There is no problem that cannot be solved by the Rosary

One of the most beautiful spiritual books I have ever come across is this one IN SINU JESU. The book is written by an anonymous Benedictine monk.

From the description of the book:

"In 2007, Our Lord and Our Lady began to speak to the heart of a monk in the silence of adoration. He was prompted to write down what he received, and thus was born In Sinu Jesu, whose pages shine with an intense luminosity and heart-warming fervor that speak directly to the inner and outer needs of our time with a unique power to console and challenge."

Here is the entry from Tuesday, December 2, 2014 on the Rosary. This is a private revelation where Jesus is speaking to the monk:

"There is no problem or difficulty that cannot be solved or resolved by faithful persevering recourse to My Mother's most holy Rosary. The Rosary is My Mother's gift to the poor and to the simple, to the little ones who alone are capable of hearing the Gospel in all its purity and of responding to it with a generous heart. It is to such as these - the childlike and the weak, the poor and the trusting - that the Rosary is given. It is to such as these that the Rosary belongs.

There are no sufferings that cannot be borne peacefully, so long as a soul is praying the Rosary. Through the Rosary, all the grace and power of My mysteries passes through My Mother's Immaculate Heart into the hearts of the little ones who invoke her, repeating the angel's "Ave" over and over again. There are illnesses that can be cured through the Rosary. There are clouds of darkness and confusion that only the Rosary can disperse, and this because it is My Mother's favourite prayer, a prayer that originated in the heights of heaven and was carried to earth by My Archangel, a prayer echoed and amplified in the Church through the ages, a prayer loved by all My saints, a prayer of disarming power and of immense depth.

There are those who find the Rosary difficult. The difficulty lies not in the Rosary but in the complexity of those who struggle to enter into its simplicity. Invite souls to the prayer of the Rosary; through it I will heal the sick of mind and body, through it I will give peace where there is conflict, through it I will make great saints out of great sinners, through it I will sanctify My priests, give joy to My consecrated ones, and raise up new vocations in abundance.

Listen, then, to My Mother's plea in so many places. Listen to her, take her plea to heart, pray her Rosary and, for you, as for her, My Father will do wondrous things."

This is the hopeful message Canada and the world needs right now. We need to say so many Rosaries.

The confusion that is the Catholic Church

"I want to spend Eternity in Heaven" Fr. Mark Goring

I can't help but wonder why I never hear anything about the disaster that is the Catholic Church right now--from our Canadian Catholic clergy. The only Canadian clergy I have heard speak up, is Fr. Mark Goring. And now Fr. Mark is in the penalty box.

(Patrick Coffin speaks to Fr. Mark Goring. Thanks Patrick Coffin and Fr. Mark Goring.)

I spoke recently to a very faithful and holy Catholic priest about this silence. He felt that there is actually little knowledge/awareness from rank and file Catholics about what is happening now in the Church. Which absolutely stunned me. How could that be?

And then I remembered what someone told me recently about Justin Trudeau and one of his supporters, many of whom are Catholic. An elderly woman made an announcement to a group of people she was with at a Catholic meeting. She told them that Justin Trudeau was humbled after the election. And that he was going to start listening to people.

She was serious. It made me want to cry.

I went looking for where this poor woman might have reached this crazy conclusion and found this editorial in the Catholic Register.

"It was a humbled Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who indulged the media after his Liberal Party was returned grudgingly to Ottawa with a minority government. 

The virtue of humility, as Pope Francis reminds us, is the bedrock of character. It should be widely abundant across society yet often is dismally lacking, particularly among political leaders and especially at election time.  So if one outcome of the Oct. 21 vote is less arrogance in Ottawa, then strike up a small victory for Canadians. 

Trudeau acknowledged that voters “gave me a lot to think about” and that he heard their message “to work together, to listen to each other, to figure out a way to move forward that isn’t as divisive.” He promised to “reflect” on all of this. Then he made this promise: 

“It’s extremely important that the government works for all Canadians, as I have endeavoured to do over the past years and as I will do even more now, deliberately,” he pledged."

(I've come to realize after reading the Catholic Register for two years--with very few exceptions--that it is an extremely liberal paper. I don't read it anymore,)

Every faithful Catholic who follows politics in Canada (even a tiny speck) knows that Justin Trudeau is not humbled. He does not work for all Canadians. He excludes Catholics and pro-life people from his so-called inclusiveness, including getting funds from the tax payer funded Canadian Summer Jobs Program, and barring pro-life people from being an MP in the Liberal party. Will Trudeau change those discriminatory policies? I don't think so.

