+ J.M.J.A. - Si Si No No

Here is a good picture of the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, found in the priory of SSPX over here in Singapore. Courtesy of Uncle Clement..=)

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I have been busily preparing myself for the exams and will be back in full force after the 29th of April. That's when I will try, with God's help, hopefully (if it's his will) to write all my thoughts down and most hopefully, be able to post it up.=)

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I've just read through this very interesting article, and then again, would like to share it with you. It's on the nature of modern thought. You can access it here, or you can read it down below(I'll copy and paste the article here)

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October 2005 Reprint #66
Reflections of a Catholic Teacher Part I
Professor Paolo Pasqualucci has dedicated himself to the study of philosophy of law, politics, and of metaphysics. Among his most recent publications are Introduzzione à la metafisica dell'Uno (Rome: Pellicani, 1996,151 pp.) dealing with the metaphysical notion of the One in relation to the metaphysical notion of God, and Politica e religions, saggio di teologia della storia (Rome: Pellicani, 2001, 89pp.) which explores the relationship between politics and religion from the standpoint of the traditional Catholic theology of history. He has always participated in the theological congresses of SiSiNoNo. His contributions can be found in the Acts of the same, published in French by the Society of Saint Pius X and in English (partially) by Angelus Press.
The following is the first part of the lecture given by Paolo Pasqualucci, professor emeritus of the University of Perugia, Italy, on January 3, 2004 at SiSiNoNo's fourth theological congress held in Rome. It will be serialized in the next issues of SiSiNoNo. The text has been revised and expanded by the author. None of this is easy, but it is fellows like Dr. Pasqualucci that keep doctrine from impurities and our minds from going soft.

Setting Up The DiscussionThe Marriage of St. Thomas to Modern Thought
A decree of the Sacred Congregation for Studies (July 27, 1914) under the auspices of Pope St. Pius X, set forth 24 theses drawn from the metaphysics of St. Thomas as "safe directive norms" for the philosophical and theological studies of Catholics. Although these norms were not made binding, the motive for this decree was later elaborated by Pope Benedict XV in his epistle Quod de Fovenda of March 19, 1917:
The Roman pontiffs have constantly maintained that St. Thomas should be considered as "guide and master" in philosophical and theological studies, while always preserving liberty of discussion about that which could and was accustomed to be subject to discussion in both disciplines.
Popes Pius XI and especially Pius XII reconfirmed this principle. Pope John XXIII, however, in his celebrated inaugural address at the Second Vatican Council, maintained that the "principal goal" of the Council was not "discussion of this or that theme of the fundamental doctrine of the Church, repeatedly expounded in the teaching of the Fathers and of ancient and modern theologians." For such a purpose "a council was not necessary." The "principal goal" of the Council was supposed to consist above all in
a leap ahead towards doctrinal penetration and the formation of consciences, in more perfect correspondence of fidelity to authentic doctrine, albeit studied and set forth through the forms of investigation and the literary formulation of contemporary thought. One thing is the substance of the ancient doctrine of the depositum fidei, and another the formulation of its covering: and this difference should be taken account of in a spirit of patience, measuring everything by the forms and proportions of a magisterium pre-eminently pastoral in character.
By proposing this basic distinction between "substance" and "covering," between form and content, Pope John XXIII, while not formally renouncing St. Thomas as a guide, coupled him with modern thought, which in its various components is notoriously as distant as can be imagined from Thomistic metaphysics. This is the great novelty the Pontiff proposed for the Council to realize as part of its "principal goal."
Was it a matter, as many today still maintain, of a simple exterior adaptation, to make the ancient doctrine more understandable to moderns and contemporaries? But if it were a simple question of "exposition" and thus a pastoral matter, was not the convoking of an ecumenical council a disproportionate means to do this? Wouldn't it have been enough for the Holy Office to give instructions to the bishops and the pontifical universities? Furthermore, if it were a simple problem of the exposition of doctrine and thus a pastoral issue, why did Pope John XXIII affirm that, beyond the exposition of doctrine, it was also necessary to study doctrine according to the "methods" (as the official French translation has it) of modern thought? This distinction between the "substance" and the "covering" of doctrine was something new in the history of the Church. It did in fact lead to doctrine being studied in a deeper way in the light of contemporary thought and thus made to conform with its methods, thanks to a magisterium of "pre¬eminently pastoral" character.
It is well known that the Latin version of this directive by Pope John XXIII is more concise and seems more moderate than the official French and Italian versions....But we must recall that John XXIII did not rectify the vernacular translations, but allowed them to circulate freely and used them himself on at least one official occasion in quoting himself. On this point he maintained an attitude that seemed intended to legitimize the vernacular translations as representing the authentic meaning of the more concise Latin text.

Some Essential Features of Modern Thought
The SiSiNoNo theological congresses like the one at which Dr. Pasqualucci gave this presentation publish regularly the lectures from these symposiums.

