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By Thy Crib and Thy Cross O Little One So small and fair King though you are No royal fanfare Or regal trappings Lying in a manger bare I see Thee there Poor and lone Save the ass and ox Aside Your throne Of hay and cold Yet such Light does shone Ah, here lies a gift Sublime and yet keen All power and majesty Lie in place so mean Contained and swaddled Unnoticed and unseen No words do Thou speak Silence is gold For to the heart Is Thou story told The Word Made Flesh The Love of God unfolds The Glory of God At rest in the cave At one with man So as to save Those who had forsook All that which He gave I come before You Oh Infant meek and mild No fear and trembling Before you, Almighty Child For You came for me Through Thy Mother undefiled To save me, O Jesus From the snare of sin From the sadness of error From the darkness and din Of life without You O Light, shine within My lowly heart I give to you, Sweet One Make it beat sweetly In rhythm with Thine Own A song of peace and joy For You …

Christ in A Christmas Carol We would like to have written this ourselves, but another has been so inspired and has done well. So, on this 7th Day of Christm...

It's Not About Marriage Again and again it is mentioned that blessings of sodomites does not affect the Church’s teaching on marriage. What is ignored that it changes the teaching on Sin, and not limited to sins against the sixth commandment. The absolute foundation of God revelation is that: (1) Creation was good at its inception. (2) Creation, including man’s nature and urges were corrupted by the fall. (3) Man (and creation) is healed by denying man’s will and taking on God’s will as your own. Yes, we suffer from a rebellious urge to break the Commandments. For some it is the commandment against sexual sin, for others it is the commandment against theft. For all it is the commandment to put God first. Nobody breaks all the commandments. Most people have one or two favorite sins. In that sense there is some good in the thief, adulterer, murderer, etc. That is the whole point. Redemption is the denial, specifically, of the urges against God, not in taking comfort that you haven’t broken …

The Christmas Wood It is night and my eyes are open wide Though the light be dim, they see as clear as day My mind travels far though time In th...

Words from the pit Satan is a liar, but he is no fool. His lies always have to be believable. He lies by using words in a way that they can be misunderstood. When you use vague words, words with multiple meanings, you leave your listener open to the lies of Satan. One such confusion of meaning arises from the use of "tradition". Of course, traditions change. The tradition of Monday being wash-day was carried for centuries, until the advent of the Washing Machine, making washing far less than a day's worth of work. This vague, general term "tradition" can mean all types of traditions. So, when we hear prelates speaking about tradition "changing", "developing", and "reflecting the modern world", our minds automatically give assent. We have been snared in the confusion which Satan seeks. But we are not carrying on the habits, customs or traditions 19th Century America or of any particular region or culture. Those can certainly change. We aren't even carrying on the traditions of Catholic …

THE PRACTICE OF ADVENT by Dom Gueranger, 1910 I f our holy mother the Church spends the time of Advent in this solemn preparation for the ...

Hearing Love's Song Hearing is one of the great joys of this life and while there are an infinitesimal number of sounds one can hear, none has quite the impact as the sound of a loved one's voice. The sound of your newborn baby as she is born; hearing mom's voice calling to you when you were lost; the sound of your beloved's voice as he asks you to marry him. I'll never forget hearing the sound of my father's voice over the phone after not having heard it in 30 years. I had put his voice out of my mind in trying to get beyond the hurt of losing him. Yet, when I heard it again, it was both familiar and new, sending my heart soaring in bittersweet joy. I'll never forget it and now that he has entered into Eternity (Eternal rest, grant to Him, O Lord and may perpetual Light shine upon him), I stop and "listen" again to remember, hope and look forward... The human voice is the resonance of the soul as it passes over and through the linguistic terrain of the throat and mouth. In this breath …

Creatures of Habit Most days, our lives are generally the same. Each day is woven together by a string of the routine and familiar. We set our alarm clocks to awaken at the same time, hit the snooze alarm the same number of times, get up out of bed on the same side, have the same breakfast each morning, catch the same train each morning, see the same faces who are following their same routines. We are creatures of habit and it ain't pretty when things don't go the way they are "supposed" to go. You know what life is like when your spouse gets up on the wrong side of the bed or when you just miss the 6:11 train or when the coffee cart isn’t there on the corner like it normally is! There is something good about routines and habits. They help us make some sense of the chaotic, keep us moving in a good and orderly way, meet expectations and responsibilities and in our own little corners of the world way, give us a sense of control. Yet because we are fallen, even the good stuff can get, well …

