WDTPRS: Ascension Thursday – Hope informs our trials

Posted on 14 May 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Let’s have a look at the Collect for the Mass of the Lord’s Ascension… on this THURSDAY.

COLLECT – (1962MR):

Concede, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus:
ut, qui hodierna die Unigenitum tuum Redemptorem nostrum
ad caelos ascendisse credimus;
ipsi quoque mente in caelestibus habitemus.

Our hard working Lewis & Short Dictionary can have a little rest today, I think.  There is nothing especially noteworthy in the vocabulary.  Let us therefore move on to a straight-forward…

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
Grant, we beseech You, Almighty God,
that we, who believe Your Only Begotten Son our Redeemer
to have ascended on this day to heaven,
may ourselves also dwell in mind amongst heavenly things.

Bl. Abbot Columba Marmion, OSB (+1923), wrote in Christ in His Mysteries (US HERE – UK HERE) that “of all the feasts of Our Lord … the Ascension is the greatest, because it is the supreme glorification of Christ Jesus.”

Then, speaking about the very Collect we are looking at today, Bl. Columba says,

“This prayer first of all testifies to our faith in the mystery in recalling the title ‘Only-begotten Son’ and ‘Redeemer’, given to Jesus, the Church shows forth the reasons for the celestial exaltation of her Bridegroom;—she finally denotes the grace therein contained for our souls. … The mystery of Jesus Christ’s Ascension is represented to us in a manner suitable to our nature: we contemplate the Sacred Humanity rising from the earth and ascending visibly towards the heavens.”

Of course it is not only Christ’s humanity but our humanity that ascended into heaven.

We Catholics know that what was not assumed, was not redeemed (St. Gregory of Nazianzus).  Our humanity, body and soul, was taken by the Son into an unbreakable bond with His divinity. When Christ rose from the tomb, our humanity rose in Him.

When He ascended to heaven, so also did we.

In Christ our humanity now sits at the Father’s right hand.

His presence there is our great promise and hope.  It is already fulfilled, but not yet in its fullness.  That hope informs our trials in this life.

Preaching on 1 June 444 St. Pope Leo I “the Great” said,

“Truly it was a great and indescribable source of rejoicing when, in the sight of the heavenly multitudes, the nature of our human race ascended over the dignity of all heavenly creatures, to pass the angelic orders and to be raised beyond the heights of archangels. In its ascension it did not stop at any other height until this same nature was received at the seat of the eternal Father, to be associated on the throne of the glory of that One to whose nature it was joined in the Son.”

Leo says in another sermon of 17 May 445,

“This Faith, reinforced by the Ascension of the Lord and strengthened by the gift of the Holy Spirit, has not been terrified by chains, by prison, by exile, by hunger, by fire, by the mangling of wild beasts, nor by sharp suffering from the cruelty of persecutors.  Throughout the world, not only men but also women, not just immature boys but also tender virgins, have struggled on behalf of this Faith even to the shedding of their blood.  This Faith has cast out demons, driven away sicknesses, and raised the dead.”

The knowledge that our humanity is now enjoying heaven can work wonders for us in the hour of need. Keep this in mind in time of trial.

When the Lord ascended to heaven He did not lose touch with us His people in this vale of tears.  St. Augustine in s. 341 talks about Christ’s presence in every word of Scripture as Word equal to the Father; or as the mediator in the flesh dwelling in our midst; or Christ as the Head and Body together as in a spousal relationship, Christ and His Church intimately bound.

This means that Christ is not insensible to our sufferings.  Our faith in this unbreakable bond of Head and Body calls us to be clean and worthy of this saving intimacy.

Allow me to get a little mystical for moment.

Another thing that this means is that Christ, as High Priest, is now at the heavenly altar eternally offering His Sacrifice to the Father.  This means that His High priestly action is in eternity and not just in points of historical, past time.

