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 23/05 – Day 22: Banns and bans

Posted on 22 May 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Rome’s sunrise: 05:42

Rome’s sunset: 20:33

Rome’s Ave Maria Bell: 21:00 (NB: It changed!)

In your kindness, please say a prayer for my mother. Thanks to all who, in past days, said that they have.

Welcome registrants:

imm1858
Inquistive Mary
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Yesterday lunch included – at the new place which is turning out to be a gem – tongue with green herb sauce and housemade mayo.

There’s a bowl of the green sauce on the side.

The tongue was so tender that it dissolved as you ate it. Good bread. Cold white Lazio wine. Good conversation. Hard to beat that.

Once upon a time it was obligatory for several weeks to post or to announce from the pulpit the “banns” for marriages. That was how another way was sought to ascertain the freedom of individuals to marry. At the parish, one such notice is on the board in the entrance way.

Here is the posting of a different “ban” rather than a “bann”.

An enterprising Roman put up a copy of a “mondezzaro” sign coincidently from 22 May 1761, precisely 262 years ago today.

PER ORDINE DI MONSIGNORE
PRESIDENTE DELLE STRADE SI PROIBI
SCE DI FARE IL MONDEZZARO IN QUESTO
LUOGO SOTTO PENA DI SCUDI QUINDICI
ET ALTRE PENE IN CONFORMITA DEL EDIT
TO EMANATO LI 22 MAGGIO 1761

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The original is in the Via di Montoro, near my place.

As Er Belli put it:

Pagà dieci scudacci de penale
io pover’omo che nun ciò un quadrino!
Io che nemmanco posso beve er vino
antro che quanno vado a lo spedale!
Eppuro me toccò a buttà un lustrino
pe famme stenne drent’ar momoriale
le raggione da disse ar Tribbunale
de le Strade, indov’è quell’assassino.
Je ce dicevo: “Monsignore mio,
quanno lei trova er reo, voi gastigatelo:
ma er monnezzaro nun ce l’ho fatto io.
E sai che m’arispose quer Nerone?
Questo nun me confinfera: arifatelo,
ch’io nun vojo sentì tante raggione.

Only 10 scudi! He got off light!

This is me not littering. I wrote these a while back but am just getting around to mailing them to donors who were especially generous (and whose address I could find).

Day 2 of the Grand Chess Tour Rapid & Blitz 2023 in Warsaw saw three rounds of rapid. Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Levon Aronian, and Wesley So (YAY!) share the lead on 2.5/3.0 with five points after the first day. Pole Radoslaw Wojtaszek beat Magnus Carlsen WHO NEEDS A HAIR CUT. The battle continues with rounds 4-6 in rapid today, Monday, at 14:00 CEST. Go Wesley! As I write thing (perhaps not as I post this, which could be later, they are about to begin hostilities.)

Here’s a puzzle.

White to move. Mate in 2.

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

Interested in learning? This guy helped my game. Try THIS.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
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ACTION ITEM! New Roman vestments for the parish – UPDATES – Starting to collect the pledges.

Posted on 22 May 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

UPDATE 22 May 2023

I had an additional consultation with the pastor and the sacristan at the parish and we decided that 7 red sets would be best. I have sent out emails to some (not all) of you who made pledges for vestments suggesting the best way to send the donation. Thanks for not jumping the gun!

We will also be trying to get 4 sets in black. I’ll be sending out notes about that to some of you who made pledges (perhaps not all).

There are some amazing things happening at Ss. Trinità. For example, they finally got something worked out with the government ministry that handles churches (remember that with the “unification” of Italy, all churches were seized by the new government) to work on the façade. When it is finished, it will be amazing. I also heard that they have somehow acquired a spectacular portative organ which should be arriving soon. Also, tomorrow is the Feast of St. Giovanni Battista de Rossi, whose body was in the side altar where I generally say daily Mass, and this week has the Triduum of celebrations for St. Philip Neri (and my anniversary!).

Thanks to the vestment pledgers for your generous spirits! Working together we can do something wonderful for God and the promotion of the Faith through beauty.

UPDATE 14 May 2023

A few items.

