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

There is a Christmas meme going around.

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate?
Yes.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Wrapped.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
I don’t put up lights, but they would be only white.
4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Don’t have much mistletoe. Aren’t you supposed to hang holly? Or stockings?
5. When do you put your decorations up?
During Advent but they are completed Christmas Eve.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
It Italy zampone con lenticchie and in the USA probably roast goose with sour kraut.
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child:
Not a childhood memory, but as an adult convert receiving my First Communion at Midnight Mass.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I was never fooled.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Only if it is expected with others.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
Alas, I don’t have one.
11. Snow? Love it or Dread it?
Snow is great!
12. Can you ice skate?
Of course!
13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Yes.
14. What’s the most exciting thing about the Holidays for you?
They are holy days.
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Panetone with prosecco, about which I have a very good memory from a hard Christmas many years ago.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Perhaps an advent calendar and listening to the seasonal music.
17. What tops your tree?
cf. #10. But I think it would be an angel.
18. Which do you prefer – giving or receiving?
Yes. Receiving a gift well honors the giver.
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
In The Bleak Midwinter
20. Candy canes?
No thanks.

I found an interesting blog blurb called Forest Murmurs posted by Fr. Michael Brown, the blog’s demiurge (my emphasis).

Apart from this there are the never ending rumours about a general permission for the traditional Roman rite. The latest suggestion, reported by Fr Zuhldorf [sic] is that the permission will be made public on December 8th. The only evidence that something may be going to happen is the reports of French bishops making clear their opposition to any such move. Meanwhile in this country we are assured that it is all hype and that there is no substance to the stories.

Well… I guess we shall see if there is any substance to it or not.  And, I don’t think I ever gave a specific date.

This makes me curious. 

I don’t know if there are such things as "liberal" Catholic blogs.  There might be.  But, really, imagine such a thing.  So….

Perhaps you readers might give me a hand.  If you find things out there against the idea of any use of the older Mass, or who are completely blowing off all possibility of an indult, let us all know!  Post links and excerpts.  The way I see it, if I am going to post my opinions, suppositions and bits of news, it is only fair to consider the naysayers. 

After all, they might stumble into something true.  Accidently, of course.  Even broken clocks are right twice a day, right?

Here is the Collect for Wednesday of the 1st Week of Advent.

COLLECT:
Praepara, quaesumus, Domine Deus noster,
corda nostra divina tua virtute,
ut, veniente Christo Filio tuo,
digni inveniamur aeternae vitae convivio,
et cibum caelestem, ipso ministrante, percipere mereamur.

This prayer was in the ancient Gelasian Sacramentary.

Ministro is "to attend, wait upon, serve, esp. at table, to serve up, pour out, hand food or drink".  Percipio is to "to take possession of, to seize, occupy" but also "to learn, know, conceive, comprehend, understand, perceive".  

LITERAL VERSION:
O Lord our God, we beseech You, prepare
our hearts by means of Your divine power,
so that, as Christ Your Son is coming,
we may be found worthy of the banquet of heavenly life,
and, He Himself acting as the servant, we may merit to receive the celestial food.

What is really interesting here is the image of Christ as the "minister" of the heavenly Communion.  Remember what the Lord said about the master of the house who goes away and, on his return, finds the servants ready to let him in when he knocks even if it is at a very inconvenient hour?  Jesus says that in the master of the house himself will serve the servants.  The Pope has used also the referene to the Lord knocking on the door.  Fascinating.

Also, in the verb percipio we have the idea of "perceiving" with the faculties of reason what is going on.  In heaven we will moe from faith to understanding.  There will be amazing moments of realization in heaven.  Never ending opportunities of discovery and amazment before the Beatific Vision.  What food for the soul!  But since we are living in a state of "already but not yet", this can also refer to what will happen in this very Mass later on after reading of Scripture (in which the Lord comes) and the consecration (in which the Lord comes) and in Communion when the alter Christus gives Him to us as we kneel in wonder and gratitude.

