Conclusion – The Priesthood of the Laity

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Fiat

by Abbé Astruc

I think that now you see how, by uniting yourself to Jesus, either sacramentally or spiritually, by participating in His interior and exterior life, you do communicate as the Priest does.  But you must make the likeness in every way complete.  The Priest, saying Mass, is not selfish; he shares his Host with others.  So should you do also.  You partake of Our Lord in intimate Communion, but you must not keep Him only for yourself.  Let Jesus, abiding within you, find His way through you into other souls.  To those of your own family, to your friends, to all who live with you, be as a living Eucharist Table.  Make them to sit down at the festal banquet of your heart and of your soul; let them share in your thoughts and your affections, your words and your works; to each one give with generous charity the Jesus Who dwells in you.  In the words of St. Francis de Sales, strive ever to have “Jesus Christ in your mind, in your heart, on your breast, in your eyes, in your hands, on your tongue,  in your ears, and with all your footsteps.”  And then give Him out to all, bestow Him freely, make Him in some way reach all who pass you by, all who happen to come near you.  “Thou art My living Sacrament,”  Jesus once said to a mystical soul of our own days.  “I give Myself to thee, and through thee to souls.”  He says the same thing to you.

It seems to me that now you can see clearly what this Communion with Jesus is, and that you have understood how easy, and how possible at every moment, is this manner of spiritually communicating.  Let your life, then, become one continual Communion with Jesus.  And so you will accomplish the third act of your Mystical Mass [thus exercising your priestly role most fully according to your state in life.]

And now, devout Christian, ever bear in mind that your soul is priestlike, and that there is a Mass that you must say.  Each day, and many times during the day, ascend the altar of your heart, and repeating the words of the Priest:  “Introibo ad Altare Dei,” say your Mystical Mass.  Say it, in the first place, for yourself, that you may ever remain the faithful friend of Jesus; say it for your family and your friends, for all who are dear to you, and whom you love, that Jesus may bless and protect them; say it for Our Holy Mother the Church, and for your own country, that Jesus may shorten their time of strife and trial, and hasten the day of deliverance and triumph.

Remember, too, that, as the Priest says his Mass, so you should say yours – in a holy manner, with faith, with devotion, with love.  And once again remember, that your Mass is one that is ever begun, but never finished and that you must ever continue to say it, until the call of the Angel of Death. Then only will you finish it.  Your last word on earth will be your“Ite Missa est,”  and from Heaven you will give the eternal answer,

                         

                         “Deo Gratias.”

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“…may [God] help all those who are working for seriousness in sacred music”, pleads the maestro.

Posted on September 3, 2011 by Fiat

Cardinal Domenico Bartolucci from a post on Rorate Caeli:

“I am here, Blessed Father, in order to thank Your Holiness for the strong call for the use of music in the current celebrations of the Holy Mass. I am certain that, by calling a musician to be part of the College of Cardinals, you desired it to be a call for the use of sacred music in Holy Liturgy. …

“Today, a true a proper reawakening by so many young people can be noticed, who wish to relive the beauty of the Latin Mass and the greater spiritual fruit derived from it. This is great, a very great comfort, and makes us hope for a liturgical future which you certainly desire. We thank the Lord, that he may help all those who are working for seriousness in sacred music. I firmly trust that, we the help of God, a true return to the bimillenary tradition of sacred music will take place.”

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Yes, may God help us.  St. Cecila pray for us!

 

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4th Post – The Priesthood of the Laity

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Fiat

 by Abbé Astruc,  “Irish Messenger“ series,

a continuation on the theme of Communion:

Jesus is in the Holy Gospels, where, in some sort, an incarnation of Christ lies hidden beneath the letter.  When you meditate on the Word of God – and here I quote Mgr. Landriot, who has summed up the doctrine of the Fathers on Spiritual Communion with Christ – as you go deeper and deeper into its divine meaning, and find your way right to its very heart, there takes place within you a true Eucharistic mystery:  the Word enters into you, nourishes your mind, enkindles your heart, renews your life, and transforms you into Himself; then you partake in Spiritual Communion of Jesus hidden in the holy Gospels.

Jesus is in every soul in a state of grace. He Himself has publicly and formally declared that He has made such a soul His dwelling place, in a permanent  and lasting way.  “If any man love Me, He will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and will make Our abode with Him”  (John 14:23).  And many a time besides has He said the same thing.  When, therefore, in thought, affection and charity, you are united to souls who are in possession of the life of grace, you partake in Spiritual Communion of Jesus, dwelling within them.

