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

From Ps 148:

Praise ye him, O sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars and light.
Praise him, ye heavens of heavens: and let all the waters that are above the heavens.
Praise the name of the Lord. For he spoke, and they were made: he commanded, and they were created.

This is in from Space Weather!

WEEKEND SKY SHOW: Saturn, Mars and a slender crescent Moon are gathering together for a pretty sunset sky show over the 4th of July weekend.  For people in the USA celebrating Independence Day, it’s a bit of heavenly charm among the smoke and flash of evening fireworks.  

EARTH AT APHELION: On the 4th of July, you will be farther from the sun than at any other time of the year. Earth’s orbit around the sun is not a perfect circle, it’s an ellipse, and on July 4th, Earth is at the end of the ellipse farthest from the sun. Astronomers call this "aphelion." When we are at aphelion, the sun appears slightly smaller in the sky (by about 1.7%) and global solar heating is actually a little less (by about 3.5%) than the yearly average. This provides scant relief from northern summer heat, however.  [So long as it doesn’t spin, dance and fall toward the earth, I don’t care how much smaller it is. Still, this is pretty interesting stuff!]

Happy 4th of Aphelion!

Let’s talk about some really interesting censures!  Try interdict.

Remember, interdict, one of the Church’s censures, is applied to help a person change his … her… way.

This is from the St. Louis Archdiocese website:

As a result of his judgment of the case, Archbishop Burke has also imposed the following canonical penalties upon Sister Louise Lears: 1) the penalty of interdict and 2) the prohibition of receiving any mission in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis, effective immediately. Interdict prohibits the reception of the Sacraments. The prohibition of receiving any mission prohibits the holding of any Church position or the exercise of any apostolate of the Church in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis.

The penalties are imposed for the purpose of bringing Sister Louise Lears to repentance for the delicts which she has committed and to reconciliation with the Catholic Church.

Archbishop Burke expressed his sadness in imposing the canonical penalties which were necessitated by the refusal of Sister Louise Lears, even after repeated admonitions, to withdraw her statements and repudiate her conduct which have constituted grave delicts in the Church. The Archbishop asks all of the faithful of the Archdiocese to pray for the reconciliation of Sister Louise Lears with the Church.

Get a load of this, a breaking story from the ultra-liberal National Catholic Reporter with my emphases and comments:

Community supports ousted St. Louis nun

By Tom Fox NCR Staff
Published: 
July 2, 2008

Sister of Charity Louise Lears, forced out of all church ministerial roles [Ummm… she attended a fake ordination and publicly denies the Church’s teaching about the impossibility of ordaining women! For crying out loud!] by Saint Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke, is described by friends and colleagues in near saintly terms.

They call her a bright, energetic, compassionate and faith-filled woman. They see her as a creative, generous and selfless person, a highly effective parish minister. They say she is first rate teacher and preacher. They view her as a person guided by the gospels including an unwavering commitment to justice and the local poor.  [Do they see her as subjectively pertinacious and contumacious and probably a heretic?]

These seemingly universal accolades, however, were not enough to save Lears from a severe interdict by Burke who banished her from all Saint Louis church ministries last week.

He also banned her from receiving any of the Sacraments in the archdiocese.

It was her belief that all church ministries, including women’s ordination, should be open to women. [Which seems to trump what the CHURCH says about the matter.  "I want it this way!"] Curiously, this seems to have been only one of many of her passions and, perhaps, not her central passion, which seems to have been parish work.

Lears was shocked twice last week. [You have got to be kidding me now.  Really.  She didn’t think there were going to be repercussions from attending an invalid ordination after having been warned?]  First, she learned that Burke had judged her guilty of three grave canonical offenses against faith and church teachings; then, the next day, she learned that her accuser and judge [You have to love this partisan reporting.  Exquisite!] he had been elevated to a new Vatican post, prefect of the church’s highest canonical court in Rome.  [The innuendo is that Burke is in thick with those bad people in Rome.  But the other side of this is that when he imposes a censure, he probably knows what he is doing.]

She was out; then so was he, at least from Saint Louis.

Lears, 58, for the past three years has been a member of the pastoral team at Saint Cronan’s parish in South St. Louis, and a coordinator of religious education in the archdiocese.

Lears is not speaking to the media, but issued as statement saying she was “deeply saddened” by the judgment. [It could all be rectified by her saying she’s sorry and seeking reconciliation.]

“I love the church. I would never give scandal to the People of God.  [WHAT?!? She would never give scandal?  My heaven’s.] As a faith-filled woman, I root my life and ministry in scripture, Eucharist, and Jesus’ gospel message of nonviolence and justice. As a Sister of Charity, I vow my life to God with whom I walk in humility, simplicity, and charity.” [Perhaps not so much the obedience.]

While Lears’ primary identification is [not as a faithful Catholic, but as …] that of a member of the Saint Cronan pastoral team, she is or has recently been a member of a number of other organizations. She is past president of the board of the Center for Survivors of Torture and War Trauma in St. Louis, [Disconcerting.  Is there that much war and torture going in in St. Louis?]  a board and finance committee member for the Family Care Health Centers in St. Louis, a member of Winter Outreach to Homeless there, also a member of the W’EARTH Housing Coalition, a coalition led by low-wealth women in the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood in St. Louis.  [Laudable work.  Too bad she can’t continue.]

