“Mercy, not magic”. Year of Mercy Doors are NOT a substitute for confession

Posted on 27 January 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From CNS:

Mercy, not magic – Archdiocese of Bombay clarifies Holy Doors and the Jubilee

Mumbai, India, Jan 26, 2016 / 04:25 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Archdiocese of Bombay issued a clarification last week after WhatsApp users in Maharashtra were circulating a ‘misleading’ message which promoted a superstitious understanding of the Year of Mercy.

The archdiocese’s Jan. 19 statement noted that the text “gives the impression that merely walking through the Doors of Mercy will result in the forgiveness of sins.”

“These doors are not magical doors and we need to understand that to experience and obtain the indulgence, the faithful are called, as pilgrims, to avail themselves of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, to participate in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist with a reflection on mercy, make a profession of faith, and pray for the Holy Father and for his intentions for the good of the Church and of the entire world.”  [GO TO CONFESSION!]

The archdiocese’s noted added, “It must be understood that walking through the Door of Mercy indicates the desire for the forgiveness of sins, and walking through it symbolises a leaving behind of the past and entering into a new life through Christ, who is the door.”

“Please note that walking through the Holy Doors is not a substitute for the Sacrament of Reconciliation.”

[…]Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay opened the Doors of Mercy at Mumbai’s Basilica of Our Lady of the Mount on Dec. 20, 2015. He   reminded the faithful: “This is the Lord’s Gate: let us enter through it and obtain mercy and forgiveness.” The doors were then opened, using the Bible as the key, with the following invocation, “Open the Gates of Justice; we shall enter and give thanks.”

The cardinal in his homily at the Mass explained the characteristics and significance of the Holy Year and urged the faithful to “fix your eyes on Jesus”   and to be “agents of God’s mercy.”

“No one should say that it is difficult to reach God and difficult to obtain mercy, for the Church is indeed the vehicle of mercy,” Cardinal Gracias said. “We are the Church and it becomes our Christian duty to spread the message of God’s mercy and reconciliation.”

“With the corporal and spiritual acts of mercy, we have direction; with the example of our religious leaders, we have motivation; and with God’s mercy through Jesus himself, we have a straight path.”

Everyone…

GO TO CONFESSION!

Posted in GO TO CONFESSION, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, The Drill, Year of Mercy | Tagged , , ,
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CNS: Catholic Colleges and Title IX Exemptions

Posted on 27 January 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

This comes from the Cardinal Newman Society:

Catholic Colleges Should Claim Title IX Exemptions, Says Newman Society President

As Title IX interpretations have expanded to include discrimination policies grounded in gender theory, Catholic colleges should have no qualms about claiming constitutionally-protected exemptions, said The Cardinal Newman Society President Patrick Reilly in an interview with National Catholic Register.

“Of course these colleges have no interest in sex discrimination. They have had no problems complying with Title IX,” said Reilly. “But now things are changing, and the Obama administration is pushing the extreme gender ideology that Pope Francis has strongly warned against. The law could be used to force practices that violate our beliefs and even natural law, unless religious educators claim the exemption that Congress gave them to uphold the First Amendment.”
The necessity for Catholic colleges to claim exemptions has increased recently, as the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights recently expanded Title IX interpretation to include “discrimination based on gender identity or failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity,” [“stereotypical notions”] the Register reported. This interpretation conflicts with a Catholic institution’s responsibility to uphold Church teaching on human sexuality, according to Reilly.
As Reilly noted, Pope Francis has spoken out on the issue of gender theory several times, calling it “an expression of frustration and resignation that aims to erase sexual differentiation because it no longer knows how to come to terms with it.” If acceptance of gender theory becomes widespread in society, “we risk going backward,” said the Holy Father. In another speech, the Pope called gender theory “an error of the human mind that leads to so much confusion,” according to LifeSiteNews.
“The big question is why some Catholic colleges are voluntarily declining to claim the exemption, when discrimination against our beliefs is a very serious prospect,” Reilly noted.
The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights dictates that “[a]ll public and private elementary and secondary schools, school districts, colleges, and universities receiving any federal financial assistance … must comply with Title IX.” However, it also stipulates that “[a]n educational institution that is controlled by a religious organization is exempt from Title IX to the extent that the law’s requirements conflict with the organization’s religious tenets.”
Expanded Title IX interpretations have caused concerns for Catholic identity and academic freedom at Catholic colleges. At Marquette University in Milwaukee, the Register reported, “[P]rofessors have complained that the aggressive implementation of Title IX’s expansive interpretations, combined with vague definitions of what constitutes a ‘hostile environment,’ are suppressing their academic freedom to teach Catholic theology in the classroom and promote Marquette’s Catholic identity on campus.”
At other Catholic colleges, the Newman Society has reported on multiple instances of gender theory being promoted and aggressively pushed on campuses, including DePaul University, Fordham University, Georgetown University and Saint Louis University.
In an interview with The Cardinal Newman Society, Abbot Placid Solari, O.S.B., chancellor of Belmont Abbey College noted that such an expansion would “legitimize gender identity issues … abdicat[ing] the responsibility of the college community as a whole to act in accord with its fundamental identity as a community which publicly identifies itself as in communion with the Catholic Church.”
Three Catholic institutions have been granted Title IX exemptions thus far: Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, N.C., and St. Gregory’s University in Shawnee, Okla. Another two universities are in the process of requesting exemptions: the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas, and John Paul the Great Catholic University in Escondido, Calif. All of these institutions are recommended in The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College.

