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

Okay… we have the BIG MO, BABY!

Bring back our BLACK! has a little more support.

A kind reader alerted me to a weekly letter to his flock by His Excellency Most Reverend R. Walter Nickless of Sioux City, Iowa.

Get this!  Here is the relevant section but do go read what else the bishop has to say.  Pretty good stuff.

My emphases and comments.

There is a clear connection between this Feast and the Feast of All Souls which follows it on Sunday, November 2nd. We know that, although God’s mercy is greater than our sinfulness, still we have the choice to reject His gifts. Most of us live and die struggling to accept fully the gracious gift of faith and mercy. We are not ready for Heaven, for seeing God "as He really is," because we have not seen or loved Him clearly enough in this life. We need more scouring.

Part of how we receive this scouring or "purging" after death is by the prayers of the faithful still sojourning. [That’s where we come in.] We have a duty in this life, born of our unity in Christ, to pray for the dead, for the purifying fire of God’s merciful love to purge them of the heaviness of sin. This duty is one of the spiritual works of mercy. So important is this duty, that the Church uses an entire day to remind us of it each year. Remember, then, that none of us can make become saints without the hard work, not only of ourselves, but of many others also. One of the hardest forms of this sanctifying work is to learn to love and pray for all, especially for our enemies, even after their death. "For if you love those who love you, what reward shall you have? Even the tax-collectors do this. And if you greet your own family only, what more have you done? Even the heathens do this. Therefore, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Mt 5:46-8). All of us would do well to continue to pray for the souls in purgatory.  We hope that many will pray for us as well when we die. [You can say that again.]

[WATCH THIS] Black is a traditional color of the Church’s vestments that may be worn on All Souls Day. It can also be worn at Masses for the dead. As a liturgical color, black symbolizes mourning and penitence, sorrow and solemnity. [Death to the allurements of this world.] This is exactly the spirit we are trying to cultivate on the Feast of All Souls, when we pray for the salvation of the dead. [Oh my HEAVENS!  Did you get that?  This is a modern bishop in the USA, folks.  Kindly note that he connects what should be our proper attitude and BLACK VESTMENTS.  But wait… THERE’S MORE!]  It is appropriate, then, to use the external symbols suitable to help us cultivate the proper internal reality. Black vestments help us to remember to pray for all the dead, [% SOUND.TRUMPETS.HERE %] not just our own beloved dead. Black vestments help remind us of the inestimable worth of the divine gift of life, in this world and in the next. This year, for this feast, I will be wearing black vestments. [YES!] Hopefully, this sign will remind us of our need to face death with all its pain and mourning, but also remind us of the resurrected life to follow.

 

All I can say is…

THANK YOU!

[I want photos.]

If you are in a region where your clocks fall back tonight then

CHANGE YOUR CLOCKS.

Mass will start on time whether you are there or not….

.... unless you are the priest, of course. 

But… that has its problems too.

Okay…

Just CHANGE YOUR CLOCKS.

For this Feast of All Saints we tune in to hear what Venerable Bede (+735) has to say.  This is an excerpt from today’s Matins in the traditional Breviarium Romanum and is taken from one of Bede’s sermons.

I comment.

Also, I have a bit of a collage, which just "grew" out of thinking through some e-mail I received while I was working on this, and had Bede’s words about this shortness of this life fresh in my mind. 

There are a lot of broken hearts out there, folks.  It takes time to get things in perspective, but the right starting point helps.

Also, we have another installment of stories about the fictional don Camillo Tarocci, (+ A.D. ... ?) parish priest of "The Little World" created by Giovanni Guareschi.

I began a to read stories from The Little World of Don Camillo back in PODCAzT 65.  There is a Don Camillo tag you can use to find the others easily. 

These delightful pieces are set in post-war Nothern Italy. 

They blend brilliant insight into the human condition with solid applied Catholic Faith. 

Today we hear two tales:

http://www.wdtprs.com/podcazt/08_11_01.mp3

Not sure if the iTunes feed is working.  It stops and starts again… mysteriously.  Beats me!

Some of the last offerings (check out the PODCAzT PAGE):

069 08-10-30 Augustine on Ps 103; Benedictines can sing!
068 08-08-04 Interview – Fr. Tim Finigan on the Oxford TLM conference; don Camillo (Part III)
067 08-07-29 St. Augustine on Martha, active v. contemplative lives; don Camillo (part II)
066 08-07-25 don Camillo (part I): VM - advice on getting TLMs & “pro multis”
065 08-07-19 St. Ambrose “On mysteries”; Interview: Fr. Robert Pasley
064 08-07-15 Bonaventure on Christ “the door”; Interview – Fr. Timothy Finigan
063 08-07-12 Interview: Fr. Justin Nolan, FSSP; consecrated hands, Holy Communion and the Rite of Baptism
062 08-06-26 Interviews with and by Fr. Z; What has Bp. Fellay really said?
061 08-05-17 Pope Leo I on a post-Pentecost weekday; Fr. Z rambles not quite aimlessly for a while
060 08-05-16 Pentecost customs; St. Ambrose on the dew of the Holy Spirit
059 08-05-15 Leo the Great on Pentecost fasting; Benedict XVI’s sermon for Pentecost Sunday
058 08-05-14 Ember Days; Chrysostom on St. Matthias; Prayer to the Holy Spirit
057 08-05-13 John Paul II on the unforgivable sin; Our Lady of Fatima and the vision of Hell
056 08-05-12 Octaves – Fr. Z rants & Augustine on Pentecost
055 08-05-03 Tertullian, again; Fr. Rutler and Fr. Z on Archbp. Marini’s book
054 08-04-29 Pro-Abortion Politicians and Communion; St. Ambrose and Emperor Theodosius

