Fr. Z's Blog | Catholic commentary by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Just some photos

Posted on 15 December 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I just liked the way this turned out.

Last night I stuffed and roasted a chicken which was on a super sale. I almost never stuff chickens. Usually when I make a chicken I just use rosemary and lemon. Sadly, I didn’t have my memory stick in my camera, duh, during the preparation. But here is the final product.

Just some photos

I was so pleased, I had some coffee.

And my little jasmine tree, which came inside for the winter, is flowering.

Now I have to fix my digital thermometer, which died. I think it just needs a new battery.

Posted in Fr. Z's Kitchen |
13 Comments

WDTPRS: Wednesday of the 3rd Week of Advent

Posted on 15 December 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Here is the Collect for Wednesday of the 3rd Week of Advent.

COLLECT:
Praesta, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus,
ut Filii tui ventura sollemnitas
et praesentis nobis vitae remedia largiatur,
et praemia aeterna concedat.

This prayer was in Rotulus 6 published with the Veronese Sacramentary. It was in the Gelasian Sacramentary.

It is interesting that this is more or less the Collect that is in the 1962MR, though changed. I add some emphasis.

Praesta, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus: ut redemptionis nostrae ventura solemnitas, et praesentis nobis vitae subsidia conferat, et aeternae beatitudinis praemia largiatur.

Here is what it looked like in the Gelasian:

Praesta, quaesumus, omnipotens deus, ut filii tui uentura solem[p]nitas et praesentis nobis uitae remedia conferat et praemia aeterna concedat.

There is a parallelism between remedia and praemia. Subsidia and remedia closely related.

LITERAL VERSION:
Almighty God, grant, we beseech You,
that the upcoming solemn feast of Your Son,
both may lavish upon us remedies for this present life,
and also concede to us eternal rewards.

CORRECTED ICEL VERSION:
Grant, we pray, almighty God,
that the coming solemnity of your Son
may bestow healing upon us in this present life
and bring us the rewards of life eternal.

LAME-DUCK ICEL:
Father,
may the coming celebration of the birth of your Son
bring us your saving help
and prepare us for eternal life.

You decide.

What comes to my mind is the prayer that the priest says silently as he purifies the sacred vessels in both the older and the new form of Holy Mass: “Quod ore sumpsimus Domine, pura mente capiamus: et de munere temporali fiat nobis remedium sempiternum. … Into a pure heart, O Lord, may we receive the heavenly food which has passed our lips; bestowed upon us in time, may it be the healing of our souls for eternity.”

The Collect is already directed to the moment of Communion.

Posted in WDTPRS | Tagged ADVENT
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A report on my urgent appeal to help with a crisis pregnancy

Posted on 15 December 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Sunday I took up the cause posted by my friend Fr. Finigan about swiftly gathering money and necessary things for a young woman in a “crisis pregnancy”. My post was here. I got on board because I know Fr. Finigan so well and I trust his judgment about what to support.

I have to say, WDTPRSers made me proud.

I pass this along from the person who was coordinating the effort to help the young woman. Edited and with my emphases:

Here is a little bit of info – you might want to share an update with the bloggers.

I must tell you that this young woman has been one of the most challenging situations I have ever dealt with! It is the most complicated, messy and difficult family situation.

The young girl was initially told by her family very directly that she had to have an abortion or she could not come home. Her mother rang up and booked the abortion for her.

Since then it has been an emotionally exhausting, continuous soap opera of months of trying to make things work for this girl. She has had a very tough time and through it despite the fact that everyone around her was against her she has shown tremendous courage and determination that she wanted to keep her baby.

But because her entire family was shunned she has been completely alone, financially the situation was impossible and no-one was on hand to come round and donate a spare pram or anything.

So on saturday she rang me and told me the baby was due in 5 days and she had absolutely nothing for when the baby arrived.

Due to the generosity of your bloggers and a few other benefactors who donated prams, cots etc we were able to kit her out with absolutely everything she needs for when the baby arrives (she is due tomorrow!) [OORAH!]

We had a thoroughly exhausting day- It took us all day and quite a few car trips to unload and reload to get everything in and I was worried that the young girl was going to go into labour in the middle of the baby shop because she was carrying two jumbo packs of nappies! At the end of the day her mother (grandmother of the baby) popped round – she has only just really accepted the idea that she has a grandchild but what was amazing was she was just so moved she just couldn’t stop hugging me. She kept saying “your heaven sent” (and this woman was a muslim!) It was an incredibly moving experience for them because everyone else has completely rejected them and they just couldn’t believe that people were this generous. [OORAH!] The young expectant mother walked me to the front door at the end and she turned to me and she said “you’ve made it possible for me to have my baby. Everyone told me it was impossible. But you’ve made it possible- it’s all thanks to you that I can keep my baby” Well I hugged her and quickly turned round as I began to cry.

