Category: Catholicism

Music Monday: O Sanctissima

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Today’s music is the Catholic classic, “O Sanctissima”:

O sanctissima, o piissima, dulcis Virgo Maria!
O most holy, o most loving, sweet Virgin Mary!
Mater amata, intemerata, ora, ora pro nobis.
Beloved Mother, undefiled, pray, pray for us.

Tu solatium et refugium, Virgo Mater Maria.
You are solace and refuge, Virgin, Mother Mary.
Quidquid optamus, per te speramus; ora, ora pro nobis.
Whatever we wish, we hope it through you; pray, pray for us.

Ecce debiles, perquam flebiles; salva nos, o Maria!
Look, we are weak and deeply deplorable; save us, o Mary!
Tolle languores, sana dolores; ora, ora pro nobis.
Take away our lassitude, heal our pains; pray, pray for us.

Virgo, respice, Mater, aspice; audi nos, o Maria!
Virgin, look at us, Mother, care for us; hear us, o Mary!
Tu medicinam portas divinam; ora, ora pro nobis.
You bring divine medicine; pray, pray for us.

It’s like Woodstock, but with more Bible

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I spent some time today planning my travels for the next few months and I was delighted to look in my calendar and remember that the West Coast Biblical Studies Conference is on the horizon!

wcbsc

The two-day conference is at the end of January (27th and 28th) in San Diego. Once again it is being held at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, with the usual line-up of excellent speakers: Scott Hahn, John Bergsma, Michael Barber and John Kincaid. This year the focus will be on The Book of Acts: How the Holy  Spirit leads the Church through hard times.

Tickets are $50, but if you buy yours before 15th December, the price is reduced to $40. If you’re coming from out-of-town, be sure to let me know!

The Meaning of beauty

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Since getting back from Spain, I’ve been catching up on my blog reading. Today I read an article by Maggie Kim, published on her husband’s website PJK Music, which is entitled “I lost all my hair but found the meaning of beauty”:

maggie

In the article Maggie, who has a head of hair which would put a L’Oreal model to shame, explains that while she was pregnant with her second child, her hair started falling out. She describes how she struggled with this and how her beliefs concerning beauty were challenged as she came to terms with the fact that before the preganancy would be complete, she would have lost all her hair…

Polycarp and the Presidency

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trump

I awoke this morning to discover two things.

The first thing was confirmation that Donald Trump is going to be the next President of the United States.

The second thing I found was my Facebook Newsfeed in a state of practical hysteria.

To lay my cards on the table, while I have not supported Hillary Clinton, I have also not been much of a fan of Donald Trump either. I was more than a little suspicious of his claim to being pro-life and, like many people, I was rather disturbed by some of the words which came out of his mouth on a range of subjects.

But what can I say? That’s democracy! Whether you like it or not, the American people have spoken and, despite the many celebrity endourcements of Hillary Clinton, the American people have chosen Donald Trump.

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Patristics Seminar

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I recently saw Mike Aquilina (happy birthday!) comment on Facebook that he was just returning from speaking at a conference on the Early Church Fathers. I had no idea that such things existed! How did I not know?!

Anyway, it turns out that there’s an annual Patristics seminar in October at St. Lambert’s Catholic Church near Chicago, Illinois:

seminar

Although I’ve missed the seminar for this year, fortunately the parish’s website has the audio from the talks, as well as from their 2013 seminar with Dr. John Bergsma:

2016: A Revolution of Hope (Mike Aquilina & Dr. Jim Papandrea)
The First Pro-Life Movement: A Revolution in Human Dignity
The Inevitable Counter-Revolution: How and Why the Church was Persecuted
Saving Bodies, Saving Souls: A Revolution in Health Care
The Revolution of Religious Liberty: Myth and Reality

2013: Origins of Jewish and Christian Worship (Mike Aquilina & Dr. John Bergsma)
A Rite Tun
Outdoing Solomon
Language of Angels
The Garden and the Temple

The name “Jehovah”

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Since I haven’t written about Jehovah Witnesses in a while, I thought that today I would address the origin of one of this group’s distinctive practices – exclusive use of the name “Jehovah”.

watchtower

If you ever come across Jehovah’s Witnesses, either on the street or if they come to your door, it’s not unusual for them to emphasize that God’s name is “Jehovah” and the only appropriate name to be used in reference to Him. They might even go further and claim that other Christian groups have “hidden” the name of God despite, as we will see, that this word was first invented inside the Catholic Church.

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