After the vespers

Getty Images

Vespers

Reuters

Oops, Msgr. Alfred

 AP

Mind the Holy Father's glasses, Msgr. Alfred.

Msgr. Guido Marini and the Liturgy

Pope's master of liturgy
helps Benedict restore traditions
By Jason Horowitz

It's an article full of blunders after blunders. Teresa Benedetta, from Benedetto XVI Forum, has some good comment on it.
Would you mind to go to here  ? 
Scroll down until you find it.


See also
The Pope's 'minister of liturgy' says:
Put an end to 'creative' Masses -
cultivate more prayer and silence
Interview with Cardinal Canizares
by Andrea Tornielli
Translated from

December 24, 2010

In the same Forum, same page.

The Angelus

We can hear, in the back, the voice of Msgr. Georg praying.

Urbi et Orbi

Pope's celebrations in the internet

 The Pope's celebrations - Midnight Mass on 24 December, his Christmas Message and "Urbi et Orbi" blessing at midday on 25 December, and Mass for the World Day of Peace on 1 January - will be transmitted in live audio/video linkup with commentary in six languages: Italian, French, English, German, Spanish and Portuguese. The Midnight Mass will also have commentary in Chinese, and the Mass of 1 January in Arabic.
http://visnews-en.blogspot.com/2010/12/popes-christmas-celebrations-via.html

It's cold in the Vatican

 Getty Images

AP

Today's Audience 22.12.2010

Getty Images

No, indeed I can't resist coming back.
Today's Audience.


Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In these last days before Christmas, the Church invites us to contemplate the mystery of Christ’s Birth and to receive the gift of his presence, which is the fulfilment of humanity’s deepest hopes and expectations. We share in the quiet joy which filled the hearts of Mary and Joseph, and all those who first welcomed the promised Saviour, who is Emmanuel, God-with-us. By taking our flesh, the Lord saved us from the sin of our first parents; now he bids us to become like him, to see the world through his eyes and to let our hearts be transformed by his infinite goodness and mercy. This Christmas, may the Christ Child find all of us spiritually prepared for his coming. The traditional Christmas crib, which families prepare in these days, is an eloquent sign of our expectation of the Lord who comes. May the wonderment that the crib evokes in children and adults alike bring us closer to the mystery of God’s love revealed in the incarnation of his beloved Son. Let us ask the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph to help us contemplate this great mystery with renewed joy and gratitude.

* * *

I offer a warm welcome to the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at today’s Audience. To all of you, and especially the children, I offer my heartfelt good wishes for a serene and joy-filled Christmas!

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20101222_en.html

Happy Christmas

Thank you all for your visits and comments.
I will come back after Christmas - if I can resist coming here before.

The pro - pedophilia crowd

Remember the names: Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Louis Althusser, Jean-Paul Satre, Simone de Beauvoir, André Glucksmann, Roland Barthes, Alfred Kinsey, and Wardell Pomeroy; Larry Kramer, Camille Paglia, Allen Ginsberg , John Money and Catholic “moral theologian” Anthony Kosnick

Read more: http://vivificat1.blogspot.com/2010/12/who-shares-blame-for-pedophilia-scandal.html#ixzz18qeRAtdG

Once again, a very good post at Vivificat.

NOTE FROM THE CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH

"Some interpretations have presented the words of the Pope as a contradiction of the traditional moral teaching of the Church. This hypothesis has been welcomed by some as a positive change and lamented by others as a cause of concern - as if his statements represented a break with the doctrine concerning contraception and with the Church's stance in the fight against AIDS. In reality, the words of the Pope - which specifically concern a gravely disordered type of human behaviour, namely prostitution (cf. Light of the World, pp. 117-119) - do not signify a change in Catholic moral teaching or in the pastoral practice of the Church.

http://visnews-en.blogspot.com/2010/12/note-from-congregation-for-doctrine-of.html

The Holy Father's adress to the Roman Curia

You MUST see it at Fr. Z with his comments !

Angelus - 19. December

POPE MEETS WITH ROMAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

 

