Pope Francis attended Mass in St. Peter’s on Feast of St. Pius X

This is rather interesting.

According to ZENIT in Italian, the Holy Father showed up in St. Peter’s Basilica the other morning to pray at the altar and tomb of St. Pius X for his saintly predecessor’s feast. He sat down in a pew and stayed for Mass celebrated by a Monsignor in the Secretariat of State.

I used to say Mass there pretty often, in my day… with the 1962 Missal, too boot. One can dream.

Anyway, it seems he may even have received Communion at that Mass, as well. He had already said Mass that day. He told the priest after that he is devoted to St. Pius X.

Would that the Holy Father and the SSPX would, through the intercession of St. Pius and through the help of their Guardian Angels, come to a reconciliation.

Here is the Italian:

Messa in Vaticano per San Pio X. Mescolato tra i fedeli c’è anche il Papa
Francesco già dal mattino all’altare dedicato al Papa trevigiano per pregare. È quindi rimasto per la funzione celebrata da mons. Lucio Bonora, della Segreteria di Stato, tra lo stupore di fedeli e celebranti
Di Redazione
Città del Vaticano, 22 Agosto 2015 (ZENIT.org)
Hanno ricevuto una sorpresa speciale i fedeli che ieri mattina hanno preso parte alla celebrazione eucaristica all’altare di San Pio X, nella Basilica di San Pietro, in occasione della festa del Pontefice trevigiano. Seduto tra i banchi, alla Messa presieduta da mons. Lucio Bonora, impiegato in Segreteria di Stato, c’era infatti Papa Francesco, già lì dalle prime ore del mattino all’altare per una preghiera privata.
Quando è iniziata la funzione il Santo Padre si è quindi fermato per prendervi parte, ricevendo l’abbraccio di pace e la comunione da mons. Bonora, dopo essersi messo in fila tra i fedeli che si accostavano all’Eucaristia. Ai fedeli che intanto erano accorsi in gran numero alla Cappella, il celebrante ha chiesto di affidare a San Pio X tutte le necessità delle proprie famiglie e della Chiesa, non dimenticando di pregare per l’attuale Pontefice.
Bergoglio stesso, al termine della celebrazione ha confidato a Bonora di aver pregato in modo particolare per i catechisti, visto che, in Argentina, San Pio X, è conosciuto come il “Papa del catechismo”, il patrono di tutti i catechisti. Quando Bergoglio era arcivescovo di Buenos Aires, infatti, ci teneva ad incontrare i catechisti della diocesi nella festa di Pio X. Al termine della celebrazione mons. Bonora ha ringraziato di cuore Papa Francesco, il quale gli ha detto: “Ero venuto per una preghiera mia, perché avevo già celebrato la Messa presto, ma poi ti ho visto che venivi all’altare a celebrare, e allora mi sono fermato… Te l’avevo detto che sono devoto di San Pio X”.

L’Osservatore Romano has it also HERE

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CQ CQ CQ – #HamRadio Saturday – DX SUCCESS!

Happy news.

On Thursday a local ham and expert on antennas (who also attends the TLM) came to my BOQ to consult about antennas and a potential location in the complex for a station.  We worked on my rig and made some progress. We also worked on it for a bit on Friday.  I learned some stuff, especially about old fashioned – dare I say, traditional? – operator’s etiquette.

Inter alia, he explained that the type of CW key I have (sent by a reader): a US Army Signal Corps J-38.

Once we got the antenna tuned up we heard a fellow in the Canary Islands who was provoking a pile up (that’s when all sorts of hams try to make a contact with him because his location is a bit exotic or the event is special). We also heard a guy in Barcelona provoking the same. Using my station, the Elmer made a QSO with him, thus proving that, with my rig, IT CAN BE DONE.

Now we have to make it be done better!

I have a couple shots of stuff he brought to work on the rig.  I am sure that this is familiar to you experts, but it was new to me.

IMG_7796

IMG_7797

When he went home, I made my first 20m QSO with him and then I listened around for a while – still on 20m.

I managed to make my first long distance contact by working a station in W. Palm Beach.

He putting out 400W and I could hear him well. I was on 100W and he could barely hear me, but after taking a dozen runs at my callsign – the band was going in and out – he got me!

