Cherish the Word

Kissing the Face of God - Morgan Weistling

February 23rd 2008

The world is on fire. It is a raging, deafening roar of flame. The noise is designed to drown out the Word of God. The noise of the world created by man and the prince of this world, can never contain the authentic Truth. Only lies from the master of lies. As well as deafening, the raging noise is here to destroy. When the noise becomes normal, you fail to hear it, though it becomes your consolation and this is the driving force behind many aspects of technology. This is its purpose. To deafen you to God's Word, and to encourage you away from it. The benefits of technology to mankind are peripheral, an allowed side effect, a deception far outweighed by the damage caused to the human soul. We have not yet cured cancer, or famine, AIDS or even Leprosy and TB, and yet we have in every home access to unrestrained licence, amorality, distraction in all its guises, and forms of entertainment which wholly trivialise, undermine and humiliate the human person. Seek silence, purity, freedom from distraction and fascination. Switch off your tv, your laptop, your stereo. The only truth, consolation, freedom and genuine science of reality is to be found in Prayer and Scripture, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in abandonment to Divine Providence. Gently, and with your whole heart, close out the hideous roar from the world and its prince whose only fruits are lies and darkness.

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The Path

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary

October 7th 2007

I have found over the last year or so that Our Lord chastises those He loves. The chastisement serves to steer us back into communion and relationship with Him. When you are on the right 'path' and are following your destiny, so to speak, there are always signs which affirm you are taking the correct course of action. On the wrong path there is only silence and disaster and it is by this disaster that Our Lord gently steers us back to Himself. Prayer, especially before the Most Blessed Sacrament is essential to keeping us on the correct path. It is the gentle, beautiful guiding light, the invisible tether to God without which we cannot steer. We are made for prayer and adoration. Our whole being is designed by God to recieve the Word. To follow the path He has laid for us we need prayer, trust, obedience, simplicity and purity. To have nothing in your heart which prevents the flow of His grace. Then you begin to see, dimly at first, but eventually by a different light entirely and you realise that before there was only darkness.

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The Agony in the Garden

Apologies for the long break in updates to All Saints. Due to work and domestic committments, I have had very little time to spend on the things that really matter. I am hoping that from now on I will be able to regularly update the blog. Thankyou for your support.

Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday 2007

The Palm Sunday Mass at my local parish church was well attended today. In fact I had to kneel in the aisle at one point because of this. This is encouraging as often during the year the church is only half full, though it is not terribly attended as a rule. Small crosses made from palm leaves were handed out as we attended. One noteable thing was that we stood for the entire reading of the Passion of Our Lord, with responses for the congregation. This made the Mass seem more special (if that is possible), and I don't remember this from last year (when I was Catholic 'waiting to be' as it were, having been recieved into the Church at Easter Vigil 2006). I am looking forward to Easter Week this year, though I am slightly worried that, being the only Church goer in my household, I may have a job juggling domestic matters and my attendance at the Easter Triduum. I am determined to make each of the three special Masses this week; Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Vigil. Hopefully by God's good Grace I will attend all three Masses followed by Easter Sunday. I have also resolved to read through the Gospels this week, and the rest of the New Testament including the Letters and Acts etc. I did this last year (actually in the week following Holy Week as we were presented with copies of the New Testament as new memebers of the Church for Easter Vigil). I remember that last year, when I read through the New Testament from start to finish I found it extremely powerful. There is no way to explain the power and weight of these books, by any standards, without recourse to the Supernatural Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

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Occlusion

Adam and Eve

Written on the 1st Day of the 32nd Week of Ordinary Time - 2006 AD - (Year B)

