Saturday, February 28, 2009

First Sunday of Lent: "he remained in the desert for forty days"

"The Gospels speak of a time of solitude for Jesus in the desert immediately after his baptism by John. Driven by the Spirit into the desert, Jesus remains there for forty days without eating; he lives among wild beasts, and angels minister to him. (Cf. Mk. 1:12-13) At the end of this time Satan tempts him three times, seeking to compromise his filial attitude toward God. Jesus rebuffs these attacks, which recapitulate the temptations of Adam in Paradise and of Israel in the desert, and the devil leaves him 'until an opportune time.' (Lk 4:13)" (CCC 438)

"The evangelists indicate the salvific meaning of this mysterious event: Jesus is the new Adam who remained faithful just where the first Adam had given in to temptation. Jesus fulfills Israel's vocation perfectly: in contrast to those who had once provoked God during forty years in the desert, Christ reveals himself as God's Servant, totally obedient to the divine will. In this, Jesus is the devil's conqueror: he 'binds the strong man' to take back his plunder. (Cf. Ps 95:10; Mk 3:27) Jesus' victory over the tempter in the desert anticipates victory at the Passion, the supreme act of obedience of his filial love for the Father." (CCC 539)

As a desert is a place we associate with thirst, a desire for the water to quench that need, so life becomes for us a desert when our longing for "something" remains unsatisfied after consuming things, people, money, drugs, alcohol or pornography.

Our experience of "longing" is quenched only by the One in whom we find the source of the waters of life-giving grace: the heavenly Father in Christ who gives the Holy Spirit.

Longing for something? Maybe it's God.

((((..))))

Meeting Christ in the Liturgy offers a reflection for the First Sunday of Lent.

(Art: Temptation of Christ (The Temptation on the Mount). Maestà by Duccio di Buoninsegna, Tempera on wood, 214 x 412 cm Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena.)

Friday, February 27, 2009

((((..)))) Request for prayers

A special intention.

Thank you.

Liturgy is "Given"

"Liturgy thus should be considered a treasure 'given' to the Church, not created by it. The fact of the steady growth of liturgical traditions along its bi-millennial history, and the surprisingly harmonious and natural way in which it has happened, is proof of the work of the Holy Spirit and the surpassing nobility of its contents. It is like a tree, which continues to grow, at times shedding its leaves, at other times being pruned to become stronger and straighter, but always remaining the same tree. Sacred Liturgy has undergone a similar process of growth but never a new beginning, right from the earliest times even until now — and so it will be even in the future because it is Christ Himself who through His Mystical Body, the Church, has continued to exercise His priestly office."

-- Abp Malcolm Ranjith

For more, read Toward an Ars Celebrandi in Liturgy by Abp Ranjith. Photo from Rorate Caeli.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

"Rend your hearts"

"Jesus' temptation reveals the way in which the Son of God is Messiah, contrary to the way Satan proposes to him and the way men wish to attribute to him. This is why Christ vanquished the Tempter for us: 'For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sinning.' By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert." (CCC 540.)

Meeting Christ in the Liturgy offers a reflection for Ash Wednesday.

(Photo by mictl: View of Euphrates River and Iraqi desert from Marine aircraft.)

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

"do not let your left hand know what your right is doing"

Lent is the time of returning:

"Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning"
-- Joel 2:12-18

Penance is the "path" of return and an opportunity to stay in silence: "do not blow a trumpet before you".

The grace of one's self-offering is increased when kept a "secret" shared only with the Beloved:

"Take care not to perform righteous deeds
in order that people may see them"
-- Mt 6:1-6, 16-18

Grace abounds through penance which gives the reward of joy:

"But when you give alms,
do not let your left hand know what your right is doing,
so that your almsgiving may be secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you."

((((..)))) mcitl

(Photo by Alessia Pierdomenico/Reuters: Cardinal Stafford receives ashes from Cardinal Sodano, Ash Wednesday, 2005, Rome.)

Monday, February 23, 2009

"They will hate you"

"You do not belong to the world." We are Christ's and Christ is God's.

