Thanks to our beloved, faithful, dedicated, online priest we were able to join you for Mass and Eucharistic procession. Even the lawn care equipment shut down to reverence our Lord! Father, there aren’t enough words to describe what your witness means at this moment in history. I so wish we had a priest locally who could minister in this way. Perhaps your good example will spread through the diocese! Thank you for all you do in His Holy Name.
God, who is sufficient unto Himself, and is in no need of anything from us, makes necessary to His Divine plan our good actions in accordance with His Divine Will, and because out of His love for us, He desires that we have a participation and sharing in the good He desires for us. No greater can this be seen than in the Son of God becoming Incarnate and submitting Himself into the care of two of His earthly creatures. Christ, being the son of God, and therefore in no need of instruction from earthly creatures, would nonetheless "honor his father and mother" and submit His Holy will to the instruction and guidance of Joseph and Mary, being that it would go against His Divine nature not to obey His own laws. Does this not inform us that Joseph was a very holy and righteous man? One who was given the grace necessary so as not to ask or command Jesus to do anything which would be contrary to His Divine and Holy Will? The role which he accepted and carried out with great dignity was to be the guardian of the Son of God and the caretaker of the Mother of God. Joseph was given to understand that Mary's fiat was her assent to enter into an everlasting covenant with her Divine Spouse and so she was not to "know man". The Immaculate Virgin, having conceived by the Holy Spirit and who was therefore bound to God alone, could not enter into a spousal relationship with any other. Joseph consented to this arrangement to be the earthly guardian of Jesus and the caretaker of the Blessed Virgin. Since Joseph was the one entrusted with the role he was given, it can therefore be said that God considered him above all others to be indispensable for it. How could things have proceeded according to God's ordained plan without St Joseph? In those times a woman being with child without benefit of marriage would have been in a perilous position and the cause of great scandal. It is right and proper that Joseph, of whom no word was recorded, is recognized as one of the greatest of saints and the patron of the Universal Church, given that God entrusted him with the care of His Divine Son and His Son's Holy and Immaculate Mother.
Now if one wishes to cultivate a flower, it is necessary to have a source of light and also a seed to plant, along with something to fertilize the seed, and good soil to place it in. These are each and all necessary, but to be able to grow and flourish the flower also needs water which by it working provides what is necessary for the seed to sprout and the soil to nourish it. At the Incarnation, the Divine Sun sent down its rays upon the Blessed Virgin, who provided the seed which was then fertilized by the Holy Spirit, and she likewise provided the pristine, grace-filled soil of her virginity. One thing was still needed, however, and that was water. St Joseph represents this necessary element since with the help of the water of God's grace, he provided by his labor and work, as well as his spousal and fatherly presence, what was necessary to provide for the Mother of God and the Christ child.
We will suspend all public Masses effective tomorrow, still will have Confession with 6ft spacing. Our church is never unlocked aside from Mass and official adoration Weds PM anyhow, and I will volunteer to personally bleach wipe all pews, sit in church half a day mornings, half a day afternoons on alternate days, wipe immediately after anyone visits, and even be the one to open the door for any visitors.
And will this happen? Likely not....and pretty darned safe.
A lot safer than receiving Communion from a priest who might have been contagious for weeks, now, barring testing...heck, last night was the first time using commonly shared tongs to place a wafer to be taken up for consecration were pulled, first Mass some lay person did not carry up the gifts....
I have felt it Russian Roulette this entire time, no sanitizing door handle, everyone then touching tongs, then the gifts brought forward and taken by bare handed priest who then dispensed Holy Communion....if one person entered that daily Mass, it stood a good chance of infecting every single person there. Last Sunday was the very first day ANY measures were taken by discarding Sign Of Peace, and priest not shaking hands at entry/exit, hymnals were left in place, and collection baskets still passed around, still just had to have that lay participation of gift bearing. ZERO real thought on how to actually make a Mass work in time of plague. Just follow "guidelines" from on-high, which did not mention one person manning door, collection, gift bearing etc. With poor a protections as that, it NEEDED to be shut down.
I am totally disgusted by lack of effort expended on how to make it as safe as possible and to continue to allow the Faithful to practice as fully as possible in the worst disaster of an entire generation.
Awesome, Fr. McD! When we did this last Saturday at our parish, we walked a little slower, and one of the priests chanted the Litany of Saints. But nevertheless, asking Our Lord to protect us and stop the contagion from sickening or killing any more people is what we should be doing!
And it looks like quite a few people joined you considering the circumstances.
I know your parishioners were heartened and encouraged by your act of Faith, even if they couldn't attend, just as I was. May God hear our prayers.
