Daily Daily, Sing to Mary

Daily, Daily, Sing to Mary
Omni Die dic Mariae Cento on a poem of St. Bernard, d. 1153 St. Casimir, d. 1484. Tr. Henry Bittleston, d. 1886, alt.
Corner's Gesangbuch, 1631 Arr. W.S. Rockstro, d. 1895
Daily, daily, sing to Mary, Sing, my soul, her praises due: All her feasts, her actions honour, With the heart's devotion true.
Now in wond'ring contemplation, Be her majesty confessed;  Call her Mother, call her Virgin, Happy Mother, Virgin blest.
She is mighty to deliver; Call her, trust her lovingly; When the tempest rages round thee, She will calm the troubled sea.
Gifts of heaven she has given, Noble Lady, to our race;  She the Queen who decks her subjects With the lights of God's own grace.
Sing, my tongue, the Virgin's trophies, Who for us her Maker bore; For the curse of old inflicted, Peace and blessing to restore.
Sing in songs of praise unending, Sing the world's majestic Queen; Weary not, nor fail in telling All the gifts she gives to men.
Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Anne, Therese, I love You; Save Souls!
Jesu mitis et humilis corde, Fac cor nostrum secundum Cor tuum. (ter)
Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori

Another Gregorian Chant Track to listen to (Part II)

A previous post on the Gregorian Chant can be found here:

http://rachelanne25.blogspot.sg/2013/04/the-almost-end-of-another-long-and.html

Deus propitius esto mihi peccatoris 
Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Anne, Therese, I love You; Save Souls!
Jesu mitis et humilis corde, Fac cor nostrum secundum Cor Tuum (ter)

What my husband and I want to tell our child (our children: Deo volente)

Child, if you pursue what you like, in college and in future, WE will be happy for you. 

But remember, never ever forget you have a God and an eternity to work hard for. Don't be fooled by the snares of the world, the vain riches and earthly pleasure alone. For they will not give you eternal salvation.

It is necessary to believe in God, but NEVER ENOUGH to just believe in the existence of God alone. For even the devils themselves believe in God, but because of their refusal to submit to God, their lack good actions they are punished in Hell eternally.

Imagine the millions on this world who live their lives with absolutely NO THOUGHT of the life (or eternal damnation) to come?

I'd rather you be an ordinary girl and be God-fearing than to be a godless genius. You are here on this earth to work for your eternity. It's either Heaven or Hell and where you eventually would go depends on YOU.

Do not, give in to peer pressure, and deny your God even indirectly.

Dress like a Catholic girl should dress, dress to conceal and not to reveal. Look at the Blessed Virgin Mary, for She is the Model for all women. How can we claim to love God if we are impure and lustful?

Always, even in the midst of your most distracting occupations, in your studies, in your life, turn to look at Him who Hangs on the Cross, and His Holy Mother Mary. In joys and in sorrows, they will never fail you.

Pray the Holy Rosary everyday, offer it for the love of Jesus and to make amends for those who do not love and serve Him.

Pray the Holy Mass, the Unbloody Sacrifice of the Cross, devoutly.

Go to confession when you have sins, because the priest, who is the representative of Jesus Himself, has the power given to him by the Holy Ghost and the authority of the Church to forgive.

Do your penance to atone for your sins and those of others , to reduce your time spent in Purgatory.

Receive Holy Communion worthily, because that white wafer is TRULY the BODY, BLOOD, SOUL and DIVINITY of our God Jesus Christ.

Exterior acts of worship are necessary, but the interior life, a life of perfect friendship with God and with no mortal sin on your soul, is also important.

Being a true Catholic in this world is never easy. After all, it was our God Jesus who told us, "If anyone wants to follow Me, let him (or her) take up his cross (yes a cross with suffering and trials) and follow Me."

Always work for your heavenly reward, and whatever that comes on earth, the recognition we may get from others, is secondary.

In short, live your life by imitating Jesus, His Holy Mother Mary, and St Joseph '

Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori.

Jesu mitis et humilis corde, Fac cor nostrum secundum Cor Tuum (ter)

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Anne, Therese, I love You; Save Souls!

The (almost) end of another long and tiring day ...

What is the best way to end (almost) another long and tiring day? 

Listen to this! :)) Gregorian Chant: Monastic Choir of the Abbey of St. Pierre de Solesmes, 1930

My soul needs it, my baby requires it! :))
Deus propitius esto mihi peccatoris 
Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Anne, Therese, I love You; Save Souls!
Jesu mitis et humilis corde, Fac cor nostrum secundum Cor Tuum (ter)

Maundy Thursday

My Jesus, I LOVE You!