Jesus is in little children, in the lowly, the poor, and in all who suffer.  He Himself has told us so:  “Whatsoever you do unto the least of these my brethren, you do it unto Me.”  So when you work at the intellectual, moral, or religious formation of little children  – when you serve and help the needy – when you visit and care for the sick – when you become a consoling angel, or a kind Cyrenian to those who have a cross to bear, and a Calvary to climb – when you give a little joy, a little happiness, to the outcasts of life – then you communicate spiritually and partake again of Jesus.

Jesus is in everything that you do.  All the actions, all the sacrifices, all the little details of your daily life, are as Father Faber says:  “So many Sacraments, so many real presences, for God is within each one.”  When, then, following the advice of St. Paul, who wrote:  “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philipp. 2:5); you strive to think, to will, to love, to feel, as Our Lord Himself did – do you know what you are doing?  You are partaking of the Interior Life of Jesus; you receive, as it were, a Communion of His Spirit, of His Will and of His Soul.

When, in accordance with the Divine Master’s teaching:  “I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you do also” (John 13:15), you endeavor to reproduce His manner of life, His way of acting towards persons, events and things, what then do you do?  You unite yourself in spiritual Communion to Jesus, in His active exterior life.

When suffering in body, soul, or heart; when, burdened with your cross, you painfully struggle up the Calvary of your life; when, fastened to that cross, you expiate, make reparation, and gain merit for yourself and others, are you conscious of all that you are doing?  Father Faber makes it clear to you when he says that “suffering is the greatest of all sacraments.”  Your suffering becomes a Spiritual Communion; through it you partake of the saving Passion of your Lord.

When you visit the poor and sick, or come to the aid of the suffering – when you promote the sanctification of souls, by catechising, or by occupying yourself with other works of zeal – when you give those around you an example of Christian virtue – when you speak a kind, well-chosen word, some little word that does good, consoles, encourages, that uplifts and edifies, do you realize what you are doing?  You then communicate spiritually; you are united to the Apostolate of Jesus.

When you are recollected, when in words or silently within your hearts you pray, then, in Spiritual Communion, you partake of the Prayer of Jesus.

…to be continued

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3rd Post – The Priesthood of the Laity

Posted on August 26, 2011 by Fiat

by Abbé Astruc,  “Irish Messenger“ series,

a continuation on the theme of Consecration:

You, too, are to be changed into Jesus; you are to become “other Christs.”  I do not say that this is done really, that is, substantially, but spiritually, mystically. You must then consecrate your bodies, that they may be pure and holy, in some degree, as in the Body of Jesus; your souls, that they may be made divine, somewhat like the soul of Jesus; your hearts, that they may love a little as the Heart of Jesus loves; your mind, that it may think thoughts that are like the thoughts of Jesus; your wills, that their acts may be in some way like those of the Will of Jesusl your whole daily life, that, as it becomes a continuation of the life of Jesus, it may grow in some small measure like unto His own – a life of holiness, of charity, of apostleship and of redemption.

And so you will ever work towards your consecration, which is to transform you, to change you little by little into Jesus Christ.  And when with St. Paul you are able to say:  “It is no longer I who live, but Jesus liveth in me” (Gal. 2:20), then you will have realized the second effect of your mystic consecration.

I have already said that after the Consecration by the Priest there only remain the species, or appearances, of the host of white flour.  Now these species, these sacramental appearances, are what Jesus makes use of in order to live His eucharistc life.

In proportion to the extent of your mystic consecration will Jesus make use of you, in order to live and work on earth.  He will make use of you as a means of thinking, speaking, praying, loving and suffering;  He will use you to combat and resist the evil one; to console, convert and sanctify; to make reparation, expiate and save; in a word, He will so use you as to be able still to “go about doing good” (Acts 10: 38), and then you will, in a way, be performing the divine functions of the sacramental species or appearances of the Consecrated Host.  You yourself will be the species, the living appearances; not sacramental ones, but spiritual and mystic, as it were veiling Jesus, hiding His presence and His action in the world; your life will be to Jesus here below as another life engrafted on His own; you will be living members of His Mystical Body, and in a certain way, you will take the place on earth of His Most Sacred Humanity.

This is, then, the Consecration that you have to make your own.  You must thoroughly understand that your consecration consists in transforming yourself, in changing yourself into Jesus; it consists in making Jesus live in you, in giving Him all that you do, that He may make use of it.  Bear well in mind, that as a thing never completely perfect, never finished, it must continue to take place at every moment.  Make then your life just one continued consecration of your whole selves.  So will you accomplish the second act of your Mystical Mass.