Reuters

Getty Images

VATICAN CITY, 17 DEC 2010 (VIS) - Yesterday at 5 p.m., in keeping with a pre-Christmas tradition of meeting with university students, the Holy Father presided at Vespers in the Vatican Basilica with students from Roman universities.
  "The God of Abraham", he said in his homily, "revealed Himself, He showed His face and came to dwell in our flesh, in Jesus the Son of Mary - true God and true man - Whom we will meet once again at the Manger in Bethlehem. To return there, to that humble and cramped place, is not simply a mental journey; it is a path we are called to follow by experiencing the closeness of God here and now, and His action which renews and sustains our lives".
  "The road to the Manger of Bethlehem is a journey of inner liberation, an experience of profound freedom, because it encourages us to emerge from ourselves and to move towards God, Who has come close to us. ... He wishes to infuse courage into our lives, especially when we are tired and weary, when we need to rediscover the serenity of the journey and joyfully to feel that we are pilgrims on our way to eternity. ... The Child we will find between Mary and Joseph is the Logos-Love, the Word which can give full consistency to our lives. ... In Bethlehem, the today of God and the today of man meet, and together they begin a journey of dialogue and intense communion.
 "Dear friends", the Holy Father added, "you who are following the fascinating and demanding journey of research and cultural endeavour, the Incarnate Word asks you to share with Him the patience 'to build'. Building your lives, building society, is not an undertaking that can be achieved by distracted and superficial minds and hearts. ... In our own time we feel the need for a new class of intellectuals capable of interpreting social and cultural dynamics, and of proposing solutions that are not abstract, but concrete and realistic. Universities are called to play this vital role, in which the Church will provide her committed and effective support".
  The Roman university community - which is made up of State, private, Catholic and Pontifical institutions - must, said Benedict XVI, "play an important historical role: that of overcoming the misunderstandings and prejudices which at times hinder the development of authentic culture. Working together, especially with faculties of theology, Roman universities can show that it is possible to implement a new dialogue and new collaboration between Christian faith and the various fields of knowledge, without confusion or separation but sharing the same aspiration to serve man in his entirety".
  At the end of the ceremony, an African university delegation consigned the image of "Maria Sedes Sapientiae" to a delegation of Spanish students. The image will be taken on pilgrimage to all Spanish universities in preparation for World Youth Day, due to be held in the Spanish capital Madrid in August next year.

At http://visnews-en.blogspot.com/

Celebrating "Ad Orientem"

A very good post here at Vultus Christi.

Seeing the Pope

I'm always searching videos of the Pope because it's such a pleasure to me seeing him walking and talking. It makes me feel closer to him, almost as if I was there.

 If you feel the same, here you have this one. Enjoy.

Vespers

Getty Images

Pope Benedict XVI leads a Vespers prayer in St.Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on December 16, 2010. Pope Benedict XVI the same day called for 'Christ's followers' to be defended in Africa, Asia and the Middle East and warned governments not to allow 'antireligious fanaticism.'
Daylife

25. December: Christmas, not a pagan feast as the pagans of today claim

This is worth reading.

The "Christmas as Pagan Festival" Myth

at Vivificat.

Msgr. Georg on the Advent Calendar

Prepare yourselves for the part between 1.12 and 1.18 !
Let's praise Our Lord in His creatures!

General Audience 15.12 - video

General Audience 15.12

Reuters 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Our catechesis today deals with Saint Veronica Giuliani, a Capuchin Poor Clare and mystic who was born three hundred and fifty years ago this month. Saint Veronica, true to the name she took in religion, became a "true image" of Christ crucified; her configuration to the Lord was accompanied by profound mystical experiences such as her crowning with thorns and the stigmata. Veronica’s spirituality, as revealed above all in her Diary, is Christ-centred and spousal: she saw all things in the light of Christ’s love, manifested in his Passion, and she united herself to his self-oblation to the Father for the salvation of souls. Her love of the Scriptures was deeply linked to her love of the Church and her strong sense of the communion of the saints. Veronica’s passionate mystical experience can be summed up in the words she spoke on her deathbed: "I have found Love". May the life and teaching of Saint Veronica Giuliani inspire us to grow in union with the Lord and his Church, and to share in Christ’s loving concern for the salvation of sinners.

I extend a warm welcome and prayerful good wishes to the priest alumni of the Pontifical North American College celebrating their fortieth anniversary of priestly ordination. Upon all the English-speaking visitors present at today’s Audience, especially those from Ireland and the United States of America, I cordially invoke God’s abundant blessings. 

Reuters 

 

Reuters

Getty Images

Acrobats of the Italian circus Moira Orfei, Pellegrini Brothers.

Al-Qaida hatred for Pope caused US worries about Vatican security

                                 

Rome, Italy, Dec 14, 2010 / 04:55 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Speaking frankly about “the known al-Qaida antipathy to the Pope,” American embassy officials in 2008 asked the U.S. State Department to consider an effort to help Vatican security forces deal with terrorist threats.

The WikiLeaks website recently published a Dec. 19, 2008 State Department cable reputedly from the U.S. Embassy in Rome. The cable, classified as “secret,” documented a request from the U.S. Vatican Embassy to plan and fund a “crisis management tabletop exercise” with Vatican security services.

The stated purpose of this effort was to enhance the Vatican’s crisis response abilities and to “foster a dialogue with the Vatican on counter-terrorism.”

“Al-Qaida has publicly identified the Pope and the Catholic Church as an enemy (‘Crusaders’), and Vatican City attracts hundreds of thousands of American citizen visitors each year, both tourists and pilgrims,” the cable continued.

