St.Michael and The Old Testament

The following is taken from the booklet from Tan called "St. Michael the Archangel"

1. According to St. Ambrose, it was St. Michael the Archangel who lead Adam into the Garden of Eden.  After the fall of Adam and Eve, it was Michael who stood at the gate of Paradise with a flaming sword, "to keep the way of the tree of life." (Genesis 3:24).

2. Tradition holds that it was Michael who warned Noah of the flood.

3. Tradition further holds that it was Michael who appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and it was him who made possible the departure of the Israelites from Egypt by performing the wonders which overtook Pharoah's armies.

4. To this day, the Jewish people invoke the Archangel Michael as the defender of the synagogues.  On the Feast of the Atonement, "they conclude their prayers with this invocation:"

                   "Michael, Prince of Mercy, pray for Israel, that it may reign in Heaven, in that light
                    which  streams forth from the face of the King Who sits upon the Throne of Mercy."

Guardian of the Blessed Sacrament

One of the more beautiful aspects of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form is the prominence of the Archangel Michael.  At the beginning of the Mass, his name is invoked in the Confiteor.  At the offertory the priest asks, through the intercession of St. Michael, that God grant His blessing upon the "spotless oblation."   It is Michael who is referred to as the incense bearer "standing at the right hand of the altar of Incense." And during the Canon (The Roman Canon that is also used by orthodox priests in  the Ordinary Form) the priest prays that God will  command His angel to bring the Consecrated oblation to His Holy Throne in Heaven.  

According to tradition, it is St. Michael the Archangel who collects all the particles that fall from the Host during Holy Communion and watches over them with such care that none can be lost or desecrated.

Perhaps in this time of heightened concern about the protection and safety of the Blessed Sacrament in our Tabernacles, we might invoke St. Michael's help that what happened in Milan might never be repeated again.

Supported by the intercession of blessed Michael, Thine Archangel, we humbly entreat Thee, O Lord, that the service we pay with our lips, we may lay hold of with our minds.  Through Our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, Who lives and reigns with Thee and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever, Amen.

(From the Mass for the Dedication of St Michael in the Traditional Latin Liturgy)

Quis ut Deus?

Those are the words inscribed on the shield of St. Michael.  Translated, they ask: Who is like unto God?

St. Francis de Sales wrote: "Veneration of St. Michael is the great remedy against despising the rights of God, against insubordination, skepticism, infidelity and vices."

St. Michael is known as the Guardian Angel of the People of God in both the Old and New Testaments.  But he also plays an important role in history.  St. Michael  came to the assistance of Constantine the Great in the 4th century in the great victory over the pagan Emperor Maxentius.  The Archangel himself revealed his identity to Constantine, who later erected a beautiful basilica in his honor.  He told him:

" I am Michael, the chief of the angelic legions of the Lord of Hosts, the protector of the Christian religion, who while you were battling against godless tyrants, placed the weapons in your hands."

The Greek Emperor Justinian I erected six basilicas in Michael's honor in grateful appreciation for his protection against the invasion of pagan intruders.  St. Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans, was visited 3 times by St Micheal, who advised her that it was she who God appointed to deliver her people from the British.  And it was Michael, at the command of the Queen of the Angels, Mary ever virgin,  who helped gain the glorious victory over the Muslims at Lepanto in 1571.

Today, Christians in the Middle East and elsewhere live in perilous times, under constant threat of persecution and death at the hands of Muslim infidels.  It would be most efficacious to invoke St Michael's assistance in protecting our Christian brothers and sisters throughout the world.

Do You Pray to St. Michael?

Now more than ever, in addition to the daily Rosary, prayer to this great warrior of the Church is much needed in our world.  I invoke his assistance every day.  Along with Our Lady, entrust yourself and your loved one to his protection.   As soon as I work out my latest computer challenge, I will begin a series of short posts on St. Michael to inspire you to have greater devotion to him.

Children, Heed Her Warnings

If I didn't see this on Terry's blog, I would never have known it happened.  I haven't heard a word about it elsewhere.  I don't know why.  Perhaps it's because there is concern about inviting copycats - I don't know. I invite all of you to make acts of reparation and pray the Litany of Reparation to the Blessed Sacrament.

The apparitions of Our Lady of Akita as well as the messages she conveyed were formally recognized by the Church by then-Cardinal Ratzinger.  I can only imagine how much more she weeps as the world has decayed since those apparitions at an alarming rate.   The punishment she foretold will cause the living to envy the dead.  I don't know about you but there are people in my immediate family who are in serious jeopardy of not even making it to Purgatory.   Thus what frightens me most is not that I won't survive this punishment but that it will occur before loved ones have asked for forgiveness and merited a chance for salvation.  The signs are all around that the hand of the Heavenly Father is more and more difficult for Our Lady to contain and that even she will soon be unable to prevent Him from inflicting a punishment "worse than the deluge."

More and more weather events will take the good along with the bad and wreak havoc on the economy.  Americans will continue to yawn as yet another school shooting breaks out.  Perversion is not only legalized but encouraged and disguised as love.  Abortion continues to be viewed as healthcare.  The fruits of abortion on demand will continue to be seen in countries like India, where baby girls have been aborted to the point where  the men outnumber the women in such alarming numbers that depraved animals gang-rape and mutilate women.  And the satanists will be further emboldened to desecrate Jesus in His Sacrament of Love.  
Changes in my own life point to a more difficult future.   We're much better off than some, but still a broken hip or a cancer diagnosis away from financial ruin.   Our parish church is in danger of being closed and there is little that can be done short of a miracle to save it.  The people moving into the neighborhood have no time for God, let alone Mass.  When the old people succumb to the "biological solution" that none of us can avoid, there will not be enough people left to keep the parish afloat.  We bury more people than we christen.

