Posts Tagged ‘catholic’

Epiphany Sunday, Some facts and Prayers for The Blessings of the Houses

Posted: January 7, 2024 by datechguy in catholic, catholic devotions
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Today is Epiphany Sunday where we celebrate the visit of the three kings/Magi/Wise men of the east who followed a star to the baby Jesus the newborn king of the Jews. 

The feast is traditionally celebrated on January 6th but is transferred to Sunday in the US. Depending on the vagaries of the Calendar the day can be celebrated as early as January 2nd (If Christmas falls on a Saturday) or as late as January the 8th (if Christmas falls on a Sunday).

Where it falls also determines how long the Christmas season lasts. The final day of Christmas is the movable feast of the Baptism of Jesus. 

  • If Jan 6th is a Sunday Epiphany is celebrated on its traditional date and the Christmas season ends on Sunday January 13th with the feast of the Baptism of Jesus on Sunday
  • If the 6th falls on a Monday to Thursday it is transferred to the previous Sunday moving making The Feast of the Baptism of Christ and the last day of Christmas anywhere from Jan 9th to Jan 12th.
  • If it falls on a Friday or Saturday as it did this year it is transferred to the following Sunday (the 8th or the 7th). That becomes the Last Sunday of Christmas and the 1st Sunday of Ordinary time and the feast of the Baptism of Christ transfers to Monday (the 9th or 8th) making Monday the final day of Christmas season.

Thus this year we get the shortest possible Christmas season ending tomorrow. Next year with the 6th falling on a Monday we’ll get four extra days of Christmas. (Of course in the old calendar Christmas officially ended on Feb 2nd the feast of the presentation but I digress…).

The feast of Epiphany is extremely significant in the history of Christianity in several ways:

  1. It’s another external confirmation of the message of the angel to Mary and the Dream of Joseph.
  2. It is the first example of Christ being “a light of revelation to the gentiles.” (non-Jews).
  3. The kings prostrating to Christ as Lord rather than as an equal signifies Christ as king of all.
  4. It shows Christ has come both for rich & poor as only the rich could make the trip of the wise men
  5. It sets the stage for the flight into Egypt as Herod, upon hearing of their coming attempts to slaughter the child in the murder of the holy innocents.
  6. The gifts of Gold and Frankincense note Christ Kingship
  7. The gift of Myrrh symbolizes his death

It has also led to a great Christian tradition the blessing and annual chalking of homes on the feast. 

If you’ve ever visited the EWTN studios you likely have noticed chalk over all the doorways, If you visit the studio after today you will see the following:

20 C + M + B 24 

The 20 and 24 of course representing this current year and the C + M +B representing St. Caspar (Feast day Jan 11th), St. Melchior (Feast day Jan 1st) and St. Balthasar (Feast day Jan 6th). It also (as Churchpop.com notes) stands for the Latin: Christus mansionem benedicat, which translates to “May Christ bless this house.”

This is traditionally done on the 6th but can be done on the feast day itself (I did my home yesterday). In order to do this properly you will need some white chalk which should be blessed an ordained Deacon, Priest or above and you may want some holy water than you can get at any Catholic Church.

There are also prayers to be said. These are the prayers from the conference of Catholic Bishops website the chalking is done at the conclusion of the prayers:

When all have gathered, a suitable song may be sung. The leader makes the sign of the cross, and all reply, “Amen.”



The leader greets those present in the following words:



Let us praise God, who fills our hearts and homes with peace. Blessed be God forever.

R/. Blessed be God forever.



In the following or similar words, the leader prepares those present for the blessing:



The Word became flesh and made his dwelling place among us. It is Christ who enlightens our hearts and homes with his love. May all who enter this home find Christ’s light and love.



One of those present or the leader reads a text of sacred Scripture, for example, Luke 19:1-9:



Listen to the words of the holy Gospel according to Luke:

Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way.> When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.”



The intercessions are then said:



Leader: The Son of God made his home among us. With thanks and praise let us call upon him.

R/. Stay with us, Lord.

Leader:  Lord Jesus Christ, with Mary and Joseph you formed the Holy Family: remain in our home, that we may know you as our guest and honor you as our Head.

