OKLAHOMA CITY: Reparation, adoration of Christ VICTOR after sacrilege, blasphemy, evil

The other day some nitwits did something like a satanic “black mass” in city government facility of Oklahoma City.  You know the controversy, so I won’t go over it here.

I hope that the local Archbishop, Most Reverend Paul Coakley, will break out his copy of the older, traditional Roman Ritual and use the chapter in the section on exorcisms to ask God to cleanse the place, indeed the region.

Good people in Oklahoma City also showed their concern.  Some 3000 people showed up for a Eucharistic Holy Hour invited by Archbp. Coakley.   HERE and HERE

Archbp. Coakley said, among other things, that the city was “targeted by dark forces”.

I concur.

OK City is not alone.  Right now I have a sense of growing evil that has me both a little shaken and increasingly combative.  I am taking some steps in my own life in the face of what I see on the horizon.  I suggest that you do to.  As part of that preparation… GO TO CONFESSION.  But I digress.

Another group which showed solidarity against the evil of that event was the SSPX.  A friend sent this video, which was, “a response effort organized by the priestly Society of St. Pius X here in the United States. After a Black Mass was publicly marketed in Oklahoma City to desecrate our Savior in the Blessed Sacrament, an outcry from Catholics resounded. In an effort to make reparation for this public offense, the SSPX displayed a spontaneous 900 faithful from multiple states.”

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, GO TO CONFESSION, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, The Coming Storm, The Drill, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

51 Comments

  1. acardnal says:

    Great video!

  2. JesusFreak84 says:

    How the LCWR is part of the Church and they’re not continues to confuse me to no end.

  3. Fr. Bryan says:

    Fr. Z said: “Right now I have a sense of growing evil that has me both a little shaken and increasingly combative. I am taking some steps in my own life in the face of what I see on the horizon. I suggest that you do to. As part of that preparation… GO TO CONFESSION.”

    I agree. I feel/sense the same.

  4. JesusFreak84 says:

    I recently lost a friend, 30, to cancer, and all I could think was, “The Lord is sparing her from what’s to come…”

  5. LarryW2LJ says:

    Our Bible Study ended at just before 9:00 PM on Sunday. Instead of going home, we recited the Sorrowful Mysteries. That would have been just as that “thing” was starting in Oklahoma.

    On the drive home, though, I was thinking that this is the one we knew about, and that there must be many, many more that are not publicized. We really do need to have the St. Michael prayer re-instated at the end of all Masses.

  6. incredulous says:

    Actually, after watching that, it left me shaking, esp time 1:47 at the elevation of the bloodless sacrifice to Our Father.

  7. Mary Jane says:

    Excellent video. On Sunday our FSSP parish had Eucharistic Adoration all afternoon/evening in reparation for what happened in Oklahoma City.

  8. Filumene says:

    Super video.

    Fr. Z said: “Right now I have a sense of growing evil that has me both a little shaken and increasingly combative. I am taking some steps in my own life in the face of what I see on the horizon. I suggest that you do to. As part of that preparation… GO TO CONFESSION.”

    I fully agree. My husband and I have felt it strongly. It’s like a call to arms. For anyone interested, here is a (knock your socks off change your life never look back) set of prayers that has been of great benefit to my family, extended family and friends. I was directed to them some years back by Fr. Chad Ripperger .
    For priests http://www.auxiliumchristianorum.org/dailyprayerspriests.pdf
    For lay http://www.auxiliumchristianorum.org/dailyprayers.pdf

  9. YoungLatinMassGuy says:

    I pray for those fools at that black “mass”, they have no idea what they are doing. It’s a BAD sign that they are now doing this sort of thing openly.

    A very bad sign.

  10. KM Edwards says:

    Beautiful video … very inspiring to see young lay men and youth speaking so faithfully about the matter.

    I pray that the rest of the normalized Church, with Bishops and Cardinals supporting them, can pull such a beautiful response off to so many outrages against God and Mary.

  11. steveskojec says:

    It appears we were thinking very much along the same lines today, Father.

    http://www.onepeterfive.com/the-ascendancy-of-the-devil/

  12. excalibur says:

    Until Our Lady of Fatima’s request is fulfilled it will continue to worsen. Nothing else can stop it but to fulfill her request, and consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart. Slow it down perhaps, but not stop it. There is only the one solution. When will a Holy Father do what has been requested by Our Lord’s Mother?

