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

I am told by the nice folks at Joyent that you folks have already pushed this blog to half the server’s capacity!!

All I can say is

Bring it on!  You are fantastic. 

Joyent tells me they are moving us now over to an industrial strength machine designed for the big time.  Huzzah!

I really need a tame web development guru now, I think.

Since the first server migration I have identified some problems to correct.  One of them I am pushing hard to correct today/tonight if possible.  That is the code problem that is screwing up the special characters. 

All in good time,

o{];¬)

In another entry about timing of an audience given by His Holiness to two cardinals in light of the forthcoming Motu Proprio, people in their understandable enthusaism started posting comments and recommendations about hand missals for use at the older, "Tridentine" form of Mass. 

Since this is a good topic in itself, it needs a separate entry.  Post them here.

Today on Bill Bennett’s weekday radio show Morning in America I heard from Micheal Flaherty President of Walden Media said that in production now are Prince Caspian of C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia and also The Screwtape Letters. 

I frequently listen to an unabridged audio reading of The Screwtape Letters by none other than John Cleese.  It is fantastic.  There is another audio recording now, read by Ralph Cosham but it is flat and stale compared to John Cleese’s version. 

The Cleese version is available now on CD in a UK version, and it is spendy, but worth it.

UPDATE: I heard that the three youngsters of the Harry Potter films have been signed on to complete all the HP cycle of films.

Something is up.

From the Bolletino:

    Yesterday evening the Pope received in audience:

    His Eminence Francis Card. Arinze, Prefect for the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments;

    His Eminence Darío Card. Castrillón Hoyos, President of the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei".

Remember that reports have the Motu Proprio coming out after 25 March but before the Triduum. 

Today I spoke with someone to whom a bishop recently received by the Pope said that the Pope was "determined".

Start practicing your responses…

In another entry I wrote that the Pope will hear the confessions of young people on 29 March at the Basilica of St. Peter.  Commenting on that news item, someone said:

I wouldn’t like to go to confession with the Pope…
It’s just so embarassing!

Not go to confession to the Pope?  Embarrassing?

Let’s keep in mind some of Fr. Z’s 20 Tips for making a good confession:

We should…

11) ...never be afraid to say something "embarrassing"... just say it;
12) ...never worry that the priest thinks we are jerks…. he is usually impressed by our courage;
20) ...remember that priests must go to confession too … they know what we are going through.

Let’s think about this a little.

Consider that on earth there is no person alive who has his same authority to bind and to loose like the Pope has.  Benedict XVI exercises precisely the same fullness of the authority Jesus Christ gave to Peter. 

At the same time, if you go to the Pope for your confession, and confess all your mortal sins in kind and number to the best of your ability and with sincere sorrow with a firm purpose of amendment, your sins will not be more forgiven by the Pope than they would be by the humble priest at your local parish. 

When you receive Communion from the Pope, you are not getting "more Jesus" than you would at your parish church.  If you are baptized by him, you are not more baptized.  If you are ordained by the Pope, as I was, you are not more ordained than any other priest in the world.  The impact the experience may have on you may admittedly be greater and God may work through that according to His plan for you.  Remember: honors and privileges are about God, finally, not about you.

Going back to confession, when exercising this ministry the Pope forgives sins because Jesus Christ acts through him.  This is the way it is with everything the Pope does in and for the Church.  When Fr. Joe Sixpack at St. Ipsidipsy of Tall Tree Circle forgives your sins, they are forgiven because Jesus Christ is acting in him.  Both he and the Pope act in persona Christi.  They are both alter Christus.  The difference between them lies especially in the Pope’s ability to bind and loose censures and to grant indulgences.  Also, the Holy Father has the grace of his office to aid him in insight and counseling.

It would be a great consolation to make a confession to the Vicar of Christ, especially if you were burdened by some truly heavy, or a censure of some sort.

However, every single one of you out there can receive from your local priests precisely the same absolution as the Pope would give you. 

There is nothing so bad that you, a little finite human being, can do that the humblest, most obscure priest cannot entirely lift from your soul through the infinite power and mercy of God.

Run, walk or crawl if you have to.  Seek that absolution often.

WDTPRS’s second favorite Cardinal is in the news in the South China Morning Post.  We always love reading about Joseph Card. Zen, Bishop of Hong Kong.  Munster had its Lion.  Hong Kong has its 麒麟 (Qílín).  Card. Zen gives us insight into the Holy Father’s upcoming letter to Chinese Catholics (my emphasis):

Compromise unlikely in Pope’s letter, says Zen;
Vatican has to protect traditional rights, says HK cardinal

Ambrose Leung

Pope Benedict’s forthcoming letter to Chinese Catholics will clear up pastoral issues troubling the mainland church while spelling out the Vatican’s bottom line on diplomatic negotiations, Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun said. But although conciliatory wording would be used to show the Vatican was sincere in continuing the dialogue, Beijing’s hope for major compromises could be dashed because the church had to protect its traditional rights, he said.

In an interview on the eve of the first anniversary of his elevation to cardinal, the head of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese said the Pope was still finalising the letter to be delivered after Easter. "Pastoral issues, rather than diplomacy, will be the focus because the letter is not addressed to the Beijing government but to the faithful in China. The Pope’s concern is not diplomacy, but the propagation of faith," Cardinal Zen said.

"Rather than creating problems, the letter will solve problems. But if Beijing believes the Holy See will make a big compromise, I am afraid they will be disappointed."

...

The Pope has sought advice from those who took part in the meeting, including Cardinal Zen, over the draft of the letter, which will be published in Chinese, English and Italian next month. Cardinal Zen expected the Pope would reiterate that it was his prerogative to appoint bishops anywhere in the world and China should be no exception.

"I believe he will mention that although discussions on bishop candidates would be carried out with the Chinese government, the Pope has the ultimate right to appoint bishops. Beijing needs to understand that the church has a bottom line. It is a religious matter which would not hurt Chinese people’s pride," Cardinal Zen said.

The so-called "Vietnam model", by which the Vatican proposes several candidates for the government to choose from before the Pope gives his final approval, is not expected to be discussed, although the principle of mutual consent would be touched on. The Pope also would give "clear directions to clear up issues troubling mainland Catholics", Cardinal Zen said.

Many mainland Catholics are confused by the present relationship between the "underground" community loyal to Rome, and the state-sanctioned church, with the gradual move by the Vatican to recognise most of the bishops in the mainland.