All things have their season...

As the year winds down, so does this blog. God willing and time permitting, I may start blogging again next Christmas.

If you are looking for a Catholic blog to visit, here are a few which I have visited recently and can recommend.  Of course, no blog is perfect, but each of these will edify, enlighten and/or entertain:

Unam Sanctam Catholicam
Laodicea
Old Time Catholic Blog   [2/2/2014 note: be careful, I've gotten virus warnings the last few times I visited this blog]
The Curt Jester
Catholic Cartoon Blog
Rorate Caeli
WDTPRS

And here a few good websites:

Fish Eaters has a wealth of information about Catholic customs.
If your goal is the perfection of your soul, visit the Saints' Discussion Forums.
The New Liturgical Movement has writers knowledgeable about the history of the Mass, who hope to restore to our Liturgy the reverence and transcendent beauty which has become more elusive in recent decades.

Finally, please sign this online petition to the Pope, requesting that he publicly celebrate the Traditional Mass himself. What a beautiful sign of unity and good will between himself and traditional Catholics that would be!

May God bless you in the coming year.

Deo gratias semper agamus.

Once in Royal David's City

What Child is This?

I Wonder as I Wander

In Dulci Jubilo

On the Feast of Stephen

Good King Wenceslas looked out on the feast of Stephen,
when the snow lay roundabout, deep and crisp and even.

Brightly shone the moon that night, though the frost was cruel,
when a poor man came in sight, gathering winter fuel.

"Hither, page, and stand by me, if thou know'st it, telling:
yonder peasant, who is he? Where and what his dwelling?"

"Sire, he lives a good league hence, underneath the mountain,
right against the forest fence, by St. Agnes fountain."

"Bring me flesh and bring me wine, bring me pine logs hither.
Thou and I will see him dine, when we bear them thither. "

Page and monarch, forth they went, forth they went together,
through rude wind´s wild lament and the bitter weather.

"Sire, the night is darker now and the wind blows stronger.
Fails my heart, I know not how; I can go no longer."

"Mark my footsteps, good my page, tread thou in them boldly.
Thou shalt find the winter´s rage freeze thy blood less coldly."

In his master´s steps he trod, where the snow lay dinted.
Heat was in the very sod, which the saint had printed.

Therefore, Christian men, be sure, wealth or rank possessing,
ye who now will bless the poor shall yourselves find blessing.

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Walk in thy King's footsteps, Christian reader, and do not fear the winter's rage.

Tua Bethlem Dref

Here is a Christmas song that deserves to be better known, from the movie A Child's Christmas in Wales:

On to Bethlehem town;
Join the crowd and travel down;
Down the road that leads us to the cradle.
Come all who are able.
Come, come to the stable with
Hearts full of joy as we kneel and pray
Come and see the child,
With his mother Mary mild.
Come along and worship at the cradle.

There we'll see the boy;
Hearts aglow with boundless joy;
In the everlasting word.
We will bow before for Him
Come, come and adore Him
Bringing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
On to Bethlehem town;
Join the crowd and travel down.
Down the road that leads us to the cradle.

Click on the notes to the left for sheet music thoughtfully provided by Cypress Films. Click here for a rendition of the song in the original Welsh. Nadolig Llawen!

Rorate caeli

Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum.
Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum.

Ne irascaris Domine, ne ultra memineris iniquitatis:
ecce civitas Sancti facta est deserta:
Sion deserta facta est: Jerusalem desolata est:
domus sanctificationis tuae et gloriae tuae,
ubi laudaverunt te patres nostri.

Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum.
Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum.

Peccavimus, et facti sumus tamquam immundus nos,
et cecidimus quasi folium universi:
et iniquitates nostrae quasi ventus abstulerunt nos:
abscondisti faciem tuam a nobis,
et allisisti nos in manu iniquitatis nostrae.

Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum.
Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum.

Vide Domine afflictionem populi tui,
et mitte quem missurus es:
emitte Agnum dominatorem terrae,
de Petra deserti ad montem filiae Sion:
ut auferat ipse iugum captivitatis nostrae.

Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum.
Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum.

Consolamini, consolamini, popule meus:
cito veniet salus tua:
quare maerore consumeris, quia innovavit te dolor?
Salvabo te, noli timere
(ego enim sum Dominus Deus tuus,
Sanctus Israel, Redemptor tuus).¹

Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum.
Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum.

Ember Week

Wednesday, Friday and Saturday of this week are traditionally days of fasting, abstinence, and corporal acts of mercy. What gift can you bring to the King of Kings?

Magnificat Antiphons (Arvo Pärt)

A modern (1988-1991) rendering of the O Antiphons into German by Arvo Pärt:

O Weisheit, hervorgegangen aus dem Munde des Höchsten,
die Welt umspannst du von einem Ende zum andern,
in Kraft und Milde ordnest du alles :
O komm und offenbare uns den Weg der Weisheit und der Einsicht.

