Per Christum

Back in the day, or so I’m told, every Catholic kitchen had a Kitchen Madonna statue. If it didn’t have a statue, you were sure to find a kitchen prayer posted somewhere with in it’s walls. I often search E-Bay for vintage Catholic items. Of the ones I’ve seen, my favorite piece happens to be this reproduction faux-wooden Madonna. Unfortunately, my kitchen has little counter space as it stands, so instead I have a little kitchen prayer with a Madonna picture on it. I don’t have the means to show you the picture, but it is similar to the pewter statue below. I received this as a gift from a friend years ago, and keep it above the sink. I find doing the dishes the most tedious of household tasks, well next to cleaning the bathtub. (Whose idea was it to make sliding tub doors, anyways?) Having the prayer there helps me to focus on the bigger purpose to being a homemaker. Since I like it so much, I thought I would share it with you:
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10 Who can find a good wife?
She is far more precious than jewels.
11 The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
12 She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.
13 She seeks wool and flax,
and works with willing hands.
14 She is like the ships of the merchant,
she brings her food from afar.
15 She rises while it is yet night
and provides food for her household
and tasks for her maidens.
16 She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
17 She girds her loins with strength
and makes her arms strong.
18 She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
Her lamp does not go out at night.
19 She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her hands hold the spindle.
20 She opens her hand to the poor,
and reaches out her hands to the needy.

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One of my great interests/hobbies is to visit Catholic churches. One of the reasons why I like visiting churches is because I like church architecture and sacred art. Admittedly, I don’t like all architectural styles. In general, I prefer traditional church architecture over modern architecture.

Another thing I like to do is to travel. Unfortunately, I’m not able to travel much so I have to be content with looking at pictures of churches from around the world.

Anyway, for those interested, I have compiled this list of five metropolitan cathedrals which correspond to the top five nations in terms of the number of Catholics in that country. When I say “metropolitan cathedral”, I’m referring to the chief church of a nation. Read the rest of this entry »

Hello everybody!

I would like to share two videos of Our Lady of Guadalupe I found on YouTube.

The first video is in Nahuatl and Spanish. The second video is an antique Mexican indigenous-colonial composition and it is interpreted by Linda Rostadt. The second video is also in Spanish and in some native american language that I don’t recognize. In any case, both videos are beautiful and I hope you will like them as much as I did!

The 1st. part of the song in Nahuatl:

Nican Mopohua, motecpana, in quenin yancuican hueytlamahuizoltica monexiti in cenquizca ichpochtli Sancta María Dios Inantzin Tocihuapillatocatzin, in oncan Tepeyacac, motenehua Guadalupe.

Translation:

Here it is told, and set down in order, how a short time ago the Perfect Virgin Holy Mary Mother of God, our Queen, miraculously appeared out at Tepeyac, widely known as Guadalupe.

Santa Maria de Guadalupe — Saint Mary of Guadalupe

This is the Byzantine icon for the Feast of the Conception of the Saint Anne. Popular as a gift for newlyweds, it commemorates the Virgin Mother’s conception. Note the furniture in the background.

Some Catholic theologians have also found Scriptural evidence for the Immaculate Conception in the angel Gabriel’s greeting to Mary at the Annunciation, (Luke 1:28). The English translation, “Hail, Full of Grace,” or “Hail, Favored One,” is based on the Greek of Luke 1:28, “Χαίρε, Κεχαριτωμένη”, Chaire kecharitomene, a phrase which can most literally be translated: “Rejoice, you who have been graced”. The latter word, kecharitomene, is the Passive voice, Present Perfect participle of the verb “to grace” in the feminine gender, vocative case; therefore the Greek syntax indicates that the action of the verb has been fully completed in the past, with results continuing into the future. Put another way, it means that the subject (Mary) was graced fully and completely at some time in the past, and continued in that fully graced state. The angel’s
salutation does not refer to the Incarnation of Christ in Mary’s womb, as he proceeds to say: “thou shalt conceive in thy
womb…” (Luke 1:31).

Dr. Alexander Roman writes well about this in the following article.

But for thos inclined to spend a few minutes, I commend to you the exceptional work of fellow Greek Catholic Joseph Daniel Barton A Byzantine Defense of the Immaculate Conception

Worth listening to, you Latins (hehe): On the Miraculous Medal

Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, celebrating Mary’s conception free of the stain of original sin. The Immaculate Conception is unique to Catholicism. This makes it one of the most difficult Catholic doctrines for Protestants exploring the Catholic faith to accept, and a target for anti-Catholic polemics. Since the Orthodox do not have a theology of Mary’s immaculate conception, this is a point of division with them as well. Of course, the Orthodox do believe Mary was immaculate by the time she gave birth to Jesus (just look at the titles of Mary listed in the Akathist Hymn, and tell me the Orthodox agree with the Protestants on this issue!). I admit that the Immaculate Conception was, with papal infallibility, one of the last Catholic dogmas I accepted before entering the Church.

