Sometimes pieces, tid-bits of news, fall together in such a way that they seem to reveal a larger picture or presaging something not yet seen on the horizon.
For example, in an exchange of texts today with a notable Catholic figure, I was sent a link to something that happened in Lisbon during the WYD thing (which I tried to ignore).
There is a story at CNA that Francis called for greater Eucharistic adoration. No, really.
“Curiously, the prayer of adoration — we have lost it. We have lost it, and everyone — priests, bishops, consecrated men and women, laypeople — have to recover it. It’s to be in silence, before the Lord,” Francis urged.
This took me by surprise, since I don’t recall that Francis has put a great deal of effort into emphasizing the Blessed Sacrament. His changes to customary practices in Rome for the Feast of Corpus Christi is a case in point.
In any event, I take this as a win.
Also, in Lisbon, Francis invoked the example of a young Jesuit saint from Lisbon, St. John Britto, a martyr. I happen to have a relic of St. John Britto.
On the issue of Eucharistic adoration, tonight I saw some of a video interview at LifeSite with Bp. Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, very much in the spotlight… or crosshairs, depending on your point of view. In the lead up to the interview itself, we learned that at the cathedral Bp. Strickland daily spends 90 minutes, from about 5:15 AM, in front of the Blessed Sacrament before celebrating Mass. When he says Mass at the chancery at Noon, he is beforehand with the Blessed Sacrament for at least an hour.
This is surely a reason why Bp. Strickland “gets it”, so to speak.
In any event, Bp. Strickland is surely exemplifying what Francis called for in Lisbon about Eucharistic adoration.
(Just watch… some will suggest that that’s too much time and he should be out doing something for the poor.)
Don’t ask me what, but something is up. It’s a spidey-sense thing, maybe.
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The man is a complete contradiction. If he truly revered the Blessed Sacrament he would have ensured that it wasn’t in gray garbage totes during WYD. This sounds more like he’s underhandedly trying to convince us to “accept” something.
Perhaps. I remember him saying something similar when he visited my seminary eight years ago. Also, I think he recently said that the East can still adore but Latins cannot. Usually when you hear those sorts of things from liturgists it is an excuse to continue to deconstruct our own traditions. But hey, he is right now and then.
I think many of us are developing the Irish 6th sense. Those who heed the warnings are making quiet preparations for protection of souls.
I have heard that the Holy Father no longer celebrates Mass, but rather presides over the Liturgy of the Word in a cope while a designated cardinal celebrates the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Does anyone have any facts about this? Disturbing if true…
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Feast of the Beheading of St John th Baptist
(& St Olav)
“In any event, I take this as a win.”
Complete naivete. [Have ever read this blog?] Perhaps remembering the Roman proverb Facta Non Verba would be useful here. Yes, Francis “says” the right thing now and then; but his actions are calculated to one and only one aim: the complete destruction of Holy Mother Church. The man clearly despises, disdains, and holds in utter contempt the Most Blessed Sacrament, as his treatment of Our Lord under that form over the years clearly illustrates. He is not at all a contradiction. He floats contradictory BS, but acts always the same, in the sole interest of his party–the clerical homosexual network strangling the Church–and his master–satan
Until conservatives wake up and stop wishful thinking, or worse making excuses for this False Pope (the oft-heard “his advisors made him do it[!]”, the Barque of Peter continues to flounder.
Fr. Z, I can’t share your optimism about His Holiness’s comments about the Holy Eucharist. He has a tendency to speak out of both sides of his mouth. However, I will gladly eat crow if I’m wrong on this one. [Did I say I was “optimistic”? Nope. I just think that him saying it is at least a win for those who want it.]
Nevertheless, acta, non verba, Your Holiness. Acta, non verba.
@Geoffrey – I will confess a deep suspicion of His Holiness, as it is my nature. But, please, let’s not participate in rumors. Honestly, his confirmed actions do enough to cause scandal among the faithful.
