CCC not me

Why is it that when I quote the CCC and the teachings of the Church clearly that some commentators get angry, with me? Odd.

Financial reading between the lines

I have been reading articles on the end of year financial data in Europe regarding unemployment and inflation, as well as new taxes in such countries as France.

What is interesting is the false cause and effect of so many of these articles.

The call of Mr. Béharel for youth and parents to think of blue collar jobs rather than white collar jobs is a joke when businesses which are blue collar are closing at an alarming rate.
 http://www.france24.com/en/20121227-france-bleak-2013-battle-jobs-unemployment-hollande

The connection between the lack of the youth workforce, owing to years of contraception and abortion, and the aging groups needing socialist care is overlooked entirely. A top heavy population of older persons and the years of selective birthing is never mentioned by these pundits. Bad decisions regarding the radical left's desire for a socialist agenda are never examined. One cannot believe the naivete of the following statement:

France, of course, is not alone in the mire. Latest figures for the eurozone revealed record unemployment levels of 11.7 percent, with a total of 18.7 million out of work.

Although the situaton in France is nowhere near as dire as in Spain, where 26.2 percent of adults are out of work, it has placed the Socialist government under immense pressure after only seven months in office.

The government has not been helped by the fact that companies, including car giant PSA Peugot-Citroen, delayed the announcement of their much-feared redundancy plans until after last spring's elections.

Mass job cuts are expected to continue into 2013.

According to the country’s National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), 75,000 jobs will be lost in the first six months of 2013, half of which will be in industry.

INSEE expects the unemployment rate to reach 10.9 percent by the middle of 2013, the highest rate since 1997.

Socialists desire to control a populace through cradle to grave care based on an economic system of controlling all aspects of production. That the irony of this position escapes journalists makes one wonder whether any major news source in Europe has the guts to question socialism as a system, period. Where are the real examinations of cause and effect occurring in journalism?

Even in Great Britain, a country holding its own outside the eurozone, the concept of capitalism is criticized without thinking---that a free market, with some legal restrictions, can only create wealth is a discussion not seen at all in the press. I guess stealing is in and working is out.

I saw this is Eire recently, when youth and older people told me that working is not worth the effort. One can live comfortably on the dole. The shops in Dublin and other places are full of Poles and others who are willing to work for lower wages rather than not work at all. I got tired of hearing excuses from young people who have enough money on the dole to smoke and go to the pub on a regular basis. Then, the press decries the growth of depression among the youth. Hey, look at the cause and effect, journalists.

Europe has created a monster of a generation of anarchists who expect to be cared for without giving to the societies in which they live.  There is a European Lost Generation, not merely because of high unemployment owing to bad socialist policies for years, high taxes and high inflation, but the irresponsible greed of the early 2000s boom times, when some businesses, such as construction, borrowed money without any long-term plan of paying back loans. Over 700,000 houses need to be sold in Spain alone, and house prices in Eire will plummet this coming year, as thousands of properties remain empty. In the meantime, social programs abound. Common sense is out the window, being pushed out by ideology.

As far as I know, Greece still does not have property taxes for any home owners in the entire country and yet demand that the other EU countries help it out of bankruptcy. 

The entire situation reminds me of parents who complain how badly their children behave without any attempt to discipline them. Cause and effect....

Anarchy is popular because it takes away personal responsibility. That the movement is growing indicates that the narcissism of family planning and the entitlement mentality has created this monster of complete individualistic, non-communal concern.  Cause and effect...no one writes about this. Why?

We Catholics know who the ultimate Anarchist is...he is a person and has a name. He, like his followers, refuses to serve none but himself. He is the enemy of mankind and the cause of chaos.

This cause and effect is never, never approaches in the secular or even religious press. Narcissism is satanic.

Feast of the Holy Innocents

Today is Childermas, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, who among all children, died for the sake of Christ. They have been honoured for centuries as those innocents who died because of Christ. Herod specifically wanted to kill Christ and those children died in place of the Christ Child, who was saved by Joseph's obedience to the angelic dream.

Again, in these sad times, one must make the distinction between victims of abortion and martyrs. On this day of the Holy Innocents, some pro-lifers want to canonize all those babies murdered by abortion.