5 comments:
Thanks to our beloved, faithful, dedicated, online priest we were able to join you for Mass and Eucharistic procession. Even the lawn care equipment shut down to reverence our Lord! Father, there aren’t enough words to describe what your witness means at this moment in history. I so wish we had a priest locally who could minister in this way. Perhaps your good example will spread through the diocese! Thank you for all you do in His Holy Name.
The Feast of St. Joseph
God, who is sufficient unto Himself, and is in no need of anything from us, makes necessary to His Divine plan our good actions in accordance with His Divine Will, and because out of His love for us, He desires that we have a participation and sharing in the good He desires for us. No greater can this be seen than in the Son of God becoming Incarnate and submitting Himself into the care of two of His earthly creatures.
Christ, being the son of God, and therefore in no need of instruction from earthly creatures, would nonetheless "honor his father and mother" and submit His Holy will to the instruction and guidance of Joseph and Mary, being that it would go against His Divine nature not to obey His own laws. Does this not inform us that Joseph was a very holy and righteous man? One who was given the grace necessary so as not to ask or command Jesus to do anything which would be contrary to His Divine and Holy Will? The role which he accepted and carried out with great dignity was to be the guardian of the Son of God and the caretaker of the Mother of God. Joseph was given to understand that Mary's fiat was her assent to enter into an everlasting covenant with her Divine Spouse and so she was not to "know man". The Immaculate Virgin, having conceived by the Holy Spirit and who was therefore bound to God alone, could not enter into a spousal relationship with any other. Joseph consented to this arrangement to be the earthly guardian of Jesus and the caretaker of the Blessed Virgin. Since Joseph was the one entrusted with the role he was given, it can therefore be said that God considered him above all others to be indispensable for it. How could things have proceeded according to God's ordained plan without St Joseph? In those times a woman being with child without benefit of marriage would have been in a perilous position and the cause of great scandal. It is right and proper that Joseph, of whom no word was recorded, is recognized as one of the greatest of saints and the patron of the Universal Church, given that God entrusted him with the care of His Divine Son and His Son's Holy and Immaculate Mother.
Now if one wishes to cultivate a flower, it is necessary to have a source of light and also a seed to plant, along with something to fertilize the seed, and good soil to place it in. These are each and all necessary, but to be able to grow and flourish the flower also needs water which by it working provides what is necessary for the seed to sprout and the soil to nourish it.
At the Incarnation, the Divine Sun sent down its rays upon the Blessed Virgin, who provided the seed which was then fertilized by the Holy Spirit, and she likewise provided the pristine, grace-filled soil of her virginity. One thing was still needed, however, and that was water. St Joseph represents this necessary element since with the help of the water of God's grace, he provided by his labor and work, as well as his spousal and fatherly presence, what was necessary to provide for the Mother of God and the Christ child.
We will suspend all public Masses effective tomorrow, still will have Confession with 6ft spacing. Our church is never unlocked aside from Mass and official adoration Weds PM anyhow, and I will volunteer to personally bleach wipe all pews, sit in church half a day mornings, half a day afternoons on alternate days, wipe immediately after anyone visits, and even be the one to open the door for any visitors.
And will this happen? Likely not....and pretty darned safe.
A lot safer than receiving Communion from a priest who might have been contagious for weeks, now, barring testing...heck, last night was the first time using commonly shared tongs to place a wafer to be taken up for consecration were pulled, first Mass some lay person did not carry up the gifts....
I have felt it Russian Roulette this entire time, no sanitizing door handle, everyone then touching tongs, then the gifts brought forward and taken by bare handed priest who then dispensed Holy Communion....if one person entered that daily Mass, it stood a good chance of infecting every single person there. Last Sunday was the very first day ANY measures were taken by discarding Sign Of Peace, and priest not shaking hands at entry/exit, hymnals were left in place, and collection baskets still passed around, still just had to have that lay participation of gift bearing. ZERO real thought on how to actually make a Mass work in time of plague. Just follow "guidelines" from on-high, which did not mention one person manning door, collection, gift bearing etc. With poor a protections as that, it NEEDED to be shut down.
I am totally disgusted by lack of effort expended on how to make it as safe as possible and to continue to allow the Faithful to practice as fully as possible in the worst disaster of an entire generation.
Bee here:
Awesome, Fr. McD! When we did this last Saturday at our parish, we walked a little slower, and one of the priests chanted the Litany of Saints. But nevertheless, asking Our Lord to protect us and stop the contagion from sickening or killing any more people is what we should be doing!
And it looks like quite a few people joined you considering the circumstances.
I know your parishioners were heartened and encouraged by your act of Faith, even if they couldn't attend, just as I was. May God hear our prayers.
God bless.
Bee
In complete agreement with Anonymous at 10:59. Thank you Fr. McDonald!
Mallen
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