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

"I’ll be back"

"Go ahead. Make my day."

"I’m sorry Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that."

"Get away from her you BITCH!"

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning."

Behold! His mighty hand!"

"You can’t handle the truth!"

"May the force be with you."

"I love you guys."

"It’s not my fault!"

"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."
‘
"Frankly Scarlet, I don’t give a damn."

"Houston, we have a problem."

"I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse."

"’"E.T. phone home."

"Here’s looking at you, kid."

"Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me."

"The name’s Bond, James Bond"

 "Are you talking to me?"

 

I had a question from a reader:

Does anyone know if a digital form of the Pontifical Canon is available?

Today is the titular feast of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the Cathedral of Rome.

"But Father! But Father", I can hear you objecting. "Don’t you know that that basilica is called ‘St. John‘? How can the Transfiguration of the Lord be the titular feast?"

Glad you asked. The real name of the Lateran Basilica is the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior, St. John Baptist and St. John the Evangelist at the Lateran. So, for a titular feast you really need a feast of the Lord.

While today is the main day for the basilica, they do make much over the two saints John as well. I do too. For my "onomastico", as the Italians call it, or "name day" I claim both the Baptist and the evangelist. That way I get two says in the summer (don’t forget the feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist) and one in the winter.

And let us not forget that the Lateran Basilica is a Major Papal (formerly Patriarchal) Basilica. There are lots of minor basilicas in Rome and throughout the world There were five Patriarchal Basilicas in Rome to go with the five ancient patriarchal sees, four major patriarchal basilicas and one minor. How did that happen? The patriarchs always were allocated (symbolically) a basilica in Rome, thus Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch, had St. Peter’s in the Vatican, St. Paul’s outside the walls, and St. Mary Major. When Jerusalem was added as a patriarchate it was assigned St. Lawrence outside the walls, though it remained a minor basilica.

The Bishop of Rome as Patriarch of the West had the Lateran Basilica obviously. And he still does, even though the Pope seems to have dropped the title of Patriarch of the West (remember that?). 

Anyway, this is the titular feast of the Lateran Basilica.

Let’s look at all three of the prayers for the Transfiguration.

The word transfiguratio is interesting in itself. In classical, post-Augustinian Latin Pliny used this for “a change of shape”. However, that is not what happened with Christ on the mountain, probably Mount Tabor in Galilee not far from Nazareth. What happened?

If we see Christ’s Baptism at the Jordan as the beginning point of His public life, and the Ascension as the end, then the Transfiguration its zenith. The accounts of the Transfiguration are found in Matthew 17:1-6, Mark 9:1-8, and Luke 9:28-36. Also, 2 Peter 1:16-18 and John 1:14 refer to it.

What happened?

Scripture tells us that a week or so after Jesus and the disciples were at Caesarea Philippi (where Christ gave Peter the "keys") Jesus took Peter, James and John to a high mountain. They were surrounded by a bright cloud, like that in which God spoke to Moses. Christ shone with light so dazzling it was hard to see. On either side of Him were Moses the Lawgiver and Elijah the Prophet. A voice was heard, as at the time of Jesus’ Baptism: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him". The Gospels of Matthew and Mark use the Greek word metemorphothe for what happened. St. Jerome in his Vulgate chose transfiguratus est. The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) expand the event saying "his face did shine as the sun: and his garments became white as snow," or "as light," according to the Greek text. This brightness has been taken to be a glimpse of Christ’s divinity shining through His flesh.

Christ allowed the three key Apostles to see this so as to strengthen them before His Passion soon to follow.

Getting back to the word transfiguratio, it clearly points to a dramatic change, though in Christ’s case not one of form or shape. The word is from the preposition trans with figura. A figura is “a form, shape” but also in philosophical language a “quality, kind, nature, manner”. Most interesting to me is the mean of figura as a “form of a word” or “a figure of speech”. Think of the Prologue of the Gospel of John 1:14, recited by priests for centuries at the end of Holy Mass: “we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father”. In the Prologue of John the Evangelist says that Jesus the Son is the divine logos, the Word: “In the beginning was the Word….” A word is an utterance which projects the concept of the speaker. The Jews has used Hebrew memra, God’s creative or directive word or speech which manifests His power in the mind or in matter, as a substitute for the divine Name of God. Jerome’s choice of a word with the root figura or “figure of speech” is very apt in many ways, and its draws our imaginations into the realm of God’s eternal uttering, His eternal rhetoric.

