A Personal Request

As many regular readers know, due to my employment changes, the last several months have been a financial burden on me, as well as many of you.

I have gone from 40 hours a week to about 28 a week (on a good week) and, as is the case for many of us, I end up with far too much month left at the end of the money. In fact, the day after my computer went down, I also had the experience of having my electric power shut off for the first time in my life. I had gotten paid that day, but it took all the money that I had to get the power turned back on later that night. The power company is requiring that I pay an additional amount as a “deposit” by my next pay day on May 24 (which is kind of funny as that is two days after my birthday).

So, I have added a “Tip Jar” over on the top right hand sidebar of each blog if anyone would like to give me a hand. The “Donate” button utilizes PayPal, which is familiar to most internet users. I appreciate what you can do, and I would especially appreciate your prayers more than anything!

Once again, I would like to thank all of you who have clicked the various ads that appear on these blogs, and for using my links to purchase Mystic Monk Coffee, and the products I have from Zazzle. If it hadn't been for the purchases of Mystic Monk Coffee that literally poured in after Christmas through March, I would not have been able to have made it through the winter.

Let me say, that I am embarrassed to post this, but I am to the point of not knowing what else I can do, except rely on God, who has seen me through many storms. God has been good to me, and has helped me out with so many trials that I can not begin to recount them all.

So, please keep me in your prayers. I appreciate that more than you could ever know!

May God Bless you and Our Lady keep you in her care!

Summer Time Cool From Mystic Monk Coffee

Warmer weather is here, and now is the time of year when we start looking for cool beverages to help keep us soothed, refreshed, and comfortable.

So having this in mind, the good Carmelite Monks of Wyoming...whose brand of coffee and tea we know as Mystic Monk... are offering an Iced Coffee Blend and a Coconut Cream Iced Coffee.

Don't forget the great tea they offer as well, as some people... like me... prefer iced tea over iced coffee. I wouldn't be a true son of the south if I didn't like sweet iced tea (it's the law)!

Remember, your purchase of Mystic Monk Coffee and Tea helps support the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming, and gives my finances a much needed boost as well!

Thanks So Much!

All of the followers, readers, and visitors to Faith of the Fathers blogs are greatly appreciated, and I thank each of you for making the past year so great!

I would also like to thank the friends and followers from Facebook and twitter who have also helped Faith of the Fathers blogs grow in readers and visitors by liking, sharing, and tweeting posts from these blogs. You guys "rock"!

I would especially like to say thank you, to all the regular followers and visitors to Faith of the Fathers blogs for your purchases of Mystic Monk Coffee from these blogs!

I am sure it has been appreciated by the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming, and I know for certain that it has been a God send for me in these difficult times in which we live.

Thank you all also for the items you have purchased from Faith of the Fathers Catholic Gifts, and for clicking the various links to other products and services that you find on these blogs.

You are all greatly loved and appreciated more than you can ever know.

Thank you  all for all that you do!

May God Bless you all, and Our Lady keep you in her care!

Faith of the Fathers Blogs Posts For 12/16/2011

On Daily Mass Readings

Readings for December 16, 2011

Isaiah 56: 1 - 3, 6 - 8
Psalms 67: 2 - 3, 5, 7 - 8
John 5: 33 - 36

On Saint Quote of the Day

Saint Francis of Paola

On Favorite Prayers And Scripture

PRAYERS FOR A NOVENA FROM THE 16TH TO THE 24TH OF DECEMBER

Merry Xmas To You And Yours!

Yes, you read that right. Merry Xmas to you and yours.

“What is with this guy” you're wondering. “Does he realize what he is doing? Here he has a bunch of Catholic blogs and is saying 'Xmas'! Doesn't he realize what he is saying?”

Yes, I sure do!

A lot of people...most people in fact... tend to get very upset when they see the term "Xmas".

Xmas? How dare they take Christ out of Christmas, and call it Xmas. After all, Christmas is derived from Christ's Mass, and calling it Xmas is just a blatant attempt to demean what Christmas means. They already want to say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”...and now they want to make their attack complete by writing “Merry Xmas”? Well, I for one am not standing idly by while these secular humanists and their anti-Christian cohorts....

