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White to move and mate in 2. Time yourself. GO!
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
Chessy news… Magnus won the Rapid and Blitz in Croatia. Big news. Happily Wesley So took silver. YAY! Look at this CRAZY game between Wesley and Fabiano Caruana. If you are pressed for time, skip down to about move 40 and WATCH the chaos.
Meanwhile…
ENGLAND
Catholic Mass is taking place at Canterbury Cathedral tonight to mark the Feast of the Translation of the Relics of Saint Thomas Becket pic.twitter.com/h9owFXRdXr
At least 50% thanks to your publicity. Lots of Americans
This evening the Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain, Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in Canterbury Cathedral, on the Feast of the Translation of the Relics of St. Thomas Becket. Once the centre of the Catholic faith in England, it is now the… pic.twitter.com/Kxv6HgLfry
Don't even like to think about the anniversary of Summorum Pontificum.
Francis having done what he did, and lying in the way, while Benedict was STILL alive and living next door, was the ultimate cruelty. https://t.co/tKLWXSxMym
It’s interesting a how things happen in clusters. What is that… synchronicity?
The other day a priest friend and I were having supper and the topic of microphones came up. I mentioned the thought of Marshal McLuhan on the impact of the amplified voice on liturgical rites. Microphones change a lot. They alter the knock-on effect of liturgy.
In any event, I told an anecdote about a certain bishop who left his clip on mic turned on when, during a Mass that was live on the internet, he simply had to visit the little prelates room. That gave new meaning to “live streaming”.
What is the synchronicity. I was looking for something else I had posted and, bam, there it was. The vesting prayer for the clip-on wireless mic.
As you know, there are beautiful prayers for putting on each of the vestments for Mass. Priests should be saying them if they don’t already. Since the dreadful clip-on mic is pretty much standard gear now, it ought to have a prayer too, right?
Concede, Domine, virtutem labiis meis et prudentiam ad Tuam proclamandam veritatem, ut per indigni servi Tui vocem, vox Tui tonitrui in rota contremat terram.
“Grant, Lord, good judgment in proclaiming your truth and strength to my lips, so that through the voice of your unworthy servant, a voice will shake the earth in the wheel of your thunder.”
Before anything else, allow me to remind you that the only thing Christ went back to explain when He taught the disciples how to pray (the Lord’s Prayer) was that if we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven (Matthew 6:14-15).
Now, read on!
Today is the Feast of St. Maria Goretti, who died defending her virginity and also in the attempt to prevent her killer from committing a terrible sin.
The story of her appearance to him, Alessandro Serenelli, in prison, and his subsequent conversion and life of holiness is the very stuff of Christian hope.
A short rant:
I am so disappointed when I hear Catholics, in particular, dismiss a person who has had a real conversion because in his “past life” he was a sinner. Isn’t that what we pray for? The conversion of sinners? Aren’t their lives to be celebrated rather than reviled? In a way, the abuse of a truly converted soul because of past sins is a rejection on the Holy Spirit, a rejection of Christ’s saving Sacrifice, a rejection of the Father’s bountiful love.
We are not Protestants who think that our sins remain, merely covered over or by some bookkeeping ignored. When we confess our sins and amend our lives those sins are gone, removed forever through the washing of the Blood of the Lamb. Though our sins be as red as scarlet, they are cleansed as white as snow. Though we have their memory, though we will always feel a need to do penance, those sins will not be held against us in our judgment.
And there is no sin so great that the infinite power and love of God cannot remove from our souls, provided we ask.
GO TO CONFESSION!
Please continue.
Maria, 11 years old, before she died, forgave her 20 year old killer who, when he couldn’t rape her, stabbed her 14 times with a thick chisel-like awl. She later appeared to him and gave him 14 lilies. He became a model prisoner and earned early release, at which time he sought out Maria’s mother, who forgave him and took him to herself as if he were her own son.
Alessandro Serenelli became a paragon of devotion and there is even a cause. I was told yesterday that his intercession has resulted in miraculous healings.