She is also an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Theological Studies at Saint Louis University specializing in medical ethics and spirituality nonviolence.

Mark Chmiel, also an adjunct professor in the department, had this to say about his colleague:

“Sister Louise Lears has made availability and accompaniment a way of life. I have seen how much thoughtful attention and encouragement she gives to her students at Saint Louis University in her popular course, Spirituality of Nonviolence. Several times our community in Saint Louis traveled to the annual School of Americas vigil in mid-November, and I was always touched by Louise’s calm and compassionate presence over those long weekends.

She also participated in our direct-action efforts to raise awareness and provoke responsible action about the U.S. government use of torture in Iraq and at Guantanamo. In such wise, wherever she is, she continually nurtures a community of conscience as naturally as she breathes.”

Gina Meyer, a former student in Lears’ class, Spirituality of Nonviolence, said, "The class completely reoriented my view of human relationships. We learned about Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Jesus of Nazareth, and many other peacemakers. [Jesus too?] Beyond that, though, Sister Louise showed us exercises and gave us challenges in our daily lives that made me realize how much my own language and behavior affect those around me.

Nonviolence is a true way of life and I learned if from Sr. Louise. She taught me how to be a more loving and peaceful Christian, and I am so happy that I was able to learn from her."

NCR contacted a number of her other colleagues who spoke with a mixture of outrage and mourning, anger at what they called the injustice of the action taken against Lears and sadness as they pondered the loss of her talents to the archdiocese. [But it is HER FAULT!]

Sister of Saint Joseph of Carondelet Jean Abbott recalled the time Lears arrived to help her set up a center to receive victims of torture coming from Guatemala. Abbott had found an old tavern, but it was Lears who imagined how it could be transformed into a vibrant center and set the wheels in motion. “I had very little money,” Abbott said. “Louise had an eye for organization. She brought the place to life.”

“She has a keen sense of justice,” Abbott said. [Not so keen a sense of obedience or doctrine.]

The Saint Cronan parish council last week seemed equally vexed and saddened. [I love that word… vexed… vexed… great word.] The council issued a statement criticizing Burke’s action while defending Lears’ pastoral work “wholeheartedly.” [She wasn’t censured with an interdict for her pastoral work.]  “(We have) been edified by her depth of caring for the people of this parish, our children, the children of our neighbors, and the men and women who call the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood of St. Louis home.”

The statement added that Lears “has been a model of compassion and of non-violent resolution of conflict. [They didn’t burn her at the stake.] She has encouraged us to live more fully the Gospel of Jesus. It saddens us deeply that she has been singled-out for prosecution in a church court.”

Echoing these expressions, Abbott said, “I feel tremendous compassion for Louise and I’m extremely sad for the church.”

Jerry King, a member of the parish and member of the Center for Theology and Social Analysis in Saint Louis, an organization he and Lears belong to, found irony in the Burke censure. “Louise was not spoiling for a fight; she really did not want a fight; she wanted resolution.” He said she just wanted to be a pastor  [SHE. CAN’T. BE. A. PASTOR.] – “and has been very good at it, very active in her commitments” to the parish, which he described as a “last stop” for people disaffected from the church.

King and others now worry the disaffected are now going to drop out altogether.  [I suppose this is Archbp. Burke’s fault… and the Vatican… well, everyone else’s fault.]

Ellen Rehg, another member of the parish, disagrees. She called Lears a “nonviolent saint” adding, “I don’t say that lightly.”

“She will continue to live nonviolently, maintaining her integrity. You know I’ve hardly ever heard of canon law until recently. She’s going to make it. So will we. She’s taught us to trust in the gospels.”

I think I must leave the combox closed on this.

For more on this, go here:

• Statement Regarding the Canonical Discipline of Sr. Louise Lears, S.C.
• Decree of Extra-Judicial Adjudication In the Matter of Sr. Louise Lears, S.C.
• Questions and Answers Regarding the Matter of Sr. Louise Lears, S.C.

Especially interesting is the actual decree of Extra-Judicial Adjudication.  Try reading it aloud.

I got this question via e-mail:

Dear Fr. Z.,

For the sake of those of us lay women living out our vocations in part by the education of our children … would you please consider posting your articles on "What Does the Prayer Really Say"—with their translations of prayers from the Extraordinary Form—somewhat earlier?

They are extraordinarily useful both for helping our older children in their Latin studies and for helping them understand the meaning of the prayers. But to be useful as part of Mass preparation and as adjuncts to Latin lessons, we would have to have access to them a day, or even two, earlier than they are customarily posted on your blog.

 

I originally started this blog to be an archive of my WDTPRS articles for the weekly The Wanderer.  But the blog grew into the monster that it is!  o{];¬)

Still, I go through streaks of posting my WDTPRS pieces on this blog even close before the upcoming Sunday especially to encourage your interest in subscribing to The Wanderer, for which I write those columns… for 8 years now.