  13. I like this video especially because it shows the SSPX in a good, reasonable light. All the laypeople associated with them in this video are not portrayed as ‘crazy trads’ like we have seen in the past. That priest is soft spoken and exudes a sense of genuine spiritual concern. No yelling, no empty rhetoric, no rehashing of old controversies.
    This is amazing PR for the Society. If they do stuff like this regularly they’ll have all the faithful behind them in a generation.

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  15. KAS says:

    “Right now I have a sense of growing evil that has me both a little shaken and increasingly combative. I am taking some steps in my own life in the face of what I see on the horizon. I suggest that you do to. As part of that preparation… GO TO CONFESSION.”– Fr. Z’s Blog

    I’ve been feeling this for a number of years now, growing stronger over time. At first, it would only be short waves of evil, easily over-looked, but in the past year the sense has been intense and almost over-whelming. I’ve stepped up my efforts with my daily Rosary, scripture reading, and prayer. I am nearly a weekly visitor to confession. I see it and Mass as essentials that are even more vital now.

    What is new for me is that recently there has also been this sense that there is a rising on God’s side too. Perhaps coming from odd places we never could expect. Perhaps coming from the martyrs being made daily in the middle east– but God is doing something too. So I pick up my Rosary and work on my focus like St. Teresa of Avila suggests, and I hope to be a little tiny part of that move of God.

  16. New Sister says:

    Thank GOD for the SSPX ~ may He bless & assure them victory in the inevitable counterattack coming their way…

  17. MouseTemplar says:

    At our parish that Sunday, our pastor, who had just come from the hospital having had a pacemaker installed the day before (!) held a Eucharistic Holy Hour, Rosary, and Benediction in reparation for that stunt in Oklahoma. It was the best attended Benediction we’ve had in a long time.

  18. Suz. from Oklah. says:

    They look so great in this video but, unfortunately this SSPX group is not terribly obedient to our Archbishop nor to the FSSP priest that it kicked out of its chapel. In 2011, the FSSP priest discussed possibilities of moving out of the privately owned chapel and build a church with Archdiocesan approval and World War III started. Satan got a foothold of Oklahoma City the minute the traditionalists started fighting each other back in 2011. I was barely a part of it, but I know so many families who have been hurt by this rift. Our beautiful procession with Archbishop Coakley, Bishop Slattery and the Bishop of Wichita occurred a few miles from the venue. Archbishop Coakley asked the faithful to stay away from the event or risk possible demonic possession. Instead of heeding this, the SSPX group went and did their own thing. By the fruits you shall know them. The SSPX group, St. Michael’s, unlike what you see in this video (because most of these people came in from other states), is a small, dying parish–they don’t even offer daily Mass–but you should see the FSSP-run and archdiocesan approved St. Damien of Molokai parish–we are bursting at the seams and have just begun a school for boys and a homeschooling co-op. We have two full-time priests who say two Masses daily and have confessions before and after all Masses. I just want to make it clear about the differences. Also, the Tradition, Family and Property group who came all the way from Pennsylvania to protest (and did so with the SSPX), came to Mass that morning to St. Damien’s. I met several of them.

  19. Suz. from Oklah. says:

    This article sums up very well what I cannot seem to put into words:

    http://fatherpaulnicholson.blogspot.com/2014/09/there-is-something-worse-than-black-mass.html

  20. Suz., in my opinion, to call the SSPX’s rosary procession *worse* than the black mass they protested is radically, ludicrously offensive. How mind-boggling, to put comparatively minor issues of obedience and technical debates over VII as being more serious than an eternal blasphemy against the most holy act in the entire universe.
    Issues regarding their canonical status notwithstanding, this is a group that offers the same Mass offered by countless saints, praying with sincerity the same prayers that have sanctified so many faithful over so many centuries, taking a stand against a vile perversion of truth. Here is the clearest evidence we could ever ask for, that the Society is truly concerned for the Church and the world, no matter what disagreements might be had in how they go about it.

  21. Susan G says:

    At the Christ Our Life conference in Des Moines, IA on Sunday we had several thousand people pray for St Michael’s protection before Holy Mass in reparation for this.

