal authors of their liberty.

Prayer:

O God, Who didst choose blessed Raymond to be eminent as a minister of the Sacrament of Penance and dist lead him in wondrous wise upon the waves of the sea: grant that by his intercession we may be able to bring forth worthy fruits of penance, and to reach the port of everlasting salvation. Through our Lord.

Prayer Source: 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

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Can God be known by Reason Alone?

The answer is "Yes". God can be known to exist by the use of reason alone even though many will deny such a claim. The Church teaches that the answer is clearly "yes" as she did so dogmatically: "If anyone says that the one, true God, our Creator and Lord, cannot be known with certainty from the things that have been made, by the natural light of human reason: let him be anathema."

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The Eventual End of This Blog

Today I read from several other people that seminarians at the seminary I will be attending are not allowed to have blogs or use forums online. I was extremely disappointed, but I will do whatever I must to live in obedience to my superiors. I plan on keeping this blog on the Internet forever. I have worked and put months worth of hours into this blog. I hope that it is a source of information for months while I am not blogging. Specifically, the "Catholic Categories" has very valuable information.

I do, however, hope to post on this blog throughout the summer. So, starting in Fall 2007, I will be unable to post for a significant amount of time - probably until Summer 2008. However, I will be able to email people, so I will remain in touch with my readers. I have grown so close to many readers that it will be very difficult to stop blogging for those months. I pray that I will be able to do whatever is required of me.

Update: As you are aware, I am no longer in the seminary now and intend to keep this blog indefinitely now

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