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{]:¬)

Of Friday and festive penitential Pesto fit for a King

Posted on 14 September 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

It may be the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, but it is also a Friday. Festive penance is in order. Or, if you prefer, penitential festivity.

A fine meal for a Friday with a feast such as the Exaltation of the Cross, and the 11th anniversary of Summorum Pontificum going into force could involve … pesto.

As I have posted about pesto in the past, I opportunely repost this pesto piece:

The aromatic herb, basil (Ocimum basilicum) has long been associated with the Holy Cross.

Etymologically, it is related to basileios, the Greek word for king. [Great connection!]

According to a pious legend, the Empress Saint Helena found the location of the True Cross by digging for it under a colony of basil. Basil plants were reputed to have sprung up at the foot of the Cross where fell the Precious Blood of Christ and the tears of the Mother of Sorrows.

A sprig of basil was said to have been found growing from the wood of the True Cross.

On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross it is customary in the East to rest the Holy Cross on a bed of basil before presenting it to the veneration of the faithful.

Also, from the practice in some areas of strewing branches of basil before church communion rails, it came to be known as Holy Communion Plant Blessed basil leaf can be arranged in a bouquet at the foot of the crucifix; the dried leaves can also be used by the faithful as a sacramental.

V. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
R. Who made heaven and earth.

Let us pray.

Almighty and merciful God,
deign, we beseech You, to bless
Your creature, this aromatic basil leaf. +
Even as it delights our senses,
may it recall for us the triumph of Christ, our Crucified King
and the power of His Precious Blood
to purify and preserve us from evil
so that, planted beneath His Cross,
we may flourish to Your glory
and spread abroad the fragrance of His sacrifice.
Who is Lord forever and ever.

R. Amen.

The bouquets of basil leaf are sprinkled with Holy Water.

Here is the entry, with my translation, in the Martyrologium Romanum for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross:

Festum exaltationis Sanctae Crucis, quae, postridie dedicationis basilicae Resurrectionis super sepulcrum Christi erectae, exaltatur et honoratur, sicut victoriae eius paschalis tropaeum et signum in caelo appariturum, alterum adventum eius iam universis praenuntians.

Would you all like to have a try at rendering this into flawless and yet smooth English?

Our wonderful Lewis & Short says that a tropaeum is “a sign and memorial of victory, a trophy; orig. a trunk of a tree, on which were fixed the arms, shields, helmets, etc., taken from the enemy; afterwards made of stone and ornamented in the same manner”. So, a tropaeum is a kind of war memorial.

To my mind there are echoes here of the magnificent hymn of Venantius Fortunatus, the Vexilla Regis prodeunt …

Vexilla regis prodeunt,
fulget crucis mysterium,
quo carne carnis conditor
suspensus est patibulo.

I think there is also a “once and future” reference to the vision Constantine had of the Cross before his victory over Maxentius. Constantine would later build the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher. The future dimension is, of course, the appearance of the Lord in the East at the Second Coming (a great reason to celebrate Mass ad orientem).

(Any references to Basil in this post and similarity to digital hamsters are purely coincidental.)

^{Biretta tip to Vultus Christi.}

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 | Tagged basil, pesto
3 Comments

BOOKS RECEIVED: A hard look at Francis in Spanish by Argentinian author

Posted on 14 September 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Books arrive from publishers and from readers.

For those of you who read Spanish, you might check out a volume which came to me in Kindle form.

“No lo conozco”: Del Iscariotismo a la Apostasía (Spanish Edition) by Antonio Caponnetto

US HERE – UK HERE

Sinossi
El título de este libro es una de las afamadas e incómodas respuestas, mediante las cuales –según coinciden los cuatro evangelistas? el Apóstol San Pedro negó a Nuestro Señor, en el ocaso del día que lo apresaron. Está aplicado a Jorge Mario Bergoglio, devenido en Francisco cuando se iniciaba el año 2013. Esta es la situación en la que aquí y ahora tenemos
la impresión de estar inmersos. Ya no parece bastar el Iscariotismo para inteligir el mal que nos estremece. Ya no es sólo un beso taimado y treinta monedas tiznadas.
Hay más. Quien funge de Pedro reúne todos los indicios de que no conoce a Cristo. Quien conoce a Cristo no puede permanecer indiferente ante este extraño Pedro que merece cada día, tras una nueva trapisonda de su inagotable repertorio, el clamor del Hijo exigiéndole el irrevocable ¡Vade retro Satanás!
Aquí se centra nuestra acotada pretensión. En intentar reflexionar sobre este tránsito dramático que estamos padeciendo; y que, insistimos, aunque antecedentes tiene y no conviene nunca ocultarlos, hoy ha llegado a una cima que es sima. Esto es, hablando en paradojas, a lo más alto de lo más bajo.