  22. Kathleen10 says:

    Each of the people who processed and prayed as an act of reparation represented thousands of people who could not get to Oklahoma but were “there in spirit”. I would like to thank them for doing what many could not due to distance. We prayed the Holy Hour with EWTN in solidarity with you against this incredible offense.
    I lost my sister weeks ago. It occurred to me at that time she may have been spared as well. Many of us apparently are feeling the same thing about the signs of the time. May God have mercy on us. Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

  23. SaintJude6 says:

    @ Suz.
    That priest’s post was insulting. So anyone not in full Communion with the Catholic Church battling against evil is worse that the perpetrators of a satanic ritual? I attend an FSSP parish that is just as active and “approved” as yours. But I’m not about to see myself as better than the SSPX. I have a great deal of sympathy and love for the SSPX. They kept the EF alive for many years to make all of our FSSP parishes possible. If our leaders continue on this modernist path, I can see myself ending up as one of them. If you think that the distance of a few miles is going to matter to Satan, then you greatly underestimate his power.

  24. Long-Skirts says:

    THE
    BATTLE

    We battle for Mass
    Daily it’s said.
    We battle for schools
    Where God is not dead.

    We battle for books
    Published and read
    We battle for peace
    Retreats are priest led.

    We battle to shield
    Motherhoods’ plight
    To let her nurse child
    At home day and night.

    We battle for men
    Who quietly fight
    Support them in prayer
    To lead us to right.

    We battle for truth
    Professed in the Creed
    Say “NO” to the wolves
    Who twist it indeed.

    We battle for grace
    We drink it like mead
    It quenches our thirst
    Refreshed so to heed…

    All that is said
    By wolves wearing rings
    Corrupting the facts
    With traditional slings.

    But true Tradition
    All triumph, it brings
    And the war ain’t over
    Till the Immaculate sings!!

    One of our daughter’s, Sr. Mary “Batteling” Bernard and one of our sons from Notre Dame De LaSalette, Aidan “the Lion” Lefebvre, was there too “fighting the good fight” for the Greater Glory of God!

  25. Kerry says:

    Larry, regarding the prayer to Archangel Michael, why wait? Start with oneself. (My wife and I do.) One with God is a majority.

  26. msc says:

    O.k., huge can of worms being opened…. Suz.: glad to read your post. Is the SSPX still not reconciled to the Church? Do they not have a record of being excommunicated? Are there not a lot of SSPX members that believe the papacy is vacant (it seems to me that it’s hard to call yourself Catholic if you believe that Francis, Benedict, John Paul, etc. are/were not valid popes). Is there still not a strong anti-semitic air coming from them (as late as Jan. 2013 Bernard Fellay clearly stated that Jews were enemies of the Church–hardly in line with modern Church beliefs [Nostra Aetate 4 “the Church, mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews and moved not by political reasons but by the Gospel’s spiritual love, decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone.”]. I have talked with SSPX members who deny that I am Catholic.
    One can love the Latin mass and the 1962 Missal and still remain to be convinced that the SSPX are not essentially schismatic.
    Father Z: if I am essentially mistaken, I will happily have you not approve this posting.

  27. Supertradmum says:

    I think something will happen just before the November elections, most likely on purpose.

    Yes, evil is being stirred up for a big battle. I hope people are serious about getting holy and creating community. Last year, I begged people to begin to what I call “pod”-moving close to other strong Catholics.

    The days are coming when we shall not be able to move. I am doing more and more fasting and I am 65. I am also learning how to do more mortification. These things are absolutely necessary now and not “extras”.

  28. Elizabeth D says:

    There is chaos right now. The thing that is bothering me the most though is we don’t get out of our church buildings to evangelize locally and draw people to Christ and His Church. I have proposed it 50 times in different ways. Why is evangelizing so hard or so controversial in the Catholic Church?

  29. Lin says:

    Fr. Z said: “Right now I have a sense of growing evil that has me both a little shaken and increasingly combative. I am taking some steps in my own life in the face of what I see on the horizon. I suggest that you do to. As part of that preparation… GO TO CONFESSION.”

    Father Bryan said: I agree. I feel/sense the same.

    I, too, agree! I will try to get to confession tomorrow. I fear not having a priest available to help us navigate through these uncertain times.

  30. Me too. We’ve got militant Islam now on the rise at home, as well, with homegrown incidents.

  31. Mike Morrow says:

    Thank you for this citing this video. There is little surprise that nouveau traditionalists will not recognize its poignant power and beauty.