Mark Shea has written an excellent piece on the Immaculate Conception that I highly recommend (thanks to Dave Hartline for linking to it). He quotes from a variety of Church Fathers who praise Mary as immaculate, and answers common objections to the dogma. However, I think this is the best quote of the whole piece:

The second red herring is that there’s some sort of cutoff date for the development of doctrine. In other words, some people have the vague idea that the Church can legitimately take three centuries to iron out what “Jesus is Lord” means, but it can’t legitimately take eighteen centuries to iron out what “Kaire, Kecharitomene!” (”Hail, Grace-Filled One!”) means.

As a former Anglican, I can attest to the widespread belief in some sort of magical cut-off date for legitimate doctrinal development, which of course includes Nicaea and Chalcedon, but excludes the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, and transubstantiation. Granted, the first three were declared dogmas after the Church of England had broken off from the Catholic Church, but nonetheless I think Shea’s point remains. For some, the elusive cutoff date is the fourth ecumenical council (e.g. most Protestants and Calvinist Anglicans), and for others it is the seventh. Others end with the Patristic period (and what constitutes the end of this period is debatable). Others like the Middle Ages, just not too far into the Middle Ages. Still others gladly accept modern Protestant developments (women’s ordination, etc), but balk at Catholic developments after the Patristic era. Of course people and churches are free to believe what they want, but my point (based on Shea’s) is that if you allow contraception, gay marriage, and women’s ordination, but get on the Immaculate Conception because it is too “new,” I think a reexamination is in order. The Immaculate Conception develops from Biblical and Patristic themes and ideas about Mary, whereas the others are innovations having their root not in Catholic or Orthodox thought, but the ideas and practices of heretical sects of the Patristic era and 19th and 20th century Protestantism.

I wish everyone a blessed Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. And if our Eastern Catholic contributors have the time, I would love to hear their take on this, hint, hint.

“O Mother of God, our Patroness, continue to protect our small family, our congregation with your Holy Omophorion and under Your holy protection we shall not perish, even if all hell is against us. Amen”

A few days late… Bl. Josaphata was the foundress of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate. Unlike the majority of Byzantine Catholics from Ukraine, hers was not the death of a martyr. She passed on On April 7, 1919 at the age of 49, from tuberculosis of the bone.

More on the Miraculous Medal here.

Free Miraculous Medal

Marian devotion and spirituality has many facets, many expressions, and many traditions. The “Ten Evangelical Virtues” is one of them. This devotion comes in the form of a chaplet, and belongs to the Marians of the Immaculate Conception (http://www.padrimariani.org/). These ten evangelical virtues are not only object of prayer. More important, they present us with a program of virtuous life, which is that of Mary as she appears to us in the Bible.

The “Ten Evangelical Virtues” are as follows:

Most Pure (Mt 1:18, 20, 23; Lk 1:24,34)
Most Prudent (Lk 2:19; 51)
Most Humble (Lk 1 :48)
Most Faithful ( Lk 1:45; Jn 2:5)
Most Devout (Lk 1:46-47; Acts 1:14)
Most Obedient (Lk 1:38; 2:21-22; 27)
Most Poor (Lk 2:7)
Most Patient (Jn 19:25)
Most Merciful (Lk 1:39, 56)
Most Sorrowful (Lk 2:35)

On the ceiling of the 18th century Marian Church of Gozlin, Poland, there is a ten-pointed star symbolizing Mary’s evangelical virtues dear to the Marians. Mary’s virtues are like the rays of a star enlightening our path and inspiring our behavior. The Marians made the “Ten Evangelical Virtues” their Rule of Life (1699). However, the origin of this spiritual tradition antedates the foundation of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception. It goes back to the foundation of another order, the sisters of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (1501).

This religious order was co-founded by Jeanne of Valois ( canonized 1950) and the Franciscan Blessed Gilbert Nicolas (1463-1532). He wrote the sisters’ rule and based it on the ten Marian virtues, while Jeanne of Valois (1464-1505) is considered the author of the chaplet. The chaplet was to be a constant reminder of the rule of life and its Marian foundation. It later became the Marians’ everyday prayer up until the reform of the order in 1910.

The chaplet is recited like the rosary. After each Hail Mary / “Holy Mary … Mother of God,” one virtue is offered in prayer following the order in which they are listed above (Most Pure to Most Sorrowful). The Ave is then concluded with “pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”

http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/questions/yq2/yq347.htm