One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic

Here's a great way to prayerfully end what has been for many of us a quite troubling year! To all the readers at OHCA, I wish you a blessed and holy New Year. --CCM The Te Deum , also sometimes called the Ambrosian Hymn because if its association with St. Ambrose, is a traditional hymn of joy and thanksgiving. First attributed to Sts. Ambrose, Augustine, or Hilary, it is now accredited to Nicetas, Bishop of Remesiana (4th century). It is used at the conclusion of the Office of the Readings for the Liturgy of the Hours on Sundays outside Lent, daily during the Octaves of Christmas and Easter, and on Solemnities and Feast Days. The petitions at the end were added at a later time and are optional. A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who recite it in thanksgiving and a plenary indulgence is granted if the hymn is recited publicly on the last day of the year . ( CatholicCulture.org ) The prayer (when chanted in English) takes about four minutes to recite (see video ...

The scheming of a few petty bishops not withstanding, this man WILL be declared a saint some day. Blessed Fulton Sheen, pray for us!  Here are some of his thoughts on this most holy of nights, taken from his book Life of Christ : [E]very other person who ever came into this world came into it to live. He came into it to die. Death was a stumbling block to Socrates — it interrupted his teaching. But to Christ, death was the goal adn fulfillment of His life, the gold that He was seeking. Few of His words or actions are intelligible without reference to His Cross. He presented Himself as a Savior rather than merely as a Teacher. It meant nothing to teach men to be goo unless He also gave them the power to be good, after rescuing them from the frustration of guilt. The story of every human life begins with birth and ends with death. In the Person of Christ, however, it was His death that was first and His life that was last. …  The manger and the Cross thus stand ...

Each priest is a man with a body of soft clay. To keep that treasure pure, he has to be stretched out on a cross of fire. Our fall can be greater than the fall of anyone else because of the height from which we tumble. Of all the bad men, bad religious men are the worst, because they were called to be closer to Christ. --Archbishop Fulton Sheen Pray for our priests!

As the crisis in the Church deepens to critical proportions, look to the example of St. John.  The Beloved Disciple had a winning game plan for he darkest day in human history.  We can follow the same strategy today.