Vigil of the Immaculate Conception

 The Immaculate Conception by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Besides being the feastday of St. Ambrose, today is the Vigil of the Immaculate Conception.  And, consequently, today is traditionally a day of fasting and partial abstinence from meat.

For today, we as traditional Catholics are called upon to fast and to refrain from eating any flesh meat, except with the one principal meal allowed on a day of fasting.  Meat is considered to be the flesh and organs of mammals and fowl. Also forbidden are soups or gravies made from them. Salt and freshwater species of fish, amphibians, reptiles and shellfish are permitted.  On this day one, normal-sized meal and two smaller meals that do not equal the normal meal are allowed. Eating between meals, however, is prohibited although fruit juices and milk are allowed. The two smaller meals can not contain flesh meat.

The Immaculate Conception is a dogma of the faith stating that Mary was conceived sinless in the womb of her mother, St. Anne. The Blessed Virgin Mary remained without sin throughout her entire life. Remember, Mary is not just an average woman but the Mother of God; she is extraordinary (Luke 1:42). She is, by no means, divine in anyway, but she certainly is the greatest of all saints. She is the perfect model of charity. Let us try and imitate Mary by wearing her Brown Scapular and praying the Rosary. To imitate Mary, is to grow closer to Jesus Christ, Our Savior.

Ad Diem Illum Laetissimum:

An interval of a few months will again bring round that most happy day on which, fifty years ago, Our Predecessor Pius IX., Pontiff of holy memory, surrounded by a noble crown of Cardinals and Bishops, pronounced and promulgated with the authority of the infallible magisterium as a truth revealed by God that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary in the first instant of her conception was free from all stain of original sin. All the world knows the feelings with which the faithful of all the nations of the earth received this proclamation and the manifestations of public satisfaction and joy which greeted it, for truly there has not been in the memory of man any more universal or more harmonious expression of sentiment shown towards the august Mother of God or the Vicar of Jesus Christ.
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE ST. PIUS X ON THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, FEBRUARY 2, 1904

Mary, Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

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Bishop Williamson on Liberalism as a Disease

His Excellency Bishop Williamson again writes a powerful & bluntly truthful article on the evils of liberalism in our modern world, highlighting the contradictions rampant in it. No further commentary is needed for this excellent column.

ACCURSED LIBERALS

Liberalism is a frightful disease, consigning to eternal Hell millions upon millions of souls. It “liberates” the mind from objective truth and the heart (will and affections) from objective good. The subject reigns supreme. It is man in the place of God, with man allowing to God only as much importance as man chooses to allow him, and that is normally not much. Almighty God is put on a leash, so to speak, like an obedient little puppy dog ! In fact the “God” of the liberals is a mockery of the true God. But “God is not mocked” (Gal.VI, 7). Liberals are punished in this life by becoming false crusaders, true tyrants, and effeminate men.

A classic example of the false crusader is provided by the revolutionary priests in Latin America, according to Archbishop Lefebvre. He used to say that priests losing the Faith under the influence of the modernizing movement in the Church made the most terrible of revolutionaries, because to the false crusade of Communism they would bring all the force of the true crusade for the salvation of souls, for which they had been trained, but which they no longer believed in.

The true crusade being for God, for Jesus Christ, for eternal salvation, then when it is no longer believed in, it leaves a correspondingly huge gap in people’s lives, which they attempt to fill by crusading for anything and everything : for a ban on tobacco (but freedom for marihuana and heroin); for a ban on capital punishment (but freedom to execute efficacious right-wingers); for a ban on tyrants (but freedom to bomb any country into “democracy”); for the sacredness of man ( but freedom to abort the human baby in the womb) – the list can go on and on. The contradictions just highlighted are perfectly consistent in the liberals’ crusade for a total new world order to replace the Christian world order. They pretend they are not fighting Christ, but the pretence is wearing thin.

Liberals also become, logically, true tyrants. Since they have “liberated” themselves from any God or Truth or Law above them, then there remains only the authority of their own minds and wills to impose on their fellow human beings whatever it may be. For example, having lost all sense of any Tradition limiting his authority, Paul VI forced upon the Catholic Church in 1969 his New Order of Mass, to fit the New World Order, regardless of the fact that only two years before a significant number of bishops had rejected a substantially similar experimental rite of Mass. What did he care for the opinions of anyone beneath him, unless they were liberals like himself ? They did not know what was good for them. He did.

Logically again, liberals become effeminate, because they cannot help taking everything personally. Yet any sane opposition to their authoritarianism is based on that Truth or Law above all human beings which the liberals are flouting. That is how Archbishop Lefebvre resisted the liberalism of Paul VI, but Paul VI could only think that the Archbishop wanted to take his place as Pope. He was incapable of understanding that there was a far higher Authority than his own, on which the Archbishop in all tranquillity was leaning. Who needs to worry that the Lord God will ever fail ?

Sacred Heart of Jesus, grant us to deserve the good leaders who can come only from you

Kyrie eleison.

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The Soul of Orthodox Chant: CD Review

I was recently given the opportunity to review "The Soul of Orthodox Chant". The CD features the recordings of some beautiful Orthodox chants.  If you are like many Roman Catholics and are not familiar with the music of the Eastern Rite Churches, you simply must begin to listen to these musical and spiritual gems.

The CD features 15 beautiful chants appropriate for this season of Advent. I highly recommend this CD to all Catholics.  You may listen to samples of the chants by clicking here.

Divna: The Soul of Orthodox Chant

The latest recording by Divna and the Melodi Choir is a selection of hymns from the festal cycle of the Nativity. This recording has the pure and intimate feeling of a small choir and is a perfect fit for Christmas. In addition to the festal hymns, the album features two carols. Divna is recognized as one of the finest female chanters alive, and one who has worked diligently to help the world rediscover the beauty of Orthodox chant.

Tracklisting
1.    Kontakion on the Nativity of Christ
2.    Sticheron
3.    God is With Us
4.    O Yulelog, O, Yulelog!
5.    Prokimenon
6.    Photagogikon
7.    Polyeleos
8.    Kontakion
9.    Prokimenon for the Epistle
10.    At the Little Entrance
11.    Troparion
12.    Kontakion
13.    Communion Hymn
14.    Sessional Hymn
15.    All ye Nations clap your hands!

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