The Wanderer could use some subscribers, btw.  With the way the US postal service has recently gouged small publications, and I mean gouged, you could be of real help.  Check out the website.  You can even subscribe to a full online edition, useful if you want your issue fast.

Here is what the page with my column looks like, in the issue just published and going into the post today:

You can look at individual articles on the screen, in text or in graphic form, and you can print them or e-mail them!

I was tipped to this via e-mai.  It is from the site of the SSPX in the UK:

LETTER FROM THE DISRICT [sic] SUPERIOR (July)  My emphases and comments.

My dear brethren,

On the 14th June 2008 Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, President of the Ecclesia Dei  Commission, celebrated the Traditional Mass in Westminster Cathedral, the first by a cardinal in forty-years! [They noticed!  o{]:¬)  ] In a conference preceding the Mass, the Cardinal stated that the Traditional Mass should be celebrated, not just in many parishes, but in all parishes.

Those present at the event describe how it was as if the hands of time had been turned back  [or… forward…]when they witnessed the solemn splendour of the liturgy and the beauty of the chant and polyphony. However the dream was short-lived because [... he means business and this is not about being dreamy?...] in his homily the Cardinal spoke of the parity of the New Mass with the Old Mass of their being mutually enriching, and how polemics against the New Mass should cease. . .  [There are ways of expressing dislike of something and then there are ways.  THAT is the point.]

At the very same moment, but at the Church of SS Joseph and Padarn in north London, Bishop Richard Williamson was giving a vivid expose of St Pius X’s encyclical against Modernism. [So, in contrast to Card. Castrillon, Bp. Williamson is held up.  Fine.]  He exposed the Modernist doctrine of ‘evolving dogma,’ and its need for Tradition, and applied this to Rome’s efforts to rally Traditionalists today. A few days previously, Bishop Fellay had met with Cardinal Hoyos in Rome, at which occasion the bishop received an ultimatum – the end of June 2008 – to accept five conditions or to face renewed condemnation and charges of schism. [I don’t remember that being in the letter to Bp. Fellay.  Perhaps this is what some SSPXers were putting around?  Is this a case of the "telephone" game?] The conditions in question require: ‘Bishop Fellay and the Society to commit themselves to making an adequate response to the Pope’s generosity, to avoid any public intervention which does not respect the person of the Holy Father; to avoid the pretence of a magisterium superior to that of the Pope’s; and to manifest the will to act in all ecclesial charity with regard to the authority of the Vicar of Christ.’ [Is that so hard?]

As our Superior General himself commented in his recent letter to the members of the Society with regard to this ultimatum, ‘we are accorded the right to be silent, and then all will be well.’ He continued, ‘we cannot enter in Rome’s game unless we accept to renounce the exclusive Truth of Tradition which we maintain in our Society and accept . . . a shared position regarding the devastating reforms of Vatican II. And this is impossible Non possumus (we cannot).’

I wonder what the letter will say next month.

A kind reader alerted me to a story which will be in tomorrow’s number of the Italian weekly Panorama.  This item by Ignazio Ingrao was previewed on Dagospia. 

This very much concerns important work we did with WDTPRS a few years back, namely examination of the infamous pro multis question, and the proper translation of sacramental forms.

The present official translation of pro multis in the formula of consecration of the most Precious Blood, in English is wrong.  It is presently "for all" and it should be "for many – for the many – for the multitude" (Spanish “por todos los hombres”, Italian "per tutti", French is actually good, "pour la multitude”, the German "für alle", Portugese "por todos" Slovak "za vsetkych”, Hungarian "sokakert", Polish "za wielu", etc., and all the Eastern Catholics translate their form as "for many" or something similar).  

Frankly, its a mess right now.

And NO! – saying "for all" (in a vernacular Mass) does NOT make the consecration invalid and those who say it does are dead wrong.  Period. 

Moving on….

For years a debate raged, a war, about the translation of pro multis in various languages. WDTPRS played a strong part in the deep in fighting, where the elbows are sharp.

To make long story of sweat and intrigue short, eventually Francis Card. Arinze, Prefect of the CDW sent out to all Bishops Conferences one of the happiest letters ever issued by the Holy See: Prot. n. 467/05/L of 17 October 2006.  Card. Arinze told all the bishops in the world that His Holiness wanted pro multis to be translation correctly, in some form like "for many, for the many" and so forth.  Furthermore, this was not the decision of either the CDWDS or the CDF.  This was the Pope’s decision.  There is no appeal. 

The Holy Father reserves to himself the approval of translations of sacramental forms (AAS 66 (1974) 98-99 – a circular letter dated 25 October 1973).  Remember that all the sacraments have both matter and form, the form being the words spoken in the conferring or confecting of the sacrament.

However, lots of people whined and whinged about this. 

I am sure it has been very difficult to secure some agreement on the best way to do this in English as well as all the other languages through the whole world that need to be adjusted.

