What Does The Prayer Really Say?
W D T P R S

Lightning storn tonight. Lot’s of branch lightning. Hard to predict, but I caught a little.

Meanwhile, back at the Sabine farm...

Here is a detail showing the Risen Lord of one of my vestments in the chapel.

From the same vestment…. can you read what this says?

COLLECT:
Ecclesiae tuae, misericors Deus, concede propitius,
ut, Sancto Spiritu congregata, toto sit corde tibi devota,
et pura voluntate concordat.

Our masterly Lewis & Short Dictionary helps us dig into concordo, at the heart of which is “heart…cor”.  We find in the first place that it means, “to agree together, to be united, be of one mind, to harmonize”.  Then also it has the transitive meaning of “to bring into union”.  Blaise/Chirat has pretty much the same.  I rather like that transitive meaning here, though I am interested to know what you all might come up with.

LITERAL VERSION:
O merciful God, propitiously grant to Your Church
that, having been gathered by the Holy Spirit, in whole heart devoted to You,
may with a pure will be brought into harmony.

Herein we continue our ecclesial and collective preparation for the liturgical re-descent of the Holy Spirit next Sunday.

Notice the progression of thought:

1) God the Father shows merciful
2) God the Holy Spirit gathers
3) heart
4) will

There is a dynamic tension and interplay always going on between the intellective and the affective dimensions of our faith and life.  The God of mercy creates us according to his image.  Thus we can know, will and love.  Since we are not angels there is a process and interplay between the intellect and the will in every human act of knowing of decision and of action.  In the longer span of our lives we also have an overarching tension and interplay between what we know with our head, feel with out heart and choose with our will.  Faith, considered from our perspective, itself comes from both the motion of the heart and the reflection of the intellect.  Faith considered from another perspective, however, is a theological virtue, a grace which God gives us.   Faith must also be considered in itself.  There is a faith in which we believe (that content of the faith we learn and can assent to) and a faith by which we believe (which is the aforementioned grace with which we cooperate).  Deeper yet, the content of the faith is a person, indeed a Divine Person with whom we can and must have a relationship of love, to whom we express ourselves and to whom we come with active receptivity.  You cannot have a relationship of love with an abstraction or a formula our learn by heart.

Each of us have the challenge to get things into harmony, our heart with our intellect, our person with our neighbors, ourselves with our God.  The Holy Spirit, as St. Augustine and others described, is the perfect love between the Father and the Son, and as perfect love, as perfect self-gift of the One to the Other, has all that the Persons have in perfection, including divinity and personhood.   The relation of the Persons of the Trinity, in whose image we are made, mysterious as it is, must be a constant point of our reflection as we strive to bring into harmony all the different dimensions of our lives.  For Augustine, the search and contemplation of the Trinity conforms us to the image of God by thinking of him and loving him.   For Augustine, there are stages of this search and conversion

1) credere Deo ... to believe by means of God
2) credere Deum ... to believe God
3) credere in Deum ... to believe in God
4) credendo in Deum ire ... to go on by believing in God

Augustine was deeply, passionately, fiercely interested in love.  Often and appropriately he is depicted with a burning heart.  For Augustine, belief and love were intertwined.  He described love as a gravitational force pulling us to where we by nature belong.  Some people think the old man was a terrible pessimist about the human condition, especially as he got older, was worn down by constant theological battles and pastoral burdens and deteriorating health.  If he saw the negative side of the human condition, he knew with absolute conviction that love was its solution.  This conviction grew as the years passed.  The great Augustinian scholar A.-M. La Bonnardiere found that between 387-429, Augustine (+430) quoted Romans 5:5 at least 201 times.  Augustine rarely used Romans 5:5 before 411 (the year Rome was sacked by Alaric).  Romans 5:5 is found more frequently between 411-421 when he was fighting with Pelagians about grace.  Many references continue from 421 until his death while he was engaged in his bitter fight with the bête noir of his old age Julian of Eclanum.

What is Romans 5:5?

…we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, (v. 5) and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us. <supportLineBreakNewLine]—>

Over at the fine Catholic World News (which you ought to subscribe to if you don’t already) there is a very good story on WDTPRS’s favorite Joseph Card. Zen of Hong Kong.   Go read the article.  However, here is an excerpt (emphasis mine):

Questioned about the three bishops who were ordained for the "official" Catholic Church in China earlier this month, without the consent of the Vatican, Cardinal Zen said that he did not think the government was reacting against Pope Benedict’s decision to make him a cardinal. Such a reaction, he said, would be "disproportionate."

The real purpose of defying the Vatican, the Chinese cardinal suggested, was the government’s desire to test the Catholic Church, and to impose its own authority. "Personally, I think it was a test of strength," he said.

Cardinal Zen explained that the government is worried by the loyalty that Chinese Catholics have toward the Holy See. He pointed out that "85% of the bishops of the ‘official’ Church have asked for and obtained recognition from Rome." Hoping to weaken those bonds, the government has installed its own favored clergymen as bishops in the illicit ceremonies earlier in May. The cardinal added that "unjust pressures" were placed on Catholics to participate in the ordination ceremonies and recognize the authority of the government-appointed bishops. Many Catholics, he said, "did not have a lot of choice."

Do you remember that just after the illicit consecrations a few weeks ago I posted here:

In reaction to the consecrations (and probably a lot more beside) Card. Zen said dialogue "cannot continue because people will think we are prepared to surrender".

"We cannot budge. When you brutally place such a fait accompli, how can you call this dialogue?"

I was having a conversation with someone the other day about China and made the point that the only way to deal realistically with situation of the Church is to approach it with strength, rather than simple accomodation.  Pope Benedict has lately made strong statements about reciprocity.  He seems to be moving quickly away from an attitude of appeasement, which perhaps characterized certain dimensions of the Holy See’s relations with nations and separated Churches.

All Hail the Great Zen, who is a perspicacious player in this intricate game of Catholic Chinese Chess.

COLLECT:
Praesta, quaesumus, omnipotens et misericors Deus,
ut Spiritus Sanctus adveniens
templum nos gloriae suae dignanter inhabitando perficiat.

LITERAL VERSION:
Grant, we beseech You, Almighty and merciful God,
that the Holy Spirit, now coming,
will by the indwelling of His glory worthily perfect us as a temple.

Many times in the WDTPRS columns in the paper we have seen how gloria expresses Greek doxa and Hebrew kabod.  St. Hilary of Poitier, taught about gloria as that divine characteristic which God will share with us in the life to come and which will continually transform us for eternity.  Something of the gloria was shown to Peter, John and James on Mount Tabor.  When the cloud descended upon the mountain or upon the tent where the Ark was kept and Moses entered within to speak with God, he would emerge with face so bright that he had to wear a veil.  

Is not reception of Holy Communion in some ways more profound an encounter with God than what Moses experienced?

