Happy Belated feast of the Immaculate! whoops.

Dear Reader,


Sorry I had an exam yesterday.... I wanted to post but I was caught out....


I am cheating, nothing original, but straight from the Breviary:

Second Reading

A sermon of St Laurence Justinian

Mary kept all these things in her heart

As Mary pondered all she had learned from reading and from what she had heard and seen, how greatly did she increase in faith, advance in merit and become enlightened with wisdom! More and more she was consumed with burning love. Drawing life and inspiration from the heavenly mysteries which were being unlocked for her, she was filled with joy; she became alive with the Spirit, she was guided towards God and was kept humble in herself. The effects of divine grace are such indeed that they raise one from the depths to the heights, and transform one in an ever greater degree of glory. Entirely blessed was the mind of the Virgin which, through the direction of the Spirit dwelling in her, ever obeyed the command of the Word of God in all things. She was governed not by her own judgement or opinions, but she outwardly performed through her body whatever wisdom had indicated inwardly to her faith. It was surely fitting that divine Wisdom, which had built the house of the Church for its abode, should use most holy Mary as its instrument, where the observance of the law, purification of the heart, the doctrine of humility and spiritual offering were concerned.

    Imitate her, O faithful soul. Enter into the temple of your heart that you may be purified in spirit and cleansed of the pollution of your sins. In everything we do God considers our disposition rather than our actions. And so, whether we retire mentally to God in earnest contemplation and remain at rest or whether we are intent on being of service to those around us with good works and worthy undertakings, let our object be that we are motivated only by love of Christ. So the really acceptable offering of purification of the spirit is that which is rendered not in a man-made temple but in the temple of the heart, where Christ the Lord is pleased to enter.

Responsory

I know not how to praise you, holy and immaculate Virgin.Heaven itself cannot contain the One whom you bore in your womb.

Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Heaven itself cannot contain the One whom you bore in your womb.

________

Let us pray.

God our Father,

    you created a worthy dwelling-place for the Holy Spirit

    in the heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Grant that through her prayers

    we may become a temple fit for your glory.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

    who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

    one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Duobus modis exponere

Dear Reader,

I wish to share with you a post from my friends on the Monks of Norcia blog.

TWO WAYS TO EXPLAIN THE HOLY EUCHARIST

AUTHOR
Fr. Cassian Folsom, O.S.B.
LITURGICAL DATE

EF: Corpus Christi 

READINGS

1 Jn 3:13-18 & Lk 14:16-24 

T

ake, this is my body.  “This is my blood.”  These words, which are recited at each Mass, are rich in meaning.  What is their sense, especially given today’s celebration?  Let’s try to better understand the mystery of the Eucharist.  Let’s try to arrive at a deeper understanding of the Blessed Sacrament, which we have just honored with our procession through the streets of the city, with roads adorned with flower pedals.  How can we explain this mystery which we honor with such love and devotion?  How can we explain the change which takes place during the consecration of Mass?

 Let’s begin with what our senses tell us.  On the altar, what do we see?  Surely you’ll say:  “we see some bread in the form of small hosts, and we see some wine.”  How can we possibly honor these natural elements as if they were God?  How can we explain that these elements change, that the bread becomes the body of Christ and that wine becomes blood?  From all the possible explanations, I’ll choose two:  one from St. Ambrose and one developed by St. Thomas Aquinas.

St. Ambrose bases his argument on the power of God to create the world ex nihilo.  Through what means did the Lord our God make the world?  With his word.  God spoke, said, pronounced:  Let there be light!  And there was light.  And St. Ambrose adds a passage from the Psalms to support his argument:  By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth (Ps 32:6).  The word of the Lord means the Son; by the breath of his mouth means the Holy Spirit.  If God made everything created from nothing through his Word, through his Son, one can thus deduce that the Word has an effective power.  And if this Word, this Word of Christ, was able to create the world from nothing, surely he is able to change something that already exists into something else.  So, when the priest pronounces the words: “This is my body; this is my blood”, he doesn’t use his own words, but rather those of Christ, and therefore it’s the words of Christ which change the bread and wine into his body and his blood.  This is St. Ambrose’s brief argument.

On the other hand, St. Thomas bases his argument on the distinction taken from the philosophy of Aristotle, through the substance of a thing and its accidental qualities.  The substance of a thing is its true nature, its proper essential identity.  For example, the substance of John remains the same even though his hair changes from dark to white after many years.  John remains John even if he used to be a baby, and now he’s an adult.  The substance of John remains the same even if he is skinny today and chubby tomorrow – all of these characteristics are accidental things.