We pray:

R/. Stay with us, Lord.

Leader:  Lord Jesus Christ, you had no place to lay your head, but in the spirit of poverty accepted the hospitality of your friends: grant that through our help the homeless may obtain proper

housing.

We pray:

R/. Stay with us, Lord.

Leader: Lord Jesus Christ, the three kings presented their gifts to you in praise and adoration: grant that those living in this house may use their talents and abilities to your greater glory.

We pray:

R/. Stay with us, Lord.



After the intercessions the leader invites all present to say the Lord’s Prayer.

The leader says the prayer of blessing with hands joined:



Lord God of heaven and earth,

you revealed your only-begotten Son to every nation

by the guidance of a star.

Bless this house

and all who inhabit it.

Fill them (us) with the light of Christ,

that their (our) concern for others may reflect your love.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

R/. Amen.



The leader concludes the rite by signing himself or herself with the sign of the cross and saying:



May Christ Jesus dwell with us,

keep us from all harm,

and make us one in mind and heart,

now and forever.

R/. Amen.



It is preferable to end the celebration with a suitable song, for example, “O Come, All Ye Faithful” or “We Three Kings.”

That’s the blessing I used this year. Last year I used this excellent blessing which you can find at Churchpop.com. As with the blessing from the USCCB the chalking takes place after the prayers 

Priest/Leader: Peace be to this house.



All: And to all who dwell herein.



Leader: From the east came the Magi to Bethlehem to adore the Lord; and opening their treasures they offered precious gifts: gold for the great King, incense for the true God, and myrrh in symbol of His burial.



After these prayers are recited, journey throughout your home and sprinkle each room with holy water–you can get some from your parish.



Afterward, you may continue with the blessing:



All: From the east came the Magi to Bethlehem to adore the Lord; and opening their treasures they offered precious gifts: gold for the great King, incense for the true God, and myrrh in symbol of His burial.



Leader: Our Father Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead and lead us not into temptation,



All: But deliver us from evil.



Leader: All they from Saba shall come.



All: Bringing gold and frankincense.



Leader: O Lord, hear my prayer.



All: And let my cry come unto Thee.



Leader: Let us pray. O God, who by the guidance of a star didst on this day manifest Thine only-begotten Son to the Gentiles, mercifully grant that we who know Thee by faith may also attain the vision of Thy glorious majesty. Through Christ our Lord.



All: Amen.



Leader: Be enlightened, be enlightened, O Jerusalem, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee– Jesus Christ born of the Virgin Mary.



All: And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light and kings in the splendor of thy rising, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee.



Leader: Let us pray. Bless, O Lord God almighty, this home, that in it there may be health, purity, the strength of victory, humility, goodness and mercy, the fulfillment of Thy law, the thanksgiving to God the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. And may this blessing remain upon this home and upon all who dwell herein. Through Christ our Lord.



All: Amen.

It is also traditional to sprinkle each room with Holy water at the end. Again if you don’t have holy water you can get some at your local church.

If you’re only hearing about this for the first time today and you have a blizzard blowing out there and can’t get it done today, you have one more day of Christmas to fall back on and get it done. I highly recommend it as it reminds of you of God’s presence every single day in your home.

It’s the final two days of our Days of Christmas and we still have $2345 to go help us make it over the line by donating here

Three Pieces from 2023 You Hated but We Think are worth a 2nd Look

Posted: January 4, 2024 by datechguy in Blame Biden Administration, catholic, culture, dablog
Tags: , , , , ,

Earlier this week we had our annual five top posts for 2023. Now it’s time to look at the bottom of the barrel. The posts that drew the fewest views of the year that we think deserve a little more attention then they got:

To be sure over the course of the year we’ll serve up a few lemons but these are posts that we’d like you to take a 2nd look at:

Let’s start with my favorite of the lot.

The Feast of The Passion of John the Baptist Playing Out Daily in America Against an Army of Woke Herodians

This piece is all about the war on truth. John told the truth which is why Herodias wanted him dead

There are still some who either because they still retain some backbone or fear the masses of the people more than the army of woke Herodians (who are actually much smaller then they appear) decide to reject them and side with the people and each time they it strikes fear in the hearts of the woke Herodians because they know their power is dependent on the fear of their Herods and the indifference of the masses.