This cannot be done. Baptism means something. Baptism takes away Original Sin and makes each one who is baptized a child of God.

We are not children of God without baptism. Here is part of the CCC on baptism:

THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY

SECTION TWO
THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

CHAPTER ONE
THE SACRAMENTS OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION

ARTICLE 1
THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM

1213 Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua),⁴ and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission: "Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word."⁵

I. WHAT IS THIS SACRAMENT CALLED?

1214 This sacrament is called Baptism, after the central rite by which it is carried out: to baptize (Greek baptizein) means to "plunge" or "immerse"; the "plunge" into the water symbolizes the catechumen's burial into Christ's death, from which he rises up by resurrection with him, as "a new creature."⁶

1215 This sacrament is also called "the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit," for it signifies and actually brings about the birth of water and the Spirit without which no one "can enter the kingdom of God."⁷

1216 "This bath is called enlightenment, because those who receive this [catechetical] instruction are enlightened in their understanding . . . ."⁸ Having received in Baptism the Word, "the true light that enlightens every man," the person baptized has been "enlightened," he becomes a "son of light," indeed, he becomes "light" himself:⁹

Baptism is God's most beautiful and magnificent gift. . . .We call it gift, grace, anointing, enlightenment, garment of immortality, bath of rebirth, seal, and most precious gift. It is called gift because it is conferred on those who bring nothing of their own;grace since it is given even to the guilty; Baptism because sin is buried in the water; anointing for it is priestly and royal as are those who are anointed; enlightenment because it radiates light; clothing since it veils our shame; bath because it washes; and seal as it is our guard and the sign of God's Lordship.¹⁰

II. BAPTISM IN THE ECONOMY OF SALVATION

Prefigurations of Baptism in the Old Covenant

1217 In the liturgy of the Easter Vigil, during the blessing of the baptismal water, the Church solemnly commemorates the great events in salvation history that already prefigured the mystery of Baptism:

Father, you give us grace through sacramental signs,
which tell us of the wonders of your unseen power.In Baptism we use your gift of water,
which you have made a rich symbol
of the grace you give us in this sacrament.¹¹

1218 Since the beginning of the world, water, so humble and wonderful a creature, has been the source of life and fruitfulness. Sacred Scripture sees it as "overshadowed" by the Spirit of God:¹²

At the very dawn of creation
your Spirit breathed on the waters,
making them the wellspring of all holiness.¹³

1219 The Church has seen in Noah's ark a prefiguring of salvation by Baptism, for by it "a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water":¹⁴

The waters of the great flood
you made a sign of the waters of Baptism,
that make an end of sin and a new beginning of goodness.¹⁵

1220 If water springing up from the earth symbolizes life, the water of the sea is a symbol of death and so can represent the mystery of the cross. By this symbolism Baptism signifies communion with Christ's death.

1221 But above all, the crossing of the Red Sea, literally the liberation of Israel from the slavery of Egypt, announces the liberation wrought by Baptism:

You freed the children of Abraham from the slavery of Pharaoh,
bringing them dry-shod through the waters of the Red Sea,
to be an image of the people set free in Baptism.¹⁶

1222 Finally, Baptism is prefigured in the crossing of the Jordan River by which the People of God received the gift of the land promised to Abraham's descendants, an image of eternal life. The promise of this blessed inheritance is fulfilled in the New Covenant.

A martyr may achieve holiness through baptism of blood and baptism of desire. But, a baby is not capable of making that decision, which is made for him at baptism by his parents and godparents. All of us at this time in history most likely have grandchildren or neices and nephews who are not baptized. This causes great suffering in the families.

VI. THE NECESSITY OF BAPTISM

1257 The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation.⁶⁰ He also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them.⁶¹ Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament.⁶² The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are "reborn of water and the Spirit." God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.

1258 The Church has always held the firm conviction that those who suffer death for the sake of the faith without having received Baptism are baptized by their death for and with Christ. This Baptism of blood, like thedesire for Baptism, brings about the fruits of Baptism without being a sacrament.

1259 For catechumens who die before their Baptism, their explicit desire to receive it, together with repentance for their sins, and charity, assures them the salvation that they were not able to receive through the sacrament.

1260 "Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal mystery."⁶³ Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity.

We can hope, but hope only without knowing.