  32. BenYachov says:

    Someone wrote:
    >in my opinion, to call the SSPX’s rosary procession *worse* than the black mass they protested is radically, ludicrously offensive. How mind-boggling, to put comparatively minor issues of obedience and technical debates over VII as being more serious than an eternal blasphemy against the most holy act in the entire universe.

    I reply: Well on the one hand if a bunch of Baptists started showing up standing beside the Catholics and invoking the Name of Jesus against the Black so called “mass” that would have been a good thing. OTOH the SSPX are separated brethren with way more correct doctrinal truth then the Baptists and more valid sacraments & their support would be more spiritually potent.

    Still OTOH Augustine said outside the Church you can have valid sacraments, piety, devotion etc but the one thing you can’t have is salvation. Now mind you I am not saying SSPX’s are automatically damned just because Augustine used harsher rhetoric back in His day.
    But we should remember that heresy and Schism come from the same black power behind the mockery of the Mass.

    I pray the SSPX gets some common sense to return the Ark of Salvation & that they not perish in the flood.

    I also pray this fad of worship of evil be destroyed by the Prayers of St Michael the Archangel.

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  34. Rachel K says:

    It is good to see so many people coming out in public to support the Bishop in his prayer of reparation for this sacrilege.
    However, not wanting to out a damper on it, but I share the sense of irony expressed by some over the SSPX presence. While I am certain that many ( or even most) of the the lay members of the group are indeed well-intentioned and devout and understand the important parts of the Catholic faith, the issue with the group as a formal organisation is one of OBEDIENCE!
    And what was the original sin committed by Satan?! Non serviam!
    Do you see it? The whole purpose of the black mass is to promote disobedience to God’s laws, to turn morality on its head. How delighted the horned one would be with a bunch of Catholics who formally disobey the Church. I know I have made this point before but there IS a difference between those who express this disobedience formally and those who do it in a privates grumbling way. Yes, the Nuns on the Bus do it formally, no doubt, so I am not just pointing at the SSPX.

    St Faustina in her diary tells clearly in a conversation with Our Lord that He wants her obedience to her superiors even above carrying out what He has expressly told her to do. Her superior blocks the path of action Jesus Himself has directed her to do, the He praises Faustina for obeying her superior as this pleased him more. You can find it in the diary.

    Irenaeus G. Saintonge says:
    “I like this video especially because it shows the SSPX in a good, reasonable light.”
    Yes, but they still need to tackle their soft underbelly of anti Semitism, their difficulty accepting that we have a real Pope and their cafeteria Catholicism.
    “If they do stuff like this regularly they’ll have all the faithful behind them in a generation.”
    Erm, I hope not, who would want to see ALL the faithful joining a schismatic sect?
    Perhaps better if they do this stuff regularly that they may be able to return to full communion with the Church.

  35. Rachel K says:

    Not to mention the fact that the devil is the sower of DIVISION.

  36. Imrahil says:

    Dear Rachel K,

    >>and what was the original sin committed by Satan?

    Pride, of course.

    Obedience is an accompanying virtue of the cardinal virtue of justice. It is not even a cardinal virtue. It is certainly not the one pivotal element of all morality.

    That the SSPX is quite honest and says, “we’d be obedient, generally, but we have a case of conscience and thus don’t obey to this… and this… and this…” is a plus point, to me. That they claim a case of conscience cannot be doubted. The disagreement is about whether they are correct or at least defensible in doing so.

    Forgive me, but calling it ironic that faithful Catholics from amongst the SSPX-attending group protest against Satanism – I cannot call that anything else but preposterous. Sorry.

    Also,
    *the SSPX are not schismatic. (“Not every disobedience is a schism; to gain this character, it must besides the transgression of the command of superiors include a denial of their Divine right to command.” Catholic Encyclopedia, from memory)
    *they are not, or if that would be possible even less, a sect,
    *they have no difficulty to accept that we have a real Pope,
    *given that words usually mean what they usually mean, the words “cafeteria Catholics” do not make sense to me,
    *nor are they anti-Semites.

