Major Rogation Day 2014

Today is April 25, the Feast of St. Mark, and the Major Rogation. In times past, fasting and penance were required, and the faithful would especially pray Litanies on this day.

Not until relatively recently, it was a requirement that this day was kept with two conventual Masses where choral obligation existed.  The first, post tertiam, was the festive Mass of St. Mark the Evangelist.  The second post nonam was the more penitential Mass formula of Rogation tide.  For those bound to the Divine Office, the Litany is still mandatory today.

What are Rogation Days?

Rogation Days are the four days set apart to bless the fields, and invoke God's mercy on all of creation. The 4 days are April 25, which is called the Major Rogation (and is only coincidentally the same day as the Feast of St. Mark); and the three days preceding Ascension Thursday, which are called the Minor Rogations. Traditionally, on these days, the congregation marches the boundaries of the parish, blessing every tree and stone, while chanting or reciting a Litany of Mercy, usually a Litany of the Saints. Continue Reading...

Prayers:

All we can do is worth nothing Unless God blesses the deed; Vainly we hope for the harvest-tide Till God gives life to the seed; Yet nearer and nearer draws the time, The time that shall surely be When the earth shall be filled with the glory of God As the waters cover the sea.

To the regular family prayers, which we say during the Easter season, we add the following:

Father:  Praise the Lord; for He is good.

Family: His mercy endures forever.

Father: We beseech Thee, Almighty God, that because of our afflictions we may rely on Thy goodness, and with Thy protection may be defended against all adversities.

Family: And I say to you; ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened. Alleluia.

Prayer Source: Family Customs: Easter to Pentecost by Helen McLoughlin, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota, 1956

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Meatless Fridays during Eastertide

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.

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Exsultet of the Easter Vigil: O Blessed Night! O Happy Fault!

From the Exsultet of the Easter Vigil evening ceremonies:

This is the night in which, destroying the chains of death, Christ arose victorious from the grave. For it profited us not to be born, if it had not profited us to be redeemed... O truly blessed night, which alone deserved to know the time and hour when Christ rose again from the tomb!

Felix Culpa!  O Happy Fault!  The Latin expression felix culpa derives from the writings of St. Augustine regarding the Fall of Man, the source of original sin: “For God judged it better to bring good out of evil than not to permit any evil to exist.” (in Latin: Melius enim iudicavit de malis benefacere, quam mala nulla esse permittere.)

The phrase is sung annually in the Exsultet of the Easter Vigil: "O felix culpa quae talem et tantum meruit habere redemptorem," ("O happy fault that merited such and so great a Redeemer.")

The Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, cited this line when he explained that the principle whereby "God allows evils to happen in order to bring a greater good therefrom" underlies the causal relation between original sin and the Divine Redeemer's Incarnation, thus concluding that a higher state is not inhibited by sin. St. Ambrose also speaks of the fortunate ruin of Adam in the Garden of Eden in that his sin brought more good to humanity than if he had stayed perfectly innocent.

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America & the French Revolution docudrama

Dear Friend in the Faith,

I would love for you to know about a fascinating new film that we are trying to finish.  It is a docudrama called The Hidden Rebellion that showcases the brave defense of religious liberty by the Catholic farmers of Vendee during the French Revolution. Surprisingly, this story means a lot to America now…

The events were incredible – in both aggressiveness and forgiveness (you can see this in the trailer). These events help explain many things that are happening in our world today.

Powers in education and the media have scrubbed clean the French Revolution because they want to advance the same goal in America.

The new fact now is that historians are finding that the French Revolution was guilty of genocide on the Vendeans.  This will surely change many things in the public debate… But we must say it to a lot of people with the help of an attractive new film.

If we succeed in showing on the Big Screen the truth about what happened, I am sure that we will change many, many hearts...

If you feel that the defense of religious liberty is important, and you have an inkling that an attractive docudrama could be a wonderful tool in that defense, I would really appreciate it if you could make a small contribution.  In so doing, you will become an associate to this production.

This is a difficult month because I need to pay editors, music and graphics. I left my position as producer at the EWTN television network after 16 years to produce this show. Without help, the process will stop, and I will need to work on another production.

Don't allow this to happen! – because I think that we hold something very precious here. Please, help me create a docudrama in honor of all those faithful who died at the hands of the first atheistic state.

