ENJOY THE CLASSIC LENTEN HYMN "ATTENDE DOMINE"

Here are some wonderful versions of this penitential Lenten hymn  --  for your enjoyment and meditation:

Have a blessed Lent!

http://www.catholictradition.org/

A CHRISTMAS NATIVITY SCENE THAT GROWS!

I'm late in posting this for Advent 2015 but I feel compelled to share one of my favourite traditions.

Rather than 'setting up' or 'getting out' the whole creche there's a much more interesting way, one which begins on the first Sunday of Advent and doesn't end until January 6th, the Epiphany of Our Lord.

Week One:
The earth --
Prepare the table for the creche and (after placing some appropriate cloth for a surface) place some rocks around the area.  The rocks symbolize all the earth that Our Lord is coming to.
[Note:  In addition to this the Three Wise Men can begin their journey to see Jesus.  I start them in the east, usually atop the refrigerator.] 

 http://www.christmasinprescott.com/214512.html

Week Two:
Vegetation --
Place real or artificial greenery around the boarders (or inside if you have something small enough).  The greenery is to represent all the plant life growing on our planet.  The earth, all rock and growing things anxiously await the coming of the Word of God.

http://www.holemanlandscape.com/2013/12/20/holiday-greenery/

Week Three:
Animals --
Now we place the animal figurines that are appropriate for a stable in the creche.
Animal life is very important in the life of Jesus on earth.  He is, after all, the very Lamb of God!

 http://www.ebay.com/bhp/nativity-animals

Week Four:
People --
On the forth Sunday of Advent finally the human figures arrive on the scene.  Here we find Mary and Joseph and the shepherds.
The Three Wise Men are slowly making their way around the house as they follow the star.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/112587920/vintage-nativity-figurines-joseph-mary

Christmas Eve:
Our Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST!
Before or after Midnight Mass Jesus is placed in the manger.
Our Lord had arrived!

Image from https://outdoornativitystore.com

The Christmas season now begins.

 

Epiphany (January 6th):
The Three Wise Men --
The last to arrive on the scene are the Magi after their long journey (from the kitchen to the living room).
Christ is revealed to the world.

 

The creche is the last Christmas "decoration" I take down each year.

WHY IS CATHOLIC MUSIC SO BAD SINCE THE '70s? (I JUST FOUND OUT.)

Please see

The Hidden Hand behind Bad Catholic Music

 

This collection of products, however, does not include a hymnal — or anything else — designed to appeal to traditional sensibilities (its Heritage Hymnal is deceptively misnamed). The OCP’s experts never tire of promoting the new, rewriting the old, and inviting you to join them in their quest to “sing a new church into being” (as one of their hit songs urges). The one kind of “new” that the OCP systematically avoids is the new vogue of traditional music that has proved so appealing to young Catholics.

The bread and butter of the OCP are the 10,000 music copyrights it owns. It employs a staff of 150, runs year-round liturgy workshops all over the United States, sponsors affiliates in England and Australia, and keeps song-writers all over the English-speaking world on its payroll. In fact, it’s the preferred institutional home of those now-aging “St. Louis Jesuits” who swept out the old in 1969 and, by the mid-1970s, had parishes across the country clapping and strumming and tapping to the beat.

 

SPIRITUAL WAREFARE & 2015 CANADIAN FEDERAL ELECTION

This federal election on October 19th 2015 is a spiritual battle  --  one in which I do not see any "holy" outcome.
There is one issue that has been ignored by all federal parties with the exception of Mr. Trudeau's Liberal Party.

The issue?  OUR MOST FUNDIMENTAL HUMAN RIGHT. 

Along with the New Democrats and the Greens the Liberals have gone beyond attacking Canadians' right to live.
See

Anti-abortion candidates need not apply in 2015, Justin Trudeau says

 I am not a fan of Steven Harper but he has stood up, at times, to the abortion industry.  In 2010 he refused to tie the intrinsic evil of abortion to foreign aid.  

See 

Harper government's aid plan omits birth control

Unfortunately Mr. Harper is only interested in staying in power.  

Evil is permitted if it allows him to stay in power.

For instance, when MP Mark Warwa tried to introduce a motion on gender-specific abortions he was not allowed to speak.

Here lies the real problem with Canadian politics.  I doubt that the other party leaders would behave much differently.

See this article from Maclean's Magazine: 

Mark Warawa challenges the soul of our parliamentary democracy

Satan is certainly hard at work, especially since abortion has never been mentioned as an election issue.  Muslim women's face coverings have come into play but our fundamental right to life has not.

Come election day take these things to heart.  Pray earnestly.  Vote with some spiritual guidance, and remember that we cannot vote for intrinsic evil!