According to the cable, the head of the Vatican Gendarme Corps Domenico Giani had sought specific security training from the FBI, including explosives ordinance training for Vatican Gendarmerie members at the Quantico Marine Corps base in Virginia. However, the cable reported, Giani has been “reluctant to engage in a comprehensive dialogue with the United States about Vatican capabilities and preparedness to respond to a terrorist attack.”

While the famous Swiss Guard provides security for the Pope and visiting dignitaries, the Gendarme Corps is responsible for general security and law enforcement at the Vatican.

During a November 2008 conversation about al-Qaida’s threat to the Vatican, U.S. Vatican Embassy official Julieta Valls Noyes proposed to Giani a joint tabletop exercise on crisis management, to which he reportedly responded “positively.”

The Rome Embassy cable noted the Holy See’s sensitivity about appearing to be too close to any one state, which the embassy described as a challenge to fostering dialogue about security. Another challenge was “the Vatican’s conviction that its facilities must be easily accessible to all Catholics.”

According to the cable’s analysis, Giani’s interest in a crisis management exercise was an opportunity to better position the U.S. to help the Vatican prepare to respond to terrorist threats.

The cable appears to be WikiLeaks’ first release of a Vatican-related document that did not originate with the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See. The cable’s authorship is attributed to U.S. Ambassador to Italy Ronald Spogli.

More than 700 WikiLeaks cables originate at the U.S. Vatican Embassy, while about 100 others originate at other American embassies and consulates.

In a Dec. 3 response to CNA inquiries, the U.S. Vatican Embassy said it could not address the authenticity of any documents provided to the press. The embassy also condemned “in the strongest terms” the unauthorized disclosure of classified information.

For their part, Vatican officials have also advised “great prudence” in examining the WikiLeaks cables. Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi said the reports reflect “the perceptions and opinions of those who wrote them” and cannot be considered as expressions of the Holy See or as exact quotations of its officials.

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/al-qaida-hatred-for-pope-caused-us-worries-about-vatican-security/

Benedict's Travels - 2011

Benedict's Travels

The Holy Father will make four foreign trips in 2011, including one to his homeland.

 

by JOHN THAVIS (CNS) 12/14/2010 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI plans to make four foreign trips in 2011, including one to his German homeland and a three-day visit to the African country of Benin.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, told reporters Dec. 14 that the Pope would also make four trips to Italian cities. In all, the Pope will spend 18 days on the road next year.

The Pope will visit Croatia June 4-5 and travel to Spain Aug. 18-21 to preside over World Youth Day celebrations. He will visit Germany Sept. 22-25, the third trip to his native Germany. German bishops have said the Pope is likely to visit the capital city of Berlin, as well as Freiburg and Erfurt.

The Pope’s trip to Benin Nov. 18-20 will be his second trip to Africa. In Benin, a small country in West Africa, Catholics make up about 30% of the population and Muslims about 25%.

Pope Benedict, who will turn 84 in April, has, to date, made 18 trips abroad, 12 of them in Europe.

The Pope’s travels inside Italy in 2011 will take him to the northern cities of Aquileia and Venice May 7-8, to Montefeltro and the tiny Republic of San Marino June 19, to the Adriatic city of Ancona Sept. 11 for the National Eucharistic Congress and to the southern cities of Lamezia Terme and Serra San Bruno Oct. 9. 

http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/benedicts-travels?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NCRegisterDailyBlog+%2540The+Daily+Register%2541#When:18:48:18Z

|Tue, Dec. 14 2010 02:06 PM EDT

Pope, Jews Unite Against Persecution, Anti-Semitism

By Stephanie Samuel|Christian Post Reporter

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The tension surrounding the plight of jailed Christian Asia Bibi is increasing as members of the Pakistani Jamiat Ulema-e Party and the Taliban call for her death.

Though Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti, believes Bibi is innocent, members of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan have marched in protest chanting, "Asia, the blasphemer: hang her, hang her."

 A cleric has already offered 500,000 rupees – roughly $5,800 – to anyone who kills the Pakistani mother and step-mother of five. And in yet another sign that the case has become a rallying point for extremists, the Taliban also has threatened retribution should she be spared.

As tensions mount, Pope Benedict XVI and Ronald S. Lauder of the World Jewish Congress have both expressed concern and distress over Bibi, a Roman Catholic, and the persecution of Christians in other countries.

In a Dec. 10 meeting at the Vatican, Lauder, president of the leading global Jewish advocacy group, noted with concern that both Christians and Jews in the Middle East are facing the threat of radical Islam. He also expressed his sympathies over the murder of Christian leaders in Iraq and Turkey.

The pope has called on Pakistani officials for Bibi’s release. Prior to that, he denounced the Oct. 30 Baghdad church attack that killed nearly 60 worshippers and priests last month as “absurd.” The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has also called on Congress to issue a resolution calling for a comprehensive plan to improve security for Iraq’s religious minorities.