We cannot contradict the wisdom of the Church to salve our own consciences or limit pain.

One gets sanctifying grace from the sacraments. There is no other way.

1261 As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus' tenderness toward children which caused him to say: "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them,"⁶⁴ allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism. All the more urgent is the Church's call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift of holy Baptism.

The grief and pain of siblings and sons and daughters falling away from the Faith is compounded by the fact that so many of these parents say "Let the children decide when they are older". These parents have forgotten their own great graces of growing up as children of God and living in a state of virtue. 

Now, they deny these benefits to their own children. 

Pray for vocations, please

Colwich Abbey Benedictines

I hope to do a series on art and beauty, which I promised over a week ago, but I am bogged down mentally with the ideas of purification and perfection. I have seven diaries from being in the Monastery, which I cannot get to at this time, as I have been so busy. However, I can hopefully in the New Year get back on track.

Vacations seem to get more complicated and less relaxing. Perhaps it is because of my peripatetic lifestyle. But, writing for me is the product of hours of prayer and reading and I find the interaction with lovely guests is good, but not conducive to reflection.

One of the problems with the monasteries I have visited over the last two years is that the number of nuns is too small to accommodate the number of visitors and retreatants. The Benedictine Rule demands hospitality for anyone who drops in and I think that sometimes some of the laity do not realize that seven nuns, or five active ones and two old ones cannot take care of the needs. Bernard of Clairvaux had seven-hundred monks and lay brothers at the peak of the monastery's history, which allows for a steady stream of visitors.

We need more vocations to the religious life. There are two young ones in the Irish monastery, but they are from Nigeria. The newest one in London is from an African country as well.

Pray for vocations for monks, nuns and sisters.

We shall see monasteries closing in Europe.

On Old Men and Wizards

Some young people are not happy with the old Gandalf, (who will be much older in the next two films), and the old Radagast. This is simply a symptom of the Westerners growing lack of respect for age. In the Eastern cultures, especially pre-Marxism, the ancient ones are revered.  That young viewers want young wizards is odd to me. The Istari are ancient anyway, and so who cares if they look old.  It is a serious lack of sensitivity to want wizards to look 35 or 40 and be super strong. That is not the point of a wizard to be a superhero, but to watch, wait and give advice.

Sigh, old is good.

On those who claim they have no dogmas....

Dogma is actually the only thing that cannot be separated from 

education. It IS education. A teacher who is not dogmatic is simply

 a teacher who is not teaching. There are no uneducated people; 

only most people are educated wrong. The true task of culture

 today is not a task of expansion, but of selection-and rejection.

The educationist must find a creed and teach it.

G. K. Chesterton and there is a link on his name for more good stuff....

Lying about vocations

Why are so many Catholics in the pew lying to themselves about the future of their own parishes and access to the sacraments?

When I hear that in my home diocese in 2015, only 15 priests will be available to minister to 110,000 Catholics or so, I am concerned. When I hear that some dioceses in England and Wales have only two to four seminarians in the process of becoming priests, I am concerned. When I see hundreds of parishes closing in the States and know that such a plan to close parishes is underway in Europe, I am concerned.

Those who suffer most will be the elderly, who now walk to Mass or take a bus, or somehow get to the closest church weekly. Those who have been most faithful will suffer most.

But, here is my dilemma, my question--why are their not vocations coming out of the Traditional Latin Mass congregations? I know of several groups of TLM parishes where perhaps one young man is considering the FSSPs or the Institute of Christ the King. I know of several where there are no young men considering vocations. None. Why do not the TLM young men consider the diocesan priesthood, where the TLM is becoming more accessible and where they will be able to say such a sublime Mass?

Why? Why is it that the TLM is not calling forth the numbers of priests one would expect from such parishes or chaplaincies?

Reader feedback, please.....

Adoration and Holy Communion

Before and after receiving Holy Communion, the laity must be doing only one thing. Adoring Christ.

In the NO, this is almost impossible with the constant movement and lack of respect, as well as banal songs, which mark so many parishes.

I suggest that liturgical leaders recognize that silence or a simple organ instrumental piece allows the faithful to pray and adore God both before and after receiving Our Lord.

The amount of distractions causes many pain. But, the reality is that the angels and saints fall in adoration at the Eucharist.

