Easter TLM at St. Elizabeth of Hungary

For readers who may be interested, the Traditional Latin Mass will be celebrated as usual at 1:30 pm at Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Church on Easter Sunday, April 4. This Mass was inadvertently left off the schedule of Masses for Easter in the Saint Elizabeth's Sunday bulletin.

Palm Sunday

A blessed Palm Sunday to all as we enter Holy Week!

Spring Training

I grew up in a baseball family. The youngest of four siblings and the only girl, my childhood/teen spring and summer days were spent at the ballpark watching my brothers play and my dad manage Little League ball. I was bound to either love or hate the sport.

My dad (RIP) was a great Little League manager. He won far more games and seasons in his lifetime than he lost, and even took his 1978 All-Star Team to a state championship. What a year that was. The memories are still so clear in my mind of the team's winning ways, rooting them on, enjoying the pizza parties afterward. I still keep in touch with a couple of the players; in fact, the catcher and the slugger from that team helped bear my dad to his final resting place last September.

My dad was undoubtedly the biggest Red Sox fan there ever was. He fell in love with the team as a 12-year old boy in 1946 when Ted Williams was in his prime, and he followed them the rest of his life, whether they had a winning or losing season. Dad was not a boisterous fan; no, when Dad watched a game he would sit way back in his chair, hands resting, folded almost up on his chest, taking in every pitch and play. He didn't cheer loudly, but if the manager made a decision he disagreed with, well, he'd voice his opinion on that!

In 2000, Dad had the great privilege of going to Fenway Park in Boston to see the Red Sox play, courtesy of a very good friend of his. It was certainly the trip of a lifetime for him. Then in 2004, Dad finally got to celebrate Boston winning the World Series. Unfortunately it was at the expense of St. Louis! But Cardinals fan that I am, I couldn't help being thrilled for Dad. And to this day, I am a Red Sox fan too, for Dad's sake.

One thing my dad wished he could do was go watch his team play in Spring Training. He never got to do that. But this Spring, my dear husband is taking me and the boys to Jupiter, FL, to watch the Cards in Spring Training. I think I'm almost as excited as my dad would have been! We'll see three games, all of them in seats close enough to catch a foul-ball or two. It should be a wonderful trip with yet more baseball memories to talk about in years to come. Dad would be so happy for us.

I was bound to love or hate baseball. Well, I love it. I love that I live in a baseball town and that I can listen to Mike Shannon call the Cardinals games on the radio almost everyday from April through (hopefully!) October. And I love my dad for giving me baseball. Thanks Dad, this Spring Training is for you!

International Society of Scholastics

I very recently came across a website for the International Society of Scholastics, a group that offers online education courses, many of which look very interesting. In perusing their site I took particular note of the fact that Monsignor Michael Schmitz, Vicar General of the Institute of Christ the King, serves on their Board of Advisors.

Today I am going to check out their 'crash course' entitled "What is Education? A Guide for Homeschool Parents", a brief description of which follows:

"This Crash Course is intended for homeschooling families, but is valuable for anyone in the educational field. We’ll discuss the nature of teaching and education, paying close attention to how the human mind develops from sense knowledge to intellectual knowledge. We’ll talk about reasoning and natural discovery; the artistic cooperation of a parent in the child’s continuing perfection; the basic disciplines and the order for learning them based on the intellect’s natural development process; the trivium and quadrivium; ‘great books’ education; the metaphysical goal of natural knowledge and its ordering toward Theology; the moral effects of a sound education."

A schedule of upcoming Saturday Crash Course offerings is listed here.

Lenten Music

One of the staples of our school at home is to have classical music playing throughout the school day. The boys enjoy having music in the school room, and they even have a couple of favorite composers and pieces.

With Lent upon us, I recently downloaded some works of Palestrina, specifically, Palestrina: Lamentations and Allegri: Miserere; Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli. Both collections are absolutely beautiful and befit the present season perfectly. On first hearing it my eldest son asked me if it was the choir at St. Francis deSales Oratory singing! Well, no, I told him, but the deSales choir does sound a lot like this recording. (How blessed we are at the Oratory to have such heavenly choral music, under the direction of Mr. Nick Botkins, accompanying the Liturgy!)

If you are looking for music to uplift you heart and accompany your Lenten days and meditations, Palestrina is an excellent choice.

God bless you!

An Extraordinary Sunday

HSMom is taking a break, so HSDad gets permission to feature a post!

Sunday, 1:30pm. And so it was that on the first Sunday in Lent we found ourselves, along with another 120 or so faithful, assisting Father Lockwood at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Extraordinary form at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish - the first time the ancient Liturgy has been celebrated there on a Sunday in more than forty years.

Forty. The number forty rings in our hearts, a number found in the Holy Bible denoting a time of transition, but especially this first Sunday in Lent. From today's Gospel of Matthew we read of Jesus fasting for forty days and nights in the desert: His temptation, His strengthening, His example for us to persevere.

How rich this Liturgy, rediscovered time and again in the hearts of the faithful where it is offered. How blessed we Catholics are to have this treasure, as we praise God in gratitude giving him thanks for working through shepherds of His Church to once again provide and allow this sacred Rite to be freely offered where it is requested.

Our two boys were among the four candle bearers and ten or so boys and young men assisting Father at the Altar. The young men instructing the boys of the seriousness of this duty, teaching them by example and instruction, the good practice of serving.

Thank you Father Lockwood and thank you, Your Excellency Archbishop Carlson, for providing Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Parish this eternal jewel.

Litany of Humility

Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930),
Secretary of State for Pope Saint Pius X

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being loved...
From the desire of being extolled ...
From the desire of being honored ...
From the desire of being praised ...
From the desire of being preferred to others...
From the desire of being consulted ...
From the desire of being approved ...
From the fear of being humiliated ...
From the fear of being despised...
From the fear of suffering rebukes ...
From the fear of being calumniated ...
From the fear of being forgotten ...
From the fear of being ridiculed ...
From the fear of being wronged ...
From the fear of being suspected ...

That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be esteemed more than I ...
That, in the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may decrease ...
That others may be chosen and I set aside ...
That others may be praised and I unnoticed ...
That others may be preferred to me in everything...
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should…