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

It just hit me.

Today is the 5th anniversary of the landing of the intrepid little Mars rover "Spirit", still plugging away.

Amazing.

And I thought my little broadcasts were complicated.

Spirit is in serious but stable condition.

I remember clearly watching over the internet the coverage of the landing and getting the first images back from the surface.  The rovers are resting right now because of the annual solar conjunction.

The Roman Station for Epiphany is San Pietro in Vaticano.  The only problem is that Epiphany in the Vatican is celebrated on 6 January, when it ought to be.  In the rest of the world, sadly, Epiphany is moved around, thus obliterating it’s fixed character in relation to Christmas Day.

“Epiphany” comes from the Greek word for a divine “manifestation” or “revelation”.  The antiphons for Vespers reflect the tradition that Epiphany was thought to be the day not only on which the Magi came to adore Christ, but also the day Jesus changed water into wine at Cana, and when He was baptized in the Jordan by St. John.  All three events reveal Jesus as more than a mere man: He is God.   There are many “epiphanies” or “theophanies” in Scripture, such as when Moses saw God in the burning bush. 

The celebration of Epiphany stretches back to the Church’s earliest times.   In the Greek East, Epiphany was of far greater importance than Christmas, which was a relative latecomer.  In the Latin West, Christmas developed first, and Epiphany later. 

In many countries people exchange gifts on Epiphany, in imitation of the Magi with their gifts.  Epiphany truly falls on 6 January, the twelfth day after Christmas, as in “On the Twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…”, and also the title of Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night.  In the reformed, post-Conciliar calendar Epiphany is usually transferred to a Sunday, so that more people can attend the Mass. 

I think it is a mistake to transfer important feasts like Epiphany, in Christmastide, and Ascension Thursday in Eastertide.  These feasts are pegged to the great celebrations of Christmas and Easter for a reason.  When we transfer these feasts to Sunday, we diminish the meaning of the liturgical year. By making our obligations as Catholics ever more lax and easier to fulfill, a subtle signal is sent that none of our obligations, practices or teachings are important enough to warrant a place and, at times, sacrifice in our daily lives.  

Exquisite customs grace Epiphany.  The most famous is the blessing of chalk used to hallow homes. On the lintels of the doors the priest writes with the chalk “20 + C + M + B + 09”, i.e., the year and initials of the names of the Magi indicated in Rituale Romanum: Gaspar (G and C being related), Melchior et Baltássar. 

The names of the Magi are traditional, not scriptural and some ancient authors thought there were as many as 24.  

Some say “C + M + B” stands for “Christus Mansionem Benedicat… May Christ bless this dwelling”. Though clever, that’s probably wrong.

Water is blessed at Epiphany because of Christ’s Baptism in the Jordan.  People give presents and enjoy King Cake and Lamb’s Wool (a drink made from cider or ale with roasted apples, sugar and spices).  Apple trees were blessed by pouring cider on them! 

In Italy children wait for “la Befana” (from Italian “Epifania”). La Befana is old woman who was invited by the Magi to accompany them on their journey to find the newborn King. She declined because she was busy sweeping her house. Later, she realized her error followed the Magi but never caught up.  Thus, la Befana is still searching for Jesus, zooming around Harry Potter-like on her broomstick.  Santa-like, however, she visits homes and leaves toys and candy for good children, and the nasty lumps of coal for the naughty. 

In today’s technological society, instead of coal she and jolly old St. Nick would do better to leave an obsolete cellular phone or maybe a first generation X-Box.

Santa gets cookies and milk by fireplaces to sustain him on his way, but Italians appropriately leave wine and oranges for la Befana.

COLLECT (1962MR):
Deus, qui hodierna die Unigenitum tuum gentibus stella duce revelasti:
concede propitius; ut, qui iam te ex fide cognovimus,
usque ad contemplandam speciem tuae celsitudinis perducamur.

This ancient prayer, already in the 8th century Gregorian Sacramentary, survived the cutting table of the post-Conciliar reform: it is still the Collect in the Novus Ordo.  Celsitudo, in your revelatory Lewis & Short Dictionary, indicates in older Latin a “loftiness of carriage” while in later Latin it points to “majesty”, as in the title “Highness”.  In case you are trying to figure out the ending of revelasti it is a syncopated (shortened) form of revelavisti.  Stella duce is an ablative absolute (duce is from dux).   The adjective hodiernus, a, um, is “of this day, today’s”, so hodierna dies literally is “today’s day”, stronger than a simple “today”.  Perhaps we could say, “this day of day’s” or “this of all days”.