Our encounters with God in His glory transform us.  God’s Real Presence in the Eucharist must result in His glory shining through to others in our actions and words.  However, the transforming glory of the Lord is not something that makes us hard to look at.  Instead, it makes us that much more amazing to others.  Whatever we have of physical attractiveness is dust in the wind compared to the beauty of a soul in the state of grace which has cultivated the life of virtue.

This is not merely an individual endeavor.  Our prayer today asks that the Holy Spirit make us (plural) into a temple (singular).  We are all in this together.   If by our sins we harm others in the whole Church, nay rather human family, so too by our meritorious actions do we build up the whole Body.  Even in the face of adversity we by our sacrifices, united to the Cross, can be of great service to others even though we live the most reclusive of lives.  The smallest of stones, chipped and battered, can still have its perfect place in the building of the temple.  God makes us the shape He needs us to be by knocking off what isn’t part of his blueprint.  We read in 1 Peter 2:1-6:

So put away all malice and all guile and insincerity and envy and all slander.  Like newborn babes, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation; for you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.  Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God’s sight chosen and precious; and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and he who believes in him will not be put to shame."

 

A Bedtime Prayer
Of A Catholic Marine Corps Officer

- Luke 18:17-

Now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray Thee Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray Thee Lord my soul to take.

For ‘ere the daystar rises high
Upon the morrow we must fly
To face again death’s dire hand
And free a distant people’s land.

Upon a shore, on mountain steep,
In desert, snow, or jungle deep,
Through heat, on ice, by land or sea
Marines will ever faithful be.

Our purpose true and mission clear
Will help us face all pain and fear.
Since one we are in heart and mind,
Marines leave none of theirs behind.

For some of us must surely fall,
Tenacious in hard duty’s call.
According to God’s timeless ken
We live, then serve, then die as men.

Our Rosaries and Michael’s sword
Will Anchor, Globe and Eagle guard.
Warm prayers of dear ones, Masses said,
Support our living and our dead.

O Queen of Martyrs! Christ, my Light!
O Guardian angels! Joseph bright!
O Trinity Three Persons One!
For us and foe Thy will be done.

And now I lie on Adam’s clay.
Grim weapons crack and shatter day.
Throughout cold night hot blood must flow.
This hour shall I God’s Judgments know?

Or will wounds heal? Will terror scar?
Will grief my trust in heaven mar?
Youth was shortened, young men lost.
Will what I’ve done merit this cost?

Ash to ash and dust to dust.
Thundering armaments will rust.
Bone and flesh must go to ground,
But none of us by death are bound.

Not ‘till heaven shall I see,
The men who offered up this fee.
Marines long taken from our eyes
At long last glorious will rise.

All the tears that I will shed
Make sense as I behold the Head
Of Him whose Sacrifice was free,
For all, for sinners, on the Tree.

Some losses do merit the cost.
Our loss is great. We mourn our lost.
But I and neighbor must be free.
Paid is the price of liberty.

So, brothers now we lay to rest,
And fix their medals on their chest.
Their mothers I will gently tell
Sons loved them, God, and country well.

We smooth the lines in pale brow,
Then close their final bed and bow
To express gratitude and love
With folded flag, priest’s hand above.

Parents, wives, and children know
From me that we did love them so.
They’re clear in memory and my dreams.
Christ Jesus save my brave Marines.

In safety now my loved ones sleep.
Let Mighty God our nation keep!
And should I die before I wake,
My soul I offer Christ to take.

In honor of all those who served perhaps just one example of valor will serve to express gratitude:

Father Vince Capodanno was Maryknoll missionary priest.  He was sent first to the missions in Taiwan and later joined the US Navy and served with the 7th Marines in Vietnam and then, after working at the naval hosptial, with the 5th Marines. 

On 4 September 1967 there was a terrible battle in Que-Son Valley.  As the battle developed Fr. Capodanno heard over the radio that things were getting dicey and  so he requested to go out with M company.  

As they approached the small village of Chau Lam, they were caught under fire on a knoll.  There was terrible fighting, even hand to hand, and they were almost over run.  Father Capodanno was wounded in the face and his hand was almost severed by a mortar round but he continued to giving last rites and take care of his Marines.  He was killed trying to get to a wounded marine only 15 yards away from an enemy machine gun. 

In January 1969, Lieutenant Vincent R. Capodanno, MM, became the second chaplain in United States history to receive our nation’s highest military honor. "For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty …", he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

In addition, he was also awarded the National Defense Service Medal and the Vietnam Service Medal. The government of Vietnam awarded him the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Silver Star and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with device.

These men served in hell armed with love of God and love of country.  We should remember chaplains.

I want to add a word of thanks to a priest friend of mine, Fr. Tim Vakoc, with whom I was in seminary.  He is now in the VA hospital in Minneapolis after suffering serious wounds in Iraq.

COLLECT:
Adveniat nobis, quaesumus, Domine,
virtus Spiritus Sancti,
qua voluntatem tuam fideli mente retinere,
et pie conversatione depromere valeamus.

The first part of this is based on a phrase in a prayer during the Octave of Pentecost in the ancient Gelasian Sacramentary and another prayer in the Veronese Sacramentary in the month of July: Omnipotens sempiterne deus da nobis uoluntatem tuam et fideli mente retinere. et pia conuersatione depromere. ut aecclesia [sic] tua a profanis uanitatibus expiata. non aliud profiteatur uerbis, aliud exerceat actione.  Notice that what we have going on here is underscoring of the contrast between mere words or actions and interior disposition.

If you are working these prayers out yourself, and don’t happen to have at hand (quod Deus avertat!) a copy of the excellent Lewis & Short Dictionary you may want to know that depromo means in the first place "to draw out, draw forth; to bring, to fetch from anywhere, esp. out of any place".  The dictionary and commentary by Blaise/Dumas (in French) says that depromo is “formuler (voeux, priers)”.  Okay… not too easy to work with this, right?  Let’s look at Blaise/Chirat for some extra help: “mettre au jour, communiquer, publier, render public”.  That’s more like it!  Pius is a complicated adjective.  Valeo means in a simple way, “be able” but it means that because it fundamentally has to do with strength and power.  We are able to do things because we are strong enough to do them.  It has to do with being “dutiful”, as when pius Aeneas carried his old father upon his back from out the ruin of burning Troy.  It also has to do with being holy and devout and, in especially in reference God, merciful.  I think today I will simply dump these concepts into your skulls and say “pious” in our WDTPRS … 

LITERAL VERSION:
Let the might of the Holy Ghost
come to us, we beseech You, O Lord,
by which with faithful mind we may be strong to maintain Your will
and demonstrate it outwardly by a pious manner of life.

