On the Beauty of a Large Family

I have often thought about those things that make having a large family so beautiful. I remember I was working in Boston in the corporate world and an older manager and I were having a conversation about children and he said in so many words, don't have a large family for if you do expect to be poor. I never was interested in the pursuit of wealth, so I did not heed his advice.

In a large family you have the structure in place to fully learn about life; person relationships, successes and failures, tragedy, group support, competition, sharing, intimacy, and sacrifice. I believe that it is in the context of the family that these experiences are best gained. It does not guarantee that one would learn and grow from them. In my own case my mother was always pitting one sibling against the other. In this struggle for parental recognition, I sought attention to myself.

This desire to prove that I was better has come to light in living as Christ wants us. Jesus said "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." God has revealed this to me in many situations. First it is the humility of Christ that I so admire. "He humbled Himself" "was obedient to death, even death on a cross," and as I have come across those in the religious life, devout laity and of course priests, it has become obvious to me that I lack their humility.

God has also blessed me with a wonderful family and I have witnessed in the beauty of my wife and children, their humility, so what was originally lacking has been restored. Society and the world has renounce the large family for pursuit of material treasure but the real treasure is in the life of the family. It has been for me

The Prince of Peace - Unto Us A Child is Born

"Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song" Pope John Paul the Great

Have respect to the bishop as to Christ Himself - Ignatius of Antioch

Ignatius of Antioch : Early Church Father, whose good friend St. Polycarp had learned his faith from St. John the Evangelist, disciple of Jesus Christ was also called Theophorus (ho Theophoros); born in Syria, around the year 50; died at Rome between 98 and 117. For all doubters of apostolic succession read below how he exhorts the faithful to follow the bishops as they were Christ himself. This is very early in the development of the Christianity and the Church already existed. As John Henry Newman wrote:"To be deep in history, is to cease to be a Protestant"

"Now the more any one sees the bishop keeping silence, That is, “showing forbearance.” the more ought he to revere him. For we ought to receive every one whom the Master of the house sends to be over His household, as we would do Him that sent him. It is manifest, therefore, that we should look upon the bishop even as we would upon the Lord Himself. And indeed Onesimus himself greatly commends your good order in God, that ye all live according to the truth, and that no sect Or, “heresy.” has any dwelling-place among you. Nor, indeed, do ye hearken to any one rather than to Jesus Christ speaking in truth.

The more, therefore, you see the bishop silent, the more do you reverence him. For we ought to receive every one whom the Master of the house sends to be over His household, as we would do Him that sent him. It is manifest, therefore, that we should look upon the bishop even as we would look upon the Lord Himself, standing, as he does, before the Lord.

For “it behoves the man who looks carefully about him, and is active in his business, to stand before kings, and not to stand before slothful men.”after. And indeed Onesimus himself greatly commends your good order in God, that ye all live according to the truth, and that no sect has any dwelling-place among you. Nor indeed do ye hearken to any one rather than to Jesus Christ, the true Shepherd and Teacher. And ye are, as Paul wrote to you, “one body and one spirit, because ye have also been called in one hope of the faith. Since also “there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.” Such, then, are ye, having been taught by such instructors, Paul the Christ-bearer, and Timothy the most faithful.

Canadian Brass - Pretty Cool

From Dark Night of the Soul St. John of the Cross

Many of these beginners have also at times great spiritual avarice. They will be found to be discontented with the spirituality which God gives them; and they are very disconsolate and querulous because they find not in spiritual things the consolation that they would desire.

Many can never have enough of listening to counsels and learning spiritual precepts, and of possessing and reading many books which treat of this matter, and they spend their time on all these things rather than on works of mortification and the perfecting of the inward poverty of spirit which should be theirs. Furthermore, they burden themselves with images and rosaries which are very curious; now they put down one, now take up another; now they change about, now change back again; now they want this kind of thing, now that, preferring one kind of cross to another, because it is more curious. And others you will see adorned with agnusdeis.

