THE SECRET TO TEACHING YOUR CHILDREN TO BE QUIET AT MASS

I was moved to share the following thoughts after I read this article: A letter to the parents who keep bringing their disruptive kids to Mass, week after week.

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As one of the parents of 11 children, and who, for the most of our child-rearing years, attended Mass in a small chapel of maybe 20 people max, (where any noise was easily a distraction) we had a strategy. It was my job to take the disruptive child (usually the youngest) outside. Sometimes I'd miss the whole Mass. But not for long. The child usually settled down about year 2. 

But here's the deal. The Mass we went to did not have constant sound, external stimulation, guitars, lectors, amplified singers, drums, moving around, etc. It was 90% absolutely silent. If you've guessed this was the Latin Mass, you are correct. 

The lack of all that external stimulation had a quieting effect on my children, even as infants. Somehow they intuited that something special was going on and they learned to be quiet...because QUIET is what surrounded them. 

We had and still have 2 special needs children. One of them, Number 10, was extremely rambunctious. He was always on the move. But about age 2, he became absolutely quiet and even "contemplative." 

(As a P.S. William had been born with a nasal defect which caused him to snore loudly. Since William knew he could not make noise "in church," he would "deal with it" by just going to sleep. His snoring was so loud that I often had to pick him up off the floor and take him outside. This became a bit difficult because I was the "organist." LOL.)

William with his Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary
at Latin Mass. ca 2012. 

I gave William an icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary and he would hold it against his chest at every Mass and was absolutely still for the more than hour long Latin Mass liturgy. 

As soon as Mass was over, he was up and running out of the church and it would take most of his brothers and sisters to catch him as he ran around the church yard. 

For nearly 30 years we went to Mass with up to 11 children. But for a few instances when we had to take the little ones out of Mass, they all learned to "respect" the Mass because they were surrounded by "respect," which was absorbed by them as silence. 

Let's stop blaming children and families. And families, let's stop making excuses for our noisy children. If you take them to a noisy place, they're going to be noisy. Sorry if you are unable to find a Mass where silence reigns. I understand how hard it is today. Every available second seems to be drowned in sound.

EARL NIGHTINGALE: THE TWO SONS

Most who know Earl Nightingale point to his award winning talk "The Greatest Secret." It is indeed one of the greatest talks ever. 

However, the following is my favorite story of his:

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A man had two sons.

The man was a terrible, abusive, alcoholic, and beat both sons equally in alcohol-fuled fits of rage. 

One son grew up to be a terrible abusive alcoholic.

The other grew up to be the opposite (i.e. never touched a drop).

Given that both were sons of the same abusive, alcoholic, father; and given that both turned out quite different, an enterprising sociologist once asked both sons the same question: 

"How did you become the person that you are?"

Both sons had the same answer:

"What would you expect with a father like mine." 

It's probably a parable and not a true story. But it's a story that has been played out millions of times. 

We decide our destiny. NOT our parents...or our circumstances.

SIMONE BILES v AMERICA'S CULTURE OF DEATH

I have been following with some interest (and a certain sadness) the news about Simone Biles. 

I love that girl for many reasons. Her story - the child of a drug addict mother - foster homes - adopted by her grandparents… 

Even her “tiny-ness” may have been due to her birth mother’s drug addiction. Also, she is a Catholic, as I am. But we’ll leave that out for now. 

There is no question that Simone is the greatest gymnast of all time. Simone had nothing to prove at the Tokyo Olympics. 

Long ago (1968) the Olympics ceased to be a contest between individuals and their hard-earned prowess, and became another sham forum for evil politics - managed and ruled by “fat-ass” losers who puppeteer-ed magnificent persons like Simone, Comaneci, Phelps, Spitz, Keino, Ryun… 

COVID-19: THE VATICAN VS "ONTIC EVIL" - AND SICKNESS & DEATH ARE PREMORAL EVILS

Catholic moral teaching has become a fast moving target.

This is mostly due to ever changing medical technologies which enable us to progressively address those things which normally shortened human life, i.e. diseases, bacteria, viruses, injuries, etc.

The 2019-2020 Covid thing has thrust medical technology to the fore as few things have in human - and Church - history. 

The Vatican is now telling us it is okay to get vaccinated with something that may or may not have been associated in one way or another with a cell line of which the origin is child aborted a half a century ago. (See here for more.)

With the "Vatican" seemingly all over the place on everything these days from the death penalty to same-sex unions, no one can blame us Catholics in the Pews if wonder WHAT'S UP?

WHEN 9 MEN TOOK AWAY A WOMAN'S RIGHT TO CHOOSE

The belief that Roe gave women the “right to choose” is almost a metaphor for how much the 1973 U.S.Supreme Court decision is misunderstood, and why, after 45 years, Roe is still so hotly debated.

The fact is that Roe v Wade did not give women the right to choose. In fact, Roe left the right of women out of its ruling all together. 

In Roe, the U.S. Supreme Court, first, gave the “right to chose” to the medical professionals (for the first trimester) and thereafter, to the government (for the second and third):

For the stage prior to approximately the end of the first trimester, the abortion decision and its effectuation must be left to the medical judgment of the pregnant woman's attending physician (Roe v Wade, Pp. 163, 164). 

For the stage subsequent to approximately the end of the first trimester, the state, in promoting its interest in the health of the mother, may, if it chooses, regulate the abortion procedure in ways that are reasonably related to maternal health (Roe v Wade, Pp. 163, 164). 

For the stage subsequent to viability the state, in promoting its interest in the potentiality of human life, may, if it chooses, regulate, and even proscribe, abortion except where necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for the preservation of the life or health of the mother (Roe v Wade, Pp. 163, 164, 165). 

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/410/113.html

As can be seen, nowhere does Roe give women the right to choose anything. 

Ironically, while the abortion rights mantra has remained “keep the government out of our wombs,” the very ruling relied upon for that mantra is exactly what put government there in the first place.

THE END OF LIBERATION DAY, JULY 21, 2017. GUAM

AND EVERYONE FACES GOD...TOGETHER

THE ULTIMATE PURPOSE OF MARRIAGE

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"Those things that hurt, instruct."  - Benjamin Franklin

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