Great Demonstrations in France, Praise God for Common Sense

http://www.france24.com/en/20130113-huge-crowds-rally-paris-against-gay-marriage

Tens of thousands of people opposed to President François Hollande’s plan to legalise gay marriage have taken to the streets of Paris in a bid to organise one of the French capital’s biggest protest rallies in years.

Go to link for the rest of the story.

Perfection, again, and the Holy Trinity

The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a theme of this blog. If more priests and catechists talked about this, we would all be happier and more in tune with our call to perfection and holiness.

The Blessed Virgin Mary was the first person to experience the Holy Trinity dwelling within, from the moment of her conception, the Immaculate Conception.

We, too, from baptism, have that great gift. But, this gift is lost and squandered by sin.

Mortal sin, meaning deadly sin, kills the life of God in the soul.

Why?

Because, simply, we have decided that something or someone else is God instead of God.

Fornication and adultery make another person and sex into gods, supplanting the Holy Trinity within us.

Homosexual sin is also idolatry.

So, too, are pride, greed, gluttony, avarice, deceit and all the Seven Deadly Sins, which I have tags on to other posts I have made on this subject.

Do not kid yourselves. You cannot see God if you have separated yourself from Him. You cannot see God unless you serve Him in purity of heart. How hard this must be for the pagan, as it is so hard for us who have grace.

Free Will is a tremendous gift.

Usually, a sexual sin causes youth to skip Mass. Then, they tumble into the habits of sin and staying away from the very sacraments which will give them clarity of mind and life.

A vicious and deadly circle....denying sin leads to death of the soul.

The Church did not make up these sins, God did. The Ten Commandments are still in effect.

Most people sin by putting their desires, wants, needs, will first and God's second or third.

To say we will what God Wills means dying to our own self, over and over and over.

The self-willed cannot see God, either out of their own selves or in their own selves.

The self-willed only see ME, and maybe, just maybe, a you, but only if the you serves the purposes of the ME. Such is sin.

The self-willed make the world into their own image and likeness.

To begin the road to perfection, one must be purified of sin, even venial sins. The great saints vary on whether a person can ever be free of venial sin, but every imperfection keeps us from God's Will for our lives.

Believe me, as I have experienced this. To be on the road to perfection is the only thing to do in life---see my quotation from Leon Bloy on the side.

I repost it here for you.

"The only tragedy in life is not to become a saint." 

Why a tragedy? Because eternity is a very long time.

Remember, one must be in sanctifying grace to receive merit for good.  God is merciful, of course, but to take His Mercy for granted is the sin of presumption. 

See all the other posts on perfection....more to come. This is just a reminder.

To find the Indwelling of the Holy Trinity is a great gift. One must be willing to give up everything which fills one's heart instead of God.

Not just things, for example, but the desire for things. Not just fame, but the desire for people to think well of you. 

Today, on EWTN's website, this quotation fit perfectly my thoughts for the day.

Such is the synchronicity of the Spirit of God.

The man who burns with the fire of divine love is a son of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and wherever he goes, he enkindles that flame; he desires and works with all his strength to inflame all men with the fire of God's love. Nothing deters him: he rejoices in poverty; he labours strenuously; he welcomes hardships; he laughs off false accusations; he rejoices in anguish. He thinks only of how he might follow Jesus Christ and imitate him by his prayers, his labours, his sufferings, and by caring always and only for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

-- St Anthony Mary Claret

This is what I desire. And, to be joined in the Cross of Christ and share in His Sufferings is part of the deal. A priest in Confession told me today that we cannot avoid the Cross, and that Christ has gone before me in all my suffering.

Nice.....real......necessary.

Excellent Sermon on the Feast of the Second Epiphany of Christ

A good Jesuit priest gave an excellent sermon today for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Today, one of the three Epiphanies of Christ, the other two being the Feast of the Three Kings, and the other the Wedding Feast at Cana, ends the Christmas Season. So, you could have been feasting all last week as well, folks.

The main idea of the sermon was that our baptism marks us with the indelible mark as an heir of heaven and son or daughter of God.

Many Catholics, sadly, no longer believe in the necessity for baptism, which, sadly, makes them heretics.

To deny the need and efficacy of the sacrament of baptism denies the reason for the Incarnation. Christ came to free us from the results of Original Sin, which include damnation, give us life in Him, which we call sanctifying grace.

We ONLY get sanctifying grace in the sacraments.

