This is the height of narcissism.
From Eponymous Flower and pius.info:
The picture of the week shows a “Hardrock-Mass” in the Cathedral of Tarragona (Spain) on the 8th of April 2012. The celebrant is known as “Padre Jony”, such is his stage name. HIs real name is Joan Enric Reverte, and he is the Pastor of St. Peter Parish in Alcanar.
I like this from The Catholic Thing:
The Anti-Catholic Catholic
By Randall Smith [who teaches theology at the University of St. Thomas, Houston.]
Several weeks back, I published a column in this space suggesting that in our current pluralistic, multi-cultural worship of the alienated, victimized “other,” some are more “other” than others. Some “otherness” gets you respect and a kind of special veneration, while other sorts of “otherness” – uncool “otherness” – earns you contempt.
It’s simply not true that our culture embraces all diversity; no, people usually embrace the sorts of diversity they like or that make them feel especially “open-minded.” And to be especially “open-minded” and “accepting” of “otherness,” one has to embrace things distinctly different from oneself, which tends to make us look too kindly on some groups just because they’re different, while looking with contempt on others closer to us for no other reason than they’re not different enough.
[…]
He goes on to apply this to Catholic colleges, but we can apply it nearly anywhere.
Prayer to Saint Joseph for a Difficult Problem
O Glorious St. Joseph, thou who hast power to render possible even things which are considered impossible, come to our aid in our present trouble and distress.
Take this important and difficult affair under thy particular protection, that it may end happily. (MENTION YOUR REQUEST)
O dear St. Joseph, all our confidence is in thee. Let it not be said that we would invoke thee in vain; and since thou art so powerful with Jesus and Mary, show that thy goodness equals thy power. Amen.
St. Joseph, friend of the Sacred Heart, pray for us.
My experience has been that, when praying to St. Joseph, it is best to be specific.
Other than the fact that I get a commission every time you buy Mystic Monk Coffee using my links… and please, I ask you to do so, because it really helps… this video will also show you why I like to push their coffee and tea and help the Wyoming Carmelites.
For your Brick by Brick file.
[wp_youtube]ItBoQsWEW_Q[/wp_youtube]
At the blog of the Latin Mass Society‘s chairman, Joseph Shaw, there is the exposition of an important Latin text of Pius X in 1905 about frequent reception of Holy Communion. The Latin is presented and compared to an English translation on the EWTN site, which may be the only English translation on the web.
The text is about receiving Communion with the knowledge of venial sins.
3. Etsi quam maxime expediat, ut frequenti et quotidiana communione utentes venialibus peccatis, saltem plene deliberatis, eorumque affectu sint expertes, sufficit nihilominus, ut culpis mortalibus vacent, cum proposito, se numquam in posterum peccaturos; quo sincero animi proposito, fieri non potest quin quotidie communicates a peccatis etiam venialibus, ab eorumque affectu sensim se expediant;
Here is how EWTN did it, with emphasis added:
3. Although it is especially fitting that those who receive Communion frequently or daily should be free from venial sins, at least from such as are fully deliberate, and from any affection thereto, nevertheless, it is sufficient that they be free from mortal sin, with the purpose of never sinning in the future; and if they have this sincere purpose, it is impossible by [sic] that daily communicants should gradually free themselves even from venial sins, and from all affection thereto.
Shaw points to a serious problem. The translation makes a hash of what the Latin wants to convey, namely, that reception of Communion helps to over come venial sins. The EWTN translation ought to read, typo corrected:
… it is not possible BUT that daily communicants should gradually free themselves even from venial sins, and from all affection thereto.
or else:
… it is bound to happen that daily communicants should gradually free themselves even from venial sins, and from all affection thereto.
Clearly there was a typo, probably the result of scanning the document.
Now… forget about that Holy Communion and venial sin thing… we all know that part! Instead, focus on the double negative! Latin is comfortable with multiple-negatives, whereas English is less so. Also, Latin like the impersonal constructions more than English.
On his blog Shaw points out the nonsensical EWTN translation but I think we can tweak it and get extra mileage from it.
“Fieri non potest” is literally, “it is not possible that it happen (… that)”, which would be followed with some consequent result. In this case “fieri non potest” is followed by a clause introduced by quin . Quin is a compound of quî + ne or “how” + “not”. (“How does it not happen that…?” in order to state a positive assertion.) Thus “Fieri non potest quin, etc.” gives us something like “it is not possible that daily communicants should not gradually free themselves…”. Put another way, with that double negative at work, we could say “It is bound to happen that daily communicants will gradually free themselves…”
That fieri non potest quin … “it cannot happen but that” or “it cannot happen otherwise than that” or even “it is sure to happen that…” construction isn’t exactly rare. Cicero uses it often.
