Too many people today are without good, strong preaching, to the detriment of all. Share the good stuff.
Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at your Mass of obligation for this Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross in both the Vetus and Novus Ordo.
Tell about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass.
Any local changes or (hopefully good) news?
A couple thoughts about the sign of the cross: HERE A taste…
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Speaking of relics the Windy Prelate of the Lake opined in his archdiocesan newspaper that you – you, dear reader – are seeking after “dead faith” in your desire for the Traditional Latin Mass. He cited the tired old chestnut of Jaroslav Pelikan – Lutheran turned Orthodox – waved about by every liturgical demolition crew with Sacrosanctum Concilium in one hand and a sledge-hammer in the other. “Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living” is trotted out as if it were a papal decree to justify every banal novelty from blessing after Mass with a guitar to wafting out giant soap-bubbles (2022 – Holy Family Catholic Community in Inverness, IL). He cited St. Vincent of Lérins about growth and development with the analogy of a child growing to be a man and still being the same person. But St. Vincent meant growth, not grotesque deformation. Sacrosanctum Concilium 23 required that in the liturgical reform desired by the Council Fathers,
Innovationes, demum, ne fiant nisi vera et certa utilitas Ecclesiae id exigat, et adhibita cautela ut novae formae ex formis iam exstantibus organice quodammodo crescant.… [T]here must be no innovations unless the good of the Church genuinely and certainly requires them; and care must be taken that any new forms adopted should in some way grow organically from forms already existing.
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(Very reverent) Novus Ordo. Homily notes:
The cross is the instrument of our salvation, but also the means by which we have a participation. [Cf. the brazen serpents – a serpent lifted up as a cure for the serpent bites]. The Last Supper and the Cross are of a piece, and we participate. The cross is so violent, but Jesus transforms it into HIS peace. He has conquered death. We must be witnesses of this. Invite all into the participation in the life that brings peace.
Usually there is healthy attendance at Mass but today I had to circle around the neighborhood looking for parking – rare. Also, there was a police officer in uniform, standing outside his marked car in the parking lot, where he could see all headed in to church. I told him ‘We’re glad you are here’ and he smiled.
At Mass today, the young parochial vicar announced that beginning in October, the entire parish would begin learning how to speak their parts of the Ordinary of the Mass in LATIN. This will be done slowly and is expected to take one year. He quoted Paragraph 54 of Vatican II’s Sacrosanctum Concilium for the mandate (widely ignored). In prudence, I will not disclose the name of the parish.
Father mentioned that he was at a local Catholic high school hearing confessions during the week. Students were scared and upset by the school shooting about a dozen miles away and the Charlie Kirk assassination. He noted that 9/11/2001 took place while he was in postulancy for his order. During postulancy and novitiate they had no media, so after leaving the novitiate he had to ask about what the constant references to 9/11 meant. Too much of media – mass or social – is geared toward making people upset and that contributes to many sins and to poor mental health. he proposes practicing “no news day Tuesday”.
To the point of today’s particular celebration, he mentioned not only St. Helena’s finding and identification of the Holy Cross, but also the episode where Heraclius, having recaptured the Cr0ss from the Persians, could not return it to Jerusalem while wearing his crown and other finery, but once he was barefoot and in penitential garb, he could.
He also mentioned the more recent St. Paul of the Cross having experienced the crucified Lord embracing him for three hours, also St. Teresa Benedicta’s frequent use of the ancient invocation “Ave Crux, spes unica”.
i was slightly disappointed that he didn’t mention the Lord speaking to St. Francis through the Cross at San Damiano, but he tends to brevity.
we did a lovely Palestrina setting of Nos Autem Gloriari: two S, three A, two T, two B. Missa Orbis Factor, and chant Introit, Gradual, Alleluia & Verse, Offertory, and Communion Antiphon. all the ladies and half the men are young as in under 35 – in some cases by quite a bit.
a relic of the True Cross was exposed for veneration before or after Mass and many people availed themselves of the opportunity.
At the Ordinariate’s Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham, the Collect of the Day for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross was:
ALMIGHTY God, whose Son our Saviour Jesus Christ was lifted high upon thy Cross that might draw the whole world unto himself: mercifully grant that we, who glory in the mystery of our redemption, may have grace to take up our cross
and follow him; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
And from a tremendous homily by Msgr Timothy R. Perkins in the newly-laid on extra sung Mass in the Cathedral High School gym, aka Benedict XVI Hall, this concluding thought:
“Christ, the Son of Man, must be lifted up by faith so that, as the gospel said, ‘Everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.’ What a wondrous feast is the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, because it reveals to us who Jesus is in his ultimate giving of love for our sake. It also reveals to us who we are called to be, Cross-bearing, Cross-formed persons, who, like Jesus, empty ourselves of ourselves to take up our Cross and be Christ-like for the salvation of the world.”
