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{]:¬)

TURN TOWARDS THE LORD AGAIN! Shrine of O.L. of Guadalupe

Posted on 20 December 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Click!

I am delighted to post that henceforth all Masses celebrated at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe near La Crosse, WI will be celebrated ad orientem.

HERE

[…]

In his homilies for both the Third Sunday of Advent and the Solemnity of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Cardinal Burke offered a catechesis regarding the orientation of the priest and people during the offering of the Sacrifice of the Mass. He explained that the priest at the head of the congregation will, with the congregation, turn toward the Lord during the prayers and, above all, during the Eucharistic Prayer, in order to render more visible our recognition that it is Our Lord Himself Who inspires our prayer and Who acts during the Eucharistic Prayer to make sacramentally present His Sacrifice on Calvary for our eternal salvation. We all turn to Him; we all look to Him.
He further explained that the practice of the priest facing the congregation, which developed during the years after the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, was not in fact a discipline ordered by the Council. He observed that, while it may have seemed helpful at the time, it now seems fitting and indeed important to return to the ancient practice by which the union of the priest who offers the Sacrifice of the Mass, in the person of Christ, and the congregation is visible to us all and inspires in us a more ready recognition of Christ in our midst, as He is most fully and perfectly present in the Eucharistic Sacrifice. Quoting Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, he explained that the teaching of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council on the Sacred Liturgy does not speak of a change in the ancient discipline according to which “during the Rite of Penance, the singing of the Gloria, the orations and the Eucharistic Prayer, all, priest and faithful, should turn together towards the East, to express their desire to participate in the work of worship and of redemption accomplished by Christ.”
He explained that, returning to the ancient practice of the Church, we all face the East, we all face the Lord, during Sacred Worship. It is not a question of the priest turning his back to the faithful but rather directing himself, with the faithful, to Christ Who makes sacramentally present His Sacrifice for our eternal salvation. He expressed the hope that, purifying and enriching the liturgical practice at the Shrine, we will be one with Our Lady of Guadalupe in giving witness to the all-merciful love of God present, in a most extraordinary manner, in the Eucharistic Sacrifice.
He also explained that facing our Lord in Sacred Worship gives form to our daily living. In everything that we think and say and do, we are to turn to the Lord. Each day, we devote ourselves anew to the conversion of our lives to Christ. We live, intently engaged in the life of the world, but always with our eyes fixed on heaven, on our true destiny and the final destiny of the world. We are called to worship and serve God. We are called to make Christ, not ourselves, the center of our lives, so that we truly serve God, directing our minds and hearts more and more toward Him with fidelity, generosity and obedience.

Brick by brick.

Posted in Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Turn Towards The Lord | Tagged ad orientem, Card. Burke, Robert Card. Sarah, Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe
6 Comments

The Pope, The Five Dubia and the “Formal Correction”

Posted on 20 December 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

His Eminence Raymond Leo Card. Burke gave interview to LifeSite. He said that the “formal correction” of Pope Francis he had mentioned before could “probably” be issued sometime after the upcoming Feast of the Epiphany, thus after 6 January 2017

Among the things Card. Burke said were that a “formal correction” was necessary because the Five Dubia submitted by the Four Cardinals about Amoris laetitia Ch. 8 concern the “very foundations of the moral life of the Church” and “the Church’s constant teaching with the regard to good and evil”.

The “formal correction” would be a brief reaffirmation of points raised in the Five Dubia. It could not be much more than that.

As I wrote before, in the past Popes have indeed been “corrected”. Check out this post: Once upon a time, there was this Pope who was “corrected”…. So, what Card. Burke is suggesting is not entirely without precedent.

Furthermore, if the situation is allowed to go forward without some sort of action, the result could be an undermining of the Petrine Office itself, which is so important for the unity of the Church and the safeguarding of teaching on faith and morals. Therefore, what might be undertaken is a service to the Holy Father, not an attack. Far from it.

So, Card. Burke mentioned 6 January, Epiphany. However, in between then and now comes the annual Christmas “Greetings” between the Pope and the Roman Curia. This year it will take place on Thursday 22 December. Benedict XVI used that occasion to make a famous speech about the hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture in regard to Vatican II (etc.). O my prophetic soul. And then there was Francis’ own infamous tirade against the members of the Curia in 2014, when he read them his list of 15 “ailments” and ripped them to shreds. HERE

It is impossible not to imagine that Pope Francis will use the Christmas Curia greetings on Thursday to tear the Four Cardinals, and anyone else thinking about associating with them, limb from limb, if not directly and by name, then by innuendo and oblique reference.

