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

From Space Weather News for Dec. 20, 2007

URSID METEORS:  Earth is heading for a stream of comet dust that could produce a pleasing outburst of "shooting stars" this weekend.  Forecasters say dozens of meteors per hour could emerge from a spot in the sky near the North Star (Polaris) when Earth encounters the dust on Saturday evening, Dec. 22nd. These meteors are called "Ursids" after Ursa Minor, [From Latin ursus or "bear", whose name is connected to the myth of Callisto; we are talking about the "Little Dipper"] the constellation where the North Star is located.  If forecasting models are correct, the shower’s peak will occur between 2100 and 2200 UT (4-5 pm EST) with meteors visible as much as four hours before and after that time.

The source of the dust is Comet 8P/Tuttle, which is traveling through the inner solar system this month and next. The comet itself can be seen through binoculars not far from the radiant of the shower.  This gives sky watchers a rare opportunity to see a comet and its meteors in the same observing session.

Ursid meteors, which appear in small numbers annually, have a reputation for faintness and delicacy.  Dark skies are usually required to see them; bright moonlight on Dec. 22nd will only exacerbate the problem of visibility. However, say forecasters, during an outburst of Ursids there may be a fair number of bright meteors.  No one knows what will happen—all the more reason to look! 

Meanwhile, our intrepid little Martian rover Spirit, the little rover that could, is still struggling against time and soft ground to get to a slope which will give its dust covered solar panels a better angle to the sun, so that it can survive the Martian winter. 

Spirit’s mission, slated for 3 months, has stretched to 47!

Dust is a huge problem.  Spirit’s twin on the other side of Mars, Opportunity, had a battle last July with a dust storm that cut the level of sunlite for its own power.

Spirit has been crossing northward on a low plateau called "Home Plate".  As of its 1386th sol (or "Martian day" – 26 Nov 2007) Spirit had driven 7435 meters (4.62 miles).  From its landing site near the northwest corner of the image below, Spirit crossed a plain to the Columbia Hills, climbed over the summit of Husband Hill, and descended into the "Inner Basin" of the range, near the southeast corner of the image.

Go Spirit!

 

Reverend and Dear Fathers, Latin Rite priests, especially those of you who are in dioceses where bishops say they are going to test your Latin skills before "allowing" you to use the 1962 Missale Romanum which Summorum Pontificum says is a legitimate option in our Roman Rite.

Have any of you actually seen one of these tests or taken one?

I am very eager to hear all about what they involved or see a copy.

I am looking for information from PRIESTS OR BISHOPS.

Be sure to check out Vultus Christi and the entry on Benedict’s words about Nennolina, a little Roman girl whose heroic virtues the Pope has recently recognized as part of her cause.

This was an interesting little girl, who lived only to six and half years old, just after she was given her First Holy Communion.  She suffered terribly from bone cancer and lost a leg.

This is what the little girl wrote some months before her Communion:

"Dear Jesus Eucharist I love You so much! . . .
Really very much!
Not only because You are the Father of all the world, but also because You are the King of all the world, I always want to be Your lamp which burns night and day before You and near You in the Sacrament of the altar.

I’d like You to grant me three favours the first – make me saint, and this is the most important favour;
the second – give me some souls;
the third – make me walk normally, to tell the truth this is the least important.
I’m not saying to give me back my leg, I gave it to You!

Dear Jesus I like my teacher Sister Noemi very much.
I love her so, help her to do all the necessary things that You want her to do.
Dear Jesus Eucharist!
I love You so much so that I’m really longing for Christmas.
Make my heart shine to You when You come into my poor heart.
Dear Jesus, I’ll make a lot of sacrifices that I’ll offer to You
when I do the First Holy Communion.

Dear Jesus Eucharist! . . .
I want to suffer a lot to redeem also the sins of men, especially of the very bad ones.
Dear Jesus Eucharist I say good-bye to You and I kiss You.
Your Antonietta.
Good night Jesus good night Mary."

O Clavis David

LATIN: O clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel: qui aperis, et nemo claudit; claudis, et nemo aperit: veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem in tenebris.

ENGLISH: O Key of David, and scepter of the house of Israel, who opens and no man shuts, who shuts and no man opens: come, and bring forth the captive from his prison, he who sits in darkness and in the shadow of death.

Scripture Reference:

Isaiah 22:22
Revelation 3:7

Relevant verse of  Veni, Veni Emmanuel:

O come, thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

Do not fall into the trap of thinking that the we are dealing with events isolated soley in the past.  Even taking just the image of the key in Scripture, we see how God’s plan is still in effect for us today, and we are all still players in his plan for salvation.   The Old Testament reference from Isaiah helps us see this.   In Isaiah we read how the Lord said to Shebna, who was the master of the household of King Hezekiah:

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Helkias, and I will clothe him with thy robe, and will strengthen him with thy girdle, and will give thy power into his hand: and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Juda. And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut: and he shall shut and none shall open. And I will fasten him as a peg in a sure place, and he shall be for a throne of glory to the house of his father”.

The Lord establishes an office to be handed down through a succession, an office of jurisdiction.

This same language and image was used by our Lord when in Matthew 16 He conferred His own authority on Peter to exercise as a office to be handed down in a succession. 

Truly the Lord who came to us at Bethlehem is with us always in His Church until His ultimate Coming at the end of the world.

In Revelation 3:7 the Lord is described as He who still wields David’s key.  Even as Peter holds the keys on earth, it is the Lord’s own hand which holds Peter’s hand.

Here is the Collect for 20 December, during this period of intense prayer and longing for the Lord’s Coming.

COLLECT:
Deus, aeterna maiestas, cuius ineffabile Verbum,
Angelo nuntiante, Virgo immaculata suscepit,
et, domus divinitatis effecta, Sancti Spiritus luce repletur,
quaesumus, ut nos, eius exemplo,
voluntati tuae humiliter adhaerere valeamus.

This is from Rotulus 30 published together with the Veronese Sacramentary. It is not in any previous edition of the Missale Romanum.

Notice in the first line aeterna maiestas.  Maiestas is a divine attribute, like gloria/doxa.  But it is also a form of address, just as we use it in speaking to a monarch "Majesty".  Majesty induces awe.  In God’s case, our reaction is awe at divine majesty, "awe at trascendence".

There is a tension in the first line as well: the Word is "unutterable…ineffable".  This obviously refers to our point of view of the Word, not the Father’s, who did utter the Word from all eternity.   This serves in the prayer to underscore the core of our Christian faith and liturgical experience: mystery.

SUPER LITERAL VERSION:
O God, Majesty Eternal, whose ineffable Word
the immaculate Virgin received at the moment the Angel was delivering the message,
and, having been made the dwelling of divinity, was filled with the light of the Holy Spirit;
we entreat You, that from her example,
we may be able humbly to cleave to Your will.

ANOTHER POSSIBILITY:
O God, eternal majesty, whose ineffable Word
the immaculate Virgin received
through the message of an Angel,
we pray that, following the example
of her who became divinity’s dwelling
and is filled with the Holy Spirit’s light,
we may in humility hold fast to your will.

Holy Mass, any reflection on the Incarnate Word, directs us to consider mystery, which at the same time is inextricably bound to our self-reflection especially on the fact that we must one day die.   The fact of our death looms even as we consider the Sacrifice the Incarnate Word made in both His First Coming and on Calvary: we still must die.  Our encounter with mystery is what helps us makes sense of our state.  Let it never be forgotten that the deepest dimension of our liturgical experience, and who we are as Christians, lies in the sphere of that which cannot ever be grasped or spoken.
 

Many thanks go out to CJ of MS for the items from my amazon list.  Also, a few more people have used the donation button, for which I am very grateful.