Category Archives: WDTPRS

EXCERPT:
Today’s prayer was the Secret of the Mass for Ash Wednesday according to the older, “Tridentine” Missale Romanum. It is also an ancient prayer from the Gelasian Sacramentary. Interestingly, in the Gelasian this prayer comes after a whole series of prayers over penitents in the rites for doing public penance. Here we read how the penitent on Ash Wednesday would dress in cilicium (an amazingly scratchy and uncomfortable garment of goat’s hair). He would go to church, prostrate himself on the ground before the bishop who would pray over him, and he would do penance until Holy Thursday when he would be reconciled. Read More →

EXCERPT:
Even though this is a prayer during Mass sacramentum here refers not just to the sacrament of the Eucharist, but also its ancient meaning: the forty-day long discipline of Lent which mysteriously bonds Christians and Christ more closely together. The whole season of Lent is a transforming mystery, a “sacrament”, during which our practices have consequential effects: they bring us into the mystery of the dying and rising Jesus. This transforming bond with Christ is brought about through denial of self and good works for others, penitential mortification and works of mercy, both spiritual and corporal. In Lent the words of the Baptist must ring in our ears daily, even hourly: “He must increase, I must decrease” (John 3:30). When He increases in us, we are more who we are supposed to be. Thus, we have to make “room” for Him by our self-denial. Read More →

EXCERPT:
The origin of the Oratio super populum is quite complex and hard to pin down. Turning to Fr. Joseph A. Jungmann’s monumental two volume The Mass of the Roman Rite: Its Origins and Development we find a history of this prayer at the beginning of the section concerning the close of the Mass (II, pp. 427ff). Something Jungmann emphasizes that caught my attention is the fact that we are at a “frontier” moment, the threshold of the sacred precinct of the church and the world. When properly formed we want the influence of our intimate contact with the divine to carry over into the outside world. Read More →

EXCERPT:
We are asked to participate actively and fully in the whole liturgical year. Our lives must take on the qualities of the entire presentation of the mysteries of our salvation, from Creation to Second Coming. In other words, we are not to be active participants at Sunday Mass only. At the end of Mass the priest or deacon commands, Ite, Missa est… “GO! You are dismissed!” This is stern sounding compared to the warm and fuzzy end of Mass we sometimes experience. But the starkness and force of the Latin indicates we are being sent out with urgency into the world, back to our Christian work. Read More →

EXCERPT:
When the hand of the priest is extended over us in the confessional, we are sheltered from the attacks of hell, the hideous heat that would consume us, the eternal bondage to the enemy which would for ever separate us from God’s sight. When was the last time you sought out the right hand of God in the context of the confessional? How long has it been since, after confession all your mortal sins in both number and kind, you have heard the words, “Deus Pater misericordiarum… God the Father of mercies…” Read More →

EXCERPT:
Whew! This is like doing Latin crunches: One is a piece of cake, but do enough of them and you really start feeling which muscles are getting the work.

What would ICEL do? I don’t have the ICEL text with me right, so I will guess:

EXTREME LAME DUCK ICELese
God,
you are very nice.
Keep up the good work.
Be a friend and help us
to think and do nice things too. Read More →

EXCERPT:
The highest form of active participation is the reception of Holy Communion in the state of grace following a willed, active receptivity to what has been carried out in the sacred action of the Mass. Christ is the ACTOR par excellence in the Mass. In the actions of the priest, Christ is acting as the Head of the Body. In the actions and receptivity of the congregation, Christ is in action as the Body, responding to and being directed by the Head. Both together form Christ, Christus Totus, raising sacrifice on high to the Father. Our participation then must be first and foremost active receptivity so that we have what is good to give back to God. Read More →

Today’s Collect is an ancient prayer and it is in the Gelasian Sacramentary for the Vigil of Pentecost and also among the prayers for the 4th day of the 4th month, which more than likely involved the traditional fast of … Read More →

EXCERPT:
Each day during Lent has its proper Collect. I will do my best to keep up with these. I promise, this is not what I consider my lenten penance, though it might be for your to read them. Read More →

EXCERPT:
While still young was contracted tuberculosis. He remained always in good spirits, never quitting hisShrine harsh mortifications however. Before he could be ordained a priest, he died embracing an image of Our Lady of Sorrows. Read More →