COLLECT (Transfiguration):
Deus, qui fidei sacramenta
in Unigeniti tui gloriosa Transfiguratione
patrum testimonio roborasti,
et adoptionem filiorum perfectam mirabiliter praesignasti,
concede nobis famulis tuis,
ut, ipsius dilecti Filii tui vocem audientes,
eiusdem coheredes effici mereamur.

LITERAL VERSION:
O God, who in the glorious Transfiguration
of your Only-begotten Son
strengthened the sacrament of faith by the witness of the fathers (Moses and Elijah),
and in a marvelous way foreshadowed the perfect adoption of children,
grant to your servants that,
hearing the voice of Your beloved Son himself,
we may merit to be made the same Son’s coheirs.

In the Transfiguration, God reveals more fully the Sonship of Jesus and, thus, reveals in Jesus, our own sonship. When the Father reveals the Son as Son, He is telling us about His own life, how He generates the Son and how the Holy Spirit from all eternity is the love between them. Fortified with this knowledge, we can participate in the life of the Trinity in a fuller way. Because of our unity with Christ in our common human nature, the way to divine sonship is opened up. He is the Father’s Son by nature, but we by grace. God makes us His children through a perfect adoption… adoptio perfecta. From God’s point of view, it is perfect (“brought to completion”) because God puts His seal and mark upon us. From our point of view, it will be perfect only when we see God face to face in heaven.

Because of this adoption, the adoptio filiorum and adoptio perfecta, an eternal inheritance awaits us. We merit a patrimony. St. Leo the Great (+461) said in a sermon (s. 51): “In this mystery of the Transfiguration, God’s Providence has laid a solid foundation for the hope of the Church, so that the whole body of Christ may know what a transformation will be granted to it, and that the members may be assured that they will be sharers in the glory which shone forth in their Head.”

We are already sons and daughters by God’s adoption, but that sonship is not yet completed. We lack the final essential component: perseverance in faith and obedience for the whole course of our lives. Even the Apostle Peter, his eyes dazzled by the Lord on Mount Tabor, failed to see what was happening. The great St. Augustine in a sermon on the Transfiguration (s. 78, 6), addresses Peter, and through Peter he really addresses us: “Descend the mount, O Peter. You wanted to rest on the mountain. Come down.” We still have work to do in this life before we can rest. Citing the same passage of Augustine the CCC 556 takes up this same theme:

Peter did not yet understand this when he wanted to remain with Christ on the mountain. It has been reserved for you, Peter, but for after death. For now, Jesus says: “Go down to toil on earth, to serve on earth, to be scorned and crucified on earth. Life goes down to be killed; Bread goes down to suffer hunger; the Way goes down to be exhausted on his journey; the Spring goes down to suffer thirst; and you refuse to suffer?”

SUPER OBLATA:
Oblata munera, quaesumus, Domine,
gloriosa Unigeniti tui Transfiguratione sanctifica,
nosque a peccatorum maculis,
splendoribus ipsius illustrationis, emunda.

Two words catch our attention here. First, splendor, found in our favored L&S but not in dictionaries of later Latin such as Souter or Blaise/Chirat. Splendor means “sheen, brightness, brilliance, luster, splendor”. Logically, it also refers to “excellence”. We should tie splendor to gloria, that divine characteristic. Splendor is probably here because gloriosa was used earlier. Words like gloria, splendor and claritas (in the next prayer) are nearly interchangeable. Using a variety of different words is a sine qua non for a good orator. An illustratio is a technical term from rhetoric, a “vivid representation” intended to complete a concept in the mind of the listener. The word transfiguratio itself may have an overlay of meaning from rhetoric.

LITERAL VERSION:
Sanctify, O Lord, we beseech You,
the offered gifts by the glorious Transfiguration of your Only-Begotten,
and cleanse us from the stains of sins by the splendors of His dazzling example.

In this context think of illustratio as a momentary flash of who Christ really is, both man and God.

A word which is uttered projects a meaning to another.

Here, a dazzling vision “utters” another explanation of God’s will even as the divine voice was heard by the three Apostles. But such a vivid “example” must alter us who perceive it.

POST COMMUNION:
Caelestia, quaesumus, Domine, alimenta quae sumpsimus
in eius nos transforment imaginem,
cuius claritatem gloriosa Transfiguratione
manifestare voluisti.

