Prayer Card: Little Nellie of Holy God

I came across the charming little card by chance.

I believe it dates from the 1950s - or earlier.

When I saw it my heart leaped as Eleanor (a derivation of Ellen) is a traditional name in our family (through the in-laws) and some years back at a family wedding I met a very old lady that everyone referred to as "Nellie" from my wife's maternal family (who I know have their roots in Redcar and are Catholic).

With a quote from St Pius X on the back promoting 'Little Nellie' as a means to advocate frequent Communion, what could be a better commendation? St Pius X was the greatest Pope of the 20th century and through his Syllabus confronted the kind of burrowing, secretive and insidious errors that would later flourish especially in the 1970s.

And with her connections to Cork, the homeland of my own grandfather, there seems to be so many reasons for me to start a devotion to this bravest and most devout of souls in preparation and thanksgiving for Mass.

When the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Eucharist is under attack from so many quarters, it would do us all well to recall the simple devotion of the suffering child Little Nellie of Holy God.


Link:
Little Nellie of Holy God

Prayer Card #1: Going to Mass

First off apologies for not posting regularly. Nothing exciting - just the whole family life, work commitments etc. left me with little spare time.

Now this post if part of what I hope will be an ongoing series.

I have collected many prayer cards over the years (better than football stickers!) including old ones I have found in books I've bought, or bundles of them in charity shops - and so on.

Of course I have my favourites that I use (when I don't forget them) at Mass, but just the other day I took out the leather folder I keep the prayer cards in. It's good to have a switch around every now and then.

Some of them are so beautiful and moving, I thought "why not put some online, perhaps as they are, maybe with a bit of blurb, but all so that my fellow "men of goodwill" can see these little reminders of Saintliness and Godliness as well as me.

So here we go. Here's the first one.

It really speaks for itself, and whereas many prayer cards tend to be a big pic with a little writing, or a prayer on the back, this one-sided gem is not so much a prayer but a reminder of what Mass is, how it helps us, and why we should attend in the correct manner and mindset.

In this age of chattering pews and people-centred gatherings, it does all of us well to remember the Sacrificial essence of the Mass, of exactly Whose Presence we are in, and exatcly What is being enacted on the Altar of God before us.

So please read this little card. By all means take copies and put them on your blog, web site, or other online page. Let's make good Catholics into excellent Catholics, bad Catholics into good Catholics, weak Catholics into strengthened Catholics, evil Catholics into repentant Catholics, and lapsed Catholics into Mass-going Catholics.

I will try and post more prayer cards when I can.

Back to the Future: More Tradition for a New Generation

Yes: DO Eat the Fish

There was a notice in our local parish newsletter, telling parishioners that the Church had revived the tradition of not eating meat on Fridays, in reparation - and boy do we as individuals, as communities and as a society need all the help we can get!

This is one of the good things Pope Benedict has done.


Why oh why was this ever stopped, sidelined or hushed up?

While we're at it let's look at some other totally Catholic traditions that we should have back PDQ:

• Mass on Sundays. The idea of Saturday evenings is a no-no. Dispensation can be given to hospital staff and emergency workers. But for 99% of us there is no excuse for not attending Mass on the Lord's Day. Of course we can go on Saturdays and any other days of the week we wish to as well.
• Altar rails. Please! This will help all of us realise that the Sanctuary is a sacred place, not somewhere we can amble up to, shuffle around in and plonk back in our seats as if we just changed channel on the telly. It may also lead to my next 'big ask:'
• Kneeling for Communion. The Holy Father insists on it at his Masses. It shows devotion and reminds us that we are receiving Our Lord and King in His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. 
• Communion on the Tongue. I know this is an optional today, but I (in all my horrible anti-liberal ways) would dearly love it to be the rule (again). My hands are not sanctified, I am not a priest, I and others have no need to touch the Sacred Species and risk Our Lord being dropped, sullied or (as can happen) slipped into a pocket for profane usage.
• Reintroduction of Altars. Please! No more tables. Let us have Altars. High Altars. With beautiful images, paintings, Crucifixes and statues. Altars that raise our hearts, minds and souls to their ultimate home in Heaven. When I see a table masquerading as an Altar in a Church I am reminded that during the reformation this was one of the first things the hate-filled protestants did: rip out Altars and put in tables. A table is for a meal. An Altar is for a SACRIFICE!