Voters Guide of Pro-life Candidates

 

This list only includes candidates from the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), Independents and the Christian Heritage Party. There are no supportable pro-life and pro-family candidates running for the Liberals or NDP parties, who require ALL candidates to support abortion-on-demand.
See list HERE

IF SEXUAL IMMORALITY SEEMS TO BE TAKING OVER THE WORLD, REMEMBER -- GOD HAS ALREADY WON!

http://www.virtualholyrosary.com/theGloriousMysteries.html

Every now and then, if we listen carefully, God speaks to us while praying the Rosary.

Tonight I received a call from a mother who's daughter is pregnant out of wedlock.
Thus, as I was trying to meditate on the First Glorious Mystery, the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus, my mind wandered onto the sexual immorality so pervasive in today's society. 
So often it seems like the Church has lost  --  that immorality is being accepted and normalized around the world.  Marriage is continually under attack.  The making and consuming of pornography is a way of life for many.  The twin evils of contraception and abortion are even accepted by some church-going Catholics.
All seems lost ...

Then one considers The Resurrection.
All seemed lot.
Jesus was killed, suffering a torturous and humiliating death on a Roman cross.
Jesus, however, is God.
Although truly dead Jesus rose from death and walked this earth in His glorious and resurrected body until He ascended into heaven in that same body.
God still rules.

No matter how lost things seem to be God is still in control.
Our main role to play?
Personal holiness.  Pray and fight for what is right ... and never loose hope.

Dominus vobiscum,
- Reg

http://gods411.blogspot.ca/2013/11/god-always-wins.html

Christ's Faithful Witness: The LGBT Agenda and the Triumph of Godlessness

Here's an excellent piece clearly setting forth what is really happening in our world.  It is well worth the read.





Christ's Faithful Witness: The LGBT Agenda and the Triumph of Godlessness: Christopher Ziegler

THE MOST PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS ONE CAN HAVE -- RECEIVE HIM ON YOUR TONGUE AT HOLY MASS!!

 http://www.traditionalcatholicpriest.com/

In the fullness of time God sent his messenger, the archangel Gabrielle, to a virgin in Israel with a stupendous announcement.  She was to become the Mother of God! 

 
Jesus was born, grew into manhood, spent three years in his ministry, and, in the end, suffered and died for us  --  to save us from an eternity in hell ... if we choose to accept him fully.

Jesus did not leave us alone.  Not only did the Holy Ghost come to guide His Church but Jesus, having risen from the dead, left us with his Body and Blood whenever his apostles and their successors consecrate bread and wine.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  
What an amazing thing that Jesus left for His Bride the Church.  He left His very Self for us.

We are often reminded by our more Evangelical friends the need for a personal relationship with Jesus.  We need to meet Our Lord in prayer.  We need to ask our heavenly family to intercede for us.  We need to change our whole lives to be Christ centred.

See John Chapter 6.
The truth in the original teaching about Holy Communion has been well summed up at My Flesh is Real Meat, My Blood is Real Drink

"  There are so many important things said on the subject in this passage that verses 50-60 are listed here: This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh." The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever." This he said in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" Those who believe that Holy Communion is a mere symbol, hold a question in their minds similar to that of the Jews who said, “How can he give us his flesh to eat?” How he did this may be a mystery but Jesus made it clear that this is exactly did. If there were any doubt as to what he was saying it is removed when he says, “ My flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.” There is nothing more that he could have said if he had wanted to indicate an actual presence rather than a symbolic one. However if he had intended to leave behind only a symbolic presence, he could have stated it much more clearly. He could have said: this represents my Body or my Blood. However, that’s not what was said. The Jews knew that Christ literally meant what he had said, and so in disbelief they abandoned him in verse 66. It insults the intellect to believe that the Jews would have left merely over a symbol.  "

 [Emphasis mine.]

At each and every Catholic Mass (and at every Orthodox Divine Service) what had been bread and wine are now the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
When the priest places the Host on your tongue you are actually receiving the God of the Universe.  The Second Person of the Holy Trinity, the very Word of God.
What can be more intimate than that?
Christ humbles himself so much because he has so much love for us!

There we are, God’s army being fed with His very flesh.  Each soldier is being refreshed.  Plus we are in communion.  We are being both unified and strengthened.

That leaves us with a great responsibility.
We HAVE to be prepared.  Do we expect God, who IS good, to come into us when we are dead to him?

Don’t be afraid to not receive at every Mass.

There are times in our lives when we are going through rough times with those we love.  We may be (at the time of Mass) still harbouring feelings of anger or perhaps even hatred.  Sometimes we may be concerned that we are in a state of mortal sin.

We must still go and assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass but we must not present ourselves to receive Our Lord unworthily.  We can still receive "Spiritual Communion":  When the priest receives the precious Body and Blood of Jesus we too can receive spiritually.

[ I do wish this was preached from the pulpit. ]

Dear Lord, may I receive you in this Communion With open arms, And a loving, contrite heart, So that I may be filled with Your grace, For my good and Your glory! Amen.

http://copiosa.org/mass/transubstantiation.htm