Monthly Archives: March 2006

EXCERPT:
This prayer today was not in the pre-Concilar Missale Romanum. It also has me scratching my head. Once I looked up all the references, I knew why. In effect, this is clearly a cut and paste joband it just doesn’t hang together well. A predecessor (Concede, quaesumus, domine, fragilitate nostrae sufficientiam conpetentem, ut suae reparationis effectum et pia conuersatione recenseat et cum exultatione suscipiat: per.) is in the Gelasianum Vetus in two places, Friday of the 3rd Week of Lent and for Septuagesima. The “et fragilitati nostrae congrua praeparasti subsidia” is in the Veronese in April and references to fragilitas and pia conversatio in a prayer in July. Continue reading →

EXCERPT:
Christ is the perfect model of all that is mentioned in the prayer. He is the perfect exemplar. St. Augustine, in his monumental City of God is a little cautious about presenting the Lord as being our model and exemplar. He knows that Christ, the perfect model, presents for us an unattainable challenge. For Augustine, the lives of the martyrs and other holy men and women are more helpful and realistic models. In their fully be merely human lives they show us that we fully human but merely human people can live the life to which Christ’s commands and perfect model calls us. Continue reading →

EXCERPT:
We need to be clear about something. What we do on our own cannot obtain anything from God on its own merits. To paraphrase St. Augustine when God crowns our merits, He crowns His own merits in us.

I wrote this next excerpt from a WDTPRS article for Super Oblata of the 8th Sunday of Ordinary Time. I think it applies. Also, I am really sick right now and just don’t have it in me to do much more, so here goes. Some of the rest of you can dig into the vocabulary and syntax. Continue reading →

EXCERPT:
Since we are past the half way point in Lent, there has been a shift in the prayers, I think. There is a focus on the coming Triduum now. The vocabulary today with paschale mysterium and praeconium point to the Triduum and Vigil. Praeconium makes you think right away of the great chant of the deacon called the Exsultet, or Praeconium Paschale. The Redactors chose to strip the prayer of it older content, in the replacement of “fasts” (ieiunia) with devotio. Continue reading →