So now we have a great Catholic tradition back - fish on Fridays! - let's press, pray and hope for many more.

If we pay honour to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament in these ways it can only bring many and great Graces to us all in Wales  (OK, and in England and elsewhere too).

Why Do So Many Think They Know Better Than God Himself?

I should start this blog entry with an apology to any theologians or priests looking in, for I am neither, just a bog standard Welsh Catholic with a Comprehensive education, so if I mix my metaphors or fumble the ball a little, please do bear with me.

I love Advent. I love this time, with the approaching of Christmas, the preparation, the hymns, carols, the excitement - almost as much (sometimes more than) the great Feast itself!

The thought of the Nativity story, the Incarnation of the Word, God made man, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ... it can make one dizzy in anticipation.

When one analyses this simple fact of the Incarnation of God one realises that far from being the simple matter of a baby in a crib, we are dealing with a fathomless mystery and equally amazing example of the fathomless nature of God's Grace.

As we Catholics say the Hail Mary we repeat those wondrous words pronounced to the Mother of God:

Hail Mary the Lord is with Thee,
Blessed art Thou amongst women and Blessed is the fruit of Thy womb.

After Her total submission to the Will of God, something each of us strives towards in our lives (often failing dismally), she was made the Ark of the Covenant. The Incarnation of God was made possible by the total submission of Our Lady to the Will of God. The Handmaiden of the Lord became our Co-Redemptrix, surely one of the reasons for Satan's prideful rebellion, that a mortal woman by raised higher in Heaven than the Hosts of Angels, as their (and our) Queen.

And this brings me to an issue that came up in conversation with our local priest on the issue of the Church, Confession etc. "Why do we need the church?" so many ask in the modern age. They could ask why do we need coffee, why do we need pavements, why do we need collars on shirts - for none of these has done even a tiny fraction towards advancing civilisation as Mother Church has -- yet we get this modernist, 60s, socialist, materialist (label it as you will) mantra repeated all the time in all forms of media but especially in modern fiction:

Why do we need the Church.


The modernists who would rewrite history and paint the Church as the greatest evil known to man (forgetting all the evils it replaced and all the evils it negated and strove to 'fix' - I am reminded of GK Chesterton's quote on Christianity as not found wanting, but found, and untried), forget that Our Lord Jesus Christ left us His Church.

If we did not need a Church, if we did not need the Sacraments of the Church, then Our Lord would not have created it, with St Peter as the first Pope, with the Apostles and others as the first Bishops, with the Mass and -- "This is My Body" -- the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity left in the Eucharist to strengthen the Christians. Our Lord also explicitly gave the priests the power for the forgiveness of sins, to enable us as e struggle on in our daily lives.

The modernist rebellion against the need for the Church (which reached its ideological zenith circa the French Revolution - but has reached its technological zenith today via the reach of Hollywood and the media) is flying in the face of the wishes and precise instructions left by Jesus Christ whose birthday most people in Europe are about to celebrate.

As for those Protestants of 1001 varieties of the modernist 'catholics' who say they do not need the Catholic Church, i.e. that any church will do... well they are as bad as those charlatans who say "I can confess my sins to God at home" -- because we all know that they seldom do, nor (without they guidance of Holy Church) would they know what constitutes sins in many respects.

Jesus Christ did not start the Protestant churches - men did. The Son of God did not start all the other religions men did (yes - even modern Judaism was started by the Pharisees). Are we really so proud, so insincere, so devious as men to think that we know better than Jesus Christ - the Son of God, God made man, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Word Incarnate?

He left us the Church with the Pope at its head; he left us the Sacrifice of the Mass, he left us Confession to help us overcome our sins... and yet we, modern men, think that we do not need all this! We can do without His Church, we can do without His Sacrifice of the Mass, we can do without His Confessional!

How proud and sinful is modern man, that so many of us think we can pay lip service to the Son of God, yet ignore the very things He left us, in order that we may be worthy of Heaven, the gates of which He opened for us.

We are all of us sinners, we are all of us weak, we are all of us human. We All fall, many times, on our own Via Dolorosa. That is why we need the institutions left to us by Jesus Christ - especially His Sacraments.