“But Father! But Father!”, some of you Latin students are eagerly shouting, “How can you stop now? How can you not break this down a bit more! We all know that all readers here love Latin grammar and will hang on your every word! Surely it cannot be other than that everyone here will read every syllable!”
If you insist.
Since I am under the gun to write a couple talks, but I have too much to do and writing a talk is on my mind, “Fieri non potest quin allocutionem suam scripserit.”, would assert a positive through the double-negative: “It cannot be but that he has written his talk.” On the other hand, “Fieri non potest quin allocutionem suam non scripserit.”, would assert the negative: “It cannot be but that he has not written his talk.” Get it? On the other hand, “Fieri non potest ut suam allocutionem non scripserit” would deny the negative and mean “It is not possible that he has not written his talk.” But going on “Fieri non potest ut suam allocutionem scripserit.” would deny the positive and mean “It is not possible that he has written his talk”. Easy, right?
Again, Latin likes impersonal phrases. However, a personal way of using this construction would be “facere non possum… I can not do other than…” or, in the case of these communicants “facere non possunt… they are bound to”.
I think you get the impact of the construction now. Thus endeth the lesson.
That said, it is now impossible that I not finish and post this entry.
At the site of the SSPX DICI, there is an interview with the SSPX Superior Bp. Bernard Fellay about the recently concluded General Chapter (which is a gathering in which the participants discuss policies, internal matters, etc.).
Read it all, but here are some highlights. First, Fellay said that they were able to get through their agenda and that they dealt with hard questions and clear up misunderstandings. He distanced the Society from “all those who have tried to take advantage of the situation in order to drive a wedge turning Society members against each other.”. Also, he said they will be able to communicate a response to Rome “very soon”.
Interview with Bishop Bernard Fellay on the occasion of the General Chapter (July 16, 2012)
[…]
DICI : What are your thoughts on the appointment of Archbishop Mueller as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith?
Bishop Fellay : It is nobody’s secret that the former bishop of Regensburg, where our seminary of Zaitzkofen is located, does not like us. After the courageous action of Benedict XVI on our behalf, in 2009, he refused to cooperate and treated us like if we were lepers! He is the one who stated that our seminary should be closed and that our students should go to the seminaries of their dioceses of origin, adding bluntly that “the four bishops of the SSPX should resign”! (cf. interview with Zeit Online, 8 May 2009). [While clearly the Prefect of the CDF has a great deal of influence in the dealings of the Congregation, it is also the role of the Prefect to snap to attention when the Roman Pontiff tells him to do something. At that point, the Prefect of any Congregation puts aside his personal positions and does what the Pope says. The role of the Prefect in the CDF is not to function so much as a theologian, but rather to make the trains run on time. Moreover, much of the work will have to be done by the newly appointed VP of the Pont. Comm. “Ecclesia Dei“.]
For us what is more important and more alarming is his leading role at the head of the Congregation for the Faith, which must defend the Faith with the proper mission of fighting doctrinal errors and heresy. Numerous writings of Bishop Mueller on the real transubstantiation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, on the dogma of Our Lady’s virginity, on the need of conversion of non-Catholics to the Catholic Church… are questionable, to say the least! [I don’t buy that.] There is no doubt that these texts would have been in the past the object of an intervention of the Holy Office, [I wonder. And this is entirely hypothetical.] which now is the very Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith presided by him.
DICI : How do you see the future of the SSPX? In the midst of its fight for the Church’s Tradition, will the SSPX keep to the same knife’s edge?
Bishop Fellay : More than ever we must maintain the knife’s edge traced by our venerated founder. [But, dear Bishop Fellay, will the SSPX do that in clear unity with the Roman Pontiff or from the margin?] It is not easy to keep, yet absolutely vital for the Church and the treasure of its Tradition. We are Catholic, we recognise the pope and the bishops, [Recognize, but don’t submit to.] but above all else we must keep intact the Faith, source of God’s grace. Therefore we must avoid all that may endanger the Faith, without trying to become a replacement for the Church, Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman. Far from us the idea of establishing a parallel Church, of exercising a parallel magisterium! [Tell that to the Magisterium of Nuns!]
This was well explained by Archbishop Lefebvre more than thirty years ago: he did not wish to hand down anything else but what he himself had received from the Church of two millennia. This is what we want also, following his lead, so that we may effectively help “to restore all things in Christ.” [The motto of St. Pius X.]It is not us who will break with Rome, the Eternal Rome, [Sigh. “Eternal Rome”. There’s your “hermeneutic of rupture and discontinuity” in another guise.] mistress of wisdom and truth. Nevertheless, it would be unrealistic to deny that there is a modernist and liberal influence in the Church since the Second Vatican Council and its subsequent reforms. In a word, we maintain the faith in the primacy of the Roman Pontiff and in the Church founded upon Peter, but we refuse all which contributes to the “self-demolition of the Church” acknowledged by Paul VI himself since 1968. May Our Lady, Mother of the Church, hasten the day of its authentic restoration! [May she hasten your submission so that you can raise the roof and do your work within clear unity!]