Whoa there....slow down and take a couple of deep breaths. While you're taking your deep breaths I'll give you a little information so you can get your drawers (that means underwear to you people not from the country) out of a wad....so to speak.

The term Xmas is virtually as old as Christianity itself, and actually comes from classical Greek. The Roman letter “X” in our alphabet is similar to the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Χριστός, “Christos”, which translates as "Christ". The "mas" part is from the Latin-derived Old English word for "Mass". So, the word “Christmas” is actually derived from the Old English “Cristes mæsse”, literally meaning Mass of Christ.

“Xmas” (sometimes pronounced éksməss) is, and was a very common abbreviation of the word “Christmas”. So there is a very common misconception that the word “Xmas” is a secular attempt to remove the religious tradition of Christmas by taking Christ out of Christmas. This is just not the case for the term historically speaking.

According to the “Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage” the early use of Xmas dates back to 1551. Further, it (Merriam-Webster) states that X, Xp, and Xt, all derived from the Greek name, have all been used to stand for Christ- in other words besides Xmas. "Xpen" (1485), "Xpian" (1598), and "Xtian" (1845, 1915, 1940), all meaning "Christian", "Xstened" (1685-86) "christened" and "Xtianity" (1634, 1811, 1966) "Christianity".

Also, you can find the “X” being used in the ancient Christian fish symbol, or “Icthys”, as “ΙΧΘΥΣ”, which is an acronym for “Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior”.  

The labarum, more often called the Chi-Rho, was rendered by taking the first 2 Greek letters of the name Christ (Χριστός), the "X" (Chi) the "P" (Rho), and is a symbol used in Catholic, Orthodox, and many Protestant Christian churches as a symbol for Christ. 

In a good deal of ancient Christian art, “x” and “xp” are used as abbreviations for Christ's name, as well as in many icons and ancient manuscripts of the New Testament.

The use of the term “Xmas” in place of Christmas was also used in letters from Lord Byron (1811), Lewis Carroll (1864) and Oliver Wendell Holmes (1923), in which Merriam-Webster's opines was indicative of “well-educated Englishmen who knew their Greek”.

So, I hope this helps.

I am not going to try to tell you that “Xmas” is not used by those who are trying to offend, as I am sure in some cases that it is intended so. Just remember the next time you see “Xmas”, they are still saying Christmas...and still honoring the name of Christ, even though they may not realize it.

Now, you do know it.

So, Merry Xmas to you and yours!

Times Are Tough

Yes, times are tough. As if that's something we didn't all know already.  

It has especially hit home with me recently, as my hours at work are a long way from being full time now. I barely get 32-33 hours a week at my job, and my pay rate is not as much as it was.

I know that this is a dilemma being faced by many families and individuals around the country and around the world. I have cut back expenses everywhere I can, and don't know where else I can cut back. It's a good thing my internet is free... thanks to my landlady allowing me wireless access to her internet connection. That's all that allows me to continue these blogs.

So I am asking for your prayers for myself, and for the economic difficulties faced by so many others in these difficult times.

Thank you in advance.

May God Bless you and Our Lady keep you in her care!

Missal Moment #6: Bowing during the Creed

A video about the new english language translation of the Roman Missal from the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina.

POPE BENEDICT XVI : APOSTOLIC LETTER "MOTU PROPRIO DATA", "PORTA FIDEI"

VATICAN CITY, 17 OCT 2011 (VIS) - Made public today was "Porta fidei", the Apostolic Letter "Motu Proprio data" with which Benedict XVI proclaims a "Year of Faith", to begin on 11 October 2012, fiftieth anniversary of the opening of Vatican Council II, and due to end on 24 November 2013, Feast of Christ the King. Extracts from the English-language version of the Letter are given below:

"The 'door of faith' is always open for us, ushering us into the life of communion with God and offering entry into His Church. It is possible to cross that threshold when the word of God is proclaimed and the heart allows itself to be shaped by transforming grace".

"Ever since the start of my ministry as Successor of Peter, I have spoken of the need to rediscover the journey of faith so as to shed ever clearer light on the joy and renewed enthusiasm of the encounter with Christ. ... Whereas in the past it was possible to recognise a unitary cultural matrix, broadly accepted in its appeal to the content of the faith and the values inspired by it, today this no longer seems to be the case in large swathes of society, because of a profound crisis of faith that has affected many people".