And he sucks in little old Catholic women like he did above.

We do have faithful Catholic commentators like Taylor Marshall, Patrick Coffin, John-Henry Weston and Michael Voris. Some people may not like their style but they speak the truth. And since our clergy doesn't speak up we have no choice but to listen to these Catholic commentators.

There are also many American Bishops who speak up, like Cardinal Burke, Athanasius Schneider, and Bishop Strickland to name but a few. But I haven't heard Canadian bishops speak up on this Catholic dumpster fire. And that makes me very sad.

(Note: Patrick has a great suggestion with what to do with Justin Trudeau--send him to Germany--you'll have to listen to his podcast above to know why.)

Saint Michael the Archangel

There's never been a better time to say the St. Michael prayer every day. 

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil; May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the divine power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Day 2 in Europe: Basel Switzerland

This is the view from our breakfast table. A tugboat pushing a barge down the Rhine river.

This church below is the Elisabethenkirche Basel. Wikipedia says it was built in 1857 but from the plaque below I see the year 1516, which was the beginning of the Reformation (1517-1648). Maybe it was built that year, I don't know. Looks like in 1824 to 1893 it was Reform Evangelical?

If anyone can translate that plaque let me know. There isn't much on the Internet in English on this church. I didn't go inside it. I will see tomorrow if I can.

UPDATE: Translation for this plaque:

"Built 1857-65 after the plans of Ferdinand Stadler (1813-70) under the management of Christoph Riggenbach (1810-63) and C.J. Wartner (1817-91). 

Donated from Christoph Merian (1800-58) as "bulwark against the evil spirit of the time" 

in place of a chapel built in 1516. Most important neo-Gothic church of Switzerland with completely preserved interior decoration. 

Glass windows from Heinrich Burkhard (1824-93). Evangelical-reformed church."

Lots of trams in Basel. They are everywhere.

Today I found another Catholic Church, St. Clara's. It is about 500 metres from our hotel. Adoration was happening when I visited and it was wonderful to be able to be there at that time to pray for everyone.

At the end of Adoration, one of the congregants put the Holy Eucharist back in the Tablernacle. I had never witnessed this before, it is always the priest that does this in Canada.

After the lady did this, we sang the Tantum Ergo (a beautiful rendition here), and there were more prayers and I'm not sure which language they were. She probably said them in Swiss or German. I think it was the Angelus since it was 12 noon. Here is the Angelus in Latin sung beautifully by the Daughters of Mary.

More interesting art. I didn't see any stations of the Cross in this church, just like there weren't any in the church we went to on Sunday.

From the information on this plaque looks like this church has lost most of its probable splendour from when it was built as there have been at least two renovations done since.

Here is an interesting story of the Church and the nuns there. Not sure if I should believe it or not. Perhaps some truth and some fiction?

At least it had a crucifix, actually it had two of them. And a few statues. I didn't take a picture of the outside of the church as there were some pop up markets in front of it, so hard to get a decent picture.

These pictures were taken of the Rhine River as I crossed it on the bridge between our hotel and where the church was.

And as a bonus feature, and to check if you read to the bottom of this blog entry, I had a very interesting dream last night that I will share with you. I dreamt that Pope Francis died, and the Church appointed me as Pope. I am not kidding. In the dream I thought that this was strange indeed. Since I am neither a man, nor a priest, nor any kind of clergy at all. So there you have it. Dreams from Basel. Make of it what you will.

Day 1 in Europe: Basel Switzerland

Johanna and I are in Basel Switzerland for four days. We leave for London Thursday. We arrived here yesterday pretty tired from our overnight flight from Toronto to Zurich. We took a train to Basel and walked to our hotel from the train station.

Johanna is here for work and I am on my own during the day. Lucky me.

Not a lot of sleep on the plane for either of us but I was able to sleep better than Jo. I even managed to fall asleep on the train, head bobbing as a sleeping head does. We both napped in the hotel.

After eating at Migro's (grocery/take out place) we took the tram to 5:30 Mass at one of the few English Catholic Churches in Basel, Bruder Klaus Kirche, Bruderholzallee.

Very stark church. You can see the cross below. Not sure exactly what it depicts.