In return, the pontiff conveyed the importance of Jews and Catholics working together to fight anti-Semitism even as it is directed at Christianity. Pope Benedict indicated that Jews and Christians needed one another, and that the bonds of brotherhood and goodwill between the religions should continue to be strengthened.

The pope also emphasized the need to continue to combat "unacceptable" anti-Semitism in the Christian world, which was the chief subject of the recent talks. At the meeting, the WJC delegation spoke of efforts to downplay Jews’ connection to its holy sites as a new “politically correct" form of anti-Semitism.

Lauder asked the pope to speak out against the de-legitimization of Israel and the denial of Jewish and Christian holy sites such as the Western Wall and the Tomb of Rachel near Bethlehem.

Pope Benedict responded, saying that the Christian church recognized the historical connection of the Jewish people to their ancient homeland Jerusalem, which goes back to the time of Abraham. He expressed his commitment to help foster understanding of the bond between the nation of Israel and the land of Israel among people throughout the world.

As for Bibi, the first woman be sentenced to death for blasphemy, she continues to sit in prison. Her husband, Ashiq Masih, recently told National Public Radio that he fears she may be killed in jail. He and their children also fear for their lives and have gone into hiding.

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20101214/pope-jews-unite-against-persecution-anti-semitism/

The warrior

If you don't like Msgr. Georg or you are indifferent, please, just ignore this post and excuse me for the inconvenience. This is only for the fans.

Martyrs of Lubeck

                                 

Beacons of Courage and Faith: The Catholic Martyrs of Lubeck

Three Catholic priests and a Lutheran pastor from the northern German city of Lubeck were executed by the Nazis in Hamburg Nov. 10, 1943. The three Catholic martyrs, pictured clockwise from bottom left, Fathers Eduard Mueller, Johannes Prassek and Hermann Lange, are to be beatified in June. The Rev. Karl Friedrich Stellbrink is pictured at bottom, right.

Soon-to-be beatified priests, along with fellow martyred Lutheran pastor, were ‘shining lights on our common ecumenical path.’

 

by By GUNTHER SIMMERMACHER (CNS) 12/10/2010 Comments (9)
 

LUBECK, Germany (CNS) — As the Nazi executioner beheaded three Catholic priests and a Lutheran pastor, one after another in a matter of minutes, their blood flowed together, creating a powerful symbol for ecumenism in northern Germany.

On June 25, the three Catholic martyrs of Lubeck — Fathers Johannes Prassek, Eduard Muller and Hermann Lange — will be beatified in the historic city’s Sacred Heart Church, a stone’s throw away from the Lubeck Cathedral, the ministerial home of the Rev. Karl Friedrich Stellbrink, their Lutheran counterpart. Rev. Stellbrink will be honored in a special way that day as well.

The four were executed in Hamburg Nov. 10, 1943. All had been found guilty of disseminating anti-Nazi material — such as the homilies of Cardinal Clemens von Galen of Munster — and other “treasonous” activities.

Although they were just four of more than 1,600 victims of Nazi political executions that year, their case drew the particular attention of Adolf Hitler and propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. Hitler reportedly intervened personally in the case of the four clerics, formulating the charges and instructing prosecutors on their strategy.

After the four were sentenced to death June 23, 1943, in a trial widely considered a farce, Goebbels wrote in his diary: “I urge that the death sentences will in fact be carried out.” An appeal for clemency by Catholic Bishop Hermann Berning of Osnabruck was rejected.

Father Franz Mecklenfeld of Sacred Heart Church told Catholic News Service that news of the beatification was received with “immense joy” by his parishioners.

It also is being followed “with great interest in the city of Lubeck,” traditionally a Lutheran stronghold. In September, the daily Lubecker Nachrichten published a series of articles on the lives of the four martyrs.

“The martyrs have a great significance for the city,” Father Mecklenfeld said. “They have become ‘shining towers’ in the city of Lubeck,” where the skyline is famous for its seven Gothic church spires.

The notion of beatifying the three Catholics when their Lutheran companion cannot be honored in the same way has given rise to some controversy. The Rev. Heinz Russmann, a Lutheran pastor in Lubeck, wrote that the beatification would represent a painful division that would be harmful to ecumenism.

Either all four should be beatified, or none, he wrote.

His view is shared by the conservative local politician Hans-Lothar Fauth, a Catholic, who has said that all four have long been publicly acclaimed as saints, regardless of denomination, and therefore require no official recognition.

Father Mecklenfeld said his parish always has been sensitive about maintaining the ties among all four martyrs.

Ecumenical relations in Lubeck are marked by the shared martyrdom. Pope Benedict XVI, a German, has recognized the significance of that friendship.

