Prayer When Unable to Assist at Daily Mass

Go, my Angel Guardian dear,
To church for me, -----the Mass to hear.
Go, kneel devoutly at my place
And treasure for me every grace.
At the Offertory time
Please offer me to God Divine.
All I have and all I am,
Present it with the Precious Lamb.
Adore for me the great Oblation.
Pray for all I hold most dear
Be they far or be they near.
Rmember too, my own dear dead
For whom Christ's Precious Blood was shed.
And at Communion bring to me
Christ's Flesh and Blood, my food to be.
To give me strength and holy grace
A pledge to see Him face to face
And when the Holy Mass is done
Then with His blessing, come back home.

I found this prayer at www.catholictradition.org. is very cute, no?

The Spirit of the Law Argument.

The ‘Spirit’ of the Law Argument

The ‘Spirit’ of the Law argument is an argument that a modernist relatafish (spineless relativistic fish) brings up whenever you discuss current problems within the Church with them. It goes something like this:

Practising Catholic (PCat): I wish the parish priest would stop calling the children up the sanctuary to hold hands during the Our Father. It’s grave liturgical abuse and shouldn’t be done.

Relatafish (R. fish): Why not? I think it’s wonderful! It gives the children a great opportunity to get close to the priest. I don’t see why you’re so upset.

PCat: Because it’s grave liturgical abuse! The rubrics don’t call for it, and it does nothing for the children except to teach them there is no such thing as sacred space. No wonder no one has any respect for Mass anymore.

R. fish: so what if it’s not in the rubrics, it’s not like it’s hurting anyone. Besides, maybe he doesn’t know. I mean, he has the best intentions right?

PCat: It doesn’t matter whether he has the best intentions, he should know that it’s abuse. What do they teach in seminary? Even if he doesn’t, he knows he’s disobeying the instructions in the Roman Missal. He’s putting his soul and all our souls at risk!

R. fish: Who are you to judge him, man? You just think that way cause it’s not traditional, don’t you? Well, you remember what Jesus said about the pharisees? They followed the letter of the law to the fullest extent but without following any of the spirit. Father might not be following the letter of the law, but at least he is following the spirit of it. What’s the point of following the letter if you don’t follow the spirit of the law? I mean look at you, bowing during the creed, kneeling to receive communion on the tongue. These are just actions dude, God sees what’s in the heart. Don’t be so judgemental Faithful Practising Catholic. Next, you’re gonna tell me that I’ll going to go to hell for sleeping with my girlfriend.

PCat: Uh, yes. The Church teaches that sex outside of marriage is a mortal sin. If you die in a state of mortal sin you’ll go straight to hell. You should go for confession and stop sleeping with her. Don’t you care about your immortal soul?

R. fish: There you go again. Look, we love each other right? So what’s the big deal. I’m going to marry her anyway. You and all your rules. You should really focus more on the spirit of the law man. I mean God, knows that we love each other, and if we’re doing wrong he’ll forgive us right?

PCat: Right…Say, isn’t that your girlfriend over there? Who’s that guy she’s holding hands with?

The problem with this argument is that the Spirit of the law cannot exist on it’s own. The Church rarely does things in an either/or fashion, as the protestants do, rather a lot of things are both/and. Likewise, the spirit of the law complements the letter of the law. One cannot follow one without the other. Both are needed for the person to grow.

Let’s have a look at the traditional way of receiving communion.

I once brought this topic up in a group of friends, and one relatafish told the rest of the group, ‘Ya, you can do that if you want to be more holy. You don’t have to otherwise, God sees what’s in your heart.’ That’s the ‘Spirit’ of the Law argument at play. Are we not at Church so that we can be more Holy, since Holiness is the only path to heaven, and eternal life with God?

The letter of the law says that the traditional AND preferred way of receiving communion is on the tongue, while kneeling. The letter of the law says that our hands are not consecrated and we are unworthy to touch the body of Christ, who is God. This also prevents anyone running off with the Blessed Sacrament, or having it fall to the floor. http://www.ewtn.com/library/curia/cdwmemor.htm

The real spirit of the law says we need receive communion on the tongue, while kneeling, as a sign of humility that we lower ourselves before the Lord, Our God. The kneeling allows us to adore and revere Him, while receiving on the tongue reminds us that we need to be child-like and be completely dependent on Him.

