H/T Amy Welborn
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
RIP Avery Cardinal Dulles
Picture source here
It was with much sadness that I learned of the passing of Cardinal Avery Dulles.
Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord and may Your perpetual light shine upon him.
May he rest in Peace.
Whispers in the Loggia
First Things
Fine Art Friday - Our Lady of Guadalupe
Picture Source
Defender of Children
Picture Source
Tile wall shrine in Studio City, Calfornia
Picture source
This Fine Art Friday is dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas and Protectress of the Unborn.
Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Family
It's been 16 years since the day my husband and I got married on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. We chose that feast day specifically in honor of Our Lady. It was a icy cold, windy and snowy Saturday morning that those brave enough to make it out in such dangerous conditions came out for our wedding.
Our immediate family of course were all there. Good friends also made it a point to be there with us.
Those who attended told us that our nuptial Mass was beautiful. I believe it was because it was done in honor of Our Lady. On the altar we had the wedding candle which I had decorated with the image of our Lady of Guadalupe from Holy Cards that I recently started passing out to friends.
Later as is a tradition, my beautiful bridal bouquet made up up pale pink roses, almost peach in color and baby's breath was presented to Our Lady and laid by her statue.
Ever since that December 12th, 16 years ago, my husband and I have felt our Lady's protection over our family. The three of us have a big devotion to her.
Over the years, we had encounters with our Lady of Guadalupe even though we are yet to make a pilgrimage to la Basilica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in Mexico City.
A few years ago, at one of the Marian conferences we attended as a family, Fr. Pablo Straub was a guest speaker. You may know him from missions he gives and are shown on EWTN. Father Straub, while wearing a reproduction of Juan Diego's tilma, gave a mesmerizing talk on our lady of Guadalupe. It was more of a one-man show rather than a priest's homily.
The apparitions at Tepeyac were brought to life by Father's talk.
The talk he gave just happened to be on December 12th. Afterward, we had an opportunity to briefly introduce ourselves to him. We mentioned it just so happened to be our anniversary. Without any hesitation Father Straub offered to bless us. Before he started blessing us, he called over our little Joey who couldn't have been more than 6 or 7 years old at the time, and Father Straub, the priest who so loves our Lady of Guadalupe, gave us a beautiful blessing on our anniversary and her feast day!
Our home is filled with different religious items. Many are statues or pictures of our lady given to us mostly by my mom, sisters and my late grandma. We have two that are very dear to us. One is a print of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the way she appeared on San Juan Diego's tilma. The other
is of a Peruvian retablo made Our Lady of Guadalupe.
We pray the angelus at noon and 6:00 PM in front of the picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe. She is a constant presence in our lives.
One reason for this is that since this is the only time the Blessed Mother appeared expecting, we have an affection for her carrying baby Jesus in her womb.
We are therefore now adding the following after we pray the Angelus:
"Our Lady of Guadalupe, Protect the Unborn"
Another encounter happened two years ago at the Divine Mercy conference my family and I attended.
The guest speaker at that time was Dan Lynch, he is also an expert on our Lady of Guadalupe. He travels with her image giving talks about the image itself and its awesome symbolism.
The explanation of all the image's symbolism can be found here
After that talk about the symbolism, seeing the large image of our Lady of Guadalupe and actually being permitted to touch her miraculous image, has made our devotion to our lady grow even deeper than before.
I firmly believe that it is Our Lady of Guadalupe who has blessed and protected our marriage and our family all these years and continues to do so.
BTW, Happy Anniversary to my dear husband!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Update on 10,000 Masses for the Unborn and Also a Way to Help a Priest
Friends, as of today only 320 Masses have been offered towards the 10,000 Mass goal.
Info from St. Michael the Archangel Organization
Someone mentioned having masses said at one's parish may be too expensive as some parish's require a set fee for Masses...10.00 - 20.00 a mass can be pretty pricey for some on a fixed budget.
Well, here is a suggestion. Someone recently brought to my attention a young priest's need to help support his parishes in the U.S. and also help the Catholics back home in India. The following is the email I received:
Please give it a try! You will not only be helping out the unborn but as an added bonus you will be helping out a young priest and his parishes.
Thanks so much.