To deny baptism is to deny Original Sin and its effects: concupiscence,  illness and death, clouding of the intellect, loss on innocence, separation from God. In the Creed, we say we believe that Christ descended to the dead-which is the Harrowing of Hell. Either one is  a Christian and believes in the Creed, or one is not.

The people redeemed from hell included SS. Adam and Eve.

The Council of Trent clarified, after the confusion of Luther, that baptism, indeed, took away Original Sin.

To not believe in Original Sin is one of the most common heresies today, along with Universal Salvation, which is the belief that all people go to heaven.

The priest today reminded all of us that it is our baptismal duty to evangelize. I have written on this many, many times.

The ideas of evolution have confused people, as they think their original parents were less than human, and not the perfect Adam and Eve.

See what false teaching can lead to---the denial of the very reason for Christianity: Christ's Redemptive Act on the Cross.

In my Monastic Diurnal, the Three Epiphanies are highlighted in the prayers from January 6th to today.

The old collects, in my opinion, are better than the new ones.

Because to be human is to have a sense of humour....

Now, the Masons can be blamed for many errors, but soccer?

"Fatwa By Saudi Sheikh: Soccer Players Are Infidels," from MEMRI a la Spencer:

On several sites.....

Tell this to fans in Argentina, Brazil, Spain, England.................

On December 5, 2012, Saudi sheikh Suleiman Al-'Alwan, a popular Salafi-jihadi cleric, was released after being imprisoned without a trial for nine years.[1] Al-'Alwan's trial began only recently; he is accused of having ties to Al-Qaeda and issuing fatwas permitting terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia and targeting Western interests in the world and in the Saudi kingdom.[2]

Since his release, Al-'Alwan has received many visitors, including sheikhs and former students, and has been asked to give his opinion on religious questions. On December 23, 2012, in response to a question posed by a Saudi youth, Al-'Alwan said that soccer was a form of heresy: "Soccer is a Masonic game meant to distance Muslims from their religion and faith, and most of the public that follows [soccer games] is loyal to the infidels." Al-'Alwan called soccer players criminals and infidels: "[When] a man watches a [soccer] game, God forbid, he is watching deviant criminals and sinful infidels, even if they are Muslims." He added: "There is a serious problem with [soccer] games, which is the refereeing, which follows manmade laws, not Allah's laws."[3]

It should be mentioned that shortly after his release, Al-'Alwan also accused Egyptian President Muhammad Mursi of heresy for failing to implement shari'a law in Egypt, and condemned Egypt's new constitution because it guarantees religious freedom and treats Christians as equal to Muslims. In addition, he held Mursi responsible for causing the deaths of Salafis in Sinai.[4]

Al-'Alwan's fatwa was harshly criticized by Saudi columnist Muhammad bin 'Abd Al-Latif Aal Al-Sheikh, who wrote in the Saudi government daily Al-Jazirah that Al-'Alwan reminds him of Taliban sheikhs....

There is no true religious experience without....

St. Bernadette of Lourdes

I have been pondering a few dilemmas. When discussing religion with good people, I find confusions regarding religious experience. False ecumenism has ruined the ability of good people to think rationally about the Faith. A few points.

1) There is no true religious experience without complete orthodoxy. Without complete orthodoxy, there can be no true holiness.

2) There is no true religious experience without doctrine. Experience must go hand in hand with the Revelation of the Church and the Tradition of the Church. There is no such thing as "pastoral" experience separate from doctrine.

3) Not all the writings of saints have been approved doctrinally. Some have. I have more on this on other postings. There are levels of writings. A person's holiness does not dictate that ALL their writings are without  error or interpretation.

4) There is a huge difference between personal meditation and divine revelations. The Church is clear on this. One must make sure one is not believing something is infallible which is merely the meditations of a good person, and, therefore, limited. Only papal statements from the Chair of Peter are infallible. And, as I have noted before, the various congregations in the Vatican, have authority over us, if approved and signed by the correct authorities.

5) There is no true religion experience outside a life of sanctifying grace. The Deceitful One can mock God with false experiences. The great saints warn us of this.

6) There is no true religious experience which is from God from other, arcane sources. Clairvoyants, for example, get their knowledge from demons, not God. There is no mocking God regarding seeking religious experiences outside the mainstream of the Church's teaching.

7) There is no true religious experience outside of Christ, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit. If someone denies the Trinity, the experiences must be seen as suspect.

