Fr. Z's Blog

UPDATE 31 July….

It happened.

UPDATE 1 August 17:43 EDT:

On 1 August, Masses for Blase Cupich

Vetus Ordo: 52
Novus Ordo: 23

There may be more priests who haven’t yet informed me.

Do not forget, priests and laity alike, to get on your knees to pray that what Cupich has planned may be averted.

Originally Published on: Jul 17, 2022 at 15:34

I have a proposal.

Fathers: On 1 August say Holy Mass for Blase Cupich.

When people harm us, anger is a common reaction, sometimes righteous and justified, sometimes excessive to the point of being irrational.  When we are mistreated, it is common for people to hold a grudge, harbor the wrong, even nourish it inside like a cancer.

The one thing that Christ went back to explain in the Lord’s Prayer as He taught it in Matthew 6 is that if we do not forgive those who harm us, God the Father will not forgive us for the harm we have caused.   If we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven.

It is very hard to remain angry at someone for whom you often sincerely pray.  The essence of charity is the desire of the good of the other.

A path to purifying our hearts and memories of past wrongs and to heal our thoughts about those who harm us is the threefold act of 1) asking the Lord to forgive the person, 2) telling the Lord we forgive the person, 3) asking the Lord to forgive us.

And GO TO CONFESSION!

Here’s what I propose.

Every priest who possibly can on 1 August should celebrate Holy Mass for the intention of Card. Blase Cupich.   

In private… in public… TLM or Novus Ordo…. pray that God provides him with exactly what he needs for his own best good.

Fathers: Would it more fitting that these Masses be Traditional Latin Masses?  Perhaps if you are already scheduled with an intention, a second Mass that day without any stipend but for that intention seems appropriate.

1 August is the perfect day for this for the following reasons.

1. Since 31 July is the last day that Cupich is permitting the priests of the Institute to function as priests in Chicago, 1 August is the first full day of their new status of suffering what he inflicted on them so unjustly.
2. It is, liturgically in the traditional calendar, an “open” day, so priests can choose a Votive Mass.  I suggest “Pro Quacumque Necessitate”, which has beautiful prayers and readings.  I think in the Novus Ordo calendar we celebrate St. Alphonsus.
3. 1 August is the anniversary of the martyrdom of Bl. Mary Stella and her ten companions, the Martyrs of Nowogrodek, killed by the Nazis in 1943.  I wrote about them HERE.  The Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth have a house in Chicago and in that house there are relics of the martyred nuns.  I’ve seen them.  They should be invoked to intercede for Cupich, the local bishop.
4. 1 August is the Feast of the Holy Maccabees, Old Testament martyrs, and the Feast of St. Peter in Chains (there’s a Mass formulary in the PSPAL in the back of the Missale), the church in Rome when Peter’s chains are kept and where the relics of the Holy Maccabees are preserved.    More on the relics of the Maccabees HERE.   You will remember that their mother, St. Solomnis, was forced to watch them be killed, one by one like, as Ambrose put it, “an unfurling of their souls in a battle line”.  As they died she and the remaining brothers encouraged the one being tormented to die well.

Whatever baggage or ideologies or demons or false reports or … whatever have led Cupich to do what he is doing, while not ever forgetting his deeds or all the people his has hurt concerning the Traditional Roman Rite, we need to forgive, purify our own hearts, and pray for him.    This doesn’t mean that people in Chicago shouldn’t have their own plans about how to react, consequences for what has been done.  But undertaking responses without purifying heart and mind in forgiveness, and even a good confession, is spiritually perilous.

Fathers, if you want to drop me a private line to say you are doing this, you can click HERE.  I will not reveal you or name you.    You might say which Rite you will use, Vetus or Novus and which Mass, of Sunday, or Feast or Votive.  C’mon, brothers.

ALL BLOGGERS/WRITERS: Please pick this up.  1 August – Mass for Cupich Day