This changes EVERYTHING. Now.
Hopefully the worst won’t happen. But hope is not a strategy.
ALERT: Iran Closes Strait of Hormuz
“Iran has declared the Strait of Hormuz closed and threatened to fire at any ship passing through it. The narrow waterway is a vital chokepoint for global oil and gas, but also for other commodities such as fertiliser. FRANCE 24's Yuka Royer speaks with Noam Raydan, a maritime risk expert at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, about the potential impact of the Strait's closure and how Iran could further escalate the situation.”
Watch video…
Iran shuts down the Strait of Hormuz. What more could it do?
Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord
Today is Epiphany in the post-conciliar calendar of the USA. In the trad, it is always January 6th, immediately following the 12 Days of Christmas.
Here is the traditional Epiphany Blessing of the Home, which has become more popular in recent years. This version is Nomen Christi Apostolate’s, based on research involving several good sources. How wonderful to revive these treasures of our Holy Faith!
epiphany blessing of the home PDF
And here is our Epiphany Topic for further info.
The Epiphany Blessing format suggests singing a hymn at the end, here is…
“We Three Kings of Orient Are”
This Christmas Song Should Be Much Better Known!
Shepherd’s Pipe Carol
by Sir John Rutter
Going through the hills on a night all starry
on the way to Bethlehem,
far away I heard a shepherd boy piping
on the way to Bethlehem
Angels in the sky brought this message nigh
Dance and sing for joy that Christ the newborn King
is come to bring us peace on earth,
and He's lying cradled there at Bethlehem
Tell me, shepherd boy piping tunes so merrily
on the way to Bethlehem,
who will hear your tunes on these hills so lonely
on the way to Bethlehem?
None may hear my pipes on these hills so lonely
on the way to Bethlehem,
but a King will hear me play sweet lullabies
when I get to Bethlehem
Angels in the sky came down from on high,
hovered o'er the manger where the Babe was lying
cradled in the arms of His mother Mary,
sleeping now at Bethlehem
Where is this new King, shepherd boy piping merrily,
is He there at Bethlehem?
I will find Him soon by the star shining brightly
in the sky o'er Bethlehem
May I come with you, shepherd boy piping merrily,
come with you to Bethlehem?
Pay my homage too at the new King's cradle,
is it far to Bethlehem?
Angels in the sky brought this message nigh
Dance and sing for joy that Christ the infant King
is born this night in lowly stable yonder,
born for you at Bethlehem
I only recently discovered this song and wondered where it’s been my whole life! Why don’t we hear it more often? It’s wonderful!
Composer Sir John Rutter wrote Shepherd’s Pipe Carol (I believe the lyrics as well) when he was only about 21 and it’s the thing that first placed him on the musical map at that young age. He went on to an illustrious career, chiefly known for choral music, much of which is spiritual. At the age of 80, he seems to still be going strong.
One might call this carol genius, unique among Christmas songs, crisp and joyful (if performed right), yet still with poignant moments. You may notice each verse ends with “Bethlehem.” This is Hebrew (Ba-it Lechem), meaning “House of Bread.” Such was Divine Providence that the Bread of Life was born in Bethlehem!
”And Jesus said to them:
I Am the Bread of Life:
he that cometh to me shall not hunger: and he that
believeth in me shall never thirst.”
John 6:35
Another Post-Holy Door Thought
To be a saint is to live fully in reality.
Thoughts for the Day
My dear readers, this is what is on my mind today, as my first offering after passing through the Holy Door at Saint Peter’s Basilica…
Anything you can’t take with you is not your life.
And on this feast of Saint Margaret Mary…
The Sacred Heart is the one and only refuge.
More on Our Lady & Her 7 Sorrows...
Do you know this blog has a 10-year archive? Please make use of the SEARCH button to the right >>> for any topics that interest you. For more on this month’s theme, GO HERE!
Talking to Young People / Being the Tabernacle, the Presence of Christ
I met 2 young men in a cafe yesterday, who I was sitting next to. It was impossible for me not to hear what they were saying. One was giving the other advice about what he might do with his future. His friend was expressing indecision and confusion about how to proceed with his goals. As a mother of a 20-something son, I felt for these young men and wanted to engage them, but did not know how. I prayed to Saint Joseph as I was eating my crepe and suddenly the words just came to me. They were very polite and receptive. I told them the world is changing in radical ways and they need to consider this when planning a future. I acknowledged it is a very hard time now to be a young person. (As we in a great interregnum, a turning, at the end of a very long cycle and the beginning of a new one, late-stage empire.) Not only were they quite interested, they even seemed to agree.
I told the confused young man, an aspiring architect, about earthships. He had never heard of them and said he would investigate. Earthships, there are many different kinds, are sustainable, off-grid homes, often using recycled materials. Many are constructed in pleasing organic shapes and rather spectacular.