Posted in Liberals, Our Catholic Identity, Pò sì jiù, Religious Liberty, Sin That Cries To Heaven | Tagged , , ,
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RISEN – New movie about the Resurrection from the view of a non-believer

Posted on 27 January 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A new movie will soon be released. Here are a couple trailers.

I, for one, look forward to seeing it.

YouTube thumbnailYouTube icon

YouTube thumbnailYouTube icon

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ASK FATHER: Talking about homosexuality without sounding cruel

Posted on 27 January 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Pompeo_Batoni_prodigal_son_smFrom a reader…

QUAERITUR:

I’m a consevitive ctholic teen and my friends are not and when they ask about my faith I try my best to answer correctly but then we get to Gay’s and why don’t we except them, I don’t know how to answer them with them thinking that being a catholic is crule and judgmentle how would you respond?

First… spelling, dear, spelling.

There may have been times and places in the past when being a faithful Catholic was easy, when society at large supported the moral teachings of the Church. Sadly, those times have been few and far between.

For the most part, throughout history, being Catholic has meant to stand in opposition to what large swaths of society believe.

We have many examples from the lives of the saints on which to pattern our response to society.   Our response may require us to withdraw from society, like St. Antony of Egypt or St. Mary of the Desert.  Elsewise, we must confront society boldly, even though we know that there will be serious, even lethal, repercussions, like St. Thomas More, St. Charles Lwanga, and the countless martyrs of Spain, Mexico, Russia, and so forth.  St. Charles, by the way, was killed because of his opposition to a homosexual pedophile king.  HERE Sometimes, our interaction with society can take a middle ground.  We can work to reform it without trying outright to overturn it, like St. John Damascene, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Katherine Drexel.

Yes, I expect you to pull out books about the saints or do some internet searches.

Another thing which you should read is the Holy See’s Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church “On The Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons”.

Now to your specific question.  It can be difficult to explain the Church’s stance to those who are convinced that homosexual activity is natural, normal, or harmless. They think the Church is harsh when it says that those who have sexual attractions to member of the same sex must learn to control their urges and be chaste.  These days, people aren’t used to being told that something is bad.  They live in their urges and appetites, which they now habitually satiate without delay.  Since their arguments (responses, really – arguments rarely make an appearance) come largely from an emotional or hormonal perspective, presenting them with a rational argument will rarely be successful.

Perhaps one tack might be to say, “If I am convinced that what you are doing is harming you, and I were to do nothing to help you to stop, would I be acting out of love? Love sometimes requires us to say something we know won’t be well received.”

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Sin That Cries To Heaven | Tagged
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Did I mention Acton Institute?

Posted on 27 January 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

You have to both chuckle and wince over Michael Sean Winters’ obsession with Acton Institute. There is no subject with which the Wile E. Coyote of contemporary liberal Catholicism cannot associate Acton.

