Magnificat

In the Gospel According to St Luke Mary, Mary says a prayer shortly after seeing her cousing Elizabeth. It is called the Magnificat. It is a beatiful prayer that Mary says about being the Mother of the Savior. However, since my seminary days I have found it to be a beautiful prayer when I stop to reflect on the words. I put the whole Magnificat just below and beneath it I have commented on some of my favorite parts ( although all of it is certainly worth reflection and meditation).

The Magnificat:
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.

Scripture text: Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition (Taken from the Women for Faith and Family website)

"My soul magnifies the Lord"- Mary's words then and now ring true as her prayers and her example draw so many to the Lord. More than that it is a prayer that all of us could say. May all of us magnify the Lord to others by our prayers and example.
"And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior"- All of us like Mary should of course rejoice in Love and His pursuit of us and His overwhelming desire for our salvation
"For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed."- She has a prominent role in Salvation History and every generation since the birth of her blessed Son has acknowledged that. She is after all the one chosen by God to be the means of His Incarnation. That Incarnation in turn lead to the salvific sacrifice of the cross, the Eucharist and the glory and hope of the Resurrection.
Of course these are just my reflections on the first few lines. I am sure that there is much more that could be said about those lines not to mention the lines I didn't say anything about.

-- Contra

This week's Catholic Carnival

Marian Devotion is hosting this week's Catholic Carnival. It has a lot of great posts and its another great Carnival, despite the fact that the host referred to me as "her". I guess that's just one of those things.
One post that I especially enjoyed was "Protestantism is a Lifeboat on Stormy Seas".

Fairbanks Diocese

From Sacred Heart the Gospel is preached to the Frozen North
The Eucharist celebrated in the city of Fairbanks up to Barrow
Preaching to the land found by the compass's north arrow
Faithful live spread out in igloo, town, and city too
Preaching unto the end of the world the Gospel's worth
From the town of Tok to the town of Nome
Gospel preached to those who call it home
Fairbanks Diocese preaches truth in the final frontier
By God's grace the Gospel was planted and grew here

-- original work by Contra
Dedicated to Deacon (as of JUNE 2007 Father) Robert Fath and all the other religious of the Fairbanks Diocese

St Anne's Arson

From www.thestarpress.com:

NEW CASTLE -- The Saturday fire at St. Anne Catholic Church was arson, authorities announced late Tuesday afternoon.
Investigators with the New Castle Police and Fire departments, Indiana State Police, State Fire Marshal's Office, and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms issued a press release calling the fire arson.
Authorities had said no one was inside when the 83-year-old cathedral-style building caught fire early Saturday morning. The fire resulted in a collapsed roof and extensive damage to the sanctuary, with an estimated $1.5 million to $2 million in property damage. The 750-member congregation conducted Easter services at a nearby school auditorium on Sunday.

Please pray for the arsonist(s) and the parish. The Church building is a center for the parish and a symbol of the Church's presence in the community. Besides the tragedy of the Church being unusable, I can't imagine how frustrating and aggrevating it would be to scramble for somewhere to celebrate the Easter mass with less than a day's notice.
St. Anne's Parish is now in the process of raising money to rebuild their church. Money can be sent to:
St. Anne's Catholic Church
102 North 19th Street
New Castle, IN 47362

They also have a donation drive set up at Citizens Bank. Here's the address:

Citizens State Bank
1238 Broad Street
New Castle, IN 47362

If you send it to the bank, please put "St. Anne's Church Fire Fund" or something similar in the address and the memo line of the check.

Remember, please, the words of Romans 12:26:
And if one member suffer any thing, all the members suffer with it; or if one member glory, all the members rejoice with it.

-- Contra

Prayer Volume

"Why do you shout at me" God said to Moses,who had scarcely opened his lips. For that fervent, steadfast prayer from the bottom of his heart, sounded like thunder in the ears of God. It is that kind of prayer that I desire, which finds and echo in Your heart and reechoes in my poor soul, making it know the gift of God.
-- Conchita

50 Days After 1 year

When should I mark the one year mark for 50 Days After?
	April 24, One year after the first post
	Pentecost, The blog's namesake
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Doubting Thomas

He is always referred to as Doubting Thomas, but I wonder every Easter if maybe he got a bum rap.
Sure, the other Apostles believed and he didn't, but would they believe if Jesus hadn't appeared to them. And why wasn't Thomas there to see Him? Because unlike the others he wasn't locked up inside that room. He was out preaching the Gospel.
Not only that (Please correct me if this is wrong), but St Thomas was the only one of the twelve besides Peter to proclaim Jesus is God.

-- Contra

Conchita and Mary

O Mary, nobody was ever more faithful than you to the interior voice of the Holy Spirit. Obtain for me the grace to correspond faithfully to the inspirations of grace!
-- Conchita

Catholic Carnival 114

Catholic Carnival 114 is up at profoungratitude.com. Only 20 more days until its my turn to host.
There still time to weigh in on the 50 Days After birthday.

