ROME 25/10 – Day 14: A blessing

Posted on 11 October 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

ROME 25/10 – Day 14: A blessing7:16 is when the sun brought rosy fingered Dawn to Rome.

The  Roman sun sets today at 18:37.   We move from the 19:00 cycle to the 18:45 cycle for the non-ringing of the Ave Maria Bell.

It is the Feast of John XXIII on the official calendar.  I’m sure that the great devotion and cult for him outshines even that which Paul VI is famous for.   Churches all over the world are celebrating.

On the other hand, it is also the Feast of the Maternity of Mary in the traditional calendar.

In the newer calendar, it is the Feast of St. Philip the Deacon, one of the seven chosen by the Apostles.  He is mentioned in the blessing in the Rituale Romanum for a car.   The Ritual has “currus” for car but Fr. Foster (and the Holy See) has used also “autorhaeda”.

Here is the blessing, which is typical of the Roman genius, having a fun little twist while calling to mind our passage through this vale of tears towards eternal life:

Benedictio vehiculi seu currus

V. Adjutórium nostrum in nómine Dómini.
R. Qui fecit cælum et terram.
V. Dóminus vobíscum.
R. Et cum spíritu tuo.

Orémus.
Propitiare, Dómine Deus,supplicatiónibus nostris, et béne + dic currum istum déxtera tua sancta: adjúnge ad ipsum sanctos Angelos tuos, ut omnes, qui in eo vehéntur, líberent et custódiant semper a perículis univérsis: et quemádmodum viro Æthíopi super currum suum sedénti et sacra elóquia legénti, per Levítam tuum Philíppum fidem et grátiam contulísti; ita fámulis tuis viam salútis osténde, qui tua grátia adjúti bonísque opéribus júgiter inténti, post omnes viæ et vitæ hujus varietátes, ætérna gáudia cónsequi mereántur.Per Christum Dóminum nostrum.
R. Amen.
Et aspergatur aqua benedicta.

Here is an English version:

V. Our help is in the name of the Lord
R. Who made heaven and earth
V. The Lord be with you
R. And with your spirit

Let us pray
Be merciful, O Lord God, on account of our prayers, and with your holy right hand bless this car: appoint your holy Angels to accompany it, that all who travel in it may be delivered and protected at all times from every danger: and just as you through your minister Philip bestowed faith and grace upon the Ethiopian sitting in his chariot and reading the sacred Scriptures, so also show the way of salvation to your servants, who, aided by your grace and ever intent upon good works, after all the vicissitudes of this life and journey, may be found worthy to obtain eternal joy. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
R. Amen.
The vehicle is sprinkled with holy water.

Just for fun.

ROME 25/10 – Day 14: A blessing

 

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Disgrace deserving of the severest scorn.

Continuation of last nights repast. Yesterday I gave you the first part.

Orata al forno.

ROME 25/10 – Day 14: A blessing

ROME 25/10 – Day 14: A blessing

It was perfect. And just right amount. Not too filling.

ROME 25/10 – Day 14: A blessing

Homemade ciambelline and amaro.

ROME 25/10 – Day 14: A blessing

And that concludes the Friday Supper Report.

Oh yes, we had a Catarrato with the whole meal.

Speaking of wine.

And this in California…

This is best with the sound down… weird choice of music.

ROME 25/10 – Day 14: A blessing

In chessy news… chess.com… the 13th World Champion Garry Kasparov dominated to win 2025 Clutch Chess (Fischer Random). Coincidently precisely 30 years ago in October, Kasparov was defending his title against the challenger Anand in the 1995 World Chess Championship match.

White to mate in 4. Hardish.

ROME 25/10 – Day 14: A blessing

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

Priestly chess players, drop me a line. HERE

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Cross-Posting with One Peter Five: 18th Sunday after Pentecost

Posted on 11 October 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Some of you may know that I also post a weekly offering at One Peter Five.  I comment on the readings for the upcoming Sunday Mass, and sometimes also an oration.  Here is something of what I wrote for this week:

As the northern hemisphere drifts from the fullness of summer into the crisp melancholy of autumn, Holy Church too moves into a season of spiritual harvest. In her ancient cycle of Sundays, formed in the lands where the light fades earlier each day, she begins to turn her gaze toward the final realities – the waning of the world’s daylight and the dawning of the eternal. Our sacred liturgical worship becomes autumnal, charged with the scent of judgment and the rustle of things passing away.

