Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to Luke
Luke 1:39-47
In that time, Mary, rising up, went into the hill country with haste into a city of Juda. And she entered into the house of Zachary, and saluted Elizabeth. And so on.

Homily by St. Ambrose, Bishop (of Milan)
Commentary on Luke, Bk. ii. c
When any one asketh another for credence, he is bound to give some reasonable ground. And so the Angel, when he announced to Mary the counsel of God, gave, as a proof, the conception of Elizabeth, then aged and barren, that Mary might perceive, by this example, that with God nothing is impossible. When the holy Virgin had heard it, she arose and went to visit her cousin. She did not go to see if what she had heard was true, because she did not believe God, or because she knew not who the messenger had been, or yet because she doubted the fact adduced in proof. She went joyfully as one who hath received a mercy in answer to his vow goeth to pay the same. She went with devotion, as a godly person goeth to execute a religious duty. She went into the hill country in joyful haste. And is it not something that she went up into the hills? God was already in her womb, and her feeling bore her continually upward. The grace of the Holy Spirit knoweth no slow working.

Godly women will learn from the example of the Mother of God to take a tender care of their kinswomen who are with child. In pursuance of this charity, Mary, who had hitherto remained alone at home, was not deterred by her maidenly shyness from entering on a public journey; she faced for this end the hardships of mountain travelling; and encountered with a sense of duty the weary length of the way. The Virgin left her home, and went into the hill country with haste, unmindful of the trouble, and remembering only the office to which her cousinly love prompted her, in spite of the delicacy of her sex. Maidens will learn from her not to idle about from house to house, to loiter in the streets, nor to take part in conversations in public. Mary, as she was hasteful to pass through the public roads, so was she slow again to enter on them she abode with her cousin about three months.

As the modesty of Mary is a pattern for the imitation of all maidens, so also is her humility. She went to see Elizabeth, like one cousin going to visit another, and as the younger to the elder. Not only did she first go, but she first saluted Elizabeth. Now, the purer a virgin is, the humbler ought she to be. She will know how to submit herself to her elders. She that professeth chastity ought to be a very mistress of humility. Lowly-mindedness is at once the very ground in which devotion groweth, and the first and principal rule of its teaching. In this act of the Virgin then we see the greater going to visit and to succour the lesser Mary to Elizabeth, Christ to John.

“You cannot be half a saint, you must be a whole saint or no saint at all.”

- St. Therese of Lisieux

A guide to a Russian woman's traditional kitchen. From mealtimes and menus, food preservation and storage to cooking techniques and evening tea.

For unto us a child is born
For unto us, a son is giv'n
Unto us, a son is giv'n
For unto us a child is born
For unto us, a son is giv'n
Unto us, a son is giv'n
Unto us, a son is giv'n
The government shall be upon his shoulder
The government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called,
Wonderful, Counselor
The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father
The Prince of Peace
Wonderful, Counselor
The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father
The Prince of Peace
For unto us a child is born
For unto us, a son is giv'n
Unto us, a son is giv'n
For unto us a child is born
For unto us, a son is giv'n
Unto us, a son is giv'n
For unto us a child is born
For unto us, a son is giv'n
Unto us, a son is giv'n
Unto us, a son is giv'n
The government shall be upon his shoulder
The government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be call, Wonderful, Counselor
The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father
The Prince of Peace
Wonderful, Counselor
The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father
The Prince of Peace

Merry Christmas to everyone! I wish you joy on this day.

Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will!

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In this link you'll find some Fr. Ripperger's books. The prices are not expensive at all and these would make an excellent home library.

It’s hard to digest the concept that demons are real malevolent entities and not knowing or believing they exist only makes you more vulnerable, more liable to mistake their whispers and incitements as inspired by our own nature and as such are in greater danger of heeding them.

Imagine an unbelieving world in which the majority of people are passively and unknowingly lead by demons and the most powerful members of society were openly lead by demons whose names they pronounce.

Penance and prayer, to deny ourselves, to suffer gracefully, to suffer willingly these are our spiritual weapons against the eternal enemy.

Holy innocents, pray for us 🙏🏼

The Civil Year ends today. At Midnight, a New Year will begin, as the world counts time, and the present one will sink into the abyss of eternity. It is one step further on in our lives, and brings us nearer to that end of all things which St. Peter says is at hand. The Liturgy, which brings a new Ecclesiastical Year on the First Sunday of Advent, has no special prayers in the Roman Church, for the beginning of the Year on the First of January; but her spirit—which takes an interest in everything affecting the well-being of individuals or society at large—her spirit is, that we should, sometime in the course of this last day of the Year, make a fervent act of thanksgiving to God for the blessings he has bestowed upon us during the past twelve months.

Rome sets us the example. Today, the Sovereign Pontiff goes, in state, to the Gesù (or, as we should call it, Jesus’ Church), and there assists at a solemn Te Deum; the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament follows it, blessing, as it were, the public act of thanksgiving, and giving a pledge of blessings for the coming Year.

The only Church that has given a Liturgical expression to the sentiments which the close of the Year inspires is that of the Mozarabic Rite, in which there occurs the following beautiful Preface, which we gladly offer to our readers. It is part of the Mass of the Sunday which immediately precedes the Feast of the Epiphany.

It is meet and just, that we should give thanks to thee, O Holy Lord, Eternal Father, Almighty God, through Jesus Christ thy Son, our Lord; who being, before all time, born of thee, God the Father, did, together with thee and the Holy Ghost, create all seasons, and deigned himself to be born in time, from the womb of the Virgin Mary. He, though the eternal One, established the fixed revolutions of years, through which this world runs its course, and divided the Year by regular and suitable changes of Seasons, wherewith the Sun should, in orderly variety, mark the round of the Year, as he ran the measured circuit of his course. For we, this day, dedicate, by the gifts we offer, the close of the past year, and the commencement of that which follows, unto Him, the living God, by whose mercy we have lived through the years gone bye, and are about to commence the beginning of another. Since, therefore, a sacred devotion, wherein we all share, has this Year brought us together to invoke this thy Divine Son, we pour out our humble prayers unto thee, O God, the Father! that, whereas thou hast consecrated the present portion of the year by the Birth of this same thy Son—thou mayest vouchsafe to make this year a happy one unto us, and to give us to spend it in thy service. Fill, too, the earth with its fruits, and deliver our souls and bodies from sickness and sin. Take away scandal, defeat our enemy, keep down famine, and drive far from our country all such events as would bring evil upon her. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.