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

Can we really even for a moment delude ourselves that Old Scratch is not going to try to sabotage closer ties between the Bishop of Rome and the SSPX?

Spiritual warfare is being waged constantly for our souls.  The enemy, fallen angels, desire our downfall and division with so much malice that they will never relent until the Coming of the Lord.

Think about it, people.  We are not talking about mere insurgents or terrorists or guerrilla fighters.  We are talking about angels.

They will attack Christ’s Church which he gave us for our salvation.  They will tear at her unity and undermine her visible head, Christ the true Head’s Vicar, the Bishop of Rome.

They will lie in wait with angelic patience, ingenuity and powers beyond human imagining to attack the Church especially through her priests … and their discord.

But we have angel guardians and the saints in heaven.  We have our baptismal character and the sacrament of confirmation.  We can be strong in the face of these attacks. 

You can be strong for bishops and priests who are in need.

And lest there be any doubt, WDTPRSers have at least one priest who will say Mass for the good outcome of what Pope Benedict has initiated.

Tomorrow morning at 1230 UTC - 1430 CET - 0830 EDT I will say Mass inviting you all, as I did today, to pray in a special way for about 40 minutes or so after that starting time.  Ask your angel guardians to be present and also to defend Bp. Bernard Fellay and anyone else in his confidence from the attacks of the Enemy. 

He must be in a terribly difficult position and in need of spiritual support.

O God our Father, merciful and almighty,
whose Only-begotten Son took up our human nature
to save us from our sins and to teach us who we are,
under the protection of Holy Mary’s mantle
and the vigilant aegis of Your holy angels,
bring all your priests into closer unity with the Bishop of Rome
in the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church.
Amen.

I just got off the air with Hugh Hewitt, talking for two segments about the 5 Conditions and what is going on with the SSPX.

Please check out Mr. Hewitt’s site.

I’ll try to put up some audio from this along wiht a recent hit with Al Kresta.

From the interview with Msgr. Guido Marini, Master of Pontifical Ceremonies with L’Osservatore Romano.  My translation, emphases and comments:

L’ OssRom: In the recent visit to Santa Maria di Leuca and Brindisi the Pope distributed Communion to the faithful on the tongue and kneeling.  It his a practice destined to become habitual in papal ceremonies?

Msgr. Marini: I really think so.  In this regard it is necessary not to forget that the distribution of Communion in the hand remains, even now, from the juridical standpoint, an indult from the universal law, [the exception to the rule, not the norm!] conceded by the Holy See to those bishops conferences which requested it.  The method adopted by Benedict XVI tends to underscore the force of the norm valid for the whole Church. In addition, one could perhaps also note a preference for using this method of distribution [He means the Pope’s own preference.] which, without taking anything from the other, [Uh huh.  Right.]  better sheds light on the truth of the Real Presence in the Eucharist, it helps the the devotion of the faithful, introduces them more easily to a sense of mystery. [It’s all about MYSTERY folks!]  Aspects which, in our time, speaking pastorally, it is urgent to highlight and recover.

Pretty clear what Pope Benedict is trying to do.  (See here and here for what His Holiness did at Corpus Christi and in S. Italy.)

Remember!  He understands that liturgy is the tip of the spear!

In his Marshall Plan for the Church, the liturgy plays an essential role, without which nothing else can be accomplished.

The Pope is trying to bring us back to ad orientem worship and reception of Communion kneeling and on the tongue.  This is all about the Church liturgy being a locus of encounter with MYSTERY, with a sense of awe at transcendence. 

I think the Pope wants everyone to move in this direction.

Therefore, he will keep the focus on the liturgy and what he is doing, slowly but steadily walking us back from some of the things that have happened in last decades.  He is changing the conversation.

To get at my thought about this, perhaps it would be useful to check this out.

