It is EASTER Sunday and the beginning of Paschaltide.
Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at your Sunday Mass of obligation? Did you go to liturgies of the Triduum?
Did you GO TO CONFESSION?
Tell about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass. I hear that it is growing. Of COURSE.
Any local changes or (hopefully good) news?
Here’s a taste of my longer thoughts over at the other place HERE
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
on So very cool that it needs its own post! VOYAGER 1 is TALKING AGAIN!: “Our finite brains can’t comprehend the infinite. If we could understand, we’d be God.”
on YOUR URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS: “AML LEUKEMIA – RARE BUT MOST AGGRESSIVE AND DEADLY. AML can present full blown from one day to the next.…”
on ROME 24/4– Day 38 (-3): I have a little list.: “acard: The tricky part is getting good mozzarella. Most of what is labelled mozzarella in the USA (especially not in…”
on ROME 24/4– Day 38 (-3): I have a little list.: “You’ve inspired me to make a caprese salad! I’ve never had one.”
on YOUR URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS: “Please pray the repose of the soul of a good priest and (I think) distantly-connected relative, Father James Brady. 50+…”
on WDTPRS – 4th Sunday after Easter (Vetus Ordo): “[T]he smoke of Satan has entered into the temple of God”: “It’s what Paul VI said after his reference to the smoke of Satan that is, to me at least, even…” on ROME 24/4– Day 38 (-3): I have a little list.: “hwriggles4: It is a “Keepgo”. I still have and use it now and then, although the terms of use of…”
on So very cool that it needs its own post! VOYAGER 1 is TALKING AGAIN!: “adriennep, that’s what I mean, it’s the same question I had in grade four. I’m just as stymied by the…”
on ROME 24/4– Day 38 (-3): I have a little list.: “Fr. Z: Looks like you have had a good trip. Say, a few years ago (you discussed phones in this…”
on YOUR URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS: “Re. the great (not an epithet I use overly freely) Fr Hunwicke: yes, I’m concerned that he has now not…”
on YOUR URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS: “For the reversion of my fallen away family members and the conversion of the other members. For the repose of…”
on YOUR URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS: “I was worried about Fr Hunwicke as he hasn’t posted on his blog for three days now. Please pray that…”
on YOUR URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS: “Our prayers for Your Mother and for You. My Mother died 36 years ago and I still miss her everyday.…”
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A Daily Prayer for Priests
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Beautiful liturgy and vigil mass last night at FSSP parish. Many in attendance were refugees from areas 2-3 hours away that have a strong traditional population but have experienced recent crackdowns particularly as relates to the Triduum.
First off, thankfully and by the grace of God, I went to confession last Tuesday.
I went to mass this morning and the main point from Father’s sermon was Christ must be the center of our lives. If we don’t believe in the Resurrection all we do is in vain.
Lastly I would say pray for priests. All priests. Thankfully we have this excellent blog and priests that Fr Z quotes almost daily which is a true blessing.
Happy Easter in Rome Fr Z and all who follow this blog. I hope each of you have a lovely and peaceful Easter Sunday with your family and friends!
At the diocesan TLM I attended, Father spoke about the dash between the two dates on our future headstones. Really that dash represents every moment and opportunity in our lives to follow the commandments and reach Heaven on the happy day of our death. It was really good, much better than I can sum it up.
I did not go to any other Holy Week liturgies, I could not get there logistically during the work week. I did not make confession, so no communion for me today but that does not matter as much as being at Mass.
I got to confession before Palm Sunday. A suffocating darkness close to a kind of despair had been oppressing me for a while, but after confession a quiet peace descended. Attended the Triduum. The Easter Vigil (NO, Ad orientem, beautifully done) had 3 adult baptisms, 6 receptions into full communion. The sense of grace abounding and reverent joy was palpable. The sermon summed it up and spoke directly to my heart: “no matter what it might feel like at times, the darkness cannot overcome Christ our Light”. Dei gratias.
