There's a pretty little legend
That I would like to tell -
Of the birth and death of Jesus
Found in this lowly shell.
If you examine closely,
You'll see that you find here
Four nail holes and a fifth one
Made by a Roman's Spear.
On one side the Easter Lily,
Its center is the star
That appeared unto the shepherds
And led them from afar.
The Christmas poinsettia
Etched on the other side
Reminds us of His birthday
Our Happy Christmastide.
Now break the centre open
And here you will release
The five white doves awaiting
To spread Good Will and Peace.
This simple little symbol,
Christ left for you and me
To help us spread His Gospel
Through all eternity.
Friday, June 6, 2008
The Legend of the Sand Dollar
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Feast of Corpus Christi
O Lord, I am not worthy
That Thou should'st come to me,
But speak the words of comfort,
My spirit healed shall be.
O, come, all you who labor
In sorrow and in pain,
Come, eat This Bread from heaven;
Thy peace and strength regain.
O Jesus, we adore Thee,
Our Victim and our Priest,
Whose precious Blood and Body
Become our sacred Feast.
O Sacrament most holy,
O Sacrament divine!
All praise and all thanksgiving
Be ev'ry moment Thine.
The Latin Church celebrates this venerable Feast in honour of Our Blessed Lord in the Most Holy Eucharist on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. We profess that He is truly present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
Protestants deny Our Lord's omnipotence when they refuse to believe that He is truly present in the Consecrated Species. This heresy is not new, and more certainly, it is not unique to these heretics - this same truth had been denied by the faithless Jews during the time of Our Lord Jesus Christ. When Our Lord did proclaim Himself to be the Bread of Life that came down from Heaven, the unbelieving Jews scoffed at Him.
The Jews therefore murmured at him, because he had said: I am the living bread which came down from heaven. And they said: Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then saith he, I came down from heaven?St John 6:41, 42
Our Divine Lord continued:
Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, the same also shall live by me.St John 6:54-58
It is also important to note that when Our Lord expounded on teachings of particular importance, He would begin by saying, 'Amen, amen, I say unto you.' It calls for special emphasis on the truths He was to expound. In His short public ministry of three years, His Mission is to teach as much as possible and expound the truths most necessary for salvation. When using parables or metaphors, Our Divine Lord would have stated it so clearly and explicitly that it is impossible for anyone to think otherwise. He is God, He is Almighty - He is not the fuzzy-wuzzy street-preacher you would expect standing at the corner of Orchard Road.
If any one shall say that, in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist, there remains the substance of bread and wine together with the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ; and shall deny that wonderful and singular conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood, the species of bread and wine alone remaining, which conversion the Catholic Church most fittingly calls Transubstantiation, let him be anathema.Council of Trent - Session 13, Canon 2
Sunday, April 6, 2008
咩!
The shepherd stave, or crosier, borne by the Good Shepherd in the image above, is similar to the ones carried by prelates of the Church. From the Catholic Encyclopedia, the learned Durandus and Barbosa tell us of the significance of these ecclesiastical ornaments conferred on bishops during their consecration:
(They) signify their authority to correct vices, stimulate piety, administer punishment, and thus rule and govern with a gentleness that is tempered with severity. (...) As the rod of Moses was the seal and emblem of his Divine commission as well as the instrument of the miracles he wrought, so is the episcopal staff the symbol of that doctrinal and disciplinary power of bishops in virtue of which they may sustain the weak and faltering, confirm the wavering in faith, and lead back the erring ones into the true fold. (...) The end is sharp and pointed wherewith to prick and goad the slothful, the middle is straight to signify righteous rule, while the head is bent or crooked in order to draw in and attract souls to the ways of God.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Via Crucis
Il y va pour y mourir.
Suivons-le, c'est notre frère,
Qui pour nous, voulut souffrir.
En mourant, il nous délivre
Du fardeau de nos péchés,
Et celui qui veut le suivre,
Sous la Croix devra marcher.

Au dernier des scélérats.
Que dis-tu, peuple barbare?
Tu réclames Barabbas!
Quelle indigne préférence;
Le coupable est pardonné
Et malgré son innocence,
Jésus-Christ est condammé.
Une Croix au doux sauveur,
Sur sa chair encor sanglante,
Elle ajoute à ses douleurs.
Et pourtant il la désire,
Il la veut depuis toujours,
Depuis toujours elle attire
Son regard brûlant d'amour.
Ont manié bien d'autres bois.
Vos épaules laborieuses
Ont plié sous d'autres poids.
Il est donc bien redoutable
Ce fardeau, mon doux Jésus,
Puisque ce poids vous accable
Et que vous n'en pouvez plus.
Pour l'aider, Marie est là;
Elle veut par sa présence
Soutenir ses derniers pas.
Ô Vierge, en notre faiblesse,
Nous avons besoin de vous,
Puisque nous tombons sans cesse
Demeurez tout près de nous.

Est choisi pour te porter;
Ô Croix, tu parais légère,
Qui voudrait se dérober?
Pour la tâche, Ô divin maître,
S'il vous faut des ouvriers,
Me voilà, de tout mon être,
Je suis prêt à vous aider.

Sont creusés de durs sillons;
Nos péchés et nos offenses
Sont gravés sur votre front.
Souvent, on déforme encore
Votre image autour de nous;
Au monde qui vous ignore
Nous saurons parler de vous.

Vous tombez sur le chemin;
Votre sang dans la poussière
La marque d'un sceau divin.
Ô Jésus, je vous adore
Étendu sous votre Croix;
Prosterné, je vous implore,
Moi qui tombe tant de fois.