That is, unless some event happens to leave them so desperate, they will finally turn to God and beg Him for mercy.  We saw this happen a bit after 9/11.  For a time, people went back to church and everywhere you looked,  billboards implored God to bless America. But then we got fat and content again and decided we didn't need God's help after all.

In my own head, I hear voices constantly.  I had a vision of someone with very cold eyes following me, and popping out from behind every corner, intent to devour me in whatever way he could.  Trials happen with such frequency that it is as if the Voice of God has been scrambled and I can no longer hear Him, except to constantly remind me what an utter disappointment I am, and I know full well that voice is not His.

I plow ahead the best I can.  Through the grace of  Jesus Christ, I pray the Rosary with more attention than I ever could before.  But I have to beg for His help every time, or I wind up just saying the words and dwelling on my problems instead of the Gospel mysteries.  I also have faith in Our Lady and her promises, so even if I feel nothing, I know I'm doing something that pleases her, though it may not necessarily impress her.

I entreat you to commit to your daily Rosary with a greater fervor than ever.  Make every sacrifice you are able to make and offer it up in reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of  Mary. Ignore every voice that doesn't echo our Master's.  Remember that our shepherds, especially the Pope, don't need a daily critique.  They need our prayers.  We're beyond the point of discussion and debate.  Don't waste your time writing and/or reading anyone who calls themselves Catholic but spends more time tearing down than they do building up.  There is no time to waste.

Awhile back my dear friend Richard suggested that a reason I might not be progressing spiritually is because of the weak Novus Ordo Masses I attended daily.  This is not a jab at the Novus Ordo.  It is an admonition to steer clear of bad liturgy and if that means going to the Traditional Latin Mass, stop making excuses and find one.

I want to save souls, but of more urgency right now is making reparation to Our Lord.  Mass, Confession and Adoration.  If you won't do it for Him, who will?

Litany in Reparation to Our Lord in the Eucharist

For private use only.

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven,
Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit,
Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God,
Have mercy on us.

Sacred Host, offered for the salvation of sinners,
Have mercy on us.
Sacred Host, annihilated on the altar for us and by us,
 Have mercy on us.
Sacred Host, despised by lukewarm Christians, etc.
Sacred Host, mark of contradiction,
Sacred Host, delivered over to heretics,
Sacred Host, insulted by blasphemers,
Sacred Host, Bread of angels, given to animals,
Sacred Host, flung into the mud and trampled underfoot,
Sacred Host, dishonored by unfaithful priests,
Sacred Host, forgotten and abandoned in Thy churches,

Be merciful unto us,
Pardon us, O Lord.
Be merciful unto us,
Hear us, O Lord.

For the outrageous contempt of this most wonderful Sacrament,
We offer Thee our reparation.
For Thine extreme humiliation in Thine admirable Sacrament,
We offer Thee our reparation.
For all unworthy Communions, etc.
For the irreverences of wicked Christians,
For the profanation of Thy sanctuaries,
For the holy ciboriums dishonored and carried away by force,
For the continual blasphemies of impious men,
For the obduracy and treachery of heretics,
For the unworthy conversations carried on in Thy holy temples,
For the profaners of Thy churches which they have 
desecrated by their sacrileges,

That it may please Thee to increase in all Christians 
the reverence due to this adorable Mystery,
we beseech Thee, hear us.
That it may please Thee to manifest the Sacrament 
of Thy Love to heretics,
we beseech Thee, hear us.
That it may please Thee to grant us the grace to atone for their hatred by our burning love for Thee, etc.
That it may please Thee that the insults of those who outrage
Thee may rather be directed against ourselves,
That it may please Thee graciously to receive this our humble reparation,
That it may please Thee to make our adoration acceptable to Thee,

Pure Host, hear our prayer.
Holy Host, hear our prayer.
Immaculate Host, hear our prayer.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.

V. See, O Lord, our affliction,
R. And give glory to Thy Holy Name.

Let Us Pray.
O Lord Jesus Christ, Who dost deign to remain with us in
Thy wonderful Sacrament to the end of the world, in order to
give to Thy Father, by the memory of Thy Passion, eternal glory,
 and to give to us the Bread of life everlasting: Grant
us the grace to mourn, with a heart full of sorrow, over the
injuries which Thou hast received in this adorable Mystery,
and over the many sacrileges which are committed by the impious, by heretics and by bad Catholics.

Inflame us with an ardent zeal to repair all these insults to which,
in Thine infinite mercy, Thou hast preferred to expose Thyself 
rather than deprive us of Thy Presence on our altars, Who with God
the Father and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest one God,
world without end. R. Amen. 

As Eastertide Nears Its End...

I saw this on The Institute of Christ The King Sovereign Priest's Facebook page and I thought I would share it with you.  This is why we don't take The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for granted and why we accord the Mass our utmost respect and devotion.

"Holy Mass is an event in God’s Sight, as well as for us; it is an event which directly touches His Glory. ... it is His own Son Himself, the Eternal Word, Jesus Christ, who is there offering Himself as victim, and who there prays for us to His Father." Dom Gueranger

I love the hymn 'Alleluia, Sing to Jesus" but I could not find a suitable version to post here.  So instead I will simply leave you with the final verse of this hymn, which gives me the chills every time I read or sing it.

Alleluia! King eternal,
Lord omnipotent we own;
Alleluia! born of Mary,
earth your footstool, heaven your throne.
As within the veil you entered,
robed in flesh, our great high priest;
here on earth both priest and victim
in the Eucharistic feast.