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Showing posts with the label sacramentals

Cukierski Family Apostolate

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A correspondent sent me a link to a great picture on the site of the Cukierski Family Apostolate . I was a bit slow in following up and now I can't find the picture. Nevertheless, the site is one of those "goldmine" Catholic sites put together out of love and full of good things. The Cukierskis (Walt and Wendy) have thirteen children and say: Children truly are a blessing from the Lord. When we cooperate with the Lord and allow new life to be created, we have actually given our Lord a gift, too...another soul for eternity! How awesome is that?! They educate their children at home and raise chickens and cows and do organic and hydroponic gardening (don't ask in the combox, look up "hydroponic" on google - I had to!) I liked this bit: Don't worry, you won't find us hugging trees...we worship the CREATOR not the creation! Just good ol' Simple Catholic Living. The site's speciality is hard-to-find sacramentals and there seems to be something for ...
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Confessions on Good Friday - YES!

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Fr Z's post QUAERITUR: Confessions on Good Friday reminds me that it is high time to post (again) on the question of hearing confessions on Good Friday. Yes - we can . See the link above to Fr Z's post or mine from last year: Let's smash this old chestnut once and for all . Just in case anyone is in the area and wants confession, I'll be hearing confessions at Blackfen this week as follows: After 10am Mass Tuesday and Wednesday After Maundy Thursday 8pm Mass After 11am Stations on Good Friday After 3pm Liturgy on Good Friday 11am-12noon and 5-5.30pm on Holy Saturday
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People we couldn't do without

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Yesterday, after the morning Mass, I had to see various people as usual about Baptisms, Mass cards, routine maintenance, lost property and so on. When this had finished, I went through the Hall and had a chat with the ladies who keep everything in the Church clean, starched, pressed, mended, polished and spotless. Hilda, the " capo d'ufficio " said to me with her no-nonsense Lancastrian bluntness, "This is something that should be on your blog." She's right, you know! In anticipation of Passiontide, the veils for the statues were being ironed and adjusted as necessary in a veritable factory operation: It has been quite a busy week or two. First St Patrick had to be taken down for veneration: then St Joseph had to be given that little bit of extra attention: and then Our Lady had to be then dressed for the Feast of the Annunciation. The above two photos were taken by Dick who recently checked all the kneelers in the Church and mended and re-covered those that...
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"Oil of Gladness" forbidden

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While on the subject of Archbishop Ranjith, I would like to pass on this nugget, (also via Fr Z ) from the Summorum Pontificum Johannesburg blog on the question of the use of the "Oil of Gladness" as a "sacramental" in healing services. The Archbishop has written to Cardinal Napier to say that there are only three blessed oils prescribed in the Roman Ritual and that the use of any other oil is "proscribed and subject to ecclesiastical penalties." Since the letter refers to canon law which is in force universally, the prohibition should not be considered as applying only to South Africa. Here is the jpg of the letter ( click to enlarge ):
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Traditional blessing of holy water

A couple of people asked where they could get Holy Water blessed as I described in the post " A surprise for Screwtape ". It's very simple: get hold of a copy of the older ritual and ask your local priest. It will take him about five minutes. If that seems like a lot of trouble after Mass, you could perhaps invite the priest round to bless your house and ask him if he would bless some Holy Water in the old rite while he is there. Though it is normally blessed in the Church or in the Sacristy, it is quite valid to bless it in someone's home. While he is there, ask him to bless your children as well. There is a lovely blessing in the old ritual which I always use when blessing houses if children are present. If you can't get hold of a copy of the ritual, you can download one from this page at Laudate Dominum . Go for the "Small Roman Ritual." It is a 659kb pdf file so the best thing is to right click and save it to your computer rather than try to open it ...
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A surprise for Screwtape

