ROME 23/04 – Day 15: Rain, rain, go away

Even as the sun rose at 0628 and will set at 1953, today the new Ave Maria cycle clicks over to 2015.

It is Saturday, the last day of the Octave of Easter, which ends at Vespers and the Roman Station is St. John Lateran, where last Saturday/Sunday the catechumens were baptized, becoming for this week “geniti infantes”.

This is the day when, at Mass, the Pope would distribute the “Agnus Dei”, a disk of wax mixed with sacred chrism with the impression of the Lamb of God.  (I’ve always wanted one.)   When giving one to a prelate, the Pope would put it into his miter, saying, “Stick that in your hat!”.   Well, maybe not.  I probably would.

Turning for a moment to Bl. Ildefonso, we find this about the last prayer of Mass, the Postcommunion, on this last day of the Octave.

In the Post-Communion the Church shows herself anxious that the new Christians, whilst laying aside their symbolical garments, should carefully guard in their hearts that faith taught them with so much care during the long period of instruction. The holy Eucharist is the sign and sustenance of this faith, the mysterium Fidei, excelling all other, which fed in the breasts of the martyrs that sacred fire that was urging them to endure all things and to confess boldly the Catholic faith.

“Quickened by the gift of our redemption, we beseech thee, 0 Lord, that by the help of these means to eternal salvation, true faith may ever prosper.”

Don’t ever take your Catholic Faith and identity for granted. We can swiftly lose supernatural charity, and more slowly hope. Faith is always the last to fade. But the world, the flesh and the Devil incessantly militate against us from within and without.  We have to guard our precious gifts in ourselves and in those whom we love, fostering them also in those whom we meet.

Make good Holy Communions.  GO TO CONFESSION!

This is Rome today.  Rainy Rome pretty much sucks, so I have no plans to go out except for Mass.

Instead can do some reading and writing and play some chess online.  I also have a couple of books I should work with.  I need to get more into the QGD.  And asl I write, it is pouring rain again.

Yesterday, I made myself a pretty good cheeseburger for supper with taleggio.   No bun, but really good bread did the trick with sharp mustard.   If anyone is puzzled, I eat in, cooking for myself, most of the time in Rome.  It is really expensive to eat out.  This is an advantage to having a kitchen: savings.

Let’s have another selection from the book I mentioned yesterday, Fr. Claude Barthe’s A Forest of Symbols: The Traditional Mass and Its Meaning US HERE – UK HERE

One of the moments at the altar that I find the most significant during the Canon at the “Súpplices te rogámus”. The priest bows low at the altar, kisses it, straightens up and makes the sign of the Cross over the Host, the Chalice and himself. To me, this sequence has always underscored the identity of the priest with the altar and with the Eucharistic species present upon it. The altar itself is a mode of Christ’s presence, as is the priest, who is alter (not altar) Christus. The kissing of the altar and the signs of the Cross show the unity of all these present elements. So, let’s see if Fr. Barthe has a different view:

The Supplices to rogamus (We most humbly beseech thee, almighty God, to command that these things be borne by the hands of thy holy angel to thine altar on high, in the sight of thy divine majesty, that as many of us as, at this altar, shall partake of and receive the most holy Body + and + Blood of thy Son may be filled with every heavenly blessing and grace) thus causes this part of the Canon to close (Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum. Amen) with the idea of oblation. This is the first ending of the Roman Canon. This prayer is, moreover, the real equivalent of the Eastern epiklesis: “Command that these things be borne by the hands of thy holy angel to thine altar on high: The liturgists speak of a communion epiklesis,” that is an invocation aimed at uniting the earthly altar and the heavenly altar, distinct from the Consecration epiklesis” of the Eastern liturgies, where God is asked to descend on the sacred elements by the power of his Spirit. According to Durandus, the priest in the thirteenth century used to rest his crossed hands on his breast and make a very deep bow.

There have been many discussions of the identity of the “Angel: Durandus wrote, “He is the Angel of Great Counsel, the Counsellor on whose advice the Father created and recreated the world: otherwise known as Christ-Wisdom, the Word incarnate.  But he adds that the altar on high in the presence of God is also the crucified Christ sitting in glory at the right hand of the Father. The Angel brings these “sacraments” to this altar, revealing his wounds, and interceding for us, who bring the sacraments to fulfilment on earth. Olier and Pierre Lebrun take a similar view. It is worth noting that the De Sacramentis refers to angels in the plural (per manus angelorum tuorum) rather than the singular, which would not contradict the idea of a “communion epiklesis,” but would prevent identification of the angels with Christ. St Thomas Aquinas, who thinks that the Angel can be compared to Christ, derives the following mystical etymology: the Mass, missa, takes its name from the fact that, through the Angel, the priest sends (mittit) his prayers to God, or again because Christ is the approved victim sent (missa) to us. All of which underlines that the meaning of the prayer Supplices to rogamus is at the heart of this oblation of the holy victim, which we know as the Canon, and is therefore also at the heart of the whole celebration.

Barthe doesn’t get into what I wrote about.  However, he does dig into the identity of the Angel.  My view is that the Angel in question here is Christ the High Priest Himself, simultaneously, at the earthly altar and upon the earthly altar while being at and on the altar beyond space and time in the heavenly liturgy, perpetually offering the same Sacrifice to the Father, thus enabling us the baptized, through the Sacrament of Orders and Eucharist, to renew it and partake of it here on hundreds of thousands of altars across the globe.

Here are a few more shots of the Vigil of Easter at the wonderful Ss. Trinità dei Pellegrini.

I like action shots.  The images are being unveiled.  This is a portrait of St. Philip done, if I am not mistaken, in his lifetime.

After the Epistle.

I was talking with the pastor about anything they might need at Ss. Trinità.  They need a nice white set for Solemn Mass and for when bishops celebrate at the faldstool.  Are we game for a project?  Shall I request estimates?

Our work here is done.

Meanwhile, today the World Championship reengages in Astana, Kazakhstan.  I wonder if Bp. Schneider is following it.  It’s Round 5.  Apart from the prestigious title, FIDE World Champion, there is a €2,000,000 prize fund. Ian Nepomniachtchi, who lost to Ding Liren a couple days ago after a massive blunder, plays with white today. The match is tied, 2-2.

Here’s a puzzle.

Black to move.

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

Priestly chess players, drop me a line. HERE