Monday, August 14, 2023

- August 08, 2023

Rosary Coast to Coast - October 7

In addition to 2023 being the 8th annual 54 Day Rosary Novena for Our Nation, it is also the 8th year for the National Rosary Rally and the 6th year for Rosary Coast to Coast when we are called to look forward to taking our communal prayer into the public realm!

Many sense something is coming, and so it seems providential that this year the October 7th Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary falls on a Saturday which is also the First Saturday of the month! With the opportunity to gather in prayer on the actual feast day as well as to help fulfill Our Lady of Fatima’s request to offer our prayer in reparation on first Saturdays, the National Rosary Rally will be held on Saturday October 7th at our nation’s capitol.

Rosary Coast to Coast rallies are encouraged to also take place on Saturday October 7th. We know that some rallies are planned for Sunday. Rallies held on Sunday October 8th should be considered in union with Rosary Coast to Coast as well. Resources are available to support both dates.

Organize and register Rosary Coast to Coast rallies at https://rosarycoasttocoast.com/.

Once again the rallies are encouraged to be in public places: along coasts and borders, at state capitols, in parks, on beaches, along busy streets as well as outside Churches and Shrines.

National Rosary Rally - October 7

Rosary Coast to Coast is anchored by the National Rosary Rally at the US Capitol in Washington DC!

The National Rosary Rally will start with the National Eucharistic Procession from St. Peter's on Capitol Hill.

This year for the first time the Men's March (https://themensmarch.com/) will join the National Eucharistic Procession at the Supreme Court to the rally site at Union Square on Capitol Hill and will participate in the National Rosary Rally!

The National Rosary Rally will again lead Rosary Coast to Coast rallies across the nation in praying the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary simultaneously at 4 pm Eastern, 3 pm Central, 2 pm Mountain, 1pm Pacific, noon Alaska, 10 am Hawaii!

Please consider joining us at our nation's capitol on Saturday October 7th! Details can be found at https://rosarycoasttocoast.com/national-rosary-rally/.

There is much to pray for and to witness in public, prayerful, peaceful profession of our Catholic Faith!

Our prayer intention this year is: MAY OUR CHURCH AND OUR COUNTRY FIND HOPE AS WE UNITE AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS.

Called to Holiness & Spiritual Battle - Unite at the Foot of the Cross

We, the Church Militant on earth, are engaged in a spiritual battle of historic proportions! We continue to live in peace-less times in conflict with God’s laws and His natural law: denial of the humanity and human rights of the unborn; rebellion against God’s creation of man and woman; attacks on marriage and family; intolerance towards and persecution of biblically-based religious belief and practice. We have long since passed the moral degradation of Sodom and Gomorrah.

In essence, we are living in a culture of death and of lies. To what are we as Christians called in response? The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “All are called to Holiness…The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle.”

Rosary Coast to Coast and National Rosary Rally are not political rallies. We are praying for our nation to return to God and to Holiness through the peaceful, powerful, public profession of our Catholic Faith!

Are you in?!

“I wholeheartedly endorse the Novena for Our Nation and the Rosary Rally… I urge as many as are able to participate in these great spiritual works for the sake of our entire nation.” - Cardinal Raymond Burke

“May there arise a new movement of people who courageously will pray the Rosary in public places. May “Rosary Coast to Coast” bring to all citizens of the United States, to the people people with governmental responsibilities, to all faithful Catholics, to priests and bishops a spiritual grace-filled rain of roses.” - Bishop Athanasius Schneider

“I am 100% supportive of the Rosary Coast to Coast movement! Our world is in major trouble and we need to turn to the prayer that Our Lady has most insistently asked us to pray in all of her recent approved apparitions: The Holy Rosary.” - Fr. Donald Calloway