In an address to the German ambassador to the Vatican Sept. 13, he said the friendship among the clerics while in jail “represents an impressive witness to ecumenical prayer and suffering which in many places flowered among Christians of different denominations during the dark days of national socialism. We may regard these witnesses as shining lights on our common ecumenical path.”

Father Lange’s writings bear out the Pope’s sentiment. In a July 1943 letter, he wrote: “The suffering borne in common over the last years has brought the two Christian churches closer to one another. The shared imprisonment of the Catholic and the evangelical (Lutheran) clergy is a symbol of this community of suffering, but also of reconciliation.”

Rev. Stellbrink, 49 when he died, has been described as a prickly character who initially was an eager supporter of the Nazi party. The World War I veteran soon became disillusioned with Nazism, especially its anti-clericalism, and began to criticize it. He was expelled from the party in 1937 for refusing to denounce his friendship with Jews.

In 1941, he met Father Prassek at a funeral and increasingly began speaking against the Nazis by building a friendship with the younger priest, who had resolutely opposed Hitler’s regime.

Rev. Stellbrink was the first Protestant cleric to be executed in Germany. Unlike his Catholic friends, he received no support from his church, which rehabilitated him only 50 years later, noting its “pain and shame” at the disgraceful treatment of the heroic pastor.

Father Prassek, 32, regularly preached against Nazism and ministered illegally to forced laborers from Poland, even learning Polish for that purpose. Just before his arrest, Father Prassek was honored for his courage in rescuing people during the carpet bomb attack on Lubeck — the first on any German city — on Palm Sunday 1942.

Like his companions, he expected to be executed after their arrest. On the day of the court’s judgment, he wrote: “God be praised, today I was sentenced to death.”
Later, physically broken after more than a year of torture and hardship in jail, he looked forward to his execution.

“To be allowed to die fully conscious and quietly prepared is the most beautiful thing of all,” he wrote.

Father Muller, also 32 and a priest for just three years when he was executed, was a quiet man, popular among local youth. Though regarded as mostly apolitical — he never preached publicly against Nazism — he acknowledged Hitler’s ideology as irreconcilable with Christianity and refused to collaborate with the Hitler Youth, which had courted him.

Father Lange, 31, was parochial vicar at Sacred Heart Church and ministered to youth and men at the parish. A reform-minded Catholic, he was perhaps the most politically active of the four. He distributed pamphlets and privately accused Germany of war crimes. He even told a soldier that a true Christian could not fight on the German side in the war. Father Lange’s residence was raided by the Gestapo a year before his arrest. 

From National Catholic Register

Protect the Pope

You know I like a blog called Protect The Pope. I'm always going there so, here you have some (always) good posts I found there.

Daily Mail repeats stupid, ignorant lie that Ireland granted Vatican officials ‘immunity’

Contrary to misleading WikiLeaks reports,Pope Benedict supports Turkey’s membership of the EU

US priest guilty of sex abuse receives fast-track punishment under Pope Benedict’s new regulations

 

Adventures of a Msgr. with his umbrella

What is this gorgeous man doing with such a small umbrella next to the Pope? Where is the big white one he always carries when the Pope needs it? Can it be that Georg, afraid that the british weather would catch the Pope unaware and, provident as he is, just put a small, folding umbrella in his pocket, just in case?

-----

I don't want to tire people that is not ( so madly ) fan of Msgr. Georg as me with a lot of pictures of him. But if you are a fan, go here,  a place where there is continuous praise of our dearest Msgr.

Pink Sunday

GY

Pope Benedict XVI (C) waves as he arrives for a pastoral visit to the Roman Parish of St. Maximilian Kolbe on December 12, 2010 in Rome. Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Franciscan friar who volunteered to die in place of a stranger in the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz in Poland in 1941.
From Daylife.

 

GY

My tribute to Msgr. Georg Gänswein

I'm very proud of myself: I just made this video.

Pope meets with President of World Jewish Congress

The Pope on the 8 of December

AP

Sorry but I can't resist posting one more picture of the 8 December. They are so beautiful, aren't they?

New Saints

DECREES OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE CAUSES OF SAINTS

VATICAN CITY, 10 DEC 2010 (VIS) - Today, during a private audience with Cardinal Angelo Amato S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Pope authorised the congregation to promulgate the following decrees:

MIRACLES

 - Blessed Guido Maria Conforti, Italian archbishop-bishop and founder of the Pious Society of St. Francis Xavier for Foreign Missions (1865-1931).

 - Servant of God Francesco Paleari, Italian priest of the "Cottolengo" Institute (1863-1939).

 - Servant of God Anna Maria Janer Anglarill, Spanish foundress of the Institute of Sisters of the Holy Family of Urgell (1800-1885).

 - Servant of God Marie Clare of the Child Jesus (nee Libania do Carmo Galvao Meixa de Moura Telles e Albuquerque), Portuguese foundress of the Franciscan Hospitaller Sisters of the Immaculate Conception (1843-1899).

