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

Here is a reading of the Via Crucis, the Way of the Cross, composed by Joseph Card. Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, for the 2005 Good Friday observance at the Colosseum in Rome.

The text is English, though I use Latin responses and prayers between the Stations.http://www.wdtprs.com/prayercazt/080318_stations_ratzinger.mp3

I appreciate the support you have given to me and to WDTPRS. 

This is a token of my esteem. 

UPDATE: Way of the Cross by St. Alphonsus Liguori (voice and with chant)

 

I just had a primordial experience of a deep Northern winter night.

Coming back from a walk… out and around… I turned to look the large yellow crescent of the Moon was about to go down beneath the line of trees in the West, where the old forest rises up.

The snow from the recent blizzard was bright, drifted sharply here and blown to flatten ripples there.

I was standing very still and simply gazing at the moon. 

After a minute or two my eyes had adjusted.

The stars were very bright in the clear sky. 

There was some indirect light from around one of the outlying buildings.

I caught a dark movement.

An enormous winged apparition swelled, beating and bobbing larger and larger.

It was absolutely silent.

It came swiftly and straight on.

At about some dozen feet before me the now silvery shadowy mass wheeled and soared off into the black. 

It was the largest owl I have ever seen.

I believe this night I saw Strix nebulosa… a Great Gray Owl.

I have heard a very large owl in the forest to the West.  When it put on the brakes and wheeled the wingspan was a good 5 feet wide.  Owls have perforated feathers so when they beat their wings they remain silent.

The startling cold and velvet depth of the sky.   The silence and the setting Moon.   The glow of the snow drifts and indirect light.  The black shifting silver apparition.. larger … larger and then swooping away against the sky.

The darker black trees by then had drawn their claws across the upturned yellow crescent, and so I turned back for the house.

The fruits of standing still.

From FOX:

‘Holy Grail of Comic Books’ Looks to Fetch Six-Figures at Auction

Friday, February 27, 2009

An ultra rare copy of the comic book that introduced Superman to the world hits the auction block today and bids could soar as high as the "man of steel."

"Action Comics #1," published in June 1938, is considered to be the world’s most valuable comic book and valued at an estimated $126,000.

"It’s the Holy Grail of comic books," comic expert Stephen Fishler, who created the 10-point grading scale used to evaluate comic books, told Reuters.

"This is the one that started it all. There was no such thing as a super hero before it. No flying man. Comics weren’t even that popular. It’s the single most important event in comic book history," he said.

Only 100 copies of the No. 1 edition are known to exist and those in "fine" condition are worth about $126,000, he said, but this one could sell for several times that.

Bidding for the comic book begins at $1 and is sure to go up, up and away.

The owner, who has not been identified, bought the comic in 1950 when he was 9-years-old after begging his father for 35 cents.

"Lots of kids bought comic books in the ‘50s, but almost all of them eventually tossed them out," Fishler told Reuters. "This guy understood its value and took good care of it — that almost never happens either."

Fishler and Vincent Zurzolo, co-owners of Metropolis Collectibles, will offer the comic on their Web site for two weeks beginning Friday.

The great radio personality Paul Harvey has died.  He was 90.

Paul Harvey added elegance and charm to his news roundups and beautifully told tales.

WDTPRSer BSGers will want to discuss the last episodes.

I read an interesting entry at CMR which has a prognostication that seems plausible.

We have reached the last few episodes and the writers are beginning to tie up ends.

If you haven’t yet delved into BSG, and think you might want to, I recommend that you leave this entry immediately, close your eyes, plug your ears and chant incessantly "not listening not listening not listening".

Don’t risk ruining your surprise in watching it for the first time from the beginning.

From a reader:

In the extraordinary form of the Latin Rite, a priest may vest and serve as a deacon at the celebration of the Mass.

Is there general or particular legislation to prevent a priest from vesting and serving as deacon at Mass in the Novus Ordo?

If there is no legislation to impede a priest from functioning as a deacon in the Novus Ordo, why isn’t it done? If you please, I’m hoping for as detailed a response as may be practical. Perhaps your readers can help.

It is true that priests always did fill the functions of deacon and subdeacon at Solemn Masses in the older, traditional Roman Mass.

That fell into desuetude with the Novus Ordo for a couple reasons.  First, the idea of the "solemn Mass" became fuzzy and then dropped off in to a amorphous "liturgy". 

Also, there was a desire to underscore the proper ministries of the different orders of Holy Orders, of priest and of deacon.  The result was that priests were not to do anything deacons would do, were deacons present.

I agree with that, actually.  If deacons are present, let them do the job which deacons do!   Since there are no more subdeacons, except in name, let deacons take those roles also.

The other factor in this was the great pressure… weird near obsession… that priests had to concelebrate all the time.  Since a concelebrating priest had to behave as a priest at Mass, he couldn’t do anything a deacon might do, including vest in a dalmatic, etc.

If memory serves, I think there is in some document somewhere a recommendation, but not a prohibition, that priests not take deacon’s roles.  I can’t remember where that might be.  Perhaps a reader could find it.