The agnusdei was a wax medal with a representation of the lamb stamped upon it, often blessed by the Pope; at the time of the Saint such medals were greatly sought after, as we know from various references in St. Teresa’s letters. and relics and tokens,[The word nómina, translated ‘token,’ and normally meaning list, or ‘roll,’ refers to a relic on which were written the names of saints. In modern Spanish it can denote a medal or amulet used superstitiously.] like children with trinkets. Here I condemn the attachment of the heart, and the affection which they have for the nature, multitude and curiosity of these things, inasmuch as it is quite contrary to poverty of spirit which considers only the substance of devotion, makes use only of what suffices for that end and grows weary of this other kind of multiplicity and curiosity.

For true devotion must issue from the heart, and consist in the truth and substances alone of what is represented by spiritual things; all the rest is affection and attachment proceeding from imperfection; and in order that one may pass to any kind of perfection it is necessary for such desires to be killed.

Quotes From Pope John Paul II the Great

Father Hardon - The Meaning of Virtue in St. Thomas Aquinas

Until modern times the relationship of morals to religion was taken for granted, and writers as far different in philosophy as Plato and Avicenna, or in theology as Aquinas and Luther, never questioned the basic truth expressed on Mt. Sinai when Yahweh gave the Jews the Decalogue, the first precepts of which were to honor God as a foundation for the secondary precepts of the moral law.

But something new has entered the stream of human thought, the concept of man’s autonomy that wishes to dispense with religion in its bearing on morals, on the grounds that the very notion of religious values is only a mental construct. Whatever bearing they may have on ethical principles, it is not as though the concept of God was a necessary condition for being moral in the current, accepted sense of the term.

Aquinas believed what Aristotle never dreamed: that man is more than a composite of body and soul, that he is nothing less than elevated to a supernatural order which participates, as far as a creature can, in the very nature of God. Accordingly, a person in the state of grace, or divine friendship, possesses certain enduring powers, the infused virtues and gifts, that raise him to an orbit of existence as far above nature as heaven is above earth, and that give him abilities of thought and operation that are literally born, “not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Nowhere else does the true character of the supernatural appear more evident than in the endowments of infused virtue which some people possess and others do not, and that make some capable of spiritual actions which others cannot perform.

In the Thomistic system, the soul is the substantial form of the body, which gives man all that is properly human and places him essentially into the natural order; sanctifying grace or justification, by analogy, is the accidental form of the soul, which gives the same man all that is properly divine and puts him habitually into the family of God. Comparing the two with each other, the soul is the foundation of natural existence, as sanctifying grace is the principle of supernatural life.

Yet we know that the soul is not all we have in the body, that the soul itself has powers through which it operates and by which it gives expression to its rational nature. Even so, by a divine consistency, the “soul of the soul,” as sanctifying grace has been called, must have channels for the deiform life that God confers on the just. They are the virtues, theological and moral, according to their respective purposes; not unlike the native abilities through which mind and will come into contact with us.

St. Thomas defines virtue as “a good habit bearing on activity” or a good faculty — habit (habitus operativus bonus). Generic to the concept of virtue, then, is the element of habit, which stands in a special relation to the soul, whether in the natural order or elevated to the divine life by grace.

The soul is the remote principle or source of all our activities; faculties are the proximate sources built into the soul by nature; habits are still more immediate principles added to the faculties either by personal endeavor or by supernatural infusion from God. Consequently the soul helps the man, faculties help the soul, and habits help the faculties.

Not every habit is a virtue, but only one that so improves and perfects a rational faculty as to incline it towards good — good for the faculty, for the will and for the whole man in terms of his ultimate destiny.

Among the infused virtues, however, some are concerned directly with God and operate in a field in which the unaided reason cannot work; they are called theological. Others have as their object not God Himself, the final end of all things, but human activities that are penultimate and subordinate to the final end; they are called moral and, because four of them (prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice) are primary, said to be cardinal (cardo, hinge) in human conduct.

Theological virtues supply for the mind and will what neither faculty has of itself, the salutary knowledge, desire and love of God and of His will, without which there could be no supernatural order, which means voluntary choice of suitable means to reach the heavenly goal to which we are elevated. These virtues make us well adjusted to our last end, which is God Himself; hence they are called theological, because they not only go out to God — as all virtue worthy of the name must do — but they also reach Him. To be well adjusted to our destiny we must know and desire it; the desire demands that we are in love with the object to which we are tending and are confident of obtaining it. Faith makes us know the God to whom we are going, hope makes us look forward to joining Him, and charity makes us love Him.