When we talk about bread, the substance of bread is its essential nature.  The accidental things are the form, the size, the type of wheat used, etc.  In the bakery, there is a great diversity of possible forms of bread, but the essence of bread remains the same.

According to the tradition of scholastic theology, the change of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ is explained like this:  the accidental characteristics of the bread remain; we still see with our eyes a small white host – but the very nature of the thing, its essence, is changed into the body of Christ.  The accidental characteristics of the wine remain:  red and white, sweet and bitter, etc. – but the substance of the wine changes, and it changes into the blood of Christ.

This change is miraculous, yes – but it gets carried out by the words of Christ, by the creative and effective power of the Word, and therefore even if the miracle requires our faith, it is still conceivable – at least in part – by our intellect.

As a consequence of this change, which we call ‘transubstantiation’, after the consecration of the natural elements of bread and wine, we honor the Blessed Sacrament with all honor due to God.

The sequence of this Solemnity of Corpus Christi contains a beautiful expression:  “Quantum potes, tantum aude” – that is, in praising God, and in a particular way, in praising him through the greatness of the Eucharist – dare to praise him as you can, and fully dedicate yourself to it!  The sequence exclaims:  “Let the praise be loud and high, sweet and tranquil be the joy, felt today in every breast.”  May these be our sentiments, too, on this solemn feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.

(Translated from the original Italian by B. Gonzalez.)

Vale Amicus, Till next time....

HAPPY FEAST DAY OF THE SACRED HEART

MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS, BURNING WITH LOVE FOR MEN, HAVE MERCY ON US!!!

Nemo fleret

Dear Reader,

 I noticed this article on Rorate Caeli and wanted to  publish it here, but the next day, Fr. Z at his blog WDTPRS Picked it up and tacked on a commentary......so I leave a reproduction here for you.

His emphases and comments.  Original HERE.(google will do good job of translating, but if you know Italian or Spanish, then you should be okay with it.)

The greatest crisis of the Priesthood in the history of the Church

Nobody is crying

If there were no more priests hardly anyone would be crying about it. This is the sad statement that we have to make.

We are witnessing the greatest crisis of the priesthood in the history of the Church. Whole areas in Europe are now without priests and all is hushed up. You do not even hear a single bishop raise the alarm, weeping with the faithful, asking everyone to pray intensely for priestly vocations and ordering fasting with ardent supplications that the Lord may have mercy on His people. [In France there are towns with thousands of people and no priests.  Some French priests have dozens of parishes!]

It is true, you will hear bishops and heads of curia describing the numbers of this dizzying drop in the presence of priests in the Church. You will hear them calmly – too calmly – drawing up a list of the information in a detached manner as if it were a situation to accept just as a matter of course – in fact, the chance for a new Church – more of the people.

In the coming years, in Italy, land of Christian antiquity, we will witness the disappearance of parishes and some [radical] changes, unthinkable even a few years ago, in the simplest structures of Catholicism, of parish communities, where Christian life was [once] natural for everyone. But the absolute majority of busy Catholics will pretend nothing is happening, because their pastors are already doing so.  [And some of the bishops there are among the more radically liberal I have ever heard of.  What some of them do to priests of a traditional stripe is dreadful.  And yet there is a crisis in the number of priests there.]

It is a “ catastrophe”, an “earthquake” – but nobody is crying about it – there is a pretence [sic] that nothing is happening. There is a pretence that nothing is happening because the fairytale of the Council’s “springtime” must continue. Any historical verification and evidence of a crisis without precedent are denied.

And a less than Catholic-like future is being prepared for us. [My old pastor, the late Msgr. Schuler, when hearing from the chancery about how in the future there wouldn't be enough priests, likened the situation to the Irish potato crop failure that caused so many to starve.  He suggested new approaches and used them himself for vocations (30 1st Masses in 33 years as pastor of the parish).  Instead, the powers-that-were - stuck in their rut of the same-old-same-old (liberal rubbish) sat around talking about how to starve together rather than planting new and different crops.  It's enough to make you crazy. One of the fundamental criticisms Schuler had of the seminary faculty at that time was that they couldn't answer three questions: Who is Jesus Christ? Who is the Church? Who is the priest?]

“Restructuring” the organization of Christian communities is already being discussed, i.e.creating space for the lay people (as if they never had enough of it in these past years) [!] and a new type of Christian faithful is being invented who will become the administrators in the parishes and will replace the priests. Lay faithful, duly “clericalized”, will maintain the churches and while waiting for a Mass, they, like adult Christians, will do the preaching of the Word…

…yet nobody is crying about it – nobody is praying and crying out to God.  [Remember: No priests, no Eucharist.]

Perhaps they are not crying out because someone has been preparing this upheaval in the Church for some years now.  [The Italian actually has "terremotto", "earthquake".]