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Last Sunday, the Mulier Fortis quite properly gave away the remains of our holy water to a lady who came with a large container. She then arranged things in the sacristy for the blessing of a new supply while the altar servers were all still there after the Latin Mass. In this post Summorum Pontificum era, there is no longer any need for scruples about using the older form of the blessing. Mac has the translation at her post . I wonder mischievously whether this holy water might cause a surprise to complacent demons. Having got reasonably used to the water blessed in the spirit of "let's remember salvation", it is amusing to think of the shock when a family take home and scatter around some exorcised salt 'n water mix over which has been invoked the name of "Him Who will come to judge the living and the dead and the world by fire." Run, Wormwood, RUN!
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Popular posts from this blog

Baptism water rosary photo

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This photo is doing the rounds at the moment. Here is the accompanying text: This was taken at the baptism of Valentino Mora, son of Erica, a single mom of 21 who asked the photographer to take a picture of her son for free. The photo of the baptism of Valentino Mora is sweeping the Internet, because at the time the priest pours the Holy water over his head, the water flows in the shape of a rosary. This story began at the Parish of the Assumption of Our Lady in Cordova, Spain, where the baptism of a one month baby took place. At the time that Valentino came to the baptismal font for the sacrament of baptism, Erica asked the photographer Maria Silvana Salles, who was hired by other parents baptizing their babies, to take a photo of her son as a favor, since the young mother had no way of paying for it. The photographer, moved by Erica's request, agreed to take a photo of Valentino. Maria Silvana works with a traditional camera and had to send the film to be developed to a shop in ...
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Is your alb back to front?

Fr Z has initiated a roaring discussion by asking the simple question whether maniples can be used in the Novus Ordo Mass. ( What Does The Prayer Really Say?: Maniples ) One commenter has referred to an important source for the question that has proved popular among modern liturgists. An answer in Notitiae of 1978 said: "When the rubrics of the Missal of Paul VI say nothing or say little on particulars in some places, it is not to be inferred that the former rite should be observed. Therefore, the multiple and complex gestures for incensation as prescribed in the former Missal are not to be resumed." This is, of course, a strange answer. Saying that it must not be inferred that a rite should be used does not imply that it must not be used. We need to check the Latin of this text. (If anyone with access to a library can check it, I have seen the reference given elsewhere as Notitiae 14 (1978) 301-302, no. 2) Let us in any case take the more restrictive interpretation, bel...
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Saint Gabriel

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The angels call for our veneration and awe as part of God’s creation. Part of the destructive modernism of the 1970s included advice to Catholic school teachers that they should not talk to children about angels. This wrought lasting damage which continues to need rectifying. We should include in our prayers a heartfelt recourse to our own Guardian Angels. The Archangel Gabriel “God is my strength” would be terrifying were he to appear to any of us. Our Lady was “troubled” at the word of Saint Gabriel and wondered at the manner of the salutation. Immediately, according to his mission, the awesome messenger explained himself. Modern retelling of the event is often reduced to the jejune “Mary said Yes to God”. In fact, she said “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word”. This conveys more accurately the flawless faith and trust of the Immaculata. In the infinitely wise providence of the Father, we now know the structure of the event in even more detai...
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1962 Missal pdf online

The Church Music Association of America and Jeffrey Tucker of the New Liturgical Movement have made available the 1962 Missal online in pdf format (72Mb). The file is hosted at Musica Sacra , the website of the CMAA, thanks to a generous gift from Fr Robert Skeris While you are at it, take a look at the articles clarifying the rules for music at Low Mass and music at High Mass .
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The blessing of a chariot

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When I studied Latin in Rome with Fr Reginald Foster, he used to suggest that a good word for a car was autorhaeda , a word in fact used in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis of 1965 when speaking of a visit made by Pope Paul VI to the Basilica of St Chrysogonus in Trastevere. The word raeda (without the "h") was used by Caesar, Cicero and Horace for a travelling wagon with four wheels and the addition of "auto" does not make for too awful a neologism. In the Rituale Romanum , the blessing for a motor vehicle is the Benedictio vehiculi seu currus . The word currus is normally translated as chariot and reflects the way that people often view their car. Since one's motor vehicle is more likely to be the locus of one's death or injury than many other artefacts, it does make sense to have it blessed. Above you can see us striding purposefully past the Georgian houses of Victoria Road and here is the blessing of the classic mini: The blessing given in the ...
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