Wszechmogący wieczny Boże, zasługami świętej Gertrudy niech będziem wspomożeni, a czego przez nieudolność naszą wyprosić nie możemy, obyśmy za jej wielowładną przyczyną otrzymali. Przez Chrystusa Pana naszego. Amen.
Which Star Trek Character Are You?
Jean-Luc Picard. You command your ship with an iron fist
and the children love you. Bah!!! Humbug!! KIDS!!!
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Wszechmogący Boże, któryś dnia dzisiejszego uwolnił św. Benedykta, opata, z więzów ciała, i nadgrodziłeś go niebem, użycz nam za jego przyczyną odpuszczenia grzechów, i udział w jego zasługach i chwale. Przez Chrystusa Pana naszego. Amen.
Mary Kunz’ editorial in the Buffalo News was a pure gem. Her op-ed People, can’t we just leave it at that? discusses the tendency to over specify in language based on gender obsession.
In my opinion the best lines, which we can all appreciate, discuss the meaningless efforts toward gender neutrality and inclusiveness in Liturgy and Liturgical Music:
The “men and women” fad must have grown out of a gender obsession I first noticed as a kid in church. Hymns changed to, well, hers. In the folk Mass chestnut “Let There Be Peace on Earth,” for instance, “brothers all are we” became “we are family.” Like Sister Sledge.
The thought must be that if women aren’t specifically referred to, we feel marginalized, ignored. But I’m not that dumb. I know “brotherhood” can mean me, too. And that troops are women as well as men.
Say “men and women” in every breath, and I start to feel patronized. These words have a place, and it’s on restroom doors. Not in every other sentence.
Isn’t it time we ended this overstated equality?
Can’t we let people be people?
Wszechmogący Boże, któryś z pomiędzy wszystkich ludzi świętych, wybrał św. Joachima na ojca N. P. Marji, matki Twojego Syna, użycz nam prosimy Cię, abyśmy w każdej potrzebie skutecznej Jego doświadczali opieki. Przez Chrystusa Pana naszego. Amen.
The folks at Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam are at it again.
Not satisfied with dealing with the problems in their own Archdiocese in St. Louis (St. Stan’s, Archbishop Burke, and all, which they have ranted on about incessantly in their ‘we’re more Catholic than thou’ way), they now have to take pot shots at the PNCC.
In commentary about some Roman Catholics from Toledo who have left the R.C. Church for the PNCC due to the Toledo Bishop’s closing of their parishes the AMDG folks said:
How many disgruntled individuals go about starting their own “church”? How many professed Catholics do this?
“Some people will say we are not Catholic. That is not true,” Father Nowak said after the service. “We are independent but Catholic.”
A defective understanding of what it means to be Catholic…A defective understanding which has been propagated among the faithful for years by many who have claimed to be Catholic and who have been allowed to spread their poison of dissent and heresy due, in part, to the failure of leadership to discipline those responsible for leading souls away from the Church.
And how exactly are the clergy in the PNCC, and former Roman Catholics to be disciplined by the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church?
I would imagine that the AMDG folks would have us all whipped, put in stocks, and then burned at the stake. Better yet, why not advise their leadership to start closing cemeteries too. Perhaps then they could dig up our R.C. ancestors and throw their bodies out —“ you know they must have had a hand in fomenting heresy.
I’ll even one up that. Since you’re so bent on punishing heretics why not drive down to St. Stan’s on Sunday and forment a pogrom. Give them a taste of the hell fire you so adamantly claim they are destined for.
The article on the Toledo situation is available at the Toledo Blade.
Of course the Toledo Diocesan spokesman gave the typical line:
The Rev. Michael Billian, episcopal vicar of the Toledo Catholic Diocese, said “it is important to note” that Father Nowak and the PNCC are “not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI, or Bishop Blair.”
Uh, yup. That’s right. No mystery there. The PNCC never purports to be R.C. I think these people very well know that. That is what they are running from.
Did you ever notice that this is a stock statement? They pull it out when the SSPX shows up too.
A final word to the AMDG folks: Read Dominus Iesus, specifically IV, 17. Also check out the Code of Canon Law, the USCCB Ecumenical Directory, and the R.C. —“ PNCC Dialog Documents.
You will find that the members of the PNCC are not heretics (unless of course you consider Orthodox Christians heretics as well – which you probably do.)