They have debased the Catholic priesthood, transforming priests from men of God into social workers for the community. [That is an important point.  Priests are just functionaries tasked with mundane or temporal duties, even honorable duties concerning works of mercy.  Were they, then anyone could fill the job.] They have reduced the breviary and prayer. They have imposed secular dress so that the priests are like everyone else. [When I was in seminary in the USA you could be questioned for wearing black pants.  We were actually forbidden to use the word "priest", which we called "the p-word". We were to use the term "ordained ministers", in order to break down the distinction between the priesthood of the ordained and the common priesthood of the baptized.] Priests were told to keep up with the times because the world was moving forward. They were also told not to stress their own importance, but to share their responsibilities with the faithful.  [How condescending.  That is tantamount to telling lay people "You aren't good enough on your own, so I will let you do things that I can do."]

And the final blow: priests were given a Mass that has become the preparation for the catastrophe in the Church.  [The translation is not uniformly great:  "E come colpo di grazia gli hanno dato una messa che è diventata la prova generale del cataclisma nella Chiesa... And as the coup de grâce (mortal blow) they gave them a Mass that became the dress rehearsal for the catastrophe in the Church..."  But the general drift is conveyed adequately.]No longer deep prayer; no longer adoration of God Who is present. [I don't think those two points are entirely fair.] There is no longer intimate union with the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, [The deemphasis of the sacrificial aspect was truly disastrous.] but, instead, there is a holy supper with the community.[Not entirely, but... the Novus Ordo is prone to that imposition.  That's a problem.  It doesn't have to go that way, if the priest has his head on straight.  But given the lousy seminary prep and the persecution for decades by some bishops and priests, the Novus Ordo, susceptible to aberrations, is often way off course.] Everything is centered on man – not on God – and a lot of extenuating talk about building community. [Instead, Mass needs to build an encounter with Mystery and help people prepare to die and be judged.] It is a Mass which is a constant coming and going of lay people on and off the altar, a training for that coming and going of ladies and gentlemen who will shortly be running our ex-parishes without priests.

With the “worldly” Mass, the universal priesthood of the lay faithful has been cultivated and its meaning twisted. The baptized are a priestly people inasmuch as they offer themselves in sacrifice, in union with Christ crucified, offering all of their life with Jesus. The faithful must sanctify themselves; this is the universal priesthood of the baptized. The faithful do not participate in the Holy Orders of the priesthood, which are of an other nature and conform to the Priesthood of Christ. It is through the Sacrament of Holy Orders that Christ renders Himself present in the grace of the sacraments. If there were no more priests, both the Church and the grace of the sacraments would come to an end.

Martin Luther and Protestantism did exactly this: they destroyed the Catholic priesthood by saying that everyone was a “priest”, underlining specifically the universal priesthood of the laity.

In the matter of restructuring parishes, things might end up like that.

It might have been different to confront this crisis with minds and hearts holding the priesthood in high esteem, with the knowledge that the priest is one of the greatest gifts for the Church and all people. But this has not been the case. The crisis will be dealt with after years of total confusion in the lives of the clergy; after years of being unaccustomed to daily Mass and Catholic doctrine. ["I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths. As for you, always be steady, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry." 2 Tim 4:1-5] So the faithful will do without the priest. This is already happening. And when a priest arrives, they will not have a clue what to do with him, having become accustomed to the belief that the Lord will save them without priests and sacraments.[I'll tell you what they often do: they turn on him when he does what he is supposed to do.]

We think it is not right to pretend that nothing is happening.

This is the reason we are asking our faithful to pray fervently to the Lord, so that He will grant a lot of priests to His Church, as He once did.

Dear faithful, in this month of June, which is the time dedicated to Holy Orders, let us have the courage to ask for this grace, even with tears, to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

And let us cling to the most precious gift of the Mass of all time – the Mass of Tradition. It is only this Mass that will give new priests to the Church of the Lord.

Reason #… 3? for Summorum Pontificum.

The New Evangelization cannot take off without a revitalization of our liturgical life.  The older form of Mass is necessary to help this revitalization.

The New Evangelization cannot take off without strong priests who know who they are and are faithful to Holy Church’s teachings.  The older form of Mass can promote vocations and clearer priestly identity.

Food for thought

Vale Amicus, till next time...

Sanctus Norbértum et Walterus S.R.E. Cardinalis Kasper

Dear Reader,

I found this floating on the internet after watching a story on Churchmilitant.tv. Fr. Z. has also picked up on this story too... (AS OF NOW... HIS BLOG IS DOWN. I WILL LINK THE STORY IN LATER)

 Cardinal Kasper comments on Vatican II

Cardinal Walter Kasper gives some thoughts on Vatican II which were published in L'Osservatore Romano. To the best of my knowledge, it is the first time some of this information has been reported, particularly in the Vatican's own newspaper. 

