Cyril of Alexandria

 

It's Cyril's feast today and I celebrated with delicious steak and mushroom pie. Stand by for more on that. In the meanwhile, here's the Collect:

O God, who made the Bishop Saint Cyril of Alexandriaan invincible champion of the divine motherhood of the most Blessed Virgin Mary, grant, we pray, that we, who believe she is truly the Mother of God, may be saved through the Incarnation of Christ your Son. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

And here's the saint:

That anyone could doubt the right of the holy Virgin to be called the mother of God fills me with astonishment. Surely she must be the Mother of God if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, and she gave birth to him! Our Lord’s disciples may not have used those exact words, but they delivered to us the belief those words enshrine, and this has also been taught us by the holy fathers...

The divinely inspired Scriptures affirm that the Word of God was made flesh, that is to say, he was united to a human body endowed with a rational soul. He undertook to help the descendants of Abraham, fashioning a body for himself from a woman and sharing our flesh and blood, to enable us to see in him not only God, but also, by reason of this union, a man like ourselves.

It is held, therefore, that there are in Emmanuel two entities, divinity and humanity. Yet our Lord Jesus Christ is nonetheless one, the one true Son, both God and man; not a deified man on the same footing as those who share the divine nature by grace, but true God who for our sake appeared in human form. We are assured of this by Saint Paul’s declaration: When the fullness of time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law and to enable us to be adopted as sons.

Two natures in one substance. Behold the miraculous glory and rejoice in the salvific glory of it.

Your Old Buddy,

LSP

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Feast of the Assumption

Some people think the Assumption's idolatrous, that we're worshiping the Blessed Virgin Mary as some kind of false goddess. Hardly, we're celebrating the holiness that brought salvation, Christ, into the world. 

Holiness in advance of Enoch and Elijah, surely. If they were taken up into heaven, why not Mary, the Mother of God.

Here's a prayer:

WE BESEECH thee, O Lord; mercifully to forgive the sins of thy people; that we, who of ourselves can do nothing that is acceptable unto thee, my be succoured by the intercession of the Mother of thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Who liveth and reigneth with thee.

Have a blessed Feast,

LSP

Immaculate Conception

Today's the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, so I hope you managed to take some time off from storming hated Macron's green palace on the Champs D'Elysees and contemplated the mystery of Mary conceived without Original Sin.

She was, says the Angel, "full of grace," gratia plena, and who are we to discount Gabriel? Of course Mohammad gave it a shot but that's a different, less edifying story. So here's a few prayers to help on the way.

O GOD, Who, by the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, didst prepare a worthy habitation for Thy Son, we beseech Thee, that as by the foreseen death of that same Son, Thou didst preserve her from all stain, so too thou wouldst permit us, purified through her intercession, to come unto Thee. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

...Do thou, then, O Blessed Mother, our queen and advocate, who from the first instant of thy conception didst crush the head of the enemy, receive the prayers which, united with thee in our single heart, we implore thee to present at the throne of God, that we may never fall into the snares which are laid out for us, and may all arrive at the port of salvation; and, in so many dangers, may the Church and Christian society sing once again the hymn of deliverance and of victory and of peace. Amen.

The hymn of deliverance and of victory,  at Lepanto, Vienna and on. Be assured we'll sing it again.

Ave Eva,

LSP

Grace

Years ago, back in the halcyon days when the world was young and UKLF still had county regiments, I was praying, intensely, before the Sacrament. It was before an ecumenical service with local Baptists in Reading, England. 

My Father, rest in peace, was praying beside me. He was part of the service, maybe "guest preacher," and he looked at me, locked in white knuckle prayer effort and said, "Don't you believe in grace?"

Sheepishly, I replied that I did and relaxed.

We filled that church on the night with hundreds of people, it was packed. The Baptists pulled out of the project later because there was a statue of Virgin Mary in the church. Such idolatry!

Make of this what you will.

Gratia plena,

LSP

Melania Mondays! Even Though it's Tuesday

It's never too late for Melania Mondays!, which is why we're bringing you this special miracle edition on the life of America's popular and glamorous First Lady.