The Communion

The Host that he has offered and consecrated, and that has become Jesus Christ, the Priest now takes, even as we take food, and he receives It into the sanctuary of his own soul.  This is the Communion, that is to say, the most intimate, the most divine of unions between Jesus and the Priest.

Communion is also the third act of your Mystical Mass.  Each time that at the holy table you receive Jesus in the Sacred Host, you communicate in the same way as the Pries does.  This Sacramental Communion is the Communion above all others; indeed, strictly speaking, it is the only real one.  Nevertheless, besides this Eucharistic Communion, there still remain other ways of receiving Jesus Christ.  Every act, in fact, that unites us to Jesus, is a communion, doubtless only a spiritual, mystical one, but still, in a sense a true communion.  Seek then to find Jesus wherever He is, wherever He hides His presence, and strive to receive Him in Spiritual Communion.

…to be continued

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First TLM ever for Gilman’s Immaculate Conception Parish!

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Fiat

All for Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary!

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Something’s a brewing…something’s in the air.

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Fiat
The most recent post from Rorate:  A very happy bunch in black and white
 
“On 28 May 2011 Father Couture, the District Superior, came to visit our Convent. He had been delegated by Bishop Fellay to receive the vows of Mother Mary Micaela as she transferred from the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of New Zealand to the Dominican Sisters of Wanganui. [A congregation “friendly” with the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X – FSSPX / SSPX.]
“She had special permission from the Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes in Rome to do this. As far as we know this is a world first, that a Sister would be allowed to transfer from a Novus Ordo congregation to a congregation set up by Bishop Fellay. The whole procedure implies a recognition of our Congregation, and of the religious of Tradition, by Rome.”
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2nd post, The Priesthood of the Laity

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Fiat

Abbé Astruc,  “Irish Messenger“ series:

The Priest, in offering up the Sacred Host, says:  “Receive, O Holy Father, Almighty and Eternal God this spotless host which I, Thy unworthy servant, offer unto Thee, my Living and True God, for mine own countless sins, offences and negligences, and for all here present; as also for all faithful Christians, living and dead, that it may avail both me and them unto salvation for life everlasting.  Amen.”

In like manner should you also offer yourself to God, and say: “Lord, I offer myself to Thee to be the living victim of my family:  I desire to be sacrificed so that my relatives and all those I love may be blessed, sanctified and saved.

“Lord, I offer myself to Thee to be the living victim of such and such a good work that I am interested in, and to which I devote myself;  I desire to be sacrificed that this work may live and prosper.

“Lord, I offer myself to Thee, to be a living victim for Thy Priests; I desire to be sacrificed in order to succor Thy Sacred Ministers, that their Priesthood may be made holy and fruitful.

“Lord, I offer myself to Thee to be the living victim of Thy Holy Will, that I may follow my vocation to its utmost limits, that I may fulfil my whole mission, that I may realize all Thy designs upon me.

“Lord, I offer myself to Thee to be the living victim of Thy Love; I desire to be sacrificed that Thy Holy Name may be hallowed, that Thy Kingdom may come, that Thy Will may be done, that Thou mayest be better known, more loved, more glorified.

“Lord, I offer myself to Thee to be a little living victim for sinners; I desire to be sacrificed so as to be associated with the Redemption wrought by Thy Son, and to make up that ‘which is wanting to His  Passion,’ His sufferings, and His Death;  I wish to be sacrificed that I may, in union with Him, expiate, make amends, and win merit.”

In doing this you will be carrying out a great, a fruitful, and much needed apostolate….No one can tell, for God alone knows, the supernatural, sanctifying and fruitful influence you will exercise around you through this work of your secret immolation.  [This, then is how we the laity are called to be ‘priests’.]

Such then is the offering that you are to make.  But notice this – your offering ever remains unfinished; at each moment of your days and nights you can, and should renew it.  Let your life then be one continued offering; and so you will accomplish the first act of your Mystical Mass.

The Consecration

When the Priest says Mass, he takes into his hands the host that he has offered up, and pronounces over it the words of Consecration.

In like manner should you also consecrate the host that you have already offered unto God.  That which the real Consecration effects upon the wheaten host, your mystic consecration should also, in some sort of way, effect upon yourself, the living host.  This is what I will now try to show you:  still making use of analogy and comparison.

