A Treasure To Be Shared

Simnel Cake | BBC image - from the NEWS Notes of SJHN Victoria, BC Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God: that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of thy grace, may mercifully be relieved; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. - Collect for Mothering Sunday, Divine Worship: The Missal. Mothering Sunday falls every year on the Fourth Sunday in Lent, also called Mid-Lent Sunday or Refreshment Sunday, referring to its sense of respite halfway through this season of fasting and penitence. Medieval traditions surrounding this Sunday ranged from the practice of daughters visiting their mothers – especially important for those engaged as domestic servants away from home – to the gifts of simnel cakes or wafer cakes. These various customs came from the medieval recognition of this day as ‘Lætare Sunday’. In the Middle Ages, many Sundays were refe...

Say 'no' to communion in the hand... to say 'yes' to the profound adoration of God by receiving the Holy Eucharist on the tongue. I mention, for example, a change not proposed by the Council Fathers or by the Sacrosanctum Concilium, Holy Communion received in the hand. This has contributed to some extent to a weakening of faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. This, and the removal of altar rails and kneelers in church and the introduction of practices which oblige the faithful to sit or stand at the elevation of the Sacred Host, weakens the genuine significance of the Eucharist and the Church’s profound sense of adoration for the Lord, the Only Son of God. Albert Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith (November, 2007) | Behind communion-in-the-hand – I wish to repeat and make as plain as I can – is a weakening, a conscious, a deliberate weakening of faith in the Real Presence.  Father John Hardon, S.J., November, 1997 |  One receives in the mouth what one believes ...

A series of excerpts from articles on hieratic sacral English. hieratic (adj.) "pertaining to sacred things," 1660s, from Latin hieraticus , from Greek hieratikos "pertaining to a priest or his office, priestly, devoted to sacred purposes," from hierateia "priesthood," from hiereus "priest," from hieros "sacred, holy, hallowed; superhuman, mighty; divine". "Sacred English" is a variation of English that was developed especially for use in religious settings. Remember the language from the King James and Douay-Rheims Bibles and previous versions of the Book of Common Prayer. It is not necessary to constantly remind the reader who is speaking to whom when using sacral English. Every sentence in the language does this. Both ancient and contemporary languages are used for this. Unfortunately, common English is not one of them. This is the reason it is called "Sacral English": religious writings and prayers, particularly ...

The Dispute of Saint Catherine of Alexandria  | Francisco Ribalta People perceive the world through various lenses. It may be a lens of their choosing, or perhaps a lens that has chosen them. In the latter case, individuals might be navigating life by adopting a lens that offers the least resistance or the simplest path they've discovered, without explicitly acknowledging its existence. Of the former, the lens may be trained or focused in a way that constrains understanding into a narrow ideological perspective that creates blind spots, or the lens—being a true lens that does not filter the information—may open the viewer to a much wider and more honest view of reality. When viewed through a foggy lens, Human sexuality appears fluid and chaotic. The mind is ruled by the senses and seduced into submission to the material. The mind becomes addicted to solutions of a mechanical and materialistic kind and, ironically, the person becomes addicted to self medicating himself. When one ...

O BLESSED Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our most gentle Queen and Mother, look down in mercy upon us, our families, our Parish and Ordinariate, and upon all who greatly hope and trust in thy prayers, as we implore thine aid and intercession in this Jubilee year. By thee it was that Jesus, our Savior and hope, was given to the world; and he has given thee to us that we may hope still more. O gracious Mother, plead for us thy children, whom thou didst receive and accept at the foot of the Cross when thou received the Beloved Disciple into thine embrace. Intercede too for our separated brethren, that with us in the one true fold they may be united to the Chief Shepherd, the Vicar of thy Son. Pray for us all, dear Mother, that our hearts may be filled with holy hope, and that we may never fail to trust in God our Saviour, but by walking in the way of His commandments we may merit to be united with Him, and with thee in the eternal charity of Heaven.  Amen. Our Lady of Walsingham, pray...

A PENITENTIAL OFFICE for the BLESSING of ASHES that precedes Divine Worship, the Venerable English Mass of the Ordinariate. EXADUI NOS Psalm 69.17, 1 HEAR me, O Lord, for thy loving-kindness is comfortable: turn thee unto me according to the multitude of thy mercies. Ps. Save me, O God, for the waters are come in even unto my soul. (Bow) Glory be… (Upright) As it was...   Hear me… The Celebrant now turns to the people and says: BRETHREN, it has been the custom in the Church from ancient times to observe with great devotion the days of our Lord’s Passion and Resurrection, and to prepare for the same by a season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided also a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for holy Baptism. It was also a time when such persons as had, by reason of notorious sins, been separated from the body of the faithful, were reconciled and restored to the fellowship of the Church by penitence and forgiveness. Thereby the whole Church was...