Increasingly, the texts of Holy Mass speak of the end, of the apokalypsis, of the return of the Just Judge. It is no accident that in the modern Novus Ordo, the Epistle once heard on this 18th Sunday after Pentecost – St. Paul’s words to the Corinthians – now resounds on the first Sunday of Advent, the most eschatological of seasons. Even though some bishops amazingly try to curtail ad orientem worship, in both the Novus Ordo and the Vetus Holy Church in her liturgical worship, the warp and weft of our Catholic identity, turns her eyes eastward, ad orientem, to the rising of the true Sun, to the Advent of the Lord who is coming and who has come.

As the fields yield their last fruits, the Church gathers her own: souls recalled to grace, hearts turned again toward the Face that judges and saves.

Our Gospel this Sunday, Matthew 9:1-8, opens in Capernaum, Jesus’ adopted town. However, the fuller story begins, curiously, across the water. We need a wider context for this Sunday’s Gospel.  The preceding chapter of Matthew, the eighth, places Our Lord in the land of the Gadarenes (or Gerasenes) in Gentile country east of the Sea of Galilee. There He performs an exorcism and the unnerving miracle of the swine which rush screeching to their death in the sea.

Matthew 8:28–34, Mark 5:1–20, and Luke 8:26–39 each tell the story, with their own brushstrokes. Mark and Luke show us a single demoniac, naked, howling, cutting himself, fierce enough to snap chains, possessed by the demons who name themselves “Legion.” Matthew, however, has two demoniacs, the man possessed by “Legion” and another possessed by an unnamed demon. Discrepancies between the Gospels troubled the Fathers less than it troubles the modern literalist. St. Ambrose observed, “I think we should not idly disregard but seek the reason why the Evangelists seems to disagree about the number. Although the number disagrees, the mystery agrees” (Expos. in Lucam 4.44). Scripture, for Ambrose and his like, is not to be deconstructed but to be read with the mind of the Church.   He saw in the unclothed demoniac a figure of fallen humanity: “Whoever has lost the covering of his nature and virtue is naked…. A man who has an evil spirit is a figure of the Gentile people, covered in vices, naked to error, vulnerable to sin.”

When Christ cast out the demonic legion and the man appeared clothed and in his right mind, it was not merely a cure of madness, but an image of grace restored, of the garment of baptism laid again upon the shoulders of a fallen son of Adam.

The exorcism of the Gentile and the forgiveness of the Jew in the next chapter, this Sunday’s Gospel, mirror one another, showing the universality of the Savior’s mercy. The miracle east of the lake prefigures what will occur west of it: from both sides of the human divide – the pagan and the chosen – the Lord draws His new people into one.

Then Jesus crossed again by boat and came “into His own city”, Capernaum.  There, a small house, possibly Peter’s own, suddenly became the locus of revelation.

The scene: a crowd so dense that the doorway is blocked, the air thick with dust and expectation.  As the parallel passages in Mark 2:1–12 and Luke 5:17–26 report, there would suddenly have been muffled sounds of effort above as the roof is pried apart, tiles clattering down, light piercing the gloom. Several men then lower a pallet with a paralyzed man upon it. One can almost hear the startled shouts and see the upraised faces as daylight pours through the opening.

The scribes are present too, the grammateis, teachers of the Law, experts in the sacred letters. They stand apart, wary eyes narrowing.

Jesus sees the faith of the roof-breakers and the still figure on the stretcher. Instead of simply healing and commanding the limbs to move, He says something more astounding: “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven” (v.2).

The paralysis was deeper than muscle and bone; it was the stasis of a soul turned in on itself. The Lord heals first what is within, and only then what is without.

He reads the thoughts of the scribes, their silent charge of blasphemy.   The Lord says:

“Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 6 But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, take up your bed and go home.” 7 And he rose and went home. 8 When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

A command that fuses heaven and earth: “Rise, take up your bed, and go home.”

At once the man stands, strength flowing through him like grace into dry channels.

This miracle is a miniature apocalypse, a revelation of divine authority.

As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “You are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing [apokalypsis] of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In the healed man the eschaton is prefigured: sin remitted, the body restored, man returned home – to paradise, to God.

It is a foretaste of the final judgment and resurrection, but also of every absolution spoken in the confessional.

In the confessional, too, the paralyzed soul, carried by the faith of others perhaps, lowered before the Lord through the roof of humility, hears the same words and rises clothed anew in grace.

The confessional is the room of that Gospel house; the priest, alter Christus, speaks.

The sinner enters on a stretcher and departs upright, carrying the very pallet that once bore his weight.

[…]

You might read the rest THERE.

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11 October 1962: Pope John XXIII solemnly opened the Second Vatican Council

Posted on 11 October 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A quote from his opening speech called “Gaudet Mater Ecclesia“.

The most IMPORTANT thing in the speech is not the famous bit about “to make use of the medicine of mercy rather than the weapons of severity”.  The MOST important bit is also the most IGNORED.

