THEOLOGY OF THE TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS # 16

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Fiat

The washing of the hands is primarily a symbol of the interior purification necessary before offering the sacrifice of the Spotless Lamb. A good and humble priest, conscious of his unworthiness, must feel at this point a certain trepidation, for he knows that as “another Christ”, he must be pure of mind and body and blameless in his actions. Calmet comments on verse 7 of the Psalm ( Ps.25:6-12) which the priest prays at the Lavabo, that “God suffers no greater injury from any, than from bad ministers.”

According to St. Thomas Aquinas (De anima iii) the hand is the “organ of organs” in which the power and activity of man is concentrated, used for either good or evil.  In recalling that Pilate used that power to deliver the innocent Christ to death, we may pray: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who, though declared innocent by Pontius Pilate, didst hear without opening Thy divine lips, the outcries of the Jews to crucify Thee; grant that I may live innocently, and that the malice of others may not trouble me. Amen.”

In union with the priest and the other faithful, we propose to incline our wills to always do good so as to be counted among the innocent of heart who approach the altar.

For the Lavabo in the Novus Ordo, 7 verses of Psalm 25 were replaced with 1 verse of Psalm 51: “Lord, wash away my iniquity; cleanse me from my sin.” Consequently, there is no longer the priest’s protestation to God that he has the intent to “wash”– keep company – with the innocent of heart, because as the Haydock commentary states, doing so “is a great inducement to virtue”. Gone also is reference to “God’s wonderous works”; love of “the beauty of [God’s] House”; pleading with God to “Destroy not [the priest’s] soul with the wicked”. No more mentioned is the distinction between the innocent, and the wicked who are men of blood. Gone are many other expressions of filial supplication, gratitude and confidence in God.

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Traditional Latin Mass at Oratory Prep enlightens

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Fiat

So reads the headline of this story.  Please, click on the picture to go to the source.

Meet Father Michael Barone, a priest docile to the desires of our Holy Father.   (I wish he were of our diocese. )

“At a special Mass at Oratory Prep School in Summit, guest celebrant Fr. Michael Barone of Elizabeth serves Holy Communion to eighth grader Brendan Murphy of Springfield. Fr. Michael is assisted by Dr. Rossi who participated as an acolyte of the Mass.”
P. S.  My apologies to our followers for the triple e-mail notification.  I experienced problems with this entry.
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Spanish/English Interview with Fr. Rodriquez

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Fiat

Entrevista con el P. Rodriguez  de los e.e.u.u., que han descrito como teniendo el corazón de león.  Hacia el fin de la entrevista, el padre contesta  en español. Fijo este video con la intención de hacer a conocer  a nuestros visitantes  de habla español, de este sacerdote tan notable y heroico quién su obispo quiso castigar solamente por predicar las enseñanzas de  nuestra fe contra la perversión homosexual.

El Padre es de mente tradicional y celebra la misa TLM.

http://www.kvia.com/video/30345657/index.html

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Thousand attend first Latin mass in 40 years at South Miami church – South Miami – MiamiHerald.com

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Fiat

Lead us, and we will follow!  See what happens when a worthy successor of the Apostles, a true shepherd to his flock, is docile to the directives of Peter?

I found particularly noteworthy,  the Archbishop’s remark that in the TLM, “We’re united with our ancestors in the faith so this is another way of representing the unity of the church.”

I know  a priest who said we, the traditional-minded faithful in his parish, were divisive just by existing!   Father,  Archbishop Wenski disagrees with you.

Thousand attend first Latin mass in 40 years at South Miami church – South Miami – MiamiHerald.com.

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THEOLOGY OF THE TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS # 15

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Fiat

Removing the pall from over the chalice may seem to be an insignificant, matter-of-fact occurrence; but if we delve deeper into what the pall is, we can better understand and appreciate the mystery of the Mass as it unfolds before our very eyes.

The pall has to be of white linen, this to remind us of the sudarium, the white, linen napkin which was used to wrap the blood-stained Head of our Lord at His burial.  When the corporal and the pall are blessed, the accompanying prayer asks that they “may be made, by the grace of the Holy Ghost, a “novum sudarium” for the Body and Blood of our Redeemer”.   The pall, then, is a new sudarium.  It reminds us of the piece of linen used to bind the Sacred Head.

At this point in the Mass, it is most opportune to call to mind why the sudarium was blood-stained.  We recall that painful moment when Christ’s sacred Head was sadistically pierced with a crown of thorns, and pray thus:  “Lord Jesus Christ, who for my sake wouldst be so cruelly crowned with thorns, pierce me so thoroughly with the thorns of penance that I may have a right to be crowned by Thee in heaven.  Amen.”

As for the impoverished, cut-and-edited N.O., there is not even mention of the pall in the General Instructions. The bloodied, thorn-crowned Sacred Head of our Lord is probably the furthest thing from the mind of many in the pews of the typical N.O. I am reminded of a lay “Eucharistic extraordinary minister”, who when shown a holy card of our Lord scourged, crowned, and bleeding, recoiled in horror and exclaimed, “Get that away from me!”   

“The liturgical reform, in its concrete realization, has distanced itself even more from its origin. The result has not been a reanimation, but devastation. In place of the liturgy, fruit of a continual development, they have placed a fabricated liturgy.”  – Cardinal Ratzinger

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[1] The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: dogmatically, liturgically, ascetically, by Fr. Nicholas Gihr

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The Liturgy is Understood Visually

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Fiat

“The active participation of the faithful consists not so much in singing and prayer, rather in the visual apprehension of things, which happen on the altar.”  – Cardinal James Louis McIntyre († 1979)

Have you ever gone to Mass – a N.O. – in a very somber mood because of things weighing heavy on the mind?  And, it happened that you just didn’t feel like being vocal, but you were praying in the stillness of your soul because you understood that THE Mass is the greatest prayer one can offer to God?   You expected to find comfort, a lessening of  the weight of your burden, a lighter heart.  But, instead, exactly the opposite happened.  It was not so much the talking and levity of the congregation.  That, like an annoying insect, you were able to ignore.  It was Father.  He just scolded you, and all the rest who either were not making the responses, or were not making them loudly enough.  Father told all of you to turn up the decibels!