On the very day that mighty gift Summorum Pontificum went into effect, 14 September 2007, I was at the parish of His Hermeneuticalness, the inimitable Fr. Tim Finigan in Blackfen, England.  I gave the sermon for the Solemn Mass to mark that wonderful day.  I wanted to emphasis that what we do in the Church is not about nostalgia, or curiosity, or intellectual stimulation.  Instead, it has to do with the deepest needs of the human person.  The Cross, and even its proper placement during Mass, brings us to an encounter with Mystery. 

My recording of the actual sermon didn’t work, so I had to read record the sermon separately.  I then incorporated it into a PODCAzT (which also deals with Augustine and also women’s chapel veils).  Still, this could be you a glimpse at my theological understand of these liturgical moves the Pope is making and why I think they are so important.

 

 07-09-28 Augustine on pastors; my Motu Proprio sermon in England; chapel veils [46:49m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I remember my reaction when I attended the press conference before Pope Benedict’s inaugural Mass and then saw the pallium Archbishop Piero Marini put on the Pope.

Now, thank God, the Pope is changing the style of the pallium back.  No, really…back back.

Again, what he is doing is picking the transitional form of pallium.  Folks, these moves really do mean something.

I must go over to Mass right now, but our friends at NLM have a first look at this from an article in the new issue of L’Osservatore Romano.

There will be more on this.  L’Osservatore has a couple articles.  YAY!

A new form of the papal pallium, seen to the right, will be introduced on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. I had seen rumours about this as early as the middle of May, but now it is confirmed in tomorrow’s edition of the Osservatore Romano. Msgr. Guido Marini, the papal MC, explains the change in an interview with Gianluca Biccini. Here is the relevant part in an NLM translation:

"This is the development of the Latin form of the pallium used up to John Paul II," explains the Master of Papal Liturgical Celebrations, Monsignor Guido Marini, explaining historical and liturgical reasons for the new insignia in this interview to "L’Osservatore Romano."

What are the elements of continuity and innovation compared to the past?

In light of careful studies, regarding the development of the pallium over the centuries, it seems that we can say that the long pallium crossed over the left shoulder was not worn in the West as from the 9th century onwards. Indeed, the painting in the Sacred Cave of Subiaco, dating back to ca. 1219 and representing Pope Innocent III with this type of pallium, seems to be a deliberate archaism. In this sense the use of the new pallium intends to meet two requirements: first of all to emphasize more strongly the continuous [organic] development which in an arch of more than twelve centuries this liturgical vestment has continued to have; in second place the practical [requirement], because the pallium used by Benedict XVI since the beginning of his pontificate and has led to several annoying problems from this point of view.

There remain differences between the papal pallium and the one which the Pontiff imposes on the archbishops?

The difference remains even in the current pallium. What will be worn by Benedict XVI from the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul onwards takes the form of the pallium used up to John Paul II, albeit in a larger and longer cut, and with the color red for the crosses. The different form of the papal pallium vis-à-vis the one of the metropolitans highlights the diversity of jurisdiction which is signified by the pallium.

The Enemy will try savagely to ruin what has been set in motion.  He and the minions of hell hate the Church, hate unity, hate harmony, hate us, hate hate hate us!  They have angelic powers and are mighty enemies.

But we have God, and who is like Him?  We have the saints and angels to help us.  We have the Mother of God to defend us.

At 2100 GMT, 2300 Rome time, 1700 EDT, I will say Mass using the Votive Mass for the Unity of the Church in the 1962 Missale Romanum for the intention of Bp. Bernard Fellay, that though the merits of this Mass he will be defended from the attacks of hell.

I don’t have the Z-cam in the Sabine chapel going now, but pray please, in a special way, if you read this from the top of the hour onward for about 40 minutes or so.  I don’t have the Z-cam in the Sabine chapel going now.

O God, Who settest straight what has gone astray,
and gatherest together what is scattered,
and keepest what Thou hast gathered together:
we beseech Thee in Thy mercy to pour down on Christian people,
the grace of union with Thee,
that, putting disunion aside and joing themselves to the true shepherd of Thy Church,
they be