..."Tell it slant'... ~Emily Dickinson
"And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."~Anais Nin
Now you know. The next time you go into the basement wear a helmet. ~Eve
"In extremity, states of mind become objective, metaphors tend to actualize, the word becomes flesh.(1977,205) -Terence Des Pres, 'The Survivor'
“I decided to go in search of the shaking woman.” Siri Hustvedt
A hundred times a day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving. ~Albert Einstein
As Christians and Jews, following the example of the faith of Abraham, we are called to be a blessing to the world. (cf. Gen. 12:2ff). This is the common task awaiting us. It is therefore necessary for us Christians and Jews, to be first a blessing to one another. (L'Osservatore Romano, Aug. 17, 1993) ~John Paul II
"...there is need for acknowledgment of the common roots linking Christianity and the Jewish people, who are called by God to a covenant which remains irrevocable (cf. Rom.11:29) and has attained definitive fullness in Jesus Christ." ~John Paul II
...a consistent contempt for Nazism(condemning it as early as 1930...as 'demonic' and 'wedded to Satan') and Communism as virulent atheism...he referred to them as "Gog and Magog"... ~on Claudel

Today, it seems, most were born ‘left-handed.’ Every one I see walking is ‘hinged at the hips’, in-sync’ and glued to metallic boxes. ~Chelé
"A true opium of the people is a belief in nothingness after death - the huge[illusory] solace of thinking that for our betrayals, greed, cowardice, murders we are not going to be judged." - Czeslaw Milosz
*A writer is dear and necessary for us only in the measure of which he reveals to us the inner workings of his very soul*. Tolstoy
I will not let thee go except thou be blessed. Now wouldn’t it be a magnificent world if we all lived that way with each other or even with ourselves?
"I, Sister Faustina, by the order of God, have visited the abysses of hell so that I might tell souls about it and testify to its existence...But I noticed one thing: that most of the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a hell." -Saint Faustina

Do you hear what I hear? A child, a child crying in the night.

"Every time you dance, what you do must be sprayed with your blood. ~Rudolf Nureyev
Why would someone who looked God in the face ever suppose that there could be something better? ~Matthew Likona

We cannot know what we would do in order to survive unless we are tested. For those of us tested to the extremes the answer is succinct: anything

…”The Stoics throned Fate, the Epicureans Chance, while the Skeptics left a vacant space where the gods had been –[nihilism]—but all agreed in the confession of despair;...and...Oriental schemes of thought contributed a share to the deepening gloom..." ~Gwatkin

"...notes to the committee...why do you invite cows to analyze the milk?" -Peter de Vries

"I run because it gives Him pleasure." ~Eric, Chariots of Fire

“God’s truth is life,” as Patrick Kavanagh says, “even the grotesque shapes of its foulest fire.” What is the difference between a cry of pain that is also a cry of praise and a cry of pain that is merely an articulation of despair? Faith? The cry of a believer, even if it is a cry against God, moves toward God, has its meaning in God, as in the cries of Job. ~Christian Wiman

"Insanity is relative. It depends on who has who locked in what cage." - Ray Bradbury

As for what concerns our relations with our fellow men, the anguish in our neighbor's soul must break all precept. All that we do is an end in itself, because God is Love. ~Edith Stein, St. Benedicta of the Cross.

“Lastly, and most of all. Who turns his back upon the fallen and disfigured of his kind; abandons them as vile…; does wrong to Heaven and man, to time and to eternity. And you have done that wrong!” ~Dickens, The Chimes, 1844

Dieu me pardonnera. C'est son métier . ~Heinrich Heine.

Remember the 'toe-pick' and you won't get swallowed by the whale or eaten by the polar bear.

Someone else needs to become the bad example in our group
But you wear shame so well ~James Goldman, Eve [Or, tired of being the scapegoat yet? ~Sue]

There is a point where the unfortunate and the infamous unite and are confounded in a single word, miserable; whose fault is this? And then should not the charity be all the more profound, in proportion as the fall is great? -[Jesus Christ said so.] -- Br. Humbert Kilanowski, O.P.

The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime. -Sir Edward Grey

We are still fighting to use the tools we have to grapple with the unknown.

“We are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not.” ~Joan Didion"

When I fall into the abyss, I go straight into it, head down and heels up, and I'm even pleased that I'm falling in just such a humiliating position, and for me I find it beautiful. And so in that very shame I suddenly begin a hymn.
—Fyodor Dostoevsky

" ...wie geht es zu, daß ich alles so anders sehe ...?"

