For Saturday
Going After the Lost Sheep

by G.K. Chesterton


Our Lady went into a strange country,
Our Lady, for she was ours,
And had run on the little hills behind the houses
And pulled small flowers;
But she rose up and went into a strange country
With strange thrones and powers.


And there were giants in the land she walked in,
Tall as their toppling towns,
With heads so high in heaven, the constellations
Served them for crowns;
And their feet might have forded like a brook the abysses
Where Babel drowns.


They were girt about with the wings of morning and evening,
Furled and unfurled,
Round the speckled sky where our small spinning planet
Like a top is twirled;
And the swords they waived were the unending comets
That shall end the world.


And moving in innocence and in accident,
She turned the face
That none has ever looked on without loving
On the Lords of Space;
And one hailed her with her name in our country
That is full of grace.


Our Lady went into a strange country
And they crowned her queen,
For she needed never to be stayed or questioned
But only seen;
And they were broken down under unbearable beauty
As we have been.


But ever she walked till away in the last high places,
One great light shone
From the pillored throne of the King of all the country
Who sat thereon;
And she cried aloud as she cried under the gibbet
For she saw her Son.


Our Lady wears a crown in a strange country,
The crown He gave,
But she has not forgotten to call to her old companions
To call and to crave;
And to hear her calling a man might arise and thunder
On the doors of the grave.

This is what comes of the short-sightedness of the Culture of Death....
Women were being sold in China.
What really gets me is that some of the 'buyers' were arrogant enough to demand refunds ! "So I tried to buy a woman the way someone would buy a cow- don't I at least get my money back ? After all, she was a mental case- clearly defective merchandise ! "

Link courtesy of Mark Shea.

Since I've been away from the computer..
Bill White over at Summa Minutiae has been picking up the slack with some great quotes from the Venerable .

The Feast of St. Rose of Lima, Virgin
is today. There is information on her here. .

"Even the most favoured of that glorious company, whom He has washed clean in His Blood; they never forget what they were by birth; they confess, one and all, that they are children of Adam, and of the same nature as their brethren, and compassed with infirmities while in the flesh, whatever may be the grace given them and their own improvement of it. Others may look up to them, but they ever look up to God; others may speak of their merits, but they only speak of their defects. The young and unspotted, the aged and most mature, he who has sinned least, he who has repented most, the fresh innocent brow, and the hoary head, they unite in this one litany, 'O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.' So it was with St. Aloysius; so, on the other hand, was it with St. Ignatius; so was it with St. Rose, the youngest of the saints, who, as a child, submitted her tender frame to the most amazing penances; so was it with St. Philip Neri, one of the most aged, who, when some one praised him, cried out, 'Begone! I am a devil, and not a saint;' and when going to communicate, would protest before his Lord, that he 'was good for nothing, but to do evil.' Such utter self-prostration, I say, is the very badge and token of the servant of Christ;—and this indeed is conveyed in His own words, when He says, 'I am not come to call the just, but sinners;'and it is solemnly recognized and inculcated by Him, in the words which follow the text, 'Every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted.' " - Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O., Sermons Preached on Various Occasions

It is also the feast of St. Philip Benizi, Priest , and St. Tydfil, Martyr .

Blogging may be sporadic...
over the next few weeks, due to some developments in Real Life.

In case I don't get to blog for a bit, I leave a quote from the Venerable....
"If, then, a person asks how he is to know whether he is dreaming on in the world's slumber, or is really awake and alive unto God, let him first fix his mind upon some one or other of his besetting infirmities. Every one who is at all in the habit of examining himself, must be conscious of such within him. Many men have more than one, all of us have some one or other; and in resisting and overcoming such, self-denial has its first employment. One man is indolent and fond of amusement, another man is passionate or ill-tempered, another is vain, another has little control over his tongue; others are weak, and cannot resist the ridicule of thoughtless companions; others are tormented with bad passions, of which they are ashamed, yet are overcome. Now let every one consider what his weak point is; in that is his trial. His trial is not in those things which are easy to him, but in that one thing, in those several things, whatever they are, in which to do his duty is against his nature. Never think yourself safe because you do your duty in ninety-nine points; it is the hundredth which is to be the ground of your self-denial, which must evidence, or rather instance and realize your faith. It is in reference to this you must watch and pray; pray continually for God's grace to help you, and watch with fear and trembling lest you fall. "- Parochial and Plain Sermons, Volume One - Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O.

Gerard Serafin
has a post on one of the more unusual members of my own spiritual family. (You didn't know the Servant of God Antoni Gaudí was a Secular Oratorian ? Well, now you do....)

