Author Archives: MzEllen

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on the mass...

From what I can understand (from a Protestant and very brief point of view), here's the scoop (after reading Jimmy Akin).

The Roman Catholic Church has a "Mass" (not sneer quotes, simply putting quotes around a specific term used in a specific way - that is the document of the translation) that is universally used. The Council of Trent established the mass in Latin - and each local parish had to use that Latin Mass in that language, regardless of what the vernacular was.

Vatican II introduced that same "Mass", only approved to be translated and used in other languages (the vernacular). Because of the language used in that document, it was translated to mean that the Latin form was prohibited (although permission could be granted to use the Latin form). Jimmy Akin wrote, "The use of the phrase "a special indult" is noteworthy here. The establishment of so-called "indult" Masses suggested to many that the former use of Mass had been prohibited and that it could now only be celebrated by indult (concession), requiring permission."

From what I understand, in this new document the Bishop of Rome is stating that in masses (no quotes here because it's referring to the ceremony, not the document) celebrated without "the people", the priest can use whichever form he desires (except on "any day except in the sacred triduum").

For public masses,

Art. 5.1. In parishes where a group of faithful attached to the previous liturgical tradition exists stably, let the pastor willingly accede to their requests for the celebration of the holy Mass according to the rite of the Roman Missal published in 1962.

There is a group of Roman Catholics (who have broken from "the church" - again not a sneer quote, merely a designation of the difference between Christ's bride and the structure of the Roman Catholic Church) in defiance of Vatican II; one of the points of difference is that they continue to celebrate mass in Latin. This document is pretty much wooing them back, saying "okay. If there is a group of faithful that prefers the old language, let the pastor accede."

So (my understanding is that) if there is a congregation that prefers to use the Latin Mass, they can do that without special permission.

And? I guess I don't understand what the big deal is about letting a congregation worship in the language of their choice. I realize that Rome has the "Mass", and it's still "Mass" whether it's in Latin or Chinese.

NEXT:

Unless a congregation is in full subjection to Rome, it is not a "true church" (according to the Roman Catholic definition).

"That document set off a storm of criticism from Protestant and Anglican leaders who felt that the Vatican was failing to take into account progress made towards re-establishing Christian unity in talks with Rome over a period of many years."

Um...this should come as no surprise. It's no secret that the Roman Catholic Church believes herself to be the only true leader of the Christian religion. Take a look around the blogosphere to find out how Roman Catholic apologists see Protestants.
Those Protestant and Anglican leaders who felt that the Vatican was failing to take into account progress...

have themselves failed to take into account that what the Vatican sees as progress is...working toward a time when

"..all Christians will at last, in a common celebration of the Eucharist, be gathered into the one and only Church in that unity which Christ bestowed on his Church from the beginning. We believe that this unity subsists in the Catholic Church as something she can never lose, and we hope that it will continue to increase until the end of time." (Unitatis Redintegratio)

In short, the Vatican's definition of "ecumenism" is bringing all Christians under the subjection of the Bishop of Rome.

Any Protestant or Anglican that believes the Vatican did not take into account this definition has a case of "cranial-rectal inversion".

The Vatican has had no intention of cooperating. The Vatican intends to subjugate.

This statement by the Bishop of Rome is no different than any of the councils in all of history; Rome has never had any intention of anything other than bring all together in the name of Rome.

Hat Tip for the Gledhill article, "The Boar's Head Tavern"

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Imagine for a minute that you have a political or theological opponent (many of us in the blogosphere do.)

Now, imagine for another minute that you have been invited for dinner - your opponent will be taking advantage of the opportunity to persuade you to his point of view.

Imagine that you accept...you and most of your family sit down to eat and the meal is brought out...

The meal is your son (around 11 years old). His mouth is stuffed and he has been murdered and baked.

