http://www.andrewcusack.com/2009/paul-comtois/
And, thanks to the reader who sent the second one to me.
Sunday, 23 August 2015
Two articles to read for a Sunday afternoon
http://southernorderspage.blogspot.com/2015/08/yikes-this-is-bombshell-that-i-dont.html
http://www.andrewcusack.com/2009/paul-comtois/
And, thanks to the reader who sent the second one to me.
http://www.andrewcusack.com/2009/paul-comtois/
And, thanks to the reader who sent the second one to me.
Another Lay Saint To Emulate--Rose of Lima
The Chapel of St. Mary of The Angels and Martyrs is almost completely packed. I am getting ready for my next adventure, organized by God. Learning to be obedient, (and, possibly living out one's purgatory on earth,), requires complete trust in God. This way of life also demands flexibility.
One of the signs of a decaying soul, like a decaying mind, is rigidity. Those who cannot change may be missing daily opportunities for metanoia, for that call from God to change anew.
Today is the feast day of my chosen confirmation saint, Rose of Lima. I chose her when I was twelve, the age of my confirmation, for many reasons.
The first is that, at the time, she was the only female saint born in the New World. She is an American saint, albeit South American.
Second, I was struck at my tender age, by her selflessness to others. She had a true servant's heart.
Third, I wanted to give all to Christ and live the simple life as she did, choosing simplicity over complexity in her life.
Fourth, she chose penances, such as becoming a perpetual vegetarian, and wearing coarse, rough clothes, among other mortifications. I was entranced by her fortitude and focus.
Fifth, she was noted, even early on, for her exact obedience. I wanted to be obedient.
Sixth, she experienced, like St. Catherine of Siena, whom Rose loves, a mystical marriage with Christ.
Seventh, Rose remained a lay person, a Third Order Dominican, like Catherine of Siena, another saint admired by me.
Eighth, she prayed for the souls in purgatory, and even as a little girl, I was draw to this work of mercy.
To me, St. Rose seemed like a breath of fresh air when I read her life in 1960. I was confirmed in March of 1961, and wanted to be like Rose. I still do....
Well, God gives grace according to His designs, and I still do not have my little hermitage, as Rose did in the back of her parents' property.
But, she still is a witness of a lay life worth living.
The only statue out now is my Infant of Prague, Who also reminds me of simplicity and innocence, the simplicity and innocence mirrored in the life of Rose of Lima. I have one of my crucifixes out, a Benedictine one, which is rather grand. I have several crucifixes and I look at the various interpretations of My Lord on these for meditation-but the rest are packed now.
Little Rose of Lima, a lay person and a penitent, one choosing suffering for the sake of others, should speak to all of us today, on the edge of the ruin of our nations. May this little saint, patron of all South America, speak to our hearts so that we can live the radical Gospel wherever God calls us to be.
Saturday, 22 August 2015
Faustina Tells Me "Why" A House of Prayer
625 In the evening, when I was praying, the Mother of God told me, Your lives must be like Mine:
quiet and hidden, in unceasing union with God, pleading for humanity and preparing the
world for the second coming of God. Diary of St. Faustina
From EWTN A Reminder
Our Lady of All Nations
|
On 31 May 2002 Bishop Jozef Marianus Punt of Haarlem, having concluded a period of investigation, declared the apparitions accorded Ida Peerdeman of Amsterdam, Holland, in which the Blessed Virgin Mary asked to be known as Our Lady of All Nations, to be "of a supernatural origin".Decree of 31 May 2002 (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
2 March 1957 - Bishop of Haarlem confirms this decision with consent of the Holy Office (13 March 1957). 24 May 1972 - Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, responding to a letter of 29 March from the Bishop, re-affirms its decision. 27 June 1974 - CDF affirms its earlier decision, after a deeper investigation, inviting the faithful to discontinue all forms propaganda with regard to these alleged apparitions and revelations. 31 May 1996 - The then Bishop of Haarlem, Henry Bomers, published a Notification clarifying the distinction between the title, image and prayer, on one hand, and the messages on the other. The title, image and prayer had been approved for private veneration since the 1950s (according to this decree), and he was now granting the privilege of public veneration, as well. The belief in the messages had been prohibited, but now was permitted according to one's own conscience, the Church being unable to rule definitively "at the moment". As the decree notes, he consulted with "official authorities", without specifying who those authorities were. 3 December 1997 - The Bishop writes Letter (HB-97-403) commending the "Action of The Lady of All Nations" and the work of Fr. Paul Maria Sigl. 3 May 2002 - In a Letter of 3 May 2002, Raphael Soffner of the public affairs office of the diocese of Haarlem affirmed to EWTN that the public veneration of Our Lady of All Nations by title, image and prayer, is permitted to Catholics by decision of the Bishop of Haarlem, "with the consent of the Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome". Catholics may make "a personal judgment according to their conscience" regarding the messages and apparition. 31 May 2002 - Bishop Punt declares the apparitions to be of supernatural origin. July 2005 - The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith requests "that the words who once was Mary be left out of the prayer of the Lady of All Nations out of consideration for those who do not understand this phrase." The ending of the prayer is now to say: “May the Lady of All Nations, the Blessed Virgin Mary, be our Advocate.” (Letter of December 2006). The Expression "Who Once Was Mary" In the original approved prayer, the Blessed Virgin was referred to as Our Lady of All Nations "who once was Mary". It is explained by the promoters of the devotion in the following manner: This refers to the fact that Mary is no longer just Mary but ratherThe Lady, The Woman at the foot of the Cross. These words refer to her Eternal Motherhood over all of us, for she is Mother Whom Jesus gave to us from the Cross with the words: Woman behold thy Son!Nonetheless, as noted above the apostolate changed the prayer in 2005 to comply with a request of the CDF, as noted in a 2006 letter. |
Hey, I Predicted Warren Last Year....Remember?