Let us briefly outline some essential characteristics of modern thought. We shall focus on the negation of the distinctions between substance and accident, of being and appearance. Doing this, modern thinkers obscure the nature of intention as a conscious state of the subject's being, which is realized in a free and rational will, distinct from its acts which it nonetheless shapes. Additionally, modern thinkers attempt to overcome the principle of causality. We will conclude with a discussion on the negation of the category of essence, another fundamental premise of modern thought, focused mainly on the speculation of Martin Heidegger.
We hope that this exposition will show the intrinsic incompatibility of "modern thought" with Aristotelian-Thomistic metaphysics, and the intrinsic weakness of the "negations" and "overcomings" on which modern thought is based. The modern school of thought deliberately places human thought, will, or instincts at the center of everything, denying any legitimacy to the very idea of the supernatural.

Discussing The Errors Of Modern Thought
An Overview of the Traditional Concepts
Let us begin with the concepts of substance and accident as summarized by St. Thomas Aquinas.
The first concept, that of "substance," aims to express that which constitutes the very essence of a thing or entity: that on account of which something is what it is. Even in everyday speech we are accustomed to speak of "the substance (or essence)" of a thing in indicating the essential aspect of a thing, event, or situation, its inner or constitutive nature, fundamental structure or essence. The word substance is often used as a synonym for essence. The second concept, that of "accident," denotes by contrast that which appears to be an external quality or characteristic of a thing, whether permanent or transitory.The substance is under (sub-stare) that which appears and contributes to the very being of something in its essence while the accident (accidens, that which happens and strikes the senses) appears from the outside, in perceptible or phenomenal reality. In a concrete entity, understood as a whole, substance and accident are found in an inseparable connection between what is external and what is internal and profound. The notion of accident implies transiency and change not affecting the substance. Man, for example, generally shows a loss of his outer characteristics with the passing of time, but can we deduce from this fact some modification in his very human nature? Certainly not. Nor can we say that this quality is lost with the eventual decline of his faculties because of sickness and old age. From a moral point of view, and a general spiritual perspective, man remains always himself, whatever exterior alteration may take place in all his qualities, exterior and interior.An entity therefore both exists and appears: it appears as it is, but also as it is not. There is a logically necessary distinction between being and appearance, parallel conceptually to that between substance and accident. The substance is in the accidents, in the sense that it is manifest in them; however, it is not identical with its accidents, is not exhausted by them and cannot be identified with them. Substance persists through the changing vicissitudes of becoming. It involves their essence.

Applying These Traditional Concepts to "Transubstantiation"
What would result if we were to look at a dogma of the Catholic Faith without the help of the notions of substance and accident, philosophically of Aristotelian origin, re-elaborated in Scholastic thought, and in particular that of St. Thomas? Without this philosophical apparatus it is not possible to understand the singular wonder of transubstantiation in the most rational and thus the best possible way, in conformity with a sane intellect.The consecrated bread and wine maintain their species or normal appearance, with all their natural qualities or accidents: colors, odors, density, weight, taste. But their substance is changed in a supernatural way. By virtue of the words of consecration, they have become "the body, the soul, and the divinity" of Our Lord Jesus Christ.Normally, the substance of something is manifest in the accidents or qualities of the thing itself. Nevertheless there can be a difference, because everything that is in itself exterior and subject to change does not always manifest its substance. This happens in a supernatural way in the Eucharist, where the consecrated Host is sacred not on account of what it appears to be, but because of what it has intrinsically become after consecration (transubstantiation) even while retaining all its accidents intact.This difference can also be found in the realm of secondary causes. In the case of man, appearance (being external and therefore accidental) often does not correspond entirely or even in part to being, that is to the interior substance in the heart and the mind of a man. As far as spirit and the ethical life are concerned (the only life that counts as such for the purposes of our salvation) unity and difference constantly show themselves to our intellect, which must collect them, discerning in an adequate manner in itself and in others the relation between reality and appearance, that is to say, the difference between exteriority and interiority, between the transient and the permanent.