The original Italian translated by Google (the English version is not online as of yet but I will do my best to post it when it becomes available). 

http://translate.google.com/translat...ed=0CDMQ7gEwAA

There are three direct quotes from Cardinal Kasper, plus one quote from a commentator.

ENJOY

  

Originally Posted by (Cardinal Walter Kasper, L'Osservatore Romano, April 12, 2013)

"In many places, [the Council Fathers] had to find compromise formulas, in which, often, the positions of the majority are located immediately next to those of the minority, designed to delimit them. Thus, the conciliar texts themselves have a huge potential for conflict, open the door to a selective reception in either direction."

Originally Posted by (Cardinal Walter Kasper, L'Osservatore Romano, April 12, 2013)

“For most Catholics, the developments put in motion by the council are part of the church’s daily life. But what they are experiencing is not the great new beginning nor the springtime of the church, which were expected at that time, but rather a church that has a wintery look, and shows clear signs of crisis.”

Originally Posted by (Cardinal Walter Kasper, L'Osservatore Romano, April 12, 2013)

"For those who know the story of the twenty councils recognized as ecumenical, this [the state of confusion] will not be a surprise. The post-conciliar times were almost always turbulent. The [Second] Vatican, however, is a special case."

Originally Posted by John Thavis

Kasper said some critics still consider Vatican II as “a disaster and the greatest calamity in recent times.” But the cardinal said it was wrong to presume that “everything that happened after the council also happened because of the council,” and that the critics need to look more closely at more general social trends of that era.

This is also a fair point and is worth noting and repeating. For things to have gone as nuts as they did in some cases as fast as they did, there almost certainly had to be underlying problems which were already in existence. People were simply not in full obedience to the Church one day and the next turn into raving heretics. That simply does not add up. I think it is fair to say that the situation in the world in the 1960's combined with the changing social norms, contributed to the problems which manifested.

S. Norbértus, nobilíssimis paréntibus natus, adoléscens liberálibus disciplínis erudítus, in ipsa póstea imperatóris aula, spretis mundi illécebris, ecclesiásticæ milítiæ adscríbi vóluit. Sacris initiátus, prædicatióni verbi Dei se totum dedit. Innúmeros hæréticos ad fidem, peccatóres ad pœniténtiam, dissidéntes ad pacem et concórdiam revocávit. Desértum locum, qui Præmonstrátus dicebátur, in Laudunénsi diœcési sibi delégit; ibíque, trédecim sóciis aggregátis, Præmonstraténsem órdinem instítuit, qui mirífice propagátus est. Archiepíscopus Magdeburgénsis, licet relúctans, creátus, ecclesiásticam disciplínam, cælibátum præsértim, constánter propugnávit. Rhemis in concílio Innocéntium secúndum egrégie adiúvit, et Romam cum áliis epíscopis proféctus, schisma Petri Leónis compréssit. Magdebúrgi obdormívit in Dómino, anno salútis millésimo centésimo trigésimo quarto, die sexta Iúnii.

St. Norbert was born of most noble parents and, as a young man, studied the liberal arts. Then, while serving in the court of the Emperor himself, he spurned the seductions of the world and decided to enroll among the soldiers of the Church. After receiving holy orders he devoted himself entirely to preaching the word of God. He brought back innumerable heretics to the faith, sinners to penance, quarrellers to peace and concord. He retired to a desert place called Prémontré in the diocese of Laon ; and there, with thirteen companions, he founded the Premonstratensian Order, which spread in a marvellous way. Against his will, he was made Archbishop of Magdeburg, and constantly defended ecclesiastical discipline and especially celibacy. At the Council of Rheims, he was a strong champion of Innocent II ; and going to Rome with other bishops, he put an end to the schism of Pierleone. He fell asleep in the Lord at Magdeburg on the 6th day of June in the year of salvation 1134.

Orémus

Deus, qui beatum Norbertum Confessorem tuum atque Pontificem, verbi tui praeconem eximium effecisti, et per eum Ecclesiam tuam nova prole foecundasti: praesta quaesumus: ut eiusdem suffragantibus meritis, quod ore simul et opere docuit, te adiuvante exercere valeamus.

Let us pray

O God, Who didst make thy blessed Confessor and Bishop Norbert a notable preacher of thy Word, and wast pleased to make thy Church thereby fruitful in a new family of sons, grant, we beseech thee, unto us, that we being holpen by thee for his sake, may have strength to do those worthy deeds whereunto his words and works alike do move us.