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." - 2 Chronicles 7:14

Monday Night at the Movies

Joe Johnston, October Sky, 1999

Introduction to Chronicles 1

Déjà vu [1], that strange feeling we sometimes get that we've read something before. What we're reading now has already been read. In 1 Chronicles, the author decides to retell the entire history of Israel from the first week of creation all the way to the people's return from exile in Babylon in 538 BCE. After all, those really long genealogies from Numbers were so fun, who wouldn't want to hear them again? But seriously, why would anyone want to retell stories from the Bible? Those tales about the prophet Samuel and King David were pretty darn awesome the first time around. If the originals are not broken, don't fix it, right? Not quite. See, the author of Chronicles lived about 500 years after the death of King David. A whole lot of distressing stuff has happened since then. Israel had a string of terrible kings, it fractured into two separate countries, and it was nearly annihilated by the big boys from Assyria and Babylon. It was a rough half-millennium.

1 Chronicles is written as the people return to Jerusalem after spending nearly 70 years in exile in Babylon. They're struggling to put their lives back together. Whether they're reestablishing the city, rebuilding the Temple, or renewing their relationship with God, these guys have got a lot on their plates. So, what better time than now to retell a classic and inspiring story about Jerusalem's Golden Age? Think about it. Some of our favorite books and movies are just rehashes of older tales. Easy A is The Scarlet Letter. Ten Things I Hate About You is The Taming of the Shrew. My Fair Lady is Pygmalion. Heck, even Twilight is loosely (very loosely) based on Pride and Prejudice. By telling a story again in a new and different way, you're saying that it's valuable, important, and still has something to teach. Trust us, being timelessly wise is no easy feat. So take a trip down memory lane as we examine the phenomena of déjà vu, that strange feeling we sometimes get that we've read something before. What we're reading now has already been read.

Why Should I Care?

We all need a hero. It's totally true. People do need heroes. We need them to give us hope, show us the way, and to fight for everything that's good in this crazy world. And no one needed a hero more than the Chronicler and his friends in Jerusalem. They had really been through some stuff. Death. Destruction. War. Exile. But now they've come back to the city they once lost and they're looking to rebuild. Late at night they toss and they turn and they dream of what they need. They need a hero. That's why the Chronicler decides to write about King David. In his eyes, this ancient king is the ultimate hero. Not only is he unbelievably handsome, he's also incredibly loyal, faithful, humble, and strong. The guy is a kick-butt warrior. A just and fair king. A devoted servant of God. He's the total package. Seriously, the Chronicler loves David so much we're guessing he drew little hearts around his name every time he wrote it. Of course, this isn't the first time King David's heroic story has been told. But their portrayal of him is a little more, um, complicated. Do you remember the time David's own son tried to usurp his throne? Or that other time when he slept with a married woman, got her pregnant, and then had her husband killed so he could marry her? Well, none of that is in 1 Chronicles. It's not that the author is trying to hide all this stuff from us (he knows his readers already have all the dirt on David and Bathsheba). But he also knows his people need a story that will uplift them and give them hope for the hard work that's ahead. No one wants to read about an angry, brooding Superman who's struggling to find his place in this world. They need a handsome, confident Christopher Reeve-style Superman who fights for truth, justice, and the Yahweh way.

We all long for strong leaders who'll protect us from our enemies, unify the country and really care about us. Every four years, a few people try to convince us that they're exactly what we're looking for and that God's on their side. We can read about King David and think, "if only…" OTOH, we realize that, as much as we'd like to worship our leaders, there's no perfect leader, that running a country is way more complicated than invading foreign countries, citing Scripture, and handing out free food. We can relate to the author of Chronicles because we're willing to overlook a lot of moral failings and personal shenanigans in a charismatic political leader who makes us feel good about our country. Could the David of 1 Chronicles get elected today? We report. You decide.

AUGUST 14 Monday

ST. MAXIMILLIAN KOLBE

1 Chronicles, Chapter 13, Verse 12

David was AFRAID of God that day, and he said, “How can I bring in the ark of God to me?”

See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him, upon those who hope for his kindness, to deliver them from death and preserve them in spite of famine.

