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Wednesday, December 28 is the Feast day of the Holy Innocents.
Thanks to Father Hay for the wonderful and holy celebration of the first mass of Christmas. Thanks to Tony Strunk as usual. The "new" set of servers/ torch bearers did a great job and thanks so much...we need boys on the altar not us old guys! The choir sounded like angels in heaven....jeez they did a great job....and thank YOU Father for sending us your son, Jesus.
Thanks to Father Hay for the wonderful and holy celebration of the first mass of Christmas. Thanks to Tony Strunk as usual. The "new" set of servers/ torch bearers did a great job and thanks so much...we need boys on the altar not us old guys! The choir sounded like angels in heaven....jeez they did a great job....and thank YOU Father for sending us your son, Jesus.
For those without an ordo and who wish to follow the traditional liturgical calender here is a link to an easy to read online calender you can view anytime. Scroll down to find current month.
To post a comment, ask a question, or submit an article contact me, Mark, at bumpy187@gmail.com.
..and now for the necessaries.
Please note: St. Anthony Catholic Church is one of only two 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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The Holy Innocents
Feast: December 28
(Matthew xi. 16)
Herod, finding that he had been deluded by the magians, was transported with rage and anxious fears. To execute his scheme of killing the Messias, the desired of all nations and the expectation of Israel, he formed the bloody resolution of murdering all the male children in Bethlehem and the neighbouring territory which were not above two years of age. Soldiers were forthwith sent to execute these cruel orders, who, on a sudden, surrounded the town of Bethlehem and massacred all the male children in that and the adjacent towns and villages which had been born in the last two years. This more than brutish barbarity, which would almost have surpassed belief had not Herod been the contriver and ambition the incentive, was accompanied with such shrieks of mothers and children that St. Matthew applies to it a prophecy of Jeremiah, which may be understood in part to relate more immediately to the Babylonish captivity, but which certainly received the most eminent completion at this time: "A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning: Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not." Rama is a village not far from this town, and the sepulchre of Rachel was in a field belonging to it. The slaughter also was probably extended into the neighbouring tribe of Benjamin, which descended from Rachel. The Ethiopians in their liturgy, and the Greeks in their calendar, count fourteen thousand children massacred on this occasion; but that number exceeds all bounds, nor is it confirmed by any authority of weight. Innocent victims became the spotless Lamb of God. And how great a happiness was such a death to these glorious martyrs! They deserved to die for Christ, though they were not yet able to know or invoke his name. They were the flowers and the first fruits of his martyrs, and triumphed over the world without having ever known it or experienced its dangers. They just received the benefit of life to make a sacrifice of it to God and to purchase by it eternal life. How few perhaps of these children, if they had lived, would have escaped the dangers of the world which, by its maxims and example, bear everything down before it like an impetuous torrent! What snares, what sins, what miseries were they preserved from by this grace! With what songs of praise and love do they not to all eternity thank their Saviour, and this his infinite mercy to them! Their ignorant, foolish mothers did not know this, and therefore they wept without comfort. So we often lament as misfortunes many accidents which in the designs of heaven are the greatest mercies.