If we think we can do without them we are sorely mistaken! We should submit ourselves to the Will of God, and that begins by availing ourselves of His Sacraments through the auspices of His Church.

To do otherwise is to join the Devil in his terrible revolt against God Himself.

Be on the side of the Angels! Go to Mass, get to Confession, partake of Communion. The Sanctifying nature of the Eucharist will give you many Graces, and in this modern(ist) world we, each and every one of us no matter our status, need all the Graces we can get!

Pope Pius XII - Empty Tabernacles?

Suppose, dear friend, that Communism was only the most visible of the instruments of subversion to be used against the Church and the traditions of Divine Revelation ... I am worried by the Blessed Virgin's messages to Lucy of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul. ... A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God ... In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them, like Mary Magdalene weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask, “where have they taken Him?”

Pope Pius XII, quoted in the book Pius XII Devant L'Histoire, pp. 52-53

Communion in Both Kinds - two Bishops Speak Out

Good intentions? Paths? A Mass in Chicago

A super post by Fr. Z on WDTPRS. A timely reminder that Communion in both kinds gives rise to far too many abuses, and (I would argue) causes scandal to some Catholics (including me!)

I pray that Catholic Bishops would defend Our Lord, present on the Altars of our land, from abuses. I know it can seem a tad hypersensitive, but the idea that Our Lord might be dishonoured, even once, should have all Catholics very, very concerned - if not outright angry.

Vatican 2, Archbishop Lefebvre, the Consecrations - and More

I found this moving book review on the web.

I wll leave you to read it.

It needs little commentry from me, save deep sighs at what the Church has suffered.

Many thanks to Cor Jesu Sacratissimum blog for such a moving and thoughtful review.

What Makes a Catholic Church Catholic?

I was chatting to a friend the other day and we started discussing films and TV series, and we got onto those with Catholic themes: typically redemption, wages of sin, forgiveness and so on.

Of course there are some great Catholic films out there. And some less well known. Some of my favourites, for different reasons, are The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Mission, and Braveheart. Others are famous for carrying Catholic messages such as The Exorcist and Clockwork Orange.

One thing that strikes me about films and TV series is that when they want to put across a truly spiritual feeling, whether it is someone needing a place of prayer and sanctuary, whether it is an exorcism, or whether it is a family funeral -- more often than not they will use "old school" Catholicism. You know - "smells and bells."

There will be statues of Our Lord, Our Lady and the Saints. There will be stained-glass windows. There will be lots of lit candles. There will be a high altar. If a priest is present he will have traditional vestments, or be all in black with dog collar.

Yesterday I watched a Spanish film called 'Rec 2' and it featured images of Our Lady, First Communions  etc. - all thoroughly traditional. And today I watched Stuart Little 2 and in it the eponymous hero flies a plane into a group of nuns - all in the "full regalia" with rosaries.

Why?

I have come to one conclusion and that is that producers, writers, directors and various execs are no fools. They know what sells and they know what carries an audience.

"Fr Bobby" in a Marks n Spencer's pullover singing Kum-by-ya in a hollowed-out Roller Disco with a modern art cross and a table with a chair behind it, does not convey religion, spirituality, grace and faith.

These people are not idiots. They may not be Catholics. They may even be vaguely or overtly anti-Catholic. But they know that when a film calls for a spiritual presence, for the power, presence and strength of 2000 years of Christ's Faith -- you cannot beat the feel, look, presence and ambiance of a traditional Catholic Church.

It's very look screams out faith, forgiveness, prayer, sacrifice.

We all know it. We all feel it. That is why film-makers use it to convey that inner feeling. If they used a roller-disco 'church' they would have to work harder elsewhere to make it feel 'spiritual' and even then could fail miserably.

So why, given this is self-evident and obvious, does the Church not recognise this?

Over 1,950 years the Church perfected its Churches. The altars. The statues. The windows. The very feel of a Church would immediately raise your mind and soul to Heaven. The feel of a roller-disco 'church' makes your mind wonder "is it fish fingers for tea?"

Why do you think the Protestants went out of their way to replace the altars, whitewash the murals, pull down the statues? They knew this was the way to undermine the Catholic Faith of the (ex-)faithful.

We are frail and failing humans -- even the very best of us (i.e. the Saints). That is why we need all the help we can get. The Church knew this. That is why they perfected their Churches. They helped us focus on the Sacrificial nature of the Mass, the Real Presence of Our Lord, the history of the Church, the Militant, Suffering and Triumphant parts of the Mystical Body of Christ, and so on.