Let’s see some text.

I make here the observation that it is not especially easy to find an English translation of Gaudet Mater Ecclesia online.  HERE  The Vatican website has only Spanish, Italian, Latin and Portuguese.  No English, French, German….

No English?  After 63 years of being able to work up a translation?  I wonder why that is?

Happily some of us can read Latin.

The most important thing John said in Gaudet was (my emphases):

6. Having laid down these things, it is sufficiently clear, Venerable Brethren, what are the parts which, as regards doctrine, are entrusted to the Ecumenical Council.

Indeed, the Twenty-First Ecumenical Council — which avails itself of the effective and highly esteemed assistance of those who excel in knowledge of the sacred disciplines, in the exercise of the apostolate, and in right and orderly conduct — wishes to hand down the Catholic doctrine entire, not diminished, not distorted, [integram, non imminutam, non detortam] which, although amid difficulties and controversies, has become as it were the common patrimony of mankind. This is not, indeed, pleasing to all; [!] nevertheless, to all who are endowed with good will it is proposed as a ready and most abundant treasure.

Yet it is not our task merely to guard this precious treasure, as though we were concerned only for antiquity; rather, let us now, with eager spirit and without fear, apply ourselves to the work which our age requires of us, pursuing the road which the Church has followed for almost twenty centuries.

Nor does our work look, as though to its primary end, to disputing certain chief points of ecclesiastical doctrine, and thus to repeating at greater length those things which the Fathers and the theologians, ancient and recent, have handed down, and which we rightly think are not unknown to you but are fixed in your minds.

For, indeed, for the holding of such discussions alone there was no need that an Ecumenical Council be convoked. However, in the present circumstances it is necessary that the whole of Christian doctrine, with no part taken away, [nulla parte inde detracta] be received by all in our times with new zeal, with minds calm and peaceful, expressed in that accurate manner of conceiving and formulating words which shines forth especially from the acts of the Councils of Trent and Vatican I. It is necessary that, just as all sincere promoters of what is Christian, Catholic, and Apostolic earnestly desire, this same doctrine be more widely and more deeply known, and that minds be more fully imbued and shaped by it. It is necessary that this doctrine, certain and unchangeable, to which faithful obedience must be given, be examined and set forth according to that manner which our times demand.

For one thing is the very deposit of faith, that is, the truths contained in our venerable doctrine; another thing is the manner in which those same truths are expressed, though with the same sense and the same meaning. To this manner, indeed, much attention must be given, and patiently, if need be, labor expended upon it — namely, that there be introduced ways of presenting things which may be more in accord with the magisterium, whose character is above all pastoral.

Just pause here for a moment and think about what the Church is like right now.

Have you paused and thought?

John went on…

7. At the beginning of the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council, it is manifest, as never before, that the truth of the Lord remains forever. For, while one age succeeds another, we see the uncertain opinions of men one after another taking the place of others, and errors arising often quickly vanish as a cloud driven away by the sun.

Against these errors the Church has at no time failed to stand opposed; she has often also condemned them, and indeed with the firmest severity. As regards the present time, it pleases the Spouse of Christ [wait for it…] to employ the medicine of mercy rather than to take up the arms of severity; she judges that, more than by condemning, she ought to meet the needs of the present day by explaining her doctrine more abundantly in its power.

Not that there are lacking false doctrines, opinions, dangers to be guarded against and dissipated; but because all these are so openly at variance with right principles of honesty, and have produced such deadly fruits, that men today seem of themselves to be beginning to condemn them [?] — and namely, those ways of living which set God and His laws aside, the excessive confidence placed in the progress of technical skill, the prosperity founded solely upon the conveniences of life.

They themselves recognize more and more that the dignity of the human person and its fitting perfection are matters of great moment and of very difficult attainment. And what is of greatest importance, they have at length learned by experience that external force imposed upon others, the power of arms, and political domination are by no means sufficient for happily resolving the very grave questions which distress them.

In these circumstances, the Catholic Church, while through this Ecumenical Council she lifts up the torch of religious truth, wishes to show herself the most loving of all mothers—kind, patient, and moved by mercy and goodness toward her children who are separated from her.

To the human race, laboring under so many difficulties, she herself, as once Peter to that poor man who had asked alms of him, says:

“Silver and gold I have none; but what I have, this I give thee: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise and walk.” (Acts 3:6)

That is to say: to the men of our time the Church does not offer perishable riches, nor promise merely earthly happiness; rather she imparts the goods of heavenly grace, which, while they raise men to the dignity of the sons of God, are a powerful help and support toward rendering their life more human.

She opens the fountains of her more abundant doctrine, whereby men, enlightened by the light of Christ, are able to understand deeply what they truly are, by what dignity they excel, and what end they must pursue.

