30 questions about church

30 Church questions: 

1. Favourite Saint? Ss: Therese of Leisiux, St Tatyana of Rome, Cyril and Methodius
2. Favourite Liturgical Season? Easter Season
3. Favourite Theologian of the past? St Simeon the New Theologian
4. Favourite Theologian of today? Pope Benedict XVI
5. Novus Ordo or Ad Orientem? Liturgy of St John Chrysostom which is already celebrated Ad Orientem
6. Latin or Vernacular? Neither, Church Slavonic ;)
7. Favourite book of the Bible? Numbers
8. Favourite Hymn of Advent? I don’t have one
9. Favourite Hymn of Christmas? God the Lord Eternal
10. Favourite Hymn of Lent? I don’t have one
11. Favourite Hymn of Easter? Christos Voskres
12. Favourite Pope? Pope Benedict XVI
13. Favourite Theology book? The Philiokalia
14. Favourite Hymn to Our Lady? Mary, Look upon us
15. Favourite Gregorian chant? The introit of Epiphany
16. Favourite Hymn of Ordinary Time? How’s Sunday after Pentecost? :p O Holy Spirit
17. Favourite Mysteries of the Rosary? Sorrowful
18. Do you pray the chaplet of Divine Mercy? On various occasions
19. Do you pray the chaplet of St Michael? No, I do not.
20. Favourite Litany? The Litany of Peace
21. Favourite Feast day? Pascha and St Therese day
22. Is your church’s Tabernacle behind the altar or off to the side? Neither, it’s on the altar, in most Eastern churches, the Tabernacle is on the altar of sacrifice, we do not separate them.
23. Favourite Devotion: the chyotki, Jesus prayer
24. Favourite Title of Our Lady: Theotokos of Kazan
25. Person I want canonised soon? Bl Theodore
26. Favourite Psalm? 51
27. Favourite Bible verse? Ps 68, 1
28. Date of Baptism: Oct 17
29. Date of Confirmation: May 22
30. Name 5 things you would do if you were Pope? a. restore full rights and privileges to all Eastern Catholic churches (aka allowing Eastern synods to name their own bishops and do their own canonisations) b. put eastern rites fully under eastern bishops. c. revoke the communion in the hand and standing for communion in the western churches indult. d. dissolve Bishops’ conferences. e. give official patriarch status to the UGCC Major Archbishop. 

Items that are apparently worthy to make the news

• Considering all the problems that we have in the states' and the wonderful, competent, think they know better than us geniuses better known as Congress/US Patent Office, they're worrying about the nickname of the Washington football franchise? Honestly, if we base things based on our "offendedness" would we even be able to accomplish anything? Virtually anything can be found "offensive" if we really try. As it's said in the Bill of No Rights, we don't have a right to not be offended. Maybe we ought to have the Bill of No Rights enshrined somewhere. 
• Pope Francis is finally taking a vacation....I pray he comes back refreshed, and puts the insults to an end. 
• So it's often advisable to not read the comments in various media...I hear the intelligence is often lacking from these things. Something to bear in mind, we don't wish to be the thought police, and should allow multiple viewpoints to take place, always in the light of Truth, and with respect and civility. I'd rather someone express something "hurtful" or hateful and it be seen in the open, than play the role of censor, but it is also true that lines need to be drawn somewhere.
• I find it a bit becoming of some to solicit "likes" on a facebook page. Maybe it's just me, but I don't feel that everything I personally "like" in real life needs to be acknowledged, or shown on facebook, I could be wrong...but I find the intrusion into personal privacy to be a bit much. 
• Cardinal Dolan is up to his old antics again...whether it be allowing this, or kicking this priest out. I must say, I've never really been a fan of his...He can use some prayers. 
• There's an icon exhibit at the Getty, for those of you local, I recommend that you go. 
• There some personal intentions, in your charity, I'd love if you could pray for them. 

Pax Vobis

Some thoughts on a Friday Morning

• There are times when I feel that people are made of salt (no, not salt of the earth type), and totally insist upon pouring their whole selves into wounds. Painful, yes, annoying, even more so....continuously happening? Of course. 
• I must say, an ignorance of the Liturgy is a deep problem. I'm realizing more and more that Summorum Pontificum was more or less, Pope Benedict XVI's way of saying, "y'all clueless and need to get your act together." Liturgy is not about us, our preferences, but about the worship of God, this is a matter of justice.
• Honestly, I really think there is an idolatry of poverty that has been infecting the Roman church lately. Most certainly we're called to live simply, but we're not religious, and we do not have a vow of poverty. Nor for that matter do secular priests. They should not be expected to live like religious priests. 
• I don't think it's necessary to solicit likes for pages, and various other interests. It is not necessary to publicly acknowledge everything. 
• Sleep has been difficult to come by...I might need to move countries. 
• Lastly isn't it interesting that often our greatest enemies are from within our own circles? 