His conversion involved abundant forgiveness from those whom he wronged. It required intercession in heaven to obtain graces.
This is one reason why I regularly pray “pro inimicis… for enemies”, those who have done me terrible harm. I believe they could be great paragons to emulate, and among them maybe a truly great leader in the Church.
Maria Goretti’s canonization in 1950 was so thronged with people that, for the first time, the ceremony was moved out of the Basilica into the square.
Her mother attended, as did her killer.
In 2015 my friend Fr. Carlos Martins, through his apostolate Treasures of the Church, brought the body of St. Maria to make a pilgrimage tour through these USA. In his talks and videos he tells her story and about Alessandro’s amazing conversion.
This is a beautiful saint to invoke in these confused times when the ideologically driven are trying to twist the very nature of man in sheer defiance of His will.
She is a mighty intercessor. I am told by my exorcist friends that demons react violently to her very mention, not just her relics.
My 1st class relic of St. Maria Goretti.
Here is a snippet from the sermon Ven. Pius XII gave for the canonization of St Maria Goretti, whose feast is today.
Pius, the Last Roman Pope, from about 1950 onward, seeing what was going on in society called for greater purity. What would he think about today?
The place: St. Peter’s Square, completely jammed
The date: 24 June 1950
The occasion: the canonization of St Maria Goretti
Perchè, diletti figli, siete accorsi in così sterminato numero alla sua glorificazione? Perchè, ascoltando o leggendo il racconto della sua breve vita, così somigliante a una limpida narrazione evangelica per semplicità di linee, per colore di ambiente, per la stessa fulminea violenza della morte, vi siete inteneriti fino alle lacrime? Perchè Maria Goretti ha conquistato così rapidamente i vostri cuori, fino a divenirne la prediletta, la beniamina? Vi è dunque in questo mondo, apparentemente travolto e immerso nell’edonismo, non soltanto una sparuta schiera di eletti assetati di cielo e di aria pura, ma folla, ma immense moltitudini, sulle quali il soprannaturale profumo della purezza cristiana esercita un fascino irresistibile e promettente : promettente e rassicurante.
Why, beloved children, have you rushed in such boundless numbers to her glorification? Why, hearing or reading the account of her brief life, so much like a pristine gospel narrative for the simplicity of its line, for the painting of its setting, for the very flaming violence of the death, were you touched even to tears? Why has Maria Goretti conquered your hearts so quickly, even to the point of becoming your favorite, your darling? Thus, there is in this world, manifestly overwhelmed and sunk into hedonism, not only a sparse crowd of the chosen, thirsting for heaven and pure air, but a throng, but an immense multitude, upon which the supernatural fragrance of Christian purity works an irresistible and promising allure: promising and encouraging.
Some visuals to go along with the sound.
Prayer to St. Maria Goretti
Oh Saint Maria Goretti who, strengthened by God’s Grace, did not hesitate even at the age of twelve to shed your blood and sacrifice life itself to defend your virginal purity, look graciously on the unhappy human race which has strayed far from the path of eternal salvation.
Teach us all, and especially youth, with what courage and promptitude we should flee for the love of Jesus anything that could offend Him or stain our souls with sin.
Obtain for us from our Lord victory in temptation, comfort in the sorrows of life, and the grace which we earnestly beg of thee (pause, insert special intention here), and may we one day enjoy with thee the imperishable glory of Heaven. Amen.
Our Father … Hail Mary … Glory be … St. Maria Goretti, pray for us!
I’m taking Mass intentions right now. Also, I regularly say Mass for my regular benefactors as I will today. God HERE for the form I use. Please always use that form, even if we have been in contact before. Also, please, one intention per form. More than one intention? Use the form for each. That way I can keep things tidy.
The info is that they’re building this in Wyoming by selling coffee
At the 2025 SuperUnited Croatia Rapid & Blitz they are in the Blitz phase. My guy Wesley So had a less than great time in the Rapid but he did really well in the first day of blitz – 6.5/9 – to climb in the standings. However, the real news was Magnus who was undefeated and Gukesh who scored 1.5/9. Today is the last day of action.