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
O God, who this very day revealed your Only-begotten, a star having been the guide,
graciously grant,
that we, who have already come to know you from faith,
may be led all the way unto the contemplation of the beauty of your majesty.

In this life we know God only indirectly, by faith.  This is St. Paul’s “dark glass” (1 Cor 13:12) through which we peer toward Him in longing.  In the next life we will not need faith because we will have direct knowledge.  In this phrase usque ad contemplandam speciem (a gerundive construction indicating purpose) we are praying to be brought “all the way to the beauty” of God “which is to be contemplated”.  This vision of His beauty will increase our knowledge of Him and therefore our love for all eternity.  This is what we were made for: His glory and splendor.  St. Hilary of Poitiers (+367) spoke of the gloria of God as a transforming power which divinizes us by conforming us more and more to His image.  In our prayer, there is a move from faith to knowledge in the Beatific Vision. Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He is the Beauty and Truth of the Father. 

Our true Catholic faith and our splendid liturgy show forth the truth and beauty of God.  We must find the most accurate and beautiful words, actions, music we can possibly summon from human genius, labor and love for Holy Mass.  What we say and do in church ought to be a foretaste of heaven and the Beatific Vision.  Think simply of the effect music has on people.  Last year National Review stated that, “if good music does not always save the soul, bad music never does. When the electric guitar sounds during the Sacrifice of the Mass, the cherubim weep.”

The Church is reclaiming her great liturgical treasury, especially since Pope Benedict gave us Summorum Pontificum.  Even the new translation of the Novus Ordo Missale Romanum should work wonders.

SECRET (1962MR):
Ecclesiae tuae, quaesumus, Domine, dona propitius intuere,
quibus non iam aurum, thus et myrrha profertur,
sed quod eisdem muneribus declaratur, immolatur et sumitur,
Iesus Christus.

This prayer, also in the ancient Gregorian Sacramentary, happily survived as the Super Oblata for Epiphany in the Novus Ordo.  Notice all the passive forms (-tur).  They provide an excellent internal cohesion and create a powerful climax at the end when the Holy Name suddenly comes to our ears… like a little epiphany

Note the two different words for “gift”: donum and munus.  The L&S says that in classical Latin literature donum is associated with gifts of incense in a passage from the Aeneid of Virgil: dona turea (6, 225).  The verb sumo is basically “to take, take up, lay hold of, assume.”  In some contexts it can be also “consume”.  Declaro is “to make clear, plain, evident (by disclosing, uncovering), to show, manifest, declare.”

LITERAL TRANSLATION
Graciously gaze down, we beseech You, O Lord, upon the gifts of Your Church,
in which gold, frankincense, and myrrh are no longer laid before You,
but rather that which is revealed, sacrificed and received by means of those same gifts,
Jesus Christ.

The tokens brought by the Magi, representing the hopes of the nations of the earth, were “types”, foreshadows of the Lord who would offer Himself on the Cross.  Fathers of the Church and medieval writers such as Jacobus de Voragine (+1298) wrote with creativity and insight about these symbols.  Gold symbolizes the kingship of God, to be mirrored in the purity our hearts which are so precious to Christ and which He as King desires for His throne.  Frankincense symbolizes Christ’s divinity because only God should receive sacrifices.  The burning of something so precious reminds us of the utter immolation to which Christ submitted Himself on our behalf.  The total destruction of incense produces smoke, which rises like our prayers upward to God.  During a Traditional High Mass the priest incenses the altar while saying quietly, “May this incense, which Thou hast blessed, O Lord, ascend to Thee, and may Thy mercy descend upon us. Let my prayer, O Lord, be directed as incense in Thy sight: the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and a door round about my lips. May my heart not incline to evil words, to make excuses for sins.  May the Lord enkindle within us the fire of His love, and the flame of everlasting charity. Amen.”   This prayer was done away with in the Novus Ordo, as were many references to sin.  Myrrh, the balm used to prepare the bodies of the dead, underscores Christ’s humanity, through which He endured suffering and then resurrection.  The Offertory prayers help the attentive Christian dispose himself for an encounter with mystery. 