My Mother Mary, I LOVE You!

a post, dedicated to Our Mother of Sorrows

Before Jesus's Agony in the Garden, Before Jesus enters the Prison:

Taken from the book: Twenty Holy Hours by Fr Mateo Crawley-Boevey, Chapter X: For the FIrst Friday of September and for Holy Thursday

Holy Thursday is nearing its end. Already, the first shadows are darkening the sky. The anguish of an inexpressible sorrow invades the Heart of Jesus. Why this inward shuddering?

Jesus, the Saviour, the adorable Nazarene, is the Son of Man. As such He has a Mother, unique in her tenderness, incomparably lovely, divinely holy and beautiful. A single glance from Mary, and above all a throb of her maternal heart meant more to Jesus than all the angelic concerts, far more than the perfumed breezes of earth and the splendours of skies. Mary was for Jesus a smile of complacency of the Eternal Father. And Jesus had to leave this Mother for love of us ungrateful ones!

Holy Thursday, a day never to be forgotten because of the Master's last farewells. Who will tell us of this wonderful and mysterious scene over which the Evangelists have thrown a veil of silence? With loving reverence for the Son and Mother, let us with hearts deeply moved represent to ourselves the farewell scene which must have taken place at Bethany.

His hour has come. It seems probable that Jesus, the Son of God and also the Son of Man, asked His Mother's consent to die, as He had already asked her consent to become incarnate, her child. His voice broken by sobs and His royal, divine Head leaning on His Mother's heart, Jesus entrusts to her the sheep that will be brought back to the fold by His death. Remembering the crib at Bethlehem, Mary holds Him in Her arms, while her eye, miraculously enlightened, look on tomorrow's Calvary where the Queen of Love will become the Queen of Sorrows. She weeps and with her precious tears she anoints the adorable Head of her Redeemer. Yes, she weeps as a mother, but more than that, she weeps as Co-Redemptrix! She offered to the Eternal Father the Divine Victim, the Lamb without spot. She weeps, and with her tears, she blesses the world, whose salvation, begun with her sublime Fiat, - "Let it be done" - pronounced in the happy little house of Nazareth, must be consummated tomorrow on a cross of ignominy and of blood.

Then in the clearness of that ominous light she sees not only the drama of Calvary but also the adorable design of the Most High. She then embraces her Son with an inexpressible love, and before the cruel thorns pierce His forehead she imprints thereon a kiss in the name of all those in heaven who adore Jesus, because He is their God. She kisses Him again in the name of those on earth, for the Son of Mary is also its divine King. And kissing the forehead of her Jesus, she places there, as on the holiest of altars, the holiest of oblations - her Fiat, a Fiat crushing for the Mother, but sovereign in its redemptive power.

Night has come. Jesus confides His desolate Mother to His faithful friends of Bethany and to His Angels. Then He leaves, His soul bathed in an agony a thousand times more piercing and more bitter than death itself...

Jesus in Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane:

Jesus Confined in the Subterranean Prison:

pictures taken from the move: The Passion of the Christ where the director tried to show that Mother Mary greatly desired to be with Jesus.

Snippets taken from the book: The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ as told by Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich to Clemens Brentano (a translation), Chapter XI: Mary in the House of Caiphas & Chapter XII: Jesus confined in the Subterranean Prison

The Blessed Virgin was every united to her Divine Son by interior spiritual communications; she was, therefore, fully aware of all that happened to him - she suffered with him, and joined in his continual prayer for his murderers. But her maternal feelings prompted her to supplicate Almighty God most ardently not to suffer the crime to be completed, and to save her Son from such dreadful torments. She eagerly desired to return to him; and when John, who had left the tribunal at the moment the frightful cry, "He is guilty of death," was raised, came to the house of Lazarus (Bethany) to see after her, and to relate the particulars of the dreadful scene he had just witnessed, she, as also Magdalen and some of the other holy women, begged to be taken to the place where Jesus was suffering. John, who had only left our Saviour in order to console her whom he loved best next to his Divine Master, instantly acceded to their request, and conducted them through the streets, which were lighted up by the moon alone, and crowded with persons hastening to their homes... The Blessed Virgin, who ever beheld in spirit the opprobrious treatment which her dear Son was receiving, continued 'to lay all these things in her heart;'...

It is quite impossible to describe all that the Holy of Hollies suffered from these heartless beings; for the sight affect me (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich) so excessively that I became really ill, and felt as if I could not survive it.