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”― Maya Angelou

'Have you ever noticed that the meanest, most misogynist, and dangerous people tend to be activists who claim to be for freedom and love?'

"For others of us, the most loving thing we can do for our abusers is to keep them from having opportunity to abuse ever again." (Dawn Eden) My Peace I Give You, Ch. 1)

No child is ever responsible for abuse perpetrated on them by ANYONE. I understand that others may not "get it" and that's fine. Blaming the victim is never right or just under any circumstances.

Stay In Touch -Have I not proven to you that I Am in the saving sinners business? -Jesus


HOPE: Hold on to the great truths of the Faith...Own your challenging affliction...Persevere...Expect God's providence and intervention... ~Johnette Benkovich, Woman of Grace
O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to heaven, help those especially in need of thy mercy. - OL of Fatima
Prescription #1: Give God the greatest possible glory and honor Him with your whole soul. If you have a sin on your conscience, remove it as soon as possible by means of a good Confession. ~St. John Bosco
Prescription #2: In thankful tenderness offer Reparation for the horrible mockery and blasphemies constantly uttered against the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; against the Blessed Virgin Mary; the saints and angels; His Church; His priests and religious; His children; and His loving Heart by reciting the Golden Arrow which delightfully wounds Him:
'May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable and ineffable Name of God be forever praised, blessed, loved, and honored by all the creatures of God in heaven, on earth and in the hells through the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the most Blessed Sacrament of the altar. Amen.
Prescription #3: So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. ~Heb.13:13
Prescription #4: "Do whatever He tells you." ~John 2:5
Prescription #5: Sometimes when I am in such a state of spiritual dryness that not a single good thought occurs to me, I say very slowly the "Our Father" or the "Hail Mary"and these prayers suffice to take me out of myself. ~St. Therese of Lisieux
Prescription #6: Have confidence in God's Love, Justice, and Mercy: ...as for me, O my God, in my very confidence lies all my HOPE. For Thou, O Lord, singularly has settled me in hope." -St. Claude de la Colombiere SJ

Pages

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Abbey Roads: What?

Abbey Roads: What?: Snap out of it!

Friday, March 28, 2014

Happy Catholic*: Well Said: Napoleon and the Cardinal

Happy Catholic*: Well Said: Napoleon and the Cardinal:

Excerpt:

Here's a final story from H.V. Morton's 1957 book A Traveller in Rome, one so true and also amusing that I just had to share it. M...

the attitude which exasperated Napoleon. He might kidnap and bully a Pope, but he could not browbeat the Church.

'Do you know that I am capable of destroying your Church?' he once shouted at Cardinal Consalvi, the Secretary of State.

'Sire,' replied Consalvi, 'not even we priests have achieved that in eighteen centuries!"...

...

Happy Catholic*: Well Said: Masks and what is behind them

Happy Catholic*: Well Said: Masks and what is behind them: Having given up God so as to be self-sufficient, man has lost track of his soul. He looks in vain for himself. He finds masks, and behind m...

Happy Catholic*: Well Said: Meaning for Your Life

Happy Catholic*: Well Said: Meaning for Your Life: Don't invent a meaning for your life. It is there. Find it. Dr. Viktor Frankl This makes me think of Mother Theresa saying, "Find ...

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Crimea to Kiev...Bloodlands Revisited: We Must Pray

Crimea to Kiev, "the conflict is a military phase"

The Point.fr - Published  - Changed the 

[Crimée : pour Kiev, "le conflit passe à une phase militaire"]

The prime minister said Tuesday that Russian troops had "started shooting" at the Ukrainian soldiers and described their actions as "war crimes."


Arseniy Yatsenyuk to Maidan, February 17.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Bend Sinister

Bend Sinister

posted by D.G. Meyers...Excerpt:

The University president appeals to Krug’s fond memories of school days with the dictator. “You are the victim of a sentimental delusion,” the philosopher answers. Krug remembers the dictator as the Toad. That’s what all the boys called him at school. “What I and the Toad hoard en fait souvenirs d’enfance [in terms of childhood memories] is the habit I had of sitting upon his face.”
The funniest parts of the book are the first chapters, in which Krug resists the petty tyranny (and stupidity) of Ekwilist soldiers by means of a voluble individualism. One band of soldiers permits him to cross a bridge, but the soldiers on the other side force him back across to obtain a signature on his pass. When he returns, the first band fails to recognize him:
    “Do you live on the bridge?” asked the fat soldier.
  “No,” said Krug. “Do try to understand. C’est simple comme boujour, as Pietro would say. They sent me back because they had no evidence that you let me pass. From a formal point of view I am not on the bridge at all.”
 “He may have climbed up from a barge,” said a dubious voice.
“No, no,” said Krug. “I not bargee-bargee. You still do not understand. I am going to put it as simply as possible. They of the solar side saw heliocentrically what you tellurians saw geocentrically, and unless these two aspects are somehow combined, I, the visualized object, must keep shuttling in the universal night.”
The comedy does not last long, although it gives out before Krug’s resistance. The Ekwilists increase the pressure on the philosopher, arresting his friends and colleagues. The dictator himself summons him to an interview. Krug demands to know why his friends have been arrested:
    “All we want of you is that little part where the handle is.”
  “There is none,” cried Krug and hit his side of the table with his fist.
  “I beseech you to be careful. The walls are full of camouflaged holes, each one with a rifle which is trained upon you. Please, do not gesticulate. They are jumpy today. It’s the weather. This gray menstratum.”
“If,” said Krug, “you cannot leave me and my friends in peace, then let them and me go abroad. It would save you a world of trouble."
“What is it exactly you have against my government?”
  “I am not in the least interested in your government. What I resent is your attempt to make me interested in it. Leave me alone.”
Thus the State, “bloated and dangerously divine,” must get him to capitulate, or destroy him.
he continues, the tragedy has not changed “the relationship, the bond, the agreement” which Krug has entered into. “Individual lives are insecure,” he says; “but we guarantee the immortality of the State.” In response, Krug plunges into insanity. His freedom of thought is taken away...    ~Vladimir Nabakov


Addendum: 
Leo Tolstoy 
In the passage below from The Kingdom of God is Within You, Tolstoy contemplates a local governor, on a train with a small battalion of soldiers, on their way to forcibly remove peasant families from a plot of forest claimed by a rich landowner— ‘a young landowner,’ as Tolstoy writes, ‘who had an income
of one hundred thousand, to gain three thousand rubles more by stealing a forest from a whole community of cold and famished peasants, to spend it, in two or three weeks in the saloons of Moscow, Petersburg, or Paris…’
'The train I met on the 9th of September going with soldiers, guns, cartridges, and rods, to confirm the rich landowner in the possession of a small forest which he had taken from the starving peasants, which they were in the direst need of, and he was in no need of at all, was a striking proof of how men are capable of doing deeds directly opposed to their principles and their conscience without perceiving it.
The special train consisted of one first-class carriage for the governor, the officials, and officers, and several luggage vans crammed full of soldiers. The latter, smart young fellows in their clean new uniforms, were standing about in groups or sitting swinging their legs in the wide open doorways of the luggage vans. Some were smoking, nudging each other, joking, grinning, and laughing, others were munching sunflower seeds and spitting out the husks with an air of dignity. Some of them ran along the platform to drink some water from a tub there, and when they met the officers they slackened their pace, made their stupid gesture of salutation, raising their hands to their heads with serious faces as though they were doing something of the greatest importance. They kept their eyes on them till they had passed by them, and then set off running still more merrily, stamping their heels on the platform, laughing and chattering after the manner of healthy, good-natured young fellows, traveling in lively company.