There are John the Baptists out there. Tucker Carlson who faced the wrath of the woke Herodians but thrived despite it, Riley Gaines who refuses to bend the knee to Transgender Inc. Joe Rogan who talked openly about ivermectin to be used in Covid cases, Ron DeSantis who didn’t give in to either the COVID hysteria or the Disney/woke crowd on sexualizing children and yes Donald Trump as well who refused to bend the knee even as he is treated like an enemy of the state for being an enemy of dishonest elections.

I’m really at a loss why this one didn’t play better as the problem is the single most relevant thing going on.

Rules Rules Rules

It can be very dry to hear about federal bureau​crat​ic rules but our man Jon Fournier understands that they are important and has tackled them. His pieces on Internet rules, Drinking from the feds and on norms on Transgenderism, Guns and life deserved a bigger audience then they got, but the one I’m going to quote is this piece about the resending of a Trump era rule:

The Biden Regime is once again trampling on the First Amendment

The federal government forcing anyone to violate their religious beliefs is a direct violation of the Free Exercise of Religion Clause of the First Amendment.  The original 1973 law, which is now back in effect thanks to Biden’s executive order, did not go far enough because there is no “undue hardship” exception to the First Amendment.

As you can see from this next quote, President Trump understood the First Amendment far better than progressives because his rule was instep with the original understanding of the Free Exercise od Religion Clause.

This piece was from one year ago Jan 5th. The rest of the year didn’t go much better.

Reality Sucks

As I mentioned in the first post I referenced a lot of what is going on is a war on truth and this piece from July 11th illustrated it well:

Ring Doorbells, Paper Ballots and Palestinians

You see the ring camera doesn’t care what your race or religion or the desired narrative of the day is, what it does is show the image of what is actually happening, objective reality.

And while it might be considered a good thing for a homeowner protecting their property or a neighborhood wanting to keep criminals from using it as a stomping ground or even for the mother of boys discourage them from getting into the type of trouble that boys do when they’re young and stupid if you’re trying to sell a narrative based on unreality, well it can be a killer.

Wired magazine didn’t like ring doorbells suggesting it would lead to vigilantism what they really don’t like is reality stomping on the narrative.

After all why do you think so many of the J6 videos were suppressed?

Yesterday was an excellent day for our Days of Christmas fundraiser as we went from 4% of our goal to just over 21% of our goal. We’re still $2365 away from our goal and if you’d like to help us toward it please hit DaTipJar to the left or below:

Harvard and Claudette Gay Highlight the Reason for the Christmas Season

Posted: January 3, 2024 by datechguy in catholic, education
Tags: , , , , ,

Henry Gondorff (Posing as Mr. Shaw) : If any of you guys want to make a little book in Chicago I’m the guy to see

Mr. Clements: The game is straight poker $100 minimum, table stakes. [Gondorf/Shaw reaches for his wallet in his coat] Ah Mr. Shaw this is a gentleman’s game, we all assume you’re good for your debts.

The Sting 1973

As we are at the home stretch for the Christmas season (10th day of Christmas) I’d like to thank Harvard University in general ad Claudette Gay in particular of highlighting the reason for this season.

As you all know the now ex president of Harvard University got into hot water for her response to the horrible antisemitism on Campus since the Hamas Terror attacks of October seventh. It got so bad on campus that the Hanukkah Menorah on campus had to be hidden away each day after being lighted to prevent it from being vandalized which would cause further bad publicity for the school already rocked by open and proud Jew hatred on campus.

Things were so bad that Gay along with the presidents of MIT and Penn were called before congress to address the issue and in the most incredible public spectacle equivocated when asked if calling for the extermination of Jews was against the school codes both for the group in general

and for Gay in particular

The president of Penn resigned within days but Gay hung on and the Board at Harvard defended her. Even when revelations that Gay had a plagiarism problem and that Harvard had taken aggressive steps to keep said problem quiet she was defended. As recently as four days ago the Harvard Crimson ran an editorial saying that Gay should NOT be made to resign.