Typing....
MTBI Test Results

Introverted (I) 71% Extraverted (E) 29%
Sensing (S) 50% Intuitive (N) 50%
Thinking (T) 85% Feeling (F) 15%
Judging (J) 100% Perceiving (P) 0%

Note that if some of your results are near 50%, then you may not fall 100% into one personality type. For example, if you are an ENFJ but your Feeling and Thinking are almost 50/50, then you would more accurately be an ENxJ.

So I would be IxTJ. (on the border between ISTJ and INTJ). This fits with a real life Myers-Briggs I took, which said I was an INTJ.

Thanks to Fr. James Tucker for the link.

I just pray that this conference on liturgical music
is better than its acronym .

The Feast of Blessed Hugh Green, Priest and Martyr
is today. There is information on him here and here.

Written on August 18, 1855

The Mental Sufferings of Our Lord
by Venerable John Henry Newman. C.O.

1. After all His discourses were consummated (Matt. xxvi. 1), fully finished and brought to an end, then He said, The Son of man will be betrayed to crucifixion. As an army puts itself in battle array, as sailors, before an action, clear the decks, as dying men make their will and then turn to God, so though our Lord could never cease to speak good words, did He sum up and complete His teaching, and then commence His passion. Then He removed by His own act the prohibition which kept Satan from Him, and opened the door to the agitations of His human heart, as a soldier, who is to suffer death, may drop his handkerchief himself. At once Satan came on and seized upon his brief hour.

2. An evil temper of murmuring and criticism is spread among the disciples. One was the source of it, but it seems to have been spread. The thought of His death was before Him, and He was thinking of it and His burial after it. A woman came and anointed His sacred head. The action spread a soothing tender feeling over His pure soul. It was a mute token of sympathy, and the whole house was filled with it. It was rudely broken by the harsh voice of the traitor now for the first time giving utterance to his secret heartlessness and malice. Ut quid perditio haec? 'To what purpose is this waste?'—the unjust steward with his impious economy making up for his own private thefts by grudging honour to his Master. Thus in the midst of the sweet calm harmony of that feast at Bethany, there comes a jar and discord; all is wrong: sour discontent and distrust are spreading, for the devil is abroad.

3. Judas, having once shown what he was, lost no time in carrying out his malice. He went to the Chief Priests, and bargained with them to betray his Lord for a price. Our Lord saw all that took place within him; He saw Satan knocking at his heart, and admitted there and made an honoured and beloved guest and an intimate. He saw him go to the Priests and heard the conversation between them. He had seen it by His foreknowledge all the time he had been about Him, and when He chose him. What we know feebly as to be, affects us far more vividly and very differently when it actually takes place. Our Lord had at length felt, and suffered Himself to feel, the cruelty of the ingratitude of which He was the sport and victim. He had treated Judas as one of His most familiar friends. He had shown marks of the closest intimacy; He had made him the purse-keeper of Himself and His followers. He had given him the power of working miracles. He had admitted him to a knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. He had sent him out to preach and made him one of His own special representatives, so that the Master was judged of by the conduct of His servant. A heathen, when smitten by a friend, said, "Et tu Brutë!" What desolation is in the sense of ingratitude! God who is met with ingratitude daily cannot from His Nature feel it. He took a human heart, that He might feel it in its fulness. And now, O my God, though in heaven, dost Thou not feel my ingratitude towards Thee? "

Jeff Miller
with an interesting suggestion: Liturgical Boot Camp .

The wedding was beautiful...
but we kept getting lost down in the Baltimore area. It seems as if everything in the section we were in (near Columbia) was hidden by trees, including signs for shopping centers and restaurants.

On the plus side, during our search for the church, we came across evidence that at least one Tolkien fan had been involved in planning the area. Somebody had named a subdivision "Hobbits Glen". However, I did not spot any round doors, or even round windows.....

At the reception, each place at the table had a little package of sugared almonds, and a small scroll, which read:

" 'Charity of its nature opens out into a service that is universal; it inspires in us a commitment to practical and concrete love for every human being.'- Pope John Paul II

To Our Family and Friends

We have made a donation in your honor to Peter's Pence, the Holy Father's charitable fund.

This fund helps those around the world suffering as a result of war, oppression, or natural disasters.

We thank you for sharing with us the joy of our wedding day.

Alison and Godfrey"

Prayers for the bride and groom would be most welcome.

The Feast of St. Jeanne de Chantal
is today. There is information on her here.