8) The Church has the duty and right to teach and guide us regarding religious experience. If some experience is condemned, one must avoid those books, readings, sites on line on pain of losing one's immortal soul.  Following false seers is one of the most serious of sins. Obedience is key.

9) There is no true religious experience is someone is making money from such. This should be obvious.
If there are charges for talks, books, DVDs, CDs, etc., smell a rat.  Sorry, but what is freely given is free.
Industries have been made from modern religious experiences which have not been approved by the Church.  To me, this is common sense....

10) There is no true religious experience without extreme humility...........and personal holiness.

Bravo, Brave Priests and Bishops

I have just read through the list of signatures of the British priests and bishops who have signed the petition against same sex civil marriage and for traditional, natural law marriage, between a man and a woman. I was proud to see the vocation director for Arundel and Brighton on the list, plus some other excellent priests I know. God bless them all, and may the Pope look at this list, as we have some empty bishoprics. The best of the new Ordinariate priests have signed as well. See today's TELEGRAPH.

The English Church

Well, it is not really, but it is the only church in Valletta with an English Mass. St. Barbara's also has Adoration on Fridays and yesterday, Christ in the Eucharist was surrounded by poinsettias. Lovely.

This is an old church. Like so many others, kneeling is not for the faint of heart. Many churches in Malta demand that one kneels on the floor, as at the Co-Cathedral, or on old wooden and dirty, rough kneelers.

One gets used to it.

Black skirts are not a good idea for wearing to St. Barbara's I discovered in 2011.

This church is on Republic Street, where many of the shops are, and the front of the Palace, or ministry buildings of this capitol.

St. Aelred

One of my favourite saints is St. Aelred. He was a gentle soul and has some of the best writings on friendship. I reread his writings, among other things, while in the monastery. I shall write more about him later. His writings are part of a long poem I intend to put on this blog at some time. Happy Feast of St. Aelred!

A repeated post--a timely warning

Wednesday, 1 February 2012

The Cradle of Modernist Heresies

Posted by Supertradmum

In 1983, Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, who was prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, now Pope Benedict XVI, issued a document under the name of the Declaration on Masonic Associations.  The link is on the name.

In that document, the long history of the condemnation of Freemasonry by the Church, since 1738, was reiterated and clearly defined. The original condemnation of Clement XII, In eminenti apostolatus specula  was upheld.

Since that time, I have had many Catholics, in the United States and in Europe claim that the Church had removed the automatic excommunication on a Catholic who joined the Masons. This is not and has never been so. One has to understand that the Church's condemnation of Masonry is based not merely on the fact that it is a secret organization, but that it upholds several Modernist heresies. Firstly, Cardinal Ratizinger wrote that:

Therefore the Church’s negative judgment in regard to Masonic association remains unchanged since their principles have always been considered irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church and therefore membership in them remains forbidden. The faithful who enrol in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion. He went on to state that no bishop had any right to change this. It is interesting that the SSPX press, Angelus Press, has one of the best books on the evils and pitfalls of Masonry. One can find ithere. However, I want to concentrate on a few of the Modernist heresies found in Freemasonry. The first is indifferentism. This heresy proclaims that all religions are the same and that religion has no place in the public life of a nation or people.Mirari Vos  On Liberalism and Religious Indifferentism written in 1832 by Gregory XVI is a forgotten document of the Church. Indifferentism leads to a relativism about religion, stating that all are either the same, or so subjective as to mean only what a person sincerely believes. This pluralism leads to another aspect that because all religions are relative and the same, these beliefs have no role in the public life, cannot affect politics, or governmental decisions. Of course, as the Catholic Church is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, this heresy is condemned as contrary to both Revelation and Tradition. Indifferentism leads to a denial of the supernatural, as if all beliefs are equal or subjective, there is no hierarchy, no Revelation from God. Also denied in this heresy would be dogma, for the same reasons. It is interesting that in the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1907, itself peppered with some Modernist heresies, that this statement from Newman is quoted in the section on indifferentism:  No truth, however sacred, can stand against it (the Catholic Church) in the long run; and hence it is that in the Pagan world, when our Lord came, the last traces of the religious knowledge of former times were all but disappearing from those portions of the world in which the intellect had been active and had a career" (Apologia, chap. v).  The second heresy of many in Masonry is eirenism.This is what I call the forgotten heresy.  The condemnation of eirenism is found in Pope Pius XII's encyclical, Humani Generis. This great work condemns existentialism, historicism (Gramsci watch), immanentism and other isms. The point of eirenism is, in the words of the Pope: setting aside the questions which divide men, they aim not only at joining forces to repel the attacks of atheism, but also at reconciling things opposed to one another in the field of dogma. And as in former times some questioned whether the traditional apologetics That branch of the science of theology which explains the reasons for the Church's existence and doctrine of the Church did not constitute an obstacle rather than a help to the winning of souls for Christ, so today some are presumptuous enough to question seriously whether theology and theological methods, such as with the approval of ecclesiastical authority are found in our schools, should not only be perfected, but also completely reformed, in order to promote the more efficacious propagation throughout the world among men of every culture and religious opinion. This heresy clearly seeks after a type of syncretism, a religion of unity, wherein divisions vanish and people come together to worship some sort of agreed upon god. I would venture to say that eirenism leads directly to Worship of the State. This is the atmosphere of religion and philosophy in the United States at this very moment. The State declares that there is no religious right to conscience, thereby setting up its own standards for so-called moral or ethical behavior. To use an example, abortion is ok because a Supreme Court decision determined it was so, and because further legislation supports it. The State has substituted itself for the Church in matters of conscience.  Wake up, American Catholics. So, the heresies sleeping in Masonry have awakened and taken over the mind-set of the nation's leaders. Simple and neat. What is happening and has happened in Catholic education, wherein schools are rebelling against the Teaching Magisterium (look here in California today, this minute) is a direct result of the concepts of eirenism. Schools and other facilities play down differences for the sake of community unity to the detriment of Catholic Teaching.  It is too late to change this huge momentum, hidden in Masonry by choice, and held in some minds by lethargy and laziness. To take the easiest way out, to placate, to be politically correct is eirenism.  The greatest heresy in Masonry is immanentism, which destroys the Revelation of God as Trinity, replacing Him with a vague, abstract presence found in the world. Pope Pius X condemned this in  Pascendi Dominici Gregis. As Catholics, we do not have much time to read all of these documents, but what is happening today in America, with the attack on the Church from the present administration concerning freedom of religion and freedom on conscience is an attack prophesied by all the documents above. If Church leaders knew their own teaching, they would have seen this coming, or even better, stopped these idealistic heresies from fomenting in the people in the pews. And, as laymen, we only have ourselves to blame if we find ourselves marginalize, persecuted, imprisoned, martyred. See my post below on the stages of persecution and the ideologies which push these heresies. The one I have left for this posting is Freemasonry, which seems to hold many of the Modernist heresies and is able to produce these in the market place as goods. As one can tell, I taught a history of ideas, history of encyclicals, history of heresies. Nothing has changed in 2012 which was not there in 1732 or earlier. Sadly, the revisionist historians within the Catholic Church look like they have won the day. I honestly feel that we are in the times of Arianism, the greatest heresy which rocked and split the Church. However, the Church prevailed, and will, as Christ promised until the end of time. But, the Lord did not assure us it would be a large, powerful, or influential Church. Perhaps the words of one of the Desert Fathers are applicable. I think, but I am not sure, it was Abba Pambo. "When asked by a young monk if they were of the greatest generation because they saw and cast out devils, and prayed, fasted, and converted  and healed people, the Abba answered. 'No, we are not the greatest generation. We have obvious power. The next generation will see Christ establish His Kingdom among the Nations, and there will be unity for awhile. But, the greatest generation is the one, which under great persecution, will survive. They are the greatest and the last.'"

Why Gramsci Hated the Church

In his letters from prison, Gramsci has many notes on the Catholic Church.

He hated the Church and saw it as the only, real threat to Marxism.

Why?

Here is a mini-list of ten ideals of the professional radical. There are more:

1) The Church teaches and believes that man is not merely material, but has an immortal soul. Therefore, any political system rooted in the here and now, in the material, is not based on reality. Ergo, the Church is wrong and superstitious and Marxism is correct in promulgating materialistic principles. He hates any idea of the eternal world impinging on the material.

2) The Church is still the great influence in Italian society, albeit, by 2013, not as much as in Gramsci's day. This influence, according to Gramsci, keeps the poor under the thumb of tyrannical priests. He somehow forgets that the Church was responsible for education, hospitals, culture. However, he is not interested in Christian culture and wants the State to take over charity until it is abolished by a complete socialist system. Hey, this is happening even in America.

He hates top down rule. Except for the need to control the proletariat......

