Thoughts on the Tridium

Holy Week began with my wife conducting such a thorough cleaning of our house that I had to pinch her to make sure she was not 9 months pregnant.

With each pregnancy, shortly before going into labor, Wifeofdadwithnoisykids will suddenly get the strength to clean and rearrange the house to her satisfaction and to my amazement. I will come home to find that large objects have moved from one side of the house to the other. Once I came home to find that the house had been rotated 180 degrees on its foundation so that "the changing table gets more light." In all these instances, I have walked into the house to find her rubbing her back, leaning on a broom, eager to show me all that she has done.

Seeing all this, and being the sensitive, caring type of man, my concerns are easily summed up in one question to my beautiful and pregnant bride: "So, what's for dinner?"

Sadly, she is not pregnant, but we are praying for more children.

Book Review: Lord of the World

Holy Thursday always reminds me of Lord of the World by Msgr. Robert Hugh Benson. This book was written by a Catholic priest in 1906, and describes the appearance of the Antichrist at the end of the world. While the Antichrist has a prominent role in the book, the actions of the other main characters, in this case, the Pope and his Cardinals, priests, etc. are far more interesting. The world has become extremely hostile to the Church, and there are many who have fallen away from the Faith. Even some of the priests have joined the Antichrist's movement.

Did I mention that this book, written in 1906, takes place around the year 2000?

Bear with me, and hold that thought, as this Ritalin-deprived brain leaps to yet another book which I recently showed to our Pastor. This book, which will remain nameless, was written to commemorate the 150th year of the parish that I belonged to when I was growing up. I was showing it so that Fr. X could see what the church looked like before it was 'wreckovated.' As I thumbed through the book, I came across the picture of the pastor who had been there during the 60's and 70's. He, like Robert Hugh Benson, had the title Monsignor. Unfortunately, he, along with every other priest in the city, had published a letter in 1968 to the effect that they disagreed with the Pope's teaching on Humane Vitae. That is all I could think of after seeing the Monsignor's portrait. May God have mercy on his soul, and on all the others who signed that letter. I thought of how this priest had not stood with the Pope, just as some of the priests in Lord of the World also left the side of the fictitious Pope.

No one in Lord of the World fares well in the temporal realm. How they do in the spiritual realm is far more important, and is what makes me think of this book every Holy Thursday. At the end of Holy Thursday Mass, the Precious Body is moved to the Altar of Repose, a side altar, while the main altar is stripped. As Our Lord is brought to the Altar of Repose, with incense and candles and an escort befitting The King, we would sing Pange Lingua. The first four verses would be sung until the Precious Body was placed on the Altar, at which time the final two verses would be sung.

These final verses play a significant role in the end of Lord of the World.

Genitori, Genitoque

laus et jubilatio,

salus, honor, virtus quoque

sit et benedictio:

procedenti ab utroque

compar sit laudatio. Amen

Here are some thorns from some trees on our property. I think they are mesquite trees. They puncture tractor tires a lot, and occupy most of my tractor maintenance time. They hurt when they penetrate one's flesh. I can't imagine what a crown of these would feel like.

I put them on Christ.

We do not subject our children, the parishioners, the priest, or ourselves to undue suffering by taking our children to the vigil Mass. We take them to Mass on Easter Sunday after getting them hopped up on chocolate. Watch out for that hypoglycemic swing!

I wish you all a Blessed Easter Week