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

Our WDTPRS project is on the finalist list for the Weblog Awards this year.

Voting begins on 5 January.

Let’s keep our Catholic blogs in the forefront of this new means of social communication!

Earlier today I streamed the Vatican Radio audio feed of the Holy Father’s 1st Vespers from the Vatican Basilica. 

I couldn’t access CTV for the live feed without such interference and to capture images.  Our friends at NLM, the liturgical eye-candy specialists, picked up some pics from the EWTN feed.  Here is one.



I have a few more images now.

I like the use of the ombrellino to bring the Blessed Sacrament to the altar.



This is how you drape a cope when kneeling at the bench.  Copes should also be closed in front, over the knees, when seated.



More and more we are seeing birettas on prelates.  Here are some curial bishops and archbishops.



Among them the great Archbp. Burke, Prefect of the Segnatura and, in back, a former papal MC.



Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.



Some bullet points of the Roman Pontiff’s sermon pronounced in Italian:

• 1st Vespers of the Marian feast.
• O admirabile commercium, the antiphon for the first psalm.  "Wondrous exchange".  In the Te Deum we sing "Tu, ad liberandum suscepturus hominem, non horruisti Virginis uterum"
• Tonight we are invited to gaze at Mary who received Christ in her heart and brought Him to the light of the world.
• Theotokos.  Mary is known as Mother of God from antiquity.  The Church affirms this belief.
  
• Thanksgiving for the year placed in the hands of Mary.  This is shared with those present, from city and ecclesiastical government and the faithful present.
• Ask forgiveness for our poor use of time.
  
• We must know how to give thanks every day, for only in Christ is the light of the mystery of man. (Gaudium et spes 22).
  
• Christ’s presence is a gift to be shared by all.  Initiatives of charity.  Educate people in hope.
  
• The uncertainty of our day.  Mary leads us to Christ.  Vocations of parents.
  
• Concern for the city of Rome, a hedonistic mentality.  There is a growing need for evangelization.
• Young people: don’t be afraid!  Don’t fear the task the Lord has entrusted to you.  The Holy Spirit will help you bear witness to the joy of faith and the beauty of being Christian.
  
• "The world falls into ruin and everyone is thinking of himself."
• The maternal presence of Mary assures us that God will never abandon us.
  
  

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On 31 December  the faithful can gain a Plenary Indulgence by public recitation or singing of the Te Deum.
On 1 January the faithful can gain a Plenary Indulgence by public recitation or singing of the Veni Creator.

From the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum (2004 – my emphases):

26 §1.  Plenaria indulgentia conceditur christifideli qui, in ecclesia vel oratorio, devote interfuit sollemni canuti vel recitationi:

1º hymni Veni, Creator, vel prima anni die ad divinam opem pro totius anni decursu implorandam, vel in sollemnitate Pentecostes;

2º hymni Te Deum, ultima anni die, ad gratias Deo referendas pro benefixiis totius anni decursu acceptis.

You must do the work in the state of grace, make a sacramental confession within 20 days of the work, pray for the Pope’s intentions, and have no attachment to sin, even venial sin.  It is sufficient to make a sincere act of will to love God and despise all sin.

The Pope’s intentions for December 2008 (for today and the Te Deum) are:

General:
That in the face of a spreading of a culture of violence and death the Church through her apostolic and missionary activity may promote with courage the culture of life.

Mission:
That especially in mission countries Christians may show with acts of fraternal love that the Child born in the stable at Bethlehem is the luminous Hope of the world.

The Holy Father’s intentions for January 2009 (and the Veni Creator indulgence) are:

...yet to come… I haven’t found them yet.

I have a better webcam from the window of my office now.

One of you WDTPRSers sent me the present cam some time ago and it is much better than the older one I had in the window.

The multiple audio streams thing still baffles me, but I am working on it.  I want to be able to do some call-ins view skype on Radio Sabina once in a while.

I think the audio quality is pretty decent. 

I have this set up, right now at least, automatically to play a recording of the Holy Father reciting the Angelus at 0600 1200 1800 and 0000 CST.

Pretty right now…

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From a reader:

Some of your Wisconsin/Minnesota readers might be interested to know that the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe will begin offering a weekly TLM beginning this coming Sunday at 9:30 a.m. This is the Shrine founded by Archbishop Burke, whose beautiful church building was dedicated this past summer. The TLM will join the 1 p.m. Novus Ordo Mass on the regular schedule. A Spanish-language Novus Ordo will be offered on a regular basis in the near future. Saying these Masses will be the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, who have been recruited to attend to pilgrims’ spiritual needs. As I understand it, Father Peter Damien Fehlner, the shrine’s temporary rector, will be saying a low Mass for the first few weeks.
 
