The image of Jesus' mother is one of many along the coast that withstood the wrath of Katrina and I am happy to say this one is in my backyard.

The Magnificat, also called the Canticle of Mary, is recorded in the Gospel of Luke (1:46-55) It is the Virgin's response to the Angel Gabriel's announcement that she would become the mother of the Son of God.

My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden,
For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name.
And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm.
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich He has sent empty away.
He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy;
As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to His posterity forever.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Today was my youngest grandson's 1st birthday. His parents gave him a very special and honored name in the Catholic Church.

Children are a gift from God, let's stop abortion.

Download a MIDI of this hymn

1. O Lord, I am not worthy
That Thou should'st come to me,
But speak the words of comfort,
My spirit healed shall be.

2. Oh, come, all you who labor
In sorrow and in pain,
Come, eat This Bread from heaven;
Thy peace and strength regain.

3. O Jesus, we adore Thee,
Our Victim and our Priest,
Whose precious Blood and Body
Become our sacred Feast.

4. O Sacrament most holy,
O Sacrament divine!
All praise and all thanksgiving
Be ev'ry moment Thine.

The One True Faith : What Happened to the Catholic Church?

In this post, I will try to paint a visual picture of some of the happenings in the Catholic atmosphere in that time but first I will bring you up-to-date on my young family. In May of 1971 the little daughter I gave birth to in 1964 received her First Holy Communion in the nuns chapel as we awaited the completed construction of our church. In July 1971 my fourth baby daughter was born and baptized in the school cafeteria . Four daughters in the span of 10 yrs., I felt blessed.

I have no real complaints about the Catholic elementary school in those years, the youngest entered kindergarten in 1976. They were all taught by nuns who wore the full habit, wimple and all, but before the youngest graduated from elementary school the nuns had permission to modify their habits. I felt saddened because the habit was a witness to our faith. And then, wouldn't you know, two nuns approached me and said, "We heard you can sew Mrs. R, will you make our habits?" Aw Gee! I explained to them that all I sewed was playclothes for my girls, "culottes" were the rage then, and that I can't make a habit. As it went, I made two for one of them and the other only wanted one. They painstakingly, stitch by stitch, took their habits apart and presented the material to me. Because the material that I had been given was blessed many times, I handled it with reverence. I became a participant in something that I disagreed with. Shortly thereafter the nuns took their "real" names back .. Sr. Raphael became Sr. Maureen and so on. It didn't take a mastermind to know that something was happening.

I believe that ecumenism played a big part in the present crisis in the Church. It was an attempt to bring all religions together and let them have their say and try to reconcile differences to bring them into union with the Church so we can be one as Jesus prayed.

Chapter 17
John:verse 21

"That they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me."

But, it backfired.

Throughout history, I have noticed, that when a big "Change" was to come about the previous possibly objecting generation had departed this life. Metaphorically, their voices were silenced. Today because of much improved medicine, that isn't the case anymore. My post will be about what I know about Vatican II (1962-1965) changes in the Catholic Church. Pope John XXIII reportedly said "I will open the windows so we can look out and they can look in." Sadly, they came in.

In that period of time, we didn't have the means of communication that we have today but I doubt we would have been paying much attention. We were young and most of us had left the homes of our parents when we married ... so there was that element of respect for authority ingrained.

It was 1964 and I was lying in a hospital bed cuddling my newborn baby daughter, my third child, when a priest entered the room. I have long since forgotten his name but I remember I had not seen him before. He said the doctor asked him to come talk to me about my having 3 children in just 5 yrs. He continued and said that Vatican II, which was still in session, had approved birth control and that he was giving me permission to take the "Pill" for 5 years and then stop. I am very sorry to say I did just that and was to learn many years later that the "Pill" was an abortifacient, meaning that there could have been times when I was pregnant but the pending life couldn't implant and was aborted. Even though it was deception, my actions were to become one of the biggest regrets in my life. Me, a stickler for truth, fell for the big "Lie".

Pope John XXIII died in 1963 before Vatican II ended. Pope Paul VI was to become the new pope and reportedly said, "The smoke of Satan has entered the Church." He wrote a beautiful Encyclical in 1968, Humanae Vitae that reiterated the Church's stance on birth control.

