Quinque Puncta … Five Points To Be Recited Usefully

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If we don’t know who we are as Catholics, and if we don’t keep firmly in mind our common Christian vocation to holiness, we will not be able to fulfill our particular vocations and we will not be able, as a Church, to fulfill Christ’s command to bring Him and His Good News to every corner of the world.

We have to know who we are and live who we say we are in order to have any influence in the public square, especially in this time when so many are trying to marginalize Christ and His disciples.

The recovery of our Catholic identity is the point of the New Evangelization and the upcoming Year of Faith, which Pope Benedict has called us to observe.

Old prayer books, as yet untainted by the fuzzy thinking and confused dreaming that oozed out of the “spirit of Vatican II”, have useful, clear, concise prayers which we should – for the sake of our Catholic identity – recover and use and teach to our children.

Here is a fine set of five intentions.  They are distillations, as it were, of the intentions found in various longer prayers and acts of contrition.

Live by these, friends, and you will become saintly, which is the common vocation to which every disciple of Christ is called.

Quinque puncta ante, vel post Missam, aut Communionem, utiliter valde recitanda. Five Points To Be Recited Usefully Either Before Mass or Communion.
I. Detestor et abominor omnia et singula peccata mea, et omnium aliorum commissa ab initio mundi usque in hanc horam, et deinceps usque ad finem mundi committenda: et, si possem, impedirem per gratiam Dei, quam supplex invoco. I. I detest and abhor my each and every sin, and those of all others committed from the beginning of the world until this hour and that will be committed from now unto the end of the world: and, if I could, I would impede them by the grace of God, which on my knees I call upon.
II. Laudo et approbo omnia bona opera, facta a principio mundi usque in hanc horam, et deinceps usque in finem mundi facienda: et, si possem, ea multiplicarem per gratiam Dei, quam supplex invoco. II. I praise and approve of every good work done from the beginning of the world until this hour and that will be done from now unto end of the world; and if I could, I would multiply them by the grace of God, which on my knees I call upon.
III. Intendo omnia facere, dicere et cogitare ad maiorem Dei gloriam, cum omnibus illis bonis intentionibus, quas Sancti unquam habuerunt, vel habebunt, vel habere possunt. III. I intend to act, to speak, and to think all things for the greater glory of God, with all those good intentions which the Saints ever had, or will have, or can have.
IV. Ignosco et dimitto ex toto corde meo omnibus inimicis meis, omnibus me calumniantibus, omnis mihi detrahentibus, omnibus quocumque modo mihi nocentibus, vel volentibus mala. IV. With all my heart I pardon and forgive all my enemies, all those who attack me falsely, all my detractors, and all who have injured me in any way, or have wished evil things upon me.
V. Utinam omnes homines salvare possem moriendo pro singulis! Libenter id facerem per gratiam Dei, quam propterea suppliciter imploro, et sine qua nihil possum. V. Would that I could save all men by dying on behalf of each! I would  do this freely by the grace of God, which I humbly implore on my knees, and without which I can do nothing.

Do not be discouraged if you don’t at this time live up to these aspirations. These five points should be repeated, often. Developing virtues, which are habits, takes a long time, sometimes even the length of a lifetime.

Strive and do not be discouraged.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Brick by Brick, Four Last Things, Our Catholic Identity, The future and our choices, Year of Faith and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

20 Comments

  1. fvhale says:

    Beautiful! Thank you, Father Z!

    V. Utinam omnes homines salvare possem moriendo pro singulis! …

    Of course the Latin “homo, hominis” includes women as well as men, every person, even all those dear sisters gathered in St. Louis trying to figure out what to do with their leadership conference which still, today, has canonical status. May they know God’s salvation according to His will!

  2. Supertradmum says:

    Thank you so much. So many of my Catholic friends in Europe are very discouraged. There are no real communities of support and so many people find themselves isolated. I highly suggest finding those of like mind and supporting each other. It is too hard otherwise in the growing mass of anti-Catholicism, which is not merely “tolerant” secularism but out and out hatred of the Good, the True and the Beautiful.

  3. Bea says:

    Thank you, Father
    Beautiful words to meditate on.
    Have copied and emailed to a few loved ones for our spiritual enrichment
    Thanks, again

  4. pfreddys says:

    WOW!!! Never seen these prayers before. Great Stuff!!!!!

  5. Finarfin says:

    Great prayers. Thank you Father!

  6. fvhale says:

    On the subject of “old prayer books,” I was in one of my favorite used book shops a few days ago. I passed on a “like new, never used” leather with gold-edges four volume set of “Liturgy of the Hours” for a mere $100 (I already enough copies for my household, and I dislike the 1970’s hymnody).

    But I did pick up, for only $6, a copy of “Lauds, Vespers Compline in English: reprinted from “The Hours of the Divine Office in English and Latin….” by Liturgical Press, 1965, to go along with my other editions of Breviarium Romanum. This was salvaged from a college seminary, in excellent condition.

    Sometimes the better, older books also cost a lot less!

  7. tealady24 says:

    This is the BEAUTY of our Catholic faith! Thank you, Father!
    Post more of these kinds of things.

  8. jrpascucci says:

    Source, Father? I might decide to print a few, but would like to give credit.

  9. If I may join the litany: Beautiful! Thank you, Father!

  10. Clinton R. says:

    Thank you for this, Father. We do need to abhor sin as God abhors it. We live in a day where sinfulness is celebrated. We need also to be ever mindful that we should conform to God’s ways and not the other way around which is the popular way of thinking.

  11. LisaP. says:

    Boy, that one doesn’t pull any punches, does it!?

  12. Many thanks, Father!
    Repetitio mater studiorum, as I learned in school. And as we so often need to be reminded, repetition is the mother of virtue, too. It’s too easy to look at virtue as a sort of ethereal goal, and not to see that it is by forming habits of acting rightly in the little, everyday situations that we grow in holiness. Thank you for this aid.

  13. Dismas says:

    @LisaP – doesn’t pull any punches indeed. Similar to being caught in a boxing match between ardor and arduous.

  14. TZ says:

    Very timely! Thanks, Father!

  15. Denis Crnkovic says:

    When I was very young I came across a book called The Young Seminarian, which I still own, an immensely helpful handbook that I read from cover to cover and from which I learned, among other things, Latin grace before meals, how to be silent and when to talk, how to kneel at low Mass and how to excuse oneself if you needed to leave dinner to go blow your nose. These books were immensely helpful in teaching behaviour for the sake of love of our fellow men, not for the sake of public appearance. What you have posted here, Father Zuhsldorf, is a prime example of how we must form our attitudes to the caritas we owe to God and man. Et gratias tibi ago, domne! This is one of your best posts ever.

  16. Rosedale says:

    Thank you for teaching sans those vague, “fuzzy” thoughts!

  17. John Nelson says:

    Father this is priceless! I have never seen/heard these before. Thank you for posting.

  18. Indulgentiam says:

    Oh i love this, thank you Father. i’m going to have this printed on fancy paper in calligraphy font and framed. put it up right next to the 10 Commandments and the Litany of Humility.

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