Now we read this very significant bit (my emphases and comments):

Benedict changes the Mass again – a study of the new liturgy entrusted to the Congregation for Divine Worship

The Rite of Mass could change. According to some leaks, Benedict XVI has give the Congregation for Divine Worship the task of studying some modifications in the liturgy. In particular, it is said the Pope intends to reinstate the Latin for the formula of the Eucharistic consecration in Mass in the vernacular, i.e., the one celebrated in different national languages. [This means that in Masses in English, Italian etc., when the priest would get to the two fold consecration, he would switch to LATIN.] The same thing could happen for the [sacramental] formulas of baptism, confirmation, confession and the other sacraments. In addition the sign of peace among the faithful during Mass, which today takes place before the distribution of the Eucharist, could be moved forward (as in the Ambrosian rite) to the offertory in order so as not to disturb the recollection before Communion.  [This is something Papa Ratzinger wrote about in one of his books, I forget which.  But honestly, this leaves me a little troubled.  Let’s leave the Ambrosian Rite aside, the Sign of Peace has had its proper place in the Roman Rite since the early Church.  I would rather have it moved to before the Offertory if it is going to remain a group grope.  But I would much rather leave it in its traditional place and then do it right, which might mean not inviting the congregation to do anything.  That’s the way I prefer, and say, the Novus Ordo.  Since the invitation to the Sign of Peace is an option left to the priest, I opt not to make the invitation.]

These modifications would be joined to the changes to the liturgy and sacred vestments which the Pope, together with his Master of Ceremonies, Msgr. Guido Marini, has accomplished in these last few months, in order to recover ancient traditions: the restoration of the Crucifix at the center of the altar, the distribution of Communion to the faithful on the tongue while kneeling, [though non of these things are changes to the liturgy as such, they are changes in practice] the retrieval of the pastoral staff of Pius IX (the ferula), the alteration of the shape of pallium (the strip of white wool with red crosses worn by the Pope), the restoration of the papal throne used in a consistory and the celebration of Mass with the back to the assembly, as happened in January in the Sistine Chapel.

I amuse myself to think about all the fussbudgeting bishops in certain conferences, pushing one eerie objection to "for many" after another, dragging feet, advocating resistance to the Holy See’s translation norms, etc, now being informed by the Holy See that, basically, "Since you can’t decide what words to go with, Papa says ‘Do it in Latin, if you can’t get your act together.’"

Worse than saying "for many" certainly must be to have to say it in… in… gulp... that other language!

Seriously, I think if this is all true, and it really sounds like this could be a possibility, the problems of rendering certain things into the vernacular are simply not worth the risk of loss of content. 

But that really begs a few answers, doesn’t it?

If this is so for the consecration, admittedly the most important part of the Eucharistic Prayer, there are lots of other important things being said in Holy Mass too!  Why not have those in Latin too? 

If some liturgists and theologians like to argue that the whole Eucharistic Prayer is consecratory, and not just the "magic words" in the "institution narrative", then perhaps we had better do the whole Prayer in Latin.  Right?

And since the Preface is now considered part of the Eucharististic Prayer, and since the people speak part of that dialogue, should pastors of souls start teaching their people Latin responses that pertain to them?

But.. no wait.  That is already the responsibility of pastors, isn’t it?  Yes… I believe I read that somewhere.

Folks, the vernacular is here to stay for the near and perhaps far future. 

But shouldn’t it be used along the lines that the Second Vatican Council actually mandated rather than what we actually got? 

It can be useful … in some occasions … for some parts of Mass, perhaps with children in the liturgy of the word or for catechumens.

It is all about the content.  

It’s all about what the prayer really says.

Il Giornale’s intrepid Andrea Tornielli has an interesting post on his blog.  My translation.

Yesterday there was officially announced the birth of a committee composed of politicians (bipartisan), men of culture [Read: artists, authors, etc.], teachers, journalists, which sign up with and support, to promote a greater understanding of the figure and the magisterium of Pius XII.  Papa Pacelli was in fact a modern Pope, his magisterium set the stage for the Second Vatican Council (it is enough to consider the Encyclical Divino afflante Spiritu which opened the way to the use of the historical-critical method for the study of Sacred Scripture, or the Encyclical Mediator Dei on liturgy): he is, in fact, the Pope most cited in the conciliar texts.  The Committee, in view of the 50th anniversary of his death, next October, aims to foster an in-depth examination of the figure of Pius XII according to the hermeneutic of reform and not of rupture, which Benedict XVI said is the correct key for interpreting and reading Vatican II.  I am among those who have signed and I invite the visitors of the blog to support this.  You will find the constitutive text of the Committee as a first comment on this thread.  To support this, it is enough to send an e-mail with your proper name (not nickname!) and address.

comitatopapapacelli@gmail.com

The Holy Father has transferred his flag to the papal Summer Residence at Castel Gandolfo, in the Castelli Romani.

On arriving he was greeted, as you might expect, by crowds.  He didn’t go out on the balcony, but he did charge out the front door for a bit.

 

I had posted images from the Mass of the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, and the text of the sermons, in Italian.  I wanted to follow up with the English texts.  The texts are from Zenit -  not my translation, but me emphases and comments. 

At the very end I have comments about Pope Benedict’s description of us Catholic Christians as being true "liturgists of Jesus Christ" in the world.