Melania is known for her love of children and wasted no time visiting the Bambino Gesu hospital in Rome after her May audience with Pope Francis. Before entering the hospital she took time to pray before a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

She then visited with the children, asking one little Greek boy in ICU if he would like her to pray for him. The boy accepted and the First Lady prayed for miraculous healing; the child desperately needed a heart donor.

After visiting, Melania stopped at the hospital chapel and made her devotions before leaving. A few hours later, on arriving in Belgium, she discovered that a donor had been found.

“Upon landing in Belgium, I learned a young boy and his family who had been waiting for a heart transplant was informed that the hospital has found a donor.I read a book and held hands with this special little one just a few hours ago, and now my own heart is filled with joy over this news.”

A miracle? I should say so. 

Don't underestimate the power of prayer and as always, thank you Melania for bringing hope and love to children and doing your part to make America great again.

Salve Regina,

LSP

The Assumption

Listen up, heathen. It's the Feast of the Assumption, so here's a prayer:

May this hallowed feast shower us with saving grace, O Lord; since today the mother of God underwent the death of the body yet could not be held in deathbonds, as having brought forth Your incarnate Son, Our Lord; Who lives and reigns...

And here's the Latin, for all you trads out there, from the Dominican Breviary.

Veneránda nobis, Dómine, huius diéi festívitas opem cónferat salutárem, in qua sancta Dei Génetrix mortem súbiit temporálem, nec tamen mortis néxibus déprimi pótuit, quae Fílium tuum Dóminum nostrum de se génuit incarnátum: Qui tecum vivit et regnat...

I think the Latin's better, but that's just me.

God bless,

LSP 

Mother's Day Prayer

Now that everyone's recovered from the uplifting effects of Maxine Waters street art, here's a prayer for Mother's Day:

Mary, on this day when we honor all mothers, we turn to you. We thank the Lord whom you serve for the great gift of motherhood. Never has it been known that anyone who sought your intercession was left unaided by grace.

Dear Mother, thank you for your "Yes" to the invitation of the angel which brought heaven to earth and changed human history. You opened yourself to God's word and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. 

Dear mother, intercede for all of our mothers. Ask your Divine Son to give them the grace of surrendered love so that they could join with you in giving their own "Fiat." May they find daily strength to say yes to the call to the sacrificial love - the very heart of the vocation of motherhood. May their love and witness be a source of great inspiration for all of us called to follow your Son. 

On this Mothers day, Mother of the Word Incarnate, pray for us who have recourse to you.

God bless,

LSP

The Annunciation

It's the Feast of the Annunciation today and you can imagine Mary's conversation with Joseph, several months after her meeting with the angel.

"Mary, you're pregnant."

"Don't worry, the Holy Spirit did it."

What a brave young woman. She ran the risk of being stoned to death or, at the very least, being outcast from the community with no means of support. Fortunately an angel intervened again in the affairs of men, and put Joseph straight. Here's a prayer, taken from the concluding Collect of the Angelus:

WE beseech thee, O Lord, pour thy grace into our hearts; that, as we have known the incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ by the message of an angel, so by his cross and passion we may be brought into the glory of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

God bless,

LSP

Merry Christmas!

Eternal God,

who made this most holy night

to shine with the brightness of your one true light:

bring us, who have known the revelation

of that light on earth,

to see the radiance of your heavenly glory;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Merry Christmas and God bless,

LSP

Rest in Peace

I said a Requiem for a friend and strong churchman today. He was a good man, and I don't say that lightly, who'd fought cancer for 4 years, a brain tumor no less. 

That in itself is something of a miracle and, if anything, the disease seemed to make his faith stronger. Sorry, problem of evil "philosophers." Also, until the very end he was able to live an active life; I thank God for that.

I can also say, with confidence, that he'd made his peace with God before he died, which is no small thing.

So, may JA rest in peace and rise in glory. And all you many heathen that read this lighthearted blog, reflect on this. What god do you worship and what hope does it give or offer you.

The world, the flesh? With no thought for eternity? And what comes after those two objects of adoration. Oh yes, the Devil.

I'll resist the temptation to refer you to John Podesta and the ravening elitocracy that seeks to devour the whole world.

May the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace.

Sure and certain hope.

