When we desire to obtain indulgences we are often asked to pray for the Holy Father’s intentions.
Pope Francis’ prayer intentions for October
The Holy Father’s universal prayer intention for October is: “That journalists, in carrying out their work, may always be motivated by respect for truth and a strong sense of ethics”.
His intention for evangelisation is: “That World Mission Day may renew within all Christian communities the joy of the Gospel and the responsibility to announce it”.
In the older Roman calendar today is the Feast of the Dedication of St. Michael the Archangel, which refers to a basilica dedicated in his honor.
This has been the time of year to honor angels for a long time in the Roman Church. The ancient Veronese Sacramentary has an entry for “Natale Basilicae Angeli via Salaria” for 30 September. The Gelasian Sacramentary has a feast for “S. Michaelis Archangeli”. The Gregorian Sacramentary has “Dedicatio Basilionis S. Angeli Michaelis” for 29 September. It is possible that the basilica they were talking about was a long-gone church out the Via Salaria north of Rome. However, there is the monumental statue of St. Michael that looms over the City at the top of Hadrian’s mausoleum, known as Castel Sant’Angelo, placed there after the archangel signaled the end of a plague that had ravaged Rome.
In the new calendar today all three Archangels are celebrated, while in the older, traditional calendar we focus on St. Michael.
From Scripture we know the names of three Archangels: Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. There are other, apocryphal names of angels, but we are not to use them or invoke them.
Here is a nice depiction of all three angels easin’ on down the road with Tobias:
Our perennial Catholic thought is that the angels are in a hierarchy of nine “choirs”. This goes back to the writings of St. Dionysius and of Gregory the Great. St. Thomas Aquinas developed their foundational teachings. According to the Angelic Doctor the choirs, which designate offices and roles, are
Note that Archangels are second from the last. That St. Michael seems to be the commander of the heavenly host shows that even among angels (who are created persons, but without bodies), so vastly above us in the order of creation, God chose the lowly for His own plans.
In a few days we will have the Feast of the Guardian Angels.
Guardian Angel is a role assigned by God. Your angel or angels could be from the ranks of any of the choirs.
Do you think about angels?
Do you consider your Guardian Angel or ask for help?
Do you remember that there are also fallen angels?
Finally, one of my favorite depictions of St. Michael as a samurai warrior by Daniel Mitsui.
St. Michael by Daniel Mitsui. Click for more.
I point the readership to two must-read pieces.
First, in of all places the New York Times (aka Hell’s Bible), an op-ed by Matthew Schmitz of First Things. “Has Pope Francis Failed?”
Next, Carl Olson’s opinion piece at Catholic World Report, which picks up where Schmitz left off. “Francis has built his popularity at the expense of the church he leads.”
Read both carefully.
Discuss.
e must revive the Sacrament of Penance. Fathers! Preach about it! Also, make sure that you have usable confessionals. Via California Catholic:
Confessionals required in every parish
Sacramento diocese reminds parishes they must “provide a fixed grille between the penitent and the confessor”The following is from the Diocese of Sacramento, posted last week on the diocesan website:
Liturgy Reminders:
Commentary on the General Instruction of the Roman MissalRe: Sacrament of Reconciliation: the Confessional
Confessionals should be built so as to give penitents the option making their confession from behind a screen or ‘face-to-face’. Penitents cannot be required to offer their confession in one way or the other. [Well… I think they can be. See below.]
From the USCCB, October 20, 2000 –
“Provision must be made in each church or oratory for a sufficient number of places for sacramental confessions which are clearly visible, truly accessible, and which provide a fixed grille between the penitent and the confessor. Provision should also be made for penitents who wish to confess face-to-face, [Ummm … NB] with due regard for the Authentic Interpretation of canon 964, §2 by the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, July 7, 1998” (AAS 90 [1998] 711).Thank you for all that you do.
James Cavanagh Director of Worship
Let’s drill for a moment.
Back in 1994 the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, with the Holy Father’s approval, published a response to an inquiry posed by several conferences of bishops regarding confessionals. That response said:
“If, according to Canon 964, paragraph 2, of the Code of Canon Law, the minister of the sacrament, for a just cause and excluding cases of necessity, can legitimately decide, even in the eventuality that the penitent ask for the contrary, that sacramental confession be received in a confessional with a fixed grille.”