Jesus continued to pray for his enemies, and they being at last tired out left him in peace for a short time, when he leaned against the pillar to rest, and a bright light shone around him. The day was beginning to dawn - the day of his Passion, of our Redemption - and a faint ray penetrating the narrow vent hole of the prison, fell upon the holy and immaculate Lamb, who had taken upon himself the sins of the world. Jesus turned towards the ray of light, raised his fettered hands, and, in the most touching manner, returned thanks to his Heavenly Father for the dawn of that day, which had been so long desired by the prophets, and for which He Himself had so ardently sighed from the moment of his birth on earth, and concerning which he had said to his disciples, "I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptised, and how am I straitened until it be accomplished?" 

Point to note for this meditation: Jesus thanked (!!!) the Father for the terrible sufferings which He had already endured and for the still greater which He was about to endure.

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Anne, Therese, I love You; Save Souls!

Jesu mitis et humilis corde, Fac cor nostrum secundum Cor Tuum. (ter)

Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori.

The Militia Immaculatae Blog Link: http://militiaimmaculatae.wordpress.com

On the Feast Day of the Apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes

My dear readers,
Today is the Feast Day of the Apparition of Our Lady at Lourdes to St Bernadette Soubirous! (February 11)
Above, a beautiful rendition of the Ave Maria by Perry Como, with background video taken from the beautiful movie, Song of Bernadette, a 1943 film starring Jennifer Jones as our dearest Saint Bernadette. Here is a picture of the real St. Bernadette Soubirous: 

Taken mostly from: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1757
On 11th February 1858, 155 years ago, St Bernadette was granted a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a cave on the banks of the Gave River near Lourdes.
She was placed in consider able jeopardy when she reported the vision, and crowds gathered when she had futher visits from the Virgin, from February 18 of that year through March 4.
The civil authorities tried to frighten Bernadette into recanting her accounts, but she remained faithful to the vision. On February 25, a spring emerged from the cave and the waters were discovered to be of a miraculous nature, capable of healing the sick and lame. 
On March 25, Bernadette announced that the vision stated that she was the Immaculate Conception, and that a church should be erected on the site. Many authorities tried to shut down the spring and delay the construction of the chapel, but the influence and fame of the visions reached Empress Eugenie of France, wife of Napoleon Ill, and construction went forward. 
Crowds gathered, free of harassment from the anticlerical and antireligious officials. In 1866, Bernadette was sent to the Sisters of Notre Dame in Nevers. There she became a member of the community, and faced some rather harsh treatment from the mistress of novices. This oppression ended when it was discovered that she suffered from a painful, incurable illness. 
She died in Nevers on April 16,1879, still giving the same account of her visions. Lourdes became one of the major pilgrimage destinations in the world, and the spring has produced 27,000 gallons of water each week since emerging during Bernadette's visions. She was not involved in the building of the shrine, as she remained hidden at Nevers. Bernadette was beatified in 1925 and canonized in 1933 by Pope Pius XI.
I would like to end this post, with videos I found on YouTube compiled by one veryfinelady.
Excerpt 1:   Excerpt 2:
Excerpt 3: Excerpt 4: Excerpt 5: Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum; benedictatu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
St Bernadette, Pray for Us.

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Anne, Therese, I love You; Save Souls!
Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori.
Jesu mitis et humilis corde, Fac cor nostrum secundum Cor tuum. (ter)

A Conversation with Jesus Present in the Blessed Sacrament

I have a lot to thank Jesus and Mary for!

Taken from Christian Warfare (Pocket Edition) Page 88-89 {bolded words: my inclusion}

The Christian (You or Me): 

Speak, Lord, Thy humble servant heareth.

Jesus: 

To please me, O my son, it is not necessary to know much, but to love much, to deeply regret having offended me, and to be truly resolved to remain faithful in the future.

Speak to me, as you would to your best friend. Tell me what is in your mind, on your heart; speak without fear, with the simplicity of a child. Expose first of all your wretchedness: How you are still selfish, proud, irritable, flippant, cowardly before sacrifice, lazy at work, inconstant, sensual ... Take courage, there are in heaven Saints who had the same weaknesses. They triumphed over them with my grace. Ask for it with confidence.

The Christian:

O Lord, Thy goodness confounds me. Yes I ask for powerful graces so as not to give in to my passions. But I have other worries too.

Jesus:

O Yes! I know; I have placed the cross on your shoulders and you find it very heavy. But remember that I carried it first, and that it is through the cross that you will obtain your salvation, by sharing in my sufferings. The cross, generously accepted, will merit for you an infinite reward in heaven. Meditate on my Passion, and you will have the courage to support every fatigue, sickness, abandonment, betrayal, injury, calumny, false accusation, loneliness, and interior struggles. In all of these sufferings, recall my words: "Come to me all ye who labour and are burdened and I will give you rest", and come and ask me for strength and patience.