"In the light of all this, I have decided to announce a Year of Faith. It will begin on 11 October 2012, the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of Vatican Council II, and it will end on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King, on 24 November 2013. The starting date of 11 October 2012 also marks the twentieth anniversary of the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a text promulgated by my Predecessor, Blessed John Paul II, with a view to illustrating for all the faithful the power and beauty of the faith".

"Moreover, the theme of the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops that I have convoked for October 2012 is 'The New Evangelisation for the Transmission of the Christian Faith'. This will be a good opportunity to usher the whole Church into a time of particular reflection and rediscovery of the faith. It is not the first time that the Church has been called to celebrate a Year of Faith. My venerable Predecessor the Servant of God Paul VI announced one in 1967. ... It concluded with the Credo of the People of God, intended to show how much the essential content that for centuries has formed the heritage of all believers needs to be confirmed, understood and explored ever anew, so as to bear consistent witness in historical circumstances very different from those of the past".

"It seemed to me that timing the launch of the Year of Faith to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of Vatican Council II would provide a good opportunity to help people understand that the texts bequeathed by the Council Fathers. ... I would also like to emphasise strongly what I had occasion to say concerning the Council a few months after my election as Successor of Peter: 'if we interpret and implement it guided by a right hermeneutic, it can be and can become increasingly powerful for the ever necessary renewal of the Church'.

"The renewal of the Church is also achieved through the witness offered by the lives of believers: by their very existence in the world, Christians are called to radiate the word of truth that the Lord Jesus has left us. The Council itself, in the Dogmatic Constitution 'Lumen Gentium', said this: ... the Church ... clasping sinners to her bosom, is at once holy and always in need of purification".

The Year of Faith, from this perspective, is a summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the one Saviour of the world. In the mystery of His death and resurrection, God has revealed in its fullness the Love that saves and calls us to conversion of life through the forgiveness of sins. For St. Paul, this Love ushers us into a new life. ... Through faith, this new life shapes the whole of human existence according to the radical new reality of the resurrection. ... 'Faith working through love' becomes a new criterion of understanding and action that changes the whole of man's life".

"Through His love, Jesus Christ attracts to Himself the people of every generation: in every age He convokes the Church, entrusting her with the proclamation of the Gospel by a mandate that is ever new. Today too, there is a need for stronger ecclesial commitment to new evangelisation in order to rediscover the joy of believing and the enthusiasm for communicating the faith. In rediscovering His love day by day, the missionary commitment of believers attains force and vigour that can never fade away. Faith grows when it is lived as an experience of love received and when it is communicated as an experience of grace and joy".

"Only through believing, then, does faith grow and become stronger; there is no other possibility for possessing certitude with regard to one's life apart from self-abandonment, in a continuous crescendo, into the hands of a love that seems to grow constantly because it has its origin in God".

"We want to celebrate this Year in a worthy and fruitful manner. Reflection on the faith will have to be intensified, so as to help all believers in Christ to acquire a more conscious and vigorous adherence to the Gospel, especially at a time of profound change such as humanity is currently experiencing. We will have the opportunity to profess our faith in the Risen Lord in our cathedrals and in the churches of the whole world; in our homes and among our families, so that everyone may feel a strong need to know better and to transmit to future generations the faith of all times. Religious communities as well as parish communities, and all ecclesial bodies old and new, are to find a way, during this Year, to make a public profession of the Credo.

"We want this Year to arouse in every believer the aspiration to profess the faith in fullness and with renewed conviction, with confidence and hope. It will also be a good opportunity to intensify the celebration of the faith in the liturgy, especially in the Eucharist, which is 'the summit towards which the activity of the Church is directed; ... and also the source from which all its power flows.' At the same time, we make it our prayer that believers' witness of life may grow in credibility. To rediscover the content of the faith that is professed, celebrated, lived and prayed, and to reflect on the act of faith, is a task that every believer must make his own, especially in the course of this Year".