Writing about Pope Francis’ recently released Message for World Communication Day Wile E. wrote:

Alas, sinner that I am, there are other columns in which I am conscious of committing delectatio morosa, those columns in which I am writing in response to something George Weigel or another Catholic neo-con has written. I confess that the mere mention of the words “Acton Institute” get my teeth on edge.

I can’t resist… to the delight of his dentist…

ACTON INSTITUTE    ACTON INSTITUTE    ACTON INSTITUTE
ACTON INSTITUTE    ACTON INSTITUTE    ACTON INSTITUTE
ACTON INSTITUTE    ACTON INSTITUTE    ACTON INSTITUTE
ACTON INSTITUTE    ACTON INSTITUTE    ACTON INSTITUTE
ACTON INSTITUTE    ACTON INSTITUTE    ACTON INSTITUTE
ACTON INSTITUTE    ACTON INSTITUTE    ACTON INSTITUTE
ACTON INSTITUTE    ACTON INSTITUTE    ACTON INSTITUTE
ACTON INSTITUTE    ACTON INSTITUTE    ACTON INSTITUTE
ACTON INSTITUTE    ACTON INSTITUTE    ACTON INSTITUTE

Posted in Liberals, Lighter fare | Tagged ,
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COOL THING ALERT! A passel of planets!

Posted on 26 January 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Here is something very cool for all of you to enjoy for free!

At Spaceweather we get the details about how all sorts of planets – alas, as far as I know not Planet X – will be visible in one glance.

THE GREAT NAKED-EYE PLANET SHOW: The mainstream media is buzzing with news about astronomy: From now until Feb. 20th, anyone who wakes up before sunrise can see Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter all at once, no telescope required. These are the five brightest planets, and they are a beautiful sight lined up from east to west in the predawn sky.  [Is that not cool?  And since in the Northern Hemisphere dawn still comes fairly late, this shouldn’t be to hard to see for many of you readers and your wee bearn.]

Although the planets can be seen any morning for the next 4 weeks, there are some dates of special interest. [Pay attention!] As January ends and February unfolds, the Moon will hop from planet to planet, acting as a can’t-miss guide for novice sky watchers. The action begins on Jan. 27th when the waning full Moon passes less than 5o from Jupiter: sky map. Next, on Feb. 1st, the half Moon is only a few degrees from the red planet Mars in the constellation Libra: sky map. Two mornings later, on Feb. 3rd, a fat crescent Moon passes by Saturn, only a few degrees away: sky map. And finally, best of all, on Feb. 6th, the slender cresent Moon forms a lovely triangle with Venus and Mercury just ahead of the morning twilight: sky map.

Circle these dates on your calendar–and set your alarm for dawn. The Great Naked-eye Planet Show is a great way to start the day.

Posted in Just Too Cool, Look! Up in the sky! | Tagged
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Stupid and blasphemous TV devil show. Wherein Fr. Z rants.

Posted on 26 January 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I occasionally turn on a regular network TV station. My gorge rises and I flee back to books, cable news or DVDs.

I understand that there is now a TV series called Lucifer. I won’t be seeing that one.

However, a priest friend sent me an SMS about it:

Have you heard about this horrible new show Lucifer? I watched it last night just because I am sure that many of my parishioners will have done so. It is super new age, with all the stupid notions of the need for the existence of good and evil to create balance, etc.

Lucifer is bored with hell so he incarnates on earth to do good for humanity, and this results in a ‘lack of balance between heaven and hell’ it is basically blasphemous….

Blasphemous and stupid.

My IQ dropped a few points just learning of this show.

Let’s be clear about the Enemy of the soul and fallen angels.

“But Father!  But Father!”, some numb-skulls are whimpering, “We don’t focus on these things any more!  We are now happy in our faith communities and the sharing of fellowship and we all go to heaven together so we can be in fellowship and communities of sharing and be with our pets. Vatican II did away with all this devil talk and nonsense about people going to hell.  That’s all people like you can talk about but you hate Vatican II!  Don’t listen to Fr. Z! Everyone sing! ♫ ♫ My  little pony… my little pony… ♫ ♫”

Sure, we must also talk about heaven and goodness and joy and kitties and sunshine and birthday cakes.  Let’s get this Hell and Devil thing straightened out because it’s been neglected for far too long.