The Priest consecrates his host by pronouncing over it these four words;  “Hoc est Corpus Meum – This is My Body.”  At the same instant the substance of the host of wheaten bread has ceased to be bread; of it there remains nothing, save that something which we call species, or appearances. The first result, then, of the Consecration is the disappearance of the substance of that little host of bread.

Now you as well have to disappear; not indeed suddenly, but little by little and by degrees.  This will be done by humbling yourself, forgetting yourself, renouncing yourself, ever and always putting self to death within you, [“Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, … “ John 12:23-25]. It is by “dying daily,” as St. Paul says, that you will attain to that mystic death of self which will be the first result of your Consecration.

The words of Consecration pronounced by the Priest have a second effect, even more marvelous  than the first;  they trans-substantiate the host into Jesus Christ.  The Consecration, then, is the changing of the substance of the bread into Jesus Christ, the real, living Jesus Christ, with His Divinity and His Humanity.

to be continued…..

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Ist Posting – Traditional Understanding of the Priesthood of the Laity

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Fiat

  The Priesthood of the Laity

The perennial teaching on the exercise of the priesthood of the laity, by Abbé Astruc,  “Irish Messenger“ series:

Every Christian has received a true participation in the Priesthood of Jesus Christ; as a member of the Mystical Body of Christ he belongs, as St. Peter affirms, “to a chosen race, a Kingly Priesthood” (I Peter ii 9).  St. Ambrose repeated it also to the Faithful of Milan:  “All the children of the Church are Priests.  In Baptism they receive the anointing which makes them sharers in the Priesthood.  The victim that they offer unto God is wholly spiritual; it is THEMSELVES [my emphasis].  Therefore, devout souls, you may be glad.  Though you have not received the Sacrament of Holy Orders, you are spiritually associated to the Priesthood.   You are not really a Priest; nevertheless, because you are Christian, you have a priest-like soul.  Our Lord has kept in reserve for you a part or share in His Divine Priesthood.  But how are you to put this part into action?

It is clearly evident that you cannot say a real Mass, but you can say a spiritual, mystical Mass, bearing some analogy with that which is celebrated at the Holy Altar;  one Mass alone, which commencing with your life, is carried on through all your life.  This Mass of yours: the one that you can say, is in some sort of way a reproduction of the one said by the priest. Consequently, we should find the three essential acts that go to make up a real Mass:  the Offertory, the Consecration, and the Communion.

The Offertory

The Priest, to say Mass, needs a Victim.  In order to say your Mystical Mass you, too, will need a victim.  But where are you to find one?   [Ahhh…you needn’t look very far.]  St. Augustine tells you:  “Seek not outside yourself for the victim that you need; this victim you will find within you.”  And St. Paul makes it known in greater fullness by the words:  “I beseech you that you present your bodies a living Sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God” (Rom. xii 1).

You too, must be a host…without leaven.  The leaven that I speak of stands for all that is not pure, all that is evil, all that is not according to the Christian spirit.  And every trace of this bad leaven you must purge out of you.  Turn your gaze inwards, and seek in your mind, in you will, in your heart, in your intention, for all that is too earthly, too worldly; all that is not absolutely worthy of a good and true Christian, and then pluck it out, destroy it; each day strive to become more supernatural, more pure, more holy, and then your victim, your own host, will hold some little likeness to the Sacred Host of the Priest.

Taking his host into his hands, the Priest offers it up to God.  You, too, have to make an offering of your host; the host that is yourself.  Take then your whole being, and holding nothing in reserve, [not even your past] offer yourself to God.  Take your body with all its senses, your soul with all its powers, your mind with all its thoughts, your will with all its movements, your heart with all its affections;  take your daily life, with your labors, your suffering, your struggles, your efforts, your prayers, your good works, and say to God:  “Lord, all that is yours; I offer it all to you.”

Make this offering of yourself wholly, generously, joyously.  Do not do as Cain, who offered to the Lord only that which was less good, but offer to God your very best, the best of your souls, the best of your heart, the best of your life.  Neither must you act like Ananias and Saphira, who sought to keep back for themselves a portion of their goods, but offer God your holocaust, whole and entire;  offer Him in very deed all that you are, all that you have, all that you do;  make no reserve, keep nothing back, either for yourself or for others.

