Monday Night at the Movies
The Devil at 4 O'clock
AUGUST
August--We may come to appreciate more deeply the various landforms (mountains, deserts, rock formations, valleys, and plains) during vacation time. They give us bearing, direction, and the geological history of our lives. This is the beginning of awareness of the "here" in our lives. The Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord shows us the "hereness" of the risen Lord, and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary speaks of God's power to the blessed. While we can choose to extend the Savior's redeeming power to our wounded earth, we also can choose to withdraw from this awesome challenge.
Overview of August[1]
August is often considered the transitional month in our seasonal calendar. It is the time of the year we begin to wind-down from our summer travels and vacations and prepare for Autumn — back to school, fall festivals, harvest time, etc. The Church in her holy wisdom has provided a cycle of events in its liturgical year which allow the faithful to celebrate the major feasts in the life of Christ and Mary. Most notably, during August, we celebrate the feast of the Transfiguration (August 6) and the feast of the Assumption (August 15).
The other main feasts of this month are St. Alphonsus Liguori (August 1), St. Eusebius of Vercelli and St. Peter Julian Eymard (August 2), St. John Mary Vianney (August 4), Dedication of St. Mary Major (August 5), Transfiguration of the Lord (August 6), St. Dominic (August 8), St. Teresa Benedicta (August 9), St. Lawrence (August 10), St. Clare (August 11), St. Jane Frances de Chantal (August 12), St. Stephen of Hungary (August 16), St. John Eudes (August 9), St. Bernard (August 20), the Queenship of Mary(August 22), St. Rose of Lima (August 23), St. Bartholomew (August 24), St. Louis of France (August 25), St. Monica (August 27) and the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist (August 29.)
The feasts of St. Sixtus II and Companions and St. Cajetan (August 7), St. Maximilian Kolbe (August 14), St. Pius X (August 21) and St. Augustine (August 28) fall on a Sunday, so they are superseded by the Sunday Liturgy and the Liturgy of the Assumption.
The days of summer have provided a welcome change of pace. However, while vacations afford us the time to relax and refresh, the change of habits and routines can also have a negative impact on our spiritual lives. As if to re-ignite us, the Church offers us in the plethora of August feasts vivid examples of the virtue of perseverance: six martyrs — two who are named in Canon I of the Mass and two who were martyred during World War II; seven founders of religious congregations, as well as three popes and two kings; the apostle, St. Bartholomew; the great Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine and St. Monica, his mother; the humble patron saint of parish priests, St. John Vianney, and the patron of deacons, St. Lawrence, who joked with his executioners while being roasted alive.
It is never too late to begin — as the life of the reformed sinner, St. Augustine teaches us — nor too difficult to begin again, as demonstrated by the conversion of the martyr, St. Teresa Benedicta (Edith Stein). We present-day members of the Mystical Body are certain of the reward to which we are called, for Christ's Transfigured body (August 6) is a preview of that glory. Moreover, in the Assumption of his Mother (August 15), Our Lord has demonstrated his fidelity to his promise. Her privilege is "the highest fruit of the Redemption" and "our consoling assurance of the coming of our final hope — the glorification which is Christ's" (Enchiridion on Indulgences).
The Blessed Virgin Mary is the most perfect example of Christian perseverance, but she is also our advocate in heaven where she is crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth (August 22). Mary is the "Mother of Perpetual Help", the patroness of the Congregation founded by St. Alphonsus Liguori (August 1). "No one who has fled to her protection is left unaided" is the claim of the Memorare of St. Bernard (August 20). Heretics have returned to the faith by the prayers of her Rosary, first preached by St. Dominic (August 8) in the twelfth Century, and hearts have been converted by the graces received while wearing her Miraculous Medal, promoted by St. Maximillian Kolbe (August 14) and adopted as the "badge" for the Pious Union he founded. Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope!
August Travel[2]
· State Fair Season
State
fair season kicks off in August; see the stars of the season like the
Orange County Fair, which draws more than 1.5 million fairgoers, or the
Minnesota State Fair, which Andrew Zimmern calls his own slice of heavenly
obsession. With state fair staples like ice-cold lemonade and fried treats, we
can see why.
Technically the world's largest yard sale, the flea market
known as the 127 Corridor is certainly the LONGEST outdoor market. Beginning on
a highway in Jamestown, TN, this flea stretches hundreds of miles through North
Covington, Kentucky, and continues all the way to Gadsden, Alabama. There are
more than 2,000 vendors along this tour who clear their schedules for 3 weeks
every August. One can imagine the caravan of Winnabagos that make this annual
pilgrimage. Countless treasures and billions of collectibles hide among
bric-a-brac and junk, but the people-watching and Southern hospitality alone
are worth the trip.
Escape the heat, and take
in awe-inspiring glacial views, with a cruise to Alaska.