They work together, hand in hand, to develop in us a proper disposition towards the Blessed Sacrament.

In the words of my good friend, you need the letter of the law to grow in knowledge, and the spirit of the law for your soul to grow. If you only have one, you cannot grow and you will become stunted.

Is your spiritual life stunted? Perhaps you should try receiving communion on the tongue, while kneeling for month. If you don’t notice a difference in your attitude toward the most Blessed Sacrament, I’ll buy you dinner.

Oh btw, the Pope says communion on the tongue is all cool. You can tell, he only distributes it that way.

5 Reasons Why Altar Servers are Cool.

Sorry ladies, this one is for the boys. Now, now before you start complaining about gender equality and all that, you may want to understand that these fine lads, your friends, are putting themselves in serious danger. I mean, the whole reason for allowing young boys to put on cassocks at serve at the Lord’s altar is to foster a religious vocation to the priesthood. Also, you may want to drop that gender sociology class, it’s all whack.

Yes, that’s right, to foster Christ’s call to men to join His blessed apostles in His divine ministry. That’s a life of celibacy, servitude, long years of philosophical and theological study, getting up at the break of dawn to pray the divine office and never really clocking off the job. Don’t forget having to put up with satan’s constant pranks. Don’t worry guys, you have someone far more powerful watching over you.

I’m sure you ladies have far more important things to do in your desire to consecrate your lives to serving Christ, like helping Him make more priests so that there’ll be more Masses and confessions. Anyway, you know how men always need extra help doing things…right? And besides, I don’t think you really want to wear the same thing every day do you? (or…if you do)

So anyway, here’re the five.

1. The cassock makes you look über cool and manly. If you don’t believe me, check out Christian Bale. Or Father Dwight Longenecker
It may be long and flowy, but it’s really difficult to look girly in a cassock, especially if it’s black.

2. Being an Altar Server makes you manly. I remember, a long, long time ago, when I was but a wee lad, about the age of seven, all I wanted to do was be an Altar Boy. They were so cool, in the cassocks, doing things in sanctuary, helping the priest, and also helping God. I had to wait so long before I could start, like a whole entire year until I received First Holy Communion to join. Can you imagine the agony? A whole year (I was seven, give me a break, a whole year was like a seventh of my life). The older kids were like giants and we looked up to them. Even the things they did were manly, the president at that time was a commando during national service. How cool is that? When I finally got in, I was like woooooooah. The point is, a senior altar server has responsibilities, you will be responsible for guiding your little ones to becoming gentlemen.

And if you’re really good, you get to wear bling during mass.

Plus, You’ll also teach how to start and play with fires, which brings me to my next point.

3. One word: THURIFER. Remember how when you were young, you always wanted to play with fire and couldn’t? Well now, you can, and you get great smelling smoke too. Come on guys, who doesn’t think that swinging a giant metal case with hot coals and sweet smelling smoking come out of it is not cool? That was about the coolest thing ever, you lead the procession and get to smoke the priests and servers and people. And if you really good, you get to try tricks.

If that’s not cool enough, have you heard of the botafumeiro?

Okay, I’ll be a bit more serious now.

4. A chance to get really close to the Blessed Sacrament. You know how, during Mass, the Priest consecrates the host, and turns the bread into the actual Body of Christ, and then you quietly say, ‘My Lord and my God.’? (I’m sure you do), and then it hits you, and you’re like, ‘O MY BRONTOSAURUS!!!!! GOD IS RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF ME! I AM BEFORE GOD, SO COMPLETELY UNWORTHY AND SINFUL AND GOD IS THERE!?' Then you stare in deep adoration, dumbfounded in awe and wonder at the most beautiful Blessed Sacrament that the priest is elevating for a few seconds? (Repeat for Blessed Blood, except say, ‘O Lord, be mindful of Thy creature whom Thou has redeemed through Thy most precious blood.’) And that’s when you’re sitting all the way at the back of church. Now, imagine that while being right up there in front of the altar, especially at low Mass. Ya, I know, it seems kind of silly. Since, you get right up close and personal when you receive communion, but you have to admit, it’s a whole different experience.