I get lots of text messages on my busy cellphone each day. They are cheaper than making a phone call and far more discreet.

Here is one I got this morning:

Fama fert Litteras motu proprio dandas scriptas iam esse et mox promulgandas. Sed mox quid sit nescio. Spes autem non confundit.

What is this all about?

Rumor has it that the Motu Proprio is already written and is to be promulgated soon. What "soon" means, however, I don’t know. Still, our hope is not leaving us deluded.

That SMS is the third confirmation I have gotten. So, I feel safer about saying what I am piecing together. Remember: this is based reliable sources but it is still supposition on my part. I sift the exaggerated stuff out and try to get a consistent picture. In no special order…

1) The document will definitely be a Motu Proprio. (That means it will be from the Pope and not a document of a Congregation or joint document issued by different dicasteries.)

2) At the beginning of November it was in its final draft, after four revisions.

3) During the third week of November it was suggested that the document might come out in about three weeks. This would put it around… well… now.

4) It will authorize private celebration of Mass with the 1962 Missal by any priest as he chooses. Public Masses will be regulated by the bishop.

5) What a "private" Mass is will be defined in the document. A number will be established for what constitutes a "private" Mass. Provided the group is that size, no permission of the bishop will be necessary.

6) If I understand it right, and I admit I might be confused, there might be something in the document about greater numbers of people (than what would constitute a "private" Mass) being allowed to attend without the bishop’s permission so long as a Mass in the Novus Ordo is first provided for those who want it. I am not sure about this element, but it might be a prudent solution. If I am right about this element of the document, the idea would be to ensure that a priest doesn’t simply stop offering people the chance to attend the Novus Ordo and thus force everyone to go to the older form. See what I mean?

7) The document will stress the obligation of bishops to be "generous" in allowing the older form of Mass to be offered publicly with language much strong than that in the Motu Proprio "Ecclesia Dei adflicta" of John Paul II.

A few days ago I jokingly said that it would be just my luck that the thing would be released on a day when I was away from Rome and not able to get online. Well… I am going out of town for a couple days on Friday. Let’s take this cvm grano salis but … hmmm!

About the number of people that might constitute a "private" Mass…. Whereas the older idea of "private" was definitely more restrictive, the new document will more than likely suggest a number.

I haven’t heard what that number is.

You might remember that I reported on a battle in the Congregation over the number of people. In October I wrote:

"the "anti-liberalizing" party, ... rushed to work on attaching restrictive modifications (for example, the need to raise the number of those making the request from 30 to 100),..."

That would surely have pertained to public Masses, not private. So, let’s think about this.

If the anti-derestriction party wanted, say 100 signatures to get a "public" Mass, then you might guess that Mass for a group smaller than 100 would be considered "private". However, 100 would be far too irritating to imagine for the anti-derestrictionists. Anti-derestrictionists would want a very small maximum number for a private Mass, right? The battle I mention here was obviously about some earlier draft. Nevertheless, since 30 was mentioned above, maybe we can imagine that the number permitted for a Mass to be considered "private" might be 30. Let’s hope that it is much higher. I would say… well… just off the top of my head… perhaps a maximum for private Mass of … 1500? More than 1500 and we would need to get the bishop involved. I think that’s reasonable, don’t you? o{];¬)

So, it looks like this Motu Proprio will fill in some of the weak spots in the older Motu Proprio "Ecclesia Dei adflicta". That M.P. would have worked if more bishops had actually opened their hearts and minds and been generous to people who wanted the older forms – in spite of the fact that traditionalists can sometimes be well… like we know they can be. Human nature being what it is, that was doomed to be not quite enough. I am guessing that the new M.P. will make structural changes to the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" and reshape its mandates. Remember: His Eminence Card. Castrillion Hoyos is President there and he has a lot more time now that he is no longer Prefect of Clergy. He has energy and good will toward the whole issue, too.

In any event, something is in motion. Let’s keep breathing and reasoning in the meantime.