The immense implication of all of this is that, by having our High Priest in heaven and eternity, what He does is still present to us.  All the mystery of the Passion and Resurrection is still available to us, not bound by chronology or by geographical location.

The High Priest in Heaven now guarantees that we can have many Masses at many altars at the same time, many Communions, many people encountering the Mystery through the time that hurtles toward the summation of all things when Christ will take all things to present them to the Father so that God will be all in all.

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Ascension Thursday and Lordly Feet

Posted on 14 May 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

There are many images of the Lord’s Ascension to heaven through history, and rightly so.  This is probably the greatest of all the Feasts of the Lord and for our own humanity.  Imagine!  Our humanity is seated – RIGHT NOW  – at the right hand of the Father.

The depictions I like the most are the medieval illustrations which show the Apostles, often with Mary, looking upward as a pair of lordly Feet at all that remains to be seen.

The Ascension of Christ, historiated initial ‘C’, Italy, 15C (State Library of Victoria, RARES 096 IL I)

Who better to turn to for some insight into this than Ratzinger?

From the site Ignatius Insight, providing an excerpt from “The Ascension: The Beginning of a New Nearness,” from Joseph Ratzinger’s Images of Hope: Meditations on Major Feasts (Ignatius Press, 2006 – UK HERE).  My emphases and comments:

You are surely familiar with all those precious, naïve images in which only the feet of Jesus are visible, sticking out of the cloud, at the heads of the apostles. The cloud, for its part, is a dark circle on the perimeter; on the inside, however, blazing light. It occurs to me that precisely in the apparent naïveté of this representation something very deep comes into view. All we see of Christ in the time of history are his feet and the cloud. His feet—what are they?

We are reminded, first of all, of a peculiar sentence from the Resurrection account in Matthew’s Gospel, where it is said that the women held onto the feet of the Risen Lord and worshipped him. As the Risen One, he towers over earthly proportions. We can still only touch his feet; and we touch them in adoration. Here we could reflect that we come as worshippers, following his trail, close to his footsteps. Praying, we go to him; praying, we touch him, even if in this world, so to speak, always only from below, only from afar, always only on the trail of his earthly steps. At the same time it becomes clear that we do not find the footprints of Christ when we look only below, when we measure only footprints and want to subsume faith in the obvious. The Lord is movement toward above, and only in moving ourselves, in looking up and ascending, do we recognize him.

When we read the Church Fathers something important is added. The correct ascent of man occurs precisely where he learns, in humbly turning toward his neighbor, to bow very deeply, down to his feet, down to the gesture of the washing of feet. It is precisely humility, which can bow low, that carries man upward. This is the dynamic of ascent that the feast of the Ascension wants to teach us.

Let’s have a few more, animi caussa!

From the Parisian Missal

With footprints on his blasting off pad.

And there is the more, “It’s a bird!  It’s plane!” style.

Note the reactions…

Getting a helping hand.  Christ is carrying a scroll.  What could be written on it?  It must mean something.

Here’s 15th c. Flemish version where we see Christ getting to the right hand of the Father.  Nice!

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ROME 26/5– Day 49: short

Posted on 13 May 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Sunrise in Rome was at 5:50 and sunset will be at 20:24.

The Ave Maria is in the 20:45 cycle.

It is the traditional Feast of St. Robert Bellarmine and the Feast of the Dedication of Santa Maria “ad Martyres” (the Pantheon) in 609.

Also, this is the Vigil of the Ascension of the Lord.

‘Tis also the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima.

Terrific news.

Rome trivia.

 

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13 May: Statement by Prefect for the Doctrine of the Faith about the 1 July SSPX consecration of bishops. Fr. Z makes a plea.