Black to move and mate in 4.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
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Too many people today are without good, strong preaching, to the detriment of all. Share the good stuff.
Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at your Mass of obligation for the this 4th Sunday after Pentecost? 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time in the Novus Ordo.
Tell about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass.
Any local changes or (hopefully good) news? I know there is a lot of BAD news. How about some good news?
From the darkness of futile striving without grace to the superabundance of God’s gifts, from the bondage of decay to the glorious liberty of the children of God, this Sunday’s Mass formulary draws the heart into hopeful longing and resolute devotion. It beckons us to fix our gaze on the final port, the sight of God’s face, “in whose will is our peace” (Paradiso 3,85).
Two weeks later, the evening slouched in wearing the same cheap suit as the night before. Tracer Bullet stood in his office, blinds half-closed, watching fog slither in from the river. The neon lights at the Nickle Joint on the corner glowed like votive candles burning down to stubs.
The air was thick, as if someone had wrung out an old raincoat and left the damp clinging to the walls.
Suddenly, a faint rustle stirred behind him. He wheeled around, hand darting to his shoulder holster, and caught a flicker of movement through the frosted glass of the office door. A smear of shadow lashed across the pane, highlighting the backwards letters—TRACER BULLET – PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR.
He yanked the door open in time to see… nothing. Whoever it was had been faster than Bishop Fatty at a buffet.
Crossing to the windows, he peered down at the damp street. Lamplight pooled in oily puddles. A shadowy figure slipped past the neon glow, coat flapping like a bat’s wing, and vanished into the alley’s hungry dark.
Turning back slowly, his gaze landed on the manila envelope now lying in the center of the floor. No name. No return address. It stared up at him like a steel trap waiting for his fingers.
Inside was a single grainy photo that looked as though it had been taken in low light from a distance.
Patsy Meeks.
She was in close conversation with a cassock-toting cleric wearing a red sash, a pectoral cross, and a grin sharp enough to clip a cigar in half.
The photo was time-stamped three days ago.
Tracer studied the background. There was something familiar a mottled shape here, an angle there, a doorway… the Via Rusticucci. Rome.
On the back, a message was scrawled in a hand he didn’t like remembering. His jaw clenched as he read it.
“There might be a new Pope, but the real power runs deep. Not everyone is smiling in the Eternal City. Fr T better watch his six.”
He struck a match and lit a cigarette. The flare threw long shadows across the clutter of old files and empty bourbon bottles.
“I looks like I’m not done with Libville after all,” he muttered, reaching for his fedora and trench coat.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Tracer Bullet will return in: The Red Biretta Conspiracy.
Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links. US HERE – WHY? This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc.. At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.
Today is the Feast of the Martyrs of Gorkum. Learn about them.
July 9: Feast of St. Martyrs of Gorkum, 17 secular and religious priests and 2 lay brothers who were cruelly killed by the Watergeuzen (fanatical Calvinists) because they adhered to the Pope & the doctrine of the true presence of Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. pic.twitter.com/EgHhkmXsSS
— P. D’Angona, Sacerdos Romano-Catholicus (@RomanoSace57080) July 7, 2025
Meanwhile…
Two serious scholars and loyal sons of the Church badly treated during the previous pontificate. Whether or not one agrees with all the details of their diagnosis of that pontificate, the problems they raise will not go away, and must be (and will be) addressed sooner or later pic.twitter.com/HnZWmz0Etq
Well said! Rist was one of my professors at the Patristic Institute “Augustinianum” in Rome. He contributed essays to a couple of books that Francis didn’t like.
Maybe there’s more to my streamed Masses after all!
Collapse of number of Priests in the Czech Republic: Archbishop of Olomouc “suspends the Sunday obligation” — for those who cannot go far, the “online mass is acceptable.”
Card. Burke received this note from Leo XIV for his 50th anniversary of ordination.