Cruise ships dock alongside towns from Seward, along Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula,
to Ketchikan, in the Alexander Archipelago. Cruise ships also dock near Katmai
National Park, where July is prime time to see bears gulp up Atlantic salmon on
their run. And if cruise prices prove too high in July, fret not: Alaska’s
prime cruise season stretches through September.
·
August
3-7-Maine Lobster Festival (Rockland,
ME)
The annual Maine Lobster Festival kicks off this month, and
you won't want to miss a moment of it! Over the course of the 5-day festival,
more than 20,000 lbs. of lobster will be served -- lobster rolls, lobster
wraps, lobster Caesar salad. Did we say lobster? Plus, see the annual Lobster
Crate Race, cooking contest and the Maine Sea Goddess coronation!
·
August 9-17-Elvis
Week (Memphis, TN)
Shake, rattle and roll! Memphis, TN, marks its annual Elvis Week celebration each
August. There's always something for Elvis fans, including the big draw each
year, the annual Elvis Tribute Artists contest. Who will be crowned the King?
·
August
21-Happy Birthday,
Hawaii!
Do your patriotic duty, and honor the Aloha State with a
visit this month -- August 21 marks Hawaii?s admittance as the 50th state. Lap
up the waves on Oahu's North Shore; and for
culinary fare, we've got the inside scoop on 4 ways to eat like a local on Oahu.
· Cowal Highland Gathering (Dunoon, Scotland)
Nice legs! See big, brawny men in flowing Scottish skirts
compete in the largest Highland games in the world -- the Cowal Highland
Gathering. Also known as the Cowal Games, the annual event is held in the
Scottish town of Dunoon, attracting more than 23,000 spectators to celebrate
Scottish and Celtic culture.
Iceman’s Calendar
·
August 3rd MASS First
Wednesday
·
August 4th Feast
of St. John Vianney
·
August 5th MASS First
Friday
·
August 7th Feast
of the Transfiguration
o MASS First
Saturday
·
August 8th Ninth Sunday
after Pentecost
·
August 10th Feast of St. Lawrence
·
August 11th Feast
of St. Claire
·
August 14th Tenth
Sunday after Pentecost
·
August 15th The
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
·
August 21st Eleventh
Sunday after Pentecost
·
August 22nd Queenship
of Mary
·
August 24th St.
Bartholomew, Apostle
·
August 28th Twelfth
Sunday after Pentecost
[3]https://www.cntraveler.com/story/is-alaskas-summer-cruise-season-still-happening?verso=true
SAINT PETER IN CHAINS
Luke,
Chapter 8, Verse 35-37
35 People came out to see what had happened and, when they approached Jesus, they discovered the man from whom the demons had come out sitting at his feet. He was clothed and in his right mind, and they were seized with FEAR. 36 Those who witnessed it told them how the possessed man had been saved. 37 The entire population of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them because they were seized with great fear. So he got into a boat and returned.
The population was more Greek than they were Jews; thus, Jesus scared them really bad, with the exorcism and all. Christ understood their fear and got in the boat and left. The Church today still has the power of exorcism.
Do
not be afraid. Go and do as you propose.
Saint Peter in
Chains[1]
Today commemorates St. Peter’s miraculous escape from prison by the hand of an angel. He had been incarcerated by Herod Agrippa, who had already killed St. James the Greater and intended to bring St. Peter before the people also after Easter. But, as the Acts of the Apostles tells us, “Prayer was made without ceasing by the church unto God for him”, and he was delivered by an angel who awoke him in the night, led him past the guards and out of prison.
The
chains of St. Peter in Rome
Though no longer included
in the general liturgical calendar, the feast of St. Peter in Chains is
nonetheless an important day for the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. The
pilgrims who joined the Fraternity on our 30th Anniversary Pilgrimage to Rome
last October visited the Basilica of St. Peter in Chains, where they were able
to venerate the chains of St. Peter.
Also commemorated today
are the seven Maccabees, the holy brothers who were tortured and killed before
the eyes of their mother in the 2nd century before Christ for refusing to
abandon the Jewish faith. Please pray today for the priests of our Fraternity,
that, through the intercession of our patron St. Peter and the holy Maccabees,
we may ever possess the same fortitude and love for the Faith that enabled them
to endure all things for its sake. “And Peter coming to himself, said: Now I
know in very deed, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out
of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.”
This is an extraordinary demonstration of God’s mercy in removing the chains of sin from those who devoutly and faithfully seek to gain the indulgence by completing its requirements. It is said that St. Francis was given this day by Our Lord because the Feast of the Chains of St. Peter celebrated on August first is the day Peter was released from prison and his chains removed.
Conditions
The
conditions to obtain the Plenary Indulgence of the Forgiveness of Assisi is
(for oneself or for a departed soul) is as follows:
·
Sacramental
Confession to be in God’s grace (during eight days before or after.)
·
Participation in the
Holy Mass and Eucharist
·
Recitation of The
Apostles Creed, Our Father and also a prayer for the Pope’s Intention (such as
an Our Father, Hail Mary, etc.).