As to the laity, the position of adoration opens our hearts and minds to God.

If you are in a position in your parish to create an atmosphere of adoration, please help us all in this regard.

The Night Sky in December

Iowa, where my family lives, has had snow. Five inches with ice underneath means that many older people have trouble getting about..



Here, the weather has turned colder and the raindrops are large and cold. The few balmy days around Christmas seem to have turned. But, January is on the way.

If one can be in an area which is clear, a spectacular heavenly event may be seen. Jupiter is next to the Moon in the early hours of the morning providing a great reason to either stay up or get up early.

I mentioned the Summer Circle earlier this year and now I draw your attention to the Winter Circle.

Two nights ago, despite some clouds, I could see the brightest of these stars. I suggest a look. Orion is up and huge, the constellation of Christmas, the Hunter, called Strider, and therefore, as I have noted before here, a reference Tolkien put into his character of Aragorn, one of the three Christ figures in LOTR.

Remember that stars twinkle in the sky and planets do not. The full moon is tomorrow and this is a great time to look at the Winter Circle if you can look south to south west, then west, over the hours of the night.

Check out this site on a regular basis

http://www.persecution.org/2012/12/25/gunmen-kills-at-least-six-christians-at-church-service/

The Hobbit

I saw The Hobbit this evening and I shall not spoil it for anyone, but here are some interesting notes from my point of view. Happily, I got a discount.

First, it is more like Tolkien, in that the pace is slower and more like a book.

Second, the character development is better than in LOTR  most likely because it is a smaller book divided into three movies.

Third, it is violent and children should not see it under 12 or 13.

Four, it is not a chick-flick, but aimed at men, which is also true to Tolkien in some ways, although the book was written for children.

Five, the ads and trailers for other movies are horrendous and inappropriate for kids.

Six, the music and songs are true to the book and add a lot to the story.

Seven, Martin Freeman steals the show, hands down.

Eight, Galadriel is more like the character in the book, simply because the actress is older and was too young for the first three movies, as Galadriel, as we know, is an elf with a past and should act older and wiser.

Nine, the world of Middle Earth seems less mythical and more like a real world, as Tolkien intended.

Ten, the images are scary and again, not for children under 12.

Nostalgia and Music Two

In my thoughts about concerts I had attended in the 1960s and 1970s, I remembered hearing John Denver, going with one of my brothers to a homecoming concert, and mortifying him as everyone thought I was his date. I did not mind, as I was/am eight years older and having fun.

John Denver died in a Rutan Long-EZ experimental plane, which he probably could not handle. He was alone and the accident was horrible. As you all know, the singer was relatively young when the accident happened. "Stay in the state of grace", my Grandma T. use to say. She was right. If he were living, he would be coming up to 69 at the end of December.

Purity of heart and how we see others.

If one does not understand the evil in one's own heart, one cannot pursue perfection.

"Every fairytale needs a good old-fashioned villain. You need me, or you're nothing."

―Moriarty to Sherlock "The Reichenbach Fall".

I mentioned before the Sherlock series. I want to note the last episode of the previous year, as it is a study in evil. This is the episode wherein Moriarty and Sherlock meet "on the falls", in this case on top of a building.

But, the study in evil is what builds up to Moriarty's suicide and Sherlock's apparent demise, which we all know, is orchestrated.

Moriarty begins a campaign very sneakily to undermine Sherlock's reputation as a good person, bringing justice into the world. That the villain succeeds in telling the whole world that Sherlock is a fraud and has set up murders, kidnappings, etc., in order to create a mythology about his prowess is owing to one thing.  The latent evil in others allows them to believe evil of Sherlock. Now, the evils vary, the vices are personal to those who capitulate to Moriarty's Satanic plan.

For one person, it is envy. For another, it is pride. For another, it is hurt and revenge. Dr. Watson is the only one who believes in Sherlock to the end, as he is honest with himself about his own lack of perfection. Only those who are pure in heart can think good of others. This does mean that we do not have discernment. But, it does mean that we judge others according to the evil in our own hearts.

The object of the journey of perfection is purity of heart. If we have discovered God in our own hearts, then we see with the eyes of Christ.

To put on the mind of Christ is our goal. That the evil genius succeeds so easily is why men like Hitler and Stalin succeeded in heinous crimes. Evil cooperates with evil and good cooperates with good.