Besides the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, St. Thomas teaches that a person in divine friendship receives an infusion of the moral virtues whose immediate object is not God Himself but the practice of human actions conducive to man’s final end. Just as faith, hope and charity correspond in the supernatural order to natural knowledge, hope and love, so there are other divinely infused habits to supplement and match these theological virtues; habits which are elevated counterparts of the acquired virtues of prudence, temperance, fortitude and justice.

Aquinas and Aristotle both recognize that virtue is not its own reward and has little meaning apart from an ultimate goal. A man is virtuous because his actions correspond to an objective norm, which for Aristotle was knowable by reason and for Aquinas by reason and faith.

Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor

Not on Externals Alone

We should enjoy much peace if we did not concern ourselves with what others say and do, for these are no concern of ours. How can a man who meddles in affairs not his own, who seeks strange distractions, and who is little or seldom inwardly recollected, live long in peace?

Blessed are the simple of heart for they shall enjoy peace in abundance.

Why were some of the saints so perfect and so given to contemplation? Because they tried to mortify entirely in themselves all earthly desires, and thus they were able to attach themselves to God with all their heart and freely to concentrate their innermost thoughts.

We are too occupied with our own whims and fancies, too taken up with passing things. Rarely do we completely conquer even one vice, and we are not inflamed with the desire to improve ourselves day by day; hence, we remain cold and indifferent. If we mortified our bodies perfectly and allowed no distractions to enter our minds, we could appreciate divine things and experience something of heavenly contemplation.

The greatest obstacle, indeed, the only obstacle, is that we are not free from passions and lusts, that we do not try to follow the perfect way of the saints. Thus when we encounter some slight difficulty, we are too easily dejected and turn to human consolations. If we tried, however, to stand as brave men in battle, the help of the Lord from heaven would surely sustain us. For He Who gives us the opportunity of fighting for victory, is ready to help those who carry on and trust in His grace.

If we let our progress in religious life depend on the observance of its externals alone, our devotion will quickly come to an end. Let us, then, lay the ax to the root that we may be freed from our passions and thus have peace of mind.

If we were to uproot only one vice each year, we should soon become perfect. The contrary, however, is often the case -- we feel that we were better and purer in the first fervor of our conversion than we are after many years in the practice of our faith. Our fervor and progress ought to increase day by day; yet it is now considered noteworthy if a man can retain even a part of his first fervor.

If we did a little violence to ourselves at the start, we should afterwards be able to do all things with ease and joy. It is hard to break old habits, but harder still to go against our will.

If you do not overcome small, trifling things, how will you overcome the more difficult? Resist temptations in the beginning, and unlearn the evil habit lest perhaps, little by little, it lead to a more evil one.

If you but consider what peace a good life will bring to yourself and what joy it will give to others, I think you will be more concerned about your spiritual progress.

Thomas a' Kempis The Imitation of Christ, Chapter 11

Words from St. Teresa of Avila

Let nothing upset you, let nothing startle you. All things pass; God does not change. Patience wins all it seeks. Whoever has God lacks nothing: God alone is enough Nada te turbe, pg 33

"Each day I am more amazed at the little talent I have for anything. And don't think that what I'm saying comes from humility, for each day I see it more clearly"

It seems our Lord desires me and all others to know that it is only His Majesty who does these works, and that as He gave sight with mud to the blind man, He wants someone as blind as I to do something worth more than mud. Certainly, in this whole matter there were things... involving great blindness, and each time I recall it, I would like to praise our Lord again for it. [Foundations, ch.29, p.276]

You must know, daughters, that whether or no you are practising mental prayer has nothing to do with keeping the lips closed. If, while I am speaking with God, I have a clear realization and full consciousness that I am doing so, and if this is more real to me than the words I am uttering, then I am combining mental and vocal prayer. When people tell you that you are speaking with God by reciting the Paternoster and thinking of worldly things -- well, words fail me. When you speak, as it is right for you to do, with so great a Lord, it is well that you should think of Who it is that you are addressing, and what you yourself are, if only that you may speak to Him with proper respect. How can you address a king with the deference due to him, or how can you know what ceremonies have to be used when speaking to a grandee, unless you are clearly conscious of the nature of his position and of yours? The Way of Perfection, Chapter 22

Prayer for Priests

We thank you for our faithful priests and bishops, whose spiritual fatherhood and example of fidelity, self-sacrifice, and devotion is so vital to the faith of your people.