The
Portiuncula Indulgence is a grace not to be missed—not only for yourself but
for the many suffering souls in Purgatory. Mark your calendar for the Feast of
Our Lady of the Angels beginning at Vespers (Noon) on the First of August to
August 2nd at Midnight.
Today is my deceased
father’s birthday.
My father was not always a blameless and upright man, but he
had a great devotion to St. Jude. He always swore it was St. Jude’s prayers and
intercession that brought him home from the war in the pacific and maybe it
was. He got my grandmother to sign the papers and he was in combat before his
18th birthday. He was a ghost diver during WWII; his job was to scuba dive in
before invasions and set up radio beacons for the invasion and avoid detection
or capture. He went on 26 missions with 11 others in frogman teams. The normal
mortality rate for these teams was 50%.
After the war, my father drank a lot to forget. As his
disease of alcoholism ramped up, he stopped going to church refusing to go to
church drunk. I don’t know if my father was aware St. Jude admonishes false
teachers who used the church as a sort of country club and caroused fearlessly
looking after themselves. My father did not see the church as a social
institution but as a place where one encounters our Holy God, our Holy mighty
one; our Holy immortal one.
My father knew he was a sinner. He always said that St. Jude
was his patron saint because; St. Jude is the patron saint of lost causes, and
my father swore that’s what he was. As his disease progressed, he stopped going
to church but built a shrine to our Mother Mary. Every day he would cut fresh
roses for the shrine and sit at twilight, with beer and cigarette in hand;
silently staring at the shrine.
In the end my father did receive his last rights and was
ushered into our Lord by our Lady and St. Jude.
Prayer of St. Alphonsus Dc Liguori to the
Sacred Heart.
O adorable heart of my Jesus, heart created expressly for the love of men, until now I have shown towards Thee only ingratitude. Pardon me, O my Jesus. Heart of my Jesus, abyss of love and of mercy, how is it possible that I do not die of sorrow when I reflect on Thy goodness to me and my ingratitude to Thee? Thou, my Creator, after having created me, hast given Thy blood and Thy life for me and, not content with this, Thou hast invented a means of offering Thyself up every day for me in the Holy Eucharist, exposing Thyself to a thousand insults and outrages. Ah, Jesus, do Thou wound my heart with a great contrition for my sins, and a lively love for Thee. Through Thy tears and Thy blood give me the grace of perseverance in Thy fervent love until I breathe my last sigh. Amen.
Novena
in Honor of Saint John Marie Vianney[3]
Dispeller
of Satan
O Holy Priest of Ars, the
infamous attacks of the devil which you had to suffer and the trials which
disheartened you by fatigue would not make you give up the sublime task of
converting souls. The devil came to you for many years to disturb your short rest,
but you won because of mortification and prayers. Powerful protector, you know
the tempter’s desire to harm my baptized and believing soul. He would have me
sin, by rejecting the Holy Sacraments and the life of virtue. But good Saint of
Ars dispel from me the traces of the enemy. Holy Priest of Ars, I have
confidence in your intercession. Pray for me during this novena especially for
... (mention silently your special intentions).
Our
Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.
Our
first path to holiness is through the Eucharist! Yes, prayers, confessions, the
rosary and the saints, angels and our Lady help us in that path to holiness,
but when we receive honorably, we become the resurrected Christ to others and us
radiant His presence. Today make the Eucharistic Stations of the Cross.
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION TWO-THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH
CHAPTER
ONE-THE SACRAMENTS OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION
Article 2 THE
SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION
V. The
Minister of Confirmation
1312 The original minister of Confirmation is the bishop. In
the East, ordinarily the priest who baptizes also immediately confers
Confirmation in one and the same celebration. But he does so with sacred chrism
consecrated by the patriarch or the bishop, thus expressing the apostolic unity
of the Church whose bonds are strengthened by the sacrament of Confirmation. In
the Latin Church, the same discipline applies to the Baptism of adults or to
the reception into full communion with the Church of a person baptized in
another Christian community that does not have valid Confirmation.
1313 In the Latin Rite, the ordinary minister of Confirmation
is the bishop. Although the bishop may for grave reasons concede to
priests the faculty of administering Confirmation, it is appropriate from
the very meaning of the sacrament that he should confer it himself, mindful
that the celebration of Confirmation has been temporally separated from Baptism
for this reason. Bishops are the successors of the apostles. They have received
the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders. the administration of this
sacrament by them demonstrates clearly that its effect is to unite those who
receive it more closely to the Church, to her apostolic origins, and to her
mission of bearing witness to Christ.
1314 If a Christian is in danger of death, any priest should
give him Confirmation. Indeed, the Church desires that none of her
children, even the youngest, should depart this world without having been
perfected by the Holy Spirit with the gift of Christ's fullness.
Daily
Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: End
to abortion
· Eat waffles
and Pray for the assistance of the Angels
·
Religion
in the Home for Preschool: August
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
· Monday: Litany of
Humility
·
Let
Freedom Ring Day 26
·
“Lammas”
·
Rosary
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