In the context of a Novus Ordo Vigil of Easter, I have put on a dalmatic to sing the Exsultet.  It just made sense.  It is the great "diaconal" moment and I am still a deacon, though also a priest.  I didn’t concelebrate in a dalmatic, which would be jarring and wrong. 

This is one of those areas in which, I think, we could find a strong gravitational pull from the older, Extraordinary Form on the newer, Ordinary Form.  

The paradigm for Holy Mass is not the "low Mass".  This is a common mistake.  The template is the most solemn form: the bishop’s solemn celebration.  Other Masses of decreasing solemnity imitate the "higher" more solemn forms to the extent they can within the bonds of common sense and resources.

It seems to me that if in a "Novus Ordo" parish there are more than one Masses on a great feast, and there are clergy available, priests and deacons, then they ought to be vested to play different roles.

Let us abandon the obsession of concelebration and underscore the solemnity of a Mass with differentiated roles.  A priest is still also a deacon, after all.

From last night’s convergence of the Moon and Venus.

I got this from Rorate:

Local sources in Argentina confirm that Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, one of the four bishops of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X, will run the Seminary of Our Lady Co-Redemptrix in La Reja, Province of Buenos Aires – at least temporarily, as a "Visitator".

The news has also been posted in the website of the excellent Argentinian Catholic publication Panorama Católico Internacional.

The whole "visitor" is sort of amusing.  I sounds as if there is authority behind it.

Still… they must move forward.

I received this from a reader.  My emphases and comments:

I really enjoy your blog and have learned a lot in reading your posts; however, I’m going to stay away for Lent.

The comments are just too polarizing; the traditionalists and SSPX-ers/supporters, presume that every Novus Ordo Mass is a clown fest; those who attend liturgically improper Novus Ordo Mass and like it, are phobic about Latin long before they get to Extraordinary Form Mass and the presumed evils thereof. Neither side contemplates the possibility of a middle ground.

There’s also a bit of contentiousness between cradle Catholics and converts; as an adult Catholic who has yet to be confirmed, I fall somewhere in between. What I notice is that each group somehow feels superior to the other; while it may be true that cradle Catholics tell people they don’t or can’t understand things as converts, sometimes there is no substitute for experience. I have also encountered converts who think they have all the answers and are quick to correct others, even if they’re correcting someone whose statement was not wrong.

I am praying for Pope Benedict XVI, that he may have the strength to lead the church on its true course through these turbulent times. I’m not attached to any vision of how that will manifest but know he has a better shot of discerning God’s will than I.

This is a Friday in Lent.

I ask some of you who have been commenting here to get on your knees and give some considerations to what this reader offered.

WDTPRS Friday after Ash Wednesday – Post communionem (2002MR)

I am not sure about the origin of this prayer.  It seems to be comprised of prayers in ancient sacramentaries, such as the Gelasian and Veronese and the Hadrianum and Paduense manuscripts of the Gregorian.  I don’t think it was in the post-Tridentine editions of the Missale Romanum.

POST COMMUNIONEM:
Quaesumus, omnipotens Deus,
ut, huius participatione mysterii
a delictis omnibus expiati,
remediis tuae pietatis aptemur.

I note especially that the prayer speaks not in terms of participation in the "mysteries", but in the "mystery".  Mysterium in liturgical prayer can often be interchanged with sacramentum. 

The verb apto, which is in the Super oblata for the First Sunday of Lent, can have complicated theological overtones. In L&S you will see that it means “to fit, adapt, accommodate, apply, put on, adjust,” etc.  It is often used with the dative: to make apt or fit for something.  It is also “to prepare, get ready, furnish, put in order” and is constructed with the dative or ad.  Sometime the ablative is used to indicate that with which something is fitted, furnished, or provided.   Thus, since remediis could be either dative or ablative we might argue that ut… remediis … aptemur means either, “make us apt/suitable/ready to for the sacraments/mysteries” or “make us fit by means of these remedies/cures.”  You might want to say “worthy” or “properly disposed.”   Sometimes you will see apto with sacramentis. 

Expio is "to make satisfaction, amends, atonement for a crime or a criminal; to purify any thing defiled with crime; to atone for, to expiate, purge by sacrifice".

Pietas when applied to man means "dutifulness".  When applied to God it means "mercy".

LITERAL VERSION:
We beseech You, Almighty God,
that, having made satisfaction for all trespasses,
by the participation of this mystery,
we may be made properly disposed for the remedies of Your mercy.

I am amused by the position of that comma: expiati, .... Perhaps some of you might have opinions.

We know that there was no punctuation in ancient times, but this isn’t really an ancient prayer.

Remember that every Holy Mass should be a participation in MYSTERY.  You will come and go and be in this mood or that.  But every Mass should at least an occasion for a meeting with mystery. If a Mass doesn’t offer you this, it has failed.

Yesterday there was a bit of a blizzard here.

It came on in the late afternoon.  The wind was blowing hard enough that the chickadees were being blown off their perches.  They are quite the aeronauts, however.







As darkness came on, they were more and more covered with snow.





The snow drifted dramatically.



A guest for supper had nearly to crawl over the bank.



But by morning all traces were erased.



I rather enjoy a heavy snow storm with a good blow, for when the weather clears the next day, as it always seems to, the vista is lovely.