Finally, through her sons she enlarges everywhere the realms of Christian charity, than which nothing is more apt for rooting out the seeds of discord, and nothing more effective for promoting concord, just peace, and the brotherly unity of all.

*sigh*

Such overarching optimism.

There are a few more paragraphs.

The documents produced by the Council would have a highly anthropocentric turn in them, corrected by shining moments of beautiful Christocentrism (e.g., GS 22).  They would be written in such a way that would allow many with great influence to read their subtext, the meta-message, and do whatever they wanted thereafter.  Some would go so far as to claim that Vatican II was a turning point so important that it was like another Council of Jerusalem with the Apostles themselves, even a new Pentecost.

Some today think that every aspect of the Church’s life, all of her cult, code and creed (liturgy, law, doctrine) must be reinterpreted according to the subtext, the meta-text of which they are the discerners and interpreters.   In other words, rupture.

That flies in the face of what John XXIII said at the opening of the Council.

But a powerful bloc of bishops and experts took control and soon the Council was mostly out of John’s control.

You might read…

11 October 1962: Pope John XXIII solemnly opened the Second Vatican Council

The Rhine Flows into the Tiber: A History of Vatican II by Fr. Ralph M. Wiltgen originally published in 1967.

The title is a metaphor for the influence of the bishops from the Rhine region on the proceedings and outcome of the council. It’s an inside account of the council from an eyewitness journalist, detailing the key events and figures and focusing on the impact of the German-speaking bishops.

John wanted to give us a Council to engage the world with hope and optimism after the horrors of WWI and WWII.  What we got was nothing like how the Council started, and not even completely according to the black on white of the subsequent documents.  What we got is the “spirit of the Council” about which only the members of the Gnostic Insiders Club™ are permitted to pronounce.

A pretty good historian of councils, a deceased Jesuit John W. O’Malley, wrote in his book What Happened at Vatican II something that explained the “spirit” of the Council, the most ongoing effect of the Council, its most essential contribution.   In nutshell, O’Malley – not a theologian and clearly a lib – thought that the real content of the Council was not the black on white of the documents but rather the marked change in tone.  It is in this change of tone or attitude that we find the deeper, authentic message of the Council, so strong that it trumps the texts themselves, the ink on the paper, and forces reinterpretation of everything that went before.

In short, justification for rupture.

In any event, on this day in 1962, 63 years ago, Pope John XXIII solemnly opened the Second Vatican Council.

Finally, I think that Vatican II is hardly to called the most important of all councils.  Nicea, Ephesus, Chalcedon, Trent… to name just four … were far more important.

It gets attention because it was the most recent, in our time.

Perhaps we should get over ourselves.

Posted in Linking Back, The Drill, The future and our choices, What are they REALLY saying? | Tagged , ,
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Washington state will not enforce law requiring priests to violate Seal of Confession. Really?

Posted on 11 October 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From LifeSite we learn that, even though Washington state passed a law requiring priests to violate Seal of Confession, Washington state will not enforce the law.

Uh huh.

They passed it. It is on the books… until it isn’t.

This B as in B, S as in S is tried over and over in various places. Each time it is walked back. Walked back, but not completely. Each time the needle is bumped just a little farther in the direction they want. Put another way, they take 10 steps forward, but only 9 back.

Creeping incrementalism.

Posted in The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged , ,
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ROME 25/10 – Day 13: “Clergy Appreciation Month”. 50% off. Oh… and food.

Posted on 10 October 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

ROME 25/10 – Day 13: "Clergy Appreciation Month". 50% off. Oh... and food.

At 7:15 the sun crept over the Seven Hills like Augustus’s shade inspecting his quondam empire, gilding the domes and pigeons of Rome in imperial light.

By 18:39, Sol will yawn and slip behind Janiculum, leaving the city to its vespers, scooters, and the tombs of saints.

At 19:00 the Ave Maria Bell should ring, summoning us from day work to aperitivi.

The shade of Augustus shall repeat, “Sic transit gloria solis” and Rome will begin her nightly negotiation with eternity.

At My Cuban Store it is “Clergy Appreciation Month”. 50% off on all clerical shirts (including standard and guayabera clerical shirts).ROME 25/10 – Day 13: "Clergy Appreciation Month". 50% off. Oh... and food.

NB:  Registrants…. if you register and then nothing happens or works, it is possible that I didn’t approve your registration.  The main reason for my not approving is that, in the bio section which I require, what you put in it didn’t convince me that you were a) not a bot or spammer, or b) a bad actor of some kind.