This is our enemy:

At first, he said, they would only target Shia, but over time the new al Qaeda directed attacks against Sunni, and then anyone who thought differently. The official reported that on a couple of occasions in Baqubah, al Qaeda invited to lunch families they wanted to convert to their way of thinking. In each instance, the family had a boy, he said, who was about 11 years old. As LT David Wallach interpreted the man’s words, I saw Wallach go blank and silent. He stopped interpreting for a moment. I asked Wallach, “What did he say?” Wallach said that at these luncheons, the families were sat down to eat. And then their boy was brought in with his mouth stuffed. The boy had been baked. Al Qaeda served the boy to his family.

PLEASE link to this post and let it be known that our enemy is NOT part of the "religion of peace".

Imagine having an enemy who uses children - who murders children - to achieve his political and religious goals.

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-We do.

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Windows is installed - and I'm working on software.

My MasterCook files (including all the hundreds of recipes and my custom ingredients list) is not transferring to the newly installed program.

I don't know where I got my bookmarks folder, but it was old - so LOTS of my bookmarks have gone missing.

And my audio configuration is not right, so iTunes is loading music, but I can't hear it.

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Last night there was a standoff near our home - I don't know details (press conference at 2:00), but my son said that a police officer was killed.

Please pray for the officer's family; for comfort, grace and peace, as difficult as that will be.

From WOOD radio

As we continue the follow the story of a Grand Rapids officer shot and killed in the line of duty overnight, a website has listed his name as Robert Kozminski. This is according to the website "the Officer Down Memorial Page".

According to ODMP site, Kozminski was shot and killed while responding to a domestic distrubance on Emerald Avenue North East at approximately 1:40am,this morning. The Grand Rapids Police Department is expected to officially name the fallen officer in a news conference in the two o'clock hour and explain how the situation accoured on Grand Rapids North East side early this morning.

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The Windows install is on hold (just for a little while until my son can grab some music off of the hard drive (it's been there for years and we haven't shared this computer for 2 years - so he had forgotten about it. A couple of the local bands have broken up so he really wants the music.

In the meantime I found a meme...The rules? Simple, she posed 5 random questions for 5 different bloggers who answer them and come up w/ 5 new random questions for 5 more lucky people….and so the cycle of the meme continues on and on! Thanks, Angie. I hope I can come up with 5 questions to pass along…

(This is from another Ellen)

1. God has decided to send you on a Mission trip, where are you going and why?

- Mexico. I really, really want to learn how to speak Spanish.

2. You have a free afternoon to read uninterrupted. Where would you choose to read?

- I'm going to pick more than one. My Bible (ESV), "Old Testament Times" and "Read and Think Spanish" (see below).

3. You get to choose where your kids will go to college, money and grades are not an issue. Where would you want them to go and why? If you don’t have kids where would you have wanted to go to college if money and grades were not an issue?

- Calvin College - solid, Reformed teaching (but not on the overly- conservative "truly reformed" ilk)

4. If you were stuck in an elevator for over an hour what music would you want playing while you were stuck?

- symphonic orchestral
5. You have to travel from the west coast to the east coast of your country, what 5 cities would you want to spend time in?

- My kids and I did drive from Michigan to the west coast! But from west to east

  • San Francisco, CA
  • Denver, CO
  • St. Louis, MO
  • Niagara Fall, NY
  • Bar Harbor, ME

I have such a small blog that maybe some will play, maybe not.  Moonshadow, Iris, Carrie, Elena 😉 and "anon".  I have more readers than commenters so I don't know who you are.
My questions:

  1. If time and money were not an issue, what 5 national parks would you spend time in?
  2. What sport do you most want to try?
  3. What one "thing" (inanimate object) would you find hardest to give up?
  4. What is your favorite beverage?  Why?
  5. Describe your favorite pair of shoes.  Why are they your favorite?

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Moonshadow got it! And has read the book 😉

The point being that some of the reasons that the KJVO (King James Version Only) group use as "reasons" to reject new translations of Scripture are reasons that have been used throughout history - proving that "everything old is new again" and "there is nothing new under the sun".