Life is filled with labors and cares and burdens to bear.  We have heavy loads to carry.  Even if our lives are relatively care free, the weight of years press Brother Ass down and become over time harder and harder.  The Holy Spirit charges us.  It “charges” us with interior power and it charges is in the sense of duty and responsibility.  Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we are made strong to bear anything.  When the Holy Spirit comes with the Father and the Son to make us Their living temples and fill us with the seven Gifts and the twelve Fruits, we outwardly manifest their presence.  Manifestation of the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit are a sign that a person is in the state of grace, and habitually so.

What you do outwardly can have an enormous impact on the faith of others.  You can jump start a dormant faith life, strengthen another, or perhaps spark someone else into seeking answers to the questions they have.  On the other hand, you can damage people too. 

Today’s prayer aims at putting ourselves interiorly and exteriorly in harmony with the will of God in our lives.

Shouts in the Piazza and Roman Miscellany have posted about Benedict XVI (now gloriously reigning) conferring the Golden Rose as a gift at the Shrine of the Black Madonna, Jasna Gora at Czestochowa.   In the WDTPRS series I have written about the Golden Rose on articles for the 4th Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday.  Here is an excerpt about the Golden Rose from one of those articles.

What Does the Prayer Really Say? Fourth Sunday of Lent “Laetare” Sunday – Station: Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem

ORIGINALLY PRINTED IN The Wanderer in 2001

There is a Latin dictum: repetita iuvant… repeated things help.  That is to say, repetition helps us to learn and remember.  Today we have a “nickname Sunday” (like Gaudete in Advent, Cantate in Eastertide, etc) This nicknaming tradition goes back at least to John of Salisbury (12th c.), and derives from the first word of the Introit chant for the Mass.  Today, there is a relaxation of the stark penitential aspect of Lent, during which season traditionally (and still present in the rubrics) there should be no flowers and decorations and no instrumental music (including organ unless used only to sustain congregational singing).  This Sunday we have a glimpse of the joy that is coming, which is why the first word sung is “Rejoice”!  We have rose colored vestments and instrumental music.

Some ink can be given to rose vestments. This custom is tied to the station churches in Rome.  For centuries in Rome there have been celebrations of Mass during the great seasons of Lent/Easter and Advent/Christmas at "station" churches. The station Mass for Laetare Sunday is the Basilica of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem in Rome, where the relics of Cross and Passion are kept.  It was the custom on Laetare for the Pope to bless roses made of gold that were then sent to Catholic kings and queens. Thus Laetare was also called Dominica de rosa…. Sunday of the Rose. Rose vestments developed naturally from this occasion. So, rose came to be used on Laetare Sunday in the Basilica of the Holy Cross when the Pope came for the station Mass. The use of rose (the technical term for the color is rosacea) spread to the rest of the City on this day. As a Roman custom it became part and parcel of the Roman Missal promulgated through the world by Pius V.  The custom is, thanks be to God, coming back into vogue again.

One might ask why roses were given to Catholic rulers and other figures.  The papal letters and documents that came with the rose hint at the meaning attached to it. Innocent III wrote about the significance of the rose and Laetare Sunday: "As Lætare Sunday, the day set apart for the function, represents love after hate, joy after sorrow, and fullness after hunger, so does the rose designate by its color, odor, and taste, love, joy, and satiety respectively."  Innocent also says that the rose is the flower spoken of in Isaiah 11, 1: "there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root".  Centuries later Pope Leo XIII wrote that the beautiful golden flower signifies Christ in His majesty, spoken of by the prophet as "the flower of the field and the lily of the valleys"; the flower’s fragrance shows the sweet odor of Christ which should be diffused through the whole world by His faithful followers.  The thorns and red color symbolize His Passion, harkening to both the real event of the Crucifixion and its foretelling by the prophet Isaiah 43,2: "Why then is thy apparel red, and thy garments like theirs that tread in the winepress?"   These themes are in the prayer that was used to bless the golden roses:

"O God! by Whose word and power all things have been created, by Whose will all things are directed, we humbly beseech Thy Majesty, Who art the joy and gladness of all the faithful, that Thou wouldst deign in Thy fatherly love to bless and sanctify this rose, most delightful in odor and appearance, which we this day carry in sign of spiritual joy, in order that the people consecrated by Thee and delivered from the yoke of Babylonian slavery through the favor of Thine only-begotten Son, Who is the glory and exultation of the people of Israel and of that Jerusalem which is our Heavenly mother, may with sincere hearts show forth their joy. Wherefore, O Lord, on this day, when the Church exults in Thy name and manifests her joy by this sign (= the rose), confer upon us through her true and perfect joy and accepting her devotion of today; do Thou remit sin, strengthen faith, increase piety, protect her in Thy mercy, drive away all things adverse to her and make her ways safe and prosperous, so that Thy Church, as the fruit of good works, may unite in giving forth the perfume of the ointment of that flower sprung from the root of Jesse and which is the mystical flower of the field and lily of the valleys, and remain happy without end in eternal glory together with all the saints."

The rose, then, connects not only the penance we do in honor of the Passion (Lent) but also the joy of the resurrection (Easter). It points to Christ who reigns as King, but from a wooden Cross.  Note also the reference to “devotion.”

 

 

Tonight I had a nice stroll. I went over to the P.za Navona and got a cuban cigar and walked around. I found a new Latin inscription of Pope Benedict XIV about the obelisk which was the center of the sundial of Augustus. I chatted with some Carabinieri. I saw cufflinks which were way above my paygrade (which doesn’t take much). But these cufflinks… I tell you…. Please send money? Lots of money.

Anyway, I got back to my place and the moon was setting, so I thought I would share it wichya.

What Does the Prayer Really Say?  Vigil of Ascension Thursday Sunday (7^th Sunday of Easter)

ORIGINALLY PRINTED IN The Wanderer in 2006

Today’s WDTPRS offering ought to be about the 7^th Sunday of Easter.  However, in some places the Feast of the Ascension, which falls always on a Thursday, has been transferred to this Sunday.  That would make it “Ascension Thursday Sunday”, I suppose.  In addition, the third edition of the Missale Romanum issued in 2002 now provides us with a Mass for the Vigil of Ascension, which wasn’t in previous editions of the Novus Ordo.  Moreover, the prayers for the new Vigil of Ascension are not the same as those found in the pre-Conciliar Missale for the Vigil.  Also, there are now proper Masses for the days after Ascension, most having alternative collects depending on whether or not in that region Ascension is transferred to Sunday. Since many people do not have access to the prayers for the Vigil of Ascension, let’s look at them this week.  First, here are the antiphons. Ant. ad introitum:  Regna terrae cantata Deo, psallite Domino, qui ascendit super caelum caeli; magnificentia et virtus eius in nubibus, alleluia. (Ps 67:33,35)  Ant. ad communionem: Christus, unam pro peccatis offerens hostiam, in sempiterum sedet in dextera Dei, alleluia.  (Cf. Heb 10:12)

COLLECT:
Deus, cuius Filus hodie in caelos,
Apostolis astantibus, ascendit,
concede nobis, quaesumus,
ut secundum eius promissionem
et ille nobiscum semper in terris
et nos cum eo in caelo vivere mereamur. 

