Friday, June 24, 2011
First Priestly Blessings: 2011

We need them in life's early morning,
We need them again at its close;
We feel their warm clasp of true friendship,
We seek it while tasting life's woes.

When we come to this world we are sinful,
The greatest as well as the least.
And the hands that make us pure as angels
Are the beautiful hands of a priest.



At the altar each day we behold them,
And the hands of a king on his throne
Are not equal to them in their greatness
Their dignity stands alone.

For there in the stillness of morning
Ere the sun has emerged from the east,
There God rests between the pure fingers
Of the beautiful hands of a priest.



When we are tempted and wander
To pathways of shame and sin
'Tis the hand of a priest that absolve us.
Not once but again and again.

And when we are taking life's partner
Other hands may prepare us a feast
But the hands that will bless and unite us,
Are the beautiful hands of a priest.


God bless them and keep them all holy,
For the Host which their fingers caress,
What can a poor sinner do better
Than to ask Him who chose them to bless

When the death dews on our lids are falling,
May our courage and strength be increased
By seeing raised o'er us in blessing
The beautiful hands of a priest.

Source: SSPX.ORG
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Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Corpus Christi & Vigil of Natvity of St. John the Baptist

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you; he who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."-- John 6:53, 54

Today the Holy Church celebrates the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, a First Class Feast.  Today is also coincidentally the Vigil of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist.  While we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi, the Vigil of the Nativity of St. John will be commemorated in the prayers of the day.

Today's feast has 3 purposes:

1) To honor Our Lord, who is truly present in the Holy Eucharist
2) To instruct others on the faith, mystery, and devotion concerning the Holy Eucharist
3) To show our appreciation for the great gift of the Holy Eucharist

Posts Recommended for Corpus Christi:
Posts Recommended for the Vigil of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist
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    Without a Priest, There is No Sacrifice


    "The human race has always felt the need of a priesthood: of men, that is, who have the official charge to be mediators between God and humanity, men who should consecrate themselves entirely to this mediation, as to the very purpose of their lives, men set aside to offer to God public prayers and sacrifices in the name of human society. For human society as such is bound to offer to God public and social worship. It is bound to acknowledge in Him its Supreme Lord and first beginning, and to strive toward Him as to its last end, to give Him thanks and offer Him propitiation. In fact, priests are to be found among all peoples whose customs are known, except those compelled by violence to act against the most sacred laws of human nature. They may, indeed, be in the service of false divinities; but wherever religion is professed, wherever altars are built, there also is a priesthood surrounded by particular marks of honor and veneration"  Source: Pope Pius XI, Ad Catholici Sacerdotii.

    "Nothing is so deeply inscribed in human nature as religion and its essential act, sacrifice.  Now to accomplish a sacred act, "sacrum facere," there must be consecrated, designated persons capable of drawing near to God and of serving Him.  This person will be the priest, sacerdos, "giving the sacred."  We see how God in His infinite goodness and mercy has arranged everything so that worship worthy of Himself may be offered by men who had strayed far from Him" Source: The Mass of All Time by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
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