From Ballade to Our Lady

— by François Villon (1431-1463), in the voice of the poet’s mother

Lady of Heaven and earth, and therewithal
Crowned Empress of the nether clefts of Hell,
I, thy poor Christian, on thy name do call,
Commending me to thee, with thee to dwell,
Albeit in nought I be commendable.
But all mine undeserving may not mar
Such mercies as thy sovereign mercies are;
Without the which (as true words testify)
No soul can reach thy Heaven so fair and far.
Even in this faith I choose to live and die.

Unto thy Son say thou that I am His,
And to me graceless make Him gracious.
Said Mary of Egypt lacked not of that bliss,
Nor yet the sorrowful clerk Theophilus,
Whose bitter sins were set aside even thus
Though to the Fiend his bounden service was.
Oh help me, lest in vain for me should pass
(Sweet Virgin that shalt have no loss thereby!)
The blessed Host and sacring of the Mass
Even in this faith I choose to live and die. (more…)

I WAS not able to get to the computer yesterday on Christmas Day. In my heart though I extended sincere wishes to readers of this site. May this season of gladness fill you with confidence and hope. Happiness is not incompatible with suffering. I know other readers have experienced tragedy and hardship this Christmas, as we have with the devastating loss of a young child in our family. True happiness consists in knowing the purpose of existence. The answer to all tragedy is to love God more and more. That's why we turn our gaze so lovingly to Bethlehem. My thoughts and prayers go out to you this Christmastide, and always.  

THE CHILD OF THE SNOWS ---- G.K. Chesterton THERE is heard a hymn when the panes are dim, And never before or again, When the nights are strong with a darkness long, And the dark is alive with rain. Never we know but in sleet and in snow, The place where the great fires are, That the midst of the earth is a raging mirth And the heart of the earth a star. And at night we win to the ancient inn Where the child in the frost is furled, We follow the feet where all souls meet At the inn at the end of the world. The gods lie dead where the leaves lie red, For the flame of the sun is flown, The gods lie cold where the leaves lie gold, And a Child comes forth alone.  

“DID Our Lord write any part of the New Testament or command His Apostles to do so?  Our Lord Himself never wrote a line, nor is there any record that He ordered his Apostles to write; He did command them to teach and to preach. Also He to Whom all power was given in Heaven and on earth (Matt. 28-18) promised to give them the Holy Spirit (John 14-26) and to be with them Himself till the end of the world (Mat. 28-20).

“COMMENT: If reading the Bible were a necessary means of salvation, Our Lord would have made that statement and also provided the necessary means for his followers.

“How many of the Apostles or others actually wrote what is now in the New Testament?  A Few of the Apostles wrote part of Our Lord’s teachings, as they themselves expressly stated; i.e., Peter, Paul, James, John, Jude, Matthew, also Sts. Mark and Luke. None of the others wrote anything, so far as is recorded.

“COMMENT: If the Bible privately interpreted was to be a Divine rule of Faith, the apostles would have been derelict in their duty when instead, some of them adopted preaching only.

“Was it a teaching or a Bible-reading Church that Christ founded?   The Protestant Bible expressly states that Christ founded a teaching Church, which existed before any of the New Testament books were written. (more…)

FULL video here. (H/t Guide to Kulchur on Telegram)  

THE shepherds sing; and shall I silent be? My God, no hymn for thee? My soul ’s a shepherd too; a flock it feeds Of thoughts, and words, and deeds. The pasture is thy word: the streams, thy grace Enriching all the place. Shepherd and flock shall sing, and all my powers Out-sing the day-light houres. Then we will chide the sunne for letting night Take up his place and right: We sing one common Lord; wherefore he should Himself the candle hold. I will go searching, till I finde a sunne Shall stay, till we have done; A willing shiner, that shall shine as gladly, As frost-nipt sunnes look sadly. Then we will sing, shine all our own day, And one another pay: His beams shall cheer my breast, and both so twine, Till ev’n his beams sing, and my musick shine. --- from "Christmas," The Temple (1633), by George Herbert  

[Reposted]

ALAN writes:

A series of memories dating back many decades of Christmastime in St. Louis include:

The cold, pervasive, mysterious darkness that lay just beyond our living room windows on Christmas Eve nights in the 1950s and that stood in such contrast to the light, the warmth, the laughter, the conversation and the Christmas cheer that filled that room, and to the soothing voices of Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, and Gene Autry on the 78-rpm Christmas records I played at age five while seated on the floor;

My grandfather reacting gratefully and gracefully when he received a modest gift from one of his children; having never expected much from life and being content with the basic necessities, he appreciated even a few simple, utilitarian gifts;

The two, tall, glass-enclosed candles that stood alit on our mantel every Christmas Eve;

The big evergreen Christmas tree in Aunt Lydia’s apartment in 1955 that stood as high as the ceiling;

Christmas visits at the home of cousin Carmella and her family of six children, evenings ending invariably with Christmas cookies and milk and coffee at their kitchen table;

Being taken by my father to see the huge Christmas trees in the lobby of the Missouri Athletic Club and the German House in St. Louis in the 1950s; (more…)

 EV'RY star in heaven is singing, All through the night, Hear the glorious music ringing, All through the night. Songs of sweet ethereal lightness, Wrought in realms of peace and whiteness; See, the dark gives way to brightness, All through the night. Look, my love, the stars are smiling, All through the night. Lighting, soothing and beguiling, Earth's sombre plight: So, when age brings grief and sorrow, From each other we can borrow Faith in our sublime tomorrow, All through the night (A. G. Prys-Jones, Ar hyd y nos)  

     Link

 OBSERVE the contempt that greets black commentator Jesse Lee Peterson on the Dr. Phil Show as Peterson argues that the government is destroying fertility, especially that of whites. The decline in the white birth rate is a disaster and will not benefit other races, he claims. The white women in the audience are unperturbed by comments by the eugenicist Les Knight, who says the government should subsidize sterilization services for people in their early 2os. They glare with hatred when Peterson defends procreation.  

“WE might note here that Pius IX, who defined Mary’s Immaculate Conception, had been an epileptic. Even though he had severe seizures he was allowed to remain on at the Seminary, but was told he could never be ordained. He prayed and begged our Lady to cure him of epilepsy. For some time before the perspective ordination he had no seizures. The then Pope intervened and reluctantly allowed him to be ordained, under one condition: that he would never offer Mass alone, but would always for the rest of his life have a Priest next to him in case during Mass he would have another seizure. Now as a Priest he prayed: “Mary, no more seizures, please. Also, would you please spare me the embarrassment and inconvenience of never being allowed to offer Mass without another Priest at my side.” (more…)

"[T]HE close ties which were to unite the Son of God with Mary, and which would elicit from Him the tenderest love and the most filial reverence for her, had been present to the divine thought from all eternity: and the conclusion forces itself upon us that therefore the divine Word had for this His future Mother a love infinitely greater than that which He bore to all His other creatures." -- Dom Prosper Guéranger, "The Immaculate Conception," The Liturgical Year  

"Our own evil inclinations are far more dangerous than any external enemies." --- St. Ambrose  

CHRISTIANS FOR TRUTH reports that Amazon will not be censoring the allegedly anti-semitic documentary Hebrews to Negroes:

Jews know that the cat is out of the proverbial bag — and that everyone — from Van Morrison to mothers at PTA meetings — knows they control the media and Hollywood — and every time they try to deny it, they merely put their collective foot in their mouths and prove that they do.

Perhaps if there were as smart as they think they are, they’d stop having a meltdown every time someone says something remotely unflattering about Jews, and just ignore it or laugh it off — the way Larry David did when everyone noticed that Jews were at the center of the sexual harassment scandal in Hollywood [skip ahead to 3:45 into his monologue].

Because the more they deny the obvious, the more hostility and distrust they create for themselves — as the Jewish CEO of Amazon has clearly figured out.

By trying to destroy Kanye West — costing him billions in lost product endorsements — merely proves that Jews — uniquely — have the collective power to do so.

The grandfather of Zionism — Theodore Herzl — laid out the cold, hard facts about the Jews and their financial power: (more…)