"I have called you out of the world." The "calling out" of God's people is his flock, the Church, sacred to Him and holy for the sake of the salvation of the world.

Our Holy Father Benedict presses forward in his mission to "restore the sacred" in liturgy, the nexus between the sacredness of God in Christ, through the action of the Spirit in the Church, and life. The liturgy is sacred because our worship and meeting with the royal Priest: "The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty."

The spirit of worldly idolatry, of "hate", is cast out by the Holy One, surrounded by His holy people:

"Jesus, on seeing a crowd rapidly gathering, rebuked the unclean spirit and said to it, 'Mute and deaf spirit, I command you: come out of him.' "

The continuity of Vatican II, with the whole tradition of the sacred, has yet to be fully implemented. The agenda of the destroyers of the sacred, the haters of the Holy One, is now in danger. The worldly reaction of attack, slander and vituperation betray this worldly spirit and agenda.

The serenity and love of Christ, pinned upon the Cross by the hatred of the world, is with all of those who join spiritual forces to restore the sacred together with our Holy Father. "...his disciples asked him in private,' Why could we not drive the spirit out?' He said to them, 'This kind can only come out through prayer.'"

Let His holy Church grow in the holiness of the Spirit, crying out together with Him and all martyrs, "Father, into Thy Hands I commend my Spirit."

((((..)))) mcitl

(Photo by archsculpt of work by Lee Lawrie at Church of Saint Vincent Ferrer, NYC.)

Are you longing for something?


Sunday, February 22, 2009

Faith: Obedience To Letter And Spirit

Our Holy Father Benedict is reaping the bitter harvest sown through many years of rebellion and disobedience in the Church.

The imple­mentation of the contents of the Vatican II documents that was eviscerated by a “ spirit” invoked in the name of that same council was the inheritance of an unsuspecting Pope John XXIII. A widespread revolt against the teaching of Hu­manae Vitae on the moral evil of contraception further deepened this spirit of revolt through the pontificate of the suffering Pope Paul VI, who de­cried the “ smoke of Satan” in the “ sanctuary of the Church.”

Now, the revelations of misjudgment by some officials in the Vatican in their admiration for Fr. Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, have come to an embarrassing finale, as Maciel is now known to have fathered a child while living a double life. This is following earli­er reports of other sexual sins on his part. Although Benedict moved quickly soon after he was elect­ed to mitigate the damage by ordering Maciel to remove himself from public life, we now know the full extent of the betrayal of which this man was capable.

Thousands of members of the Legion and its lay movement, Regnum Christi, must now figure out how to go forward. It is a movement without a prime mover because it is a spiritual family with­out a spiritual head. May they enjoy the prayers and best wishes of all as they seek God’s will in the midst of bitter disappointment.

Also, in these days, Austria and Germany are erupting. Make no mis­take about it, the fierce outcry against the Holy Father’s episcopal appointments and initiatives to bring unity within the Church are a personal attack. God have mercy upon all those who be­tray the faith of Jesus Christ our Lord and His true Vicars on earth, Benedict and his Predeces­sors.

Our Holy Father Benedict has declared war against an orthodoxy that exists only on paper, but not in liturgy or life. For years we have produced many orthodox catechisms and documents, while the liturgy is gutted, manipulated, and deformed into an unrecognizable mess. This ruin of the Church’s prayer has resulted in a ruin of the Church’s life, with Catholics leaving a Church which appears to have abandoned the cross in droves for other versions of a Christianity without the cross, of which there are many.

A betrayal of the cross of Christ is a betrayal against the Church herself, an evisceration of the Body of Christ which must be faithful to the whole Gospel or to none of it. There is no middle way: “ If you are lukewarm I will spit you out of my mouth.”

Benedict XVI has declared war on the toothless version of Christianity that has gutted Holy Mother Church in the name of a supposed “ spirit of Vati­can II” which has laid waste to the praxis of Holy Faith in liturgy and life. There is no such thing as a “ spirit of the Vatican Council” which sets itself up in opposition to the letter of that same council without disastrous results.