Info from St. Michael the Archangel Organization
Someone mentioned having masses said at one's parish may be too expensive as some parish's require a set fee for Masses...10.00 - 20.00 a mass can be pretty pricey for some on a fixed budget.
Well, here is a suggestion. Someone recently brought to my attention a young priest's need to help support his parishes in the U.S. and also help the Catholics back home in India. The following is the email I received:
Esther, something you may be able to do for me as a favor. I have come to know a young priest that was in India. He was pastor for a church there with a few outlying villages as well.I think Father would be happy to have mass celebrated for the unborn. I believe he will accept any reasonable donation or a donation that you can afford to send him.
By a set of circumstances he is now in Oklahoma and is pastor of three little churches. His total number of parishioners is less than 150 people for all 3 churches.
He would appreciate any mass intentions that people want celebrated to be sent, as the people there are not in the custom of asking for them.
He also uses the income from stipends to care for the 20 some orphans he was in charge of in India.
This is his name and address....
Fr. Prabhakar Kalivela
St. Anthony of Padua Church
PO Box 767
Okeene, Ok. 73763
his email is...frkalivela@gmail.com
He sends most of his meager income to his diocese in India and to his orphanage. He lives on less than $100 a week.
Many people on the Catholicity prayer group have been asking for mass intentions from him and he has celebrated masses for me within a day or two for my intentions this year.
If you can help I know it will be beneficial to us all in the long run....
Peace,
Bob
Please give it a try! You will not only be helping out the unborn but as an added bonus you will be helping out a young priest and his parishes.
Thanks so much.
Marine Corp's Na Mele O Na Keiki
Thanks to the heads up by Easter, my family and I enjoyed a delightful Christmas concert The U.S. Marine Corp's Toys for Tots benefit Concert
The concert started off by the playing of our National Anthem.
What was great about this concert, besides the fact the toys and donations will benefit Hawaii's less fortunate children on Christmas morning, is the fact that they all played Christmas music; God was mentioned, God's son was mentioned; God's mother was mentioned. Hey, Jake Shimabukuro even selected Shubert's Ave Maria for his solo!
It was all for God and country!
Here are some photos from the event which featured some pretty wonderful guests!
Rest in Peace Richard Marks
Picture source hereIt was with much sadness that I read of the passing of Mr. Marks yesterday. When we were on pilgrimage to Kalaupapa just a few weeks ago I had asked about Mr. Marks. Our tour guide Norman asked us to pray for him as he was in the hospital.
Eternal rest grant unto him o Lord and may Your perpetual light shine upon him. May Richard rest in peace.
Richard Marks, a successful businessman, respected town historian and the last sheriff of Kalawao County, died last night on the small peninsula of Kalaupapa on Moloka'i, which had been his home since 1956.
Marks was 79 years old. His death reduces the Kalaupapa resident patient population to 23.
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
San Juan Diego
Prayer to St. Juan Diego
You who were chosen by Our Lady of Guadalupe as an instrument to show your people and the world that the way of Christianity is one of love, compassion, understanding, values, sacrifices, repentance of our sins, appreciation and respect for God’s creation, and most of all one of humility and obedience;
You whom we know is now in the Kingdom of the Lord and close to our Mother;
Be our angel and protect us, stay with us as we struggle in this modern life often not knowing where to set our priorities;
Help us to pray to our God to obtain the gifts of the Holy Spirit and use them for the good of humanity and the good of our Church, through the Heart of Our Lady of Guadalupe to the Heart of Jesus. Amen.
Prayer source
Monday, December 08, 2008
Advent
I had forgotten I created this video last year. Thanks Tom for featuring it on the Love to be Catholic homepage.
The Immaculate Conception
The Immaculate Conception is the first step in our salvation. - St. Pio of Pietrelcina
"Let us give ourselves to the Immaculata. Let her prepare us, let her receive Him in Holy Communion. This is the manner most perfect and pleasing to the Lord Jesus and brings great fruit to us." - - St. Maximilian Kolbe
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Handel's Messiah
My family and I attended the live performance of Handel's Messiah last night at the beautiful Central Union Church. Even though it's been a 60 year tradition of performing the Messiah oratorio of the life of Christ, at that church, it was the first time for my family to attend. We plan on making it one of our new family traditions.