O Wisdom, proceeding from the mouth of the Most High,
Thou encirclest the world from one end to the other,
Thou orderest all things with might and mercy:
O come to us and reveal the way of wisdom and of understanding.

O Adonai, der Herr und Führer des Hauses Israel,
im flammender Dornbusch bist du dem Moses erschienen,
und hast ihm auf dem Berg das Gesetz gegeben.
O komm und befreie uns mit deinem starken Arm.

O Adonai, the Lord and Leader of the House of Israel,
In the burning bush Thou hast appeared unto Moses
and hast given him the law upon the mountain:
O come and deliver us with Thy strong arm.

O Sproß aus Isais Wurzel,
gesetzt zum Zeichen für die Völker,
vor dir verstummen die Herrscher der Erde, dich flehen an die Völker:
o komm und errette uns, erhebe dich, säume nicht länger.

O Scion of the Root of Jesse,
set as a sign for the nations,
before Thee the rulers of the earth fall silent, unto Thee the people cry:
O come and save us, bestir Thyself, delay no longer.

O Schlüssel Davids, Zepter des Hauses Israel,
du öffnest, und niemand kann schließen,
du schließt, und keine Macht vermag zu öffnen:
o komm und öffne den Kerker der Finsternis und die Fessel des Todes.

O Key of David, Sceptre of the House of Israel,
Thou openest, and no one can shut,
Thou shuttest, and no power may open:
O come and unlock the dungeon of darkness and the fetters of death.

O Morgenstern, Glanz des unversehrten Lichtes:
Der Gerechtigkeit strahlende Sonne:
o komm und erleuchte, die da sitzen in Finsternis,
und im Schatten des Todes.

O Morning Star, Splendor of Eternal Light:
the Bright Sun of Justice:
O come and enlighten them that sit in darkness,
and in the shadow of death.

O König aller Völker, ihre Erwartung und Sehnsucht,
Schlußstein, der den Bau zusammenhält,
o komm und errette den Menschen,
den du aus Erde gebildet!

O King of all nations, their expectation and desire,
Keystone, Which holdest all things together:
O come and save mankind,
whom Thou hast formed from clay!

O Immanuel, unser König und Lehrer,
du Hoffnung und Heiland der Völker:
o komm, eile und schaffe uns Hilfe,
du unser Herr und unser Gott.

O Emmanuel, our King and Counselor,
Thou hope and Savior of the nations:
O come, make haste to help us,
Thou our Lord and our God.

(The translations are mostly taken from ArvoPart.org).

On Jordan's Bank

In Memoriam: Alfons Maria Card. Stickler

Cardinal Stickler, prefect of the Vatican Library and Papal Archives, and friend to traditional Catholics, died 5 years ago today. Requiescat in Pace.

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Here is an essay by Cdl. Stickler, in which he points out that the Mass was altered in ways not called for by Vatican II.

Tota Pulchra es

A beautiful motet composed by Josquin des Prez in the 15th or 16th century. I can't quite make out the words, but I assume they are based on this fourth century prayer:

Tota pulchra es, Maria
et macula originalis non est in te.
Vestimentum tuum candidum quasi nix,
  et facies tua sicut sol.
Tota pulchra es, Maria,
et macula originalis non est in te.
Tu gloria Jerusalem,
  tu laetitia Israel,
  tu honorificentia populi nostri.
Tota pulchra es, Maria.

Thou art all fair, O Mary
and the original stain is not in thee.
Thy clothing is white like snow,
  and thy face is like the sun.
Thou art all fair, O Mary,
and the original stain is not in thee.
Thou, the glory of Jerusalem,
  thou, the joy of Israel,
  thou, the honor of our people.
Thou art all fair, O Mary.

يسوع الصلاة

.يارب يسوع المسيح ابن اللّه الحيّ إرحمني أنا الخاطئ

Christmas Season at a Mall

Progressives vs Education

Louisiana's education voucher program was ruled unconstitutional yesterday.

Comments on the news:

Ray Cherry: This is BS! If I want my kid to get a good education, my tax dollars should be able to go to the school I send my kid to! Period.

Jim McNary: So if I want to send my kid to the Saul Alinsky Satanist Abortion Academy, you'd be cool with my using your tax dollars to do it?
Good to know, Ray.

Me: Funny how oh-so-open-minded liberals suddenly start warning people people about the supposed dangers of wiccans or satanists raising their children according to their beliefs, whenever the possibility arises of helping children get something other than a values-free education.

You won't see my comment, however; it was deleted twice. There are other comments on the page that could also use a reply, but WWLTV appears determined to keep the conversation one-sided.

(I tried replying again a few days later with "If the price of me raising my kid according to my beliefs is that you get to raise your kid according to your beliefs, so be it" but the news station deleted that one, too).