http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/22/politics/joe-biden-washington-meetings/index.html
Saturday, 25 October 2014
Months ago...I predicted
the Dems would support Elizabeth Warren for president....Watch!
http://online.wsj.com/articles/liberals-seek-alternative-to-hillary-clinton-1414193312
Searching for an alternative to Hillary Clinton for 2016, some Democratic donors are meeting with potential challengers. Liberal activists are trying to coax Sen. Elizabeth Warren into running. Politicians not named Hillary Clinton are testing their appeal in New Hampshire and Iowa.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/liberals-seek-alternative-to-hillary-clinton-1414193312
Searching for an alternative to Hillary Clinton for 2016, some Democratic donors are meeting with potential challengers. Liberal activists are trying to coax Sen. Elizabeth Warren into running. Politicians not named Hillary Clinton are testing their appeal in New Hampshire and Iowa.
God bless these good men
http://www.france24.com/en/20150822-us-servicemen-overpower-gunman-french-train-attack
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3206426/U-S-Marines-armed-gunman-onboard-high-speed-train-Amsterdam-Paris.html
According to Spanish daily El Pais, the suspect had lived in Spain and moved to France in 2014, where he was known to the French authorities after being flagged as a potential jihadist by Spanish intelligence services. The newspaper also reported that he had visited Syria.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3206426/U-S-Marines-armed-gunman-onboard-high-speed-train-Amsterdam-Paris.html
According to Spanish daily El Pais, the suspect had lived in Spain and moved to France in 2014, where he was known to the French authorities after being flagged as a potential jihadist by Spanish intelligence services. The newspaper also reported that he had visited Syria.
Where I Am Today..
http://legalinsurrection.com/2015/08/pro-lifers-nationwide-will-protest-planned-parenthood-next-week/
Where are you? If you cannot take part in these today, please pray for God's mercy on this pagan land, wherever you are.
Where are you? If you cannot take part in these today, please pray for God's mercy on this pagan land, wherever you are.
Coming Out of A BisyBakson Day
I have written tons of poetry in certain places of the world.
I have written plays, short stories, essays in certain places.
In other places, I have had writer's block.
Place is important to me for writing, and for praying, but one learns to pray anywhere after a while....
at bus stops, in airports, in grocery stores......
But creative thinking needs a certain type of rest. And, when one is having many busy days, creativity shrinks back into the corner of one's mind and soul, hiding until it is safe to come out again.
One cannot force creative thinking. One has to wait for it to come forward, and if one tries to force creativity, it hides even more.
I did some painting earlier this summer and I did two good paintings quickly. But, I struggled with the third one, which was actually the first one I had started. It was on a large canvas and I was using acrylics.
Finally, after one month, this painting "came together". One has to learn to wait, to let things go in the process, not to push, pressure, or rush.
Same with writing poetry or short stories.
One of my friends asked me for a new short story. As my readers know, although I have several on line, I think seven, I have not written one for a long time.
I cannot
I shall have to wait.
Waiting is a sign of maturity. One learns to work with one's own psyche.
Today, while helping my mother pick grapes--there are several vines on the homestead--I saw a small, green treefrog. It was dead, but looked alive. I realized it had died in the cold night, as autumn is coming upon us quickly here.
The small animal was so vulnerable to its place. It had to live in a certain temperature, a certain terrain, on a certain leaf, or in a tree.
Humans are much more adaptable than small tree frogs. I was upset that this one had died so soon in the season, as it is still August. But, the tree frog croaking has stopped already in the trees. We are in a for a severe winter.