3)  He does not (I use present tense as his writings live on) believe in absolutes: morality, truth, sublime mysticism, prayer, the afterlife. How sad. To him, absolutism of any type keeps humans from progressing. This, to me, is a weakness in his thinking. No soul, no vision.

4) The Church saw, in the great Popes of the 19th Century and the condemnation of modernism, the connection between modernism and the culture wars of Gramsci. He admits that the Church is the only institution which "gets" the culture wars fomented by the communists. This is a weakness of the Church today in America and Europe. Priests and bishops do NOT see the connection between modernists heresies (do a search on my blog) and communism. Duh.

5) He wants history to be in the hands of people, not God. Our God is a God of History, the Incarnate One, Jesus Christ, Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. If God creates and enters history, the hegemony of people is, well, a dead idea from the start.

6)  Gramsci truly believes in the "I will not serve" pride of the greatest fallen angel. He does not want man, generically, to serve any one. Oops, he does want people to serve the State!

7) The philosophical concept of the human is vastly different in the Teaching of the Church and communism.
The Church teaches that each individual has a personal spiritual destiny, a unique soul, and the chance to be an heir of Heaven and a son or daughter of God. The Gramscians see individuals as both, ironically, having free will and in charge of their own destiny BUT only with the tyrannical "help" of the State.

8) The Church Militant is awake and aware of any encroachment to the Kingdom of God. A Kingdom of Men cannot supplant God's work, and Gramsci can see the power of that belief. Faith of any kind is THE threat to communism. He wants to supplant one elite for another.

9) He believes that a political self-conciousness is the first step to self-consciousness. Why? This is a weak link in his thinking, as political activity is merely the extension of the human desire for control and order in their society, not in their interior life.  The interior life is superior to the exterior, but Gramsci cannot see this. OK for an aetheist....

10) He hates the strong, mass movements of the Church-Dominicans, Franciscans, Jesuits, as threatening the independence of human beings by supposedly imposing ideals on a stupid, simple populace. He sees the power of these movements.

Well, if one does not believe in one's own eternal soul, or Heaven or Hell, or the Seen God, Christ,  Who shows us the Unseen Father, these ideas could make sense.

But, they do not . As the first premise is wrong, bad thinking, illogical.

Sadly, Gramsci's ideals have succeeded, especially among Jesuits, whom he hates. Liberation Theology is only one way this Order has collapsed into the Gramsci camp.

Read, study, pray, act...............be Catholic.

The Next Church in my Pilgrimage

The  Church of St. Francis of Assisi in Valletta on Republic street, just a bit from St. Barbara's is the first baroque church built in Valletta.

The Mass there is always crowded and the church is a great place to pray. There are many side altars, as most Valletta churches have, and some phenomenal art work. There are five Masses a day there, which is a great blessing. Also, on Sunday mornings, there is always Confession. If one is going to the Co-Cathedral for Mass, one can pop into St. Francis's Church first for Confession. I have several friends who do that.

The Franciscans have been very important in Malta, and I am happy to say that I saw one dressed in his complete habit walking in Valletta. He could have been from outside of Malta, but he reminded me of the great heritage of the Franciscans here.

I did not have time to visit more of my beloved churches in Malta. But, I hope you enjoyed this little pilgrimage.

Here is a painting by an English artist, Mark Satchwill depicting both St. Paul and St. Francis over Malta. His website is below the painting.

http://www.ebsqart.com/Artist/Mark-Satchwill/16287/Art-Portfolio/Gallery/Religious-Portraits/1/

Shocking

I went to an adoration chapel this morning. There were two ladies who talked loudly the entire time. One had a cell phone which went off and she proceeded to talk on it. This all happened in front of the Blessed Sacrament in the Monstrance.

I went up to the two women once and pointed out that Jesus was present in the Monstrance and would they please stop talking.

They did not.

I am truly, truly shocked.

I stayed there for an hour, as I thought Christ was suffering again in the Garden of Gethsemane when His disciples fell asleep. These women are asleep.

They do not know God.

I prayed for them. And, when I left, I thought is there no place in the world where there is silence before God in His humble, vulnerable state, the Eucharist?

Yesterday, at Mass, two women in the front pew talked until the Consecration. One man got up and "shhhed" them, but they did not stop talking. The priest continued and said nothing.

Why is this happening? These are Maltese, not tourists. These are Catholics, not Protestants.

Why?