Conchita and the Eucharist

It is in this way that I would love you, my Jesus hidden here within the Host, without measure, with all the power of my heart, with all the energies of my soul.
-Conchita

anniversary

My blog is fast approaching one year in age. The question arises then, what day do I consider the "birthday"?
My first post was April 24, 2006. That would be easy enough, however the blog is named for the Pentecost, 50 Days After (the Resurrection). So should I wait a little while after the first post and declare the birthday to be Pentecost?
I am putting it to a vote since I cannot decide. Please vote April 24 or Pentecost in the comments.

-- Contra

Washed in the Blood of the Lamb

Hat tip to the Curt Jester

-- Contra

Prisoner Alert

Voice of the Martyrs, a non-denominational organization dedicated to helping persecuted Christians, has a website called Prisoneralert.com where you can use their program to write encouraging phrases and send them to Christians imprisoned around the world for their faith.

Hebrews 13:3 reminds us not to forgot our brothers and sisters in prison.

-- Contra

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all my readers and their families!

Christ is risen! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

-- Contra

Which other Catholic blogs do you read? (select as many as you read)
	Curt Jester
	American Papist
	Open Book
	Ironic Catholic
	Catholic Caveman
	Catholic Ragemonkey
	Deo Omnis Gloria
	Living Catholicism
	Jimmy Akin
	Other: Please list which one(s)
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Good Friday 2007

This year's Good Friday I am reminded of two passages from the Gospels about Our Lord's Crucifixion.
The first one comes from one of the two men crucified with Jesus.
"And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man hath done no evil. And he said to Jesus: Lord, remember me when thou shalt come into thy kingdom. And Jesus said to him: Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise."
Luke 23:41-43 Douay-Rheims Translation
Just as the crucified man was a criminal and deserved death, we are all sinners and we deserve death. However, despite this Our Lord died even though He had done nothing wrong. It hits home every time that Jesus Christ, the Lord of Creation, chose to humble Himself... even unto death, death on a cross. And just like the thief we turn to the Lord for forgiveness and ask Him to remember us in His Kingdom.

The other passage comes from Jesus Himself.
"After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother..."
John 19:27 Douay-Rheims Translation
As He was dying, so that He might rise again, He gave us Mary as our mother just as much as she was to Him. She has been as much of a mother to me as my mother, who gave birth to me and raised me.

I am also reminded that Christ is our Passove Lamb. His crucifixion is the killing of the lamb. Just as the Jews remember every year that the Lord of Hosts delivered them from bondage in Egypt. We Christians remember that Christ delivered us from the bondage of sin and we wander toward the promised land of Heaven for 40 years.
And as the Jews ate the lamb every to remember and Jesus is our Passover Lamb, we eat of His flesh and drink of His blood in rememberance of His death and resurrection. Today, Good Friday is the day after He established the Eucharist. It is the day that His blood was shed for our sins and His Precious Body and Blood were given to us as a manna to give us everlasting life and sustain us while we wander through the desert.

And like to leave just one more thought. The word excruciating comes from the Latin for "From the Cross". Crucifixion was so painful that the Ancient Romans had no words to describe it, so they left it that it was from the cross.

--Contra

Qatar Church

I read this at the Catholic News Agency's website:

After 14 centuries without a place of worship, construction of first Catholic Church in Qatar underway
Church to be dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary


Doha, Apr 2, 2007 / 10:54 am (CNA).- After fourteen centuries without a place of worship, the Catholic Church in Qatar, a majority Muslim country, will soon have its first parish in the capital of Doha, which will be dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary.

I found this interesting for a couple of reasons. In most Muslim nations Christians cannot openly worship let alone build a church for that purpose. The other thing is that this church is dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary. Our Lady of the Rosary is a feast that used to be called Our Lady of Victory. The feast was put into the Church calendar as a recognition of the many rosaries prayed to obtain the Christian victory over the Muslim navy at Lepanto.

--Contra

Guestmap

Sometimes I like to post about things that I just want to put on the blog, well... just because. This is one of those instances.
I have a guestmap (only 28 markers placed). People have marked themselves on 3 different continents and different countries.

--Contra

Church Signs I'd Like to See

I used the Church Sign Generator to come up with some of my own Church signs. I had to think for a while because I was limited in the space that I had. I admit that these signs are rather polemical. Even still they have some valid points to consider.

John 10:22 clearly states that Jesus celebrated Hannukah. The story of Hannukah however is in 1 and 2 Maccabees which are not part of the Protestant Canon.

--Contra

Love thy neighbor as thyself

I think its one of life's great ironies that we are so quick to love our neighbor... as long as they are somewhere Darfur or some other place in the news. This isn't always the case, but it seems to happen more often than not.

--Contra