  37. Long-Skirts says:

    A
    man
    FOR
    ALL
    WALES

    Beware such evil
    Pictures, simple
    Of praying nuns
    In veils and wimple

    Beware those sitting
    In wheel chair
    Saying the rosary
    Under sun’s glare

    Beware the mother
    Ever nursing
    She deserves a
    Feminist cursing

    Beware Tradition’s
    Young priesthood
    Laying their lives
    For all that is good

    But “like” me on Face Book
    Pump up book sales
    Watch my You/Tubes
    I’m…”A man For All Wales”!

  38. Gretchen says:

    The cynic in me is not surprised at the sniping here, the devil having got in between Catholics awhile back. I wonder if the back-and-forth between this or that faction of Catholics will be so ‘important’ once the persecution begins in earnest here in the west.

    Thank you, Father, for the regular exhortations to go to Confession. Did so last Saturday after being away for a few months.

  39. The Masked Chicken says:

    Unfortunately, one of the largest problems in this area is the Supreme Court of the United States, who, back in the 1980’s (if memory serves, although precedents start in the 1940’s, from what I can see) dropped the ball in defining what religion is, so as to be protected by the First Amendment. If they had stayed with the classical definition (even the pagan classical definition) , things would never have gotten so far out of hand. According to Wikipedia (I know, I know…) regarding the word origin:

    “The classical explanation of the word, traced to Cicero himself, derives it from re- (again) + lego in the sense of “choose”, “go over again” or “consider carefully”. Modern scholars such as Tom Harpur and Joseph Campbell favor the derivation from ligo “bind, connect”, probably from a prefixed re-ligare, i.e. re- (again) + ligare or “to reconnect,” which was made prominent by St. Augustine, following the interpretation of Lactantius.[3][4]

    The problem with these etymologies, regardless of whether one favours lego or ligo, is that the now-familiar prefix re- “again” is not attested prior to its occurrence in religio and is itself in need of an etymological explanation. For this reason, it has been suggested[according to whom?] that this productive prefix originates in the very word religio, where it arose by dissimilation of an earlier reduplicated *le-ligare, thence as it were *le-ligio…

    Within the system of what we would now call “Roman religion (in the modern sense of the word), the term religio originally meant an obligation to the gods, something expected by them from human beings or a matter of particular care or concern as related to the gods,[5] “reverence for God or the gods, careful pondering of divine things, piety”.[6]”

    Unfortunately, the definition we got was:

    “The Supreme Court has interpreted religion to mean a sincere and meaningful belief that occupies in the life of its possessor a place parallel to the place held by God in the lives of other persons. The religion or religious concept need not include belief in the existence of God or a supreme being to be within the scope of the First Amendment.”

    http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Religion

    Oye! My belief in my pet rock is a religion according to this insane definition. John Adams, maybe even Thomas Jefferson, would have tarred and feathered Scotus for making this definition. Clearly, clearly, the writers of the Constitution meant religion to be in reference to God, not some arbitrary, “meaningful belief.” This is legalized narcissism.

    “The thing that is bothering me the most though is we don’t get out of our church buildings to evangelize locally and draw people to Christ and His Church. I have proposed it 50 times in different ways. Why is evangelizing so hard or so controversial in the Catholic Church?”

    Evangelicals take the short view: that confession of Faith is a life-or-death act and afterwards, all will be well; Catholics take the long view: life is hard and one must endure to the end. The cost/benefit ratio seems lower for the Evangelicals, so, with only having to get your person to say the Sinner’s Prayer, one can focus on a discrete end. For Catholics, one must explain an entire system of thought that is consistent and this can take time and lead in many directions. If modern Catholic evangelists were allowed to talk about the Last Four Things, evangelism would take off, but name me any modern Catholic group that is so audacious to simply tell people, bluntly, that if they don’t mend their ways they are going to Hell. Indeed, it is hard to convince people that much of modern life is really cyanide wrapped in chocolate. It would be very instructive to see a side-by-side evangelism team of Catholics and Protestants on a college campus – totally different mindsets. We discuss. They threaten.

    We need to have our hands untied so that we can be effective apologists and evangelists. Bishops should lead organized efforts in each diocese to train everyone in a parish in both apologetics and evangelization, but alas, that would expose too much that is allowed to pass for religion in many Catholic dioceses.

    The Chicken

  40. Mary Jane says:

    Suz. from Oklah. said, “Archbishop Coakley asked the faithful to stay away from the event or risk possible demonic possession. Instead of heeding this, the SSPX group went and did their own thing.”