God's grace is the method by which we can be saved in our temporal life on earth. Sin occludes us from grace, like the Moon sometimes eclipses the Sun. And when we are cut off from the warmth and life giving radiance of grace we wilt and die. When you are in the depths of winter, you can barely imagine the heat and warmth and light of the sun. So you huddle before an artificial source of warmth, some object, another person, a created thing. It is only when the season changes, your world thaws and the glorious Sun rises again that you remember the joy of warmth and wonder how you ever lived without it. This is freedom. Freedom from sin. Sin and occlusion from grace forces you into the world, it forces you to look for gratification in created things, becoming the serpent that feeds on itself with a hunger that cannot be satisfied, swallowing its own tail. When you pray you begin to open the door to grace, or you start to pull back the curtain, bit by bit, until the light floods in and burns away the darkness. In avoiding sin you truly begin to see the world with new eyes. I remember thinking recently, that I hadn't seen something in a certain way since I was a child. A street with winter trees moving in the wind, a rusty iron railing. It just was what it was, truly beautiful, looking at it through the eyes of a child, God's miraculous world. Being free from sin is the truest temporal Freedom which Christ grants us in the world. The less we sin the more we acknowledge the sins of our past and wish to confess and become free of them also. God shows us all this in His endless Love and kindness, our lives in His grace foreshadowing what we must finally become.

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Communication

Crucifix - Michelangelo

Posted on the 7th Day of the 31st Week of Ordinary Time - 2006 AD - (Year B)

The Crucifix as the symbol of our Faith is unlike any other religious symbol. In fact it is not a symbol but the demonstration of the core belief of our Faith. It is at once shocking and beautiful, like the Truth at the heart of the one true Faith. Naked humanity was lifted up from the earth and nailed to a Cross. The central and essential Sacrifice of our Catholic Faith. Hanging and suffering with humanity, Divinity, God Himself. No crescent moon, no six pointed star, or complex imagary charged with 'meaning' has this power of directness. No explanation necessary. Here is God in the form of Jesus Christ. Here is the Sacrifice that Redeems humanity. It is not a symbol but a snapshot. The moment of our salvation frozen in time so that we may never forget. It is also a unity. Man and God and Cross. Taking any of these elements away takes away that redeeming moment. It shows us all our final end. That all of us in the end will be removed from the earth and nailed to the Cross of our suffering until we die.

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Latin Extraction

A Mass being offered for the souls in purgatory

Posted on the 6th Day of the 31st Week of Ordinary Time - 2006 AD - (Year B)

P: Lavabo inter innocentes I will wash my hands among
manus meas: et circumdabo the innocent, and will
altare tuum Domine. Ut audiam compass Thine altar, O Lord.
vocem laudis: et enarrem That I may hear the voice of
universa mirabilia tua. praise, and tell of all Thy
Domine dilexi decorem domus wondrous works. I have loved,
tuae, et locum habitationis O Lord, the beauty of Thy
gloriae tuae. Ne perdas cum house, and the place where
impiis Deus animam meam: et Thy glory dwelleth. Take not
cum viris sanguinum vitam away my soul, O God, with
meam. In quorum manibus the wicked; nor my life with
iniquitates sunt: dextera men of blood. In whose hands
eorum repleta est muneribus. are iniquities: their right
Ego autem in innocentia mea hand is filled with gifts.
ingressus sum: redime me, et But as for me, I have walked
miserere mei. Pes meus stetit in my innocence; redeem me,
in directo: in ecclesiis and have mercy on me. My foot
benedicam te Domine. Gloria, hath stood in the right way;

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost. As it
was in the beginning, is now,
and ever shall be; world
without end. Amen.

Suscipe sancta Trinitas P: Recieve, O holy Trinity,
hanc oblationem, quam tibi this oblation offered up by us
offerimus ob memoriam to Thee in memory of the
passionis resurrectionis et passion, resurrection, and
ascensionis Jesu Christi ascension of Our Lord Jesus
Domini nostri: et in honorem Christ, and in honor of
beatae Mariae semper virginis, blessed Mary, ever a virgin,
et beati Joannis Baptistae, of blessed John the Baptist,
et sanctorum Apostolorum Petri of the holy apostles Peter and
et Pauli, et istorum, et Paul, of these, and of all
omnium Sanctorum: ut illis the saints, that it may be
proficiat ad honorem, nobis available to their honor and
autem ad salutem: et illi pro to our salvation; and may
nobis intercedere dignentur in they whose memory we celebrate
coelis, quorum memoriam on earth vouchsafe to
agimus in terris. Per eumdem intercede for us in heaven.
Christum Dominum nostrum. Through the same Christ our
Amen. Lord. Amen.