5. You’ll learn more about Mass than you ever did in catechism. If you’re like me, then you probably didn’t learn anything from those ten years in catechism class every Sunday. It’s not your fault that the catechist didn’t think it was important to teach you about the perils of mortal sin or tell you cool stories about how Santa Claus layeth the smackdown upon a naughty heretic during the Council of Nicea.

They probably thought it was better to teach you things like God is all loving and merciful, and then leave out all the other important things you need to learn, like how to actually attend Mass.

Besides, cat class wasn’t a complete was of time. The IJ girls were cute and so easy to tease right? I digress… But, we as Catholics have an obligation to know more or less how and why Mass works, so we can stick it to our protestant friends that we have real presence (with charity and kindness of course).

Serving Mass honestly helped me to gain a better appreciation of it. At least, by the time I was confirmed, I knew what a ciborium, chalix and monstrance were. Since then, I have learned a lot more about Mass and why it’s so important to our faith. So, important that the Pope tells people to go learn more about Mass and put the liturgy at the centre of their lives. This honestly saved my soul. If not for these basic tenants of truth to draw me back into the arms of Holy Mother Church when I had gone astray, I am sure I would have lost my soul by now.

So, I hope I have convinced you. And if you’re old like me, don’t let that stop you from learning to serve Mass. You know, how you join that happy clappy Catholic Students Society in school and then, they always have these private Masses? Ya, those need servers too. Or, if you really want to do it, I’m sure the 7am Mass at your local parish is looking for servers.

Someone said the Catholic Church doesn't give you a personal relationship with God.

A while ago, a friend, who is exploring the Catholic Church, texted me in great distress about how her friend had told her that if she wanted to develop a ‘personal’ relationship with God, she should join the protestant church, his church, because the protestants focus more on the compassionate side of God, while the Church focuses on revering God, thus the protestant atmosphere would be much more beneficial in her journey towards faith.

This poor child could not be further from the truth! Unfortunately, he’s not alone. And, by not alone, I don’t mean the hordes of other protestants with no real understanding of the Church; save the nonsense told them by their pastors which they got from their pastors, who got it from their pastors (who got it from their pastors, who got it from Luther, but I digress). Sadly, there are many of us Catholics out there who think the same way, and they have tried to infuse these protestant ideas into the Church. So, if she might not notice the difference in some churches, we are to blame.

If you don’t believe me, have a look for yourself. Can you guess which one is Catholic?



So here, are three reasons why he’s wrong:

1. The Church was set up by God Himself, and so, is the One True Church. The doctrines, dogmas and traditions that She teaches have been handed to Her by God Himself, and have remained unchanged for almost two thousand years. Therefore, only She possesses the fullest truth. The protestants broke away and started dropping truths and doctrines like hot potatoes. Thus, if you really want to get to know God, you know where to go.

When Luther decided to abandon the authority of the Church and dropped all Her traditions. He then left the poor protestants with just the bible and gave them authority to interpret it. Unfortunately, the bible isn’t a straight forward book to interpret, it’s a literary masterpiece, chock full of large scoops of allegory and metaphor. So, essentially, Luther left the protestants and their descendants with this book of lecture notes from God and without the lecturer to explain it. Just imagine the chaos that transpired, headless students running all over the place, and now you have 38,000 different protestant denominations. They all have differing opinions, so which is the actual truth? They can’t all be true.

That is not to say that one can’t get to know God outside of the Church. You can; which is how a lot of people end inside the Church, but outside, you just won’t get to know Him as well.

Oh ya, The Church is not a denomination. It is THE Church.

He was one of them, decided we had more truth, then, became a Cardinal and a Saint. Hoo-hah.

2. We have the Holy Sacrifice of Mass.
The protestants have all these passionate sermons by their pastors with energetic praise and worship music so that everyone can jump about and then go to their cell groups to discuss bible verses. There, they pray to God and He speaks to them through their feeligns. And then, they go passionately live their lives as Christians. (Also, they might talk in gibberish from time to time)

That’s a pretty attractive and tough game to beat. We only have the Holy Mass after all. It’s so boring and repetitive and I don’t know why mummy drags me there every Sunday. And, the priest keeps giving lame homilies about how the lesson of the gospel is like a highlighter or other various stationary! How am I ever going to get to know God? Besides, he never talks to me like he does to my protestant friends.