How Traditional Concepts Are Denied in Modern Thought
The faculties of discernment and judgment are hard to exercise, yet are of vital importance. Modern thought fails to supply any principle worthy of the name, prone as it is to simplify reality from the perspective of the subject. French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre wrote:
Modern thought made great progress in reducing existence to a series of phenomena [impressions -Ed.] which manifest it. In this way it sought to eliminate a certain number of dualisms....Indeed it has above all disposed of the dualism that opposed that which is inside an entity to that which is outside. No longer is there anything exterior to an entity, if by this is understood a superficial skin that would conceal the true nature of an object from our vision. This true nature was supposed to be the secret reality of things. It could be intuited or supposed but never reached because it was "interior" to the object taken into consideration. The phenomena that manifest the entity are neither exterior nor interior; they are all of equal value, they all refer to other phenomena and no one of them holds a privileged position....An electric current, for example... is nothing but the ensemble of actions that manifest it. No one of these actions is sufficient to reveal it. At the same time it does not cause us to see anything behind itself; it refers to itself and a whole series [of actions]. The result of this, as it appears, is that the dualism between being and appearance no longer has a place in philosophy. That which appears directs us to a whole series of phenomena and not to a hidden reality capable of drawing to itself all the being of the entity.... Thus the being of an entity is precisely its appearance....For the same reason, the dualism of actuality and potentiality disappears. Everything is actual. There is no potential behind an act, nor is there a capacity, nor a virtue [of producing the action]....Therefore we can indeed refute the dualism of appearance and essence. The appearance does not hide the essence, but reveals it: it is the essence [my emphasis added].
Sartre here presents principles that he would apply both to nature and to man. These principles epitomize the characteristic tendency of modern thought towards a constant, progressive reduction to a single entity which is not God but man. If man-whether as an individual or as a collective subject-were to take himself as the source of the meaning of existence, of the whole, he would tend to repress not only every idea of essence but also every idea of transcendence, of First Cause, of the supernatural! He would then find himself enclosed in a reality that appears to be constituted by a simple series of appearances, by phenomena that could not be reduced to a deeper reality, would not depend on a first cause, and would not be marked by a final cause. It would thus be appearance, that is, the situation, that would make us what we are. Ethics could no longer be based on absolute principles-because such principles express an immutable essence that transcends phenomena-but would rather be a situational ethics and thus the mere reflex of a finite reality that constitutes and justifies itself by the demands of action.In such a vision man, as a subject endowed with intellect and will, dissolves in the elusive becoming of appearances and is overwhelmed by the anxious perception of nothingness on which existentialist thought of the 20th century has always insisted. If in fact "appearance is the essence," and if therefore "everything is in actuality," if there is no potentiality behind and therefore prior to an act and no "capacity" or virtue is realized in it, this amounts to saying that nothing underlies it. Behind the appearance there is no essence, and if there is no essence there is nothing behind it or, if one prefers, nothingness lies behind it. Thus, we come from nothing and we go to nothing. The inevitable conclusion constitutes a metaphysical absurdity even more than a moral one: if nothingness is both before and after us, how did something-life itself-arise?

A Criticism of the Materialistic Foundations of Contemporary Nihilism
To respond to this traditional objection, materialists have from ancient times responded that matter should be understood as eternal and uncreated. This amounts to an act of faith in matter. Matter is endowed with divine attributes; matter is implicitly supposed to contain an intelligence that gives order to the world.
Lucretius (c. 98-54 BC) wrote that things cannot be born from nothing by a divine act (De Rerum Natura I, 150) because otherwise reality would be dominated by chaos and "we would see everything born from everything, and nothing would have its own seed, men would be born from the sea, scaled fish on land, birds would jump from the sky (ibid. I, 158-63). Nature shows that every thing is born in a definite and ordered way, through the operation of a generative power that acts from its own seed (ibid. I, 168; 173-74) and develops not arbitrarily but in accordance with a determinate, specific and finite form. To understand this one must recognize that "a finite part of matter was given to all things, a limiting part was given to every existent thing for the purpose of generation out of which it is clear what can arise" (ibid. I, 203-4). The poet's lyrical formulation begs an obvious question: "Who has given a finite matter and thus a determinate form to each and every thing?" Was it the gods?-No, the Olympian gods, infinitely distanced from the world, cannot be understood in this manner; the gods of Epicurus are neither creators nor judges, but mere ciphers, so to speak. Was it then matter that gave itself an order on its own, without the intervention of a demiurge or artificer?...
Lucretius does in fact think of matter as an entity that produces and orders itself on its own without need of a mind and a power to create it. This conception, with diverse nuances, is at the foundation of all materialistic philosophies through succeeding generations. It is the well-known argument of the shoe that makes itself, without need of a cobbler. Common sense argues that it is absurd.
Yes, it is absurd. But there is no error that does not have its share of truth, its appearance of truth and its subtleties with their own power of fascination. Thus one should attempt to refute it with rational and measured arguments. Against Lucretius and his disciples the following arguments are to be made:

Understanding "Nothing"
Lucretius writes that, if things had appeared out of nothing, chaos would reign, because everything would come to be spontaneously without any order. Here he contradicts the traditional principle, which he himself repeats several times, that nothing can in any way be created from nothing (nil posse creari de nilo, op. cit., I, 156-57). In fact, only nothingness can come from nothing and thus nothing can be produced by nothing, not even chaos (i.e., birds falling from the sky, fish born on earth, etc.). Nothingness produces nothing. It abides forever in its absolute non-being. Non-being is always something that has no potential being. Nothing is born in nothingness, nor does anything develop in nothingness, whether order or chaos.
Nevertheless, our criticism cannot stop here. The philosophy of Lucretius obliges him to suppress a concept that is in itself valid-that of creation out of nothing, as revealed by revelation-by representing it in a mistaken way. That's important to look at.
The target of Lucretius's polemic is the pagan religion that he knew. In the introductory verses of his poem he exalts Epicurus for trampling on religion with his materialistic philosophy. He cites the (legendary) sacrifice of Iphigenia in Aulis as an example of the evils caused by religion. The concluding verse of this episode contains an invective that has been cited over centuries by all the enemies of religion, that is, "Religion had the power to induce the practice of such evils," though the word "'religio" in this context is better translated "superstition."
Lucretius lived in the age of Cicero, when Roman society was in grave crisis because of the ongoing civil wars. This crisis arose from social, political, and economic causes. Religion in itself can hardly be cited as a cause of the crisis, understood in the strict sense. But Lucretius's visionary and poetically seductive materialism seems to express a more profound crisis than that derived from the lost political ideals of the Roman republic. It manifests the spiritual crisis of an entire civilization which could no longer find a place to stand. In such a situation the world-view of Epicurus was seductive. It proclaimed a philosophy of renunciation, of the hidden life, of egoistic retreat into oneself, compensated at the same time by exaltation of the self as an atom that, believing itself projected into the eternity of matter, imputed to itself a lasting cosmic dimension.
The idea of creation from nothing cannot be found in the religious mythology nor in the mystery religions of paganism, nor in Greek philosophy. The Platonic demiurge does not create matter from nothing, but forms its elements from an abiding substrate dominated by chaos:
Because the god wanted all things to be good and that, insofar as possible, nothing be bad, he then took every visible thing that was not at rest but was driven about without order or rule and reduced it from disorder to order, judging this a superior condition.
In fact, creation from nothing is a Biblical concept, testified by divine revelation. Human thought did not arrive at it on its own. But we cannot suppose that Lucretius meant to polemicize against the Book of Genesis. The Septuagint, the celebrated Greek translation of the Old Testament, was composed from 250 BC to about 130 BC and was not part of the intellectual furniture of Greek and Roman intellectuals in the first century BC, even if some general and indirect knowledge of its teachings cannot be excluded a priori.

Be that as it may, the concept of creation out of nothing as criticized in Lucretius's De Rerum Natura is not the same as that revealed in the Bible. I must make this clarification to oppose the mistaken belief that Lucretian criticism is applicable to the Biblical doctrine. The creation of the world as described in Genesis does not suppose the existence of matter prior to the Creator, and thus does not imply the capacity of matter to give order to itself independently of a Creator. Creation took place according to the mind of God who thought and made all things issue forth from nothing. This happened in a sudden manner, according to the well-known fiat known from the Bible. This creation is not the work of nothing but of God, who makes all things (including man) originate from a state of nothingness with respect to themselves, not with respect to God. This means that the nothingness from which things arise is that of their prior lack of existence, not that of an absolute Nothing-Non-being-which cannot exist if God exists. But God exists "from eternity" and will always exist. Lucretius, who did not believe in a reality outside the senses, clearly understood by "creation out of nothing" either the creative act of an absolute Nothing, of nothingness as a whole, which, if its existence be admitted, itself makes the concept of creation impossible; or else, and more likely, he understands it as the act of the Platonic demiurge, which makes the world out of an original substrate which would constitute "nothingness" as a primordial disorder. In either case his criticism of the idea of a creation out of nothing cannot be applied to the true conception of "creation out of nothing" as reported in the Sacred Scriptures.

Understanding "Matter"
If no one gave matter the capacity to distribute itself according to a form, to grow in a regulated and finite way, something that implies a plan, an end, it is then necessary to admit that matter possesses on its own that capacity which can be seen in a thought or a mind at work. But this implies that matter as such thinks, that it is capable of conceiving itself according to all the forms which it can possibly take. Matter would thus contain not only creative power but also thought itself, the mind that directs it. But mind and thought can only be conceived as something spiritual. Matter would thus contain a reality (thought) whose characteristics are not those of matter, which is characterized first of all by extension. Mind lacks extension and thus, by virtue of this fact alone, its operations cannot be reduced to that of matter. They lack that essential condition of finite and sensible beings, that spatially determined limit that characterizes matter. The "mind," intelligence, thought, spiritual ways of being that have their roots in our soul, this complex and entirely spiritual reality seems in effect unlimited in comparison with matter. As Anaxagoras said:
All other things have a part in every thing, but intelligence is unlimited, independent, and not mixed with anything, but stands alone in itself.
If matter were to think, would it not have to be capable of explaining itself? Instead, it always appears as endowed with form and forms itself [i.e., as weather elements swirl and become a hurricane -Ed.] according to a direction and an end, without ever being able itself to give any explanation of its being and action, of why it is what it is. But this insuperable incapacity of matter seems nevertheless at the same time connected to its ordering itself according to the idea of an end. Such a connection, explains St. Thomas Aquinas, legitimizes or even necessitates the hypothesis of the existence of a Mind that creates and directs matter. As he says in his Summa Theologica:
We see in fact that determinate realities lacking reason, constituted by natural things, operate with a view to an end. This appears from the fact that they always or very often operate in the same manner to achieve the best end; whence it appears that they reach their goal not by chance but deliberately. But things that do not possess knowledge [because they lack reason-Ed.] do not tend towards an end if they are not directed by someone capable of knowing and understanding, but therefore, there must be a rational being by whose operation all natural things are ordered towards an end: and this entity we call God.