So, I made my first long distance QSO on Thursday evening, using the small vertical antenna a contributor here sent me. Thanks to him!

“-… ..- – ..-. .- – …. . .-. ..–.. -… ..- – ..-. .- – …. . .-. ..–..”, some of you are sending as fast as humanly possible, “What is the antenna? Don’t keep us in suspense unless you hate Vatican II!”

Glad you asked. What I have set up now is a … yes… it’s cheesy sounding, a Super Antenna. It sets up and breaks down in a couple minutes and goes into a small nylon bag.  And it works!

I am also going to be setting up on the balcony a dipole with wire in an inverted V to see what I can get and send.  There are also some attractive trees nearby.

At this point my objective is to learn to use well the basic equipment I have received before getting into anything more complicated or powerful. If I can use this rig and some simple antenna solutions well, then I’ll be in better shape later to expand my horizons.

I still have my eye on portability, however. I’d like to put together a good radio Go Bag.

UPDATE:

After posting this I saw that our own WB0YLE was going to be listening on 14.265.  I dashed (not dotted) to my rig and heard him calling CQ.  I responded a couple times and he heard me. We had a successful contact. Very cool.  The band was in and out, making it a little hard.

Then I tuned around and heard a big pile up of people trying to work a station in Hawaii.  These pile ups!  It’s a JUNGLE out there!  You’ve got to fight for your life, it seems!

I may be exaggerating a little.

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WDTPRS: 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time – When “virtues” are replaced by “values”.

Let’s look at the Collect for the 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time:

Deus, qui fidelium mentes unius efficis voluntatis, da populis tuis id amare quod praecipis, id desiderare quod promittis, ut, inter mundanas varietates, ibi nostra fixa sint corda, ubi vera sunt gaudia.

A master crafted this prayer.  In the 1962 Missale Romanum we use it on the 4th Sunday after Easter. It is also in the ancient Gelasian Sacramentary.  Listen to those “eee”s produced by the Latin “i”. Savor those parallels.

Varietas means “difference, diversity, variety.”  It is commonly used to indicate “changeableness, fickleness, inconstancy.”  I like “vicissitude”.  The adjective mundanus is “of or belonging to the world”.

LITERAL RENDERING:

O God, who make the minds of the faithful to be of one will, grant unto Your people to love that thing which You command, to desire that which You promise, so that, amidst the vicissitudes of this world, our hearts may there be fixed where true joys are.

CURRENT ICEL (2011):

O God, who cause the minds of the faithful to unite in a single purpose, grant your people to love what you command and to desire what you promise, that, amid the uncertainties of this world, our hearts may be fixed on that place where true gladness is found.

Let us revisit that id…quod. We can accurately say “love that which you command,” or “love what you command”, but that strikes me as vague.  Can we be more concrete and say “love the thing you command… desire the thing you promise”?

We are called to love and desire God’s will in concrete situations, in the details of life, especially when those details are little to our liking.  We must love God in this beggar, this annoying creep, not in beggars and creeps in general.  We must love Him in this act of fasting, this basket of laundry, this ICEL translation. I said it was a challenge!  We must not reduce God’s will to an abstraction or an ideal. “Thy will (voluntas) be done on earth as it is in heaven”… or so it has been said.

Lest we forget why we needed new translation….

OBSOLETE ICEL (1973):

Father, help us to seek the values that will bring us lasting joy in this changing world. In our desire for what you promise make us one in mind and heart.

Good riddance!  “Values”.  Very slippery.  Typical of the obsolete translation.

To my ear, “values” has a shifting, subjective starting point. In 1995 Gertude Himmelfarb wrote in The De-Moralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values that “it was not until the present century that morality became so thoroughly relativized that virtues ceased to be ‘virtues’ and became ‘values.’”

In this post-Christian, post-modern world, “values” seems to indicate little more than our own self-projection.

John Paul II taught about “values”, but in contradiction to the way “values” are commonly understood today.  For example, we read in Evangelium vitae 71 (emphasis added):

“It is urgently necessary, for the future of society and the development of a sound democracy, to rediscover those essential human and moral values which flow from the very truth of the human being and express and safeguard the dignity of the person: values which no individual, no majority, and no state can ever create, modify, or destroy, but must only acknowledge, respect, and promote.”

