HOLY DAYS of SEPTEMBER

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+Laus Deo!

Tuesday MRI

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On Tuesday the 24th of August I will have another MRI of my thoracic spinal cord to mark how much the syrinx has grown.  For people who suffer from syringomyelia, it is usually found that the syrinx is in the cervical spine.  My case is a bit unusual since the syrinx is in the mid to lower thoracic spinal cord and apparently has been with me since birth like the spina bifida in my lumbar vertebra.  When one reads up on it -- either from the Mayo Clinic or Wikipedia -- you get part of the story.  I found the ASAP website to be the most helpful in many ways as one who suffers from syringomyelia.

St. Gemma Galgani, pray for me.

Surgery may be in my future but up till now no recommended neurosurgeon has thought that wise given the risks involved.  I would be very grateful for your prayers for me (inside the little MRI tube) and prayers for wisdom for all of us as we decide what to do with the new information on the syrinx and its growth.

St. Gemma Galgani is the patron saint of those with back pain, spinal injuries, and related problems.  I ask St. Gemma, my dear sister in Christ, to intercede for me during this time of my great need.

+Kyrie eleison!

Feast of the Queenship of Mary

Ave Maria!

Mary, Queen, pray for us.

Although a fairly recent feast day instituted by Pope Pius XII, the Queenship of Mary is very important for those devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary as well as those devoted to her Rosary which recalls in the Glorious Mysteries her Coronation as Queen of Heaven and Earth.  

Ad caeli Reginam

Encyclical of Pope Pius XII on proclaiming 
the Queenship Of Mary, 11 October 1954.

An excerpt

From the earliest ages of the Catholic Church a Christian people, whether in time of triumph or more especially in time of crisis, has addressed prayers of petition and hymns of praise and veneration to the Queen of Heaven. And never has that hope wavered which they placed in the Mother of the Divine King, Jesus Christ; nor has that faith ever failed by which we are taught that Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, reigns with a mother's solicitude over the entire world, just as she is crowned in heavenly blessedness with the glory of a Queen.

+Laus Deo!

Sunday Morning in East Texas

Wherein the old preacher preaches to himself

[How grateful I am for my family and friends who through their prayers and sacrifices lower me through the roof into the Presence of Jesus.]

For me this Sunday is not very different from those before Hurricane Ike in Galveston.  The sun pours down bright and hot.  The wind blows and stops and blows again.  And I arise and seek to worship the Lord knowing that today I cannot make my way to Mass.  No, the body barely consents to sitting in a chair in our Library and watching (and praying) the Holy Mass from Irondale, Alabama broadcast on EWTN.  Without EWTN I would feel so cut off from the Church and the world in some ways.

But it is also true that last evening when I could watch no spiritually uplifting programme on television, when I could not hold up a book in my hands for spiritual reading, I prayed with all my heart to the Lord and had a sense of all heaven present with me in my little room as I prayed both the Rosary and from the heart.  I knew I was not alone.

Sometimes when you are closest to your goal -- whatever it might be -- you feel yourself a thousand million miles away from achieving it.  But I tell myself, 'Don't you stop, Vince.  You keep going until God Himself tells you to stop!'  

And it is this truth I declare from the pulpit of this blog this bright Sunday morning in East Texas:  You are never alone when you pray.  You are never alone when you talk to the Blessed Trinity, the saints and the angels.  All heaven is open to you and is with you no matter what you see in the physical world about you.  So now is not the time to give up!  Now is not the time to give up on God, on His Church, on your friends or yourself... Now is the time to raise up your hands to Jesus and offer Him everything, absolutely everything in what your life has been, in what your life is, and what your holiest desires intend it to become.

So don't you stop dreaming your heart's most holy desire.  Keep on advancing toward the goal you and God both know is before you, and do not stop till God says 'Stop.'  Actually God will say something far more wonderful to you:  Well done, my good and faithful servant.  Enter into the rest and the joy of the Lord.

You and I will hear these words some day, God willing and the creek don't rise (I told you I'm living in East Texas now, didn't I?) We ... We will hear these words spoken by the beautiful mouth of the Holy Face of Christ who longs to kiss us and  welcome us home to Heaven far more than we can desire to be with him.

Now to the King of the Ages, immortal, invisible, the only God 

be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. 

1 Timothy 1: 17

+Laus Deo!

Needing a Helping Hand

As readers know I am fully disabled and have enormous medical bills to pay.  The debts seem overwhelming to me though for most it would simply mean a budgetary strategy to retire the debt.  Since I cannot work, I have had to creatively rely on what little I have and borrow large amounts (large to me that is) from those I love.  As I continue to decline I find I need to humbly beg for your assistance.  No amount is too small, and I will be eternally grateful to those who shall have helped me.

My heart's desire is to retire these debts and then pursue religious consecration as an anchorite/hermit under Canon 603 in the Code of Canon Law for the Latin Church.  I have found a means to fulfil my vocation in my disabled state, but I need some help with these medical debts that have mounted over the last ten years, exceeding my capacity to pay.