I would Imagine St. Norbert would not stand for such unclearness.... why be deliberate!!!!

Any way.. Catch you later.....

Vale Amicus, Till Next time....

Letter to Seminarians of the Cardinal-Prefect of Clergy

Dear Reader,

I nicked this from Rorate Caeli, and would like to share it with Y'all....

Letter to Seminarians

on the Occasion of the Day for the Sanctification of Priests

The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

7 June 2013

Dearest Seminarians,

The Primacy of Grace in the Priestly Life

On the solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, we celebrate most significantly the day for the sanctification of priests and, as you are in the Seminary to respond in the most fitting way possible to your vocation, it is important for me to send you this letter, with great affection, so that you may feel involved and, as such, remember this important occasion.


We contemplate together today the origin of the divine vocation. The Holy Father has emphasised firmly the love in which those who are Priests of Christ and of the Church must participate. In his homily at his first Chrism Mass (28 March 2013), Pope Francis said "This I ask you: be shepherds, with the 'odour of the sheep'". By this striking image, the Successor of Peter invites us to have a strong and solid love for the People of God, a love which - as the same Pontiff has noted - is not fed from purely human sources, nor is it reinforced by techniques of self-persuasion. It is the personal encounter with the Lord; it is keeping alive the knowledge of having been called by Him, who gives the truly greater supernatural strength to be Priests in the image of the Good Shepherd of all, Christ Jesus. But in order to be such tomorrow, you have to prepare yourselves today. In very clear words, Pope Francis has referred to the primacy of grace in the priestly life: "It is not in soul-searching or constant introspection that we encounter the Lord: self-help courses can be useful in life, but to live our priestly life going from one course to another, from one method to another, leads us to become pelagians and to minimise the power of grace" (ibidem).


The Priestly Cross

For the disciple walking with Christ, walking in grace, means taking on with spiritual joy the weight of the priestly cross. We hear again the Holy Father teaching about this: "When we journey without the Cross, when we build without the Cross, when we profess Christ without the Cross, we are not disciples of the Lord, we are worldly" (Homily at the Holy Mass with the Cardinals, 14 March 2013). On the contrary, to live our ministry as a service to Christ crucified, prevents us from understanding the Church as a human organisation "a charitable NGO, but not the Church, the Bride of the Lord" (ibidem).

In the light of these first magisterial teachings of Pope Francis, I invite you to consider your life as a gift of God and, at the same time, a task which has been entrusted to you, not simply by men but - albeit by way of the necessary mediation by the Church - ultimately by the Lord himself, who has a plan for your life and for the lives of the brothers and sisters whom you will be called to serve.

The Liturgy Opens Heaven Wide Here on Earth

It is necessary to view the whole of our life in terms of a divine call, and also of a generous human response. This involves cultivating within ourselves the vocational sense, which interprets life as a continual dialogue with the Lord Jesus, risen and alive. In every age, Christ has called and continues to call men to follow him more closely by participating in his priesthood - that implies that, in every period of the history of the Church, the Lord has held a vocational dialogue with the faithful that He has chosen, so that they may be his representatives among the people of God, as well as mediators between heaven and earth, particularly in the celebration of the liturgy and the sacraments. In fact, one can say that the liturgy opens heaven wide here on earth.


Never Place Limits on the Plan that God Has for Us

On this basis, you are called through ordination - without any merit of your own - to be mediators between God and his people and to make possible the salvific encounter through the celebration of the divine mysteries. Notwithstanding your own limits, you have responded to this call with generosity and joy. It is important that you always keep alive the sense of youthfulness in your hearts: "We must live the faith with a young heart, always: a young heart, even at the age of seventy or eighty. Dear young people! With Christ, the heart never grows old" (Pope Francis, Homily for Palm Sunday, 24 March 2013, no. 3).
The youthfulness of the priestly spirit, firm in its vocation, is guaranteed by prayer, that is the continually maintained attitude of interior silence which favours listening to God every day. This continual opening of the heart happens, naturally, within a stability that - once the fundamental life decisions have been taken - is capable, with the help of grace, to remain faithful to the tasks which have been solemnly accepted, right up to the end of our earthly life. However, this necessary stability does not imply closing our ear to the ongoing call of God, because the Lord, while confirming us every day in our fundamental vocation, is always at the door of our heart knocking (cf. Acts 3:30), waiting for us to open it to Him with the same generosity with which we said to him our first "fiat", imitating the availability of the Ever Virgin Mother of God (cf. Lk. 1:38). We can, therefore, never place limits on the plan that God has for us and that he will communicate to us day after day, throughout the whole of our life.