In his 1985 letter to young people Dilecti amici 4, John Paul II taught:

“Only God is the ultimate basis of all values…. in Him and Him alone all values have their first source and final completion… Without Him – without the reference to God – the whole world of created values remains as it were suspended in an absolute vacuum.”

Benedict XVI taught about the threats we face from the “dictatorship of relativism”, from the reduction of the supernatural to the natural, from caving in to “the world”.

Christ warned His Apostles about “the world”, saying said: “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify of it that its works are evil” (John 7:7).  He spoke about this world’s “prince” (John 12:31; 14:30 16:11).  St Paul wrote: “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).

If what “the world” offers gets priority over what God offers the world through His Holy Church, we produce the situation Paul VI described on 29 June 1972, the 9th anniversary of his coronation:

“Through some crack the smoke of Satan has entered into the temple of God.”

Our Collect today asks God to grant that His will be the basis of our “values” in concrete terms, not in mere good intentions or this world’s snares.

Posted in Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, WDTPRS | Tagged ,
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What is this thing? No, really! What is this?

The other day a priest friend and I went steeple-chasing – to visit churches in the area that I had not yet seen.

At one place, where there is – or was, at least – the presence of Sinsinawa Dominicans we saw this curious objet.

The back.

IMG_7783

The front.

IMG_7787

The center part.

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I am not entirely sure what this is, so I thought I’d open it up to the readership.

It might be Sophia giving birth to the World Soul over the deep primal waters in the beneath… rather like what the LCWR is into.

Any other guesses?

Posted in Lighter fare, Parody Songs, Women Religious, You must be joking! |
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29 Sept – Holy Innocents -Manhattan – BLUE MASS… TLM!

blue_mass

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Six consecutive sixes in one over




It may be a synchronicity, but lately several people have written or spoken to me about Cricket.

The game, not the singing insect.

While we know that Baseball is the sport God loves the most, I figure He must also love Cricket, because in some respects it resembles eternity.

That said, I had an email this morning from a reader.  He also, kindly, provides some context so that we who are on this side of the Pond can understand what occurred:

Sir Garfield Sobers hit six consecutive sixes in one over. The first batsman ever to do it in a first class game of cricket (has to be a county game at least to be classed as first class, so good players is what’s said).

The liturgical equivalent would be Pope Francis offering six Papal High Mases at St Peter’s in the UA form, in a novena to make St JPII a doctor of the Church, and proclaim the next synod on the family null and void…..

Yes, I will stipulate that that would be a rare, almost unimaginable, event.

I have an invitation to view…?  see…?  watch…? go to…? a match at Lord’s.

Perhaps it’s worth while to put the little wavy flag out and see if enough donations come to make it happen before the season is over.

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Facebook locks out Catholic priest Msgr. Charles Pope, for being a “Monsignor”

I think I may have mentioned my plan to change legally my first name to “Monsignor”, ’cause that’s about the only way I’ll ever get the title.

Irony abounds around my friend Msgr. Charles Pope, in Washington DC, a fine pastor and blogger.  He has been give the bounce by the execrable Facebook – not for having only one gender – but for having the actual real title “Monsignor”.

He wrote me the other day – and I apologize to him for not getting to this sooner – with my emphases:

Just a brief note to inform you that I have been blocked from Facebook. They claim that Msgr. Charles Pope is not my real name and are requiring me to submit government ID proving that Msgr. Charles Pope is my true identity. As of now, I have no intention of doing this since I consider it an unreasonable demand by them. They further indicate that even if I supply the IDs from at least two sources, that they reserve the right not to reactivate my account if the name I have used does not meet their preferences. [EXPLETIVE – mine -DELETED!]

They explain the reason for their action as:

We ask everyone on Facebook to use the name they go by in everyday life so friends know who they’re connecting with [jerks]

But of course this IS the name that I go by “in everyday life.” Further, I have had a Facebook account under the name of “Msgr. Charles Pope” for over 6 years now. This is my name, this is who I am. I have 5,000 friends on Facebook who know me by this.

