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Showing posts from March, 2022

A Brief Meditation on the beginning of The Offertory Form One of Divine Worship: Part I

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Divine Worship: The Offertory (Form I) Standing at the altar, the Priest takes the paten with the bread and holds it slightly raised above the altar with both hands, saying in a low voice: Receive, O holy Father, almighty and everlasting God, this spotless host, which I, thine unworthy servant, now offer unto thee, my living and true God, for my numberless sins, offences, and negligences; for all here present; as also for the faithful in Christ, both the quick and the dead, that it may avail for their salvation and mine, unto life everlasting. Amen. Commentary The priest-celebrant rightly acknowledges the sovereignty of God and immediately acknowledges his own unworthiness. Spoken in a low voice, this prayer ensures the priest-celebrant is not putting on airs to impress anyone, for no one but God, and perhaps the MC or a deacon, may hear the words spoken sotto voce. The priest-celebrant is not reminding God of anything God does not already know, namely our utter dependence upon Him for

"A dictatorship of the worst kind."

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A Dictatorship of Relativism Every day new sects are born and we see realized what St. Paul says on the deception of men, on the cunning that tends to lead into error (cf. Ephesians 4:14). To have a clear faith according to the creed of the Church, is often labelled as fundamentalism. While relativism, that is, allowing oneself to be carried about with every wind of “doctrine”, seems to be the only attitude that is fashionable. A dictatorship of relativism is being constituted that recognizes nothing as absolute and which only leaves the “I” and its whims as the ultimate measure’ … - Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, from George Cardinal Pell's  The Dictatorship of Relativism: Address to the National Press Club ; Canberra , 2005. Also: https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/dictatorship-of-relativism.html Word gets around. For Canadians who acknowledge Prime Minister Trudeau's actions toward peaceful protestors as draconian, as a massive over reaction and

How Blest We Are. Of Penitence, Fellowship and Friendship.

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Mothering Sunday | Refreshment Sunday | Laetare Sunday Laetare Jerusalem et conventum facite omnes qui diligitis eam; gaudete cum laetitia, qui in tristitia fuistis, ut exsultetis et satiemini ab uberibus consolationis vestrae. Rejoice ye with Jerusalem; and be ye glad for her, all ye that delight in her: exult and sing for joy with her, all ye that in sadness mourn for her; that ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations. Psalm: I was glad when they said unto me, We will go into the house of the Lord. We in the Ordinariate know well the many blessings we receive from God. First and foremost, Divine Worship, the Mass of the Ordinariate is, without exaggeration, magnificent! Every Mass, be it Said, Solemn or Solemn High, is a fitting testimony to the glory and mercy of God Who, through human agents, has extended the life of the Anglican Patrimony and brought its flesh and blood into harmony with Holy Mother Church. Not much of anything at all needs to be preached

Praedicate evangelium. Preach the Gospel. The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

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photo: Bohumil Petrik/CNA. / Vatican Media A translation of a section of the Holy Father's latest document, the missionary-minded apostolic constitution Praedicate evangelium (Preach the Gospel), that reforms the Roman Curia, published and promulgated on 19MARCH2022. Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments Dicastero per il Culto Divino e la Disciplina dei Sacramenti Art. 88 The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments promotes the sacred liturgy according to the renewal undertaken by the Second Vatican Council. The spheres of its competence concern everything that by law is the responsibility of the Apostolic See regarding the regulation and promotion of the sacred liturgy and the vigilance that the laws of the Church and liturgical norms are faithfully observed everywhere . Art. 89 § 1. It is the duty of the Dicastery to arrange for the drafting or revision and updating of the typical editions of liturgical books. § 2. The D

Reverence

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reverence (n.) late 13c., "honor, respect, deference (shown to someone), esteem heightened by awe," also of places or holy objects, from Old French reverence "respect, awe" and directly from Latin reverentia "awe, respect," from revereri "to stand in awe of, respect, honor, fear, be afraid of; revere," from re -, here perhaps an intensive prefix (see re -), + vereri "stand in awe of, fear, respect" (from PIE root * wer - (3) "perceive, watch out for"). Daniel Carr at Crisis Magazine identifies characteristics and patterns of irreverence: Many who do attend Mass do so with little reverence. Often the Mass is presented as theater and not a “sacrificial rite.” The musical legacy of the ’70s is uninspiring. Tee shirts, jeans, sneakers, and flip-flops are ubiquitous. Almost universal reception of Communion is the norm even though a 2011 Guttmacher report found that 87 percent of Catholics use artificial birth control, a mortal sin