Surprised by Sin Sin has a way of sneaking up on you when you aren't looking. There you are, going along without any temptation in sight or in mind, and then all of us sudden, without realizing it is happening or being able to catch yourself, you have just broken God's Law: sudden impatience with recalcitrant child, stunning rage at another driver cutting you off, wishing the ladies at the salon "Happy Holidays." Each time such occurs, I am left dumbfounded and deeply saddened: I did it again. Such moments come up unexpectedly. I do not plan these things to happen. On the contrary, I pray and work so that they don't. Yet, seemingly out of the blue, I do the very thing again and am flummoxed. These events often seem to follow immediately after a burst of emotion of some kind, either positive or negative. I get a rush of fear when nearly cut off on the road. The next thing I know, I am yelling at the driver instead of thanking my guardian angel for his help; I am tired and desire rest and …

A Thorny Issue It was a beautiful mid-July day, a bit less humid than usual and so I impulsively decided that it was a day to do the things that I had been putting off....power-washing the exterior of the house and cleaning the dreaded windows! After that was accomplished, I felt energized and went on to do some weeding. There were two 4-ft tall stalks growing along the side of the house and every morning as I look outside the kitchen window, I see them, taunting me. If I let them be, I am convinced that eventually a boy named Jack would appear and decide to climb them. So, again impulsively, I decide to hack at them, armed with the kitchen scissors. The right tools make all the difference....anyway, I encountered another type of growth which I didn't expect nor realized was present: brambles replete with thorns. In typical fashion, I started to go after them unprepared - this time, without any gloves (those who take on projects impulsively rarely are armed appropriately) and those thorns …

How Wonderful is Your Life? Thanksgiving is just two weeks ago and we stand on the precipice of what is commonly known as the holiday season, replete with all the cultu...

I've Got Song in My Heart.... The Book of Psalms is the most widely-read Book of the Bible and it is no wonder: filled with intense cries to God, the Psalms express the vast horizon of human experience and emotions, from fear to joy, desolation to fulfillment, despair to hope, failure to success, wantonness to holiness, death to life. They were (and continue to be) used by The Church extensively in prayer and praise, as well as for instruction and understanding of The Lord. Jesus Himself prayed the Psalms. In fact, Scripture records that, of all of the Old Testament, it is the Psalms that Jesus quotes most often - 11 times (followed by Deuteronomy, Isaiah and Exodus, in that order); arguably, most notably and palpably from the Cross, He quotes (Douay Rheims) Psalm 21:1: "My God, my God, why have Your forsaken me?" It is the tradition of the Church that He cried out not only these words, but the entire Psalm as He endured His Most Sorrowful Passion. In those times, a rabbi was only as …

I've Got My Head in the Clouds Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us, and persevere in the running the race that lies before us." - Hebrews 12:1 When the leaves change hue and the pumpkins abound, Catholics know that it will soon be November 1st, the day the Church celebrates all those tested and faithful men and women who have gone before us, the countless souls who "have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb." - Revelation 7:9 These are the everyday people, those recognized officially by the Church as Saints and those countless people who have not been officially recognized but are known by God to have loved Him and served Him during their earthly lives. Coming from all walks of life, societal position, nationality and race, they lived lives of faith, hope and charity in spite of personal circumstances, sinfulness and …

The Four Marks of the Synodal Church

Rolling in the Deep We've all heard the expression, "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans." I think it is attributed to John Lennon. Or was it, "We make plans and God laughs." Regardless, most of us go through our lives with a certain course charted, routines to follow, disciplines to maintain, jobs to do. And quite often, we go through the motions of our lives and often get so caught up in our routines that we could almost walk through the day blindfolded. Routines are not bad; they certainly serve a purpose and help to keep things in order. Yet so often, we keep doing the same things over and over again, that life can become like white noise; humming along, our awareness becomes dulled to possibilities. I am sure it was no different for the disciples of Jesus Christ. Consider Peter and the others when Jesus came onto their boat and told them to try something different - "Go cast your nets out into the deep." Now, they were tired after having been out all day and …

The Antidote This blog was originally written in 2020-2021, at the onset of the Covid hysteria, but not shared. Upon review, we thought it worthwhile as a reminder of where we've been and what Heaven has to say about it all. Coronavirus is a compound word from two Latin words. Corona means "a crown, garland" and virus, "poison;" "potent juice." This doesn't mean that it is the king of all diseases nor holds the crown for most deadly, though the impact it has had on our lives can lead some to think that way. No, the name actually describes how the virus looks when viewed through a microscope, as it is "wearing" a pointed crown. Yet, it seems this "crowned poison" is rather ruling our lives, by infecting some, restricting many and impacting all, through illness, death, loss of income, quarantine and a general sense of uncertainty and confusion. As hopeless as it may seem, there is an antidote to this "crowned poison," another corona, a better and more worthy crown: The Corona del Rosario …

Cereal and Your Heart's Desire Several years ago while doing grocery shopping, I was suddenly dumbstruck as I turned down the aisle to pick out some cereal. I stoo...