 

 

 08-06-29 Benedict XVI's sermon for Sts. Peter and Paul [20:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Papal Homily for Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul

"Going to Rome Is for Paul the Expression of His Mission

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 30, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of Benedict XVI’s homily for the Mass celebrated in St. Peter’s Square [Wrong.  It was in the Basilica, not the square] on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, which was Sunday. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I was present at the ceremony.

At vespers on Saturday, the Pope inaugurated the Pauline Jubilee Year, which ends June 29, 2009.

* * *

Your Holiness and fraternal Delegates,
Lord Cardinals,
Venerable brothers in the episcopate and priesthood,
Dear brothers and sisters

From the earliest times, the Church of Rome has celebrated the solemnity of the great apostles Peter and Paul as a single feast on the same day, June 29. [What we do today we do in continuity with the past and, today, with the Orthodox Church of Constantinople.] Through their martyrdom, they became brothers; together, they are the founders of the new Christian Rome. They are sung of as such in the hymn of the second vespers, which goes back to Paulinus of Aquileia (+806): "O Roma felix—Oh happy Rome, adorned with the crimson of the precious blood of such great princes, you surpass every beauty of the world, not by your own merit, but trough the merit of the saints whom you have killed with bloody sword". The blood of martyrs does not call for revenge—but reconciles.  [This is counter-intuitive, in terms of the world’s view of murder.] It does not present itself as an accusation but as a "golden light," according to the words of the hymn of the first vespers. It presents itself as the power of love which overcomes hate and violence, founding, in this way, a new city, a new community.

By their martyrdom, they—Peter and Paul—are now part of Rome. Through martyrdom, even Peter became a Roman citizen forever. Through their martyrdom, through their faith and their love, the two apostles show us where true hope lies, and are the founders of a new kind of city, which must again and again form itself in the midst of the old city of man, [An Augustinian image.] which continues to be threatened by the opposing forces of the sin and egotism of men.

By virtue of their martyrdom, Peter and Paul are in reciprocal relationship forever. A favorite image of Christian iconography is the embrace of the two apostles on the way to martyrdom. We can say that their martyrdom itself, in its deepest reality, is the realization of a fraternal embrace. [Another counter-intuitive idea.] They die for the one Christ and, in the witness for which they give their lives, they are one. [The Church holds that in authentic Christian martydom, the martyr fulfills all heroic Christian virtue.  In a formal study or investigation of a cause of martyrdom it is not necessary to demonstrate that the martyr lived a life of heroic virtue because enduring Christian martyrdom embodies all the virtues at that moment.] In the writings of the New Testament, we can, so to speak, follow the development of their embrace, this unity in witness and in mission.

Everything starts when Paul, three years after his conversion, goes to Jerusalem "to consult Cephas" (Galatians 1:18). Fourteen years later, he again goes up to Jerusalem to explain "to the most esteemed persons" the Gospel that he preaches in order so that he might not run the risk of "running, or having run, in vain" (Galatians 2:1f). At the end of this meeting, James, Cephas and John give him their right hands, thus confirming the communion that unites them in the one Gospel of Jesus Christ (Gal 2:9). A beautiful sign of this growing interior embrace, which develops despite the difference in temperaments and in tasks, I find in the fact that the co-workers mentioned at the end of the First Letter of St. Peter—Silvanus and Mark—were equally close co-workers of St. Paul. This having of the same co-workers makes the communion of the one Church, the embrace of the great apostles, visible in a very concrete way.  [Joseph Ratzinger’s motto on his coat-of-arms was Cooperatores veritatis.]

Peter and Paul met each other at least twice in Jerusalem; at the end their paths take them to Rome. Why? Was this perhaps more than just pure chance? Is there perhaps a lasting message in it? Paul arrived in Rome as a prisoner, but at the same time as a Roman citizen who, after his arrest in Jerusalem, as a Roman citizen appealed to the emperor, to whose tribunal he was brought. But in a more profound sense, Paul came to Rome voluntarily. Through the most important of his letters, he had already drawn close to this city interiorly: to the Church in Rome, he had addressed the writing which, more than any other, is the synthesis of his whole proclamation and his faith. In the opening salutation of the letter, he says that the whole world speaks of the faith of the Christians of Rome and that this faith, therefore, was known everywhere as exemplary (Romans 1:8). And then he writes: "I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you, though I was prevented until now" (1:13). At the end of the letter he comes back to this theme, now speaking of a plan to travel to Spain. "When I go to Spain I hope to see you when I pass through and to be helped by you on my way to that region, after having enjoyed your presence for a little while" (15:24). "And I know that, having come to you, I shall come in the fullness of Christ’s blessing" (15:29). There are two things made evident here: Rome is for Paul a stage on the way to Spain, that is—according to his conception of the world—towards the extreme end of the earth. He considers his mission to be the fulfillment of the task received from Christ, the bringing of the Gospel to the very ends of the world. Rome is along this route. While Paul usually only goes to places where the Gospel had not yet been announced, Rome is an exception. There he finds a Church whose faith the world speaks about. Going to Rome is part of the universality of his mission as one sent to all peoples. The way to Rome, which, already before his external trip, he had traveled interiorly with his letter, is an integral part of his task of bringing the Gospel to all peoples—of founding the Church, catholic and universal. Going to Rome is for him the expression of his mission’s catholicity. Rome must make the faith visible to the whole world, it must be the meeting place in the one faith.