From the Heart of God into the Heart of Man

This vocational openness also represents the most certain way to live evangelical joy. It is, in fact, the Lord who will make us truly happy. Our joy does not come from mundane satisfaction, which makes us briefly happy and quickly disappears, as St. Ignatius of Loyola noted in his first spiritual discernment (cf. Liturgy of the Hours, Office of Readings of 31 July, II Reading). Our joy is Christ! In the daily dialogue with Him, our spirit is reassured and continually renews our passion and our zeal for the salvation of souls.

This prayerful dimension of the priestly vocation reminds us of still more very important aspects. First among them is the fact that vocations grow not principally from a pastoral strategy, but above all through prayer. As Jesus taught: "Pray... the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest" (Lk. 10:2). Commenting on these evangelical words, Pope Benedict XVI noted: "We cannot simply 'produce' vocations; they must come from God. This is not like other professions; we cannot simply recruit people by using the right kind of publicity or the correct type of strategy. The call which comes from the heart of God must always find its way into the heart of man" (Meeting with Priests and Permanent Deacons of Bavaria. 14 September 2006). 

You, dear Seminarians, have been called by the Lord, but many people spread throughout the world have supported and are supporting your response with their prayers and their sacrifices. Be grateful for this and unite yourselves to these prayers and sacrifices to support other responses to vocations. To the primacy of prayer can then be added, as a channel of this divine grace, the sound, motivated and enthusiastic vocational pastoral action on the part of the Church. With regard to this ecclesial collaboration with the divine work of giving pastors to the People of God and the Mystical Body of Christ, it is appropriate to remember briefly a few matters that mark it out, that is: respect for priestly vocations, the witness of the lives of Priests, the specific work of Seminary formators.

Nurture the Seeds of Vocations

It is first of all necessary that the Church appreciates you for your priestly vocation, considering that the Community of the disciples of Christ cannot exist without the service of the sacred ministers. From this comes the care, attention and reverence for the priesthood. Secondly, vocations are highly favoured, as can be seen from the example and the care that the priests offer them. It would be difficult for an exemplary priest not to stimulate the question in the minds of young people: could I not also be called to a wonderful and happy life like this? Particularly in this way, Priests are channels through which God makes the divine call resound in the heart of those He has chosen. Priests then will nurture the seeds of vocation that begin to spring in the souls of the young, by means of sacramental Confession, spiritual direction, preaching and pastoral enthusiasm. I am sure that many of you will be witnesses to and beneficiaries of this.

The Church Needs Priests

I would, furthermore, like to say a word about the important role of those priests to whom the Bishops entrust your formation. The Seminary formators are called to continue and to deepen the care for priestly vocations, while they provide all the required help for the necessary personal discernment of every candidate. As to this, we must remember the two principles which must guide the evaluation of vocations: the friendly welcome and the just severity. While every prejudice as well as every rigorsim should be avoided in the treatment of seminarians, on the other hand it is of the greatest importance to guard carefully against laxism and carelessness in judgment. The Church certainly needs Priests, but not any kind of Priest! The love that welcomes must therefore accompany the truth which judges with clarity whether, for a particular candidate, the signs of a vocation and the human qualities necessary for a trustworthy response to it are present. The pastoral urgency of the Church cannot be permitted to bring about haste in conferring the sacred ministry. On the contrary, where there is doubt, it is better to take the time necessary and carry out appropriate evaluations, which will not exclude the dismissal of those candidates who are not able to offer sufficient guarantees.

Keep Persevering

My dearest Seminarians, with these brief comments, I have endeavoured to redirect our spiritual attention to the immense gift and to the absolutely free mystery of our special vocation. We entrust to the intercession of our most holy Mother Mary and of St. Joseph the gifts of fidelity and of perseverance in the divine call that, by pure grace, they may be bestowed upon us and that we may seek to respond to the divine generosity, which always sends pastors for the flock with renewed apostolic zeal. Keep persevering, always remembering that we show our love in this world by our fidelity.

I remember you each day in prayer with great affection, and I implore the Lord to send down his divine benediction upon you.

Mauro Cardinal Piacenza

Prefect

Congregation for the Clergy

[Source: Congregation for the Clergy; Tip: Dom Kirby]

Vale Amicus, Till next time...

Treasury of Latin Prayers

http://www.preces-latinae.org/index.htm

Just as the title of the Blog suggests it's a Thesaurus Precum Latinarum.... Latina and English.

i.e. Beautiful Prayers in the Lanugage of Mother Church and also in Mine.... Win/Win. HA!

Sacratissimum Cor Iesu

Dear Reader,

June is the Month of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.... so get praying especially for Heretics and Jews, but above all for the Catholics that are not true, ignorant or neglectful of their faith and cause other to sin as a result.