I also searched for the Tabernacle in the Sacristy but couldn't find it. I finally spotted it on the alter at the very right of the altar, during the Consecration. Johanna thought it looked like a recycle container. The Holy Eucharist was kept in a red vessel that reminded me of a casserole dish (I didn't take a picture of it). You can barely see it on the right hand side of the altar.

Then we took the tram back, and we walked around and discovered the Christmas Market. Very pretty.

We are staying at the Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois. They have figurines of the three wise men on the stair landing. That surprised me--something religious in the hotel. Then Jo remarked that it was the name of the hotel. Duh.

A hint of Christmas.

This is quite the fancy hotel. Breakfast was included. Oh my goodness. We ate like three kings. Fresh fruit, poached eggs, sausage, croissants, cappuccino, homemade jam and some to die for cheese. We were offered a glass of champagne after breakfast. We declined.

I walked Johanna to work and returned to the hotel. Some prayer time in the library. Then back out for another long walk through the market again. Wasn't as busy as last night. Beautiful stuff but expensive. I did buy some marzipan/nougat for 8 Swiss Francs. 

I discovered Google maps as a walking tool. How did I ever live without it? For people who are directionally challenged, in places that don't post street names, what an amazing thing this is. I need never get lost again.

I found this place, a former church (there are more than a few former churches in Basel)

"The Leonhardskirche is part of Basel's best remaining Medieval history. Its crypt dates back to the 11th century, but the cloistered church was built in the 14th & 15th centuries, so it is Late Gothic. Full of soaring, perfectly crafted arches, windows, nooks and crannies, this is one magnificent old church to explore."

I intended to write this blog entry in the library. But it was being set up for a function of some kind. So instead I went to the lounge. I was going to ask for a cut of tea. Until I found out it would be 14 Swiss Francs. That's about $20 Canadian. I decided against the tea. 

Lies from the father of lies

For anyone who thinks Pope Pius XII and the Catholic Church did nothing about Hitler read this:
The Pope, Christmas, and the “Fake News” about Hitler

The author ends with this:

"So why does the myth persist of the “silence” of the Church? For the same reason that other anti-Catholic myths have found a place in our culture. In this case, it’s more than just “fake news,” because when the Church’s heroic efforts at rescue are ignored or even transformed into their very opposite, it’s out-and-out lying prompted by the Father of Lies."

Return to Ireland - finding our roots - eventually?

Yesterday we went to Corofin to the Clare Heritage & Genealogy Centre. My distant cousin Michael Maloney had hired them four years ago to find the three Maloney brothers (John, Michael and Patrick) who came from Ireland before or during the potato famine. Our file was actually begun 25 years ago by Eileen Maloney, another relative (daughter of Bill and Clara Maloney who complied our existing family tree). We didn't have any luck, as the woman Michael was dealing with was on holiday. They are supposed to get back to me with results, hopefully before we return to Canada next week.

We had a lovely bus ride into Corofin with a lovely bus driver who chatted with us all the way there.

There isn't much in Corofin and we did manage to check out the entire village. As luck would have it Mass was being said about ten minutes after we arrived (the church was easy to find like it is in all the villages here). Like all the priests who have said Mass in Ireland, this one was very expressive as he said the Mass. As if he really meant all the words he was saying. Before Mass he prayed for all expectant mothers and their unborn children (it was the Feast of the Presentation of Mary).

Downtown Corofin

Testament to the potato famine in the restaurant where we had lunch.

No potato famine now as you can see from Fred's lunch. Clearly the Irish are making up for lost time as far as potatoes are concerned. Just in case.

Where we had lunch.

Many villages have grottos. You see them everywhere.

Scary selfie.

Vegetation seems to grow wherever there is stone.

St. Josephat - uniting the Orthodox with the Catholic faith

Yesterday was the Feast day of St. Josephat. This is Fr. Dennis's beautiful homily on this martyr, and about this saint's wish to unite the Orthodox with Catholics.

 

Fr. Dennis also talks about uniting people within the Church itself. How this has something to do with humility. How we are always waiting for the other person to change. Maybe we need to change and take the first step ourselves. About showing charity, understanding and patience to the other.

 

Fr. Dennis says that we might want to pray for the grace to take this first step. To bring about reconciliation, unity and healing in the Body of Christ.

 

Advice to the Cardinals and to Catholics: the quickest way to irrelevance

George Jonas gives some advice to the Cardinals in the Vatican as they set out to choose the next Pope and head of the Cahtolic Church.