They were going to assist at the murder of their fathers or grandfathers just as if they were going on a party of pleasure, or at any rate on some quite ordinary business.
The same impression was produced by the well-dressed functionaries and officers who were scattered about the platform and in the first-class carriage. At a table covered with bottles was sitting the governor, who was responsible for the whole expedition, dressed in his half-military uniform and eating something while he chatted tranquilly about the weather with some acquaintances he had met, as though the business he was upon was of so simple and ordinary a character that it could not disturb his serenity and his interest in the change of weather.
At a little distance from the table sat the general of the police. He was not taking any refreshment, and had an impenetrable bored expression, as though he were weary of the formalities to be gone through. On all sides officers were bustling noisily about in their red uniforms trimmed with gold; one sat at a table finishing his bottle of beer, another stood at the buffet eating a cake, and brushing the crumbs off his uniform, threw down his money with a self-confident air; another was sauntering before the carriages of our train, staring at the faces of the women.
All these men who were going to murder or to torture the famishing and defenseless creatures who provide them their sustenance had the air of men who knew very well that they were doing their duty, and some were even proud, were “glorying” in what they were doing.
What is the meaning of it?
All these people are within half an hour of reaching the place where, in order to provide a wealthy young man with three thousand rubles stolen from a whole community of famishing peasants, they may be forced to commit the most horrible acts one can conceive, to murder or torture, as was done in
Orel, innocent
beings, their brothers. And they see the place and time approaching with untroubled serenity.
To say that all these government officials, officers, and soldiers do not know what is before them is impossible, for they are prepared for it. The governor must have given directions about the rods, the officials must have sent an order for them, purchased them, and entered the item in their accounts. The military officers have given and received orders about cartridges. They all know that they are going to torture, perhaps to kill, their famishing fellow-creatures, and that they must set to work within an hour.
To say, as is usually said, and as they would themselves repeat, that they are acting from conviction of the necessity for supporting the state organization, would be a mistake. For in the first place, these men have probably never even thought about state organization and the necessity of it; in the second place, they cannot possibly be convinced that the act in which they are taking part will tend to support rather than to ruin the state; and thirdly, in reality the majority, if not all, of these men, far from ever sacrificing their own pleasure or tranquillity to support the state, never let slip an opportunity of profiting at the expense of the state in every way they can increase their own pleasure and ease. So that they are not acting thus for the sake of the abstract principle of the state.
What is the meaning of it?
Yet I know all these men. If I don’t know all of them personally, I know their characters pretty nearly, their past, and their way of thinking. They certainly all have mothers, some of them wives and children. They are certainly for the most part good, kind, even tender-hearted fellows, who hate every sort of cruelty, not to speak of murder; many of them would not kill or hurt an animal.
Moreover, they are all professed Christians and regard all violence directed against the defenseless as base and disgraceful.
Certainly not one of them would be capable in everyday life, for his own personal profit, of doing a hundredth part of what the Governor of Orel did.
Every one of them would be insulted at the supposition that he was capable of doing anything of the kind in private life.
And yet they are within half an hour of reaching the place where they may be reduced to the inevitable necessity of committing this crime.
What is the meaning of it?’
—from The Kingdom of God is Within You (first
published in German in 1894; translated here from the Russian by Constance Garnett)


