"Mea Culpa"

JMJ.  Well, Advent has begun, and with it the new Roman Missal is now in use.  And, as is usually par for the course, it's got the folks in the pews up in arms.  (Those who don't normally come to Mass are totally clueless.  They'll come to church for Christmas and when they haven't the faintest idea why everyone else is saying something entirely different they'll blame the Pastor for not telling them ahead of time.  Go figure.)

Why the change?  Well, it all goes back to Vatican II.  It was Rome's intent to make the Mass more understandable to the people and in this she succeeded.  In her haste to effect these changes, though, the translations from the Latin to the vernacular, specifically English, were less than precise shall we say.  Not wrong, mind you, just imprecise.  Finally, after forty-some odd years, the Church decided that this looseness had to be snugged up.

 Now you might ask what the big deal is anyway.  The big deal is that imprecision can lead to misunderstandings in doctrine.  And that IS a big deal.  Looseness in a recipe results in less than satisfactory food; laxness in doctrine might be enough to send someone down a wrong theological path.  When salvation is on the line I'll re-learn some new words.  For all the whining and complaining we will look back on these changes, scratch our collective heads, and wonder what the hu-hu was all about.

[To my one faithful reader--that I'm aware of anyway-- I say mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa for the huge hiatus between postings.  Chalk it up to laziness, dear lady.  I promise to try to do better.]

"Ten Years Tomorrow"

JMJ.  When I was a kid in high school I sat in my Latin class (back when they taught Latin in school) and heard the principal announce over the PA system that President John F. Kennedy had been shot.  All of us kids and our teacher were stunned.  I never would have thought that anything so momentous could ever happen again in my lifetime.  How wrong I was.

Ten years ago Muslim terrorists flew two jet-liners into the towers of the World Trade Center.  Once again America and the world were stunned.  Then we saw another hit the Pentagon.  And a plane that was to have hit the White House had it not been for a handful of heroes among her passengers plowed up the earth in a field in Pennsylvania.  I wonder how many of those Muslim souls were welcomed into the sweet embrace of the houris of paradise that day?  I do know that thousands of souls were confronted by their Maker most suddenly as a result of this violence. 

And still we welcome Muslim immigration into this country!  Christians are persecuted and murdered at Muslim hads in the Sudan, in Indonesion, and the Philippines.  In the Middle East and just recently in China.  Many areas of Europe are even under sharia law.  I know, I know.  This is just a small percentage of world Islam.  But just stop to think of the fact that just a small percentage of a billion people is one WHOLE lot of terrorists.  Wake up, Christendom.

"Praying"

JMJ.  I went to confession today.  Now, that's not that surprising but at the end, following Father's absolution of me, he said that he'd pray for me.  Well, of course I told him that I'd pray for him, too--and I do, daily.  What struck me just now, a couple hours later, is the big difference between the Christian Catholic and the secularist.  The latter would look at this anecdote and think, "Big deal, they cancel each other out."  The Christian would say, "Hallelujah!  The Lord will not only listen to them both but bless each of them for their charity."  I'm sure glad I'm Christian.  Amen.

"Another Protestant Prejudice"

JMJ.  Imagine, if you will, that God has a plan.  A plan which will accomplish the salvation of all mankind. I mean, He gives us free will and before the world is too much older we manage to give in to temptation and mess the whole program up.  And like any loving parent He has to come along behind us and clean up our mess.  Most anyone else would shake their head and say, "Duh, I'm just gonna start all over."  Not God, oh no.  He thinks we might have potential.

But His plan involves a woman; a girl, actually.  She lives in this tiny jerkwater hinterland of the mighty Roman Empire.  She's a little Jewish girl.  One fine day a messenger from God (after all, that's what angels are) appears to her.  He is so awesome that like every other instance of his appearances to humanity he has to preface everything by telling her not to fear him.  And he's not just any angel--he's the Archangel Gabriel who stands perpetually before the face of God.  He greets her with, "Hail, full of grace.  The Lord is with thee." 

Now that alone would make you wonder just how important this young woman is.  But then he goes on to say that (with her concurrence) she will bear the Anointed One, the Redeemer of Israel.  And on top of all that, the Holy Ghost is going to arrange for all this to happen in a way that it has never happened before--or since!  Now fast-forward a couple weeks or so.  Mary has been told by the angel that her kinswoman Elizabeth is also pregnant in a special way so Mary rushes to her aid.  She walks in Elizabeth's door and greets her.  Now, look carefully, Protestants.  Under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, Elizabeth asks Mary how she, the Mother of the Lord, could deign to bless Elizabeth with Her presence.  Not the unborn Lord's presence, mind you, but the Blessed Mother's!