The Church of the Circumcision

One of my favourite churches in Malta, in Valletta, is the Church of the Circumcision. I love the statue of Our Lord just taken down from the Cross in one of the side altars.

Also, I love the painting of the first rendering of the Sacred Heart by Batoni, a copy from the Gesu and one of several in Malta, including one at Our Lady of Victories mentioned yesterday. I have written about this painting before on this blog.

There are also some letters of St. Ignatius of Loyola in this church. It is called the Jesuit Church, but the Jesuits are no longer there.

I also love the two small shrines of St. Pius X and the Holy Face of Jesus.

The Adoration Chapel, my tour continued

The Franciscans Sisters of the Heart of Jesus serve the Adoration Chapel usually called the House of Adoration, a small place of quiet in Valletta. I lived for months within blocks of it and only discovered it at the end of my stay in 2011.

Again, it is so small, but such a wonderful place to worship Christ in the Eucharist. When I visited yesterday, I felt like I was coming home.

The poinsettias are still on the altar.

This order of nuns takes care of the elderly and those with mental conditions. God bless them for this ministry and the all day Adoration.

Be patient

Readers, if you see typos, know I am mostly using a small cell and cannot always see the entire article. I am correcting things after posting as my cell will not let me preview. I shall be so grateful when I can get back to regular computer use. Be patient. Thank you.

Reminder of Poll

As I am thinking of all the possible topics about which I may write, the age/generation reading my blog is a factor regarding choices.

Pilgrimage Tour continued

My own pilgrimage tour also takes me today to the little church down the steps from St. Paul's Street in Valletta. If one did not know it was there, one would pass it by........

In the Franciscan Church of St. Mary of Jesus is the Miraculous Crucifix. The was done by the artist Frate Umile Pintoro do Petralis Soprano (Palermo). It is not only a masterpiece of Baroque Art, but miraculous.

The people of Malta pray to Jesus Crucified in times of trouble.

Of course, I pray twice before the crucifix with my list of names and petitions. The image is moving.

It shall remain embedded in my memory.

Blessed Ignatius Falzon (Nazju Falzon) (1813–1865), who was a catechist, is buried in this church as well. And, he also received petitions. One can go right up to his grave and put one's hands on the burial place. I prayed to him much in 2011, as I am at heart a catechist, and I think he is behind me starting up the blog again. 

I shall continue the tour on the blog tomorrow.

Today, a pilgrimage tour

Restorations in Our Lady of Victories

Today, I am making a pilgrimage tour of some of my favourite churches in Valletta.  One is the first building ever built in Valletta, in 1567, The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was one of my stops.

This little jewel is usually called the Church of Our Lady of Victories by locals, as it was dedicated in gratitude for the victory of the Knights of St. John Hospitallers over the Muslims in 1656.

Grandmaster Jean de la Vallette, (1557-1568) laid the foundation stone on March 28th,  1566. He was originally buried here, but his bones were moved to the fantastic St. John's Co-Cathedral in 1579.

This barrel vaulted church is being restored with the help of a Malta bank.  The best thing for me is the Icon of Our Lady of Victories, which is covered in silver, like Our Lady of Caraffa. Also, there is a precious statue of the Infant of Prague,  given by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Today it is dressed in dark purple.

I climbed up to the top on 18th century stone stairs, all twisting and turning to look at the ceiling paintings restoration. When done, this will prove to be an amazing site.  And, as there are no coincidences, people from the Courtauld Institute in London are in charge of the restorations.

The Jesus Bambino is still on the altar today, as He is on all the altars from Christmas Day in Malta. I was glad to see Him amidst the poinsettias, which as some of you know, are my flowers particularly.

For my male friends

Read St. Alphonsus. He is a saint who is particularly good for young men and all men. His approach and insights, especially his theology, and his love for Mary, Our Queen, make him a worthy "read".

Here is a bit from The Glories of Mary.

It is written of the Eternal Father, that God so loved the world as to give his only-begotten Son (Jn 3:16), so also we can say of Mary, that she so loved the world as to give her only-begotten Son.

So with St. Anselm I will cry: “Let my heart languish and my soul melt away and be consumed with love of you, my beloved Savior Jesus and my dear Mother Mary! But because I cannot love you unless you give me grace, then give me grace, O Jesus and Mary — by your merits, not mine — to love you as you deserve to be loved. O God, lover of humankind, you loved sinful human beings to the point of death. Will you deny your love and your Mother’s to anyone who begs for it?