"I stared at the beast's hands...the left bloody and filled ...the right bloody and filled...as its engorging turned sickening and brutal..."

"The Deer's Cry", or St. Patrick's Breastplate, sung by Angelina, (EWTN)



St. Patrick Ora Pro Nobis! Save the Irish!
Love is....
I ARISE TODAY

I arise today, through the strength of heaven;
light of sun, radiance of moon,
splendor of fire, speed of lightning,
swiftness of wind, depth of the sea,
stability of earth, firmness of rock.

I arise today, through God’s strength to pilot me;
God’s eye to look before me, God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s way to lie before me, God’s shield to protect me,
from all who shall wish me ill, afar and a-near
alone and in a multitude.

Against every cruel merciless power
that may oppose my body and soul,

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ in me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise, Christ to shield me.

Christ in the heart of every one who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every one who speaks of me,

I arise today.
Addendum:
Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autrui.”
But do 'I' choose to do so?  This is the real question,non?
"If you see your brother sick, or ill, or.............and you care for him/her/'them/...then that is done to ME...
~Jesus Christ

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Have a Blessed St. Patrick's Day!



                                                             Monday March 17, 2014

                                                  

Friday, March 14, 2014

Sometimes Fathers.....'Do You Forgive Me?'...

Easing the burden

                                   St. Patrick, St. Brigid, St. Columcille
                                             Ora pro nobis!
Excerpt:
...My son knows he is supposed to ask for forgiveness, just as his brother knows that sooner or later he will be expected to say yes.
He knows to say it because he knows he is supposed to forgive. What is on the lips and in the heart can be day and night, and so one challenge a parent faces is to encourage right action without engendering falsity. Like when the offending brother’s apology is as the litany of a foreign tongue: I’msorrydoyouforgiveme.
There is work to do in their hearts, in mine. And so my children ask and grant forgiveness. Sometimes they even mean it...
 find myself coming repeatedly to a hard reality, for myself, for them. If God is to be believed in and therefore believed, then forgiveness is conditional. We are forgiven as we forgive. It is jarring, when I stare it in the face, especially when I consider the grudges I am prone to harbor in the darkened places of my heart.
Perhaps even more jarring is the implication of this condition, which is that our every trespass against another jeopardizes his soul. We heap burdens on others. How many of us heap the greatest burdens on those we claim to love the most?
I try to explain this to my sons, not because I believe they are steering one another toward the abyss with their occasional trespasses, but because I want them to comprehend the awful power they will carry with them all their days.
I once heard someone say that if we Christians really believe in salvation and damnation, then more people ought to approach hell with our hands gripping their ankles. I used to think that meant offering them clever words about God. More and more I think it means the much harder and more radical work of actually living out what we say we believe. All that business about loving our neighbors, and giving alms to those in need, and humbling ourselves.
I think about this especially during this season of Lent. To repent is to turn away, to desire to undo the wrong. But how to take back that boulder on my brother’s shoulder, the boulder I placed there when I lied to him, cut him with my words, gave him the passive scorn of my neglect?
There is no path, is there, but to beg for forgiveness? I’m still learning how. Still working to graft the humility it requires onto a hardened heart. And working, at the same time to help humility take root in the hearts of my children.
My hope is that their heart’s ground becomes more fertile as they realize that we are not, each of us, working out his personal salvation alone. The Scottish pastor John Watson put it this way:
“This man beside us also has a hard fight with an unfavouring world, with strong temptations, with doubts and fears, with wounds of the past which have skinned over, but which smart when they are touched. It is a fact, however surprising. And when this occurs to us we are moved to deal kindly with him, to bid him be of good cheer, to let him understand that we are also fighting a battle; we are bound not to irritate him, nor press hardly upon him nor help his lower self.”
Do not add to the weight under which your brother labors, Watson was saying, for you know what a load it is to bear. I hope my children learn to forgive, and to beg it. Our lives are intertwined. My struggle affects yours, for better or worse. Do you forgive me?
~Tony Woodlief, Sand In the Gears
Old Man Grieving - Vincent van Gogh        ...When was the last time we said that to our brethren?...                                               
..................... &...................
...sometimes I am afraid, because they always seem shocked, and maybe they really didn’t know what evil had taken root in their families, which means I may not know, nor you either.
We fear they will be slaughtered sheep and we fear they will become wolves, and we feel helpless.
Some of us celebrated the capture of a Boston bomber because now we get to kill him. We celebrate because our yearning for vengeance runs deep, and our desire to know that we are not ourselves monsters runs deeper. That boy is a monster and so is the one who murdered all those children in Connecticut and so is the one who gunned down people in a Colorado movie theater. Something in them is broken and they are not human.
We need to believe this. We need to kiss our children as they sleep, and know they are normal, that it’s the severely broken who do unspeakable things, and our own can’t be broken like that because even now we would know, we would peer into their eyes and see the deadness there and we would know.
Instead we see their eyes filled up with love and so they can’t be monsters, not now or ever, because monsters could never have loved anyone, not even their own mothers and fathers.
Their mothers and fathers. What hell must it be, to gaze at a picture of your child, and know it would have been better had you strangled him in his crib? What hell to wonder what you did wrong, to wonder if he was always broken or if it was you who broke him, to wonder if this blood is on your hands, if the fires of hell burn hot for the child you wrongly raised?
What hell, what hell, and if all this doesn’t keep you on your knees for your children then you haven’t considered what world awaits them, how it hungers to make them wolves and slaughtered sheep in equal measure.
This world hungers, and we parents weep, and we pray that our pleading is heard, that if there is something in us that can be altered so they can be spared, God will alter it; that if our flesh might be torn in place of theirs, God might rend it; that if sheep must be slain, God will pass over our own, because the cost is more than we can bear.
For years, his demons made the boy tear his own clothes, hurl himself into the fire, leap into the sea’s deep waters. For years, his father kept him close, no doubt despite those who hissed in his ear: “This is because of your sin.” Religious experts couldn’t help the boy, priests couldn’t save the boy. That boy was helpless and without hope and still his father persevered, even where others would have let him perish, or would have bound him in a graveyard like the Gadarenes.
Then comes this roving, raving miracle-worker, and the father says to him: “But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” The father is weary and wary. He has seen miracle-workers before.
“If you can believe,” Christ replies, “all things are possible to him who believes.”
If. Who hasn’t lain awake at night, tormented by this if? We want to believe there is a good God who can spare our children the horrors of these recent days. Yet this same God allowed horrors for those parents, for their children. The gulf of if is wider than faith, sometimes.
“Lord,” cries the father, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
This is every parent, each of us believing our children will be safe, each of us struggling against the fear they will be anything but safe. We believe and we disbelieve and we pray the kingdom of heaven comes soon, for it belongs to such as these, and we who are no longer children have made such a wreck of it. We pray he will remember our children, that he will save them in spite of us. We pray in belief and we pray against disbelief, and we pray that he is listening.    ~Tony Woodlief, Sand in the Gears

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Abbey-Roads: St. John of God ... a troubled life.