A sober-minded assessment of the plagiarism charges indicates that Gay’s behavior constitutes plagiarism, but since the errors do not appear intentional, they do not warrant her resignation.

Because we still have faith in our president as a scholar, because we regard her plagiarism as limited and unintentional, and because we recognize that a stopgap interim president would bring chaos instead of needed stability, we do not believe President Gay should resign.

Harvard Crimson: President Gay Plagiarized, but She Should Stay. For Now.

Note that there is not a word in that piece about her handling of campus antisemitism.

Well Gay has now tendered her resignation and the question remains will the board clean house or will it find an anti-Semite who hasn’t committed plagiarism to take her place? For that we will wait and see (I’m betting on the 2nd choice myself).

But the title of this post is : Harvard and Claudette Gay Highlight the Reason for the Christmas Season so the obvious question is: How do these antisemitism and plagiarism scandals highlight the reason for the Christmas Season?

That’s actually very easy.

James Madison nailed it when he wrote: If men were angels we would need no government, If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.

Harvard is one of the elite universities. It’s pedigree goes back to before the founding of the nation, many of the most powerful people in the history of the American Republic have tread it’s hallowed halls. Even now Senators, congressmen, governors and members of our Supreme Court have attended or been faculty of that fabled university.

Yet it has an honor code, a written honor code because it’s known and understood that mankind is by it’s nature fallen.

And because mankind is fallen and can’t get up on its own, it was necessary for a redeemer, a savior, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The one who would save mankind bringing salvation through the forgiveness of their sins

And thus Christ came into the world to die for the sins of the world. It’s was a tough task, so tough that Christ himself asked his father to excuse him from it, yet he did as this father willed.

Harvard’s antisemitism, Gay’s reaction to it along with her plagiarism, and the rush to defend what people knew was wrong highlights the nature of sin, of how ethics go out the window when self interest and agendas are at risk. And while this was a big issue on a grand scale with national implications it’s no different that the man who rationalizes what he knows is wrong at the dinner table or at work.

All of them need a savior and as Linus Van Pelt reminded us:

Linus Van Pelt: And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not: for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.'” That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Many of us on the right are pleased that Justice has been at least started at Harvard, that this is a blow to DEI and the ills that have come of it. That the vile venom of antisemitism might be checked at the campus, but in this season let us be more grateful that we know a savior has been born to take away those sins and our own.

Merry 10th Day of Christmas to all.

The days of Christmas continue to pass and our fundraiser continues with us $2865 & 10 subscribers from our goal. If you’d like what you see please consider kicking in here.

I

Pushback Under the Fedora: Weak Horses, Weak Parishes Strong Bishop, Strong Home Owners, Strong Investments, Weak Harvard

Posted: January 2, 2024 by datechguy in catholic, crime, culture, education, entertainment, Israel, Israel vs Hamas, under the fedora
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Yarneck: You are the survivors. The others have run off. It would seem that evil retreats when forcibly confronted

Star Trek The Savage Curtain 1969

Elder of Ziyon is one of the must goes for news of Israel’s war with Hamas. A few days ago they had a post of an interview with a man named Dr. Harold Rhode who holds a doctorate in Islamic history, lived in Muslim lands for a very long time and has been an advisor on the middle east for more than a quarter of a century. His perspective on what’s going on is the type of info people need if they want to understand Hamas et/al:

And the peace we are looking for is that you will stop fighting, and we will stop fighting, and everyone will live together in peace. But the Muslims do not have a concept like that. They won’t stop until the whole world will be Muslim. They follow what their prophet Muhammad did. He signed a 10-year ceasefire with Quraysh. After 2 years, Muhammad realized Quraysh had weakened — so he attacked them, and won. There is a classic Latin phrase “Bellum omnium contra omnes, pace inter omnes interpellatur,” that war is the natural state of man, interrupted by periods of peace.

We do not look at life like that, but historically most people do. From a Muslim point of view, they can agree to have relations with their enemies — whether they be Muslims, Jews, or anybody else. They can make temporary agreements just like their prophet did. Those agreements can be renewed, renewed, and renewed. But to think that the Saudis see peace the way we Jews see it is a pipe dream. 