Place and environment form us and keep us in a way which is almost mystical. God created that little, rather beautiful frog for a specific season, a particular place.
We are all like this, made to be in the place where God wants us to be, in His Will.
I pray daily "Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven."
Working On The New Blog
Sigh....everything takes longer than one plans...
Prayers and patience, please
Prayers and patience, please
Friday, 21 August 2015
What You Freely Have Been Given...
Christ calls many people to Himself, but few listen. We are entering the era of the dearth of sacraments in areas of the West. Not since missionary days has the Church witnessed so few priests for so many people.
When God calls men and women to Himself, He says, "What you have been freely given, give freely," especially in the West where people have been given so many opportunities for financial stability and comfort. The LIttle Flower is an example of freely giving what she received.
But, few respond to this radical call today.
The lack of vocations is not because God is no longer calling young men and young women, but because those people are either saying "no", or are not encouraged. Even trads are not encouraging their children to become religious. I am not sure why, but have some ideas why.
Encouragement from families needs to be part of the discerning process.
Too few youth have been taught how to discern decisions in their lives. Too few know how to pray, reflect, think. One thing the saints have in common is that they prayed.
We are coming to the end of the year of celebration for the birth of St. Teresa of Avila. Born in 1515, this great saint had to discern her own call, and for a while, got it wrong. She was called to renew the Carmelite Order which had fallen into laxity.
Nuns were talking too much with visitors, poverty had been set aside for comforts, endowments meant that the various houses did not have to rely on Providence for daily needs, prayer was lacking.
Her call was not merely to become a Carmelite, but to bring the Order back to its roots, the clean, pure roots which had been established by St. Simon Stock.
I have been to Aylesford in Kent, the oldest site of the Carmelites, and there it is obvious that the Order needs purifying again. But, few have answered God's call to follow Teresa and put the radical love of God, silence, and real poverty as priorities, rather than temporary "causes", large gatherings, and banal liturgies.
One senses the demise of the spirit of the Order in the Midwest as well.
Where is the energy in this order and others to bring saints into the world, or to pray for the chaos in the Church to change into a new focus for holiness?
Reading about the life of Simon Stock, one is struck by his great energy, always a sign of holiness, and one is struck with the ebb and flow of charisms within the order
from the Catholic Encyclopedia:
St. Simon obtained from Innocent IV an interim approbation, as well as certain modifications of the rule (1247). Henceforth foundations were no longer restricted to deserts but might be made in cities and the suburbs of towns; the solitary life was abandoned for community life; meals were to be taken in common; theabstinence, though not dispensed with, was rendered less stringent; the silence was restricted to the timebetween Compline and Prime of the following day; donkeys and mules might be kept for traveling and the transport of goods, and fowls for the needs of the kitchen. Thus the order ceased to be eremitical and became one of the mendicant orders. Its first title, Fratres eremitæ de Monte Carmeli, and, after the building of a chapelon Carmel in honour of Our Lady (c. 1220), Eremitæ Sanctæ Mariæ de Monte Carmeli, was now changed intoFratres Ordinis Beatissimæ Virginis Mariæ de Monte Carmeli. By an ordinance of the Apostolic Chancery of 1477 it was further amplified, Fratres Ordinis Beatissimæ Dei Genitricus semperque Virginis Mariæ de Monte Carmeli, which title was rendered obligatory by the General Chapter of 1680.
Having obtained the mitigation of the rule, St. Simon Stock, who was altogether in favour of the active life, opened houses at Cambridge (1249), Oxford (1253), London (about the same time), York (1255), Paris (1259),Bologna (1260), Naples (date uncertain), etc. He strove especially to implant the order at the universities, partly to secure for the religious the advantages of a higher education, partly to increase the number of vocations among the undergraduates. Although the zenith of the mendicant orders had already passed he was successful in both respects. The rapid increase of convents and novices, however, proved dangerous; the rule being far stricter than those of St. Francis and St. Dominic, discouragement and discontent seized many of the brothers, while the bishops and the parochial clergy continued to offer resistance to the development of the order. He died a centenarian before peace was fully restored. With the election of Nicholas Gallicus (1265-71) a reaction set in; the new general, being much opposed to the exercise of the sacred ministry, favoured exclusively the contemplative life. To this end he wrote a lengthy letter entitled "Ignea sagitta" (unedited) in which he condemned in greatly exaggerated terms what he called the dangerous occupations of preaching and hearing confessions. His words remaining unheeded, he resigned his office, as did also his successor, Radulphus Alemannus (1271-74), who belonged to the same school of thought.
When God calls men and women to Himself, He says, "What you have been freely given, give freely," especially in the West where people have been given so many opportunities for financial stability and comfort. The LIttle Flower is an example of freely giving what she received.
