A Dorset Carol

+

“Awake and join the cheerful choir”

Please click (or perhaps double-click) on the image above to see it enlarged.

+

My hymn: 'Sing of Mary, Blest is She'

My hymn text "Sing of Mary, Blest is She" has proven more and more popular over the years since I first wrote it. I have not charged any fee to use it so long as it is not reproduced for commercial use. (Feel free to contact me about any other commercial arrangement by writing to me at vincentuher3 @ gmail.com )  I have wanted God's people to have this hymn as freely as God inspired me to write it.

Here is a link to my text set to the well-known tune for 'Good King Wenceslas' — TEMPUS ADEST FLORIDUM, Piae Cantiones.

Please click below for my hymn text: 

 SING OF MARY, BLEST IS SHE

God bless all who shall sing this hymn and all who love the Holy Family!

+Laus Deo!

Ave Maria by Dawid Kusz, OP

+

Ave Maria by Dawid Kusz, OP

Coro de Cámara Patagonia (CCP) / Eduardo Andrés Malachevsky, cond. (http://www.malachevsky.com.ar) 

3 November A.D. 2013 at the Trappist Cistercian Monastery of 

Nuestra Señora de los Angeles (Argentina)

+

O Radix Jesse

+

+

Keeping Advent Prayerful

+

A Prayer

+

a prayer from the Liturgy

of the Catholic Apostolic Church

(Irvingite)

+

Beautiful Music for Advent

+

Radio Walsingham Online broadcasts inspired music for the Advent Season.  

One can listen for free... but there will be some commercial interruptions by Live365.com.  For a small price, one can purchase a VIP membership and listen without any commercial interruption.  I highly recommend the VIP membership.

It is wonderful to listen to this selection whether at work, school, or home.  Please click here to enjoy!

+

ADVENT BLESSINGS

+

For most of the Western Church Advent Sunday is the start of the Chuch's liturgical new year.  

So Happy New Year!  

Below I share with you something Pro Multis Media sent to me by email today that in a succinct way gives a synthesis of the propers and lections for Advent Sunday in the Vetus Ordo:

Commentary for the Readings

in the Extraordinary Form

First Sunday of Advent

"There will be signs in the . . .(heavens). . .and upon the earth, distress of nations. . .they will see the Son of Man coming. . .lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand" (Gospel).

On His second Advent at the end of the world Jesus will come in the fullness of Divine Power. Then will we be obliged to accept Him as King of Justice. So today let us begin to prepare for this year's anniversary of His first Advent as King of Mercy.

Because His coming is "nearer" we are warned to "rise from sleep,. . .lay aside the works of darkness. . .and put on he Lord Jesus Christ" (Epistle).

Aware of the dangers ahead during this preparation, we call upon His "power" to protect us (Prayer) and to "cleanse us" (Secret). Finally, we promise to "prepare with due reverence for the coming festival" (Postcommunion).

Excerpted from My Sunday Missal, Confraternity of the Precious Blood

A Blessèd Advent to All

+

Paul Jernberg's Mass of Saint Philip Neri

+

+

A Blessèd Thanksgiving

+

I pray for the Lord's blessings to be upon all who keep a day of Giving Thanks to Almighty God.

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage; We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favour and glad to do thy will. Bless our land with honourable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogancy, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Book of Common Prayer

1928   [USA]

+

Pope Francis: Christ the King Homily

+

With the excellent news of Cardinal Sarah's appointment to the Curia, I am most happy to post the following homily by the Holy Father:


Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis
Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
23 November A.D. 2014

Today’s liturgy invites us to fix our gaze on Christ, the King of the Universe. The beautiful prayer of the Preface reminds us that his kingdom is “a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace”. The readings we have listened to show us how Jesus established his kingdom; how he brings it about in history; and what he now asks of us.

