INCENSE.

For Christmas, my mom bought me an incense burner and some incense. I don't know where she got the incense- It's two different kinds, one is just pure frankincense, and the other is a mixture of gums with rose oil- very nice. The burner, however, is just a regular brass-plated burner that you can usually buy from the Muslim shops on 52nd street in West Philly. It's nice though- it comes on three chains with a heavy base for setting it on furniture,and there are little cross-shaped holes in it.

King Jesu Hath a Garden!

Full of divers flowers.

DRAGON AGE.

My mom got my brother this game for Christmas. At first, I like it because it's similar to to the Fable series, except that your actions are'nt grouped into a single series. All the members of your group have differing approval ratings. I like that. And the battle system is better.

BUT,

some things in the game are a little unwholesome, which I do not like. While even in the Fable series, there has always been an option to have a wife and kids, and have a family, Dragon age took the idea of having a partner and ran with it. You should get the idea. I think that's a little disturbing. But then, I don't really know enough about the game to know how that might affect gameplay. I do know that approval ratings affect your party, including how close you are to one another, but I don't know how that affects how the plot or game goes.

[/shamelessly playing video games while on vacation.]

The Holy Innocents.

Coventry Carol.

Festal Music.

Prelude and Fugue in e-flat Major, (St.Anne) BWV 552.

I love this fugue to death. We only get it on festivals as the postlude over at Lourdes, but it's wonderfully and intricately written. (Three themes, the third theme comes from part of a theme from the prelude, and during each theme, one of the other themes also plays. Listen carefully or you'll miss them.)

On the feast of Stephen.

Carol.

Merry Christmas!

Well, it's been tiring.

At mass, we had the music as planned (hark the herald ( with fanfare and descant by Willcocks) Haydn mass in b flat, Chanted propers, Adeste fideles (Descant by Willcocks) and as the postlude, Toccata in G major.( Theodore Dubois, with the 32' reeds in the pedal and chamades in the manuals.)

For the first time ever, I did'nt go to the mass of Christmas day, and breaking the rules, I sang lauds when I got home from mass. Brunch with my mom and brother was later, and then presents. My brother and I made a trip downtown to get my mother certain type of necklace that she had wanted since we were little ones. Cue emotional hug. I helped make christmas dinner, but dessert was all storebought. (Candy cane ice cream, raspberry sorbet, and various cookies, all from Trader Joes.)

Then, I sang lauds again this morning, and after mass at Lourdes, another brunch.Then a trip in the snow to get some boots, since neither my brother or I have any boots.Yes. In a blizzard. We LEFT THE HOUSE.

Adam Lay Ybounden.

"Deus, qui hominem delapsum in mortem conspiciens, Unigeniti tui adventu redimere voluisti: praesta, quaesumus, ut qui humili eius incarnationem devotione fatentur,ipsius etiam Redemptoris consortia mereantur."

O God, who beholding man fallen into death, didst will to redeem him by the coming of thine only-Begotten: grant us, we pray thee, that as we profess his Incarnation with humility and devotion,we may likewise merit the fellowship the very same Redeemer."

Adam Lay Ybounden.

I'M DONE.

It only took me a week, but I've finished the booklet I needed to make for Christmastide. Going home for Christmas means that I can, at least temporarily, go back to my old manner of saying the office. This means that I need chants for the feasts and solemnities of Christmastide,so using This Wonderful Resource, I have lauds and vespers for the vigil of Christmas, Christmas Day, The Holy Family, The Holy Innocents, St.John the Apostle, the Maternity of Mary,Epiphany, and the Baptism of the Lord.

Compline is easy since it never changes, except for the hymn during Sapientiatide and the (semi) Octave of Epiphany. (It changes form Te Lucis to Christe, Qui Splendor et Dies.)

RYOHEI SASAGAWA.

I'm planning on drawing three pictures of him. One is nearly done, the other two are only sketches. Ryohei is form the manga Reborn!, which is one of my favourites. I have'nt actually read any manga since I left. One Manga and Manga Fox no longer have manga viewable online, my subscription to Shonen Jump ran out, and I'm too poor (Obviously) To buy volumes for myself. And daily trips to the books store can't happen now that I no longer have this thing called 'free time'.

But, I can still keep up with some of my animes, even if the mangas are always ahead of the animes.

Anyway, after him, I have three pictures of Chrome (Chrome Dokuru/Mukuru Rokudo) two of Gokudera, and one of Naito. (Naito Longchamp, the weird punk guy with the weird girlfriends)

Hey Jayson WORTHLESS:

IN YOUR FACE, LOSER.

I just think it's kinda of funny how he's trying to spin this. Dude, it's about the money. We know it's about the money. You've already said off camera that it was about the money. So, uh, it's kinda late to try to make it seem like it's not about the money. Unlike you, Some People care about the team rather than the paycheck.

Unfortunately, prudence keeps me from posting everything I wanted to say about this*, but I'm at least happy that all the cliff lee memorabilia that I had at home doesn't have to stay hidden in the basement where no one can know of it.

Sapientiatide.

Tomorrow, (At least in gallican usages, e.g., Sarum) is the beginning of Sapientiatide. In the Roman rite, the office does'nt begin till the 17th, but the idea is the same. Just like in lent, we have the mini-season of Passiontide just before easter, lasting more than a week, so we also have the nine days of Sapientide. Just as in Passiontide, we were meant to focus on the coming days of the Passion of the Lord and the mystery of the resurrection, so also, in Spaientide, our focus changes from our Advent penances to the coming mysteries of the birth and manifestation of the Lord.(And in the middle ages, Advent as part of St.Martin's lent, a fast beginning from the feast of St.Martin of Tours till Christmas. Ancient Mercedarian usage followed this.)

How annoying.

At home, my mother is preparing a room for me to stay in for Christmas. I asked her to get me a medium sized table to use as a home altar. Well, she did, but it's four inches shorter and three inches wider than my old one.

That's not a problem,right?

RONG.*

Because, you see, being the nerd that I am, for my home altar, I had frontals in all the liturgical colors for it. (I've already shown the Red, Violet, and Rose ones) Besides those, I had two green ones, three white, two gold, one black and another red. Even though I'll only be home there during the summer, I'll still probably need to use several of them while I'm home. But, if the altar does'nt FIT them , you must acqui- I mean,I'll have to alter them. (Pun 100% intended)

Which is'nt easy. All of them are made from fabric remnants, so I don't have any extra fabric to widen them. So I don't know how I'll fix them. And some, (Like the rose one) were already too short anyway.

And now,

Some appropriate Advent music.

Advent devotions.

Not trying to show off or anything, but I thought I'd post my advent devotions: (Usually done right before I go to sleep at night.)

Prayer "Per signum crucis"
Advent litany to Christ.
Reading from "Jesus, The Model of Religious"
Prayer to the Holy Ghost.
Scripture reading (From Isaiah. I should be on chapter 18 by now, but I'm lazy so I'm only on chapter 10.)

St.Andrew Christmas Novena prayer. "Hail and Blessed, etc."

An Advent Litany to Christ.

From Sacred Scripture.

CONGESTION.

There's nothing like getting bronchitis just before Christmas when you sing in a choir. I mean,to be fair, we are only doing a Simple Mass setting, With One or Two simple motets, Nothing like polyphonic motets or a choral/orchestral mass setting.

OH WAIT, I FORGOT-

THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I HAVE TO SING. WHEN I CAN BARELY TALK. OR SING AT FULL VOICE. OR HOLD A NOTE. D:

An Advent Collect.

Excita, Domina, corda nostra ad praeparandas Unigeniti tui vias,ut, per eius adventum,purificatis tibi mentibus servire mereamur

Rouse, O Lord, our hearts to prepare the way for thine Only-Begotten, so that, by his coming, we might merit to serve thee with purified minds.

Collect of Thursday, Advent, Week II.

The Immaculate Conception.

O Dawn, sweet herald of that Sun
Whose day salvation's course doth run;
Plead Thou, we pray, O Maid of light,
That we may brave the soul's dark night.

As once the Ark of God, in peace
Made Jordan's angry waves to cease,
Which else had whelmed the passers-through;
So bring to man God's peace anew.

