La solennità di Pentecoste

 

“La solennità di Pentecoste non è una semplice commemorazione di sì grande mistero: essa ne è il vero rinnovamento  poichè il divino Spirito, che scese nella Chiesa nascente, continua a discendere visibilmente nei fedeli per accendere nei loro cuori il fuoco del divino Amore.”

[Beata Elena Guerra]

 

Una Santa Domenica a tutti!

 

 

Veni, creátor Spíritus,
mentes tuòrum vísita,
imple supérna grátia,
quæ tu creásti péctora.

 

Our last hope …

While still Vatican Secretary of State, the future Pope Pius XII predicted:

“A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted.  She will be tempted to believe that man has become God.  In our churches, Catholics will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them.  Like Mary Magdalene, weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask, “Where have they taken Him?”  

Whether or not one can say with certainty that Pius’ prophecy has come to pass, we can certainly note that at a time when the world most needs authoritative direction and unambiguous statements, Vatican bureaucrats have responded with vague allusions to a “civilization of love” that sounds suspiciously like the ecumenical utopianism condemned by St. Pius X in his letter on the French Siullon movement.  

With a hierarchy more interested in “social justice” than in the salvation of souls (recent example five days ago, the CEI meeting in Rome, see http://www.agensir.it/), it can come as little surprise that younger people, left without direction, have simply embraced outright nihilism, with the more intellectually curious among them gravitating toward Eastern religions. 

Where are our saintly priests?  Our priests that are not afraid to tell us we are on the wrong road.  Those who do not squirm when they have to scold us. Our intellectually brilliant priests, our wonderful teachers, our compassionate shepherds and remarkably deep thinkers who exemplify all that is good about the priesthood by their constant devotion to Our Lady, their fidelity to the Magisterium and their unabashed love of Jesus Christ. Real men for a man’s job.

With all the destruction that has been wrought by modernity, men have looked in vain for the solid centre to which to turn in this age of chaos.

In place of the Church as the oasis of certainty in the midst of meaninglessness, liberals have transformed the image of the Church into that of just another pilgrim searching for meaning with all men of good will.  In the process they have crippled if not destroyed missionary endeavor, and have abandoned the tone of urgency that once accompanied appeals to conversion.

Meanwhile, Western ‘civilization’ continues blithely along the path to ruin.  

The only institution that can prevent this collapse is the Catholic Church, which is why her restoration is so urgently to be desired.  It is for this reason that, sub specie aeternitatis, it is the Catholic Church herself that we might with some justice call the last, best hope of earth.

“and the gates of hell shall not prevail …”

At the dawn of the nineteenth century, Napoleon Bonaparte sought to dominate the Church in France, and at times grew infuriated at the refusal of the Pope and the episcopacy to do his bidding.  On one occasion, Napoleon thundered to Cardinal Consalvi, Pope Pius VII’s secretary of state, “I’ll destroy your Church!”

“No, you won’t”, the Cardinal answered.

Napoleon snapped, “But yes, I will destroy your Church, wait and see!”

Consalvi replied: “If all the bad popes and immoral priests and the thousands of sinners in the Church haven’t been able to destroy her in 1900 years, you certainly can’t do it in one lifetime.”

Believing in the Church’s ultimate survival does not, however, answer the question: what will restore her now?

History shows that what restored her at previous low points was holiness.  The Holy Spirit raised up saints whose radiant faith and virtue demonstrated the truth of His Church.

Painful as it is, the scalding media coverage of today’s scandals is a good.  It is medicinal, exposing sins and abuses too long ignored.  It will force authentic reform.  I believe it is the work of Him whose word on Ezekiel’s lips raised up the nation of Israel from dry bones.  He can make saints from the dry bones of the twenty-first century, too.

We do not live in a Golden Age of the Church, but traditional apostolic Catholics today are proof that she still lives.  History shows us that every era had ugly problems of its own.  The fact is that life always was and always will be a battle of some kind.  We grow weary of battle, of having to oppose our neighbours and our pastors.  Like Frodo in The Lord of the Rings, we often wish we didn’t have to bear the ring.  But we know that God chose us to fight for Him here, in this era, which is a high honour.  We are not called to win, but to enter the battle and bear the Cross, trusting Him to bring good out of evil.  So we can be cheerful as we fight, because we know that our side wins in the end: our King has already defeated the Prince of this world.