First, how Jesus brought about his kingdom: he did so through his closeness and tenderness towards us. He is the Shepherd, of whom the Prophet Ezekiel spoke in the First Reading (cf. 34:11-12, 15-17). These verses are interwoven with verbs which show the care and love that the Shepherd has for his flock: to search, to look over, to gather the dispersed, to lead into pasture, to bring to rest, to seek the lost sheep, to lead back the confused, to bandage the wounded, to heal the sick, to take care of, to pasture. All of these are fulfilled in Jesus Christ: he is truly the “great Shepherd of the sheep and the protector of our souls” (cf. Heb 13:20; 1 Pt 2:25).

Those of us who are called to be pastors in the Church cannot stray from this example, if we do not want to become hirelings. In this regard the People of God have an unerring sense for recognizing good shepherds and in distinguishing them from hirelings.

After his victory, that is after his Resurrection, how has Jesus advanced his kingdom? The Apostle Paul, in the First Letter to the Corinthians, says: “for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet” (15:25). The Father, little by little, subjects all to the Son and, at the same time, the Son subjects all to the Father. Jesus is not a King according to earthly ways: for him, to reign is not to command, but to obey the Father, to give himself over to the Father, so that his plan of love and salvation may be brought to fulfilment. In this way there is full reciprocity between the Father and the Son. The period of Christ’s reign is the long period of subjecting everything to the Son and consigning everything to the Father. “The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Cor 15:26). And in the end, when all things will be under the sovereignty of Jesus, and everything, including Jesus himself, will be subjected to the Father, God will be all in all (cf. 1 Cor 15:28).

The Gospel teaches what Jesus’ kingdom requires of us: it reminds us that closeness and tenderness are the rule of life for us also, and that on this basis we will be judged. This is the great parable of the final judgement in Matthew 25. The King says: “Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me” (25:34-36). The righteous will ask him: when did we do all this? And he will answer them: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40). 

The starting point of salvation is not the confession of the sovereignty of Christ, but rather the imitation of Jesus’ works of mercy through which he brought about his kingdom. The one who accomplishes these works shows that he has welcomed Christ’s sovereignty, because he has opened his heart to God’s charity. In the twilight of life we will be judged on our love for, closeness to and tenderness towards our brothers and sisters. Upon this will depend our entry into, or exclusion from, the kingdom of God: our belonging to the one side or the other. Through his victory, Jesus has opened to us his kingdom. But it is for us to enter into it, beginning with our life now, by being close in concrete ways to our brothers and sisters who ask for bread, clothing, acceptance, solidarity. If we truly love them, we will be willing to share with them what is most precious to us, Jesus himself and his Gospel.

Today the Church places before us the example of these new saints. Each in his or her own way served the kingdom of God, of which they became heirs, precisely through works of generous devotion to God and their brothers and sisters. They responded with extraordinary creativity to the commandment of love of God and neighbour. They dedicated themselves, without holding back, to serving the least and assisting the destitute, sick, elderly and pilgrims. Their preference for the smallest and poorest was the reflection and measure of their unconditional love of God. In fact, they sought and discovered love in a strong and personal relationship with God, from whence springs forth true love for one’s neighbour. In the hour of judgement, therefore, they heard that tender invitation: “Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Mt 25:34).

Through the rite of canonization, we have confessed once again the mystery of God’s kingdom and we have honoured Christ the King, the Shepherd full of love for his sheep. May our new saints, through their witness and intercession, increase within us the joy of walking in the way of the Gospel and our resolve to embrace the Gospel as the compass of our lives. Let us follow in their footsteps, imitating their faith and love, so that our hope too may be clothed in immortality. May we not allow ourselves to be distracted by other earthly and fleeting interests. And may Mary, our Mother and Queen of all Saints, guide us on the way to the kingdom of heaven. Amen.

“Pray, hope, and don’t worry.” – St. Pio of Pietrelcina

+

The Civilisation Cycle

+

The following (identified by Alexander Fraser Tyler) is the cycle for the rise and fall of civilisations:

“From bondage to spiritual faith; 

from spiritual faith to great courage; 

from great courage to liberty; 

from liberty to abundance; 

from abundance to selfishness; 

from selfishness to complacency; 

from complacency to apathy; 

from apathy to dependence; 

and from dependence back again to bondage.”

Alexander Fraser Tyler

The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Empire

+