As wet the fleece and dry the ground,
Or dry the fleece with dew all 'round,
Like Thee, kept free of earth's control;
Pray God for every earh-bound soul.

As, when the dragon reared his head
To belch abroad his poison dread,
Him Thou didst crush beneath Thy feet;
Sure victory for us entreat.

O Mother kind, look on our tears;
Regard our struggles, prayers, and fears;
Thou who by grace didst conquer hell,
Aid us its power to repel.


All honour, laud, and glory be,
O Jesu, Virgin-born, to Thee;
Whom with the Father we adore,
And Holy Ghost, for evermore. Amen.

Hymn,Lauds.

V.I will magnify thee,O Lord, for thou hast set me up.
R. And not made my enemies to triumph over me.

Collect of the day:

O God, Who in the foreknowledge of Thy Son's most precious death didst consecrate for Him a dwelling place by the spotless Conception of the Blessed Virgin : mercifully grant that She Who was preserved from all defilement may evermore pray for us until we attain unto Thee in purity of heart. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

And now, Tota Pulchra Es Maria.- Maurice Durufle.

And now,

A non-advent hymn.

I like this tune better than Terry's, but Terry's is the only you can find in print in the U.S.

Another version.

Once again, I am reminded...

...That there is a lot of creepy and disgusting 'artwork' on deviant art. I'm subscribed to Marker Mania, so every few days, I get sent the new art that they have accepted from their members to put in the members' gallery. At least 40% of the stuff I end up deleting because, no matter how well done it is, some of the work is inappropriate.

The same happens when I look for stock.

I still run an artshop on Gaiaonline, so when I take a commission to draw a person for a user, I usually look for stock with a pose that will work with what they want done. Sometimes It's easy, sometimes it's not. I really absolutely Hate looking for stock photos, because what Deviantart considers 'tasteful' and what I consider 'tasteful' are two totally different tastefuls. Depending on the user, some people do upload normal and tasteful pictures of people, objects, and backgrounds that I can use. Others upload things that can be pretty offensive. One person I came across even had a series of photos mocking the Blessed Virgin.

But you never know what you'll get till you click 'Gallery' on their profile. It's always hit or miss, and for the most part, you'll find yourself having to slag through a few pages of unsuitable work to find the real gold, Because, unfortunately, the best stock photographers often tend to do that sort of work because it brings them pageviews, which are the nectar of life on Deviantart.

I'm slowly building up a collection of people whose galleries I know are tame. But it's only four people so far.

ETA: And as proof of this, I was on DA randomly browsing, and after I clicked on Daily deviations, wallpaper and channels, I decided to click 'Collections', since I've never done that before. And I'm so happy that my account settings block mature content.

And now,

Some Advent Music.

A New Name.

I really love the theology of picking a new name in religion. Even though I don't have to do it, I do want to pick a new name, for various reasons. Some are pragmatic: The man whose name I share wasn't a saint and doesn't have a feast day, so I have no patron as my name and no name day. No one can pronounce it, no one can spell it and hardly anyone knows who the guy was. Some are spiritual. The religious life is supposed to be a taste of heaven for us. Our lord said to St. John that to those who persevere, he would give a new name when they arrived in heaven. The religious life is our heaven on earth, difficult as it may be,since for those who are called, it fits us for heaven. So we ought to receive a new name.

It represents in a concrete way the giving up of family ties that Our Lord commands in the gospel, and it represents the subjection of oneself to Christ, and the will to lose oneself that Christ may be present. We become less of us so that he may be more and more present in us, which is the essence of sanctity. And sanctity and union with God is the goal of the religious life.

So those are some of the reasons. It is of course, far too early along for my to be seriously thinking of the name I would like and asking for permission to have it, but I do wounder what I could chose. None of the saints I like have names that I can actually choose. I like St.Pius V, since he did in essence what the king whose name I share did. But Pius as a name sounds too pretentious. For my other choices, there are priests and brothers with the name in the community already, so that's not going to happen. I could probably do Louis, Augustine, Bernard, Cyprian, Denis, Ambrose, Edward, or Nicholas. Boniface, Clement, Aelred, Paschal,Fidelis, Irenaeus, and Cuthbert are probably off limits.

But we'll see what I can come up with.

And now,

An Advent Hymn.

Oh yes, I nearly forgot.

THIS:


“Hail and blessed be the hour and the moment when the Son of God was born
of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in a stable, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires,through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ,and of His Blessed Mother. Amen."

You're all a day late, and it probably won't work now, but say this 15 times a day until Christmas day as a novena. It's indulgenced, and it's a great means of preparing oneself.

An Anglican in the Catholic Church.

I think I've realised something that I've been attempting to hide from myself for quite a while: There there is a whole lot of stuff that I brought with me when I left the Episcopal church for Rome. This doesn't mean that I'm some sort of crypto-protestant who secretly doesn't believe what the church teaches or anything like this. To be honest, there was'nt anything in the catechism, whether it be papal authority or the infallibility of the church, or life or moral issues that I didn't already accept back then.

But, there is a world of difference between being an anglo-catholic and a moderately traditional Roman Catholic. Sometimes it's just little things, like the wording of the apostles ' creed, the way one says the rosary, one's private devotions or things like what one does when attending mass or the office. There are things that I did then (And some of them I kept doing and still do) that I can't do now when with other Catholics. Those things simply will need to fall by the wayside and die.

There is also a kind of 'ethos' that is'nt present here. It's not something I can really put my finger on or describe adequately, but there is a way of seeing the church and her liturgy and prayer that often is hard to find here in Rome, but can easily be found there. I would say maybe it's continuity. It's obvious to anyone that the great shift that happened in the church after the Second Vatican Council (Even though the council itself did not mandate nor even remotely envision it) really ruptured the faith as most Catholics practiced it. Seemingly overnight, everything that was 'Catholic' in the minds of the faithful disappeared. There had been in parishes a long continuous line, where the same masses were said daily, with the same vestments and in the same manner. The same music was used. The same prayers and devotions were offered by the clergy for the building up of people's faith. There were societies in parishes that had existed for 100 or more years. A man could know that he was in a pew that 100 or so years ago, another man had knelt in, hearing the same words he heard and praying the same words he prayed. And nowadays, with the focus on novelty, that just doesn't exist anymore.

Nowadays, most people would have to admit that the Catholic from 1910 would be scandalised were he to walk into his parish church as it exists now and see what it has become. Thankfully, in many places there is a growing movement to restore this 'ethos' of continuity that we lost. But it was in this ethos that I first learned the Catholic faith, as a non-Catholic, and it was hard seeing that for the most part, this has been rejected. That's the interior disposition.

But the exterior is also not the same. Leaving for the pastures of Rome also meant leaving just about every external thing that I associated with the catholic faith as I understood it and practiced it: Boychoirs and processions, the daily office, Cranmer's English and Coverdale's psalms, anglo-catholic tracts and devotionals, and of course, the congregational hymn, among other things. It might seem like trivial things, but when one associates these things with Catholicism, it's painful to be told that such-or-such a thing is 'Not Catholic'.

While it's true that Catholicism doesn't require a monolithic uniformity in all things, it's obvious that you can't just bring in everything.I do wonder if there is the possibility of a median way where one is allowed to preserve the good things received from non-catholic churches without, in a sense, acting as if one never left. Now, don't anyone get crazy and think that I'm having some sort of crisis in faith or anything. I've just been wondering if, among the many rites and many ways of expressing the one true Catholic faith, if my old way is something that I really need to completely reject and deprecate at every moment.

And now, because you guys knew that I was going to post it anyway:

[Link]

And also,

I forgot to say that I apparently have bronchitis and have had it for the past two weeks.

That is all.

Coming to terms.

With life. It's not easy. It's really hard knowing that this past year is the last of almost everything. The last Christmas and Thanksgiving I'll ever spend with my family, the last of birthday parties, the last of personal possessions. Within a few months, novitiate will start, and I'll have nothing but God. Everything I own will be gone, and to some extent, family ties will have to loosen a bit.

And this isn't at all easy.