This is the way we must talk to our youth. Be honest about the state of the world and don’t allow them to live with the delusions of the culture. It is doing them no service.
The song below came on my Pandora channel this morning and reminded me of those dear young men. It’s a great song, sounds a lot like Simon & Garfunkel. It’s about realizing one’s predicament of living in this inauthentic culture, where your future is planned by “men who move only in dimly-lit halls.” This is an insightful young person who sees the truth. He then dreams of an agrarian life, the “Authentic Life,” which we concern ourselves with here…and which we seek. He intuitively knows this is the better direction, but seems to conclude on a cynical note. Have a listen…
Fleet Foxes ~ “Helplessness Blues”
I was raised up believing
I was somehow unique
Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes
Unique in each way you can see
And now after some thinking
I'd say I'd rather be
A functioning cog in some great machinery
Serving something beyond me
But I don't, I don't know what that will be
I'll get back to you someday soon, you will see
What's my name, what's my station?
Oh, just tell me what I should do
I don't need to be kind to the armies of night
That would do such injustice to you
Or bow down and be grateful
And say, "Sure, take all that you see"
To the men who move only in dimly-lit halls
And determine my future for me
And I don't, I don't know who to believe
I'll get back to you someday soon, you will see
If I know only one thing
It's that everything that I see
Of the world outside is so inconceivable
Often I barely can speak
Yeah I'm tongue tied and dizzy
And I can't keep it to myself
What good is it to sing helplessness blues?
Why should I wait for anyone else?
And I know, I know you will keep me on the shelf
I'll come back to you someday soon myself
If I had an orchard I'd work 'til I'm raw
If I had an orchard I'd work 'til I'm sore
And you would wait tables and soon run the store
Gold hair in the sunlight, my light in the dawn
If I had an orchard I'd work 'til I'm sore
If I had an orchard I'd work 'til I'm sore
Someday I'll be like the man on the screen
(Robin Pecknold)
I often reflect on the extraordinary implications of Holy Communion. In the cafe, I had literally just come from Holy Mass, just having received Our Blessed Lord. When we receive Him, we become the Tabernacle, the Holy of Holies, meant to go out into the world and bring Christ to others. It was in this disposition, that I was given the inclination to speak to these boys, and the words. In Holy Communion, we merge our hearts with that Heart so burning and overflowing with love! And believe me, others can sense this. Some will react with fear and abuse, while others will react positively, not even knowing Who they are encountering, but knowing, somewhere deep inside themselves, this person is different. As the martyr Father Alred Delp said,
“...the person who has seen God, is so totally different, so totally other-because our God is totally Other, with a fullness and order different from what the world sees at first glance. Further, someone who observes the otherness of the believer will be changed by it...
...he is master of the situation and of all things, because of being truly in contact with the center of reality..."
This Is What It's All About!
See our previous post promoting the Catholic Land Movement’s upcoming summer conferences. Here’s a great excerpt from director Michael Thomas’ opening talk at last year’s NY conference. It is so inspiring and I think he is right in saying many Catholics are coming to dream of a very different world and a very different life: The Authentic Life! There is more footage of last year’s conference on the YouTube channel (I’m probably in there somewhere LOL). And maybe I will see you at the New York one day conference next month!
Catholic Land Movement Conference Summer 2024 ~ Short Video Clip
Text:
“Am I alone in dreaming of a world, where I wake up to the sound of bells calling me to Daily Office, and then leaving there for a meal with my family, and then leaving there to meet my brothers in the field, where we work by the sweat of our brow and pause to say the Angelus at 12, and then return to the field?
And then go to the home where my wife is productive with my children in a domestic setting where things are being made, where the children work on dresses and canning and pickling food.
And I went out and milked the animals at the end of the day.
And then I went to the monastery, which was right down the road and caught Vespers at night. Maybe there was a Mass.
I lived an agricultural life layered on top of a liturgical life where Ember and Rogation Days really meant something in my life because the blessing of my fields was critically important.
When fast days really actually helped keep my larder full.
When Lent was really about making it through Spring.
I dream sometimes of living that simple life. Am I alone in dreaming that? Anybody else feel like they want that?
I think there's something deep in all of us as Catholics that calls us to that that idea of a life of a cadence of seasons, of a deepness in our prayer and liturgical life, a deepness in our relationship to our labor and its dignity, and an ordering, a natural order to our family that is beautiful and touched by God's grace. I believe that many of us as Catholics hold that dream.
For 3 days at this conference squint your eyes and just pretend that that's what we live like. Let yourself live that dream that I think we all carry about what Catholic community could be like.
Then we're going to go out into the world and make it happen.”
Is that beautiful, or what?
Octave of Pentecost & the Ember Days
It is the Octave of Pentecost and also the Ember Days of Summer this week. Why not print our Pentecost prayers from the Mass in the previous post, and incorporate them into your prayers this week? You can easily combine the Octave with the prayerful Ember Days!