Traveling for a Week

After Mass this evening, I will be leaving on a 20-hour trip to the state of Florida. While there, I hope to be able to visit several historical landmarks and Catholic sites. However, I will have no access to the Internet until July 1, 2007, at the earliest. I ask for your prayers for a safe trip.

Let us all remember to continue our Devotions to the Sacred Heart during June, the Month of the Sacred Heart. If we stay close to the Sacred Heart like St. John, the Beloved Disciple, we too shall follow St. John to life everlasting. I will try to pray the Rosary and the Breviary during this week. If you have fallen out of the practice, now is a perfect time to rekindle these devotions. Let us never forget the words of Mary: "One day through the Rosary and the Scapular I will save the world."

And, to the kind readers who sent me donations through Paypal, thank you!! Your donations are highly appreciated. Thank you again for the generosity.

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Fighting for the Tridentine Mass in Niafles

Update: As one reader wrote below, the Catholic Faithful are under attack because of their faithfulness to the Traditions. Please pray for them! They have been driven out with force!

Please pray for these brave Catholics. The following is an excerpt from A Faithful Rebel. For photos and more of the story see his post The Catholic Heroes of Niafles Continue Occupation of Village Church in a Brave Stand for Catholic Tradition and The Situation in Niafles:

The sad situation in Niafles continues as the people of that little faithful village are taking turns occupying the Church after the Bishop of Laval has ordered an end to the traditional Latin Mass there, which has continued in that village with the permission of diocesan bishops despite the liturgical revolution of Pope Paul VI, that is until Bishop of Laval Diocese (upon the complaints of the village's Socialist mayor) says that the Latin Mass that the village has always known is no longer allowed except once every eleven Sundays (the compromise that has been offered by the Bishop), at a location over 40 kilometers away in a renovated Novus Ordo Church. This is of course at the same time that a lawful priest of the Fraternity of Saint Peter is already in Niafles to offer the Mass for the faithful there. This is the completely unjust!

The eyes of the traditional Catholic world are focused upon Niafles to see how the Church handles this situation, which could be a sign of things to come in the Church. If the bishop is allowed to suppress the Traditional Mass in Niafles, that could not bode well for the expansion of the traditional rite as the Pope wishes throughout the Latin Church.

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Friday: Abstain from Meat

Today is Friday, the day in which we commemorate Our Lord's Passion and Death. It was our own sins that condemned our glorious Lord to death on Good Friday - death on a Cross. As Catholics, we are still bound to either abstain from meat or rather to do some act of penance each Friday in the entire year. It was on this day of the week that our glorious Redeemer died for us. Please, never forget this, especially at 3 o'clock, the hour that He died. At 3 o'clock attempt to pray the 3 o'clock Mercy Prayer. Please remember Our Lord's love and repent today.

 
Code of Canon Law:

Can. 1249 All Christ's faithful are obliged by divine law, each in his or her own way, to do penance. However, so that all may be joined together in a certain common practice of penance, days of penance are prescribed. On these days the faithful are in a special manner to devote themselves to prayer, to engage in works of piety and charity, and to deny themselves, by fulfilling their obligations more faithfully and especially by observing the fast and abstinence which the following canons prescribe. 

Can. 1250 The days and times of penance for the universal Church are each Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent. 

Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. 

Can. 1252 The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority, until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Pastors of souls and parents are to ensure that even those who by reason of their age are not bound by the law of fasting and abstinence, are taught the true meaning of penance. 

Can. 1253 The Episcopal Conference can determine more particular ways in which fasting and abstinence are to be observed. In place of abstinence or fasting it can substitute, in whole or in part, other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety.

Today is also a great day to pray the Stations of the Cross. The Stations are a wonderful devotion that can be prayed in Church or at home. Nonetheless, the stations allow us to contemplate the true love of our Redeemer during His bitter Passion. Please join me in praying the Stations of the Cross. Remember, it was on this day that He gave up His life all for you.

Prayer to the Glorious Cross:

I adore You, O glorious Cross, which was adorned with the Heart and Body of my Savior Jesus Christ, stained and covered with blood. I adore You, O Holy Cross, out of love for Him, Jesus, who is my Savior and my God.

(Pope Pius IX declared that reciting this prayer five times on Friday will free five souls from Purgatory and 33 souls by reciting it on Good Friday. This prayer should be recited before a crucifix with a contrite heart and praying a few minutes for the Pope).

Prayer to Jesus Christ Crucified:

My good and dear Jesus, I kneel before you asking you most earnestly to engrave upon my heart a deep and lively faith, hope, and charity, with true repentance for my sins, and a firm resolve to make amends. As I reflect upon your five wounds, and dwell upon them with deep compassion and grief, I recall the words the prophet David spoke long ago concerning yourself: they have pierced my hands and my feet, they have numbered all my bones!

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Pray for Marianne's Father

Please say a prayer for the health and well-being of Marianne's father. She is the person who is kindly drawing all of the names for the Saint for the Year Devotion. Her father is in grave need of prayers.

Final Update: Her father has passed away. Requiem aternam!

