Free Republic

HAD WE ANGELS’ EYES, we should see the earth as a vast field sown with seed for the resurrection. The death of Abel opened the first furrow, and ever since, the sowing has gone on unceasingly the wide world over. This land of labor and of suffering, what treasures it already holds laid up in its bosom! And what a harvest for heaven, when the Sun of Justice, suddenly darting forth his rays, shall cause to spring up as suddenly from the soil the elect ears ripe for glory! No wonder that the Church herself blesses and superintends the...

EPS grew by 40 percent year-over-year, and revenue grew by 17 percent year-over-year. The 41.3 million iPhones shipped during the third quarter is basically flat from the year-ago period, but the ASP of $724 is a notable jump. The quarterly report comes after a market rout for major tech stocks. Apple reported strong third-quarter results Tuesday, posting big beats on earnings per share and average iPhone selling price. Here's how the company did compared with Wall Street projections: EPS: $2.34 vs. $2.18, according to Thomson Reuters consensus estimates Revenue: $53.3 billion vs. $52.34 billion, according to Thomson Reuters consensus estimates...

White Semidouble THE FAITHFUL SOUL HAS WITNESSED, through the sacred Liturgy, the close of the mysteries of our Redemption, which were wrought, in succession, by our Jesus, and applied to us, one after the other, by his Church, in her divine worship of them. The Holy Ghost has been sent, by the Father and Son, and he has lovingly and graciously come, to continue amongst us the work of the Incarnate Word. He, the Spirit of the Father and Son, is come to support the Christian in this second portion of both time and season; it is, as far...

White Semidouble ℣. In resurrectione tua Christe, alleluia. ℣. In thy resurrection, O Christ, alleluia. ℟. Cœli et terra lætentur, alleluia. ℟. Let heaven and earth rejoice, alleluia. THE EASTER MYSTERIES are superseded today by a special subject, which is offered for our consideration. The holy Church invites us to spend this Sunday in honoring the Spouse of Mary, the Foster-Father of the Son of God. And yet, as we offered him the yearly tribute of our devotion on the 19th of March, it is not, properly speaking, his Feast that we are to celebrate today. It is a...

White   ℣. In resurrectione tua Christe, alleluia. ℣. In thy resurrection, O Christ, alleluia. ℟. Cœli et terra lætentur, alleluia. ℟. Let heaven and earth rejoice, alleluia. THIS SATURDAY BRINGS US back to Mary. Let us again contemplate her prerogatives; and yet, while so doing, let us still keep our thoughts on holy Church, which has been the subject of our meditations during this week. Let us, today, consider the relations existing between Mary and the Church:—they will make us the better understand these two Mothers of mankind. Before taking possession of the Church, which was to be...

White   ℣. In resurrectione tua Christe, alleluia. ℣. In thy resurrection, O Christ, alleluia. ℟. Cœli et terra lætentur, alleluia. ℟. Let heaven and earth rejoice, alleluia. CHURCH OF JESUS! that wast promised by him to the earth during the days of his mortal life; that camest forth from his sacred Side when wounded by the Spear upon the Cross; that wast organized and perfected by him during the last days of his sojourn here below—we lovingly greet thee as our Mother; Thou art the Spouse of our Redeemer, and it is through thee that we were born...

White   ℣. In resurrectione tua Christe, alleluia. ℣. In thy resurrection, O Christ, alleluia. ℟. Cœli et terra lætentur, alleluia. ℟. Let heaven and earth rejoice, alleluia. THE CHURCH—founded and maintained by Christ—is it nothing more than a society of minds that know, and of hearts that love, the truths revealed to it by heaven? Have we adequately defined it, when we call it “a spiritual society?” No, most assuredly; for we are told that it was to spread, and actually has been spread, throughout the whole world. Now, how could such progress and conquest have taken place,...

White   ℣. In resurrectione tua Christe, alleluia. ℣. In thy resurrection, O Christ, alleluia. ℟. Cœli et terra lætentur, alleluia. ℟. Let heaven and earth rejoice, alleluia. THERE IS NOTHING ON EARTH so grand, nothing so exalted, as the Princes of the Church—the Pastors appointed by the Son of God—who are to follow on, in unbroken succession, to the end of time: but let us not suppose that the subjects of this vast empire called the Church are devoid of dignity and greatness. The Christian People (in which both prince and beggar are equally subjects) is superior to...

White   ℣. In resurrectione tua Christe, alleluia. ℣. In thy resurrection, O Christ, alleluia. ℟. Cœli et terra lætentur, alleluia. ℟. Let heaven and earth rejoice, alleluia. THE CHURCH, which our Risen Jesus is organizing during these days, and which is to be spread throughout the whole world, is a true and complete society. It must, consequently, have within it a power to govern, and be able, by the obedience of its subjects, to maintain order and peace. As we have already seen, our Savior supplied this want by establishing a Shepherd of both sheep and lambs, a...

White   ℣. In resurrectione tua Christe, alleluia. ℣. In thy resurrection, O Christ, alleluia. ℟. Cœli et terra lætentur, alleluia. ℟. Let heaven and earth rejoice, alleluia. THE FIRST STONE of the Church is laid; and on this Foundation Jesus now begins to build. The Shepherd of the Sheep and Lambs has been proclaimed; it is time to form the Fold. The Keys of the Kingdom have been given to Peter; it is time to inaugurate the Kingdom. Now this Church, this Fold, this Kingdom, designate a society which is to be called Christian, after the name of...