LSP

Annunciation

It's the Feast of the Annunciation, so here's a prayer:

WE beseech thee, O Lord, pour thy grace into our hearts; that, as we have known the incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ by the message of an angel, so by his cross and passion we may be brought unto the glory of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

God bless,

LSP

Judgement Runs Out Into Mercy

Listen up, you lot. It's not Christmas yet, it's Advent, and you've probably forgotten this so I'm posting it again. Wisdom, from Austin Farrer:

Our journey sets out from God in our creation, and returns to God at the final judgement. As the bird rises from the earth to fly, and must some time return to the earth from which it rose; so God sends us forth to fly, and we must fall back into the hands of God at last. But God does not wait for the failure of our power and the expiry of our days to drop us back into his lap. He goes himself to meet us and everywhere confronts us. Where is the countenance which we must finally look in the eyes, and not be able to turn away our head? It smiles up at Mary from the cradle, it calls Peter from the nets, it looks on him with grief when he has denied his master. Our judge meets us at every step of our way, with forgiveness on his lips and succour in his hands. He offers us these things while there is yet time.Every day opportunity shortens, our scope for learning our Redeemer's love is narrowed by twenty-four hours, and we come nearer to the end of our journey, when we shall fall into the hands of the living God, and touch the heart of the devouring fire.

Advent brings Christmas, judgement runs out into mercy. For the God who saves us and the God who judges us is one God. We are not, even, condemned by his severity and redeemed by his compassion; what judges us is what redeems us, the love of God. What is it that will break our hearts on judgement day? Is it not the vision, suddenly unrolled, of how he has loved the friends we have neglected, of how he has loved us, and we have not loved him in return ; how, when we came (as now) before his altar, he gave us himself, and we gave him half-penitences, or resolutions too weak to commit our wills? But while love thus judges us by being what it is, the same love redeems us by effecting what it does. Love shares flesh and blood with us in this present world, that the eyes which look us through at last may find in us a better substance than our vanity.

I love that.

LSP 

The Feast of the Annunciation

Today's the Feast of the Annunciation, and we rejoice with Mary over the message of an angel, Gabriel, which leads to the Incarnation of the Word and the salvation of mankind.

With that thought in mind, I drove North on the Dallas Tollway to visit Front Sight Firearms. They have a good-looking online presence and I was hoping to pick up an Aero Precision, 7.62 lower receiver. Buy it there and then, I thought, and save yourself FFL transfer fees and hassle. I also like to see what I buy before I buy it; old fashioned, I know, but that's me.

It was weird, driving out to far, far North Dallas, and it's something I rarely do. Miles upon miles of corporate headquarters, nestled between behemoth malls, big box stores and endless subdivisions. All bisected by highways; tomorrow's world today.

But  not my world, so it was strange to see. Not necessarily bad, but alien. McKinney was more of the same, neat little strip-malls with frozen yogurt franchises, and roads that aren't potholed. Look right or left, and you can see the subdivisions. Do the houses have plastic siding? I didn't investigate.

However, I did check out the gun shop. Word to the wise, Front Sight isn't what it appears online. They didn't have my lower, in fact they scorned it, which is odd, and the bored, dismissive, gun nerd behind the counter couldn't even be bothered to engage in right-wing gun shop banter, much less sell me anything. So I bought a Magpul flip-up front sight and left the store.

Is there anything good about Front Sight's shopfront? There is. Their prices are alright, (unlike Ray's) and what they have on offer seems good quality. But there isn't much of it. Don't waste your time going there, unless you're in the area and want to see the suburban metrosprawl. That's my advice. But hey, check them out, maybe they have what you want.

A few hours later I was back in the country. That seemed more normal to me, and I liked it.

Have a blessed Feast of the Annunciation, and ask the Blessed Virgin Mary for her powerful intercession.

God bless,

LSP

Advent IV or Yule?

You have a choice today. You can celebrate the 4th Sunday of Advent or you can celebrate the Winter Solstice, which pagans like to call Yule.