LITERAL VERSION:
May the heavenly nourishments which we consumed,
transform us, O Lord, we beseech You, into the image of Him,
whose splendor You desired to make manifest in the glorious Transfiguration.

Consider the splendor of the transfigured Lord. His humanity was for a moment suffused with the brilliance of His divine nature. God desires to share with us His own gloria, His claritas, His splendor. Jesus reveals something of what He will be after His Passion, but also what we will be. Let us not forget the words of the Second Vatican Council, in a key passage deeply influenced by the late Pope John Paul II when he was a young bishop participating in the preparation of Gaudium et spes 22 (emphasis mine):

The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. For Adam, the first man, was a figure of Him Who was to come, namely Christ the Lord. Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear. … He Who is "the image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15), is Himself the perfect man. To the sons of Adam He restores the divine likeness which had been disfigured from the first sin onward. Since human nature as He assumed it was not annulled, that very fact it has been raised up to a divine dignity in our respect too. For by His incarnation the Son of God has united Himself in some fashion with every man. … Such is the mystery of man, and it is a great one, as seen by believers in the light of Christian revelation. Through Christ and in Christ, the riddles of sorrow and death grow meaningful. Apart from His Gospel, they overwhelm us. Christ has risen, destroying death by His death; He has lavished life upon us so that, as sons in the Son, we can cry out in the Spirit: Abba, Father!

The Transfiguration of the Lord teaches us more fully about ourselves and our calling.

This ties in perfectly with the Eucharist, which when we receive It properly is.

Unlike the ordinary bread we convert into who we are by consuming it, the spiritual food of the Eucharist transforms us more and more in what He is.

Perhaps we can for a moment imagine after a good Holy Communion our hearts momentarily transfigured by God’s eternal glory, making our hearts like unto His.

 

The Holy Father is amazing.  He meets often with groups of priests and responds to questions in conferences.  He does this in Rome and on the road as well.

Here is some video coverage of his conference with priests in Bressanone.

The language is Italian.

Regular WDTPRS readers will recall the hostile reception of Summorum Pontificum in the Diocese of Chicoutimi in Canada. 

I have an update.

A reader sent this:

I have been following your blog with interest for some time now.

I read your post about the Diocese of Chicoutimi and its persistent refusal to allow Summorum Pontificum to be implemented (although, as we both know, no permission is required from the diocese as of September 14, 2007).  Those of the faithful who desire the Forma Extraordinaria have a blog, on which I just read an interesting post.  The parish priest of the Cathedral used last Sunday’s Masses to preach against the TLM with great force.  His "homily" is posted on the site along with a short resumé.  Seeing as it is in French, I have taken the liberty to translate the summary of what was said into English.  I am sending you the translation as an attached file.  You can read the original summary (and/or listen to the "homily" in French) if you understand that language. 

The original post in French is dated Sunday, August 3 2008.  It is entitled, "Le curé de la cathédrale prêche contre la Messe tridentine".

Shall we have a look at the summary?  My emphases and comments.

The Parish Priest of the Cathedral [of Chicoutimi] Preaches Against the Tridentine Mass

The parish priest of the Cathedral of Chicoutimi, Fr. Gaetan Thibeault, preached against the Tridentine Mass at all four Sunday Masses:  those of 8:30, 10:00 and 11:15 a.m. on Sunday morning, as well as the Saturday evening Mass at 7:15 p.m.

He began by saying, "Allow me this morning to give not a homily, but to enlighten you in regards to a request that was made by a group of people in the diocese."

The parish priest denounced the group from Chicoutimi by affirming that "those who signed the request do not respect authority, because they continue to desire the Tridentine Mass." [Apparently to desire the older form of Mass is now a way of lacking respect for authority.  What sort of "authority" would assert that?]  He added that "it is the bishop who is responsible for pastoral activity and for the liturgy in his diocese."  He then declared, "The Pope is not the universal bishop; he is the bishop of Rome!  And Bishop Rivest is not the vicar of the Pope; he is the bishop of Chicoutimi!"  [I am pretty sure that this observation will be passed along by my Roman readers.]

Fr. Thibeault also affirmed that the group’s Internet site shows lack of respect towards authority, caricaturing Bishop Rivest as a man with horns [i.e. the Devil]. [If that were true, it would be reprehensible.  However, I could not find any representation of the local bishop with horns.  I did see a graphic that the Devil hates Latin, but I think that can’t be honestly associated with Bishop Rivest.]  But what he failed to mention was that this was not the work of the group from Chicoutimi; it was done by a group of Spanish-speaking people.