THE ORATE FRATRES
Orate, fratres, ut meum P: Brethren, pray that my
ac vestrum sacrificium sacrifice and yours may be
acceptabile fiat apud Deum well pleasing to God the
Patrem omnipotentem. Father almighty.
Suscipiat Dominus S: May the Lord receive this
sacrificium de manibus tuis ad sacrifice at thy hands, to
laudem et gloriam nominis sui, the praise and glory of His
ad utilitatem quoque nostram, name, to our own benefit, and
totiusque Ecclesiae suae to that of all His Holy
sanctae. Church.

THE SECRET PRAYER

Per omnia saecula P: World without end.
saeculorum.
Amen. S: Amen.
Dominus vobiscum. P: The Lord be with you.
S: Et cum spiritu tuo. S: And with thy spirit.
P: Sursum corda. P: Lift up your hearts.
S: Habemus ad Dominum. S: We have them lifted up unto
P: Gratias agamus Domino Deo the Lord.
nostro. P: Let us give thanks to the
S: Dignum et justum est. Lord our God.
S: It is meet and just.


P: Vere dignum et justum est, P: It is truly meet and just,
aequum et salutare, nos tibi right and profitable, for us,
semper, et ubique gratias at all times, and in all
agere: Domine sancte, Pater places, to give thanks to
omnipotens, aeterne Deus. Thee, O Lord, the holy One,
Qui cum unigenito Filio tuo, the Father almighty, the
et Spiritu Sancto, unus es everlasting God: Who,
Deus, unus es Dominus: non together with Thine
in unius singularitate only-begotten Son and the Holy
personae, sed in unius Ghost, art one God, one
Trinitate substantiae. Quod Lord, not in the singleness of
enim de tua gloria, revelante one Person, but in the
te, credimus, hoc de Filio Trinity of one substance. For
tuo, hoc de Spritu sancto, that which, according to Thy
sine differentia discretionis revelation, we believe of Thy
sentimus. Ut in confessione glory, the same we believe of
verae, sempiternaeque Thy Son, the same of the Holy
Deitatis, et in personis Ghost, without difference or
proprietas, et in essentia distinction; so that in the
unitas, et in majestate confession of one true and
adoretur aequalitas. Quam eternal Godhead we adore
laudant Angeli, atque distinctness in persons,
Archangeli, Cherubim quoque oneness in essence, and
ac Seraphim: qui non cessant equality in majesty: Which
clamare quotidie, una voce the angels praise, and the
dicentes: archangels, the cherubim also
and the seraphim, who cease
not, day by day crying out
with one voice to repeat:

THE SANCTUS
Sanctus, Sanctus, P: Holy, holy, holy, Lord
Sanctus, Dominus Deus God of hosts. The heavens and
Sabaoth. Pleni sunt coeli et the earth are full of Thy
terra gloria tua. Hosanna in glory. Hosanna in the highest.
excelsis. Benedictus qui Blessed is He Who cometh in
venit in nomine Domini. the name of the Lord. Hosanna
Hosanna in excelsis. in the highest

========================================

P: Corpus Domini nostri Jesu P: May the Body of Our Lord
Christi custodiat animam meam Jesus Christ keep my soul unto
in vitam aeternam. Amen. life everlasting. Amen.

P: Quid retribuam Domino pro P: What shall I render unto
omnibus quae retribuit mihi? the Lord for all the things
Calicem salutaris accipiam, that He hath rendered unto me?
et nomen Domini invocabo I will take the chalice of
Dominum, et ab inimicis meis salvation and will call upon
salvus ero. the name of the Lord. With
high praises will I call upon
the Lord, and I shall be
saved from all mine enemies.

P: Sanguis Domini nostri Jesu P: May the Blood of Our Lord
Christi custodiat animam meam Jesus Christ keep my soul unto
in vitam aeternam. Amen. life everlasting. Amen.

P: Ecce Agnus Dei, ecce Qui P: Behold the Lamb of God,
tollit peccata mundi. behold Him who taketh away the
sins of the world.