Facebook of course is a private company and they can do whatever they want and treat their clients and users in whatever foul ways they wish. But my current stance on this matter is to resist their demand and seek to share my dissatisfaction.

Facebook was once an open forum to discuss and share. It has become increasingly autocratic and ideological. It may be time for many of us to encourage them to reform or to simply leave Facebook. [Do you use Facebook for your usual online contacts?  Reconsider.]

I respect that some of you may differ with my assessment of things, but I did want to explain my sudden absence from Facebook and I request your help in spread this information with others you think might wonder as to my disappearance from that forum.

My Twitter Feed is @MsgrPope

Rev. Msgr Charles Pope
Holy Comforter – St Cyprian Parish

First, knowing that I’ll probably draw their fire now – ask St. Gabriel the Archangel to afflict Facebook.  Ask St. Isidore of Seville, or other saints to whom you regularly raise requests for intecession, to bring about a conversion to common sense of those who run Facebook.

Secondly, follow @MsgrPope on Twitter!   Follow me, too!  @FatherZ

Thirdly, consider another networking option for the Day When They Start Arresting Us: Ham Radio

And here is a video from Fox News which picked up the story about Msgr. Pope.

I also joined AWESTRUCK – a Catholic alternative to Facebook. HERE

http://awestruck.tv/members/fatherz/

UPDATE 22 August:

From a reader…

I saw Msgr. Pope at an anti-Planned Parenthood protest this morning.  He says he is reinstated on Facebook but he did have to drop “Msgr.” from his name.  He put it in the banner.

Posted in Liberals, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice, You must be joking! | Tagged , ,
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ASK FATHER: How to explain the Eucharist to a 3 year old?

first communion card 01From a reader…

Father, My son is three years old. I’m looking for a very simple way to explain the Eucharist to him. I have been pointing out the host to him and saying, “See that’s Jesus that Father is holding.”, but this doesn’t seem to be making much of an impression. Would it be correct to say that Jesus is hiding in the host? I think this would make sense to him but I want to make sure whatever I tell him, even if simple, is true.

To explain the deep mystery of the Eucharist to anyone, regardless of age, is difficult.  This mystery requires a lifetime of grappling with even to come to some minimal understanding of its profundity. One runs the risk of lapsing into heresy.

Perhaps the best way to expose children to the mystery of the Eucharist has a twofold approach.

Firstly, allow them to observe the reverence and awe that we adults show to the Blessed Sacrament.  Let them see our deep and genuine genuflections toward the tabernacle, our silence in church, our heads bowed in prayer, our regular reception of the Sacrament of Penance, our reverent reception of Holy Communion (not, by the way, in the hand).

Secondly, state matters as directly as possible. “Yes, dear Athanasius, that is Jesus whom mommy and daddy receive in Holy Communion. … Yes, little Etheldreda, we genuflect because Jesus is in the tabernacle. … No, Philomena, Jesus isn’t hurt when we consume the Host.”

A correct answer to some of their questions might be a simple, “It’s a mystery, which is why mommy and daddy spend as much time as we do praying at church, meditating on it, asking God to deepen our understanding of it.”

Many efforts to explain deep theological mysteries in terms that children understand fall into a sort of simplification that can, in fact, be heresy. It’s okay that little Paphnutius doesn’t understand the Eucharist in all of its profundity.  Who does?

One of the beauties of mysteries are that they allow a growth in understanding over time.  As we grow and mature in faith and in grace, our understanding can grow proportionally.   Consider the wisdom of the Church’s sacred liturgical year.  Each year, year in and year out, we are presented with the mysteries of the life of Christ and of the whole history of salvation from Creation to the End.  Each year we are a little different.  We, who receive the presentation of these mysteries, each year can glean from them something new for our identity and love of God, helpful for our salvation, helpful for our zeal to help others to salvation.

Of course much of your task and process of helping young children to grow in the Faith will be influenced – and heavily so – by the sacred liturgical worship at your church, on Sundays and other moments.   Is this worship mainly man-centered, and horizontal?  Raucous and constantly noisy?  Is this worship mainly God-oriented, and vertical?  Including silence?

Is it beautiful?