It's not helped by the fact that none of my family is Catholic. Monasteries and friars and seminaries, and habit and novitiate years and the Three Holy Vows, none of these things have any meaning to them. I think I could take it all a bit better if they understood, but they don't and I can't seem to help. I suppose in a sense, It's only harder for me because I know it's hard for them. But it's not in my hands, it's in God's. I'll just do my part and offer as many rosaries for this intention as I can, and hope that come Christmas, it'll all make more sense for them.

Just in case anyone might be fooled into thinking..

..That I've been really productive while I've been sick, while I did do some work, I also have been watching videos like This One over and over and over again.

It's like Snuppie- You remember? Snuppie, de Kleine Krokadil?

(Not quite) Daily Psalm.

Psalm 116, Westminster Cathedral Choir.

THE FLU.

I have it. It great how, less than three days after I get over a very severe allergy attack, I thn go on to get the flu.

Anyway, I did finally find a video of This Thing, which I actually kind of like and have liked since I first saw it. Now,that doesn't make it any less silly-sounding. I just think that some of the harmonies are rather nice.

The Cathedral Singers.

Once again, Richard Proulx was a genius.

And now,

A musical interlude.

<3

This is now the stupidest comment,

That I have ever seen in the entirety of my short life:

“Surely as a black man you can sympathize with the non-theist community,” she said, suggesting that attitudes about her group were “equal to the way blacks were treated before the civil rights movement."

From this idiot here.

Yes, because not being allowed to put a tree with offensive books on it on public property is the same as being murdered, beaten up, harassed and mistreated for wanting to vote and go to schools that are'nt purpousely sub-standard.

*Sigh* If there was ever disproof of the theories of the progress of man/society or evolution, I think this lady is it.

I agree that there shouldn't be these types of religious displays on public property. In this day and age, where civility is non-existent, trying to allow everyone of all religions to put up a display only ends in the uncharitable fighting, insulting and insensitive mocking that you see happens with the displays that happen here. It's not about suppressing free speech*. It's actually about tolerance. Since, as her own group ought to admit, they are not really tolerant of other faiths, and those other faiths are not tolerant of her, why bother pretending that we all get along when under the paper-thin surface, disunited and hatred actually exist?

Besides, you would think in a time where the separation of church and state is becoming more pronounced, a so-called free thought society would advocate the elimination of religious displays on tax-payer funded property, in favour of religiously neutral displays. But since this would mean that they would have to give up their atheistic display, legality and their own principles are thrown out of the window in favour of ideology.

*Free speech, by the way, is'nt totally free. It is governed by the rules and laws of those who own the property. i.e., speech is free withing the bounds set by the person who owns the property that the right is being exercised on. If a local government sets a rule that limits free speech on state property, there's nothing to get into a tizzy about because similar laws already exist EVERYWHERE.

A litany for the departed,

That I stole form Recta Ratio.

It follows:

Almighty God, Father of Goodness and love,
have mercy on the Poor Suffering Souls,
and grant Thine aid:

To my dear parents and ancestors;
Jesus, Mary, Joseph! My Jesus Mercy.
To my brothers and sisters and other near relatives;
Jesus, Mary, Joseph! My Jesus Mercy.
To my benefactors, spiritual and temporal; etc.
To my former friends and subjects;
To all for whom love or duty bids me pray;
To those who have suffered disadvantage or harm through me;
To those who have offended me;
To all those who are especially beloved by Thee;
To those whose release is at hand;
To those who desire most to be united with Thee;
To those who endure the greatest suffering;
To those whose release is most remote;
To those who are least remembered;
To those who are most deserving on account of their services to the Church;
To the rich, who now are the most destitute;
To the mighty, who now are as lowly servants;
To the blind, who now see their folly;
To the frivolous, who spent their time in idleness;
To the poor, who did not seek the treasures of Heaven;
To the tepid, who devoted little time to prayer;
To the indolent, who were negligent in performing good works;
To those of little faith, who neglected the frequent reception of the Sacraments;
To the habitual sinners, who owe their salvation to a miracle of grace;
To parents who failed to watch over their children;
To superiors who were not solicitous for the salvation of those entrusted to them;
To the souls of those who strove for hardly anything but riches and pleasures;
To the worldly-minded, who failed to use their wealth and talents in the service of God;
To those who witnessed the death of others, but would not think of their own;
To those who did not provide for the great journey beyond, and the days of tribulation;
To those whose judgment is so severe because of the great things entrusted to them;
To the popes, rulers, kings and princes;
To the bishops and their counselors;
To my teachers and spiritual advisors;
To the deceased priests of this diocese;
To all the priests and religious of the whole Catholic Church;
To the defenders of the Holy Faith;
To those who died on the battlefield;
To those who are buried in the sea;
To those who died of stroke or heart attack;
To those who died without the last rites of the Church;
To those who shall die within the next twenty-four hours;
To my own poor soul when I shall have to appear before Thy judgment seat;

V. O Lord, grant eternal rest to all the souls of the faithful departed,
R. And let perpetual light shine upon them.
V. May they rest in peace.
R. Amen.

A wise Quote.

“Every true reformer is obedient to the faith: he does not act in an arbitrary manner, he does not appropriate any discretion over the rite; he is not the owner, but the custodian of the treasury instituted by the Lord and entrusted to us. The whole Church is present in every liturgy: adhering to its form is a condition of authenticity for what is celebrated.”

-Benedict XVI.

Now, if only Pius XII,of happy memory, had truly known and understood this. Then we wouldn't be is the unfortunate situation that the church is in now.

Giovanni Croce, you have been my downfall.

Y'know, everything was going fine with the choir. I could learn the music pretty easily, my voice was okay*,things were great.

AND THEN, Giovanni Croce with his eveil** O Sacrum Convivium came along and ruined it. It's a beautiful piece to be sure,wonderful harmonies and wonderful running lines. It's quite impressive. But those running lines are a bit difficult to sing, especially since there are few places to take a breath. Usually one line ends and another begins immediately after it.(Such as the section from Passionis eius' until ;futurae gloriae'-all running lines.) And to be honest, I can sing the part alone, but together, I usually can't manage to get to the 8th measure before I lose my place. I can pick it up again at measure 16, and then I'm fine till measure 29. Then I'm a bit lost on measures 31-32, but I have the alleluias down.

*Except for when my voice cracked at the cathedral during the Haydn gloria.

**That's spelled like that on purpouse.

The Four Last Things.

A Treatise.

And now,

A word from our sponsors.

And now,

A musical interlude.

<3

And alsoe,

My two favourite sections form my second favourite setting of the requiem mass-Faure's.

All Souls day.

(Image from the Tres Belles Heures.)

'"Without delay, on that very night, this was shown to me in a vision. I saw Dinocrates going out from a gloomy place, where also there were several others, and he was parched and very thirsty, with a filthy countenance and pallid colour, and the wound on his face which he had when he died. This Dinocrates had been my brother after the flesh, seven years of age? Who died miserably with disease...But I trusted that my prayer would bring help to his suffering; and I prayed for him every day until we passed over into the prison of the camp, for we were to fight in the camp-show. Then was the birth-day of Gets Caesar, and I made my prayer for my brother day and night, groaning and weeping that he might be granted to me. Then, on the day on which we remained in fetters, this was shown to me. I saw that that place which I had formerly observed to be in gloom was now bright; and Dinocrates, with a clean body well clad, was finding refreshment. And where there had been a wound, I saw a scar; and that pool which I had before seen, I saw now with its margin lowered even to the boy's navel. And one drew water from the pool incessantly, and upon its brink was a goblet filled with water; and Dinocrates drew near and began to drink from it, and the goblet did not fail. And when he was satisfied, he went away from the water to play joyously, after the manner of children, and I awoke. Then I understood that he was translated from the place of punishment." The Passion of Perpetua and Felicitias, 2:3-4 (A.D. 202)'
My second favourite day of the year, with November being my favourite month of the year.

And now, the offertory from my favourite requiem mass setting.

If there is one thing I learned..

From Gaia today, it's that the Gaia Community Discussion forum is filled with rich,bigoted, stuck up prommies who can't bear the mere mention that there are people currently existing in the world who disagree with them.

Like I've told people, most of the world's problems stem from the inability of most people to use the principles of logic correctly.

