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{]:¬)

WDTPRS Wednesday 5th Week of Lent: “a gracious hearing when they cry out to you”

Posted on 28 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Please use the sharing buttons!
Fr. Bugnini’s cutters and pasters, the experts of the Consilium, drew today’s Collect out of a prayer in the ancient Gelasian Sacramentary for the Saturday (Feria VII, yes, 7th – unusual to our eyes) of the Fifth Week of Lent. In the pre-Conciliar Missale Romanum this was a prayer for Wednesday in Passiontide. In the Veronese this was in the month of September, for the fast of the seventh month.

COLLECT:
Sanctificata per paenitentiam
tuorum corda filiorum, Deus miserator, illustra,
et, quibus praestas devotionis affectum,
praebe supplicantibus pium benignus auditum.

[GELASIAN: Sanctificata hoc ieuinium tuorum corda fidelium, deus miserator, inlustra et quibus deuotionis praestas affectum, praebe supplicantibus pium benignus auditum: per. VERONESE: Sanctificata ieiunio tuorum corda filiorum, deus, habitator inlustra; et quibus prestas deuotionis affectum, praebe supplicantibus pium benignus auditum.]

For affectus, in Blaise/Dumas we get for this context “sentiment”. The editor of Blaise, Dumas, in his notes remarks, “ut… piae devotionis erudiamur affectu (or. m. «Dilexisti», Leon. 1186). Here affectus is paired with devotio, itself a very hard word. In many contexts, devotio does not simply transfer into devotion, but in this case it probably can.

SLAVISH RENDERING:
O God, merciful one, enlighten the hearts
of Your children sanctified by penance,
and graciously grant a compassionate hearing to supplicants
to whom you are giving the sentiment of fervent devotion.

OBSOLETE ICEL:
Father of mercy,
hear the prayers of your repentant children
who call upon you in love.
Enlighten our minds and sanctify our hearts.

CURRENT ICEL:
Enlighten, O God of compassion,
the hearts of your children, sanctified by penance,
and in your kindness
grant those you stir to a sense of devotion
a gracious hearing when they cry out to you.

You decide.

Posted in LENT, WDTPRS | Tagged collect, Latin, LENT, liturgy, Mass, prayer, worship
4 Comments

My new “Save the Liturgy” mug in the wild. Spiffy!

Posted on 28 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I revamped the “Save The Liturgy – Save The World” mug design (leaving the old one in place as an option). I decided to split the text and place the two parts on the front and back and make the text larger and bolder.

I also ordered one, and it arrived. It turned out well!

The larger mug.

These can be obtained in the Swag Store.

I have been brutally punishing the mugs I have ordered. I microwave them often, put them in the bottom of the dishwasher by the heat element, etc. They are holding up well, even after a few years of persistent abuse.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA, The Campus Telephone Pole |
Comments Off

Kids playing Mass and burying a 60 year priest

Posted on 27 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

We had the funeral Mass and burial of Fr. Leo Dolan today. Fr. Dolan had been a priest for 60 years, for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. His last few years involved not a little physical suffering. Fr. Dolan was one of those stalwarts who survived the crazy years with his faithful and fidelity intact. He was also, among other things, deeply dedicated to the beatification cause of Matt Talbot. As a matter of fact, he unearthed the only surviving photo.

During the luncheon, on a table of photos of Fr. Dolan, I saw these two, which I captured with my phone:

They made me think of earlier photos, and a recent video I posted here, of children playing “Mass”.

You never know what you may be fostering when your boy wants to play “Mass”.

Pray for an increase of vocations to the Holy Priesthood.

Posted in Mail from priests, Our Catholic Identity, Priests and Priesthood | Tagged Fr. Leo Dolan, Matt Talbot, play Mass, playing Mass
21 Comments

Reader Feedback about going to confession

Posted on 27 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

Dear Fr Z

Until today, I had not been to confession (and therefore not taken Communion) this calendar year. My spiritual life was decaying and I was “lapsing”, having lost trust and hope in the saving grace of the Lord.

The severity and frequency of your posts on the importance of a good confession led me to unconsciously change direction in Church this evening, finding myself at the door of the confessional. Mass was emotional and sustaining; and my faith restored.

Your phrase “just GO” will stick in my mind for years.

Be assured of my continued prayers for you, and many thanks.

Thanks for that. If I am sometimes “severe” in my language about the results of NOT going to confession, I am so because the main reasons why I was ordained was to save my own soul and help as many people get to heaven as possible. Sometimes the quiet and gentle needs to be strengthened by the hard facts of the Four Last Things.

Ponder the Four Last Things a little every single day.

I find that Mystic Monk Coffee helps.

Posted in Four Last Things, GO TO CONFESSION, HONORED GUESTS, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged confession, death, Four Last Things, heaven, hell, judgment, reconciliation, sacrament of penance
12 Comments

QUAERITUR: Are Mormons Christians?

