prayer

I am beginning to enjoy prayer. I have been saying five decade novenas of the Rosary. I had a false start when I omitted a day, so I began again. Now I am wrapping up my second novena. I am looking forward to my prayer time. I do need prayer. I will begin to read Scripture, too. Little baby steps are my way.

St. Augustine: 'the greatest sin of man is that he enjoys the things he should use and uses the things he should enjoy.'

I hope to get my using and enjoying entirely right this time. Missteps can be overcome and, with God's Grace, will be. Eutreya!!!(forward with courage- a cry associated with El Camino de Compostela de Santiago, a pilgrims' route to the Church of St James across Northern
Spain though, I am told, not used much on that pilgrimage in present day. Still a great rallying cry- 'Forward with courage!"-EUTREYA!!!)

'Once' and Natalie Cole

I watched an autobiographical movie on Natalie Cole the other morning. She narrates part of the movie and then takes over the lead role (as herself) after the drug rehab which helps her to grief for the death of her father at about the age of 14. (She wrote the movie.) It was a touching journey and remarkably close to, in many ways, mine: She began college in 1968, so did I; She was in boarding school when her father died, me, too; Her father's death was a shock to her (she did not know the severity of his illness,- I was shocked, though my father was killed in a car crash; She was 14 or 15. I was 14; She continued to go to boarding school, though she did not want to. I went to another boarding school. I didn't want to, but voiced no opinion, just did it. She got way off track in college far from her true pain, me, too.
There the similarities end. She had talent, got fame and money, but we both found depth in rehab, though she was there for cocaine, we were both there for surpressed grief. I was touched by her tale. I got a bit closer to letting the depth of my grief out. She apparently released her great grief.

I enjoyed the movie 'Once'. It is a rock musical filmed in Dublin, Ireland. It shows a deep love between a young man and a young woman. Both help each other fulfill their dreams and they don't have sex, though the guy wants to initially, then he backs off and enjoys the relationship. They respect each other and reach a depth of intimacy through music and chastity that they would not have attained through sex.
There are some great characters in the movie which makes a movie good in my eyes: the father of the boy is very good, hard working and supportive of his son; the drummer in the studio band is so good; the studio tech shows respect through his expected boredom. He is very sharp. The piano is great, as is the guitar with the hole in its body from all of the late night therapy seesions with the boy. I love compositions and this movie filled a hole nicely in me. I would love to mix something, but what!!?? (waffle batter?)

Movies are therapy. There is nothing like a good story and autobiographies are sooooo interesting.

One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic

It is hard to get people from Faith in Christ to the Catholic Church, but God can do that. We can only plant a seed. Last night Van, a self proclaimed Christian in his own rite, claimed to believe in the Word of God. I proceeded to say that if that were the case then he would believe in the Church because Christ established the Church and this is clearly written about in the Gospel. He was not convinced. He talked of the faults and falls of Man and I answered with the Divine and the human elements of the Church: the Divine always True, the human always in need of reform, but, still, the miracle that the Church was still around, despite Man. Butting heads doesn't lead to conversion, for the most part, but trying to lead with reason does, though usually what seems like reason from my perspective looks like self righteousness from the non Catholic's perspective. Still, it is worth the energy for the clarity and for the other soul, as well as my soul.

I am not sure where I would send a man interested in the Catholic Church at this point. I sit in the Tridentine Mass and reflect and absorb. I am getting a prayer life, again. I was told from the pulp Sunday to read Scripture. I will. I have the Rosary. I have the Mass, again. It seems like a new day, though I am well aware that the winds can change in a harsh manner. I know that Faith is beyond consolation. I know that Hope is always present and I am learning more and more about Charity each day.

spiritual warfare

I realize the importance of prayer, again, as I read 'Lepanto' edited by Dale Ahlquist. Pope Pius V knew how important prayer was in the naval battle at Lepanto. Many Catholics were praying for the Catholic warriors as they faced the Moslem aggressors before they could make a direct attack on Rome, the Red Apple. This Battle was spiritual, as well as bloody.

I was reminded of what happened in the movie 'Cinderella Man' when Jim Braddock, Russell Crowe, went in to fight for the Heavyweight Championship of the world. It was the time of the depression and he was a ray of hope to many people. Many Catholics were in Churches praying for him in this fight. Braddock was an underdog whom many thought would lose his life in this fight. It didn't happen. He won just as the Catholic fleet won, as the underdog, at Lepanto. Deo Gratias.

Now Catholics face their own battles in the 21st century and so does the church. the power of prayer is still Man's greatest gift in times of crisis. This is a time for prayer. There is Faith on earth. There are big battles lurking.

Time doesn't change substance

The Tridentine Mass had been around for well over a thousand years, probably more than 1,500, when it began to be discontinued in the Latin Rite in 1967 by Paul VI. It was the Mass of St Anselm, St Dominic, St Francis, St. Thomas Aquinas, Dante, St Joan of Arc, St Thomas Moore, St Ignatius, St Francis Xavier, St Isaac Jogues, St Theresa. Then, suddenly, it was not good enough. As a matter of fact it was disallowed in a majority of Churches. Those who loved this Mass were scoffed at and, eventually, pushed out of the church doors.

I came into the Tridentine Masses after I had been slowed down in my desire to convert from the Episcopal Church, which according to a Catholic priest, 'was very close to the Catholic Church'. Later this same priest, whom I was taking catechism from, apologized for blessing a lady's Rosary with Holy Water, but, he said, 'It made her feel better.' God led me to a man who had been a convert and had remained true to the Tridentine Mass and Catholic doctrine, regardless of what the Novus Ordo church was preaching. He instructed me in Catholic doctrine and explained the Mass to me. Then I found a priest who had been forced out of his parish because he wanted the Tridentine Mass and he said the Tridentine Mass. He took early retirement and abuse from parishioners over the Mass, over the Catholic school dress code, over the Baltimore catechism, etc.

Now the Tridentine Mass is being allowed back into the Church after 40 years of the Novus Ordo. There was a conflict. There is a conflict between the two and this conflict will not go away. It will continue to cause a division which will eventually be a gulf. We are meant to seek God's Guidance. I have to stand with the Mass which St Pius V tried to preserve until the End of Time.

Dale Ahlquist writes in his edition of GK Chesterton's 'Lepanto': 'The Sultan and the writer both smile. Cervantes, however, smiles 'not as Sultans smile' because the Sultan's smile is a sneer, and the writer's smile is a laugh, which for Chesterton sums up the whole difference between fate and free will. Chesterton, the jolly journalist, is never far from laughter.' This, to my mind, is the difference between the consecration of the Wine in the Novus Ordo and in the Tridentine Mass. The Novus Ordo promotes fate, the Tridentine Mass promotes free will.

The Council of Trent expressed clearly why 'for you and for many' was used in the Consecration. It was for the Apostles and for all others who accepted this Sacrifice, for the many who used their free will to accept God's Sacrifice. The Novus Ordo uses 'for all' which takes out free will and means that we are all to be saved. Will is not involved here. It is just Man's fate to be saved. How convenient. How unCatholic.

This, to my mind, is enough to make the Novus Ordo invalid, no Mass. The Consecration is the Heart of the Sacrament of the Mass and the Novus Ordo has it just wrong. It is invalid. I go with the many Saints who received Christ in the Tridentine Mass and with St Pius V who has protected it. I hope with free will to be able to laugh with Chesterton. I hope to be able to fight like St Pius V. Laus tibi Christe.