All Saints Day.

"Master William of Auxerre putteth six reasons, in the sum of the office, wherefore it was established that we should here in this world make solemnity of the saints. The first is, for the honour of the divine majesty, for when we do honour the saint or saints, we honour God in his saints, and say that he is marvellous in them. For who that doth honour to saints, he honoureth him specially which hath sanctified them. The second is to have aid in our infirmity, for by ourselves we may have none health, therefore have we need of the prayers of saints, and therefore we ought to honour them, that we may deserve that they aid and help us. It is read in the Third Book of Kings, of the first chapter, that Beersheba is as much to say as the pit of filling, which is to say the church triumphant saying to her son, that is to say that to the church triumphant he had obtained the reign by his prayers. The third cause is for the augmentation of our surety, that is to say for the glory that is purposed in us; in their solemnity our hope and surety be augmented and increased. And if mortal men and dead might thus be enhanced by their merits, it is truth that the might and puissance shall nothing thereby be minished ne lessed. The fourth for the example of us following. For when the feast is remembered, we be called to ensue and follow them. So that by the example of them we despise all earthly things, and desire celestial things. The fifth is for the debt of interchanging neighbourhood, for the saints make of us feast in heaven. For the angels of God and the holy souls have joy and make feast in heaven of a sinner that doth penance, and therefore it is right when they make of us feast in heaven, that we make feast of them in earth. The sixth is for the procuration of our honour, for when we honour the saints we procure our honour, for their solemnity is our dignity, for when we worship our brethren we worship ourselves, for charity maketh all to be common, and our things be celestial, earthly and perdurable."

From the Golden Legend.

Election Day.

It's funny because it's true.

And now, some context.

Google Scholar/Books makes me happy.

Because it makes research for school so much easier. It's a lot easier to settle on a source when you can write down the subjects you'll be using in your outline, and then after searching for sources for one subject or subtopic, search again with another subject/subtopic. You can note down which sources show multiple times. (i.e., they have the info you need for more than one subject/subtopic) which is a lot easier than having 15 subtopic and 17 sources.Much easier to have 15 subtopic and 6 or 7 sources,or at least that's how I do it.

But I am not, nor have I ever been, will be, or have the desire to be a scholar.

My Jesus crucified,

One particular devotion that I've been trying to cultivate is a devotion to our lord in his passion.I think that it's indispensable for any christian to have a devotion to Christ crucified, especially a (God willing) soon-to-be religious. Christ crucified is the image of the Christian life, especially of the religious life. Death to self, self-sacrifice for the benefit of others,self-emptying, and patience, these are the virtues which are our standard. And so it is that it is true what he says, that he is set before us to be a sign of contradiction. Christ crucified is our standard of holiness, and it is before this standard that we can all see the great failures of our own attempts at sanctity. Christ is the sign, and we are the contradiction to it.

So it is that, as St. Alphonsus says, that we must know our lord in his passion. Not only as one who does so out of thanksgiving and gratitude, though we must do this (Hence, the mass, the memorial sacrifice of Christ's death) but also out of a real desire to be conformed to the same image. I think it's true that if we could learn the science of the Crucified, we would find the Christian life therein. Becuas the Passion of Christ is humility, self-abandonment,resignation, and obedience.

It's not an easy devotion to learn though. I know, because I tried it starting lent. It's so easy to let the outward practices become the devotion, rather than them being only and outward sign of an inner devotion.It's so easy for it to become simply reading some chapters from a book, saying some prayers and kissing the crucifix now and then, without remembering that the heart of the devotion is contemplation of the mysteries of Christ's passion and death.

*Shudder*

You know, it's amazing what people put on deviantART. It seems like the majority of the stuff has to do with 'pairings' (And those who are into anime/manga know Exactly what I'm talking about there) It's kinda sad, a bit disgusting, but it's probably representative of deviant art.It seems that the way to become popular there is to sell your characters, and we all know what sells. Those who don't give in to the principle are forced to live a life of mediocrity. I am consigned to this fate.

I was browsing the galleries of the people whose works I've favourited, and a lot of the stuff has inappropriate themes.Nothing graphic or explicit of course, because deviantART is strict and would'nt allow such things.But they are things that sit on the line of what's PG13 and what is'nt. I never really bothered to look in people galleries before,but now that I have, I'm a bit disappointed. I used to recommend my friends to visit these people's profiles for good art, and now I see what I sent them to.

Brought to a Happy End.

Mt.Calvary Joins the Ordinariate.

I'm a bit jealous. It's blindingly obvious that no parish here in Philly would ever dream of joining the ordinariate, save the now defunct St.James the less. (With whom my sympathy has always been.) My dreams of being able to go back to the worship I'm most comfortable with will just have to be unfulfilled for now.

Mary, Our holy foundress.

I have nothing against carmelites, but I think the promises that come with our scapular are a lot more clearer, and thus in my opinion, better.

And now,

A musical interlude.

<3

And on a more cheerful note,

[LINK].

Faith, Hope, and Charity.

I've been slowly reading the classic spiritual book This Tremendous Lover.
-Yeah I know, interesting title.

But it's wonderful.I haven't gotten very far, because honestly, I don't seem to have as much time for spiritual reading and reflection as I used to. But I'm slowly getting through it. Besides helping to show me how little I've gone down the path to spiritual perfection and showing me how terrible a sinner I am, the book has given me a lot of help that would do me some good if I could just put it into practice.

One thing that I've been trying is to simply, all day, try to keep in my mind those three words: Faith, Hope, and Charity. The three theological virtues. I'm hoping that if I do this, I can change my conduct between God and myself, and between myself and others more quickly. I'm hoping that I can use them to give myself an instant, unthinking evaluation of all my words, actions, and thoughts before I say,do, or think them. I need to know how such or such an action will show or fail to show faith and hope in God, and charity toward God and neighbor. It's a little practice, but I'll see how it goes.

Tomorrow night,

I start my annual novena for the holy souls, this year with a particular focus on my dad's soul. I'll try to post the novena meditations and prayers daily. And also, there will be a mass celebrated for the repose of my father's soul on October 31 at 7:30 AM. I would greatly appreciate it if anyone would'nt mind praying or joining themselves spiritually to the sacrifice of the mass on that day.

[depression]

Mom apparently got rid of Ginger, my cat, while I've been away. She says that there's always the two kittens, so I really don't have anything to get worked up over. But she's never been a pet person, so I wouldn't expect here to understand. I got Ginger when I was 12,and she was a young cat back then (Only two) She started showing signs of age this year, so I expected that she would get to live out last four or five years in the comfort of a familiar house and familiar people.

Now she's been shipped off to the SPCA where who knows what'll happen to her.

Yes, animals don't have immortal souls and all that, but you do get attached to pets. Especially when you've had them for years, and they've grown on you.

*Sigh*

*Sigh*

You know, sometimes I wonder if there's any real point in trying to be a tolerant conservative. Liberal Catholics will hate you for subscribing to everything in the catechism, the councils,and the fathers, and Conservatives will hate you for trying to present this acceptance of tradition in a tolerant, non-inflammatory, conciliatory manner.

But it really is true that you convince people more easily with sweetness and being an example than all the logical,philosophical and scriptural arguments in the world ever could.

Maybe some day I'll actually learn this and not just know it.


[If you can't tell, I've not had a good day today.]

I need glasses.

Just in case anyone had got the idea that I'm a mature and responsible guy, my glasses, which I do occasionally need (I'm near-sighted, but can usually manage without them) have been broken for almost nine months now. I broke them during the winter when I sat on them by accident. If I hold them up to face, I can still use them,because they are'nt broken in half, they just have no arms.

It was'nt till school that I really need them. I can't read the boards now, because in most of the clasrooms, even the front row of seats is too far from the board for me to read what the teacher writes. It's not as bad when they use Powerpoint presentations and such, where the text is large and on a bright background. But even then, things are bit blurry.

I'll just have to man up and go around looking like a nerd. *Sigh*

A AE AE AM A AE ARUM IS AS IS..

I O UM O I ORUM IS OS IS.

Those are the first and second declension endings. In other words, my Latin midterm is tomorrow.