First, I’ve received a some notes saying that they, too, would like to donate. Bless your generous hearts.
Second, the pastor of Ss. Trin and another priest and I will meet on Wednesday to work on the details of what comes after red. We need all to be on the same page.
Third, if there is some project that needs a little more ooompfing with dough, we might open this back up again.

Let me get all my horsies in a row.

♞ ♞ ♞ ♞ ♞ ♞ ♞

Again… don’t send money for this yet. (Of course you can always send money to me!)

UPDATE 13 May 2023

There are quite a few pledges. I posted more info, below. For now, however, STOP! I have to sort things out.

And do NOT send money yet! I’ll be in touch individually.

THANKS!

___ Originally posted on May 12, 2023 at 05:37

Update on the Vestments Project for Parish, Ss. Trinità dei Pellegrini.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the most immediate need at my adoptive Roman parish is for several sets of red vestments.

Apart from the set I showed you before, that has holes worn through the maniple and pianeta (the “chasuble” of a Roman style set), today I had this.

This shouldn’t be used on a daily basis. It is 19th c. and has some historic value. But it is coming apart.

Notice that the trim is three different styles now from different repairs.

It doesn’t have a matching chalice veil.

No. Just… no.

¡Hagan lío!

My estimates from Gammarelli have resulted in a good solution. We should get six matching Roman sets in RED for the six side altars for simultaneous use. I had the idea to put my own coat of arms on all of them, but that would be … excessive. I’ll have one of them made with my arms. I’ll use it when I am around and some other poor priest will be forced to think of me when I’m not. Heh.

Right now the dollar is pretty strong against the euro.

A Roman set in silk blend with column braid will cost, and I am rounding up a little to cover any outliers and change of exchange: $775. One will cost more because of the stemma, $850. Six (there are six side altars – one pianeta with stemma): $4725.

I don’t want to pull the trigger until I know the money is there.

UPDATE:

What would really help is for the larger donors (like, e.g., for one or more whole sets) to pitch in first. This will reduce the complexity of this project a great deal.

So, if you want to participate write me a note with “NEW VESTMENTS for Ss. Trinità” in the subject. Tell me how much you want to contribute. I’ll start a “thermometer”. I’ll figure out the collection process once I get Gammarelli started.

To cut down on spam attacks or knucklehead mail, the form below has a two step process. Fill out the form. You will have to verify that your email is a real email. After that, I’ll get your message.

~~Please include your ADDRESS…. ADDRESS… ADDRESS…. thanks.~~

PROGRESS 13 MAY 2023:

I’ve heard from:

AT, TM, MD, HL, KA, VB, DY, MH, WH, ES, ML, SAS, TP, J&CD, MG

As you can see, there is quite a lot pledged. DON’T SEND MONEY YET. I’ll be in touch. I’ll probably work my way backwards from the larger pledges and figure out what can be done.

That aside… you readers are fantastic. You amaze me every time I bring up a project like for the parish or for myself. Thank you.

So, for now at least, STOP. I have some sorting to do.

Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, ACTION ITEM! | Tagged vestments
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Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 6th Sunday after Easter, Sunday after Ascension (N.O.: 7th of) 2023

Posted on 22 May 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at your Sunday Mass of obligation?

Share the good stuff.

It was the 6th Sunday after Easter in the Vetus Ordo, aka Sunday after the Ascension of the Lord, and the 7th Sunday of Easter in the Novus Ordo.

Tell about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass. Pretty much everywhere it seems to be growing.

Any local changes or (hopefully good) news?

I have some thoughts about the Sunday reading HERE.

A taste:

By the Ascension, all the transformative mysteries of the Passion and Resurrection are still available to us. The action and effects of the Last Supper continuous with Calvary and the empty tomb are not bound by clocks, calendars 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. Christ is not just in this Host and then that Host but in every Host, not just on this altar but now every altar. There isn’t just one priest now acting in Christ’s person, but many. This is what Christ accomplished in His Ascension to the Father.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
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ROME 23/05 – Day 20: It’s the little things.

