St. John Vianney Sermon for Christmas

In the book Sermons of the Cure of Ars first printed in 1901 and reproduced by The Neumann Press, who is now under the publishing authority of TAN Books (see more HERE), we have the Patron Saint of Parish Priests giving us the following words:

"Beloved brethren assembled in the name of Jesus Christ:

. . . the angels' message on the plains . . . did not come from the palaces of earthly kings, or from the halls of pleasure, or from the markets of the earth; it came from heaven, bringing with it heavenly flowers, heavenly blessings, and heavenly graces.

. . . It is announced, not to one or the other, but to the beggar and the king, the child and the old man, the poor and rich.  The angels announced to the shepherds that it should be made known to all people, in the east and the west, in the north and the south; it shall ring forth and make joyful through all the ages; it shall never cease, not even when the world shall keep its vigil, and the book of humanity will be closed, and then it will ring on in eternity: a Saviour is born to you, who is Christ the Lord.

. . . God with us . . . is the meaning of the joyful message of the angel . . . in His humanity, in His childhood, in His poverty.

. . . In His humanity . . . the second Person of the Trinity had taken a human nature, a human body, and a human soul, the same as we have.  He has become one of us.  He is like us in all things, with the exception of sin, says the Apostle.  That is the first step of the mercy of God, which we devoutly adore, in the crib at Bethlehem.

. . . In His childhood . . . the Son of God took another merciful step when He appeared upon earth as a child . . . the Son of God might have appeared upon earth as a grown man.  But He did not do this.  He abased Himself, and lay in the crib as a helpless infant.  The heathens have represented Jupiter with lightning in his eyes, falcons at his feet, flaming swords in his hands; no hand free to bless.  Our divine Saviour wished to appear very differently.  Not a threatening, mighty figure; not armed with lightning.  No, He appeared as a child full of love, full of tenderness, full of joy.  The child looks at every one; at the sight of the child, all fear vanishes.  All may approach a child without fear, the high and the low, the learned and the unlearned, rich and poor.  How near has God come unto us!

. . . In His poverty . . . He is nearer to us . . . the Saviour wanted to be nearer to the poor man; that is why He appeared upon this earth in the utmost poverty.  The poor have a special right to the love and the association of the incarnate Son of God . . . No mother can provide a poorer bed for her child than that provided for the Son of God upon earth in the crib.  Now, through Him, the Son of God, poverty is no longer despicable, no longer shameful, no longer mean; through Him is poverty ennobled, exalted, and sanctified.

. . . His name shall be called Emmanuel, God with us, with us in His humanity, in His childhood, in His poverty . . . Then we will beseech Him to renew and strengthen in us the spirit of self-renunciation, the simplicity of our hearts, the love of poverty, so that the divine Infant will make us His own, and be and remain with us through all eternity, our Emmanuel, God with us.  Amen!"

This sermon and sermons for every Sunday and Feast Day throughout the liturgical calendar can be found in the Neumann Press book Sermons of the Cure of Ars.

St. Mary's Academy & College

Hopefully this group will become regularized soon and they can bolster the ranks.

Noah Trailer

Looks like it could be well done . . . it has potential anyway.  However, I've wised up to hollywoods methods of propaganda.  My pessimism with hollywood brings me to the reality that the phrase "if man persists in his ways, God is going to destroy the world" brings me to think, what "ways"?  What values were violated and what was God offended by, according to hollywood?  I see in the trailer, people walking by a field of stumps, then we see an image of violence.  So it stands to reason that using hollywood's "values" and knowing hollywood's use of the big screen as its secular preaching pulpit, that they will try to scare the movie goer into accepting hollywood's values . . . or God will destroy the world.  The evils that hollywood thinks are capitalism, religion, and individual freedom.  But note the field of stumps.  According to hollywood this generally represents man's "greedy exploitation of the earth" for "evil capitalist profit."  And this of course is done by hollywood to throw us off track from the real evils perpetrated today of homosexuality, abortion, and lust.  I'll probably watch it, just to give it a chance, then we'll see if this theory comes true.  

Illinois Tornado, Wednesday's Planned Same-Sex Marriage Bill, and Today's Mass Reading

From NBC Chicago:

On the same day next week that Gov. Pat Quinn signs the same sex marriage bill in Chicago, Springfield Illinois Bishop Thomas Paprocki will offer "Prayers of Supplication and Exorcism in Reparation for the Sin of Same-Sex Marriage."

Catholic Governor of Illinois plans to sign into law same-sex marriage, then hears the news about damaging tornadoes across Illinois after probably attending Sunday mass to hear this reading from Sunday's November 17, 2013 Gospel of Saint Luke:

When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first,but it will not immediately be the end." Then he said to them,"Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.
"Before all this happens, however,they will seize and persecute you,they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name.

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 159

. . . and from CNS News:

“We must pray for deliverance from this evil which has penetrated our state and our church,” the bishop, who testified against the measure before the state legislature in January, declared in a statement.
Quinn, a Catholic, has announced he will sign the bill. “Marriage equality is coming to Illinois. I look forward to signing this landmark legislation on November 20 and celebrating a big step forward with the people of Illinois,” the governor said.

