A Treasure To Be Shared

Rembrandt: Adoration of the Shepherds Christmas is the celebration of the Nativity of the Lord. Every Mass announces and "enfleshes" the mystery of the Incarnation, Birth and the manifestation (Epiphany) of the Lord. In the Presence of the Saviour, we become like the shepherds, bowing and kneeling in the presence of the Word-Made-Flesh, the Saviour sent to redeem us. Because, in every Mass, we enter into eternity with the Lord, we are also present to the entire reality of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And (Jesus) said to them, “O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Divine Worship, the Mass, begins with a Bethlehem - the Gloria , the angelic chorus heralding the Nativity of the Lord - and continue...

www.canons-regular.org More accurately, On December 23rd, the Feast of St. John Cantius, the documents and Constitutions of the first General Chapter of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius were signed and approved by Cardinal Blase Cupich. https://www.canons-regular.org/post/cardinal-cupich-approves-constitutions-of-the-canons-regular-of-st-john-cantius Since their founding over 20 years ago, the Canons Regular have grown to 21 members in three houses in the midwest, staffing St. John Cantius parish in Chicago, St. Peter Parish in Volo, and two parishes in the diocese of Springfield, Illinois. Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I., Archbishop of Chicago stated in 2003, “Here are the beginnings of an order, founded to make available to the people of God, the heritage and gifts of the universal Church in all their forms and all their splendor.” Note, too, that The mission of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius is the Restoration of the Sacred in the Church and in their ...

Vaughan Williams c. 1920 Photo: E. O. Hoppé, in  The Songs of Ralph Vaughan Williams by R. Bennett. [Wikipedia] At Denver Catholic:  https://denvercatholic.org/the-well-fought-fight/ The incorporation of Anglican hymnody into English-language Catholic worship is one of the great blessings of the past 50 years. And within that noble musical patrimony, Ralph Vaughan Williams surely holds pride of place among modern composers. And... Alas, like many other hymns, “For All the Saints” is an endangered species today, gutted by parish music directors and pastors who commit the grave sin of not singing a hymn in its entirety — or worse, who bowdlerize the lyrics to coddle the sensibilities of the Church of Nice. Such butchery is especially problematic with “For All the Saints,” which has a robustly martial character. Indeed, the entire text is a meditation on the struggles, and ultimate joys, of spiritual warfare: that “well-fought fight,” undertaken beneath the captaincy ...

KCC site https://nationalpost.com/opinion/raymond-de-souza-even-war-could-not-forestall-this-annual-christmas-gift-to-the-world Raymond de Souza: Even war could not forestall this annual Christmas gift to the world Broadcast on the BBC, 100 million people around the world listen to King's College's Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols Which reads in part: On Christmas Eve in Cambridge, the choir of King’s College leads the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. The magnificence of the chapel itself, the setting for the finest of the English choral tradition of sacred music, makes the annual service one of the great cultural achievements of Christian Europe. Christmas Eve at King’s holds a high place in the cultural patrimony of the entire English-speaking peoples. https://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/choir

Santa's flight is captured each year, in detail, by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD. Santa was recently seen over Africa. Explanatory text and images accompany Santa's annual epic trip. Witness the informative journey in real time:  https://www.noradsanta.org/

US Catholic Advent yields to Christmas. It's still a little early - only a little early - to plunge into the topic of Christmas. The Nativity is, of course, our destination, and it  is  fast approaching. Called out of every nation, we are gathering toward Bethlehem, called to a census not as Quirinius at the decree of Emperor Augustus provoked, but as the Lamb convokes, to wake us to God's love for us. 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. The approach to the Nativity of Our Lord quickens. The wait diminishes; our gait increases.  Hosanna in excelsis!  Perhaps those words, the words of the angels heralding the arrival of the Lord, the Hosanna of the  Gloria  of the Mass, will be sung or said with greater zeal at the return of the Gloria in the Liturgy during the Christmas s...

Gustav Dore: depiction of Cocytus (Ninth Circle of Hell), Inferno (Dante) Canto XXXIV lines 20 & 21. Beware, ye, the train man consumed by envy and pride; his blog be home to half-truths and charity denied. The train man's daily rant: a dull pugnacious diction; his diary a fecal and odious fiction. His blog blurs facts with lies: a virtual pit of hell, the coldness of Judecca; treach'ry therein doth dwell. If a reader be sane, that toilet he should avoid, a john so filled with malice, as goodwill there's destroyed.