 - Servant of God Dulce (nee Maria Rita Lopes Pontes), Brazilian religious of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God (1914-1992).

MARTYRDOM

 - Servant of God Alois Andritzki, German diocesan priest who died in the concentration camp of Dachau (1914-1943).

 - Servants of God Jose Nadal y Guiu (1911-1936) and Jose Jordan y Blecua (1906-1936), Spanish diocesan priests, killed in hatred of the faith during religious persecution in Spain.

 - Servants of God Antonio (ne Miguel Faundez Lopez), Spanish professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor (1907-1936) and Bonaventura (ne Baltasar Mariano Munoz Martinez) Spanish cleric of the Order of Friars Minor (1912-1936), as well as Pedro Sanchez Barba (1895-1936) and Fulgencio Martinez Garcia (1911-1936), Spanish priests and pastors of the Third Order of St. Francis of Assisi, killed in hatred of the faith during religious persecution in Spain.

HEROIC VIRTUES

 - Servant of God Antonio Palladino, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of Dominican Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament (1881-1926).

 - Servant of God Bechara (ne Selim Abou-Mourad), Lebanese religious of the Basilian Salvatorian Order of the Melkites (1853-1930).

 - Servant of God Maria Elisa Andreoli, Italian foundress of the Congregation of Reparatrix Sisters Servants of Mary (1861-1935).

 - Servant of God Maria Pilar of the Sacred Heart (nee Maria Pilar Solsona Lamban), Spanish religious of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary, Religious of Pious Schools (1881-1966).

Chaplet of St. Michael

The Chaplet of St. Michael is a wonderful way to honor this great Archangel along with the other nine Choirs of Angels. What do we mean by Choirs? It seems that God has created various orders of Angels. Sacred Scripture distinguishes nine such groupings: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominations, Powers, Virtues, Principalities, Archangels and Angels (Isa. 6:2; Gen. 3:24; Col. 1:16; Eph. 1:21; Rom. 8:38). There may be more groupings but these are the only ones that have been revealed to us. The Seraphim is believed to be the highest Choir, the most intimately united to God, while the Angelic Choir is the lowest.

The history of this Chaplet goes back to a devout Servant of God, Antonia d'Astonac, who had a vision of St. Michael. He told Antonia to honor him by nine salutations to the nine Choirs of Angels. St. Michael promised that whoever would practice this devotion in his honor would have, when approaching Holy Communion, an escort of nine angels chosen from each of the nine Choirs. In addition, for those who would recite the Chaplet daily, he promised his continual assistance and that of all the holy angels during life.

The Chaplet of St. Michael

O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me. Glory be to the Father, etc.

[Say one Our Father and three Hail Marys after each of the following nine salutations in honor of the nine Choirs of Angels]

1. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Seraphim may the Lord make us worthy to burn with the fire of perfect charity.
Amen.

2. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Cherubim may the Lord grant us the grace to leave the ways of sin and run in the paths of Christian perfection.
Amen.

3. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Thrones may the Lord infuse into our hearts a true and sincere spirit of humility.
Amen.

4. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Dominations may the Lord give us grace to govern our senses and overcome any unruly passions.
Amen.

5. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Virtues may the Lord preserve us from evil and falling into temptation. Amen.

6. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Powers may the Lord protect our souls against the snares and temptations of the devil.
Amen.

7. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Principalities may God fill our souls with a true spirit of obedience. Amen.

8. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Archangels may the Lord give us perseverance in faith and in all good works in order that we may attain the glory of Heaven.
Amen.

9. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Angels may the Lord grant us to be protected by them in this mortal life and conducted in the life to come to Heaven.
Amen.

Say one Our Father in honor of each of the following leading Angels: St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael and our Guardian Angel.

Concluding prayers:

O glorious prince St. Michael, chief and commander of the heavenly hosts, guardian of souls, vanquisher of rebel spirits, servant in the house of the Divine King and our admirable conductor, you who shine with excellence and superhuman virtue deliver us from all evil, who turn to you with confidence and enable us by your gracious protection to serve God more and more faithfully every day.

Pray for us, O glorious St. Michael, Prince of the Church of Jesus Christ, that we may be made worthy of His promises.

Almighty and Everlasting God, Who, by a prodigy of goodness and a merciful desire for the salvation of all men, has appointed the most glorious Archangel St. Michael Prince of Your Church, make us worthy, we ask You, to be delivered from all our enemies, that none of them may harass us at the hour of death, but that we may be conducted by him into Your Presence.This we ask through the merits of
Jesus Christ Our Lord.

Amen. 

From

http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/prayers/chaplet-of-st-michael.htm

I try to pray this chaplet everyday but because I'm always in the run, I couldn't read it and I was not able to pray it all by heart. So, I decided to adapt. The Archangel said to honour him by nine salutations to the nine Choirs of Angels so I made my own.