 

Ridiamoci su …

Avvisi parrocchiali:

1.   Giovedì alle 5 del pomeriggio ci sarà un raduno del “Gruppo Mamme”. Tutte coloro che vogliono entrare a far parte delle Mamme sono pregate di rivolgersi al parroco, nel suo ufficio.

2.   Martedì sera, cena a base di fagioli nel salone parrocchiale. Seguirà concerto.

3.   Venerdì sera alle 7 i bambini dell’oratorio presenteranno l’Amleto di Shakespeare nel salone della chiesa. La comunità è invitata a prendere parte a questa tragedia.

4.   Care signore, non dimenticate la vendita di beneficenza! È buon modo per liberarvi di quelle cose inutili che vi ingombrano la casa. Portate i vostri mariti.

5.   Tema della catechesi di oggi : “Gesù cammina sulle acque”. La catechesi di domani: “Alla ricerca di Gesù”.

6.   Il costo per la partecipazione al convegno su “Preghiera e Digiuno” è comprensivo dei pasti.

7.   Ringraziamo quanti hanno pulito il giardino della chiesa ed il parroco.

Motu Proprio

When the Holy Father issued the Motu Proprio, I was incredibly overjoyed! I knew that this would not bring the Latin Mass to my parish in a day, but I was much more hopeful that the beautiful Mass of all times would be more available to me and to many young people who have never assisted at one. When was the Motu Proprio issued? 2007? Well, in general one can say that it’s been a success.

There have been many visible effects which can be witnessed. For one, there have been a number of successful training conferences hosted in various regions of the world for priests and seminarians interested in learning about the usus antiquior. The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales hosted such a conference at Merton College, Oxford, in the summers of 2007 and 2008 and is hosting another this summer. The Canons Regular of Saint John Cantius sent their priests as far away as Eastern Europe to offer similar training and recently held a spring training session in Chicago. They have even coordinated sessions for the laity. On top of this, the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter and the Institute of Christ the King have also organised similar training sessions with great success. More continue to be planned and interest continues to be expressed. While the numbers of priests who have attended these conferences so far is not going to be in the thousands so much as the hundreds, the fact is that it is yet hundreds who have begun to walk the road toward the celebration of the ancient Roman liturgy. Aside from training, there has also been a noticeable increase of Masses now being offered in the extraordinary form worldwide

(some articles:  http://www.knoxlatinmass.net/articles/articles.htm,  http://honneurs.free.fr/Wikini/wakka.php?wiki=PagePrincipale ).

Some of the most encouraging of these developments are those now being offered at Catholic university campuses where they were not previously offered. Numbers are less the issue here than is the fact of the spread of this liturgy to areas in an academic environment where youth will be able to more readily partake of it, learn from it and be inspired by it. As far as parishes are concerned, it is difficult to gauge what the precise response has so far been, but certainly gains have been made on this front and in the U.S. (it’ll take a little longer in Europe) it is quite common to hear of parish priests now offering the usus antiquior in addition to the regular slate of Masses in the modern form. While this is not the significant majority of priests and parishes of course – again, that wouldn’t be realistic to expect at this point – the gains are nonetheless noteworthy.

However, there sadly has been no change in my area. 

The Holy Father has established that in the central sector of the Diocese of Rome, in the 1st District, and in a fitting place of worship, namely, the Church of Ss. Trinità dei Pellegrini should be erected a personal parish, in order to guarantee proper pastoral care for the entire community of Traditional faithful (the tenth full personal parish and the first in Europe for the Fraternity of St. Peter, I believe) but it’s a couple of hours drive for me.  The Latin Mass is not only something they offer, it is their Rite on a daily basis. All they do, all their sacraments, societies and activities are based on their being a TLM community. It is a parish without boundaries for this reason. How I wish I could be a part of that! But it is not possible. It is too far away.

When I assist at the TLM at the Rome parish, I know for sure that it is my true Rite. It was taken away from me in my youth, but it never left me! I am not against Novus Ordo. And it could be beautifully done. Sadly, however, there is not unity on this. When you go to a TLM, people want to be there and love the Mass and fully participate in it and know exactly what they are doing at each phase and why. All are on the same wavelength. When you go to a Novus Ordo Mass, some people appreciate the partial use of Latin in some churches. Others resent it. Some feel offended at seeing women do what the priest is supposed to do and others cry out for more women inclusion.  Some priests want to celebrate the Novus Ordo Mass the way it should be. Others shape certain things to their own liking. Some talk, some listen, some sing. Personally, I cannot stand the ridiculous ‘songs’ many insist on screeching out Sunday after Sunday during the NOM.