Abbey-Roads: St. John of God ... a troubled life.: At one time the Infant Jesus appeared to him and gave him the name, John of God and bid him to go to Granada.  Until that period in his ...

...His crazy period is interesting - reminding me of the Russian 'fool for Christ' vocation.  Mental instability isn't always that unusual in the lives of the saints and others who may go through intense conversion experiences... 

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Pray for Ukraine. Pray for Russia.

Pray for Ukraine.


N.S. Mediadora de Todas las Gracias de Lipa


~from Abbey-Roads Blog

Pray for Russia.   -Fr. Walter Ciszek

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Remember...

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Feast of the Holy Face

On April 17th, 1958, His Holiness Pope Pius XII approved the observance of a Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus on Shrove Tuesday (Tuesday before Ash Wednesday).  Contact us for the wording of the Holy Face Mass to be said upon the Feast.
“See how I suffer. Nevertheless, I am understood by so few. What gratitude on the part of those who say they love me. I have given My Heart as a sensible object of My great love for man and I give My Face as a sensible object of My Sorrow for the sins of man. I desire that it be honoured by a special feast on Tuesday in Quinquagesima (Shrove Tuesday – the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday). The feast will be preceded by novena in which the faithful make reparation with Me uniting themselves with my sorrow.”

(Our Lord to Mother Pierina 1938).

Monday, March 3, 2014

Holy Face Novena: Day 9

(Console Holy Face and recite Daily Preparatory Prayer).(p.l)
Psalm 51,18-21.
For in sacrifice you take no delight,
burnt offering from me you would refuse,
my sacrifice a contrite spirit.
A humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.
In your goodness, show favour to Zion;
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem
Then you will be pleased with lawful sacrifice,
holocausts offered on your altar.
Sacred Face of our Lord and our God, what words can
we do to express our gratitude? How can we speak of our
joy? That you have deigned to hear us, that you have chosen
to answer us in our hour of need. We say this because we
know that our prayers will be granted. We know that you,
in your loving kindness, listened to our pleading hearts, and
will give, out of your fullness, the answer to our problems.
Mary, our Mother, thank you for your intercession on our
behalf. Saint Joseph, thank you for your prayers.
Through the merits of your precious blood and your Holy
Face, O Jesus, grant us our petition.................. Pardon
and mercy.
Prayer to the Holy Trinity
Most Holy Trinity, Godhead indivisible, Father, Son and
Holy Spirit, our first beginning and our last end. Since you
have made us after your own image and likeness, grant that
all the thoughts of our minds, all the words of our tongues,
all the affections of our hearts and all our actions may be
always conformed to your most Holy Will, so that after
having seen you here on earth in appearances and in a dark
manner by the means of faith, we may come at last to con-
template you face to face, in the perfect possession of you
forever in paradise. Amen.
Pray one (1) Our Father, three (3) Hail Mary's, one (1)
Glory Be.
O Bleeding Face, O Face Divine, be every adoration Thine.
(Three times)
Recite Act of Consecration on the following page.
Act of Consecration
O Lord Jesus, we believe most firmly in You, we love
You. You are the Eternal Son of God and the Son Incarnate
of the Blessed Virgin Mary. You are the Lord and Absolute
Ruler of all creation. We acknowledge You, therefore, as
the Universal Sovereign of all creatures. You are the Lord
and Supreme Ruler of all mankind, and we, in acknowledging
this Your dominion, consecrate ourselves to You now and
forever. Loving Jesus, we place our family under the protec-
tion of Your Holy Face, and of Your Virgin Mother, Mary
most sorrowful. We promise to be faithful to You for the
rest of our lives and to observe with fidelity Your Holy
Commandments. We will never deny before men, You and
Your Divine rights over us and all mankind. Grant us the
grace to never sin again; nevertheless, should we fail, 0
Divine Saviour, have mercy on us and restore us to Your
grace. Radiate Your Divine Countenance upon us and bless
us now and forever. Embrace us at the hour of death in Your
Kingdom for all eternity, through the intercession of Your
Blessed Mother, of all Your Saints who behold You in
Heaven, and the just who glorify You on earth. O Jesus, be
mindful of us forever and never forsake us; protect our family.
O Mother of Sorrows, by the eternal glory which you enjoy
in Heaven, through the merits of your bitter anguish in the
Sacred Passion of your Beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
obtain for us the grace that the Precious Blood shed by Jesus
for the redemption of our souls, be not shed for us in vain.
We love you, O Mary. Embrace us and bless us, O Mother.
Protect us in life and in death. Amen.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy
Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.
Amen.
The following prayer was dictated by our Lord Himself to Sister Marie of St Peter.  Opening His Heart to her, our Saviour complained of blasphemy, saying that this frightful sin wounds His divine Heart more grievously than all other sins, for it was like a "poisoned arrow".
After that, our Saviour dictated the following prayer, which he called "The Golden Arrow", saying that those who would recite this prayer would pierce Him delightfully, and also heal those other wounds inflicted on Him by the malice of sinners.  This prayer is regarded as the very basis of the Work of Reparation. 
PRAYER OF REPARATION IN PRAISE OF THE HOLY NAME OF GOD ENTITLED
"THE GOLDEN ARROW"