Pleurez donc sur vos péchés.
Puisque c'est pour vos offenses
Que mon sang sera versé
Suivez-moi vers le calvaire
Avec moi, sachez offrir
Vos souffrances pour vos frères:
Après moi, il faut souffrir."
A quoi bon verser son sang,
Quand Il voit la foule immense
De pécheurs impénitents.
Et pourtant, Il se relève,
Prend la Croix à pleines mains,
Il poursuit et Il achève
Jusqu'au bout le dur chemin.
Et plus rien pour vous couvrir.
Né jadis nu sur la paille,
Vous voici, nu, pour mourir.
Enseignez à tous vos frères
L'amour de la pauvreté;
Que les biens de cette terre
Sont toujours à mépriser.
Dans la chair, rivant les clous;
Comme une divine grappe
Que l'on presse sous les coups.
De ses mains, le sang s'écoule,
De ses mains qui, si souvent.
Ont béni d'immenses foules
Et guéri tant de souffrants.
Qu'il attend depuis toujours
De prouver à ceux qu'il aime,
Jusqu'où va son grand amour.
Embrassant la terre entière,
Ses deux bras sont étendus;
Il appelle tous ses frères
Et Il meurt pour leur salut.
Votre Fils inanimé,
Vous lisez comme en un livre
Sur son corps tous nos péchés.
Dites-nous, ô tendre Mère,
Tout ce que vous avez vu;
Gravez en nos cœurs de pierre
Les blessures de Jésus.
Peut sourire, il est vanqueur
Et pourtant votre victoire
Est certaine, Ô mon sauveur.
Malgrè la nuit de la tombe,
Le linceul sur votre Corps,
Aujourd'hui l'enfer succombre
Vous avez vaincu la mort.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Jésus, Marie, Joseph...
Sauvez les âmes!
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Hail, Three Kings!
It would be interesting to note that each of these three gifts are symbolic of our disposition and the spiritual gifts that we ought to offer and present to our Lord God this day, nay, daily for all our lives.
Our material possessions in our earthly course ought not to be a hindrance to prevent us from attaining our spiritual perfection, so that we may come at last to the Happy Home where we have, through the sin of our First Parents, denied ourselves. Hence, all our material goods and belongings, which the gold represents, should all help us and direct us to our Last End, that is, the glory and eternal bliss of Heaven, and the beatific vision of God.
The frankincense is a symbol of our prayers. For if our prayers are sincere and truthful, they shall ascend and penetrate, like a sweet odour, through the clouds to reach the Throne of the Most High.
Our Lord did not promise us riches and joy in this our earthly pilgrimage. Instead, He called, and continues to call us, to penance every single day. Myrrh, a bitter substance, is a symbol of the self-denial and mortification of our passions that we must still practised daily, in order for us to attain to the best of our abiliites the spiritual perfection that God requires of us, so that we may deserve to enter His Kingdom.
During the Holy Mass this day, the Church reminds us of the three-fold Epiphany, which is the Greek word for Manifestation, of Christ: to the Magi, that is, to the Gentiles; in His Baptism at Jordan, when the Voice from Heaven declared: This is My Beloved Son; and the first miracle of our Lord, through the intercession of our Blessed Lady, at Cana, where He changed water into wine.
Here is a picture of my very own Crèche I had at home, a gift fresh from France.
The kangaroo thinks it is an Angel and climbs to the top of the roof, using some form of grapple, and sings the Gloria and to get a better view of the Infant King. And there certainly are some unwelcomed guests visiting the manger... See if you spot them.
We Three Kings of Orient Are
We three kings of Orient are;
Bearing gifts we traverse afar,
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star.
Refrain
O star of wonder, star of light,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.
(Gaspard)
Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain
Gold I bring to crown Him again,
King forever, ceasing never,
Over us all to reign.
Refrain
(Melchior)
Frankincense to offer have I;
Incense owns a Deity nigh;
Prayer and praising, voices raising,
Worshipping God on high.
Refrain
(Balthazar)
Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes a life of gathering gloom;
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in the stone cold tomb.
Refrain
Glorious now behold Him arise;
King and God and sacrifice;
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Sounds through the earth and skies.
Refrain
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord Jesus Christ
May the Holy Infant King of Bethlehem continue to bestow upon you abundance of graces and blessings during this season of His Blessed Nativity and Epiphany, and on this Anno Domini 2008!
Friday, November 23, 2007
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Instaurare Omnia in Christo!
“We adhere with all our heart and all our soul to Catholic Rome, guardian of the Catholic Faith and of the traditions necessary for the maintaining of that Faith, to eternal Rome, mistress of wisdom and of truth. On the contrary, we refuse, and we have always refused, to follow the Rome of neo-Modernist and neo-Protestant tendencies, which showed itself clearly in the Second Vatican Council and in the reforms that issued from it.”
Finally, I declare that I am completely opposed to the error of the modernists who hold that there is nothing divine in sacred tradition; or what is far worse, say that there is, but in a pantheistic sense, with the result that there would remain nothing but this plain simple fact-one to be put on a par with the ordinary facts of history-the fact, namely, that a group of men by their own labor, skill, and talent have continued through subsequent ages a school begun by Christ and his apostles. I firmly hold, then, and shall hold to my dying breath the belief of the Fathers in the charism of truth, which certainly is, was, and always will be in the succession of the episcopacy from the apostles. The purpose of this is, then, not that dogma may be tailored according to what seems better and more suited to the culture of each age; rather, that the absolute and immutable truth preached by the apostles from the beginning may never be believed to be different, may never be understood in any other way.