Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
Matthew 7:7
This is the post I had planned to go up at datechguyblog.com on Monday before everything crashed and burned.
Today I’m launching a Catholic Devotional aid that I mentioned a few days ago on the site called The Indulgence Calendar.
Many people going to Mass weekly and even many who go daily are aware that these indulgences are available and quite a few might already be doing prayers and devotions that carry an indulgences but because they are not declaring their desire and/or intention to earn these indulgences they are not obtained.
The idea is that if you are a daily mass person you can make it a point to earn an indulgence each day for a different departed soul (or multiple souls if you earn multiple indulgences). A weekly mass person can earn indulgences for at least one person a week or if a family unit goes they can cover some of the daily folk that they might miss.
On a local level my goal is to earn an indulgence for every person who has ever died in my parish, particularly those who have been dead for a while and have been forgotten. If you decide to adopt this idea as your own for your own community you can do the same.
Each day on the calendar looks like this:
I will be making such calendars available each month. The one for June which is being used by WQPH 89.3 FM is here and below. For those unsure of the rules on earning an indulgence the 2nd page of the Calendar has the complete norms on indulgences I am repeating it here for those who which to have them handy online:
Indulgence Norms and notes
Communion on the day of an indulgence. This can be applied to any amount of indulgences that day.
Confession within 20 days of the day of an indulgence. Applies to all indulgences during that period
Prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father (an Our Father, Hail Mary or any appropriate prayer) once per day of indulgence.
To earn an indulgence you must be in a state of grace (no unconfessed mortal sin) at the time of the indulgenced act.
Indulgences can only be applied to the dead or to the person earning the indulgence. They can not be applied to any other living person.
For a PLENARY indulgence you must have NO attachment to sin. If such an attachment exists the indulgence earned is only partial.
A plenary indulgence can only be earned one a day (expect if death is imminent), there is no limits to partial indulgences daily.
An indulgence attached to a feast day is still valid if the feast day is transferred lawfully.
A specific day’s indulgence requiring a visit to a particular church or oratory can be made from noon the previous day to midnight on the actual day.
No unbaptized person nor any Christian who is currently under the penalty of excommunication may earn an indulgence.
You must ACTIVELY seek and or state your intention to obtain an indulgence for the act or prayer that carries it to be valid.
Prayers & Acts that carry an indulgence (Partial list) All indulgences partial unless BOLD UNDERLINED
Prayers
The Actiones Nostras, Act of faith hope and Love, Any Devout Mental Prayer, Adsumus, Adoro te Devote, Prayer to St. Joseph, Prayer of Thanksgiving, The Angelus, Domine Deus Omnipotens, Spiritual Communion, The Apostles Creed, Angels Dei, The Niceane Creed, The office for the dead, Any approved Litanies, Psalm 130, Iesu Dulcissime Redemptor, Ave Maria Stella, Maria Mater Gratiae, Exaudi Nos, O Sacrum Convivium, Prayer for the Pope, Prayer for the Dead, Psalm 51, Sub tuum praesidium, Prayer for Benefactors, Angel of God Prayer, Te Deum, Public Novenas for Pentecost Christmas or the Feast or the Immaculate Conception, Tantum Ergo, Prayer for Vocations, The Sign of the Cross, Sancta Maria Succurre Miseris, The Magnificat, Vista Quaesumus Domine, Act of Contrition (expect during Sacramental Confession), Prayer to St Michael, Chaplet of St Michael, Come Holy Spirit, Prayer before a CrucifixPlenary if done after communion Friday in Lent, Five decades of the Rosary Plenary if done in a family, religious community or Pious association, The Stations of the Cross Moving from Station to Station (unless physically unable to do so)
Actionsthat carry an indulgence
Making a Pious invocation raising your mind to god while performing the duties of life
Devoting yourself or your goods in compassionate service to your brothers in need
Voluntarily abstaining from something that is licit & pleasing in the spirit of penitence
Adoration of the blessed Sacrament Plenary if done for a half hour or more
Reading the scriptures Plenary if done for a half hour or more
Teaching Christian Doctrine
Visiting a church on All Souls day (Nov 2)
Going on a religious retreat for 3 or more days
Use a blessed religious object Plenary if blessed by a Pope & used on the Feast of Sts Peter & Paul
Visiting a Parish Church on the Feast day of its Saint(s) or on Aug 2nd (say Our Father & Creed)
Attending the 1st Mass of a newly ordained priest or his jubilee mass (25th 50th or 60th anniversary)
Visiting a cemetery and praying for the dead (Plenary if done from Nov 1st through Nov 8th)
Praying for the dead is not only a spiritual work of mercy but spiritual exercise of this type tend to fortify one’s own soul so I would encourage you to disseminate this far and wide,
Perhaps that’s why everything crashed and burned on my primary site the day this was supposed to go up.