Posted on 20 May 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

It was 05:43 when the sun rose and it will be 20:31 when it sets.

The Ave Maria should chime at 20:45.

Today is, among others such as St. Bernardine of Siena, the Feast of St. Aurea, “Golden Girl”. More about her elsewhere.

In your goodness, please raise a prayer for my mother. Thanks.

Welcome registrants:

p********1@gmail.com
orangeblossom2

Folks, best not to use your email as your username here. Just sayin’.

Upon entering the sacristy today, I found this evocative arrangement. Clearly “Something’s up today!”, quoth I, or I would have were I wont to talk to myself. Admittedly, I do sometimes, and that’s when I know I have to get back to Rome to recharge. I digress. Upon closer examination I see cotton balls and an ampule of Sacred Chrism. That can only mean: confirmations.

As it turns out, Card. Müller will come to confirm today in the Vetus Ordo.

It is simple cruelty that some in the Holy See and in diocesan chanceries deny traditional Confirmation to the faithful who desire it. It’s just plain cruel.

I’ll head back to church later today for the rite and try to get some good images to post.

Meanwhile, I received word that, at the end of the month, scaffolding should be going up for the restoration of the façade of the church! It is in bad shape and it is one of the last churches in Rome that still has the rusty reddish wash that was applied all over during the 18th c. The façade of Ss. Trinità is, in fact, travertine! When it is done, it’ll be amazing, gleaming white.

A quick view, again with the happy rondini. For some reason the WordPress app doesn’t like videos that are more than a certain length, so I keep them short if I am working directly from my phone and not from my laptop.

On the way to church in the morning I pass by this super elegant door number.

It’s the little things.

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Meanwhile, what you have all been impatiently waiting for: CHESS news!

Chess. That nearly infinitely complex game that a 6 year old can play. It’s a life time gift you give when you teach a child to play chess.

GM Aleksandra Goryachkina is leading in the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2022-2023 go on, I think, in Nicosia. Their final round is today.

The Grand Chess Tour continues today in Warsaw with Rapid and Blitz. All the biggies are there. Well, a lot of them are: for example,

Levon Aronian, Wesley So (YAY!), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Richard Rapport, Anish Giri, Magnus Carlsen…. I note that Nepo and Ding are not there, after their lackluster showing in Bucharest. They are probably flat-lined.

The traditional monks of Norcia make really good beer, three kinds. You can have some! I’m serious about the beer being really good.

Interested in learning? This guy helped my game. Try THIS.

White to move. Checkmate in 2.

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

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Bad floods in Italy! A priest. A book. A bridge.

Posted on 20 May 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

You long-time readers will know that when there is a hurricane or some natural phenomenon like storms that spawn tornadoes coming along I plead with bishops and priests to put on their gear and pray against the storms using the traditional Rituale Romanum. There are prayers that can be included in the Litany of Saints for the aversion of many ills.

For my own part, when I had a place deep in northern midwest farmland, there were tornado threats. Once, as I was watching on TV as one such storm was heading towards our area, the weather radar showed the direction but also the time that tornados could arrive superimposed on a map. I realized that something nasty was heading literally straight at me, exactly to where I was on that map. I put on my gear, went out on the porch facing the storm, and started up the prayers. When I went back inside, the weather man was saying something like, “This is really strange… I’ve never seen anything like this before. It looks like the storm split in two and is diverging in different directions.” True story.

Coincidence? I think not.

Today The Great Roman™ sent a story about bad flooding taking place in central Italy.

From TGCom24:

Bad weather in Abruzzo, the river overflows: the priest blesses it and stops the flood

Don Gaston of the church of San Salvatore di Silvi (Teramo) prayed on the Piomba bridge so that nature “would not bring devastation and death”. Many passers-by who stopped to join in the ritual.

Some of the comments under the story are, translated into American, are along the lines of “Maybe he could go to Congress? … He could do something about the Dems.”

VIDEO from Corriere. You can hear that the priest is praying IN LATIN.

Anyway, these are REALITIES we face. God has given us through the Church MIGHTY spiritual helps in times of material calamity. This is why we bless bells and have Rogation processions and hold FORTY HOURS DEVOTION.