This was modified from a prayer in ancient sacramentaries such as the Liber Sacramentorum when it was used on Ascension Thursday having its Station Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica.  Here is some liturgical education for you.  The eucological formulas (the prayers), for the Ascension found in what is sometimes called the Leonine Sacramentary surviving in one 7^th century manuscript in Verona (the Veronese Sacramentary) are the oldest prayers we have in the Roman liturgy!  The Missale Romanum and those ancient collections consist principally in prayers for Masses which in fancy liturgist talk are called “eucological formulas”.
 
LITERAL VERSION:
O God, whose Son today ascended
into the heavens as the Apostles were standing close by,
grant us, we beseech You,
that, according to His promise,
we may be worthy both that He lives with us on earth,
and that we live with Him in heaven.

When the Second Person took up our human nature into an indestructible bond with His divinity, indestructible, we were thereby destined to sit at God’s right hand, first in Christ and then on our own.  Christ makes us worthy, no one else.  Christ alone.  It’s all His.  And because it’s His, it’s ours.  Gratitude then brings us to the altar, confidently but carefully, where we lay our gifts and our selves down, ready to be raised up on high.  The priest prays:

SUPER OBLATA:
Deus, cuius Unigenitus, Pontifex noster,
semper vivens sedet ad dexteram tuam
ad interpellandum pro nobis,
concede nos adire cum fiducia ad thronum gratiae,
ut misericordiam tuam consequamur. 

There are phrases drawn from St. Paul in this prayer.  In the Apostle’s Letter to the Hebrews we find “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy (adeamus ergo cum fiducia ad thronum gratiae ut misericordiam consequamur) and find grace to help in time of need” (cf. 4:16).  We also read, “Consequently he is able for all time to save those who draw near (accedentes) to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them (semper vivens ad interpellandum pro eis)” (cf. 7:25). 

The great and always useful Lewis & Short Dictionary helps us with adeo, the basic meaning of which is “to go to or approach a person or thing”.  By extension it means, “to approach one for the purpose of addressing, asking aid, consulting, and the like, to address, apply to, consult”.  There is an old phrase “accede to the throne” which could express well the force of adeo, though “accede” in this sense means enter into an office.  “Approach to” and “accede to”, both require enormous humility.

LITERAL BUT NUANCED METAPHRASE:
O God, whose Only-begotten, our Pontiff,
sits forever living at Your right hand
in order to intercede for us,
grant us to approach with confidence unto the throne of grace,
so that we may obtain Your mercy.

Here we have the image of the Pontiff, literally “bridge builder”, who is the high priestly mediator.  Here we have “approach” and “accede”.  Here we have the confidence of the redeemed and absolute need for mercy.  There are times when the content of the Latin words is so heavily charged that it almost physically hurts me to make a choice between one English possibility and another.  Our prayer today presents us with the image of a Christian soul approaching God’s throne where he will with humble confidence and confident humility beg for and claim mercy and rightful inheritance.  Because of Christ, he is already a member of a royal priesthood.  Because of Christ, our humanity is already sitting at the Father’s right hand, the place of honor.  Because of Christ, we already have our reward, but we do not yet possess it fully.

This is how we should approach and accede unto the Eucharistic Lord at the moment Holy Communion.  Our bowed heads must be humbly raised with pride as befits petitioning kings.  And after the endless king of glory, light from light, the true God from God made man humbly enters our bodies and souls, the priest sings…

POST COMMUNIONEM:
Quae ex altari tuo, Domine, dona percepimus,
accendunt in cordibus nostris caelestis patriae desiderium,
et quo praecursor pro nobis introivit Salvator,
faciant nos, eius vestigia sectantes, contendere.

I don’t think this prayer has a precedent in earlier sacramentaries.   Many prayers use some combination of the words dona and percipio, as do Patristic authors such as St. Pope Gregory I “the Great” (+604), often in reference to the Holy Spirit.   The phrase accendunt… desiderium might have a precedent in some late authors such as Venerable Bede (+735), Ambrosius Autpertus (+784) or Godefridus Admontensis (+1165).  They could be drawing from something I didn’t discover given the time I spent looking.
 
A praecursor is fundamentally, “one who runs before”.  In military language a praecursor is “an advanced guard, vanguard”, or sometimes a “scout”. 

SLAVISHLY LITERAL RENDERING:
The gifts which we have received from Your altar, O Lord,
are now kindling in our hearts an ardent desire for the heavenly fatherland,
and may they cause us, following in His footsteps, to strive for
the place where the Savior entered in as a forerunner.

Picture a great captain leading the charge through the vicissitudes and perils of marches and battles.  What jumps into my mind was a section of a book called The Red Horse by Italian author Eugenio Corti.  This volume of fiction presents the story of young Catholic Italians during Word War II based on some of his own experiences.  He tells the story of the Italian Alpine forces fighting their way out of Russia through envelopment after envelopment during the deadly winter, trying to get home, to their homeland, their fatherland.  All of us have experienced homesickness.  We have known conflict.  We long for a peaceful place where we belong, of light happiness and peace.  St. Augustine of Hippo (+430) described love like a gravitational force which pulls us inexorably toward the place where we belong.   Our real homeland awaits us.  The risen Christ has gone ahead of us as a scout, as a vanguard, as a great victorious captain.

The knowledge of our humanity now enjoying heaven can work wonders for us in the hour of need.  St. Pope Leo I “the Great” (+461), who uttered some of the most beautiful Latin ever spoken in the ancient Constantinian Basilica of St. Peter, gave us a sermon on 1 June 444 (s. 73,4) .  From his lips to our hearts:

“Truly it was a great and indescribable source of rejoicing when, in the sight of the heavenly multitudes, the nature of our human race ascended over the dignity of all heavenly creatures, to pass the angelic orders and to be raised beyond the heights of archangels. In its ascension it did not stop at any other height until this same nature was received at the seat of the eternal Father, to be associated on the throne of the glory of that One to whose nature it was joined in the Son.” 

This can make our faith firm in the face of any challenge.  Again about the Lord’s Ascension Pope Leo says in another sermon of 17 May 445 (s. 74,3):

“This Faith, reinforced by the Ascension of the Lord and strengthened by the gift of the Holy Spirit, has not been terrified by chains, by prison, by exile, by hunger, by fire, by the mangling of wild beasts, nor by sharp suffering from the cruelty of persecutors.  Throughout the world, not only men but also women, not just immature boys but also tender virgins, have struggled on behalf of this Faith even to the shedding of their blood.  This Faith has cast out demons, driven away sicknesses, and raised the dead.”

The great Pontiff Leo spoke those words on the Vatican Hill 1,561 years ago exactly to this very day I am writing.  Leo’s tomb is in the new Basilica upon the Vatican Hill.  As I write I can see it now by turning my head and gazing through the window.  The evening breezes intertwine for me the Latin with scents of jasmine and the rays of the setting sun.

