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

Remember that great post from Fr. Longenecker about talking with the High School aged boys about ad orientem celebration?

I especially enjoyed…

"It feels more holy ... it feels like you are offering the Mass for us more … I think it feels more, well, manly."

There is a follow up.  This time in poetic form!

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

New Poem

A Student’s Plea

No, no, Father, please don’t toss the mike
like a DJ when you preach. Please don’t be cool.
Please don’t ride a Harley motorbike
when you come to school.

Don’t wear red cowboy boots for Pentecost,
and tell dumb jokes to be our pal. Please don’t ‘high five’,
say, “Sweet!” “Awwsome!” “You suck!” “You’re toast!”
or teach us how to jive.

Don’t sing along to the latest pop band;
you don’t need to be hip and up to date,
or come to our parties with a drink in your hand,
trying to relate.

Play it straight. Say the black and do the red.  [Well put, even though I do say so myself!]
Refrain from politics and rainbow pins.
Pray for all of us, the living and the dead,
and listen to our sins.

We want you to keep the faith, you see,
but keep it as it was. We want it old.
We want it to be waiting there when we
come in from the cold.

We want you to be our Father, not our mate.
We want a solid rock; so when we roam,
we know you’ll be there, waiting at the gate,
to welcome us home.

Posted by Fr. Dwight Longenecker

Well said!

By now you will have all seen the story that in L’Osservatore Romano Father Jose Gabriel Funes was quoted  that it is possible "to admit the existence of other worlds and other forms of life, even those more evolved than ours, without necessarily questioning faith in the Creation, in the incarnation (of God as man through Jesus) and redemption"

This is, of course, what the secular press will run with, from a nearly 2000 word article, with that same penetrating analysis they used when they stumbled around burbling that the Vatican had created a new list of seven deadly sins.

On the other hand, given this….

... perhaps I believe that our alien puppet masters are already among us!

They are certainly running Call To Action.

I am very grateful to JN of CA who sent the copy of The Unmaksing of Oscar Wilde by Joseph Peace, which as just arrived.

I am almost finished with Pearce’s fascinating book  The Quest for Shakespeare.

Also, I am now in possession of The Mass and Saints by Thomas Crean, OP, sent by the publisher.  I shall dig into it anon.

Here at the Sabine Farm, I have put up a few bird feeders, trying to attact some interesting visitors. 

I am starting to get a good variety.  Here are a few from this morning.

First, Mr. Rose Breasted Grosbeak is now a frequent visitor.  He is coming pretty often now.



I am not sure who this is, but since she, I believe, is around at about the same time as the male Grosbeak, I think this is Mrs. Grosbeak.





Then, a kind of finch, the Cardinal.



A different sort of finch is this, the American Goldfinch.

I wasn’t able to get a good shot of the Flicker or the House Finch, today, pretty sure House Finch, rather than Purple Finch.

There are also a couple woodpeckers around zillions of sparrows, Chickadees, and Nuthatches, an occasional Blue Jay, and I think an Eastern Pewee, which bobs its tail very nicely and comes frequently, always perching at the very top of the hanger before dining.

UPDATE:

I haven’t yet caught the Flicker.  But what about a Red Bellied Woodpecker?



The larger woodpeckers, used to hanging on vertical planes, have a hard time negotiating these horozontal bars.

And the Blue Jay, a land lubber.

Today is Tuesday in the Octave of Pentecost, or at least it ought to be in in the Novus Ordo as it is in the older, Traditional Roman Calendar. 

This is the second PODCAzT for the Pentecost Octave.

Thanks to your feedback after yesterday’s I decided to do another.

Today we dig into John Paul II’s encyclical on the Holy Spirit Dominum et vivificantem and what he teaches about the unforgivable sin, "blasphemy" against the Holy Spirit. 

I add a few digressions, of course, including one where I connect the sinner’s closing off to the redemptive power of the Holy Spirit and the self-enclosed circle created in versus populum worship rather than the opening out to the coming of the Lord in ad orientem worship.  I might be on a limb with that, but… hey!  Food for thought.

Then we hear Our Lady of Fatima, on this her feast day.  We hear Lucia’s description of the vision of Hell, which Our Lady showed the children. 

Just in case you were wondering what closing yourself off to the Holy Spirit comes to….

Again, your feedback will determine if I keep this up for the rest of the Octave.

http://www.wdtprs.com/podcazt/08_05_13.mp3

 

I received a question from a reader:

Father Z,

I volunteer as a Sacristan and server for daily Mass.  Maybe I’m over concerned, but does the Church give any guidance on the length of time for a Consecrated Host to be kept in the Tabernacle?  We have Adoration on Sundays and I’ve always tried to have a Priests consecrate a new one every two weeks.  I was told it could now wait 2-3 months.  Do you have any correct information?  Thank you.

There is no set period of time. 

However, it seems to me that perhaps two weeks is just about acceptable, depending on your conditions, especially your humidity.  Perhaps in times when humidity is high, every week would be best. 

The Real Presence of the Eucharistic Lord remains so long as the "accidents", those outward sensible signs, are able to be distinguished.  As a result we must be pay attention to any corruption of the substance of what was once bread, now the Host, which still has its material characteristics.  If there is any degradation of the material characteristis, it is best simply to consume what there is and consecrate another Host. 

This is more important, probably, for the Host used in a monstrance for Exposition, since small Hosts for Communion are usually depleted and replaced in a matter of a couple days.

Also, it really doesn’t take that much time in a Mass for Father simply to change the Host in the lunette (the Exposition Host), so there is no good reason why the Host cannot be renewed with some frequency.

Keep in mind that many suggest that it is best to distribute Hosts that were consecrated at that very Mass and, if Exposition follows Mass, to expose a Host consecrated at that Mass.  In that case, it is easy for a priest to change the Hosts before Exposition. 

One of the first duties of a priest, especially a parish priest, the pastor, is to see the the care of the Blessed Sacrament.  So, there should be a willingness to do his part.   However, it really helps if a diligent sacristan keeps track of these things and makes sure everything is set up properly ahead of time, so that it is easy for Father to do his part.

REMINDER:

    Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos to Celebrate Pontifical High Mass in the Traditional Latin Rite in Westminster Cathedral, Saturday 14 June 2008

    The Latin Mass Society is proud to announce that Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, President of the Ecclesia Dei Commission in Rome and Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Clergy, has accepted its invitation to celebrate a Pontifical High Mass in the Traditional Latin Rite (the Extraordinary Form) in Westminster Cathedral on Saturday 14 June at 2.00 pm.

    Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos is one of Pope Benedict XVI’s closest collaborators and is charged with oversight of the Vatican’s relations with the religious communities and laity committed to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

    Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos will arrive in London on Friday 13 June in time to attend a private dinner given in his honour by Mr Julian Chadwick, Chairman of the LMS.

    The LMS hopes to arrange for Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos to call on Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster, at Archbishop’s House close to the Cathedral on Saturday morning. Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos will then deliver an address at the LMS’s AGM in Westminster Cathedral Hall later in the morning. He will then take lunch with the LMS’s Committee members before celebrating Mass in the Cathedral at 2.00 pm.

    As befits a Prince of the Church, Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos will be welcomed at the Cathedral west door in full cappa magna before processing to the Blessed Sacrament Chapel to pray; he will then vest in the sanctuary whilst the Cathedral choir sings. Pontifical High Mass will then be celebrated at the High Altar with all the breathtaking ceremony and music integral to the Traditional Rite. Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos will also preach.

    Julian Chadwick, Chairman of the LMS, said, “This is the highlight of the LMS’s 43 years of struggle on behalf of the Traditional Latin Rite. It will be the first time since the liturgical changes of 1969 that a Cardinal will have celebrated the Extraordinary Form in Westminster Cathedral [Note: Cardinal Alfons Stickler, Vatican Librarian Emeritus who died in December last year, presided at a High Mass in the Cathedral organised by the LMS in 1992 but did not celebrate]. Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos has been unstinting in his work on behalf of the Extraordinary Form and this Mass is a clear signal from Rome that it wants the Traditional Rite reinserted into the heart of the Church’s liturgical activity. We are extremely grateful to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor for readily agreeing to this Mass and to Mgr Mark Langham, the Cathedral Administrator, and all his staff for their help with all the arrangements. This Mass literally represents the prayers of many thousands of LMS members and supporters offered up through the years and now come true.”  

    For further information, please contact John Medlin, General Manager, or James Murphy, LMS Office Manager, on (T) 020 7404 7284; (F) 020 7831 5585;

    E-mail: thelatinmasssociety@snmail.co.uk

Th fruits of Summorum Pontificum are manifold!