The LORD gives food to the hungry

"Do not be afraid.... For the LORD, the God of Israel, says,
'The jar of flour shall not go empty,
nor the jug of oil run dry ....'"

The LORD ... gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free....

The fatherless and the widow he sustains ....

Christ, offered once to take away the sins of many,
will appear a second time, not to take away sin
but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.

A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents.

1 Kings 17:13-14

Psalm 146:7, 9

Hebrews 9:28

The Gospel, Saint Mark 12:42

I think someone took these readings from the Novus Ordo, or post-Vatican II missal, but I really like them and feel that they're an expression of what my Christianity is-or at least should be-about.

I really love the Traditional Latin Mass and now Sunday's my favorite day of the week.

But I feel that I'm a sinner who needs salvation. I knew this for a long time, but I'm taking this fact more seriously now that that I've been attending the Latin Mass and listening to Father's homilies and guidance in the confessional.

I feel that I'm more trusting to the Lord now and the focus on whatever's been going on in my life now-that the important thing is that I'm in a state of Grace-and that the Lord is truly looking after me. And I'm sure He really appreciates the widow dropping her last two cents in the collection basket-while He wishes that many of the more fortunate-such as a millionare who drops only a 20-dollar bill in the basket each Sunday-would be more generous.

Of course, I must be honest that my faith wanes sometimes, like it has recently. I used to say quite a bit that I had "the faith of an atheist", but I have not been feeling that way during the 9 months I've been attending the Latin Mass until recently when I had a setback. I haven't been feeling well lately and been feeling like I need a little more "tender loving care" from the other human beings in my life-not just from the Lord. But they don't always choose to give it. Maybe my faith is being tested right now.

The Enrollment

Today was the day! (Actually it was yesterday since I'm posting this after midnight.)

Father enrolled me and a number of other people who came up to the first few pews after Mass. He read the blessing aloud in English so we knew what he was saying and in Latin every scapular after that. He blessed the scapulars, said something in Latin, and put the Scapulars in front of each persons lips so we can kiss them before he put them on us. We're also encouraged to kiss them when putting them on after taking a shower.

It was a beautiful ceremony.

Father talked about our becoming part of a scapular confraternity by enrolling. I googled the Brown Scapular and was reminded about the obligation to say the Little Office, but a priest can change this to the Rosary. I'll have to look and see if my Little Office books got shoved under the bed. (Dearest St Anthony please help me find them.)

I found out from Father that only the first scapular has to be blessed although we're encouraged to get the others blessed too.

According to what I read in the Google article, if you want to wear the Scapular medal, you must still have the enrollment done with the Scapular and then replace it with the medal after the enrollment. And you need to have every Scapular medal that you wear blessed by a priest or deacon after that.

I took an old cell phone with a camera to the church and had a lady take a couple pictures of me with the priest while he still had the special vestment he had on for enrolling the Scapular.

According to Father, the Scapular was given to St. Simon Stock, when she appeared to him at Mt. Carmel in 1251.

At first only Carmelite priests were allowed to do the enrollment; now any priest is allowed to do it.

The Week of the Brown Scapular

Father said he'll enroll people in the Brown Scapular after Mass next Sunday, July 19. This should be done at First Communion time, but many of us, myself included, slipped through the cracks and didn't enroll. Some converted to Caholicism and some received their First Communion during a time, like the Post-Vatican II church whose standards in the 1970's and '80's were lax.

Something like that happened to me when I made my 1rst Communion in 1976 at the age of 17. One of my aunts, my godmother, gave me a scapular shortly after that. And I wore it knowing nothing about the scapular enrollment until years later when I was 34 years old.

My parents were both cradle Catholics who had me baptized as a baby but were inactive during most of my childhood. I didn't start attending Mass until I was 13 and my godmother found out I wanted to go to church and I found out she was willing to take me.

Three years after I started going to Mass with my aunt, my parents and brother decided to go with me. The four of us joined the parish and my brother and I both prepared for my First Communion.

The feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, who told St. Simon Stock about the Brown Scapular, is July 16. Unfortunately this feast day falls on a weekday and Father can't come up then to enroll the scapulars so he will do it next Sunday instead.