David was afraid because he had just witnessed Uzzah being struck dead because he touched the Ark, the supreme object of Israelite liturgical worship as prohibited in the Torah. (2 Sam. 6:7)

Stand in Awe[2]

It is obviously no surprise that liberal Catholics have traditionally placed a low value on the quality of liturgical celebrations; I say not on liturgy itself, because progressive Catholics think liturgy is extremely important - that is, so long as it is an anthropocentric, horizontal affair. It is not liturgy per se they disparage, but liturgy done well - that is, liturgy that is transcendent and centered on the dignified worship of God. "Why be so finicky about the liturgy?" they say. "There are more important issues to get upset about! Issues like poverty, war, abortion and social justice! Why get all worked up about liturgical reform? It is just a matter of aesthetics anyhow!" Unfortunately, it is also common for more conservative Catholics to hold a dismissive attitude towards the liturgy as well, adopting a minimalist approach that the externals of liturgical action are "mere" externals, that they can be discarded or changed without consequence, that all that matters is having a valid Eucharist, etc. Similarly, the charismatic movement tends to foster an attitude of undue familiarity and casualness in the presence of the Lord. All of these are deficient approaches to the Sacred Liturgy which do not fully respect the importance of this holy action. Care of the poor is certainly important. Economic and social justice are important. But while the aforementioned topics are certainly worthy of attention, liturgy takes a special place because in the Divine Liturgy we worship God Himself. Remember when Judas was indignant with Mary of Bethany for anointing the feet of Jesus? "Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?" Jesus said, "Let her alone...the poor you have with you always, but you do not always have me" (John 12:5,7). When we adore and worship Jesus, we are performing a supremely important action; in fact, it is the action we were created to do. How important is liturgy in the larger scheme of things? One way of telling how important something is to God is seeing how many people He has struck dead over it. We don't mean to be facetious; consider the following facts: God did not strike Adam dead when he committed the first sin, nor did He smite Cain for murder. He did not smite Noah for drunkenness, nor did He kill Joseph's brothers for selling him into slavery. Aaron was not even smitten for making the golden calf and David was not struck down for his adulterous and murderous affair with Bathsheba. Even wicked Manasseh of Judah was not killed by God when he sacrificed babies to Moloch in the Valley of Hinnom. Yet, Scripture is replete with examples of persons who were struck dead in wrath for violating the dignity surrounding the Hebrew liturgy and the ceremonial worship of God.

The Bible furnishes us with the following examples of people who were smitten by God in divine anger:

· Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, are consumed by divine flame for offering unholy fire before the Lord, fire "such as the Lord had not commanded them" (Lev. 10:1-3).

· A man is put to death under God's Law for not honoring the day of rest by picking up sticks (Num. 15:32-36). The day of rest was supposed to be the day on which God was worshipped.

· Korah, Dathan Abiram and their party are consumed by fire and swallowed up into the earth because they sought to usurp the priestly role of Aaron. Their heresy was that they asserted that "all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them" (Num. 16:1-40).

· Hophni and Phineas, the two wicked sons of Eli the High Priest are marked out for death by God because they partook of consecrated meat from the offerings made to the Lord at the Tent of Meeting (1 Sam. 2:12-4:11).

· King Saul offers a sacrifice because the priest Samuel is late in arriving for the ceremony. As a result, God rejects him from being King, he becomes tormented by evil spirits and is slain on Mount Gilboa (1 Sam. 13:8-14).

· Seventy men of Beth-Shemesh were struck dead by God for looking into the Ark (1 Sam. 6:12). As lay people and non-Levites, the touching of the sacred object of the Hebrew liturgy and sign of God's presence was a profanation.

· King Uzziah of Judah is smitten with leprosy "to the day of his death" for trying to offer incense in the Holy Temple in violation of the law permitting only priests and levites from doing so (2 Chr. 26:16-21).