Oh yes, and I've lost all my confidence in passing now, having found that of the pages of study material I went over and copied, the practice quizzes I did and re-did, and the chapters I read, none of that information was on the test.

ASDFJKLASDFJKL;!

Midterms.

They do not contribute to my happiness.

That is all.

I'm a bad Catholic.

Because, I don't see anything wrong with receiving communion only twice a week but going to mass every day. Yes, that means going to mass without receiving communion.
That's not the only reason though: I'm also a bad Catholic because I like to receive communion in both kinds.

But don't worry: I make up for it because I think it is a good and holy thing to prepare for one's communion the night before, or even a day before. I used to make my communion four times weekly, and I began my preparation the day before. (Except for Sundays, where, because I received communion on Saturday, I made my preparation starting the night before, after compline.)
Now I'm up to five times weekly. I expect to get reprimanded and told to stop going to mass without communion someday, once the word gets out that I only do it for pious devotional purpouses.
But, for me at least, it seems that my communions are a lot more fruitful and more reverently received when I make them a little less often and with a lot more preparation.

When attending the Holy Mass,

" As it would not be sufficient for thee if thou hadst all things except Me, even so whatsoever thou shalt give Me, if thou give Me not thyself, it cannot please Me. Offer thyself to Me, and give thyself altogether for God, so shall thy offering be accepted. Behold I offered Myself altogether to the Father for thee, I give also My whole body and blood for food, that thou mightest remain altogether Mine and I thine. But if thou stand in thyself, and offer not thyself freely to My will, thy oflering is not perfect, neither shall the union betwixt us be complete. Therefore ought the freewill offering of thyself into the hands of God to go before all thy works, if thou wilt attain liberty and grace. For this is the cause that so few are inwardly enlightened and made free, that they know not how to deny themselves entirely. My word standeth sure, Except a man forsake all, he cannot be My disciple. ' Thou therefore, if thou wilt be My disciple, offer thyself to Me with all thy affections."

-Imitation of Christ, book four, chapter eight.

And now,

A musical interlude.

<3

THIS.

I want to go to this.

Unfortunately,the person I hoped to give me a ride is'nt going to be able to go anymore, so I'm stuck. *Sigh* I was looking forward to it.
But even if I'm not going, anyone who's nearby, GO. Go to this. I'm hoping that maybe some day in the future, there would be an Ordinariate parish in Philadelphia. And if, God willing, there is one some day, I'd do my best to help them. I don't usually say it, because it scandalises people, but even though I'm here in Rome, a big part of me is still on the other side of the Thames.
(Hence it is that more website show up on my computer when you type in "Anglo" in the address bar than with any other terms. Even more than "Goog"

Oh Shoot.

Well, I found the managas that I want to read. (They're on mangafox) only, I do not remember what chapter I last read. I mean, I remember everything that happenned in those chapters,but I don't know what pages numbers of chapter numbers they were. Maybe I should go on Crunchyroll and ask in one of the groups I'm in.

Speaking of which, I loooove Crunchyroll. :heart: It's like a website version of Attack of the Show.* Anyway, I have midterms this week, and I have a lot to study. I have to go over first and second declension in Latin, the first three chapters of the history book, everything in the first nine sections of the catechism, and luckily, that's it. The algebra teacher sets the year up so that there are no midterms or final,but a cumulative test at the end of every quarter. And you can't really have a test for English composition. (Or at least that's what the teacher says.)

Work in Progress.

Just something I've been working on. I can't seem to get the face or crown of Mary right. *Sigh* Maybe in the future.

STOCK PHOTOS.

A few months ago, when I still had my old, old computer, I saved in draft posts a whole bunch of stock sites, stock pages/searches on deviantArt, and some individual photos that I liked.

Or so I thought.

I need them again, and I went looking through my saved drafts on blogger to find them, and tey are not to be found. Actually, I found some of them, just not the ones I'm looking for. There are some quite nice poses that I hoped to use for a picture of the Assumption, and some pictures in profile that I hoped to used for a version of the Mass of S.Gregory. But none of those can be found.
So yeah, I'm lost. I don't even know where on Deviant Art I found the photos.

Cool Beans.

That we (as in the choir at Lourdes) are doing the Victoria requiem this year for All Souls Day. I did like the Cristobal Morales one, but oh well, Victoria is a more famous composer.

Oh yeah, if that didn't count as the announcement, there's a high mass on the evening of November 2 at Our Lady of Lourdes for All Souls day. The music, as you can see, will be good. (Victoria's requiem with chanted propers.)

I like how it is that...

...I froze for a week because I did'nt have any fall or winter clothes here, and as soon as they get here, we're having a full week where the temperature does'nt go below 70 degrees. =/

Last night.

There was a thunderstorm. Usually I don't mind them, though they always scared Ginger. Only,last night at 3:24 AM exactly*, there was a clap of thunder so loud that I felt the floor vibrate,and As I was half asleep, I was so startled that my heart was must have been doing it's equivalent of donuts in the driveway.

That is all.

I know this because I looked at the clock immediately afterward so that I would know for future reference.

Oh Dear.

Well, I think I just lowered my I.Q. by half and lost about 10 Tolerance Points today.

Without telling where it was that I found it, I laboured through an article attacking 'religion'* in a local newspaper. I don't like to come to these sort of things with precognitions, since they prevent honest understandings, but the article was everything I feared it might be: It was full of non-sequiturs,contradictory arguments, false generalisations and facts that anyone with a Wikipedia article could disprove. Things like the idea that religion kills, while scientists never kill over science. Of course, most of us know that quite a few things done in the name of religion were mainly done of ulterior motives, with religions used as an excuse (e.g., the crusades, the Hundred Year's War, Manifest Destiny, etc.) And I need not mention the whole eugenics debacle and the Cold Spring Harbor lab as proof that scientists do kill over science.

There were non-sequiturs like the idea that we know that religions are false because we can't prove their claims. (Despite the fact that any right-thinking man knows that it's wrong to argue from silence) Further to that, the author used that line of logic as evidence that souls don't exist.(Which doesn't follow because if you're working within the framework of a theology that says that souls are invisible, intangible, and unprovable, stating that souls are invisible, intangible, and unprovable doesn't do anything to help your case. )

There was the whole "Religion X did wrong thing 'A', therefore, religion Y is bad!" thing. Failing to note distinctions among theologies and equating them with one another to the point that one attributes the actions of one to another is an illogical generalisation. It's as if one stated that all systems of government are exactly the same, therefore, the fact that fascist and communistic governments killed, tortured, and otherwise maltreated their citizens proves that a minarchist or anarchist system is evil!

Sometimes it seem that the best way to strengthen the theological virtue of faith is to read an introduction to logic and then browse through books and articles from the other viewpoint.

(Now, before someone gets their knickers in a knot, I know full well that not all scientists, agnostics, or atheists are like this, and I wouldn't dare argue something like that. I say only that it sometimes appears that most vocal supporters of atheism are often the least logical, and therefore, most ineffective people for the job.)

*That ought to have been a sign that this was going to be a Fallacy Fest.

Good news/Bad news.

Good news: I found the amber beads I wanted. I also found two nice sets of 18 and 16mm silver beads, and to my surprise, some white coral rondelle beads that match the gauds of the Magdalene paternoster.

Bad news: The person I'm buying them from seems to be purpousely making it impossible for me to purchase them. =/

I'm not superstitious*,

But the tradition is that the Phills had consecutive bad seasons since 1 Liberty Place was built, thus being the tallest building in the city, thus being taller than Billy.And then, they built the Comcast Center, and put a statue of Billy at the top, and then the past three seasons happenned.

I'm just sayin'....

And now,

A musical interlude.

This is why we don't have nice things.

No, not this.*

I'm finding it impossible to make a copy of that rosary in the painting of the Magdalene. Do you know why?

Apparently, ther is NO place, ANYWHERE in the U.S.** that sells round or oval, non-faceted, 15-20mm, amber, yellow glass or acrylic beads. I can buy amber, but they won't be round, or they'll be faceted. I can get round and non faceted, but they'll be 10mm tops. There are no yellow acrylic beads, and glass ones are all 5-10mm max. I can't even find round, yellow, plastic beads that are between 15-20mm.I've exhausted all the possibilities with this thing,but there's no solution.
And that particular rosary is the one that I'll need to complete my set. I have a coral set, a jet set,an agate set and that set made out of the material whose name I forget.
I still plan on making one like this, it'll just be far in he future.



*Have I mentioned that one of the cats at home, Brutus, looks just like the TIWWCHNT cat?
**I found some in the UK, and some in New Zealand, but I'm Not paying that shipping and handling.

I feel important.

One of the seminarians in my class has asked me to make him one of my reproduction rosaries. The one I just made with coral and crystal is based on the one in This picture. I want to try to make a chaplet of the five wounds, and two reproductions 0f the rosary held by S.Joseph in Van der Weyden's painting of the Magdalene reading.

<3

More good news.

Of a domestic nature. I got a call last night from my mother that our long awaited quest to move to a new home in a new neighborhood has finally come to an end. The house that she and my brother (And I ) put an offer on was accepted, and she and my brother will be moving in by thanksgiving.

Sure, I know that I won't be living there, except for a few weeks a year, but I'm happy. No one who lives in West Philly wants to live there. It's a landing pad. A place where you live only for short time, with plans to go somewhere better.It's not really a bad section, and a lot of it can be quite expensive to live in. It had always been my family's dream to some day move to University City, near the hospital where my father worked, and the school where my mother worked. I'm a bit sad that the time has finally come for that happen, but only because of the circumstances: I'm here at the monastery, dad is gone, my brother will be in school next year. It is'nt ideal,but that's just the way things go.

The only thing now is that my new territorial parish for when I'm at home is now St. Francis De Sales.It's a nice church, with a wonderful organ, and the choir was astonishingly professional when I was there every now and then in 07' (When I was still shopping for a parish)
But I heard that their choral mass has now been combined with the contemporary music mass. I don't know if this is actually true,nor do I know if this affects the quality of the music, so I won't give much credence to the rumour.

I hate it when this happens.

When I stop reading a comic/manga series for a long time, and come back to it only to find that it's jumped far ahead of where I last left off with it. I'll jappily admit that I don't get to read comics as much as a like. You would think that I would, since they're much cheaper than manga, even cheaper than Shonen Jump. But the local stores are pretty far out of the way, and I don't have a car. Also, manga can be read for free online. Comics are involved in so many copyrights and licenses that that's totally impossible. Anyway, I really want to start reading Green Arrow. I've never really read his comic, I only looked him up when he showed up in other series I was reading. I have'nt the slightest idea where to start since, unlike manga, comics usually have multiple story arcs and hundreds of volumes, which can make it difficult to pick a starting issue.Pick too far ahead and you'll miss lots of backstory and information. Pick too far back, and the current arc will get too far ahead of you.

So I'll just ask Gaia or see if anyone will give me a reccomendation.

Also, I really love the covers that some of these recent volumes have. I haven't seen the insides, but the covers are wonderful. My post image was a toss up between that one and This. I only picked the one I used because that one is a little violent, what with the blood and wounds, and the arrow sticking out of the corpse's forehead. I think it's an awesome and very well done cover though.

THE CHOIR II.

At practice tonight, we went over the Haydyn gloria again, as well as the Mozart Laudate Dominum (Which I don't know) and Tallis' If Ye Love Me. (Which I do know.) Also, the two hymns we're doing were gone over. We're doing something to 'Vigiles et Sancti', and we're doing the Vaugn-Williams setting of 'All People That on Earth Do Dwell'. I love the third verse of this. Moving the melody to the tenor and having the sopranos and altos sing alternate harmonies is wonderful.

From all appearances, the Red Mass is going to be a musical feast. It's next Monday at 5:15 at the Cathedral of Ss. Peter and Paul, if anyone wants to come.

COMPUTER WALLPAPERS.

I now have a rotation of different ones. This is my current, and I have lots of others. I've already shown This one, This one,and This one, but I hope to find a way to resize this Concept Art from the Thor movie, so that I can make it into a wallpaper.This was the one from last week, and This is for next week.[/immaturity]

And now,

Some music from my parish.

And also,

I'm changing the blog layout again. This was okay when I was 16 or 17, but it's too dark and gloomy now. I think I'd like to try something brighter, somthing with rainbows,something more cleaner and modern.

Thanks be to God!

THIS.

And now,

A lovely Cope.

I'm begining to think that what they say is true.

That when people die, there's no such thing as closure.Or at least, that it takes a long,long time for it to come.

Yeah I know, I'm depressing everyone again, but I've been thinking about my dad lately (That's probably the reason that I've been losing sleep) and I only feel a bit better now than I did two months ago this time. Maybe it's because I'm still not used to him not being around. Somwhere in my brain, it has'nt yet registered that he's not here anymore, so sometimes I'll be like "Wait till I tell dad about this!" about some stupid thing that happened, or that I saw, and I'll remember "Oh yeah. I can't do that." Last week, I was on my way home from classes, trying to call anyone, because I wanted to talk and see how the family was, and I nearly called his old cell number.

Pie Iesu,Domine, dona eis requiem.

And now,

A musical interlude.

Oh My.

In Western Civ. , the book we're using is a standard college textbok for this class. Or least, it's supposed to be. And if it is, I'm very very depressed about the state of American education, because it gives phonetic pronunciations for words they think students might not be familiar with.
Words like "Athens", and "Aristophanes","Pericles","Socrates",etc. These were words and subjects that I learned of in tenth grade.

Yet it is that they suppose that American students won't have heard of these yet.

America is doomed, I called it. Idiocracy is our future.*

*Look up "Idiocracy" if you've never heard of it.

A Proper Blessing.

Albs, long surplices, and gothic vestments in a white Gothic church.

Comper would have been proud. (Though it needs moar apparels on the albs.)

You know that I hate?

When you work hard on an assignment and stay up late, only to find that the assignment is due on a different date, and that you actually should have been doing some other assignment that was due that day. XP

Ritual Notes.

(This was the 12:15 English Mass)
Music:
Procession: Our Lady of Mercy, sweet and pure
Mass setting (Minus gloria and agnus dei) A community mass, Richard Proulx
Gloria: mass in b flat 'Orgelmesse', F.J. Haydn.
Agnus dei: Holy Cross mass, David Isele
Sequence: Plaudat Agmen Captivorum, mode VII
Alleluia Ave Maria, mode I
Creed: Credo III
Offertory: Ave, verum corpus, W.A.Mozart
Hymn:Mother of Mercy, day by day
Communion:
Hymn:Maria, mater gratiae
Motet: Ave Maria, Jacques Arcadelt
Recessional: This is the feast of victory
Postlude: Dialogue sur les Grandes Joux, Clerambault (Yes, really!)


Minus the rain, today was an excellent day. Besides being Mercy Day, the external solemnity of the feast of Our Lady of Mercy,the mass celebrated at the parish was wonderful. In a way, and I mean this as an extreme compliment, it seemed almost like an anglo-catholic rather than Roman Catholic mass.

Yours truly ended up in the procession rather than in the choir today, because I'm one of the postulants, and all the postulants, priests, and brothers were in the procession. We got the 'Bar Song' during the procession. (I call that hymn the Bar Song because, despite having lovely lyrics, it was written in the 30's, and the music relfects that. It sounds rather like an old bar song than a hymn to Our Lady, but the parishioners love it and they refuse to sing the text to any other tune. (And yes, that means they've tried.) There were a crucifer and two acolytes, thurifer, and four torches at the elevation.
The vestments were the gold gothic set with the tudor rose pattern that gets taken out on feast days (It's the one used at 40 hours and the one that's always used at the Easter vigil) The M.C. wore a surplice made entirely of lace (As in, no actual fabric. And it was'nt the sort that's made out of embroidered nylon, the kind that was popular in the 1940's. This is completely made of knit lace, which if it was'nt/is'nt an abuse, it ought to be.*)

The mass was celebrated ad orientem as well. The opening versicles of the mass were sung. rather than simply being said, and all the responses and prayers (including the final blessing and dismissal) were sung.As noted above, the Mercedarians have special sequences for the feast of Our holy Father, S.Peter Nolasco, and Our holy Mother and foundress, Our Lady of Mercy.
After the sermon (A good rousing one on secularism, islamic extremism, and the power and intercession of Our Lady, as well as the importance of devotion to her (The rosary, scapular, chaplets and novenas, etc.) the brothers renewed their vows, and then the creed was sung.

