Ex tenebrae, lux!

We had an experience of the supernatural last night, around midnight, the boys and I....inexplicable, let's leave it at that, and I can't remember being so frightened in my life... it's a continued proof that in this world we call modern the diabolic could exist. But from a seemingly dark and terrifying experience light could still shine. I have my faith renewed and despite of whatever malign presence which may lurk in the shadows and make your hair stand on end, my heart grows stouter knowing that under our roof is a stronger Presence reserved in the Tabernacle, potent to drive any evil influences at work...Stay with us O Lord, for the day is almost done, and the darkness seems to engulf us...

OF OLD PICTURES, SOME OF MY FAVORITES

These are some shots of Pope Paul VI (and of Pope Pius XII) during some of the solemn papal liturgies before the Second Vatican Council. I won't call myself a traditionalist (nor do I like being identified as a "conservative" since those terms are misleading, if not biased), but I really love looking at pictures like these, wherein we could see the beauty and the grandeur of Catholic worship being offered in the seat of Catholic Christendom. There would be no doubt of how these things could inebriate the senses and make one acknowledge the transcendence of God's glory. Any "liberal" so-called would surely disagree with me, but with things and events like these, we surely get a foretaste of heaven

Pope Paul VI at the papal throne

The Pope at the High Altar of the Confession at the most solemn part of the Mass.

Pope Pius XII. Cardinal (then Monsignor and Papal Master of Ceremonies) Enrico Dante at the foreground

A good shot from above.

I would daresay that these shots with the pope in crimson vestments was taken at some canonization or beatification, though I'm not too sure...

The Holy Father before consuming the Precious Blood from the chalice holds in his hand a most curious straw-like instrument called the fistula through which he shall sip the consecrated wine. It's has long since slipped into disuse in papal liturgies.

This one was taken during the coronation Mass of Pope Paul VI. One could see the papal tiara on the left side.

Another shot during the coronation mass, during the homily part of the Mass. Popes weren't supposed to render a homily during their coronation, but i heard that this was the first time the Pope did away with that custom.

being holy and acting as if......

Jesus said,
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside,
but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth.
Even so, on the outside you appear righteous,
but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing. (Mt. 23:27-28)

The Gospel reading for today seems to introduce us into the most unlikely of settings: the theater, particularly, the theater as it was familiar to the Greeks and to the Romans. We knew that when Jesus uttered these reproaches against the Scribes and Pharisees he was referring to their hypocrisy in their dealings with other people within their society, in their perception and practice of the stipulations of the Jewish law, and ultimately, the way they saw themselves before God. They stood as if they were blameless before God and men because of their punctiliousness in following the prescriptions of the Law, and they acted as IF they were blameless. The passage above does not leave us in suspense about what Our Lord would like to say when he compared these men to whitewashed tombs, which give the appearance of respectability and dignity, while actually holding all the filth and decay one would always expect to find within a tomb.
Hypocrisy and hypocrite are words which were first used within the ambit of the stage and the theater. The Greek hypokritos meant nothing more than the actor himself, someone whose work implied that he impersonated someone other than himself, one who concealed his true personality behind another that is not properly his. On hindsight I daresay that showbiz and the theater needs to invest so much on illusion and deceit in order to be good and worthwhile: it's all about acting out. The hypocrite is one who merely acts out something which he is not, in order that others may believe him to be as such that he would like them to believe. It veritably means to live a lie, nothing more. In order to do this, one would have to close himself to the truth about himself. Perhaps, if we were to peek into the heart of our Lord, and knowing his will to save all men, we would understand and see the source of his irritation and anger towards the Pharisees: their closure to the truth makes them impermeable to the saving dew of repentance and of his saving grace. In deciding to live out a lie, they have blinded themselves to the truth about themselves and to the Truth which God had sent to save them, the Truth who is God himself.

On the other hand there is another term from the theater which elucidates the exact opposite of the attitude of the Pharisees. The ancients used to employ masks in their theatrical productions in order to depict the personages to whom they were giving life to. Usually they may be made of wax. Taking off the masks would reveal the true identity of the actor, and thus end the illusion which until then he had been doing. Sincerity comes from this milieu. Sine Cera means to be without masks of wax with which to deceive. To be sincere is to be at the opposite end of being hypocritical. Only in this attitude and sincerity could one take stock of what he needs to change, something which would inevitably lead one to ask the help of God's grace. It is one condition needed for an authentic conversion, and for the conversion to be authentic.

Papa Pío XI (Achille Ratti) in viva voce

POPE PIUS XII in viva voce...

AUFER A NOBIS, DOMINE, iniquitates nostras, ut ad sancta sanctorum puris mereamus mentibus introire, per Christum Dominum nostrum!

Not in emotions....

I think I just got up at the wrong side of the bed (which is impossible because my bed is pushed to the side of the wall) because ever since I got up up things just started to get wrong. My head was aching, my phone was fooling around, there's something wrong with my car, and I have to work in something very late. It's one of those days in which you're tempted to dash a phone to the ground that doesn't seem to cooperate when you wish to make a call, or crash your car into the hedge out of sheer frustration.

It's a good thing I was able to calm myself down and got a grip on the situation. I turned to the psalms in today's Liturgy of the Hours and that soothed me a bit. I think I should do that often. The psalms contain expressions and prayers rising from the human heart tinged with different kinds of emotions. some are made out in frustration and pessimism (e.g. Ps 90 or 42), others are done in a seething rage, some in sadness and dejection, others in penitence and sorrow of one's sins (the famous Miserere or Psalm 51). Some are made in jubilation and rejoicing.

Our formators once advised us to pray with the psalms and I think it would not be a bad idea to pray some on your own as well, especially when you feel whatever is it that you feel. Not only will it provide you with a vent for your feelings, it would afford you with an encounter with God as well, and save your life and sanity, as well as that of others.