I know that there are bishops out there, quite a lot of you, who read these pages.

Your Excellencies …

…when something is up, don’t do it by halves. Get out there in your gear with the real killer book, the old one, tried and true and JUST DO IT. You don’t have to make press statements. You don’t have to do it in public (though I think you should and so do all your faithful). JUST DO IT. Pray for your flock and use the very best. And we all know what the very best is. The traditional ways.

In 2020, that same priest don Gaston, went through the streets with a relic in COVID Theatre time. Facebook.

(“Don” is how you address a diocesan priest in Italy.)

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Priests and Priesthood, Save The Liturgy - Save The World |
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ASK FATHER: After being away for years, I went to confession but I forgot something.

Posted on 20 May 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

I recently got over myself and went to confession after being away from the sacramental life of the church for a number of years.
I then realized that I had not confessed the fulfillment of my easter duty. However I suspect the priest would automatically know this by the number of years I had been away.
Your reminders to go to confession are a short sharp jab that’s needed.
God bless you and your work

Firstly, I like the way you put that… you “got over yourself”. That’s an underlying point about forgiveness in the Lord’s parable about the Pharisee and the Publican who went to the Temple to pray.

When making your confession, do your best. That’s all that is asked of you. Whether you have been away for 20 days or 20 years, do your best. If you don’t remember something, you can’t confess it. You’ve still done your best to confess all that you remember. In that way ALL YOUR SINS are forgive, including those which you didn’t remember or had remembered but in the moment forgot to confess.

The next time you go back to confession, which should be fairly frequently to get back into the groove, mention that you have forgotten to confess “A…B… C…”. As things surface from your past that know you haven’ confessed, mention them as things that you just remembered.

Also, something that will help diminish this is making an examination of conscience every night. That will be a very useful tool for making a good confession and seeing where your principle faults are, the things that need work the most… right now.

And never forget that there is no sin so great that our infinite and loving God can’t or won’t forgive. Forgiveness is always there for us, provided that we ask for it.

Posted in ASK FATHER Question Box, GO TO CONFESSION | Tagged confession, GO TO CONFESSION, reconciiation, sacrament of penance
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20 May – The “Golden Girl” of Ostia, St. Aurea and a link with St. Augustine’s mom, Monnica

Posted on 20 May 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Today is the feast of St. Aurea of Ostia, a martyr from the 2nd century about whom we know nothing for sure, except that she worked miracles, refused to sacrifice to the gods and was murdered in the 3rd c.

St. Aurea of Ostia figures in the ongoing story of St. Augustine of Hippo and his mother St. Monnica.

To find out why St. Aurea or “Golden Girl” figures in the history of this saintly N. African family, read this excerpt from an article I wrote for Inside the Vatican when St. Augustine’s relics were brought to Rome and, for a brief few days, reunited with his mother.

Most visitors to the Eternal City find it puzzling and wondrous that Monnica’s remains would be in Rome and even more so that Augustine’s should be in northern Italy, or that we have them at all.

How did this come to pass?

Monnica died at age 56 of a malarial fever at Ostia, Rome’s port city, not far from where modern Rome’s port, DaVinci airport, is situated. After Augustine’s baptism in 386 by Milan’s bishop St. Ambrose (+ AD 397), Monnica and Augustine together with his brother Navigius, Adeodatus the future bishop’s son by his concubine of many years whom Monnica had forced Augustine to put aside, and friends Nebridius, Alypius and the former Imperial secret service agent (agens in rebus) Evodius were all waiting at Ostia to return home to Africa by ship. They were stuck there for some time because the port was blockaded during a period of civil strife.

As she lay dying near Rome, Monnica told Augustine (conf. 9): “Lay this body anywhere, let not the care for it trouble you at all. This only I ask, that you will remember me at the Lord’s altar, wherever you be.” She was buried there in Ostia.

In the 6^th century she was moved to a little church named for St. Aurea, an early martyr of the city, and there she remained until 1430 when her remains were translated by Pope Martin V to the Roman Basilica of St. Augustine built in 1420 by the famous Guillaume Card. D’Estouteville of Rouen, then Camerlengo under Pope Sixtus IV.