With gratitude, this Holy Week,

Daniel Rabourdin

Birmingham, AL

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The Capirote in Holy Week

For 500 years, the Spanish faithful have commemorated the Passion of Our Lord with marvelous public processions, ceremonies, and penance.  The stunning pasos of Our Lord and Our Lady continue to inspire souls to this day.  The following is taken from TFP Student Action's Website:

The video feature Holy Week processions from Spanish Culture:



In these videos is the very interesting use of the Capirote.  The Capirote is extremely foreign to Americans as its use by the anti-Catholic KKK has put the entire usage into a negative light.  The Capirote is simply a pointed hat that is used in Spanish culture during Holy Week. It is part of the uniform of some brotherhoods including the Nazarenos and "Phariseos."

Traditionally, during the celebration of the Holy Week in Mediterranean countries, "Penitentes" (i.e. people doing penance for their sins) would walk through streets with pointed hats. It was a way of self-injury; however, they covered their faces so they wouldn't be recognized.

The entire article on Holy Week in Seville, Spain, is well worth the read here.

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Saturday of Lazarus

Today in the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church is commemorated one of their most important feastdays in the year: Lazarus Saturday. This feast commemorates the great miracle of our Lord when he raised Lazarus from the dead after Lazarus had already been in the grave for four days.

As Lent for the Eastern Catholics began a few days earlier than for Roman Catholics, Lazarus Saturday marks the end of Great Lent for them.  Holy Week is a separate week of penance and fasting for them outside of the Great Lent of forty days of fasting and penitence.

On Lazarus Saturday,  the Church bears witness to the power of Christ over death and exalts Him as King before entering the most solemn week of the year, one that leads the faithful in remembrance of His suffering and death and concludes with the great and glorious Feast of Easter.

The Roman Catholic Church also, while not calling it Lazarus Saturday, recalls this miracle today as well. The Gospel reading for the Saturday in Passion Week (the Saturday before Palm Sunday) is the story of the Resurrection of Lazarus.

During Friday vespers the reading of Genesis (which began on the first day of Great Lent) is concluded with the description of the death, burial and mourning of Jacob (Genesis 49:33-50:26) and on Friday night, at compline, a Canon on the Raising of Lazarus by Saint Andrew of Crete is sung; this is a rare full canon, having all nine canticles.

The scripture readings and hymns for this day focus on the raising of Lazarus as a foreshadowing of the Resurrection of Christ and a prefiguring of the General Resurrection. The Gospel narrative is interpreted in the hymns as illustrating the two natures of Christ: his humanity in asking, "Where have ye laid him?" (John 11:34), and his divinity by commanding Lazarus to come forth from the dead (John 11:43). A number of the hymns, written in the first or second person, relate Lazarus' death, entombment and burial bonds symbolically to the individual's sinful state. Many of the resurrectional hymns of the normal Sunday service are sung while prayers for the departed, prescribed on Sundays, are permitted. During the divine liturgy, the baptismal hymn, "As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Romans 6:3) replaces the Trisagion indicating that this had been a day on which baptisms were performed [2] and in some churches nowadays adult converts are still baptized on this day.

Lazarus Saturday is the day when, traditionally, hermits would leave their retreats in the wilderness to return to the monastery for the Holy Week services. Although the forty days of Great Lent end on Lazarus Friday, this day is still observed as a fast day; however, the fast is mitigated to allow consumption of caviar, eggs being a symbol of the resurrection and prominent on Pascha, and fish eggs being a shadow thereof show the raising of Lazarus as a foreshadowing of Christ's Resurrection, as elucidated in the propers of the day.

The antiquity of this commemoration is demonstrated by the homilies of St. John Chrysostom (349 - 407), St Augustine of Hippo Regia (354 - 430), and others. In the 7th and 8th centuries, special hymns and canons for the feast were written by St. Andrew of Crete, St. Cosmas of Maium and St. John Damascene, which are still sung to this day.

Source

Lazarakia

One common tradition throughout Greece for the Saturday of Lazarus is the baking of Lazarakia. Lazarakia is a spice bread used to remember the miracle of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. It has many sweet spices in it and is Lenten, meaning it has no dairy or eggs in it. Lazarakia comes in the shape of a man (which is supposed to be Lazarus). There is a mouth and cloves for eyes. Unlike Tsoureki, Lazarakia is not brushed with egg or butter to give it a gloss finish (to not break the fast). One recipe can be found here. "If you don't make a Lazaro, you won't have your full of bread" (“Λάζαρο δεν πλάσεις, ψωμί δεν θα χορτάσεις”), is a saying among some Greeks. Lazarakia should look like the Lazarus in the icon of his resurrection, bound like a dead man with a shroud.

