November: Month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory / Update

From Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary:

PLENARY INDULGENCE

An indulgence that can remove all the temporal punishment due to forgiven sin. No one but God knows for certain when a plenary indulgence is actually gained, because only He knows whether a person's dispositions are adequate. One norm for such dispositions is that "all attachment to sin, even venial sin, be absent." If these dispositions are in any way less than complete, the indulgence will only be partial. The same provision applies to the three external conditions necessary to gain a plenary indulgence: sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion, and prayer for the intentions of the Pope. If these conditions are not satisfied, an otherwise plenary indulgence becomes only partial. These conditions may be satisfied several days before or after the performance of the prescribed work, though preferably Communion should be received and the prayers offered for the Pope on the same day as the indulgenced work. A plenary indulgence can be gained only once a day.

From the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter’s Holy Cross Chaplaincy:

Six General Rules for Obtaining a Plenary Indulgence

1. State of grace…when performing the indulgenced act

2. Complete detachment from sin, even venial sin

3. Confession (20 days before or after the indulgenced act)

4. Communion (20 days before or after the indulgenced act)

5. Prayers for the Supreme Pontiff (20 days before or after the indulgenced act)

6. Indulgenced Act: a special good work with…conditions of place and time

Indulgenced Acts to be Performed for Obtaining a Plenary Indulgence for the Poor Souls of Purgatory

• From November 1 to 8: visit of a cemetery with mental prayer for the poor souls

• On November 2: visit of a church or an oratory with one Our Father and one Creed being recited

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. Amen.

Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

On the 21st, we honor the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (her own presentation in the Temple with Saints Joachim and Anne). On the 26th, we celebrate Christ King of the Universe in the new calendar. This is also the last Sunday of the liturgical year. This month’s trad calender: calefactory.org

UPDATE: I will be taking this month off from the blog. See you in Advent!

May is the Month of Our Lady

Quick Update: Due to the aforementioned health issues, along with other things going on in my life, I will have to change my writing style here. I will have to write shorter, simpler ideas, in order to keep things going at a reasonable pace. I hope you enjoy the new format and I wish all of you blessings and everything wonderful!

Getting a late start this month, but that’s okay, because the most interesting feasts are the latter part of the month…

On the 13th we have Our Lady of Fatima, to whom this ministry is dedicated. She gives us the antidotes to our times in her Fatima requests. And she also gives us hope in promising a period of peace after a time of trial. Learning more about Fatima and Our Lady’s requests would be a wonderful way to celebrate this month dedicated to her. Try doing a search to the right-we have a lot of info here.

Saint Isidore the Farmer is on the 15th, which is also the first of the 3 Minor Rogation Days, days of prayer and penance, similar to the Ember Days. We like Saint Isidore because he was a farmer. Farming is good. People should like farmers more. We don’t have food without farmers. We should all learn how to farm. (This is how I write when I totally don’t try. Like a first grader’s homework assignment. You might have to get used to this.) But seriously, I am jesting because respect for food production and the importance of food self-reliance should be self-evident. It’s not anymore. Food is good. You die without food. Are people so gone that they need to be reminded of this?

We have Ascension Thursday on the 18th (check if it’s a Holy Day of Obligation in your Diocese) and Ascension Sunday, or whatever they’re calling it these days, on the 21st.

Pentecost, that glorious feast, is on the 28th, in both the trad and new. Come Holy Ghost! Do you have a red shirt? I don’t. I should buy one. I had one I liked once.

On the 31st, we have the Visitation (new) and the Queenship (trad) of Our Lady-a double Marian feast in this Month of Mary. This is also Ember Wednesday, the start of the Ember Days of Summer. Let us pray for the coming season to be productive and fruitful in many ways for the children of God.

Saint Joseph the Workman / Update

May 1st we celebrate the feast of Saint Joseph the Workman, honoring him as a laborer and humble participant in Jewish society. The prayer below is not specific to this feast, but it is so beautiful. It is from The Raccolta, a short prayer, easily committed to memory…

“O Joseph, virgin father of Jesus, most pure spouse of the Virgin Mary, pray for us daily to the Son of God, that, armed with the weapons of His grace, we may fight as we ought in life, and be crowned by Him in death.”

Unfortunately, I am suffering numerous health issues, including continued eye problems which reduces my ability to work on electronics. I would ask for your patience and prayer for myself and my family. You have my deepest thanks and all my readers are always in my prayers as well. Chiara:)

Update

Some of you may know I suffered a traumatic brain injury (concussion) last summer and some of the symptoms suddenly got worse about 2 months ago. The main problem is light sensitivity (abnormal dilation) and what is called “convergence insufficiency,” having to do with focus. This makes electronics difficult and it must be limited. I am sitting here right now with the brightness on zero and wearing sunglasses. Even taking these measures, I still must limit exposure to the minimum and gradually get back to normal as I am able. I am now in vision therapy and do see slow improvement. Thank you for your understanding and patience.

