Category Archives: WDTPRS

EXCERPT:
As we think about this prayer, remember that originally it was recited by the priest after Communion, rather than at the beginning of Mass. So, we are praying herewith that the graces and effects of the Communion just received would endure. Fairly soon after this prayer we receive the final blessing, wait for the last Gospel and (for a few decades at least) the Leonine prayers after Mass. Then after a quiet moment of thanksgiving out of church we would go to our work, whatever that might be. Read More →

EXCERPT:
“Lord, your Church often seems like a boat about to sink, a boat taking in water on every side. In your field we see more weeds than wheat. The soiled garments and face of your Church throw us into confusion. Yet it is we ourselves who have soiled them! It is we who betray you time and time again, after all our lofty words and grand gestures. Have mercy on your Church; within her too, Adam continues to fall. When we fall, we drag you down to earth, and Satan laughs, for he hopes that you will not be able to rise from that fall; he hopes that being dragged down in the fall of your Church, you will remain prostrate and overpowered. But you will rise again. You stood up, you arose and you can also raise us up. Save and sanctify your Church. Save and sanctify us all.” Read More →

The WDTPRS series intends to help you enter more fully and love more deeply the prayers Holy Church has given us.  As a result I must constantly attempt the tight-wire of writing too much and too little, of including huge … Read More →

EXCERPT:
This prayer is an excellent example of the mysterious effects of the Eucharist for the properly disposed baptized man, woman and child, and the responsibilities that derive from our daring to approach so great a gift. First, please note that that word pignus, “pledge, token” indicates that what we have just “taken” is merely a foretaste of what is to be offered to us in heaven. Our prayer today says that we here on earth are “already” filled. At the same time it clearly points to the fact that we do “not yet” have the complete fulfillment of mystery, which will be found only in the celestial banquet of heaven in the sight of God. We have here, as it were, a kind of manna dropping to us from heaven, crumbs from the Father’s feast, though the slightest and tiniest crumb might suffice as the ransom, token, pledge, down payment for every sin committed by every person who has ever lived or ever will live. If this is not enough to make you kneel and beseech God in thanksgiving, then I can’t imagine what will. Read More →

EXCERPT:
Hearken, O Lord, and have mercy, for we have sinned against Thee.
Weeping, we lift our eyes to Thee, king most high, redeemer of all. Listen, O Christ, to the prayers of the supplicants.
Thou right Hand of the Father, the keystone, the way of salvation, gate of heaven, cleanse the stains of our sin. Read More →

EXCERPT:
Here we have a prayer which might aptly describe many of us at this point in Lent: we started out with good resolutions and they are getting hard to keep. If it is not hard to keep to our plan, then perhaps we are not getting the point of Lent. We at times struggle not to fall down and flag in our resolve to gain mastery of sinful habits and tendencies. The powerful threefold Christ-recommended discipline is arduous indeed and our wounded nature rebels against the restraints, seeking the false freedom of license. Maybe we have already slipped and violated our private resolution for Lent. As a people united before Christ’s altar of sacrifice, humble and cast down low, we raise our eyes upwards to the Father who tenderly sees our efforts. Since we are kneeling and cast down (inclimamur) we beg Him to pick us back up, dust us off, and help us stay upright for the rest of the journey (sublevemur). In pleading for help from Him in this way we are acknowledge our helplessness in a way that does not violate our own role and free will. We are also giving witness (confessio) to others of our faith in Him. Read More →

EXCERPT:
Our life as pilgrims extends beyond the land to the mysteries of the sea as well. On our passage we are guided for and marveling at heavenly things on our voyage. If there are clouds we cannot see the heavens and thus can lose our way. If the winds are too strong or adverse, the voyage is perilous. Light is a key to our sailing properly. We have the lesser lights of the stars, moon and sun in this life. In the life to come we will have Light Itself. I am reminded of Ps 35:10-1: Quoniam apud te est fons vitae, et in tuo lumine videbimus lumen… For in Your presence is the source of life, and in Your light we shall see Light. Read More →

COLLECTDa, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus,ut, sacro nos purificante paenitentiae studio,sinceris mentibus ad sancta venturafacias pervenire.In the so-called "Tridentine" Missale Romanum until the Novus Ordo issued forth, this prayer on Friday of the 2nd Week of Lent said sacro nos purificante ieiunio.  … Read More →

EXCERPT:
There are may things in this changing and shifting world which can erode the steadfastness of a human heart. This world by its very nature is passing. If we give our hearts to these passing things, or set them in the place that belongs to the One who is eternal and ever faithful, we will be lost forever. When we are attached overly to the passing things of this world we cannot be effective in our work, in the vocation God conceived for us from before the creation of the universe. Read More →

EXCERPT:
The prayer brings to mind several images. Ut brevis sim, we can hear in it the abovementioned theme of the household of servants which has been prepared and trained both for and by good works. Think of someone who has been brought in to a new environment and needs training. In the ancient world perhaps some rough bumpkin brought to the villa and then taught many things so that he or she might serve properly in the house, as opposed to the field hands. On the other hand, those same field hands has a lot to learn. Read More →