P: Domine, non sum dignus, P: Lord, I am not worthy
ut intres sub tectum meum: that Thou shouldst enter under
sed tantum dic verbo, et my roof; but only say the
sanabitur anima mea. (Three word, and my soul shall be
times) healed. (three times)


COMMUNION OF THE FAITHFUL

P: Corpus Domini nostri Jesu P: May the Body of Our Lord
Christi custodiat animam tuam Jesus Christ keep your soul
in vitam aeternam. Amen. unto life everlasting. Amen.

P: Quod ore sumpsimus Domine, P: Into a pure heart, O
pura mente capiamus: et de Lord, may we receive the
munere temporali fiat nobis heavenly food which has passed
remedium sempiternum. our lips; bestowed upon us in
time, may it be the healing
of our souls for eternity.

P: Corpus tuum, Domine, P: May Thy Body, O Lord,
quod sumpsi, et Sanguis, which I have received, and
quem potavi, adhaereat Thy Blood which I have drunk
visceribus meis: et praesta, cleave to mine inmost parts:
ut in me non remaneat scelerum and do Thou grant that no
macula, quem pura et sancta stain of sin remain in me,
refecerunt sacramenta. Qui whom pure and holy mysteries
vivis et regnas in saecula have refreshed: Who livest and
saeculorum. Amen. reignest world without end.

Amen.

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Certainty

Immaculate Heart of Mary

Posted on the 5th Day of the 31st Week of Ordinary Time - 2006 AD - (Year B)

I am beyond any doubt, certain of the truths of our Faith. I cannot explain where this certainty comes from, and I have never felt such certainty over anything really before, including much of what is before my own eyes here on earth. This kind of certainty is called Faith I think. It is a powerful and beautiful gift. I know that it comes from outside of me, via Gods grace, because no thought process, or logical reasoning has lead me to this certainty. I Believe. A strange thing happened about mid way through my conversion, during the time I had decided to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church, and emabarked on the RCIA programme, before I was formally recieved into the church at Easter Vigil 2006. I awoke, in the early hours of a winter morning, saying over and over to myself, 'I Believe. I have Faith. I have no doubt at all. This is the Truth!' It was a strange and powerful and beautiful thing. It was the very moment, I guess, that I became Catholic. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I am not in the habit of waking up in the small hours with 'eureka' moments. I don't even have dreams I can remember. This was strong and powerful, unequivocal and supernatural. God gave me Faith that morning. The Faith that both literally and figuratively, woke me from my sleep.

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Mystery

Christ with the Doubting Thomas - Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

Posted on the 4th Day of the 31st Week of Ordinary Time - 2006 AD - (Year B)

I was a late convert to Catholicism. Ironically though, I feel I have been a Catholic all of my life, in everything but name. The Catholic Church has called to me for as long as I can remember. In subtle ways She has always been there, gently insisting, through all of my doubting, my not knowing, my mistaken beliefs and non beliefs, She was there, our Blessed Mother, calling for the wayward sheep, calling me back home, into the fold where the Good Shepherd awaits. When I look back on my doubt, it seems shallow and thin. A hollow thing. I was interested in what science had to say about the universe, and still am to some extent. There is a lot of breadth to lose oneself in in science, in the minutae of astronomy for example, the intricate theories and structures of the quantumn world. In as sense it was doubt which brought me to Faith. Doubt that I could really ever know anything for sure. This seems to laughable to me now, knowing what I now know. The certainties that are more real than real to me now because of my Faith. Science was the closest thing to my religion back then. What this mode of thought leaves you with is a searching mind and a desire for truth. Primed for revelation. The more uncertainties there are, the greater the desire for certainty becomes. And she was there, Our Lady, insisting that I look. And when it happened, when the conversion came, it was like someone reaching out, grabbing hold of me. Another person, not an idea or theory, or belief. Converting wasn't something I 'did', it was 'done' to me. A real tangible person came into my life, throwing me the lifeline of the seed of Faith. And that seed of Faith set fire to my soul and my life changed forever. You cannot arrive here through reason, thought, human effort. It is an inexplicable mystery and because of our nature as created things, a mystery it must always remain. Revel in the Mystery. In the Real Presence of Our Lord on earth, in the tangible presence of the Blessed Virgin Mary in your life.

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