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Gaudium Traditionis: Crisis, Identity, Confidence

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The joy of Tradition is an integral part of the Catholic faith. The Second Council of Nicaea emphasizes the importance of holding fast to the traditions received from the apostles and the holy Fathers. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that Tradition is the handing on of what the apostles received from Jesus' teaching and example, as well as what they learned from the Holy Spirit. It further distinguishes between the Tradition of faith and the various theological, disciplinary, liturgical, or devotional traditions that have developed over time. The tradition of Christian prayer is a significant aspect of the joy of Tradition. Through the contemplation and study of believers, who treasure in their hearts the events and words of the economy of salvation, the Tradition of faith takes shape and grows.  The festive character of the Sunday Eucharist expresses the joy that Christ communicates to his Church through the gift of the Spirit. Tradition is not a stagnant museum but

Biden The Uncivilized

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Uncle Joe by Gilbert A president who...  during a state-of-the-union address, no less, decries a national court for its correction of a previous court's egregious decision that violated the dignity of life and which has led to tens of millions of deaths of unborn children; creates a mess of a national border and contributes to the ills of society by allowing innumerable ne'er-do-wells to enter a country to assault and rape young women; enables violent immigrants to go on murderous rampages that fracture families and impose misery on communities; enables lazy non-citizens to abuse social programs while homeless citizens starve in the street; is incompetent in ways that undermine order and good government; is condescending and hostile toward those who hold traditional commonsensical values; is a habitual liar and routinely pays mere lip service to issues of justice; has ruined a national economy; ... might well be called a son of perdition. Such a man can hardly be called a faith

Liturgical Committees. Why?

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The Sacred Liturgy is accompanied by necessary rules born of centuries of prayerful consideration of the necessary ritual actions, the practical and spiritual attributes, of the Mass. Those rules include prescriptions in aid of beautiful reverent service, acknowledgement of legitimate variations in custom, and directions that preserve the validity of a Mass. Those who are familiar with the older form of the Mass, i.e., the Mass conducted according to the 1962 Missal, habitually think in terms of consulting reliable guides ( The Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described by Fortescue ; Book of Ceremonies  by O'Connell) in order to effectively operate the liturgical machinery. Prior to mastery, anything less than a regular investigation and implementation of liturgical principles would be irresponsible. The Lord deserves our best efforts, and the people deserve to 'see' the Lord without the distractions of shabby attitudes that manifest as strange and awkward behaviours. Minds el

Father Bux calls out "a shameless falsification".

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Fr. Nicola Bux, former consulter to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, weighs in on the Fiducia fiasco and the incremental attempts to insert confused teaching into the Church. Readers should take note of the clarity of Father Bux's challenge. Such precision and faithfulness to Tradition is an example that all Catholic clergy should practice. All clergy - from priests to popes. - - - Excerpt from: http://www.ilpensierocattolico.it/new/nicola-bux-non-esistono-benedizioni-non-liturgiche/ Infine, conviene affermare che la benedizione, in ebraico berakah , quale atto spirituale e sacro, fa memoria, loda la presenza di Dio e intercede, affinché la sua potenza discenda sulla persona o sull’oggetto e li santifichi; presenza e discesa possono essere ricondotte rispettivamente a Cristo e allo Spirito Santo: come, nei sacramenti, l’anamnesi e l’epiclesi. La benedizione nutre ed esprime la fede, attraverso il segno di croce e l’aspersione dell’acqua benedetta. La benedizione è un sa

Giving Up Pseudo-liturgical Habits of Mind And Body

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It's not about what we do in the liturgy; it's about what God does in and through the Mass. 'It' being God's invitation to communion with Him. The last six decades or thereabouts has seen a massive induction of egotism into the liturgical hall of fame, the realm of the sacred that we call the Mass. Fame, i.e., the glory and honour due to God in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is the source and summit of the Christian life. (SC #10; CCC 1324). The surreptitious and at times not-so subtle actions of liturgical revolutionaries, having no foundation for their distortion of the ars celebrandi , have so successfully created a stench of strange and corrosive liturgical practices that are so foreign to authentic worship that we find ourselves as Catholics often beating our heads against a tower of human ignorance and vapid conditions entrenched in parishes and parochial schools. The task of reorientation seems almost impossible given the pandemic of lukewarm faith amo
The opinions expressed herein are largely those of the blog author. Every effort is made to conform to Church teaching. Comments are welcome.