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St. Aloysius Gonzaga

Memorial (1969 Calendar): June 21
Double (1955 Calendar): June 21

Each year at this time, the Church remembers the life of St. Aloysius Gonzaga (1568 - 1591). Born to Italian nobility in the family’s castle in Castiglione delle Stiviere, St. Aloysius was the son of a compulsive gambler. He is also the cousin of Saint Rudolph Acquaviva. St. Aloysius was trained as a soldier and courtier even at the young age of four. In 1577, at the age of 8, he was sent to serve at the court of Grand Duke Francesco I de' Medici. While there, he began to suffer from kidney disease and later viewed it as a blessing because he spent the time in prayer and spiritual reading. At the age of 9, he made a private vow of chastity.

In 1580, St. Aloysius returned to Castiglione, and he received First Holy Communion from the hands of St. Charles Borromeo on June 22, 1580, who was then a cardinal. While still a young boy, St. Aloysius began to teach catechism to poor boys. St. Aloysius felt his vocation was to become a Jesuit; while his mother consented, his father was furious. His family tried relentlessly to deter him from his vocation, and they eventually tried to persuade him to become a diocesan priest. The family of St. Aloysius was prepared to "buy" him a bishopric. At age 18, he signed away his legal claim to his family's lands and title to his brother and became a Jesuit novice.

In November 1585, St. Aloysius went to Rome and was granted an audience with Pope Sixtus V. On November 25, 1585, he was accepted as a Jesuit novice. He was sent to Milan for his studies, but due to his poor health - skin disease, chronic headaches, kidney disease, and insomnia - he was sent back to Rome. In 1590, St. Aloysius had a vision in which the Archangel Gabriel told him that he would die within a year. With the outbreak of the Plague in 1591 in Rome, the Jesuits opened a hospital for those stricken with the Plague. St. Aloysius worked in a ward where there were no plague victims, but when a man became afflicted with the disease, St. Aloysius soon developed symptoms. As he was dying, he spoke many times with his spiritual director, St. Robert Bellarmine. St. Aloysius received another vision in which it was revealed that he would die on the Octave Day of Corpus Christi. St. Bellarmine gave him the sacraments and recited the prayers for the dying. On June 21, 1591, the Octave Day of Corpus Christi, St. Aloysius died shortly before midnight.

St. Aloysius Gonzaga was canonized on December 31, 1726, in Rome, Italy, by Pope Benedict XIII. His relics are entombed under the altar of Saint Ignatius Church in Rome.

For more information, please see "Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, S.J.: With an Undivided Heart" by Silas Henderson.

Prayer:

O God, The Giver of heavenly gifts, Who in the angelic youth Aloysius dist unite a wonderful innocence of life with an equal spirit of penance: grant through his merits and prayers, that we, who have not followed his innocence, may imitate his penance. Through our Lord.

Prayer Source: 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

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New Donation Feature

Updated

After asking for opinions from my readers on whether or not to allow Paypal donations, I have decided to add a feature to the sidebar of my blog. I have always asked for opinions from readers before making certain decisions on this blog, and since most readers enthusiastically supported the idea, I have decided to add a feature. I have decided to read about Paypal and create an account. This is the first time I did it and I was a little nervous, but I think everything is working well. If anyone would really like to send in a donation to me, I will also gladly accept checks sent through the Postal Office.

As I previously wrote, I do not like posting about fundraisers. I have always blogged in order to spread the message of Christ, wary of His command, "Without cost you have received, and without cost you are to give." I will continue providing posts of the Catholic Faith regardless if I ever receive a donation. Allowing donations and charging for the Gospel message are two entirely distinct issues. I will never ask for any money on this blog or sell anything. I am merely allowing readers to donate to me. Since I am preparing to enter the seminary, donations would most likely be used to pay for books such as a Liturgy of the Hours 4-volume set, liturgical vestments like a surplice, or accessories for college. I must, however, state that it would not be a tax-deductible contribution.

Thank you for everyone's advice. And, most especially, thank you in advance for any donations. I will appreciate each and every donation. Again, thank you in advance.

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Words of Inspiration: June 21

"The dying should be given attention and care to help them live their last moments in dignity and peace. They will be helped by the prayer of their relatives, who must see to it that the sick receive at the proper time the sacraments that prepare them to meet the living God" (CCC 2299)

Please remember to pray for the sick and dying. Pray not only the Rosary for them but also the Divine Mercy Chaplet. And please do not pray just for their physical body but most importantly their soul. When a relative does die, please have Gregorian Masses said for him/her.

Image Source: Holy Cards

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Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road

The Vatican has released a 36-page document titled, Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road. According to numerous sources, the document outlines the "Ten Commandments for Drivers":

1. You shall not kill.

2. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.

3. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.

4. Be charitable and help your neighbor in need, especially victims of accidents.

5. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.

6. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.

7. Support the families of accident victims.

8. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.

9. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.

10. Feel responsible toward others.

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Gothic Cathedrals in Original Colors

Via the Fish Eaters Forum, I found a post at Daniel Mitsui's blog, which shows Gothic Cathedrals in their original colors and beauty. Some of these Cathedrals are truly magnificent!

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Catholic Carnival #124

This week's Catholic Carnival #124 is now available.

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