1- By the power of St. Michael and the celestial choir of the Seraphim, may the Lord release us from every evil.
Holy Father and 3 Hail-Marys.

2-By the power of St. Michael and the celestial choir of the Chuerubim, may the Lord release us from every evil.
Holy Father and 3 Hail-Marys.

And all that for the nine choirs.

In the end: 1 Holy Father in honour of St. Michael, other for St. Gabriel, other for St. Raphael ( a very good friend of mine).
Then the same for our own Angel and another for the Angels of the people whom we had offended or hurted.
Then three Glory.

I believe I have a great protection doing that and  St. Michael and his Angels are pleased with me.
I believe Our Lord, by the power he gave to St. Michael and His Angels, releases me from evil and protects me.

Immaculate Conception video

HT to Sonia.

The New Polytheism and its Tempter Idols

Benedict XVI sounds the alarm. Forgetfulness of the one God clears the way for a world dominated by a plurality of new gods with seductive faces. A voyage among the devotees of modern paganism

by Sandro Magister


ROME, December 9, 2010 – "Polytheism": this word echoed like thunder, last October, in a speech by Benedict XVI at the synod of the bishops of the Middle East, the very birthplace of the one God made man, Jesus, and of the most powerful forms of monotheism in history, Judaism and Islam.

"Credo in unum Deum" is the mighty chord that gives rise to Christian doctrine. But for Joseph Ratzinger, pope theologian, polytheism is anything but dead. It is the perennial challenge that still rises up today against faith in the one God.

"Let us remember all the great powers of the history of today," the pope continued at the synod. Anonymous capital, terrorist violence, drugs, the tyranny of public opinion are the modern divinities that enslave man. They must fall. They must be made to fall. The downfall of the gods is the imperative of yesterday, today, and always for believers in the one true God.

But today's polytheism is not made up only of dark powers. Its many gods also have friendly faces, and the ability to seduce.

It is the "gay science" prophesied by Nietzsche more than a century ago, which offers every single man "the greatest advantage": that of "setting up his own ideal and deriving from it his law, his joys, and his rights."

More at 

http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1345887?eng=y

At the Spanish Square

 AP

12/08/2010 17:34
VATICAN
May Mary give us strength to choose what is good even if it means going against the flow, Pope says
Benedict XVI pays homage to the image of the Immaculate Conception in Piazza di Spagna, in Rome. From Mary comes a “message of hope, not in words, but from the same history. She, a woman from our own lineage, gave birth to the Son of God.”

Rome(AsiaNews) – In the day of the Immaculate Conception, Benedict XVI calls on Mary to give every person of this world “the strength to reject evil in every form and choose what is good, even if it has a price and means going against the flow.” In renewing the traditional homage the bishop of Rome pays to Mary in Piazza di Spagna, before the column bearing the statute dedicated to Our Lady, the Pope stressed the “message” that she gives us, namely Jesus.
Carrying a basket of white roses, Benedict XVI said that the “best gift we can offer, and the one she likes the most, is our prayer, which we bear in our hearts with trust in her intercession. They are appeals of thanksgiving and supplication, thanksgiving for the gift of faith and for everything good we receive daily from God, and supplication for the various necessities, for the family, health, work, and every hardship life brings to us. But when we come here, especially on 8 December, what we receive from Mary is much more important than what we can offer. She, in fact, gives us the message destined for each one of us, for the City of Rome and the whole world.”
“And what does Mary tell us? She speaks to us with the Word of God that was made flesh in her womb. Her ‘message’ is nothing other than Jesus, he who was all her life. [. . .] Thus Mary tells us that we are called to open up to the action of the Holy Spirit to become, in our final destiny, immaculate, fully and definitely free from evil.”
“Mary gives us this message, and when I come here, on this feast day, I am struck because I feel it is addressed to the entire city, to all the men and women who live in Rome, even those who do not think about it, or do not know that today is the feast day of the Immaculate, who feel lonely and abandoned. Mary’s gaze is that of God looking upon everyone. She looks upon us with the love of the Father and blesses us. She acts like our ‘advocate”, and so in the Salve Regina we invoke her, the ‘Advocata Nostra’. Even if everyone should speak badly about her, she, the Mother, would say good things because her immaculate heart is in synch with God’s mercy. [. . .] The Mother looks upon us as God did upon her, the humble maiden of Nazareth, insignificant to the eyes of the world, but chosen by God and precious to him. In everyone, she sees a resemblance with her Son Jesus, even if we are so different! But who more than she knows the power of divine grace? Who better than she knows that nothing is impossible to God, who can even bring good out of evil?”
“This is the message we receive today, at the feet of Mary Immaculate. It is a message of confidence for each person in this city and the entire world. It is a message of hope not made of words, but drawn from her own history. She, a woman from our lineage, who gave birth to the Son of God and shared her existence with Him. Today, she tells us, this is also your destiny, everyone’s destiny, to be saintly like our Father, immaculate like our Brother Jesus Christ, loved children, all adopted to be part of a big family, without boundaries of nationality, colour or language, because there is only one God, who is Father to every man.”
Photo: credit CPP

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/May-Mary-give-us-strength-to-choose-what-is-good-even-if-it-means-going-against-the-flow,-Pope-says-20203.html

Immaculate Conception celebrations in Rome

 Reuters

Getty Images

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 Getty Images

Just came out: pictures of the Pope at the Spanish Square, in Rome, for Immaculate Conception celebrations.