Will Pope Francis respond to the Five Dubia? I doubt it. His surrogates will probably continue to put out there that a) if perhaps the doubters heard more confessions, b) didn’t hate the Spirit of Vatican II, c) were not so obtuse, they would see how perfectly the notions proposed in Amoris laetitia Ch. 8 in fact are authentic developments of … you know… doctrine and stuff.

So, I would make plans to tune in to CTV on Thursday to watch the exchange of greetings of Francis and the Roman Curia for Christmas.

Posted in Francis, One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity, The Coming Storm, The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged Amoris Laetitia, Card. Burke, Christmas Greetings, Five Dubia, Four Cardinals, Roman Curia
8 Comments

Among the dumb and evil things on the internet…

Posted on 20 December 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I’ve seen some pretty dumb things on the internet. I’ve seen some pretty evil things on the internet. I’ve seen things that are both pretty dumb and pretty evil on the internet.

This has to be right up there with the dumbest and the worst.

Our friend the Motley Monk posted this.

From the “Stretches credulity” file: The Virgin Mary’s purity is offensive to victims of rape…

The bizarre title of a recent Washington Post op-ed caught The Motley Monk’s eye:

“Our culture of purity celebrates the Virgin Mary.
As a rape victim, that hurts me.”

The op-ed’s author, Ruth Everhart, has concluded that the Advent season sets Mary up as a problem.

Why? Mary’s purity.

How so? Everhart aruges:

Mary sets “an impossibly high bar….Now the rest of us are stuck trying to be both a virgin and a mother at the same time.”

It isn’t really Mary’s fault, in Everhart’s opinion. The Church has manipulated Mary into a model of purity. She writes: “Mary is not responsible for what we’ve done to her story. Church culture has overfocused on virginity and made it into an idol of sexual purity. When it comes to female experience, the church seems compelled to shrink and distort and manipulate.” Everhart asks Mary: “How do you feel about what the patriarchy has done with you?”

For some people, “vaginas are inherently dirty,” Everhart states. “They can never be purified. And isn’t that the definition of hopelessness? Does it bother you that half of the human population is condemned to hopelessness because their body parts can never be pure?”

Christians are also at fault for people feeling sexually dirty. She writes: “Maybe the church could ask body-owners to weigh in about their experiences. Most people have thoughts and feelings about their sexual selves. Having a body is complicated. It involves trial and error.

It’s foolish to teach young people the virtue of purity or to appreciate abstinence before marriage. Everhart observes: “We want to pretend sexuality is something we can lock in a box and keep on a shelf. But a lockbox won’t work. Neither will a chastity belt or a purity ring. Certainly not the abstinence pledges they make young folks sign.”

Reading Everhart’s op-ed, The Motley Monk’s first thought was that Everhart is hurt and angry. And, as a victim of rape, she has every reason to be. Very sad, indeed.

How is Everhart coming to terms with the anger stirred in her by the Virgin Mary’s story? Everhard has become a pastor.

Could it be that this op-ed is more evidence of “faux news” on the part of the Washington Post?

Posted in Biased Media Coverage, Blatteroons, You must be joking! | Tagged WaPo
19 Comments

Can “Rome” be trusted? SSPX questions and beyond

Posted on 19 December 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I have smart friends who think that – things being as they are – the SSPX should NOT at this time accept terms offered by the Holy See. It’s hard to see what that might entail… things being as they are, and all that.

Related to this point is a post from Fr. John Hunwicke at Mutual Enrichment:

Summorum Pontificum

Bishop Schneider has called for the SSPX to be given the justice they were denied in the 1970s. I do wonder, with great respect to his Lordship, whether things are now any longer quite as simple as that. [The answer is, obviously, no.]

For a decade or two, we have been told that regularisation must wait upon the acceptance by the Society of the teaching of Vatican II and of the post-Conciliar Magisterium. But given the way things are now, might it not be fair and equitable for the Society now to insist that Papa Bergoglio manifest a proper and unambiguous submission to the post-Conciliar Magisterium of S John Paul II and of Benedict XVI? And, in particular, that he enact (perhaps as part of a deal with the Society) a solemn reconfirmation in his own name of Veritatis splendor, Familiaris consortio, and Summorum Pontificum?