"Nature" Doesn't Run on Auto-Pilot
The argument of Lucretius for the eternal conservation of all nature by nature's own operation is totally unacceptable.
Thus it happens that nature dissolves all things into their own elements and does not disperse them into nothingness: if a body were subject to total dissolution, anything could suddenly disappear before our eyes and cease to exist: no force would be necessary to realize the separation of its parts and dissolve its connections. (op. cit., I, 215-20)
The fact that the world has not disappeared up to now does not result from the fact that every thing has been absorbed into the constituent parts of its nature. A natural entity dissolved by death never returns. If it did, one would be obliged to admit the absurd concept that the dead body of one's father is contained in the seed of each one of us and so on infinitely through the generations. The fact that the world persists up to now results from the fact that it is maintained in its being by new births that continually replace the dead. This self-reproduction involves a compensation of life and death that appears thought out and willed by Someone in function of the equilibrium of the whole.
For Christian philosophy the principle of causality [i.e., that every effect has a cause -Ed.]: 1) has an ontological value, that is to say, is really present in [the being of] things; and 2) is so evident that it is easily resolved into the first principles of our mind [i.e., that a thing is what it is and not what it is not, that one thing cannot be itself and another at the same time -Ed.]. In fact, given an entity that has the character of an effect [i.e., by participation, contingency -Ed.], the intellect sees in it the implicit need for a cause. All our theodicy rests on the principle of causality (Parente-Piolanti-Garafalo, Dizionario de Teologia Dogmatica).
["Theodicy," by the way, is the philosophical apologetic that confirms the justice of God and whereby right reason demonstrates the principles of the Faith, the existence of a personal God, and the necessity and discernibility of revelation -Ed.]. Pope St. Pius X in Pascendi Gregis said about Lucretian concepts:
Their system, overflowing with so many and such enormous errors, has emerged from the marriage of false philosophy with the Faith.

Translated exclusively for Angelus Press from SiSiNoNo (May 31, 2005, Vol. 31, No. 10). To be continued.
Si Si No No Articles


Courtesy of the Angelus Press, Kansas City, MO 64109translated from the ItalianFr. Du ChalardVia Madonna degli Angeli, 14Italia 00049 Velletri (Roma) October 2005 Volume XXVIII, Number 10
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Well, here goes! =) All the best to all taking the final exam for this sem! and may God Bless everyone! =)

I cannot wait till the 29th of APRIL! =P haha...

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+J.M.J.A.

Forever!

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- rachanne

+ J.M.J.A. - HAPPY EASTER!!

Hello everyone!!!!! I'm in a real good mood today, would like to wish one and all a HAPPY and BLESSED Easter. God Bless to all reading this!

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Just woke up not so long ago after coming back from the Easter Vigil Ceremonies and the solemn High Mass. It ended really early in the morning but it was very, i would say, very meaningful and beautiful. One of the best ceremonies in the world. During the renewal of Baptismal promises, part of the ceremony, before it, Fr. Davide said: "do you want to Cheat JESUS? do you want to cheat his blood, his wounds, all he did for you?" (or something to that extent - I don't remember the exact words he said but this, I brought back with me) I really felt as if I did cheat Jesus during the last whole year, during those times when I felt angry, rude etc. I'm so glad that there's something called confession and something called penance and reparation. The catholic way of life has never been any better, encompassing all aspects of life, it has never failed, never failed to always put me in my place, to make me think, reflect and make reparation. It has never failed to show me the right path, the right way. And I thank the good Lord for that. Deo gratias!

And during the time when the coverings were removed from the statues, and the altar prepared for the solemn mass of the vigil, I felt (my sister told me she felt it too) in my heart, a happiness I cannot explain. I realised what Jesus did, what his resurrection meant, etc. I realised in the deepest of my heart, his love for us. It may seem funny, the way I explain it here, on my blog, but I assure you, I had the most wonderful feeling during the easter vigil ceremonies yesterday.

