A Treasure To Be Shared

One could argue that no matter its mode or quality of celebration, the Mass is the most important event on Earth every time it is celebrated. The Church qualifies this understanding of the Mass by noting that there can be instances when a Mass is invalid due a defect of form and/or matter. Say for instance, if a gluten-free host is used. For the Sacrament to be valid, hosts must be wheaten and must therefore contain gluten, even if the amount of gluten is low. Another reason the Mass could be invalid is because the priest deliberately substitutes words not approved for use during the Consecration. If the priest intentionally leaves out a key phrase such as "This is my Body" or adds a corruption such as "This is just a symbol of my body," it is difficult to imagine how anyone could justify the changes and contend that the liturgy is valid. Catholics who are themselves properly disposed to receive the Holy Eucharist are entitled to the worthy celebration of the Sacr...

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You may have heard that Pope Francis has repeatedly drawn people's attention to the Five Wounds of Our Lord. H/T The Catholic Register VATICAN – Pope Francis seems to be fixated on the wounds of Christ. And he has suggested that other Catholics might want to be as well. —by Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service He has offered meditations on Jesus' pierced hands, feet and side throughout his pontificate, but since January, his references in impromptu speeches and homilies have been so frequent that it seems to be a major focus of his own prayer life. In his homily at morning Mass March 20, he shared the advice of a spiritual director: "Look. Look at the wounds. Enter into the wounds. By those wounds we were healed. Do you feel bitter, feel sad, feel life just isn't going the right way and you're also ill? Look there. In silence." Note the spiritual director's reference to Scripture: Isaiah 53:5 ; 1 Peter 2:24 . Did you know that t...

Divine Worship, Mount Calvary Church Janet Meyer at Catholic Stand reminds us about a proper orientation of the Sacred Liturgy. Meyer:  Music at Mass, as with everything else in worship, should point to God, not to the musicians. http://www.catholicstand.com/turned-away-from-beauty/ One emendation: we are supposed to present the music of  the Mass, not merely present music "at" Mass. There are prescribed texts, chants that necessarily should be represented in Catholic liturgical worship. Sadly, too many music ministers and priests miss that nuance. Until a proper literacy of the Mass is recovered, achieved, we will be stuck with slack impositions that obscure the character of a given Mass and which submit the Mass to the whim of (well intentioned?) individuals. That said, the Ordinariate Mass relies on its proponents to be well acquainted with the notion of proper chants and the prescribed texts of the Mass. If you are drawn to authenticity, then the Ordi...

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF BEAUTY IN THE LITURGY by Michael E. Lawrence Originally published March 29, 2008 at the NLM. http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2008/03/on-importance-of-beauty-in-liturgy.html#.WqnmayMrLpQ Conventional wisdom has it that beauty is skin deep. There is nothing substantial to it; beauty is all vanity. This little kernel perhaps sums up best a puritan attitude which disregards beauty in general, whether in the form of a person, in nature, or in the arts, which are often considered mere extravagance. This attitude, however, is not in keeping with the millenia-old Western tradition. The Greek philosophers waxed eloquent about beauty, and so have many Christian theologians. The Medievals said that beauty is comprised of unity, variety, and goodness of form. This is echoed in the traditional definition of art as “a thing well-made.” More than that, however, beauty was defined as that which “brought delight to the senses,” as St. Thomas Aquinas said. Sometim...

The Portal, the official magazine of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham (UK), has an article (click on image below) by Fr. Mark Woodruff on three liturgies of the Catholic Church: the Sacred Liturgy of the Latin Church (Ordinariate Mass/Divine Worship); the Byzantine Catholic (Divine Liturgy); and the Alexandrine Liturgy of the Ethiopian-Eritrean Rite (Qeddasse). Click on the link below to read the magazine. http://www.portalmag.co.uk/read-online.html

From the hands of Shauna, one of our parishioners, the Simnel Cake for Mothering Sunday , blessed at the beginning of Mass and consumed after Mass. Fr. Carl, who blessed and distributed daffodils, gave a homily celebrating the lovely patrimonial custom of blessing the cake and flowers on this particular Sunday. P.S.—For one who does not normally enjoy marzipan, the marzipan decorations were amazingly delicious! Indeed, the entire cake was outstanding!

Divine Worship: St. John's Ordinariate Parish, Calgary, AB. A reminder—on beauty and beautiful liturgy—from a Crisis Magazine article by John Paul Meenan entitled Restore Liturgical Beauty with Chant and Polyphony . https://www.crisismagazine.com/2018/restore-liturgical-beauty The Objectivity of Beauty To discern what makes a thing beautiful, Saint Thomas offers three criteria: First, there is proportionality, which means all of its parts must fit together, and be of an equitable size, shape and configuration so as to please. Second, there is integrity, that the being must lack none of its essential parts. Third, and most foundational, there is clarity, that the being must signify and shine forth what it really is, in accord with its form or species. Meenan adds: When we apply these criteria to Liturgy, we may conclude with liturgical scholars such as Josef Ratzinger, Uwe Lang and others, that the beauty of liturgy consists in expressing what...

The Dawn of Civilization Renewed Those of us living in the beautiful oasis of one of the personal ordinariates know well the fact of the increasing employ of the chapel veil among younger people, so-called millennials . In an age that claims the liberation of women, yet when so many women fall prey to new and unimaginably vicious attacks on womanhood, motherhood, virginity and chastity, a time during which women are marginalized by their supposed liberators , the Holy Spirit is quietly leading a revolution whereby women and men discover their dignity in Christ through signs such as the chapel veil, signs that remind us that our true identity is not found in empty slogans and ideological games played at the expense of innocent human life. The veil reminds us that women are holy, that woman's dignity is inalienable and not created by big business nor any political entity. Woman's dignity comes from God, for she is created in the image and likeness of God. Male and female...