Donations may be made by clicking on the PayPal 'Donate' button below or at the top of the blog.  Thank you for your consideration, and please keep me in your prayers.

+Christe eleison.

Eastern Nuns in Rome

Russian Byzantine-Rite Catholic Nuns

Thanks to Shawn Tribe of the New Liturgical Movement blog for pointing out to us this most interesting little video segment.

+Laus Deo!

Pentecost Pilgrimage

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Read the article with splendid images at AndrewCusack.com

My Hymn for Transfiguration

Hymn useful  for Transfiguration, Lent 2 (RC) &  Last Epiphany (Anglican)

O Christ the King, the royal banners rise.

Thy Cross, thy standard we raise to the skies,

And hail thee, “Lord!” and bow before thine eyes.

Praise to Jesus! All praise and glory!

Transfigured thou upon the mountain’s height

Revealed the glory of the Bridegroom’s face

And showed to them thy purpose and thy Light.

Praise to Jesus! All praise and glory!

The Cross, thy throne where thou wast lifted high

Embracing all the broken world’s dark heart

Till blood & water gushed when pierced was thine.

Praise to Jesus! All praise and glory!

Death could not hold thee, nor a tomb contain,

O Love and Life, who now from heav’n dost reign,

The King of kings, the Lord who healeth pain.

Praise to Jesus! All praise and glory!

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Copyright © 2007 by Vincent Uher

Noel Jones' beautiful new tune 'GALVESTON ISLAND' was written for this hymn text: PDF CLICK HERE.

The tune and text are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License, text by Vincent Uher, tune by Noel Jones.  This permits copying and sharing except for commercial purposes. Text originally ©2007 Vincent Uher.

Also, this text may be sung to the tune Sine Nomine

+Laus Deo!

Pater Noster: John August Pamintuan

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The University of the Philippines Madrigal Singers directed by Mark Anthony Carpio:

+Laus Deo!

Gulf of Mexico Children's Illnesses

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PRAY FOR THE CHILDREN OF THE GULF COAST!

REMEMBER not Lord our iniquities, nor the iniquities of our forefathers. Spare us good Lord, spare thy people, whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood, and be not angry with us forever. 

The 1637 Book of Common Prayer

 From an online New York Times article:

“More than a third report children with new rashes or breathing problems, or who are nervous, fearful or “very sad” since the spill began. And even though the gusher of oil has been stanched, almost a quarter of residents still fear that they will have to move.

“Those are some of the findings of the first major survey of Gulf Coast residents conducted since the BP well was capped. The survey, conducted from July 19 to 25 by the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, suggests that the spill’s effects have not been contained along with the oil itself.

" “There’s been a very overt effort by BP and the Coast Guard to project a sense that the crisis is over, but this is far from the case,” said Dr. Irwin Redlener, the director of the center and president of the Children’s Health Fund, a sponsor of the survey. “Our survey shows a persistent and overwhelming level of anxiety among families living near the coast, driven by both medical symptoms in their children as well as a substantial level of psychological stress.”

 Read the full article here.

From the 1637 Book of Common Prayer - "Laud's Book":

O LORD, look down from heaven, behold, visit and relieve these thy servants. Look upon them with the eyes of thy mercy, give them comfort and sure confidence in thee, defend them from the danger of the enemie, and keep them in perpetuall peace and safety through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

+ Kyrie eleison!

The Fashionable Concern of 'Self-fulfillment'

 

 

"Although in Liturgy and Personality von Hildebrand never uses the term self-fulfillment, the book's theme sheds light on this fashionable concern.  It shows that self-fulfillment is not something toward which one should strive.  It can only be attained indirectly as a consequence of striving for a worthy goal.  For (as he emphasizes repeatedly) the Liturgy develops our personality only when our attention is focused on God and on the proper worship of Him through the Liturgy.  As soon as our attention turns away from God and toward ourselves, that development ceases.

"Ironically, today's society generally measures the worthiness of a goal in terms of the self-fulfillment it promises.  This inverted standard leads husbands to leave wives, mothers to leave children, nuns and priests to leave religious life, and many others to search for self-fulfillment instead of for the service and due-response that alone brings self-fulfillment.  Because they have adopted a subjective standard (self-fulfillment), these persons have turned away from the objective world of values.  They find themselves spiritually impoverished and starving in a desert of their own choosing."

Alice von Hildebrand

Forward to the 1993 edition of

Liturgy and Personality

Dietrich von Hildebrand

Sophia Institute Press

+Laus Deo!

O Magnum Mysterium

John August Pamintuan

Alex was kind enough to send the link to Madz singing at Yale University. Madz are The University of the Philippines Madrigal Singers under the direction of the brilliant Mark Anthony Carpio. This live performance may whet your teeth for the album mentioned in the post below:

+ Laus Deo!