A Hero Pope

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=825

I suggest we all pray to St. Anastasius I, whose feast day is today. He was the pope in troubled times, when various groups ripped apart the various dioceses of the Church.

He was a champion against Origen and Donatism.

The errors of Origen and those of Donatism plagued us still.

   St. Anastasius I, pray for us, and for the Church.

We have gone mad!

North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem filed a legal opinion last week confirming that the state does not recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages, allowing a man married to another man to come to North Dakota and marry a woman without divorcing his husband.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/12/16/North-Dakota-Allows-Man-In-Same-Sex-Marriage-To-Also-Marry-Woman

Downsizing Two: Advent Thoughts on Death Again

The problem for most of us is that we identify with our things, especially in America.

It is part of the American Dream to have a house, a car, a chicken in the pot.

But, the Christ, Our Lord Jesus, calls us to the interior life over and over.

Why? Because if there is goodness and life in the soul, the body will follow in goodness and life.

Simple.

We identify too often with what we do, as well.

For example, when I can, I paint. I paint using acrylics, water color, and oils.

I could say I am an amateur painter.

But, that is not who I am.

I write. I have been writing all my life, since I could hold a pen or pencil.

I have tons of manuscripts.

But, I am more than a writer. And those "things", the poems, the short stories, the fairy tales, do not determine who I am.

If I hang on to things, it is because I have forgotten who I really am. I am a daughter of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

He has everything. I need, I mean, need, nothing but Him. Like the bride who only has eyes for Christ, so, too, the lover of Christ only has eyes for Him. He determines my needs and wants.

to be continued....

Think about this....

If you added up the time spent--the minutes and hours in cars or trains or buses going to shops to buy Christmas things, if you added to that all the time in queues, shopping, returning, and added to that the time decorating inside and out, and added the time making too many cookies, cakes and candy,  and compared that time with the time you spent in prayer this Advent, what would you be thinking about your spiritual life?

We waste so much time on the exterior-and not enough on the interior.

One Reason to Read The Lives of The Saints

http://www.medicaldaily.com/psychologists-discover-how-people-subconsciously-become-their-favorite-fictional-characters-240435

An older study has shown how we become characters we read about in novels, especially our favorites. So, do I act like Little Dorrit, Ann Elliot, Elinor Dashwood, or Fanny Price?

Perhaps we gravitate towards favoring characters who are like us?

This study and common sense tell us why it is important for your children to read the classics with heroes, like Kidnapped or The Far Side of the Word. and the lives of the saints.

Read the lives of the saints and let your children read them over and over and over.

Role model is learned by watching and by reading.

When my son was little, we had the Mary Windeatt series. Here is an old list I found. We passed these on to other home schooling families, but I hope you can find these.

35 St. Paul the Apostle (Jerusalem, ancient Greece and Rome)
45 Love as Strong As Death
255 St. Tarcisius (Pauline Press) Ancient Rome
300 St. Agnes (Pauline Press) Italy
300 St. Pancratius (Pauline Press) Asia Minor
300 Saints of the Byzantine World
385 The Wind at My Back Ireland
500 St. Benedict Italy
1090 Bells of Conquest France
1170 Saint Dominic Spain
1180 Francis and Clare Italy
1190 St. Dominic Italy
1220 Patron St. of First Communicants
1220 St. Hyacinth of Poland Poland
1225 Pillar in the Twilight Italy
1225 The Dumb Ox - St. Thomas Aquinas Italy
1350 St. Catherine of Siena Italy
1425 Wind and Shadows France
1440 Saint Joan France
1460 The Conscience Game England
1500 The Friar and the Knight Spain
1510 Leaving Matters to God Spain
1510 No Place for Defeat Italy
1520 Flame in the Night
1530 The Cross in the West US
1540 Bernadette and the Lady France
1550 A Gamble for God
1550 Saint Philip Italy
1560 Edmund Campion England
1565 St. Francis Solano Peru
1580 St. Martin De Porres Peru
1580 The King's Reward France
1580 The Cheerful Warrior France
1590 St. Rose of Lima Peru
1590 St. John Masias Peru
1600 Saint Issac and the Indians US
1630 Blessed Marie of New France Canada
1640 Father Marquette US
1650 Father Kino US
1650 Kateri Tekakwitha US
1660 A Woman Who Loved France
1725 The Ursulines US
1750 St. Louis De Montfort France
1750 The Road to the Kings Mountain US
1750 Wait for Me US
1760 Mother Seton US
1800 African Triumph Africa
1810 Friend to All Bohemia
1815 Pauline Jaricot France
1820 St. John Bosco Italy
1820 The Great Blackrobe US
1830 John Carrol US
1830 Miraculous Medal France
1840 No Greater Love Belgium
1840 Fr. Damien Belgium
1845 Ahead of the Crowd Italy
1845 Ven. Joseph Marello US
1850 Florence Nightingales Nuns England
1850 Rose Hawthorne US
1860 Katharine Drexel US
1860 The Little Flower France
1890 God's Secret Agent Mexico
1900 More Than a Knight Germany
1900 Yes is Forever US
1915 Our Lady Came to Fatima Portugal
1920 My Eskimos Arctic
1958 Pope John XXIII Italy

Now for something completely different Imladris and others in Legos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/88574960@N02/

cool and creative

Prayers

http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-passionate-plea-to-pope-francis-for.html

a thank you...