Let us keep on track with the normal course of these columns, however, which this year focus on the so-called “Prayer over the gifts”.  We turn the page of the Missale Romanum to the next day and the Ascension Thursday itself.

SUPER OBLATA (2002 Missale Romanum – Missa in die):
Sacrificium, Domine, pro Filii tui supplices
venerabili nunc ascensione deferimus:
praesta, quaesumus, ut his commerciis sacrosanctis
ad caelestia consurgamus.

This was in the ancient Gelasian Sacramentary.

ICEL:
Lord,
receive our offering
as we celebrate the ascension of Christ your Son.
May his gifts help us rise with him
to the joys of heaven.

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
O Lord, we supplicants are bringing the sacrifice
now for the venerable Ascension of your Son:
grant, we beg, that we may rise up unto the heavenly places
by means of these most sacred exchanges.

The fun verb defero is “to bear or bring away a thing from a place; to bear, carry, bring down” and thus also, “to bring, give to one”.  It is used in mercantile contexts (as in “conveying to market”) and it has many legal applications (“to bring” someone before a judge; “deliver” a report about finances).  For comments on the amazing noun commercium please see my recent WDTPRS for the Super Oblata of the 5^th Sunday of Easter.

It is immediately after this prayer that we launch into the Euchrist Prayer beginning with the Preface and Sanctus.  You all know the phrase, “Sursum corda!  Lift up your hearts!”  In 418 St. Augustine (s. 261) declared to his flock:

“The resurrection of the Lord is our hope, the Lord’s ascension our glorification.  ... So if we are to celebrate the Lord’s ascension in the right way, with faith, with devotion, with reverence as godfearing people, we must ascend with him, and lift up our hearts.  In ascending, however, we mustn’t get above ourselves.  Yes, we should lift up our hearts, but to the Lord.  Hearts, you see, lifted up, not to the Lord – that’s pride; while hearts lifted up to the Lord, that’s called taking refuge.  After all, we say to the one who has ascended, Lord, you have become a refuge for us (Ps 90:1).”

What Does the Prayer Really Say? 7th Sunday of Easter & Ascension Thursday Sunday

ORIGINALLY PRINTED IN The Wanderer in 2003

I promised to report more about the recently reported “Rescript” obtained from His Holiness by His Eminence Darío Card. Castrillon-Hoyos, Prefect of the Congregation for Clergy and President of the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei”, concerning the situation in the Vatican Basilica of St. Peter faced by a priest who wishes to celebrate Mass using the 1962 Missale Romanum. In the past, during the tenure of His (now retired) Eminence Virgilio Card. Noè, Archpriest of the Basilica, the sacristans would basically forbid priests, and not politely, to use that Mass even though the priest had the proper faculty and permission to use it. Some did anyway, and incurred even more impolite treatment. The Pope’s recent “Rescript” requires that priests be permitted to use the so-called “Tridentine” Mass in St. Peter’s. And so, one fine morning I went to the Basilica (where I used to say Mass nearly every day) and I let the sacristan know that I intended to use the older form of Mass. After a momentary pretense of not knowing anything about the older rite, he adjusted his demeanor and said that only priests with the proper document (a “celebret”) issued by the Holy See could do so. I produced mine. It was examined with a little surprise but not at all impolitely. Fully anticipating the answer I in fact received, I requested a 1962 Missale. They didn’t have one. Fine, I’d use my own. Then he said that the Archpriest of the Basilica, His Excellency Archbishop Francesco Marchisano, had restricted use of the 1962 Missale to one of the several chapels in the crypt of the Basilica, the “Hungarian Chapel”, and only there. Fine, I’ll go there. But, quoth he, alas, that chapel was reserved that morning, so sorry. (Altars in the crypt can be reserved ahead of time for individual priests or groups. The reservations are made in a book in the sacristy by phoning or having someone go personally to the Basilica’s sacristy, but only in the early morning from about 7-8:30am. The phone number of the sacristy (from the USA) is: 011-39-06-69883712 – be prepared to speak Italian.) Therefore, I could wait for the chapel to open up… if there was any time left in the schedule for priests’ Masses that morning. Now, that chapel does not have a traditionally oriented altar, but rather a little free-standing squarish affair clearly meant to require the priest to “face the people”. I suppose with rearranging you could use the other side, but they frown on rearranging there. As a matter of fact they of the Basilica are systematically eliminating all the ad orientem altars in the crypt, but I digress. Therefore, here is a handy vade mecum for any priest who wants to say the “old Mass” in St. Peter’s now. First, bring your own Missale (not too hard, just inconvenient). Second, be furnished with a “celebret” issued by the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei” (not many of those). Third, unless you want to take your chances, manage ahead of time to have reserved the Hungarian Chapel for that specific time and day if someone hasn’t beaten you to it (plan in advance). Other than that, according to that “Rescript” given by the Pope to His Eminence Card. Castrillon-Hoyos it is now quite easy to say the older Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica.

I need to add a note about the speculation concerning the “disciplinary” document to be issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW) responding to the Holy Father’s call for such in his newest encyclical letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia. You will remember that Robert Moynighan of Inside The Vatican stirred up a great deal of guesswork when he published comments of His Eminence Francis Card. Arinze, Prefect of the CDW concerning the content of this document. In Mr. Moynighan’s article there was a report that this document would promote a more widespread use of the 1962MR and even a “universal indult”. Will all this rigmarole for priests and permissions be obsolete soon? I would point out several things. First, the comments about the old Mass were not quotations of Card. Arinze. Second, some people with whom I spoke in Rome recently, and who have seen the document in draft form, have said that there is nothing of this issue to be found in it. Third, this is such a delicate issue that, if there is or was any truth to the substance of the rumor, the “opposition” has now been alerted. In the past I have said that those of the more traditional or conservative stripe in the Church are so busy fighting amongst themselves over their miserable chunks of turf that they could not band together long to organize a cock fight. (And shame on you for that, by the way!) Those of the more liberal bent are fully capable of setting aside minor differences and working together quite well, so long as the result is a greater progressive and usually also deconstructing effect in the Church. So, given the publicity of this issue, I imagine that, if there was anything concerning the older form of Mass projected for the CDW’s document, there will now be terrifyingly fierce pressure to have it removed. Does the phrase “loose lips sink ships” ring a sanctuary bell?