The Roman Pontiff, suspiciously, has already declined to to give the very simple answers requested of him to the effect that Veritatis splendor and Familiaris consortio still, as it were, apply. And on November 20, I expressed a fear that a regularisation of the SSPX might be accompanied by a cancellation, or evisceration, of Summorum Pontificum. Indeed, on 21 September 2016 Sandro Magister had reported somebody called Andrew Grillo (Alcuin Reid’s sparring partner??) as opining that the next Synod would discuss “the collegial exercise of the episcopate and the restitution to the bishop of full authority over diocesan liturgy”. It was pretty obvious to me what the nasty little phrase I italicise was code for, as I wrote a few days later on my blog. In the event, we were reprieved; a different topic was to be selected for the next Synod (Youff, I think), possibly because Bergoglio is decent enough still to have some reticence about too overt a public humiliation of Joseph Ratzinger while he is still alive. But Grillo’s expectations are unlikely to have been entertained by him alone.

There has always been a practical certainty that a certain sort of bishop, for whom ‘subsidiarity’ means I Must Be Free To Ban Everything That Isn’t To My Personal Taste, would not easily abandon his hopes of (at least) limiting and controlling worship according to the Old Rite. In one of the Ordinariates (not the British one!) a local bishop put pressure some years ago on the Ordinary to prevent the use of the Extraordinary Form within that Ordinariate. Readers will not need to be reminded of the savage humiliations inflicted, and by a Roman Dicastery, upon the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Immaculate; humiliations which are still, as far as I know, in place. There was an American bishop who required clergy to pass a test in Latin to prove that they were idonei to celebrate the Old Mass … typical piece of Liberal nastiness, isn’t it … you arrange for your clergy, contra canonem, to be ordained without having been taught Latin, then you jeer and sneer at them for not knowing it. [EXACTLY!] At the jollier level, English clergy may remember how Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor acquired, for a year or two, the nickname of “The Envisager” because he attempted to circumscribe Summorum Pontificum by issuing a whole lot of comically panic-ridden rubbish making use of the phrase “It is envisaged that …” [NB good example of Management-talk using the impersonal passive construction]. [This construction is usually covered the day before study of the episcopal subjunctive: “It would seem that it might be…”.]

Bigotry still abounds.

[…]

Bigotry.

The moderation queue is ON.

Posted in SSPX | Tagged Fr. John Hunwicke, SSPX, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM
30 Comments

NYC Day 1-2: Hot Dog Carts and Chop Sticks

Posted on 19 December 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

On Saturday evening, there was an Advent “O Antiphon” dinner sponsored by the traditional council of KCs associated with Holy Innocents parish in midtown. I think you have all heard of the place. It was great to see the former pastors, who came. The present pastor… no show. Too bad. It would have been good to get to meet him.

In any event, the next morning it was off to the Met. If someone is wondering where I might be at a given moment in NYC, a good guess is either inside or at the hot dog cart outside.

Inside, they are constantly rearranging, bring out new old things.

Here is something that I hadn’t recalled spending time with. I noticed a detail which I still need to verify, but seemed ominous and ghastly.

Herodias by Francesco Cairo (+1665).

This was cut down from a larger piece. There are similar works by Francesco Cairo in Boston and Vicenza showing the larger composition which includes the platter upon which rests the head of St. John the Baptist.

A detail…

It is hard to see, but it looks like she is holding between her pinchers a single hair. [It could be a pin.]

If that is so, then she is in ecstasy over her post-mortem torment of the Baptist.

Remember that John was killed partly because he said to the world something which could be a contemporary point of discussion: No, you may not have that woman as your wife. Herodias was outraged and she plotted her revenge.

Here is a lovely French ivory piece, as sweet as the other is awful. There is byzantine influence, of course. I find this very touching.

A marvelous bronze corpus, Italian.

The Met museum shop has a reproduction which I have been debating purchasing for several years. The reproduction is very good and it even as the wholes for nails. I thought I would have a wooden Cross made for it. As a member I get a good discount. ‘Tis also the season.