I wanted to share some of the photos from last night's magnificent performance since the first reading of Isaiah for the Second Sunday of Advent, is one of the more well-known pieces of the Messiah.
Tenor RecitativeSource: Messiah: The Gospel according to Handel's Oratorio, Roger A. Bullard.
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, t hat her iniquity is pardon'd.
The voice of him th at crieth in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Tenor Aria
Ev'ry valley shall be exalted, and ev'ry mountain and hill made low; the crooked straight, and the rough places plain.
Isaiah 40: 1 - 5, 9 - 11Source: EWTN
1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"
10 Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
Of course, the best part was jumping to feet to join in the Hallelujah Chorus.
The thing that I regretted about the whole performance was that "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth" was not sung.
Remember Pearl Harbor
Old Photos from an old Brownie camera. Shared by John via email.
Pearl Harbor
On Sunday, December 7th, 1941 the Japanese launched a surprise attack against the U.S. Forces stationed at Pearl Harbor , Hawaii . By planning his attack on a Sunday, the Japanese commander Admiral Nagumo, hoped to catch the entire fleet in port. As luck would have it, the Aircraft Carriers and one of the Battleships were not in port. (The USS Enterprise was returning from Wake Island, where it had just delivered some aircraft. The USS Lexington was ferrying aircraft to Midway, and the USS Saratoga and USS Colorado were undergoing repairs in the United States.)
In spite of the latest intelligence reports about the missing aircraft carriers (his most important targets), Admiral Nagumo decided to continue the attack with his force of six carriers and 423 aircraft. At a range of 230 miles north of Oahu, he launched the first wave of a two-wave attack. Beginning at 0600 hours his first wave consisted of 183 fighters and torpedo bombers which struck at the fleet in Pearl Harbor and the airfields in Hickam, Kaneohe and Ewa. The second strike, launched at 0715 hours, consisted of 167 aircraft, which again struck at the same targets.
At 0753 hours the first wave consisting of 40 Nakajima B5N2 "Kate" torpedo bombers, 51 Aichi D3A1 "Val" dive bombers, 50 high altitude bombers and 43 Zeros struck airfields and Pearl Harbor Within the next hour, the second wave arrived and continued the attack.
When it was over, the U.S. losses were:
Casualties
USA : 218 KIA, 364 WIA.
USN: 2,008 KIA, 710 WIA.
USMC: 109 KIA, 69 WIA.
Civilians: 68 KIA, 35 WIA.
TOTAL: 2,403 KIA, 1,178 WIA.
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Battleships
USS Arizona (BB-39) - total loss whe n a bomb hit her magazine.
USS Oklahoma (BB-37) - Total loss when she capsized and sunk in the harbor.
USS California (BB-44) - Sunk at her berth. Later raised and repaired.
USS West Virginia (BB-48) - Sunk at her berth. Later raised and repaired.
USS Nevada - (BB-36) Beached to prevent sinking. Later repaired.
USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) - Light damage.
USS Maryland (BB-46) - Light damage.
USS Tennessee (BB-43) Light damage.
USS Utah (AG-16) - (former battleship used as a target) - Sunk.
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Cruisers
USS New Orleans (CA-32) - Light Damage..
USS San Francisco (CA38) - Light Damage.
USS Detroit (CL-8) - Light Damage.
USS Raleigh (CL-7) - Heavily damaged but repaired.
USS Helena (CL-50) - Light Damage.
USS Honolulu (CL-48) - Light Damage..
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Destroyers
USS Downes (DD-375) - Destroyed. Parts salvaged.
USS Cassin - (DD-37 2) Destroyed. Parts salvaged.
USS Shaw (DD-373) - Very heavy damage.
USS Helm (DD-388) - Light Damage.
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Minelayer
USS Ogala (CM-4) - Sunk but later raised and repaired.
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Seaplane Tender
USS Curtiss (AV-4) - Severely damaged but later repaired.
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Repair Ship
USS Vestal (AR-4) - Sever ely damaged but later repaired.
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Harbor Tug
USS Sotoyomo (YT-9) - Sunk but later raised and repaired.
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Aircraft
188 Aircraft destroyed (92 USN and 92 U.S. Army Air Corps.)
"We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. "
-- Edward R. Murrow
Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you,
Jesus Christ and The American G. I.
One died for your soul,
The other for your freedom.