May our spiritual fathers be guided by the examples of Saints Peter and Paul, all the Apostles and their saintly successors. Give them valiant faith in the face of confusion and conflict, hope in time of trouble and sorrow, and steadfast love for you, for their families, and for all your people throughout the world. May the light of your Truth shine through their lives and their good works.

Assist all spiritual fathers, that through your Grace they may steadily grow in holiness and in knowledge and understanding of your Truth. May they generously impart this knowledge to those who rely on them.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen
(courtesy of : Women for Faith & Family website http://www.wf-f.org.)

Bolero, Part Two

Ravel's Bolero

Mozart Symphony No. 38

Random Thoughts

You cannot think your way to salvation. All too often I equate the idea that thoughts and feelings, especially positive, and good thoughts and feelings, with doing God's will. In the realm of the spiritual life there are no emotional responses. You are either doing the will of God in a specific instance or you are not. For example you may be caring for a loved one who is physically incapable, and not enjoying it at all, yet you are doing God's will. In a marriage you are not married for the intent and purpose of being happy. You have days that are wonderful and others that are not, each individual day does not make what you and your spouse vowed to each other to be. I tried to define my spiritual being on the basis of my intellect. That does not work. I formulated an idea of what a spiritual life is and then proceeded to live it. I tried to control what cannot be controlled. This control manifests itself in the relationships I have and the approach to all facets of my life. One of the most poignant contrast to this is when I go to the hospital each week and visit the sick and dying. I can recognize that they are not in control, when a disease ravages their bodies yet I did not have the wisdom to see that I am not in control, never have been. I was willing to surrender to God in part but not totally, I needed some reserved for me to put my hands on. It is in the moment of total surender, in contemplation where you can find the questions for God to answer or at least the questions to ask Him. Already I am thinking too much here....

St. Teresa of Jesus, Mystic & Doctor of the Church

St. Teresa (1515-1582) was born in Avila and died in Alba, Spain. When only a child of seven, she ran away from home in the hope of being martyred by the Moors; in this way, she said she could come to see God. At the age of eighteen she joined the Carmelite Order and chose Christ as her heavenly Spouse. With the help of St. John of the Cross she reformed most of the Carmelite convents and founded new ones. She reached the highest degree of prayer and through prayer obtained such knowledge of divine things that in 1970 Pope Paul VI named her the first woman Doctor of the Church. from CatholicCulture.org

Father, by your Spirit you raised up Saint Teresa of Jesus to show your Church the way to perfection. May her inspired teaching awaken in us a longing for true holiness. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

Pictures at An Exhibition Maria Yudina

Erik Satie Gymnopedie No.1 - Piano

Vivaldi Autumn

White House Playing Hyde Amendment Con Game Again

White House Says Catholic Bishops Have Misinterpreted Law Banning Federal Funding of Abortion--And Its Application to Health-Care Bill

From CNSNews.com:

The “law” Gibbs was referring to is the Hyde Amendment, which has been included in each year’s annual Health and Human Services Appropriation since fiscal 1977. This amendment prohibits funding of abortion only in that particular fiscal year and only among funds appropriated through that particular bill.

The programs being set up by the health-care bill under consideration in Congress would not be funded through the annual HHS appropriations bill and would not be subject to the Hyde amendment--even if Congress deems to include the Hyde Amendment in future-year HHS appropriations bills.