Venerabili Fratri Nostro RAIMUNDO LEONI S.R.E. Cardinali BURKE S. Agathae in Urbe presbytero
aureum ordinationis presbyteralis celebranti iubilaeum Romae uti sacerdoti dioecesis Crossensis receptae, navitatem studiose exercitam gratulamur ac probatam sollicitudinem, quam ad res iuris potissimum vertit et in Apostolicae Sedis Dicasteriorum usu, qui secundum Cor Christi Evangelii praedicavit praecepta eiusque enarravit thesauros, Ecclesiae universae diligenter inserviens. Cui dum optima quaeque ominamur, Apostolicam Nostram Benedictionem, auspicibus beatis Petro et Paulo apostolis, ei eiusque propinquis libentes impertimur.
Ex Aedibus Vaticanis, die XVII mensis Iunii, Anno Sancto MMXX V.
Leo PP. XIV
To Our Venerable Brother RAYMOND LEO Cardinal BURKE of the Holy Roman Church Cardinal-Priest of the Basilica of Saint Agatha of the Goths at Rome
As he celebrates the Golden Jubilee of his priestly ordination in Rome, which he received as a priest of the Diocese of La Crosse, we thank him for the prompt service he has zealously carried out and the earnest care he has demonstrated most especially for the law, which has also been of good service to the Dicasteries of the Apostolic See. He has preached the precepts of the Gospel according to the Heart of Christ and has recounted His treasures, diligently offering his devoted service to the Church universal. While anticipating the very best for him, and under the watchful care of blessed Peter and Paul the Apostles, it is our good pleasure to impart our Apostolic Blessing to him and to those near to him.
Given at the Vatican, 17 June, in the Holy Year 2025
Diane put out the “leaked” report about the bishop’s survey that didn’t go Francis way, so Francis went his own way and issued the stunning failure Taurina cacata… Traditionis custodes.
Last night being somewhat restless, I cruised about on the interwebs and discovered a new book by Msgr. Nicola Bux (“Nicóla Boox”), a superb liturgist who was a consultor for Benedict XVI. He has several books. Long-time readers here know him also from the legendary “Bux Protocol“.
Bux has a new book in Italian, as I discovered last night. Co-authored with Saverio Gaeta, who is very good.
La liturgia non è uno spettacolo: Il questionario ai vescovi sul rito anti-co: arma di distruzione di Messa?
The Liturgy is not a show: the survey of the bishops about the ancient rite: weapon of mass destruction?
An introduction which recounts the issuance of T.C.
1 – “The Mass through the centuries” gives a solid history of the development of what happened at the Last Supper (not a “Mass”) through the earliest forms of the Breaking of the Bread and the Eucharist to a more developed liturgy, still very early (c. 155).
2- “The Innovation of Vatican II” – Principles and work of the Consilium. The real intentions of the Council Fathers. 1969. Drift.
3- “Pacification, and not only” Summorum Pontificum. Bad interpretations.
4- “The Secret Consultation” – documentation – the survey – weighing Summorum.
5 – “The Survey in Detail”
6 – The Florilegium of the Dossier” – evaluating the results
7 – “The Final Solution” – the Motu Proprio – due ecclesiological visions – restriction or punishment?
8 – Possibilities – The crisis in the Church and the collapse of liturgy. Missale of Pius VI never abolished. Reform of the Reform. Future hypotheses after TC.
Concluding Appeal
This was done fast. In my edition (kindle) there is not Table of Contents or index.
However, it’s rather like two-step authentication.
JUST IN: New Book Supports Authenticity of Official Vatican Report
The just-released Italian book contains not only the sections of the Vatican report I published on July 1 but also important additional findings on the CDF’s survey of bishops. More here: https://t.co/x7xRzcncUupic.twitter.com/xJMYyApSLX
I have the Italian KINDLE version. The physical book is available for pre-order at amazon.it.
Don’t have a kindle? Go HERE and look around. So useful for travel. Also, there are books I want to read, but I don’t want to own. I am trying to GET RID OF BOOKS! (I know… it’s sad.)
Also, Amazon PRIME Day is coming up. There are early deals. HERE
On 7 July there will be a CATHOLIC Mass in the (stolen) Canterbury Cathedral in honor of the Feast of the Translation of the Relics of St. Thomas Beckett.
