On Sunday, Bp. Thomas Tobin of Providence visited the parish entrusted to the FSSP.
This is talk he gave.
This is what I have been harping on for YEARS.
This bishop’s message was:
“You keep doing good to my diocese and l’ll cover your six.”
I keep saying, “BE ENGAGED!”
Be the first to volunteer to help. Be involved in works of mercy.
This isn’t rocket science.
At Rorate,
The text is a workshop on what is wrong in Rome, what is right with Tradition.
It is clear, concise and frank and it is by a Bishop.
Not just a bishop, a relatively young bishop. Bp. Mutsaerts protested against the Amazonian Synod and even resigned some of his administrative duties as Auxiliary to his radical ideologue pro-Pachamama Ordinary. HERE
Remember, friends. As the demographics of the Church shift, new bishops will have to be drawn from priests who are now young and who don’t carry the baggage of the halcyon days of the “spirit of Vatican II”. The pool on which they can draw for new bishops will be more and more traditional in its make up and openness.
As the for the older ideologues…. tick… tick… tick… tick… tick…
I’ll bet they can feel it.
Some tastes of Bp. Mutsaerts’ J’Accuse! …
An Evil Edict from Pope Francis
Bp. Rob Mutsaerts
Auxiliary Bishop of ‘s-HertogenboschPope Francis promotes synodality: everyone should be able to talk, everyone should be heard. This was hardly the case with his recently published motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, an ukase [imperial edict] [Russian] that must put an immediate termination on the traditional Latin Mass.
The fact that Francis here uses the word of power without any consultation indicates that he is losing authority.
[…]
By the way, the Church has never abolished liturgies.
[…]
Pope Francis is now pretending that his motu proprio belongs to the organic development of the Church, which utterly contradicts the reality. By making the Latin Mass practically impossible, he finally breaks with the age-old liturgical tradition of the Roman Catholic Church. Liturgy is not a toy of popes; it is the heritage of the Church. The Old Mass is not about nostalgia or taste. The pope should be the guardian of Tradition; the pope is a gardener, not a manufacturer. Canon law is not merely a matter of positive law; there is also such a thing as natural law and divine law, and, moreover, there is such a thing as Tradition that cannot simply be brushed aside.
What Pope Francis is doing here has nothing to do with evangelization and even less to do with mercy. It is more like ideology.
[…]
Bishops now have the unenviable task of having yet another burden placed on their shoulders. While Summorum Pontificum exercised pastoral subsidiarity, now the situation on the ground is more complicated by far because of interference from on high. Also, those who have to determine what to do in their dioceses aren’t in a good position to do so: most of them do not know the Traditional Roman Rite, they do not know the people, they haven’t spent time with them. How do you make informed decisions about something so important. And I mean the people.
It’s not just that Francis has definitively revealed that he, personally, doesn’t like Traditional sacred worship. He’s a Jesuit, after all, infamous for their liturgical apathy. It’s that Francis doesn’t like the people who like Traditional worship.
We must pray for the softening of the hearts of those who will implement Traditionis custodes, lest they go to their Creator – quod Deus avertat – with this cold, sclerotic stain.
The Feast of St. Ann has arrived, and I greet all who are graced with the name of Ann, however spelled.
Let us, on our own, continue to pray this Novena on a daily basis:
Continue to pray this Novena prayer to the grandmother of God, the mother of Mary.
Here is one prayer to St Ann. There are others.
I ask St Ann to:
Soften the hearts of all those who will now be involved with the implementation of Traditionis custodes.
I will ask Ann to “guard the guards”.
Say this each day.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Glorious St. Anne, we think of you as filled with compassion for those who invoke you and with love for those who suffer. Heavily laden with the weight of my troubles, I cast myself at your feet and humbly beg of you to take the present affair which I commend to you under your special protection
(Mention the (above) intention here…)
Deign to commend it to your daughter, our Blessed Lady and lay it before the throne of Jesus, so that He may bring it to a happy conclusion. Cease not to intercede for me until my request is granted. Above all, obtain for me the grace of one day beholding my God face to face. With you and Mary and all the saints, may I praise and bless Him for all eternity. Amen.