But wait….

WE HAVE THE HOLY MASS!

God knows that you need to get to know Him and love Him, he created you for the very purpose! So, out of compassion, He created Holy Mother Church, instituted Holy Mass and commissioned His apostles to say it. Then, He was tortured and nailed to a cross by the very people He came to save (you and me) and died for our sins. This is all well and good you say, but how does the Church help me foster my relationship with God?

She takes you to Him. Yes, that’s right. She takes you right there, right then to the very foot of the cross on Calvary. The Holy Mass also goes by other names, like the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass or the Most August Sacrifice. Have you ever wondered why? The altar is the icon of the body of Christ and is a table with one purpose only: to offer sacrifices. And, that is what the priest does every time he says Mass, he offers the sacrifice of Jesus to God in redemption for our sins so we may be saved. Mass is the unbloody re (hypen) presentation of the crucifixion on Calvary (http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/1367.htm). Christ has already died for us, but when we are at Mass, we are supernaturally transported to that moment.

What’s more, during every Mass, this re-presentation is made real with the consecration of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. When the priest says the words of consecration, there and then the substance of the host is transformed into Jesus HIMSELF. It may look like bread, but it is no longer bread, it is the body of Christ, under the veil of the sacrament! During the consecration you are there, physically with your God, the very Saviour of the World. How personal is that? Tell me, which of your protestant friends can claim such privilege?


‘HOC EST ENIM CORPUS MEUM’, ‘FOR THIS IS MY BODY’
Moreover, Holy Mother Church in Her divine wisdom knows that you cannot be saying your ‘sorry’s and ‘thank you’s to God while distracting loud music is going on, so She gives you silence. She knows you long to be with God in heaven so she gives you the Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony, so that you may know what angels sound like. She gives you beautiful sacred pictures and architecture so that you may know what heaven looks like. She knows you cannot read the bible on your own, so she gives you the wisdom and instruction of the Church fathers. She knows you need inspiration to be holy, so she gives the examples of the Saints! Is it not through all these things that God wishes to speak to you? Are you willing to listen?

How compassionate is He to your plight that He is constantly going out His way to find you through so many different avenues? The Mass is all about how compassionate God is to us. The boring homily about how the gospel passage is like eyeglasses is not important! You are there! With God! Why are not speaking to Him? Why are you not asking Him for greater faith?

3. The protestants do it better.
It’s true. You want the modern music, the guitar riffs, the drums, the energy and dancing, go to the protestant…uh place of ‘worship’. You won’t find it in at Mass. See, the Church understands the need for these things for some people…outside of Mass, however some really smart people keep trying to bring it into Mass. The only problem is that is makes Mass boring. It also makes the people who do it look very silly.


- Cathedral of Los Angeles, 2005 (Also top picture)

- Cathedral of Los Angeles, 1945

So, if you really want to get to know God, then you know where to be! See you at Mass later.

栀

梔
(zhī)

When I climbed atop a mountain one day,
Caught in blanket fog and thicket deep,
As you danced on clouds. O what bliss, they say.

Under shrouds of clouds, kept away, away,
In the midst of winter, the Sun did keep.
When I climbed atop a mountain one day.

But She saw you and bathed you in golden ray,
And your pale white petals glowed in the heat,
As you danced on clouds. O what bliss, they say.

Yet, I spied you listless and a ‘lil grey.
A despondent sight to made my heart weep,
When I climbed atop a mountain one day.

I wished to draw a smile on you that day,
And nurse your heart in mine, to once more leap
As you danced on clouds, O what bliss, they say.

And from afar, I watched you spritely play.
O little flower, a joy that abounds so deep
When I climbed atop a mountain one day,
As you danced on clouds, O what bliss, they say!

The process of endochondrial ossification

The process of endochrondrial ossification is usually described in a rather violent fashion. If one changed the words a bit, that would be the full scale invasion of a great civilisation by another one.