Priests and bishops who don’t teach about Hell will probably wind up there.

It is the job of every bishop and priest to keep as many of you as possible out of Hell.

As I have noted before, the greatest accomplishment of the Enemy of our souls is to deceive people that the Enemy doesn’t exist … that there is no Hell … that people can’t go to Hell … that no one is in Hell, … that evil is somehow a necessary component of existence… blah blah blah.

The Devil exists.  Fallen angels re real, personal beings.  There is nothing cute about the Enemy.

Fallen angels hate you with a malice no human can imagine.  They have an intellect that surpasses our mere human faculties in a way that we can’t fathom.   They never tire.  They are relentless.  They are real.  If you don’t believe in the existence of malicious fallen angels, you are in serious risk of joining them in Hell.  This is no joke.

The Devil and the fallen angels hate you.

They have angelic abilities. They never sleep, never tire, are never distracted, have no need to travel from point a to b, and they never miss what you are up to.

Think this through.

Imagine what sort of profile on you some government agency could put together.  I’ve written on this before, but it bears dredging up and repeating.

Imagine that government agencies want to build a psychological profile of you, much as the FBI might when they use clues and evidence to hunt down an unknown serial killer.

These government agents, let’s call it The Agency, teamed up with a newly minted Dem President’s Domestic Security Force, are profiling Catholics.  Real Catholics are, of course, terrorists and dissidents: they refuse to worship Moloch and offer sacrifices of incense to the statue of the POTUS.

Said Agency and DSF plot your movements through your mobile phone and car’s GPS as you move in and out of cells which they monitor to triangulate your location.  They learn something about you through your patterns of travel.  They learn about your tastes and interests through your purchasing history.  They monitor your calls, where you go on the internet, what you write and read in your email and on webpages.  They look at all your online transactions. Through your credit card records they hunt up the actual receipts and examine what you bought at every store…  including those embarrassing things.  After all, you leave amazingly information-rich and detailed trails and clues to who you are with every move and purchase.  The Agency and DSF review all your library checkouts, your magazine subscriptions, your movie going habits, your DVD choices through Netflix or digital downloads through Amazon and iTunes.  They watch your channel selections through your cable or satellite. All this information can be mined.  They watch your every interaction with your friends… and strangers too, for that matter, with listening devices and cameras.  After gathering all this information, the Agency’s profiling experts build a picture of you, get into your head.   They figure out what you are about, who you are, and what you going to do next.

They are merely humans with a lot of bits of information.

How much better can fallen angels, the demons do this?

Angels, the holy angels and the fallen, have never missed anything of your lives since the instant of your conception.  And they never forget. Anything.

Fallen angels, the enemy, the Devil, can’t literally get into our heads or thoughts or touch our will, but they don’t have to in order to know us really well.

And they hate you.   They hate you.  They hate you.

With relentless malice the “prince of this world” works to trick you into letting him have some control in your life.  Demons cleverly and with perfect timing stimulate your appetites and passions based on how well they know your proclivities.   They strive to twist your heart and mind away from God in order to diminish – even by a little – the love everyone will share in heaven as they shine in the magnified glory of the Trinity.

When a soul is lost to Hell, and I think that happens a lot, the Enemy crows, “That’s one more You don’t have!”

The Devil and other demons are always held in check by God.  They cannot simply have their way with us or the material cosmos around us unless God permits it according to His plan.   But they are devious and tireless.

Remember your Guardian Angels.  Call on them to help you.  Remember Our Lady, Queen of Angels.  Remember St. Joseph, whom we invoke in his beautiful litany as the “Terror daemonum… the Terror of demons”.

If you don’t believe in the Enemy and Hell, you will probably wind up there. And if you choose that fate, it would be better for you had you never been born (cf Matthew 26:24).