Children get these things pretty quickly, I’ll wager, and I bet parents will back me up.  If adults and older children around them behave a certain way towards … anything… they’ll pick that up.

I am sure that parents and grandparents out there have some practical wisdom to share in this regard.

UPDATE:

Amy Welborn dropped me a note (give her page a visit!):

This is pitched at First Communion age, but Pope Benedict is *so* clear about things that it might even help a 3-year old!

God bless, and thanks for all you do in these..interesting times.

Friendship with Jesus: Pope Benedict XVI Talks to Children on Their First Holy Communion   UK link HERE

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged , ,
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ASK FATHER: Can we pray to the deceased who are not saints?

souls-purgatory2From a reader…

I know that the Church encourages the faithful to pray for the intercession of Saints and those who are on the path to being canonized. However, what does the Church teach in regards to praying to the deceased who are not known to be in heaven? For example, I’ve had friends and relatives who have prayed to dead relatives or priests whom they have personally known and believed to have lived holy lives.

From the earliest times, Christians have sought the intercession of their beloved deceased. It was apparent to our ancestors that, because of Christ, death did not sever the relationship we have with our Christian brothers and sisters.

Over the centuries, the process of canonization developed to draw attention to particularly holy persons who were both powerful intercessors and also solid role models for Christian life and death.

The Church allows in her public official liturgies only the invocation of those who have been officially canonized or, limited to specific areas or religious orders, those who have been beatified.

That doesn’t prevent us from seeking the intercession of family members and friends known to us who lived holy lives and are, presumably, in purgatory or heaven.

If they are in purgatory, there remains some doubt as to whether they can intercede on our behalf.

St. Thomas Aquinas says that they cannot (Summa Theologiae II-II. 83.11). St. Robert Bellarmine disagrees (De Purgatorio, lib. II, xv) saying that the souls of the departed can pray for us in purgatory just as much as we can pray for each other on earth. St. Alphonsus Ligouri, St. Catherine of Bologna, and St. Teresa of Avila also say souls in purgatory can pray for us.

All the saints and orthodox theologians, most certainly, endorse the notion that we should pray for our beloved dead. In purgatory, they cannot earn any more indulgences on their own effort, and so rely on us to quicken their release and entrance into paradise.

Of course, souls that are damned to hell cannot pray for us.

If we ask the intercession of someone we THOUGHT was holy but who, instead, is now in hell, then I’m sure that God in His Mercy, will assign our request to another intercessor.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Four Last Things, Our Catholic Identity |
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Does Pope Francis strike you as being easily scared?

I saw this at The Telegraph:

Donald Trump to the Pope: ‘Isil wants to get you’

Donald Trump says he would not allow the Pope to criticise capitalism if they were to meet face to face, and would scare him into silence by reminding him that violent jihadis of the Islamic State want to invade the Vatican.
[…]
In an interview with CNN on Wednesday night, he was asked about the forthcoming US visit of Pope Francis, who has repeatedly said that capitalism was responsible for many of the world’s problems.
Mr Trump, who described himself as a Protestant, said he would like to meet the Pope but he would not stand for any comments that capitalism was toxic or evil.
“I’d say, ‘Isil wants to get you,'” he said “You know that Isis wants to go in and take over the Vatican….
I’m gonna have to scare the Pope because it’s the only thing.
“The Pope, I hope, can only be scared by God. But the truth is – you know, if you look at what’s going on – they better hope that capitalism works, because it’s the only thing we have right now.
“And it’s a great thing when it works properly.”

[…]

I imagine that there would be a backlash were the Pope to be killed by Islamic extremists.  But how extensive, how strong, would it be… I wonder.

BTW… Trump is certainly right.  ISIL surely would do as much damage as possible to Rome and Vatican City, if given a fraction of a chance.  It doesn’t take a lot of analysis to see that.

Does Pope Francis strike you as someone who would be easily scared by the idea of being killed by Islamic extremists?  It’s not as it hasn’t occurred to him already.

Moderation queue is ON.  Comments that aren’t on topic will simply be deleted.  (So far, that’s most of them.)

UPDATE…. No, I’m deleting all them posted so far.  In fact, I’ll probably delete this post pretty soon.

 

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