September 19: Feast of Our Lady of La Salette

Today we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of La Salette. When Our Lady appeared before two children, Maximin Giraud and Melanie Calvat, in 1846 in La Salette, France, she was weeping.

She asked the children to deliver a message to the people: to repent, amend their lives and return to the faith. She also gave to each child a secret which they were ordered not to reveal until a certain date. You can read about the revelations of the secret disclosed to Melanie Calvat on other websites.

The purpose of this short post is not to talk about the apparition, but to remind you to pray to Our Lady and to fast (tomorrow is Ember Friday), to do penance, perform works of charity (alms-giving, praying for the Church and the poor souls in Purgatory, having Masses said for the living and the dead), meditate, and amend your life.

Prayer to Our Lady of La Salette:

Remember, our Lady of La Salette, true Mother of sorrows, the tears which thou didst shed for me on Calvary; be mindful also of the unceasing care which thou dost exercise to screen me from the justice of God; and consider whether thou canst now abandon thy child, for whom thou hast done so much. Inspired by this consoling thought, I come to cast myself at thy feet, in spite of my infidelity and ingratitude. Reject not my prayer, O Virgin of reconciliation, convert me, obtain for me the grace to love Jesus Christ above all things and to console thee too by living a holy life, in order that one day I may be able to see thee in Heaven. Amen.

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Michaelmas Embertide 2019

The early autumn Ember Days are upon us again. Traditionally, Ember Days were not only days of fasting and penance, but also days on which Catholics prayed for the souls in Purgatory, gave alms and performed other charitable acts. During these difficult times in the Catholic Church, we should fast, go to Confession, do penance, pray and meditate.

Isn’t it odd how the Novus Ordo de-emphasizes fasting and penance? We need these more than ever in this wicked world. Fast and do penance not just for yourself, but for others: the souls in Purgatory; family members and friends who have fallen away from the Catholic faith or who are not Catholics; homeless people who have been abandoned by their families; people who live in war zones; those who are vulnerable – abandoned children, old people, disabled people.

We live in a time when money is universally worshipped and people are treated like objects, to be discarded at whim when they are no longer useful. While you are praying and fasting, make sure you do a thorough examination of conscience:

• Are you treating other people like objects? Think very carefully about this, and indeed meditate on it for at least 15 minutes. Go through the list of people in your daily life.
• Are you devoting enough time every day to prayer?
• If you were to show up at your particular judgement now, what would you have to say in your defence? Would it be credible? Can you picture Our Lord laughing at your pathetic excuses and then getting enraged because He has showered you with so many gifts and you have simply tossed them away? Can you imagine your terror when He sends you to Hell? (Yes, there is Hell, despite what Fr. Arturo Sosa, head of the Jesuits, says. Fr. Sosa thinks the Devil is a symbol. We can infer that Fr. Sosa believes that the Devil’s home, Hell, is also a symbol.)

A few things to read:

A primer on Ember Days: history and traditions

A detailed and beautiful explanation of Autumn Ember Days (Michaelmas Embertide)

Traditions around the Ember Days in Anglo-Saxon England

Here’s the post I wrote for 2018 autumn Ember Days, which includes a link to Fr. Chad Ripperger’s lecture about Ember Days.

Catholic calendar for this week:

September 18, 2019 (Wednesday): Ember Wednesday (FAST); feast of St. Joseph of Cupertino.

September 19, 2019 (Thursday): Feast of Our Lady of La Salette; St. Januarius and other martyrs

September 20, 2019: (Friday): Ember Friday (FAST); St. Eustace and other martyrs; vigil of St. Matthew (apostle and evangelist)

September 21, 2019 (Saturday): Ember Saturday (FAST); St. Matthew (apostle and evangelist)

My Prayer-Book (Happiness in Goodness) by Father Lasance: detailed review

This is a review of My Prayer-Book: Happiness in Goodness (Reflections, Counsels, Prayers and Devotions) by Rev. F.X. Lasance, first published in 1908. According to the description on Fraternity Publications website, this is a classic book of prayers and devotions, many with side-by-side Latin and English. It includes the Ordinary of the Mass, Reflections, Prayers & Devotions, Litanies, the Seven Penitential Psalms, Prayers for the Dead and much more.

But it is much more than a prayer book. The first 200 pages are devoted to reflections and counsels on how to be happy in the truly Christian sense of the word. They are useful particularly for meditation.

In the Introduction, Father Lasance says:

“In thought and tendency, My Prayer-Book purposes to be the embodiment of Christian optimism and altruism; the exponent of all that is helpful and invigorating in the Christian life — of whatever is calculated to promote man’s temporal and eternal welfare; it lays stress upon the fact that while the short cut to happiness is by way of self-renunciation, self-denial, self-conquest, self-control, in the following of Christ, nevertheless good cheer, heartfelt joy, and genuine happiness, far from being incompatible with the practice ofreligion, and of the Catholic faith in particular, are really the concomitant or rather the outgrowth and efflorescence of a virtuous Christian life.”

…

“My Prayer-Book aims to emphasize the fact that while being good we can enjoy in many ways this beautiful world which God has made for us, and which is truly a mirror of His own beauty and perfections; it aims to inculcate the lessons of nature; how all its beauties reflect the greatness and loving kindness of the Creator and should draw us to love our good God with a grateful heart.”

I bought My Prayer-Book because it is much lighter and less bulky than the New Roman Missal (which I have reviewed). My Prayer-Book contains many of the prayers in the New Roman Missal, as well as devotions. I travel frequently to many countries with only carry-on bags, therefore every gram counts.

If you already have the Roman Missal and want something more portable to take along with you in your daily life, then this is the book for you.