In Herod we see how blind and how cruel ambition is, which is ready to sacrifice everything, even Jesus Christ, to its views. The tyrant lived not many days longer to enjoy the kingdom which he feared so much to lose. About the time of our Lord's nativity he fell sick, and as his distemper sensibly increased, despair and remorse followed him and made him insupportable both to himself and others. The innumerable crimes which he had committed were the tortures of his mind, whilst a slow imposthume, inch by inch, gnawed and consumed his bowels, feeding principally upon one of the great guts, though it extended itself over all the rest and, corroding the flesh, made a breach in the lower belly and became a sordid ulcer, out of which worms issued in swarms, and lice were also bred in his flesh. A fever violently burnt him within, though outwardly it was scarce perceptible; and he was tormented with a canine appetite which no victuals could satisfy. Such an offensive smell exhaled from his body as shocked his best friends; and uncommon "witchings and vellications upon the fibrous and membraneous parts of his body, like sharp razors, cut and wounded him within; and the pain thence arising overpowered him at length with cold sweats, tremblings, and convulsions. Antipater, in his dungeon, hearing in what a lamentable condition Herod lay, strongly solicited his jailer to set him at liberty, hoping to obtain the crown; but the officer acquainted Herod with the whole affair. The tyrant, groaning under the complication of his own distempers, upon this information vented his spleen by raving and beating his own head, and, calling one of his own guards, commanded him to go that instant and cut off Antipater's head. Not content with causing many to be put to barbarous deaths during the course of his malady, he commanded the Jews that were of the principal rank and quality to be shut up in a circus at Jericho, and gave orders to his sister Salome and her husband Alexas to have them all massacred as soon as he should have expired, saying that as the Jews heartily hated him, they would rejoice at his departure; but he would make a general mourning of the whole nation at his death. This circumstance is at least related by the Jewish historian Josephus.[4] Herod died five days after he had put his son Antipater to death.
Parents, pastors, and tutors are bound to make it their principal care that children, in their innocent age, be by piety and charity consecrated as pure holocausts to God. This is chiefly to be done by imprinting upon their minds the strongest sentiments of devotion, and by instructing them thoroughly in their catechism. We cannot entertain too high an idea of the merit and obligation of teaching God's little ones to know him, and the great and necessary truths which he has revealed to us. Without knowing him no one can love him or acquit himself of the most indispensable duties which he owes to his Creator. Children must be instructed in prayer and the principal articles of faith as soon as they attain to the use of reason, that they may be able to give him his first fruits by faith, hope, and love, as by the law of reason and religion they are bound to do. The understanding of little children is very weak, and is able only to discover small glimpses of light. Great art, experience, and earnestness are often required to manage and gradually increase these small rays, and to place therein whatever one would have the children comprehend.
The solicitude and diligence of parents and pastors to instruct others in this sacred science ought not to lessen; neither must anyone regard the function as mean or contemptible. It is the very foundation of the Christian religion. Hence Pope Paul III, in a bull in which he recommends this employment, declares that "nothing is more fruitful or more profitable for the salvation of souls." No pastoral function is more indispensable, none more beneficial, and generally none more meritorious; we may add, or more sublime. For under a meaner exterior appearance, without pomp, ostentation, or show of learning or abilities, it joins the exercise of humility with the most zealous and most profitable function of the pastoral charge. Being painful and laborious, it is, moreover, an exercise of patience and penance. Neither can anyone think it beneath his parts or dignity. The great St. Austin, St. Chrysostom, St. Cyril, and other most learned doctors, popes, and bishops applied themselves with singular zeal and assiduity to this duty of catechizing children and all ignorant persons; this they thought a high branch of their duty, and the most useful and glorious employment of their learning and talents. What did the apostles travel over the world to do else? St. Paul said, "I am a debtor to the wise and to the unwise.[5] We became little ones in the midst of you, as if a nurse would cherish her children; so desirous of you, that we would gladly have imparted to you not only the gospel of God, but even our own souls."[6] Our Divine Lord himself made this the principal employment of his ministry. "The spirit of the Lord is upon me: he hath sent me to preach the gospel to the poor."[7] He declared the pleasure he found in assisting that innocent age when he said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, for the kingdom of God is for such. And embracing them, and laying his hands upon them, he blessed them."[8]
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Videos: St. Anthony First Mass of Midnight
Videos by Luke Headley
As is always the case at mass I am usually too busy to actually pay attention to St. Anthony's Choir to appreciate what they really do. I was just floored at the first mass of Christmas this past weekend when, as time seemed to slow and we were not confined by the hectic Sunday schedule, I stopped to listen to the heavenly sounds emanating from the choir loft....sounds of praise and worship, beauty and history and art and passion!!...and verified by these short video clips provided by Luke Headley.
Thank you Mr. Dette and choir for giving us all that you do. You truly are an integral part of our worship and so appreciated.