The Christian:

But, Lord, I am not here only for myself; there are souls who are dear to me, who have asked for my prayers.

Jesus:

Yes, I want you to ask for many graces for those who are dear to you: For your parents, for your friends; but pray also for those whose words have offended you, who have done you some evil or desired to hurt you; for poor sinners, the misguided, and the indifferent; for all those who are afflicted or suffering.

The Christian:

Confident in Thy merciful Heart, I pray for all of these intentions. Do not look upon my sins, but upon Thy holy Wounds, and by Thy Passion; deign to hear all of my prayers.

Jesus:

Now my beloved son, promise me to be faithful to all your Christian duties, and go to your occupations. But return soon, return with a pure heart, emptied of the love of the world and creatures, so that I can fill it with the gifts of my love.

I give you my blessing and my peace. 

Pax tecum.

---

What peace and what love. I do not ever want to lose this. My Angel, please always help me.

---

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us those who have recourse to thee and for all who do not have recourse to thee, especially for the Freemasons and for those who are commended to thy care.

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Anne, Therese, I love You; Save Souls!

Jesu mitis et humilis corde, Fac cor nostrum secundum Cor tuum. (ter)

Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori

Rare Footage of Padre Pio

My Dear Readers,

I found this video while taking a break from my marking.

Please pray for me. I think I need more strength to carry on marking ... (I don't know why it seems so difficult to mark this time around).

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Anne, Therese, I love You; Save Souls!

Jesu mitis et humilis corde, Fac cor nostrum secundum Cor Tuum (ter)

Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori.

Does God Really Exist?

This is seriously, a good read! ;D

http://www.sspxasia.com/Documents/Catholic_Doctrine/Does-God-really-exist.htm

Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori

Jesu mitis et humilis corde, Fac cor nostrum secundum Cor tuum (ter)

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Anne, Therese, I love You; Save Souls!

A Spiritual Communion (a formula as said by St. Alphonsus Maria de Ligouri):

My most precious Jesus, 
I firmly believe that though art truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.
I love Thee above all things 
and I desire to possess Thee within my soul. 
Since I cannot now receive Thee sacramentally, 
come at least spiritually into my heart. (Pause)

As though Thou wert already there, 
I embrace Thee, 
and unite myself wholly to Thee;
Permit not that I should ever be separated from Thee.

May the Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ keep my soul unto Everlasting Life.

Amen.

(some Beethoven) and A Spiritual Communion by St Alphonsus de Maria Ligouri

Hear ye, Hear ye! My dear readers,

After a long tiring day (again!) of working and yet working at our seemingly unable-to-finish-pile-of-work, my husband and I went for a concert, just to get our minds off work for a while. The programme of the concert consisted of 1 "small" piece and 2 "big" pieces. Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 1 was the first "big" piece and Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 (otherwise also known as the 'Eroica' Symphony) came next.

Here are some excerpts from the concert and of course(!!!!!!!) the dear "Beethoven-is-the-best" fan in me was anxiously waiting for Beethoven's symphony no. 3 to be played!!! 

I could immediately hear the difference between the music Rachmaninov created and the music Beethoven enchanted! Not that Rachmaninov is not a great composer, he is on the list of great composers, but the point I want to make is that Beethoven's music warmed up the concert hall and even though the orchestra did not enter into the piece as well as they could have, the piece was brilliant and enchanting from start to finish. 

“Then let us all do what is right, strive with all our might toward the unattainable, develop as fully as we can the gifts God has given us, and never stop learning” 
― Ludwig van Beethoven

Here is the 1st Movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 - Allegro con brio played by the Wiener Philharmoniker, conducted by Leonard Bernstein.

Next up, is the 2nd Movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 played by the Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Herbert von Karajan. This ranks as my *most favourite* of all Beethoven Symphonies! =)

A Spiritual Communion (a formula as said by St. Alphonsus Maria de Ligouri):

My most precious Jesus, 
I firmly believe that though art truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.
I love Thee above all things 
and I desire to possess Thee within my soul. 
Since I cannot now receive Thee sacramentally, 
come at least spiritually into my heart. (Pause)

As though Thou wert already there, 
I embrace Thee, 
and unite myself wholly to Thee;
Permit not that I should ever be separated from Thee.

May the Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ keep my soul unto Everlasting Life.

Amen.