On the island of Kos girls who are engaged make a Lazaro the size of a small child, filled with countless goodies and embroidered almost like the coils of the wedding, to send to the groom. The "Lazaroudia" in many households are filled with ground walnuts, almonds, figs, raisins, honey, extra spices and children eat it hot.

Source

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Requiem Aeternam: Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly

Aged 87, he died on April 9 in a San Diego hospital. Born in 1927, Cardinal Delly was ordained to the priesthood in 1952 and the episcopate in 1963. In October 2003 he was elected patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, and Pope Benedict XVI named him a cardinal in 2007.

May his soul rest in peace.  Requiem Aeternam.

De Profundis

Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice.
Let Your ears be attentive to my voice in supplication.
If You, O Lord, mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand?
But with You is forgiveness, that You may be revered.
I trust in the Lord; my soul trusts in His word.
My soul waits for the Lord more than sentinels wait for the dawn.
More than sentinels wait for the dawn, let Israel wait for the Lord,
For with the Lord is kindness and with Him is plenteous redemption;
And He will redeem Israel from all their iniquities.

Source: Vatican Radio

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10th Annivesary of My Baptism

Today, April 10th, is an important day in my life.  Today marks the 10th Anniversary of my Baptism at the Easter Vigil in 2004.  As I reflect on these past 10 years, I look back on the many successes and the many shortcomings in my Faith life.  I reflect on the nine years that A Catholic Life has been around and think of all of the people that I have met in the Faith along the way.  Truly the day of my Baptism was my rebirth and the start of a new life.  I would not be the person that I am today - by any stretch of the imagination - if April 10, 2004, did not happen.

We all should be thankful for our Baptism.  In a world that condemns God and rejects that which is holy, we have been called to holiness.  We are a people marked aside for God.  What would any of us be without the Faith?  Do we know our Baptism anniversaries and celebrate them each year?

Thank you for all of your support over these past 10 years.  I pray that I will be involved in strong Catholic education for many more years to come on A Catholic Life, CatechismClass.com, Holy Vocations, and the many other venues that God will put in front of me during my remaining years on this year.

Glory to Jesus Christ.  Glory to Him Forever.

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Reflection for Passion Sunday

This Sunday, called Judica from the first word of the Introit, is also called Passion Sunday, because from this day the Church occupies herself exclusively with the contemplation of the passion and death of Christ. The pictures of Christ crucified are covered today in memory of his having hidden Himself from the Jews until His entrance into Jerusalem, no longer showing Himself in public. (John XI. 54.) In the Mass the Glory be to the Father, etc. is omitted, because in the person of Christ the Holy Trinity was dishonored. The psalm Judica is not said today, because on this day the high priests held council about our Lord, for which reason the Church in the name of the suffering Saviour uses these words at the Introit.

Why did Christ ask the Jews, which of them should convince Him of sin?

To show us that he who would teach and punish others, should strive to be irreproachable himself; and to prove that He, being free from sin, was more than mere man, and therefore, the Messiah, the Son of God, as He repeatedly told the Jews, especially in this day's gospel, and substantiated by His great and numerous miracles.

Why did He say: He that is of God, heareth the words of God?

To prove that the Jews on account of their stubbornness and unbelief were not the children of God, but of the devil. "Therefore," St. Gregory says, "let every one when he hears the word of God, ask himself, of whom he is. Eternal truth demands that we be desirous of the heavenly fatherland, that we tame the desires of the flesh, be indifferent to the praises of the world, covet not our neighbor's goods, and give alms according to our means. Therefore examine yourself, and if you find in your heart this voice of God, then you will know that you are of God."