Good St Anne, mother of her who is our life, our sweetness and our hope, pray for me.
Say 1: Our Father…
Say 1: Hail Mary…
Say 1: Glory Be…
Who will join me in this Novena?
And…
GO TO CONFESSION!
Interrupted while saying Mass at his parish church in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, the 85-year old priest struggled to repel his two 18-year old attackers with his feet. “Go away Satan!”, he repeated.
Fr. Jacques Hamel was murdered, in odium fidei, a martyr to the Faith, his throat slashed by Islamic terrorists.
Five years ago today.
His cause has been opened.
Fr. Jacques Hamel by Neilson Carlin
Today is the Feast of St James the Greater, Apostle, brother of John and a of Zebedee. He was put to death probably in AD 42. His feast marks the translation of his relics.
Although today is a Sunday, which outweighs the Feast, we nevertheless commemorate St. James. As we do, we also remember the moment in the Gospel with the mother of James and John asks the Lord for “glory” for them. They affirm the request. They got what they asked for, but not in the way they thought. John lived to old age, the last to die, and James was the first to die: direct opposites. “Glory”, in the Gospel of John, as in John 17 when Jesus says to the Father, “Glorify your Son” and John remarks that, at Calvary, he had “seen His glory”, John means the Passion and crucifixion of the Lord. Both John and James were glorified. John did not escape martyrdom, by the way. When he was in Rome he was arrested and several times they tried to kill him, to no avail. He was exiled to Patmos.
All of us have to drink the chalice. To be with Christ in heaven, we who bear his name and mark have to follow him to the Cross before the resurrection. The chalice for most people is not martyrdom of blood. But it always has to be the martyrdom of loving obedience to God’s will as it is lived out in our vocations, whatever vocation that may be.
Each person’s vocation has its particular chalice to drink.
I note with interest a particular word in today’s Collect for the commemoration of St. James. Let’s see if you notice it too.
Esto, Dómine, plebi tuæ sanctificátor et custos: ut, Apóstoli tui Iacóbi muníta præsídiis, et conversatióne tibi pláceat, et secúra mente desérviat.
Variations of this appear in ancient sacramentaries, such as the Gregorian, for feasts of apostles and other occasions. There are variants, such as “Esto protector, Domine, populi tui propitiatus et rector eique…“.
A literal translation:
O Lord, be the sanctifier and the guard of your people, so that, fortified with the assistances of Your Apostle James, it may both please You by their manner of living and also zealously serve You with a tranquil mind.
A looser translation:
Protect Your people and make them holy, O Lord, so that, guarded by the help of Your Apostle James, they may please You by their conduct and serve You with peace of mind.
See it?
Custos.
Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at the Mass for your Sunday (obligation or none), either live or on the internet? Let us know what it was.
Too many people today are without good, strong preaching, to the detriment of all. Share the good stuff.
What was attendance like?
Tell about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass. I’m getting reports that it was waaaay up.
Was the Motu Proprio mentioned? What was said?
Was St. James mentioned?
Share and re-tweet, please.
17 July through 26 July, Ann’s feast day in both traditional and post-Conciliar calendars, we can pray a NOVENA to the grandmother of God, the mother of Mary.
Here is one novena prayer to St Ann. There are others. Pray it (or others) every day from 17 through 26 July. You will have your own petitions as I have mine.
I ask St Ann to:
Soften the hearts of all those who will now be involved with the implementation of Traditionis custodes.
I will ask Ann to “guard the guards”.