As fate or God’s directing have would have it, in December 1945, some children were digging a hole in the courtyard of the little church of St. Aurea next to the ruins of ancient Ostia. They wanted to put up a basketball hoop, probably having been taught the exciting new game – so different from soccer – by American GIs. While digging they discovered the broken marble epitaph which had marked Monnica’s ancient grave.

Scholars were able to authenticate the inscription, the text of which had been preserved in a medieval manuscript.

The epitaph had been composed during Augustine’s lifetime by no less then a former Consul of AD 408 and resident at Ostia, Anicius Auchenius Bassus, perhaps Augustine’s host during their sojourn. It is possible that Anicius Bassus placed the epitaph there after 410 which saw the ravages of Alaric the Visigoth and the sacking of Rome and its environs.

One can almost feel behind these traces of ancient evidence Augustine’s plea to his old friend sent by letter from the port of Hippo Regius over the waves to Ostia. Hearing of the devastation to the area, far more shocking to the ancients than the events of 11 September were for us, did Augustine, now a renowned bishop, ask his old friend to tend the grave of the mother whom he had so loved and who in her time had wept for her son’s sins and rejoiced in his conversion?

The inscription reads:

HIC POSVIT CINERES GENETRIX CASTISSIMA PROLIS
AVGVSTINE TVI(s) ALTERA LUX MERITI(s)
QVI SERVANS PACIS CAELESTIA IVRA SACERDOS
COMMISSOS POPVLOS MORIBVS INSTITVIS
GLORIA VOS MAIOR GESTORVM LAVDE CORONAT
VIRTVTVM MATER FELICIOR SVBOLE

I’m sure you can provide your own perfect and yet smooth version.

Posted in Saints: Stories & Symbols | Tagged St. Aurea
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ROME 23/05 – Day 19: Prayer request

Posted on 19 May 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The sun rose over Rome, or would have were it not cloudy… AGAIN… at 05:44 and it will set… will we enjoy it? … at 20:30.

The Ave Maria should be rung at 20:45 now.

In your kindness, pray for my mother.

Lot’s of saints on the calendar. St. Peter Celestine (+1296) whose resignation gave the Church Boniface VIII. Just sayin’, Urban I (+230). Ss. Partenio and Calogero (+304). St. Ivo (+1303) who was around in the time of Boniface VIII. S. Crispin of Viterbo (+1750). The traditional calendar includes S. Pudenziana, who gets a commemoration.

There was a beautiful Solemn Mass at the parish last night for the Feast of the Ascension.

Omnia praeparata sunt ad sanctam Missam celebrandam.

ACTION SHOT!

Another ACTION SHOT! At the end of the Gospel on Ascension THURSDAY the Paschal Candle is snuffed out. Another beautiful, meaningful liturgical gesture. Also, it emphasizes the importance of the mystery of the Ascension. That was obliterated in the “reform”. Another thing lost. Small? Sure. But powerful.

The Great Roman™ came over for spaghetti alle vongole. What a pleasure to be able to get these so easily and relatively inexpensively.

We had our own bowls of pasta and then helped ourselves to the clams as we went. The wine was really interesting a DRY Moscato from Terracina. Yes, you read that right.

Meanwhile, there isn’t a lot of chess news of note at the moment. I know that the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix is on, but I’m not sure where. I believe that the second leg of the Grand Chess Tour (GCT) – Rapid & Blitz – starts tomorrow in Warsaw and I think my guy Wesley So is there. If I remember he was going there after Romania. Go Wesley!

Here’s a puzzle. White to move. Mate in 2.

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

3:16 isn’t just in John.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
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A Pope in hell? The curious case of Pope SAINT Peter Celestine V

Posted on 19 May 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Today is the feast of St. Peter Celestine, Pope Celestine V, who famously resigned the papacy.

This is one of the fascinating people in our Catholic family history.

Pietro da Morrone, born c. 1215, in the Molise area of central Italy, came from a family of peasants. He entered a Benedictine monastery and later became a hermit. Peter eventually guided a community of hermits modeled along the lines of the Cistercian Benedictine rule. He was well-known for his holiness and his acclaimed ability to heal.