May the most Holy, most Sacred, most Adorable,
Most Incomprehensible and Ineffable Name of God
Be always Praised, Blessed, Loved, Adored and Glorified,
In Heaven, on Earth and under the Earth,
By all the Creatures of God,
And by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ,
In the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Amen.

“Evil takes root when one man starts to think that he is better than another.” -Joseph Brodsky

“...there was still more wind than snow,
but in Lonoff’s orchard the light had all
but seeped away, and the sound of what

was on its way was menacing...” ~Philip Roth
                                         Sacred Heart of Jesus I Trust in You.
    

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Holy Face Novena: Eighth Day

DAILY PREPARATORY PRAYER
O Most Holy and Blessed Trinity, through the intercession
of Holy Mary, whose soul was pierced through by a sword
of sorrow at the sight of the passion of her Divine Son, we
ask your help in making a perfect Novena of reparation with
Jesus, united with all His sorrows, love and total abandon-
ment.
We now implore all the Angels and Saints to intercede
for us as we pray this Holy Novena to the Most Holy Face
of Jesus and for the glory of the most Holy Trinity, Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. (Start novena)
NOVENA IN HONOR OF THE MOST
HOLY FACE OF JESUS
"All those who, attracted by my love, and venerating my
countenance, shall receive, by virtue of my humanity, a
brilliant and vivid impression of my divinity. This splendour
shall enlighten the depths of their souls, so that in eternal
glory the celestial court shall marvel at the marked likeness
of their features with my divine countenance." (Our Lord
Jesus Christ to St. Gertrude)
Psalm 51,16-17.
O rescue me, God my helper,
and my tongue shall ring out your goodness.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth shall declare your praise.
Most merciful Face of Jesus, who in this vale of tears was
so moved by our misfortunes to call yourself the healer of
the sick, and the good Shepherd of the souls gone astray,
allow not Satan to draw us away from you, but keep us
always under your loving protection, together with all souls
who endeavour to console you. Mary, our Mother, intercede
for us. Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Through the merits of your precious blood and your Holy
Face, O Jesus, grant us our petition.................. Pardon
and mercy.
Prayer to Saint Peter
O glorious Saint Peter, who in return for thy lively and

generous faith, thy profound and sincere humility and thy
burning love, was honoured by Jesus Christ with singular
privileges, and in particular, with the leadership of the other
apostles and the primacy of the whole church, of which thou
was made the foundation stone, do thou obtain for us the
grace of a lively faith, that shall not fear to profess itself
openly in its entirety and in all of its manifestations, even
to the shedding of blood, if occasion should demand it, and
to the sacrifice of life itself in preference to surrender. Obtain
for us likewise a sincere loyalty to our Holy Mother the
Church. Grant that we may ever remain most closely and
sincerely united to the Holy Father, who is the heir of thy
faith and of thy authority, the one true visible head of the
Catholic Church. Grant, moreover, that we may follow, in
all humility and meekness, the Church's teaching and coun-
sels and may be obedient to all her precepts, in order to be
able here on earth to enjoy a peace that is sure and undis-
turbed, and to attain one day in heaven to everlasting happi-
ness. Amen.
Pray one (1) Our Father, three (3) Hail Mary's, one (1)
Glory Be.
O Bleeding Face, O Face Divine, be every adoration Thine.
(Three times)

...when you reject Christianity, you don't get an enlightened secular paradise, you get hell on earth...