POSTCOMMUNIO (1962MR):
Praesta, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus:
ut quae solemni celebramus officio,
purificatae mentis intellegentia consequamur.

This ancient prayer did not make the cut in the Novus Ordo.  Intellegentia is obviously the “power of discerning or understanding”, but ancient authors such as St. Jerome (+420) and John Cassian (+435) also use it for the ability to see the deeper, symbolic meaning of Scripture, allegorical meanings. 

LITERAL TRANSLATION: 
Grant, we beseech You, Almighty God,
that we may attain with the understanding of a purified mind,
the things we are celebrating with solemn observance.         

Our participation at Holy Mass should be truly full, conscious and active.  We actively engage all we see and hear so as to receive with an eager embrace everything God offers through our Holy Church’s sacred mysteries.  We will have our own “epiphanies” during Mass, moments of “revelation”, often about ourselves and the state of our soul, or what we ought to do in life.  Remember that the Word, who is God eternal, became flesh also in order to reveal us more fully to ourselves (cf. Gaudium et spes 22).  In the life to come, only the pure may see God.  This should give us ample motive to participate actively, with interiorly active receptivity, to the graces and insights which come from our encounter with mystery.  This should give us more than enough motive to be purified of our sins through confession and sacramental absolution.  The reality of our unavoidable judgment must at some point dawn upon us like a thunderclap.  When you finally understand that you must one day die and face judgment, you begin to understand why Holy Mass must be nothing other than an encounter with mystery.

When we go to Mass we should be like Moses’, putting off his shoes before God in the burning bush which was mysteriously not consumed. We must be like Magi, whose penetrating sight was fixed on no one but the infant Jesus, in whose perfect image something of the invisible Father is mysteriously revealed.

I thought we could get by marking a new year without references to Nostradamus cropping up.

Damian has a good one today:

The end must be nigh – Nostradamus experts are at war with one another

Dramatic news from Counterknowledge.com: the President of the Nostradamus Society of America, Victor Baines, has accused Dr Michael Rathford, author of a new book entitled The Nostradamus Code: World War III 2009-2012, of being a charlatan.

Baines is a moderate, Broad Church Nostradamian (as I think they should be called). He limits himself to predictions such as a Democrat victory in the 2008 race for the White House. (In fact, as Raf Sanchez reports, Baines thought the new president would be Hillary – but that didn’t stop him giving himself a pat on the back when Obama won.)

Rathford, on the other hand, is a fire-and-brimstone Nostradamian. As Sanchez puts it:

Where Baines is content to pull together tenuous shreds to show Nostradamus predicted everything from Hitler to Desert Storm, Rathford claims to have “sifted this complex word puzzle searching for significant patterns and relationships. Almost immediately, he came up with the predictive model known as The Nostradamus Code”. The code, we are told, was cracked by “combining traditional analysis techniques with state of the art data mining algorithms,” apparently allowing Rathford “to search the equivalent of the entire library of congress in less than ten minutes” ...

In the sample chapter [from his new book], Rathford confidently predicts a string of papal assassinations, as well as nuclear war in which a bomb “will land in the Mediterranean instead of the land, poisoning all the fish”.

The slickly designed Nostradamus Online claims that “Dr. Michael Rathford has studied the Quatrains of Nostradamus for over thirty years, both in an academic and professional environment”. Yet, despite this apparently lengthy career, there is no trace of Dr. Rathford’s academic associations or anything he has published. The title of doctor is also omitted from the front cover of the book, where the author is listed simply as Michael Rathford.

A prophecy expert with a questionable doctorate? In his wildest dreams, Nostradamus could not have predicted such a thing! This is getting nasty. Who is right – Baines or Rathford? I gather that all attempts to contact the spirit of the 16th-century French physician have failed, perhaps because the greatest of all mediums, Doris Stokes, has passed to the other side. But maybe she can still help. Doris, are you there? Doris?

I am right now thinking of those people who are thinking about going to confession… knowing they should go… they can go because it is Saturday afternoon… but they are hesitating.

Just go.

Go.

I have been remiss in sending out a shout of thanks to some of you readers who have recently used the donation button on the left side bar, and some entries, and who sent items from my wishlist.

