Dear Basto. When I approach the communion rails i find myself saying to The Lord, I bring with me my friends from MOG, Basto and Mac and Aviso and BH and Padraig and I name all I can remember. I will go on bringing you with me to Jesus through the approaching storm. Deus esteja com voce. Your brother in Communion with Christ. Joe
Hi Brian I may have posted this before but when St John Ogilvie, whose canonisation I attended in Rome, was standing on the scaffold facing a tortuous martyrdom he asked for prayers from the true Catholics in the crowd that had come to see his end but he added "the prayers of heretics I will not have." Now there's conviction.
The Novus Ordo mass came about in a funny , some would say providential way. Pope St John 23rd was visitng Rome as a Cardinal when there was a sudden violent rain storm. St John He took shelter in a shop doorway and a priest was there, a French Liturgist and as they were stuck there for quite a while lectured Saint John on the need to switch the liturgy to the secular. (I think St John was Apostolic Legate to France at the time) I wish it had not rained in Rome that day. Some would see it as the Hand of God.
Stormy weather.....sounds like a song. What you doin up at this time? I'm about to have sn afternoon nap.
60,000 Glasgow Celtic fans used to sing this at Parkhead also fondly known as Paradise along with "Hail Glorious St Patrick" A good wind up for the Rangers fans.
Another favourite hymn was "Faith of Our Fathers' It would have been great to hear these in America but they were rejected by the PC police many years ago as too jingoistic and one of the verses was often removed in later years: "Our Fathers chained in prisons dark were still in heart and conscience free. How sweet would be their childrens fate, if they like them could die for Thee." Looks like thst will happen soon enough.
This is the Faith to which I hold, the only Faith worth a tear, the only Faith worth a toss, the only Faith worthy of Truth. Thanks Padraig. I was a bit down. I know them all still after all these years. Great to here all the old favourites. Everyone knew the words and the melody. My God what have we lost. "Oh Mary we crown Thee with blossoms today, Queen of the Angels and Queen of the May." thus the MOG forum blesses our Blessed Mother. She needs no attacks on the Vicar of Her Son. Poor Aviso, I hope, like Joey, Our Blessed Mother, can promise him a day with new eyes. I wish I was home in Ireland. My cousin Maureen is going over to Scotland to spend a few days with mum. The Parish I first took our carving of Our Lady of Akita was Stella Maris in Waihi Beach where the gold mines are. It was from a bridge in these mines that the two pieces of timber from the same tree for the podium and the carving came. How symbolic is that: Mary the Bridge to Jesus and Jesus the Bridge to God. Truly a Bridge over Troubled Waters. "Lady of Knock my Queen of Peace" was new to me. Sweet Heart of Jesus is truly a wonderful prayer and like many of these hymns so personal in content and sentiment. Love the sax intro to "I'll sing a hymn to Mary" how these hymns exalt Her ! Canon Sydney McEwan was a frequent visitor to my Grandfathers home. He even visited here in New Zealand. And there was good old Daniel O'Donell. .." and on this morning bright though it be I feel those shadows near...yet You are always close to me."
Thanks picadillo, for your kind words and insight. After fighting these inside battles with some truly evil men, it probably does leave a mark on us and change the way we approach certain issues - even if we don't consciously realize it or admit it. An Irish bishop once quipped, "All heresies start below the belt." That might be painting with a broad brush but it sure seems to apply to the progressive agenda at this Synod. In the elections when the current guy in the White House was chosen, one of the EWTN personalities said more than half the USCCB voted for him. He was a known pro-abort! Someone at the conference this weekend asked why over half the US bishops would vote for a candidate so committed to the abortion agenda. I told her it was probably because so many of them live lives in which they are personally compromised. The same goes for opposition to the Traditional Latin Mass. Those whose lives are personally compromised hate the TLM because traditional moral (i.e., sexual) theology always accompanies the TLM and many of them harbor a conscious or subconscious loathing of both.
Hi Brian Pocadillo's comment about "the stench" of evil principalities brought to mind the first exorcism I witnessed. I was standing too close to the possessed man who was being restrained by six others and whose eyes were rolling and his head being flung in all directions spraying foam and drool from his mouth as he writhed. I got hit by some of this and for weeks could not get rid of the stench no matter how often I washed or what I used to try to smother the smell. Evil does indeed have a highly offensive stench and it sticks and lingers. But eventually it goes. When the man was delivered he had know idea what had happened or what he had gone through. It made me think in more realistic terms of the last line of The Lord's prayer. "Deliver us from evil." The Latin Mass is indeed a powerful antidote to evil. In fact contemporary exorcists have said the demons ridicule and ignore the modern vernacular rites of exorcism. I love the mass in both forms but it must be said and attended with reverence. It is the Commemoration of Calvary not a Sunday Social. My grand uncle Willie Dempsey S.J. lectured the Jesuit seminarians in Moral Theology and I am told his notes are still used by professors today. I still have the missal he used.
Farewell then Basto. I dont know you well but I appreciated your posts. I dont know who Padraig thinks follows MDM here , but I hope you are not one of them.
I just wanted to respond to the posts on this thread regarding Sedevacantism, as this stole away from me almost a year of my sacramental life. When I first was converted back to the faith a year and a half ago it was evident to me from the start that there were major problems going on in the Church and the world that I couldn't see before I had the gift of faith. Unfortunately when I came back and began searching on the web for information I quickly ran into Sedevacantist pages all over the place. For such a small group, they have a HUGE presence on the web. The most insidious problem is that they often don't say they are Sedevacantist right away. They often simply present themselves as “Traditional Catholics”. One of the major thrusts they push is that all of the changes to the sacraments made after Vatican II in effect eliminated those sacraments being valid. The fear of this made me put off going to confession for 10 months because I was worried the priest may not have had a valid ordination. To be honest this fear still plagues me at times even though I know it is not true. The Sedevacantists are poison. Avoid them at all costs. They come across at first as extremely knowledgeable and will quote Church council after Church council of extremely specific information to support their claims, but their arguments are all straw. It is like a house of cards, impressive when you first see it, but the slightest breeze will bring it all down. I am surprised God didn't give up on me as I bumbled around in these heresies for so long, but He is extremely patient. He knew I was looking sincerely and trying to figure things out. I am sure Mother Mary guided me through these things as she is the Destroyer of all Heresies. If anyone on here is struggling with the issue of Sedevacantism, feel free to drop me a line as I have wrestled with and been able to put this dog down. There is a lot of material available to handily disprove this heresy but it is not always easy to find. Incidentally on the idea of Benedict Sedevacantism, here is an excellent sermon. I think it is by an FSSP priest. It is called “Two Queen Bees”:
I like how the Tridentine Mass includes in its canon the female saints, Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia and Anastasia. A wonderful example of recognition and respect ratified by the Church.
Tridentine Mass has a special place in the church. But the new mass was needed to evangalize the world. Primarily by having the mass in all languages. The Holy Spirit had a plan...thats my problem with those that hate Vatican 2. The Holy Spirit was present Brother al