Please find Below Latin and English...

Litaniae de Sacratissimo Corde Iesu

Kyrie, eleison. 

Christe, eleison.

Kyrie, eleison.

Christe, audi nos. 

Christe, exaudi nos.

Pater de caelis, Deus, 

Fili, Redemptor mundi, Deus, 

Spiritus Sancte, Deus, 

Sancta Trinitas, unus Deus, 

Cor Iesu, Filii Patris aeterni, ..... Miserere Nobis

Cor Iesu, in sinu Virginis Matris a Spiritu Sancto formatum, 

Cor Iesu, Verbo Dei substantialiter unitum, 

Cor Iesu, maiestatis infinitae, 

Cor Iesu, templum Dei sanctum, 

Cor Iesu, tabernaculum Altissimi, 

Cor Iesu, domus Dei et porta caeli, 

Cor Iesu, fornax ardens caritatis, 

Cor Iesu, iustitiae et amoris receptaculum, 

Cor Iesu, bonitate et amore plenum, 

Cor Iesu, virtutum omnium abyssus, 

Cor Iesu, omni laude dignissimum, 

Cor Iesu, rex et centrum omnium cordium, 

Cor Iesu, in quo sunt omnes thesauri sapientiae et scientiae, 

Cor Iesu, in quo habitat omnis plenitudo divinitatis, 

Cor Iesu, in quo Pater sibi bene complacuit, 

Cor Iesu, de cuius plenitudine omnes nos accepimus, 

Cor Iesu, desiderium collium aeternorum, 

Cor Iesu, patiens et multae misericordiae, 

Cor Iesu, dives in omnes qui invocant te, 

Cor Iesu, fons vitae et sanctitatis, 

Cor Iesu, propitiatio pro peccatis nostris, 

Cor Iesu, saturatum opprobriis, 

Cor Iesu, attritum propter scelera nostra, 

Cor Iesu, usque ad mortem oboediens factum, 

Cor Iesu, lancea perforatum, 

Cor Iesu, fons totius consolationis, 

Cor Iesu, vita et resurrectio nostra, 

Cor Iesu, pax et reconciliatio nostra, 

Cor Iesu, victima peccatorum, 

Cor Iesu, salus in te sperantium, 

Cor Iesu, spes in te morientium, 

Cor Iesu, deliciae Sanctorum omnium, 

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, (parce nobis, Domine.) 

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, (exaudi nos, Domine.)

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, (miserere nobis, Domine.)

Iesu, mitis et humilis Corde, (Fac cor nostrum secundum Cor tuum.)

Oremus. Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, respice in Cor dilectissimi Filii tui et in laudes et satisfactiones, quas in nomine peccatorum tibi persolvit, iisque misericordiam tuam petentibus, tu veniam concede placatus in nomine eiusdem Filii tui Iesu Christi: Qui tecum vivit et regnat in saecula saeculorum. (Amen.)

and for those in need of it in the English Language:

Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus 

Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, have mercy on us. 

Lord, have mercy on us. 

Christ, hear us. 

Christ, graciously hear us.

God, the Father of Heaven, 

God, the Son, Redeemer of the World, 

God, the Holy Ghost, 

Holy Trinity, one God, 

Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father, ...... Have Mercy On Us

Heart of Jesus, formed in the womb of the Virgin Mother by the Holy Ghost, 

Heart of Jesus, united substantially with the word of God, 

Heart of Jesus, of infinite majesty, 

Heart of Jesus, holy temple of God, 

Heart of Jesus, tabernacle of the Most High, 

Heart of Jesus, house of God and gate of heaven, 

Heart of Jesus, glowing furnace of charity, 

Heart of Jesus, vessel of justice and love, 

Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love, 

Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues, 

Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise, 

Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts, 

Heart of Jesus, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, 

Heart of Jesus, in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Divinity, 

Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father is well pleased, 

Heart of Jesus, of whose fullness we have all received, 

Heart of Jesus, desire of the everlasting hills, 

Heart of Jesus, patient and rich in mercy, 

Heart of Jesus, rich to all who invoke Thee, 

Heart of Jesus, fount of life and holiness, 

Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins, 

Heart of Jesus, saturated with revilings, 

Heart of Jesus, crushed for our iniquities, 

Heart of Jesus, made obedient unto death, 

Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance, 

Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation, 

Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection, 

Heart of Jesus, our peace and reconciliation, 

Heart of Jesus, victim for our sins, 

Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who hope in Thee, 

Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in Thee, 

Heart of Jesus, delight of all saints,

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, (spare us, O Lord.)

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, (graciously hear us, O Lord.)

Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the world, (have mercy on us.)

Jesus, meek and humble of Heart. (Make our hearts like unto Thine.)

Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, look upon the Heart of Thy well-beloved Son and upon the acts of praise and satisfaction which He renders unto Thee in the name of sinners; and do Thou, in Thy great goodness, grant pardon to them who seek Thy mercy, in the name of the same Thy Son, Jesus Christ, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, world without end. (Amen.)

Vale Amicus, Till next time.

P.S. Blog Tomorrow about some recent happenings and a Special Saint!!!

Good Night and God Bless!!!

YIKES

Dear Reader, Go check this out!!!!! NOW!!!

http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2013/06/houston-we-have-protestant.html

seriously, what are we as Catholics thinking......

MORTALIUM ANIMOS ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS XI ON RELIGIOUS UNITY

So, Venerable Brethren, it is clear why this Apostolic See has never allowed its subjects to take part in the assemblies of non-Catholics: for the union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it, for in the past they have unhappily left it.(1928 A.D.)

Vale Amicus... till next time 

just when you thought this blog could not get any worse

Dear Reader/Viewer


NOSTALGIA

Above is a link to respectable science channel V sauce trying to explain nostalgia....

His Holiness P.E.( Just not the same as P.M.) Benedict XVI noted that many people that are for the Traditional Latin Mass (from here on out; TLM) are Nostalgic. He continued saying something like 'that may be... but how does one explain the crowds of Young people in attendance?' HMMM???? B)

Vale Amicus, till next time... 

iugum enim meum suave est et onus meum leve est

Dear Reader,

A rather generous except from Fr. Z's Blog WDTPRS (What Does The Prayer Really Say.)

Very good points for reflection. I am sure that many read his blog if you have seen mine.

This is something I am taking to adoration in my heart tonight!

"In the 1980’s we seminarians were informed with a superior sneer that, “Jesus said ‘Take and eat, not sit and look!’” Somehow, “looking” was opposed to “receiving”, “doing”. This same error is at the root of false propositions about “active participation”: if people aren’t constantly singing or carrying stuff they are “passive”. Younger people no longer have that baggage, happily. They desire the all good things of our Catholic patrimony. They want as much as Holy Church can give. They resist passé attempts to make Jesus “smaller”. After the Second Vatican Council, many liturgists (all but a few?) asserted that, because modern man is all grown up now, Eucharistic devotions are actually harmful rather than helpful. We mustn’t crawl in submission before God anymore. We won’t grovel in archaic triumphal processions or kneel as if before some king. We are urbane adults, not child-like peasants below a father or feudal master. Westand and take rather than kneel and receive. How this lie has damaged our Catholic identity! Some details of society have changed like shifting sandbars, but man doesn’t change. God remains transcendent. We poor, fallen human beings need concrete things through which we can perceive invisible realities. The bad old days of post-Conciliar denigration of wholesome devotional practices may linger, but the aging-hippie priests and liberal liturgists have lost most of their ground under the two-fold pincer of common sense and the genuine Catholic love people have for Jesus in the Eucharist. The customs of Corpus Christi processions, Forty Hours Devotion, and Eucharistic Adoration are returning in force. People want and need these devotions. They help us to be better Catholic Christians through contact with Christ and through giving public witness to our faith. The iugum (whence iugiter) was a symbol for defeat and slavery. A victorious Roman general compelled the vanquished to pass under a yoke (sub iugum, “subjugate”) made of spears. Prisoners were later yoked together and paraded in the returning general’s triumph procession. In worldly terms, crosses and yokes are instruments of bitter humiliation. Jesus says His yoke is “sweet” and “light”. Christ invites us to learn His ways through the image of His yoke upon our shoulders (Matthew 11:29-30). True freedom lies precisely in subjugation to Him. His yokes are sweet yokes. He did not defeat us to give us His yoke. He defeated death in us to raise us by His yoke. In honoring the Blessed Sacrament we proclaim with the Triumphant Victor Christ, “O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?” (cf 1 Cor 15:54b – 57). Proponents of true “liberation theology” take Christ the Liberator into the public square. In the sight of onlookers, we march in His honor, profess His gift of salvation, and kneel before Him. We cannot honor enough this pledge of our future happiness in heaven, the Body and Precious Blood of Christ. I affirm my subjugation to Christ, Victor over death, hell and my sins. Before the Eucharist, Jesus my God and King, I am content to kneel until with His own hand He raises me."

Vale Amicus, till next time...

btw the text went mental.... sorry about that!

Nigra Dicunda, Rubra Faiciunda.

Dear Reader,

Fantastic article, short and to the point..... please do check it out!!!!

http://te-igitur.blogspot.it/2013/06/why-we-need-rubrics.html





Vale Amicus, till next time....