14 Sept: 11th Anniversary of Summorum Pontificum – Thank you, Benedict XVI!

Posted on 14 September 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Spars are carried away and sails shred. Lines lash in the winds and crack like whips in the tempest. It’s nevertheless all hands on deck as the Barque of Peter takes on water and flies before the storm.

As The Present Crisis continues to build and to build and to build, I am mindful that today, 14 September, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, is the 11th anniversary of the moment that that great charter for ecclesial reform, Summorum Pontificum, went into force.

As I have written before, I write now again to Benedict:

Your Holiness, thank you for Summorum Pontificum.

Since the late 80’s I had the pleasure of speaking with you about these matters, and I think I know your mind on them and motives.

You gave us a great and timely gift.

Today, on this 11th anniversary of the implementation of your Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, I offer my Holy Mass for your intention.

I will try to carry forward your vision and hopes.

Ad multos annos.

Posted in Benedict XVI, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices | Tagged SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM
1 Comment

Morning After Pill of UK ‘c’atholics – @The_Tablet – falsehood about @BishopMorlino

Posted on 13 September 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The Morning After Pill of the liberal catholic media in the UK, The Tablet (aka The Bitter Pill, aka RU-486) published a piece about states in these USA which opened investigations into clerical sexual abuse.

In that piece the writer makes a false claim about Bp. Robert C. Morlino of Madison.

The way The Pill threaded their fallacious non-sequitur into their article, suggests an intent to harm Bp. Morlino’s reputation.

Many bishops, including Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, Bishop Robert Morlino, of Madison and Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix praised Viganò’s integrity and honesty without mentioning Francis.

This is patently false. It was easily fact-checked, which means that The Morning After Pill seems to have intended to deceive.

Bp. Morlino, in his 27 August Statement, did indeed mention Francis. HERE He addressed the issue of The Viganò Testimony, which explicitly concerned matters touching on Francis. He wrote about Francis several times, including renewing his “filial affection” for him. It was precisely in this statement about Viganò that Bp. Morlino did mention Francis

Bp. Morlino, in his 18 August Letter to the Diocese, did not mention Francis. HERE But there was no need to. He was reacting to L’Affaire McCarrick and the PA Grand Jury. He was addressing “sexual sins by bishops, priests, and even cardinals”. He encouraged the people of the diocese to contact the diocese with any concerns and to pray and to do penance. He explained the Church’s teaching about homosexuality. He wrote about how “The sins and crimes of McCarrick, and of far too many others in the Church, bring suspicion and mistrust upon many good and virtuous priests, bishops, and cardinals,”

Should Bp. Morlino have included Francis in that list? Is that The Pill wanted?

The Pill went on:

Other bishops, including Cardinals Donald Wuerl of Washington and Joseph Tobin of Newark announced that they would hold services of penance on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, which was yesterday.

First, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, as per the liturgical calendar of the Conference of England and Wales, remains 14 September, tomorrow as I write. However, note “other bishops”, which would exclude Chaput, Morlino and Olmsted.

I don’t know what is going on in Phoenix and in Philadelphia, but I do know what is going on in Madison.

In his 18 August Letter to the Diocese Bp. Morlino wrote:

Finally, I ask you all to join me and the entire clergy of the Diocese of Madison in making public and private acts of reparation to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for all the sins of sexual depravity committed by members of the clergy and episcopacy. I will be offering a public Mass of reparation on Friday, September 14, the Feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross, at Holy Name Heights and I ask all pastors to do the same in their own parishes. In addition, I ask that all priests, clergy, religious, and diocesan employees join me in observing the upcoming Autumn Ember Days (Sep. 19, 21, and 22) as days of fasting and abstinence in reparation for the sins and outrages committed by members of the clergy and episcopacy and I invite all the faithful to do the same. Some sins, like some demons, can only be driven out by prayer and fasting.