It is time now to dig into the prayer for Ascension Thursday… er um.. Ascension Sunday, ehem, Ascension Thursday Sunday. By the way, the feast of the Ascension now has a Vigil Mass, which it did not have in the 1970/75MR. Here are the prayers for your priests who may desire to use them and do not have the newest Latin Missal: Ant. ad introitum: Regna terrae cantata Deo, psallite Domino, qui ascendit super caelum caeli; magnificentia et virtus eius in nubibus, alleluia. (Ps 67, 33.35) Collect: Deus, cuius Filus hodie in caelos,/ Apostolis astantibus, ascendit,/ concede nobis, quaesumus,/ ut secundum eius promissionem/ et ille nobiscum semper in terris/ et nos cum eo in caelo vivere mereamur. Super oblata: Deus, cuius Unigenitus, Pontifex noster,/ semper vivens sedet ad dexteram tuam/ ad interpellandum pro nobis,/ concede nos adire cum fiducia ad thronum gratiae,/ ut misericordiam tuam consequamur. Ant. ad communionem: Christus, unam pro peccatis offerens hostiam, in sempiterum sedet in dextera Dei, alleluia. (cf. Heb 10, 12) Post communionem: Quae ex altari tuo, Domine, dona percepimus,/ accendunt in cordibus nostris caelestis patriae desiderium,/ et quo praecursor pro nobis introivit Salvator,/ faciant nos, eius vestigia sectantes, contendere.

POST COMMUNIONEM
LATIN (2002 Missale Romanum – Ad Missam in die):
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus,
qui in terra constitutos divina tractare concedis,
praesta, quaesumus,
ut illuc tendat christianae devotionis affectus,
quo tecum est nostra substantia.

This was not in the 1962MR but it was, at least in part, in other ancient books such as the Gelasian and Veronese Sacramentaries.

ICEL (1973 translation of the 1970MR):
Father,
in this eucharist
we touch the divine life you give to the world.
Help us to follow Christ with love
to eternal life where he is Lord…

I think we WDTPRS veterans know about our wonderful term devotio. The WDPTRS neophytes, however, need to know that devotio carries with it a meaning of a singular focus on fulfilling the duties of your state in life such that, because you are playing the part which God allotted for you in His eternal plan, He will give you every actual grace you need to carry out His will. The celebrated Lewis & Short Dictionary will provide opportune knowledge about the verb tracto, which means “to draw violently, to drag, tug, haul” and also “to touch, take in hand, handle, manage, wield; to exercise, practise, transact, perform”. Thus this polyvalent word also means, “to treat, use, or conduct one’s self towards a person in any manner” and “to handle, treat, investigate, discuss any thing, mentally, orally, or in writing”. Tendo connotes, “to stretch, stretch out, distend, extend” and by extension it tends to mean, “to direct one’s self or one’s course; to aim, strive, go, travel, march, tend, bend one’s course in any direction”. Affectus is “a state of body, and esp. of mind produced in one by some influence, a state or disposition of mind, affection, mood.” Thus, it is “love, desire, fondness, good-will, compassion, sympathy”. Substantia is going to be tricky, for it carries the weight of philosophical terminology and a long history of fights in the early Church in the context of the Christological controversies (was Christ “God”, that is of the same “substance” as the Father, or of “like” substance, etc.). The philosophical term “substance” also comes up in “transubstantiation” in which bread and wine are changed such that they are no longer the substances bread and wine but are now rather the substances of Christ’s Body or flesh and His Blood even thought the “accidents” or outward sensible characteristics remain the same. Substantia is therefore, as far as the L&S is concerned “that of which a thing consists, the being, essence, contents, material, substance”, though there is a lot more to the word than that in Catholic contexts.

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
Almighty eternal God,
who allow those established upon earth to treat of divine things,
grant, we beseech,
that the disposition of Christian devotion may bend our course to that place
where our substance is now with you.

In the Incarnation, God the Son, the Second Person, took our humanity, our substantia into an indestructible bond with His divinity, His substantia. In the Resurrection, our substantia rose from death in Christ. In His Ascension, the God Man took our human nature to be seated at the right hand of the Father. Our humanity is at this very moment already seated in bliss with the Father in the Person of the risen Christ. By living in friendship with Him in the state of grace and striving with real single-minded focus (devotio) to bend all that we say, do, think and desire toward that final end of heaven, God will give us the help we need to get there. He already gives us, in anticipation of that great homecoming in heaven (for our humanity is already home in Him), the greatest help of all: spiritual nourishment in the Eucharist. He permits us here in this fading and passing vale of tears to make loving use of unfading and eternal mysteries.

For those of you who may not have the transferred feast of Ascension Thursday Sunday…

POST COMMUNIONEM
LATIN (2002 Missale Romanum 7th Sunday of Easter):
Exaudi nos, Deus, salutaris noster,
ut per haec sacrosancta mysteria
in totius Ecclesiae confidamus corpore faciendum,
quod eius praecessit in capite.

This is new to the 1970MR though it is inspired by a prayer in the Veronese Sacramentary.

ICEL (1973 translation of the 1970MR):
God our Savior,
hear us,
and through this holy mystery give up hope
that the glory you have given Christ
will be given to the Church, his body.

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
Graciously hear us, O God, our salvation,
so that through these most sacred sacramental mysteries,
we may be confident that what has a forehand taken place in His Head
is to be done in the Body of the whole Church.

Clearly this is a reference to the mystery of the Ascension, since this (7th) Sunday is within the nine day period before Pentecost. This was the time of the “original” novena, as it were. The Lord Himself exhorted His disciples to pray and prepare themselves for what was to come: “Wait for the promise of the Father!” (Acts 1:4)

What Does the Prayer Really Say?  Seventh Sunday of Easter/Ascension of the Lord

ORIGINALLY PRINTED IN The Wanderer in 2002

In many places where WDTPRS is read, Ascension Thursday is transferred and celebrated on the following Sunday, the Seventh of Easter.  Last year I did both, so I will do the same this year.

SUPER OBLATA: Seventh Sunday of Easter

LATIN (2002 Missale Romanum or 2002MR):
Suscipe, Domine, fidelium preces
cum oblatione hostiarum
ut, per haec piae devotionis officia,
ad caelestem gloriam transeamus.

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
Accept, O Lord, the prayers of the faithful
with the offering of sacrificial victims
so that through these dutiful services,
we may pass over to heavenly glory.

This prayer was originally the secret for Tuesday in the Octave of Easter in the 1962MR.   

In this case I am rendering hostia as “sacrificial victims” since our Lewis & Short Dictionary¸ never far from reach, informs us that it means “an animal sacrificed, a victim, sacrifice (cf.: victima).”  Officium means “a service” whether of free will or of necessity.  It is also, “ceremonial observance, ceremony, attendance.”   When priests and religious say their prayers of the Liturgy of the Hours (Breviary) each day they are said to be saying their “office”: it is a duty they must perform in service of the universal Church.  Also, the present Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) used to be called the Holy Office because of its duty and service in guarding the content of faith and its presentation.  If you want to find the building in Rome where the CDF is located just ask for the Piazza del Sant’Uffizio. 

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
Accept, O Lord, the prayers of the faithful
with the offering of sacrificial victims
so that through these dutiful services,
we may pass over to heavenly glory.