He also stated, "Our bishop would surely not like me to say such things, because he is a good man."

Fr. Thibeault then went on to give a short course in the liturgy, wherein he praised Vatican II and concluded by saying, "most people who are attached to Tradition are insecure and incapable of adapting to the modern world."  [Rather insulting.]

He also affirmed that "most of those who made the request [for the Forma Extraordinaria] are between 20 and 30 years old; thus, they are people who do not know Latin and who seemingly do not know the Tridentine liturgy."  [Apart from my shock that any priest would not be delighted at the interest of young people in anything Catholic, this is a false argument.  The Holy Father clearly issued Summorum Pontificum also for young people.  Furthermore, they are merely asking for something that is their right to experience: the Roman Rite.]

Fr. Thibeault stated as well that "the Tridentine Mass is not all that traditional after all, since before the Council of Trent, there existed other forms of celebration, and the manner in which the Apostles celebrated [Holy Mass] is totally unknown to us."  [An embarrasingly inept argument.  First, no one really calls this the "Tridentine" Mass anymore.  Also, the form of Mass codified after the Council of Trent was in use with very few changes from 1570-1969, so it is hard to understand what could be more traditional from our perspective.  Furthermore, it matters not a whit how the Apostles celebrated Mass. We are not archeologists.  We are interested in the forms of Mass we can legitmately use today.  The older form is a modern form.]

He also declared, concerning the Traditional Mass:  "If I asked you to raised your hand, those who desire it [the TLM], I am not sure that there would be many of you with your hand raised."

Fr. Thibeault considers it a threat, the fact that the members of the Group claimed that they will have recourse to Rome for their request!  [People have rights.  One of their rights is that they always have recourse to legitimate authority.  If they think the local pastor and bishop are not giving them their due, they have the right to go to Rome.  Also, Summorum Pontificum establishes the recourse to Rome as a legitimate option.]

He stated, "You know, I’m 65 years old, and I never celebrated the Mass of St. Pius V", thereby implying that the Tridentine Mass was a thing of the past.  [And anyone listening can response, "So what?  This is not about you."]

An important point to note:  Fr. Thibeault has, however, celebrated "alternative masses". 

It would be interesting to hear the audio of the whole sermon.  Here it is.  I had to enhance the sound and stitch it together.  It is in French, and the audio quality is not great. It was also, annoyingly, broken up into sections.

Many thanks to readers for items from my amazon wish list.

AH of AK sent the beautiful DVD Into Great Silence.  Very moving, entrancing.  I saw it in Rome when it first came out, but I am glad to have it.  It bears more than one viewing, for sure.

JMK of OH sent What is Truth?: From the Academy to the Vatican by John Rist.  I had courses from Prof. Rist.  His books are really good and very hard.  He is probably the great working ethicist right now and a brilliant Augustinian scholar.  I think this is an important book.  Try also his Real Ethics: Reconsidering the Foundations of Morality and also Augustine: Ancient Thought Baptized.

SB of W. Sussex sent Lovely, Like Jerusalem: The Fulfillment of the Old Testament in Christ and the Church by Aidan Nichols.  Haven’t read this yet.

"Mariadevotee" sent Ultra ULT33046 2000 VA 1200 W Backup UPS with AVR.  This is of critical importance where the Sabine Farm is!  I simply must bolster the electronic things I have against the surges and outages.  And I got two of them!

When there is lightening anywhere in the area, way out here, this house gets hammered with surges and power losses.  When there are storms I can hear my UPS’s beeping and buzzing all over the house.  So, I was very happy to two of these sturdy UPS units! 

The first arrived in a very fancy … well here it is:



It’s a very colorful, and very large gift bag. 

I was mystified when it arrived and delighted when I opened it.

Especially when I read the tag:

 

Father, God bless you for all you do to advance the Kingdom.  I check your website several times a day and often find postings that inspire and edify.  Thanks for helping me to grow in holiness.  In Christ, Mariadevotee

 

Thanks.   These things make a difference.

The blog is quite a bit of work.  Without feedback of this kind, it is hard to know if it makes a difference. 

On that same note, I am also very grateful to those of who recently used the donation button on the left side bar and on some posts.  I keep a list of recent donors and remember you at Mass, as befits gratitude toward benefactors.  Because of you, I am going to be able to go to Cleveland and attend the jubilee of a priest friend. 