Posted in Four Last Things, Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged , , , ,
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Mr. Trump and Physicking the Body Politic

Posted on 25 January 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

US HERE UK HERE

I saw something today which reminded me of Dr. Stephen Maturin in the Patrick O’Brian novels. He dosed and physicked the sailors and officers with black draught and blue pill… which have, how to say, laxative effects.   He made his concoctions truly disgusting in order to convince the men that they were really getting the powerful treatment they needed.  Here is a passage from the first book, Master and Commander, which touches on his prescriptions:

[Stephen] left the cabin with what seemed to [Captain] Jack [Aubrey] an inhuman want of concern and went directly below, where he mixed a draught and a powder from the large stock that he (like all other naval surgeons) kept perpetually at hand. Under the thrust of the gregale, coming in gusts off Delamara Point, the Sophie’s lee-lurch slopped out too much by half.

‘It is too much by half,’ he observed, balancing like a seasoned mariner and pouring the surplus into a twentydrachm phial. ‘But never mind. It will just do for young Babbington.’ He corked it, set it on a—rail-locked rack, counted its fellows with their labelled necks and returned to the cabin. He knew very well that Jack would act on the ancient seafaring belief that more is better and dose himself into Kingdom Come if not closely watched, and he stood there reflecting upon the passage of authority from one to the other in relationships of this kind (or rather of potential authority, for they had never entered into any actual collision) as Jack gasped and retched over his nauseous dose. Ever since Stephen Maturin had grown rich with their first prize he had constantly laid in great quantities of asafetida, castoreum and other substances, to make his medicines more revolting in taste, smell and texture than any others in the fleet; and he found it answered—his hardy patients knew with their entire beings that they were being physicked.

On another tack, I have been watching the Republican race these with the same enthusiasm I have had when viewing an autopsy.  It is fascinating and revolting.

While I haven’t made a decision about any candidate yet, I can affirm the same decision I made last election cycle: I would vote for the corpse of Millard Fillmore before I would not vote, to keep any of the running Dems out of the White House.

In the fascinating matter of Donald Trump, however, I note with interest the observations of Fr. Sirico of Acton Institute.  HERE  He uses an interesting analogy.  My emphases and comments.

Donald Trump and Catholic Social Teaching

I was recently asked by Time Magazine for my general opinion on Donald Trump, his relation to Catholic ideas and White Evangelicals and any other thoughts I might have. I was briefly quoted in Time. But I thought I would include here the parts of my remarks that were not used in the article as well.

Trump’s moral positions on life and sexual morality stray widely from Catholic moral and social teaching in many respects. I would also think that conservative Catholics would have problems with him especially on abortion.

He certainly did not endear himself to Catholics when he said the pope needed to be scared into action against ISIS especially the way he said it.  [See more on that HERE]

I cannot address the issue of Catholic-Republican organizing because I am not a Republican or for that matter, a member of any political party.

The more pertinent question regarding Trump and the experience of Catholics is that of populism and here Catholics have been on all sides of the question, in Argentina (Peron), and Italy (both Berlusconi and Mussolini) – so I suspect that today this would be the same.

Frankly, I cannot figure out the alleged white-evangelical attraction to Trump. To my ear, he simply is not one of them. He is obviously unfamiliar with the Bible and he does not speak in any evangelical dialect with which I am conversant. I would think that in the end, religious conservatives who haven’t aligned themselves with Trump will find themselves allied behind the alternative Republican option. [Read: When the excitement ends, they will leave him and support someone else.]

On the whole Trump thing I can offer this somewhat provocative thought, though it is hardly a distinctly Catholic idea:

For some time our body politic has been blocked and seems not to move anywhere. This blockage[Are you getting the point yet?] is made up of both a lack of philosophical understanding of the authentic roots of human freedom and a lack of courage to defend those roots. Now comes Donald Trump, who says some things that are refreshing and bold, who obviously does not speak from talking points but in the end, are neither substantial nor nourishing of a civil order. In this circumstance, the best one could hope for is that Trump will act like a strong physic one has to abide from time to time just to get things moving again. But that is not something one wants as a whole diet.

Physic for the Body Politic.    Perhaps that’s what’s needed.

And, of course, the moderation queue is ON.

Posted in Lighter fare, O'Brian Tags | Tagged , , ,
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PODCAzT 140: Paul VI’s 1966 Letter Sacrificium laudis on the use of Latin and Gregorian chant by religious

Posted on 25 January 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

It has been quite awhile since I made a PODCAzT, over a year, if you don’t count the offerings during Advent and Lent.

