"something extra I need"

From a post today at Catholic answers:

Quote:

I believe in Jesus Christ and that He is the Son of God, the Word made flesh, God with us. I believe that we are saved through Him. Is there something extra I need? Was there something extra the people being healed and forgiven by Christ had?

Yes. There is something extra you need. To grow in holiness. To seek God with all of your heart. To seek truth in all things. To make yourself the best person you can be as to honor His sacrifice.

Adventures in Catholicism

This post on CAF made me smile:

TRJ enters confessional.
Total silence ensures
Father: My child?
TRJ: Um, Father, sorry, I wrote some notes but now I have no idea what they mean.
Father: Sighs in exasperation
TRJ: I don't suppose you remember what I confessed last time? Cause it's probably about the same...no, I suppose you don't, sorry.
Father: Another sigh

A Day of Rest

Canon 1248 of the Pio-Benedictine Code of Canon Law says:

On feast days of precept, Mass is to be heard; there is an abstinence from servile work, legal acts, and likewise, unless there is a special indult or legitimate customs provide otherwise, from public trade, shopping, and other public buying and selling.

Now that does not say anything about Sundays. The previous canon states:

§ 1. Feast days under precept in the whole Church are only: All and every [Sunday], the feast of the Nativity, Circumcision, Epiphany, Ascension, and the most holy Body of Christ, Immaculate Conception, and Assumption of Mary the Mother of God, of Saint Joseph her spouse, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and of All the Saints.

I wonder whether Sunday rest is mandated elsewhere in the Code, or whether it was so well known and assumed that no legislation was necessary. The online Catholic Encyclopedia, published the same year that the Pio-Benedictine Code was promulgated, seems to indicate that the Church at that time did require that Sunday be a day of rest :
"From the eight century the law began to be formulated as it exists at the present day, and the local councils forbade servile work, public buying and selling, pleading in the law courts, and the public and solemn taking of oaths."

The law is not so specific these days as it was, but I think I'm going to avoid shopping on Sundays, as a way of observing the Lord's day and allowing others to rest.

Salute to a Happy Warrior...

... for the Faith and for the nation.

Timothy "Kevin" Whiteman, a/k/a the Catholic Caveman, just closed his blog as he moves on to other projects. His has been a distinctive voice in the blessedly strong chorus of orthodox Catholicism on the web. In his blog he laughed at the absurdities of liberalism and heterodoxy and pointed his readers back toward the older verities.

He is now writing for Examiner.com, and asks people to subscribe.

Another small milestone

Rorate Cæli reports that this past Sunday Monsignor Marco Agostini, Assistant Papal Master of Ceremonies, publicly celebrated a Traditional Latin Mass. It was the first time in decades that someone in his position had done so.

Cardinal-Prefect Cañizares on receiving Holy Communion

Here is a news story from last year that was still news to me yesterday. A sign of hope.

Lima, Peru, Jul 28, 2011 / 01:56 pm (CNA).- Spanish Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera recently recommended that Catholics receive Communion on the tongue, while kneeling.

“It is to simply know that we are before God himself and that He came to us and that we are undeserving,” the prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments said in an interview with CNA during his visit to Lima, Peru.

The cardinal’s remarks came in response to a question on whether Catholics should receive Communion in the hand or on the tongue.

He recommended that Catholics “receive Communion on the tongue and while kneeling.”

Receiving Communion in this way, the cardinal continued, “is the sign of adoration that needs to be recovered. I think the entire Church needs to receive Communion while kneeling.”

“In fact,” he added, “if one receives while standing, a genuflection or profound bow should be made, and this is not happening.”

“If we trivialize Communion, we trivialize everything, and we cannot lose a moment as important as that of receiving Communion, of recognizing the real presence of Christ there, of the God who is the love above all loves, as we sing in a hymn in Spanish.”

In response to a question about the liturgical abuses that often occur, Cardinal Canizares said they must be “corrected, especially through proper formation: formation for seminarians, for priests, for catechists, for all the Christian faithful.”

Such a formation should ensure that liturgical celebrations take place “in accord with the demands and dignity of the celebration, in accord with the norms of the Church, which is the only way we can authentically celebrate the Eucharist,” he added.

“Bishops have a unique responsibility” in the task of liturgical formation and the correction of abuses, the cardinal said, “and we must not fail to fulfill it, because everything we do to ensure that the Eucharist is celebrated properly will ensure proper participation in the Eucharist.”

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This was not the first time His Eminence publicly supported the traditional method of receiving Holy Communion, either. God bless him. I hope he is heeded.

Second Sunday After the Epiphany

† Continuation of the holy Gospel according to St. John.

[Miracle of Cana in Galilee: a type of Transubstantiation.]

At that time there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee: and the Mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus also was invited, and His disciples, to the marriage. And the wine failing, the Mother of Jesus saith to Him: They have no wine. And Jesus saith to her: Woman, what is that to Me and to thee? My hour is not yet come. His Mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye. Now there were set there six water-pots of stone, according to the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three measures apiece. Jesus saith to them: Fill the water-pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And Jesus said to them: Draw out now, and carry to the chief steward of the feast. And they carried it. And when the chief steward had tasted the water made wine, and knew not whence it was, but the waiters knew who had drawn the water: the chief steward calleth the bridegroom, and saith to him: Every man at first setteth forth good wine: and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee; and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.

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A reenactment our Lord's first miracle:

A pilgrim or tourist visits the church built on the site of the wedding feast at Cana:

Dominus Est

The Most Reverend Athanasius Schneider, auxiliary bishop of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, is the author of Dominus Est, a book which calls for greater care and reverence in the distribution of Holy Communion, and a return to traditional practices that have been abandoned in the last 30 years. Here he speaks with someone from Gloria.tv:

From Alcuin Reid's review of His Excellency's book:

It was 1969. Paul VI was the Pope. The Congregation for Divine Worship issued an Instruction, Memoriale Domini, on the manner of receiving Holy Communion. It makes very interesting reading.

After recalling the development of the reception of Communion on the tongue as a fruit of "a deepening understanding of the truth of the Eucharistic mystery, of its power and of the presence of Christ in it," the Instruction declares that "this method of distributing holy communion must be retained...not merely because it has many centuries of tradition behind it, but especially because it expresses the faithful's reverence for the Eucharist. The custom does not detract in any way from the personal dignity of those who approach this great sacrament: it is part of that preparation that is needed for the most fruitful reception of the Body of the Lord" it said.

It also warned: "A change in a matter of such moment, based on a most ancient and venerable tradition, does not merely affect discipline. It carries certain dangers with it which may arise from the new manner of administering Holy Communion: the danger of a loss of reverence for the august sacrament of the altar, of profanation, of adulterating the true doctrine." And it published a survey of the world's bishops, which led it to conclude: "the vast majority of bishops believe that the present discipline should not be changed, and that if it were, the change would be offensive to the sentiments and the spiritual culture of these bishops and of many of the faithful." For this reason it reports, "the Holy Father has decided not to change the existing way of administering holy communion to the faithful."

What happened, for communion in the hand is now practically universal and younger generations know practically nothing else?

Epiphany

And behold the star, which they had seen in the East, went before them until it came and stood over where the Child was. And seeing the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And entering into the house, they found the Child with Mary His Mother, (Here genuflect) and falling down they adored Him. And opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

The Most Holy Name of Jesus

O LORD, tame our hearts and lift our thoughts to Thee, so that with suitable words and actions we may glorify Thy Holy Name.

Feast of the Circumcision