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Art Inconnu - Little-known and under-appreciated art.: Nikolai Kornilievich Bodarevsky (1850 - 1921)

Art Inconnu - Little-known and under-appreciated art.: Nikolai Kornilievich Bodarevsky (1850 - 1921)

                                                                "Ukrainian Girl Tending Geese"

A Poem A Day from the George Hail Library ~ Selected by Maria Horvath: You’re Here

A Poem A Day from the George Hail Library ~ Selected by Maria Horvath: You’re Here

     

( The Great Gate of Kiev by Wassily Kandinsky, 1866- 1944, Russian painter) 

                   Sometimes a poet will choose an unusual metaphor...

You’re here. We breathe the self same air.
Your presence here is like the city,
like quiet Kiev wrapped in sultry
sunbeams there outside the window.

It hasn’t slept its sleep yet,
but struggles in its dream, unconquered.
It tears the bricks from off its neck
like a sweaty Shantung collar.

In it, perspiring in their leaves
from obstacles they’ve just got over,
the poplars gather in a crowd
wearily on the conquered pavement.

You make me think of the Dnieper there,
in its green skin of creeks and ditches,
the center-of-the-earth’s complaint book
for us to write our daily notes in.

Your presence here is like a call
to sit down hastily at midday,
to read through it from A to Z
and then to write your nearness in it.

~ Boris Pasternak (1890-1960), 'You're Here'

Holy Face Novena: Day 7

...and First Saturday...
(Console Holy Face and recite Daily Preparatory Prayer).(p.l)
Psalm 51,14-15.
Give me again the joy of your help,
with a spirit of fervour sustain me,
that I may teach transgressors your ways
and sinners may return to you.
Lord Jesus! After contemplating Thy features, disfigured
by grief, after meditating upon Thy passion with compunction
and love, how can our hearts fail to be inflamed with a holy
hatred of sin, which even now outrages Thy Adorable Face!
Lord, suffer us not to be content with mere compassion, but
give us grace so closely to follow Thee in this Calvary, so
that the approbrium destined for Thee may fall on us, 0
Jesus, that thus we may have a share, small though it may
be, in expiation of sin. Amen. Mary, our Mother, intercede
for us. Saint Joseph pray for us.
Through the merits of your precious blood and your Holy
Face, O Jesus, grant us our petition.................. Pardon
and mercy. 
Prayer in Honour of Mary
Hail Mary, Daughter of God the Father! Hail Mary, Mother
of God the Son! Hail Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit! Hail
Mary, Temple of the Most Holy Trinity! Hail Mary, our
mistress, our wealth, our mystic rose. Queen of our hearts,
our Mother, our life, our sweetness and our dearest hope!
We are all Thine, and all we have is Thine. O Virgin blessed
above all things, may Thy soul be in us to magnify the Lord;
may Thy spirit be in us to rejoice in God. Place Thyself, 0
faithful Virgin, as a seal upon our hearts, that in Thee and
through Thee we may be found faithful to God. Grant, most
gracious Virgin, that we may be numbered among those
whom Thou art pleased to love, to teach and to guide, to
favour and to protect as Thy children. Grant that with the help
of Thy love, we may despise all earthly consolation and cling
to heavenly things, until through the Holy Spirit, Thy faithful
spouse, and through Thee, His faithful spouse, Jesus Christ,
Thy Son, be formed within us for the glory of the Father.
Amen. (St. Grignon de Montfort)
Pray one (1) Our Father, three (3) Hail Mary's, one (1)
Glory Be.
O Bleeding Face, O Face Divine, be every adoration Thine.
(Three times)
....at the Foot of the Cross:  
Mary his mother, John the Beloved Apostle, Mary Magdalene and the 'other women'...
Rev. 12:6.  Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished...
                “In the Beginning He made them male and female.” -Genesis
His Mother remained beneath the Cross.  The Gold Medallion of the High Priest is still being tarnished.  It takes no intelligence to understand how ‘woman’ is denigrated everywhere--abused, beaten, raped, humiliated, murdered, used.  Christ our High Priest bent down and wrote in the sand...and they all went away beginning with the eldest.
                       “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.”

          *How hard today for even children to believe such a thing ever to be possible.*