This blog is combining videos to aid in the praying of the Novena to The Divine Mercy.
Monthly Archives: March 2008
A Blessed Easter to All
Christ has risen! Someday we will all rise at the resurrection of the dead!
I note that my blog continues to be highly ignored. From reading it myself, it makes sense. It’s really not all that interesting. Unfortunately, I don’t have that “public relations” knowledge that would do anything to make it more popular. And, of course, being popular is not something I should be seeking anyway. Actually, you could say that the blog is succeeding by not being popular! In fact, my community is known for not being well-known.
Lost Entries: Marian Library and Rosary Attitudes
Here is a “lost entry” I made in my old blog in July of 2004:
Now I’m in Dayton, Ohio, at the Marian Library! This is the largest collection of written materials on the Blessed Virgin Mary in the world. I don’t think that any woman has had more written about her than the Blessed Virgin Mary. She deserves it, of course. It is always worth contemplating the one who brought the Savior into the world, the one who was chosen to give flesh to the God-Man and to care for Him on earth. I’m taking a course on Mary in the Medieval Period, and it’s awesome. Today, one of the gems was the dual-role Mary had as the provider for the human Christ (feeding, showing affection for, etc.) while being the servant and worshiper of the truely divine Christ (adoring Him as God). It’s a balancing act that a fallen human being could not have done, so it makes sense that she was preseverved from the stain of original sin.
Here is another recovered “lost entry” from my old blog from July of 2004:
As I continue to read about devotion to the Blessed Virign Mary in the 20th century, I am finding that those who were writing in the 1950s could see an increase at the time. Did they know that the 50s would be a peak that would diminish? Perhaps some did.
Clarence A. Saunders, S.M., writing in the July-August 1953 issue of Queen of All Hearts talks about our interest in both the old and the new. Here’s a curious quote:
“Some things get to be so old and forgotten that when they turn up they are the ‘newest finds’ and are recieved enthusiastically. This happens even in the matter of prayers and devotions. Ten years ago [1943] the Rosary was, for many Catholics, really a devotion of the past. They had a Rosary perhaps, but never said it. Except a decade or two imposed as sacramental penance. But today we have the Family Rosary, the Block Rosary, the Radio and TV Rosary.”
It seems Marian devotion was awakened at the time through movements, and these were spurred on by the attention to the recently proclaimed dogma of the Assumption.
If there’s one thing I get from all this, it is that one should ignore trends and have devotion to Mary regardless. Catholics were indeed more devoted to Mary in the 50s. Unfortunately, there was a tendency in the 60s to reject the Catholicism of the 50s as outmoded. But today, we have the Rosary prayed among teens, in colleges, in parishes, and on EWTN TV and radio everyday. Nothing outmoded about that.
I hope to put in more “lost entries” soon.
Divine Mercy Novena
The Divine Mercy Novena can be found on our www.thedivinemercy.org website:
Albums Dedicated to Our Lady
Here are some of the albums (from the 1950s, of course) with a particular focus on Our Lady that we have in our collection.
The album with Loretta Young dressed as a nun contains the stories of the apparitions at Lourdes, Fatima, Paris, and Guadalupe. We have the original 78 record set of this at our Chicago House.
Needless to say, these records are ultra-rare. However, they are not very much in demand.
Watch Marians in Stockbridge on EWTN
Of course, that can be done every day at 3 PM Eastern Time since there are many of us on camera during the chaplet, but on Mondays at 2:30 PM Eastern there is a new “Cenacle of Divine Mercy” series also.
It’s Free
A new venture called Hulu provides some old TV shows. I’ve been watching episodes of “The Bob Newhart Show” via VeohTV free with limited commercial interruptions. The show was something of a childhood favorite for me.
I notice that there is a definite lack of certain things on most sitcoms, regardless of the era. There are generally no prayers before meals. You don’t see anybody attending church except for a wedding or funeral. As a matter of fact, prayer is quite scarce in general, and if the name of God is mentioned, it probably isn’t in the context of prayer.
One rare exception was the show called “Just the Ten of Us,” which took place at a Catholic school. Every episode included some prayer, and the oldest daughter on the show wanted to become a nun.
I should note that Bob Newhart did some work for Fr. Patrick Peyton, so he helped promote faith and prayer a bit.
Update from March 13: Hulu is now online and open to the public. I just watched an episode of “Ironside.” Raymond Burr appeared in some Family Theater radio and TV productions. I think he even played one of the apostles!
Playlist
You too can listen to my Last.fm playlist. It’s rather eclectic, but largely Catholic.
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Nick Alexander
Ever hear of Nick Alexander and his parodies?
I think this is one of the better ones: Therese of Lisieux.
Only Nick could have thought up this one.