Holy Rosary Catholic Church, a Dominican parish in Houston. Packed Latin OF Easter Mass, the main point of the very good homily (as they always are) was from Jean Corbon: the Resurrection is the only thing that matters.
Our family went to all of the liturgies. My 8 and 10 year olds relished the opportunity to have some coffee to assist in remaining alert during the Vigil; the younger 3 became pros at sleeping in the pew by the end of the Triduum. There was not a convenient Tenebrae around, but God granted the time to say it privately – so beautiful. The Society of Jesus Christ the Priest a half hour away ran 6 confessionals simultaneously for several hours on Wednesday night – was great getting all of the reasonable members of the family in and out efficiently without the unreasonable ones causing too much of a ruckus. And such holy men who love their priesthood.
The Easter homily emphasized hope as an anchor. It was a very difficult Vigil as our parish has been merged with 4 others with little regard for the parish as a family or the priest as a father (we have a team of uncles now…). As I marked 15 years since my Confirmation (and so many wasted graces) I thanked God for bringing me into this mess of a Church and anchoring me to Him.
Got to attend a pre-1955 Triduum for the first time. The FSSP priest gave some great homilies explaining the special features of these rites and their symbolism.
There were some comments on the nature of leaven and the reasons it would need to be thrown out. It is rather fragile and requires regular tending, a specific environment, and freedom from pernicious influence.
I went to Confession on Monday of Holy Week (I am a Third Order Franciscan – TOF – and I go monthly or more as part of my vocation). Our good pastor offered Confession for an hour before the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday daily Masses of Holy Week, in addition to Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. As you will see below, he wore himself out for Jesus and us.
I went to our Vigil Mass. 14 were received into the Church, with 3 Confirmations and a Sacramental marriage validation. We probably had at least 150 in attendance at our Novus Ordo parish (our sister parish has one TLM in addition to one Novus Ordo Mass on Sundays – we coexist amicably as a Catholic family, with close friendships and parish cooperation between us, and I am grateful for that and our pastor). After Mass, we had a little party in the hall – pulled pork, corn pudding, very good pizza from a local pizza restaurant, and great joy! The Newman Center from the University of Akron, which makes its home with us (our pastor is also their chaplain) also had a party after Mass for one of the students who was welcomed into the Church. We did not get home until 1:45 AM, but it was well worth it! He is Risen!!!
In his homily (which, like the Mass, was in English and Spanish) Father stressed to us that, like the light from the candles that slowly filled our darkened church at the beginning of the Vigil, and like the Apostles after the Resurrection, that we must similarly bring the light of Jesus to a dark world, which is the mission God gave us all on earth. And, for the children, the homebound, and others – that includes saying our prayers daily for the pope, our bishop and all those in need of prayer (in other words – everyone!)
Within the last 5 years since our young pastor (40) arrived, and after decades of no vocations, we have been blessed with one young man in the Benedictine monastery in priestly formation, one young man who entered our Diocesan seminary last August, two Newman students who will be entering the Diocesan seminary this August, one young lady who took her first vows with the Mercedarians, and one young lady who took her final vows with the Nashville Dominicans. Father also escorted 3 teenaged boys and their parents to the seminary last summer to tour the seminary and meet with the Bishop.
God is good – all the time! And we are blessed beyond what we could ever imagine! God bless and protect all here!
I went to Confession and attended the liturgies of Holy Thursday & Good Friday (where they had a relic of the True Cross for adoration) at my FSSP parish. I did not attend the Easter Vigil—it is a little too much for me now in my old age. I went to the High Mass on Sunday. The priest read a homily of St. John Chrysostom for our homily.
Went to confession the day before Palm Sunday. Went to the vigil mass for Easter, was unable to make Holy Thursday or Good Friday due to illness. The vigil mass (Novus Ordo parish) was good in all the large things, a fair lot of a muddy mess in little things as the pastor had refused to bother meeting with the choir director to discuss details. How do I know? Insider info – married to the choir director.