Daily public obedience is manifested by the docile and holy spirit of priests and people who receive the liturgy from Holy Mother Church as it is given and celebrate it correctly with joy and grat­itude. This must be joined to a constant desire to grow in the knowledge of the true faith as handed down by our Holy Father, through the Catechism of the Catholic Church and magisterial teachings.

Pray for the Holy Father. God grant him strength in the battle, length of life and victory over his enemies.

((((..))))

(Fr Cusick's column A Leaven in the World appears weekly in The Wanderer. Photo by CNS/Catholic Press.)


Saturday, February 21, 2009

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time: "Pick up your mat."

The man who picks up his mat has been liberated. Freedom from sin opens one to the future and indicates the path to authentic fulfillment.

Suffering the paralysis of sin, indifference, irreverence or lack of respect for the sacred?

Make a space: one who breaks down the barrier between self and God by bowing humbly beneath God's mighty hand will be raised high in the grace of living Faith. In the holy Mass, through bowing, genuflecting, singing, praying and sacred silence all find a space for meeting Christ.

Come into contact with the living God: In the sacred liturgy, all can come with the help of the community, bearing the paralyzed upon the litter of disbelief, indifference, and irreverence through the barriers, broken down with the help of others, that have prevented vital contact with the living and saving God in Jesus Christ.

"By the same charity that it enkindles in us, the Eucharist preserves us from future mortal sins. The more we share the life of Christ and progress in his friendship, the more difficult it is to break away from him by mortal sin. The Eucharist is not ordered to the forgiveness of mortal sins -- that is proper to the sacrament of Reconciliation. The Eucharist is properly the sacrament of those who are in full communion with the Church." (CCC 1395)

Meeting Christ in the Liturgy offers a reflection for the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time.

((((..)))) mcitl

(Art: Netherlandish 16th Century, The Healing of the Paralytic, c. 1560/1590. Chester Dale Collection 1943.7., National Gallery of Art)

Thursday, February 19, 2009

"Fill the earth"

The anti-gospel of overpopulation is an abomination, for God wills that the earth "be filled" with humanity, the crown of His creation:

"God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them:
'Be fertile and multiply and fill the earth

...from one man in regard to his fellow man I will demand an accounting for human life.

If anyone sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed;
For in the image of God
has man been made.

Be fertile, then, and multiply;
abound on earth and subdue it.' "
Gn 9:1-13

Contraception is a sin committed against God's "future creatures" who, like all of humanity, are called to find their glory and salvation as they are given life and therefore may also "praise the LORD":

"Let this be written for the generation to come,
and let his future creatures praise the LORD:
'The LORD looked down from his holy height,
from heaven he beheld the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoners,
to release those doomed to die.' "

Ps 102:16-18, 19-21, 29 and 22-23

May God free all of those "doomed to die", "prisoners" of the cult of Death, who hate the lives of those to be born, the infant in the womb and the child-yet-to-be-conceived. May God's rebuke of the agents of the evil of the cult of Death bring their correction, that they may learn to think as God does:

"Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do."

Mk 8:27-33

The Vatican statement on Nancy Pelosi's meeting yesterday with Benedict XVI:

"His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church's consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death which enjoins all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in cooperation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development," the Vatican wrote, having released the statement moments before the two met.

((((..)))) mcitl

(Art: Calling of Saints Andrew and Peter, by Caravaggio.)

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Catholicism all frills and no substance? No thanks, Nancy!

Nancy,
Who is engaging in avoidance behavior here? There is no middle way: all the papal audiences in the world, today and in 1950, do not a good Catholic make if you advocate the slaughter of the innocents through abortion and contraception.

((((..))))

"Pelosi, Pope Have No Meeting of the Minds

"It would appear from the two statements issued by the Vatican and the speaker's office that Nancy Pelosi and Pope Benedict did not share the same views during her audience with the pontiff.

FOXNews.com

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

"U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican Wednesday morning, but may not have had a meeting of the minds if the two statements from their offices are any indication.