Legnica Miracle/NCRegister In our efforts to faithfully comply with the mission of Christ to unify Christians in the truth, let us be mindful of a recent Catholic Herald article wherein a former chaplain to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Dr. Gavin Ashenden, converting to Catholicism this Advent4, said (...) he was helped in his conversion by taking up the Rosary and by looking into Eucharistic miracles. “The fact that [the miracles] were unknown amongst those who celebrated the Anglican version of the Eucharist, carries obvious implications(.)” Testimonies bearing the mark of genuine conviction in the manifestation of God can help us refine our understanding of authentic mission in order to develop the means by which we, for the sake of souls, may better serve the will of God to engage and invite our fellow human beings to embrace God's loving offer of a new and hope-filled life. Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. (Genesis 28:16) Take note of ...

Ashenden/Anglican Ink https://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2019/12/17/former-queens-chaplain-to-become-catholic/ https://anglicanorumcoetibussociety.blog/2019/12/17/gavin-ashenden-explains-why-he-is-becoming-catholic-this-sunday/ (Ashenden) said he was helped in his conversion by taking up the Rosary and by looking into Eucharistic miracles. “The fact that [the miracles] were unknown amongst those who celebrated the Anglican version of the Eucharist, carries obvious implications,” he wrote. After failing to find a way to unite orthodox Anglicans into one ecclesial grouping, Ashenden also came to appreciate the Magisterium of the Catholic Church: “I came to realise (too long after both Newman and Chesterton had already explained why) that only the Catholic Church, with the weight of the Magisterium, had the ecclesial integrity, theological maturity and spiritual potency to defend the Faith, renew society and save souls in the fullness of faith.” Ashenden will be re...

The Healey Willan Society https://www.healeywillansociety.com/ The Canadian Music Centre https://www.musiccentre.ca/node/4331 In June, 2011, Mary Willan Mason, the daughter of Healey Willan, assigned the responsibility of continuing the musical legacy of Healey Willan to the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius in Chicago, Illinois, USA, by legally entrusting his musical estate to the Canons with Fr. Scott Haynes, SJC, as Trustee of the Estate. While Maestro Willan’s music is known and loved by church choirs, organists and instrumental ensembles, much of his music is no longer in print or has never been published. After Johann Sebastian Bach, Healey Willan is the most prolific composer of church music.    O Sapientia (completed 10 August 1957)     O Adonai (10 August 1957)    O Radix Jesse (12 August 1957)    O Clavis David (13 August 1957)    O Oriens (13 August 1957)    O Rex Gentium (15 August 1...

Deborah Mullan (2014) As the season of gift giving approaches, gifts which should remind us of the preeminent Gift of the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, let us recall, too, the gift of the Ordinariate and its form of the Mass, Divine Worship, wherein daily we encounter the same Christ Jesus, Who gives Himself to us in the Holy Eucharist for our salvation. https://d2y1pz2y630308.cloudfront.net/3059/documents/2016/3/2015_Di_Noia_Antiphon.pdf With the publication of Anglicanorum Coetibus , there is now a structure within the Catholic Church that both gives that English tradition concrete expression as well as fosters is growth. The Ordinariate, with its “catholicized” English liturgical patrimony, is being invited to be a guardian and promoter of its own long and varied tradition as a gift to be shared with the whole Church. The institutional importance of Divine Worship for the Ordinariates is...

Journal Pioneer https://www.catholicregister.org/item/30821-kenney-revives-alberta-prayer-breakfast EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is reviving the tradition of a provincial Christian prayer breakfast, calling it one sign of respect for religious freedom in a diverse society. “This prayer gathering today is not a threat to pluralism. It is pluralism in action,” Kenney told the nearly 700 legislature members, pastors and other guests on Nov. 25 at the Edmonton Expo Centre. “An authentic pluralism is one that truly respects the beliefs of our fellow citizens and recognizes that for millions of Albertans their beliefs are informed and rooted in religious traditions,” he said. The event was the first of its kind in five years. Reaction exploded on social media, with many criticizing it as an attack on separation of church and state and an example of religion interfering with political affairs. “Much of that criticism seems to focus on this being a Chri...