Oh God, you who gave free will to your creation, bless those who use that precious gift to blog.
May we though this gift of freedom of expression enlighten, entertain and inform our readers, and we ask particular blessing for those who bring your word across the net, that they may faithfully execute your command to make disciples of all nations.
God has given Commandments unto Men. From these Commandments Men have framed Laws by which to be governed. It is honorable and praiseworthy to faithfully serve the people by helping to administer these Laws. If the Laws are not enforced, the People are not well governed.
Yesterday I paid my first ever visit to MIT’s rather odd-shaped chapel
to cover and participate in the Eucharistic adoration in response against the Harvard Black Mass
People slowly started showing up slowly. Joe spoke to me
I noticed some local (to me) folk who protest regularly at the Fitchburg Planned Parenthood. When they arrived, shortly before reporters from the Globe. They would leave for a moment with plans to come back & sit down later.
That would prove to be a bad move as the people started coming in waves
We had gotten word from the Crimson (ht Lisa Graas) that the Black Mass was being moved to a restaurant off campus called the Middle East.
However even before the Eucharist procession began the word came that they had no intention of hosting the event.
as the MIT crowd continued to grow I moved my setup out of the chapel proper to a table in the corridor but soon there was no room to be there so I moved it to the back wall by the door on a trash receptacle, but a few minutes later there was no room there either. I sent out twitter updates as space allowed
By the time the Adoration actually began there was no room in the building and two batches of lines extending outside of the building extended from the chapel doors on both sides of it
it is no accident that this turned the odd oblong shape of the building if viewed from above into the shape of the cross.
After the prayers the procession began the sacrament under the canopy. I was on the opposite side of the building and ran around the chapel, set up my camera after the front passed and simply recorded the people, it took nearly five minutes for all the people involved to pass.
I talked to both the MIT police and while both knew there was supposed to be a procession neither anticipated the sheer volume of people. Cambridge police rushed ahead to close down streets to allow the procession to pass.
You could not see the front of the procession from the back
As we passed and the folks at the end were constantly being stopped and asked what was happening. People were waving from apartments or staring from shop windows.
When we passed the Middle east there was a distinctly noticeable group gathered at the entrance staring at us taking photos.
Eventually after our long walk we reached St. Pauls. The sun had already set and the crowd overwhelmed the area.
and it soon became apparent that there was simply no room to get everybody in the building.
At this time word had gone around that the club not having found a place to celebrate the black mass had cancelled it.
The overflow filled the area outside of the church proper and was all over the steps and the area across the street, at this point I caught a break, reporters & cameramen looking for a shot were ushered to a side door in the choir loft in front of the pipe organ.
it looked even more packed from the inside than it did from outside.
I shed my coat and laptop bag as we were sweltering in the heat and set up my camera just as Fr. Drea began his sermon
I was very tired and hot, and even with the monopod it was hard to keep he camera steady particularly as I tried to take still shots with a 2nd camera at the same time.
His Homily was very gracious, particularly to the Harvard president sitting in the front row.
after the homily I took a pan of the crowd as a choir located to the right of the altar sang
And took a few shots
after a period of reverence and prayer
The blessed sacrament was moved removed from the altar. I stayed to sing the first hymn but as a second hymn was being sung I made my way outside where I set up to video people leaving.
I ran into two very Irish sounding ladies from Plymouth who declined to be interviewed on camera who had been at the location where the Catholic League was saying their Rosary of reparation at the original planned location of the Black Mass They told me that groups of Satanists cursed them & shouted at them but was unable to phase them.
At this point the altar servers & choir started to process out
followed by the people.
I hand counted 1200 people inside from my upper perch I’m estimating 1500-1600 people overall not counting those doing the Rosary of Reparation. I congratulated the chaplain from MIT who had organized the procession, he wanted to do something proactive and had succeeded. I then spotted the auxiliary bishop of Boston who I met at the DC airport the day Francis was elected, he agreed to an interview.
Former Boston Mayor & US Ambassador to the Holy See Ray Flynn greeted him.
and then gave me an interview
I spoke to local police there, they said the crowd of believers had been very polite and were really taken by the thanks offered by the crowd, it was an unusual but pleasant experience for them.
