Our annual Order of Malta picnic, old and new friends.
Indifference vs. Samaritan virtues
St Ignatius of Loyola
“God freely created us so that we might know, love, and serve him in this life and be happy with him forever. God’s purpose in creating us is to draw forth from us a response of love and service here on earth, so that we may attain our goal of everlasting happiness with him in heaven. All the things in this world are gifts of God, created for us, to be the means by which we can come to know him better, love him more surely, and serve him more faithfully.”
—St. Ignatius Loyola
Blessing of Cars 2024
Today, in honor of Saint Elia (Elijah), the Holy Prophet, Fr. Dennis blessed cars and the riding lawnmower. The blessing has become an annual event to honor the Holy Prophet.
Why do we bless cars and various modes of transportation? We bless modes of transportation for several reasons:
~to protect you and also to help others
~to remind ourselves that we are to be courteous drivers and giving into road aggression
~to not be reckless in driving, especially being distracted
~since the Middle Ages priests blessed horses, wagons, boats
with the rise of pilgrimage, the Church asked for divine protection upon for pilgrims to the Holy Land or to Canterbury, or to Santiago de Compostela due to the arduous adventure fighting disease and criminals.
So, prayer seeks a blessing, it expresses gratitude for the material gift of vehicles, and it asks for a defense against evil with the help of God. Our seeking divine protection over material things and actions, we express our dependence upon the Creator who gives and sustains us.
Greek Catholics, like we Melkites, invoke the intercession of Saint Elias and Saint Nicholas while the Latin Catholics invoke the intercession of Saint Frances of Rome, Saint Michael and Saint Christopher.
The prayer reads:
O Master, Lord our God, hearken unto the prayer which we now send up to You and bless these vehicles with your holy right hand + ; send down upon it they guardian Angel, that all who desire to journey therein may be safely preserved and shielded from every end; and as the Ethiopian, riding in the chariot and reading your holy prophecy, was granted faith and grace through your Apostle Philip.
So do you now manifest the path of salvation who shall travel in this conveyance, that with your helping grace they may be vouchsafed everlasting joy in your heavenly Kingdom. For yours is the might, and the Kingdom, and the power, and unto you do we send up glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
May Christ our true God, through the intercession of His all-pure Mother, through the protection of the bodily powers, of the holy, glorious and all praise-worthy Apostles, and Saint Nicholas, the Holy Prophet Elias and all the saints, have mercy on and save us, as He is good and loves mankind.
(Sprinkling each of the vehicles with holy water, says:)
The car is blessed in the name of the Father +, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Church of the Holy Sepulchre anniversary of dedication
Today is the Feast of the Dedication of the Holy Sepulchre Church in AD 1149. For obvious reasons, to is a special day for the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
Prayers for the Order and for the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.
A happy bishop in Australia
Bishop Columba Macbeth-Green OSPPE, ordained priest for the Pauline Fathers, is celebrating 10 years of service as bishop of the Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes. This diocese is 160,000 square miles in its territory, and the largest diocese in New South Wales.
Prayers for Bishop Columba.
Happy 4 of July
We celebrate our freedom in the USA today. Thanks be to God.
The Lord bless us with peace, love, trust, and courage (among many other virtues).
Image: courtesy of David Donahue
The Holy and Pre-eminent Apostles Peter and Paul
“Peter, Prince of the glorious Apostles, the rock of the faith, and inspired Paul, the preacher and beacon of the holy Churches, as you stand before the throne of God intercede with Christ on our behalf.”
[From Byzantine Vespers]
At the Altar
At the altar comes the focus we ought to have: Jesus Christ as the center. Holy Mass centers our attention on what it means to be in relationship with all that is by grace. I am convinced that the sacred Liturgy is the vehicle of faith, the lex orandi [the law of prayer], is theologia prima serves powerfully to teach, to form, and to unite us.
One should read Benedict XVI’s Sacramentum Caritatis which speaks to the centrality of the Eucharist as the identity of the Church. We know from experience that the Eucharist is irreducible to another religious practice. That is, the Eucharist is not one ritual among others. It is, however, the privileged way that the Church encounters the mystery of love in Jesus Christ.
Order of Malta CT observes Baptist feast
In advance of the solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, the Order of Malta—CT North East Area met for a meeting, Mass, and lunch. Part of the day was at the Clelian Center at Mount Sacred Heart in Hamden, CT. Sister Susan Francis Graham gave a presentation on the spirituality of the Sacred Heart.
Bishop Peter Rosazza blessed the neck cross once worn by our Magistral Chaplain, Father Thomas Kelly who died 2 months ago today.
St. John the Baptist is a principal feast of the Order of Malta.