As for the WEF Series, I will be putting a post up about “brain transparency,” but first, I would like to do a general introduction, which I am working on.

No I’m not gonna talk about the Chinese “spy balloon.” The whole society has become an incomprehensible clown show and my plan is to cut out and do my own thing with other good Catholics in some rural area. I don’t say this is for everyone, but we all must pray and discern what God wants from us at this insane and pivotal time in human history. I want to come up with a joke about that balloon, but it is its own joke (anyway, everyone else is doing that-check out the memes!). The world is so absurd now, you can’t even parody it.

Regarding EctoLife...and another update...

So apparently this all started with a YouTube video which appears to be a promotion/advertisement for a new artificial womb facility, I am not sure where. My assessment with admittedly, very little research, is that this is a deceptive presentation. It is very dense and there is much that can be said about it. But at the end of the day, how much time do we really want to give to Satan and his designs, when we could be building a new world…not the “Brave New World” depicted here. So, don’t get too upset, keep calm and carry on! The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!

Posts will be brief and possibly badly written for the foreseeable future, as my traumatic brain injury is seriously affecting my ability to be on any electronics…thank you for your understanding.

Advent / Month of December: Divine Infancy & Immaculate Conception

I am sorry my friends but for some reason the concussion symptoms after 4 months have taken a dramatic turn for the worse and I must stay off electronics as much as possible right now. Christmas blessings to all! Advent blessings! I know you don’t really need my advice, so I would simply encourage all to pray to be holier by the end of the Christmas Season. Our celebrant at Mass suggested the Rosary, a good confession and weekday Mass. All good ideas! Will see you in a few weeks or so. I know this is all in God’s wise plan. -CF

Update #2

Just checking in quickly for my loyal readers out there. So, the Covid started out like a cold, but graduated into being more flu-like. I’m still not well, but my husband is doing much better. Thank you for your prayers and hopefully, one of these days, my life will return to normal. I have learned how important family and friends are at a time like this. A friend from church offered to by us groceries. We have been doing okay ordering them from the store, but knowing someone cares is so comforting. If you know someone in need, think about helping them in some way-it can make all the difference to them.

I’m offering it all in reparation to the Body and Blood of Christ, in this the month of the Most Precious Blood. Blessings to you all and your families! Chiara F Mathews:)

Update

After just getting over a whole ordeal with a surgical removal of a kidney stone, I now have a head injury. The doc does not want me on the computer or doing anything that requires concentration (and I put a great deal of concentration into my writing). Recovery could take several weeks. Posts are suspended until I am better. Thanks for your patience!

Further update: And now my husband and I have Covid. No, we have not received the Mystery Injection and our symptoms are like cold symptoms. I am not worried, but prayers would be appreciated at this point! I haven’t even told you everything that has happened to me in the past 3 months-it has been one thing after another, with no break at all, starting with the passing of my brother. I feel God is preparing me for the coming days, making me stronger and more trusting. I have learned so much from this journey of suffering. Like St. Bernadette, let us thank God always for our crosses, for (as St. Vincent de Sales said), He does not test us beyond our ability and it is an act of love, to bring us closer to Him!

My Brother John

Only 2 days after I asked for prayers on the Feast of the Annunciation, my dear brother John passed to the Lord. He had a long and very courageous battle with cancer. He was a writer, like myself, but far more successful. John passed on the joyful Laetare Sunday on the traditional feast of Saint John Damascene, a Doctor of the Church and another writer named John! My brother was 71, a number of years older than me.

I appreciate the prayers of our readers and would ask for continued prayer for the repose of John’s soul and his loved ones who remain in grief…especially for my mother, who is now 90 and was only 18 when he was born. Thank you so much.

+ + +

Lord, hear my prayer.

And let my cry come unto Thee.

Let us pray:

O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful, grant to the soul of Thy servant departed, John, the remission of all his sins, that by our devout supplications he may obtain that pardon which he has always desired. Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.

Eternal rest give unto him, O Lord.

And let perpetual light shine upon him.

May he rest in peace. Amen.

Based on De Profundis

Take the 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS Journey with Us!

Each day we will provide links dealing with a theological concept corresponding to that particular day (5th Day of Christmas: 5 Books of the Pentateuch). This can be done with the whole family as a way to nourish your knowledge and appreciation of the Catholic Faith during this time between Christmas and Epiphany. (We will also post the traditional Blessing of the Home on Epiphany.) These activities don't need to be time-consuming. Links will be provided to a variety of media and resources...you take the ball and run with it. So, let’s get started…..