THANKS!

Some of the things arrived without notes to let me know who sent them.

For example, some dear and thoughtful person sent another little bottle of Colatura di Alici di Cetara.  I must keep this stuff on my wish list all the time.  Wonderful.  I will see how it compares to the other Colatura FZ sent sometime ago.

But KK of KY sent a copy of poet John Clare’s Major Works.  I had used a poem by Clare in a PODCAzT and got interested in him.

RK of IL sent NICENE AND POST-NICENE FATHERS: Second Series, Volume XII Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

I don’t know who sent the camera tripod, but I used it today to shoot the Nuthatch photos.  I also used the camera cord to take the shot.  I don’t know who sent that. Much appreciated.

JK (lots of K’s) of Dublin sent Empires of Trust: How Rome Built—and America Is Building—a New World by Thomas Madden.

W&KR of IN sent Patrick O’Brian’s Navy a beautiful book tie-in with the Aubrey/Maturin series, perhaps the best historical fiction novel series ever written.

Speaking of FZ, he sent a whole box of things on his own, including Sardinian honey, a bottle of Pietramarina from Sicily, a CD of Calabrian music, et al.  Many thanks.

And who sent the bottle of Piattelli Malbec?

And someone unknown sent God’s Secret Agents: Queen Elizabeth’s Forbidden Priests and the Hatching of the Gunpowder Plot by Alice Hogge.

I hope I haven’t missed or forgotten anything or anyone.  My apologies if I haven’t mentioned you personally.

Every time some item or tidbit or donation comes in, my day and spirits are brightened.  Thanks!

On Monday I will take a list of all recent contributors and benefactors with me to Holy Mass and remember you all, which is both my duty and honor.

The feeder has been busy, as usual. 

Living the Nuthatch Life:



And when you are not eating, you’re just hangin’ out waiting.


Coming in for a snack.



The enemy.

A warm tip of the biretta to our friends at Rorate for the following from UCA News about one of WDTPRS’s favorites, His Eminence Joseph Card. Zen Ze-kiun, the great Bishop of Hong Kong.

My emphases and comments.

CHINA  Cardinal Zen Calls On Mainland Bishops To Act Wisely At Pivotal Moment
January 2, 2009 

HONG KONG (UCAN)—Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong has called for bishops in mainland China to courageously fulfill their responsibilities to the Church, saying compromise cannot last forever.  [In many spheres, compromise is one of the real threats to the Church and our souls.]

The cardinal made the call in his article in the Jan. 4 issue of Kung Kao Po, the diocese’s Chinese-language weekly. [I would love for some Chinese speakers to comment on what is going on. My Chinese is not yet good enough to drill into this.] On Dec. 24, he had announced to local media that Pope Benedict XVI had agreed to let him retire in the first half of 2009, [how sad] although the date of retirement has yet to be announced, and that he would focus on China Church affairs.

In his article, “Inspiration from St. Stephen’s Martyrdom,” [Okay… you know something tough is coming when Card. Zen starts talking about St. Stephen.] the cardinal reviewed developments since 2006 and made an appeal to his “brothers in mainland China.”

“Don’t be afraid. Bear the responsibilities that history has placed upon you! In this critical moment, your choice could revive the Church or it could let her languish for a long time,” he told mainland bishops.

“You are held accountable to history and you must be prepared to stand firm without blemish before God’s judgment,” he continued.  [Yes!  We will be judged.]

His call was prompted by anticipation that Vatican-approved bishops in the open Church might participate in the election of chairpersons of the government-recognized Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA) and Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in China (BCCCC) during the next National Congress of Catholic Representatives.

The national congress, the highest self-governing body of the CCPA and BCCCC, is supposed to be held every five years.

Bishops The sixth congress elected Michael Fu Tieshan to head the CCPA in 1998, and the seventh elected Joseph Liu Yuanren of Nanjing to head the BCCCC in 2004. Neither prelate was recognized by the Vatican. Their posts have remained vacant since Bishop Liu died in 2005 and Bishop Fu in 2007.

No national congress has been announced, but the government-approved "open" Church celebrated in 2007 the golden jubilee of the founding of the CCPA, and in 2008 the jubilee of the “self-election and self-ordination” of bishops.