A while back I mentioned Michael O’Brian’s new book, The Fool of New York City

This painting figures in the book. Goya, of course. The cage is filled with finches… of the type which serves as the famous Christological Goldfinch.

US HERE – UK HERE

This could be a good Christmas gift.

We had to go to the tree lighting. Only one time on Sunday afternoon. Detail.

I found the monkey again, and the pig is still crossing the bridge.

ASK FATHER: Can we listen to talks by SSPX priests?

Posted on 19 December 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

As SSPX priest and bishops are canonically suspended, would it be a sin to listen, read or propagate a book or a talk by a priest or bishop of the Society ? For example, if I wish to listen to a good talk in French about the basics of modernism, and the only one available is given by an SSPX priest. Thank you very much.

First, I don’t think that the only available talks about modernism are from the SSPX. As a matter of fact, I have in my quiver a talk about modernism. However, I will grant you that not many priests talk about modernism and the dangers of modernism and the modern manifestations of modernism because they either don’t know about it or they, too, are modernists.

Would it be a sin? That depends on what the SSPX priests says, n’est-ce pas?

If the priest commits the sin of scandal in his talk, I would say yes. If you are looking for that sort of thing, I think you would stray from the right path. If not, if he is factual and charitable and does not lead people to undermine their unity with the Roman Pontiff and the bishops in unity with him, then I would say, “Thank you for addressing this important topic!”

The fact of belonging to the SSPX doesn’t in itself mean that what the priest says is either bad or good, to be avoided or sought out. I can say the same for the talks given by many priests and, alas, bishops. Just because someone is a high ranking cleric in good standing in the Church – even at the highest levels – is there any guarantee that everything that cleric says is sound or even within the bounds of what we call smart.

The moderation queue is ON.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, SSPX | Tagged modernism, SSPX
12 Comments

Brick by Brick in Australia

Posted on 19 December 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From an Aussie reader comes proof that it can be done.

G’day Fr,

Thanks for all you do!

I just wanted to drop you a note of recent happenings out here in regional Victoria, Australia!

Long story short: I, along with a few others, formed a lay society 10 years ago in anticipation of the Motu Propio dedicated to providing the old form of Mass.

We toiled for many years with little or no Mass, built up an arsenal of everything we would need plus more (love ebay!) but our hard work has paid off and we’ve been having regular Sunday Masses in the main parish church for the past 6 or so years.

Church politics/diplomacy has taught me a great deal.

The boys of the parents who assist at the old Mass have all learnt their serving (with a bit more to cover but we get by) but this past Sunday our youth choir sang it’s first Mass! It was awesome.

They were led by an young local gentleman who has been teaching them each Monday for the past 9 months. I would say it was recording quality but I’m biased. The eldest of our choir is 12 and the youngest is 6. They were supported by a family of singers from a neighbouring diocese.

If you think it appropriate please share these pics and our story with your readership as a note of encouragement for those starting out on getting the Mass up and running in their parish. It can be done! The Parish is that of St. Patrick’s Wangaratta in the Sandhurst Diocese. The priest who provides Mass is Fr. Terence Mary Naughtin OFM Conv and we can’t thank him enough!

Cheers and Advent beers!

Brick by brick.

They worked at it. They used diplomacy. They had patience.

Posted in Brick by Brick, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM | Tagged D. Sandhurst
5 Comments

The Blood of San Gennaro

Posted on 18 December 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

On Saturday early I got a text message from a friend in Italy that, in Naples, San Gennaro’s blood did not liquify on one of the dates that it was… supposed to.

Now I see the story at La Stampa.

The blood of San Gennaro usually liquifies on 16 December, which is the anniversary of an eruption of Vesuvius in 1631. When the blood doesn’t liquify, well… that isn’t taken well by the locals. That’s because when it doesn’t bad things happen.

“But Father! But Father!”, some of you are tittering, “You are so superstitious with your Latin and your Vatican II hatred. So, the blood didn’t liquify, as you call it – *snicker* – how bad could it be? What sorts of things are you troglodytes think could happen?”

How bad? What things? Things like earthquakes, colera epidemics, WWII, occupation by Nazis. That sort of thing.