Posted on 13 May 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

In today’s Bollettino there is “Declaration” from the one named as Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Statement by His Eminence Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, 13.05.2026

Regarding the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X, we reiterate what has already been communicated. The episcopal ordinations announced by the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X do not have the corresponding pontifical mandate. This gesture will constitute “a schismatic act” (John Paul II, Ecclesia Dei, n. 3), and “formal adherence to the schism constitutes a grave offense against God and entails the excommunication established by Church law” (ibid., 5c; cf. Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, Explanatory Note, August 24, 1996).

The Holy Father continues in his prayers to ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten the leaders of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X so that they retrace their steps regarding the very serious decision they have taken.

From the Vatican, May 13, 2026

A couple of points of Holy Writ pop into my mind.  But here is one we recently heard in church on Sunday from the Letter of James 1:

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who observes his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer that forgets but a doer that acts, he shall be blessed in his doing.

26 If any one thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is vain. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

The “doer” goes to visit the orphans and widows.

As for “unstained”… what is that Synod Report but precisely a “stain”, which calls millennially settled moral teaching “emerging”, which seeks to wipe out the entirety of what the Church has held “everywhere, always, and by all”.

The 2nd Sunday after Easter in the Vetus Ordo is “Good Shepherd Sunday” and our minds go to John 10 but also the parable of the lost sheep in Matthew 18 and Luke 15.  The shepherd goes to the sheep.   In John 10 the shepherd knows his sheep.

Were Leo to call the leadership of the SSPX to come to meet with him, they would come, though perhaps the pattern might be closer to the Biblical ideal were he to extend himself to them.

In this time of the greatest novena from Ascension to Pentecost, we can ask the Holy Spirit concretely in this case of the Holy Father and the leadership of the SSPX to do what we pray for by singing the Pentecost Sequence:

Flecte quod est rigidum,
fove quod est frigidum,
rege quod est devium.

Bend what is inflexible,
warm what is chilled,
correct what has gone astray.

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ROME 13 May 609 – Exorcism, screaming demons, terrified people fainting

Posted on 13 May 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

No, this is not about the take over of the Church by “walking together” ideology propagandists.

This is about the Dedication of the Pantheon in Rome as a church in 609.

Dear readers, this is the sort of thing that Popes do!  They fight against the forces of Hell, instead of bringing them into the Vatican gardens.  They work for the salvation of souls, instead of issuing statements and documents that can lead people into confusion.

When the ancient obelisk that was in the Circus of Caligula off to the side of St. Peter’s Basilica was moved to the center of the piazza in 1586, Pope Sixtus V caused to be inscribed on its base words from the Rite of Exorcism.  He exorcized the thing to stand against the approach to the basilica of demons and the possessed.  Priests were asked to repeat the words from the exorcism as they approached.

Pope Sixtus took a pagan thing, exorcized it, and made it a bulwark against the demonic.

That was then.

In 2019 a demon idol bowl was brought into the Basilica and placed on the ALTAR over the bones of the first Vicar of Christ.

Here’s another things Popes do.

In 609 Pope Boniface IV took a pagan thing… the pagan thing… the Roman building dedicated to “all the gods… pan-theon” (aka demons) exorcised it and made it into a church!

This is the pattern, by the way.  One might say, “This is the way.”

Before things are consecrated, they are exorcized.

There is a constant supernatural battle going on around us, between the holy angels and apostate demons.  We have many helps in this battle, including sacramentals and, especially, the sacraments.

One sacramental is the Rite of Exorcism.  There are “major” exorcisms and “minor”.  Exorcisms can be done over people, things and places.

Church buildings ought to be exorcized inside and out before they are consecrated.

In the traditional rite of the consecration of a church, first, the building is exorcized at three ascending levels, each with a procession around the building (in the same pattern/direction, btw, as the priest swings incense in circles over the gifts on the altar at the offertory).  The process is repeated inside the church.  Only then are the faithful allowed to enter.

THAT’s “pastoral”!

(For you libs, so you can understand, pástoral is the adult version of your “pastóral” or, in extreme cases, “pastóreeal”).

In 609 the Emperor Phocas gave the magnificent ancient Roman Pantheon, the temple to “all the gods” to the Church.

Pope Boniface IV got rid of all the pagan stuff and consecrated it to the Mother of God and the martyrs on this day, 13 May.

Of course before anything is to be consecrated, it first had to be exorcized. This is especially the case with a pagan temple that had been dedicated to demons.

We have an account of the exorcism of the Pantheon before it was consecrated this day.  In Italian HERE.

“In 608 the Byzantine emperor Phoca gave [the temple] to Pope Boniface IV and there was organized an evocative ceremony to consecrate it to the Christian God.   On 13 May 609 a huge crowd gathered near the Pantheon to witness the event. Chronicles recount chaos and chilling screams that were felt from within: the pagan demons were aware of what was about to happen. The doors were thrown open and the Pope, in front of the entrance, began to recite the formulas for the exorcism. The screams from the idols increased in intensity, and the commotion deafened the ears of the onlookers.  Fear gripped the crowd and no one was able to stand on their feet, looking and hearing that terrible spectacle. Only Boniface IV resisted and, undaunted, prayed and consecrated the Pantheon to Christ. It is said that the demons left the ancient temple chaotically and with a great din, fleeing from the open “eye” of the dome or from the main doors.  Once the ceremony was over, the Pope dedicated the building to the Madonna dei Martiri, in memory, perhaps, of the many Christians killed in honor of those filthy idols … “

There was also a vision of Catherine Ann Emerich:

One of the visions of Bl. Catherine Emmerich was precisely about the exorcism and consecration of the Pantheon: “…  I saw again the whole ceremony of the consecration of the temple: the holy martyrs assisted with Mary at their head.  The altar was not placed in the middle, but was was up against the wall.  I saw carried into church more than 30 carts of holy bones.  Many of these were put into the walls.  Others could be seen, where there were round holes in the wall, closed up with something that looked like glass. (p. Schmoeger, ‘Vie d’Anne Catherine Emmerich’, tomo III, pp. da 69 a 71)

Battles with the Enemy are fought on many levels.  Let us not forget that demons are territorial and legalistic.

Once they claim a toehold, it requires effort to break their hold and get rid of them from places, things and persons.

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Dealing with some misleading … not quite fake… news

Posted on 13 May 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Yesterday I nearly had a syncope when I saw a tweet that Leo XIV had given the “highest diplomatic honour” to the Ambassador to the Holy See from vicious IRGC in Iran to the Holy See. HERE

I noticed a while later that a former Ambassador to the Holy See from Hungary, Eduard Habsburg, had tweeted that Leo, in fact, “might have given the Ambassador the Ordine Piano, something ALL ambassadors get after a certain time”.

Now I see this. I’ve underlined and pointed to something… it’s small but important.

Can you read it?   The Ambassador was given the “Ordine Piano”, the Order of Pius IX.  The “pian” is used as an adjective for something from a Pope Pius, as when the Tridentine Rite is called the “Pian Rite” after Pius V and the Novus Ordo the “Pauline Rite” after Paul VI.

As for papal honors… they are in descending order…  The Pius IX is not the highest.

Supreme Order of Christ (no members as of 31 July 1993)
Order of the Golden Spur (no members as of 23 April 2019)
Order of Pius IX
Order of Saint Gregory the Great
Order of Saint Sylvester

Moreover, the Pius IX, “Ordine Piano” is, in itself not the highest being given.   The Order itself has levels.    There is the rank of “Knight” or “Dame” for service.  The “Grand Cross” is given to Ambassadors after 2 years and occasionally to other Catholics.   Knights Grand Cross wear a sash and a star on the left side of the breast. There are also “Commander” and “Commander with Star”.

Leo gave Charles III the Knight Grand Cross with Collar  of the Vatican Order of Pope Pius IX and to the wife the Dame Grand Cross (mutatis mutandis).   This is what states do.

So, the “Ordine Piano” is itself a kind of diplomatic nothing burger… under ordinary circumstances.

However, this burger was given to the guy from the IRGC in Iran precisely during a time of armed conflict with its neighbors and with the US armed forces over the Straight of Hormuz and viable nuclear weapons.  They have been the chief promoters of terror in the world through their proxies.  And we all know about the recent verbal dust ups between the American Pontiff and the America POTUS.

I find it hard to stomach that this fellow should receive a papal honor that has upon it “VIRTUTI ET MERITO… for virtue and merit”.   I suppose they must argue that, to not give it after two years would be a diplomatic faux pas.   (I’d be okay with that.)

Moreover… I don’t think he can wear it.  Can he even accept it?

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ROME 26/5– Day 48: Good news

Posted on 12 May 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

5:51 was the time of the Roman sunrise.

20:25 was the time of the Roman sunset.

20:45 was the time when the “Ave Maria” Bell ought to have wrung for the Roman Curia.  However, it rang on my spiffy “Ave Maria Clock” App.

This is the 132 day of the calendar year.

CLICK

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links.  US HERE – UK HERE  WHY?  This helps to pay for health insurance, utilities, groceries, etc..  At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.

Some good news. From a reader:

Thanks for all you do. Deo gratias! The Archdiocese of Galveston Houston ordained seven men to the Transitional Diaconate today. They are good men whom I have had the pleasure of teaching. They will be good priests.
At the reception afterward, I was told that we could have as many as 27 men enter formation this year for their propaedeutic year. May the Lord continue to send workers for the harvest! Please keep all of us who help form our future priests in prayers!

Let’s indeed pray for them.  There are rough waters ahead.

Rough waters indeed.   Here’s a story:

St. Francis Xavier’s birthplace hosts ‘Yoga Congress’ with images of Christ alongside Buddha, Krishna

NAVARRA, Spain (LifeSiteNews) — The Jesuit-run Castle of Javier hosted a three-day “Yoga Congress” that brought together more than 250 participants for meditation, mantra concerts, and Eastern spiritual practices.

From May 1 to May 3, the XII Iberian Yoga Congress took place at the Castle of Javier in Navarra, the birthplace of St. Francis Xavier and a spiritual center administered by the Jesuits. The event was organized by the Spanish Satsanga Yoga Federation (FEYS) and gathered participants from Spain and Portugal for conferences, workshops, yoga sessions, meditations, and activities connected to Eastern and New Age spirituality.

[…]

There’s more.   What is it with Jesuits and yoga, which is a gateway to demonic oppression and possession?  HERE and HERE (of course Jasmine is involved).

I haven’t done much cooking, but I did have some veg I needed to dispatch, so I got a chicken, spatchcocked it, and got to work.  That also onion, celery, garlic and fennel.

I put a little brown on that chicken.   Added some broth and white wine.

I removed the chicken, drained the liquid and put the veg back in to roast more.  Meanwhile, we can start the gravy.

Whisk it into your warm juice and watch it thicken.   Just a little bit of color for that roux.

With a sauv blanc from Lazio.


Just for nice.

White to move and mate in 4.

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

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Vestment Instruction from The World’s Best Sacristan™

Posted on 11 May 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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ROME 26/5– Day 46 & 47: Shall I tell you a story?

Posted on 11 May 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Today, the 11th of the month saw the sunrise on Rome at 5:52.

It will duly set at 20:22.

The Ave Maria Bell in the curial reckoning should ring at 20:45.   A new cycle as of today.

 

This is probably NeoCat rubbish but it is instructive.  BTW… the one who posted this tweet is not approving of what it shows, he’s explaining the underlying thought.

Everyone drinks from the chalice. The Mass is a fraternal banquet, the altar is a table, there is no real presence of Christ after the consecration. So nothing, let’s drink the pure symbol.

No “danger of profanation” there. Nope. Not at all. An the the TLM must be suppressed, right? But I guess what those folks are doing is okay because … why?… it’s in keeping with Vatican II and the TLM isn’t? Show me in Sacrosanctum Concilium anything that justifies that. Does anyone think that that is what the Council Fathers were voting for? Denial of transubstantiation?

I was thrown out of my US seminary by the prof (heretic priest slime) who, in class, explicitly denied the Church’s teaching on transubstantiation. I fought him in class when he stated that “no real change takes place”.

Shall I tell you about it? It was a matter of great personal suffering followed by years of more suffering.

This heretic stated in class that when the “ordained minister [we are all ministers, you see, some ordained and some non-ordained], says the words of institution [not consecration] over bread and wine “no real change takes place.” Wait for it. “No real change takes place. It becomes [and this is word for word] a symbol of the unity of the community gathered there in that moment”.

How many things are wrong with that?

I had been good. I had kept my head down. Then… I raised my hand.

I asked about transubstantiation.

“How”, I asked, “does that reflect the Church’s teaching on transubstantiation?”

“The Church no longer teaches transubstantiation.”

“When did that happen?”, I asked.

He said, “With Vatican II.”

“Okay,”, I admitted, “let’s say that Vatican II did that. Can you tell me how that harmonizes with what the Church used to teach on transubstantiation?”

He said that transubstantiation wasn’t a valid term, because we don’t adhere anymore to Aristotelean categories of substance and accident, form and matter, and all that.

I then asked him why Paul VI in his encyclical on the Eucharist, during Vatican II, said that we had to refer to transubstantiation, even when we use new ways to describe the Eucharist.

He became furious.

Purple, he ranted at me about outdated Aristotelean categories, blah blah blah.

I responded… and this, dear readers, was my Battle of Asculum,…

“I grew up Lutheran. Even Lutherans believe more than you do!”

Soon after, the rector had a heart attack and he, rector of vice (not kidding, but that’s another story), became the rector.

The next day he threw me out of the hell on earth that was our seminary, back in the day.

Yep. I’ve been fighting this fight for a long time. I take this issue seriously. Some of you younger priests and seminarians haven’t fought this fight yet. You will. In that day, find us older guys, with the scars. We’ll help you.

(BTW… a now well-know Archbishop and St. Therese de Lisieux got me back in.)

May I suggest to all priests reading this to review the Church’s teaching on the Eucharist and preach it clearly and boldly?

May I suggest to all priests and bishops to revive the Forty Hours Devotion?

May I suggest to all lay people to ask, request, beg, cajole, demand, urge the return of devotions such as Forty Hours and frequent Exposition and Benediction?

There there is this:

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Black. Mate = 4  Easy

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How many times have written on this blog…

Posted on 10 May 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

At Crisis there is a good piece by Joseph Pearce (who has written about Shakespeare and Tolkien and Literary Converts is a must read) about “The Resurrection of Beauty”, specifically in sacred liturgical worship and in the architecture, etc., that holds it.   He waxes eloquent about St. Joseph’s in Detroit, which is marvelous, in an Archdiocese which has felt the pastoral jackboot of traditional suppression.

There are two bits I’ll share, and then you can read the rest there.

First, note what he says G.K. Chesterton said about Gothic architecture.  Very clever.

However, Pearce opens his essay with a quote from Joseph Ratzinger…

If the Church is to continue to transform and humanize the world, how can she dispense with beauty in her liturgies, that beauty which is so closely linked with love and with the radiance of the Resurrection?

—Cardinal Ratzinger

This question, asked by the future Pope Benedict XVI, is purely rhetorical. The answer is that the Church cannot continue to transform and humanize the world if she dispenses with the beauty of the liturgy. “Without this,” Cardinal Ratzinger continued, “the world will become the first circle of hell.” Restoring the beauty of the liturgy is, therefore, saving the world from Hell itself.

[…]

How many times have written on this blog…

Save The Liturgy, Save The World

 

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