I was inspired to get back into it by something I saw at the website of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales, Pope Paul VI’s Apostolic Letter Sacrificium laudis.  I determined that more of you should know about this letter.  Happily, the LMS provided an English translation of the Letter prepared by Fr. Thomas Crean OP, to whom we are indebted.  The Latin original (with typos) is HERE.

Have some Mystic Monk Coffee and listen!  Be careful not to spill if you are in the car.

The music used is from the wonderful Benedictine monks of Le Barroux, in France.  You hear part of Vespers of the day I made this, 25 January, Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul.  You can stream the hours sung by the monks everyday.  HERE

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RELATED:

128 12-02-22 “Veterum sapientia”! 50th Anniversary. On Latin in the Church.
110 10-08-19 Learning the Roman Canon in Latin for Seminarians

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Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Our Catholic Identity, PODCAzT, The future and our choices | Tagged , , , ,
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WDTPRS: Conversion of St. Paul – Collects compared (1962MR & 2002MR)

Posted on 25 January 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

In honor of the Apostle to the Gentiles let us make a rapid comparison of the Collects, or “Opening Prayers”, for today’s feast.

We’ll look first at the 1962 Missale Romanum and then the 2002 edition.

The Collect is nearly the same in both.

COLLECT (1962MR):

Deus, qui universum mundum beati Pauli Apostoli praedicatione docuisti: da nobis, quaesumus; ut, qui eius hodie Conversionem colimus, per eius exempla gradiamur.

This prayer is ancient.  It is found already in the 8th century Liber sacramentorum Engolismensis (Angoulême) and the 9th century Augustodunensis (Autun) as well as the Liber sacramentorum Romanae ecclesiae ordine excarpsus, but with the variation in the Engolismensis “multitidinem gentium” in place of “universum mundum”.

Our precious copies of the increasingly costly Lewis & Short Latin Dictionary (UK HERE) inform us that the deponent verb gradior is “to take steps, to step, walk, go;” and in ecclesiastical Latin “of the conduct of life, to walk, live, conduct one’s self”.  The French source for liturgical Latin I call Blaise/Dumas (UK HERE) indicates that gradior is “to behave oneself”.

An exemplum is, “a sample for imitation, instruction, proof, a pattern, model, original, example….” For the Fathers, so steeped in Greek and Roman rhetoric and philosophy, exemplum could mean many things.  Mainly, an exemplum brings auctoritas to your argument, “authority”, which means among other things the moral persuasive force of an argument.  When we hear this prayer with ancient and Patristic ears, exemplum is not merely an “example” to imitate. It brings deeper moral force. The historic event of Paul’s conversion is a reason for hope. It is an incitement to lead the kind of life which will lead ultimately to being raised up after the perfect exemplum, the Risen Christ.  The core of this exemplum is St. Paul’s response to the call of the Lord to turn his life around, his conversio or in Greek metánoia.

I especially like the word gradior in this prayer.  It invokes the image of St. Paul trudging the byways.  Thus are we called, also.

LITERAL VERSION:

O God, who instructed the whole world by the preaching of the Blessed Apostle Paul: grant us, we beseech You, that, we who are today honoring his Conversion, may walk according to his examples.

Many (many many) of the prayers of the pre-Conciliar form of the Missale Romanum, were cut up and changed for the Novus Ordo, if they made the cut at all. Today’s prayer is a case in point.

COLLECT (2002MR):

Deus, qui universum mundum
beati Pauli Apostoli praedicatione docuisti,
da nobis, quaesumus,
ut, cuius conversionem hodie celebramus,
per eius ad te exempla gradientes,
tuae simus mundo testes veritatis.

LITERAL VERSION:

O God, who instructed the whole world
by the preaching of the Blessed Apostle Paul:
grant us, we beseech You,
that we, walking in life toward You according to the examples of him
whose conversion we are celebrating today,
may be witnesses of Your truth in the world.

I am not convinced the ancient prayer needed these “improvements”.

Some may argue that the newer Latin version makes the point of “witness” more clearly.

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