In 1949, after Israel’s War of Independence, there was a peace conference in Rhodes. The Arabs insisted the borders be called “ceasefire lines” and not borders. The situation was not set in stone. Arabs do not have the concept that when the fighting is over, we can be friends

To them the war never ends which is why you must never show weakness. That’s also why the “protestors are shoving western cities around. As long as their response if weak they will assert themselves, once you respond with strength and it cost them something, then it will change.

The left is the same way, as long as you don’t stand up to them they will constantly assert themselves, but when you stand up to them like the Archbishop of Milwaukee did when two liberal parishes in Keoshia decided to ally with a radical leftist group CUSH. The Keoshia county eye reports: Milwaukee Archbishop Denounces Extremist Kenosha Group CUSH – Instructs Rogue Priests, Deacons To Sever Ties

For theses reasons none of our parishes, clergy, parish leadership, and staff as official, public representatives of the Catholic Church, can support, or publically [sic] be affiliated with CUSH.”

Father Reesman said the following to KCE Monday evening:

” [The letter] was shared first with the pastors of Saint Mark and Saint Mary’s Parishes before it was made public, and after I had first discussed the issue with them. If there are any ongoing questions from the parishes or their leadership about the contents of this letter, we will handle them on a case by case basis.”

It seems when you push back against gay porn in schools and drag queen story hours, good things happen which is what happened when the folks at Mass Resistance got involved.

Speaking of Push back some armed home invaders got some pushback last week that left one dead, two arrested and the family safe. A sheriff evaluated what they family did and gave it a thumbs up

I like the way Dave and Susie handled this attack. It appears that they must have discussed home invasions and developed a plan. Not responding verbally to the home invaders kept the crooks wondering where their victims might actually be located. And blocking the door with the couch caused their attacker to focus on that chore instead of keeping his full attention focused on looking for victims. Susie gets points for maintaining an open line of communications with the 9-1-1 dispatcher. And Dave was also very smart to put his gun down and meet the police officer with empty hands. Latest reports are that police investigators see no legal problems for Dave & Susie and, in addition, a series of other home invasions may be cleared by this shooting and the subsequent arrests.

It’s a great: ”How to” piece on self defense.

The pushback on Disney continues as well:

Loftis announced that South Carolina will divest $105 million worth of Disney debt securities due to concerns over the company’s leadership and its embrace of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) principles.

Loftis said Disney has abandoned its fiduciary duty to shareholders in favor of ESG, which he defined as a “speech and behavior code that was … created by the left and delivered to everybody else.”

“The sane, sober, talented, mature people are gone, and now you have the gender studies crowd running Disney,” Loftis said, “That’s why their movies are flops and their market cap, I think, is about half what it used to be. It’s a tremendous loss to America — we all grew up on Disney,” he added.

Note the argument made, not because Disney is woke but because “woke” costs them cash. That’s the type of pushback shareholder listen to.

Finally the Harvard Crimson published a dissenting opinion calling for President Gay to go.

While going over the “higher standard” bit the real meat of the argument is here:

We are tired of reading about Harvard’s failures every time we check the news. We are sick of reporters hassling us for interviews in the Yard. We don’t want to return home for break and get pestered by friends and family, asking what is happening on campus or how we’re holding up in this awful environment. Our classes and our studying should not be interrupted by noisemakers and megaphones. Signing an affirmation that we will follow the Harvard College Honor Code before we take our final exams should not feel like a farce.

Students are not the only ones frustrated. Faculty are concerned with her academic misconduct too, though many refuse to go on the record, perhaps for fear of the consequences (a fact the Board’s opinion notes but seems not to take to heart).

Donors are tripping over each other to sever ties with the University. A senator has written in the Wall Street Journal that he was accosted in Widener Library. Congress has launched — and now expanded — an investigation into Harvard. Early application numbers have dropped sharply compared with peer institutions, perhaps in response to the turmoil.

It’s that pushback that is the real driver here and is the only thing that drives leftists away.

The days of Christmas fundraiser continues with a week left to the Christmas season we are still $2865 and a full 10 subscribers away from our goal. If you would like to help us along please hit DaTipJar below or to the upper left of your screen.

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