A correction: the collect was:
ALMIGHTY God, whose Son our Saviour Jesus Christ was lifted high upon thy Cross that He might draw the whole world unto himself: mercifully grant that we, who glory in the mystery of our redemption, may have grace to take up our cross
and follow him; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Our priest (diocesan TLM) made a very good point about accepting the cross of everyday life, with its thousand spousal compromises. We all want to imagine ourselves as great spiritual heroes, martyrs for love, but that’s not the cross God gives most of us. Instead we are called to persevere in obediance and small sacrifices of self preference, for decades; a marathon, not a sprint.
Well, it was a great point and many of us thanked him for the edification, especially us family men. But that’s not why I’m writing.
You see, and this is the really important point, Father also noted that, in his opinion, and he was going to go with it, the vestments should be color RED on this Holy day of the Exaltation of Saint Cross, despite what the rubrics say! And by golly, he was going to ignore the TLM guidelines, which said to wear GREEN, and follow the Novus Ordo guidelines which said to wear RED; a rare instance of the N.O. enriching the TLM.
Ummmm…. really? So, checking my hand missal, it confirmed that yes, indeed, the color for today should be RED. So what was Father talking about?
Well, it turns out that the official, printed, FSSP guidebook calls for today’s vestments to be GREEN. Imagine!
After mass I chatted with Father and congratulated him on his excellent liturgical instincts.
But someone needs to tell the FSSP boys to stop leading us astray!
“He cited St. Vincent of Lérins about growth and development with the analogy of a child growing to be a man and still being the same person.”
The late Bishop Foley of the diocese of Birmingham Alabama used to emphasize that in his old age he was the same person as he was when a little boy. But he said this to emphasize that things in the church have to remain the same in order for us to remember we are the same person we were at our birth. He said these things in at least two sermons I heard him give at TLMs he celebrated after Summorum Pontificum.
Diocese of Washington DC…Announcement was read that an auxiliary bishop will visit our TLM parish and assist in choir next month. Interesting development considering how badly they have treated all local TLM groups since 2022.
I will report back then if I am able.
@pbnelson
Probably a misprint. Cited as red on the website.
https://fsspolgs.org/liturgical-calendar/
SSPX member here. It was a Low Mass, but Fr gave a homily anyway (because: The Cross, duh). Packed pews, as always. He said you think you can grasp what The Cross means… until you have to carry one yourself. “Why can’t you make my cross lighter, Lord? Why do I have to carry one at all?” And then you look at The Cross and you realize more the depth of what Christ did for us. You also start to grasp (maybe) the honor and profundity of “filling up what was lacking in the suffering of Christ.” We are all fallen creatures and suffering is purification for us AND FOR THE SOULS OF OTHERS. He quoted a saint (whose name escapes me) who said (roughly) Gazing and meditating on the Cross will either make you fall in love with Christ … or nothing ever will.
Good stuff.
At our FSSP parish the vestments were red, and my FSSP calendar shows red for Sunday Sept. 14th so I don’t know where this green is coming from.
In our sermon Father explained why we celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross today, how this date is the building of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem over the site of the crucifixion as well as the recovery of the True Cross when it was captured by the Persians. We also had a relic of the True Cross placed at the center of the altar.
Dear Fr. Z.: I have an important liturgical historical question about the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. Did it ever, going back as far as you know, ever have the name “The Triumph of the Cross”?
@TheCavalierHatherly
ya think?!!
just kidding! thanks for the link; I’ve forwarded it to the sacristan. now someone just has to go through the printed copy with a fine tooth comb and make corrections where needed. what a job!
I went to the next parish along the coast from me because we had a visiting priest at our church. Ordained in 1969 he is totally locked in the 70s – I can’t bear it hence the travel. The parish I went to is served by an Ordinariate priest (interestingly I knew him in the days when he was an Anglican caring for the same church as Fr Dwight Longenecker in his Anglican days. Maybe there’s something in our air! Their Rector also converted but did not persue ordination). It was probably the most Catholic sermon I’ve heard in a long time. He began by talking about the Sign of the Cross, how it’s all round our churches and we sign ourselves, hopefully, many times through the day. We should spend time contemplating the Cross and what it means for us. We have to accept our own crosses, hard though they sometimes are. And every time we come to Mass we see Christ’s sacrifice represented before us. He also talked about Our Lady’s suffering and how we should stay close to her as she will bring us nearer to Jesus. Wonderful stuff-I wouldn’t have heard it in my own church, even with our parish priest let alone the visitor.