Music Video - Dark Night of the souls

And this is the Video for the lyrics listed in the earlier post

Dark night of the Soul Lyrics

"The Dark night of the Soul" is a beautiful piece by St John of the Cross. Pope John Paul II (The Great) learnt spanish so he could know it in it's original form. Canadian harpist Loreena McKennitt does a version. Below is her Lyrics

Upon a darkened night
the flame of love was burning in my breast
And by a lantern bright
I fled my house while all in quiet rest

Shrouded by the night
and by the secret stair I quickly fled
The veil concealed my eyes
while all within lay quiet as the dead

Chorus
Oh night thou was my guide
oh night more loving than the rising sun
Oh night that joined the lover
to the beloved one
transforming each of them into the other

Upon that misty night
in secrecy, beyond such mortal sight
Without a guide or light
than that which burned so deeply in my heart

That fire t'was led me on
and shone more bright than of the midday sun
To where he waited still
it was a place where no one else could come

Chorus

Within my pounding heart
which kept itself entirely for him
He fell into his sleep
beneath the cedars all my love I gave
And by the fortress walls
the wind would brush his hair against his brow
And with its smoothest hand
caressed my every sense it would allow

Chorus

I lost myself to him
and laid my face upon my lovers breast
And care and grief grew dim
as in the mornings mist became the light
There they dimmed amongst the lilies fair
There they dimmed amongst the lilies fair
There they dimmed amongst the lilies fair

Prayer for the Dead

Catholic Collect from the Mass for the Dead
[for all our departed brothers and sisters]

Merciful Father,
hear our prayer and console us.
As we renew our faith in Your Son,
whom You raised from the dead,
strengthen our hope
that all our departed brothers and sisters
will share in His resurrection,
who lives and reigns
with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Eternal Rest grant unto them,O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace.
Amen

Today Salvation has come

"Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature.

So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.'

So Zacchaeus hurried down and was happy to welcome Jesus. All who saw it began to grumble and said, 'He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.'

Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, 'Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.'

Then Jesus said of him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because Zacchaeus too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.' [Lk. 19:1-10]

Against storms: Saint and Prayer

There are several Patron Saints AGAINST STORMS listed by CATHOLICPATRONSAINT.COM. They are as follo3ws:

Agrippina
Barbara
Catald
Christopher
Erasmus
Florian
Gratus of Aosta
Henry of Upsalla
Hermengild
Jodocus
Our Lady of Zapopan
Scholastica
Thomas Aquinas
Urban of Langres
Vitus
Walburga

but as we in the southern caribbean are pounded by Tropical Storm Tomas here is a prayer for protection.

Jesus Christ a King of Glory has come in Peace. +
God became man, + and the Word was made flesh. +
Christ was born of a Virgin.+
Christ suffered.+
Christ was crucified.+
Christ died.+
Christ rose from the dead.+
Christ ascended into Heaven. +
Christ conquers. +
Christ reigns. +
Christ orders. +

May Christ protect us from all storms and lightning.+
Christ went through their midst in Peace, +
and the Word was made flesh. +
Christ is with us with Mary. +
Flee you enemy spirits because the Lion of the
Generation of Juda, the Root of David, has won. +

Holy God! + Holy Powerful God! + Holy Immortal God! +
Have mercy on us.

Amen.

The modern Caribbean funeral service

Two weeks ago I attended the funeral of a lifelong committed Catholic. She lived alone and it would seem that the body was claimed by someone who was not Catholic. I was quite surprised to see a preacher of some sort conducting the funeral service which was held at the St James crematorium.

It is interesting to note that sometimes these preachers borrow from Catholic Traditions. We also borrow from their traditions. A eulogy is common now at Catholic Funerals. It is not a Catholic thing and so when it is allowed it is done before the Funeral Mass.

The Vatican published the revised Order of Christian Funerals (OCF) for the United States in 1989. The prohibition of eulogies at Catholic funerals was restated. "A brief homily based on the readings should always be given at the funeral liturgy, but never any kind of eulogy. “

The focus of the Mass is God, not the deceased. We pray to the Father, through the son with the Spirit. We ask for the intercession of the Saints and pray for our loved one who has left the Church Militant (Earth) and is either a part of the Church Suffering (purgatory) or the Church Triumphant (Heaven). Remember we are all ONE body no matter where we are, and as one body we give praise to God.

In Australia the Funeral Mass has gotten out of hand. It is said that many people have DVD presentations. The new funeral term is “Celebration of life” and included is a proliferation of secular (even club) music.

Well, all this has angered the Archbishop of Melbourne Australia, Denis Hart, who declared last month that “A funeral should not be a "celebration" of the deceased's life, but instead a final sacred farewell. Celebrations of that life should be held at social occasions before or after the funeral.”

All this feel good stuff takes away from the real business of Praying for the Dead. The church believes it is so important we have a month dedicated to praying for the dead: November. Wouldn’t you want to be prayed for when you die?

Archbishop Hart said that "The wishes of the deceased, family and friends should be taken into account ... but in planning the liturgy, the celebrant should moderate any tendency to turn the funeral into a secular celebration of the life of the deceased," the guidelines state. Secular items are never to be sung or played at a Catholic funeral, such as romantic ballads, pop or rock music, political songs or even football club songs."

The Catholic church has been infiltrated by non-catholic songs that we have made our own. Included in this is “Amazing Grace”, another popular funeral song. In the song it says “how precious did that Grace appear the hour I first believed” but Grace is given freely by God to everyone, not just those who believe. The song does not express Catholic teaching. For my part I already have a song chosen for my funeral and I cannot think of a more beautiful and profound song than “Softly and Tenderly (Jesus is calling… come home)”

As I sat there in the crematorium I thought, well, there are many ways to give someone a good sendoff. Maybe it’s not the Catholic way, but I have no doubt that Jesus said to her, “Well done, good and faithful servant, Welcome home!”

Give to the Archbishop Appeal Fund.

There has been requests on how to give to the Archbishop Appeal Fund - below are the contacts and the banks. Please note these accounts are the bank account numbers for the archdiocese not the Caribbean Catholic. Verify this by checking on the link:

catholictt.org/make-an-offering/


Previously on this post I had bank information. I don't know if that bank information is still valid so i have taken the bank account numbers down. I notice that in 2020 I am still getting hits to a page I put up in 2010. To this end my friends, please contact the office directly for ways to give.

May God bless you.


CONTACTS

Appeal Office, The Chancery
27 Maraval Road
Port of Spain
Trinidad and Tobago

E-mail: appealfund@rcpos.org
Telephone: (868) 622-2691
Fax: (868) 622-8372