The Morning After Pill of UK catholics implied that while Wuerl and Tobin and “other bishops” really care about Francis and victims, Morlino, Chaput and Olmsted don’t. That’s mendacious in the extreme. It is both mendacious and professionally incompetent.

It is no surprise that The Tablet would solidly support the green ink brigade that is Team Francis. It is pathetic, but not a surprise.

I haven’t posted this for a while. Let’s see if it still works!

Posted in Clerical Sexual Abuse, Green Inkers, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 | Tagged Bp. Robert Morlino, The Tablet
7 Comments

IRONY! Francis calls 2019 meeting of bishops on Feast of St. Peter Damian

Posted on 13 September 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Reports are out that Francis will convoke a meeting with all the presidents of conferences of bishops across the globe to discuss the issue of the sexual abuse of minors. The meeting is scheduled for 21-24 February 2019.

The cynic in me worries that the focus here on “minors” will obfuscate the real, core issue of most of the cases of abuse and of clerical sin: homosexuality.

However, the Church’s calendar might just remind those who meet about why they are really there.

In the Novus Ordo calendar 21 February is the Feast of St. Peter Damian, Doctor of the Church.

In the Traditional calendar 23 February is the Feast of St. Peter Damian.

That means that, as the meeting opens, they will begin work under the aegis of St. Peter Damian and, as they are working, those who celebrate the TLM will invoke Peter Damian.

This great Doctor of the Church made many great contributions. However, his works that is most pertinent to The Present Crisis is the Liber Gomorrhaianus, written between 1049-54. The LG is a call for reform of the clergy. LG treats the vices of clergy, especially sodomy.

The LG is available online in LATIN HERE.

Peter Damian, a zealous reformer of clergy who combated corruption such as simony called for the removal of bishops from their sees in no uncertain terms. Regarding one such, he wrote:

Now may the multiform head of the poisonous serpent be crushed, and the commerce of perverse business come to an end. […] For unless the aforesaid church is taken away from the hand of that incestuous adulterer, perjurer and robber, all the hope of the restoration of the world that has been raised among the peoples will be completely drained. Indeed, all turn their eyes to this purpose, all raise their ears to this one voice. And if that bishop, implicated in so many crimes, is restored to the height of the episcopacy, the Apostolic See will be utterly unable to do any further good.

It was a turbulent time of anti-popes. Eventually one of history’s greatest clergy reforming Popes would in 1049 emerge from the rubble, Bruno von Egisheim, Pope St. Leo IX (all the more reason for the next pontiff to be called “Leo”). It is to Leo that Peter Damian addressed the LG. The Doctor wrote about this most evil of corrupting vices, the “cancer of sodomitic impurity”, with horrible clarity. He addressed contraception, masturbation, same-sex pederasty and adult homosexual acts, noting that the Church had penalties for them. Peter Damian said that punishments should be greater for clergy and that the most severe should be applied to clerics who abused children and adolescents: public beatings, imprisonment for months in chains with fasting three days a week till sundown with confinement of monasteries under guard.

While he denounces homosexual acts in stark terms he also writes about his compassion for the sinners and prays for their repentance.

Leo IX praised St. Peter Damian lavishly for the LG.

It is a fact of our human experience that whisteblowers will eventually be attacked and smeared. So too was it with Peter Damian. Detractors denounced him to Leo. However, a later Pope eventually made Peter Damian a cardinal and entrusted him with great duties.

The Doctor strongly admonished Popes and Bishops who failed in their duties. In 1059 he denounced cover ups and wrote with a warning about divine punishment to Nicholas II about unchaste bishops: “What worse thing can one do than to spare lustful bishops when he has the power to correct them?”

That’s enough for now.

In the time that intervenes between now and the February 2019 meeting, we might keep the figure of St. Peter Damian before the eyes of those who will participate.

I recommend:

The Book of Gomorrah and St. Peter Damian’s Struggle Against Ecclesiastical Corruption

US HERE – UK HERE

Lastly, St. Peter Damian with the Cardinal Bishop of Ostia and Velletri from 1060–1072.

Posted in Saints: Stories & Symbols, Sin That Cries To Heaven, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices | Tagged Liber Gomorrhianus, sodomy, St. Peter Damian
16 Comments

A prayer for your confessor, the priest to whom you are about to make your confession

Posted on 12 September 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

In the past I have posted some prayers for priests to say before and after hearing confessions, as well as before and after making their own confessions.