To be continued…

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Press release re: 3rd Secret of Fatima

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Fiat

Press Release POSTED: 8/16/11

The Remnant             

______________________

(www.RemnantNewspaper.com) The latest edition of Inside the Vatican  contains a bombshell revelation by Editor-in-Chief Robert Moynihan regarding the continuing controversy over the completeness of the Vatican’s disclosure of the Third Secret, which has been “managed” by the Vatican Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone, since 2000.

 In an article entitled “Passing of a Friend” (p. 4), Moynihan provides a tribute to Archbishop Pietro Sambi, who served as papal nuncio to the United States until his death in July. Moynihan relates “four memories in particular [he] has of [Archbishop Sambi],”  the second of which is as follows:

 We were discussing the Third Secret of Fatima, the allegations that the Vatican has not published the entire text of the Third Secret as revealed to Sister Lucia, and the response of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, in a book where Bertone states that there is nothing more to be revealed. Sambi said, “Excuse me.” He got up, went out of the room, and came back with a book. “Here,” he said. “Do you know this book? You should read it.” It was Christopher Ferrara’s The Secret Still Hidden

 “Wait,” I said. “You are the Pope’s representative in the US, and you are urging me to read a book that questions what the secretary of state wrote?” Sambi replied, “All I am saying is that there are interesting things worth reading in this book. And in the end, we are all after the truth, aren’t we? The truth is the important thing…”

 Reached for comment, author Ferrara told The Remnant: “I rejoice at the news that such a high-ranking Vatican official had the openness of mind to study the evidence which drove me to write the book in order to present the evidence systematically.  And I mightily resisted the conclusion that there is a missing companion text of the Secret, which would explain the otherwise ambiguous and endlessly debated vision of the ‘Bishop dressed in white’.  Who wants to be accused of being a ‘conspiracy nut’ by the comfortable defenders of the post-conciliar status quo? But, as Antonio Socci has put it regarding his own journey in this matter: ‘In the end I had to surrender’ to what the evidence shows. And what it shows, as Socci also concluded, is that “it is certain” that the missing text exists.  Socci and I, like the late Archbishop Sambi, are interested in the truth, not the avoidance of offense to certain prestigious personages.”

 Ferrara added: “And God bless Robert Moynihan for having the courage to publish this important revelation.  He had nothing to gain, humanly speaking, from doing this.  All praise to him!  This is but another crack in the dam of denial that has been weakening steadily over the past seven years, culminating in the Pope’s complete rejection in May of 2010 of the Secretary of State’s party line that the Third Secret ‘belongs to the past.’  No, said the Pope, it pertains to ‘future realities of the Church’—a clear indication that there is something more.  Then there was the Fatima conference in Rome this May, attended by Andrea Tornielli and Paolo Rodari as speakers, along with me and others, and Cardinal Renato Martino, the retired Vatican diplomat.  The whole landscape is changing, and we can hope this change is a prelude to the full revelation of the Secret, the Consecration of Russia, and the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart.”

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!Basta de guitarras¡

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Fiat

The following is my translation of an article posted on the Spanish blog,

Pro Misa Tradicional en Ciudad Real:

The daily newspaper La Republica recently published an interesting piece dedicated to “the music of God”.  In that context it presents an interview with Spanish Msgr. Pablo Colino, director of the choir of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Rome, former Master of the Julia Chapel, and Canon of the Basilica of St. Peter, which we translate as follows:

Maestro Colino,  why are sacred music and the liturgy in crisis?

Everything was rushed after the Vatican II Council, with that big, superficial wave of pseudo-renewal that has caused so much damage in almost all of our churches. It is enough to attend any liturgical celebration, to experience horrible guitars, deafening electronic keyboards, and perfunctory choirs. All led by poorly instructed directors.  Although there are encouraging exceptions, that we believe, could be well expected in the future.

Could you give an example?

Recently, in Terni, an interesting congress on sacred music took place, and for that occasion, many youthful choirs and many groups of artists specializing in liturgical music were present. It has been beautiful and interesting to listen to them. And also encouraging.

But is there a “prescription” for reviving sacred music?

We must return to a serious, rigorous and zealous study in the scholae cantorum, in the conservatories and, perhaps, the schools. Sacred music is a universal patrimony, among the highest and perennial forms of art.  And Italy is full of them, having given birth to the greatest composers of liturgical music.

And what should be the programs in these schools?

It is of fundamental importance to once more transmit the direct knowledge of Gregorian chant and, at the same time, to improve the training of the musicians, directors and choirs. There will be no headway without pedagogical rigor and the knowledge of Gregorian [chant], the mother of sacred music;  but I dare to say that of all the music, including contemporary.

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