A Meditation on The General Confession in the Penitential Rite of Divine Worship

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The following meditation was prepared for our Ordinariate  community's online News Notes for the Second Sunday of Lent. A Meditation on The General Confession in the Penitential Rite of Divine Worship ALMIGHTY God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, maker of all things, judge of all men: God is all-knowing, all-seeing. We acknowledge His sovereignty over our lives. He is Lord; He is loving Father. He knows the full content and orientation of our hearts. What might cause us to recoil in horror - and so we should when confronted with our sins - is trumped by God's mercy. God does not lie to us about the condition of our souls. He wants us to be truly free so that we may love truly. A proper and detailed examination of conscience (e.g., made in the pew facing the Blessed Sacrament) invites God the Holy Spirit to help us see clearly those areas of our life that contradict the will of God (St. John 8:32). We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we from

Blaise-ing Beyond The Boundaries of Banality

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Small minds are concerned with the extraordinary, great minds with the ordinary. Unless we love the truth we cannot know it. Nothing is as approved as mediocrity, the majority has established it and it fixes its fangs on whatever gets beyond it either way. We are only falsehood, duplicity, contradiction; we both conceal and disguise ourselves from ourselves. We never do evil so effectually as when we are led to do it by a false principle of conscience. Nothing is more dastardly than to act with bravado toward God. God only pours out his light into the mind after having subdued the rebellion of the will by an altogether heavenly gentleness which charms and wins it. Christian piety annihilates the egoism of the heart; worldly politeness veils and represses it. The power of a man's virtue should not be measured by his special efforts, but by his ordinary doing. God instituted prayer to communicate to creatures the dignity of causality. Man is nothing but insincerity, falsehood, and hy

Quote Time Again

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Your boos mean nothing. I've seen what makes you cheer. - Rick Sanchez - Every breath I take without your permission raises my self esteem. - Rick Sanchez - What then is to be valued? The clapping of hands? No. Nor should we value the clapping of tongues, for that is the praise of the masses. - Marcus Aurelius - HAMLET: Let me question more in particular, my good friends, what you have done to deserve such fortune, that she sends you to prison hither? GUILDENSTERN: Prison, my lord? HAMLET: Denmark’s a prison. ROSENCRANTZ: Then the world is one. HAMLET: A goodly one; in which there are many confines, wards, and dungeons, Denmark being one o’ the worst. ROSENCRANTZ: We don’t think so, my lord. HAMLET: Why, then ’tis none to you; for there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. To me it is a prison. - Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church is often labeled today as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and swept along b

Pray for Ukraine. Please donate to the Aid for Ukraine.

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http://nweparchy.ca/help-the-people-of-ukraine-to-survive-the-war-donate-here/ Please donate to the “AID FOR UKRAINE”. All donations will be directed to regional organizations in Ukraine, who support all people in need including refugees fleeing their homes to other parts of Ukraine. The funds will be forwarded to Caritas Ukraine, a charitable organization with over 20 offices in Ukraine. https://www.caritas.org/where-caritas-work/europe/ukraine/ They supply aid by accessing and delivering food, shelter, medical supplies and providing spiritual and psychological support for those in need. A generous family has pledged to match all donations in support of humanitarian aid in Ukraine up to $500,000. Help us meet this goal. Make cheques payable to ‘Eparchy of New Westminster’ with memo ‘Aid for Ukraine’ mailed to 502-5th Avenue, New Westminster, BC V3L 1S2. Tax receipts will be issued. Another way to donate to Caritas Ukraine is through CNEWA Canada. https://cnewa.org/campaigns/ukraine/ P

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you... .

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Dulle Griet (1563 | Bruegel H/T Fr. Z If— by Rudyard Kipling (‘Brother Square-Toes’—Rewards and Fairies) If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a
The opinions expressed herein are largely those of the blog author. Every effort is made to conform to Church teaching. Comments are welcome.