No journalists were at the 15-minute encounter and the Vatican and the speaker's offices have not released any photos. However, according to their statements it appears the pope and the politician attended two different get-togethers.

"His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church's consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death which enjoins all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in cooperation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development," the Vatican wrote, having released the statement moments before the two met.

Several hours later, Pelosi's office gave her take on the tete-a-tete.

"It is with great joy that my husband, Paul, and I met with his Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI today," Pelosi said in a statement released hours after the meeting. "In our conversation, I had the opportunity to praise the Church's leadership in fighting poverty, hunger and global warming, as well as the Holy Father's dedication to religious freedom and his upcoming trip and message to Israel. I was proud to show his Holiness a photograph of my family's papal visit in the 1950s, as well as a recent picture of our children and grandchildren."

The pontiff has a long history of urging Catholic politicians to toe the line on abortion, and has said that those who don't shouldn't take communion. Pelosi supports abortion rights and says she's never been denied communion at her church in San Francisco.

In 2002, the Vatican issued a doctrinal note on "The Participation of Catholics in Political Life," which states rather succinctly that politicians who profess to be Catholic have a "grave and clear obligation" to oppose any law that attacks human life.

That note was approved by John Paul II but signed by none other than Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. He's now the pope.

The speaker does not share that belief, and even got into a verbal slugfest with American bishops last August after her statements on a news program about the Church's view of when life begins.

"I would say that as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time. And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition. And St. Augustine said at three months, we don't know. The point is, is that it shouldn't have an impact on the woman's right to choose," she said at the time on NBC's "Meet the Press."

She then added that the Church has only held the view for 50 years or so that life begins at conception. The remarks earned her widespread corrections by Catholic clerics."

FOX News' Greg Burke contributed to this report.

Monday, February 16, 2009

"No sign shall be given"

"This generation" has no need of signs.

In the presence of the reality all need for signs passes away: this generation witnesses that, in Christ, God now gives Himself.

"No sign shall be given except the sign of Jonah." Luke 11:29. Christ has died, Christ is Risen, Christ will come again.

"My Flesh is real food and my Blood real drink." John 6:55.

Oremus pro invicem

Requesting your prayers for Debbie R., a regular MCITL reader and proud mother of a member of The Liguori Society, who undergoes surgery today.

Thank you.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Novena for the Holy Father

Pray for the Pope
February 14 - 22

Join in prayer with all the members of the Fraternity of Saint Peter who are being asked to offer the following novena beginning on February 14 and concluding on the feast of the Chair of St. Peter. All the faithful in the Apostolates are encouraged to join in these prayers and that the Masses on that Sunday (Quinquagesima) would be offered for this intention as well.


Novena for the Pope:

Pater Noster, 3 Ave Maria, Gloria Patri


Our Father, 3 Hail Marys, Glory be.

V. Orémus pro Pontífice nostro Benedícto.
R. Dóminus consérvet eum, et vivíficet eum, et beátum fáciat eum in terra, et non tradat eum in ánimam inimicórum eius.


V: Let us pray for our Pope Benedict.
R: May the Lord preserve him, and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies.

V. Tu es Petrus.
R. Et super hanc petram ædificábo Ecclésiam meam.


V. Thou art Peter,
R. And upon this Rock, I will build My Church.

Orémus.
Omnípotens sempitérne Deus, miserére fámulo tuo Pontífici nostro Benedícto : et dírige eum secúndum tuam cleméntiam in viam salútis ætérnæ : ut, te donánte, tibi plácita cúpiat, et tota virtúte perfíciat. Per Christum Dóminum nostrum. R. Amen.


Let us Pray,
Almighty and everlasting God, have mercy upon your servant, Benedict, our Sovereign Pontiff, and guide him in your goodness on the way of eternal salvation; so that, with the prompting of your grace, he may desire what pleases you and accomplish it with all his strength. Through Christ Our Lord. R. Amen.

Mater Ecclésiæ, ora pro nobis.
Sancte Petre, ora pro nobis.

(With thanks to Rorate Caeli for photo and story.)