So, get busy pulling the plank out of your own eye, while you sit inside your comfy parish, before you pull the speck out of the eyes of the folks in Toledo while they sit outside their closed churches.
The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul;
The decree of the LORD is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.
The precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the command of the LORD is clear,
enlightening the eye.
The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever;
the ordinances of the LORD are true,
all of them just.
They are more precious than gold,
than a heap of purest gold;
sweeter also than syrup
or honey from the comb.
This is beautiful poetry summarizing beautiful truth, but how worldly we are. We are worldly because we will not trust the law, decree, precepts, command, or ordinances of the Lord. We are tied to this world because we have forgotten fear of the Lord.
The Lord is perfect, trustworthy, right, clear, pure, and true. His Word is Jesus and Jesus is the truth. Yet, we analyze and engage in hermeneutics. Some buy into Dan Brown’s fantasies and hatred for Christianity, his hatred for the very Word of God. Some will take any path as long as it is the path or questioning. Many take the path that allows their answers to be self serving. —What, did that commandment apply to me?— —Since when!?!—
In this Church the Word of God is a sacrament.
In a few weeks I will be explaining this sacrament to my First Communion Catechism class. The children here can tell you that the Catechism is a study of religion using questions and answers. And in a few weeks they will learn that the sacrament of the Word is important to us because it:
- Brings us closer to God through Jesus Christ;
- Teaches us the Divine Will of God;
- Makes our faith stronger, and
- Tells us how we can enter the Kingdom of God
In other words everything we need to achieve the fullness of life and eternal joy is contained in the Word of God. The Word gives us sacramental grace which is sanctifying grace —“ the grace that changes us —“ makes us holy and pleasing to God.
But, you have to listen and believe! We must put the Word into action. The action that makes us constant converts to the way of Christ.
Paul tells us that, “Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified.”
Jesus Himself told us that no sign will be given:
The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.
Signs and wisdom will not be given. You have to look at what is right in front of you and recognize it. The words are simple, follow them.
In every Holy Mass you are forgiven your sins, you hear the Word of God and are taught, and you receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Three times you receive sacramental grace. Three times you are sanctified. Three times you are made holy and pleasing to God.
Yet doubt persists. Disbelief persists. Questioning persists.
Paul told us:
We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. We are fools for Christ… [T]his very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.
Yes, we must be fools. We must be foolish enough to set aside our questioning disbelief. We must be foolish enough to accept the real truth —“ the truth of Jesus Christ crucified, Who died and Who rose again. Foolish enough to follow the Commandments in the way Jesus taught; in spirit and in truth.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom,
and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
During this third week of Lent contemplate Jesus’ actions in the temple. Contemplate, as His disciples did, the words of Scripture fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ
His disciples recalled the words of Scripture,
Zeal for your house will consume me.
Let zeal for God’s house consume you, break you down, make you foolish and hungry.
Let us be foolish, not worldly, so that God’s Word will refresh the soul, give us wisdom, allow our hearts to rejoice, enlighten our eyes. Let us be foolish so that the fear of the Lord will endure in us forever, so that we may know justice. The Word of the Lord is more precious than gold, than a heap of purest gold; sweeter also than syrup or honey from the comb.
Amen.
Check out the player below for hymns:
Szczęśliwy, kto sobie Patrona
[audio:https://www.konicki.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/jozszcz.mp3]O Józefie ukochany!
[audio:https://www.konicki.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/jozukoch.mp3]
Najczystszy Oblubieńcze N. P. Marij i najmilszy Opiekunie Chrystusa św. Józefie! Wszak nigdy nie słyszano, aby ktokolwiek z tych, którzy uciekają się do Twej opieki i błagają Twego wspomożenia, był nie wysłuchanym. Pełen ufności w potężną przyczynę Twoją gorąco polecam ci potrzeby moje. Nie pogardzaj prośbami mojemi, lecz wysłuchaj je litościwie. Amen.
Św. Cyrylu Jerozolimski, któryś cierpliwie znosił prześladowanie heretyków, i nie przestałeś ani na chwilę bronić prawdziwości wiary katolickiej, uproś nam tę łaskę, abyśmy także otwarcie przyznawali się do wiary katolickiej, za wszystkie zaś grzechy szczerze żałowali i niewracali do nich nigdy. Przez Chrystusa Pana naszego. Amen.