I'll end this screed here and ask all you separated brethren, how can you still claim that Mary's only claim to fame is that She was the incubator for Jesus Christ?  The Blessed Virgin Mary, alone of all the billions of women to live in time is able to accomplish one stupendous thing--She enables the Creator of the universe to become something that He never was before--a human being.  And She's of little importance?

"An Idle Thought"

JMJ. I was on my way to check out paint swatches yesterday, driving down the road to our local Lowe's store about ten miles away. I was praying the Rosary although that's not unusual. I was using a rosary to count, though, and that is. Usually I just count in my head as I go along but I often miscount so the Blessed Mother sometimes gets 15 Hail Marys per decade instead of ten. Anyway, I had both hands on the wheel with the rosary in my left. I stopped at a red light and happened to look at the car next to me. It was driven by a 20-ish young man who had both hands on his wheel, too. He, though, was texting on his cell-phone as he sat there and then as he began to drive away when the light changed.

Unsafe? Of course. What struck me as ironic is that we represented two forces--the spiritual and the secular. Now, I'm not sitting in judgment on him or blowing my own horn. In fact, I'm not sure what the point is that I'm trying to make. Maybe just that we both chose different ways to make the drive productive. I think I'll continue to pray the Rosary.

"The Berea Water"

JMJ. There must be something really great in our Berea water supply. I was taking a shower the other day (I know, I do that from time to time) and I got an amazing insight into a passage from Holy Scripture. It's the verse from Luke dealing with the finding of the Child Jesus in the temple, to wit, chapter 2, verse 52. St. Joseph and the Blessed Mother found that Jesus was not present on their returning to Nazareth and returned to Jerusalem hoping that He had remained there. They found Him, discoursing with the learned ones in the Temple.

Now, as an FYI, I have been continually amazed lately at the number of people within the Church who feel that they may go around, teaching and conducting Church business as they see fit. In Cleveland, as only one example, our Bishop had closed a number of parishes which he felt were not productive. Many parishioners, understandably, were upset that their spiritual homes were being closed. In this instance the parishioners appealed to their pastor. They rented a commercial area which they now call their "worship space" and their pastor there administers the sacraments, in defiance of His Excellency.

Imagine my awe when I recalled the above-mentioned passage, "And He went down with them [St. Joseph and the Blessed Mother] and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them..." Do you see the enormity of this? Jesus had every reason to be there. After all, it was His Father's house. Although only twelve years old in time, Jesus--the second Person of the Blessed Trinity Who has existed for all eternity, is obedient to two of His creatures! Why? Because as His parents, they were in authority over Him!

By acting out of their own arrogance and hubris, so many bishops, priests, and laity place themselves superior (by their actions) to our Lord Jesus Christ because they will not accept the God-given authority of their superiors. One expects this of Protestants but it is sad to see it within our Church. Have mercy on us, Lord.

"The Woman In the Moon"

JMJ. I was walking the dog the other night. He gets a chance to smell smells, get a little exercise and use nature's facilities before I go to bed each night. The only time I mind it is during the winter when I can think of about a zillion other things I'd rather be doing. But Linus is a good dog and doesn't ask for much so I try to be charitable about it, regardless of the weather.

Anyway, I waited a little bit longer this night than usual and it was quite dark by the time we went out. It's a great time to think, BTW, and to pray a little, too. We hadn't gone more than a couple hundred feet and there it was, exploding before my very eyes in splendour--the moon, completely full and shining brightly in a cloudless sky. Yes, I think I could make out the "man in the moon" but it struck me how much more the moon reminds me of Our Lady. Now, like 95% of the stuff on this site, this is not original to me--I'm sure I read it somewhere else.

But it just hit me, I guess you could say. There she shone, in all her glory, immaculate in a gown of off-platinum, surrounded by the deepest blue. A beacon, if you will, to light our steps when the sun is not there to do so. To guide us from straying from the true path. How does She do this? By some innate power of Her own? Hardly! She does it by reflecting Her Son, our sun. It is His brightness, His refulgence, His majesty that supplies Her power. She is the mirror for us, taking rays from half a globe away and using them, dutifully, for His glory and our benefit. Think about that the next time you're out with the family mutt. Thanks, Linus. I owe you.