Sunday Snippets - A Catholic Carnival (20 July 2014)

     Welcome yet again to “Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival”, a weekly gathering on the first day of the week, that is to say, the day of the Resurrection, in which Catholic bloggers share their posts for the previous week.  The main site is here, at This That and the Other Thing.

Novices in The Sisters of Life, founded 1991.

   This past week has seen reminders of the fallenness of our world, from the shooting down of an unarmed Malaysian passenger jet over Ukraine (and the bizarre antics surrounding it on the part of some of the actors on the scene) to events of a more personal nature for me (no doubt the same could be said for all of us).
      This puts me in mind of this week’s question for Sunday Snippets (posted by Snippets creator RAnn at the main site): whether there were any religious sisters in my parish growing up, and whether there are any now.  Growing up I attended schools run by the Sisters of Charity in Ohio and the Sisters of Mercy in Maine; both schools are still operating, but both no longer have any religious sisters.  There are still Sisters of Mercy here in the Diocese of Portland (and I assume there are still Sisters of Charity in the Diocese of Cincinnati) but they are a much diminished presence.  That’s a great shame.  The sisters are a public sign of the inbreaking of God’s Grace in our fallen world, a reminder that in our brokenness we can still devote our lives to Christ and the service of others.  That’s why I also prefer to see sisters wearing distinct and recognizable habits, not because I’m an old-fashioned crank (although I may be that), but because what good is a sign if nobody knows it’s there? “Nor do men light a lamp and put it under as bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all the house.  Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:15-16). And I  won’t be the first to point out that those orders (some of them quite new) that wear traditional habits, and put themselves fully in the stream of the Catholic Tradition, are the ones that are growing and attracting new (and young!) members.

    It was a slow week indeed at Principium et Finis; only three posts, and only one of them a new one.  I’m hoping to have more access to the keyboard in the upcoming weeks.  Be that as it may, here’s the rundown from the week past:

I can’t think of anything composed by W. A. Mozart that doesn’t sound magnificent; try this, for example: “Mozart – Credo (Coronation Mass In C Major)” [here]

The next installment of my Throwback Thursday series on the Divine Office for layfolks: “What Is The Liturgy of the Hours? (LOH 2 – Throwback Thursday Edition)” [here]

Speaking of Signs of the Inbreaking of God’s Grace, what sign is greater than the Eucharist? And what better place to kneel in Adoration before our Lord? “Eucharistic Adoration: Sitting At The Feet Of The Master” [here]