Love that stands the test of time

Rites of the Catholic Church

Here is an explanation of the Rites of the Catholic Church. It is an EWTN supported page.

Here are a few videos of different rites of the Catholic Church. These are short videos but can give you a taste of the different rites.

Just a few pictures with the names of the Rites.
(Not all of the info is exactly correct but it does show how diverse the Catholic Church is.)





Byzantine Catholic Mass done in English
(We have one in Houston. It is called "Saint John Chrysostom." Click here to view their site.






Tridentine Rite Mass (Old Latin Mass)
(The FSSP is about to build a new Church in North west Houston. It is not yet built.)

(Ignore what the PBS person says he's wrong on a few points. Just watch the rest. The priest explains it quite well in my opinion.)



Here is an old video of the Tridentine Mass.
(It is also explained. Narration by Bishop Sheen).





Maronite Liturgy

We have a parish in Houston. "Our Lady of the Cedars" click here to view their website.



Anglican Use Mass
(There is one "Our Lady of Walshingham" in Houston also but they didn't have a mass video. To see Our Lady of Walshingham, which I think is nicer, click here. Thought I might be a bit bias seeing I attend Walshigham fairly regularly.)



Syrian/ Syro-Malabar Rite Catholic Church
One of the priest at St. Theresa's in Sugar Land is a Syro-Malabar Rite priest but I've never heard him do the Rite.

(following 2 videos)





Ethiopian
(I was unable to find an actual mass but I believe this might be a part of a mass.)

Now come on Catholics in the USA step up too.

Returning to meatless Fridays. Catholics in England and Wales are being asked to return to meatless Friday's year round paired with prayer. We all know that the UK is far from a Catholic country. In fact Europe as a whole is losing their Christian values and becoming more secularized. We as Americans are quickly following in their footsteps. Why is this? We have lost all forms of religious practices and are slowly losing our rights to express our religious beliefs even if we wanted to outwardly express those beliefs.

From the Catholic side of things our USCCB are a bunch of spineless individuals unwilling to steadfastly stand up for true Catholic beliefs and practices. Too many local bishops would rather go with the flow of our popular culture instead of returning to our Catholic traditions. Few are willing to stand up against the mindless hordes and those so call "Catholic" leaders who are Catholic by name alone. It is terribly embarrassing for me to look at these politicians who claim to be pro-choice Catholics, or pro-gay marriage Catholics. These are not within the bounds of the teachings of the Catholic church. Yet they are allowed to act as if they are because no one in authority really stands up and says "No, I'm sorry, You are in mortal sin and their for can not receive communion. O and by the way you've excommunicated yourself by your actions. You will be allowed to rejoin the Body of Christ when you turn from your sinful ways and repent."



If each one of us who truly believe in the Catholic faith stand up for our faith maybe we can change the tide. That means really educating ourselves about what The Church really believes and not just blindly following what our pastor, or even the bishops claim that we believe. We are all educated individuals, seek the truth for yourself. Believe even when it's hard or someone we love is sinning and by following your faith might be hurt. Sacrifice, pray, and study the scriptures with guidance. If we all learn to stand up and do what we know is right, then maybe we will have a chance to turn the country around and not have to follow in the footsteps of great fallen empires such as the Romans and the Greeks.

One really easy way to take the first step is to sacrifice and offer that sacrifice up. This could be something as simple as not eating meat on Friday's, taking the time to go to daily mass, or even just offering up the little sufferings we all experience in life. It doesn't have to be a giant step, just a tiny step in the right direction. If everyone started with these tiny steps we as a culture might stand a chance.

I pray that you will stand with me and follow Christ's teachings as revealed by our Catholic Faith.

Prayers for a friend of mine and her family.

A friend of mine and her family need your prayers right now. She and her husband are pregnant and are in the process of moving to Fl. This past week she has been spotting and yesterday she went to the ER because it had gotten worst. There she got some discouraging news. Her husband is already in FL (driving the truck there cross country this past week.) She and her two little ones are staying with her parents but were planing to fly to FL later this week. Please keep her and her family (especially the child she is carrying) in your prayers.

Here is her Blog post about it. It has more details about the situation.

Thank you to all my readers for keeping them in your thoughts and close to your hearts at this difficult time in their lives.

New Kitten

My mother-in-law's neighbor's friend found a kitten/ small cat in her pool. It was drowning in the pool when she pool it out. She called me up and asked if we wanted a kitten. The Baron and I decided on an outside cat but the Baron is all worried it's to hot and that she will run away. So she's been staying in the bathroom at night and in the computer room off and on during the days. We have to get her fixed before we put her outside so we don't end up with lots of little kittens. My parents are not ok with animals in the house so she should be moving outside pretty soon. (Well as soon as I find a cheaper place to get her fixed.) For now I've got a 4 to 5 month kitten living in two rooms of my house. She is really pretty calm for a young cat but she does have her moments of insanity.


Here are a few pictures of her.




We were going to have a naming blog entry where everyone could suggest and vote on a name but it seems like her name will be Nony, short for Anonymous which is what the Baron named her.

Knitting

Over the past few weeks I've been trying to teach myself how to knit. Knitting is a bit harder than I expected. I've got a not so great practice scarf going. My end goal is to make 2 scarves and maybe a hat by the time we go to Rome in December. I'm also going to try to learn to crochet. But first to make I need to learn to knit without having to think of each step. I also need to learn how not to make it grow with time. This is not going so well. I'll keep trying. Anyone got any suggestions?

One busy May

Hello Blogging world,

Things have been super busy these past three weekends. Three weekends ago the Baron and I went on our beginning of the year confirmation retreat with our confirmation kids. We got to listen to lots of good talks, had mass ad orientum, and had a great adoration.

Not to mention wonderful weather and other outdoor activity's such as our monk walk.

Last weekend we went to the Baron's youngest brother's graduation at the University of Texas in Austin and I got to meet one of his cousin's who wasn't able to make it to the wedding. The weather was hot and humid but we enjoyed the company. When we came back on Sunday we went to mass and then went to the church bazaar.

This weekend we went down to my home town to see my parents. We went to my brother's camp out on the bay with my dad's side of the family and had a great crawfish and crab boil. I got my seafood fix for a bit.

Now we are home and with the AC off all weekend we were greeted to a smelly house (Opsy I forgot to take out the trash before we left) and a 90 degree house. All the windows are open and there's a nice cool breeze blowing now that the sun has set. I think I'm going to enjoy the nice cool night with the Baron. Maybe make hot dogs for dinner and whip up some nice cool ice tea.