Angelus - Immaculate Conception

  Getty Images

12/08/2010 13:11
VATICAN
The Immaculate Conception, source of hope, more powerful than evil, Pope says
During the Angelus, Benedict XVI underscored that evil, which we all experience, is rooted in the hearts of men, who cannot heal themselves. Mary is instead “full of grace”; she urges us to trust Jesus, who will “save us”. Next event is in Piazza di Spagna this afternoon.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – “The mystery of the Immaculate Conception is a source of inner light, hope and comfort. In the middle of life’s trials, especially the contradictions that man experiences in and around himself, Mary, the Mother of Christ, tells us that Grace is greater than sin, that God’s mercy is stronger than evil and can transform it into goodness,” Benedict XVI said in today’s Angelus.
In his address, the Holy Father stressed the value of the Solemnity celebrated by the Church on 8 December, that of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, according to which Mary was never touched by original sin and evil. This dogma was proclaimed in 1854, a few years before the apparitions in Lourdes, where the “Lady” described her as the “Immaculate Conception”.
“Sadly, every day we experience evil,” the Pontiff said, “which manifests itself in many ways in relationships and events, but is rooted in the heart of man, a wounded and sick heart, incapable of healing itself. The Holy Scriptures tell us that disobedience to the will of God is the origin of each evil and that death has taken over because human freedom has succumbed to the temptation of the Evil One. However, God does not fail in his plan of love and life. Through a slow and patient journey of reconciliation he has prepared a new and everlasting covenant, sealed by the blood of his Son who, to offer himself in atonement, was “born of a woman” (Gal 4:4). This woman, the Virgin Mary, benefited in advance from the redeeming death of her Son for she was preserved from the contagion of guilt since conception. Therefore, with her immaculate heart, she tells us: Trust in Jesus, He will save you!”
The Pope went on to explain the meaning of the title “Full of Grace” the Church uses when addressing Mary in the Hail Mary (Ave Maria) prayer. “This expression, so familiar [to us] since infancy because we repeat it every time we recite the Hail Mary, offers us the explanation for the mystery we celebrate today. In fact, Mary, since the moment her parents conceived her, was the object of a singular preference on the part of God, who, in his eternal design, chose her to be the mother of his Son, who was made man, and consequently preserved her from original sin. Therefore, the Angel spoke to her using this name, which literally means to ‘be always filled with God’s love and grace’.”
Before reciting the Angelus prayer and greeting various groups, Benedict XVI reminded those present that at 4 pm (CET) he would be in Piazza di Spagna for the traditional tribute to the statue of the Immaculate that is located at the top of the column that overlooks the square.
“With this act of devotion,” the Pontiff said, “I speak for the love of the faithful of Rome and the world for the Mother who gave us Christ. I entrust to her intercession the most urgent needs of the Church and the world. May she help us especially have faith in God, believe in his Word, always reject evil and choose what is good.” 

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/The-Immaculate-Conception,-source-of-hope,-more-powerful-than-evil,-Pope-says-20202.html 

Immaculate Conception

Today is my Christening anniversary.

PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 4 DEC 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Bishop Jozef Guzdek, auxiliary of Krakow, Poland, as military ordinary of Poland.

- Accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary of Hildesheim, Germany, presented by Bishop Hans-Georg Koitz, upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Fr. Heinz-Gunter Bongartz of the clergy of Hildesheim, Germany, director of the "pastoral personnel" department of the diocesan curia and canon of the cathedral chapter of Hildesheim, as auxiliary of that diocese (area 30,000, population 5,700,000, Catholics 634,365, priests 420, permanent deacons 99, religious 424). The bishop-elect was born in Gutersloh, Germany in 1955 and ordained a priest in 1982.

- Appointed as counsellors of the Apostolic Penitentiary Fr. Enrique Colom Costa, professor of moral theology at Rome's Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, and Fr. Paolo Carlotti S.D.B., professor of fundamental moral theology at Rome's Pontifical Salesian University.
 
http://visnews-en.blogspot.com/2010/12/other-pontifical-acts_06.html

Nice family

Getty Images

Aren't they beautiful? Nice family. I don't know them but a big family is always nice.

He's the Prime Minister of Hungary.