WELCOME REGISTRANT:

JTT5748

That said…

This is cool…

Yeah… this…

 

In chessy news…

In a Fischer Random (960) match in St. Louis, Viswanathan Anand is struggling again Garry Kasparov. Both, former world champs. Kasparov leads 8.5-3.5, but the intrigue remains, since 12 points are still up for grabs on the final day.

Some food things…

I met a friend, in town, a lawyer who defends priests, for drinks at my usual spot.

ROME 25/10 – Day 13: "Clergy Appreciation Month". 50% off. Oh... and food.

Since he has been here before, he made a bee line for the bar and they created a new cocktail… as one does.

ROME 25/10 – Day 13: "Clergy Appreciation Month". 50% off. Oh... and food.

At the restaurant… some beginners…. my friend wanted some pecorino.

ROME 25/10 – Day 13: "Clergy Appreciation Month". 50% off. Oh... and food.

Salmon carpaccio in ground red peppercorn and orange.

ROME 25/10 – Day 13: "Clergy Appreciation Month". 50% off. Oh... and food.

Freshly made caponata.   Wow… exquisite.  A little blurry here, I know.

ROME 25/10 – Day 13: "Clergy Appreciation Month". 50% off. Oh... and food.

This has been a go to place for me over the years.  They’ve had good times and less good.  Right now they are having GREAT times.  This is one of the best meals I’ve at at this place for a long time.  I spoke at length with the owner.  He explain that even in the last month he got back an old chef who had been elsewhere, a guy he started with.   He brought new nuance and brightness to the menu, along with expert timing of the FISH which I will post tomorrow.

This place is BACK!  And it is close.  And we all know each other, which in Rome really helps.

Everyone got thumbs up.  My friend, whose 26th visit to Rome it was, said it was some of the best he’s had.

Hmmm… I had a thought.  We should pressure John Sonnen, who runs pilgrimages, to have a special tour of restaurants and churches in Rome with the TLM.  No massive slogs through a dozen places.  Low impact.  Busy part of the day.  Here are suggestions if you want to go on your own.  Here are a few fixed places.  Tour with Mass for grown ups.

 

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ROME 25/10 – Day 11/12

Posted on 9 October 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

ROME 25/10 – Day 11/12Hodie Romae sol ortus est hora septima et quartadecima minuta. Occidet autem hora duodevicesima et quadragesima minuta.

Campana “Ave Maria” pulsari debet hora undevicesima.

Hic dies festus est sancti Ioannis Henrici Newman atque sancti Abrahae Patriarchae Veteris Testamenti.

Eodem die colitur sanctus Ioannes Leonardi, cuius corpus in ecclesia Sanctae Mariae “in Campitelli” quiescit, haud procul ab eo loco ubi scribo.

Inside the church I highlighted the other day, with the arms of Benedict XV over the door.  Santa Maria del Suffragio.

ROME 25/10 – Day 11/12

They don’t update things very often.  This is on the door.

ROME 25/10 – Day 11/12

Last night’s repast with a priest friend from the USA in town briefly.  He got the saffron risotto with ossobuco.  (A little messed up when I took the shot.)

ROME 25/10 – Day 11/12

I, saltimbocca. It was a little overdone, IMHO.  Veal that thin can be tricky.

ROME 25/10 – Day 11/12

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links.  US HERE – UK HERE  WHY?  This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc..  At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.

 

In chessy news… chess.com… Kasparov Leads Anand As Legends Clash In New Saint Louis Chess Club

That’s Fischer Random!

White to move and mate in 4.

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

ROME 25/10 – Day 11/12

Priestly chess players, drop me a line. HERE

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From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 3-10-25 – Smoke alarm

Posted on 9 October 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 3-10-25 – Smoke alarmDear Diary,

Fr. Tommy’s still in Rome on his sabbatical. He’s probably visiting those ancient churches, and eating gelato. Unjust world. Without him, the place feels hollow. Already did when he went to the parish. The rest of us are here fighting the good fight against diocesan paperwork and Chester. He’d probably be running the place if he had opposable thumbs.

Fr. Gilbert. He’s trying, I’ll give him that, but he’s no Tommy. He got the kind of perky optimism that could make a tax audit seem like a birthday party. He helped me sort through correspondence until he got distracted by the smell of something burning. Turned out it was my toaster oven warming lunch. Smoke alarm shrieking, towels flapping, the works. Chester dodged under the sink. I’d swear the look in his eyes meant he’d found a way to turn up the temp. Anyway, we ordered out from that shop over the way that has the huge subs.

I had a call from Dozer. He wanted to “compare notes on vocations,” which I think was code for bragging that he’s finally got more than one.

Now I’m thinking about gelato. There’s some of that green chocolate mint left in the freezer. Should I go to Rome for little bit?