The chapter (The King James Only Controversy) on the history of different translations and how Scripture was passed down is very interesting...unfortunately it seems that reformatting my hard drive is in my near future... ;-(

So I'll write when I can.

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The story goes:

The scholars responsible for the translation retired to their workshops, completing their work and then returned to compare their work with the other scholars. The discovered that they had produced identical translations, word-for-word - a sure sign of divine providence and inspiration.

This translation is _____________?

Quote: (no cheating and googling, please)

My only reason for objecting to the public reading of (?) translation (...) in our churches was, lest, bringing forward anything which was, as it were, new and opposed to the authority of the (?) version, we should trouble by serious cause of offense the flocks of Christ, whose ears and hearts have become accustomed to listen to that version to which the seal of approbation was given by the (?)

Who wrote this and concerning which translation?

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Untitled DocumentThese are the Spanish words I'm currently working on (out of a box of 1,000). You have to understand - I really suck sour lemons at foreign languages.

I AM GOING TO LEARN SPANISH

I've got a couple of books that I'm going to be using and the box of 1,000 flashcards. Next fall I'm going to retake Spanish 1 (in preparation for Spanish 2) and I'll go through the text book and make my own flashcards using the vocab from the class.

Each day I start out with 20 words (this is the way I do most of my classes with memory work). I keep the cards and a small pencil with me and as I go through the words I put a tiny check on the ones I get right. The ones I get right go to the back of the deck and the ones I get wrong go 5 cards back. When a card has 3 checks on it, it gets taken out of the deck and replaced.

Here are my "words for the day" in English(Spanish)

Currently working numbers and clothing

  • cotton (algodon) (sorry, I don't know how to make the accent mark) (July 2, 2007)
  • cap (la gorra) (dang those double r's)
  • centimeter (el centimetro)
  • 100 (cien[to])
  • 13 (trece)
  • 71 (setenta y uno)
  • 4th (el/la cuarto/a)
  • 43 (cuarenta y tres)
  • 40 (cuarenta)
  • meter (el metro)
  • 32 (treinta y dos)
  • belt (el cinturon)
  • blouse (la blusa)
  • cheap (barato/a)
  • (hand)bag (la cartera)
  • boos (las botas)
  • bathing/swim suit (el traje de bano)
  • 19 (diecinueve)
  • coat (el abrigo)
  • bra (el sosten)

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I've taken a hiatus from the diet and fitness thing...I've been pretty "ok" about the diet (except for today...and yesterday) but the walking "took a hike" (so to speak).

Tomorrow I bite the bullet and go weigh in. The physical difficulties I was dealing with appear to have taken a hike also so I'm a happy camper there!

I recently purchased this book and I REALLY like it - this is written by a woman who really understands! There are sets of pages facing each other - the first is a devotional and the second is a prayer written for a particular challenge. (Buy the book with this link and help me get free books! 😉

Here's my prayer for tomorrow:

Dear God,

thank You that You are a God of new beginnings!

You didn't stop creating on the sixth day

but continue to create and recreate the world

and this person that I am.

I confess that it is hard for me to begin again.

I'm afraid to try to change

because I've failed so many times before.

But this time I know that You don't waste any pain for failure.

And You never give up!

You never throw up Your hands, walk away and say,

"That's it! You'll never change!"

Instead, You are wholly and happily ready

every day to begin all over with me.

Just as the sun rises each new day,

so do my opportunities for new beginnings and totally fresh starts.

Help me to remember that as I take small steps toward You,

You are always reaching out to help me

and You are rejoicing in my progress.

You focus is no on the distance gained or the final destination.

Let's begin again, God

Right now.

Amen.

(disclaimer: I don't believe that God doesn't have His eye on the end game or the final destination - indeed it would be disheartening to believe that God would focus so much on the now without seeing the end result. It is because I know He holds the future that I fully trust Him with my present. But it's still a good prayer and a reminder to me to keep my eyes on the "now")