With the death of Nicholas IV, the see of Peter was vacant for three years. Pietro was eventually elected “by inspiration” in 1294. He took the name Celestine.

Celestine came out of the blocks with a strong spiritual program. He created 12 cardinals, the number of the apostles, including 5 monks. Celestine was inspired by the musings of Joachim de Fiore. Celestine probably wanted to ring in a new age of the Spirit, with a strong monastic dimension, in preparation for the end times.

In a loose way, perhaps we can see today the rise of “movements” and some of the charismatic elements of these movements – as we still emerge from the horror of the 20th century and battle the dictatorship of relativism, as being part of a pattern that repeats itself through our history after the Ascension of the Lord, the end times. Every generation has sensed itself to be in the end times. But I digress.

Poor Pope Celestine couldn’t hold it all together. He abdicated on 13 December 1294 after only 5 months as Pope. The cardinals elected Benedict Caetani, who took the name Boniface… Boniface VIII.

The former Pope-monk but once-again-Peter fled Rome and went to his hermitage back in the hills of central Italy and Apulia. He tried to get out of Italy to Greece, but he was apprehended in June 1295 and brought to Boniface. Boniface imprisoned him.

Peter Celestine died a year later on 19 May 1296 and was buried in L’Aquila.

He was canonized in 1313. He was removed from the universal calendar of the Roman Church in 1969, but he is still venerated in the Abruzzi area of Italy. The church in which he was interred was damaged in the earthquake that rocked central Italy some time ago.

Benedict XVI visited the church. More on that, below.

Dante, in his Divine Comedy, in Inferno 3, places in hell someone whom we think may be Peter Celestine V. Dante calls him

“the shade of him who in his cowardice made the great refusal”.

“The great refusal” being the rejection of the highest office to which one might ascend in this world, with all the duties and responsibilities and implications for the bonds of society that that office carries.

Remember that the Divine Comedy is about, among other things, the interrelationship of the secular and the sacred. Dante was writing political theory in the Divine Comedy. His Hell is constructed to reflect the ways in which people harm no just themselves, but also the bonds of society.

Dante would have hated Peter Celestine’s abdication also because he opened the way for Dante’s great enemy Boniface VIII, whom he detested.

If you have never read the Divine Comedy, you should. You could start with Esolen (Part 1, Inferno HERE) or perhaps with Dorothy Sayer’s fine version (Part 1, Inferno, HERE). There are many renderings to choose from, for example another one by Clive James.

After earthquakes rocked central Italy, Pope Benedict visited the area, including the tomb of Pope Celestine. He ominously left his palium there, that first one he used, the longer paleo-palium.

An interesting gesture. O, my prophetic soul.

From the 2005 Martyrologium Romanum:

6. Ad Castrum Fumorense prop Alatrium in Latio, natalis sancti Petri Caelestini, qui, cum vitam eremeticam in Aprutio ageret, fama sanctitatis et miraculorum clarus, octogenarius Romanus Pontifex electus est, assumpto nomine Caelestini Quinti, sed eodem anno munere se abdicavit et solitudinem recedere maluit.

Posted in Saints: Stories & Symbols |
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“Quam pulchri super montes pedes adnuntiantis et praedicantis” – Christ’s Ascension and His Lordly Feet

Posted on 18 May 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

There are many images of the Lord’s Ascension to heaven through history, and rightly so. With the Annunciation, the Ascension is perhaps the greatest of all the Feasts of the Lord and for our own humanity. Imagine! Our humanity, taken into an indestructible bond with the Lord’s divinity at the Annunciation, with the Ascension is seated – RIGHT NOW – at the right hand of the Father.

Now HE. Later WE.

The Ascension is an article of the Creed and it behooves us to reflect on it.

The depictions of the Ascension 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.

It the readings for the Sunday after Ascension, what does Peter teach us? Charity covers a multitude of sins!

Let’s have a few more images of the Ascension of different styles, animi caussa!

From the Parisian Missal