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The FIRST part of the Litanies - from the Paschal Vigil

Kyrie eleison, Kyrie eleison

Christe eleison, Christe eleison

Kyrie eleison, Kyrie eleison

Christe audi nos, Christe exaudi nos

Pater de coelis Deus, miserere nobis

Fili, Redemptor mundi Deus, miserere nobis

Spiritus Sancte Deus, miserere nobis

Sancta Trinitas unus Deus, miserere nobis

Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis

Sancta Dei Genitrix, ora pro nobis

Sancta Virgo virginum, ora pro nobis

Sancte Michael, ora pro nobis

Sancte Gabriel, ora pro nobis

Sancte Raphael, ora pro nobis

Omnes sancti Angeli et Archangeli, orate pro nobis

Omnes sancti beatorum Spirituum ordines, orate pro nobis

Sancte Joannes Baptista, orate pro nobis

Sancte Joseph, orate pro nobis

Omnes sancti Patriarchae et Prophetae, orate pro nobis

Sancte Petre, orate pro nobis

Sancte Paule, orate pro nobis

Sancte Andrea, orate pro nobis

Sancte Joannes, orate pro nobis

Omnes sancti Apostoli et Evangelistae, orate pro nobis

Omnes sancti Discipuli Domini, orate pro nobis

Sancte Stephane, orate pro nobis

Sancte Laurenti, orate pro nobis

Sancto Vincenti, orate pro nobis

Omnes sancti Martyres, orate pro nobis

Sancte Silvester, ora pro nobis

Sancte Gregori, ora pro nobis

Sancte Augustine, ora pro nobis

Omnes sancti Pontifices et Confessores, ora pro nobis

Omnes sancti Doctores, ora pro nobis

Sancte Antoni, ora pro nobis

Sancte Benedicte, ora pro nobis

Sancte Dominice, ora pro nobis

Sancte Francisce, ora pro nobis

Omnes sancti Sacerdotes et Levitae, ora pro nobis

Omnes sancti Monachi et Eremitae, ora pro nobis

Sancta Maria Magdalena, ora pro nobis

Sancta Agnes, ora pro nobis

Sancta Caecilia, ora pro nobis

Sancta Agatha, ora pro nobis

Sancta Anastasia, ora pro nobis

Omnes sanctae Virgines et Viduae, ora pro nobis

Omnes Sancti et Sanctae Dei, intercedite pro nobis.

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Links to the Church Year, as explained by Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine, found on the SSPX-ASIA website, on Holy Saturday, Easter, etc.

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God Bless!

+ J.M.J.A.

Forever!

-rach

p/s: there's a new link I posted on a very good article disproving EVOLUTION. - really good article.

+ J.M.J.A. - Ecce lignum Crucis, in quo salus mundi pependit.

Here's an excerpt from the parts of the Good Friday Liturgy. This is the Gospel read today. Hearing it today made me want to cry, Jesus Christe, miserere nobis.

From a scene in the movie, the Passion of the Christ

Douay-Rheims Bible

John 18:

Gospel According to Saint John

< prev Chapter 18 next >

The history of the passion of Christ.
1 When Jesus had said these things, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where there was a garden, into which he entered with his disciples. 2 And Judas also, who betrayed him, knew the place; because Jesus had often resorted thither together with his disciples. 3 Judas therefore having received a band of soldiers and servants from the chief priests and the Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. 4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said to them: Whom seek ye? 5 They answered him: Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith to them: I am he. And Judas also, who betrayed him, stood with them.
6 As soon therefore as he had said to them: I am he; they went backward, and fell to the ground. 7 Again therefore he asked them: Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. 8 Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he. If therefore you seek me, let these go their way. 9 That the word might be fulfilled which he said: Of them whom thou hast given me, I have not lost any one. 10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And the name of the servant was Malchus.
11 Jesus therefore said to Peter: Put up thy sword into the scabbard. The chalice which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? 12 Then the band and the tribune, and the servants of the Jews, took Jesus, and bound him: 13 And they led him away to Annas first, for he was father in law to Caiphas, who was the high priest of that year. 14 Now Caiphas was he who had given the counsel to the Jews: That it was expedient that one man should die for the people. 15 And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. And that disciple was known to the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the court of the high priest.
16 But Peter stood at the door without. The other disciple therefore, who was known to the high priest, went out, and spoke to the portress, and brought in Peter. 17 The maid therefore that was portress, saith to Peter: Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? He saith: I am not. 18 Now the servants and ministers stood at a fire of coals, because it was cold, and warmed themselves. And with them was Peter also, standing, and warming himself. 19 The high priest therefore asked Jesus of his disciples, and of his doctrine. 20 Jesus answered him: I have spoken openly to the world: I have always taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither all the Jews resort; and in secret I have spoken nothing.
21 Why asketh thou me? ask them who have heard what I have spoken unto them: behold they know what things I have said. 22 And when he had said these things, one of the servants standing by, gave Jesus a blow, saying: Answerest thou the high priest so? 23 Jesus answered him: If I have spoken evil, give testimony of the evil; but if well, why strikest thou me? 24 And Annas sent him bound to Caiphas the high priest. 25 And Simon Peter was standing, and warming himself. They said therefore to him: Art not thou also one of his disciples? He denied it, and said: I am not.
26 One of the servants of the high priest (a kinsman to him whose ear Peter cut off) saith to him: Did I not see thee in the garden with him? 27 Again therefore Peter denied; and immediately the cock crew. 28 Then they led Jesus from Caiphas to the governor's hall. And it was morning; and they went not into the hall, that they might not be defiled, but that they might eat the pasch. 29 Pilate therefore went out to them, and said: What accusation bring you against this man? 30 They answered, and said to him: If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up to thee.
31 Pilate therefore said to them: Take him you, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said to him: It is not lawful for us to put any man to death; 32 That the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he said, signifying what death he should die. 33 Pilate therefore went into the hall again, and called Jesus, and said to him: Art thou the king of the Jews? 34 Jesus answered: Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or have others told it thee of me? 35 Pilate answered: Am I a Jew? Thy own nation, and the chief priests, have delivered thee up to me: what hast thou done?
36 Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now my kingdom is not from hence. 37 Pilate therefore said to him: Art thou a king then? Jesus answered: Thou sayest that I am a king. For this was I born, and for this came I into the world; that I should give testimony to the truth. Every one that is of the truth, heareth my voice. 38 Pilate saith to him: What is truth? And when he said this, he went out again to the Jews, and saith to them: I find no cause in him. 39 But you have a custom that I should release one unto you at the pasch: will you, therefore, that I release unto you the king of the Jews? 40 Then cried they all again, saying: Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.