The birds are eating ravenously.  They are practically cleaning out the feeders in a day’s time.  Amazing.

Here are some siskins… tucking away.



Here is a redpoll.  The finches tend also to eat off the ground.



A noble chickadee comes in for a snack.







Here is a nice shot of a redpoll.  Click for a larger version.

This shot was a winner, I must say!



Your donations help.  Really.

ALL: Two things.

If there is going to be discussion here, I ask that it be civil.

My mood today, and the list of things to do I face, are such that I will simply lock people out of the blog for a while if they cause me additional work right now.

Someone today referred to "intellectual fascists", another compared people who don’t want to see the rubrics violated on Holy Thursday to Satan.

I don’t need that sort of garbage.

I want to be edified today, not annoyed.  Really.  Not kidding.

My alternative will be to impose restrictions such as obligatory registration or moderated comments, which I am sure few people want.

o{]:¬( 

I am reading stories that "the Vatican" has "rejected" Williamson’s recently issued apology.

Fr. Lombardi said:

...Williamson’s statement "does not seem to respect the conditions" set forth by the Vatican on February 4, when it ordered Williamson to "in an absolutely unequivocal and public way distance himself from his positions" regarding the Holocaust.

I don’t think that any apology SSPX Bp. Williamson may issue about his views on the Holocaust will ever be enough for certain groups, both of Jews and within the Church.  They may have crafted this in such a way that they know he will not do it.

But whatever else may happen with Bp. Williamson, will unambiguous apologies be required now from the more avid pro-abortion Catholic politicians?

If there are concerns that someone would deny that 6 million Jews were killed in WWII, and apologies are demanded from such a person, is there going to be equal concern over those who promote or participate in a far more extensive killing of the innocent?

Will Catholic pro-abortion politicians be required to issue apologies, as unambiguous as that which they require from Williamson… heck any apology at all…. for voting for abortion rights?

I’m just askin’

From The Times:

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor set to be first Roman Catholic bishop in House of Lords since 16th century

From a reader:

Last night the family that I live with recited the Stations of the Cross together in our home. At the end, we prayed for the intentions of the Holy Father and had a discussion about eternal/temporal punishment, indulgences (especially plenary ones), the requirements for obtaining them, and the ability to apply indulgences to the Holy Souls.
 
I decided to do a little research so the children would know about other indulgenced works. I found a great deal of information. Included was information about the indulgence for making the Way of the Cross. In the list of norms to gain the plenary indulgence it says, "The pious exercise must be made before stations of the Way of the Cross legitimately erected".
 
My question: What does it mean to be legitimately erected? Could we, in the house, hang 14 crosses, and make the Way of the Cross by processing with these? Or does this mean that we would need to go to a church and use stations that have been installed and blessed?

First, I am very glad that you have done this with your family.  You are to be commended.  I am reminded of the scribe who brings forth things both old and new.

The Handbook for Indulgences is the book issued by the Holy See containing the norms for indulgences, what some of the prayers and works are and what the conditions are.

A plenary indulgence can be obtained by making the Way of the Cross on Good Friday even through televised participation for the Holy Father’s Stations. 

Otherwise, this devotion at other times must be made before Stations of the Way of the Cross legitimately erected.   That means that a bishop or his delegate is to have established them in the place, usually a church or chapel or perhaps cemetery or other outside place such as a retreat house.  The bishop, etc., then provides a document that this was done.  Usually a document like that, often in Latin, can be found hanging on a wall of the sacristy, unless in ignorance it was taken down. 

When Stations have been duly erected, they are symbolized or "located" with a Cross on the wall or perhaps outside with a standing structure.  There is often a picture or statue group, etc.   There are 14 Stations.  Movement from one station to the next is required when you do them as an individual.  If the Stations are a public event, then just the person leading them needs to move from station to station.

The Handbook indicates that this is also vocal prayer.  By custom some "preces vocales" are added.  I suppose that might only be "Lord Jesus Crucified, have mercy on us."  Also, the Handbook says that there is flexibility about the mysteries considered.

It may be that some people are prevented from going to a church or place where there are legitimately erected Stations.  In that case a person can still gain the indulgence by spending at least one half hour meditating on the Cross and death of the Lord.

Eastern Catholics, who don’t have this custom of the Way of the Cross, can also gain an indulgence according as their respective patriarchs determine.

So… to the questions.

Yes… Stations must be formally set up as I described.  If you were to go to church with your family, you would all together move from station to station…. which would be a beautiful thing to see, actually.   If you were legitimately impeded from going to church, say there was a blizzard or someone at home who was ill who needed care, you have an alternative.

I don’t think "Well, I don’t want to drive for 10 minutes." is legitimately impeded.  But what that means is hard to say.  I tent to be on the lenient side with these things, for surely Holy Church wants people to be able to gain the indulgences without an undue burden.  It must cost us something, of course.  But that will vary.  A young person can get to church easier than an old lady with cane during winter.

Remember also that there are conditions for gaining any plenary indulgence.  In addition to the work performed you must be free of attachment to sin.  Meditation on the Cross and death of the Lord should help this resolve.