Posted in Diary of Bp. McButterpants |
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9 October – Feast of St. Abraham, Old Testament Patriarch – WDTPRS: Roman Martyrology

Posted on 9 October 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

9 October – Feast of St. Abraham, Old Testament Patriarch – WDTPRS: Roman Martyrology

Today, 9 October is the feast of St. Abraham, Patriarch of the Old Testament.

Here is the entry in the newest edition of the Martyrologium Romanum with a translation:

3. Commemoratio sancti Abrahae, patriarchae et omnium credentium patris, qui, Domino vocante, ab urbe Ur Chaldaeorum, patria sua, egressus est et per terram erravit eidem et semini eius a Deo promissam.  Item totam fidem suam in Deo manifestavit, cvm, sperans contra spem, unigenitum Isaac ei iam seni a Domino datum ex uxore sterili in sacrificum offerre non renuit.  …

The commemoration of Saint Abraham, patriarch and father of all believers, who, since the Lord was calling him, went froth from the city of Ur of the Chaldeans, his home land, and wandered through the land promised by God to him and to his seed.  He manifested his complete faith in God when, hoping against hope, he did not refrain from offering in sacrifice his only-begotten son Isaac, given by the Lord to him, an old man, from his sterile wife.

Nothing is impossible with God.

The Martyrologium Romanum commemorates this day the living prototype of the believer who trusts when sight fails.

The Fathers of the Church, meditating on the figure of Abraham, found in him the matrix of the entire spiritual life: obedience, detachment, hope, prayer, and the prophetic anticipation of Christ.

St. Irenaeus of Lyons, that earliest heir of apostolic tradition, sees Abraham as the first man who “by faith received the covenant” (Adv. Haer. IV.21.3). For Irenaeus, the patriarch’s life is a pre-gospel. The promise that “in thy seed shall all nations be blessed” already contains the mystery of Christ:

“In the faith of Abraham the Incarnation was prefigured, for his seed is Christ, by whom the blessing comes upon the nations.”

Thus the Old and New Covenants are not opposed but organically one: the faith of the Patriarch flowering in the faith of the Church. The ancient journey from Ur to Canaan prefigures the Church’s pilgrimage from the world to the heavenly Jerusalem.

Ambrose, writing two centuries later, reads that same journey as the itinerary of every Christian soul. In De Abraham (I.5) he comments:

“Voca te Deus ut exeas de terra tua, hoc est de corpore tuo.”

God calls you, he says, to go forth from your own land—that is, from the body and from earthly desires. The geographical exodus becomes an interior migration. For Ambrose, Ur signifies the darkness of ignorance and sensuality, while Canaan, “the land which I will show thee,” is the contemplation of divine things. The Christian must leave behind his “kindred,” that is, worldly attachments, to enter the promised rest of charity. Abraham is thus the archetype of the monk and of every soul who departs from the familiar in search of the invisible.

St. Jerome, his contemporary, adopts the same spiritual reading. Commenting on Genesis 12, he sees in the command egredere an ascetical principle: to “go forth” is to transcend the passions and climb the ladder of virtues. He insists that Abraham obeyed nuda fide—with naked faith—since he did not know where he was going. In that ignorance, Jerome finds a sign of perfect trust:

“He believed, not because he saw, but because he heard.”

The life of faith, for Jerome, begins when one surrenders the map and lets God direct the steps.

Origen, in his Homilies on Genesis, discerns in Abraham’s offering of Isaac a revelation of resurrection faith. The text of Genesis says that Abraham set out “on the third day.” For Origen, this is no accident: the third day announces the Resurrection. “Abraham knew,” he writes,

“that God was able to raise his son from the dead; therefore he offered him, and received him back as a figure.”

The knife raised over Isaac is the shadow of Calvary; the ram caught by its horns in the thicket is the humanity of Christ entangled in the thorns of mortality. Origen’s Abraham is the first believer in Easter. His faith does not end in the renunciation of the beloved but in the hope of restoration beyond death.

Augustine, gathering these strands, makes Abraham the type of both priest and victim. In City of God (XVI.32) he observes that “Isaac, carrying the wood for the sacrifice, was a figure of Christ bearing His Cross.” The two “walked together” (ambulabant pariter), signifying not “synodality” but the unity of will between Father and Son in the mystery of redemption. For Augustine, every detail of the Genesis narrative is prophetic: the mountain signifies the height of divine love, the altar the Cross, the fire the Holy Spirit, the obedient son the incarnate Word. Abraham’s sacrifice thus contains in embryo the whole Triduum. In another place he remarks that Abraham

“offered in figure what God would truly perform,”

since the Father would not spare His own Son but deliver Him up for us all.

St. John Chrysostom, preaching in Antioch, contemplates the same scene with moral fervor. He calls Abraham “the father of faith and the master of obedience.” What moved God, he says, was not the knife but the heart:

“He raised the blade, yet the sacrifice was complete already in his mind.”

Chrysostom insists that such faith is the root of all Christian virtue, since it trusts the divine command even when reason cannot see the purpose. The patriarch becomes, in his words, “the first fruits of the faithful.” Isaac’s silence and consent make him a type of Christ’s meekness; Abraham’s readiness prefigures the priesthood of believers who offer their lives as a living sacrifice.

For the Alexandrian Fathers, the story of Mamre, the hospitality of Abraham to the three mysterious visitors, was no mere moral tale but a theophany. St. Basil the Great, in De Spiritu Sancto (IX.22), writes that Abraham

“adored one and welcomed three,”

discerning dimly the mystery of the Trinity. His table beneath the oak of Mamre foreshadows the Eucharistic table of the Church, where God sits with His friends. In the tent of the patriarch, the invisible God begins to be seen; in his hospitality the image of divine communion is revealed.

Gregory of Nyssa, brother of Basil, deepens this mystical sense. In his Life of Moses (II.29), he compares Abraham’s faith to the soul’s epektasis, the perpetual stretching forth toward what lies beyond.

“He goes out, not knowing whither he goes because the good which he seeks has no limit.”

Faith for Gregory is not static possession but endless movement toward the Infinite. Abraham’s pilgrimage is the emblem of the soul’s unending ascent into God.

The image of the sinus Abrahae, the “bosom of Abraham,” provided another field of reflection. Tertullian, in De Anima (55), imagined it as a place of rest and refreshment for the righteous dead, a kind of vestibule of paradise awaiting the Redeemer. Ambrose later ennobled the image in De obitu Valent. 72:

“Sinus Abrahae requies aeternae pacis… the bosom of Abraham is the repose of eternal peace.”

Augustine, commenting on the parable of Lazarus, identified it with the hidden life of the Church, where the faithful departed rest in the promise of resurrection. Thus Abraham remains father not only of the living but of those who sleep in hope.

Throughout patristic literature, Abraham’s greatness is never detached from humility. St. Gregory the Great, reflecting in Moralia in Iob 5.3.6 on his intercession for Sodom, marvels that

“he who was a friend of God called himself dust and ashes”

Faith and humility, for Gregory, are inseparable: to believe is to acknowledge one’s nothingness before the Almighty. The same Abraham who converses familiarly with God bows to the earth in reverence. His confidence is born not of presumption but of trust in divine mercy.

Thus, from Irenaeus to Gregory, Abraham stands as the common ancestor of all theology.

He is the first contemplative, the first missionary, the first intercessor, the first pilgrim of faith. His life forms the grammar of revelation: calling, promise, testing, and blessing. In him the Fathers discern the whole outline of salvation history already traced in miniature. He believed, and it was counted to him as righteousness; he obeyed, and the nations were blessed through him.

The Church, reading Genesis in the light of Christ, sees in Abraham the mirror of her own faith, walking through this world as a stranger, building altars on the way, awaiting the city whose builder and maker is God.

In fact, speaking of altars, the Roman liturgy invokes Abraham as both witness and intercessor.

In the Roman Canon the priest prays:

“Supra quae propitio ac sereno vultu respicere digneris, et accepta habere, sicut accepta habere dignatus es munera pueri tui iusti Abel, et sacrificium patriarchae nostri Abrahae, et quod tibi obtulit summus sacerdos tuus Melchisedech.”

Here Abraham stands between Abel and Melchisedech as the perfect figure of priestly faith: he offers not the fruits of the earth but the beloved son, prefiguring the Eucharistic oblation of Christ Himself.

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9 October – Feast of St. John Henry Newman – WDTPRS: Collect for Newman and “Lead, Kindly Light”

Posted on 9 October 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

9 October - Feast of St. John Henry Newman - WDTPRS: Collect for Newman and "Lead, Kindly Light"Here is the COLLECT for the Feast of  St. John Henry Newman Memorial, anniversary of the day, 9 October 1845, when he was brought into greater light and received into Holy Catholic Church at Littlemore.

Pope Leo XIV will proclaim St. John Henry to be the 38th Doctor of the Church on 1 November.

LATIN:
Deus, qui beátum Ioánnem Henrícum, presbýterum,
lumen benígnum tuum sequéntem
pacem in Ecclésia tua inveníre contulísti,
concéde propítius,
ut, eius intercessióne et exémplo,
ex umbris et imagínibus
in plenitúdinem veritátis tuae perducámur.