1. The cartilage is invaded by blood vessels right in the middle to form the primary ossification centre. (read base of attack)

2. Chondrocytes undergo modifications to form longitudinal columns.

3. These then deteriorate. (Torture of the locals, followed by execution)

4. Osteoblasts then enter cartilage. (like tanks signifying hostile take over. Osteoblast does sound like the name a of futuristic tank from Red Alert, doesn't it?)

5. Diaphysis starts from the centre. (A diaphysis is essentially the long shaft of the bone, the expansion of the conquered territories)

6. Ossification begins from the centre, as osteoblasts move lengthwise up and down the shaft. The Cartilage continues to grow outward. (As though a desperate attempt to escape the vicious osteoblasts)

7. Epiphyseal plates around on the ends. Meanwhile, osteoblast catches up with cartilage. (and guns them down. Well, turns them into bone).

8. Epiphyseal plates ossify.

The city has fallen.

A few of my most hated things.

Had my module 3 exam today. My brain melted. Anyway, in exam panic mode earlier this morning, I wrote the following to the tune of the Sound of Music's 'My Favourite Things'. Yes, it actually almost fits the tune!

Cristae and proteins, glucose and fructose, tumour suppressors that lose their function. These are few of my most hated things.

Cell junctions an-nd meiotic division, porins and cyclins, and phosphorylation, non-disjunction that causes down syndrome, these are a few of my most hated things.

Mendelian genetics and autosomal recessives, cancers that move from your breast to your brains, point mutations that cause cell sickling. These are a few of my most hated things.

When the time comes, when the bell rings, when Elliot drones, I cannot remember a bloody damn thing, and my mind goes blaaaaank!

Epiphany!!!!!

Today is the Solemnity of the Feast of the Epiphany of The Lord. Apart from having a lot of 'of the's in the title, this special feast marks the twelfth day of Christmas, and is called 'Mini-Christmas' in Ireland. A lot of people think that this is the end of Christmas, but...guess what? It isn't! (yay!) Christmas traditionally ends on the Candlemas, on the 2nd February. Confuse yourself away.

So move over Chinese New Year. Besides, Carol of the Bells over Gong Xi Gong Xi any day right?

Anyway, Epiphany is a big feast in the Roman Catholic Church, and while this post won't deal with the great theological and liturgy means behind this great feast, mostly because I am lowly medical student (read slave) and there many kind theologians and well informed bloggers who write about the Epiphany every year. You can read about it here, here, here, and perhaps the Pope's homily here.

Rather, this entry will be a short reflection on my celebration of Epiphany this year. As you, my dear reader, who have just finished reading all the splendid hyperlinks above, will know, on this solemn feast, chalk, water and incense is blessed at morning Mass. These are then taken back to bless one's home for the year. At home, a few prayers and the magnificat are said, and then the rooms in the house is sprinkled with holy water and censed with the blessed incense. I'm not sure how this is done, though it does conjure up images of taking out that spare thurible one keeps in the attic for such express purposes. (I jest, ideally, your priest brings his own.) Then, on the door of each room, written in blessed white chalk are the initials of the three magi framed by the year. e.g 20 C+M+B 12.

Of course, I don't have to tell you the three magi or wise men are named Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar. Incidentally, the initials could mean Christus mansionem benedicat, may Christ bless the house.






If you're wondering why I wrote the blessing in a shelf, the paper that they gave out with the chalk suggested putting the blessing on the TV. Since my friend and I both don't have televisions in our rooms, we opted to put it in the shelf above our laptops for a reminder and visibility. And, that is my friend posing with his newly blessed door in the second picture, while the door at the bottom is mine, though similar they appear.

It is a great pity that this traditional has been largely lost across Europe. We didn't really get into it in Singapore because we were a mission country and not all of the great traditions were transferred to us, also the 60s came around. Anyway, I think it's a great tradition to revive, you begin the year with God by sanctifying your home. Also, a great opportunity for catechism when your friends ask you to explain your actions.

Today, I also served my first high mass! I am very blessed that the first one I serve is on the Feast of the Epiphany. I almost didn't serve today because I wanted to study. I pray that I will never make myself unavailable to serve at the altar when there is a need again. After all, what could be more important for me to do all day?