My correspondent alerted me about this along with his comment:
There’s a place to register on the website. It’s so that the cathedral authorities would then decide if the Catholics could be relegated to a side altar (as this usually gets). But it’d be good to show Catholic power by turning up in numbers.
WHAT: On 7th July, every year, the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral
kindly allow the Catholic Parish of St Thomas of Canterbury to celebrate Mass in honour of St Thomas Becket. This Catholic Mass happens only once a year.
WHY: To mark the Feast of the Translation (transfer) of the relics of St Thomas Becket.
WHO: This year, the Jubilee Year of Hope, for the first time, the Apostolic Nuncio, His Excellency Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendia has kindly accepted the invitation to be the main celebrant at the Feast of the Translation Mass in the presence of dignitaries of Church and State, including the Vatican St Peter’s cricket team, and the ordinary people of God.
The Feast of the Translation Mass will conclude with the blessing of St Thomas Becket’s relics.
The music for the Mass will be directed by Nigel Short and Tenebrae, the internationally acclaimed English choir https://www.tenebrae-choir.com/about/tenebrae
All pilgrims are invited to a reception of English ‘champagne’ and chocolates after Mass.
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“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
The most evident mark of God’s anger and the most terrible castigation He can inflict upon the world are manifested when He permits His people to fall into the hands of clerics who are priests more in name than in deed, priests who practice the cruelty of ravening wolves rather than the charity and affection of devoted shepherds.
St. John Eudes
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“Until the Lord be pleased to settle, through the instrumentality of the princes of the Church and the lawful ministers of His justice, the trouble aroused by the pride of a few and the ignorance of some others, let us with the help of God endeavor with calm and humble patience to render love for hatred, to avoid disputes with the silly, to keep to the truth and not fight with the weapons of falsehood, and to beg of God at all times that in all our thoughts and desires, in all our words and actions, He may hold the first place who calls Himself the origin of all things.”
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A Daily Prayer for Priests
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Don’t rely on popes, bishops and priests.
“He [Satan] will set up a counter-Church which will be the ape of the Church because, he the devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the anti-Christ that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ. In desperate need for God, whom he nevertheless refuses to adore, modern man in his loneliness and frustration will hunger more and more for membership in a community that will give him enlargement of purpose, but at the cost of losing himself in some vague collectivity.”
“Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops.”
“The modern habit of doing ceremonial things unceremoniously is no proof of humility; rather it proves the offender's inability to forget himself in the rite, and his readiness to spoil for every one else the proper pleasure of ritual.”
- C.S. Lewis
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As for Latin…
"But if, in any layman who is indeed imbued with literature, ignorance of the Latin language, which we can truly call the 'catholic' language, indicates a certain sluggishness in his love toward the Church, how much more fitting it is that each and every cleric should be adequately practiced and skilled in that language!" - Pius XI
"Let us realize that this remark of Cicero (Brutus 37, 140) can be in a certain way referred to [young lay people]: 'It is not so much a matter of distinction to know Latin as it is disgraceful not to know it.'" - St. John Paul II
Grant unto thy Church, we beseech Thee, O merciful God, that She, being gathered together by the Holy Ghost, may be in no wise troubled by attack from her foes. O God, who by sin art offended and by penance pacified, mercifully regard the prayers of Thy people making supplication unto Thee,and turn away the scourges of Thine anger which we deserve for our sins. Almighty and Everlasting God, in whose Hand are the power and the government of every realm: look down upon and help the Christian people that the heathen nations who trust in the fierceness of their own might may be crushed by the power of thine Arm. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.
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It’s interesting a how things happen in clusters. What is that… synchronicity?
We are not Protestants who think that our sins remain, merely covered over or by some bookkeeping ignored. When we confess our sins and amend our lives those sins are gone, removed forever through the washing of the Blood of the Lamb. Though our sins be as red as scarlet, they are cleansed as white as snow. Though we have their memory, though we will always feel a need to do penance, those sins will not be held against us in our judgment.