Many bishops have really stood up with clear statements about the importance of weighing the issues before voting, explaining that there is a hierarchy of issues.  Not all issues are of equal importance.  As a matter of fact, one outweighs the others.  It is the sine qua non issue.

Let’s see what His Excellency Most Rev. Wilton Gregory, Archbishop of Atlanta has to say to his flock via the Georgia Bulletin. 

My emphases and comments.

What I Have Seen and Heard

MOST REVEREND WILTON D. GREGORY, Archbishop of Atlanta

Published: October 30, 2008

Thomas Jefferson tailored the famous phrase “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” in his development of the Declaration of Independence, borrowing it from the writings of the English philosopher John Locke. Jefferson actually used many of Locke’s political principles throughout that document. He employed that particular well-known phrase in detailing some of the inalienable rights that we enjoy as human beings. They are inalienable because they depend not upon the largesse of any human institution or individual but because they flow from the very nature of our humanity — and therefore they belong to a natural law that predates every explicit or written human law. They are not subject to anyone’s choice or opinion because they arise from our very dignity as human beings.  [i don’t know why it was necessary to bring Locke’s name in with this.  It overloads the paragraph.  But let that go….  this isn’t a writing class.]

I suspect that over the past 35 years many people in the United States might well have wished that Thomas Jefferson would have borrowed some other phrase from John Locke or at least reordered this particular phrase so that Life did not appear first or even at all in this listing of inalienable rights. But just as Pilate was quoted after the death of Jesus — what I have written, I have written (John 19:22) — [?] Life itself is the very first principle whenever we decide to consider those rights that that are listed as inalienable in the Declaration of Independence.  [?  Well… YES!  Life is the first.  It must be.  But, again, the paragraph is thick, isn’t it?  And I wonder if it won’t leave some people with the impression "Hmm… too bad life is first, but, oh well,  I guess we have to deal with it somehow."  He gets to a very good conclusion, but it seems muddy to me after the introduction of hemmings and hawings.]

I have been asked by a number of people to comment upon the issues that we now face as a nation during this particular general election, [And… other elections too, right?] and a few people (representing both sides of the political aisle) have even clamored for me to propose a candidate for whom all Catholics ought to vote — or to designate one they certainly must not elect. The Church wisely offers only ethical principles and a moral framework for people to consider and to evaluate when you are about to make your crucially important decisions regarding whom to vote for in this election.

Throughout the centuries, the Church has discovered that it is often perilous to align herself to a particular political party or individual leader. [Bogging down again…] Rather we choose to recommend Gospel-based principles and social teachings to our people and to allow you to make appropriately informed decisions. These principles were carefully and adequately detailed in the most recent edition of the Bishops’ quadrennial statement: Faithful Citizenship. For some people these values were too complex, too nuanced and too oblique. They would much have desired a simple option.

According to the principles of Faithful Citizenship, Catholics must support the just care of the poor, the rights of workers, the dignity of people who immigrate to a new nation, the conservation of the environment; we must assess the very complex economic issues, seek to provide affordable health care for people who do not enjoy that security, and foster the more humane treatment of those who are imprisoned, to list only some of the issues that we now face. However, before and prior to all of those vitally important concerns, Faithful Citizenship places the issue of Life itself. [Good.] All of those other matters are of immense and lasting significance, yet they remain of no consequence for those who are not granted the first right — the right to be born.  [Certainly they are of no consequence to those who are not alive, that is those denied the right to be born.  But I think we have to put this differently.  All those issue above are of less consequence then the issue of the right to be born. Or else, those issues are important because the right to life and dignity is prior.] For this reason, I want to remind all of you, my brothers and sisters, to remember those famous Jeffersonian words borrowed from Locke—and especially remember the order that he gave them.  He gets to absolutely the right conclusion, but it is here, with this last sentence buried behind Locke and Jefferson and even the Constitution when really he is making an appeal to the rights we have because they are written into our being.]

On November 5, the social and ethical doctrines of the Catholic Church will be the same as they were on November 3. The dignity of human life will still be the foundational issue that we face in our society and in our world. Whoever is elected will hear the same policies from the Catholic Church that we have promoted not only during this election year but consistently about the sacredness of human life and the issues of social justice that necessarily flow from that leading concern. We will continue to challenge and urge all of our elected officials to enact laws that respect human life at each stage of its existence. These are not principles that we promote only during the election season but every day in season and out of season.  [Well… this is the "IN SEASON" part, I think.] Our social teaching is not a platform that can be adjusted to fit the mood of the moment or the sentiments of the day. Far longer than the Declaration of Independence, the Catholic Church has placed life first among those rights that are therein described as inalienable — no matter what some people may have recently suggested regarding the Church’s teaching on human life. [C’mon… SAY IT, Your Excellency.  What "some Catholic politicians and others who support abortion suggest".]  We will also speak up for the other concerns that cannot be ignored or dismissed because they flow from the very human dignity that we all enjoy as God’s children.  [Well put.]