But why did Peter go to Rome? About this the New Testament does not say anything directly. But it gives us some indication. The Gospel of St. Mark, which we may consider a reflection of the preaching of St. Peter, is intimately oriented towards the moment when the Roman centurion, facing the death of Christ on the cross, says, "Truly this man was the Son of God!" (15:39). At the cross the mystery of Jesus Christ is revealed. Beneath the Cross the Church of the gentiles is born: the centurion of the Roman execution squad recognizes the Son of God in Christ. The Acts of the Apostles describe the episode of Cornelius, the centurion of the Italic cohort, as a decisive stage for the entrance of the Gospel into the pagan world. Following a command of God, he sends someone to get Peter, and Peter, also following a divine order, goes to the centurion’s house and preaches. While he is speaking, the Holy Spirit descends on the gathered domestic community and Peter says: "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people, who have received the holy Spirit even as we have?" (Acts 10:47).

Thus, in the Council of the Apostles, Peter becomes the intercessor for the Church of the pagans who do not need the Law because God "has purified their hearts with faith" (Acts 15:9). Certainly, in the Letter to the Galatians, Paul says that God gave strength to Peter for the apostolic ministry among the circumcised, and to Paul himself, the ministry among the pagans instead (Gal 2:8). But this assignment could be in force only as long as Peter remained with the 12 in Jerusalem in the hope that all of Israel would adhere to Christ. In the face of later developments, the 12 recognized the time in which they too must go forth into the world to announce the Gospel to it. Peter who, following divine order, had been the first to open the door to pagans, now leaves the leadership of the Christian-Jewish Church to James the Less, in order to dedicate himself to his true mission: to the ministry of the unity of the one Church of God made up of Jews as well as pagans. The desire of Paul to go to Rome highlights above all, as we have seen, the word "catholica" ["catholic"] among the characteristics of the Church.

St. Peter’s journey to Rome, as representative of the peoples of the world, is above all associated with the word "una" ["one"]: he has the task of creating the "unity" of the "catholica," of the Church made up of Jews and pagans, the Church of all peoples. And this is the permanent mission of Peter: to make sure that the Church never identifies herself with any one nation, any one culture or any one state. That it may always be the Church of all. That it may unite mankind beyond every frontier and, amidst the divisions of this world, make God’s peace present, the reconciling power of his love. [Watch this next move…] Due to technology that is now the same everywhere, due to the global information network, and due also to the linking of common interests, there are new modes of unity in the world, which have caused the explosion of new oppositions and given new impetus to old ones. In the midst of this external unity, based on material things, we have all the more need of interior unity which comes from the peace of God – the unity of all those who, through Jesus Christ, have become brothers and sisters. This is the permanent mission of Peter, as well as the special task entrusted to the Church of Rome.

Dear confreres in the Episcopate! I wish now to address those of you who have come to Rome to receive the pallium as the symbol of your rank and your responsibility as archbishops [Notice that Pope Benedict does not speak of the pallium as being a papal symbol.] in the Church of Jesus Christ. The pallium is woven from the wool of the sheep that the Bishop of Rome blesses every year on the Feast of Peter’s Chair, thus setting them apart, so to speak, to be a symbol for the flock of Christ, over which you preside.

When we put the pallium on our shoulders, this gesture reminds us of the Shepherd who puts the lost sheep upon his shoulders—the lost sheep who by himself can no longer find the way home—and takes him back to the sheepfold. The Fathers of the Church saw in this sheep the image of all mankind, of human nature in its entirety, which is lost its and can no longer find the way home. The Shepherd who takes the sheep home can only be the Logos, the eternal Word of God himself. In the Incarnation, he placed us all—the sheep who is man—on his shoulders. [Nice move.  The Logos, being God, is capable of taking up all humanity, but the Logos needs the shoulders of our human nature to do it.] He, the eternal Word, the true Shepherd of mankind, carries us; in his humanity he carries each of us on his shoulders. On the way of the Cross, he carried us home, he takes us home. [The Cross is the doorway to our true home, our patria.] But he also wants men who can "carry" together with him. [We also bring to completion what Christ did not suffer during His earthly life.] Being a shepherd in the Church of Christ means taking part in this task, which the pallium commemorates. When we put it on, he asks us: "Will you also carry, together with me, those who belong to me? Will you bring them to me, to Jesus Christ?" What comes to mind next is the order Peter received from the Risen Christ, who links the command, "Feed my sheep" inseparably with the question, "Do you love me? Do you love me more than others do?" Every time we put on the pallium of the shepherd of Christ’s flock, we should hear this question, "Do you love me?" and we must ask ourselves about that "more" of love that he expects from the shepherd.  [He brings the symbol of the pallium back around to the a dimension of the Petrine ministry, shared by the whole college of bishops.]

