A Treasure To Be Shared

... you rarely (if ever) hear the following phrases. "Party like it's A.D. 1570!" "We should sing more plainchant at this parish." "I'd like to thank the choir for their sublime rendition of the Mass For Five Voices by William Byrd." "I just love the way the four torchbearers process in with such dignity." "People treat the Host like a snack. I think it's time we went back to communion on the tongue." "My entire family goes to Confession every week." "We need a central Tabernacle on the altar." "The altar servers' lace cottas are so beautiful." "I just love Father Steve's sermons about the Real Presence and living a Eucharistic life." "People are leaving in droves for Saint Pius X Parish and the reverent Mass there. Do you think we're doing something wrong here at Harvey Milk Parish?" "I'm thrilled that the design for the new church includes a choir loft....

[12 minute read] The liturgy is the action of Jesus Christ. How, then, can it be anything other than the answer to our divisions and also the most fundamental source of the renewal of the Church? - Pope Benedict XVI Catholics of the Latin Rite have for decades endured something of a slurry of strange practices - liturgical experiments and gooey devotions - to a degree that many parishes appear to trap people in superficial religion. The most unsettling symptom of a pseudo-faith is that the very source and summit of the life of the Church, the Holy Eucharist, Jesus Himself present among us, is treated with casual indifference, like a snack or mere treat. While there are pockets of zealous disciples in Europe and the Americas, the mission to bring the Faith to the heart of every society and culture has been significantly inhibited by an abundance of timid witnesses who lack a clear identity, a Eucharistic identity in Christ. Catholic politicians, a rather obvious cohort manifesting the ...

Voracious: patron of those with an appetite for in-flight papal news conferences Turpitude and Indecency: patron saints of Hollywood celebrities Duplicitous: patron of unholy synods and certain Jesuits Conspicuous: patron of liturgical dancers and virtue signallers Gaiety: patron of those who take all the fun out of words that were once perfectly acceptable in common parlance Taciturn: patron of those we wish would keep silent Banality and Treacherous: patrons of parish liturgical committees Tepid: patron of politicians Triviality: patron of catechists Hostility and Contentious: patrons of certain usus antiquior Mass enthusiasts Malaprop: patron of theologians spouting half-baked ideas Nutella and Malaria: patrons of advocates for equally disgusting things Bumfuzzle: see Malaprop Finicky: patron of annoyingly fussy types Debauchery: patron of certain prelates

[ 5 minutes ] For those of you new to the Ordinariate Mass, and those who have yet to encounter the profound beauty and goodness of said form of the Sacred Liturgy, it may come as a surprise that Divine Worship is a fairly recent addition to the Catholic family of liturgical rites given its inclusion of a vibrant ancient ritual gestural language (e.g., varied bows, genuflections, multiple Signs of the Cross, processions) and a frequent use of plainchant, among other venerable delights. Divine Worship: the Missal, promulgated on November 29, 2015, has been centuries in the making. The offspring of the Sarum Use, the Book of Common Prayer, the English Missal, and the Book of Divine Worship, the Missal is a liturgical tour de force. A regular feaster at the many fine liturgical websites, blogs and Catholic news sites will have heard that many Catholics - especially the more progressive liturgists in the Church - seem to have slept through the action of the Holy Ghost in recent times. The ...

[ 5 minute read ] CCC975 We believe that the Holy Mother of God, the new Eve, Mother of the Church, continues in heaven to exercise her maternal role on behalf of the members of Christ. Pope Saint Paul VI, CPG § 15 Errant Catholic clergy are nothing new. Errant worldly Catholic laity? Same. There is no shortage of both. Some eras seem saturated with wicked people in the Church. Who's judging? History. Repentant sinners trying to do their best to change? That's one thing; a good thing. Obstinate sinners? Let's call them out and pull the plug on bad behaviour and end the free reign of the heterodox. The Prophet Ezekiel reminds us: (T)he word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked man shal...

To walk together as disciples of Jesus is to walk first with Jesus Christ. In the Gospel, in John 14:6, we find the confirmation of Jesus: "I am the way, the truth and the life...". Then, in Acts 9:2, Saul uses the term "the path" in reference to following the Lord and His Gospel. So to follow Jesus, to be and live as Christians, means that we finally live as "congregants" and this already happens from the moment of our baptism. We all walk as the Church of Christ on a journey that we do together as Christians of course, but the question that should be asked from the beginning is this: "Journey with whom?" The word "synod" comes directly from the Greek meaning "to walk with...". However, what is important and the most fundamental (aspect), I would say, that must be clarified immediately in order not to skew our reflection on synodality, is the meaning and the real object of the Greek preposition "plus" (συν). It does...

[ 3 minute read ] Every single human life is precious, loved, and planned by God from the moment of conception until natural death. Sadly, though, this profound understanding is lost on many people. In this increasingly narcissistic, self-fulfilling society, the concept of dying to self, having sacrificial love, and following God’s design has become a foreign concept. - Kathy Athearn Heaven is right beside and all around the demonic spirits, and yet they cannot enter into it. They have displaced themselves as the result of an irrevocable choice, the choice to adore and serve themselves and not God. They yearn for and hate what they can never again have - the eternal freedom of everlasting love. They have corrupted love into self worship. They cannot and will not serve anything nor anyone other than themselves. Theirs is a cautionary tale. They have communion only with their hatred toward man and their enmity toward God Whom they reject because of His love for man. The love of God is on...