I have a practical question for the readership here: This is a heavily Hispanic parish. The Triduum services – but especially the vigil mass – tend to be bi-lingual in practice: the first reading and psalm in Spanish, the second in English, etc. Homily in Spanish then repeated in English – and mostly flip-flopping between them for everything else. Ordinary parts, Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus Dei are in Latin, thankfully, because, well, they’re sung and therefore done as the choir does them. The English speaking parts of the congregation can’t sing the psalm or hymns in Spanish, and the Hispanic parts don’t sing the English. (Arguably, something like 50% – 60% of the Hispanic people do speak English (some), but they mostly don’t sing in English. Or Latin, either.
What is a GOOD way to manage a parish masses like this for the Triduum? You can’t have 2 different masses of the Lord’s Supper, nor 2 different Good Friday Services, and certainly not 2 different vigil masses for Easter. But it’s pretty messy trying to do both languages. There seems to be no traction for getting the Hispanics on board for an entirely Latin mass (even as Novus Ordo), and little for the English speakers though they are OK with Latin for ordinary parts of the mass. Just as one example of the difficulty: even if you have a higher rate of singers in the congregation than the typical 30% of a standard Catholic parish, say 40%, when you split that in half for each language, you end up with a distinctly anemic 20% singing for any given hymn. That’s no way to help make people feel satisfied about the mass as they walk out. They’ll feel like “I was singing, but where was everyone else?”
Are there any solutions?
TonyO:
I suppose you can’t have “two different” if it’s only one parish and only one church.
We have slightly different that our pastor is pastor for three neighboring distinct parishes (fortunately he has some part-time & religious priest help). So, we have multiple Masses.
Within the parishes, there are different language groups, so for some of these occasions it’s bilingual or trilingual.
It works. A reading aloud in one language, printed in the other in the program. Vice-versa for the second reading. Doing the homily twice, Father has what he wants to say organized (none of our priests nor deacon tend to be wandering verbose on any given Sunday).
Music… whatever way you divide it up, just make sure they’re printed in the program. If a person wants to sing, they can sound out the refrain and follow along.
…
Other than that, Father and one or two of the lay people try to keep track. If one year, one group got 60% ‘their’ way or hosted, next year looks back at the notes and the same Holy Day gets flipped the other way.
The TLM Tony, and your problem is exactly why “language Mass” never made sense to me, even back in the 80’s. Why would we have something that keeps us divided, I once asked, when we had Vietnamese Masses and Spanish Masses, etc. Latin is the solution. Is there any way to bring in a TLM-oriented priest to explain it to both English speakers and Spanish speakers? Walk them through a Mass and definitely have missals with the Latin on one side and English or Spanish on the other. This makes ALL the difference. Ours change each week, as they should. The old Latin/English missals are just okay, they don’t provide that week’s readings, etc. Sometimes (with funds) you can get someone to come and do a workshop. Catholics need to be educated about the TLM. But good luck, I try now and then to interest my family members, but they all believe it is a priest saying a lot of words and we have no idea what he is saying or means. There are a lot of misconceptions and prejudice about the TLM. They have no real idea about it. I’m sure someone will speak to your situation from a position of experience with it.
Our Easter service was stellar, Father’s homily was on fire. He was saying knowing Jesus is the most important thing in our lives, and that the main thing we need is God’s sanctifying grace, and without that grace, we aren’t getting into heaven.
At first it looked like attendance would be down, but everybody flooded in the last minute.
Could I please just ask for prayers for a sick priest in our diocese? If anyone would say a prayer for Fr. P, it would be appreciated. What a good man, what a wonderful priest! He’s had a serious illness. Thank you for any prayers for him.