Anyway, please pray for me! I have 2 days left to revise a ton of concepts and memorise far more definitions.

Have a very Blessed Christmastide!

What is Love?

What is Love?

Love will never betray you, dismay, or enslave you; it will set you free. Be more like the man, you were meant to be. – Mumford and Sons.

Love is good. It can only be good, because out of love comes goodness. Love cannot be evil, since out of evil, one finds only hate. Therefore love is good and since it is only good, it can only be beautiful. All beautiful things are created with love, from which comes the care, attention and passion necessary to create that beauty. The creation becomes beautiful because reflected within it is a part of the creator. Without a loving creator, the creation cannot be beautiful. It would be empty and ugly.

Love is passionate, it is hot, fiery, and energetic. It cannot be cold. Have you ever heard of a cold lover? Cold is a term used to describe emotionless and distant people, on the other hand, loving people tend to have a warmth around them, a warmth that emanates from the hot fire within their heart. That of love. It is a fire that burns, engulfs and consumes all in its wake.

Yet, Love’s consummation is special, it doesn’t reduce or destroy or break down the substance it consumes. Rather, it increases and grows and changes it! Love creates, it cannot destroy, since it is good.

Love is selfless. All its actions are for the benefit of another and it always puts others ahead of itself. Love fully gives of itself for another too. Love is humble, out of its selflessness, it chooses to serve others rather than be served. Love is charitable. It seeks to share all that it has. It will never take from you, because it cannot take. Love is a gift.

Love is freedom, because love is selfless. It can never be forced on any one or force anyone. Love is a choice, a conscious decision, a commitment, and a conviction.

Love is merciful and forgiving. It never turns away those who seek it, no matter how many times they turn away or how far away they go. Yet, Love is just, requiring fairness and reparation of wrongdoing, it teaches harsh lessons so that one might grow and grow in love. Love seeks the truth, so that justice may be done, for in lies and falsehoods, there can be no reality, they are empty. Love is the truth, it is full and it is real.

Love is supernatural. It transcend beyond our world. It cannot be seen directly, or quantified or explained by Science. To Science, who cannot understand or explain why or how Love exists, it merely reduces it to chemicals in our heads that alter the way we act in our lives. Though, perhaps, it is because of the perfection creation of love that we have these chemicals in our heads. That is, we are made to love; hence, love brings about the biochemical changes. And like all of the supernatural, love casts a shadow on this world, seen through these chemicals, but more importantly, the many acts of love that we perform.

Love is a blinding light, so hot and so bright, that it blinds one to the superficial visage of the worldly skin that clothes us in shallow and materialistic aesthetics that turn people into objects and commodities. Rather, Love’s light is so bright, that it illuminates the soul and spirit within. It lets us look past the dirt of the fallen world, to see the innate beauty and intrinsic dignity hidden within us, and lets us see who we really are, who we were meant to be.

Love is suffering. It is not a transient affection feeling of appeal, not the desire or quantity of how much one is willing to do or give to another. No, Love is the willingness to suffer for another. Love is denying ourselves and our wants and needs for another’s.

Love is a sacrifice. Perfect love is to give up everything to suffer for another person’s life. To be lay down one’s own life for another. It is to be completely innocent and pure and choosing to bear the punishment and shame and humiliation of another’s crimes, so that he will have a second chance to live. So that he will have a second chance to love. It is being tied to a pillar to be beaten and spat on, and then to be scourged. It is to be flagellated with hooked whip designed to tear and rip out flesh on every strike. To have one’s title and office mocked and insulted, by a crown of thorns forced on one’s head, digging into one’s temples, one’s skull. It is to be drag the heavy instrument of one’s death to the execution place, and then to be nailed and hung on it. It is to die, suffocating on one’s own collapsed muscles.

It is to give up a royal throne of power and majesty to be born in a stable, and to sleep in a manger, in complete poverty to be in solidarity with the lowest pauper. Amidst beasts and livestock, sleeping peacefully on a bed of hay. Love is the child whose birthday you recently celebrated. The babe, the creator of the cosmos, the very Saviour of the World. That is love.

Love is God, and He is called Jesus the Christ, and from Him, comes all love.