At the offertory, the missal was removed from the altar during the incensation, which is is now the common practice. Then, the celebrant, concelebrants,M.C., and then the people were incensed. At the sanctus, the thurifer and torchbearers came into the sanctuary, genuflected, and knelt. The sacred host and the chalice were incensed at the elevation, and the torchbearers and thurifer left after the amen at the end of the canon. (The Roman Canon was used.)

Communion was given standing, but with the M.C. and one of the taller servers holding the communion patens for the people's communion.

At the end of mass, we all recessed to the narthex for the versicle, response and blessing. ('Prosit', etc.) The organist then played Clerambault's lovely dialogue, which is an od coincidence. (I was just talking about it not too long ago.) It was lovely to hear the 16' pedal reeds in use with the 32' contre Bourdonne. It's a lovely sound, and gets you the sound of the 32' reeds but without the shaking of the windows near the organ loft.

Pretzels and water ice were in the parish hall after mass.

Sunday in the Octave.

"O virgo virginum,*quam pulchra es et decora in deliciis! Tu fons pietatis,humanos miserata quaestus,te conspiciendam dedisti, ut educeres vinctos de tenebris, et umbra mortis, et vincula eorum disrumperes, alleluia."

-Benedictus antiphon.

V.Respice de caelo, et vide* Et visita vineam istam
R.Et perfice eam, quam plantavit dextera tua.
Oremus.
Deus, qui per gloriosissimam Filii tui Matrem ad liberandos Christifideles a potestate paganorum nova Ecclesiam tuam prole amplificare dignatus es: praesta quaesumus; ut, quam pie veneramur tanti operis institutricem, ejus pariter meritis et intercessione a peccatis omnibus, et captivitate daemonis liberemur.

*Prepares to do something stupid.*

I'm ordering some 12-16mm coral and aventurine beads, to make the stereotypical medival rosary. I can't find any bone beads, or even white beads that are plain, round, and 15-20mm. I could also use plain glass or pierced silver, but those are hard to find. So for now, I'll just have to take apart my green agate and glass beaded rosary to use the glass gauds for the new one.

Also, I'm investing in some flexwire, since it's been recommended to me.

First Vespers of Our Lady of Mercy

Ant.1 VIDI captivitatem*populi mei, filiorum meorum et filiarum mearum,quam superduxit illis aeternus
Ant.2 Conteram virgam eius* de dorso tuo, et vincula tua disrumpam.
Ant.3 In funiculis Adam* traham eos,in vinculis caritatis
Ant.4 Ecce hereditas Domini*filii, merces,fructus ventris.
Ant.5 Non fecit* taliter omni nationi: et iudicia sua non manifestavit eis.

Capit. Eccli.24,23-24
Ego quasi vitis fructificavi suavitatem odoris, et flores mei fructus honoris et honestatis. Ego mater pulchrae dilectionis et timoris, et agnitionis, et sancta spei.

Hymnus:

Dei Mater Virgo,
absque casu stella
Pulchra tamquam luna, Utque sol electa.

Nostras audi preces
Tu, quae capivorum,
miserata quaestus
Conteris catenas

O ter fausta dies,
qua afflatu tuolum pro votis
recreasti Petrum!

O nimis profundus
caritatis ardor!
sic a culpa solve
quos a iugo grates

Agit iste grates
ordo, quem benignua
voce demonstrasti
consecrandum tibi

Tuo, diva, Parens,
Gnatos reple zelo,
Ut corde sequamur,
Ore quod vovemus

Ei laus, qui simplex,
Personisque Trinus
Contulit Mariam
Nobis in parentem. Amen.

V.A Domino factus est istud.
R Et est mirabile in oculis nostris.

Ad Magnif.Ant. Laudate*Dominum Deum nostrum, quo non deseruit sprantes in se: et in me ancilla sua adimplevit misericordian, quam promisit domui Israel, alleluia.

Collect:

Deus, qui per gloriosissimam, etc.
sudu

Vigil of Our Lady of Mercy.

Tomorrow, the vigil of the feast of our holy Foundress, the the Blessed Virgin herself, is a day of penance for the whole order.

Office, including Ben.ant of the feria.
Collect:

Adiuva nosomnipotens et misericors Deus:
ut tibi thundis cordibus placeamus,
qui sollemnitatem apparitionis
sanctissimae Virginis et institutricis nostrae
Mariae corporalibus abstinentiis placeamus. Per Dom.

On Hymns.

Another thing I've failed to get is the seething hatred that many 'traditional' liturgists have for hymns. You see it all over sites like NLM, where people are fine to blithely equate The Westminster Hymnal or The English Hymnal with Glory and Praise of RitualSong. They act as if the bad example of Catholic parishes therefore validates an illogical exclusion of poetry and music from the worship of God, as if the idea that because using musically poor,poetically poor, and doctrinally heretical texts at mass is wrong, it's therefor wrong to use texts of high musical quality, doctrinal orthodoxy and breathtaking poeticism.

Obviously that does not follow because the two do not correlate.

The idea that hymns do not belong at mass also finds little support in my mind. For one, it's demonstrably false that their use is a modern invention. It ought to be obvious to any Catholic that high mass before the council generally involved the use of congregational hymns, and that the low mass with hymns was quite popular. It ought to be known that there are references to congregational hymns in vernacular at the procession at the end of mass, and Latin congregational hymns during mass as early as the 18th century.

Nextly, one common argument is that the use of hymns at mass is an abuse, therefore we should not do it. The obvious flaw in this is that law and the rubrics do not necessarily govern what it right or proper, only what is permissible. They ought to recognise that 94% of the Catholic world is stuck with a rite of mass where it is illegal to genuflect during mass. They ought to realise that in the U.S., we're stuck with a Bishops Conference that authorised 'Sing To The Lord' and their other law and liturgical guidelines, where the use of guitars and other instruments is allowes and even encouraged. They ought to realise that we live in a church where the liturgical law allows altar girls and communion in the hand.
Will they continue with the argument that church law governs what is right and proper, or will they realise that even the law can be wrongheaded?

Besides, the use of hymns during mass is well attested to. One need only look at the many processional hymns of the middle and late medieval age, or the many sequences, the use of hymns during rites which happen during mass. (Like the blessing of the Holy Oils, when the hymn 'O Redemptor' is sung, or the veneration of the Cross when the 'Vexilla Regis' is sung, or even the Exultet (Which is, in fact, a hymn) Or the singing of the Veni Creator during masses of profession or ordinations.) All of these attest to the use of hymns in the roman rite, without mentioning the use of hymns during mass in the many other rites of the West.

Leaving off direct counters to arguments, I want to return to the theme of Philistinism that I already mentioned. The mindset that 'Lord Jesus, Think on Me' is of the same quality as 'Shine, Jesus Shine', or that 'Who is She that Ascends So High' or 'Maiden yet a Mother' is on the same level as 'Hail Mary, Gentle Woman', or that 'Hail, Sweet Victim, Life and Light' is the same as 'One Bread, One Body', for the simple reason that all of these are hymns.
No regard of quality of text or music is taken. No distinction between the majestic music of Bach,Terry,or Vaugn-Williams and that of the St.Louis Jesuits is made. In their mind, they are correct to consign the masterpieces of English literature and musical composition to the same level as the dry,vapid, and unpoetic lyrics and insipid saccharine tunes of modern hymns.
They are men and women whose logic would make the works of Van Eyeck to be of the same quality as the broken glass blank canvases of modern art, for the simple reason that both are artists.

And lastly, these are people who without knowing it, defy their own logic. What is the actual difference between a choir singing the Ave Verum Corpus or 'Soul of My Saviour'? What is the difference between them singing Monteverdi's 'Ave Maris Stella' or 'Hail, O Star that Pointest'?
Why can they sing a setting of 'O Esca Viatorum', but may not sing 'O Food of Exiles Lowly'? In all of these cases, the texts are the same, but those who would refuse hymns during the mass would allow the the first of each choice, but disallow the second. Were they to be logically consistent, they would have to disallow the singing of choral motets during mass (For motets are in fact hymns, not just by text but by their use and by definition of what a hymn is.)
Of course, they would have to turn their backs on thousands of years of Catholic tradition and practice, and expressed law allowing and even praising the use of motets, but that is their quandary, not mine.