Thus the pallium becomes a symbol of our love for the Shepherd Christ and our loving together with him—it becomes the symbol of the calling to love men as he does, together with him: [He certainly is not stressing the papal prerogative of the pallium.] those who are searching, those who have questions, those who are self-assured and the humble, the simple and the great; it becomes the symbol of the calling to love all of them with the strength of Christ and in view of Christ, so that they may find him, and in him, find themselves. But the pallium which you will receive "from" the tomb of Peter has yet another meaning, inseparably connected with the first. To understand this, a word from the First Letter of St. Peter may help us. In his exhortation to priests to feed the flock in the correct way, St. Peter calls himself a "synpresbýteros"—co-priest (5:1). This formula implicitly contains the affirmation of the principle of apostolic succession: the shepherds who follow are shepherds like him; together with him, they belong to the common ministry of the shepherds of the Church of Jesus Christ, a ministry that continues in them. But this "co-" (in co-priest) has still two other meanings. It also expresses the reality that we indicate today by what is said today about the [1] "collegiality" of bishops. We are all "co-priests." No one is a shepherd by himself. We are in the succession of the apostles thanks only to being in the communion of the college in which the college of apostles finds its continuation. [This was spoken the day before the "deadline" given to the leadership of the SSPX to sign off on those famous Five Conditions which focused on respect for Peter, his role, and a positive desire for unity.] The communion—the "we"—of the shepherds is part of being shepherds, because there is only one flock, the one Church of Jesus Christ. [He is saying this while sitting next to Bartholomew I.]  Finally, this "co-" also refers to [2] communion with Peter and his successor as a guarantee of unity. [There it is.  Communion with Peter.] Thus, the pallium speaks to us of the catholicity of the Church, of the universal communion of shepherd and flock. And it refers us to apostolicity: to communion with the faith of the apostles on which the Church is founded. It speaks to us of the "ecclesia" that is "una," "catholica," "apostolic," [In the Creed which Pope Benedict and Patriarch Bartholomew will in a few moments speak together in Greek.] and naturally, binding us to Christ, it speaks to us of the fact that the Church is "sancta" us that the Church is holy, and that our work is a service of this holiness.

This brings me back, finally, to St. Paul and his mission. He expressed the essence of his mission, as well as the most profound reason for his desire to go to Rome, in Chapter 15 of the Letter to the Romans, in an extraordinarily beautiful passage. He knows he has been called "to be a ‘leitourgos’ ["liturgist", if you push that ancient term into our modern word!] of Christ Jesus for the Gentiles, serving the Gospel of God as a priest, so that the pagans become an acceptable offering, sanctified by the holy Spirit" (15:16). Only in this passage does Paul use the word "hierourgein"—serving as a priest—together with "leitourgos"—liturgist: [There!  The Pope did it!  Liturgist.] he speaks of the cosmic liturgy, in which the world of men itself must become worship of God, an offering in the Holy Spirit. When the whole world will have become the liturgy of God, when in its reality it will have become adoration, then it will have reached its goal, then it will be whole and saved. And this is the ultimate objective of St. Paul’s apostolic mission and of ours. It is to such a mystery that the Lord calls us. Let us pray in this hour that he may help us carry it out in the right way, to become true liturgists of Jesus Christ. Amen.

[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]

This last point needs to be spun out a bit more.

The role of lay people in the world is to shape the world around them, each in their own sphere, according to their own vocation, according to their influence and means, etc., and to be sanctified in doing so, to seek the kingdom of God beyond this world by doing so.  The role of priests is the teach, govern and sanctify the laity for their task, and thus seek for themselves entrance to the kingdom of heaven together with the laity to whom they bring order and the ordinary means of salvation.

The role of liturgy in this is absolutely central.  There is a reciprocal relationship between what we believe, and therefore how we pray and how we act in the macro and the micro dimensions of our lives.  Since the Eucharist, both the Sacrament and Its celebration, are the "source and summit" of Christian life, how we celebrate the Eucharist affects our ability to keep hold of the kingom of God opened for us by the Logos who took up our humanity.  Our celebration of the Eucharist forms us into a people of the Gospel, which in its essence concerns the proclamation of the kingdom of God. 

Formed in this way, lay people then form the world.

If we pray a certain way, that will affect what we do in and to the world around us.  This is one way to understand what Pope Benedict is saying when he raises up the ideal of being Christ’s liturgists in the world. 

Moreover, liturgy ought to be an encounter with mystery, and an anticipation of what we will gain in full in the kingdom of God to come. Our daily acts, informed by our lifelong participation in the Church’s liturgy, open outward to the ultimate mystery, past our own fear of death, through the doorway which is our own share in Christ’s Cross.  When we are doing the work of our vocation, in prayer which is both individual the collective prayer of the Church, each of our acts opens out beyond the immediate here and now to their ultimate fulfillment in the celestial eternal liturgy before the throne of God, when Christ will have taken all things (which we also shaped) to Himself and then presents them to God, in the cosmic liturgy, so that God may be all in all.

I had posted images from the Mass of the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, and the text of the sermons, in Italian.  I wanted to follow up with the English texts.  The texts are from Zenit, not my translation, but me emphases and comments.

Patriarch’s Homily for Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul

With Benedict XVI’s Introduction

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 30, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the homily from Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I for the Mass celebrated in St. Peter’s Square [No.  It was inside the Basilica.] on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, which was Sunday.

At vespers on Saturday, Benedict XVI inaugurated the Pauline Jubilee Year, which ends June 29, 2009.

