Vatican Invites Catholic Bloggers to Rome

Very interesting, the Vatican has extended an invitation to Catholic bloggers to come to Rome for a bloggers conference. Ha! I only wish! Anyway, I am not a "serious" blogger like some of those big ones out there - American Papist, the Crescat, Acts of the Apostasy, Creative Minority Reports, etc. etc.

The conference will take place the day after the beatification of JPII, presumably taking advantage of the fact that a large number of Catholic youth will likely already be present.

Here is an article with the details.

Theology According to My Daughter

So we were watching some clips from Jesus of Nazareth and the final scene at the tomb where they came to find his body was gone because he had been resurrected. Here is how the conversation went with Ivy.

Ivy: Where's Jesus??
Me: He resurrected, so you know, he disappeared. They crucified him, and laid him in the tomb. When they came to anoint his body with spices he was gone. 
Ivy: Well, he should have disappeared before they crucified him!

LOL!

Crazy Catholics

Have you ever tried to explain your faith to someone who was not even Christian? I did, yesterday, to a friend of mine. I tried to explain the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. She listened politely, but as I was talking I became aware of how incredibly CRAZY the whole thing sounded.

We believe God himself becomes flesh again? We believe that His actual body is right there, before us? We adore what appears to all others to be just a piece of bread? I sounded like a lunatic.

She didn't act like she was taken aback or anything. She was perfectly attentive as she listened to my string of lunatic claims. The bread becomes True Flesh. The wine becomes the actual Blood of God. The Mass is actually Heaven, visited upon earth for a moment.

On the surface it really does sounds nuts. And yet, I firmly believe all of it. There is such a rich wealth of information in the Bible and in our faith and our traditions. It is information that shows us, without a shadow of a doubt, that this is absolute truth. But someone who is not Christian or Catholic, someone who has never opened much less read a Bible has no idea the information contained within. They are content to ignore it (at best), or to rely on some stereotypical belief they once heard of what it contains (at worst).

One of the best cases for belief stems from the Messianic prophecies themselves. These are things that were prophesied hundreds of years before Christ was ever born. And the chances of any human being able to intentionally recreate and fulfill those prophecies is next to nothing. The chance is infinitesimal. How could someone have made them cast lots for his clothes, for example?  How could anyone be sure they did not break his legs before being crucified, as many prisoners usually were? He was given vinegar to drink, and on and on and on, the biblical prophecies continued to be fulfilled.

I wished I could make her understand, but I knew that I was only making myself and other Christians sound like we ought to be committed to the asylum. And if we should be committed to an asylum, I only hope that I can do so in the name of Christ, and gladly take such punishment as long as I am left alone to believe and know the Truth.

Exorcism and the Church Militant

Have you heard of the book "Exorcism and the Church Militant" by Rev. Thomas Euteneuer? I hadn't until this weekend when I was browsing my parish gift shop and I ran across it. I thought the $20 price tag was too steep, so I didn't buy it and instead my husband looked for it online once we got home. We thought we would surely find it for less. Instead, we found out that it was not available at all online!

As it turns out, the book is out of print, is sold out, and Fr. Euteneuer has stepped down from his post as President of Human Life International. Although he was a very public figure who had even been on Hannity (and rightly said he would deny Hannity Communion based on his public pro-contraception stance), he canceled all his speaking engagements and returned to his home diocese at the call of his Bishop.

It all seems very mysterious, but once I learned all this I felt particularly compelled to get my hands on this book and read it. I went back to my parish gift shop at the first opportunity and bought their only 2 remaining copies.

The book is highly educational, entirely fascinating, and Fr. Euteneuer's frank and straightforward voice permeates the pages. It is easy to understand and has shed a lot of light on role of evil influences in the lives of man. I think it is an important work, and I truly hope and pray that the publisher will consider re-printing it. There are many, many souls who would benefit from understanding the things written about in this book. Have you read it yet? If so, what did you think?

Merry Christmas...

...or, "Felix Dies Nativitatis!" in Latin. I didn't know how to say that until 5 seconds ago. But it sounds very pretty to me.

Anyway, I hope that everyone is having a blessed and joyful Christmas Day, always remembering the true meaning of Christmas and the reason for all our celebration.

It is a time of hope and joy... my favorite time of the year. So Felix Dies Nativitatis!

Gregorian Chant

At church I lead a Schola Cantorum, which is in other words a school of chant. We do gregorian chant as well as sacred polyphony. We sing monthly at Vespers, and yesterday was our November Vespers. One of our singers' sister recorded this. It is O Sacrum Convivium by Remondi. Unfortunately our bass got stuck in traffic and missed singing this one, otherwise we would have been a little more complete.  All in all, I am decently pleased at the way it turned out, all things considered. It is a wonderful way to praise the Lord, and we are so blessed to have an opportunity to sing.

Here are the lyrics of the song, from Wikipedia.

Original Latin (punctuation from Liber Usualis):

O sacrum convivium!
in quo Christus sumitur:
recolitur memoria passionis ejus:
mens impletur gratia:
et futurae gloriae nobis pignus datur.
Alleluia.

Translation of original Latin:

O sacred banquet!
in which Christ is received,
the memory of his Passion is renewed,
the mind is filled with grace,
and a pledge of future glory to us is given.
Alleluia.

The End of the Rainbow is at the Shrine

The Catholics and Heretics blog has a new post up about the Shrine of the Most Holy Redeemer, and how the priest there was put on leave due to his rentals of what essentially amounts to gay pornography. Video rentals which he had mailed directly to the Shrine's address!

In the priest's place Bishop Pepe appointed the openly gay Michael La Rocca as administrator. I mean "openly gay" as in he lives with his boyfriend, so it is not as though he is someone who lives a chaste and holy life, in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church. Interesting choices, Bishop. Very interesting.