First Friday of February 2025

I am posting this early in the day in the hopes that anyone who sees this and has not done the First Friday devotion or who has perhaps started it but needs encouragement or a reminder might be inspired to get to Holy Mass today.

Our Lord’s promises to St. Margaret Mary are so incredible. Please avail yourself.

Musical Interlude – They Don’t Make ‘em Like This Anymore

Sharing a number from my favorite show of all time. I grew up just outside Manhattan and my dear Mom; a native New Yorker herself, took advantage of all the City had to offer when it came to schooling us in art and culture.

Enjoy!

Meme Stealing

Sorry, Ann, I had to snag this one.

Novena for the FSSP

Sharing this from NonVeniMark. Please join in. Remember, prayers to the Blessed Mother are never without merit in the sight of her Son.

https://nonvenipacem.org/2025/02/03/fssp-asks-for-novena-in-anticipation-of-their-interrogation/

By Your Perfect Union with the Divine Will

The title is a verse from the novena prayers to St. Rita of Cascia, patron of the impossible.

I offer these prayers every day on a rotating, nine day basis. I offer these prayers for my own special intentions and for all the intentions that any of the readers of this blog send to me by email.

This particular verse prayed near the end of the prayers, reminds me of something I saw in my missal a few years ago.

“ Every misfortune of ours is a direct consequence of our failure to align our wills with the Will of God.”

So we pray through the intercession of a great saint, who United her well with theWill of God and we ask her:

By your perfect union with the Divine Will, obtain our requests for us!

The Apple Didn’t Fall Far

I had a strange bout of insomnia last night. After going to bed at 11 (very uncharacteristic of me), I woke up at 2:05, unable to fall back asleep.

After an hour of tossing and turning, I opted to get up and watch a little TV in the family room. My first mistake was in sitting in a chair. My second mistake was in assuming that I would likely not fall back asleep.

On the second count, I did eventually drift back to slumber. If I were a British cartoon there would have been a thought balloon above my head saying, “zed zed zed”.

Flash forward several hours. I woke up not too unrefreshed but unable to turn my head. Stiff neck and shoulders. No fun. I found a Thera-gun massager which my teenage son generously volunteered to use on my aching back and neck. Part of me believes he was intrigued with this toy. Part of me wonders if he was truly trying to be compassionate. And the rest of me thinks he might have just wanted to abuse his old man for sport.

After a few minutes I thanked him for his time. I felt a little better.

That’s when he reminded me that he has my DNA by flashing the following at yours truly:

And I reminded him that I’m his dad by giving him a tip.

“Don’t swim in shark infested waters, son.”

The fun never ends.

Beauty Ever Ancient

Meant to post this earlier but things got away from me.

The alleluia verse from the Mass for the Purification jumped off the page of my missal at me.

“Senex Púerum portábat: Puer autem senem regébat. Allelúia.”

“The old man bore the Child, but the Child was the old man’s King; Alleluia.”

The verse is from Augustine, not a Psalm as is typical. That’s probably why it struck me instantly. Nonetheless, it is striking.

Then I went home and took down my Christmas decorations.

Bring on Lent!