That’s about all I know at present. I’ve been recruited to sing in the schola, and my understanding is that things will begin low key and move from there. To be honest, I’m not sure how well it will be received. The Institute of Christ the King offers a sparsely attended weekly TLM 30 miles away near Cashton every Sunday evening. La Crosse is obviously a better location, both because it’s a far larger city, and because the SSPX seminary is 40 miles away in Winona. As God wills!
 
This coming Sunday’s Mass will be for the Epiphany

I’m being pushed by more than one person to do more posts with cooking tips, or even a cookbook.  One person suggested a regular weekend feature with a recipe and prep photos. 

Dunno about all of that… but here is a little item you might like.

How to fancy up a wine bottle on the cheap.

I bet you usually just cork your bottle and put it on the table.

Sometimes people fuss over the cork, sniffing it and all that.  I don’t think you really learn much from the cork, after you have checked to make sure that it is in good shape, and not soggy from the wine or compromised in such a way that your wine will be "corked".

Still, there is something to the ritual of opening the bottle and fussing with the cork. 

Unless you have one of those bottles with a twist cap… which aren’t all that bad, frankly… and you have a bottle with a good cork, after the rigmarole with the cork you might want to fancy up your bottle’s presence a little.  It takes but a moment and it makes your presentation a little more interesting.

Let’s have a look.

1) Cut around the cap, as usual.  But…. don’t cut all the way around.  Leave about 1/2 inch uncut.

I don’t like these cutters with a serrated edge… but it was the closest to hand.



2) Do the same a little farther down the cap, again leaving the corresponding part uncut.



3) You should now be able to lift up the top of the cap.






4) You can then also lift up the lower "ring" you cut.



5) Bend the structure down so that it looks like this.



6) Open your bottle, being careful not to tear the structure you made.

I prefer lever corkscrew.  I have a really spiffy huge corkscrew made by Campagnollo which I’ll show you sometime.



7) Slip the cork into the ring and crimp it down close to the bottle’s neck so that the ring grips the cork.



Just a little fun with corks and wine bottles.

I learned this in a little restaurant in Bayeux, Normandy.

Today would have been the 88th birthday of Msgr. Richard J. Schuler, former pastor of St. Agnes Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.



Requiescat in pace.

You know the sort… those who think that it was just a matter of the odds that our planet Earth just "happened". 

And… given enough typewriters and monkeys, and enough time, one of them would by the random bashing of keys duplicate Hamlet.



I guess even monkey culture is sliding.

From a reader:

Dear Fr. Z,

Here we go again… The PCED [Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei] affirmed that it was OK with them (or at least with Msgr. Perl) for a Novus Ordo parish to have the TLM said on SUNDAY for Nov. 2 rather than transferring it to Monday as was ALWAYS done since it is a commemoration—black vestments, requiem Mass and all—despite Sundays being Feast days.

At our Novus Ordo parish, where the TLM is featured at 11 a.m. every Sunday, it appears we will have Epiphany on Sunday (two days early) along with the Novus Ordo calendar again. This means we do not get to have the feast appointed for that Sunday, which is The Most Holy Name of Jesus—needed more than ever in our blasphemous society.

I have heard the arguments that this is a primarily Novus Ordo parish, so we should be thankful for having the TLM every Sunday, but at the expense of losing the entire patrimony of the traditional liturgical year—sacrificed to the gods of the Novus Ordo calendar—with no rhyme nor reason behind it.

Perhaps you know something you can share with us regarding the PCED on these issues? What is going on with other readers at their parishes on Jan. 4?

I feel your pain.

I don’t like the transferring of major feasts like Epiphany or Ascension.  I think it is just WRONG.  

We all know the thinking: by putting on Sunday, more people are exposed to the mystery celebrated in that feast.   But moving Epiphany – fixed in relationship to a fixed date, Christmas, and the Ascension, fixed in relation to the moving dates of Easter and Pentecost, destroys the integrity of the calender.

But the real issue here is the whether there should be any coordination of the two calendars.

I am of a mixed mind on that.

It is really a shame that we have two different calendars for the Roman Rite.  It is a shame that so much tinkeritis afflicted the experts who rearranged everything after the Council… for no truly good reason I can discern.

Another point in this mess is that while Summorum Pontificum states that there are two "uses" of the one Roman Rite, it made a juridical determination, rather than a historical or theological determination. 

It seems to me that having two calendars implicitly admits that the Novus Ordo and the older, traditional use really are two different Roman Rites.

Somewhere along the way, the calendars should be coordinated.  I would rather see the newer calendar adapted to the older, especially – or at least – in regard to these major feasts like Epiphany.  I would like to see a return of the pre-Lent Sundays.

But I suspect that is not going to happen.  Instead, we will probably see the older calendar brought into line with the newer.

The issue of, for example, moving the TLM observance of All Souls to Sunday rather than bumping it a day to Monday is less problematic in my mind, but it does raise questions.

Perhaps you readers can describe what will be happening at your parishes or chapels where the TLM is celebrated.

