From a reader… QUAERITUR: I have been doing research however to no avail. What is the official book and english translation used for blessing after Vatican 2 prior to the release of Book of Blessing? The book of blessings remained … Read More →
I received a somewhat convoluted note about blessings, which contained several implicit questions. I will tease out the essence. He can’t find a priest to bless things in Latin and it would be very far to drive to find one. … Read More →
From a transitional deacon… QUAERITUR: I am a transitional deacon soon to be ordained a priest. As that day draws near, I realize that my seminary has taught me absolutely nothing about how to bless people and things. As I … Read More →
From a reader… QUAERITUR: Well, basically that: if a priest were to bless something without following the ritual, assuming he has the intention to bless it, says “I/God bless you”, it’s done in the Holy Name of the Trinity, etc: … Read More →
IMPORTANT UPDATE: I don’t know what I was thinking. I must have had a monsignor moment. There is now available the great Parish Ritual which conforms to what was in force in 1962! I posted about it HERE (and there is … Read More →
From a reader… QUAERITUR: Due to a new pastor at our parish, I’ve been hearing all sorts of novel things as Mass, and was particularly struck by the use of “May Almighty God bless US” instead of “YOU” at the … Read More →
From a reader… QUAERITUR: One of our parishioners posted this image on his facebook page and I commented, “Hey, if you have guns you want blessed, let me know.” Low and behold he took me up on the offer. That … Read More →
Very strange business this. At the end of the audience no one knows what to do after this strange conclusion. This was today, 30 November 2019. Pope Francis’ rather unusual blessing today at the conclusion his audience with the participants … Read More →
Today I talk about prayer before and after meals. What inspired me is the recent arrival of beautiful little books – new – for singing the table prayers in Latin. They are from the Monastery of St. Benedict, in southern … Read More →
From priest… QUAERITUR: At the moment I’m at a presbyteral retreat. When you get a bunch of priests together, you’re bound to see the whole range of liturgical “sensibilities,” leaving aside entirely the dinner table conversation… [For sure. I look … Read More →
From a reader… QUAERITUR: What does it mean for an article of devotion to be “properly blessed” as stated in the Enchiridion of Indulgences? Many of our sacramentals have been blessed by priests or deacons, and two by bishops (my … Read More →
From a reader… QUAERITUR: What formula would be appropriate for blessing a power wheelchair? Wow! That’s an easy one. First, you can always use the Blessing “ad omnia“. But we can do better than that. With a slight twist I … Read More →
From a reader… QUAERITUR: Today I asked a priest to bless a green scapular. I had the package open for it to be taken out, but to my surprise the priest left it inside the plastic packaging, sprinkling the holy water on … Read More →
From a reader… who picked up on something I wrote about blessings and holy water in the traditional form compared to the new, post-Conciliar form… HERE QUAERITUR: “The exorcisms of the salt and water are to be done in Latin.” … Read More →
Go buy some grapes and take them to the priest for the Feast of the Transfiguration (Sunday, 6 August), with a page from the Rituale Romanum (go to p. 345 – Benedictio uvarum), or cut and paste the English text … Read More →
UPDATE: People don’t always read carefully before they react. Let me be clear. It is okay – it is good – for parents to bless their children by tracing the sign of the Cross on their foreheads. Stop sending me … Read More →
Today we traditionally have the blessing of throats in honor of St. Blaise. Since yesterday was Candlemas it is logical to associate the blessing with candles. Did you receive a St. Blaise Day blessing of the throat? The combox is … Read More →
Wonderful customs come with the Feast of the Epiphany. Real Epiphany is 6 January, by the way. On Epiphany we can bless gold, frankincense and myrrh. Please bring all your spare, unblessed myrrh to your priest… and your gold. Bring … Read More →
From a reader… I recently took up homebrewing as a hobby. Are there any traditional prayers, say from monastic brewers, that I can pray while I enjoy my new hobby? I’m reminded of the old chestnut about whether it is … Read More →
Go buy some grapes and take them to the priest for the Feast of the Transfiguration (tomorrow, 6 August), with a page from the Rituale Romanum (go to p. 345 – Benedictio uvarum), or cut and paste the English text … Read More →
Your use of my Amazon affiliate link is a major part of my income. It helps to pay for insurance, groceries, everything. Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance.
“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
Everyone, work to get this into your parish bulletins and diocesan papers.