Here is a prayer for people to say for the priest, for the confessor to whom they are about to make their confession.

A Prayer For One’s Confessor

In asking of Thee, O my God, the graces of which I am in need, can I, without ingratitude, forget before Thee, him whom Thou hast chosen from among Thy ministers, to reconcile me to Thee by the sacrament of penance, justly called the second plank after shipwreck?

Deign, I beseech Thee, O my God, to adorn his soul with the virtues befitting the functions of the awful ministry with which Thou hast invested him. Grant him the faith of St. Peter, the charity of St. Paul, the firmness of St. Chrysostom, the evangelical liberty of St. Ambrose, the lights of St. Augustine, the piety of St. Bernard, the zeal of St. Charles Borromeo, the mildness of St. Francis of Sales, and the humility of St. Vincent de Paul.

Guide him Thyself, O Lord in all his actions, that after having been here below a prudent and faithful dispenser of Thy mysteries, he may hereafter receive from Thy bountiful hands, the bright crown Thou hast promised in a blessed eternity, to the priests who shall have consecrated their lives to bring back their fellow creatures from the ways of error, and to conduct them in the paths of justice and peace. Amen.

Lastly…

GO TO CONFESSION!

(Some tips… HERE)

Posted in GO TO CONFESSION | Tagged confession, sacrament of penance
12 Comments

#HurricaneFlorence, the Carolinas, and You (extraction, security, etc.)

Posted on 12 September 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Hurricane Florence looks pretty mean. If you are in the path of this storm, be prudent. It is slowing down and the water is really warm.

Right now this is Cat 4 with winds of 130 MPH and gusts to 160 MPH. The storm surge looks to be epic in some places.

From what I’ve heard, power could be out for days. Cities are closing down water systems to protect them from damage.

For those of you who are worried about yourselves or property, and if you think you need a response team with security capabilities (extraction, facility guarding, etc.) I have a contact for you.

Posted in ACTION ITEM! | Tagged hurricane
12 Comments

My View For Awhile: From the Starfield, back to Benghazi

Posted on 11 September 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I’ve headed homeward.

Tonight, for 11 September, I will make myself watch

US HERE -UK HERE

For various reasons I find it very hard to watch this and other movies like it. I’ll watch it early enough so that I don’t dream it afterward.

Hillary belongs in jail.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | Tagged 11 September, Benghazi
9 Comments

The Viganò Testimony: Was it justified or was it a violation of an oath?

Posted on 11 September 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

For a while I’ve been mulling The Viganò Testimony, as have we all.

When it came out, some libtards, especially those who are energetically defending the heavily embattled Card. Wuerl, said that we should attack equally other (more conservative) figures, because they knew things too, but didn’t divulge them, for example: Archbp. Broglio of the Military Archdiocese had been Card. Sodano’s secretary. “Surely he knew things but he didn’t say or do anything! GET HIM!”

The problem is that many of the people who “knew things” were at some point bound by the “Pontifical Secret”. When you work in certain positions, as in the Curia, you take an oath to keep secret the work you have to do. Violation of that oath has spiritual and canonical consequences.

Most have kept the oath. Archbp. Viganò broke it in order to blow the whistle.

He could be censured for doing so.

However, there is an argument to be made that, given the gravity of The Present Crisis, breaking that oath was a better thing to do than to keep silent, lest greater harm result to the Church.

ChurchMilitant has a useful piece about this right now HERE. I’d been thinking along these lines for a while, actually. So, their piece is welcome and helpful. There you read, inter alia:

The patron saint of moral theologians and Doctor of the Church, St. Alphonsus de Liguori, has written the following opinions in his magnum opus, his Theologia Moralis [draft translation]:

One may manifest a committed secret [secretum commissum], at least without grave sin: … 4°. Out of a just reason, namely if observing the secret might lead to damnum commune [harm to the common good] … because in this case, the order of charity postulates that it may be revealed: wherefore even if you mightest have taken an oath, in this case, you mayest divulge [the committed secret]. … [III, 970] No one is bound by a secret, even should it have been promised by oath, when the secret leads to damnum commune [VI, 698].