Pros:

• Published in 1908, it is untouched by the “spirit of Vatican II” and Bugnini.
• A vast number of prayers, devotions and litanies; 200 pages of reflections and counsels (useful for mental prayer/meditation).
• Lightweight (291 grams or 10.26 ounces) despite having 730 pages.
• Fits in a small purse and in your hand (10.5 cm x 16 cm x 2.25 cm) (4.13 in  x 6.3 in x 0.9 in).
• Hardcover leatherette protects against the cover being bent during my travels.

Cons:

• The paper is very thin and can tear easily, and the print on the other side of the page does show through.
• The book is a fairly inexpensive reprint, not an original printed edition.

Here are photos of My Prayer-Book:

(1) It is more compact than The New Roman Missal and fits in the palm of my hand.

(2) Screenshots of the first pages

Note how thin the pages are!

If you want to examine the book in detail before buying it, you can download a scanned book version of My Prayer Book (PDF Format) from archive.org.

Moral bankruptcy of techno-elites

The Epstein scandal has reached the shores of the techno-elites. The MIT Media Lab admitted that it has received donations from Epstein, even though Epstein was on a list of unwanted donors. Excerpt:

The Epstein scandal – including the latest revelation that Epstein might have channeled up to $8m (some of it, apparently, on behalf of Bill Gates) to the MIT Media Lab, while its executives were fully aware of his problematic background – has cast the digerati in a very different light. It has already led to the resignation of the lab’s director, Joi Ito.

This, however, is not only a story of individuals gone rogue. The ugly collective picture of the techno-elites that emerges from the Epstein scandal reveals them as a bunch of morally bankrupt opportunists. To treat their ideas as genuine but wrong is too generous; the only genuine thing about them is their fakeness. Big tech and its apologists do produce the big thoughts – alas, mostly accidental byproducts of them chasing the big bucks.

Read the full article:
Epstein scandal at MIT

Back from summer holiday even more energised about the Catholic faith

I am back from my summer holiday, full of energy, looking forward to my favourite season of all – autumn!

I have managed to ignore the nonsense coming out of the cult of Vatican II, despite having had access to the Twitter feeds of those who scream about the outrageous statements coming out of the mouths of the cult leaders. I chuckled to myself often, as I sipped red wine gazing out into the sunset. After all, what can I do? I can’t call a new conclave, beat the bishops and cardinals on the head and tell them to dump Vatican II or appoint a new pope. All I can do is to pray . . . and pray I did.

Here’s what my summer looked like.

(1) Greece and Turkey: chilling out along the water at sunset with a bottle of red wine and delicious Mediterranean food

Traveling from island to island, enjoying the sun and the sea

Visiting old churches such as the one in the photo below – the church of Agioi Apostoloi (Holy Apostles) on the island of Chios built in the 13th century.

Ephesus (below): Library of Celsus and Terraced Houses (well-preserved Roman houses with tiled floors)

(2) Alto Adige (Dolomites), Italy: hiking

Hiking in the Dolomites, one sees many roadside shrines and even stations of the cross that involve walking up hundreds of meters! Next time you complain about having to do the stations of the cross inside a church, ask yourself how people in the Dolomites could walk up 300 to 400 meters doing their stations of the cross.

Ah, the mountains!

Below is the church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Castelrotto

Interior of the church of Sts. Peter and Paul whose altar is obstructed by the ugly white Cranmer table

 

Taking a summer break plus summer reading list 2019

Dear readers, I am enjoying a summer break in the Mediterranean. That means swimming, swimming and more swimming. Daily sustenance: salads, grilled fish and vegetables, and wine (for lunch and/or dinner).

I may not post until September. Here is my summer reading list:

The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer, translated my Neville Coghill

The Spiritual Life and Prayer by Cecile de Bruyere

The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

The Summer of the Danes (Cadfael series) by Ellis Peters

Medieval Europe by Chris Wickham

Enjoy your summer! Don’t let the b*****ds grind you down. You know who I mean.

June is the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: recommended reading

After devoting the month of May to Our Lady, it is only fitting that we should devote the month of June to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The devotion to the Sacred Heart  began after the apparitions of Our Lord to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690) in Paray-le-Monial, France in the 17th century. Since then, Catholics have celebrated a feast day in honour of the Sacred Heart on the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi and dedicated the month of June to the devotion. In 1899, Pope Leo XIII consecrated the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The object of the devotion is the immense love of Jesus for us. We offer our prayers and meditations to His Sacred Heart in reparation for the ingratitude of mankind, for the insults against Him and for the coldness and hard-heartedness of many Catholics.

Worst of all is the profanation of the Eucharist in most Catholic churches around the world by Communion in the hand. When I was a young girl, we knelt at the Communion rail and received the Eucharist on the tongue. Now, at the Novus Ordo church I am forced to attend (because there isn’t a single Tridentine Mass in this country), people queue up and get the Eucharistic deposited in their greasy palms (it’s humid) and pop it into their mouths. Isn’t this sacrilege? I am the only one who kneels in front of the priest and receives the Host on the tongue. I will pray this month that Our Lord ends the horrific practice of Communion in the hand.

Other reasons to devote ourselves to the Sacred Heart: the disgusting sexual abuse committed by priests, coverups of abuse, the heretical pronouncements coming out of the mouths of cardinals, bishops and priests, and from the man who occupies the throne of Saint Peter. These men are keen on feeding the sheep to the wolves. Let’s pray to Our Lord to give them a whack on the head so that they’ll straighten out and do their duty.

This is what I am reading to deepen my devotion to the Sacred Heart. The book is called Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Father John Croiset published in 1863, now in public domain. You can download it for free on the Internet. I got mine from the Amazon Kindle store for 99 cents. There is also a print version.