I was struck by his affirmation of the Church, and the Roman Pontiff, though his “Eternal Rome” smacks of a distinction that suggests they are in their own rupture and discontinuity with the very “Eternal Rome” they profess. You can go off the road and into the ditch on either side of the road, after all.
But what really struck me in that was yesterday’s Gospel for Mass, which all of the members of the SSPX would have heard or read.
(Jesus said,) “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father in heaven shall enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 7:21.
They say again and again, “Your Holiness, Your Holiness… Rome… Rome… ” but they also need to act on what they say. They need to come into clear unity with the Vicar of Christ… the one who stands in Christ’s place … vicarius… in this world in our Church.
I have been hopeful that the whole or most of the SSPX will come in. If they decide not, I hope the Holy See offers the canonical solution they have ready for those who would want to seek clear unity with Peter. The sacrifice and the transition would be very hard for the individuals, but I would welcome any of them that made the choice. Still, my prayer remains, and I ask our Lady of Mount Carmel today to help bring it about for all of them.
Those of you who may be new readers may not know about the mug I made with a phrase of Bl. John Henry Newman: “To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant.”
Thinking back on the course of my own conversion, the elements which made it easier to take the plunge, and considering the growing projects of the Anglican Ordinariates, and also remembering that Benedict XVI – the Pope of Christian Unity – beatified John Henry Newman…. I put the phrase on a coffee mug.
I used my mug today for a nice Earl Grey tea, which made me think about posting about it again. It’s pretty nice.
Fill yours with Mystic Monk Coffee as soon as humanly possible.
Here is a shot of the regular sized coffee mug… I’ll bet you could put your yogurt and granola in it too.
The Z-Swag Store is HERE.
A shot of the larger coffee mug.. I’ll bet that you could put … hot chocolate in it too!
You see that for this mug I really wrapped the design across most of its surface.
Here is the largest mug, the stein. I suspect that this might be coaxed into holding a beer.
The image itself (it’s larger on the mugs):
Here are three shots of the ur-mug, the larger coffee mug. It is made from the same durable stuff I have been punishing for years in the microwave and dishwasher.
I also made another version, with the phrase tighter on one side to make it easier to read:
After years of treating these things with great brutality in the nuclear reactor and the bottom rack of the washer near the heat, I have succeeded in getting a crack in one of them, cosmetic, but not fatal.
It might start a conversation. But I suggest that before flashing it about, you might brush up on why being deep in history leads to the Catholic Church.
You can find all the links you need to Z-stuff here.
A reader sent me this amusing graphic. I was reminded of two things. First, years ago in Rome there was a common wall-scrawl from the spray-painting vandals: CLORO AL CLERO. I was also reminded of the facetious post I made about the nuns protesting the jailing of the Holy Father’s document leaking butler, whom they likened to Daniel Elsberg.
At APotD I saw this interesting news: Pluto has a fifth moon!
A fifth moon has been discovered orbiting Pluto. The moon was discovered earlier this month in images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in preparation for the New Horizons mission’s scheduled flyby of Pluto in 2015. Pictured above, the moon is currently seen as only a small blip that moves around the dwarf planet as the entire system slowly orbits the Sun. The moon, given a temporary designation of S/2012 (134340) 1 or just P5 (as labeled), is estimated to span about 15 kilometers and is likely composed mostly of water-ice. Pluto remains the only famous Solar System body never visited by a human-built probe and so its origins and detailed appearance remain mostly unknown.
From a reader:
Regarding the Sabbatine Privilege, it is my understanding that person may meet the requirements by reciting the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary or, if given permission by their priest, saying the Rosary.
My question is may a person also fulfill gain this privilege by daily recitation of Divine Office (which I recite) or must it be the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary?
Since the Sabbatine privilege is no longer listed in the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, and since all indulgences from previous times are explicitly abrogated by the current Enchiridion, we can safely conclude that the Sabbatine privilege has also been abrogated.
Some of you scratching your heads and asking, “But Father! But Father! What’s the Sabbatine privilege?”
In a nutshell:
The Sabbatine Privilege is a promise by our Blessed Mother that she would liberate from Purgatory, on the Saturday after their death, those souls who met the following conditions during their lives on earth. “Sabbatine” is an adjective deriving from Sábbato, the Latin word for Saturday.
For the conditions and a more complete explanation I recommend that you go HERE.
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
A Daily Prayer for Priests
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