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Anne, Therese, I love You; Save Souls!

Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori.

Jesu mitis et humilis corde, Fac cor nostrum secundum Cor Tuum. (ter)

The Vertebrate Animal Heart: Unevolvable, whether Primitive or Complex

My dear readers,

I'm in the process of helping my students learn about the Cardiovascular System, and I am at the part where I am trying to get them to ask questions about the heart. =D

I chanced upon this while sifting through piles of information, trying to make my lesson more interesting =)) I thought it appropriate as part of my *long,-really-long-ago* Evolution OUT! posts...

Taken from: 

The IDEA Center

http://www.ideacenter.org/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/1113

I will reproduce this article here (for your perusal, some parts are really quite scientific, but it makes for good reading). Having said as much, please visit the original website. They have a link on articles relating to other unevolvable biological features! Plus, you will then be able to download this article as a .pdf then! =))

A Hearty Introduction: Before we get going, here are some exciting heart facts to start your day with: In case your momma never told you, hearts have 2 types of chambers: atria and ventricles. Atria are where blood enters the heart and ventricles pump the blood out of the heart. Hearts take in oxygen poor blood, pump it through the pulmonary circuit (lungs/gills) where it gets oxygenated, and then they pump it out to the rest of the body. There are many many small veins (take blood to the heart) and arteries (carry it away) which connect the heart to the pulmonary circuit and keep it all running right. Blood pressure has to be carefully balanced in all tubes so that flow pressure is maintained and blood keeps moving, but not so fast as to explode certain areas or capillaries. One might say this careful and complex hydrostatic wiring might be easily selectable in an evolutionary scenario, but there's no getting around the fact that there's a very complicated and highly balanced network of biological fluid mechanics going on inside a heart than most artificial heart engineers probably care to think about. Given all this, there are 3 basic ways to make a heart found in animals: a 2 chambered heart, a 3 chambered heart, and a 4 chambered heart. Fish have 2 chambers, one atrium and one ventricle. Amphibians and reptiles have 3 chambers: 2 atria and a ventricle. Crocodiles are the one reptilian exception, as they have 4 chambers (2 atria, 2 ventricles). Birds and mammals have 4 chambers (2 atria and 2 ventricles). Differences between the hearts: The fish heart (figure 1a) is much different than the amphibian/reptile/bird/mammal heart (figures 1b and c). Hearts are very complex--they're not just a bunch of random arteries and veins connecting tissue. Fish hearts simply draw in deoxygenated blood in a single atrium, and pump it out through a ventricle. This system is termed "single circulation", as blood enters the heart, gets pumped through the gills and out to the body, Blood pressure is low for oxygenated blood leaving the gills. 3 and 4 chambered hearts have a pulmonary circuit (pathways taking blood from heart to lung and back to heart) that is very complex and must be set up such that blood can travel from the heart to become oxygenated in the lungs and then be properly pumped back the heart and out to the body. The 3 (and 4) chambered heart has "double circulation" (figure 1b and c) and is quite different from "single circulation" (figure 1a) of fishes. "Double circulation" has an interior circuit within the heart--blood enters the heart, leaves the heart and gets oxygenated, enters the heart again, and then gets pumped out to the body. Because "Double circulation" allows oxygenated blood to be pumped back into the heart before going out to the body, it pumps blood with much more pressure and much more vigorously than "single circulation". Figure 1: The Above diagram adapted from "http://gened.emc.maricopa.edu/bio/bio181/BIOBK/BioBookcircSYS.html#Vertebrate Vascular Systems which was said to be adapted from http://www.biosci.uga.edu/almanac/bio_104/notes/may_7.html and bears a striking resemblance to the diagrams from Campbell's "Biology" 4th edition pg. 822. Though the 4 chambered heart has 2 atrium-ventricle pairs, both pairs do not do the same thing. There are 4 steps involved with blood entering the heart: 1) oxygen poor blood enters the first atrium. 2) oxygen poor blood is fed to the first ventricle, which pumps it out to the pulmonary circuit (lungs) where it is enriched in oxygen. 3) Oxygen rich blood just leaving the lungs is pumped back into the second atria. 4) Oxygen rich blood is then fed to the second ventricle, which pumps the oxygen rich blood out of the heart and back into the body for usage. The 4 chambered heart differs from the 3 chambered heart in that it keeps oxygenated blood completely separate from de-oxygnated blood, because there is one ventricle for deoxgynated blood and one for oxygenated blood. In the 3 chambered heart, a single ventricle pumps both out of the heart, and there is some mixing between fresh and old blood. The 2 ventricle-4 chamber heart prevents mixing allows the blood leaving the heart to have far more oxygen than it would otherwise. This is good for enhancing the more fast paced lifestyle that birds and mammals tend to have, giving an advantage to having a 4 chambered heart. Problems with evolving the hearts: Getting a heart, period: Evolving a 2 chambered heart in the first place is very difficult because the circulatory system is irreducibly complex. At least 3 subsystems are necessary: 1) an organ for enriching the hemophlegm (blood) with oxygen (lungs/gills), 2) a complex network of closed tubes to carry the energy-rich blood to the body (veins and arteries), and 3) a pumping mechanism (heart) to transport energy-rich fluid throughout the body. One common way an evolutionist might try to get around problems associated with irreducible complexity might be to imagine scenarios where some or all of the subsystems could originate in a freestanding manner, functional on their own. However in this case what good is a closed tube network without a pumping mechanism to transport fluid, and what good is a pump without the fluid or the tubing? Oxygen exchange occurs in many organisms through the skin without