As for me, I'll just await the beatific vision, hymnal in hand, whilst singing 'Heavenly Sion, mirror Shining' to Regent Square.

More markers.

On Saturday, my brother and I went out on a fruitless search to find a suitable movie to watch. Saturday,of course, would have been my father's 45th birthday had he lived. Instead, we just walked about and spent time together. We had lunch at a burger joint, and then I went to Blick to pick up some stuff. I needed a replacement black marker and white pen and ink.I also picked up two new shades of pink, one new shade of blue, and two new shades of grey. The new greys are light, which is what I needed. It's quite hard to get greys to gradate properly when you're working totally with dark and medium greys. (See how This and This came out for a visual.)
I'll need time to work first. I've been so consumed with my dad, with life in the friary, with school, and my mother and siblings that I've not had any time to do any art. D:

I love that comment.

Tonight at dinner, Fr.Joseph made the comment that he does'nt understand me because I listen to Black Sabbath and I love Latin liturgy.

Of course, I could have mentioned Barry (Short for 'Barraketh, which was his full name). You guys from Gaia know Barry, right? The trollish sort of Guy from ED/M&R

My life has been fulfilled.

That's it, right there.

That is it.

I have spent my life since fourth grade trying to find it, and today, rather, tonight, I finally found it.

"It", is 'The MushroomCenter Disaster.' It is the first book I ever read to myself, having gotten it from the school library when I was only in second grade. I loved it, but was'nt able to finish it before I had to return it. Not too long later, in fourth grade, I wanted to read it again, but could not remember the title. Since, then, I have been on a vain search to find out what they book was called so that I could finish it. years of library searches were fruitless, inquiries with former teachers gave no results, and a visit to the school in sixth grade only showed me that some evil donor had donated a whole new,renovated library. My book was gone, along with all the others I read back then, because rather than rating on content, they chose to get rid of books based on when they were published or when they came to the school, That book, having been published in 1974, and come to the school in 82' was deemed out of date and given away.

But there, I had another clue: Not only did I know the plot, but I now knew it's publishing date. Still,Google searches only gave me results of cookbooks and recipes using mushrooms that were produced in the 70's.

But today, absolutly needing to know the book for an important English assignment (10% of my total grade) I did a new search: I simply typed in "Children's book, guest mushroom". In the story, the main character, a traveling beetle, wants to stay in the town, but there are not hotels or houses available. He finally finds a boarding house that allows him to stay "in the guest mushroom". I distinctly remembered that one line from the book, that one exact quote. And my search proved successful.
This was my result, a journal for elementary English teachers. I poked around further, trying to Google the phrase "Only the guest mushroom was available", but with no luck. Then It dawned on me to do a search on the volume: I simply searched "Guest mushroom", and my result was This.

At the top, you see it: The title of my long-lost book.

I googles the title, and lo and behold, there is the cover that I knew! The little mushroom houses, he tall grass, the dull sky, there was my book! And further, you can see that the book is available online, so I can read the end.

But actually, I think I won't do so. I don't want to spoil it. I think I'll just read up to the part I let off, because who knows, the end might suck, and I'll be disappointed. We can't have that. I've already lost the innocence and beauty of Shel Silverstein, I don't want to loose this as well.

And yes, I expect everyone who reads this to think that I'm immature or have some sort of mental problem. Well, if you haven't figured that out about me until now, there's no hope for you! (Seriously, remember Shoopie?That video from a while ago? Yeah, that.)

And speaking of the Odyssey,

My oldest nephew: His name is derived from Telemachus' name. Apparently, my sister really like him when she read the book in college, and the name came back to her when he was born.

CANS.

I have a new pair.

Of course, by 'Cans', I mean Cans. I lost my best pair to stupidity (Let my older brother use them, he threw them around/generally did'nt take good care of them) and one side is missin the pads. It still works just fine, nothing wrong with the sound, but without the pads, they're uncomfortable. The last pair I bought, which were from the same company but a different model don't sound quite the same. The bass can get fuzzy, though they have been improving and getting better with time.

While I was out, my brother bought me a new pair of headphones as a consolation for breaking my best pair. I hinted at the Sony ones I've been hankering for, but they were not in stock, so I got a similar pair. They're the same style: Open supra-aurual,dynamic, but with a lower frequency. They're still okay, but they do suffer from the same occasional fuzziness. The plus is that they're much more comfortable than my circumaural ones.[/audiophile]

Ritual Notes.

For the 25th Sunday of the Year. Choir season has begun, so I'll have to get started on these (Though I'm sure that 0.000001 percent of people who come across this place have any remote interest in them)

Anyway, either it was providential or planned, but all but one of the hymns sung at mass today were either written by Anglicans, former Anglicans, or were sung to tunes written by men who composed for the Church of England. (Eg.,Parry) Those hymns were Lord, You Send the Great Comission (to 'Rustington'), Draw Nigh, and Take the Body of The Lord (to Coena Domini) and the National Anthem, Holy God, we Praise thy Name (To 'Grosser Gott', with the repeats, naturally.)
There was something else, but I forget what it was. Everything else was standard ordinary time music (Orbis Factor, credo II, etc.) But it was nice to see a the gospel and the final blessing that the second chant given for the versicles was used. I like those a lot better than the common tones, but we almost never use them. Also, our community superior, Fr.Matthew celebrated the mass today. It's the third week in a row that he's celebrated the 10:30 Latin mass. <3

ENGLISH.

I'm currently Cliff Noting Reading The Odyssey for English composition. I vaguely remember reading it before, but just for fun, not for school. I only got about halfway through before boredom took over and I left off reading it. There's some sort of journal on it due on Tuesday, but I have another book of it to read before I get working on it.

*Shameless self promotion*

THIS.

Is a video of the (onerously long) procession into the Cathedral for Cardinal Rigali's 25th anniversary of his ordination to the episcopacy.

Since Cassock Day has'nt happened yet, and won't happen for a long while,all the new men (The guys at the front of the procession) are still in black suit. The cassock'd and surplice'd guys get cut off after a short while, so the awesomeness of the great and large group of people there gets slightly dampered. Oh Well.

The music you hear playing at the beginning is the Cathedral's awesome and shockingly qualified new organist and choir master. (Playing on the cathedral's 80-something rank Austin.) Really, he's probably the only guy I know who I'll put on the lever of Latry and Couchereau becuase of the amazing improvisations he did during mass, including a rather nice toccata at the end. The choirs were also beautiful, including a wonderful chamber choir that sang a motet after the ablutions. (Which I'll get to later) I'm waiting to hear the Cathedral choir, but with his credentials, (Besides multiple degrees and having trained at the best choir school in the U.S., he worked at the National Shrine in D.C. , and we all know how famous their fine organ and professionally trained choirs are.) I'll be shocked if they're not knock-your-socks off good once again!

THE CHOIR.

Today, I did something a bit crazy, something I've wanted to do for a long while:

I joined the choir at Lourdes.

And it was great fun.
Without trying to spoil things, we practiced some pieces for the Philadelphia Red Mass, and some other things just for Lourdes that will be used eventually. In all, we went through: Bruckner's Locus Iste, The gloria form Haydn's Missa Brevis of S.John of God, and Pitoni's Cantate Domino. The latter I had trouble with, since I've heard it a grand total of Once, and although, thanks to years of practicing Gregorian Chant, I can sight-read quite well, the music and the text are quite hard to match up if it's taken at the right pace.

But oh well, it was good. And apparently, people think I have a nice voice. I can't see it. I always think my voice is a little too much in the throat, and not in the head enough. When I was at home, I went through scales and lines in hymns, and some choral pieces as a way to try to practice it out of that sound. It helped quite a bit, but not to my liking. Eventually, you guys (At least the ones near here) are going to be forced to tolerate, at least for the next choral season.