Like most of you, I have sometimes felt oppressed by much of the election rhetoric and I am glad that the end is near. This has been a long political season. I deliberately chose to save this column until the final weekend before our election so that I could speak with you about these issues in those closing moments before you cast your ballots. Quite often the last words that we might hear are those that we tend to remember. I am utterly convinced that our people are well prepared to make informed decisions based upon our Catholic faith and its moral framework and the wisdom that you have gained in living our faith each day.

And, from reading this, I think he means that we should vote for candidates who best uphold the sanctity of human life, not because it is in the Declaration of Independence penned by Jefferson (pace Locke), but because all human beings have dignity written into us as images of God. 

Over at NLM there is a good long post about black vestments, in advance of the observance of All Souls, Sunday 2 November (Novus Ordo), Monday 3 November (1962MR).   I want to ad my voice to theirs in support of the use of black vestments as often as appropriate and possible.

All Souls Day is celebrated tomorrow in the modern Roman calendar and transferred to Monday in the calendar of the usus antiquior. It seemed appropriate then to re-post this which I wrote nearly one month ago:

Whensoever October rolls around, my mind turns toward All Souls Day and what has become an annual appeal upon the New Liturgical Movement: the call for parish priests to pull out (or find if need be) black vestments for this day.

This year, All Souls Day falls upon a Sunday, which means that in the calendar of the usus antiquior the day will be transferred to the following day, Monday, November 3rd. In the modern Roman calendar however, it falls on the Sunday.

The question will no doubt arise, may black vestments be worn on a Sunday? [YES!] Looking at the GIRM for the modern Roman missal, I see nothing that would prevent it. Given that black is one of the colours for this feast day, and given that this feast day may happen on a Sunday in the modern liturgy, and, further, given that there is no instruction that I can yet find otherwise, it would seem that black is permitted on All Souls Day in the modern liturgy, even if it falls upon a Sunday.

 

There is more.  You should look at their post.

It is interesting that the Ordo put together for the Vatican Basilica lists only "Viol." for the color for Sunday.  The other, universal Ordo does the same.  However, in par. 16 in the praenotanda in that Ordo, (p. 16) we find:

16. In Missis defunctorum color violaceus colori nigro praeferatur, ..." or "In Masses of the dead, the color violet is to be preferred to the color black."

To which I respond: Oh yah?  Really? 

How is this "preference" to be discerned? 

This is one of those nasty weasel rubrics slipped in during the bad times.  The progressivists and Bugniniists couldn’t abolish black outright, so they inserted slithery suggestions like this in order to give the impression that you can’t use black. 

BUT. YOU. CAN. 

Furthermore, Summorum Pontificum, among the many things it accomplishes, gets us back in touch with the continuity we need in a healthy approach to worship.  One of the mutual enrichments foreseen by the Legislator clearly has something to do with the vestments used for Holy Mass: watch what the Holy Father has been doing with papal Masses. 

How long have we Romans used black for Masses for the dead?

And let’s use unbleached beeswax candles too!  I want none of your anemic beeswax for my funeral, I’ll tell ya. Do you?  I’m just askin’.

I think a reclamation of black is in order for funerals and Masses for the dead in the Novus Ordo is entirely appropriate.

Let’s get to it, Fathers!

Laypeople, be prepared to purchase good black vestments and unbleached candles for your parishes.

Request black.

Make it happen.

Enjoy!   Biretta tip to Fr. I     o{]:¬)

From Vincenzo, the official photoshopper of WDTPRS:

I am sure you have many petitions.

Unite yours to mine beginning at 1500h GMT (1500 UK - 1600 Rome – 1100 EST - 0200 Sydney) as I start to say Mass for All Saints (1962MR).

Ask your angel guardians to be present.

Perhaps you might, as I will, ask all the angels and saints to obtain from the Holy Spirit a softening of hearts and illumination of minds of voters in the upcoming USA elections, especially regarding the sanctity of life.

In the meantime:

Veni, Sancte Spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium, et tui amoris in eis ignem accende.

V. Emitte Spiritum tuum et creabuntur;
R. Et renovabis faciem terrae.

Oremus. Deus, qui corda fidelium Sancti Spiritus illustratione docuisti: da nobis in eodem Spiritu recta sapere, et de eius semper consolatione gaudere. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

The last few days have seen numerous technical problems. The blog froze up for reasons still unknown. Now my Internet is down. I am working on my phone. So in the absence of anything more lengthy to post and analyze for what it really says, here is pretty photo from my phone. (This is the reason I opted for the iPhone – though I miss my Razr: it is a good emergency backup and I can take the blog on the road.)