The China Church began illicit episcopal ordinations in 1958. Since then, there have been about 170 "self-elected, self-ordained" bishops in China.

The prelate also pointed out that some “learning sessions” appear to have taken place, seemingly in preparation for the congress.

“Must the meeting take place?” he asked. “Is it not an insult in response to the pope’s letter to Chinese Catholics – or perhaps you could call it a slap on his face – if (bishops are) joining such a meeting?”  [papale papale!]

More directly he asked mainland clergy, “Does your conscience allow you to do that? Would the people of God accept such behavior from you?”

Pope Benedict’s letter to Chinese Catholics, released on June 30, 2007, stated Catholic Church principles and gave pastoral guidelines.

Cardinal Zen encouraged the mainland bishops to follow the example of the first Christian martyr, Saint Stephen, assuring that being open about their stance would not result in “total loss.”

In his article, the cardinal quoted an unidentified person telling the "underground" clergy that compromise was wise, because “we are in communion with the pope and recognized by the government, and can take care of the Catholics.”

“Instead, you prefer staying in jail, sacrifice your lives, and so your faithful are abandoned without anyone to take care of them,” the unnamed person reportedly said.

However, “compromise is compromise,” the cardinal warned. “It cannot go on forever.”

“One should not give up the truth of faith forever for the sake of evangelization,” he stressed.  [A tough choice.  Timing is everything.  Think of Ostpolitik and its results.]

With regret, he said more than a dozen Vatican-approved bishops in the open Church had taken part in three ordinations conducted without Vatican approval in 2006.

On the contrary, 2007 contained “a ray of hope,” since the Vatican convened a meeting on the Church situation in China, and the pope wrote his letter to Chinese Catholics. The CCPA 50th anniversary celebration in July 2007 could be described as the “aftermath of the era before the papal letter,” Cardinal Zen remarked.

By now, however, all should have digested the content of the papal document, he wrote. That is why participating in “self-election and self-ordination” celebrations of bishops in December 2008 “made one feel perplexed.”

The Vatican sent another letter to encourage bishops to stand behind the pope’s teaching, Cardinal Zen added.

That letter, signed by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, on April 22, 2008, was addressed to all Vatican-approved bishops in mainland China.

God Bless Card. Zen!

I tweet.  You tweet.  We all tweet. 

Well… some of us tweet.

@fatherz

But this is really fun and downright weird.  It sure has potential, however.

From Engadget

We’re truthfully not sure what’s cooler: the fact that the above pictured washing machine tweets when it’s done, or the fact that the above pictured washing machine still works.

We’re guessing that the geeks in the crowd would argue that it’s clearly the former, and for those interested in a little proof / explanation, you can head on past the break for a video demonstration.

But just so you know, it’s highly unlikely that your Twittering washer will have any diehard followers.

I picked this up from Breviarium Romanum.

I am including only one of the photos.  Be sure to visit them for a few more shots.

Go Navy Part III: Feast of Saint John the Apostle

The Reverend Charles Johnson, Navy chaplain, celebrates the liturgy of the Feast of Saint John the Apostle aboard the aircraft carrier USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71).

Note the Gesu Bambino placed near the altar crucifix.

A statue of Our Lady is placed to the left of the altar for the celebration of Holy Mass. A US Navy Sailor serves as acolyte.

Please visit again for more details about the origin of Father’s Roman vestments in a festive floral style on a white ground.

Larger Navy ships such as aircraft carriers usually have a dedicated chapel space which must be maintained as a "neutral", or non-denominational, space when not in use by a particular religious group in order to better facilitate the beliefs of all.

The materials necessary for the celebration of the liturgy are stored away to be set up for each Holy Mass and then taken down again afterward.

I happily recall my visit to this carrier and meeting the fine Fr. Johnson. 

Blessings upon him and thanks for his service and that of all good chaplains.

Our friends over at NLM have eagle eyes for details in the liturgical eye-candy photos they so often post.

They noticed, for example, that Pope Benedict’s stemma, or coat-of-arms, is to be seen on the faldstool used on 31 December during 1st Vespers of Mary, Mother on God, followed by Benediction.

You can see Papa’s coat-of-arms on the left, and Bl. Pope John XXIII’s stemma on the cope.



NLM also made the observation that the faldstool is back.

We are all pleased.