Seven bright stars....

But the following Seven Stars
are good for your health!

1.
This week's selection features, top of the bill, A Reluctant Sinner's account of the aftermath of the death of Henry VIII and links it back to the biblical account of dogs licking the blood from the corpse of Ahab (best read on an empty stomach!)

2.
The Devil - do we believe that he is just an image for "our bad side" or, do we fear him? Both concepts are, of course, wrong as Tom and April Hoopes point out in 'How to beat the Devil' in the National Catholic Register

3.
How does a Bishop cope with insurrection from his priests? If only Archbishop Sheen was alive, he would demonstrate the way. He had a spiritual strength in his ability to identify what he would call "the demonic".
 Australia Incognita has a post on the topic facing the Church in Toowoomba - maybe we also need an Austria Incognita!

4. The SSPX, how the acronym makes some people's blood boil but....I think that they are great (except when the get hung up on women's clothing - you know what I mean). Laodicea has a hopeful sort of post about a journey made by a Bulgarian Greek Catholic (amongst other things). I attended a Greek Catholic Mass in Malta once, having gone there with my family for Christmas in the mistaken belief that Malta was a Catholic country. I enjoyed the experience (the Greek Catholic one, not Malta). Anyway, read Laodicea and pray!

5. Catholic guilt, how we nurture it, but it's good really. Those smartie fartie types on television don't understand that it's not so much about guilt as sadness for offending God. A Tiny Son of Mary (where would we be without the strength brought to the faith by converts?) has nice, pithy posts and his Catholic Guilt one is no exception. Thank you Anthony.

6. Christopher Gillibrand needs no introduction, his post commenting on the SSPX negotiations and the isolation that the Holy Father finds himself in makes for bleak reading. Nevertheless, read it and then, when reconciliation happens, wonder at the power of God.

7. Orbis Catholicus Secundus gets my vote because he uses pictures in lieu of 10,000 words but, in this post, he combines the two with a succint quote from Cardinal George regarding Catholic persecution. The message? We will have western martyrs in 20 years. And His Eminence is right!

AND COMING LATER TODAY.......

....HOMOSEXUAL MASSES AND WHY THEY ARE SO WRONG!

Seven Up! The week's top posts

1. Suffering should be regarded as a gift from God; but there are many types of suffering and to be the parent of a child with a disability must rank as being close to the top of the list - hard for both parent and child.
Making Things Visible carries a post with a message from that inspirational leader, Archbishop Chaput.

2. This week we remembered the 39th anniversary of Roe vs Wade. The day that the earth lost a large portion of its light as we began a more efficient slaughter of the innocents. Anthony Layne marks the day with his usual pithy and punchy approach - a day of shame and repentance.

3. Left Footer, (stout man that he is) has started another blog dedicated to the practice of swimming in the sea, preferably when you have to break the ice to enter in. This should be part of every Bishop's spiritual exercise - heh! heh!

4. The Blog of a Country Priest (good title) carries a post on how one cannot convert people to the faith by argument; something that I heartily agree with but, often fall by the wayside in following.

5. A new blog (for me) and one that I stumbled across on the Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma blogsite. Ethelredasplace carries a good post on the dangers presented by the "games" industry - more like "occult" industry.

6.  James Preece never fails to hit the target and score a  high impact. His post on Dangerous Emissions and CAFOD is bullseye material, read it HERE

7. The threat of Islam. Is there a country in the world that has a Muslim base and that does not persecute Christians - can't think of one offhand.
 EF Pastor Emeritus  (I almost typed Emiritus!) has yet another tragic story of how nuns cope with rampant discrimination by Saudi emigres.

And if we had an eight day week, I would award Signor Mundabor a gold star for his great post on niceness. We all live in a nice society where everything is very nice...trouble is, the inhabitants of Sodom were nice also - and look what happened to them.

One a day...the best of the week's blogs

1. How many times has someone said to me: "I love God but I just can't agree with the Pope" to which I normally lose my cool and offer a string of expletives, so silly is this statement.
David Gray gives a more adult and reasoned account why this is a silly thing to say and believe and he backs it up with intelligible, comprehensible facts. Read it HERE

2. I really would like to Riverdance my way to a Catholic Heaven.....thanks Stuart of eChurch, for managing to combine the ethereal (post on the Sixteen singing the Misere) to the more earthly. Marge Simpson finally finding out about the one true faith, all within the space of three posts - brilliant! Read it HERE

3. May a child with Down's Syndrome receive Holy Communion? A thorny issue that Caroline Farrow has tackled with sensitivity. I am minded of that wonderful priest of English origin and who lived in France (bad memory for names). He had a young man who suffered from DS as his sacristan and server. I am sure he would have received the sacraments also.
 Read Caroline's post HERE.
For what it's worth, I believe that the church should err on the side of permitting the child to receive (forget about instruction if he cannot comprehend it). Any person suffering from a mental disability and, presumably, not having a balance of reason, must be innocent of any sin. What say you?

4.  I am from time to time, a mite critical of the LMS. I want them to succeed in what they do, it's just so frustrating when they don't get things right (on the odd occasion). The Diocesan blogs of the LMS are not overly inspiring with the exception of the Arundel and Brighton one. It's run by Annie whom I  met at the inaugral Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma meeting and Annie is not afraid to broach and tackle some sensitive subjects that, all too often, tend to be shied away from. So HERE is a sample post from her.

5. Apparently, if you want one word that will fill your com box up you have to look no further than 'Mantilla'. It is a subject that will not go away. Some love it, others hate it and those in between like the idea of it but are too wimpish to wear one at an OF Mass. Shame! But what right have I, a mere male, in posting on this subject? Read about it in a post from the Community of Catholic Bloggers blog - HERE

6. And from Rorate Caeli a little piece on traditionalism...we are all traditionalists really, it's just that some got a bit lost en route. Read HERE
And thanks to Ioannes Patricius for bringing this post to my attention.

                                               THE END

But why only six? Is it the old adding up problem again?

No. It's just that this week I spent two days in a rather different world, far from reality and the harshness of life.

No-oo, not on a retreat, I just crept out of retirement for a bit to do a touch of consultancy in the city of dreaming spires, brown sherry and hog whimperingly drunk undergraduates - Oxford, no less!

So that's why there are only five top posts from top blogs this week.
 I told you my maths is bad!