Urban Foxes, raccoons and other creatures great and small

The London Urban foxes do not look like the smaller country cousin versions. These urban opportunists are as large as a medium sized dog and at this time of year, more grey than red.

I saw one last night here in Bayswater limping with a sore paw. It was at least three feet long not counting the enormous tail. We have taken over the natural habitats of these mammals, just as in America, where the coyotes now come into some cities, as well as wolves, (which I have seen in small towns in Iowa in the winter about 12 years ago).

Men and other animals have had a love-hate relationship for centuries. However, one group is becoming extinct and does not have a replacement rate and it is not the fox family.

I know they like garbage, but I wonder if they eat pigeons?  Like raccoons in the States, these foxes can be dangerous. Animals are wild, as I remind children, not tame. Urban raccoons have lived in my home city since I have been a child. They have horrible claws and can tear up metal siding on houses to create dens in attics. Last summer, my mother was sitting on a garden bench with her neighbour, in the neighbours' back yard when it started raining baby raccoons. The mother was flinging these now weaned ones out of the attic above the ladies, heads and the young ones were flying over their heads, landing on the grass and toddling away. Then came mom....raccoons can weigh up to 40 pounds, and this maternal example was big. This was not the first time the neighbours had raccoons in the attic. Over a four year period, they had replaced aluminium siding, but the animals tore it back to get inside and have babies; and this is a huge old farmhouse.

Animals may sense that as we lose our ability to control out cities, they can reclaim lost territory....

My son was emptying garbage in DeWitt, Iowa years ago and  he was a small eleven year old. He came in and said, "Mum, there are two large, white fluffy dogs over by the dumpster." I knew these were not dogs. The snow had come, was laying about four feet and higher in drifts, and I told him to stay in the house while I went outside. Two beautiful wolves were standing about two feet from the garbage area. I yelled at them and these noble animals back off. Sadly, the pair ended up killed after a huge snowstorm hit the area and semis were in the ditches.. Animals cannot deal with highways or heavy traffic. I saw one dead on the side of the road about a month later and the other shortly  after that.

In the summer of 2010, in northern Missouri, close to the Iowa border, we saw a black bear. That is the furthest south I had ever seen one, or north, if one had seen them in the Ozarks area. The population is growing. I had seen these in northern Wisconsin, up by Rhinelander and near the Wisconsin-Minnesota border. But, to see a fair-sized bear in Missouri, scratching its back on a tree on a small farm by the side of the road was a first for me in that area.

Cougars have been coming into towns and cities in some Canadian and Northwest cities in America, and other cats are making a comeback. Bobcats had seemed to have disappeared since my adolescence in Iowa, but are now seen more commonly in areas where these have not been noticed for years. The movement of animals also has to do with the fact that less people hunt for food and that some animals are protected. Somehow, we need to find the right balance. Bobcats are beautiful animals and solitary. One rarely sees more than two. Can the elk and bison come back as well, I wonder. The deer are plentiful, and we saw them daily in DeWitt or on the outskirts.

I include an older video of Bald Eagles. My son and I have seen hundreds at one time up by Bellevue, Iowa in January. The sight is awesome.

Article states it is not clear what caused this attack

Does the secular world want to ever admit that Christians are targeted for persecution? It is the duty of Catholics to not pretend, either, and pray for our brothers and sisters in Nigeria. The Tyburn nuns here have been asked to set up a convent in Nigeria by the Bishops. Construction of the building has begun.

LATEST UPDATE: 25/12/2012 

- NIGERIA

Gunmen kill six at Nigerian Christmas service

© AFP file photo from Christmas 2011

Gunmen attacked a church in northern Nigeria during a midnight mass on Christmas Eve, killing six people including the pastor, before setting the building ablaze, residents and police said Tuesday.

