Somewhat stunned

Still taking in the momentous news of Pope Benedict's resignation.

I did not feel ready to post on this last evening, and so am just writing a few quick lines before I have to leave for work.

Let us pray for the Holy Father, that God will bless him for his work, and grant him peace and many more years of life in his 'retirement' (is that the right term?).

Let us also pray for the action of the Holy Spirit as we move towards the Conclave. May he inspire the cardinals and give us a worthy successor to Benedict XVI.

Two Saints

Today is the feast day of two important saints. In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate the feast of John de Matha, who, along with St. Felix de Valois was co-founder of the Trinitarian Order. I have discussed this in an earlier post

In the New Rite, we have the optional memoria of St. Josephine Bakhita. Born in Darfur in Sudan in 1869, Bakhita was captured and sold into slavery as a young child. The name 'Bakhita' was not the one her parents gave her, but a cynical one, translating as 'Fortunate', bestowed on her by her kidnappers when, through trauma, she was unable to remember what she was called. She passed through the hands of numerous owners, suffering horrendous violence and abuse, including a practice invoving a combination of tattooing and scarification. Eventually she was sold to an Italian merchant, and encountered Catholicism for the first time in his household. She converted, and was ultimately freed when the family returned to Europe, as slavery was illegal under Italian Law. She entered a Canossian convent in Venice, and joined the order, where she lived until 1947, and was popular, especially among the young, with whom she would share the story of her life, but speak of her abusers with charity. She was canonised in 2000.

.Let us commend to her prayers all who have been trafficked or forced into slavery or slave-like conditions, and all those, especially the young, who are victims of abuse.

Ora pro nobis.

Beautifully put

I have just seen the most eloquent comment in response to Protect the Pope's post concerning Chris Grayling's weaseling words about opponents to 'gay marriage' needing to be 'gently led through uncomfortable social change'.

Michael Petek says the following:-

"The purpose of marriage is to answer the right of every child to be born within the marriage of the natural parents. If it were not the case that children are conceived and born in the way they are, there would be no justification for marriage to exist as the institution it is."
 

...at least some people get what marriage is about!

St Thomas More, pray for us

Thanks to Leutgeb for a timely reminder of St. Thomas More, patron of politicians and statesmen, martyred, of course, for remaining faithful to the Church's moral teachings when these were under attack from the political powers of the day.

Let us hope than he will inspire our MP's to exercise sound judgement tomorrow.

St Agatha

Tomorrow is the feast of St. Agatha, virgin and martyr, a saint of great importance and relevance to our own times in so many ways.

Born in Sicily, to a wealthy family, and apparently of considerable beauty, she deicated herself to God from an early age, and resisted the advances of suitors. One of these men, the Roman Prefect, Quintianus, and so a man of great power (and evident spite and vindictiveness) reacted to her rejection of him by having her imprisoned in a brothel. When this failed to break her resolve, he had her subjected to torture, which apparently involved her breasts being torn off (she is often depicted carrying these, or the instruments with which they were removed), and then her body being dragged over shards of broken pottery and over hot coals. She died of her injuries, ending her life with a prayer:-

"Lord, my Creator, you have always protected me from the cradle; you have taken me from the love of the world and given me patience to suffer. Receive my soul."
 

I recall that in the news over the last few months there have been a number of stories of women being murdered by vindictive men whom they have rejected, as well as many others being subjected to sexual humiliation and enslavement. I commend these to the prayers of St. Agatha.

Virgin martyrs like St. Agatha seem rather unpopular today - could it be because they highlight unpleasant things about ourselves and the society in which we live? Could it be that some people hate admitting that such saints actually possess the truth?

St. Agatha, pray for us.


As well as being the Patron Saint of a number of towns in Sicily, and of other places in Europe, St. Agatha is (for obvious reasons)  Patron of breast cancer sufferers. She is also invoked for protection against fire (there is a legend that the veil covering her tomb held back the lava from eruptions of Mount Etna on a number of occasions. She is also Patron of bellringers - possibly because of the use of bells as fire alarms.

Email your MP

I have just finished sending an email to my MP, further urging them to oppose the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill.

I strongly urge you to do the same: you can find advice on what to say on the Coalition for Marriage website, and also in an excellent post by Protect the Pope.

You can find the name and contact details of your MP on the aptly named TheyWorkForYou.com website.

Hopefully this will continue to emphasise the weight of public opinion expressed through letters from our Bishops and others, and through the postcards we all hopefully sent to our MP's last week.

The consequences of this bill are widespread and could affect many aspects of the society we live in, including our religious freedom and the duties of a number of professions, including my own of teaching.

Please make your voice heard, and please continue to pray about this issue.

What Cameron Thinks of Your Mandate

 

It is becoming clear that David Cameron's election promises included an assurance that he had no plans to redefine marriage. So much for the public's mandate, then!

The Coalition for Marriage have an excellent summary of the story, and Fr. Tim, Fr. Ray Blake and Mulier Fortis have also posted on this topic.

Here is yet another reminder from Protect the Pope of some of the potential consequences of the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Bill.



Please Substitute the phrase 'Prime Minister' for 'Lawyer' in the following