Matters pertaining to the Church didn't get any better in subsequent years. In 1969, Hurricane Camille devastated the Coast of Mississippi and although the church we attended in Gulfport looked fine from the outside, we were told because of a crack in the wall we couldn't step inside. It was a beautiful church, Spanish design with a red slate roof that resembled a small cathedral. Inside it was all Catholic with altar rails, votive candles that were lit in memory of the deceased or for a special intention, The altar and the priest faced the east (where Christ will come out of on His return) not the people. The Tabernacle was in the center. We attended Mass in the school cafeteria for 2 yrs. before the "New" church was re-opened. I gasped when we walked in, it was like a meeting hall, all that was "holy" was gone. Now the priest faced the people not Christ.

Hang in there you devout Catholics, you have found the treasure hidden in the field.

Matthew: Chapter 13

We are blind to truth as was Pontius Pilate, a Roman Emperor, when he asked Jesus, "What is truth?" We have had the truth in the Catholic Church for 2000 yrs. and although many were attracted to the faith they shied away from what they considered to be hard truths; namely the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, confession, birth control, divorce and the Blessed Mother. I had often asked myself why I believe and others don't. All that I have mentioned are important but the stumbling block is the Real Presence.

Let's take a passage out of scripture, John Chapter 6 Verse 41-47 The Jews had murmured about him because he had said, "I am the bread that has come down from heaven." And they kept saying, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph and Mary, whose father and mother we know?" How then can he say, "I am the bread that has come down from heaven" In answer therefore, Jesus said to them,

"Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, "And they shall all be taught of God" Everyone who has listened to the Father and has learned, comes to me: not that anyone has seen the Father except him who is from God, he has seen the Father, Amen, amen, I say to you, he who believes in me has life everlasting.

To Catholics that have moved away from the teachings of the Church, you have been given a special gift, see the truth, Come home.

The Mystery of the Catholic Mass

The shock, that more than half of Catholics voted for the candidate that promotes abortion, has finally worn off and now I am ready to defend my Faith. Should I just assume that they have no idea what the Catholic Church teaches or do they think that no one has the right to tell them what to do, not even the Church that they proclaim faith in? By the grace of God, I was born into a Catholic family and attended a Catholic school. Anyone who has a dislike for the Church might say I was "brainwashed". ... I like to say I was "whitewashed. Can you even imagine how clean one feels after going to Confession? I received my First Holy Communion as a little girl, was confirmed when I was 12 yrs. old and was very impressed when the confirming Bishop said "Now you are a Soldier of Christ." I kept that in mind all through the years and wondered if I would ever be called on to be that soldier and, most importantly, would I have the "guts" to do it. Well, here I am ... we chose the name of a Saint we admired when confirmed .. mine was St. Lucy.

When I got to the dating age I dated guys from the public school but usually didn't like their poking fun at my beliefs, especially about the Blessed Mother. I reasoned that if I ever married that a disparity would exist in our union so I purposedly singled out the Catholic guys and eventually fell "head over heels" and had a Catholic wedding in the Church. We argued about everything under the sun but never about our beliefs. We happily shared many years until his death parted us.

In the present culture, many couples live together without the benefit of marriage. These unions are bound for failure. Without marriage it is called "fornication". Marriage does occur but more than half of the couples will seek a divorce. Many flippantly say, "If it doesn't work out, I can always get a divorce." In Christian ceremonies I would think that it is still said "What God has joined together, let no man put asunder." In the Church, marriage was raised to the dignity of a sacrament as Jesus was present at a wedding in Cana. When He was told the wine ran short He asked the waiters to fill 6 big water jars to the brim, He blessed them and the water turned to fine wine. He is truly present at a Catholic wedding and blesses the union.

We have serious moral decay in America. We are trying to get around immorality by giving "license" to grave sins. Just today, a man on television said that we might as well uplift the bans on "gay" marriage because the next generation will do it. The (gays) need "sanctity" in their union. I believe he meant to say sanction as the definition of sanctity is holiness.

It's difficult for me to talk about abortion because I had four children and remember how happy I was with each of their births. I was asked all four times by nurses if this was my first child. I was a stay at home Mom until the last was in kindergarten.

I am most certain that there are many good Christians from other faiths out there who believe much of what I have discussed and any comments from you would be welcome.