a chordate-like circulatory system, but what is the advantage for such an organism to randomly mutate itself a single oxygen exchange organ (the lungs/gills)? Even so, once a single oxygen exchange organ was in place, it would need the very transport network provided by the heart, veins and arteries. Scenarios attempting the circulatory system in a step by step manner would fail and not take into account the overall complexity of the system. Even if the subsystems of the circulatory system could be evolved on their own, evolving a freestanding 2 chambered heart on its own would be very difficult, even if it didn't need other components of the circulatory system to be useful. A human heart is an 11 ounce pumping machine the size of a human fist which beats over 2 billion times and pumps over 100 million gallons of blood over the course of the average human lifetime. It is primarily a shell with a carefully balanced interior network of holes and valves which keep fluid constantly flowing in, out, and in the right direction everywhere in between. A large number of fluid-directing parts as well as a very strong and properly and complexly shaped pumping muscle are necessary for it to function. The positioning of the parts of a heart are a good example of specified complexity. For this reason, the heart, as well as the entire circulatory system, are unevolvable in a step by step manner. Getting a 3 chambered heart from a 2 chambered heart: Given a 2 chambered heart, experts do not know when, how, or in what lineage the alleged transition from the 2 chamber fish heart to the 3 chambered amphibian heart took place, mainly because this is a very difficult transition to even imagine. A 3 chambered heart has "double circulation" and is irreducibly complex with respect to "double circulation". 2 chambered hearts of fish have "single circulation" and the basic design is very different from a 3 chambered heart. A vastly oversimplified explanation of the evolution of the heart might be to say that by simply duplicating the some or all of the chambers of a 2 chambered heart, one could easily evolve a functional 3 or 4 chambered heart. Of course the way the evolutionary story goes, fish turned into amphibians which turned into reptiles which became mammals and birds, so the heart is said to have evolved from 2 --> 3 --> 4 chambers. A direct 2 --> 4 chamber transition is never thought to have taken place and would have even more difficulties than a 2 --> 3 chamber transition, so we will focus on the 2 --> 3 chamber transition. However, in reality the changes that would need to take place for this transition are far more than merely the duplication of one or more chambers. It could not happen in a step-by-step manner where intermediates are functional. The 2 chamber heart --> 3 chamber heart transition requires much more than the duplication of an atrium, because the interior circuit causing the "double circulation" of the 3 chambered heart must also be created. Duplicating the atrium without a closed circulatory network for "double circulation" would cause the heart to suck nothing but interstitial fluid out of the body. "Double circulation" only works when there is a loop feeding from a ventricle back to the heart, and back to a ventricle. Thus, both the loop and the new atrium are necessary for a 3 chambered heart to function. And though the loop (interior circuit) sounds simple, it really must be a complex tube network with valves in the right places to keep fluid flowing properly. Single circulation hearts pump blood directly through the gas exchange organ and out to the body (figure 1a). Double circulation pumps blood to the lung/gills through an "interior circuit" loop and then back to the heart before going out to the body (figure 1b and c). And if this new loop doesn't connect with the gas exchange organ, then the new loop is functionless and useless. The easiest way to make this transition happen is probably to have the vein leaving the gas exchange organ feedback to become an artery feeding back into the heart. Of course this means the new vein-artery simultaneously needs the proper valves so it can function like an actual part of the heart itself. Probably of most importance is the fact that there is now no vein leaving the heart and pumping blood back out to the body. In other words, to create this interior circuit of double circulation, a new vein must be created and blood flow out of the heart completely rewired to the rest of the body. Even if gas exchange organ could be bypassed (making it a less complex, though functionless and not selectively advantageous circuit), the main problem with going from single circulation to double circulation is that somehow this new circuit has to wire itself to the lungs. Either way, the vein leaving the heart must somehow also become an artery fed back into the heart through a new functional atrium and then a new vein must be created so that blood leaving the heart still gets out to the rest of the body through the circulatory network. Finally, the heart muscle has to adapt to all of these changes, especially such that beating can occur to pump through the new atrium and associated fluid pressure changes. In other words 4 primary changes are needed to go from single to double circulation: The duplication of the atrium such that fluid transport through new atrium is functional A conversion of the vein leaving the heart into an artery at the other end such that it is fed back into the heart. A complete rewiring of how blood finally leaves the heart and goes out to the rest of the body (the creation of a new vein and rewiring). Modification of the heart muscle to beat properly and accommodate the additional atrium and fluid pressure changes associated with the rewiring. If any of these steps are missing, double circulation won't work. And this says nothing about the many valves and other smaller veins and arteries associated with double circulation which characterize true hearts as well changes needed in the pumping mechanism of the heart muscle to accommodate a completely new atrium and fluid-pressure balance. The transition from 2 to 3 chambers requires a change from single to double circulation which involves at least 4 major simultaneous changes including the complete rewiring of how blood leaves the heart to the rest of the body. Many more minor simultaneous changes associated with mechanics of proper fluid transport