This young lady has faced what seemed like an impossible situation on every level – Homeless, alone, rejected by everyone she loved, violence, financially unable to even support herself and no practical way forward. But the bloggers made it possible – because once you pave out a practical way forward ….once you put all the jigsaw pieces together and show them a lot of love….then it becomes not just possible but more than that….it’s actually quite incredible.

I must finish by telling you that I was losing a little bit of hope with this girl last week because I was just exhausted of all the family antics and I had to have some little words with Our Lady of Guadeloupe and entrust it to her. Well she responded on her kinda feast day which wasn’t a feast day because it was a sunday by absolutely blowing me away with some incredible people who were willing to reach into their pockets and do something very incredible.

Can’t tell you how moved I am with the generosity of your bloggers.

Your bloggers have made this baby’s first christmas an incredible one.

There it is, friends.

Posted in Brick by Brick, Fr. Z KUDOS, Just Too Cool, Linking Back, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged ALERT, Brick by Brick, crisis pregancy
27 Comments

Brick by Brick in Sugar Land, TX

Posted on 14 December 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

For your “Brick by Brick” file comes this from a reader:

St Theresa’s in Sugar Land had it’s annual youth winter retreat, but with a few notable changes. Adoration included 30 minutes of silence (rare for youth gatherings.). Mass was celebrated Ad Orientem by the pastor, Fr. Stephan B. Reynolds. During communion kneelers were set out. The Homily included catechesis and the history of these practices and their recent dissipation. The young people were extremely receptive, they noted that they were better able to sense the sacredness of the Mass and it’s mystery.

A mixture of chants and Jesus I love you music were used. Definitely a beautiful step in the right direction. We must build from the bottom up. The youth are hungry for the faith and it’s reason. God bless the priests who are willing to teach and lead by example!

WDTPRS KUDOS to Fr. Reynolds.

Meanwhile…

[CUE MUSIC]

When you are wondering what it is going to take to restore a sense of the sacred and reestablish continuity in our liturgical worship, why not cogitate over a piping hot WDTPRS mug filled to the brim with Mystic Monk Coffee?

With each bean you grind or each sip you take of that Jingle Bell Java goodness, or that Cowboy Blend or even one of those froo froo flavored coffees I never buy… but you should if you like that sort of thing… you advance, I am not making this up, you advance the cause of liturgical excellence. How, you might ask, do you do that? Well, I’ll tell you!

It’s like this…. By helping the traditional Carmelites in Wyoming, who are traditional in their liturgical life, you support a community whose prayers support and sustain the whole Church. They also set a good example for other religious communities and those who aspire to the religious life of the evangelical counsels. You also, by getting their coffee through my link, help to keep the undersigned online and feisty.

You need coffee anyway, so buy it from them. And it makes good gifts as well.

Mystic Monk Coffee!

It’s liturgically swell!

Posted in Brick by Brick | Tagged Texas
21 Comments

What does “refrigerium” mean in the Roman Canon’s Memento of the dead?

Posted on 14 December 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I just put together an article for The Wanderer, my usual weekly column which was the origin of this blog.

In the course of the column I offered this. It is something I have written on before, since I have written on the Roman Canon before. Still… it may be of interest to new readers.

___

The ancient Roman orator, philosopher, and statesman M. Tullius Cicero (+ 43 BC), and other authors as well, use the verb refrigero for “to cool off, make cool” and “to relieve, refresh”. It also has a moral overtone, in the sense of “cooling passions”. Think of “taking a cold shower”. In ecclesiastical use refrigerium means “a cooling; a mitigation, consolation”. We find a use of refrigerium also in the magnificent Pentecost sequence Veni, Sancte Spiritus.

So, just what is our refrigerium in the Canon? Our context is a moment in which we explicitly pray for the repose of souls of the dead.

Refrigerium concerns refreshment and coolness, the resting of passions, associated with happiness with the Lord at His heavenly banquet. Think of the parable Jesus recounted about the rich man, in tradition called Dives (“dee-vays”) and the beggar Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). Lazarus dies and goes to “Abraham’s bosom” to be refreshed. When Dives dies, he goes to rather hotter place. Dives longs for a single cooling drop of water from Lazarus’s fingertip.