To those readers who sent me books for Christmas, a thank you. I am reading now, and you all will benefit, as I shall comment and give book reviews, as I have done, on this blog. The Ralph Martin book is absolutely FANTASTIC. Get it.

Secondly, I still need the American Missal, but only A and Cycle II, and a TLM Missal, as I was not allowed to pick these up and the daily and sunday missal I have (in England) is different than here.

As I cannot get to daily Mass, which I have been doing regularly in Europe, and which is a great hardship, it would be great to have the daily missal.

And, as I am going to the TLM on Sunday, and, again, do not have my missal, I would love to have one.

I know these are expensive, but if someone can manage these, I would appreciate it.

And, as I am in public places using the computer, it is hard for me to pray on line or read Scriptures on line.

As long as I am being "piggy", if someone feels they can manage the Baronius Breviary, that would be fantastic. Or, at least one part.

It is hard being separated from Mass and my books, so all things have been greatly appreciated.

Thoughts on The Sorrowful Mother-Part One

We think of the Sorrowful Mother at the foot of the Cross.

I am thinking of her today on a small donkey riding to Bethlehem.

Mary was on the same type of animal her Son would be riding into Jerusalem in 33 years. This ride would start His Passion Week.

Mary's ride on the 93 mile road to Bethlehem from Nazareth, with the Baby in the womb, and with Joseph at her side was a time of suffering.

Mary would have experienced the cold and wet of winter. It may have been raining or sleeting the entire four day journey. The nights would have been very cold and the married couple would have had to wear woolens-maybe socks and underthings-to keep warm. They slept outside next to the donkey.

Joseph must have felt terrible that his beloved wife, so good, so pure, so perfect, had to endure this journey.

It would not be the last journey, either.

As a very pregnant woman, Mary would have experienced discomfort. This is her joining in the suffering of her Son, Jesus. This is her sharing in the salvation of all. This is Mary, Co-Redemptorix and Mediatrix of All Grace, on a donkey, in the cold, going somewhere she did not know to have the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

She had the quiet joy of an expectant mother, but she also had peace and pain at the same time. This is the way of the saints, and she is the greatest one. Mary was pure, so did not need purification, but she shared in her Son's salvific role.

Mary knew Who her Son Is. She knew He Is God. She, the Bride, the Daughter, the Theotokos, knew Who He Is and who she is.

That made the journey all the more painful.

The Sorrowful Mother on the way to Bethlehem....let us ask her intercession today for all our needs.

Our Lady of Sorrow, pray for us.

Thirteen Post Day

...counting this one--it is so cold here, I am writing and reading to avoid going out! Will emerge tomorrow....

Pax vobiscum.

Remembrance Tree in Davernport, Iowa

Thoughts from The CCC

1022 Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven-through a purification or immediately, -- or immediate and everlasting damnation.

At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love.

1034 Jesus often speaks of "Gehenna" of "the unquenchable fire" reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe and be converted, where both soul and body can be lost.⁶¹⁴ Jesus solemnly proclaims that he "will send his angels, and they will gather . . . all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire,"⁶¹⁵ and that he will pronounce the condemnation: "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!"⁶¹⁶

1035 The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, "eternal fire."⁶¹⁷ The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.

Virgo Potens

..pray for us now and at the hour of our death, amen

I am doing a Father Z

I am currently reading:

Will Many Be Saved? By Ralph Martin

The Fulfillment of All Desire, by the same

The Global War on Christians by John L. Allen, Jr.

Faith of the Fatherless, by Paul Vitz

I still need a missal, which is expensive...but...

My birthday is in January, hint, hint....

Americans Gone Wild

The Illinois Lottery is huge and over 600 million people have bought tickets.

For those who are interested, there IS a patron saint of lotteries, lottery tickets and lottery winners.

St. Pantaleon. According to Wiki, from where I got the icon picture and this information through the mediation of an American seminarian....Pantaleon was converted finally after messing about in medicine.

St. Alphonsus Liguori wrote regarding this incident:

He studied medicine with such success, that the Emperor Maximian appointed him his physician. One day as our saint was discoursing with a holy priest named Hermolaus, the latter, after praising the study of medicine, concluded thus: "But, my friend, of what use are all thy acquirements in this art, since thou art ignorant of the science of salvation?

OK, it you buy a ticket, pray to this saint and win something, you can help out me, STM. I only want a few things-but, despite the fact there is a patron saint, I do not advise gambling...God bless all.

Many of these people are Christians who are dying-Persecution Watch

One resident told RT the Islamist rebels massacred residents when they entered Adra Wednesday.

"The situation was terrible -- with killing, atrocities, and fear as the background. Unidentified armed men came into town, but it was obvious that they were Jabhat al-Nusra militants," Muhammad Al-Said told the Russian news channel. "The worst crime they committed was that they toasted people in ovens used to bake bread when those people came to buy it. They kidnapped and beat up many."