But, few respond to this radical call today.
The lack of vocations is not because God is no longer calling young men and young women, but because those people are either saying "no", or are not encouraged. Even trads are not encouraging their children to become religious. I am not sure why, but have some ideas why.
Encouragement from families needs to be part of the discerning process.
Too few youth have been taught how to discern decisions in their lives. Too few know how to pray, reflect, think. One thing the saints have in common is that they prayed.
We are coming to the end of the year of celebration for the birth of St. Teresa of Avila. Born in 1515, this great saint had to discern her own call, and for a while, got it wrong. She was called to renew the Carmelite Order which had fallen into laxity.
Nuns were talking too much with visitors, poverty had been set aside for comforts, endowments meant that the various houses did not have to rely on Providence for daily needs, prayer was lacking.
Her call was not merely to become a Carmelite, but to bring the Order back to its roots, the clean, pure roots which had been established by St. Simon Stock.
I have been to Aylesford in Kent, the oldest site of the Carmelites, and there it is obvious that the Order needs purifying again. But, few have answered God's call to follow Teresa and put the radical love of God, silence, and real poverty as priorities, rather than temporary "causes", large gatherings, and banal liturgies.
One senses the demise of the spirit of the Order in the Midwest as well.
Where is the energy in this order and others to bring saints into the world, or to pray for the chaos in the Church to change into a new focus for holiness?
Reading about the life of Simon Stock, one is struck by his great energy, always a sign of holiness, and one is struck with the ebb and flow of charisms within the order
from the Catholic Encyclopedia:
St. Simon obtained from Innocent IV an interim approbation, as well as certain modifications of the rule (1247). Henceforth foundations were no longer restricted to deserts but might be made in cities and the suburbs of towns; the solitary life was abandoned for community life; meals were to be taken in common; theabstinence, though not dispensed with, was rendered less stringent; the silence was restricted to the timebetween Compline and Prime of the following day; donkeys and mules might be kept for traveling and the transport of goods, and fowls for the needs of the kitchen. Thus the order ceased to be eremitical and became one of the mendicant orders. Its first title, Fratres eremitæ de Monte Carmeli, and, after the building of a chapelon Carmel in honour of Our Lady (c. 1220), Eremitæ Sanctæ Mariæ de Monte Carmeli, was now changed intoFratres Ordinis Beatissimæ Virginis Mariæ de Monte Carmeli. By an ordinance of the Apostolic Chancery of 1477 it was further amplified, Fratres Ordinis Beatissimæ Dei Genitricus semperque Virginis Mariæ de Monte Carmeli, which title was rendered obligatory by the General Chapter of 1680.
Having obtained the mitigation of the rule, St. Simon Stock, who was altogether in favour of the active life, opened houses at Cambridge (1249), Oxford (1253), London (about the same time), York (1255), Paris (1259),Bologna (1260), Naples (date uncertain), etc. He strove especially to implant the order at the universities, partly to secure for the religious the advantages of a higher education, partly to increase the number of vocations among the undergraduates. Although the zenith of the mendicant orders had already passed he was successful in both respects. The rapid increase of convents and novices, however, proved dangerous; the rule being far stricter than those of St. Francis and St. Dominic, discouragement and discontent seized many of the brothers, while the bishops and the parochial clergy continued to offer resistance to the development of the order. He died a centenarian before peace was fully restored. With the election of Nicholas Gallicus (1265-71) a reaction set in; the new general, being much opposed to the exercise of the sacred ministry, favoured exclusively the contemplative life. To this end he wrote a lengthy letter entitled "Ignea sagitta" (unedited) in which he condemned in greatly exaggerated terms what he called the dangerous occupations of preaching and hearing confessions. His words remaining unheeded, he resigned his office, as did also his successor, Radulphus Alemannus (1271-74), who belonged to the same school of thought.
St. Teresa brought the Order back to the foundations of contemplative prayer and a more eremitical life. But, these gifts to the Church have been set aside in too many convents for active ministry.
We need contemplatives, as well as "actives".
Today, I ask young readers to consider following Christ by joining and renewing the religious orders which need renewal. What you have been freely given, give away freely.
I suggest young women look at the Carmelites in Denton, Nebraska. I also suggest young women looking at the Benedictines in Kansas, Our Lady Queen of Apostles, as well as the Benedictines at Clear Creek.
Young men have more options in places where there is renewal: Clear Creek, Wyoming Carmelites, Order of St. John in Princeville, Il., (there are nuns there as well-I have visited this very interesting place), the Institute of Christ the King, the Fraternity of St. Peter, and more.
Any Readers from Wisconsin?
If so, please contact me privately in comments and send me your email, if I do not have it.
Pax
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