Douay-Rheims Bible

John 19:

Gospel According to Saint John

< prev Chapter 19 next >

The continuation of the history of the Passion of Christ.
1 Then therefore, Pilate took Jesus, and scourged him. 2 And the soldiers platting a crown of thorns, put it upon his head; and they put on him a purple garment. 3 And they came to him, and said: Hail, king of the Jews; and they gave him blows. 4 Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith to them: Behold, I bring him forth unto you, that you may know that I find no cause in him. 5 (Jesus therefore came forth, bearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment.) And he saith to them: Behold the Man.
6 When the chief priests, therefore, and the servants, had seen him, they cried out, saying: Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith to them: Take him you, and crucify him: for I find no cause in him. 7 The Jews answered him: We have a law; and according to the law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. 8 When Pilate therefore had heard this saying, he feared the more. 9 And he entered into the hall again, and he said to Jesus: Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 Pilate therefore saith to him: Speakest thou not to me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and I have power to release thee?
11 Jesus answered: Thou shouldst not have any power against me, unless it were given thee from above. Therefore, he that hath delivered me to thee, hath the greater sin. 12 And from henceforth Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews cried out, saying: If thou release this man, thou art not Caesar's friend. For whosoever maketh himself a king, speaketh against Caesar. 13 Now when Pilate had heard these words, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat, in the place that is called Lithostrotos, and in Hebrew Gabbatha. 14 And it was the parasceve of the pasch, about the sixth hour, and he saith to the Jews: Behold your king. 15 But they cried out: Away with him; away with him; crucify him. Pilate saith to them: Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered: We have no king but Caesar.
14 "The parasceve of the pasch"... That is, the day before the paschal sabbath. The eve of every sabbath was called the parasceve, or day of preparation. But this was the eve of a high sabbath, viz., that which fell in the paschal week.
16 Then therefore he delivered him to them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him forth. 17 And bearing his own cross, he went forth to that place which is called Calvary, but in Hebrew Golgotha. 18 Where they crucified him, and with him two others, one on each side, and Jesus in the midst. 19 And Pilate wrote a title also, and he put it upon the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20 This title therefore many of the Jews did read: because the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin.
21 Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate: Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am the King of the Jews. 22 Pilate answered: What I have written, I have written. 23 The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified him, took his garments, (and they made four parts, to every soldier a part,) and also his coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. 24 They said then one to another: Let us not cut it, but let us cast lots for it, whose it shall be; that the scripture might be fulfilled, saying: They have parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture they have cast lot. And the soldiers indeed did these things. 25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen.
26 When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son. 27 After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own. 28 Afterwards, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said: I thirst. 29 Now there was a vessel set there full of vinegar. And they, putting a sponge full of vinegar and hyssop, put it to his mouth. 30 Jesus therefore, when he had taken the vinegar, said: It is consummated. And bowing his head, he gave up the ghost.
31 Then the Jews, (because it was the parasceve,) that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath day, (for that was a great sabbath day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. 32 The soldiers therefore came; and they broke the legs of the first, and of the other that was crucified with him. 33 But after they were come to Jesus, when they saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 But one of the soldiers with a spear opened his side, and immediately there came out blood and water. 35 And he that saw it, hath given testimony, and his testimony is true. And he knoweth that he saith true; that you also may believe.
36 For these things were done, that the scripture might be fulfilled: You shall not break a bone of him. 37 And again another scripture saith: They shall look on him whom they pierced. 38 And after these things, Joseph of Arimathea (because he was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews) besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. 39 And Nicodemus also came, (he who at the first came to Jesus by night,) bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. 40 They took therefore the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths, with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.
41 Now there was in the place where he was crucified, a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein no man yet had been laid. 42 There, therefore, because of the parasceve of the Jews, they laid Jesus, because the sepulchre was nigh at hand.