"A Christian may never think of belief as a private act. Faith is choosing to stand with the Lord so as to live with Him. This 'standing with Him' points towards an understanding of the reasons for believing. Faith, precisely because it is a free act, also demands social responsibility for what one believes. ... Profession of faith is an act both personal and communitarian. It is the Church that is the primary subject of faith. In the faith of the Christian community, each individual receives Baptism, an effective sign of entry into the people of believers in order to obtain salvation".

"Evidently, knowledge of the content of faith is essential for giving one's own assent, that is to say for adhering fully with intellect and will to what the Church proposes. Knowledge of faith opens a door into the fullness of the saving mystery revealed by God. The giving of assent implies that, when we believe, we freely accept the whole mystery of faith, because the guarantor of its truth is God who reveals Himself and allows us to know His mystery of love.

"On the other hand, we must not forget that in our cultural context, very many people, while not claiming to have the gift of faith, are nevertheless sincerely searching for the ultimate meaning and definitive truth of their lives and of the world. This search is an authentic 'preamble' to the faith, because it guides people onto the path that leads to the mystery of God. Human reason, in fact, bears within itself a demand for 'what is perennially valid and lasting'. This demand constitutes a permanent summons, indelibly written into the human heart, to set out to find the One Whom we would not be seeking had He not already set out to meet us. To this encounter, faith invites us and it opens us in fullness.

"In order to arrive at a systematic knowledge of the content of the faith, all can find in the Catechism of the Catholic Church a precious and indispensable tool. It is one of the most important fruits of Vatican Council II. ... It is in this sense that that the Year of Faith will have to see a concerted effort to rediscover and study the fundamental content of the faith that receives its systematic and organic synthesis in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. ... The Catechism provides a permanent record of the many ways in which the Church has meditated on the faith and made progress in doctrine so as to offer certitude to believers in their lives of faith".

"In this Year, then, the Catechism of the Catholic Church will serve as a tool providing real support for the faith, especially for those concerned with the formation of Christians, so crucial in our cultural context. To this end, I have invited the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, by agreement with the competent Dicasteries of the Holy See, to draw up a note, providing the Church and individual believers with some guidelines on how to live this Year of Faith in the most effective and appropriate ways, at the service of belief and evangelisation.

"To a greater extent than in the past, faith is now being subjected to a series of questions arising from a changed mentality which, especially today, limits the field of rational certainties to that of scientific and technological discoveries. Nevertheless, the Church has never been afraid of demonstrating that there cannot be any conflict between faith and genuine science, because both, albeit via different routes, tend towards the truth.

"One thing that will be of decisive importance in this Year is retracing the history of our faith, marked as it is by the unfathomable mystery of the interweaving of holiness and sin. While the former highlights the great contribution that men and women have made to the growth and development of the community through the witness of their lives, the latter must provoke in each person a sincere and continuing work of conversion in order to experience the mercy of the Father which is held out to everyone".

"The Year of Faith will also be a good opportunity to intensify the witness of charity. ... Faith and charity each require the other, in such a way that each allows the other to set out along its respective path. Indeed, many Christians dedicate their lives with love to those who are lonely, marginalised or excluded, as to those who are the first with a claim on our attention and the most important for us to support, because it is in them that the reflection of Christ's own face is seen. Through faith, we can recognise the face of the risen Lord in those who ask for our love".

"Having reached the end of his life, St. Paul asks his disciple Timothy to 'aim at faith' with the same constancy as when he was a boy. We hear this invitation directed to each of us, that none of us grow lazy in the faith. It is the lifelong companion that makes it possible to perceive, ever anew, the marvels that God works for us. Intent on gathering the signs of the times in the present of history, faith commits every one of us to become a living sign of the presence of the Risen Lord in the world. What the world is in particular need of today is the credible witness of people enlightened in mind and heart by the word of the Lord, and capable of opening the hearts and minds of many to the desire for God and for true life, life without end".

LIT/ VIS 20111017 (2100)

You can find more information at: www.visnews.org

The news items contained in the Vatican Information Service may be used, in part or in their entirety, by quoting the source:

V.I.S. -Vatican Information Service.