[…]

Il mancato miracolo è stato sempre legato a momenti nefasti della storia della città: nel settembre del ’39 e del ’40, date di inizio della seconda guerra mondiale e dell’entrata in guerra dell’Italia, nel settembre del ’43 durante l’inizio dell’occupazione nazista, nel ’73 invece Napoli fu colpita da un’epidemia di colera. Il 1980 invece è stato l’anno del tremendo terremoto in Irpinia.

Posted in "But Father! But Father!", Saints: Stories & Symbols | Tagged Naples, San Gennaro
5 Comments

Steamroller

Posted on 18 December 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I had a note the other day. It included a frustrated phrase and list:

Steamroller. That’s the right image. Exaltation and exaggeration of Amoris, feckless bishops, seminarian repressions renewed, undermining Summorum, synod idolization, devolution danger, homosexuals, deaconesses, intercomnunion hucksters, admiration of Luther, global warming zombies, just war deniers, immigration fanatics, capitalism haters, cassock attackers, and now Canadian bishops nod to euthanasia.

Steamroller?

How about …?

Yep. I admit it. This is how I have often felt these days. I have. And it is really grinding me down. I also have in my mail box notes from people who are truly shaken and anxious. Not a few notes. Hence, I know that I am not alone, which is both consoling and alarming at the same time.

We have to lift our chins and stand firm and be Christians who really believe.

May I recommend that you all memorize and recite often the Acts of Faith, Hope and Charity? Especially, for now at least, when you are down, the Acts of Faith and Hope?

There are many versions, but here are the ones I know:

ACT OF FAITH

O my God, I firmly believe that Thou art one God in Three Divine Persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. I believe that Thy Divine Son became Man, and died for our sins, and that He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches, because Thou hast revealed them, Who canst neither deceive nor be deceived.

ACT OF HOPE

O my God, relying on Thy almighty power and infinite mercy and promises, I
hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of Thy grace, and Life Everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer.

ACT OF CHARITY

O my God, I love Thee above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because Thou art all-good and worthy of all love. I love my neighbor as myself for the love of Thee. I forgive all who have injured me, and ask pardon of all whom I have injured.

In my experience, and I think priests will back me up, people tend to die as they have lived. We develop life habits and they carry through to death. Rare are the instances when the patterns people bake in over the years suddenly change on the verge of death. Musicians practice endlessly so that their technique becomes virtually automatic. In sports, athletes develop muscle memory and skills from repetitions. Soldiers drill and drill and drill so that when the terrifying part starts, they act rightly, when things go sideways, they can react.

This is how we have to live our lives. We have to train for heaven, practice, drill, repeat and repeat again. Parents, give your children a great gift: inculcate into them the building blocks of memorized prayers and tenets of the Faith. Once they have them, they can pop out at the needed moment. And don’t forget the Sacrament of Confirmation.

These prayers, these various Acts (along with the Act of Contrition), these devotions of ours, and sudden short prayers when fleeing from temptation, must go into our marrow so that they are so “ours” that they can’t not be ours when the Big Moment comes.

When you in your faith are under attack… ATTACK RIGHT BACK! Who the Hell do you think is trying to break you?

When you are feeling hopeless or despondent… HOPE IT UP! Who the Hell do you think wants you to despair?

GOD?

I don’t think so.

Memorize the prayers. Once they are memorized, they are part of you. Then get them into your marrow by reciting them frequently and over a long period of time… like until you DIE, which is going to happen pretty soon, as it turns out.

In WWII there was colonel of the 1st Rangers named William Darby who said:

“Onward we stagger. And if the tanks come, may God help the tanks!”

Posted in Cri de Coeur, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Si vis pacem para bellum!, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices | Tagged Act of Faith, Act of Hope, steamroller, tank guy, William Darby
10 Comments

WDTPRS – 4th Sunday of Advent (TLM): Mass is a glimpse of heaven

Posted on 18 December 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

We are drawing close, though because Christmas falls on Sunday we still have a week to go.

COLLECT (1962MR):

Excita, quaesumus, Domine, potentiam tuam, et veni: et magna nobis virtute succurre; ut, per auxilium gratiae tuae, quod nostra peccata praepediunt, indulgentia tuae propitiationis acceleret.

This prayer was in the ancient Gelasian Sacramentary and other sacramentaries. It survived in edited form in the Novus Ordo on Thursday of the 1st week of Advent.