· King Belshazzar of Babylon arouses the wrath of God by using Israelite liturgical vessels for profane uses (Dan. 5). He is slain and his kingdom is lost.

· St. Paul warns the Corinthians that improper reception of the Holy Eucharist is a profanation of Christ's Body and can lead to death (I Cor. 11:27-33).

Judging by all of these examples, it would seem that God's wrath was more provoked by Korah and Dathan usurping the priestly role of Moses than by Manasseh slaughtering infants. We know from Scripture that Manasseh was taken into captivity, had time to repent, and indeed did repent of his wickedness. But we know that Uzzah, Dathan, Korah, Nadab and all the rest on this list were slain immediately without time for afterthought or repentance. All of the people on this list died because they violated Old Testament prescriptions regarding the proper worship of God in one way or another. In all of our good deeds, we serve God in our brothers and sisters, but in the liturgy, we come into contact with God Himself, which gives opportunity for greater blessing, but also increases the condemnation of those who participate in it unworthily or profane it.

Therefore, let anybody who is tempted to think that the proper worship of God is not important (supremely important!), that it does not matter whether we use Gregorian Chant or guitars and bongos in Mass, that accurate liturgical translations are not vital, that God is not outraged by Clown Masses, Guitar Masses and all the rest of the abominations we hear about, that there is no difference between the Traditional Latin Mass and the nonsense at your typical liberal parish, let them remember St. Paul's admonition in the epistle to the Hebrews: "A man who has violated the Law of Moses dies without mercy at the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the man who has spurned the Son of God and profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and outraged the Spirit of Grace. For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay." And again, "The Lord will judge His people." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:28-31).

St. Maximillian Kolbe[3]

Born Raymond Kolbe in Poland, Jan. 8, 1894, he entered the Conventual Franciscan Order where he was ordained a priest in 1918. Father Maximilian returned to Poland in 1919 and began spreading his Militia of the Immaculata movement of Marian consecration (whose members are also called MIs), which he founded on October 16, 1917. In 1927, he established an evangelization center near Warsaw called Niepokalanow, the "City of the Immaculata." By 1939, the city had expanded from eighteen friars to an incredible 650, making it the largest Catholic religious house in the world. To better "win the world for the Immaculata," the friars utilized the most modern printing and administrative techniques. This enabled them to publish countless catechetical and devotional tracts, a daily newspaper with a circulation of 230,000 and a monthly magazine with a circulation of over one million. Maximilian started a shortwave radio station and planned to build a motion picture studio--he was a true "apostle of the mass media." He established a City of the Immaculata in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1930, and envisioned missionary centers worldwide. Maximilian was a ground-breaking theologian. His insights into the Immaculate Conception anticipated the Marian theology of the Second Vatican Council and further developed the Church's understanding of Mary as "Mediatrix" of all the graces of the Trinity, and as "Advocate" for God's people. In 1941, the Nazis imprisoned Father Maximilian in the Auschwitz death camp. There he offered his life for another prisoner and was condemned to slow death in a starvation bunker. On August 14, 1941, his impatient captors ended his life with a fatal injection. Pope John Paul II canonized Maximilian as a "martyr of charity" in 1982. St. Maximilian Kolbe is considered a patron of journalists, families, prisoners, the pro-life movement and the chemically addicted. Militia of the Immaculata

Things to Do:

· From the Catholic Culture library, read The Holy Spirit and Mary, an explanation of St. Maximillian's Marian theology and Maximillian Kolbe, Apostle of Mary by Fr. John Hardon.

· Offer a Mass.

· Say a rosary for those who suffer in the world today from man's inhumanity.

· Pray for an end to abortion, our nation's own holocaust.