Copyright © Vatican Information Service 00120 Vatican City

Saint Jude Novena Starts October 19, 2011

Beginning Wednesday, October 19, 2011, Faith of the Fathers blogs will be joining "Pray More Novena's" and 5,000 Catholics from around the world in praying a Saint Jude Novena.

For those of you who may not know, Saint Jude is my Patron Saint, and I am extremely happy to be participating in this novena (nine days of prayer) to such a wonderful Apostle, martyr, and powerful intercessor.

Saint Jude (also known as Jude of James and Judas Thaddeus) was a blood relative of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and one of the Twelve Apostles. He was the brother of Saint James the Lesser, and a nephew of Mary and Joseph.

Saint Jude is the patron of lost or impossible causes, desperate situations, forgotten causes, hospitals, hospital workers, and the diocese of Saint Petersburg, Florida.

His patronage of lost or impossible causes derives from the confusion by many early Christians between the names of Jude and the traitor Judas Iscariot. Failing to grasp the difference between the names they never prayed for Saint Jude's help, so devotion to him became something of a lost cause.

So, we invite you to join us, as well as thousands of others in praying the Saint Jude Novena beginning October 19. I will be posting daily reminders here to join the novena in concert with "Pray More Novena's".

Bishop Aquila predicts state attempts to silence Catholic Church :: EWTN News

An excerpt from this article is below:

An American bishop has predicted that government authorities may one day attempt to silence the Catholic Church in the United States.

“We could see the possibility of it within the United States where we are no longer free to preach the truth from the pulpit or to present Catholic teaching,” Bishop Samuel J. Aquila of Fargo, North Dakota, told CNA on a visit to Rome October 7.

Click the link below to read the entire article from EWTN News:

Bishop Aquila predicts state attempts to silence Catholic Church :: EWTN News

ZENIT - Anti-Christian Censorship and New Media

Read this report from ZENIT regarding censorship of Christian content from Apple, Google, Facebook and others. The study was done by the organization National Religious Broadcasters. Read the article from ZENIT by clicking the link at the bottom of this post, or by clicking the post title. 

If you want to read the entire report on the study "True Liberty In A New Media Age" from the National Religious Broadcasters you can click here to read it in pdf format. Please note that the report is 47 pages.

ZENIT - Anti-Christian Censorship and New Media

Comfort In Christ or Comfort In Self?

Note:The following was first posted in August 2005 on our blog "Church Under Attack".

There is a most disturbing trend today, and that trend is going unnoticed and unchallenged by a great number of people, especially, in the Christian Community at large. It is something that has began slowly, and continues to grow at an alarming rate, and within every community in the United States, Canada, and around the world in general. That trend is called “Political Correctness”(PC), and people have been beguiled into being “PC” at the expense of their own self-respect, and even more disturbing to the point of denying their faith, and even being ashamed of their faith.

An even more alarming trend, is that “PC” has governments from the local, to the state, provincial, and national levels passing laws with the intent of inhibiting, and in most cases prohibiting Christian morals and Law being expressed from the pulpit. If a Catholic priest or Protestant minister gives a sermon in which homosexuality as seen in God's Law is the subject, they can be charged in many places with inciting “hate crimes”(as if perpetrators of hate crimes need inciting), and face fines and/or jail time. If a Christian opposes heterosexual couples living together outside the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony they are seen as repressive, puritanical, and “old fashioned”. Christians opposing abortion are seen as being “invasive of privacy”. Does Freedom of Religion no longer apply in Christian teaching on morality? Does only freedom from religion apply? Sadly, the answer to both questions is... yes.

This trend raises several questions. Why have people, particularly Christian, people remained so deafeningly silent with the passage of these laws? Why are we allowing ourselves to be so blinded by “PC” that we will not see that we are being told to deny GOD in a very open and yet subtle way? Why do we remain silent on these issues? Why do we want to seem “nice”, “progressive”, or “open minded” when these are code terms for denial of God? Why do we use the feeble excuse, that it “doesn't matter because it doesn't affect me”?