There are no plans to have the TLM at my parish nor any plans to have a TLM community in my own diocese. Perhaps they will when I am dead. I believe with all my heart that we would all be better off for it.

The Motu Proprio is bringing many benefits to the Church. For those priests who have not dared offer Mass according to the ancient usage, the Motu Proprio will give them the ability to exercise their priesthood in a way never before permitted. They will be able to discover in this rite what it means to be a priest. And this is a great grace for them. As they are formed by the traditional liturgy, many will find it increasingly difficult to return to the hodge podge of the reformed Mass. They will want to be sacrificing priests, mediators between God and man, and not just a ‘presider’ of some kind of social banquet. Likewise, the laity will discover or rediscover what it means to pray, what it means to stand or kneel before the living God, something they will virtually never see in the self-adoring liturgies in many parishes. They will, if they follow a Missal, learn what grace is, what sin is, what the conversion of souls means, what self-denial is, and that the heretics and schismatics really do exist and need to be prayed for so that they may return to the one and only Fold of Christ.

The Pope believes that the Motu Proprio will help the new rite to re-stabilize. But it is more likely that exposure to the Church’s true liturgy will open the eyes of priests and laity enough that they will forsake the novelties all together. What priest will want to go back to the cult of Man when he discovers what it is to worship God? What layman or laywoman, if they are serious about the Faith, will want to go back to the parish priests’ personal liturgies or children’s Masses, or family Masses? Who will prefer to stand in line for communion, like at McDonald’s, for their spiritual food when they can kneel at the altar rail to receive their Lord and God Jesus Christ in humility and adoration?

showing only Sunday Masses before Motu Proprio of 7.7.07

Adorniamoci di modestia e sobrietà …

Padre Pio aveva molto a cuore la virtù della purezza, messa, già ai suoi tempi, a dura prova dalle prime minigonne ed abiti scollati e sbraciati. Egli era, infatti, ben consapevole degli effetti nefasti della moda indecente, che induce molte anime ad acconsentire al peccato grave.

San Pio esercitò durante tutta la sua vita la virtù della purezza in grado eroico e, conoscendone il sommo valore per il raggiungimento del Regno dei Cieli, voleva che anche gli altri la conservassero intatta da ogni contaminazione di peccato e la custodissero gelosamente.

Della donna Padre Pio aveva un concetto altissimo e ciò lo spingeva a denunciare tutto ciò che denigrava e sviliva la dignità femminile e che riduceva la donna ad un puro oggetto di piacere, in particolare la moda. Già prima degli anni sessanta, quando ancora non imperava la moda delle minigonne, prevedendo le future tendenze della moda che avrebbero svestito le donne, Padre Pio si preoccupava di instillare in loro l’amore alla modestia e la decenza nel vestire. Esigeva quindi in modo intransigente che le donne fossero vestite decentemente, come conviene a persone timorate di Dio, prendendo come riferimento di condotta la Madonna, insigne modello di purezza immacolata. Il Santo soffrì molto per le mode scandalose, che definiva «un tremendo male» per le anime, perché inducono gli uomini al peccato, ai cattivi pensieri e ai torbidi desideri. Non poteva sopportare che le donne mercificassero il loro corpo vestendo in modo provocante per attirare su di sé l’attenzione maschile.

Padre Pio aveva tanto a cuore il problema della purezza che le norme di condotta cristiana riguardo all’abbigliamento diventarono anche oggetto di lettere ai suoi figli spirituali.

Tra i suoi molti scritti si legge infatti:

«Le donne che cercano la vanità delle vesti non possono mai vestirsi della vita di Gesù Cristo e codeste perdono ogni ornamento dell’anima,non appena entra questo idolo nei loro cuori. Il loro abito, come vuole san Paolo, sia decentemente e modestamente ornato, senza vesti che abbiano sentore di lusso e ostentazione di fasto».