Posted on 27 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

I have a friend who is Mormon and she claims that they are indeed
Christian but something in me says they are not. She claims that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God and her Lord and Savior. Is that all that’s
needed to make her Christian? Sorry for my ignorance and thank you in
advance for your time and consideration of my question.

I refer you first, foremost and immediately to the document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the “RESPONSE TO A ‘DUBIUM’ on the validity of baptism conferred by «The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints», called «Mormons».

Bottom line: Mormons are not Christians. Mormon baptism is not valid, Christian baptism.

In what follows, I am restricting myself to doctrine, and not the ethical and moral content of their faith, which in many ways is admirable and exemplary.

Mormons do not have a Christian, Trinitarian religion. For Mormons, Christ is not the God/man in the sense that Christians believe. They are not just in error about the Christ’s Divine Person, as Arians were. They have an entirely different understand of some person they call Christ, more or less related to the historical Jesus and to the Christ of orthodox Christian doctrine. This is a fundamental point you must understand about Mormon beliefs and language: they use the same terms or words that Christians do, but they use them with a different meaning. If they use something that sounds like the Christian Trinitarian formula, they use all the terms in the formula with a different sense. They do not have the same concept of “God” and “divine” that Christians do, though they use the same words as Christians.

for Mormons, being “divine” or “god” is a function rather than an ontological state. For Mormons, the one they call “God the Father” is really an elevate man from another planet who became “divine” but not in the ancient Christian sense of “divinization” (as in the preaching of some of the Fathers, the Son became man so that the we might become the sons of God, divine “filiation”).

Gods, for Mormons, were mortals who became gods. Mormons hold that “God the Father” actually has a wife, a “Heavenly Mother”, with whom he procreated “Jesus Christ” who also acquired “divinity”. For Mormons, the “Holy Spirit” is also the offspring of parents. For Mormons, four gods guide the universe, three of whom form a sort of “trinity”.

Mormons are not Christians. They use the same words Christians use, but they are not Christians.

For more, read then-Fr. Luis Ladaria’s explanation of the whole question HERE. Archbp. Ladaria is now Secretary of the CDF.

Posted in ASK FATHER Question Box, Our Catholic Identity, The Drill | Tagged baptism, Battlestar Galactica, Christianity, divinity, God, Mormonism, Mormons, religion, Trinity
46 Comments

ACTION ITEM ALERT! Pres. Obama, through a minion, attacks Catholic chaplains once again.

Posted on 27 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Everyone should know what the Obama Administration is doing to Catholics this time.

I received my most recent copy of the magazine/bulletin of the Archdiocese for Military Services called Salute (that link will bring up a pdf of the article I am going to talk about).

In the March issue there is a by John L. Schlagter, the General Counsel for the Military Archdiocese, called “Update on AMS protecting Chaplains’ religious freedoms“.

First, the Obama Administration censored Catholics in the military. Now, one of Pres. Obama unelected underlings, the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, has by his master’s fiat, let Catholic chaplains know that, in the wake of the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, chaplains may now officiate at same-sex “marriages”.

From the fact that if they “may”, then they in time “must”.

Not only that, the Obama Administration is obliged to uphold federal law. This note to chaplains directly undermines the Defense of Marriage Act, which is still the law.

There is legislation which you should know about. Check this out HERE. Get in touch with your congressman and senators.

This is the “Military Religious Freedom Protection Act”, HR 3828.

Pray for our Chaplains and for Archbishop Broglio.

Posted in Biased Media Coverage, Dogs and Fleas, One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity, Priests and Priesthood, Religious Liberty, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged AMS, anti-catholicism, Archb.Broglio, Archd. Military Services, Defense of Marriage Act, DOMA, freedom, homosexuality, military chaplains, Pres. Obama, reliigious liberty, same-sex marriage
32 Comments

WDTPRS Tuesday 5th Week of Lent: bittersweet

Posted on 27 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

In the Tridentinum and in the 1962 Roman Missal this prayer is listed for Tuesday after Passion Sunday as the Oratio super populum. It also has roots in the Gelasian.

COLLECT
Da nobis, quaesumus, Domine,
perseverantem in tua voluntate famulatum,
ut in diebus nostris
et merito et numero populus tibi serviens augeatur.

The verb famulor gives us famulatus, which in the Lewis & Short means “servitude, slavery”. In Blaise/Chirat there is an additional meaning, which is predictable, “service de Dieu, dévotion” attested to by, for example, St. Augustine of Hippo (cf. conf10.35.56). The word famulatus is rooted in the ancient Oscan word faama. In its root, this word for service derives from the house or household and the extended relationships within a household.

OBSOLETE ICEL:
Lord,
Help us to do you will
that your Church may grow
and become more faithful in your service.

Good riddance.

SLAVISHLY LITERAL TRANSLATION
Grant us, we beg, O Lord,
persevering service in Your will,
so that in our days
the people serving You may be increased both in merit and in number.

CURRENT ICEL (2011):
Grant us, we pray, O Lord,
perseverance in obeying your will,
that in our days the people dedicated to your service
may grow in both merit and number.

My instant reaction to this prayer is rather bittersweet.

The Church’s shifting demographics in wealthy countries reveals that, while more people may be identifying themselves as Catholic, the percentage of Catholics going to Mass remains steady or is falling.

This means that we are going backward.

Also, in European countries which were once Catholic countries, such as Italy, the birth rate is far below replacement rate. Yet “Eur-Arabia” is swiftly multiplying. Contraception and abortion is killing off one dimension of the life of the Church.

The forces of the “Prince of this world” do prevail, will prevail in some places.

Pope Benedict has called for a “New Evangelization”.

How is that going to happen?

While Our Lord promised that “the gate of Hell” would not ultimately prevail, He did not promise they would not prevail in some places, such as the United States or Europe…. or your home town.

Look at what Pres. Obama is doing to the USA.

We can take an example from the fate of North Africa, the land of the great St. Augustine. Where there was a powerful, vital and thriving Church, to which we in the modern world are so indebted, there are now… well… not much.

The prayer’s force turns on the ut with the subjunctive. Our increase in merit and number depends on our perseverance in dedicated service to God’s will not our will. Rather, our will also insofar as it is in conformity with God’s will.

Even our ability to persevere is a grace given to us by God.

He begins good things in us and, when we chose to cooperate, He makes us strong enough to bring to completion what He began in us.

A lot of work is to be done to bring people back to regular use of the sacraments. Perhaps the new, corrected translations around the world will help.

I am convinced they will help only if they are accompanied by a reclamation of our liturgical traditions. There are many elements which must be refitted so as to bring about a healthy organic whole.

We need a sound and widespread liturgical catechesis as part of a larger effort to present and instill a Catholic identity in many of the last two generations who know nothing of their Church, what she teaches or who she really is.

Posted in Dogs and Fleas, Four Last Things, LENT, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, Religious Liberty, The Drill, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged collect, devotion, Latin, LENT, liturgy, prayer, worship
2 Comments

QUAERITUR: An iPad in place of a Missal (the book itself) for Mass

Posted on 26 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Please use the sharing buttons!
From a reader:

Dear Father Z., accorging to you, would it be possible for a priest to use an electronic form of the Missal? Like, for example, we were on a pilgrimage to Israel recently (with prayers also for you and your blog, obviously), and the priest had to carry quite heavy missal with him. Would it be possible then to have, say, an iPad with the Mass, instead of the book? Thank you.

I have written about this before. HERE.

We bless our liturgical books for sacred use and we do not do so with our mobile devices.

I’ve thought about this for a while now. Yes, I think you could do that, in a pinch. But I would have to protest, strongly, the use of an iPad when there was a book available.

When travelling? Yes, I think so. I use my iPhone for my breviary when on the road. I like using the book better, but the iPhone presents the identical texts and saying the TEXTS is what matters.

Perhaps some priests could offer their views.

For my “liturgical iPads”.

(I’m kidding.)

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 | Tagged ipad, liturgy, Mass, mobile devices, Roman Missal, worship
35 Comments

Pres. Obama says he’ll have “more flexibility” to do what he wants after November

Posted on 26 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Please use the sharing buttons! Thanks!

On Monday m Pres. Obama said to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Monday that he, Obama, would have “more flexibility” because this is his last election.

Pres. Obama was talking about missile stuff. But the question is immediately raised: What else does he think he can do once he doesn’t have to worry about getting reelected?

Perhaps his next big attempt will be to overturn the 22nd Amendment.

So, Diocletian Hussein Obama has to be more careful – now – because of the 2012 election.

He won’t, therefore, do what he thinks is best – right now – for political reasons.

He’ll sacrifice what he thinks is a better plan for what is good for his election. That’s his way. That’s clear. That’s obvious. Pure self-interest.

But what else will the President do if – quod Deus avertat – he is re-elected?

Katie bar the door.

He will cut loose on the Catholic Church and on our civil liberties in a way that we have never seen in the United States.

If the opposition put up a frozen orange juice can to run against Pres. Obama, I would vote for it.

Posted in Religious Liberty, The Drill, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged 2012, anti-catholicism, Diocletian, Pres. Obama, religious liberty
57 Comments

Feedback from a reader about confession

Posted on 26 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

Hello Father! Thank you for your constant reminders about confession…I had been in a state of mortal sin for 3 weeks and every Reconciliation time somehow never happened…not being able to receive the Eucharist was a source of sadness for me…so jus thank you for reminders to go to confession!

We all need reminders.