Habemus Papam!

What great joy!!! The interegnum is over and we have a new Pope, His Eminence Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio is now Pope Francis I

I don't know much about him, but from what I've been reading so far, he's a Jesuit, seems to be orthodox, with an emphasis on the social teaching of the Church. What this might mean for Trads and the TLM is not really clear, but I say we wait and pray. I am really happy to be a Catholic right now, these are exciting times.

A Cistercian Chant.

I want to share this really gorgeous Cistercian Chant from the Matins for the Feast of St. Bernard Clairvaux. I couldn't find the translation or the whole text of the chant, but what I do know, based on the comments on the video, is that the text is taken from a sermon by St. Bernard, pretty neat!

Imitation of Christ

So for Lent, I decided to read Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis, I've read many good things about it for a while, and my parish would print small sections of it in the bulletin, all of which I would save. Each one of these snippets I found to be very profound, but practical.

The version I found in the library was a 1972 Edition published by Grosset & Dunlap for their "The Family Inspirational Library" series. I'm not sure how faithful this translation is to the original, but from what I've read there doesn't seem to be any encroachment of "inclusive" or "dynamic" language. So, it will do for now. I read the first Chapters I - VII from "The First Book: Admonitions, Useful for a Spiritual Life" during Adoration yesterday, after which I reflected on for the rest of the day. Some things that stood out for me where:

"Vanity therefore it is, to seek after perishing riches, and to trust in them. Vanity also it is to hunt after honours, and to cimb to a high degree. Vanity it is to follow the desires of the flesh, and to long after that for which thou must afterwards suffer grievous punishment. Vanity it is to wish to live long, and to be careless to live well. Vanity it is to mind only the present life, and not to foresee those things which are to come. Vanity it is to set thy love on that which speedily passeth away, and not to hasten tither where everlasting joy abideth." - From Chapter I: Of the Imitation of Christ, and Contempt of all the Vanities of the World.

"O, if men bestowed as much labour in the rooting out vices and planting virtues, as they do in proposing questions, there would neither be so great evils and scandals in the world, nor so much looseness in religious houses.
Truly, when the day of judgement cometh, we shall not be examined what we have read, but what we have done; not how well we have spoken, but how religiously we have lived." - From Chapter III: Of Doctrines of Truth

"We ought not to believe every saying or suggestion, but ought warily and patiently to ponder the matter with reference to God." - From Chapter IV: Of Forethought in our Actions

It seems clear that the primary theme emerging here is, that the key to true Humility and living a Christian life is to be resigned to God's will and ordering ones life towards that Divine Plan, even if that means denying yourself those deep desires. Appropriate for Lent, don't you think?

Alma Redemptoris Mater

I got to visit Jesus today and spend time with him. So I'm feeling ecstatic! On the other hand it's overcast weather so it's one of those stay at home days, still, this is the perfect time to listen to some beautiful Sacred Polyphony. Here's Tomas Luis De Victoria's Alma Redemptoris Mater.

 Latin:

Alma Redemptoris Mater, quae pervia caeli 
Porta manes, et stella maris, succurre cadenti, 
Surgere qui curat, populo: tu quae genuisti, 
Natura mirante, tuum sanctum Genitorem 
Virgo prius ac posterius, Gabrielis ab ore 
Sumens illud Ave, peccatorum miserere

English Translation:
Loving Mother of the Redeemer, 
gate of heaven, star of the sea,
assist your people who have fallen yet strive to rise again.
To the wonderment of nature you bore your Creator,
yet remained a virgin after as before.
You who received Gabriel's joyful greeting,
have pity on us poor sinners.

 God Bless!

Bishop Morlino's Sermon.

Thanks to Fr. Z's post on his blog, I came across Bishop Morlino's sermon from Sunday to the Catechumens and Candidates of the Diocese of Madison.

In this excellent sermon, he reminds those entering the Church that just because they have commited their lives to Christ and the True Church, does not mean it wil be sunshine and rainbows from now on. They will be tempted, like Our Lord in the desert, and that the Devil loves to target those who are actively seeking Holiness. He also warns of the attitude the modern world has taken toward religion and God, including many Catholics (I know from first-hand experience), of believeing in, as the Bishop puts it, "Moralistic Therauputic Deism".
Moralistic, meaning that all there is to being a "good Christian" is to be nice to everybody and accept them for who they are without expecting them to change, hugs and kisses! ... .... ....   
Therauputic refers to the attitude that church and religion should make you feel good! That if "I don't get anything out of it" it's not worth our time.  
Deism is belief that God set the world in motion, yet takes no active part in it, so we need to make out our lives according to what we want, that there is no judgement after death and everybody gets to Heaven, no matter what.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Of course the Catholic Church teaches that all these are errors, unfortunately many Catholics believe in one or all of these.

Thank you Bishop Morlino, for preaching the Truth.

Introit

For the sake of posting something, I'll use this to introduce myself and this blog, I'll be using the moniker of Blessed Miguel Pro, my patron saint.

The dude was a Pro.

I was raised in a nominally Mexican Catholic family, I was baptized as per usual, but I didn't take any Cathecism classes or do my First Communion at the normal age. Still, my family did their best to go to Mass every Sunday, usually at the behest of my grandma. Entering Junior High I came to identify less with Catholicism and more with a fuzzy agnosticism and my family stopped attending Mass regularly. During my Senior of High School I became more and more interested in philosophical questions relating to the origins of the universe, being a naturally curious person and fascinated with science and technology, I took to skepticism right away. I consequently fell into Atheism.
 

So I persisted in my Atheism for about two years, then, thanks to the pure Grace of God, having kept contact with a friend from High School who was more or less so a devout Catholic invited me to a retreat for a lay ministry they were part of, at first I was hesitant, but they were persistent, so I agreed. I won't go into too much detail about the retreat, but it's suffice to say I left thinking there might be something to the Church and I wanted to know more.

As I read more about the faith, doctrines, and the practices of the Church, I became enamored with it. There was no "Aha!" moment but a gentle, slow courtship of my heart and intellect. This love affair finally culminated about two years later, when I decided to enroll in RCIA at my local territorial parish and on Easter Vigil of 2012 I received the Sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist.

Since then, I have done all I can to learn more about the Faith, reading blogs online has been a critical part of that and I have come to firmly believe that the Internet can be a valuable tool for evangelizing.  Thus, after a period of contemplation and prayer, and inspired by other Catholic web personalities, I have decided to begin my own Catholic blog. I hope to provide for those who may come to read this blog, good solid orthodox teaching, a place for me to muse on Church events, liturgy and things relating to traditional Catholic practice.
 
And That's my simple tale of lost and found faith. I have no ambitious aims for this blog beyond my stated goals, so for any readers who might wander upon this I pray that you might find something useful and perhaps a thing or two to make you think. Humbly, I thank you for reading!

May the Almighty Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, be praised unto eternity!