My 1st class relic of St. Leo the Great
From today’s Matins. Magnificent….
Sacraméntum reconcilatiónis nostræ, ante témpora ætérna dispósitum, nullæ implébant figúræ; quia nondum supervénerat Spíritus Sanctus in Vírginem nec virtus Altíssimi obumbráverat ei, ut, et intra intemeráta víscera, ædificánte sibi Sapiéntia domum, Verbum caro fíeret, et, forma Dei ac forma servi in unam conveniénte persónam, Creátor témporum nascerétur in témpore, et, per quem facta sunt ómnia, ipse inter ómnia gignerétur. Nisi enim novus homo, factus in similitúdinem carnis peccáti, nostram suscíperet vetustátem, et, consubstantiális Patri, consubstantiális esse dignarétur et matri, naturámque sibi nostram solus a peccáto liber uníret; sub iugo diáboli generáliter tenerétur humána captívas.
I sought out the longer passage from Letter 31 to Pulcheria. She was the younger sister of the Emperor Thedosius, who played a major role in ruling the Empire. She was also involved in the success of sounds, Catholic doctrine concerning Christ at the Council of Calcedon in 451. The Latin above is in italics below.
But it is of no avail to say that our Lord, the Son of the blessed Virgin Mary, was true and perfect man, if He is not believed to be Man of that stock which is attributed to Him in the Gospel. For Matthew says, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham:” and follows the order of His human origin, so as to bring the lines of His ancestry down to Joseph to whom the Lord’s mother was espoused. Whereas Luke going backwards step by step traces His succession to the first of the human race himself, to show that the first Adam and the last Adam were of the same nature. No doubt the Almighty Son of God could have appeared for the purpose of teaching, and justifying men in exactly the same way that He appeared both to patriarchs and prophets in the semblance of flesh; for instance, when He engaged in a struggle, and entered into conversation (with Jacob), or when He refused not hospitable entertainment, and even partook of the food set before Him. But these appearances were indications of that Man whose reality it was announced by mystic predictions would be assumed from the stock of preceding patriarchs. And the fulfilment of the mystery of our atonement, which was ordained from all eternity, was not assisted by any figures because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon the Virgin, and the power of the Most High had not over-shadowed her: so that “Wisdom building herself a house” within her undefiled body, “the Word became flesh;” and the form of God and the form of a slave coming together into one person, the Creator of times was born in time; and He Himself through whom all things were made, was brought forth in the midst of all things. For if the New Man had not been made in the likeness of sinful flesh, and taken on Him our old nature, and being consubstantial with the Father, had deigned to be consubstantial with His mother also, and being alone free from sin, had united our nature to Him the whole human race would be held in bondage beneath the Devil’s yoke, and we should not be able to make use of the Conqueror’s victory, if it had been won outside our nature.
But from Christ’s marvelous sharing of the two natures, the mystery of regeneration shone upon us that through the self-same spirit, through whom Christ was conceived and born, we too, who were born through the desire of the flesh, might be born again from a spiritual source: and consequently, the Evangelist speaks of believers as those “who were born not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” And of this unutterable grace no one is a partaker, nor can be reckoned among the adopted sons of God, who excludes from his faith that which is the chief means of our salvation.
In that last paragraph, I note with interest Leo’s use of the Prologue of John, which I and other priests recite at the end of (almost) every Mass in the Vetus Ordo. Such readings apply more layers upon already acquired layers for what we hear in the Last Gospel as we speak it. Over the years, it accumulates and it is all “in there”.
There are major differences in the rite of the Sacrament of Penance (Reconciliation) between the Vetus Ordo and the post-Conciliar Novus Ordo except in the essential form of the sacrament, the necessary words to impart the form of absolution. Those remain the same.
Today is the feast of St. Moses, lawgiver and prophet in the Old Testament.
There is a fascinating article at the Diocese of Avila about the examination of the body of St. Teresa of Avila. It is in Spanish. 
A couple days ago, I posted a note of thanks to MM who sent a power tool from my 
roma247 on Daily Rome Shot 1114: “Sigh…oh, what a heartache that view of Rome gives me…during the year I lived and studied there, I passed St.…”
Loading ...