Being a Christian, I celebrated Advent IV and reflected on the Virgin Mary, who some people think is "an ordinary Jewish girl," or maybe a dead Roman Catholic. I'd say she wasn't that ordinary and that she intercedes for us in heaven. That would make her catholic but not dead. Others, like Mr. Chick, think she's a Babylonian demon. That's stupid as well as blasphemous.

But that's just me. Some, perhaps many of you, would rather celebrate Yule today and dance around fires while praying to the Horned God.

Go right ahead, but don't say you weren't warned when you wake up inside a Wicker Man. And it's on fire.

God bless,

LSP

Lepanto and Our Lady of Victory

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Victory, commemorating the decisive defeat of the Muslim navy at Lepanto, on October 7, 1571.

A massive Turkish fleet under the command of Ali Pasha had set sail on the Mediterranean with the intent of invading Italy and conquering Rome. However, in a rare example of European Christian unity, a combined Catholic fleet was raised and placed under the command of Don John of Austria. This fleet met the Turks off Lepanto and routed them, in what some have described as the largest naval engagement to that point since Actium.

Here's an excerpt from Chesterton's Lepanto:

The North is full of tangled things and texts and aching eyes
And dead is all the innocence of anger and surprise,
And Christian killeth Christian in a narrow dusty room,
And Christian dreadeth Christ that hath a newer face of doom,
And Christian hateth Mary that God kissed in Galilee,
But Don John of Austria is riding to the sea.
Don John calling through the blast and the eclipse
Crying with the trumpet, with the trumpet of his lips
But Don John of Austria is riding to the sea,
Trumpet that sayeth ha!
Domino gloria!
Don John of Austria
Is shouting to the ships.

The Christian victory is ascribed to the excellence of the Spanish marines, Don John's leadership and the powerful intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Victory.

We've forgotten Lepanto today, mostly. I'd argue that things would be rather different if the Jihad had landed in Italy in 1571.

I will celebrate this victory.

LSP

Virgin Annunciate

It's pretty fast-paced here in the Newsroom; sometimes we even have to chase articles down by texting. That's what I had to do with Red and the conversation went something like this:

"So where's my article?"

"Why don't you check your inbox."

"OK."

"And DON'T MESS with the content."

"At the risk of offending one of my ritures, maybe you should include God in this. How about that?"

"Sent... add to last para."

"Good. Now go back to shopping at Macy's and getting blind at the bar."

When he's not cranking off rounds in abandoned burn-outs in Detroit, Red's taken to writing art reviews. Here's the second half of his latest, on Fra Angelico's Virgin Annunciate, at the Detroit Institute of Art:

"So often in depictions of the Annunciation, Mary appears surprised or concerned, sometimes shocked, and often reverent. In this depiction she appears positively calm, and if we look closer there is much more. Eyes almost nearly closed, one might assume she is on the verge of quiet tears, contemplative and still, contemplative of so much in that one great moment of realization that she is stilled even of breath, immobile, hands, tilt of the head, posture, all indicting total surrender. A closer examination still and we realize she is flushed, deeply taken by the moment. Although the angel too has rose in his cheeks, it is mere complexion by comparison: Mary has made a great realization of the world, and in it her understanding is universal and she is in communion with it.

"What is our reward for the inspection of such beauty, beyond the basic pleasures of aesthetic appreciation, as fine as they are? We too are in a communion. The communion of an artistic ideal, an aesthetic vista, the universal notion that we are not alone even in those singular moments as a viewer, a viewer in this case observing someone receiving the most unusual news imaginable. That the artist can speak to us over the course of time is indicative. It conveys the notion that we are allowed communion with someone else’s understanding and insight, both aesthetic and spiritual. 

"This is empathy, empathic response at its most fleeting possibly, but possibly its most rewarding, freeing us for a moment from the often too lonely state that our individualistic nature forces upon us, letting us bask in a greater understanding, a greater corporate whole. Reminding us that, even as Mary in her acceptance is contrite, we too can take faith in a singular moment, that contrite moment of spiritual observance when we gaze on such things, one that reminds us that there is a world out there and that we’re in it, that time matters. A faith, of sorts, in something larger than ourselves. And if, all the while, with that empathy rising in us, we see Mary as perhaps in a state of some sort of heavenly ecstasy, perhaps we too are allowed a small glimmer of that ecstasy in ourselves. 

