I am at the point in my long summer road-trip where I am actually on vacation. As in, I am not currently engaged in any work related activities. I am at the beach for the next week. I have a priest staying with our family. He is an old family friend and he is saying a TLM for us every day, facing the east – the literal east, looking out over the Atlantic Ocean.
Life if good.
In the meantime, the posts will be light for a few days. Since it is the Octave of Pentecost, enjoy some music.
And please keep me and my family in your prayers. The drive starts up again next week.
Happy birthday to the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church! And while we’re on it, not because I hate anyone but out of love for my fellow man, I pose a question. If you have not found your way into the One True Church founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ, why not? What are you waiting for? Sure, the place is a trainwreck right now but it’s still the only guarantee of salvation. Remember Peter’s words to Christ: “Lord to whom should we go? You have the words of everlasting life.”
The first Pentecost saw the Blessed Mother surrounded by the Apostles sitting together praying. They had prayed for nine days. They anticipated the Spirit but probably had no idea what to expect (save for the Blessed Mother, who had been pondering in her Immaculate Heart all these things for years). The Spirit came upon them and they were emboldened. What flowed from that awe-inspiring event – the tongues of flame and the rushing wind – was a mass baptism. Thousands were converted that day.
Flash forward nineteen hundred years. The Apostles’ successors promised a “new springtime”, a “second Pentecost”. What followed that frightful event was the greatest apostasy in the history of the Church. Priests left the priesthood in droves. Convents and monasteries emptied almost overnight. The faithful were treated to spiritual whiplash as just about every tenet held by Catholics from the very beginning was undermined. Those who remained went uncatechized, malformed, and malnourished.
Some springtime!
Today, many of us spend hours praying our novenas, trusting in Our Lord’s promise that He will never abandon us. It is hard not to identify with the people in that upper room in the moments before the Spirit came upon them.
On Pentecost I often recall the holy martyrs of the Church. Filled with the Spirit, these men, women, and even children willingly spilled their blood out of love for Him Who died for them. Many of these martyrs were subsequently removed from the Roman calendar after the Council, by the way. I wonder why. I think in particular of the Martyrs of Compiegne, France. During the Reign of Terror, these Carmelite sisters were rounded up, stripped of the dignity of their garb, led to the scaffold, and beheaded. One by one, they ascended the steps to their beheading. To the last woman, they had the mystical lyric poem on their lips. Veni Creator Spiritus! The scene was recreated in the film Dialogues des Carmelites.
Come Holy Ghost! Renew in the hearts of Thy people Thy seven-fold gifts. Make us to see that to live for Christ is to die to ourselves and that to die for ourselves is to live in Him forever. Thy Church is in disarray, in terrible eclipse. Make us to love Thy commandments and to burn with zeal for Thy house.
This morning I woke up in a hotel room in Cullman, AL. I checked. Still had both kidneys.
Like most mornings, the first order of the day is Mass. my wife and I headed off to the Christ the King Monastery just outside of town. First, owing to my obsession with tornadoes, I feel compelled to mention that Cullman, along with most of the rest of Alabama, was the site of a massive tornado outbreak in 2011. The storm is legendary in the tornado enthusiast community. That sounded stranger than it actually is. There is a scientific purpose to studying these things. I do it because I like things that go boom. In any event, I showed my wife a video of one of the twisters that touched down in Cullman that day and, to my surprise, found the exact intersection from the video while driving to Mass.
Now then, the monastery… The place was interesting. I don’t have to remind any of my fellow trads that traveling and trying to find TLM’s is not the easiest of tasks. This place, though, was both unusual on many levels and absolutely exactly what I expected. Touching on the latter first; it’s a Latin Mass. Of course it’s going to be what I expect. That’s the beauty of it. It does not change. Now to the former. The building appeared to have been constructed in the early 1990’s and built purposely as some kind of Benedictine abbey church. If you’ve ever been to Clear Creek, OK then you know what I mean. The side chapels, the raredos in the middle of the sanctuary blocking out another high altar in an enlarged apse, the statues and windows of Benedict and Scholastica everywhere… According to their website, the monastery is now under the care of a group called the Alliance of the Holy Family International. What I could tell right away was that this was a very diverse community. Again, the universality of the Church was on display but in a much more beautiful way than some of the “multi-cultural” Novus Ordo Masses I’ve been to. Because here, every nation and tongue came to worship in the unique unity that is the Roman Rite.