    In a situation like this, especially in a situation like this, it’s really, really important to obey the Archbishop.

  41. Imrahil says:

    Dear Mary-Jane, interesting (and good) point.

  42. PA mom says:

    Looks to me like the Lord offered an opportunity for people to work together.

    Think of how powerful a response would have been which included the working together of these groups, even for a short period of time. In my very inexpert opinion, evil is flourishing because we are all so divided.
    So the SSPX and the diocese have different styles of response. That’s ok. What if the Protestants had wanted to join. Would there have been gratitude or a lecture?

    So the Archbishop asked laity to stay away. Maybe the priests could have worked together. That would have been awesome and wonderfully effective, no matter how little it was. Unity.

  43. AnAmericanMother says:

    Mary Jane and Suz –
    Let us be accurate. The good Archbishop did not ask people to “stay away.” He asked them not to attend. There is all the difference in the world:
    “I urge those who might plan to attend the black mass in order to pray or to protest not to do so! Please do not enter the venue. It would be presumptuous and dangerous to expose oneself to others to these evil influences [emphasis supplied].”

  44. Imrahil says:

    Dear AmericanMother,

    thanks for the clarification. So, the SSPX did not actually disobey the archbishop, after all.

  45. Gail F says:

    “…the SSPX displayed a spontaneous 900 faithful from multiple states” — ???

  46. Mary Jane says:

    AnAmericanMother, just to be clear, I did not say what the Archbishop said or didn’t say. I only remarked on what Suz said the Archbishop said.

  47. Suz. from Oklah. says:

    Well, who on earth would go in? It was already sold out. Archbishop Coakley didn’t want any of the faithful downtown at all. And nobody has responded to the fact that this group kicked out a holy and faithful FSSP priest who had to immediately find an apartment and hold Mass for 6 months in the chapel of a high school until we could build our church. And it was all about real estate. The owner of the SSPX chapel wanted to stay there and some people who lived across the street didn’t want to move. It sounds petty because it was. The sad thing is that this group has become hardened and very uncharitable. I’ve seen it at several weddings. Some have been Novus Ordo weddings–the SSPX group was loud and irreverent because I guess they don’t believe that the consecration was valid. I’ve seen them at one TLM wedding and they acted a little better. It is very, very sad.

  48. bookworm says:

    Re the presence of the SSPX: didn’t Christ once tell His apostles not to prevent a man “not of our group” from casting out demons in His name, because “whoever is not against us is for us”? In this context — maybe not all the time, but at least in this case — the SSPX was “not against” what the local bishop was trying to do, so there was no reason not to welcome them, IMHO.

  49. Mary Jane says:

    bookworm, I wasn’t actually there, but I doubt the SSPX were not welcomed. From what I understand, the Archbishop had an organized holy hour, etc, in reparation for what happened, and the SSPX chose not to join in with what the Archbishop had organized. From what Suz said, it appears that the Archbishop asked people not to attend the event to pray or to protest. Obviously no one (in their right mind) would buy a ticket so they could pray and protest during the event…so to me what the Archbishop said means, “Don’t get near the place”.

    The Archbishop has, obviously, a hierarchical authority, and that authority is extremely powerful when it comes to dealing with the devil. It should have been vitally important that everyone respect (and take shelter behind!) that authority.

  50. Imrahil says:

    But then couldn’t he have said so?

    One of the fine things I learned in the military about obedience is that it is only due to orders, not to anything else.

    As in the movie 08/15:
    L[Sergeant Lindenberg]: Don’t you want to get up, Asch?
    A: My rank is “senior private”, sir.
    L: Don’t you want to get up, senior private Asch?
    A: There can’t be the slightest idea of wanting so, sir.
    L: Get up!!
    A: Now that’s what I call a clear order, sir. [You call non-coms “sir” over there?]

  51. Imrahil says:

    Rev’d dear Fr Z,

    no we don’t. I added it in translation on the impression that English-speakers always add it when talking to a superior, but seems I’ve got the thing wrongly. We don’t call anyone “sir” or a direct translation of that, we call them “Mr Sergeant” and also “Mr Lieutenant”, etc. Which can be rather freely left out, though if the surname is used, even the inferior has officially the right to be addressed by rank plus surname (which Sr Pvt Asch here insists on).

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