The Ordinariate Dialect In Approximate Form Ecclesiastical Parlance 101 Amen : ah-men; ay-men; ay-may-yen (Texas) Buried : beh-ree-ed or bare-reed or beh-reed Ciborium : chih-bo-rih-um; sih-bo-rih-um Chasuble : chaz-yoo-bull (Mancunian); chazabull. Cope : rhymes with soap; koe-uph (Southern USA) Father : faw-thuh (Mancunian) He suffered and was buried (Creed): He suf-fer-ed and was bay-ree-ed Oratory : oh-ra-toe-ree; ora-tree (UK) Patrimony : peh-trih-muh-nee; pat-chrih-moh-nee Righteous : rye-tyuss; rye-tee-uss; rye-chuss Righteousness : rye-tyuss-nuss; rye-tee-uss-nuss; rye-chuss-ness Saith : seth; say-yith (Texas) Scripture : skrip-chur; skrip-tyoor Shouldest : shoudst or should-est Surplice : cotta Trespasses (Lord's Prayer): tress-passes (NA); tress-p'ssez/puh-sez (dotted or triplet rhythm: UK) Venite : veh-NIGH-tee Wrath (Penitential Rite): rawth (definitely not rath , as in bath ) And... for a little extra flavour: Ben Crystal -...

Saint Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologiae QUESTION 37 The Person of the Holy Spirit: The Name ‘Love’ Next we have to consider the name ‘Love’ ( amor ). On this topic there are two questions: (1) Is ‘Love’ a proper name of the Holy Spirit? (2) Do the Father and the Son love one another by the Holy Spirit? Article 1 Is ‘Love’ a proper name of the Holy Spirit? It seems that ‘Love’ ( amor ) is not a proper name of the Holy Spirit: Objection 3: Love is a bond between lovers, since according to Dionysius in De Divinis Nominibus , chap. 4, it ("love) is a certain unitive force("). But a bond lies between the things that it connects and is not something that proceeds from them. Therefore, since, as has been shown (q. 36, a. 2), the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, it seems that He is not the Love, i.e., the bond, between the Father and the Son. Reply to Objection 3: The Holy Spirit is said to be the bond between the Father and the Son ...

SJHN Website Photo From the SJHN website:  http://www.victoriaordinariate.com/music.html 8 December (ADVENT II) Plainsong Mass (Kyrie, Sanctus-Benedictus & Agnus Dei) Missa Simplicior (Credo) (Merbecke) Offertory Motet: Alma Redemptoris Mater (Palestrina) Communion Motet: Jerusalem surge (Martini) During Communion: The Advent Prose Opening: The Advent of our King (St Thomas, BCP 59) Offertory: Hills of the North, rejoice (Little Cornard, BCP 282) Final: ‘Thy kingdom come’ – on bended knee (Irish, BCP 73) 15 December (GAUDETE SUNDAY) Mass for Four Voices (Kyrie, Sanctus-Benedictus & Agnus Dei) (Byrd) Missa Simplicior (Credo) (Merbecke) Offertory Motet: Lord, we beseech thee (Batten) Communion Motet: Rejoice in the Lord alway (Anon) During Communion: The Advent Prose Opening: Rejoice, the Lord is King (Gopsal, BCP 392) Offertory: Hail to the Lord’s Anointed (Crüger, BCP 396) Final: On Jordan’s bank, the Baptist’s cry (Winchester New, BCP 67) 22 Decem...

At the ACS site, Mr. Simon Dennerly writes: https://anglicanorumcoetibussociety.blog/2019/12/03/an-ordinariate-oratory/#more-9621 While the Personal Ordinariates have been recently celebrating the canonisation of St John Henry Newman, including his work of establishing the first Oratory of St Phillip Neri in Britain, I wonder whether anyone has thought of establishing an Ordinariate Oratory?  While doing research I discovered that in order to establish an Oratory a minimum of four men is all that is needed: two ordained and two either seminarians or Lay-Brothers. I believe this is more than possible in any Personal Ordinariate. Read more at the link above.