"Thematic tableaux occasionally call out to us for direct interpretation. This is, after all The Annunciation, and the scrutiny we apply to it might not always be formal but also contextual, heightening our response still. Mary’s ecstatic state may be indicative of the fact that she is aware of the very immediate and even intimate presence of God, not just surrounding us in the real world or in the Heavens but much closer. She knows that everything is about to change. 

"And what is a portrait but the capture of an instant? In this case, the instant that sits as a fulcrum between two great epochs, and one which brings her face to face with God’s intent. All the salvation, all the fear, the tremulous concern, the quiet shame and the heartfelt wonder at what we’ve beheld. 

"Through the magnificence of this artist’s work, and if only fleetingly, we’re brought there with her."

Thanks Red, nice work. I like that painting too.

LSP

Happy Mother's Day

Respect and love your Mothers, not least the BVM.

God bless,

LSP

The Feast of the Visitation and the Unborn Child

Yesterday was the Feast of the Visitation, the second joyful mystery of the faith, in which Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth. Both women are pregnant, the Virgin with Christ and Elizabeth with John the Baptist, and Scripture tells us that the "infant leaped" in Elizabeth's womb on hearing Mary's greeting. Our Lady, overcome with joy, exclaims the Magnificat:

My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath magnified me; and holy is his Name. And his mercy is on them that fear him throughout all generations. He hath showed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble and meek; He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel; as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed, for ever.

The Visitation is, at the very least, a celebration of the miracle of life in the womb. Consider, then, the irony of House Democrats and seven Republicans defeating a bill, on the Feast of the Visitation, that would have outlawed sex-selective abortions.

life

To do so, it's argued, would have stood in the way of a woman's "right to choose." That's true. The defeated bill would have made it a crime to choose to kill your unborn child because you didn't want to give birth to a boy, or a girl.

What was that old film called? Ah yes, "Triumph of the Will." 

Look it up if you like.

LSP

House Of Gold

As we prepare for Christmas and try to forget the impending fiscal maelstrom and the likelihood of a Deathstar Blockbuster Bonanza strike against Iran, our minds are drawn to the birth of Christ. It's easy, perhaps, for Christians who focus on the transcendent glory of the Word made Flesh to forget the tenderness and intimacy of the event; to say nothing of the Cross and Passion which the Incarnation unfolds into. Austin Farrer holds all aspects together. In The Crown of the Year he writes:

“WHEN Mary laid Jesus Christ upon her knees, when she searched him with her eyes, when she fed him at the breast, she did not study to love him because she ought, she loved him because he was dear: he was her Son. His conception had been supernatural, perplexing, affrighting; it had called for faith in the incomprehensible, and obedience beyond the limit of human power. His nativity was human and sweet, and the love with which she embraced it was a natural growth, inseparable from the thing she loved. She was blessed above all creatures, because she loved her Maker inevitably and by simple nature; even though it needed the sword - wounds of the Passion to teach her fully that it was her Maker whom she loved. The Son of Mary is the Son of all human kind; we embrace him with the love of our kind, that we may be led up with Mary to a love beyond kind, a selfless love for the supreme Goodness, when we too shall have climbed the ladder of the cross.”

I love that.

LSP

Resist The Invasion!

Looks like a Bishop - Is an Alien

Top British boffin, Simon Conway Morris, professor of evolutionary paleobiology at Cambridge University, has announced that space aliens are likely to be "just like us", according to the U.K's Guardian newspaper, ATS and GNN.

Morris warns that human look-alike extraterrestrials will probably be looters, on the lookout for water, minerals and fuel, driven by "greed, violence and a tendency to exploit others' resources."

Demented Space Creature

This will come as no surprise to LSP readers who have followed this site's longstanding disclosure reportage of off-world attempts to subvert Church and State.

Destroy All Humans!

Resist the invasion! Trijicon, Aimpoint, Eotech and Schmidt & Bender will help, as will high cal. precision rifles, custom knives, mastery of horsemanship, a renewed SMOM (Sovereign Military Order of the Knights of Malta, RIP V.F.) and the powerful intercession of Our Lady of Victory.

Deus Vult.

LSP