The United Nations has estimated more than 100,000 people have died and hundreds of thousands of people have been injured since the Syrian civil war began as peaceful anti-government protests in March 2011.

More than 2.3 million people have fled Syria, and another 4.25 million Syrians have been displaced within their country since the civil war began, an Amnesty International report released Friday indicated

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/12/17/Opposition-says-Syrian-forces-dropped-barrel-bombs-on-Aleppo--kill-83

Praise God, some good news

http://www.lifenews.com/2013/12/17/judge-obamacares-hhs-mandate-forces-catholic-groups-to-violate-their-religion/

If you are still confused on the Common Core....

On the NAPCIS site, there is this and more....http://napcis.org/commoncore/

NAPCIS STATEMENT ON THE COMMON CORE

NAPCIS exists to support schools that have chosen to operate as private entities: with autonomous educational philosophies, standards, pedagogical approaches, and curriculums.  These schools exist as institutions faithful to the Catholic Church and faithful to passing on the Catholic faith to the children entrusted to them.

NAPCIS recommends that Catholic faith-based schools not use the Common Core State Standards as the foundation for their educational efforts. As faith-based schools we have a different mission than public schools. Because a school’s mission drives its standards and these standards drive curriculum, we should not simply use the Common Core Standards as our base and then make some adaptations. The Common Core State Standards are explicitly and only “college and career” focused. In stark contrast, our schools are focused on comprehensive human formation and assisting our students to encounter Christ and to pursue truth, beauty and goodness in all subject areas. In the context of this larger mission our students are also better prepared for college and life beyond. NAPCIS believes that our schools must set their own standards animated by their own unique mission. Complementing this mission, our standards will determine the appropriate instructional strategies, curriculum, and assessment for our students, as well as how our schools are evaluated.

With this said, we acknowledge that there is a substantial amount of acceptable secular material in the Common Core State Standards that Catholic faith-based schools can reference as part of their much broader educational efforts. Careful use of these acceptable parts of the Standards for reference, rather than whole scale replacement of our own standards, is a prudent response to the reality of the Common Core State Standards. However, we recommend caution in interfacing with parts of the Common Core State Standards, as the animating philosophies and pedagogies behind them have not yet been fully vetted by research and may not be appropriate for all subjects and all grades. At this early, untested and controversial point in American public schools’ first attempts at nationalized standards, we believe Catholic faith-based schools should use their own standards to ensure proven academic excellence and fidelity to mission.

Views of Malta

As you all know, I love being in Malta. However, I am not a photographer. Here is a nice set of many photos for those who are interested. Thanks to Mr. Scicluna for posting these.

VisitMalta ‏@VisitMalta6m

Azure Window (0248) by Paul Scicluna - one of the top contributors to our Flickr group Memories of Malta - http://flic.kr/p/i4htZp 

Clarification Needed

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/12/16/Pope-Francis-Same-Sex-Marriage-Opponent-Named-Person-of-the-Year-By-Gay-Rights-Mag

From the CCC:

Chastity and homosexuality
2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,¹⁴¹ tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."¹⁴² They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

And read my posts on the definitions of infallibility.....

Reminder on Contemplative Prayer-A Warning

As I have noted in the long perfection series and on the Doctors of the Church series, there are many levels of prayer in the teaching of the Catholic Church.

When I was in England, I discovered that some nuns were using the word "contemplation" incorrectly.

I have so many posts on prayer and the necessary understandings of the level, that I encourage readers to follow the labels at the side, or tags.

I shall put some links at the bottom, but this post is a warning.

Please take these notes seriously, as so many people fall into false teaching about contemplation and end up out of the Church.

Read, again, this Vatican document on the evils of New Age practices.

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_doc_20030203_new-age_en.html

Warning Points again:

1) One must stay within the orthodoxy of the Church in order to attain holiness. If one is not orthodox, and especially, if one is hetrodox, one has opened one's self up for deception in prayer. The Church and Her Teaching protect us.

2) False, man-made religions cannot teach us anything good about contemplation, but the saints do-see all my posts on John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila and Catherine of Siena, for example.

3) One must be purified in the senses and in the spirit before reaching the state of contemplation. Contemplation, again, is not mediation on the Scriptures or the Life of Christ. See other posts for definitions.

But, if one is not purfied and thinking that "emptiness" is the goal of contemplation, that person may very well be opening the soul and mind to demonic activity. Purification first, contemplation after, in the Illuminative State.

4) Christ is the center and reason for prayer, not us, not our well-being, nor even a sense of peace. Christ is the center of all our activities, including prayer.

I shall write more about this later in the week. Here are a few older links. The first one deals with an aspect of sin and responsibility. I suggest following the Dark Night posts as well.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2012/07/answering-e-mail-query-on-sin-and.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/09/moving-through-six-levels-of-prayer.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/09/clarifications-on-prayer-part-one-first.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/11/repeat-post-on-prayer.html