Thin Blue Papist

I was really struck by the Placeat (Prayer to the Blessed Trinity after Mass) today.  A main critique of the TLM is that the priest doesn’t face the people.  Read this prayer.  Who is it directed to?  The people, no.  The Trinity, yes. From the start, to the end, the priest’s prayers are directed to God, we pray with the priest, gazing upon the cross as the sacrifice of Calvary is re-presented on the Altar.  The Placeat is just one of the many prayers ripped from the Missal by the reformers.  It impoverished the Mass and forced the faithful to lose focus.  The numbers speak for themselves, scores of churches and schools closed, pews are empty and shrinking belief in the true presence.  Study your faith, know your faith, defend your faith. Picture 1 is taken from the Fr. Lasance Missal.  Picture 2 & 3 are excerpted from Mass of the Ages Episode II.

  A reflection on Acts 14:5-18 (1st Reading 5/8/23, Monday of the 5th Week of Easter) Who are we to stand against God’s plans?  Who are we to question God’s infinite wisdom?  As the psalmist says: As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he knows that we are dust. (Psalms 103:13-14) While me must acknowledge our lowliness compared to His majesty, we also rejoice in knowing that, “ God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him …” (Genesis 1:27).  While we must be humble servants of the Lord we must also be bold heralds of the Gospel.  In this passage of Acts we first hear of the crowd of both Jews and Gentiles that try to kill Paul and Barnabas by stoning them in Iconium.  Despite this, and other attacks, they continue spreading the Good News in Lystra and Derbe.  We read in this part of Acts of the man healed by Paul.  Paul sees the man’s faith and calls to him, “Stand u...

 The Catholic Church is full of a seemingly endless variety of traditions, devotions and sacramentals.  I'd like to take a moment to talk about one that seems to have fallen out of disuse, blessed or more properly, exorcised salt.  Salt is very important biblically and spiritually, there's even a "Salt in the Bible" Wikipedia page , go, check.   Salt goes back to being an ingredient in ritual prayer to our forefathers in faith, Leviticus 2:13 states, " You shall season all your cereal offerings with salt; you shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be lacking from your cereal offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt ."  Ezekiel, Exodus, Ezra, Numbers, Chronicles, Psalms and other Old Testament texts reference salt. The famous Salt & Light sermon in Matthew reads, "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?  It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out a...

 This post was born out of a comment I was originally going to make on @cool_catholic 's reel regarding the purpose and meaning of the Mass.  Using the funeral example, sadly I think we see the most secular incursions on the Holy Mass happening at funerals.  There's not enough emphasis put on the fact that at a funeral Mass we are praying for the repose of the departed's soul.  We're not "celebrating life," and we don't "know X is among the angels."  Consciously of subconsciously there is a tendency to make the funerals about and for the grieving, not the deceased. I blame most of this on bad catechesis and a poor grasping of theology by the laity, and its not their fault.  But there's also little Christian charity exercised by those who do know and understand with those who don't.  I'll admit, I'm guilty of it too, but I strive to be better. I recall a story of a priest who, having the option of purple or white for funeral Masses...

I started what I’ve now deemed a “Meme Based Apostolate” in early January of this year. Something told me, “just do it,” so I did, and here I am, a little more than 6 months later. My first Instagram post said, “Just a Catholic cop trying to get to heaven and help others on the road there. We’ll see where the Holy Spirit takes this journey. God bless and stay safe!” I’ve had a few good thoughts since then, had more than a few positive reactions and interactions and intend to keep going. Unfortunately Instagram holds you back from putting a lot of text info out there and some of the things I want to talk about require more than just a meme and a couple of small paragraphs. I’ve done some longer form writing over the years without an outlet beyond a teahcer, priest or spiritual advisor. This will be able to give me, hopefully, a bigger audience and a wider sounding board for my thoughts, ideas, opinions and the like. Thanks for being here, and thanks for coming on this journey with me...

You will never be alone.  We know that God is omnipresent, and that nowhere in His creation can we escape Him.  “ The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good ,” (Proverbs 15:3).  From the start of creation, God’s presence is in everything as its creator, we can marvel at the wonders of the world at how God has graced us with such beauty and splendor.  So much, even beyond our own world that we know, all created by God shows us the reach and expanse of His creation.  With all the knowledge we have in the present day, the heavens above us are still an endless marvel we know so little about.  “ When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have established ,” (Psalms 8:3).  Just think at how similarly man has sat in awe looking at the night sky in its expanse for age upon age and yet God’s brilliance in that one mere aspect of creation continues to draw us in.  ...

Authority is service to one another for the good of the other.  A good authority has the best interests and well being of those they have authority over as their primary concern.  Whether elected, appointed or anointed, authority is a call to service.  Authority can be defined as, “the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience.”  In Matthew’s Gospel, Christ is asked by local authority figures, “By what authority are you doing these things?  And who gave you this authority?” (Matthew 21:23).  An interesting internal dialogue among the chief priests and elders ensues weighing their options of response to Jesus’ rebuttal.  Ultimately they admit that they do not know.  This questioning of authority, particularly of Jesus, during his ministry was not uncommon.  Questioning authority existed before Christ and exists up through the present day.  Accountability of authorities to the governed or ruled or most importantl...