would also be necessary. It not possible for double circulation system to evolve from a single circulation heart system in a Darwinian step-by-step manner because too many changes are necessary, making the 3 chambered heart unevolvable from a 2 chambered heart. Getting a 4 chambered heart: With respect to hearts with "double circulation", the 4 chamber mammalian heart probably isn't irreducibly complex. Going from 3 to 4 chambers really doesn't look all that complicated (of course they're still very different and this is totally oversimplified, but I'm only talking about basic organ design). Basically, the single ventricle in the 3-chambered heart is split into 2 chambers in the 4 chambered heart, making 2 ventricles instead of one. A "double circulation" heart could work with 3 chambers--and it does in reptiles and amphibians. The human heart has 2 atrium-ventricle pairs, which beat in succession something like pistons in a car. Only one ventricle is really needed to pump the blood. But just like an 8 cylinder engine put out a lot more horsepower than a 4 cylinder, so does a 4 chamber (2 pairs) heart have a much more power to supply the body with energy and oxygen-rich blood than a 3 chamber (1 ventricle) heart. There is a huge advantage to having a 4 chamber heart. Taking away the additional capillary complexities associated with suddenly having a second ventricle, one might be able to argue that the 3 to 4 chambered heart transition isn't difficult to imagine, relatively speaking, as all one has to do is note the strong advantage of separating oxygenated and de-oxygenated blood and then divide the ventricle in half. Of course the key word here is "imagine". Irreducible complexity is a real phenomena, and it can be analyzed, and so in some cases it might not exist, and in the case of the 4-chambered heart case it probably doesn't. Though the 4 chambered heart may not be irreducibly complex with respect to "double circulation", it might still be the result of intelligent design and not evolution, and irreducible complexity doesn't have to exist in all instances for it to exist in some. Overall, regardless of chambers, the heart has had much design put into it. And the complex double-circulatory heart bears strong marks of intelligent design. Getting a bird heart: Finally, the evolutionary origin of the bird heart-lung system is puzzling for the dino-bird hypothesis because "no lung in any other vertebrate species is known which in any way approaches the avian system." (Denton (1998), pg 361). Molecular biologist Michael Denton had the following to say about the evolutionary origin of the bird-heart-lung system:Just how such a different respiratory system could have evolved gradually from the standard vertebrate design without some sort of direction is, again, very difficult to envisage, especially bearing in mind that the maintenance of respiratory function is absolutely vital to the life of the organism. Moreover, the unique function and form of the avian lung necessitates a number of additional unique adaptations during avian development. As H. R. Dunker, one of the world’s authorities in this field, explains, because first, the avian lung is fixed rigidly to the body wall and cannot therefore expand in volume and, second, because the small diameter of the lung capillaries and the resulting high surface tension of any liquid within them, the avian lung cannot be inflated out of a collapsed state as happens in all other vertebrates after birth. In birds, aeration of the lung must occur gradually and starts three to four days before hatching with a filling of the main bronchi, air sacs, and parabronchi with air. Only after the main air ducts are already filled with air does the final development of the lung, and particularly the growth of the air capillary network, take place. The air capillaries are never collapsed as are the alveoli of other vertebrate species; rather, as they grow into the lung tissue, the parabronchi are from the beginning open tubes filled with either air or fluid (Denton (1998), 361)Denton goes on to say that, "The avian lung brings us very close to answering Darwin’s challenge: ‘If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.’ One respiratory physiology expert, John Ruben, critiquing this evolutionary scenario noted that, "a transition from a crocodilian to a bird lung would be impossible, because the transitional animal would have a life-threatening hernia or hole in its diaphragm ... It seems clear that a bird’s radically different system of breathing, in which air is continuously drawn through its lungs, could not have evolved from the hepatic-piston system we see in this theropod dinosaur." (Gibbons, 1997 B, pg. 1230) Plus, we're also dealing with convergent evolution here. The 4 chamber system had to have evolved twice (and also in crocodiles), if it evolved at all, because mammals and birds are allegedly from very different reptilian stock. It isn't just a neat case of common ancestry being clear cut by characteristics. There are many other animals with hearts--some worms have like 5 or 6 hearts. These heats all probably evolved independently however. So, there is not a nice neat Darwinian tree with respect to hearts. Common design better explains this, because odds are low you would come up with a similar structure through chance evolution alone. Summary and conclusion: Fish: 2 chambers, Amphibians and reptiles: 3 chambers, Mammals and birds: 4 chambers. 3 and 4 chambered hearts are similar because they both have an interior circuit or "double circulation". This is very different from the 2 chambered heart which has "single circulation". Going from a 2 to a 3 chambered heart requires A LOT more than the mere duplication of a chamber, but a COMPLETE reworking of the veins and arteries surrounding the heart, interior valves of the heart, and the creation of this interior circuit which can properly interact with the lungs. Plus I have it on good authority that evolutionists don't know how the 2 to 3 chamber transition took place. Going from 3 to 4 might be more possible in a remote theoretical sense, though there are surely many less important complications. Going from 2 to 4 requires a vast more change than mere duplication of atria and ventricles. It might be remotely possible to go from a 3 chambered heart to a 4 chambered heart but it is not likely that a 2 chambered heart could evolve into a 3 or 4 chambered heart.

Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Anne, Therese, I love You; Save Souls!

Jesu mitis et humilis corde, Fac cor nostrum secundum Cor tuum. (ter)

Feast of St Anne

Busy has been the buzz word, in my life now, of late. 


There's always some sort of work to do, but I am trying to see this in the best possible light: ora et laborae (pray and work) ... My dearest Angel, please help me, remind me to pray. =)


Today's the feast of Dearest St Anne, whose name I am very blessed to "wear". =D (Rachel Anne Therese)


Here is an excerpt from a Sermon pronounced by Archbishop Lefebvre, 27 July 1980, on Dearest St Anne, whom praise God, I wish to imitate.

It seems to me that St. Anne, by her example, gives us three great lessons: 

she asks those who are joined in the bonds of matrimony to live as Christians and to have Christian families. St. Anne has set us an example, as we are told in the Gospel. She lived with St. Joachim sine querela (without quarreling) for many years in peaceful marriage. St. Anne and St. Joachim lived in the faith. Where Christian marriage is concerned, they are models for Christian spouses. This is the first important lesson that St. Anne gives us by her example.

And by her example she also shows how Providence blesses Christian homes. Although she was barren, look how God gave her a child in her old age: Mary, who would be the mother of Jesus. This is why St. Anne is often represented, as you see her in this statue here, pointing out in a Bible the passages referring to Mary. She was no doubt inspired by the Holy Ghost to do this: a virgin will have a son. So Mary herself received a profoundly Christian education.The second lesson that St. Anne gives us is Christian education of children – Christian homes, Christian education.

And finally, a third point: St. Anne gives true priests. For let us not forget that Mary was born and chosen by God to give birth to the Eternal High Priest. St. Anne also had the great privilege, at an advanced age, of having a child who would become the mother of the great High Priest. She was therefore the grandmother of Jesus – Jesus the Eternal High Priest. So St. Anne’s message for us is that, in Christian homes, there are vocations – holy vocations, vocations to the priesthood, to the religious life. This, I think, is the great thing St. Anne teaches us.

I hope one day Deo volente when we have our children, that we will follow the great example of St Anne as well as St Joachim. Dearest St Anne, ora pro nobis. Dearest St Joachim, ora pro nobis. =D

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First Friday & First Saturday of

June & July

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Anne, Therese; I love You; Save Souls!

Jesu mitis et humilis corde, Fac cor nostrum secundum Cor Tuum. (ter)

Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori.