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

I am mourning the loss of the KC church signs blog.

Pretty fun, creative stuff.

Take this onto the streets!

At least that is what one priest is doing.

I got this from a reader:

You have mentioned my pastor, Rev. Fr. Gerard Saguto, FSSP, a couple of times on WDTPRS: here and here.  Fr. Saguto was showing off a gift from a fellow parishioner this Sunday, and I thought you might appreciate a candid or two.  Thank you for all that you do, Reverend, for the faithful and the faith.  You’re in my prayers always.

Many thanks to those of you who wished me well for my anniversary of ordination (26 May) posted in comments and sent by e-mail.  A couple of you used the donation button, for which I am grateful, and and one of you utilized the amazon wish list.

Thanks go out to CG for Eamon Duffy’s The Voices of Morebath: Reformation and Rebellion in an English Village which I have heard a lot about.  This was waiting patiently at my doorstep on my return to the Sabine Farm.

Also,  PENJING REPORT!

Penjing, which I received from a reader some time ago, is happily flowering.







Meanwhile, other things are flowering around the Sabine Farm.  I have never seen so many dandylions.

But the crabs are doing their thing and the front yard is obviously without dandylions.

 

The morning view. 

 

Near the chapel, the chapel apple is blooming.

 
 
 

Back at the house, Mrs. Oriole is looking in my window at my desk while I work. 

This is through the window.  The orioles, once elusive, are trying to get at the hummingbird feeder.

 

 

Remember the Potato Head Puppet Mass perpetrated by Call To Action in California?  Go here, but not on full stomach.  And to think a bishop was involved.

BUT WAIT!   THERE’s MORE!

I had mentioned in that entry about the Call To Action stupidity, that I had seen years ago a mystery play in the Cathedral of St. Paul by the "Heart of the Beast" giant puppet troop.

Lupus in fabula, here they are again!

At the infamous St. Joan of Arc parish in my home town Minneapolis, one of the weirdest, wackiest, liturgically and doctrinally worst parishes probably on our Mother Gaia, there was a Palm Sunday "liturgy", I am guessing mostly oriented to children.

Behold, the Palm Sunday 2008 Mass at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Minneapolis.

Here is the video which I captured, but it got a little squished:



There may be a problem with the YouTube version.

If you want to get at what they perpetrators think children should absorb from this "liturgy", and you can check your gag reflex for a while, go to about minute 10:20 in the video for a sort of litany of woes.

Remember, how we pray and what we believe have a reciprocal relationship.  So, what will all this do to a child’s perception of the Church and himself as a Catholic, over time?

I know that the former Archbishop, H.E. Most Rev. Harry Flynn tooks steps to clean this place up.  I suspect that the present Archbishop, H.e. Most Rev. John Nienstedt will have a lot to say to this community of faith.  I sure would.

Here are some stills which you can find at Orate Fratres.

“Around the alter, the Last Supper is prepared as the Jesus mimics Father Jim Cassidy as he performs the Consecration and gathers us for the Our Father and exchanging the sign of peace. Singing “Lamb of God” we share in Communion…”

 

 

I really hope these people just don’t know any better.

Did you need another reason why Summorum Pontificum is so important?

Over time I have developed some ideas which guide most of what I post here regarding liturgy, liturgical translation, use of the older form of Mass, etc.

Let’s review some of the aphorisms and basic starting points I use here which are like helpful pegs upon which we can organize our thoughts when talking to people.

Think of a tool shop, where you see pegs on the wall with the shape of the tool that belongs their painted around the beg. 

Liturgy is the tip of the spear

There is a reciprocal relationship between how we pray and what we believe.  Change our prayer, we change our understanding of doctrine.  At the same time, if you believe a certain thing, that will affect how you pray.  Our identity begins to shift.  The Latin phrase lex orandi lex credendi expresses this… the "law of praying is the law of believing". 

The older Mass exerts a "gravitational pull"

Use the image of gravity or "cross-pollination", "harmonic resonance", whatever.

The use of the older form of Mass will exert an influence on the way the newer form of Mass is being celebrated.  First, younger priests (and older too) will discover new dimensions to Holy Mass by learning or refreshing the older form.  This will change their self perception and how they say Mass.  In turn, this will influence how people in the pews see them and understand Holy Mass.  Since the Eucharist (Its celebration and the Sacrament Itself) is the "source and summit" of our Christian life, identity, mores, etc., everything about our Church will begin to shift because of these changes of self-perception.

Say The Black Do The Red

The "Black" means the texts written in black ink on the pages of liturgical books.  The "Red" means the rubrics which explain the actions to be done.

Our sacred rites have their own interior force and power.  Remember that the true Actor in every Mass is the High Priest Jesus Christ.  He speak in every word.  He acts in every gesture. 

By our baptism, we have a share in Christ’s priesthood.  Thus, when we united our heart, mind and will with the sacred action, He takes our voices and hands and makes them his own, each according to our proper role.  The priest acts as Christ, Head of the Body.  The congregation is His Body in union with the Head. 

When we simply do what the Church asks and provides in our sacred rites, Christ is more easily discerned, His graces are more easily mediated, His voice and teaching more clearly heard. 

We must get ourselves out of the way and simply do what Holy Church asks and offers. 

Save The Liturgy Save The World

The Eucharist, its celebration and itself as the extraordinary Sacrament, is the “source and summit of Christian life”. 

If we really believe that, then we must also hold that what we do in church, what we believe happens in a church, makes an enormous difference.

Do we believe the consecration really does something? Or, do we believe what is said and how, what the gestures are and the attitude in which they made are entirely indifferent? For example, will a choice not to kneel before Christ the King and Judge truly present in each sacred Host, produce a wider effect?

If you throw a stone, even a pebble, into a pool it produces ripples which expand to its edge. The way we celebrate Mass must create spiritual ripples in the Church and the world.

So d