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    My March objective...







    25 May 2009

    Brick by brick at Mission San Juan Bautista

    CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULA — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 2:57 pm

    From a reader comes a 1st Holy Communion photo at Mission San Juan Bautista in California.


    • • • • • •

    17 Comments

    1. Beautiful !! Two of our five children have received their first Holy Communion from FSSP priests and it’s been wonderful. Colorfully compared with that of our first daughter who was in line to receive her first Holy Communion at a Novus Ordo Mass, when a lady Extraordinary Minister pushed the priest out of the way and said, “I’ll do it.” I don’t believe she did it in a nasty sort of way, but that she was fully affected by the culture that says lay people belong on the altar. I guess she didn’t see our daughter fully outfitted in her white dress, white shoes, white gloves, white veil….. We pray that our Holy Father is able to heal the wounds and damage of the past 40 years…..

      Comment by Lucy — 25 May 2009 @ 3:37 pm

    2. At age 50 this photo brings back memories

      Comment by David Osterloh — 25 May 2009 @ 3:52 pm

    3. Oh, how beautiful. Ironically, yesterday one of the older Fransiscans from the Mission Santa Barbara “reminded” everyone during the homily that “according to our archbishop [Mahoney] we only kneel for pentinence therefore that is why we stand for Communion, etc. Brick by brick. Mission by mission. (For those unfamiliar with the missions, Bautista is not under Cardinal Mahoney’s realm.)

      Comment by Racjax — 25 May 2009 @ 4:08 pm

    4. While this is a beautiful event, it’s nevertheless sad that there are only two communicants in view. I pray that there were many more!

      Comment by John Enright — 25 May 2009 @ 4:28 pm

    5. An incredibly moving sight! Truly proof of the maxim: Save the Litugy: Save the World! True faith flows from beautiful experiences of the divine; and it doesn’t get much better than this.

      Comment by James — 25 May 2009 @ 5:08 pm

    6. Doesn’t the posture of both the girl and the priests kind of remind you of a scene where a little bird lifts its head and opens its mouth, trusting that its mother will feed it carefully and lovingly?

      Comment by alipius — 25 May 2009 @ 5:52 pm

    7. This picture is wonderful in so many ways. The mission is a lovely church and Fr Milich is doing good things there. Deo gratias.

      Comment by JlovesR — 25 May 2009 @ 6:36 pm

    8. There are no bricks anywhere near where I live. But I like the photo.

      Comment by SadTrad — 25 May 2009 @ 7:07 pm

    9. This was my first instruction to receive Holy Communion…By the time it came to that special day we were re-instructed to stop and stand, receiving in the hand. I was on the cusp of learning something and unlearning it real fast….God Bless these children and I hope they ar afforded the freedom to continue this practice for life..God Bless the Priest, the Children, and their families..I think one of the last things I was told not to do was genuflect before entering the pew…”It blocks other people’s entry behind you”

      Comment by Mitchell NY — 25 May 2009 @ 9:12 pm

    10. Thanks be to God for real shepherds like Bp. Richard Garcia. The diocese of Fresno was offered an FSSP priest, but the currrent bishop said NO. A few more years till retirement, pray hard, many rosaries.

      Comment by Central Valley — 25 May 2009 @ 9:56 pm

    11. John Enright:

      There is nothing sad here. Remember that Bishop Garcia has only been in the Monterey diocese for a couple of years and this Latin Mass community has hardly had a chance to grow.

      For being only two or three years old, and having to draw from an area where all things traditional were treated with scorn for so many years, they are doing quite well to have already two youngsters receiving First Holy Communion.

      Comment by Fr. Angel — 26 May 2009 @ 3:41 am

    12. John Enright: In our TLM community this year, our first communicants, dressed just like you see in the picture above, received their First Holy Communions individually at separate Sunday Masses spread out during Eastertide. This “first communion season” will culminate with a reception honoring all the first communicants after Pentecost Mass this Sunday. We here think this makes for great joy and no trace of sadness.

      Comment by Henry Edwards — 26 May 2009 @ 7:22 am

    13. Beautiful pictures!

      As you always tell us, Father-brick by brick!

      Comment by irishgirl — 26 May 2009 @ 9:23 am

    14. This Sunday Bishop Richard Malone of the Diocese of Portland, Maine,
      confirmed 12 in the usus antiquior. Most of them were children who then
      received their First Communion at the Mass following.

      Comment by Nancy McClintock — 26 May 2009 @ 12:35 pm

    15. Further pictures of the First Communions can be found at http://www.monterey-tlm.blogspot.com

      Comment by Cristero — 26 May 2009 @ 12:43 pm

    16. “For being only two or three years old, and having to draw from an area where all things traditional were treated with scorn for so many years, they are doing quite well to have already two youngsters receiving First Holy Communion.”

      Actually the EF has been offered at Mission San Juan Bautista for not quite one year. May Our Lord continue to bless and watch over that growing community.

      Comment by Angelica — 26 May 2009 @ 2:50 pm

    17. It is true that there were two First Communicants at this particular Holy Mass. A couple of weeks ago, the H1N1 virus was being hyped by the Media. One might not have been there because of that. While there might have been one or two more first Communicants, we were over-joyed to have these two there. A couple of more might have also made their First Communion, but their parents beleived that a bit further instruction was needed for their children.

      We have done much at San Juan Bautista since the Feast of SS. Peter and Paul last year (our First Traditional Latin Mass), and there are a few young, large families with younger children who will no doubt be making First communions in the near future.

      Antonio Cardinal Cañizares Llovera, the Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship, has written the forward for the Spanish translation of Msgr. Nicola Bux’s book La Riforma di Benedetto XVI: la liturgia tra innovazione e tradizione (Piemme, 2008). In that forward he writes that “even if there were not a single “traditionalist” whom to satisfy, this “discovery” would have been enough to justify the provisions of the Pope.” That discovery being the liturgical richness of the Church. This would be our Catholic identity, which Fr. Z has written so eloquently about.

      Even if there had only been one child who had made their First Communion, it would have been worth all the effort.

      Adobe brick by Adobe brick.

      Comment by Cristero — 27 May 2009 @ 11:04 am

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