V. Mother of the Church. R. Pray for us
V. St. Peter. R. Pray for us


"Go, show yourself to the priest."

"Go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded." (Mark 1, 44)

Some say that priesthood is a creation of the Church and that Christ did not intend to make a priesthood. Here he acknowledges the Levitical priesthood, which he raised up and made perfect by his own sacrifice, creating an eternal priesthood which shall not pass away. The bodily healing of the stain of leprosy is a sign of the perfect healing of redemption made once for all by Christ the High Priest.

The one priesthood of Christ

"Everything that the priesthood of the Old Covenant prefigured finds its fulfillment in Christ Jesus, the 'one mediator between God and men.' (1 Tim 2:5) The Christian tradition considers Melchizedek, 'priest of God Most High,' as a prefiguration of the priesthood of Christ, the unique 'high priest after the order of Melchizedek'; (Heb 5:10; cf. 6:20; Gen 14:18) 'holy, blameless, unstained,' (Heb 7:26) 'by a single offering he has forever perfected for all time those who are sanctified,' (Heb 10:14) that is, by the unique sacrifice of the cross." (CCC 1544)

"The redemptive sacrifice of Christ is unique, accomplished once for all; yet it is made present in the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Church. The same is true of the one priesthood of Christ; it is made present through the ministerial priesthood without diminishing the uniqueness of Christ's priesthood: 'Only Christ is the true priest, the others being only his ministers.' (St. Thomas Aquinas, Hebr. 8, 4)" (CCC 1545)


Meeting Christ in the Liturgy offers a reflection for the Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time.

(Art: Christ healing a leper, REMBRANDT Harmenszoon van Rijn, C. 1657-60, Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam.)

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Of meekness and weakness

"Nothing emboldens more the audacity of the naughty ones than the weakness of kind people."

-- Leo XIII, encyclical Sapientæ Christianæ, January 10th, 1890

Monday, February 9, 2009

Requiescat in pace: Eluana Englaro


A victim of the cult of death, which decides who has the right to life and who must die so that others may live as they want.

May she rest in peace.

Vatican to the world: Eluana's Death is Not the Last Word.

Please pray for those who are tempted to take the lives of family members who depend completely upon others for their care.

Story here.

Of "maximum determination" in the cause for Life


"Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights -- for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture -- is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination."

--Pope John Paul II

Do we not see that there is a mystery in the Church, that here on earth both grow together, those capable only of "the common outcry" and those who seek in "maximum determination" to do and to be more?

Yes, we see that there are those who join in the "common outcry", capable only of certain matters of justice and who will disregard the abortion issue through recourse to the myth of the "seamless garment". And we see also those "of maximum determination" who stand ready to join generously in the struggle, inspired by love, for the sake of the most vulnerable and innocent in our midst, the unborn child. And is not this Church "of maximum determination" called to be willing to give up even health, home and work, if necessary, in order to defend life in the womb and family and a Godly culture?

There are, tragically, Catholics among us who cling only to "the common outcry" and lacking in the "maximum determination" that seeks to use every means at their disposal, including the privilege to vote, in order to further the cause of pre-born human life.

God have mercy upon us.

-MCITL

Saturday, February 7, 2009

"He went off to a lonely place"

Priests and religious men and women also go "off", away from the comfort of the familiar and the common, to the "lonely place" of celibacy and obedience for the sake of communion in love with the Father. Thus they are dedicated to being configured more closely to the Lord in consecration through prayer and action, and to thus lead others to Him.

"All the ordained ministers of the Latin Church, with the exception of permanent deacons, are normally chosen from among men of faith who live a celibate life and who intend to remain celibate 'for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.' (Mt 19:12) Called to consecrate themselves with undivided heart to the Lord and to 'the affairs of the Lord,' (1 Cor 7:32) they give themselves entirely to God and to men. Celibacy is a sign of this new life to the service of which the Church's minister is consecrated; accepted with a joyous heart celibacy radiantly proclaims the Reign of God." (CCC 1579)

Meeting Christ in the Liturgy offers a reflection for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

(Photo: Trinity Church, Saugerties, NY. William Morris and Ford Madox Brown: Detail from Agony in the Garden.)