Weekend musings

• I hear there's a football game tomorrow. I the avid sports person that I am will be watching. Apparently since I'm in seachicken territory, I'm supposed to root for Seattle...however as we all know, I only root for the Seattle baseball team...go Broncos...That said, it is of course a business, and while we shouldn't be envious of their profits....they should be able to carry their own weight.
• Many people are trying to say Pope Francis isn't a liberal: too late, damage is already done...or as I've said, he's not really on either side of the debate...but these words still apply:

"It’s nice, but too little too late…Although the Pope may very well be fine doctrinally, etc, the perception that he isn’t has caused more damage than if he actually were to change anything (which of course he can’t do). Perception might not be reality at times, but the perception often is worse.

It does not bring anyone joy to point out things with Pope Francis, One can’t pretend that things are all unicorns, sunshine and rainbows, when they’re not. Pope Francis does say things that are good and solid, at the same time he doesn’t. Praise where praise is due, correction, where correction is due…but the vast majority of time it’s the latter rather than the former, whether it’s the “who am I to judge” (TM) , “little monsters” (TM) , intentionally disobeying Holy Thursday rubrics, or “the miracle is a sharing” when referring to the feeding of the 5 000. Not nipping things before they get worse always undercuts whatever authority or intention someone is trying to do. Especially for the Pope.

It’s good to not despair or constantly focus on the negative things, it’s quite taxing. As I like to say, while I’m not as far to the right as the traditional blogs in their criticisms of Pope Francis. (I genuinely think he doesn’t know), I’m not in the super sunshine and rainbows camp of the lefties either. It’s a day by day thing.

Let us pray for our Holy Father Francis, Pope of Rome, Lord have mercy."

• You know something I really can't stand, when people complain behind my back. I guess people think that they're going to offend me...well, they're right. It's better to offend me, deal with the wrath that comes with the particular situation, then seek forgiveness, rather than hide one's opinions....me find out, and be even angrier than I would have been if one just told me. And people wonder why I'm not a fan of people :p
• I remember when there weren't ads on youtube.....it was better then
• Penitential kneeling is forbidden on Sundays, kneeling in Adoration is not. The primary use of kneeling in the West is Adoration. The primary use of kneeling (prostrations) in the east is Penance...both traditions should be respected and left within their respective traditions and not imposed on each other.
• These words were very comforting....I only hope that when the time comes that all of us have the grace to stand up like our St Ignatius of Antioch
• The problem with so many statements today is that they frame the subjective ahead of the objective piece. This is backwards as to the way things should be framed. Application only comes after knowing what the law is. This applies to not just matters political. 
• I've heard it's good to look at cute things...so here's 5 min of cute...don't die

• As always, Pax Vobis

Apparently, Yesterday was handwriting day

Via Adrienne

Yes, kids should have to learn Cursive...Here's a sample of my own

The Principle: The Movie...

As a physicist, although astro-physics wasn't my field of study....I must say this is intriguing, I'll have some thoughts on it later.

Seriously....

You knows something zero, if you're looking for a new gal, being married and doing so in front of your wife isn't a good idea, just saying...But you know, as classless and decorumless as this act is, part of me says not bad if you're considering upgrading, and part of me wishes the Danish PM takes you away for good....Bad form zero, bad form

Monday morning news...

a. Our prayers for our Holy Father are apparently working...but keep praying

Some articles, here, and here.

While we haven't seen a retraction of some of the confusing things that have come from Rome, there most certainly has been a change in tone lately, and hopefully this tone continues....and the actions match the tone that is spoken. I'm not going to be all giddy giddy, for a few good things do not necessarily mean that things have turned around. But it does seem that the Holy Father is getting the message about how he's speaking which I can't complain about because quite frankly, some of what has come has been atrocious.

As I've stated before, I believe that Francis should be able to stand on Francis' own words and not the words of Benedict XVI or anyone else, and if he can't stand on his own words, he needs to re-evaluate what is being said. I'm not sold on "Reading Francis through Benedict" (TM), but I'll say that it is encouraging to see explicit support from Pope Francis towards the mindset of his predecessor.

We of course must continue to pray for Our Holy Father, the enemies are out to get him, both from within and from outside of the Church. We need to pray that he does not flee from the wolves, and does something about them. :D

b. Sometimes, things are just better in Russian....Newton's Law page is an example...their page gives a much more orthodox explanation of Newton's Laws (though there are still a few pages to fix)...I'm presently working on doing the corrections to the English page.

c. I have recently began singing the epistle for St Cyril's. Your prayers would be awesome :)

Physics, clearer, better, uncut

I'd totally watch this

*a bit of language, but LOL

Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to me

Today is all about me....me me me me and me....and since it's my birthday...

Watch my kitty

Random thoughts

• America's next top model, is extremely degrading to women and places materialistic exterior beauty above interior beauty.Why do we show this crap on TV?
• Latin is meant to be sung, not recited
• More things aren't in our control than we care to recognize.
• I think it's pretty good if you can pray LOTH over long distances. 
• I don't forget rejections....period.