CONSOLATION UNDER CALUMNY

When Christ told the Jews the truth, He received insults and calumny; they called Him a Samaritan, that is, an unbeliever, a heretic, one possessed of a devil. This was a terrible slander, and it must have pained Him exceedingly, but at the same time it is a great consolation to those who are innocently calumniated, when they consider that Christ Himself received nothing better. St. Augustine consoles such by saying: "O friend, what is there that can happen to you that your Saviour did not suffer before you? Is it slander? He heard it, when He was called a glutton, a drunkard, a heretic, and a rebel, a companion of sinners, one possessed of a devil; He even heard, when casting out devils, that He did so by Beelzebub, prince of devils." (Matt. IX. 34.) He therefore comforts His apostles, saying, If they have called the good man of the house Beelzebub, how much more them of his household? (Matt, X. 25.) Are the pains bitter? There is no pain so bitter that He has not endured it; for what is. more painful, and at the same time more ignominious, than the death of the cross? For think, says St. Paul, diligently upon him who endured such opposition from sinners against himself: that you be not wearied (by all contempt and calumny), fainting in your minds. (Heb. XII. 3.)

How and why did Christ defend Himself against those who slandered Hate?

Only by denying with the greatest modesty the things with which they reproached Him, saying that He had not a devil, that He was not a Samaritan, because He honored His Father not in their manner, but in His own. In repelling this calumny while He left the rest unanswered, Christ removed all doubt in regard to His divine mission, thus vindicating the honor of God, and securing the salvation of man. Christ thus teaches us by His own conduct to defend ourselves only against those detractions and insults which endanger the honor of God and the salvation of man, and then to defend ourselves with all modesty; by no means however to do it, if they injure only our own good name, for we should leave the restoration of that to God, as exemplified by Christ, who knows better than we how to preserve and restore it.

How had Abraham seen Christ's day?

In spirit, that is, by. divine revelation he foresaw the coming of Christ and rejoiced; also, he heard, by revelation from God, with the other just in Limbo, that Christ's coming had taken place, and derived the greatest comfort from it.

Learn more here: Veiling of Sacred Images in Passiontide

Why did Christ conceal Himself from the Jews, instead of taking vengeance?

Because the time of His death had not come; because He would show His meekness and patience and teach us that we should avoid our enemies rather than resist them or take vengeance on them; Christ wished to instruct us to avoid passionate and quarrelsome people, for it is an honor for a man, to separate from quarrels: but all fools are meddling with reproaches. (Prov. XX. 3.)

PETITION  When Thine enemies calumniated Thee, most meek Jesus, Thou didst answer them with tender words, and when they were about to stone Thee, Thou didst depart from them, whilst we can scarcely bear a hard word, and far from yielding to our neighbor, defend and avenge ourselves most passionately. Ah! pardon us our impatience, and grant us the grace to bear patiently the wrongs done us, and when necessary, answer with gentleness for Thy glory and the salvation of our neighbor.

Source: "The Church's Year" by Fr Leonard Goffine (19th Century)

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Noah Movie: Masterwork of Global Indoctrination

The following is a guest article.  The Noah movie was directed by an atheist who has produced the least Biblically accurate movie ever put on the big screen.

Darren Aronofsy's "Noah" is a masterwork of demonic deception wherein the meek and just Noah is portrayed as a radical, foul-mouth barbarian who spearheads the cause of Antichrist. In a word, the point of the movie is to say that the world in Noah's time was punished because man didn't bow to the environment as a globalist pagan. There is absolutely no reference made whatsoever to sin or the fact that man offended God, but rather that man didn't bow to the planetary idol and its prince, Lucifer. Noah's sons in the movie are not even portrayed as having wives as they are in the Bible, which shouldn't seem queer. This too is part of global agenda. The author truly shows ignorance, since man's idolatrous union with the flesh and the planet was the reason God destroyed the world in Noah's time, just as He will unleash His wrath soon upon humanity for this same reason. Ignorant man refuses to learn from his past.

What is interesting is that during the initial showing of the movie in Los Angeles on March 28, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck the area and sent Apocalyptic chills down movie goers spines. But what is even more interesting is that the quake hit right during the climactic scene in the movie which depicts the end of the world. Was God trying to tell the people something? Can viewers not open their eyes and see that using the name of God and His servants to advance global agenda is blasphemy of the most depraved order?

Yea, the people better take cover because the end is coming quickly. Not the end of the world, but the end of time as we know it (Mt. 24:21). God will spare the just as in Noah's time, but the wicked will be destroyed because of their ingratitude manifested by their having "worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." (Romans: 1:25)

Article by David Martin

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