Let us now join Bishop of Springfield, Thomas Paproki in his prayers for deliverance from this evil and that the words of Sunday's Gospel and today's events may compel Catholic Governor Quinn to have a change of heart and choose to love God more than the zeitgeist.

God-Hating Democrats are at it Again

Democrats will do anything to satiate their bloodthirsty lust for power - even shaking their fist at God, then turning around and winking to their atheistic party for their support.  Not only did the democrat party boo God 3 times at their last Democrat National Convention, have now become the party of hijacking marriage by sliding sodomy as part of the institution designed by God, and they have always been known as the party of killing babies, but this latest desperate attempt at excusing their cowardly acts hits a new low, even for democrats.  Now they are knocking on God's door - God Himself - by contacting Him through a public prayer to shake their fist at Him taunting Him by "thanking the Lord for abortions" then haughtily claiming that their work to perpetuate killing children is "a blessing."  I kid you not.

First of all, according to Breitbart, in 2008 Barack Obama said, “I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage.” At the time Obama was running for president. A presidential candidate supporting same-sex marriage in 2008 would have had a difficult time winning the election, as the position was outside the mainstream at that time.

In 2011, just three years later, Obama said, “My opinion on gay marriage is evolving.”  This statement came at a time when he was struggling to raise money for his re-election campaign. The gay community is a significant donor base for Democrats.

And then in May 2012, Obama was needing a draw for his campaign to continue his imperial lordship and announced that he is in favor of gay marriage - then the very next day, the VERY NEXT DAY, he flies to Hollywood with grubby hands out raking in huge sums of money from gay-friendly Hollywood radicals.

Then Obama invoked God's blessing upon Planned Parenthood which obviously fueled Iowa Democrats to pull this latest stunt.  Back in April, President Obama spoke to Planned Parenthood closing with:

“As long as we’ve got to fight to make sure women have access to quality, affordable health care, and as long as we’ve got to fight to protect a woman’s right to make her own choices about her own health, I want you to know that you’ve also got a president who’s going to be right there with you, fighting every step of the way,” said Obama. “Thank you, Planned Parenthood. God bless you.”

Now, the democrats have really sunk to a new low.  Ed Morrissey on HotAir reports the following and sums it up best:

In Iowa, at least Democrats have gone back to openly praying, but perhaps they should be hoping that God isn’t listening:

They made the unusual decision, for Democrats, to begin the event with a prayer. This was likely in response to a prayer vigil being conducted by pro-life activists at the same time nearby.

Des Moines activist Midge Slater took the podium and spent five and a half minutes thanking God for abortion rights, abortion doctors and taxpayer funding for abortions. She also referred to the decision to have an abortion as “a blessing”.

During the entire prayer, State Senator Jack Hatch and Rep. Tyler Olson, both of whom are running for governor, kept their heads bowed and eyes closed, joining in the group prayer.

The Iowa Republican transcribed a bit of the prayer, which goes on for quite a while:

“We give thanks, oh Lord, for the doctors, both current and future, who provide quality abortion care.”

“We pray for increased financial support for low-income women to access contraception, abortion and childcare.”

“Today, we pray for women in developing nations, that they may know the power of self-determination. May they have access to employment, education, birth control and abortion.”

“Today we pray for the families who have chosen. May they know the blessing of choice.”

Here’s my favorite part, very obviously aimed at the pro-life demonstrators:

“We pray for women who have been made afraid by their paternalistic religion.”

Afraid? For feminists, they don’t seem to have much faith in women to decide for themselves whether to live as Christians and follow its tenets without fear forcing them into it.  However, based on this prayer for blessings on abortions and the demand to spread it worldwide, I’d guess that they’re less interested in faith than they are in their own political agendas anyway.

Read more and see video on HotAir

The Selfishness of Contraception

Brand Name of Morning After Pill Says It All

How selfishness is being labeled by the left as "rights."  We now have a judge ruling that "emergency" contraception can be sold over the counter to all women of all ages at any time: no age limit, no ID, no questions, no accountability, no responsibility, no conscience.  There is a saying that goes: "a lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."  Well that certainly applies here with the "emergency" contraception.  Instead of responsibly living up to the Plan of waiting until marriage to accept all the children married life brings with it, we have selfishness gone wild and emergency contraception to bail out America's impulsive sexual greed.

An Associated Press article quotes the Center for Reproductive Rights:

"What it does mean is that generic two-pill products are going to be readily available to women without age restrictions, on any drugstore shelf," Rickelman said. "It'll be like buying Tylenol. You'll be able to go get it off the drugstore shelf, no ID, at the regular counter."

" . . . like Tylenol."  Those pesky headaches . . . and babies.  Nothing is more irritating than a pesky innocent, helpless, completely dependent on us adults for its survival, baby to get in the way of our sexual fun.  Instead, how about a dose of "Self Control" by not having the sex?  

The biggest transparency in selfishness lies in the brand name:

. . . enough said.

Latin Mass Commentary from Cardinal Arinze

"because it suits their spirituality more, it helps them better to pray" - Cardinal Arinze