Jonas tells us he is neither a Catholic nor religious. Nevertheless, I think his advice may be divinely inspired.

"Dear cardinals, the next Pope must be willing and able to restrain predatory priests. He must be willing and able to clean house. But there’s a difference between fumigating the church and blowing it up. Fashionable as blowing things up has become, you’re not in the fashion business. You’re in the faith business. Restoring the church and hijacking it aren’t the same thing. Appearances and vocal demands to the contrary, you don’t have to be up-to-date.

I say this knowing that hardly a week goes by without a person accusing the church of being insufficiently up-to-date, or of unfairly restricting some human desire or ambition. Complaints may range from sexual matters to points of ritual. Some people may demand that the church approve of divorce, or maybe of contraception or abortion, or the ordination of women and homosexuals, or whatever else would bring the church’s doctrines more in tune with the complainers’ own philosophies.

All such complaints boil down to one thing. It is that the moral teachings, or sometimes the mysteries, of a given religion restrict some of the complainers’ worldly ambitions. The usual code-word expressing this complaint is “relevance.” The complainers worry that the church is becoming “irrelevant” to their lives. Only if the church agreed with their views on contraception or whatever would it become “relevant” again...

Jonas then gives us an example of this "irrelevance" by way of Tolstoy's character Helene Bezuhov from the book War and Peace, whose:
"standard is held up by men and women who, having acquired the liberty to do as they please, now demand religion to also applaud their moral choices. They want their churches, their priests, even the very Vicar of God, to approve and endorse what they do, or else they threaten him with irrelevance. God Himself becomes irrelevant unless he can be used to rubber stamp human desires – because, as Tolstoy points out, that’s what God is for, at least as far as Helene Bezuhov is concerned. That’s how it was in 1812 and that’s how it is in 2013.

Helene would be reassured to know that her heritage lives on. Her standard is held up by men and women who, having acquired the liberty to do as they please, now demand religion to also applaud their moral choices. They want their churches, their priests, even the very Vicar of God, to approve and endorse what they do, or else they threaten him with irrelevance. God Himself becomes irrelevant unless he can be used to rubber stamp human desires – because, as Tolstoy points out, that’s what God is for, at least as far as Helene Bezuhov is concerned. That’s how it was in 1812 and that’s how it is in 2013.

I’ve little doubt that the Countess Bezuhov’s spirit will attend the conclave in Rome, right along with the Holy Spirit. Both will be available to the cardinals, and we can only hope they’ll listen to the right one.

As I mentioned before, I’m not religious. If I were, however, I think I’d have something more important to worry about than God’s relevance to me. I’d worry about my relevance to God. And in the unlikely event that the cardinals asked me, I’d say that worrying about what’s relevant instead of what’s right is the quickest way to irrelevance."

Amen to that.

The Catholic Church and hope

The Catholic Church I know and love became my rock in a time of personal struggle and crisis. I felt deep sadness when I read Janice Kennedy's view of the Church which she has grown so disillusioned with. It sincerely made me feel very bad for her and I would like to give her hope that it needn't be that way.

After my own absence from the Crunch for thirty five years I returned to it in my quest for healing and found a new conversion along the way. After myriad psychological and new age "help", and whatever else I could get my hands on, in order to relieve my suffering, it was the Church in the end that saved me.

I began anew a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and did this through his Church, and by his Church, the same Church that Jesus began over 2000 years ago. For the first time in my life I felt God reaching out to me and enveloping me with his Love and his Grace.

I renewed myself in the Sacraments of his Church with regular confession and the Holy Eucharist and began to attend Mass daily whenever I could. I listened to homilies by humble, funny and wise priests who filled my soul with the knowledge and faith that I am loved by my God, regardless of my sins.

I found a gentle and kind spiritual director who guides me on my spiritual path, a man of the cloth who has soothed my soul and given me hope that we truly are children of God.

The Church is not perfect. That is because man is not perfect. The Church is divinely inspired but there are men within her ranks that may be arrogant or evil or do bad things. This is the nature of humanity. It should come as no surprise that there are people within her sphere like this.

But I also believe we should not throw the baby out with the bath water. I believe we should embrace the good that we see within the Church and do our best to weed out the bad. We must pray that the God who takes care of us all, help us along this path to find healing from within.

I love the Church and I love what she has done for me in my life. I hope Janice Kennedy can rediscover it as well.