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Here are a series of slides that I made when I came home after the Good Friday Liturgy:

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+ J.M.J.A.

Forever

-rachanne

Kyrie Eleison, Kyrie Eleison, Kyrie Eleison.

I am always awestruck by how "human" all of us are. How very often we say one thing but we do another. How very often we put our heart and mind to something, only to allow for a little distraction, a little temptation that puts us off what we had in heart and in mind. When we say that we will do something, we have to keep to our promise. We have to have that discipline that will enable us to live our lives all ever willing to do the will of God and not our own will. For when we do anything without the strength of Christ, we tire ever so easily and are unhappy for a long span of time. But here, it comes to a point when the human mind says "How do I know the Will of the Lord? How do I know that he is the Truth? How do I know this and How do I know that" We always ask for evidence, for proof. We want that miracle, that thing, that something, to show us the way, the truth and the life but we do nothing, absolutely nothing, to want to attain it. Only when the soul fights to achieve perfection in Christ, that is when the soul will attain eternal happiness. That's the awesome paradox that I want to grapple with within the next few months after the exams. Domine Deus! Adjuva me!

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I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE LONG BREAK (3 MONTHS) - then I CAN finally learn latin properly w/o the time constraint, think about lots of things, write, practise the piano and etc. Thinking about it, 3 months may fly away quickly, so I must have discipline during the break! O yes! there's also an Ignatian Women's Retreat that I will attend for 1 week in June. I CAN'T WAIT!

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Another week has just flown past, within it lots of time, lots of hours have been spent. Anatomy CA2 's over! now there's one more MIDI assignment and another Science of Music CA to go through before the big exams. And of course! its Palm Sunday this coming Sunday and First Friday tomorrow with commemoration of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady. Holy Week is approaching. Holy Thursday. Good Friday. Holy Saturday. Easter Vigil. EASTER!!!

- My favourite time in the whole liturgical church year. =)

since I was young - cos' its real real meaningful.

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I've just read this article. Its a letter written by Saint Francis Xavier to his companions living in Rome. I enjoyed the discourse I must say, and I would like to share it with you. You can read it here.

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Here's something that I was burying myself into while I was studying for anatomy last night... haha. Surprisely it came out in one of the questions in the CA. =)

Yups. =)

+ J.M.J.A.

Forever!

-rachanne

God of Mercy and Compassion

God of Mercy and Compassion

1.God of Mercy and Compassion,

Look with pity upon me,

Father, let me call Thee Father,

'Tis Thy child returns to Thee.

Refrain

Jesus, Lord, I ask for mercy;

Let me not implore in vain;

All my sins, I now detest them,

Never will I sin again.

2. By my sins I have deserved,

Death and endless misery,

Hell with all its pains and torments,

And for all eternity.

Refrain

Jesus, Lord, I ask for mercy;

Let me not implore in vain;

All my sins, I now detest them,

Never will I sin again.

3. By my sins I have abandoned

Right and claim to heaven above.

Where the saints rejoice forever

In a boundless sea of love.

Refrain

Jesus, Lord, I ask for mercy;

Let me not implore in vain;

All my sins, I now detest them,

Never will I sin again.

4. See our Saviour,

Bleeding, Dying,

On the cross of Calvary;

To that cross my sins have nail'd Him,

Yet He bleeds and dies for me.

Refrain

Jesus, Lord, I ask for mercy;

Let me not implore in vain;

All my sins, I now detest them,

Never will I sin again.

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Jesus, Lord, I ask for mercy; Let me not implore in vain; All my sins, I now detest them, Never will I sin again.

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Eloi, Eloi, Lama sabbacthani.

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-Passion Sunday of Lent - I Class

+ J.M.J.A.

Forever.

Totus tuus, Mother Mary

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-Today's also the 1st Anniversary of Pope John Paul II's death. It's amazing how fast one year actually passes like a blink of an eye. It is exactly 1 year ago that the Pope passed into eternity and in a few more weeks, it will be the 1st year of Pope Benedict's reign.

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rach =)