Hear the Carlow Choir Sunday @ St. Joseph Cathedral - Baton Rouge

UPCOMING CONCERTS AT THE CATHEDRAL!
CARLOW CHOIR
Directed by John DeChiaro
This Sunday, October 18 – 4:30 pm
The St. Joseph Cathedral Concert Series will present “The
Carlow Choir,” a choir based in Pineville, Louisiana, which is
comprised of approximately 140 singers and instrumentalists
from Louisiana and Mississippi. In 2008 it presented concerts
in Florence, Assisi, and Rome, with a special performance for
Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. Their 2009-2010 tour
culminates when the Carlow Choir makes its debut at Carnegie
Hall in New York City next spring. Everyone is invited to come
and enjoy their wonderful music. Concert is free of charge.

Arise! There is Yet Time

Wherever you are, wherever you go, you are miserable unless you turn to God. So why be dismayed when things do not happen as you wish and desire? Is there anyone who has everything as he wishes? No -- neither I, nor you, nor any man on earth. There is no one in the world, be he Pope or king, who does not suffer trial and anguish.

Who is the better off then? Surely, it is the man who will suffer something for God. Many unstable and weak-minded people say: "See how well that man lives, how rich, how great he is, how powerful and mighty." But you must lift up your eyes to the riches of heaven and realize that the material goods of which they speak are nothing. These things are uncertain and very burdensome because they are never possessed without anxiety and fear. Man's happiness does not consist in the possession of abundant goods; a very little is enough.

Living on earth is truly a misery. The more a man desires spiritual life, the more bitter the present becomes to him, because he understands better and sees more clearly the defects, the corruption of human nature. To eat and drink, to watch and sleep, to rest, to labor, and to be bound by other human necessities is certainly a great misery and affliction to the devout man, who would gladly be released from them and be free from all sin. Truly, the inner man is greatly burdened in this world by the necessities of the body, and for this reason the Prophet prayed that he might be as free from them as possible, when he said: "From my necessities, O Lord, deliver me."

But woe to those who know not their own misery, and greater woe to those who love this miserable and corruptible life. Some, indeed, can scarcely procure its necessities either by work or by begging; yet they love it so much that, if they could live here always, they would care nothing for the kingdom of God.

How foolish and faithless of heart are those who are so engrossed in earthly things as to relish nothing but what is carnal! Miserable men indeed, for in the end they will see to their sorrow how cheap and worthless was the thing they loved.

Do not lose heart, then, my brother, in pursuing your spiritual life. There is yet time, and your hour is not past. Why delay your purpose? Arise! Begin at once and say: "Now is the time to act, now is the time to fight, now is the proper time to amend."

Thomas a' Kempis, The Imitation of Christ

Te Deum Laudamus - Romanian Orthodox Byzantine Chant

We praise thee, O God :
we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee :
the Father everlasting.
To thee all Angels cry aloud :
the Heavens, and all the Powers therein.
To thee Cherubim and Seraphim :
continually do cry,
Holy, Holy, Holy :
Lord God of Sabaoth;
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty :
of thy glory.
The glorious company of the Apostles : praise thee.
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets : praise thee.
The noble army of Martyrs : praise thee.
The holy Church throughout all the world :
doth acknowledge thee;
The Father : of an infinite Majesty;
Thine honourable, true : and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost : the Comforter.
Thou art the King of Glory : O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son : of the Father.
When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man :
thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death :
thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God : in the glory of the Father.
We believe that thou shalt come : to be our Judge.
We therefore pray thee, help thy servants :
whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with thy Saints : in glory everlasting.
O Lord, save thy people :
and bless thine heritage.
Govern them : and lift them up for ever.
Day by day : we magnify thee;
And we worship thy Name : ever world without end.
Vouchsafe, O Lord : to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us : have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us :
as our trust is in thee.
O Lord, in thee have I trusted :
let me never be confounded.

More From Hans Urs Von Balthasar

From the theologian who shaped the thinking of Pope Benedict XVI

"The revelation which Christian theology set itself to study was the disclosure of a beauty beyond all worldly beauty in the supreme artwork of Jesus Christ; in it the transcendent beauty—in biblical language, the glory of the ever greater God came to expression"

"the Beautiful, graciously manifesting itself, (and) becomes the incarnated Word, electing those to whom it can communicate itself"

"Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves" (Gen 1:26). God, the Master artist intends to form, to shape us into his image. God's aesthetic "forming," his divine art receives our cooperation "only when man refrains from resisting the Potter's hand"

Neither faith, contemplation nor kerygma can dispense us from action. And the libretto of God's saving drama which we call Holy Scripture is worthless in itself unless, in the Holy Spirit it is constantly mediating the drama beyond and the drama here

"the main agents involved in the production of theo- drama, are God, the human person and the God-man. On the world stage, God is the "One responsible for the play"

"Christ's act of creating space in himself for God is not self-mastery, but is itself already obedience, an obedience willing to take on whatever task the 'ever greater Father' gives."

-Hans Urs Von Balthasar Click here to BRIDGE TO BALTHASAR a great resource

Welcome America's Newest Saint - St. Damien

Father Damien de Veuster's canonization as a saint with four others Sunday drew thousands to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, but it was especially awe-inspiring for Maui Catholics. See Maui News

From Zenit.org The Pope's Comments:
"A saint is one who doesn't put themselves at the center, but rather chooses to go against the grain and live according to the Gospel", says Benedict XVI.

The Pope said this today during the canonization Mass of five blessed -- a bishop, two priests, a religious brother and a religious sister -- held in St. Peter's Basilica.

Among the five canonized was Father Damien De Veuster, the first Hawaiian saint.

The Pontiff began the homily by asking the question posed to Christ by a rich young man in Sunday's Gospel: "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"The Divine Master looks at him with love," the Holy Father continues, "and proposes the qualitative leap, he calls him to the heroism of sanctity, he asks him to abandon everything and follow him: 'Sell what you own and give the money to the poor...then come, follow me!'"

"This is the Christian vocation that flows from a proposal of love by the Lord, and that can be realized only thanks to our loving reply," he said. "Jesus invites his disciples to the total giving of their lives, without calculation or personal gain, with unfailing trust in God.

"The saints welcome this demanding invitation and set about following the crucified and risen Christ with humble docility. Their perfection, in the logic of a faith that is humanly incomprehensible at times, consists in no longer placing themselves at the center, but choosing to go against the flow and live according to the Gospel."

Prayer for Priests

Lord Jesus, present in the Most Blessed Sacrament,
and living perpetually among us through Your Priests,

grant that the words of Your Priests may be only Your words,
that their gestures be only Your gestures,
and that their lives be a true reflection of Your life.

Grant that they may be men who speak to God on behalf of His people,
and speak to His people of God.
Grant that they be courageous in service,
serving the Church as she asks to be served.

Grant that they may be men who witness to eternity in our time,
traveling on the paths of history in Your steps,
and doing good for all.

Grant that they may be faithful to their commitments,
zealous in their vocation and mission,
clear mirrors of their own identity,
and living the joy of the gift they have received.

We pray that Your Holy Mother, Mary,
present throughout Your life,
may be ever present in the life of Your Priests. Amen

In Your Spiritual Life Are You Seeking To Please Yourself?

The soul that does not attach itself solely to the will of God will find neither satisfaction nor sanctification in any other means however excellent by which it may attempt to gain them.

Do you know better than God? As he ordains it thus why do you desire it differently? Can His wisdom and goodness be deceived? When you find something to be in accordance with this divine wisdom and goodness ought you not to conclude that it must needs be excellent?

It is only just, therefore, that the soul that is dissatisfied with the divine action for each present moment should be punished by being unable to find happiness in anything else.

If books, the example of the saints, and spiritual conversations deprive the soul of peace; if they fill the mind without satisfying it; it is a sign that one has strayed from the path of pure abandonment to the divine action, and that one is only seeking to please oneself.

To be employed in this way is to prevent God from finding an entrance. All this must be got rid of because of being an obstacle to grace.

There is, in fact, nothing really good that does not emanate from the ordinance of God, and nothing, however good in itself, can be better adapted for the sanctification of the soul and the attainment of peace. (Jean Pierre de Caussade /Abandonment to Divine Providence)

Father Barron on Holy Scripture

Mozart Requiem

Voice of An Angel

Agni Parthene (Greek Chant)

O Virgin Pure

by St. Nectarios

Plagal First Tone (Tone 5)

Refrain: Rejoice, O Bride Unwedded!