Pope Benedict XVI, in his address to the Plenary Session of the International Theological Commission (5 Dec 2008) said:

From the subjective point of view, that is from the viewpoint of the one who does theology, the fundamental virtue of the theologian is to seek obedience to faith, the humility of faith that opens our eyes. This humility renders the theologian a collaborator of the truth. In this way it will not happen that he speaks of himself. Interiorly purified by obedience to the truth, he will reach, instead, the point that the Truth itself, that the Lord, can speak through the theologian and theology.

 

 

From a reader:

I wondered if you might be able to help me, I know you’re busy so please don’t bother yourself if you don’t have a quick answer or resource.  I got elected, recruited, uh more like drafted into being choir director twice a month.  I can sing very well and read music, but I have no idea what is supposed to be sung.  I did some searching, but either I am seriously lacking in the correct search terms or something because I can’t find anything about the rules for choosing appropriate music for Latin Masses.  These are low masses, so we generally just have entrance, offertory, communion and exit hymns.  Sometimes we sing the Salve Regina after the end of mass prayers.  If you know of anywhere I can get this information, I would be so grateful.  I just don’t want to mess it up, but I don’t have anyone to ask.  I can’t find any "Big Book Of Music Rules" for Latin Mass, so I am somewhat of a loss. I don’t want to just sing songs in Latin, I mostly want to make the experience more beautiful for the congregation.  This is very important to me, because the music is what converted me to becoming Catholic, so I feel that it is very important to make sure it is as good as possible.  I know a lot of traditional music, but I’m feeling overwhelmed right now.  My first Mass to sing, is next Sunday, what a mess.  I just found out today.

 

There is an old phrase: "He who sings, prays twice".  This is falsely attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo.  I like to amend this to say "He who sings well prays twice."

Liturgical music in Mass is prayer.  So, it is good to stick to music for the texts the Church gives us for each day.

Obviously this is going to be a "bring by brick" situation for you, so be patient with yourself and everyone.  You can make it all happen, but it will take time.

Perhaps some of you readers can help with your concrete experience.

Perhaps suggestions for this Sunday are in order.

From a reader:

Compline ends with a Marian antiphon, as you know.  For the Advent and Christmas seasons, the proper antiphon is the "Alma Redemptoris Mater."  After that, you pick up the "Ave Regina Caelorum" through Lent.  This is true in both the ordinary and extraordinary forms of the office.

Here’s the problem—in the older calendar, Christmas season ends on February 2nd (Candlemas).  In the new calendar, it ends on the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord.  The latter always comes before the former, usually in mid-January.

What Marian antiphon should be used by someone praying the ordinary form of the office for the period between the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord and Candlemas?

If it’s the "Alma…" that would seem to contradict the new end of Christmas season.  If it’s the "Ave…" that would seem to be a rupture with tradition.  Which one wins?

 

The rubric at the end of Compline says:

Deinde dicitur una ex antiphonis Beatae Mariae Virginae ... Thereafter there is said one of the antiphons of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

You can freely choose which one you would care to say at the end of the newer form of the office.  In that case you can freely choose to stick to the antiphon traditionally sung according to the older form of the office.

From a seminarian:

For the feast of the Epiphany, there will be a Solemn High Mass at Holy Trinity parish in Gainesville, VA.  Several local seminarians from the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, the Institute of Christ the King, and St. Charles Borromeo, as well as diocesan priests, will be serving or singing at the Mass.  The parish priests are Fr. Peffley and Fr. Wooton, to whom we are greatly indebted for affording us this extraordinary opportunity to offer this very solemn form of the Traditional Mass.

All are invited and encouraged to witness this magnificent liturgical form of the immemorial Roman Rite.

In Epiphania Domini
Solemn High Mass
Tuesday, January 6th at 7:00 PM

Holy Trinity Catholic Church
8213 Linton Hall Rd
Bristow, VA 20136
www.holytrinityparish.net

From a reader:

Visiting my grandmother out here in Texas and went to Mass Saturday evening. Saw the priest was wearing his stole on top of the chasuble.

I seriously thought about asking him, politely, if he was aware it constituted a liturgical abuse.

Decided against it in light of his stature as a priest and the mote in my own eye. How would you advise me to act in the future? Obviously I was only visiting, but I was wondering if not pointing out the abuse was a disservice to my brother laymen in the parish.

The stole is to be worn beneath the chasuble.

However, given that you were a visitor there, you probably did the right thing in deciding not to say anything.  If you were going to be there for a substantial period of time, and could get to know the priest a little, then I would bring it up.

Also, perhaps it is not the best thing to ask directly if a priest is aware that he is committing a liturgical abuse.  Be a little more diplomatic.  You might open the question by observing that you haven’t seen a priests generally wear the stole over the chasuble and ask him to explain it. 

Everyone has the responsibility to make sure the liturgy is celebrated properly.  This includes the use of vestments.

However, our approach will count for a great deal… or do a great deal of harm.  We need prudence.