ICEL:
Lord,
accept the prayers and gifts
we offer in faith and love.
May this eucharist
bring us to your glory.

Yes, that is really what the ICEL Sacramentary says.  I had to double check to make sure I was on the right day.

SUPER OBLATA Ascensionis Domini – ad Missam in die:

There are some innovations in the 2002MR for this feast.  Just as in the 1970MR we find a full page plate of artwork (I use the term loosely).  Then we find in the 2002MR a new Mass for the Vigil of Ascension, which was not in the 1970MR. This is a return to a former usage, as in the 1962MR.  The vigil seems to have prayers of new composition.  Then we find a “Mass in the day” and, to our astonishment, a second alternative collect!   The first collect was alone in the 1970MR and was based on Sermon 73, 4 of St. Leo the Great.  The second collect is an old friend from the 1962MR the ancient collect for Ascension!   The preface in Gregorian chant notation has been integrated into the texts of the Mass itself.  Also, there are now proper Masses for the days after Ascension, most having alternative collects depending on whether or not in that region Ascension is transferred to Sunday.   For the interested, I will put the new prayers for the vigil on the internet at: http://wdtprs.net

LATIN (2002 Missale Romanum):
Sacrificium, Domine, pro Filii tui supplices
venerabili nunc ascensione deferimus:
praesta, quaesumus, ut his commerciis sacrosanctis
ad caelestia consurgamus.

Having had some forerunner in the Gelasian Sacramentary, this prayer seems nevertheless to be of new composition for the 1970MR.  After our experience with the previous super oblata let’s get out of the way the version by…

ICEL:
Lord,
receive our offering
as we celebrate the ascension of Christ your Son.
May his gifts help us rise with him
to the joys of heaven.

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
O Lord, we supplicants are bringing the sacrifice
now for the venerable Ascension of your Son:
grant, we beg, that we may rise up unto the heavenly places
by means of these most sacred exchanges.

The fun verb defero is “to bear or bring away a thing from a place; to bear, carry, bring down” and thus also, “to bring, give to one”.  It is used in mercantile contexts (as in “conveying to market”) and it has many legal applications (“to bring” someone before a judge; “deliver” a report about finances).  For comments on the amazing noun commercium please see my recent WDTPRS for the super oblata of the 5^th Sunday of Easter.

I am compelled by recent news to forsake much commentary on the prayers for the sake of looking at two important items.  We read that the Holy Father has directed the creation of a panel to assist the Congregation for Divine Worship (CDW) in ensuring that the texts of the Latin liturgy are translated into English accurately.  I have long thought that our wonderful CDW document of last year Liturgiam authenticam (LA) was aimed in large part at the problematic English language translations.  The panel is called “Vox clara.” The Pope said that Vox clara (VC) must help the development of a new translation of third edition of the Missale Romanum “as quickly as possible.”  In an issued statement VC spoke to the “absolute need for translations… which are precise, theologically faithful, and effectively proclaimable.”  I see ICEL on the ropes.  If this wasn’t enough, the CDW slapped down ICEL’s new proposed translation of the Missale Romanum and which they are still calling the Sacramentary.  The CDW’s biting criticism was very comprehensive.  Many prickly observations and corrections were made in the seven page letter of 16 March signed by the prefect Jorge Card. Medina Estévez.  He wrote that the letter’s observations were “not intended to be exhaustive, even in a generic sense.” Also, the Cardinal stated that ICEL’s proposal shows, “evidently insurmountable divergence as regards fundamental principles of liturgical translation.”   What was wrong with it?  Apparently the new translation used inclusive language which distorted the theological content and served to narrow the meaning of the texts to the immediate ceremony and congregation.  The CDW rebuked the composition of new prayers, the insertion of prayers that do not appear in any form in the Latin editions, saying that variety is not “cultural value capable of serving as a vehicle for authentic inculturation.”  The “mass produced” new prayers are “inferior” to the ancient prayers.  Apparently the new translation actually invited lay ministers to join the bishop at the altar during the Chrism Mass of Holy Thursday, thus blurring the distinction between the ministerial priesthood and the laity.  The Congregation insists again that the Creed or in Latin Credo should begin with “I believe” rather than the present inaccurate “We believe” and, moreover, that people should be saying “and with your spirit” for et cum spiritu tuo instead of the ludicrous “and also with you” which obscures the real theological significance of the response.   ICEL worked on the translation for 11 years and submitted it to the Holy See in 1998.  In the meantime the new edition of the Missale Romanum has been issued.  Rather than simply set the ICEL proposal aside quietly (for it translates the wrong book) the CDW instead determined essentially to rip it to bits.  Consider the timing of all this.  In the USA terrible scandals are demonstrating that something is gravely amiss with the way the faith is being presented and assimilated.  The proper kind of inculturation that the liturgy is supposed to form is obviously not taking place.  (I maintain that the main theological point driven home by LA is a proper understanding of inculturation.)  Then the CDW eviscerates ICEL’s lame-duck while a new panel called Vox clara is formed to govern English translations.  The panel, by the way, is named from the first two words of the hymn for Lauds during Advent.  I find the first two verses to be intriguing, given the present circumstances.

Vox clara ecce intonat,
obscura quaeque increpat:
procul fugentur somnia;
ab aethre Christus promicat.

Mens iam resurgat torpida
quae sorde exstat saucia,
sidus refulget iam novum,
ut tollat omne noxium.

Behold a clear/intelligible/glorious (clara) voice is thundering forth,
and it loudly rebukes whatever is obscure/unintelligible/ignoble:
dreams/silly things (somnia) are being put to flight afar;
Christ is gleaming/springing forth from heaven.
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Now the benumbed mind rises again
which stands over wounded baseness,
now heaven shines forth something new,
that it may do away with every injurious thing.

The new panel for oversight of English translations is “Vox clara.”  Decide for yourselves what that means.

What Does the Prayer Really Say? Ascension/Seventh Sunday of Easter

In some places the Ascension is celebrated on this Sunday rather than the 7th Sunday after Easter. 

ORIGINALLY PRINTED IN The Wanderer in 2001

With the publication of Liturgiam authenticam, establishing norms for vernacular translations of liturgical texts, WDTPRS has a rich source for reflection when offering these weekly examinations. For example:

27. Even if expressions should be avoided which hinder comprehension because of their excessively unusual or awkward nature, the liturgical texts should be considered as the voice of the Church at prayer, rather than of only particular congregations or individuals; thus, they should be free of an overly servile adherence to prevailing modes of expression. If indeed, in the liturgical texts, words or expressions are sometimes employed which differ somewhat from usual and everyday speech, it is often enough by virtue of this very fact that the texts become truly memorable and capable of expressing heavenly realities. Indeed, it will be seen that the observance of the principles set forth in this Instruction will contribute to the gradual development, in each vernacular, of a sacred style that will come to be recognized as proper to liturgical language. Thus it may happen that a certain manner of speech which has come to be considered somewhat obsolete in daily usage may continue to be maintained in the liturgical context. In translating biblical passages where seemingly inelegant words or expressions are used, a hasty tendency to sanitize this characteristic is likewise to be avoided. These principles, in fact, should free the Liturgy from the necessity of frequent revisions when modes of expression may have passed out of popular usage.