· Read about Auschwitz and ponder the modern gas chambers (abortion, euthanasia, public school, CNN, Uncle JOE/Fancy Nancy) in every state of our Union and resolve to do all that you can to end the killing.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH

SECTION TWO-I. THE CREEDS

CHAPTER THREE-I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT

Article 11-"I BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY"

II. Dying in Christ Jesus

1005 To rise with Christ, we must die with Christ: we must "be away from the body and at home with the Lord." In that "departure" which is death the soul is separated from the body. It will be reunited with the body on the day of resurrection of the dead.

Death

1006 "It is in regard to death that man's condition is most shrouded in doubt." In a sense bodily death is natural, but for faith it is in fact "the wages of sin." For those who die in Christ's grace it is a participation in the death of the Lord, so that they can also share his Resurrection.

1007 Death is the end of earthly life. Our lives are measured by time, in the course of which we change, grow old and, as with all living beings on earth, death seems like the normal end of life. That aspect of death lends urgency to our lives: remembering our mortality helps us realize that we have only a limited time in which to bring our lives to fulfillment:

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, . . . before the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

1008 Death is a consequence of sin. the Church's Magisterium, as authentic interpreter of the affirmations of Scripture and Tradition, teaches that death entered the world on account of man's sin. Even though man's nature is mortal God had destined him not to die. Death was therefore contrary to the plans of God the Creator and entered the world as a consequence of sin. "Bodily death, from which man would have been immune had he not sinned" is thus "the last enemy" of man left to be conquered.

1009 Death is transformed by Christ. Jesus, the Son of God, also himself suffered the death that is part of the human condition. Yet, despite his anguish as he faced death, he accepted it in an act of complete and free submission to his Father's will. The obedience of Jesus has transformed the curse of death into a blessing.

The meaning of Christian death

1010 Because of Christ, Christian death has a positive meaning: "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." "The saying is sure: if we have died with him, we will also live with him. What is essentially new about Christian death is this: through Baptism, the Christian has already "died with Christ" sacramentally, in order to live a new life; and if we die in Christ's grace, physical death completes this "dying with Christ" and so completes our incorporation into him in his redeeming act:

It is better for me to die in (eis) Christ Jesus than to reign over the ends of the earth. Him it is I seek - who died for us. Him it is I desire - who rose for us. I am on the point of giving birth .... Let me receive pure light; when I shall have arrived there, then shall I be a man.

1011 In death, God calls man to himself. Therefore the Christian can experience a desire for death like St. Paul's: "My desire is to depart and be with Christ. " He can transform his own death into an act of obedience and love towards the Father, after the example of Christ:

My earthly desire has been crucified; . . . there is living water in me, water that murmurs and says within me: Come to the Father.
I want to see God and, in order to see him, I must die.
I am not dying; I am entering life.

1012 The Christian vision of death receives privileged expression in the liturgy of the Church:

Lord, for your faithful people life is changed, not ended. When the body of our earthly dwelling lies in death we gain an everlasting dwelling place in heaven.

1013 Death is the end of man's earthly pilgrimage, of the time of grace and mercy which God offers him so as to work out his earthly life in keeping with the divine plan, and to decide his ultimate destiny. When "the single course of our earthly life" is completed, we shall not return to other earthly lives: "It is appointed for men to die once." There is no "reincarnation" after death.

1014 The Church encourages us to prepare ourselves for the hour of our death. In the litany of the saints, for instance, she has us pray: "From a sudden and unforeseen death, deliver us, O Lord"; to ask the Mother of God to intercede for us "at the hour of our death" in the Hail Mary; and to entrust ourselves to St. Joseph, the patron of a happy death.

Every action of yours, every thought, should be those of one who expects to die before the day is out. Death would have no great terrors for you if you had a quiet conscience .... Then why not keep clear of sin instead of running away from death? If you aren't fit to face death today, it's very unlikely you will be tomorrow ....
Praised are you, my Lord, for our sister bodily Death,

from whom no living man can escape.

Woe on those who will die in mortal sin!

Blessed are they who will be found in your most holy will,

for the second death will not harm them.

Daily Devotions

· Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them in fasting: Catholic Politian’s and Leaders