Praepedio means “to entangle the feet or other parts of the body; to shackle, bind, fetter”, and therefore “to hinder, obstruct, impede”. Something is placed “before” (prae) the “foot” (pes), which makes you stumble. We never stumble using the thick Lewis & Short Dictionary which shows that prae-pes means also “swift of flight, nimble, fleet, quick, rapid”. To the Latin ear, just hearing prae-ped…sparks an interesting tension of opposing concepts. During Advent we are being constantly given images of movement, of rushing swiftly to a goal: venio (“come”), suc-curro from curro, (“run”), accelero….

A LITERAL VERSION:

Rouse up Your power, O Lord, we beseech You, and come: and hasten to aid us with your great might, so that, through the help of Your grace, what our sins are hindering the indulgence of Your merciful favor may make swift.

Christ is rushing towards us. Will we hasten him to us by clearing the path for His rushing feet, bringing peace and reward? Will our sins hasten His more violent coming, with correction and then separation? We must smooth His path, remove the obstacles. When the Lord comes, He will come by the straightest path … whether we have straightened it out or not. Our sins make His path crooked.

SECRET (1962MR):

Sacrificiis praesentibus, quaesumus, Domine, placatus intende: ut et devotioni nostrae proficiant, et saluti.

This is also found on the 2nd Sunday of Lent.

A TRANSLATION (The New Roman Missal – 1945):

Look with favor, we beseech Thee, O Lord upon these offerings here before Thee, that they may profit both for our devotion and for our salvation.

The point of this ancient prayer, from the Gelasian Sacramentary¸ is the connection between the Sacrifice and our salvation.

POSTCOMMUNIO (1962MR):

Sumptis muneribus, quaesumus, Domine: ut cum frequentatione mysterii, crescat nostrae salutis effectus.

This is used also on the Second Sunday after Pentecost in the 1962MR and the 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time in the Novus Ordo.

Frequentatio means, “frequency, frequent use, a crowding together.” As a figure of speech, in rhetoric, it is “a condensed recapitulation of the arguments already stated separately, a recapitulation, summing up.” This noun comes from the verb frequento, meaning “to visit or resort to frequently, to frequent; to do or make use of frequently, to repeat” and “to celebrate or keep in great numbers, esp. a festival.” Or, in somewhat post-Augustan usage, of a single person, “to celebrate, observe, keep”. In English we say “frequent” a place when we go there often. In this liturgical context it means “to attend or participate in often” and it has the over tone of being crowded together with others. Since Advent, now swiftly drawing to an end, also focuses us on the Second Coming, consider the figure of speech angle of frequentatio. Christ Himself is our frequentatio, our summing up of all things at the end of time as described in 1 Cor 15:28.

A TRANSLATION (St. Andrew Missal – 1959)

Having received Your sacred gifts, we implore You, Lord, that by our assiduous assistance at these holy mysteries, they may the more surely avail to our salvation.

ICEL (1973 translation of the 1970MR):

Lord,
by our sharing in the mystery of this eucharist,
let your saving love grow within us.

This is what we had to deal with, for pity’s sake.

The Latin version is an intense prayer, though it seems to have little to do with our Advent theme. But does it not focus us clearly on the purpose for our being at Mass: salvation? All other concerns and seasonal themes return to that overriding point.

Let’s pry it open. In our prayer frequentatio mysterii evokes for me superimposed images of the visible and invisible dimensions of Holy Mass, the Eucharistic sacrifice (mysterium). In the earthly church building many people are repeatedly gathered around us (frequentatio). Imagine now a superimposed layer of the invisible participants at that Mass: myriads of holy angels and members of the Church Triumphant.

Mass is a glimpse of heaven.

This imperfect world is also a place of spiritual warfare.

Many at Mass are not in the state of grace. Some may be very wicked. Not only are the angels of heaven present at the sacred mysteries, but also the Enemy with the fallen ones in all their pain-filled fury. They suffer horribly in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Their pain is great but their malice is so intense that they endure agony if they might spur just one person to weaken in his conscience and make a bad Holy Communion.

By frequent Holy Communions in the state of grace God increases in us the effects of salvation (salutis effectus). In this world, our state of “already but not yet”, the Eucharist strengthens us against the persistent attacks of hell and readies us for the Lord’s Coming.

Straighten the way for the Coming of the Lord.

May God bless you and yours for the great feast of the Lord’s Nativity.