Say this each day.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Glorious St. Anne, we think of you as filled with compassion for those who invoke you and with love for those who suffer. Heavily laden with the weight of my troubles, I cast myself at your feet and humbly beg of you to take the present affair which I commend to you under your special protection
(Mention the (above) intention here…)
Deign to commend it to your daughter, our Blessed Lady and lay it before the throne of Jesus, so that He may bring it to a happy conclusion. Cease not to intercede for me until my request is granted. Above all, obtain for me the grace of one day beholding my God face to face. With you and Mary and all the saints, may I praise and bless Him for all eternity. Amen.
Good St Anne, mother of her who is our life, our sweetness and our hope, pray for me.
Say 1: Our Father…
Say 1: Hail Mary…
Say 1: Glory Be…
Who will join me in this Novena?
And…
GO TO CONFESSION!
(I did.)
My boyhood summers – when there was still such a thing as boyhood – were in large part spent in Montana and N. Wyoming, running like a brown animal, riding bare-back, swimming, biking, and going to minor league ballgames with my grandfather.
My grandfather was bridge builder and bridge player, both, literally. He had a superb memory, being able to recite long poems of Robert Service and chapters of the Bible, with cool, keen, inventive, tactical mind for games. He was good at what he did, whether it was building massive bridges in the mountains or pasting people at the bridge table… or teaching his grandson how to play chess.
A few years after my learning the basics, came 1972 and the Match of the Century: Fischer v. Spassky in Iceland for the World Championship.
Every day I was so wrapped with excitement about the match’s progress that I nearly vibrated until I saw the morning newspaper’s account of the most recent game and… its notation. Of course I had to play them through. More than once, sunshine and bicycles be damned.
I played chess hard for quite some time, in tournaments and other venues. Eventually, as one does, I slipped away into other things that drew the vast majority of my energy and time.
Chess is pulling me back in.
Chess renewed my seduction on a chance Saturday morning in Washington DC just before I had to go to the airport. As I was checking out of the venerable DC club where I was staying, I noticed a sign that their chess club was meeting at that very moment. Having a little time to kill, I went to investigate.
There they were. Four boards going, one person kibitzing. I watched respectfully from afar for a few minutes. The kibitzer asked if I would like a game.
Never underestimate the power of an invitation.
After a brief chat and introduction, during which I said that I hadn’t played for quite a while, I drew black. He went at me with a Queen’s Pawn opening, probably to shake a rusty opponent. It worked. I struggled through that game and lost, not without making him frown hard and mutter, “You have played before.” I won the next game.
In the car to the airport, I found myself grinning.
When you discover yourself to be grinning, pay attention.
Since then, I played a only couple OTB games with a priest friend and I’ve started to work chess problems, reviewing openings which I’ve all but forgotten. I had had the intention of getting a chess club going. You readers were magnificently kind in sending sets and clocks.* It was not to be.
Life happened.
I’d make an arch remark about a certain chess piece, but suffice to say that now I’m a backward, isolated pawn. Nay rather, from my devotion to the Queen of the Clergy, perhaps I’m an isolano**.
Why the chess reminiscence today? Here’s the tabiya.
Church Militant (HERE) has quite the essay on the late Bobby Fischer.
It seems that Bobby Fischer, at the time of his death, was involved almost as a catechumen investigating the Catholic Faith. He requested to be buried as a Catholic. I wouldn’t rule out baptism of desire.
Knowing what I have known about his biography, this news left me somewhat gobsmacked. If you look up his entry in Wikipedia, it’s right there. Surprise.
While there is breath there is life and there is a chance for conversion.
And life goes on here. The Chess Match over Traditionis custodes is not over.
There are some good chess movies out there, though some of them have some less than virtuous moments.
Let’s start with …
Searching for Bobby Fischer
Pawn Sacrifice
Queen of Katwe
Critical Thinking
US HERE – UK HERE
Queen To Play
Life of a King
Honorable Mention
The Coldest Game
*I still have everything, of course, lovingly packed and brought to my new BOQ. We’ll see. Maybe I can get something going here. TLM, pot luck, and chess?
**An “isolano” is a isolated pawn (one having no friendly pawns on adjacent ranks) on the Queen’s rank.
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
A Daily Prayer for Priests
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