“Until the Lord be pleased to settle, through the instrumentality of the princes of the Church and the lawful ministers of His justice, the trouble aroused by the pride of a few and the ignorance of some others, let us with the help of God endeavor with calm and humble patience to render love for hatred, to avoid disputes with the silly, to keep to the truth and not fight with the weapons of falsehood, and to beg of God at all times that in all our thoughts and desires, in all our words and actions, He may hold the first place who calls Himself the origin of all things.”
grateful on 8 December: Happy Birthday BLOG!: “May God continue to shower you with blessings. Thank you for your faithfulness. I’m sure Our Blessed Mother is happy…”
Venerator Sti Lot on 8 December: Happy Birthday BLOG!: “Echoing the five comments I see as I write – indeed! Many thanks (for such fruitful and delightful variety), and…”
Irish Timothy on 8 December: Happy Birthday BLOG!: “Congrats Fr. Z! Thank you for all you do with this blog time and time again. Praying that 2024 is…”
A.S. Haley on Daily Rome Shot 876 – twofer: “Black turns the tables on White by blocking check and discovering check on his part: 1. Qa8+ (assumed). Bb8 disc+…”
poohbear on 8 December: Happy Birthday BLOG!: “Happy Blog Birthday! You are a blessing and a light in the bleak world. Thank you for all your posts.”
The most evident mark of God’s anger and the most terrible castigation He can inflict upon the world are manifested when He permits His people to fall into the hands of clerics who are priests more in name than in deed, priests who practice the cruelty of ravening wolves rather than the charity and affection of devoted shepherds.
St. John Eudes
I am delighted to have been approved as an affiliate of Chess.com and House of Staunton.
To donate monthly via Continue To Give use your phone's camera to activate the Q code or text 4827563 to 715-803-4772 (US) for a link.
For Zelle and Chase, etc., use
frz AT wdtprs DOT com.
Daily Quiz
Use FATHERZ10 at checkout for 10% off
Donate using VENMO
GREAT BEER from Traditional Benedictine Monks in Italy
CLICK and say your daily offerings!
A Daily Prayer for Priests
NEW OPPORTUNITY – 10% off with code: FATHERZ10
Fr. Z’s VOICEMAIL
Nota bene: I do not answer these numbers or this Skype address. You won't get me "live". I check for messages regularly.
WDTPRS
020 8133 4535
651-447-6265
Books which you must have.
This REALLY helps! And it’s great coffee (and tea)
I use this when I travel both in these USA and abroad. Very useful. Fast enough for Zoom. I connect my DMR (ham radio) through it. If you use my link, they give me more data. A GREAT back up.
“He [Satan] will set up a counter-Church which will be the ape of the Church because, he the devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the anti-Christ that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ. In desperate need for God, whom he nevertheless refuses to adore, modern man in his loneliness and frustration will hunger more and more for membership in a community that will give him enlargement of purpose, but at the cost of losing himself in some vague collectivity.”
“Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops.”
“The modern habit of doing ceremonial things unceremoniously is no proof of humility; rather it proves the offender's inability to forget himself in the rite, and his readiness to spoil for every one else the proper pleasure of ritual.”
- C.S. Lewis
This blog has to earn its keep!
PLEASE subscribe via PayPal if it is useful.
That way I have steady income I can plan on, and you wind up regularly on my list of benefactors for whom I pray and for whom I periodically say Holy Mass.
In view of the rapidly changing challenges I now face, I would like to add more $10/month subscribers. Will you please help?
For a one time donation...
As for Latin…
"But if, in any layman who is indeed imbued with literature, ignorance of the Latin language, which we can truly call the 'catholic' language, indicates a certain sluggishness in his love toward the Church, how much more fitting it is that each and every cleric should be adequately practiced and skilled in that language!" - Pius XI
"Let us realize that this remark of Cicero (Brutus 37, 140) can be in a certain way referred to [young lay people]: 'It is not so much a matter of distinction to know Latin as it is disgraceful not to know it.'" - St. John Paul II
Grant unto thy Church, we beseech Thee, O merciful God, that She, being gathered together by the Holy Ghost, may be in no wise troubled by attack from her foes. O God, who by sin art offended and by penance pacified, mercifully regard the prayers of Thy people making supplication unto Thee,and turn away the scourges of Thine anger which we deserve for our sins. Almighty and Everlasting God, in whose Hand are the power and the government of every realm: look down upon and help the Christian people that the heathen nations who trust in the fierceness of their own might may be crushed by the power of thine Arm. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.
Be a “Zed-Head”!
CHALLENGE COINS!
My "challenge coin" for my 25th anniversary of ordination in 2016.
Want one? I do exchanges with military and LEOs, etc.
This is really useful when travelling… and also when you aren’t and you need backup internet NOW! I use this for my DMR “Zednet” hotspot when I’m mobile. It’s a ham radio thing.
If you travel internationally, this is a super useful gizmo for your mobile internet data. I use one. If you get one through my link, I get data rewards.
Please use my links when shopping! I depend on your help.