Posted in Hard-Identity Catholicism, The Drill | Tagged St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Viganò Testimony
31 Comments

Francis: Uncovering sins of Bishops is work of Satan. UPDATED!

Posted on 11 September 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

UPDATE:

I don’t pay daily attention to the Novus Ordo readings. However, here is what the 1st reading was for Mass today in the Novus Ordo, which Francis would have had.

I’m not making this up!

Reading 1 COR 6:1-11

Brothers and sisters:
How can any one of you with a case against another dare to bring it to the unjust for judgment instead of to the holy ones?
Do you not know that the holy ones will judge the world?
If the world is to be judged by you,
are you unqualified for the lowest law courts?
Do you not know that we will judge angels?
Then why not everyday matters?
If, therefore, you have courts for everyday matters, do you seat as judges people of no standing in the Church?
I say this to shame you.
Can it be that there is not one among you wise enough to be able to settle a case between brothers?
But rather brother goes to court against brother, and that before unbelievers?

Now indeed then it is, in any case,
a failure on your part that you have lawsuits against one another.
Why not rather put up with injustice?
Why not rather let yourselves be cheated?
Instead, you inflict injustice and cheat, and this to brothers.
Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the Kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived;
neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the Kingdom of God.
That is what some of you used to be;
but now you have had yourselves washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

At the Catholic Herald I read interesting account of Francis’ fervorino.

Pope Francis: the Great Accuser is trying to uncover sins to cause scandal
by Staff ReporterTuesday, 11 Sep 2018

‘In these times, it seems like the Great Accuser has been unchained and is attacking bishops,’ the Pope said [I think “accuser” is from the root for “satan”]

The Great Accuser is trying to uncover bishops’ sins in order to scandalise the people, Pope Francis has said. [I’m thinking that that must be incomplete.]

In a homily at Casa Santa Marta on Tuesday morning, the Pope told bishops that they seem to be under attack from the devil. [It would be peculiar if they were not!]

The best way for bishops to fight this, he added, is by being men of prayer who remain close to the people and who have the humility to remember they were chosen by God, Vatican News reports.

The Pope said that prayer is “a bishop’s consolation in difficult times,” because “Jesus is praying for me and for all bishops.”

Referring to the devil, Pope Francis said: “In these times, it seems like the Great Accuser has been unchained and is attacking bishops.”

“True, we are all sinners, we bishops,” he added. “He tries to uncover the sins, so they are visible in order to scandalize the people. [Ummmm…. uncovering sins is the work of the Devil to “scandalize”, by which he means “to shock” rather than to lead into committing sins. Probably.]

“The Great Accuser, as he himself says to God in the first chapter of the Book of Job, ‘roams the earth looking for someone to accuse’.

“A bishop’s strength against the Great Accuser is prayer, that of Jesus and his own, and the humility of being chosen and remaining close to the people of God, without seeking an aristocratic life that removes this unction.
[I’m not entirely convinced that living like an aristocrat removes the anointing that bishops receive in their consecration. As a matter of of fact I know it doesn’t. It’s indelible. Perhaps he means some other anointing?]
“Let us pray, today, for our bishops: for me, for those who are here, and for all the bishops throughout the world.”

Bishops must remain humble, he added, because they were chosen by God.

“The bishop who loves Jesus is not trying to climb a ladder, advancing his vocation as if it were a mere task or seeking a better placement or promotion. No. A bishop feels chosen, and has the certainty of being chosen.

“This drives him to speak with the Lord: ‘You chose me, of little importance, a sinner.’ He is humble, because he feels chosen and feels Jesus’ gaze upon his whole being. This gives him strength.”

A good bishop also does not “try to find refuge with the powerful of elite,” Pope Francis said.

“The ‘elites’ criticise bishops, while the people has an attitude of love towards the bishop. [I’m not sure what he is talking about. If you criticize a bishop you are an “elite”, which is apparently not a good thing to be. But if you love the bishop you don’t criticize. So… never criticize bishop?]

“This is almost a special unction that confirms the bishop in his vocation.”. [So there is an “anointing” that come from El Pueblo? Maybe that is why in 2013 he asked for people to bless him? I’m not sure about this sort of “unction”. But, apparently, if you criticize a bishop – for whatever reason it seems – then you are not part of the “anti-elite” who anoint the bishop. You are the devil. I think i got that right.]

I need to think about this more.

Meanwhile, the reading today…