My liturgically stupid (I’m sorry, I don’t know how else to describe it) territorial parish was recently clustered, er … put in a family under our reverent Novus Ordo parish a mile away. The pastor is taking a measured yet decisive approach to reform, and for this Easter Sunday he had our wonderfully orthodox new parochial vicar celebrate the main mid-morning Mass. His homily touched on the death of his beloved grandmother when he was a boy and the hope and joy of the Resurrection. It was touching and humorous without being sentimental, doctrinally solid, and brief. If half of success is showing up, my territorial “St. Typical’s” will gain tremendously if our PV makes saying Mass there a habit.
Tony O – my parish is one of 7 or 8 parishes in our Diocese (Cleveland) which is recognized as an Hispanic magnet parish. We are about 80-90% English-speaking, and the rest are Spanish-speaking. We get along very well and have done so for the last 40+ years.
Our pastor speaks fluent Spanish and handles the bilingual Masses beautifully. The Masses are a bit longer, but there is no reason for anyone to feel left out. The standard and unchanging prayers of the Mass (i.e., the Gloria, Sanctus, etc.) are sung or recited in one language or another, and we are asked to pray in the language we are familiar with – if the Sanctus is in Spanish, I sing or recite it in English, for instance. Father gives his homily twice, in each language (he usually shortens and simplifies his homily a bit for this reason, but I have not noticed a diminished nor unfaithful result of this.)
We are a Novus Ordo parish and have been doing this for over 40 years. It works for us. We are all aware there is only one Vigil Mass for obvious reasons, and it has to be bilingual. We normally have at least 12 people entering the church each year (this year we had 14, with 3 Confirmations and a Sacramental marriage validation). Mass started at 8:30 PM and ended at Midnight – 3-1/2 hours. It flew by for me because it was so beautiful.
Those who prefer a shorter Mass for whatever reason (the elderly sometimes have a hard time staying up late and cannot sit through a long Mass for medical reasons, for example) have the option of attending Mass on Easter Sunday. We always have one Sunday Mass in Spanish, and the other Masses are in English. Our sister parish (one mile down the road and staffed by our pastor and retired vicar) offers one Mass in English and a TLM as well.
This works for us. We are very grateful for our pastor, vicar, deacon, and all those who assist at every Mass – servers, choir, ushers, readers, and yes – EMHCs. And for all our fellow parishioners and the university students of the Newman Center who share our home.
God bless and protect you and all here! He is Risen!
Nothing in Archdiocese of Washington. My first anticipated Tenebrae for Holy Thursday in Baltimore. To quote Kwasniewski: I had expected to be impressed; I was blown away. I had expected to be bewildered; I was dazzled and provoked. I had expected to see the Roman Rite in its pre-modern richness; I saw a revelation of glory.
Holy Thursday – Cdl. Stafford attended in choir. he is very frail, even considering his advanced age. twelve men and no women had their feet washed. Abp. discussed the agony in the garden and that while He suffered for all of us, He would have done so just for any one of us. Durufle’s Ubi Caritas was sublime.
Good Friday – missed noontime stations, went to confession*, and then the Passion liturgy. Abp. preached on humility and obedience and the relationship between the two.
Easter Vigil – well over three hours! i think all the readings, though not all of the Psalms, were observed. Eighteen baptisms. unbleached beeswax candles for the congregation – place smelled so good even before the incense. Abp. called out zhou bai-den for his two abuses of the holy day: the prohibition of religious imagery at the children’s event and the “transgender” proclamation. He went on to say “the two candidates show how low each of the major parties have gone. but salvation is not in politicians or in ideology. Salvation is in Jesus Christ”. the Vidi Aquam**, composed by a previous Cathedral music director, sent chills down my spine. unfortunately the seating arrangements in the loft caused other problems for my spine that took all of Sunday and much of Monday to resolve.
* sadly i did not receive absolution.
** dedicated to a Msgr. who had been associated with the Cathedral. unfortunately said fellow was accused of and confessed to sexually abusing a teenaged boy. i scrawled “NOT” in front of the “Very Rev.” title.