[BTW… you know the different between a pessimist and an optimist? A pessimist gloomily says, “Thing’s can’t possibly get any worse!”. Then the optimist brightly responds, “Oh, yes they can!”]
Bishop Strickland: America’s bishop and a true holy shepherd. His daily holy hours are just one indication but they, along with his daily Mass, give him the graces to stand up for the Truth.
I don’t know if the Holy Father is calling for more Eucharistic Adoration or just complaining. When we look at the totality of the talk from the Crisis article (at least what is given), we see that the framework of the talk is a laundry list of complaints, which is very much his style and increasingly so as he gets older.
How can we tell if this is just complaining or is an actual desire for more Eucharistic Adoration? We need to look and see concrete steps, theologically and practically that go into actually increasing Eucharistic Adoration. Please show me where the Holy Father speaks of restoring the Tabernacles and Altars to their proper places in churches of the Roman Rite. The desire to adore Christ in the Eucharist flows from the liturgy, both from aesthetics, from the structure of the rite, and from sound preaching. His Holiness is definitely not on the side of liturgical restoration/renewal/hermeneutic of continuity. The loss of faith that has come about from the loss of orthodoxy and orthopraxy following VII is a hindrance to Eucharistic Adoration. What is His Holiness doing to restore sound teaching, piety, and basic Catholic morality? Is the Synod on Sin being scuttled? Are the JPII institutions being restored?
FatherAnd makes an important point “Also, I think he recently said that the East can still adore but Latins cannot.” I have only ever seen this as a canard coming from people who neither understand the East nor the West. It stems from the East being non-Thomistic/Scholastic and seeing the non-Thomistic piety and prayer forms and assuming that they are without doxology and a very exacting theology and praxis. It is being entranced with the exotic by people who would tear down the exotic if they understood and had it as their “lived experience”. If the West cannot adore, it is because the bishops have made it that way. I reject that though – the West often doesn’t adore, it is not that it cannot (though the heterodox theology that became dominant following VII does lead to “cannot” but such theology should never be considered a thing of the West but rather an arbitration of the West). The West can still adore and still does adore, but anytime the West adores according to her particular piety and liturgical rites, the adores tend to get stomped on by their bishops. As a result, it is often practically very hard for the West to adore. For myself, every time I see “the West cannot adore” I see it as a backhanded form of envy – envious of what the East has (but wouldn’t like it if they got it) and striking at what exists and is good, true and beautiful in the West.
To be pithy, one cannot actually desire more Eucharistic Adoration while desiring a “Synodal Church” and sewing confusion in regard to morality and theology. Adoration of Christ is to gaze upon the Logos in humility and to be conformed to His mind and to ever seek to accomplish His will. The current program in the Church is the antithesis of that.
So no, the Holy Father is just complaining for complaining sake. It is true that more Eucharistic Adoration is needed. But if there was actually more Eucharistic Adoration, there would just be complaints about that because it is not the “right type” and what springs from Eucharistic Adoration (desire for TLM as an example) also not what is wanted.
I am usually in the “don’t listen to what he says, just watch what he does” camp, but this could be stopped clock syndrome too.
It’s rather ironic that Francis, of all people, declares that, for Americans, ideology replaces faith.
The devil thrashes around and becomes more dangerous before defeat. A couple of the more “mainstream” Catholic figures lately have come under attack.
We may reach breaking point, but Jesus has already triumphed. Something will happen. It is close. But the end times… known only to God.
we have lost it. We have lost it, and everyone — priests, bishops, consecrated men and women, laypeople — have to recover it.
Dear Pope Francis: It has not been lost. In the West, it is alive and well, in some places. In fact, if you drew a map of the parishes that have formal Eucharistic Adoration more than a few times a year, and overlaid that with a map of parishes that either do now have TLM, or did until TC, or which at a minimum have great respect for the TLM and would welcome it for some of the masses each week, you would find an amazing overlap. So: patently, the way to recover adoration is to promote the TLM. Can we, therefore, take your express desire to increase adoration, as a directive to restore the TLM and to consign TC to the fires it was made for?