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

It has been a good, though short, trip back to my other home, Roma.  Tomorrow I go back to the USA again.

Here are a few of the highlights:

• Attending a conference and being able to deflate a cliche position on the position of the altar.
• 1st Vespers of Advent and the return of Roman copes and the "formale"
  
• Meeting and chatting with Mons. Guido Marini
• Talking with Card. Gracias of Vox Clara.
  
• 1.5 hour private meeting with Archbishop Ranjith.
  
• Visiting my old haunts, the now much expanded offices of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, meeting Card. Castrillon, speaking at length with my good friend Mons. Perl, and greeting Mons. Mario Marini, another friend.
• 1 hour private meeting with Card. Arinze.
• Dining with those people I can’t name, but who know I appreciate them all the same.
  
• Going out with my Chinese priest friends.
• Finding the Traditional Missale Romanum in the chapel at my residience (for priests) and that the ribbons were set to the correct pages each day.
  
• Seeing American friends for supper at Polese.
• Being celebrant for a Solemn High Mass with the older, Traditional Missale Romanum for the Immaculate Conception.
• Blessing the family home of a very close Roman friend, and seeing his wife and children
  
• Meeting colleagues and friends from Fox News for lunch. 
• Time with "The Inquisitor" and "The Producer"
  
• Hours in the library and also with my thesis director. 
• Visiting with Card. Mayer, the holiest man I know.

My posting this last week or so has been a little thin for a reason.

Here is the Collect for Monday of the 2nd Week of Advent

COLLECT:
Dirigatur, quaesumus, Domine,
in conspectu tuo nostrae petitionis oratio,
ut ad magnum incarnationis Unigeniti tui mysterium
nostrae vota servitutis illibata puritate perveniant.

This prayer is in Rotulus 13 which is published together with the ancient Veronese Sacramentary.

The dictionary we call Blaise/Dumas is helpful here. The verb dirigo in the passive is often used in Latin prayers as "bring onto a good path".  It is a good Advent verb, for sure. It also has the connotation of rising straight upward.  Conspectus, again from Blaise/Dumas, indictes the Lord’s "sight" and therefore, His presence, with a meaning of "favorable regard".  A votum can be a "prayer" but it signals also "praise", something due. 

LITERAL VERSION:
O Lord, we beseech You, may the prayer of our petition,
be brought into Your favorable regard,
so that the praises of our submissive service
may with unstained purity reach unto the great mystery of the incarnation of Your Only-Begotten.

SMOOTHER VERSION:
O Lord, we earnestly entreat
You to receive our prayerful petitions
so that the praises we raise in our service,
may reach even unto the great mystery who is the Your Only Son, God incarnate.

A PROPOSED VERSION BEING KICKED AROUND:
Let the prayer of our petition, we pray, O Lord,
be brought before you,
that our committed service not fail
until it comes with unblemished purity
to the great mystery of your Only-begotten Son’s
incarnation.

There are a lot of directions we can go wtih this prayer, since each word is packed and the Latin is very "styled".  The Latin is super hierarchical. 

Everything having to do with God is "upward". 

It is "courtly", as well, and sounds like the way we would come up and into the presence of a king. 

Being in His "sight" means being in near enough to be "regarded". 

References are indirect: We speak of the vota servitutis… things owed, or praises, due because of our state of being servants. 

We want our prayers to be heard, but we don’t just say we "praise Christ".  We want our pure praises to reach the "mystery of the incarnation". 

Also, we start with petition, to make sure that God is seeing to it that what we offer is good enough.  Then we move into praise, after purity has been established.  So, this whole thing smacks of our hope to enter into the Beatific Vision, together with the realization that we must be pure to do so and only God can complete our purity. 

Interesting prayer. 

Perhaps some of you will take a stab at it as well.

I received a very interesting report by e-mail.  Good things are happening in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 

Here is an open letter from the Archbp. of Santa Fe, H.E. Most Reverend, Michael J. Sheehan:

[Text of Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan’s letter in December 2007 People of God]

As your Shepherd, I greet you in the name of the Lord and wish you a Merry and Blessed Christmas! Later this month we will celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. One of the core teachings of Christianity is that God the Father sent his Son Jesus to be born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem for our salvation. Although Christmas has become highly commercialized in our secular western society, we must look through the tinsel, bright lights, and nicely wrapped presents to see what the season is all about: it is about Jesus Christ. It isn’t enough to celebrate His  birthday. Rather, He wants us to follow His message and be active in the Church that He founded. If you want to honor the Christ Child, be the best Catholic that you can be! I pray for your families and loved ones at this holy season that God may give you many graces at Christmas and in the New Year.

By the time you and other faithful readers of the People of God see this column, we will have welcomed former Episcopalian Bishop Jeffrey Steenson and his wife, Debbie, into the Catholic Church at Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. As you know from recent news accounts, Jeffrey was the Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of the Rio Grande which covers New Mexico and parts of west Texas. I have been in conversations with him for several years as he has sought the truth of the Catholic faith. I admire him for the sacrifices that he is making in entering the Catholic Church at this moment in his life. He is leaving the security of his present position with the trust in God that things will fall into place for him and his family. Msgr. Douglas Raun of St. Thomas Aquinas was also present in Rome since he had been the theological advisor for Jeffrey. Jeffrey will ask the Holy Father for the Pastoral Provision which would allow him to eventually be ordained a Catholic priest.  The humble and sincere way that Jeffrey has made this decision and announce it to his own people has won respect and acclaim for his personal integrity and desire to be united to the Successor of St. Peter. We ask the Lord to bless him and his wife, Debbie, as they seek to follow God’s will in their lives.

In another noteworthy development, I share with you that I have appointed Rev. Carlos Conzales as Chaplain of the Latin Mass Community in Albuquerque. This is being done in accord with the Holy Father’s motu proprio loosening the restrictions on the celebration of the old Latin Mass. In November, I joined Fr. Carlos Gonzales and his community at Our Lady Queen of Peace on San Pedro in Albuquerque to announce my intention to regularize them and to bring them into full communion with the Catholic Church. Fr. Gonzales, who was ordained a priest by Archbishop Lefebvre before the Archbishop was excommunicated by Pope John Paul II, has gone to Rome and met with the authorities of the Ecclesia Dei Commission to receive approval to exercise his priestly ministry in union with Rome. The Latin Mass is at Our Lady Queen of Peace at 1420 San Pedro at 8:30 a.m. Fr. Gonzales will celebrate that Mass and then have the Tridentine Mass at noon on Sundays at San Ignacio. Catholics are welcome to attend either time, which gives another option for those who are drawn to the Tridentine Mass.

We welcome the Tridentine Community and ask God to bless Fr. Gonzales as he ministers to them. To be a good Catholic requires more than incense and Mass in Latin! It means union with the Successor of Peter and the Bishop whom he sends. I also take this occasion to invite back other Tridentine Catholics to union with Rome and the Bishop the Pope has sent to join the Tridentine Community. Let us pray that God will bring many graces to those involved!

Sincerely yours in the Risen Lord,

+ Most Rev. Michael J. Sheehan
Archbishop of Santa Fe

 

Archbp. Sheehan wrote about two examples of men willing to make sacrifices and give up positions and support for the sake of their desire for unity with the Successor of Peter.

I think it is important to remember that for the sake of unity, some people make great sacrifices.  By "swiming the Tiber", they can lose everything they have, and put stress on their family ties.  These folks deserve some recognition and support.  I have always been impressed, for example, with the efforts of men like Marcus Grodi, whose Coming Home Network aims to help men who need some support when they give up so much to seek unity with Rome.

I am pleased to report that there was a Solemn Mass sung in Southwark, at the Cathedral of St. George.

There are some very nice photos!

The feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary was celebrated in Southwark Cathedral with a Traditional Latin High Mass, by permission of His Grace Archbishop Kevin McDonald and the Dean, Canon James Cronin. The Mass was followed by singing the Te Deum.

It is understood that this is the first time that a High Mass in the Traditional form has been celebrated at the Cathedral since the introduction of the Novus Ordo Mass following the Second Vatican Council.

The clergy were:

Celebrant – Fr Andrew Southwell

Deacon – Fr Patrick Hayward

Subdeacon – Fr Christopher Basden

Canon James Cronin, Dean of the Cathedral, preached.

Fr Anthony Logan was in Choir whilst several other clergy were amongst the congregation which numbered around 800, comfortably filling the nave.

 

I had a nice piece of news from Fr. Jay Finelli, of Holy Ghost Church in Tiverton, RI. 

Here is part of what he wrote to me. 

Today was the first celebration of the TLM in my parish.  It was a  noon Mass for the anniversary celebration of a local pro-life group.  

Since I am not yet prepared to celebrate the TLM, it was celebrated by Fr. Thomas Kocik. 

Once I am ready, Fr. Kocik and I will alternate with a monthly celebration and if the need is greater expand. 

I have included some pictures if you would like to use them on your website.

Notice how they used kneelers to create a kind of altar rail.

You can see at the website photos of the work done on the church. Check the galleries.

Please go check out the website of St. Aloysius Church in Sauk City, WI.

The perspicacious pastor, Fr. Miguel Galvez, has posted the following item (my emphases and comments):

Written by Fr. Miguel Galvez

Wednesday, 05 December 2007

Beginning on December 17, we will offer at St. Norbert’s church in Roxbury an additional Mass each weekday at 6:30 AM  and an additional Mass every Sunday at 10:30 AM, [What a nice change of pace from "I don’t want to add a Mass.  We have enough to do already".] using the traditional Latin form of the Roman Rite. On July 7 of this year His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI issued a motu propio that allows each priest who so desires to celebrate Mass using the Missal promulgated by Blessed John XXIII in 1962. This is the Missal that is used to celebrate what is normally known as the “traditional Latin Mass” or “Tridentine Rite”. A motu propio is a special type of papal document which is the publication of a new law for the Church. The phrase means “on my own initiative” or something similar. This means it comes directly from the Pope who is the Supreme Pontiff and Vicar of Jesus Christ.  [That’s right!  And what he says, goes.] In this document the Pope introduces two forms of the Roman Rite, the ordinary and the extraordinary. He points out that it is not appropriate to speak of “two rites,” but that it is rather a twofold use of one and the same Roman Rite – there is one rite, with two equal forms. [At least juridically speaking.] The ordinary form would be the Mass in English you find in all Catholic parishes and the extraordinary form would be the “traditional Latin Mass.” The Pope emphasizes that the ancient rite was never abrogated, or suspended. In 1970, we were made to think that it was gone, [Exactly!] and that only retired priests who had obtained special permission to say the Mass in private could say the traditional Latin Mass. That was a misinterpretation of the law of the Church that the Pope clarifies in this document.  [This fellow understands the situation well.] After making these points, the Pope goes into the deformations [liturgical abuses] in the Mass that have occurred over the recent years. He talks about the fact that many Catholics have wanted to recover the form of the sacred liturgy that was dear to them because it conveyed a more sacred celebration of the Mass. “This occurred above all because in many places celebrations were not faithful to the prescriptions of the new Missal, but the latter actually was understood as authorizing or even requiring creativity, which frequently led to deformations of the liturgy which were hard to bear. I am speaking from experience, since I too lived through that period with all its hopes and its confusion. And I have seen how arbitrary deformations of the liturgy caused deep pain to individuals totally rooted in the Faith of the Church.” The traditional Latin Mass is different in the way it is celebrated with respect to the ordinary form of the Mass. It is, of course, said in Latin, as it has been for 1500 years. [Of course the Novus Ordo is also to be celebrated in Latin.  That is a point which has been mostly ignored since the Novus Ordo was promulgated.] But there are more differences than that. The way it is celebrated conveys a sense of awe and mystery in worship. It also provides ample room for recollection and private prayer and expresses beauty, dignity, silence, and reverence in the Mass. [A priest who doesn’t think "private" prayer at Mass is bad!  Thank you!] The traditional Latin Mass has as a primary focus to transmit a sense of worship to God that is expressed in many ways, the most obvious one being the priest facing the tabernacle or crucifix oriented to the east (the rising sun). Some people say that in this kind of Mass the priest gives his "back to the people". But that is not the purpose of his position any more than the people who sit in the first pew do so because they want to give their back to the people. [Well said!] The priest, shepherd of his flock, is leading his flock as the Good Shepherd does. When he addresses the congregation he turns to face the people and says “Dominus vobiscum” or “Orate fratres”. It also is centered on the fact that the Mass is a making present of the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. This is expressed with the manifold crosses seen on the vestments, ornamentations and gestures of the priest. We invite all those interested in experiencing again the “old Mass” to attend this form of the liturgy. Those who have never experienced it, I truly encourage to attend. I advise those new to the form to read about it first (www.sanctamissa.org/EN/spirituality/ is one possibility) and prepare themselves for an awe-inspiring experience!

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 05 December 2007 )

I congratulate Father for his fine presentation of the issues and his warm invitation.   It would be nice to hear in the future how things are going there.