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Mr. Jim Spencer is back with another book review. Thank you Jim! Mr. Spencer was the original writer for this blog and the intellectual forerunner to my present day meandering "authorship".
A reader, noting the planned gnashing of teeth in place of Latin Mass today, was wondering how one actually went about gnashing their teeth. I didn't have an answer other than to be sure to take out dentures first.
...and now for the necessaries.
Please note: St. Anthony Catholic Church is one of two local churches celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass (EFLR) in the Wichita area. Though this blog is loosely centered around this parish and it's members, Venite Missa Est! is by no means, in any way an official voice of, or for, St. Anthony Parish or the Diocese of Wichita. Venite Missa Est! is strictly a private layman's endeavor.
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BOOK REVIEW
A.M.D.G. By James Spencer B.V.M.H.
Saints to Help the Sick and the Dying, by Msgr. Edmond J. Goebel, Ph.D. Originally published in 1937 by Benziger Brothers, NY; re-published in 2010 by Preserving Christian Publications, Inc., Boonville, NY; (315) 942-6338; www.pcpbooks.net. ISBN 978-1-4507-4393-8. Hardcover, 5” by 7.25”, 129 pages, $14.00.
As the title suggests, this book contains brief bios of many saints the Church recommends to the sick and dying. But it contains so much more that you should consider it a small sick-room reference book, as the dust jacket picture of Jesus and Mary ministering to the dying St. Joseph suggests.
Chapter 1, “Resignation,” offers a consoling and truly Catholic view of suffering as a sharing in the Cross of our Lord. This is followed by a prayer of submission to God’s Will. The chapter ends with a series of numbered points to remember and recall when suffering.
Chapter 2, “The Anointing,” explains the Last Sacrament, Extreme Unction, and then tells how it is administered and what is necessary for its proper administration.
Chapter 3, “Closing Life,” gives the recorded last words of many people, some saints. Examples: St. Anthony of Padua, “I see my God. He calls me to Him”; Pope St. Gregory VII , “I have loved justice and hated iniquity; therefore I die in exile”; Little Flower, “Oh, I love Him! My God, I love Thee!”; King St. Louis IX, “I will enter now into the house of the Lord”; Pope St. Pius V, “Lord, increase my faith, but increase my patience too!”
But this chapter also encloses the frightening words of a few dying “unholy” souls. Examples: Julian the Apostate, “Thou has conquered, O Gallilean”; Queen Elizabeth I of England, “All my possessions for a moment of time”; Cardinal Wolsey, “Had I but served my God with half the zeal that I have served my king, He would not have left me in my grey hairs” (as Henry VIII had).
Chapter 4, “The Hour of Death,” offers the “Litany for the Dying” followed by a series of other prayers recommended for the dying and those attending the dying.
Chapter 5, “The Last Agony,” starts with a series of short prayers those attending a dying person should repeat so the dying person can hear them, even if he can no longer pronounce the words. It also has a summary of everything those attending the dying should have and do. It even gives instructions for attending to a dying non-Catholic, including emergency baptism directions.
Chapter 6, “Other Sacraments,” contains a brief tutorial on the other six Sacraments of the Church.
Chapter 7, “The Saints” presents saints whose intercession the sick and dying should invoke for various illnesses and injuries. For each listed saint, this book has a brief bio and indicates the malady or (more often) maladies for which the Church has recommended said saint’s intercession.
Frankly, it would be a challenge to medical science to find a health problem for which the Church doesn’t offer at least one “designated saint.” We have saints for severe headaches, typhoid and other fevers, colic, sore eyes, pestilence, bruises, gout, diseases of the throat, apoplexy, poison, diabolic possession, deafness, tuberculosis, plague, cancer, insanity, rabies, paralysis, epilepsy, childbirth, hydrophobia, rheumatism, consumptions, ulcers, lumbago, gallstones, hemorrhage, cramps, cholera, stomach trouble, nervous disorders, and, and, and . . . and even snakebites!
Many of these health problems have multiple designated saints. For example, if you are ever bitten by a snake, you have four --- count ‘em, one, two, three, four . . . saints waiting to hear from you! These are not, of course, offered for the purpose of shopping around, but for your comfort when you feel the need for lots of help. For example, if I were ever bitten by a poisonous snake, I would want all the saintly assistance I could drum up. Besides. I would probably pray more devoutly than I ever have before and would appreciate multiple heavenly witnesses.
Chapter 8, “Prayers and Devotions for the Sick and Dying,” offers many prayers, both for the sufferers and for their attendants. The chapter closes with several pages of appropriate ejaculations.
Every Catholic home should have this book, and every Catholic should read it. No one will live on earth forever. Who knows when his time will come, or when the time of a friend or family member needing his assistance will come?
END
Copyright, 2011,
by James B. Spencer.
First Serial Rights
Word Count: 761
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St. Anthony Parishioners on Mission
Picture Submitted by Larry Bethel
Here is a picture of St Anthony parishioners, the Odilio and Stacey Alvarez family who are on a 2 year mission.
From their Facebook page:
"Our last full day Sunday at Big Woods in Louisiana :( Head out to Houston on Monday and will be in Manila on March 2nd! Thank you, Jesus! Praying for a safe, easy, and trouble-free plane ride!'
What dedication, bravery and true service. Please keep this beautiful young family in your prayers and follow Mrs. Alvarez at her blog Me in He: With Him for Him, excerpt below.
The Mission of Motherhood
"But she will be saved through motherhood..."1 Timothy 2:15
I have always taken my job as a mother very seriously. There is nothing else I have really ever wanted to be. I thoroughly enjoy children! From the time I was 12 years old until I graduated high school, most of my weekends and summer breaks were spent baby-sitting. Even after high school I worked for a nanny service and also taught in various preschools and daycares. I was blessed to marry young, and while I waited anxiously to become pregnant, I nannied for a family with two boys. When I did discover three months later that I was expecting, I began to make plans to be a stay-at-home mom. I remember writing to a mother whom I had worked for previously to happily announce the news that I would no longer be a "mere substitute" but would have the blessing of becoming a real mother! My "boss" at the time could not understand why I wanted to stay home when she was offering for me to bring my baby along to nanny her boys at her house. Wasn't it basically the same thing? Besides I would be getting paid!
Honestly, after so many years of "substitute" mothering I knew that no matter how much a person loves children, she can never replace the most important person in a child's life--his mother! My very first baby-sitting job was spent holding a sweet baby girl - no more than two months old - who cried hysterically for practically the whole time her mother was gone. This was expected by the parents since the baby could not ever be consoled by anyone but the mother; but they were told they needed a date night alone each week. They said they didn't mind her crying if I didn't and were surprised to come home to not find me frantic like other sitters before me had been. Really my heart was breaking for her. I was only 12. Years later I left a job at a daycare in tears after only one week because my authority in the classroom was constantly being undermined by a certain child's mother who happened to be the daycare director. At every job, no matter how much I wanted to, I was unable to discipline and teach the children as I saw fit because it wasn't the way the mother would have me do it. And even if my words were true, the children wouldn't believe me until they consulted Mom. Although the children always enjoyed me and I them, I just wasn't the same as their mother........................................................
Please continue reading and follow Stacie Alvarez at her blog
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