Is it coincidence that so many people have fallen away from the Church since Altars were replaced by tables? No I don't mean at the 16th Century "Reformation" - I mean in the 1970s. And the Altar Rails removed? And roller-discos erected? And the Liturgy and Vestments changed? I don't think so.

Why is the Catholic hierarchy so slow to recognise what even Hollywood directors (and look at the circles they move in!) know to be true?

The "Spirit of Renewal" has emptied the pews and wrecked many churches.

How long before this lesson is learnt?

Every Assault on the Church Gives the Opportunity to Fight Back and Win Souls

I was chatting to a fellow parishioner on Sunday, over tea and biscuits (we're very civilised in this part of Wales - must be the Roman influence), and amongst the plethora of topics we skimmed across was corruption in the Church. He mentioned that the alleged selling of Catholic knighthoods had been in the paper that very day.

As I said to him, the issue of corruption - and much else besides - should not be swept under the carpet (we've surely learnt the lesson of the paedophile scandal which occurred mostly under the watch of John Paul II), but the sad thing is that the media use the bad actions of a few men to try to bring about the collapse of a God-made institution; whereas men of good will (I hesitate to include myself) would like to see the corruption and scandals removed and (to use the parlance of Minder's Arthur Daley) 'sorted,' for the good of both the Church and Catholics as a whole. The former group act out of malice and hatred of the Catholic Church, the latter out of charity and love of the Catholic Church.


FR J HARDON SJ

In his book Always With Us, about the Real Presence and the Sacramental Nature of Our Lord in the Sacred Species, Fr J. Hardon SJ says that the Church historically always, even from its first days, accepted the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, i.e. that Transubstantiation was a fact of life, and it was only later during various heresies through history that the Church clearly outlined the nature of the Blessed Sacrament, most especially at the Council of Trent, which was the start of the Counter Reformation - that Holy and blessed council of the Church which gave the 'ammunition' its 'troops in the field' needed to beat back the errors of the protestants in places as diverse as Italy, Hungary and Poland.

Holy Church cleaned out the stables, got to grips with abuses, and a purified, invigorated Catholicism burst forth in a Counter-Reformation which was based on sound Scripture and the Traditions of the Church going back to the earliest days of the Church. It was this Church Council that gave us the Tridentine Mass (now known as the 'Extraordinary Form'), and a fighting Faith that took Catholicism to all four corners of the world. It was this Faith, not new at all, but purified, codified and swept clean of errors, that produced so many Saints, so many converts, such a deep love of the Mass that many were martyred from Japan to Wales, from the Americas to Africa, to stand as witnesses for Catholic Truth.

That it took the shock, lies and half-truth of the protestant "reformation" to bring about the Council of Trent is something that Fr. Hardon places in the history of the Church, as heresies before it had brought such beautifully clear explanations to the Faithful on the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

Might we hope that the abuses of recent years might eventually lead to a purified, invigorated Catholicism which we surely need to fight back the tidal wave of secularism, rationalism and atheism currently holding sway?

RADIO WALES

On Tuesday morning there was a report on the BBC's Radio Wales concerning corruption at the Wales Audit Office (WAO), the boss of which, Jeremy Coleman, was jailed last November after a paedophile scandal. There is another scandal erupting concerning the WAO and the misuse of funds. On the radio report the WAO was suggesting that this matter should not be passed over to the police and that we should 'move on' (in that Blairite way).

It leaves one feeling deeply uneasy. If a crime is committed, whether it be in the goldfish bowl of Welsh politics or in the invasion of Iraq, when should it ever be a case of "let's move on" or "let's draw a line under it?" If something looks like a crime, then it should be investigated thoroughly, so  that the guilty are punished and the innocent totally cleared. Anything else is wrong because it lets the guilty 'off the hook' and the innocent be convicted by rumour.

The paedophile scandal in the Catholic Church, primarily in the 60s, 70s and 80s, is a lesson in this. Just as with any abuse of power, any abuse of trust, there needs to be clarity and justice. With a thirst for justice and the return to stern rules for seminaries (e.g. on the absolute non-admittance to those with homosexual tendencies) the Church can at least come out of another period of trial and scandal strengthened, purified, and its stance against moral evils such as abortion, homosexuality and contraception, will in turn be strengthened.