What! After Vatican II God began suffering from sensorineural hearing loss?

What a pity that even at Mass, a soul cannot find rest.

They just don’t get it.

The above quote is from a post on Eponymous Flower.  The full article can be found there.

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Forthcoming Duncan Stroik Renovation

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Fiat

In this recent photo, you see the chapel of the Carmelite Monastery of Traverse City, Michigan.  Duncan Stroik has been commissioned to do the renovation.  I thought it would be fun to do a before and after.  But you will have to wait until June to see the end results.  In the meantime, you may speculate on what might be done to make the place more suitable for traditional, ad orientem worship.

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THEOLOGY OF THE TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS #14

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Fiat

The priest prays: “Accept, O Holy Father, Almighty and eternal God, this spotless host, which I, thine unworthy servant, offer to Thee, my living and true God, to atone for my countless sins, offenses and negligences; on behalf of all here present and likewise for all faithful Christians living and dead; that it may avail for my own and for their salvation unto life everlasting.”

The Holy Trinity is addressed, and the Holy Spirit is specifically invoked, to come and sanctify the elements – the matter of the Sacrifice. In this way, the bread and wine are sanctified by Him, that is, set apart and made holy so as to be made worthy for their exalted purpose. By anticipation, the priest also already offers the Divine Victim to His Father. “We offer unto Thee, O Lord, the Chalice of Salvation…”

At this point, it would be most appropriate to make the offering of one’s self to our Redeemer. In the words of St. Aphonsus Liguori, “Since Jesus Christ gives entirely His Body and His Blood, let no one approach without giving himself entirely to the Lord.” And, we find this in the Roman Catholic Daily Missal, 1962: “In the Offertory, Christ unites our desires and prayers to His own offerings of Himself to the Father. As our intentions are joined to the Passion of Christ, they assume the value of the Passion in the eyes of God.”

We recall the continuation of Our Lord’s Passion when He was scourged: “Lord Jesus Christ, who for me wouldst be bound unto a pillar, and there cruelly whipped; give me grace to willingly bear the rods of Thy paternal correction and never more to scourge Thee by my sins. Amen.”

In the N.O. the reformers suppressed the Offertory prayers entirely and replaced them with a prayer that is not of Apostolic origin, but rather, is derived from the post 70 A.D. Jewish “Haggadah”, a text for the rituals of their Seder meal: “Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you: fruit of the earth and work of human hands…”, etc. Being of Jewish origins, it obviously does not point to the sacrificial and expiatory nature of the Mass with Our Lord as the immolated Victim; nor is the Trinity addressed.

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THEOLOGY OF THE TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS # 13

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Fiat

The chalice, being a consecrated vessel meant to hold the Divinity, has been kept covered out of reverence for it.  Now, the immediate preparation for the Sacrifice begins with the removal of the veil because Divine mysteries of our Faith are about to be revealed.

The ancient Eastern liturgy of St. James has most beautiful “prayers of the veil” which makes reference to the flesh of Our Lord as the veil :  “We thank Thee, Lord our God, that thou hast given us the freedom of entry into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, inaugurating for us a new and living way through the veil of His flesh”,  and  “…unveiling the coverings of the mysteries which in symbol surround this sacred rite, show them to us clearly and fill the eyes of our minds with Thy incomprehensible light, and purifying our poverty from every defilement of flesh and spirit….”

We may recall that Our Lord was unvested in preparation for the scourging, and pray thus:  “O Lord Jesus Christ, who wouldst be despoiled of Thy garments, and stripped and scourged for my sake; grant me by a sincere and entire confession of my sins to put off the old man, with all his acts, and never to appear devoid of virtue in Thy sight.  Amen.”

The chalice veil is not always used in the N.O. since the 2000 GIRM does not make it mandatory.  It merely says that “it is good to cover the chalice with the veil.”  If you question priests who don’t use one, they may tell you that the chalice coverings were only meant to keep the flies out in the days when churches had to leave the windows open.

While the coverings would certainly do that, there is rich symbolism behind the use of the chalice veil which has been forgotten or ignored. The Godhead took upon Himself a veil of human flesh which was torn by stripes and scourges, to make entrance for us into heaven: “A new and living way which he hath dedicated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh” (Hebrews 10:20).

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Monsignor, Our Lady of Fatima and Hell

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Fiat

Yesterday,  a dear priest-friend of our family expressed his consternation over the loss of the sense of the sacred which he sees even amongst parishioners considered to be good people.   Well, today, I came across a youtube on Angel Queen in which Monsignor Moss identifies one most effectual method by which the devil has succeeded in ensnaring souls these past 40-50 years.   In watching the youtube,  towards the end of the sermon, Msg. Moss,  mentions one of the things which greatly annoys our priest-friend.   Watch it and see if you can relate.  It is something that commonly plays out in churches where the N.O. is celebrated.

One more thing.  I would advise anyone to flee from those who would suggest that True Devotion and a firm and loving attachment to Our Lady of Fatima shows too extravagant a regard for our Blessed Mother.

How many times I have come across that mentality from even fellow-Catholics!

Msgr. Moss speaks: 

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