In the ancient Church a custom developed from the pagan practice of banquets at the tombs of loved ones, ancestors. The banquet was called a refrigerium. It was a kind of “family reunion”. The Christian refrigerium continued this, even as it also prefigured the banquet prepared for us by God in heaven. The Roman catacombs of St. Callistus and St. Sebastian have spaces intended for these refrigeria meals. At Tipasa (modern Tefassad, Algeria) tables for these banquets are still visible near the churches of martyrs. Refrigeria were tolerated because of the deep cultural roots and the sensibilities of the faithful. Sometimes, however, they turned riotous. St. Augustine of Hippo (+430) restricted and refocused them on the increasingly important cults of martyrs and on how the Eucharist can impact state of the dead. Refrigeria would eventually be entirely suppressed in North Africa. Earlier, by St. Ambrose’s time (+397), they had already been suppressed at Milan in Northern Italy.

Augustine recounts an episode about his mother, St. Monnica, when she was with him in Milan. Monnica carried on with her North African custom of refrigeria (called laetitia in Confessions 6.2.2) which raised many Milanese eyebrows, including those of bishop Ambrose. Augustine says that Ambrose instructed Monnica not to do this in Milan, it was not their local custom. Ambrose said that when he was in Rome, he followed the Roman laws concerning fasting, which were different from those of Milan: “When I am here I do not fast on Saturday, but when I am at Rome I do; whatever Church you may come to, conform to its custom” (cf. Augustine ep 36.14.32 and ep 54.2.3).

This is where we get the phrase, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

In sum, the Roman Canon’s petition for a place of refreshment, refrigerium, bears witness to the belief of an interchange of help between the living and the departed.

Posted in WDTPRS | Tagged refrigerium, When in Rome
21 Comments

WDTPRS Tuesday in the 3rd Week of Advent

Posted on 14 December 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Here is the Collect for Tuesday of the 3rd Week of Advent:

COLLECT (2002MR):
Deus, qui novam creaturam
per Unigenitum tuum nos esse fecisti,
in opera misericordiae tuae propitius intuere,
et in adventu Filii tui
ab omnibus nos maculis vetustatis emunda.

This was in the Gelasian Sacramentary, but not in pre-Conciliar editions. Keep in mind that creatura is not just “a creature”, but also “creation”. There is a parallel structure starting with the prepositional phrase beginning with in and leading to the verbs intuere and emunda.

Vestustas, as your never distant Lewis & Short Dictionary reveals, concerns “old age”. In our Latin prayers it can also suggest the old cults of false religions. It is often paired with the concept of “error”. However, here it is clearly a reference to the “old things” of 2Cor 5:17. In Christ we are “new creations”. Old things pass away and become new. Similarly, in Colossians 3, Paul instructs us to put off the “old man” and put on the “new” using the image of a garment which been cleansed of any stain and is now pure.

WDTPRS SLAVISHLY LITERAL VERSION:
O God, who made us to be a new creation
through Your Only-Begotten Son,
regard us graciously in the working of Your mercy,
and cleanse us from every stain of the old man
in the Coming of Your Son.

You can decide about the following.

REVISION A:
O God, who have made us a new creation
through your Only Begotten Son,
look kindly on the handiwork of your mercy,
and at the coming of your Son
cleanse us from every stain
of the old way of life.

REVISION B:
O God, who through your Only Begotten Son
have made us a new creation,
look kindly, we pray,
on the handiwork of your mercy,
and at your Son’s coming
cleanse us from every stain
of the old way of life.

Posted in ADVENT, WDTPRS | Tagged ADVENT
7 Comments

Gary Owen

Posted on 14 December 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Here is a man who must not go unnoticed:

Basil L. Plumley was born January 1, 1920 in Shady Spring, West Virginia, the second son and fifth child of coal miner Clay Plumley (b.1879) and his wife Georgia (b.abt.1895), both of West Virginian stock. He is most famous for his actions as a Sergeant-Major of the US Army’s 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, at the Battle of Ia Drang (1965). General Hal Moore praised Plumley as an outstanding NCO and leader in the book We Were Soldiers Once…And Young. The Sergeant Major was known affectionately by his soldiers as “Old Iron Jaw”.

He enlisted in the US Army on 31 March 1942 as a private. His education on enlistment was 2 years of high school. His civil occupation at the time was listed as semiskilled chauffeur/driver of bus, taxi, truck or tractor. Height and weight is given as 70/154. Plumley is a veteran of World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. He made all 4 combat jumps with the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division in World War II (Sicily, Salerno, D-Day and Market Garden) and one in Korea with the 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment. He retired as a Command Sergeant Major on 31 December 1974. After his retirement he worked 15 more years for the Army at Martin Army hospital as a civilian and retired again in 1990.