During the protestant "reformation" many voices were raised against the Church and it was accused of all manner of abuses, corruption and hypocrisy. The Church did not surrender to the whims of the world, but came out with a strengthened Catholicism, whilst stamping down on genuine abuses.

Let us pray that in the shadow of so many abuses in today's Church (whether sexual, monetary or liturgical) that the Holy Spirit will move the Church to grasp her traditions and come out fighting against the relativist agenda of her enemies.

Until it does so it will always be accused of turning a blind eye to abuses, scandals and the actions of a few, who have done more harm to the Church established by Jesus Christ than 100 reformations.

Churches Built on Sand: Without the Real Presence of Christ

I was thinking over the readings from last Sunday's Mass, especially the Bible passage about the fool who builds his house on sand.

Now I will be the first to acknowledge that whilst I find theology fascinating, I am no theologian. My Latin is dire, and my knowledge of Greek, Hebrew etc. non-existent.

I am one of those Catholics that does enjoy reading decent Catholic books when time permits, but has to rely on the certitude of the guidance put forth (over many centuries) by Holy Mother Church.

I can only read material, understand it, meditate on it, through the prism of Orthodox Catholicism. As I'm not a theologian, it's the only way I can be sure of being on absolutely solid ground.

That's one of the reasons I get so flummoxed and bamboozled when I read of "experts" or "Catholics" who deny transubstantiation, or who try and make out the Latin Mass is "divisive." After all, the Church has always been crystal clear for centuries that the Real Presence of Our Lord (Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity) is an absolute cornerstone of our Faith.

Likewise, the Popes said that the Tridentine Mass was eternally valid, and many Saints went to their deaths after celebrating it, attending it or defending it. How could such a treasure trove of graces, the very Church-decreed vehicle for Catholics to witness the Last Supper and the Passion of the Cross, and to bring about the Sacred Mystery of Transubstantiation itself ever be termed "divisive?"

I know sometimes it seems like hard-headedness and even a form of false piety, but in finding solace in the simple (!) facts of Catholicism can be like finding a port in the storm, the storm being this mad world (and anyone who raises a family, runs a business and lives a life trying to make ends meet to pay the bills knows that the world can be beautiful one moment and mad the next).

Thus it is that no matter what the world throws at us, as Catholics, we always have the certitude of Our Lord, in the Blessed Sacrament.

As well as being a hopeless Theologian I am also dire when it comes to quoting from the Bible. Our Lord said He would be with us until the end of the world (yes, I'm paraphrasing) and I take solace in that. I also think that when He said that, He had a special meaning: the Blessed Sacrament.

He was leaving this world as God-made-man, but He would be staying, in a quite literal sense, in the Blessed Sacrament, that we might all visit Him, adore Him, and place our worries before Him.

Now to return to last Sunday's readings and the house on sand and the house on rock.

I couldn't help but thinking that Our Lord again had a special meaning in this parable.

Aren't the false religions of this world like the houses built on sand? Think of the Protestant churches. Within mere years of the Reformation, Luther, Calvin and Zwingli were arguing and at each others' throats. Did the Disciples of Christ behave like this? The Protestants have the word of a man (they can chose which of the three here named) to be the founder of their church, to dictate their theology, their Sunday service.

We have the word of Jesus Christ, who made St Peter the very first Pope, who founded the Catholic Church, who instituted the Sacrifice of the Mass. This has not changed in 2000 years.

I do not think it was an accident that Our Lord referred to a house built on rock, for most of us know that when Christ made St Peter the first Pope and head of His Catholic Church, he said (I shall paraphrase again) 'You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church.' As Catholics should know this history, we should also know that Peter means Rock.

Thus when Our Lord says build your house on rock, I believe He was reminding us that our homes, our families and our souls belong in the security, the sanctity and the surety that is His Holy Catholic Church.

Only there will we get the strength we need, in the Sacraments but most especially through the Real Presence and Holy Communion with Our Lord, to find security in this world. For as many wise men, living and dead, have said, the strength we need is not our own, but the strength of Our Lord Jesus Christ and where else can we hope to be near to Him, Body Blood Soul and Divinity but at the Altar of God?