They informed me during the service there was a single protester who was shouting at the ceremony from outside to no effect. As the crowd started to disperse he returned and continued to shout at the crowd calling them cannibals and decrying the church and the people there.
I can understand his anger, not only was the black mass not on campus but any black mass that was to be held (later reports say it was held at a Chinese restaurant in town it was not sponsored by any Harvard Club. The importance against the mass of the faithful must have been a great frustration.
I said a loud prayer for him in response and then caught a ride with Mary Ann Harold who had arrived at St. Paul first and wondered if there would be much of crowd but not long afterwards the mass of faithful catholics answered that question for her.
A postscript: As we drove to my car at Alewife Station she related that as she sat down in the then empty church she saw an apparition of the head of Satan appear over and to the left of the altar over the church. The head was disfigured and was screaming in pain and anger.
Given the results of the night, that was completely understandable.
Update: Apparently that planned Black Mass has backfired even worsethat I thought
Merrimack, N.H.,
Thomas More College is holding three days of penance and prayer, from May 12 to 14, in response to the black mass.
In Denver
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, a parish of the Archdiocese of Denver located in Littleton, Colo., will hold a Mass of Reparation said at 5:30 p.m. The Mass will be said by Fr. Joseph Hearty, FSSP, and will be followed by a rosary and Benediction.
In Texas Illinois & Pennsylvania
In Alice, Texas, outside of Corpus Christi, Our Lady of Guadalupe parish will hold a Holy Hour at 6 p.m. In the Diocese of Orange, Blessed Sacrament in Westminster will hold a Holy Hour of reparation. Holy hours will also be held at Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Bath, Pa., and at St. Mary’s in Alton, outside of Springfield, Ill.
on Facebook
A Facebook group organized in response to the event at Harvard has garnered more than 2,200 members who have pledged to go to Adoration on May 12 in reparation.
and Around the world
Catholics from around the world, including the Philippines, have also pledged to pray in reparation for the black mass. The monks of Norcia at the Monastery of San Benedetto, Italy, announced a Chaplet of Divine Mercy in reparation as well.
So: No Black Mass on Harvard Campus, No Official Harvard group involved in a Black Mass and massive amounts of b No Black Mass sponsored by a Harvard Group, Massive amounts of prayer.
and against that a private party at the Chinese Restaurant.
And all of this came because Catholics didn’t meekly accept Harvard’s plans.
Update 2: One video out of place, fixed plus via Father Z & flicker some photos from the front.
Since the spiritual battle between good and evil has never been more visible, Saint Michael, Captain of the Angelic Hosts, was invoked repeatedly over the bullhorn. As we prayed, a group of individuals dressed mostly in black with satanic insignia gathered in little groups to jeer and mock the prayers. One even muttered “Hail Satan!” as he passed by the statue of Our Lady of Fatima. But this did not in the least deter those on the sidewalk who continued praying the Rosary at the intersection of Cambridge and Kirkland streets until 8:35 PM.
Apparently they bore the burnt of the Satanist ire while the rest of us were processing and praying with the blessed sacrament
To conclude the protest, Saint Louis de Montfort’s Consecration to Mary was recited. This last prayer seemed to especially unnerve the satanists nearby. Two of them came up and aggressively yelled insults against Christianity in our faces. Then others, also dressed in black, were overheard saying, “smash the statue,” referring to the beautiful replica of the International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima that wept repeatedly in New Orleans in July 1972. Their hatred was explicitly directed against Our Lady. With this, TFP volunteers formed a protective perimeter around Our Lady, escorting her safely to the van, while being trailed by those who wished to smash her.
I see the TFP people regularly at CPAC they are fearless warriors for the faith, while fewer in number than the procession by far they did some heavy lifting for us and should be commended for it.
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Perhaps they will find an a deserted graveyard to use.
With an hour to the procession at MIT the crowd is starting to build The globe is here conducting interviews along with myself. I suspect this is going to be one of the most significant religious events in the area in a while.
Expect updates
A large canopy has just been brought in for the procession by a group of brothers. A busload of worshipers are now arriving
Update: Over 500 people processed from MIT all the way to Harvard where the Church could fit the crowd, (Base count 1200 plus an estimated 300 who couldn’t make it in. Meanwhile the Satanic Black Mass was cancelled and the taunting of the Catholic League by the Satanists failed to rattle them.
Final score God 3 Satan 0 full recap in the morning.
Update last: I’ll have the full story in a post in the morning but here are two videos to give you an idea of he crowd, first from the procession:
It took almost 5 minutes for all the people at the MIT Adoration to pass by.