EXPLANATION: A priest can refuse to hear a confession if there is no confessional with a fixed grate. Even if the person insists that it be face-to-face, the priest can decline. That means that there doesn’t have to be a provision for face-to-face.
Say some priest or other, just for the heck of it call him Fr. Z, wants to use a confessional that only has the grate and does not have a way to make a confession face-to-face. That’s fine. He is within his rights. At the same time, penitents are also not obliged to go to Fr. Z for confession. But if they insist on face-to-face and he insists on a fixed grate, they will be at loggerheads.
The response from the Holy See underscores that a) confessionals are important and that b) there should be a grill or grate. The Church considers the grate or grill to be important. So does the letter from the Diocese of Sacramento, which is a good thing.
That said…
GO TO CONFESSION!
From a reader…
QUAERITUR:
It is my pastor’s practice to wear only the alb and stole when he says Mass on weekdays. I find this very distracting and irreverent. Is a priest required to wear a chasuble when saying Mass?
Is your parish is so poor that it cannot afford a chasuble? Perhaps a gift from a wealthier parish can be arranged.
The ever useful document from the CDW Redemptionis Sacramentum helps us out with this question.
4. Liturgical Vesture
[123.] “The vestment proper to the Priest celebrant at Mass, and in other sacred actions directly connected with Mass unless otherwise indicated, is the chasuble, worn over the alb and stole.” Likewise the Priest, in putting on the chasuble according to the rubrics, is not to omit the stole. All Ordinaries should be vigilant in order that all usage to the contrary be eradicated. [So, this says that the local bishop needs to make sure that priests are properly dressed for Mass. How odd that that should be necessary, but apparently some priests think they are so wonderful that they can ignore these important requirements.]
[124.] A faculty is given in the Roman Missal for the Priest concelebrants at Mass other than the principal concelebrant (who should always put on a chasuble of the prescribed colour), ….
The rubrics are clear. Weekdays or not, a chasuble is required for the celebration of Mass.
If (when), however, Father is to offer Holy Mass in a prison camp, as many priests may be doing in the near future, he will have to make do with what he has.
Meanwhile, before contacting anyone else (such as the local Bishop – see above), Father should be urged not to go out to say Mass half naked.
It’s embarrassing for everyone!
Have you ever heard of a “ley line”? These are straight lines that can be draw on a map linking both man made and natural sites that line up in a significant way. For example there is a Ley Line of St. Michael in Southern England, which links up various abbeys, etc.
However, there is an even more spectacular Ley Line of St. Michael the Archangel.
This ley line of this Via Michaelica links…
As a friend recently wrote to me about how to get to these places:
Fly to Shannon, from Shannon go to Cork and get a boat to Cornwall, then train to London, chunnel to Paris, bus to Mont St. Michel, then back to Paris and train to Torino, — bus to San Michele — , train/bus to Gargano-Monte Sant’Angelo, back to Rome, then fly to Istanbul, and train or bus to Marmaris and the island of Symi (belongs to Greece, not Turkey — you could even do a side trip to Patmos), then back to Istanbul and a short flight to Tel Aviv.
So… imagine a pilgrimage with daily TLM and really good food.
¡Hagan lío!
Just thinking aloud, as it were.
Oremus:
Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in proelio, contra nequitiam et insidias diaboli esto praesidium. Imperet illi Deus, supplices deprecamur: tuque, Princeps militiae caelestis, Satanam aliosque spiritus malignos, qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo, divina virtute, in infernum detrude. Amen.
His Excellency Most Reverend Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison, has graciously consented to confer the sacrament of Confirmation according to the traditional form of the Roman Rite on the evening of Wednesday, 30 November 2016 at St. Mary’s Church in Pine Bluff, WI.
Bishop Morlino understands that there may be some confirmands from outside of the Diocese of Madison.
Anyone who is interested in being confirmed, should quickly take steps to make contact and send the proper information by 11 November.
If you are interested in confirmation for yourself or for your child, please take note of this letter from Bp. Morlino. Click HERE
If you have not been confirmed, consider the graces you are offered in this wonderful sacrament.
We had a poll before the 26 September debate. I had a pre-debate post (with food) HERE.
Did the debate change anything?
Was there anything that happened during the debate that moved the needle for you?
And…
Anyone can vote, but if you are signed up you can use the combox. Think and breathe first.
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
A Daily Prayer for Priests
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