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The Holy Father’s Introduction to the Patriarch’s Homily

Brothers and Sisters,

The great feast of Saints Peter and Paul—patrons of this Church of Rome and, together with the other apostles, pillars of the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church—brings to us every year the welcome presence of a fraternal delegation of the Church of Constantinople which, this year, because of the opening of the "Pauline Year," is led by the Patriarch himself, His Holiness Bartholomew I. I address my cordial greeting to him as I express my joy of once again having the happy opportunity of exchanging the kiss of peace with him in the common hope of seeing the coming of the day of "unitatis redintegratio"—the day of full communion between us.

I also greet the members of the patriarchal delegation, the representatives of the Churches and ecclesial communities, who honor us with their presence, offering with this presence a sign of the will to intensify the movement toward the full unity of the disciples of Christ. We dispose ourselves now to listen to the reflections of His Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch, words that we desire to receive with an open heart because they come from our dearly beloved brother in the Lord.

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Homily of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I

Your Holiness,

Having again experienced, in November 2006, the joy and emotion of the personal and blessed participation of Your Holiness in the patronal feast of Constantinople, the commemoration of the St. Andrew the Apostle, the First Called, I set out "with a joyous step" from Fener in the New Rome, to come to you to participate in your joy in the patronal feast of Old Rome. And we have come to you "with the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ" (Romans 15:29), returning the honor and love, celebrating with our beloved brother in the land of the West, "the certain and inspired heralds, the coryphaei of the disciples of the Lord," the holy apostles Peter, brother of Andrew, and Paul—these two great, central pillars of the whole Church stretched out toward heaven, which, in this historic city, also offered the ultimate shining confession of Christ and gave their souls to the Lord here through martyrdom, one on the cross and the other by the sword, and thus sanctified this city.

We greet, with the deepest and most devoted love, on the part of the Most Holy Church of Constantinople and her children throughout the world, You Holiness, desired brother, wishing from the heart "those who live in Rome beloved of God" (Romans 1:7), good health, peace, prosperity and progress day and night toward salvation "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, joyful in hope, strong in tribulation, steadfast in prayer" (Romans 12:11-12).

In both Churches, Your Holiness, we duly honor and greatly venerate Peter—he who made his salvific confession of the divinity of Christ, as much as Paul—the vessel of election, who proclaimed this confession and faith to the ends of the universe in the midst of the most unimaginable difficulties and dangers. Since the year of salvation 258 we have celebrated their memory in the West and in the East on June 29. In the East we also prepare for this feast by a fast observed in their honor on the preceding days, [Robust Christianity!] following a tradition of the ancient Church. To strongly emphasize their equal importance, but also their weight in the Church and her regenerative and salvific work through the centuries, the East honors them in an icon in which they either hold a little ship in their hands, which symbolizes the Church, or they embrace and exchange the kiss in Christ.

It is indeed this kiss that we have come to exchange with you, Your Holiness, emphasizing the ardent desire and love in Christ, things which are closely related to each other.

The theological dialogue between our Churches "in faith, truth and love," thanks to divine help, goes forward despite the considerable difficulties that exist and the well-known problems. We truly desire and fervently pray that these difficulties will be overcome and that the problems will disappear as soon as possible so that we may reach the desired final goal for the glory of God.

We know well that this is your desire too, as we also are certain that Your Holiness will neglect nothing, personally working, together with your illustrious collaborators, through a perfect smoothing of the way, toward a positive fulfillment of the labors of dialogue, God willing.

Your Holiness, we too have proclaimed the year 2008 "Year of the Apostle Paul" [I hadn’t known that when I heard him say this.] on the 2,000 anniversary of the great apostle’s birth. In regard to the events of the anniversary celebration, in which we have also venerated the precise place of the St. Paul’s martyrdom, we are planning, among others things, a sacred pilgrimage to some of the monuments of the apostolic activity of the apostle in the East: Ephesus, Perge, and other cities in Asia Minor, but also Rhodes and Crete, the places called "good ports." Be assured, Your Holiness, that on this sacred journey, you too will be present, walking with us in spirit, and that in each place we will offer up an ardent prayer for you and our brothers of the venerable Roman Catholic Church, fervently asking the divine Paul’s intercession with the Lord for you.

And now, venerating the sufferings and the cross of Peter and embracing Paul’s chains and stigmata, honoring the confession and martyrdom and the venerable death of both for the name of the Lord, which truly leads to Life, we glorify the Thrice-Holy God and we supplicate him, so that through the intercession of Saints Peter and Paul, who are his protocoryphaei and apostles, he will, here below, grant us and all his children of the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world "union of faith and communion in the Spirit" in the "bond of peace" and there above eternal life and great mercy. Amen.

[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]

My friend Fr. Ray Blake, over at St. Mary Magdalen has an interesting letter with this interesting quote:

John Carmel Cardinal Heenan apparently said this after attending the first demonstration of the Novus Ordo.

"At home it is not only women and children but also fathers of families and young men who come regularly to mass. If we were to offer them the kind of ceremony we saw yesterday in the Sistine Chapel we would soon be left with a congregation mostly of women and children."