In questo, il Santo del Gargano si riallacciava mirabilmente al messaggio della Madonna di Fatima, che aveva preannunciato alla beata Giacinta, la più piccola dei tre pastorelli, la venuta di mode che avrebbero offeso Nostro Signore.
Tutte le figlie spirituali di Padre Pio seguirono il suo accorato consiglio di allungare l’orlo della gonna fin sotto il ginocchio per controbilanciare il male che facevano le altre donne col portare le minigonne e abiti indecenti. In confessionale, Padre Pio sbatteva molto spesso lo sportello in faccia alle penitenti che si presentavano in abiti disdicevoli alla sacralità del luogo …

Redarguiva con durezza anche quelle donne che, prima di presentarsi a lui, aprivano la cerniera e facevano scendere la gonna perché sembrasse più lunga. Spesso si sentivano frasi simili: «Pagliaccio … », «Vestiti da cristiana!», «Sciagurata, va’ a vestirti!», «Ti segherei le braccia … perché soffriresti di meno di quello che soffriresti in Purgatorio … le carni scoperte bruceranno!»

Un giorno, una signora, per andare a confessarsi da lui, si allungò occasionalmente la gonna, ma il Santo se ne accorse e la mandò via.
Il pomeriggio la stessa signora fu presentata al Padre come una grande benefattrice, ed egli dispiaciuto disse: «E io stamattina ti ho dato il benservito ma sappi, Signora, lo rifarei anche ora». Ma la signora, che aveva imparato la lezione, lo ringraziò amabilmente per la riprensione.

Neppure gli uomini uscirono indenni dalla crociata di Padre Pio sulla decenza nel vestire. Ad un uomo, che era andato a confessarsi da lui in maglietta senza maniche, intimò con una fermezza che non ammetteva repliche: «Vagliò, o ti allunghi le maniche o ti accorci le braccia!»

“Desidero che voi tutti, miei carissimi figli spirituali, attacchiate con l’esempio e senza alcun rispetto umano una santa battaglia contro la moda indecente. Dio sarà con voi e vi salverà! Le donne che cercano la vanità nelle vesti non possono mai appartenere a Cristo, e codeste perdono ogni ornamento dell’anima non appena questo idolo entra nei loro cuori. Si guardino da ogni vanità nei loro vestimenti, perché il Signore permette la caduta di queste anime per tali vanità”.

(San Pio da Pietralcina)

Full and conscious participation

Does the use of Latin during Mass keep people from Active Participation at Mass?

Answer: No, it actually promotes proper active participation.

Since the Second Vatican Council, the Church has strived to promote active participation of the faithful into the mystery of the Eucharist. One of the ways the Church promoted participation is by allowing Mass to be celebrated in the language of the people (Vernacular).

It is still dubious whether this change has allowed people to participate more in the Eucharist; however, it has never been the intention of the Church to eliminate the use of Latin from the Celebration of the Eucharist. Nor should it be implied that to promote active participation the Mass must be understood in our language. The Eucharist is not an experience that must be understood, as much as it is an experienced that must be lived.

Some people narrowly define participation as the ability to speak, see, smell, listen and touch things during the liturgy. Certainly the use of our sense experience opens the gates to the soul so that we may receive within the gift of grace that is being offered. All Sacraments are visible or perceivable signs of invisible and unperceivable grace. Furthermore, Pope Benedict XVI remindes us that “In fact, the active participation called for by the Council must be understood in more substantial terms, on the basis of a greater awareness of the mystery being celebrated and its relationship to daily life”.

To fully participate in the Universal Aspect of the Church, we cannot limit our experience or participation to our native language. Part of our experience is to listen and speak in the Universal Language of the Catholic Church: a Language that unites the Church in doctrine and worship. A language that transcends our limitations of time and space and unites us both with the geographical expansion of the Church and the historical presence throughout the centuries.

Pope Benedict XVI continues to challenge our definition of participation when he says that “Active participation in the Eucharistic liturgy can hardly be expected if one approaches it superficially, without an examination of his or her life. This inner disposition can be fostered, for example, by recollection and silence for at least a few moments before the beginning of the liturgy, by fasting and, when necessary, by sacramental confession”.

In conclusion, I invite you all to open your hearts to the experience presented before us. That the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is not limited to a particular language. That we have a great tradition to transmit to our young people: a worship experience where we can all speak the same tongue, all over the world, at least in worship. Language has divided people since the Tower of Babel. Language, I believe, will ultimately unite us to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ.