Fr. Z's Blog | Formerly entitled: "What Does The Prayer Really Say?" – Clear, straight commentary on Catholic issues, liturgy and life by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf o{]:¬)

ROME 24/4– Day 39 & 40 (-2 & -1): An ACTION ITEM!

Posted on 29 April 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Sunrise today was at 0606 and the Tramonta will be at 20:09.

Today the Ave Maria bell changed to the 20:30 cycle yesterday, 28 April. Circumstances didn’t allow me to post.

Welcome registrants:

Madeleine Therese
Gemma_Marie
Wally54

Thanks you NE for switching to Zelle for donations!

I had an interesting experience yesterday, that was a common experience, but an interesting common experience because of the circumstances.

I made a determination to make a renunciation of any and all evil effects of intergenerational masonic influence, which is demonic. Involvement with masonry can “stick” to a family. Demons are legalistic. They claim rights after oaths are taken in the various grades of these masonic organizations. These claims must be broken with formal renunciations. There are texts which express this. It can be done along with the recitation of a minor exorcism by a priest (such as the Minor Exorcism of St Cyprian, which can be done without additional permissions from superiors).

In any event, in the lead up to doing this, I obviously wanted to make a good confession and then say Mass (a layperson would want to go to Mass and receive Communion in the state of grace). These I did yesterday. Later, I was out on an errand. I passed near a church where a seriously disheveled street person was parked, an older man, not unknown in the neighborhood and generally harmless. On seeing me he exploded in screaming all manner of insults with filthy gestures, directed at my being a priest. I kept walking. As I rounded the corner out of sight, I heard a howl like that of some sort of animal. Someone didn’t like my project, I think.

Any priest who has been in Rome for any length of time will have had experiences like this, people saying horrible things, spiting, etc. It’s part of the landscape. In some cases this could be due to mental illness or other factors. In other instances the behavior and what is said is probably due to something else. I add this because this is the first time in the 40 days I have been here that this has happened and it was particularly vile and explosive. Coincidence?

In any event, the renunciation has been effected. I had no special sensation during it. It was aimed at any intergenerational influences from my forebears who may have been involved in one of these demonically driven religions that are “secret” organizations. Of interest was, in the text of the renunciation, the “disconnection” the renunciation was intended to make with physical ailments which are result of curses that are supposed to fall on people in that demonic influence because of the oaths that were made. Principle among the ailments mentioned is something that has been a mortal malady for family members on one side.

The spiritual realm is real. Acts have consequences. Consequences can be generational. Consequences can be physical. If what I did can help both myself and members of my family, close and extended, it’ll have been a good day’s work.

We have SACRAMENTS and the power of Christ acting through his priests.

The Enemy is very good at being an enemy, but in the end he doesn’t stand a chance.

And now the ACTION ITEM! If you have anything in your possession (pun intended) that is a masonic object, symbol, instrument, etc. This includes “Shriners” stuff. You should destroy it by burning or at least breaking and the remains should be put into “living water”, such as a creek or river that is flowing. Any and all of this stuff, no matter from whom you inherited it or found it… gone. Get rid of it. NOW. Furthermore, if you know of masonry in your family tree, or you have been involved, you should do something about it.

NB: I’m NOT saying by that there is surely IS some malevolent attachment. There could be. I was not 100% sure in my case. I decided not to twiddle my thumbs and just did it. Why not?

And …

GO TO CONFESSION!

To think that in S. M sopra Minerva a “versus populo” altar was set up. Looks out of place, no? Am I right?

Today in the Novus Ordo it is the Feast of St. Catherine of Siena. Today, 29 April was her “birthday” in 1380 at the age of 33. In the older calendar, her feast is 30 April.

During her life she carried out a vigorous “apostolate” of letter writing to important people and was a major force in persuading the Pope to return to Rome from Avignon. Speaking of Avignon, please buy wine from the traditional Benedictines of Le Barroux. They have revived the ancient vineyards of the Avignon Popes. There’s a little history in each glass, as it were.

Catherine was dedicated to works of mercy toward the poor. She had a mystical experience, called the “mystical marriage”, which is the frequent subject of medieval and renaissance art.

Catherine had dictated much of her “writings” because for a long while she didn’t know how to write. She eventually did. Her writings are exemplary Tuscan literature of the era.

Her major work is the Dialogue between her soul and God, written mostly in a state of ecstasy.

It is in the Dialogue (ch 124) that we find a passage that I’ve posted several times on this blog, and which should be widely circulated, about how truly disgusting same-sex acts against nature are, how the demons who prompt them and then claim attachment because of them (on the theme of demons attaching), find the acts so contemptible, so offensive to their angelic nature (they are still angels!), will not remain present while they are being committed. One of those posts is HERE.

Catherine is, by the way, a declared Doctor of the Church. When she writes in the Dialogue about something, it is a good idea to pay attention, at the very least.

Catherine’s head is in Siena. Her body is in Rome, in the Dominican church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva.

You can go behind the altar in the church where the back of the altar’s chamber is op. The faithful pray there, touch the tomb, leave messages of petition

Around the block facing the church is the little chapel which was where St Catherine died.

There are also the relics of martyrs here, which I am guessing come from the time when relics from Santa Prassede were distributed among Roman churches in the 1800’s. Just a guess.

“Cheeeeese!”, sister.

This stone is next to the door going into the little chapel. It is talking directly to you, the reader.

Let’s have your perfect and yet smooth version (If you spot a typo or oddo, let me know):

HUMILEM HANC ET PRIMA SUA FRONTE NEGLECTAM DOMUM
INGREDI ET INVISERE NE DEDIGNERIS VIATOR
UT EIUS MAGNIFICENTIAM AGNOSCAS
EO MAGIS ADMIRANDAM QUO MINUS VISITATAM
NEC TAM ARTIS MINISTERIO QUAM MAGISTERIO SANCTITATIS ILLUSTREM
EA SCILICET DOMUS EST QUAM VIRGO SANCTISSIMA CATHARINA SENENSIS
POST REDITUM QUO IPSA EXCITANTE ET SUADENTE
IN URBE AVENIONENSI ROMAM SE RETULIT IN SEDEM
GREGORIUS VENDECIMUS P. M. ANNO DNI MCCCLXXVI
AB OMNIBUS SAECULI CURIS ABSTRACTA SOLIQUE SUO SPONSO IESU DEDITA TRIENNALI REDDIDIT COMMORATIONE PIISSIMAM
PLURESQUE HIC ALIA SUE REGULA SANTI DOMINICI DICATAS DEO VIRGINES
INTER PRECES ET LACRIMAS BEATORUM DELICIIS DELIBUTAS
AD CAELESTEM VITAM SANCTISSIMIS MORUM EXEMPLIS ERUDIENS
PRIMA FUNDAMENTA LOCAVIT INCLITI MONASTERII
QUOD NUNC NUNC TEMPORIS SUB TITULO SANCTAE CATHERINAE SENENSIS AMPLIOREM IN FORMAM MAIESTATEMQUE EXCITATUM
ROMANAE NOBILITATIS LILIA IN MONTI BALNEOPOLITANI CLIVO VERNANTIA
INTER RELIGIOSAE VITAE SPINAS ILLIBATA CUM FAMA CUSTODIT
HIC DEMUM TRIENNIO ELAPSO REGNANTE URBANO SEXTO ANNO DNI MCCCLXXX
URBI ORBI CAELOQUE CHARISSIMA
SANCTISSIMAMA ANIMAM INTER SPONSI IESU OSCULA EXHALAVIT
IN PAUPERE DOMO SACRIS OMNIBUS VIRGINIBUS
OPULENTISSIMAM RELINQUENS PRAECEPTIS ET MORIBUS SANCTIFICATIS HAEREDITATEM
TANTA HAEC PIETATIS VESTIGIA MORTIS VIM IMMORTALITATE VICTURA
PRONO ANIMI CULTU VENERARE VIATOR ET ABI.

It’s quite lovely.

Yesterday, I was out with The Great Roman™ for some lunch, which featured a couple of starters to share.

Fried anchovies.

Caponata. It has been some time since I’ve made my own caponata. I’ll have to do so when I get “home”. This batch was quite good.

In chessy news, not much to say. There is a tournament going on in Sweden. I see that Peter Svidler defeated Ju Wenjun, the women’s world champ.

Meanwhile, here’s a good one. White to move and mate in 3. Can you find it? If so, how long did it take?

Nice people! Great service!

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

Interested in learning? Try THIS.

Chess is one of those intergenerational games that is the gift of a lifetime. Get out that board and play! GET A BOARD and play!

Since I wrote about Dominicans, above, help the Dominican Sisters in Summit.

Posted in GO TO CONFESSION, SESSIUNCULA | Tagged noad
16 Comments

WDTPRS – 5th Sunday of Easter (Novus Ordo): The prayer’s very word order reveals God’s love

Posted on 28 April 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

As we journey from the passion and Easter toward Ascension and Pentecost, the Church in Holy Mass leads us through meditations on the fruits of the Resurrection and our baptism. Our mysterious procession was made possible by the Cross. Our Collect today, for the 5th Sunday of Easter in the Ordinary Form calendar, is a delightful little piece of polished oratory.

It also has the Cross at its core.

Deus, per quem nobis et redemptio venit et praestatur adoptio, filios dilectionis tuae benignus intende, ut in Christo credentibus et vera tribuatur libertas, et hereditas aeterna.

This prayer, not in pre-Conciliar editions of the Roman Missal, was in the ancient Gelasian Sacramentary in a section for evening prayers during Paschaltide. Its vocabulary suggests Patristic sources (e.g., Hilary of Poitiers, de trin 6, 44; Ambrose of Milan, ep 9, 65, 5).

Note the lovely chiasms (from the Greek letter chi, which looks like a “X”): redemptio venit…praestatur adoptio (subject verb – verb subject … and note that the endings of the subjects match) and vera libertas…hereditas aeterna (adjective noun – noun adjective). These rhetorical flourishes are intended to delight the ear and help us link concepts within the text. A chiasm is mapped out as

A      B
    X
B      A

The Cross is embedded in the prayer’s very structure.

LITERAL VERSION:

O God, from whom both redemption comes to us and adoption is fulfilled for us, kindly give attention to your beloved children, so that both true freedom and an everlasting inheritance may be bestowed on those believing in Christ.

We pray for the freedom that is true, not the false and deceptive freedom of those enslaved to the world, the flesh and the devil… or false mercy, which fogs over the truth deceiving people smoothly. We want an inheritance which is lasting, eternal, not passing.

CURRENT ICEL (2011):

O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption, look graciously upon your beloved sons and daughters, that those who believe in Christ may receive true freedom and an everlasting inheritance.

Christ is the Father’s Son by His nature (He is consubstantial with the Father). We are sons and daughters by grace (conferred through baptism).

Our adoption through grace is “perfect” (perfecta). It is complete (perficio, “bring to an end or conclusion, finish, complete”). God the Holy Trinity puts the imperishable mark upon us in baptism and confirmation. Nevertheless, our redemption and adoption, our freedom and inheritance, will only be completed and ratified as such if we persevere throughout our lives and, having died in a state of grace, having died in the supernatural love which is charity, we see God face to face.

Today’s Collect has its foundation certainly in the New Testament’s imagery of adoption (Ephesians 1:5, Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:5), but I think it also flows out of ancient Roman legal concepts of manumission and adoption, the freeing of slaves and the adoption of heirs.

In ancient Rome even a father’s natural children required his recognition before they were legally legitimate and heirs with any rights. Adoption could grant those same rights and privileges. Roman adoptio removed a person from one familia and put him into another, placing him under the authority of the paterfamilias, the head of the family and whole household.

By baptism and the life of grace, we are not only freed from the slavery of sin and death, but we undergo an adoption.

We are not merely former slaves, we are free members of the Church and sons and daughters of God.

No longer subject to Satan and destined for hell, we are now under new mastership and fatherhood of God.

Our prayer today also underscores the concepts of redemption and adoption, together with freedom and inheritance. This too is reflected within the Collect, in another pattern of words called synchesis (A-B-A-B) useful for showing how one set of concepts reveals the relationship of another set.

The subjects of the Collect are found in this order:

Freedom is the result of redemption, inheritance the result of adoption.

This week we have connections and interconnections of words. The phrases and patterns they make weave in and out of each other. It seems to me that this whole collect provides a good reflection on how deeply intertwined are the effects of the resurrection. And – the Cross – makes this all possible.

redemptio ↔ adoptio (A – A)
                ⤡     ⤢
        ⇵   dilectio   ⇵
                ⤢     ⤡
libertas ↔ hereditas (B – B)

And even as the Cross over-weaves the prayer, in the very heart we find dilectio, “love”.

Posted in EASTER, SESSIUNCULA, WDTPRS | Tagged chiasmus, noad
1 Comment

Your Sunday Sermon Notes: 4th Sunday after Easter (N.O. 5th of Easter) 2024

Posted on 28 April 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Too many people today are without good, strong preaching, to the detriment of all. Share the good stuff.

Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at your Mass of obligation for the 4th Sunday Sunday after Easter? Novus Ordo – 5th Sunday of Easter.

Tell about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass.

Any local changes or (hopefully good) news?

A taste of my thoughts from the other place: HERE

[…]

[H]ow would the “good of the Church” genuinely and certainly be advanced by the removal of the confirmation slap, certainly one of the more famous elements and most memorable of the rite? Next, did that removable represent an organic development? The confirmation slap had been around since at least the 13th century when the liturgical writer William Durandus (+1296) wrote about it. ….

Has the witness to the Faith in the public square by Catholics been easily recognizable in those who would have been confirmed after, say, 1971? There is no question that a web of social and ecclesial issues over the last 50 years has shaped, or misshapen, Catholics. But have we been acting like a body of confirmed believers in the face of challenges from the world, the flesh and the Devil?

Posted in Sermons, SESSIUNCULA | Tagged Sunday sermons
3 Comments

YOUR URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS

Posted on 27 April 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

PLEASE use the sharing buttons! Thanks!

In your charity would you please take a moment look at the requests and to pray for the people about whom you read?

Continued from THESE.

Let’s remember all who are ill, who will die soon, who have died recently, who have lost their jobs, who are afraid.

I get many requests by email asking for prayers. Some are heart-achingly grave and urgent.

As long as my blog reaches so many readers in so many places, let’s give each other a hand. We should support each other in works of mercy.

If you have some prayer requests, feel free to post them below.

You have to be registered here to be able to post.

In your kindness continue prayers for my mother, who has been diagnosed with something grave and incurable. Please pray for me. Lot’s of decisions coming.

Also, I heard that Fr. John Hunwicke of the marvelous blog Mutual Enrichment (sophisticated and amusing) is not doing well. In your kindness, please stop and say a prayer for him as well.

Posted in PRAYER REQUEST, Urgent Prayer Requests |
13 Comments

ROME 24/4– Day 38 (-3): I have a little list.

Posted on 27 April 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

As my days here dwindle in number, they lengthen by about 2 and a half minutes daily. On this 118th day of the year the sun rose upon Rome at 06:09, according to the curial calendar. It will set at 20:07.

The Ave Maria Bell remains in its 20:15 cycle.

In the traditional calendar we celebrate St. Peter Canisius, Doctor of the Church.

I have a line on an apartment…. in my same building. Pray.

Welcome registrant:

Delphine C.

I left you, yesterday, with views of the preparation of the spaghetti alle vongole. Now, the finishing touches for the sake of being complete.

Having ignored their pleas for mercy, into the boiling bath they went wherein their pitiful cries were inexorably overwhelmed and silenced. I had for a while simmered down some white wine and veg broth with several smashed cloves of garlic and the stalks of parsley I would chop for the final plating. You want enough liquid, hot, so that it remains hot upon the addition of all those shells.

Having extracted the clams I finished the half cooked pasta in the same juice.

Ecco. Reassembled.

I’m working through my little list of final errands. I found something for Mother’s Day, which is coming up. I am also investigating getting a new phone for the sake of even better Rome photos next time (October/November… if not before). I learned that the version of the iPhone 15 here in Italy still has a slot for a physical sim. You can use both physical and esims. The US versions have only esims. Also, here all the phones are “unlocked”, unlike in the US where they are all locked to a company except by paying an “eye out of your head” as the phrase goes in Rome. I don’t make snap decisions, however. It is still a pretty hefty expense, but a “working” expense. At some point I have to upgrade… and maybe change US carriers.

I went this morning on the hunt for reliquaries. I have reason to obtain a nice pair of good sized units, for the sake of what I hope will be coming soon. Here are some small ones. Usually you can’t just walk into a store and find lines of reliquaries… except in Rome.

Meanwhile, this guy is delivering firewood to the local pizza places near the Campo de’ Fiori.

Alas, the wood won’t be used in a certain traditional way at the center of the Campo. 🎶 I have a little list. 🎶

I have an apron, too, which I keep here in Rome, given to me by a distinguished canonist.

You can get one of those t-shirts, btw, from my swag store. It has the Memorare in many languages on the back, to be recited daily for the overturning of a certain cruel act.

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

For lunch, caprese. So simple. So good. Thank you, Lord, for this day.

A good ball of mozzarella will ooze when you press or cut into it.

Meanwhile, in cheesy news…. In Malmö, Sweden The TePe Sigeman & Co tournament underway. It is an 8-player single round-robin featuring. Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Arjun Erigaisi, Vincent Keymer and women’s world champion Ju Wenjun along with defending champion Peter Svidler. I like that Ju Wenjun is in the mix with the men.

Black to move and mate in 3.

Nice people! Great service!

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

Priestly chess players, drop me a line. HERE

Remember the Summit Dominican’s. Visit their shop. And you can perhaps find courses to begin or to improve your chess game, which all of you should be doing.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | Tagged noad
7 Comments

ROME 24/4– Day 37 (-4): MORE sacristy secrets, MORE music from nuns, and MORE Fr. Z’s Kitchen

Posted on 26 April 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

On this Feast of St. Cletus, Pope and Martyr, the sun rose over Rome at 06:11.

Sunset is to be at 20:06.

The Ave Maria Bell should ring at 20:15.

This is the 117th day of the calendar year. Thank you, Almighty God, for this day. Thank you also for my Roman donors who made this time possible.

Speaking of Roman donors, I sent a note out about saying Mass on Sunday for your intention (as I have been doing). I had my note kicked back as undeliverable for 4 of you.

c*****l65@gmail.com
m***@itis.com
k***********@windstream.net
s****.b***@sismodos.com

If you have new email, let me know so I can update, or … maybe it is old and your mailbox is full?

Yesterday, I posted a photo of the sign in the sacristy with the name of the Roman Pontiff which is customarily pronounced during the Roman Canon. That frame was intended to hold indications of “orationes imperatae” or obligatory prayers assigned by competent authority. These prayers usually are for times of plague or drought or war, etc. They can be for other ecclesial or secular reasons, too. In any event, we took the frame apart and laid out a few of the old sheets for your view. Secrets of the Sacristy!

Since yesterday we also dealt with symmetry, and since this post echoes yesterday’s, here is more symmetry, for breakfast with TWBS™.

He remarked that the colors weren’t symmetrical and the foam on the coffee wasn’t quite right either, but we managed. I won’t make you guess which pastry is mine. I had the one on the left, which in many places in Italy is called “pain au chocolat”, in the French way. I, however, having been romanized, ordered it with the proper Roman word: “er saccottino”.

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

Jasmine (not the Jesuit) Report. I am beginning to despair. Will this dratted jasmine disappoint me? Hurry up, already! I have to leave!

What kind of jasmine am I suppose to get again?

Tonight, spaghetti alle vongole. I couldn’t leave Rome without one more generous portion. You can’t get these critters in the USA.

My practice is to purge them for several hours. They say they are purged already. Not well enough. In salt water, they start opening up and having a look around. A last look…

Pretty exciting, right? Maybe next time – in October – when I make this, I’ll have a “CLAMCAM” live streaming the purge. That should really rack up some views.

For lunch, vegetable soup. Nothing fancy. Broth. Frozen veg and some left over bits and pieces. A can of borlotti beans. Simmer. A little cheese. Some oil. Some pepper. Soup.

Click this and join!

Chessy news… not much to say other than there is an amusing article at chess.com – I am affiliate now so please sign up with my link! – about ugly chess sets.

There are some hideous chess sets out there, friends. Just say “no” to ugly chess. There’s no excuse for some of them. What were they thinking?

I will admit that I am a plain ol’ Staunton guy. I don’t want weird colors. I don’t want strange boards… like “wobble chess”. Yes, that’s a thing. I want don’t want to be distracted with thoughts like, “Damn! That knight is so stupid that I want to give it away.” That needs clarification. Sometimes your pieces are stupid because they are in the wrong place, trapped, not contributing, maybe even a target you have to defend. Those are stupid pieces. Stupid pieces can be improved! Stupid pieces can be traded for one of your opponents better pieces! But ugly is forever. No matter how many moves with them or games you play with them, they are still going to be stupid ugly.

get chess stuff!

Anyway, here is a puzzle for you from a rapid game I played today… yes, today… against a 2000 rated bot.

White to move and mate in 3.

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

Priestly chess players, drop me a line. HERE

I’ve been pushing myself to play faster, spot things more quickly. I’ve been working a lot on openings, too.

Yesterday I posted about the new music collection from the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, the nuns of Gower Abby in Missouri. They’ve been making wonderful music discs (and downloads) and the proceeds helps them also to found new convents! Yesterday’s feature was about Martyrs.

Today’s is about Sr. Wilhelmina. You remember the news about the elderly sister who passed away, a very holy woman. They found that her body was incorrupt. (HERE and HERE) Many people have made pilgrimages to the Abbey to visit her. The nuns have now a collection of hymns and so forth in her honor.

US HERE – UK HERE

Just as I provided little tastes yesterday, for the sake of symmetry, so too today.

Give the sisters some support and enjoy their wonderful music.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | Tagged Benedictines of Mary Queen of Apostles, Gower Abbey
3 Comments

WDTPRS – 4th Sunday after Easter (Vetus Ordo): “[T]he smoke of Satan has entered into the temple of God”

Posted on 26 April 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

This is the 4th Sunday after Easter according to the older, traditional Roman calendar.

Today’s Collect survived the slash and hack editors of the Novus Ordo. You can find it in the Novus Ordo for the 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time as well as Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter. That is… of Easter. In the post-Conciliar calendar Sundays are reckoned “of Easter”. In the pre-Conciliar calendar they are “after Easter”. In the newer calendar Easter Sunday itself is included in the reckoning of Sundays of the Easter season. In the older calendar Sundays are counted from the first Sunday after Easter. So, in the new calendar today is the Fifth Sunday of Easter and in the older it is the Fourth Sunday after Easter.

However, today’s Collect is in the ancient Gelasian Sacramentary for the Third Sunday after the close of Easter! Our more distant ancestors counted Easter Sunday, the days of the Octave, and “Low” Sunday in albis as being one single liturgical idea, one day, as if the clock stopped for that whole Octave. Thus, what is the Fifth Sunday of Easter (2002MR) and the Fourth Sunday after Easter (1962MR) is also the Third Sunday after the close of Easter (GelSacr).

Is it clear now?

COLLECT – (1962MR):
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.

Beautiful. Elegant.

The Novus Ordo version adds commas “ …ut, inter mundanas varietates,…” All those long eeee sounds produced by the Latin letter “i” are marvelous to hear and to sing. Note the nice parallels in the construction: id amare quod praecipis, id desiderare quod promittis as well as ibi…sint corda with ubi…sunt gaudia. In the first line the genitives unius…voluntatis are elegantly split by the verb efficis.

A genius wrote this prayer. Let’s find out what it really says.

Now in paperback!

The densely packed leaves of your own copy of the thick Lewis & Short Dictionary (HERE) show that varietas means “difference, diversity, variety.” It is commonly used to indicate “changeableness, fickleness, inconstancy”; “vicissitude” hits it square and sounds wonderful to boot. The adjective mundanus, a, um, “of or belonging to the world”, must be teased out in a paraphrase. Efficio (formed from facio) means, “to make out, work out; hence, to bring to pass, to effect, execute, complete, accomplish, make, form”. Voluntas means basically “will” but it can also mean things like “freewill, wish, choice, desire, inclination” and even “disposition towards a thing or person”.

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
O God, You 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.

Let us revisit that id…quod construction. We could simply say “love that which you command,” or “love what you command”, but to me that seems vague and generic. Of course, we must love everything God commands, but the feeling I get from that id…quod is concrete. We love and desire God’s will in the concrete situation, this concrete task. A challenge of living as a good Christian in “the world” is to love God in the details of life, especially when those details are little to our liking. We must love him in this beggar, this annoying creep, not in beggars or creeps in general. We must love him in this act of fasting, not in fasting in general. This basket of laundry, this paperwork, this Jesuit…. Didn’t I say it was a challenge? God’s will must not be reduced to something abstract, as if it is merely a “heavenly” or “ideal” reality. “Thy will (voluntas) be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

What did the Anglican Church do with this back in the day?

1662 Book of Common Prayer (Fifth Sunday in Lent):
O almighty God, who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men:
Grant unto thy people, that they may love the thing which thou commandest,
and desire that which thou dost promise,
that so, among the sundry and manifold changes of the world,
our hearts may surely there be fixed, where true joys are to be found.

You have to love that! I often wonder why the original incarnation of ICEL didn’t use the Book of Common Prayer as a model. But… right… first the redactors of the Novus Ordo cut certain unpleasantries, such as guilt and sin, out of the Latin original and then the people working for ICEL cut out all the rest of the meaningful concepts.

When you slaughter a critter, first you bang it on the head, then you tear its guts out, and afterwards hang upside down to drain out all its blood.

Sort of like Traditionis custodes, followed by the DDW “dubia” without origin, etc.

So what did the pre-reformed ICEL do to this prayer?

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.

This … makes me want to scream.

Note the theological catch-all word “help”, a technical term in obsolete ICELese and rather Pelagian. Does “help us” underscore our total reliance on God? He does a bit more than “help”. What did ICEL did to God’s “commands”?

Presto-chango they are now “values”.

And did no one in ICEL or in Rome, where blame for this translation disaster must also be ascribed, see a theological problem with “lasting joy in this changing world”?

The Latin says the world is “fickle” (mundanas varietates). We cannot have “lasting” joy in this world. It can be attained only in the life to come.

More about the slippery word “values”. We should make a distinction between values and virtues. To my mind, values have an ever shifting subjective starting point while virtues are rooted in something objective. In 1995 Gertude Himmelfarb wrote in The De-Moralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values: “it was not until the present century that morality became so thoroughly relativized that virtues ceased to be ‘virtues’ and became ‘values.’”

Rem acu tetigit! In this post-Christian, post-modern world the term “values” seems to indicate little more than our own self-projection. I suspect this is at work in the obsolete ICEL prayer with its “help us” and the excision of God’s commands and promises.

We should be on guard about that word “values”, in this time of growing conflict between what the Church embraces and worldly relativism. Can “values” be rescued, used properly? Perhaps. John Paul II used it in Evangelium vitae, but in a concrete way.

Benedict XVI constantly presented us with the threats we face from both religious and secular relativism, the reduction of the supernatural to the natural, caving in to “the world”, that which shifts constantly, is subjective.

Holy Scripture also warns us about “the world” which has its Prince.

The Enemy still dominates this world until Christ the King will come again. St. Paul wrote to the Romans: “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” (12:2 – RSV). Christ put His Apostles on guard about “the world”: “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify of it that its works are evil” (John 7:7).

When what “the world” has to give is given preeminence over what God has to give through His Church, we wind up in the crisis Pope Paul VI described on the ninth anniversary of his coronation (29 June 1972):

“…da qualche fessura sia entrato il fumo di Satana nel tempio di Dio… through some crack the smoke of Satan has entered into the temple of God”.

Today’s Collect, in both the Novus Ordo and the Vetus form of the Roman Rite, is a spiritual safeguard in the vicissitudes of this world.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA, WDTPRS |
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ROME 24/4– Day 36 (-5): Sacristy secrets, music from nuns, and Fr. Z’s Kitchen (real “all’amatriciana”)

Posted on 25 April 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

At 06:12 the sun rose over Rome. It will set at 20:05.

The Ave Maria Bell will ring – or ought to ring – at 20:15. This cycle lasts until 28th, a few more days.

It is the Feast of St. Mark, Evangelist. It is the week in which we have rogation litanies.

It is 25 April, which is the celebration of the Liberation of Rome by the Americans. Ehem… by the Americans. I hope to enjoy seeing the Italian Airforce flying team, the “Arrows”, arrow over the City trailing the smoky colors of the national flag. They are always good value. The Frecce will be in North America at airshows for the first time in some 30 years. [UPDATE: I didn’t see them.]

Also, today is the 150th birthday of Guglielmo Marconi, the pioneer of radio. In 1901 he succeeded in sending a signal across the Atlantic from Cornwall to Newfoundland. Later he would help to establish the BBC and Vatican Radio in 1931 for Pius XI. So, all you fellow hams out there… raise a glass today to Marconi.

Last night I simply had to park myself in the window and gaze. I even let my supper get cold (more on that, below). At the end of the little video, we zoom in past the bell tower of the Brigidines to the dome of S. Carlo ai Catinari.

Yesterday, someone asked about a photo: What was in the frames on the vestment case in the sacristy of The Parish™? Here is a shot. These are the prayers that the priest ought to say while putting on his vestments for Mass.

Across the way, on the other side of the sacristy, there is placed the name to be pronounced in the Canon. Underneath is a sign with the prayers for the Subdeacon as he puts on his vestments. There is another for the deacon off to the right.

Usually, a well-organized sacristy will always have posted in a visible place near to where the priests vest the names of the Pope and of the local bishop so that a visitor priest knows his name. However, in Rome there is no other local bishop than the Pope. Therefore, when saying the Canon he skips part of the phrase:

…una cum fámulo tuo Papa nostro N. ~~et Antístite nostro N.~~ et ómnibus orthodóxis, atque cathólicæ et apostólicæ fídei cultóribus.

Another thing you might see in older sacristies is a sign indicating an petition or oration assigned by the bishop or some competent authority. Somewhere in my archive of photos, I have a shot of one of these signs saying “ad petendam pluviam… for praying for rain” and another “pro donum lacrimarum… for the gift of tears”. That second one was replaced in new Missals by “ad petendam compunctionen cordis … for asking for compunction of heart”. I wrote about that votive Mass HERE. A funny thing about the prayers for rain. Soon after that was put up, there was a terrific downpour that partly flooded the sacristy!

Last night I was determined to make some pasta all’amatriciana. I had some guanciale in the fridge and some very good prepared tomato sauce from the local organic store. Better would have been tomatoes, peeled and seeded and chopped up. However, the particular jarred sauce I had on hand was excellent. I’ve used it before.

The website of the City of Amatrice (with their official recipe) says to use a little olive oil. But whadda they know? Some recipes shun the olive oil, relying solely on the liquefying fat from the guanciale. I think it depends on how much you are making and maybe also on the pan. I don’t have well-seasoned cast iron in my rented place. I have to make due with a patchwork of items from IKEA. Improvise – Adapt – Overcome!

NB: For real “all’amatriciana” … no onion! No garlic! Guanciale… tomatoes… pecorino cheese. Permitted are a few drops of wine to deglaze. Because this is so simple, the ingredients must be top notch.

BTW… if you put onion in it, what results can be good, but let’s call it something else.

Working up the guanciale. Since this (cheap) pan has become a bit convex, you can see the fat flowing to the side. There was enough fat that I didn’t need any olive oil.

Adding the tomato. I determined to let it simmer for while to reduce it and concentrate the flavors.

If I had started from whole tomatoes, I would have taken out the guanciale and worked up the tomatoes in the fat.

The official recipe doesn’t call for parsley, but – hey – they’re not here, and I like parsley as a finisher.

Finish cooking the pasta – bucatini, this time, though spaghetti is proper – in the sauce. Start blending in the freshly grated pecorino. A touch of the pasta water is not forbidden for texture.

And a little sprinkle of black pepper.

I have often marveled at the truly weird descriptions on menus of some pasta “all’amatriciana”. Frankly, in the USA I try to avoid going to any Italian restaurant. However, when I can’t avoid it, I see horror stories on the menus. What are they thinking? Don’t get me wrong. I am not averse to landing in a humble red sauce place that doesn’t pretend to be something that it isn’t. I can throw that switch in my head and, settling into the “This isn’t really Italian food and they aren’t putting on airs”, I can always find something to enjoy. It’s when they come at you with faux claims of authenticity that I rebel. That goes for any restaurant by the way. I’d rather have a burger at a diner with paper napkins than be subjected to pretentious, often misspelled, over-priced mediocrity.

In chessy news, I read that the BBC will start a new (old) show they once had between 1976 and 1981. The Master Game was a successful program. Viewers could watch grandmasters play in a real tournament while them explain their thoughts and moves.

Meanwhile, give your thoughts on this.

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.

Priestly chess players, drop me a line. HERE

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

As I write, I am listening to the recent music release from the wonderful Benedictine nuns of Gower Abbey in Missouri, the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles.

Here are three tiny tastes. I like that they put the famous Ut queant laxis into the collection. I did a podcast about it back in… HEH!… 2007! I still have traces of youth in my voice.

US HERE – UK HERE

Let’s see if we can sell out all the discs and break the downloads.

Posted in Fr. Z's Kitchen, SESSIUNCULA | Tagged Benedictines of Mary Queen of Apostles, noad
3 Comments

So very cool that it needs its own post! VOYAGER 1 is TALKING AGAIN!

Posted on 24 April 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A while back in 2023, Voyager 1, which set out in 1977 to fly by the outer planets and then head off into the void, stopped sending usable data. I did a News Of The Church podcast about that. HERE (Ever listen to one of those?) It has flown for 40 years past its mission date and is now so far away that it takes 22 hours for a message to reach it and another 22 for it to respond. Light from the sun reaches Earth in 8 minutes. It’s power source, radioactive isotopes, are decaying into lead. NASA was shutting down systems trying to conserve power. It is unfathomably cold out there.

It runs on magnetic tape. Some of you younger readers might not have every seen any of that.

Voyager went nuts, sending back gibberish.

Once large, Voyager Mission Control is now a single office room between a dog training school and a McDonalds. A handful of people work there, some … not young.

How to fix Voyager? It’s 15 billion kilometers away. It’s not like you can upload a new OS. It’s flying away at a million miles a day.

NASA came up with something. HERE

Voyager has something called the flight data subsystem (FDS) which sorts data before it’s sent back to Earth. They figured that a chip that stored part of the FDS memory isn’t working. Since they couldn’t replace the chip, they put the chips code somewhere else. However, no single location is large enough to hold it all. Hence, they divided the code into sections and put them in different places in the FDS. They will have to tell it where to find all the bits and pieces. They sent code back to its new location in the FDS memory on April 18. On April 20 they got usable data for the first time in five months. They can now monitor the Voyager’s status. With more shifting, they should get other science data, too.

So, Voyager is talking again and doesn’t sound like a curial document anymore. Now if we could get the Voyager team to work on the curia….

Posted in Just Too Cool, Linking Back, Look! Up in the sky! | Tagged Voyager
16 Comments

ROME 24/4– Day 35 (-6): adventures in symmetry

Posted on 24 April 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I take it in trust in the accuracy of the calendar that the sun rose today at 06:13 (it was cloudy) and that it will set at 20:04 (it may be raining).

The Ave Maria Bell? Still at 2015.

Today is the Feast Sts. Maria of Cleophas, who was at Calvary, and Salome, who went to the tomb. With Mary Magdalen these are the “three Marys”.

It is the Feast of St Mary Elisabeth Hesselblad (+1957) who founded the Brigidines whose chapel and bell tower I can see from my window.

Today also St Fidelis of Sigmaringen, priest and martyr (+1622). Here is a relic:

Today, for the martyr, vestments were laid out for priests.

A small group of you readers were donors for these beautiful red vestments from the RED VESTMENT PROJECT (HERE).

The BLACK VESTMENT PROJECT is now underway. I look forward to seeing them, first in photos and then in person next October.

I plan to return in October and into November. I hope I can count on help with another fundraiser in a few months. People here are asking me to stay longer, and I wish I could. It hurts to leave, but I also have filial duties. I ask ongoing prayers for my mother. Things are stable now, which is great.

This morning, breakfast with TWBS™, whose special super power is to make all things symetrical.

He might have slightly erred this time. Perhaps for more perfect symmetry, one of those pastries should have been rotated 180º.

This was unusual for me: pastry with apple and pistachio. It was good, however.

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

There was a funny moment in our symmetry discussion. I brought up that there is an element in the altar painting of St. Philip Neri …. BAM!… he jumped in with exactly the point I was going to make, very subtle, a slight wrinkle/fold in the altar cloth depicted in the painting. I had to laugh aloud. He nailed it.

From that same painting, I shot a photo of the cincture worn by the saint. One of readers here makes fine “bespoke” cinctures for Mass vestments. I placed an ad for her business on the side bar: Via Providence. I wonder if she would be able to make cinctures like the one in the painting of San Filipo.