Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, pray for us.
Holy Mother of God, . . .
Holy Virgin of virgins, . . .
Mother of Christ, . . .
Mother of divine grace, . . .
Mother most pure, . . .
Mother most chaste, . . .
Mother inviolate, . . .
Mother undefiled, . . .
Mother most amiable, . . .
Mother most admirable, . . .
Mother of Good Counsel, . . .
Mother of our Creator, . . .
Mother of our Savior, . . .

Virgin most prudent, . . .
Virgin most venerable, . . .
Virgin most renowned, . . .
Virgin most powerful, . . .
Virgin most merciful, . . .
Virgin most faithful, . . .

Mirror of justice, . . .
Seat of Wisdom, . . .
Cause of our joy, . . .
Spiritual vessel, . . .
Vessel of honor, . . .
Singular vessel of devotion, . . .
Mystical rose, . . .
Tower of David, . . .
Tower of ivory, . . .
House of gold, . . .
Ark of the covenant, . . .
Gate of heaven, . . .
Morning star, . . .
Health of the sick, . . .
Refuge of sinners, . . .
Comforter of the afflicted, . . .
Help of Christians, . . .

Queen of Angels, . . .
Queen of Patriarchs, . . .
Queen of Prophets, . . .
Queen of Apostles, . . .
Queen of Martyrs, . . .
Queen of Confessors, . . .
Queen of Virgins, . . .
Queen of all Saints, . . .
Queen conceived without original sin, . . .
Queen of the most holy Rosary, . . .
Queen of Peace, . . .

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,

spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,

graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,

have mercy on us.

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
That we may be made morthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.

Grant, O Lord God, we beseech Thee, that we Thy servants may rejoice in continual health of mind and body; and through the glorious intercession of Blessed Mary ever Virgin, be freed from present sorrow, and enjoy eternal gladness. Through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Remember Pearl Harbor!

My dad and mom were three months married on December 7, 1941, and probably never had a carefree moment for the next four and a half years. And neither did most of the young folks of their generation. On top of the Great Depression, mind you. Both Pop and Mom told me that they were considered lucky to have fathers who worked steady throughout the Depression; Grandpop W. was a plumber; Grandpop G. was a printer.

I was born during the War, grew up in its aftermath, when America was America and the Church was the Church. In 1958 Minnesota celebrated its centennial of statehood, I graduated from grade school, Pius XII had "always" been Pope, Eisenhower had "always" been President. It was a good time to be young and growing up.

I don't know for sure how all that disappeared, and turned into what we have today (The Heresy Hunter has a superb posting on it) but I do know for sure that in general, we are complacent, fat, lazy, and we literally don't know how good we've got it.

We're ripe for another Pearl Harbor or 9-11, and we have no excuse not to know where it's going to come from.

Happy as a clam

I've been using the phrase for years, and wondering - just as long - why clams should be considered happy. After much searching and pondering, I have come up with the answer: clams have never known de feet.

(Johnny Hart notwithstanding)

Nyuk nyuk nyuk . . . . .

All that good PC stuff

In the interests of Cultral Awareness, Cultural Sensitivity, Diversity, and just plain being a real nice guy, I installed a Middle-Eastern type toilet fixture in my bathroom. So far it is not a complete success, but I aim to do better.

Two new book reviews coming

When I get done with Chesterton's views on America, I am going to talk about two other books: The Bridge at Andau by James Michener, about the Hungarian uprising of 1956; and Battleground by Hilaire Belloc, a history of Syria and Palestine (written 1935) which has some very interesting comments about Islam.

More about America by GKC

. . . that compromise will be a Servile State. But it will also be the supreme and by far the most constructive and conclusive result of the industrial movement in history; of the power of machinery or money; of the huge populations of the modern cities; of scientific inventions and resources; of all the things before which the agricultural society of the Southern Confederacy went down. But even those who cannot see that commercialism may end in the triumph of slavery can see that the Northern victory has to a great extent ended in the triumph of commercialism. And the point at the moment is that this did definitely mean, even at the time, the triumph of one American type over another American type. . .

* * *

One type of American state conquered and subjugated another type of American state; and the virtues and values of the latter were very largely lost to the world.

* * *

The Old South had qualities of humane civilisation which have not sufficiently survived; or at any rate have not sufficiently spread. It is true that the decline of the agricultural South has been considerably balanced by the growth of the agricultural West. It is true, as I have occasion to emphasise in another place, that the West does give the New America something that is neraly a normal peasantry, as a pendant to the industrial towns. . . . In so far as America is saved it is saved by being patchy; and would be ruined if the Western patch had the same fate as the Southern patch. When all is said, therefore, the advantages of American unification are not so certain that we can apply them to a world unification.

Nothing serious

With my midnight meds, I usually have a midnight snack, something starchy and a banana. Also in my fridge I have a couple pounds of miniature chocolate bars that I bought for Hallowe'en and never gave away because there was far less demand than I thought there would be.

So I just have to eat up all these little chocolate bars before they get stale.

All those who feel sorry for me, raise your hands.

Hmmmm . . . . I didn't think so.

:)