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

I was up before sunrise this morning and caught the setting of the moon. 

Tomorrow the moon with be full and in Rome there will be a total eclipse of the moon at 23:21 UTC.  Alas, the moon will be at a pretty angle for the eclipse.  If it is clear I will have a great view, but probably won’t be able to pick up enough Roman skyline to make for an interesting photo.

Gerald, over at The Cafeteria, always has fine photography work for view. 

He put his many skills together with a bit of … borrowing… and came up with a fresh spin on what I posted a while back about the importance to the entire world of properly celebrated (and participated) sacraments and why we need to make improvements, and fast: Save The Liturgy, Save The World.

He is making a larger version available as well.  The detail of the window, in the larger version, is breathtaking.  As a photographer and image manipulator, this guy’s got game. 

Envoy Magazine, in a piece authored by Brian Mershon, provides insights into the forthcoming "old Mass" Motu Proprio. 

The source is Msgr. Michael Schmitz of the Institute of Christ the King during a 19 February talk held by Tradition, Family, Property in McLean, Virginia.

The article, "Traditional Liturgy Not Affected by ‘the Reform of the Reform’" seeks to put some traditionalists at ease about such dire things as the calendars of the old Missale and the new being coordinated. 

There was a hint that the papal Master of Ceremonies, H.E. Piero Marini might be moving, but (and this is important) "Msgr. Schmitz did not give any details as to the nature of Archbishop Marini’s new assignment."

To my knowledge, Schmitz is well-placed to learn some things about these matters.  Not only is he obviously one of the smartest and well-balanced clerics in the traditionalist movement, he has long-standing ties to the Holy Father, having been ordained priest by him years ago together with Msgr. Georg Ganswein, the Holy Father’s present personal secretary.

According to Mershon’s account of what Msgr. Schmitz communicated in the talk, the M.P. will allow every priest of the Latin Rite to say the older, "Tridentine" Mass not only privately (which he says priests can do now even without special permission) but also publicly.  Many have wondered just how that would work, since seemingly it doesn’t allow much room for the rights of local bishops. 

According to Mershon’s piece, if a bishop wants to block a priest from using the older Mass he would have to write to and get approval from the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei".   On the other hand, priests would have recourse to the Commission in case of trouble.  It remains to be seen if that is really the solution to the dilemma, but, while still problematic, it is not bad.

The piece reports that the Pope now has the text of the M.P.  Apparently Msgr. Schmitz said: "The person who is responsible for it does not want to discuss it any longer."  That is consistent with my experience here in Rome.  A nearly complete wall of silence has dropped around the document (though not total!) which suggests that it is now in the Pope’s hands and is not longer subject to discussion in the dicasteries.

The recent interview in Inside the Vatican with Archbishop Ranjith, and what I have written about for years, presents the model that the side-by-side use of the newer and older Missals would result in the jump-start of an organic process of development of the Roman liturgy, each influencing the other.  This was Joseph Ratzinger’s model.  What Schmitz gave forth is largely consistent with that view.  For the a "reform of the reform" to work, some things from the past need to be reclaimed, including greater use of Latin and ad orientem celebrations of Holy Mass, and maybe the recovery of elements such as the priest’s pre-Conciliar offertory prayers.  It may be that these are elements in the Holy Father’s long-expected Post-Synodal Exhortation. 

This might explain the long delays of both the Exhortation and the M.P.: they required coordination.

I urge you all once again to pray especially that the angel guardians work to soften the hearts of those who are obstinately opposing such a Motu Proprio so that its release will be irenic and fruitful.

We continue our Lenten journey through the prayers of Holy Mass with today’s

SUPER OBLATA:
Haec quae nos reparent, quaesumus, Domine, beata mysteria
suo nos munere dignos efficiant.

This was not in any edition of the Missale Romanum before the post-Conciliar reforms.  It has roots in the ancient Gelasian Sacramentary.

LITERAL VERSION:
We beseech You, O Lord, let these holy sacramental mysteries which are renewing us,
render us worthy of their gift.

We are really never "worthy" of the Blessed Sacrament in ourselves.  God makes us worthy by sharing with us His own worthiness.  As St. Augustine said, God crowns His own merits in us.  However, because of our intimate bond with Him, by His incarnation and our baptism, what He gives us is truly ours.  So, we can say that we can be worthy to receive the Blessed Sacrament so long as we are in harmony with what God offers us through our vocations, and through what is incumbent on us as members of the Church Christ built upon the Rock who is Peter.