He currently resides with his wife Deurice in Columbus, Georgia.

He was portrayed by Sam Elliott in the film, We Were Soldiers.

Combat Infantryman Badge with two silver stars (three awards)
Master Combat Parachutist Badge with gold star (indicating 5 combat jumps)
Vietnam Parachutist Badge

	Silver Star with one Oak Leaf Cluster
	Legion of Merit
	Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster and Valor Device
	Purple Heart with three Oak Leaf Clusters
	Air Medal with one silver and three bronze Oak Leaf Clusters
	Army Commendation Medal
	Army Presidential Unit Citation with two Oak Leaf Clusters
	Army Good Conduct Medal (6 or 11 awards)
	American Defense Service Medal
	American Campaign Medal
	European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with Arrowhead device and 1 silver and 3 bronze campaign stars (to signify 8 campaigns and 4 combat jumps)
	World War II Victory Medal
	Army of Occupation Medal
	National Defense Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster
	Korean Service Medal with Arrowhead device and three campaign stars
	Vietnam Service Medal with one silver and three bronze campaign stars
	Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
	French Croix de Guerre (for World War II service) (attachments unknown, but at least 1 bronze star)
	Belgian Croix de Guerre (for World War II service) (attachments unknown, but at least 1 bronze lion)
	Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Bronze Star
	Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation
	Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation with Palm
	United Nations Service Medal for Korea
	Vietnam Campaign Medal
	Republic of Korea War Service Medal

Order of Saint Maurice
(Garry Owen shoulder insignias)
7th Cavalry Regiment
10 Service Stripes.

(This video is no longer available.)

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
30 Comments

Let’s hear some good news.

Posted on 13 December 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Do you have some good news for us? We could all use some good news.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
69 Comments

PODCAzT 113: More winter poems

Posted on 13 December 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Well… I went and did it again… and then yet again. I made a yet another PODCAzT of poems having to do with winter. I was inspired by the blizzard we just had, and also by requests via e-mail. And then I goofed up the file again and had to correct it again! It doesn’t pay to multitask with these things.

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I’m, again, not going to say what’s in it other than that there are some poems.

There are a couple famous lines, and I make fun of myself at the end so that you don’t have to.

And the description of the wind’s architectural work upon the snow is exemplified by the 5 foot drift outside my front door and the incredible drifts over the fields.

Meanwhile, don’t consult any Babylonian horoscopes.

112 10-12-08 Winter poems

Posted in PODCAzT, Poetry |
9 Comments

WDTPRS Monday 3rd Week of Advent: See ya’ later!

Posted on 13 December 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Here is the Collect for the Monday of the 3rd week of Advent.

COLLECT:
Voci nostrae, quaesumus, Domine,
aures tuae pietati accomoda,
et cordis nostri tenebras
gratia Filii tui nos visitantis illustra.

This was in the 1962MR on the 3rd Sunday of Advent. It was also in the Gelasian Sacramentary and in the Gregorian.

The verb accommodo is very cool. It means “to fit or adapt one thing to another, to lay, put, or hang on”. In English we have the word “lend”, as in “lend me your ears!” When we apply pietas to God, it means “mercy”. Visito if you look closely at it has a root similar to “vision”. Visito means basically “to go to see, to visit any one” but it also comes to mean “to punish” in the Christian Latin, such as the Vulgate (Psalms and Jeremiah). Think of “visiting” vengence oon someone.

SLAVISHLY LITERAL VERSION:
O Lord, we entreat You,
attune the ears of Your mercy to our voice,
and with the grace of Your Son coming to see us
illuminate the shadows of our heart.

This prayer reminds us that the Lord is coming as Judge. When He comes He will SEE us to the roots of our being. All things will be laid bare before His sight. At the end, all things will be laid bare before the sight of all who have ever lived.

Notice also the profound connection between “voice” and “illumination”. What we are talking about here is the logos which illumines the mind.

In the midst of this prayer, however, is God’s mercy.

We will get His judgment whether we want it or not. His mercy, if we ask for it, is ours.

REVISION A:
Incline the ears of your compassion to our voice,
we pray, O Lord,
and let the grace of your Son who visits us
bring light to the darkness of our hearts.

REVISION B:
Incline a merciful ear to our cry,
we pray, O Lord,
and casting light on the darkness of our hearts
visit us with the grace of your Son.

You decide.

Posted in ADVENT, WDTPRS |
22 Comments