ROME 22/10 – Day 32: Silence and Solutions

On this Feast of All Saints in Rome the sun rose at 6:40 and it will set at 17:07, earlier and earlier. The Ave Maria is to ring at 17:30. There are 61 days left in the calendar year and 26 days until Advent, which means I have to decide soon about Adventen podcasts.

Today at Ss. Trinità dei Pellegrini, there will be a presentation of the relics that the parish has.

I warmly recommend an apostolate with relics run by a friend of mine, Fr. Carlos Martins, called Treasures of the Church.  Click there.  Look at the schedule and see if he is going to be in your neck of the woods.  You won’t regret going to his presentation.

Here is something that you will see in many Roman sacristies: a sign requiring SILENCE.

Sometimes it’s okay to converse, etc., in a sacristy.  However, when Father has to prepare for Mass, neither he nor anyone else around him should be talking in a loud voice to talking to him.  Ideally, Father is saying his vesting prayers and reciting his “intention”.

The classic intention is:

Ego volo celebrare Missam, et conficere Corpus et Sanguinem Domini nostri Iesu Christi, iuxta ritum sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae, ad laudem omnipotentis Dei totiusque Curiae triumphantis, ad utilitatem meam totiusque Curiae militantis, pro omnibus, qui se commendaverunt orationibus meis in genere et in specie, et pro felici statu sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae.

Gaudium cum pace, emendationem vitae, spatium verae paenitentiae, gratiam et consolationem Sancti Spiritus, perseverantiam in bonis operibus, tribuat nobis omnipotens et misericors Dominus. Amen.

I intend to celebrate Mass and to make present the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the rite of the holy Roman Church to the praise of Almighty God and all His assembly in the glory of Heaven, for my good and the good of all His soldiering pilgrim Church on Earth, and for all who have asked me to pray for them in general and in particular, and for the good of the Holy Roman Church.

May the almighty and merciful Lord grant us joy and peace, amendment of life, time for true repentance, the grace and comfort of the Holy Spirit and perseverance in good works. Amen.

Fathers, do you say this prayer?  Say it in whatever language you want.  It is important to have the intention to do what the Church intends with Holy Mass.  Recitation of this intention takes care of this for the priest, because even if he becomes distracted during Mass itself he has the moral intention, established from the onset, to confect the Eucharist and for certain reasons, including the specific intention for which he is celebrating that Mass.

Meanwhile, St. Rita saw the working document for the Synod (“walking together”) on Synodality (“walking togetherity”) calling for “permanent revolution… aggiornamento”.

These are puntarelle, chicory shoots, stripped of leaves and curled up in cold water dressed with a “solution” of oil, garlic and anchovy.   This time there was a bit of lemon and it was very good. A must try when you are in Rome and they are in season.

Happy people after Mass talking to each other, catching up, making lunch plans.   It must be suppressed, of course, because this is after a Vetus Ordo Mass and, therefore, it is not permitted to be visibly happy in the streets of any city because other people might see them and want to find out more.  Double Plus Ungood.

Black has a lone pawn.  White’s king is far away.  The bishops are eyeing each other… as they do.  The king is a fighting piece in the end game.  White is up a piece but that knight is badly placed.

Solve it.  Black to move.

How about some wine from the traditional Benedictine monks of Le Barroux for your Thanksgiving meal? Use the code FATHERZ10 and get 10% off.

BTW… you could sip wine and improve your chess game with Remote Chess Academy. Try THIS.

And because it is beautiful.