The use of confero might raise an eyebrow.  Buried in the entry for confero in our Lewis & Short Dictionary we find “With the access. idea of application or communication, to devote or apply something to a certain purpose, to employ, direct, confer, bestow upon, give, lend, grant, to transfer to (a favorite word with Cicero.).”  The problem is that contulisti here has the sense of “grant”, but then we also have to deal with concede down the line, which also normally comes off as “grant”.  So, I will stick with “grant” for confero and then use something else for concede.

An imago is certainly an “image” or “copy”, it is also a “ghost, likeness, echo, semblance, appearance” or “shade”.

WDTPRS LITERAL VERSION:
O God, who granted blessed John Henry,
a priest following Your kindly light,
to find peace in Your Church,
graciously vouchsafe,
by his intercession and example,
that we may be drawn from shadows and shades
into the fullness of Your truth.

You will notice right away the reference to the a poem written by John Henry in 1833 later rendered as a popular hymn, Lead Kindly Light.

You might know the story of its writing.  When the young Newman was traveling in Italy he fell ill. He experienced a time of great emotional and spiritual discouragement. When a nurse asked him what troubled him, he responded, “I have work to do in England.”  Eventually he got passage on a boat home, but they were constrained to heave to, slowed by a thick fog and nearby cliffs.  Trapped in the fog, on June 16 Newman wrote The Pillar of the Cloud:

9 October - Feast of St. John Henry Newman - WDTPRS: Collect for Newman and "Lead, Kindly Light"Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom
Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home—
Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see

The distant scene—one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor pray’d that Thou
Shouldst lead me on.
I loved to choose and see my path, but now
Lead Thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,

Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.

So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on,
O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone;
And with the morn those angel faces smile

Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

A version of the hymn, just to help you ponder.

 

OFFICIAL VERSION:
O God, who bestowed on the Priest blessed John Henry Newman
the grace to follow your kindly light
and find peace in your Church;
graciously grant that,
through his intercession and example,
we may be led out of shadows and images
into the fulness of your truth.

In this world we walk by faith, not by sight.

We peer towards mystery through the dark glass,…

…through the crack in the rock,…

…through chink in the garden wall.

The hope of Christians draws us to the One who will draw us forth from this shadowy place into His marvelous light.

Holy Church is our surest path to that which is good and true and beautiful.

Of interest is that  “ex umbris et imaginibus in veritatem” was John Henry Newman’s epitaph.

However we put this, “from shadows and shades into truth”, “from out of shadows and reflections into truth”, “from shadows and phantasms into truth”, “from illusions and approximations into reality”… this has a rather Platonic ring to it.

For Newman this certainly also meant something like “from the Church of England and from Anglo-Catholic to the Roman Catholic Church”.

You might imagine yourself, if you have your Platonic hat on, moving away from the back of the cave, turning around, and heading out of the cave to your source.

At the heart of the Platonic and Augustinian paradigm is conversion – the turning point at which we, who are moving out and away, begin to return.

This is a paradigm found in many of the Latin Church’s more ancient prayers.  It is also found in the experience of the penitent and of the worshiper at Holy Mass.

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Another report of pain in the Diocese of Charlotte

Posted on 8 October 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I warmly recommend this piece at Crisis for your reading and your wide sharing with all whom you know.

You may know the facts. The Bishop of Charlotte suppressed the people who had a Traditional Latin Mass in different locations, and then ghettoized them far away in a tacky little fixer-up chapel which he openly said would not be big enough. He told them than can’t take up a collection, which means improvements will be hard, and they must continue – above all – to pay at their territorial parishes. He said he would accompany them. He wasn’t there on Sunday. But there was a sign on the door that said they shouldn’t take photos.

Such loving care.

Read the piece at Crisis.

A few bits…

[…]

But when Bishop Martin shut down the Traditional Latin Mass in all parishes and forced those communities to disband, I felt compelled to join those who were banished to a remote chapel, miles away from the highway, at the end of a series of two-lane roads surrounded by cornfields. If we are supposed to be with those who grieve, then this was the place to find them. In order to express true compassion—from the Latin cum passio—one must suffer with. It requires presence. Despite Bishop Martin’s claim to his sheep that he would “commit to walk with” them, he was noticeably absent.

The holy water font was a simple, wide basin placed on a small circular wooden table just through the main entrance. For those who traveled from ornate churches like St. Ann’s in Charlotte or Our Lady of Grace in Greensboro, this must have felt like being in exile. The overhead lighting was tacky and more appropriate for a stage than a sanctuary. One could easily envision a band in place of the altar.

[…]

It was claimed that having the Traditional Latin Mass at parishes was divisive. So, paradoxically, faithful Catholics were forcibly divided from their parish communities and sent long distances away, that they may not worship in the same spaces as their neighbors.

[…]

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