As you recall, WDTPRS has argued on more than one occasion for the retention of so-called "archaic" forms, those "Thee"s and "Thou"s. If the present English language Sacramentary provides alternative collects that are completely new compositions having nothing to do with the Latin, then why could there not be alternatives in a new Sacramentary? If we can have more modern sounding language, cannot we not also have the option of a more sacral and solemn style? Liturgiam authenticam seems to permit and even urge such a style. As a matter of fact, LA probably is urging the more solemn/sacral/archaic version exclusively without the alternative of a more modern version. We need "a sacred style that will come to be recognized as proper to liturgical language." The word "interesting" does not begin to describe this paragraph! Now to our weekly texts.

As many of you know, the Conference of Bishops of the USA determined that bishops of dioceses could transfer the celebration of Ascension Thursday to Sunday. This is a very strange thing even to consider, at first glance. Ascension has been fixed at the 40th day after Easter from about the end of the 4th c. Gregory of Nyssa spoke of it in 388. Augustine of Hippo calls it Quadragesima Ascensionis. However, consider that it is perhaps a good thing to bring Ascension into greater focus. The mystery of the Ascension is important enough to be declared in the Roman Canon. People should know more about it. In most places the observance of Epiphany was transferred to a Sunday even though it also is a feast day fixed in relation another great feast – Christmas (Epiphany is "Twelfth Night"). Now people have a greater appreciation of the significance of Epiphany. Perhaps that will happen also with Ascension, which is historically an extremely important feast. Because from the time the Lord ascended to the Father to the time the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles and Mary was a period of nine days, Ascension was also the origin of the custom of making "Novenas": a nine day period of prayer, fasting and almsgiving for an intention. On the other hand, one could also argue effectively that our faith ought to be important enough to people that we can make room in our busy days, even in the middle of the week, to go to Mass on Epiphany and Ascension Thursday. At any rate, that leaves WDTPRS with two collects for today.

COLLECT 7th Sunday:

LATIN (1970 Missale Romanum):
Supplicationibus nostris, Domine, adesto propitius,
ut, sicut humani generis Salvatorem
tecum in tua credimus maiestate,
ita eum usque ad consummationem saeculi manere nobiscum,
sicut ipse promisit, sentiamus.

There is a nice parallelism here in sicut… tecum and ita… nobiscum.

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
Graciously give attention to our supplications, O Lord,
so that, just as we believe the Savior of human kind
is, in your majesty, with you,
we thus may sense him, just as he promised, to be remaining with us
all the way unto the consummation of the world.

Adsum is the verb that gives us adesto, which is the "future" imperative (because imperative has to be future). Adsum means to "be present" in both the physical and the moral sense. Thus, it means also "to be present with one’s aid or support; to stand by, to assist, aid, help, protect, defend, sustain." And also, "to be present in mind, with attention, interest, sympathy; also, with courage; to give attention to something, to give heed, observe, attend to; also, to be fearless, be of good courage." In the Rite of Ordination, when men are called to receive Holy Orders, their names are pronounced (which is the formal moment of a "calling" – vocatio) and they respond, Adsum! Believe me when I say that that Adsum! candidates for Orders proclaim means all of the above! Maiestas has an interesting entry in the Lewis & Short Dictionary. This word fundamentally means, "greatness, grandeur, dignity, majesty." In conjunction with other words it reveals something more. For example, maiestas means the "sovereignty of the Roman people" in classical Latin. Thus, we have the term for high treason: laedere maiestatem. In English we use the same phrase: "lese majesty" also in the French form "lèse majesté". Consummatio is technically "a casting up or reckoning together, a summing up, a summary view" as well as a "finishing, completing, accomplishing." Think of doing a "summation" or doing your "sums". Or being a "consummate pianist" to indicate a pianist who in his skills and artistry is "complete."

ICEL:
Father,
help us keep in mind that Christ our Savior
lives with you in glory
and promised to remain with us until the end of time.

COLLECT ASCENSION:

LATIN (1970 Missale Romanum):
Fac nos, omnipotens Deus, sanctis exsultare gaudiis,
et pia gratiarum actione laetari,
quia Christi Filii tui ascensio est nostra provectio,
et quo processit gloria capitis,
eo spes vocatur et corporis.

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
Cause us, Almighty God, to exult in holy joys
and to be glad in dutiful thanksgiving,
for the ascension of Christ Thy Son is our advancement,
and the hope of the Body is being called to that place
from whence comes forth the glory of the Head.

Actio gratiarum means "thanksgiving, a giving of thanks." To say "thank you" in Latin, you say "Gratias tibi (vobis) ago!"...tibi being singular and vobis being plural. Provectio is a "promotion, advancement."

WDTPRS has explained in the past about the theological significance of the world gloria when referring to God. This is that divine power that will flow to us from Christ and transform us to be more and more as He is. Certainly gloria is related to words like splendor and maiestas.

These collects both point us to a great mystery: in the Person of the Risen Lord, the God/man, our humanity is at this very moment present at the right hand of God the Father. When Christ ascended to the Father, our humanity ascended with Him. We are already there, but still not yet there. We must wait for the world’s consummation and final reckoning to join Them in our final state of endless contemplation of the Triune God. Christ is the Head of the Church. Through and in Him we are the Body, the members, the Church. In that time after the world and everything and everyone has been put in the balance, and everything has been submitted by Christ to the Father so that God may be all in all, Christ the Head and Christ the Body will be, as St. Augustine might put it, Christus Totus: Christ Whole and Entire. The Ascension, celebrated on 40th day after Easter since the 4th century, is a celebration in advance of our own ascension in glory.

ICEL:
God our Father,
make us joyful in the ascension of your Son Jesus Christ.
May we follow him into the new creation,
for his ascension is our glory and our hope.

In his address to priests in the Warsaw cathedral the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI said (emphasis mine):

In reality, we grow in affective maturity when our hearts adhere to God. Christ needs priests who are mature, virile, capable of cultivating an authentic spiritual paternity. For this to happen, priests need to be honest with themselves, open with their spiritual director and trusting in divine mercy.

 

In the document of the Congregation for Catholic Education entitled Instruction concerning the criteria for the discernment of vocations with regard to persons with homosexual tendencies in view of their admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders (November 4, 2005) we read:

1. ... The candidate to the ordained ministry, therefore, must reach affective maturity. Such maturity will allow him to relate correctly to both men and women, developing in him a true sense of spiritual fatherhood towards the Church community that will be entrusted to him.

Sound familiar?