I sat down and set my ribbons for the feast of St. Peter Celestine, the pope of the 1200’s who validly abdicated the throne of Peter. Father threw a wrench into my ribbon-setting when he announced that he was saying a votive Mass of the Sacred Heart. A quick re-set and we were off. Father preached a beautiful sermon on the gifts of the Spirit. Now I was really confused. Sacred Heart? Holy Ghost? Where was he going? I got my answer immediately after the sermon as Father proceeded to lead everyone in the first day of the Novena to the Holy Ghost. That’s right, it is nine days before Pentecost and THIS is the original novena.
I include it here in this link for all to join in. If you are unaware of this fact, the whole reason we as Catholics pray novenas (nine days of consecutive prayer) goes back to this very first novena when the Blessed Mother and the Apostles took refuge in the upper room after the Ascension and prayed for nine days until the outpouring of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost.
This year, I think I will pray specifically for the grace to know what to pray for. I know that sounds strange but think about it. The Spirit of Truth is He Who instructs us. Who better to ask than the Third Person of the Trinity as to how I should pray if my ultimate goal is to submit my will to His?
Unfortunately we had to leave pretty quickly as we had someone waiting at a nearby restaurant for breakfast and I was only able to get one picture of the church. Even worse, it is not a picture from inside the church but rather of an outdoor chapel built into the side wall. Still, it is interesting to see. If I pass through this town again I will definitely spend more time and grab more pics. Tomorrow we’re off to Atlanta and a parish I have visited several times.
Come Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the first of Thy love!
We departed our beach house yesterday morning and headed for home. This morning I woke up in a hotel room in Atlanta, GA.
This morning began early. That’s because it’s Sunday. This was both a travel day (meaning, for us, we would drive about 800 miles) and the Lord’s Day (meaning we would move Heaven and earth to find a traditional Latin mass).
In the suburb of Mableton, GA, we attended the 8AM low mass for Pentecost in, drumroll please…
Another St. Francis de Sales parish!
Have I mentioned he’s the patron of writers and I think he’s stalking this writer?
This parish is run by our old friends, the FSSP and has been ensconced in this current property since the early 2000’s. I actually attended a daily mass here a year ago. The parish church is not huge but not particularly tiny either. So it surprised me that there was a sign in the parking lot indicating mass would be in the gym. After some searching we found said gym. Down a hill. A very long bill.
I surmise that the interior of the church building might be undergoing some renovations as the gym has, in addition to a few hundred folding chairs, a semi-permanent sanctuary space made out of finer polished oak and complete with a proper rail on three sides.
St. Francis de Sales, Mableton, GA. Picture taken last year on a different trip.
The priest who said mass preached a phenomenal homily, as is now expected by me of all Fraternity priests.
What really caught my attention, though, was the fact that every single person in attendance was properly attired. I will be writing on proper mass attire soon. But especially the men…
Suits.
Ties.
Hair neatly parted.
Like men.
Grown men.
Strong masculine men who love their wives and children and aren’t trying to show off but simply to look their level best for Christ and His sacrifice.
As I said, more on that to come. Just remember, this was Atlanta and there was a certain Gone With the Wind vibe to be felt.
I loved it.
And I truly loved that the great Mother of God, Mary Most Holy absolutely came through for me. I mentioned I had asked her prior to this trip to make Latin mass available to me every day. That she did.
Never doubt the love of a mother for her children. She wants only good things for us. She is happy when we want to kneel beside her as her Son gives Himself for our sins. I think of the many times in my life when my own ingratitude towards her Son’s sacrifice must have pierced her Immaculate Heart.
Never again.
Mother, give me to worship thy Son every day in His sacrifice!
And she did. And she will.
And He is only too happy to oblige anything she asks of Him.
Folks, I got off all that social media nonsense a while ago. Sorry but I'm not on Twitbook, Facepalm, YouHu, WingWang or any of the others. Maybe an event will happen to make me change my mind like Peter and Paul coming down with flaming swords and commanding it be so. Until then, read the blog and if you feel a comment is in order or you feel like sharing a tip or suggestion for a topic, email me at harvey@harveymillican.com.
Harvey is a funny, witty and interesting read. Want to know what's going on in the world of Harvey? Then make a point to subscribe to his blog! You just never know when those pesky Weebles will show up. Hmmm, speaking of Weebles - haven't heard from them in a while (wink). Seriously, you just never know what to expect and whatever you find, it never disappoints! -- Debbi Robertson @ Photos and Facets
Harvey Millican's Blog: Musings of a Trad Dad 