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Tebowing: We Did It First
Submitted by Brody Flavin
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Brave New Schools
Catholic Student 'Bullied, Humiliated' by Teacher
Instructor 'promoted' homosexuality rather than economics class material
By Bob Unruh
World Net Daily
Supt. Ronald C. Wilson
A teacher's decision to promote homosexuality in class rather than teach the approved economics curriculum – and the school district's endorsement of that – soon will be hitting the court docket, as a complaint has been filed by a student subjected to the instructor's "bullying."
Officials with the Thomas More Law Center say they have filed a federal lawsuit against the Howell Public School District in Howell, Mich., and teacher Johnson "Jay" McDowell for punishing and humiliating a student after he responded to McDowell's question about homosexuality with his biblically based perspective.
"Rather than teach the required economics curriculum for which he is paid, McDowell, with the full knowledge of school officials, used his position of authority to promote his homosexual agenda at taxpayers' expense," said Richard Thompson, chief of the law center.
What's going on in America today? "CRIMINALIZING CHRISTIANITY" sheds light!
"This case points out the outrageous way in which homosexual activists have turned our public schools into indoctrination centers, and are seeking to eradicate all religious and moral opposition to their agenda," he said.
"It defies common sense for schools to ban all sorts of unhealthy foods while at the same time promoting the homosexual lifestyle, which hard statistics show increases drug abuse, suicides and reduces the life expectancies by several years. Schools that promote such lifestyles are engaging in a form of child abuse," he said.
The case developed, according to the complaint, when McDowell told a student to remove a Confederate flag belt buckle because he was offended by it. Daniel Glowacki, a junior, pointed out the obvious hypocrisy: that the teacher can promote a message that might be offensive to students, but students can't wear clothing that expresses a message that is offensive to the teacher.
The teacher, the head of the school's organized labor union for instructors, asked Glowacki specifically about his feelings on homosexuality, and the student responded that as a Catholic he was offended by the lifestyle choice.
The teacher then ordered Glowacki to leave the classroom under threat of suspension, the complaint states.
Homosexual activists jumped into the fray, hailing McDowell as a hero and blasting Glowacki and his family as "bigots," the law center explains. They called Glowacki's religious beliefs "hate."
"National lesbian TV host Ellen DeGeneres got in on the anti-Glowacki campaign. Daniel even became the subject of a school assembly," the organization reported.
It happened on Oct. 20, 2010, the day McDowell wore a purple homosexual-advocacy "Tyler's Army" T-shirt as part of a campaign promoted by homosexuals to highlight alleged "bullying" of homosexuals.
McDowell went even further to eradicate Christian beliefs from his classroom, asking the rest of the class members after Glowacki was ordered to leave whether they accepted homosexuality, the law center reported. Another student raised his hand and also was ordered out of the classroom.
"In this case, the teacher became the bully, and the students who opposed his homosexual agenda became his victims," the center reported.
Officials with the school district, run by Supt. R.C. Wilson, did not respond to WND's request for comment.
"Rather than teach academic courses that day, McDowell decided to spend the entire day promoting this national pro-homosexual agenda, which included showing his classes a video concerning such 'bullying,'" the law center said.
The lawsuit alleges violations by McDowell and the school of Glowacki's constitutional rights to freedom of speech and equal protection.
Robert Muise, the senior trial counsel handling the case, said, "Homosexual activists, with the willing and complicit support of public school districts and teachers' unions throughout the country, are using our public schools to foist their destructive agenda on our children, thereby creating a hostile learning environment for those students who oppose this agenda on religious and moral grounds. This case is just one example of the pernicious effect these activists are having on our students and in our community. We intend to stop it."
The center's report said, "The school district has promoted the concept that religious opposition to homosexuality is equivalent to bullying, hate speech, and homophobia in order to eradicate such opposition."
Read more: Catholic student 'bullied, humiliated' by teacher http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=378181#ixzz1hmNQjk36