By FRANCE 24  (text)

 

Gunmen killed six people attending midnight mass at a church in northern Nigeria on Christmas Eve, police and residents confirmed on Tuesday.
“A group of gunmen came into the village at midnight and went straight to the church... they opened fire on them, killing the pastor and five worshippers. They then set fire to the church," said Usman Mansir, resident of Peri village, near Potiskum, the economic capital of Yobe state.
Mansir specified that a branch of the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) was the congregation that was targeted.
A senior police official in Yobe confirmed the details to AFP, but declined to be named.
Boko Haram Islamists have carried out several attacks in Yobe, which borders the state of Maiduguri, where the insurgent group is based.
The Islamists are blamed for killing hundreds of people in northern Nigeria since 2009. It was not clear who was behind the latest violence.
While Yobe's population is overwhelmingly Muslim, the commercial hub of Potiskum has a significant Christian minority. Peri is just two kilometres outside the city.

Is this the airport? A Quad-City Tradition and one reason I am in Europe

Snow would have helped the ambiance.....

On individualism and the present generation

One of the things about the present generation of youth is that they do not want to be labelled as part of any group.

They cannot identity with being Baptists, or Aristotelians, or even specific sports fans for a particular team. This is a rebellion against the previous generations' ideals of belonging to groups, which was a natural phenomenon. Two generations back, the Baby Boomers identified with a community, and this group does not, and we saw a value in groups, while this group does not. We had a community spirit in the Baby Boom generation which Gen Xers did not have. I have taught both Gen Xers and Millennials and I have great hope for the Millennials, who not only seem less materialistic, but also more capable of making an individual decision outside of a peer group. Interesting.

The Millennials, believe it or not, are less television oriented. If a community is going to grow, it will probably be outside the gate, o They are casting around for communities, They are trying to build communities from the ground-up owing to the fact that this group grew up fragmented families and non-existent communities.

The Millenials, being human, have a desire for community, but do not have the structures we had.

Any group which now exists must be built up from nothing. This is a shock to so many in my generation, where we took many different types of groupings for granted.

No more.

The virtual communities are important as so many children and young adults are only children or separated from their families.

One from my generation can only imagine what it must be like to not have the grounding of a community. I wrote in the past few weeks of my social experiences as a teen. This seems so foreign to many youth, who have never experienced organized entertainments or the surrounding formal context of such events.

This psychological situation creates both strong-minded individuals and independent minded youth, who are not looking for conformity, nor desire identification in a group.

Therefore, evangelizing this age group must include an engaging of their stark separateness.

To create communities or to seek out existing ones is the challenge of the Millennials.

To evangelize, one cannot appeal to the idea of belonging to a church or a worshipping community, as this is not a value.

To evangelize, one must encounter a need for the personal relationship each of us needs with Christ and preach to that need.

The problem is also that this generation of youth work on line, mostly, and in groups which are on line. To create a real connection to a real group is daunting. Only the courageous takes those baby steps.

End of Christmas Day

Marks and Spencers Christmas crackers are the best. We managed to get an entire desk set of crayons, paper, giant clip and other things, as well as golf tees.

The jokes also are better than in other brands.

We played a game called "Call my Bluff" and I won. It is a word game.

Well, Christmas is over for this year and a good time was had by all.

May you all have a great night with friends or family.

Merry Christmas, Bloggers, and other media grunts...

OK , now I have to get the turkey in the oven......

Merry Christmas to the Heroes

I want to say Merry Christmas to all the heroes:

for the grandparents, who have passed down the Faith in the families;

for the grandparents who pray hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament for their families;

for the dads who sacrifice hours to be with the kids;

for the dads who sacrifice plum careers to put family first;

for the moms who do millions of unsung things for the family;

for the moms who stay at home and choose a lower standard of living to home school the kids;

for the kids who obey and honour their parents;

for the kids who love their siblings more than themselves;

for the single parents, who, through no fault of their own, must be both dad and mom;

for the priests, who work so hard in the holidays, taking on extra confession times and Masses;

for the priests who do not see their families until after Christmas and who sometimes have no place to go;

for the singles, who are good, practicing  even holy Catholics, who are lonely, looking for good Catholic mates, that St. Joseph will hear their prayers today;

for pro-life workers and counsellors, for your love and care and prayers and hours of vigils outside;

for the seminarians, who are entering, studying, knowing they are in the age of the martyrs;

for our military, from America and England on the front lines;

for those who are chronically ill and never complain;

for the prophets, who are not appreciated, and sometimes maligned for speaking the Truth;

for my fellow Catholics across the world suffering for their faith.

For you, and all I have forgotten, a happy day.