I trust the Redoubtable Marcus Magnus will not mind my lifting his pic of the new, life-size crucifix that was just dedicated at St. John's Cathedral last night.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOFj94wMC0rr5IyBoK80lgyoOAZnMADTJ18Uhhjmd5unQzVKNYa1e94xfIdUrd3NbHIuBf9hCewHEIuvmdLdb3bGT15junuxhWu4rI6Btff7Ob5ZSF2y2OKkHSKS-Jgc1Y8fri/s400/St.+John%27s+Cathedral+Crucifix.jpg)
"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival." Winston Churchill, May 13, 1940
March 14, 2000Not only is it a no-no, "abstaining" from holy water is just plain dumb. Holy water is the hydrogen bomb of spiritual warfare. And unlike the United States, heaven has no Rosenbergs to sell the secret to the other side.
Dear Father:
This Congregation for Divine Worship has received your letter sent by fax in which you ask whether it is in accord with liturgical law to remove the Holy Water from the fonts for the duration of the season of Lent.
This Dicastery is able to respond that the removing of Holy Water from the fonts during the season of Lent is not permitted, in particular, for two reasons:
1. The liturgical legislation in force does not foresee this innovation, which in addition to being praeter legem is contrary to a balanced understanding of the season of Lent, which though truly being a season of penance, is also a season rich in the symbolism of water and baptism, constantly evoked in liturgical texts.
2. The encouragement of the Church that the faithful avail themselves frequently of the [sic] of her sacraments and sacramentals is to be understood to apply also to the season of Lent. The "fast" and "abstinence" which the faithful embrace in this season does not extend to abstaining from the sacraments or sacramentals of the Church. The practice of the Church has been to empty the Holy Water fonts on the days of the Sacred Triduum in preparation of the blessing of the water at the Easter Vigil, and it corresponds to those days on which the Eucharist is not celebrated (i.e., Good Friday and Holy Saturday).
Hoping that this resolves the question and with every good wish and kind regard, I am,
Sincerely yours in Christ,
[signed]
Mons. Mario Marini [Now the Secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei]
Undersecretary
When my mother opposed Mengele, who ordered her to kill babies being born in Auschwitz, he became furious. Describing this, my mother said: "I only saw his long boots jumping back and forth. . . and I heard him shout: 'Befehl ist befehl' [an order is an order]. " Recalling these words many years later, I realized that since my mother was quite small and she had the habit of looking down when she thought about something. . . she stood with lowered eyes and saw his long boots nervously jumping in front of her.... Was this terrible murderer (he was a physician after all) trying to explain away his order to kill newborn babies? In any case, neither then nor at any other time, did he raise his murderous hand against my mother.Although Leszczynska's husband was killed in 1944, she and her children survived the war. Stanislawa Leszczynska died in 1974 and is still honored and venerated in Poland, where many favors have been attributed to her intercession. Evidence is being compiled for her cause for sainthood. You can read more about her amazing story here.