QHR Graduation and Awards Ceremony

May God continue to bless His Holy Church with well formed young Catholic boys and girls.

" [Priests', teachers', and staff members'] efforts to form solid Catholic students should not be taken for granted, and are certainly not in vain ... The opportunity to go to Holy Mass almost every day, the priests in cassocks teaching and governing the students here, and Catholic teachers, all make the Academy a healthy, Catholic way to high school, steering students the right way to graduation. If a family was searching for a school that had a traditional Catholic environment enveloping it, they should choose Queen of the Holy Rosary Academy."  - from the Valedictorian speech.

Congratulations, Newly Confirmed!

"Now, when the apostles, who were in Jerusalem, had heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John. Who, when they were come, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost. For he was not as yet come upon any of them: but they were only baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands upon them: and they received the Holy Ghost.

- Acts 8:14-17

"And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God: whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption."  

- Ephesians 4:30

Hope

This morning at Holy Mass for First Saturday, Saint Mary's Assumption was graced with the presence of seven seminarians from Saint Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Winona, MN, among whom was our very own nephew. Seven future priests! (Click images to enlarge)

And on top of that, our boys served!

Deo Gratias!

O Lord, Grant Us Priests!

Heartfelt congratulations to the five young men (and their families) at Saint Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Winona, MN, who this past weekend were ordained to the subdiaconate by His Excellency Bishop Bernard Fellay, receiving the first of their major orders on their ascent to the Holy Priesthood. More pictures can be viewed here.

Congratulations also to the young men (and their families) at the Seminary who received the tonsure and minor orders over the weekend.  Among the nineteen who received minor orders is our own nephew! Read more here.

May Almighty God bless them and protect them in their journeys.

* * *

O Lord, grant us priests!

O Lord, grant us holy priests!

O Lord, grant us many holy priests!

O Lord, grant us many holy religious vocations!

Passiontide

"And in doing good, let us not fail. For in due time we shall reap, not failing."

Galatians 6:9

* * *

It is Passiontide, the fifth week of our Lenten journey toward Easter. We are perhaps weary of the fast, and ready to celebrate Our Lord's glorious resurrection with all the beauty, smells, bells and feasting appropriate to the day. But we are not there yet.

Indeed we are not. Our statues are now covered--hidden--at church, much like Our Lord had to hide Himself from the Jews lest they kill Him before His time was accomplished (today's Gospel reading, John 7:1-13). Let us too, as we are able, hide ourselves in meditation on the coming events, let us join our own fastings and prayer to His as we prepare for the holiest week of the liturgical year. Let us redouble our efforts for our own sakes and for the good of His Church!

And the Church gives us encouragement to do just that. From the hour of Terce for April 8, 2014, The Liturgy of the Hours:

Prayer {from the Proper of the season}
V. O Lord, hear my prayer.
R. And let my cry come unto thee.

Let us pray
Lord, we beseech thee, that this our Fast may be acceptable in thy sight, and may, through thy blessing, effectually work in us, making us meet here to receive thy grace and hereafter the everlasting glory which Thou hast promised.

Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.

R. Amen.

 A blessed Passiontide to all.

Happy Feast Day and Anniversary

Today we celebrate the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  We ask Our Lady to watch over and guide her Son's Church, especially in these days.  Mary, our hope and seat of wisdom, pray for us.  

It was also 23 years ago today, March 25th, that the founder of the Society of Saint Pius X passed from this life.  Eternal rest grant to him O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon him.  May his soul and the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace.  

Amen.

“Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, founder of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X, died on the morning of March 25. This year’s first day of Holy Week is also one of the great feasts of the liturgical year, the Annunciation, the day when, by the fiat of Mary the Incarnation comes about.” [From ‘Tributes for a Catholic Bishop’]

“... it would be wrong not to acknowledge that without him the struggle for the preservation of much of what we cherish would probably have been lost. ... the global movement for the advancement of the Traditional Roman Rite is inseparably linked to the life of this passionate man“ [From Rorate Caeli]

Meet Me at a ... Fish Fry?

So, through the amazing charity of HSMom, I am given the opportunity once again to post on My Morning Cup.  Wow, twice in one year .... I may need to get my own blog.

Probably like all Catholics in the archdiocese we receive the Saint Louis Review every week, and in this week’s issue there was a ‘Living Our Faith’ insert entitled ‘meet me at a fish fry’.  Not that long of an article actually, and quite a number of nice shots of people enjoying each others company in Catholic fellowship in their local parishes ... heck, there is even a picture of a couple of musicians who serenade with mariachi music.  Lenten fish frys, as the article says, is ‘a tradition that brings together Catholics who abstain from eating meat on Fridays during Lent’.  I guess in the strictest sense, perhaps, but then I noticed towards the bottom of the inset a link to an article by Father John Mao entitled ‘Why do we abstain from meat on Lenten Fridays?’.  Father brings up several good points, but to me it seemed incongruous to the Fish Fry article I just read.  

I have always thought it was odd ... fish frys, that is, to have such a festive, joyful celebration not only in Lent, but on Fridays in Lent.  Saint Paul says that we must ‘live by the spirit while mortifying our sinful flesh’ (Romans 8:13).  Father expands this further ... “... (Paul) is saying that we need to put ‘sarx’ to death.  This is the sensual part of our body that gets cravings to indulge in food and pleasures: some of which are good, others of which need to be limited or eliminated altogether”.   I started to see a dichotomy between what he said and what I just read, in the framework of Lenten fast, abstinence and penance.  I did a little more digging and came across a helpful article entitled ‘Six Reasons Why I Don’t participate in Friday Fish Frys’ written by Marge Fenelon several years ago.  No doubt, some will read this and find it as appealing as stink on socks, but put in the light of our Catholic faith, there is much to be taken from it.  From her article:

1. Our Lord fasted for 40 days…he did not take time off. We’re called to follow his example in all things, which is why the Church promotes strict observance of the Lenten liturgical season. 

2. When I was a child, our parish pastor encouraged us to hold the fast prescribed by the Church for Ash Wednesday and Good Friday on all Fridays – especially during Lent – to deepen our unity with our Suffering Savior, strengthen us against sin, and as a symbol of our love and gratitude for him. This so inspired me, that I’ve kept the resolution throughout the years. 

3. Fish frys normally are “all you can eat”, thus encouraging the very gluttony and over indulgence we’re supposed to be avoiding. Additionally, those who go, go because fried fish appeals to them, and to me, that doesn’t seem to be much of a penance. I know, I too love fried fish. 

4. Fish frys have the tendency toward carousal and, when the beer starts to flow too freely, debauchery. I’ll agree that many fish fry events are family-oriented and that we can and should enjoy all the marvelous things in God’s creation. But it seems to me that the atmosphere at fish frys collides with the atmosphere of penitence we’re asked to foster on Fridays. 

5. Fish frys are often used as fund raisers. It strikes me as morally wrong to capitalize on our Lord’s suffering and death, on a sacred season of the Catholic Church, in order to make money. 

6. This puts the groups that use and promote fish frys as fund raisers — whether intentionally or unwittingly — in the position of contributing to the weaknesses of the Christian faithful, opening them to the possibility of the sin of gluttony and breaking the Lenten Friday fast.

A blessed Lent to all of HSMom’s readership ... meet me at the Stations (the Stations of the Cross).

HSDad