Violet Simple THE STATION is in the Church of Saint Susanna, Virgin and Martyr of Rome. The reason of this Church having been chosen is that today, there is read the history of the chaste Susanna, the daughter of Helcias. COLLECT Præsta, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus; ut qui se, affligendo carnem, ab alimentis abstinent, sectando justitiam, a culpa jejunent. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.Grant, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that they who mortify themselves by abstinence from food, may, by observing thy holy law, also fast from all sin. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. Let thy kind favor, O...

Violet Simple THE STATION is at the Church of Saint Laurence in Lucina. In this venerable and celebrated Church is kept the Gridiron on which the holy Archdeacon consummated his martyrdom. COLLECT Jejunia nostra, quæsumus, Domine, benigno favore prosequere: ut, sicut ab alimentis abstinemus in corpore, ita a vitiis jejunemus in mente. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. Let thy kind favor, O Lord, accompany our fast, that as we abstain from corporal food, so we may likewise refrain from all vice. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. EPISTLE LECTIO LIBRI NUMERORUM. LESSON from the BOOK of NUMBERS. Cap. xx Ch....

Violet Simple THIS DAY brings us to the middle of Lent, and is called Mid-Lent Thursday. It is the twentieth of the forty fasts imposed upon us at this holy Season by the Church. The Greeks call this Thursday Mesonēstios, that is, the mid-Fast. They give this name to the entire week, which, in their Liturgy, is the fourth of the seven which form their Lent. But the Thursday of this week is, with them, a solemn feast, and a day of rejoicing, whereby they animate themselves to courage during the rest of the Season. The Catholic nations of...

Violet Simple THE STATION, at Rome, is in the Church of Saint Xystus, on the Appian Road. It now goes under the name of Saint Xystus the Old, in order to distinguish it from another Church that is dedicated to the same holy Pope and Martyr. COLLECT Præsta nobis, quæsumus, Domine, ut salutaribus jejuniis eruditi, a noxiis quoque vitiis abstinentes, propitiationem tuam facilius impetremus. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. Grant, O Lord, we beseech thee, that being improved by this wholesome fast, we may abstain from all pernicious vice, and by that means, more easily obtain thy mercy. Through...

Violet Simple THE STATION is in the Church of St. Pudentiana, daughter of Pudens, the Senator. This holy virgin of Rome lived in the 2nd century. She was remarkable for her charity, and for the zeal wherewith she sought for and buried the bodies of the Martyrs. Her Church is built on the very spot where stood the house in which she lived with her father and her sister St. Praxedes. St. Peter, the Apostle, had honored this house with his presence, during the lifetime of Pudentiana’s grandfather. COLLECT Exaudi nos, omnipotens et misericors Deus; et continentiæ salutaris propitius...

Violet Simple THE STATION is in the Church of Saint Mark, which was built in the fourth century, in honor of the Evangelist, by the holy Pope Mark, whose relics are kept there. COLLECT Cordibus nostris, quæsumus, Domine, gratiam tuam benignus infunde: ut sicut ab escis carnalibus abstinemus, ita sensus quoque nostros a noxiis retrahamus excessibus. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. We beseech thee, O Lord, mercifully to pour forth thy grace into our hearts; that, as we abstain from flesh, so we may keep our senses from all noxious excesses. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. EPISTLE LECTIO LIBRI...

Violet Semidouble (Privilege of the First Class) THE HOLY CHURCH gave us, as the subject of our meditation for the First Sunday of Lent, the Temptation which our Lord Jesus Christ deigned to suffer in the Desert. Her object was to enlighten us how to conquer them. Today, she wishes to complete her instruction on the power and stratagems of our invisible enemies; and for this, she reads to us a passage from the Gospel of St. Luke. During Lent, the Christian ought to repair the past, and provide for the future; but he can neither understand how it...

Green Semidouble THE VARIATION OF EASTER SUNDAY necessitates almost every year a different arrangement of the Sundays after the Epiphany from that in which they stand in the Missal. Septuagesima often comes in January and the Feast of the Purification is occasionally later than Quinquagesima Sunday; hence the office of these four last Sundays may have to be transferred to another season of the liturgical cycle. We have inserted here the third and fourth Sundays as usually falling in Christmastide, while the office of the fifth and sixth Sundays will be found near Septuagesima and the second after Pentecost,...

THE GREAT MYSTERY of the Alliance of the Son of God with the universal Church, and which is represented in the Epiphany by the Magi, was looked forward to by the world in every age previous to the coming of our Emmanuel. The Patriarchs and Prophets had propagated the tradition; and the Gentile world gave frequent proofs that the tradition prevailed even with them. When Adam, in Eden, first beheld her whom God had formed from one of his ribs, and whom he called Eve, because she was the Mother of all the living—he exclaimed, “This is the bone...

White Double of the First Class with Privileged Octave of third Order BEFORE MASS.—The merry-pealing Bells have wakened us up, echoing to us the sweet burden of our Matin-Song, and inviting us to come once more and adore our Jesus, and assist at the Mass of the Day, which we call the Third Mass: Christ is born unto us; come! let us adore! The sun is shining in the east—not, indeed, as he will in his summer’s pride—still, brightly enough to tell us that his triumph over winter has begun. Now, we say, the day will grow longer! Under...