Oremus Pro Pontifice

Dear God in Heaven... I am just saddened by the evil that seems to be so prevalent in these days. Anyone who thinks that evil does not exist and that Satan is not working over-time in our modern world is living under a rock!

We have non-Christian extremists wantoning killing Christians across the globe with the "civilized, enlightened West" standing by idlely watching it all happen without the slighted outrage or even quiet recognition!

We have an evil cabal of possessed politicians whose level of deceit and dishonestly makes the Father of Lies very proud indeed as they continue to attack people of faith, chipping away at our religious rights and attempting to muzzle Holy Mother Church with threats or lawsuits and taxation! Meanwhile it is a divide and conquer strategy in evil league with the so-called "Catholic" dissidents who are more interested in their Beltway party invitations than protecting the most helpless of God's creatures both in the womb and on life support! Their thirst for political power and lack of concern for the innocents must be making their historical predecessors of Cardinal Woosley and King Herald very proud!

Lastly, the vicious, non-stop attacks on the Holy Father are just unbelievable. Satan is pulling out all the stops with his demon possessed minions in the media to pull down this Shepherd. Dear God, please protect and comfort our Holy Father during these dreadful times. I cannot imagine the weight of the cross that he is carrying. Please all you faithful Readers, pray for our Holy Father... and for Holy Mother Church! As a student of history, this much vitriol and danger for the Church as not been seen since the early Roman persecutions and the French revolution!

With all this evil, we need prayers and Masses... so pray for the Holy Father, and assist in person or via EWTN in the Pontifical Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine in Washington, DC. on Saturday, April 24th which is being offered for our Holy Father.

V. Let us pray for our Pontiff, Pope Benedict.

R. May the Lord preserve him, and give him life, and bless him upon earth, and deliver him not to the will of his enemies.

Our Father. Hail Mary.

Let us pray.

O God, Shepherd and Ruler of all Thy faithful people, look mercifully upon Thy servant Benedict, whom Thou hast chosen as shepherd to preside over Thy Church. Grant him, we beseech Thee, that by his word and example, he may edify those over whom he hath charge, so that together with the flock committed to him, may he attain everlasting life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Fact: Resurrexit sicut dixit!

A blessed Easter to all of you dear readers and your families!
Christos Anesti!! Alithos Anesti!! (Christ is Risen! Truely He is Risen!)

Fact: The Emotion of Calvary

Dear Readers,

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was blessed with the opportunity to achieve one of my life's goals to go on Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The trip was more that I could ever have imagined. It has been, by the Grace of God, truly life changing for me.
As we commenorate on this Good Friday the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ, I would like to briefly share how overwhelming the emotion of standing on summit of Calvary where God Omnipotent himself redeemed the world.

In the Church of the Holy Sepulcure, once must clime a number of steps (perhaps 15 or so) to get to the "summit" of Calvary. Once there, you are in queue, but standing in chapels for the final stations of the Via Curcis.
At top of the stairs, Jesus is Stripped of His Clothes... moving on, this haunting mosaic of Christ is Nailed to the Cross.
Staring at this mosaic, and imagining the pain as the nails were driven into Our Lord's wrists and feet... because of MY SINS... begin to have it impact as my tears began to well up in my eyes. (Even as I type this post, the emotion returns)

Moving on, one passes under an archway with a mosaic stating "Stabat Mater Dolorosa, juxta crucem" ( the Sorrowfully Mother stood next to the Cross) where the most moving statue of the Blessed Mother I have ever seen stood near the Cross of Calvary. As an Italian, I have seem many statues of the Madonna.. exquisitely and artfully done... but nothing prepared me for this:
I am sure the this photo does not convey to you dear readers the actual power of this statue, but I can tell you , it is the most "living" statue I had ever seen, and the quiet pain in the face of Our Blessed Mother finally drove me over the edge, and the my tears freely flowed.
By now my emotions were inflamed... the next few minutes were quite a blur... but it included kneeling under the altar set on Calvary, and placing my hand into the hole in which the Cross of Our Redeemer stood... knowing that His Most Precious Blood ran down this Cross to pool on the very ground I was touching... that Blood, shed for me and my sins!

The emotion of that moment, while trying with this words, is really indescribable... but it was so powerful a moment, that I immediately left Calvary and returned to the tomb, the empty tomb! to remind myself that Christ is now longer dead, he is alive and risen as he said!


Stabat Mater dolorosa, juxta crumen lacrimosa