When Saint Polycarp of Smyrna, the great Bishop of Smyrna, was martyred, he was asked to deny Christ by the proconsul, and he refused. When threatened with the “wild beasts” by the proconsul his reply was, “Call them then, for we are not accustomed to repent of what is good in order to adopt that which is evil; and it is well for me to be changed from what is evil to what is righteous”. In essence, Polycarp proclaimed himself Christian, and refused to exchange God and Eternal Life for what was absolutely evil and unholy. Where is this Spirit of Faith today? Does it exist? I am afraid it exists in too far small numbers anymore, especially with todays “PC” mentality. It is apparent, that today there would be a very, very few who would and could stand like Saint Polycarp did, like Saint Ignatius of Antioch did, like the Apostles did, and not “repent of what is good in order to adopt that which is evil”.

We have become unwilling, even afraid to call sin just what it is...SIN! We don't do this for the other person, no not at all. We do it for self! Because self has become more important to us than God! We want people to think of us as “nice”, as “kind” and we think only of how we appear to people, when we should be more concerned about how we appear to God! Whenever we say that what God calls sin, is not sin, but, that it is alright, it's OK, then we are denying God and God's Law! When we say what someone else does has no affect on us, we just lied to ourselves, because by saying evil is just, we have called God unjust, and that most assuredly does affect us!

Granted, we are not called to judge, we are not to condemn, because “all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God”. Yet, we ARE called to correct and by not correcting we fail to properly instruct those who falter. We as Christians should place our trust in God who will uphold His Law and those who follow His Law through Christ Jesus and not deny Him by any word from man or man's law.

Luke 17:1-3 He said to his disciples, "Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the person through whom they occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.

2 Timothy 2:24-26 A slave of the Lord should not quarrel, but should be gentle with everyone, able to teach, tolerant, correcting opponents with kindness. It may be that God will grant them repentance that leads to knowledge of the truth, and that they may return to their senses out of the devil's snare, where they are entrapped by him, for his will.

1 Peter 3:17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil.

1 Peter 4:14-16 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let no one among you be made to suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as an intriguer. But whoever is made to suffer as a Christian should not be ashamed but glorify God because of the name.

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for (someone) to devour.

Copyright © 2005-2011 Steve Smith. All rights reserved.

POPE BENEDICT XVI'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR OCTOBER

VATICAN CITY, 30 SEP 2011 (VIS) - Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for October is: "That the terminally ill may be supported by their faith in God and the love of their brothers and sisters".

  His mission intention is: "That the celebration of World Mission Day may foster in the People of God a passion for evangelisation with the willingness to support the missions with prayer and economic aid for the poorest Churches".
BXVI-PRAYER INTENTIONS/                                                       VIS 20110930 (80)

You can find more information at: www.visnews.org

The news items contained in the Vatican Information Service may be used, in part or in their entirety, by quoting the source:
V.I.S. -Vatican Information Service.
Copyright © Vatican Information Service 00120 Vatican City

Saint Therese of Lisieux Novena 2011.......Day Nine

Today is day nine, the final day of the novena to Saint Therese of Lisieux. Come and join in the novena at Pray More Novena's.

If you go to the site, you will find all the prayers for the novena, as well as the intentions of many people.

There are over 450 prayer intentions posted for this novena. You can go to read these intentions and post your own as well here.

Saint Therese of Lisieux Novena 2011.......Day Eight

Today is day eight of the novena to Saint Therese of Lisieux. Come and join in the novena at Pray More Novena's. One more day of our joining with other Catholics from around the world in praying this novena remain after today.

If you go to the site, you will find all the prayers for the novena, as well as the intentions of many people.

Join us, and over 5,000 people from around the world in praying this novena to "The Little Flower".

There are over 450 prayer intentions posted for this novena. You can go to read these intentions and post your own as well here.

Saint Therese of Lisieux Novena 2011... Day Seven

 Once more, it's time to go to Pray More Novena's, and join in the novena to Saint Therese of Lisieux. Today is day seven of the novena. Two more days of our joining with other Catholics from around the world in praying this novena remain.

If you go to the site, you will find all the prayers for the novena, as well as the intentions of many people.

Join us, and the other 5,000 people from around the world in praying this novena to "The Little Flower".

There are over 450 prayer intentions posted for this novena. You can go to read these intentions and post your own as well here.

Saint Therese of Lisieux Novena 2011... Day Six

 It's time to go to Pray More Novena's, and join in the novena to Saint Therese of Lisieux. Today is day six of the novena.

If you go to the site, you will find all the prayers for the novena, as well as the intentions of many people.

Join us, and the other 5,000 people from around the world in praying this novena to "The Little Flower".

There are over 450 prayer intentions posted for this novena. You can go to read these intentions and post your own as well here.

Saint Therese of Lisieux Novena 2011... Day Two

Don't forget to go to Pray More Novena's, and join in the novena to Saint Therese of Lisieux. Today is the second day of the novena.

If you go to the site, you will find all the prayers for the novena, as well as the intentions of many people.

Join us in praying this novena to "The Little Flower".

Also, there are over 450 prayer intentions posted for this novena. You can go to read these intentions and post your own as well here.

Why I Won't Watch (or Listen To) The 9-11 Memorial Service

With this being the ten year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on 9-11, one would hope that it would be a somber, reverent occasion. Somber it may be, but hardly any reverence is to be expected. 

This ten year "memorial service" has had reverence thrown out the front door, when Mayor Bloomberg decided to exclude the clergy. Not only that, the New York Police Department and Fire Departments have also been excluded as well. As far as I know, the Port Authority Police won't be there either.

As it has been so aptly pointed out numerous times by people more well known than myself, the police and fire departments weren't exactly invited the day of the attacks, but they showed up....did their jobs...and many lost their lives as a result.

It has also been pointed out, that Mayor Bloomberg's predecessor Rudy Giuliani made it a point to call Cardinal Edward Egan, Archbishop Emeritus of New York. Cardinal Edward Egan went immediately where for the next several days he would be anointing the dead, distributing rosaries to workers as they searched for survivors, and presiding over funerals. 

As a Christian, I can not fathom a memorial service with no clergy. I can fathom no memorial service where the police, firemen, and other first responders are excluded from giving honor and remembrance to their fallen comrades.

Do the politicians really and truly believe that they can take the place of excluded clergy? Do they think that they can take the place of the NYPD and NYFD to offer proper remembrance and honor to all the fallen first responders? Do the politicians think that they can comfort those who lost parents, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters?

I sure don't have as much faith in politicians as polticians seem to have faith in themselves. I expect this memorial service to turn into a political fiasco. I have a feeling, that this is going to turn into one big political campaign rally, with ample reminders from the media and the politicans present, that President Obama was the one who "got" Osama bin Laden, the "mastermind" behind the attacks.

Nope. If the NYPD, NYFD, first responders and the clergy are excluded, this is one American who won't be watching the politicians puff out their chests and make their grand proclamations. I have had enough of their grandstanding as it is. Don't need any more.

A Minor Change Or Two

I made a couple of changes to the blogs (most have the changes) and wanted to let "Faith of the Fathers" readers know about them.

First of all, I have taken the Welcome Page, Privacy Policy, etc., from the sidebar and moved them to the top of page as tabs located just under the title header of each blog. You can click the picture to enlarge it if you like.

I think it makes them more noticeable, especially since some advertisers whose ads appear on these blogs require a  "Privacy Policy" on websites and blogs where their ads appear.

The second change was for the "blogroll" or bloglists for Faith of the Fathers Blogs and My Favorite Catholic blogs, etc.. The list of favorite blogs was getting longer and longer, and as a result the load times for the blogs was also getting longer and longer.

This is the new "look" for the blogs lists and for the links for Faith of the Fathers blogs as well. Yes, just a good old fashioned scroll bar. The most  recently updated blogs appear first in the list, which means a blog showing listed first now, may not be a few minutes later. No blogs have been removed from the list, you just have to scroll down to find them.

This has made the pages load a bit faster (or so it seems to me, anyway), and prevents a l-o-n-g list taking up an entire sidebar.

I hope this makes the blogs better, and I appreciate all the subscribers and regular readers of Faith of the Fathers blogs.

One last thing, we now have a Facebook Page for "Faith of the Fathers" blogs, which you can go to here, and click the "Like" button. We still have our Group on Facebook here as well. Both get regular "updates" for new posts on all of our blogs, so if you are on Facebook you might want to join the group or "Like" our new page.

Once again, thank you to all of our readers and subscribers. We appreciate your support.