The donations are each received as an indication that in an entry I must have done something right.

Thus emboldened I will continue to ask your help. I want to go to London for the launch of the new journal Usus Antiquior, 14 September. I think this journal might be quite important and I want to thow my weight behind it.  Your donations will help.

Many thanks to you all.

 

To counteract to wyrdwymynpryst thing, how about listening to some Don Camillo stories?

Priests are MEN!

Part I

1) The Little World
2) A Confession
3) A Baptism

Part II

4) On the Trail  ... and
5) Night School

Part III

6) Out of Bounds …
7) The Treasure

Part IV

The wonderful Anna Arco had an item in the last number of the Catholic Herald, which is worthy of notice:

Atheist professor desecrates stolen Host
By Anna Arco
1 August 2008

Priests at the London Oratory have called for prayers of reparation after a consecrated Host was allegedly stolen during High Mass and desecrated by an atheist professor in America.

Several priests have celebrated Masses of reparation this week responding to a video posted on the internet of a young man taking the Host and later placing it next to a condom, claiming he was holding it "hostage" inside the prophylactic until the Pope changed his policy on contraception in light of Africa’s Aids epidemic.

An evening of reparation with Mass and Adoration with prayers, litanies and silent meditation is planned for next Wednesday. Oratorians have also called on the faithful to make personal acts of reparation this week and next "for all the outrages against the Blessed Sacrament around the world".

"Close observation of the film and of the facts seems to suggest that this is not an elaborate hoax, but depicts something that really occurred," said the e-mail asking people to make acts of reparation. It also asked people to pray for "the conversion of the culprits, that they will answer God’s call to repentance and open their hearts to receive His forgiveness".

The incident took place during the Oratory’s High Mass on July 13 and was posted on the internet soon after. It said: "The Catholic Church forfeits all rights to respect for its ludicrous beliefs, including ‘transubstantiation’, while its anti-condom campaign in Africa results in tens of thousands of deaths."

It further said: "Just because you believe that the cracker has some special significance doesn’t mean that I have to respect that ridiculous belief. I think the moral cost of disrespecting a cracker is a lot less than the moral cost of disrespecting human life; a concept that should be more important to you people."

A follow-up link to the video claimed that the young man had sent the host to Paul Myers, an atheist professor at the University of Minnesota who is thought to have further desecrated the Host by piercing it with a rusty nail and throwing it in the bin. In a post on his blog, dated July 24, Prof Myers wrote: "I thought of a simple, quick thing to do: I pierced it with a rusty nail (I hope Jesus’s tetanus shots are up to date). And then I simply threw it in the trash, followed by the classic, decorative items of trash cans everywhere, old coffee grounds and a banana peel. My apologies to those who hoped for more, but the worst I can do is show my unconcerned contempt."

Prof Myers caused controversy earlier in July when he called a "Eucharist challenge" in which he incited people to steal consecrated Hosts from Catholic churches and send them to him so that he can desecrate them.

He wrote: "Can anyone out there score me some consecrated communion wafers? There’s no way I can personally get them – my local churches have stakes prepared for me, I’m sure – but if any of you would be willing to do what it takes to get me some, or even one, and mail it to me, I’ll show you sacrilege, gladly, and with much fanfare. I won’t be tempted to hold it hostage (no, not even if I have a choice between returning the Eucharist and watching Bill Donohue kick the Pope in the—-s, which would apparently be a more humane act than desecrating a goddamned cracker), but will instead treat it with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web. I shall do so joyfully and with laughter in my heart."

His words followed a theft of a Host in Florida earlier this year which had American Catholics up in arms.

As a result of July’s alleged theft and desecration of the Eucharist, priests at the London Oratory are urging worshipers to be vigilant at Mass and to receive Communion on the tongue. Communion plates have started being used at certain Masses again.

 

First, it occurs to me that more and more incidents of disrespect are being shown by non-believers toward the Catholic Eucharist.  Off the top of my head I can think of not only this awful business with the prof at the U of Minn, and also the theft from the Brompton Oratory, but also the theft of the Host in Florida, the reception of Communion by weirdly dressed people in San Francisco, during the Pope’s visit Catholic pro-abortion politicians receiving, and a non-believing journalist receiving at Tim Russert’s funeral Mass.

Who goes forward for Communion is often hard to control

But there is something simple we can control.

No more Communion in the hand.

Not a fool-proof (and never was that term better applied) safeguard, but one that greatly reduces risk of profanation.