Friday, February 6, 2009

"Is it consistent?"

It is in this fertile soil, nourished from so many different sources, that all of you, Brother Bishops, are called to sow the seeds of the Gospel today. This leads me to ask how, in the twenty-first century, a bishop can best fulfill the call to “make all things new in Christ, our hope”? How can he lead his people to “an encounter with the living God”, the source of that life-transforming hope of which the Gospel speaks (cf. Spe Salvi, 4)? Perhaps he needs to begin by clearing away some of the barriers to such an encounter. While it is true that this country is marked by a genuinely religious spirit, the subtle influence of secularism can nevertheless color the way people allow their faith to influence their behavior. Is it consistent to profess our beliefs in church on Sunday, and then during the week to promote business practices or medical procedures contrary to those beliefs? Is it consistent for practicing Catholics to ignore or exploit the poor and the marginalized, to promote sexual behavior contrary to Catholic moral teaching, or to adopt positions that contradict the right to life of every human being from conception to natural death? Any tendency to treat religion as a private matter must be resisted. Only when their faith permeates every aspect of their lives do Christians become truly open to the transforming power of the Gospel.

-- Benedict XVI, Address to US Bishops, 16 April 2009

And so, we must ask: "Is voting for a pro-abortion president adopting 'a position that contradicts the right to life of every human being from conception to natural death' ?"

If that is the case, then we must again ask: "Is it consistent for a practicing Catholic to do so?"

(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

"And they took offense at him."


"A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house." (Mark 6: 1-6)



"Georg Ratzinger slams Angela Merkel over criticism of his brother

"Georg Ratzinger has defended his brother Pope Benedict XVI over his decision to rehabilitate Bishop Williamson, a Holocaust denier, into the Catholic Church - and slammed Angela Merkel for her criticism.

"Williamson (68) was excommunicated from the Catholic Church in 1988 and has now been rehabilitated by Benedict XVI. He has often publicly denied the Holocaust, as well as airing other outrageous conspiracy theories.

“ 'He doesn’t need me to defend him. But it angers me how unjust and badly informed the people who are attacking him are,” the Regensburg Music Director, "Domkapellmeister", Georg Ratzinger told German newspaper "Leipziger Volkszeitung". He finds the harsh criticism the Pope has received from people in his native Germany, as well as from the rest of the world, unjust: 'We always speak about an informed society, when in reality it is uninformed.'

“I always saw her as a rational woman. But perhaps at the moment she is under pressure to say something irrational.'”

-- From Bild

(Photo: Angela Merkel, Wikipedia.)

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Live Action exposes Planned Parenthood criminal fraud


From Philip Johnson at In Caritate Non Ficta we share the following:

"I am pleased to announce the release of the third video in the 'Mona Lisa Project' sponsored by Live Action Films. This series of 'hidden camera' films exposes what really happens inside Planned Parenthood's abortion clinics. Live Action Films is led by Miss Lila Rose, who has been featured on many radio and television programs, including Hannity and Colmes, The O'Reilly Factor, and The Laura Ingraham Show."

Please visit his site here to read more and view the third video produced by Lila Rose and colleagues at Live Action which exposes the criminal fraud concealing the statutory rape of minors.

Support the Holy Father


In France, but probably also in other countries, the media, including alas so called catholic media, have been very hostile to the Pope's decision to lift the excommunication of four bishops of the SSPX. A petition against the decree is even circulating. We then decided to take the opportunity to say "thank you" to the Holy Father and to give him our full support. This initiative was launched by a group of friends, some of them from the SSPX, most of them not, but all of them very grateful to the Holy Father.

Link to the petition

(Thanks to The New Liturgical Movement.)

Monday, February 2, 2009

Sign and source of unity


Pray for the Vicar of Christ.




BENEDICT XVI, Pontifex Primus

May the Lord keep him
and give him life
and make his name blessed upon earth.

(Thanks to Rorate Caeli.)