O Virgin pure, immaculate/ O Lady Theotokos

O Virgin Mother, Queen of all/ and fleece which is all dewy

More radiant than the rays of sun/ and higher than the heavens

Delight of virgin choruses/ superior to Angels.

Much brighter than the firmament/ and purer than the sun's light

More holy than the multitude/ of all the heav'nly armies.

Rejoice, O Bride Unwedded!

O Ever Virgin Mary/ of all the world, the Lady

O bride all pure, immaculate/ O Lady Panagia

O Mary bride and Queen of all/ our cause of jubilation

Majestic maiden, Queen of all/ O our most holy Mother

More hon'rable than Cherubim/ beyond compare more glorious

than immaterial Seraphim/ and greater than angelic thrones.

Rejoice, O Bride Unwedded!

Rejoice, O song of Cherubim/ Rejoice, O hymn of angels

Rejoice, O ode of Seraphim/ the joy of the archangels

Rejoice, O peace and happiness/ the harbor of salvation

O sacred chamber of the Word/ flow'r of incorruption

Rejoice, delightful paradise/ of blessed life eternal

Rejoice, O wood and tree of life/ the fount of immortality.

Rejoice, O Bride Unwedded!

I supplicate you, Lady/ now do I call upon you

And I beseech you, Queen of all/ I beg of you your favor

Majestic maiden, spotless one/ O Lady Panagia

I call upon you fervently/ O sacred, hallowed temple

Assist me and deliver me/ protect me from the enemy

And make me an inheritor/ of blessed life eternal.

Rejoice, O Bride Unwedded!

Wisdom is Incomparable to Material Wealth

I prayed, and prudence was given me/ I pleaded and the spirit of Wisdom came to me./ I preferred her to scepter and throne,/ And deemed riches nothing in comparison with her,/nor did I liken any priceless gem to her/ because all gold, in view of her, is a little sand, and before her, silver is to be accounted mire./Beyond health and comeliness I loved her,/ And I chose to have her rather than the light,/ because the splendor of her never yields to sleep./Yet all good things together came to me in her company,/ and countless riches at her hands.
Wisdom 7:7-11

On Fruitfulness

God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth ...And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. Gen 1:22,26

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace.. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. " Galatians 5:22-23

"By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. John 15:8

By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit.A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit.Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them. Matthew 16-20

When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Luke1:42

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit John 12:24

As a lifelong gardener who has toiled in the hot sun, I have witness the truth about all living things that fruitfulness and death are weaved together. I have a compost bin and in the late fall I discard all my tomato plants from the the prior year. In the spring the seedlings from those dead plants sprout and I gather them and plant them again for the new crop of the year. From God's initial work in creation He has spoke to us about being fruitful. Man was to multiply and fill this earth. John Henry Newman was once asked what he thought of the laity and he replied "we we would look a little silly without them." In that also God's plan for man in the economy of salvation includes that we continue to be fruitful and multiply. Many countries on earth are not doing so. The people worship at the golden calf, too selfish to have children, too concerned with accumulating things, too much trouble. It is as though we have in essence told God, "we are not interested in your plans." One cannot miss the parallel of spiritual fruitfulness, for that too is being ignored, too many other important things, too many ways to self indulgence, to accumulate things, too much trouble. All this business of "busyness" so we can fill our lives up with stuff before we die. That is in where the trouble lies; we fear death so we spend time gathering up junk that is of no use in God's plan. If there is hope it is in focusing in on the First Things, for our barrenness will leave us without fruit and that is far worse death than one could imagine.

Old Monasteries of Serbia

Prayer for Priests

"Lord Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the Flock, we pray that in the great love and mercy of Your Sacred Heart You attend to all the needs of Your priest-shepherds throughout the world. We ask that You draw back to Your Heart all those priests who have seriously strayed from Your path, that You rekindle the desire for holiness in the hearts of those priests who have become lukewarm, and that You continue to give Your fervent priests the desire for the highest holiness. United with Your Heart and Mary’s Heart, we ask that You take this petition to Your heavenly Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen