Philadelphia Chapter

Silent Lenten Retreat

Passio Christi, Comforta Me
(Passion of Christ, Comfort Me)

When: Saturday, March 14, 2015

Where: Carmelite Monastery
Old York Road & 66th Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19126

Retreat Master: Rev. Harold McKale

Cost: $30.00 – includes continental breakfast & lunch
(limited to 85 people)

Time: 7:40 a.m. Registration – Check-in at side chapel
door
8:00 a.m. Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
3:30 p.m. Concluding Prayers

Registration: By Mail Only– Payment must accompany registration form
Deadline – Postmarked by March 7th

Questions: Debbie Treacy 215-659-7922 or dtreacy7@yahoo.com

Book Store: Cash or checks only

Please Note: Any items for the sisters must be ten into the chapel and dropped off at the
“turn” after Mass.

The utmost silence will be observed

The schedule of the day will include: The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, spiritual conferences, confession, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and rosary.
——————————————————————————————

Names________________________________________ Check box if this is your first time at Carmel
Address________________________________________________City______________________________State_______Zip________
Phone (___)_______________E-mail__________________________ Check box if this is a new email

Checks payable to: Debbie Treacy
Return by – March 7th 2145 Terrwood Road Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006

Peter Kwasniewski

Part 1 and Part 2 of this series made use of the profound teaching of Pope Pius XII in Mediator Dei to help articulate how everything we do and make for the liturgy, especially music, must be in full accord with its inherent nature and qualities, if we expect God to be pleased with what we offer and our own sanctification to result.

Today I will complete the series with reflections on three paragraphs from the same encyclical that focus on the interior attitude of the worshiping Christian.

81. It is quite true that Christ is a priest; but He is a priest not for Himself but for us, when in the name of the whole human race He offers our prayers and religious homage to the eternal Father; He is also a victim for us, since He substitutes Himself for sinful man. Now the exhortation of the Apostle, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,” requires that all Christians should possess, as far as is humanly possible, the same dispositions as those which the divine Redeemer had when He offered Himself in sacrifice: that is to say, they should, in a humble attitude of mind, pay adoration, honor, praise, and thanksgiving to the supreme majesty of God. Moreover, it means that they must assume to some extent the character of a victim, that they deny themselves as the Gospel commands, that freely and of their own accord they do penance and that each detests and satisfies for his sins. It means, in a word, that we must all undergo with Christ a mystical death on the cross so that we can apply to ourselves the words of St. Paul, “With Christ I am nailed to the cross” (Gal 2:19).

The emphasis on Christ as Priest and Victim can no longer exactly be called popular today, and yet it sums up simply and effectively how Our Lord saved mankind by a sanguinary redemption that purchased for us forgiveness of every sin, eternal life, and the ourpouring of the Holy Spirit, which brings with it all the means necessary to be holy in this world. In short, we owe everything we are and everything we do as Christians to Christ’s perfect oblation on the Cross. The Mass was given to us precisely to place us in mind of, in the presence of, and in real contact with this saving mystery of love. Our mystical participation in it is the wellspring of our life and the pattern to which we are conformed.

If our experience of the Mass and its “externals” seems to say to us little or nothing of the “religious homage” offered to the eternal Father by Jesus Christ, the high priest of our confession and victim for our sins; if it does not cultivate in us explicit acts of “adoration, honor, praise, and thanksgiving to the supreme majesty of God” (including the very consciousness of His majesty!); if it does not lead us ever deeper into the sacrificial death of Christ so that we understand ourselves to be, and desire ourselves to be, victims with him in a “mystical death on the cross”—then one might well wonder whether it is serving its supernatural purpose at all. For sure, the mystery is still present if the consecration is valid; but are we present to the mystery? Has the liturgy, have the texts, ceremonies, music, and other elements, made us present to the Lord, Priest and Victim, as they are meant to do?

100. …While we stand before the altar, then, it is our duty so to transform our hearts, that every trace of sin may be completely blotted out, while whatever promotes supernatural life through Christ may be zealously fostered and strengthened even to the extent that, in union with the immaculate Victim, we become a victim acceptable to the eternal Father.

The liturgy is supposed to develop our “supernatural life through Christ,” which has its root in our interior life. The “interior man,” the “new Adam,” needs to be cultivated—his existence is caused by baptism, certainly, and he receives new powers at confirmation, but his growth and maturation cannot be taken for granted and will not happen automatically. The old Adam will take over again and reign supreme if we do not take seriously “the duty to transform our hearts” until we become “a victim acceptable to the eternal Father.” The liturgy itself ought to be such as will cultivate our interiority, our inner life, our genuine awareness and desire for spiritual goods, for the heavenly fatherland. I am reminded of a passage in Veritatis Splendor (n. 7), where, speaking of the search for the meaning of life, John Paul II observes: “This is in fact the aspiration at the heart of every human decision and action, the quiet searching and interior prompting which sets freedom in motion.”

A richly filled and ordered space for “quiet searching and interior prompting”: this is what the traditional Roman liturgy provided and still provides with a special abundance. The music of our worship, too, should promote this intimate searching for God, the fundamental motivation of the inner man, in a way that is perhaps initially disquieting as it displaces us from our worldly assumptions and expectations.

101. In fact, the prescriptions of the sacred liturgy aim, by every means at their disposal, at helping the Church to bring about this most holy purpose in the most suitable manner possible. This is the object not only of readings, homilies and other sermons given by priests, as also the whole cycle of mysteries which are proposed for our commemoration in the course of the year, but it is also the purpose of vestments, of sacred rites and their external splendor. All these things aim at “enhancing the majesty of this great Sacrifice, and raising the minds of the faithful by means of these visible signs of religion and piety to the contemplation of the sublime truths contained in this sacrifice” (Council of Trent, Sess. 22, c. 5).

A failure to “raise the minds of the faithful . . . to the contemplation of the sublime truths contained in this sacrifice” is not just an incidental problem or marginal mistake; it is something close to a total liturgical disaster, a failure to prepare the faithful to take part worthily in the Lord’s sacrifice and to approach communion with the proper dispositions. It is therefore a failure to build up the Body of Christ in such a way that the Mass will actually benefit the particular members of the Church ex opere operantis, by their very acts of “adoration, honor, praise, and thanksgiving to the supreme majesty of God.” In short, it saps the strength, disturbs the order, and hinders the mission of the Church Militant.

The attitude, the dispositions, the state of mind and heart of the Christian worshiper as described by Pope Pius XII imply a significant responsibility on the part of clergy and church musicians to practice the liturgy in such a way that these goods can be genuinely fostered in the Church. May we do our part, be it big or little, as cleric, religious, or layman, to put into practice the vocation of adoring love to which Our Lord has summoned us.

Peter Kwasniewski

As one who is generally skeptical of new things, I sympathize with any reader who might be wondering just what might be meant by a “new examination of conscience.” Aren’t the old ones just fine? Well, yes, they are fine. But, speaking personally (and perhaps due to my own faults), I have sometimes been dissatisfied with standard examinations of conscience when preparing for confession. This could be a result of an almost exclusive reliance on a Ten Commandments-based approach. It can help to have a fresh perspective on one’s sins by taking a different angle.

When I first read the Oblate statutes of the Benedictine monastery of Pluscarden (which later became the basis for the Oblate statutes of the monastery of Norcia), I was struck by the advice that we could profitably take Chapter 4 of the Holy Rule and examine our lives based on it. My pondering of this chapter led me to the (hopefully not too audacious) step of organizing its material into a little pamphlet, as an examination of conscience that might be useful in preparing for Confession. I’ve attached this below.

Why would the Holy Rule of St. Benedict work well for all of us? St. Benedict himself says that he is preparing “a little rule for beginners,” and the ages have proved that this rule of life is a school of holiness for all who incline the ear of the heart to its wisdom. Although some of its chapters don’t immediately apply to everyday life as a layman, the Holy Rule is abundantly filled with mature spiritual counsel that readily lends itself to the Christian’s battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil — a duty we must always keep in mind, especially in the holy season of Lent when the Church puts it before us quite starkly.

As Bossuet said (and as Pope Benedict XVI would surely agree): “Cette règle, c’est un précis du christianisme, un docte et mystérieux abrégé de toute la doctrine de l’Évangile, de toutes les institutions des saints Pères, de tous les conseils de perfection”: This rule is a synopsis of Christianity, a learned and mysterious abridgment of the whole doctrine of the Gospel, all the institutions of the holy fathers, and all the counsels of perfection.

An Examination of Conscience based on Chapter 4 of the Holy Rule of St. Benedict

General
ï‚° Have I neglected to love the Lord God with all my heart, all my soul, and all my strength, and my neighbor as myself? If so, in what specific ways?
ï‚° In deed or in thought, have I killed, committed adultery, stolen, coveted, or borne false witness?
ï‚° Have I failed to honor all men?
ï‚° Did I do to another what I would not have had done to me?
ï‚° Did I prefer anything to the love of Christ?

Self-Denial
ï‚° Have I been self-indulgent instead of denying myself in order to follow Christ?
ï‚° Have I pampered my body or sought after delicate living, rather than chastising my body?
ï‚° Have I neglected fasting or abstinence?
ï‚° Have I overindulged in wine or other beverages, or verged on gluttony?
ï‚° Have I been drowsy or slothful?
ï‚° Did I immerse myself in worldly affairs rather than keeping aloof from them?
ï‚° Did I fulfill the desires of the flesh rather than hating my own will?
ï‚° Have I sinned against chastity, modesty, or purity?

Charity towards Neighbor
ï‚° Have I neglected, when it was possible, to relieve the poor, clothe the naked, visit the sick, bury the dead, help in affliction, or console the sorrowing?
ï‚° Have I gratifed anger or harbored a desire of revenge?
ï‚° Have I fostered guile in my heart or made a feigned peace?
ï‚° Have I failed to utter truth from heart and mouth?
ï‚° Have I rendered evil for evil or done wrong to anyone?
ï‚° Did I feel or exhibit impatience when wronged?
ï‚° Have I hated my enemies or any man?
ï‚° Did I neglect to pray for my enemies in the love of Christ?
ï‚° Have I avoided making peace with any adversary before the setting of the sun?
 Have I fled persecution for justice’s sake?
ï‚° Have I rendered cursing for cursing, rather than a blessing?
ï‚° Have I been guilty of murmuring or detraction?
ï‚° Have I indulged in excessive talk, vain words, or unfitting laughter?
ï‚° Have I uttered evil and wicked words?
ï‚° Have I been jealous or given way to envy?
ï‚° Have I loved strife?
ï‚° Did I give in to vanity?
ï‚° Have I been proud?
ï‚° Did I fail to reverence my elders in Christ?
ï‚° Did I fail to love those who are my brothers, juniors, dependents, or pupils?
ï‚° Have I, in any other way, forsaken charity?

Seeking First God’s Kingdom
ï‚° Have I been lax in fulfilling each day the commandments of God?
ï‚° Did I neglect in my prayer the daily confessing of past sins?
ï‚° Have I faltered in putting my hope in God?
ï‚° Have I subtly or openly attributed the good that I see in myself to myself rather than to God?
ï‚° Have I run away from acknowledging the evil I have done, or tried to blame it on someone else?
ï‚° Have I delayed taking the steps necessary to amend my sins, negligences, and failings?
ï‚° Have I been remiss in smashing my evil thoughts on the rock of Christ the instant they came into my heart?
ï‚° Have I been lax in applying myself to frequent prayer or lectio divina?
ï‚° Did I fail to keep death daily before my eyes, with fear of the Day of Judgment and dread of hell?
ï‚° Have I not been desiring everlasting life with all spiritual longing?
ï‚° Have I failed to keep guard over the actions of my life by bearing in mind that God sees me everywhere?
ï‚° Have I not sought the counsel of my spiritual father when I should have done so?
ï‚° Have I hidden evil thoughts from him?
ï‚° Have I shown poor obedience to the commands of those who are placed in authority over me?
ï‚° Did I seek a reputation for holiness rather than holiness itself?
 Have I ever despaired of God’s mercy?

Peter Kwasniewski

Last week I offered some thoughts and questions on how we might evaluate liturgical music (and other aspects of our public worship) by considering the fact that, as Pope Pius XII taught, “the entire liturgy . . . has the Catholic faith for its content” and that this content includes, as one of its most precious components, the mystery of the awesome sacrifice of Calvary made present in the Most Holy Eucharist.

Let us continue to take up the teaching of Pius XII’s Meditator Dei as a way of reflecting on what music is most suitable for such a humbling and exalted honor in our Christian life as our assistance at and participation in this divine sacrifice.

188. Three characteristics of which Our predecessor Pius X spoke should adorn all liturgical services: sacredness, which abhors any profane influence; nobility, which true and genuine arts should serve and foster; and universality, which, while safeguarding local and legitimate custom, reveals the catholic unity of the Church.

We must admit it: when reading these words of Pius XII, it is as if we are looking at another world, not just another decade or era. When is the last time you have met someone who is concerned to “abhor any profane influence”? Catholics today so readily compromise their faith, morals, and worship by prostituting themselves to the latest fashion that it seems they are rather more eager to embrace the profane in all of its vanity than to reject it for the poison it is. Far from abhorring the profane, they court it, embrace it, and submit to it, making what ought to be a badge of shame into the boast of a new identity and mission. Indeed, a popular (though largely tendentious) interpretation of Vatican II has presented it as the moment when the Church finally welcomed the world into her bosom and discarded, once and for all, the ascetical divide between sacred and secular: there was to be no such thing as sacred liturgy, because all the world is our new liturgy, all of it is blessed by God, and the Church has only to listen, learn, and adapt herself to man in order to bring Christ to him.

And when is the last time you have heard “nobility” put forward as the general description of the aim of human arts and skills, when these are brought into the service of God? Nobility—the pursuit of the utmost excellence, tasteful beauty, integrated virtue—should be the single word that captures the essence of the Catholic attitude and mentality, the single word that should sum up the tone of seminary education in catechetics, homiletics, dogmatics, morals, and, above all, liturgy. It is, unfortunately, hard to resist the impression that the cult of the ugly, the compromise of the ignoble, and the toleration of the casual and the slipshod are instead the prevailing traits.

Last but not least, is there universality still left, when the ever-malleable and evolving popular inculturated liturgy, burdened by the disease of optionitis, makes every community one visits a new sociological experiment as to the meaning of ‘Catholic’ in this or that town, diocese, or country? As a friend recently pointed out to me, many Catholics have no assurance of either universality or stability: even if their parish has done the liturgy nobly and beautifully for many years, the whole thing can be undone overnight by the next cleric in charge—and, regrettably, almost all of the unwanted changes, deformations, reductions, cancellations, modifications, and novelties can be justified in the name of some permission or other. Let us be clear about this: outside the tranquil world of the usus antiquior and those few communities fortunate enough to enjoy its exclusive use, there is simply no universality, and but little stability, for Catholics of the Roman Rite.

80. It is, therefore, desirable, Venerable Brethren, that all the faithful should be aware that to participate in the Eucharistic Sacrifice is their chief duty and supreme dignity, and that not in an inert and negligent fashion, giving way to distractions and day-dreaming, but with such earnestness and concentration that they may be united as closely as possible with the High Priest, according to the Apostle, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:5). And together with Him and through Him let them make their oblation, and in union with Him let them offer up themselves.

Magnificent words! The “chief duty and supreme dignity” of the Christian is “to participate in the Eucharistic Sacrifice.” It is not social work; it is not evangelization or catechesis or education; it is not political activism; it is not breaking down barriers of prejudice; it is not the defense of human rights. Our dignity consists above all in worshiping the true God at His holy altar—and making of ourselves an oblation that is pleasing to Him by attaching ourselves devoutly to the supreme offering of Jesus Christ the High Priest. If this is not what we are thinking and intending to do during Mass, we have missed the entire point of the liturgy. We are doing violence to it, abusing it, making it serve our own ends rather than serving its inherent end.

When it comes to music, in particular, we see how often the Mass is sorely abused, inasmuch as a worldly style of music not only permits but encourages “distractions and day-dreaming” that take us far away from the “earnestness and concentration” with which we should be consciously uniting ourselves with the High Priest and saving Victim. Just pondering these words of Pope Pius XII will make us realize how many times the Mass is violently derailed from its very purpose and made to serve a human agenda that is ultimately inert and negligible.

No wonder—as many fine priests and bishops have begun openly to admit—no wonder the New Evangelization is looking so wimpy and tending, so far, to be so fruitless. We are spending a lot of our time talking among ourselves about how to make Christianity appealing, attractive, relevant, meaningful, etc., and are neglecting the single most important thing that we are called to do as Christians: worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, receiving from Him, through our Catholic Tradition, the sacred, noble, universal, and stable forms by which we are to order ourselves and the whole of creation back to their primal font and glorious end. Whenever and wherever Catholics have committed themselves wholeheartedly to this program, and for its own sake, because God is worthy of it, the propagation of the Gospel has taken place quietly, irresistibly, with a joy that is not of this world.

Peter Kwasniewski

The most common argument I’ve heard over the years for why we should allow Christian “pop” music in Church is the consequentialist or utilitarian argument: “Look how well it works. It gets people to Mass and keeps the youth involved.” Interestingly, I’ve never heard a Catholic try to defend the folksy or pop-style music on purely artistic or liturgical grounds, and only rarely have I seen Protestants try to do that. The baseline for the entire discussion seems to be a rough-and-ready pragmatism.

The problem with this argument is twofold. First, even on a practical level, it’s not really true, or very unevenly so. The total number of Catholics attending Mass is in steady decline and has been for decades, especially in the category of young people. The music we have cobbled together after the Council just doesn’t seem to be so appealing, broadly speaking, as to turn the tide. It seems to put off as many people as the number it may appeal to, if not far more.

Second and more importantly, a popular style of music, complete with guitars and pianos and that distinctive rock-ballad or easy listening feel, is not at all compatible with the Church’s understanding of the Mass as a true and proper sacrifice offered to God. Let’s admit (for the sake of argument) that we could pack a building full of people by using that kind of music. Would this music be able to convey to the worshipers what the Mass actually is, how they should be disposed to it, and how they should think of what they are doing? Or would it subtly or openly inculcate a different doctrine that would eventually result in heterodoxy?

There’s a lot that can be said and has been said about these matters, but it seems to me that one helpful approach is to ponder certain passages of Pope Pius XII’s great encyclical on the sacred liturgy, Mediator Dei, which was a major source for the authors of the Second Vatican Council’s Sacrosanctum Concilium, and to use its insights to illuminate the issues at hand, which are not issues peculiar to our time but ones that arise in every age where secular music has invaded the sanctuary. I will offer the quotations and, after each, make some comments.

47. The entire liturgy, therefore, has the Catholic faith for its content, inasmuch as it bears public witness to the faith of the Church.

Note well: the entire liturgy has the Catholic faith for its content. This entirety, then, includes the music of the liturgy, in both its words and its strictly musical attributes. Pope Pius XII is saying that the texts, melodies, rhythms, all of these should bear public witness to the Church’s faith. It comes as no surprise that Pius X, Pius XI, Pius XII, Vatican II, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI pointed to Gregorian chant and polyphony as pinnacles of this public witness, and underlined the need for new compositions to imitate the spirit of these exemplars.

68. The august sacrifice of the altar, then, is no mere empty commemoration of the passion and death of Jesus Christ, but a true and proper act of sacrifice, whereby the High Priest by an unbloody immolation offers Himself a most acceptable victim to the Eternal Father, as He did upon the cross. “It is one and the same victim; the same person now offers it by the ministry of His priests, who then offered Himself on the cross, the manner of offering alone being different” (Council of Trent).

The Mass is not a social gathering with a humanitarian aim, it is not even a symbolic drama in which we play-act the death of Jesus. It is a true and proper sacrifice, the unbloody re-presentation of the sacrifice of Calvary. Our Lord Jesus Christ’s once-for-all immolation on the Cross is made present and active for us sinners, who would otherwise be lost forever. He comes to be present in this awe-filled, world-changing, life-shaking, heaven-rending sacrifice. For our part, do we appreciate what is happening on the altar? Do our actions, attitudes, responses, artistic expressions, accurately convey our interior awareness of this great mystery, before which we should fall in total self-abnegation, profound humility, trembling adoration? Or does the music (for example) lead us to feel, think, and act as if this mystery and miracle wasn’t happening?

152. While the sacred liturgy calls to mind the mysteries of Jesus Christ, it strives to make all believers take their part in them so that the divine Head of the mystical Body may live in all the members with the fullness of His holiness. Let the souls of Christians be like altars on each one of which a different phase of the sacrifice, offered by the High Priest, comes to life again, as it were: pains and tears which wipe away and expiate sin; supplication to God which pierces heaven; dedication and even immolation of oneself made promptly, generously and earnestly; and, finally, that intimate union by which we commit ourselves and all we have to God, in whom we find our rest. “The perfection of religion is to imitate whom you adore” (St. Augustine).

Does our music convey that we are falling down in worship before the all-holy Lord, the God of heaven and earth—the serving of whom leads to eternal life, the offending of whom leads to eternal death? And is this God truly an aweful mystery for us, in our midst, or has He been domesticated into a kind of friendly atmosphere within which our self-referential ceremonies take place? Are the souls of the people like altars of immolation? Is the unspeakably pure and demanding holiness of God the dominant note of what we are doing and singing?

First Friday, February 6, A.D. 2015, Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) will be offered by Fr. Gerald Carey, Parochial Vicar of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Church, at the Rectory Chapel of St. Albert The Great Parish, 212 Welsh Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006, (T) 215-947-3500, at 7 p.m. preceded by Confessions at 6:30 p.m. This TLM will be the Mass of St. Titus, Bishop and Confessor, with a Commemoration of St. Dorothy, Virgin and Martyr, offered in Reparation to The Sacred Heart of Jesus. White Vestments.

First Saturday, February 7, A.D. 2015 Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) will also be offered by Fr. Gerald Carey, at the Rectory Chapel of St. Albert The Great Parish, at 9 a.m., preceded by Confessions at 8:30 a.m.
This TLM will be the Mass of St. Romuald, Abbot, offered in Reparation to The Immaculate Heart of Mary. White vestments.

The St. Albert The Great Rectory, also known as the Parish Center, is behind the Church, which fronts on Welsh Road.

Mark Matthews

The following information was provided by Fr. McKale:

Upcoming TLM’s at Nativity BVM Church, Philadelphia:

February 14, 2015, Feast of St. Valentine, simple low Mass at noon in the Upper Church. Confessions in the lower Church at 11:30am.

Upcoming Special Masses in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia:

Solemn High Mass at St. Joseph Church, Collingdale – March 19

500 Woodlawn Ave., Collingdale, PA

March 19, 2015 at 7:00 PM

Solemn High Mass at St. Mary Church, Schwenksville, PA – March 25

40 Spring Mount Road, Schwenksville, PA

March 25, 2015 at 7:00 PM　

Upcoming Traditional Latin Masses at Nativity BVM Church, Philadelphia:

2535 East Allegheny Ave, Phila., PA 19134　

February 14, 2015, Feast of St. Valentine, simple low Mass at noon in the Upper Church. Confessions in the lower Church at 11:30am.　

March 17, 2015, Ferial of Lent w/ commemoration of St. Patrick, Low Mass w/ hymns at 7:00 pm in the Upper Church.　

April 11, 2015, Easter Saturday, Low Mass (maybe w/hymns TBA) at noon in the Upper Church. Confessions in the lower Church at 11:30am.　

May 15, 2015, St. John Baptist de la Salle, simple low Mass at 7:00 pm in the Upper Church.

June 12, 2015, Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, High Mass (Missa Cantata) at 7:00 pm in the Upper Church.

Peter Kwasniewski

After seeing the post “A Fundamental Misunderstanding of the Nature of the Catholic Liturgy,” a reader wrote to me about her experiences in a certain religious community that seemed to embody this very misunderstanding. She gave her permission to share the letter as long as I did not reveal any names or dates. First, then, for her story:

For [x] years I was a religious sister … During my years with them at various convents, I had difficulty with the way they spoke of the Liturgy, and likewise I had difficulty with the way the Liturgy was carried out. Among the many philosophical distinctions made in homilies, classes, and chapters, the one I heard most often was that the Liturgy is “at the level of the Form, not at the level of the Finality.” Another way they put it was that the Liturgy is “secondary.” This word “secondary” seemed to translate as “not too important.”
It seems there were many consequences to such a view, although I’m not sure whether they are all direct consequences. I’ll list a few of the consequences I had in mind. Liturgies were planned at the last minute. Silence during the Mass was often preferred to music (during times which traditionally require music, such as an Introit, an Offertory proper or Communion proper). If they did have music, it was a skeletal version of Gregorian Chant which had been translated into the vernacular and stripped of its melismas in the name of “purity” … The walls of their chapels were blank white …
My fellow religious would readily admit, with a laugh, that our Divine Office was poor, but in the next breath they would often explain, “but we are not Benedictines. Liturgy is not first in our life.” Some referred to the Benedictines as “liturgical Pharisees.” Even art itself was spoken of as being merely “at the level of the form.”
Today, I help run a choir and schola at a parish. I’m so edified by the way our priest treats every detail of the Liturgy with such great attention and care, as if he were dealing with our Lord Himself. Even so, I still run into people who criticize our efforts at making the Liturgy beautiful. One person recently said to me “Our Lord said ‘make a joyful noise,’ not ‘make a beautiful noise.’ Your expectations of the Liturgy are much too high compared with us normal people.”
I could list many other sad comments, which seem to me stem from a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the Catholic Liturgy, just as you said. It seems there are many different ways this misunderstanding manifests itself.

This writer has eloquently said what is wrong with putting the liturgical adoration of God in a secondary or compromised position. There is such a temptation to relegate liturgy to an incidental, a stepping-stone, a means, a mindset, an incentive, a mere symbol of what is greater—however one wishes to put it.

All of these phrasings share, at root, a Protestant rejection of the Incarnation as a mystery that irrupts into time and space and becomes living and real for us in and through the sacred liturgy, which is the very gate of heaven, our access to and participation in the heavenly Jerusalem. The fact that most Western liturgies look and feel nothing like the heavenly Jerusalem suggests the extent to which we have bought into Protestant iconoclasm, anti-sacramentality, anti-bodiliness, and Eucharistic indifferentism. A solemn and beautiful celebration of the usus antiquior is, indeed, a taste of heaven—as it should be. If one cannot forget oneself in the liturgy, one has not yet even begun to pray. I mean this in the sense of the Byzantine chant: “Let us who mystically represent the cherubim and sing the thrice-holy hymn to the life-giving Trinity now set aside all earthly cares.”

The world, like the poor, we will always have with us; but Christ the Lord, in our mystical encounter with Him in the holy oblation, we do not (so to speak) always have with us; we are not always engaged in liturgical divine worship, and that is why, when we are so engaged, it must count. It must be right, holy, God-oriented, a total immersion in His life, death, and resurrection. The focus is all on Him.

That point about “not being Benedictines,” too, is striking, since Benedictine spirituality has long been recognized and praised as simply the natural unfolding of the supernatural vocation of the Christian. Every Christian, to the extent he can, ought to be a sort of Benedictine. I realize not everyone would agree with this formulation, but it could be demonstrated from the Holy Rule that all of its author’s general principles are taken from the New Testament or are directly extrapolated from it. For example, let nothing be put before the Work of God. Can anyone honestly say, even if he’s a Jesuit, that caring for the bodily needs of the poor ought to take precedence over the worthy praise of God Himself and the conferring of His life-giving sacraments? By all means, take care of the poor—but do not neglect “the one thing necessary” for the rich and for the poor!

Those who understasnd that the lex orandi is the first and fundamental expression of the Christian faith will understand what true obedience in the Church means: it means keeping alive in every generation the mission of Christ and the apostolic seed, receiving what has been passed down, cherishing and embracing it, and making it fruitful in the world and for the future. But if the liturgy is relegated to a secondary position, what then is going to take its place? What will be the source and summit of the Christian life? It’s up in the air: it could be apostolic work or the field hospital, it could be theology, it could be endless conferences and meetings and synods, it could be anyone’s idiosyncratic version of Christianity. It seems to me that everything hinges on whether one takes liturgy to be a goal that orders everything else around it or a mere “form” of life—that is, a means to a different goal.

Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine’s
The Church’s Year

In the Introit of the Mass of this day the Church exhorts us to a joyous adoration of Christ by the following words:

INTROIT Upon a high throne I saw a man sitting, whom a multitude of angels adore singing together: behold Him the name of whose empire is to eternity (Is. 6). Sing joyfully to God, all the earth: serve the Lord with gladness (Ps. 99:2). Glory be to the Father.

COLLECT Attend, O Lord, we beseech Thee, of Thy heavenly mercy, to the desires of Thy suppliant people; and grant that they may both perceive what they ought to do, and may have strength to fulfill the same. Through our Lord.

EPISTLE (Rom. 12:1-5). Brethren, I beseech you by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God, your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be reformed in the newness of your mind: that you may prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God. For I say, by the grace that is given me, to all that are among you, not to be more wise than it behooveth to be wise, but to be wise unto sobriety: and according as God hath divided to every one the measure of faith. For as in one body we have many members, but all the members have not the same office: so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another in Christ Jesus our Lord.

EXPLANATION The apostle entreats, even conjures us by all the mercies we have received to bring to God a living sacrifice; namely, the mortification of our carnal desires, and the practice of every virtue, a holy, pure and immaculate sacrifice agreeable to God, intended for His glory alone; not a dead sacrifice as the Jews offered by killing animals, nor an unholy one as the Gentiles offered by polluting their bodies. This living, holy, God-pleasing sacrifice should be the offering of our body; but this does not exclude the sacrifice of our spirit, because all our actions, the corporal as well as spiritual, should be directed to God, the end for which we were created. The sacrifice of the spirit is made when we overcome pride, anger, impatience, etc., and by avoiding willful distractions during prayer and divine worship. Like David we should have a contrite and humble heart to present to the Lord; this is a most pleasing sacrifice in His eyes, one which He will never despise. Thus we render a reasonable service, and are, as St. Peter says (I Pet 2:9), a kingly priesthood, because we govern, like kings, our evil inclinations, and offer with body and soul a continual sacrifice to God. The apostle further exhorts us not to become like the world, that is, not to follow the corrupt manners and principles of the children of the world; not to desire those things at which the world aims; not to love that which the world loves; not to act as the world acts; but rather seek constantly to change our evil disposition, by combating our corrupt and evil inclinations and by practicing virtue instead. We must cease to be the old worldly man, and become a new heavenly man; to be such, we must carefully seek to know in all things what is pleasing to God, and therefore perfect and good. This is the necessary science to which St. Paul alludes, when he says that we should not wish to know more than is proper. All worldly arts and sciences will not help us to gain heaven, if we do not endeavor to learn thoroughly that which faith teaches, and what God demands. Even if we have made great progress in this holy science we should not presume to think more of ourselves than what we really are, nor violate charity by contempt of others less instructed, for God gives to every one, in some measure, the gift of faith. This gift of faith we should use in order to continually glorify the body of Christ, His Church, Whose members we are, and enable us to lead such a life that others, being edified, may be brought into the true fold.

ASPIRATION Grant, O Jesus, that by mortification, humility, and contrition, I may offer my body and my soul as a living, holy, and pleasing sacrifice to Thee, and that I may never defile them by impurities.

GOSPEL (Lk. 2:42-52). And when Jesus was twelve years old, they going up into Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast, and having fulfilled the days, when they returned, the child Jesus remained in Jerusalem; and his parents knew it not. And thinking that he was in the company, they came a day’s journey, and sought him among their kinsfolks and acquaintance. And not finding him, they returned into Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his wisdom and his answers. And seeing him, they wondered. And his mother said to him: Son, why hast thou done so to us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said to them: How is it that you sought me? did ye not know that I must be about my Father’s business? And they understood not the word that he spoke unto them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth; and was subject to them. And his mother kept all these words in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wis­dom, and age, and grace with God and men.

Why did our Savior go with His parents to Jerusalem to the temple?

Because God commanded (Deut. 16:16) that all the male Israelites should appear, three times a year on certain festivals, and offer sacrifice to Him in the temple; Jesus fulfilled this commandment to set us an example that we, according to the will of the holy Catholic Church, should willingly and devoutly be present at the services of the Church on Sundays and holydays of obligation. Neither the distance from the church nor the difficulties of the way should prevent our attendance, since Jesus did not shun a three days’ journey to the temple.

Why does the gospel say according to the custom of the feast?

That we may understand, that like Mary and Joseph, we should be punctual in observing the ecclesiastical festivals and holy usages, and like true Catholics, should observe them. Parents should require their children at an early age to take part in prayer, attend church and school, and see that they conduct themselves quietly and reverently while there. Mary and Joseph took the holy Child Jesus with them to the temple.

Why did the child Jesus remain in Jerusalem?

Because of His love of prayer and communion with His Heavenly Father, and to show, even then, some rays of His divinity, by which to make known that He had come for the glory of His Father, and to procure our salvation. The glory of God and the salvation of our souls should be our chief object in life.

Why did Mary and Joseph search so diligently for Jesus?

Because they were fearful lest they should lose Him Whom they loved so exceedingly. We should learn from this, how careful we should be not to lose Jesus by sin, or having lost Him, how anxiously we should seek by penance to find Him. The parents of Jesus, by their diligent search and inquiries for the divine Infant, teach and rebuke those parents who care less for the Christian education of their children than for their temporal advantages, who pay no attention to the persons with whom their children associate, nor to the places which they frequent, whether they learn things that are useful to them, and who for the sake of some temporal advantage permit their children sinful intimacy with evil-minded persons. From these parents God will one day demand the souls of their children with severest justice.

Why was our Savior found in the temple in the midst of the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions?

To teach us that we ought to seek the knowledge necessary for our salvation, and attend carefully to the sermons and instructions on Christian doctrine; we should by no means be ashamed to ask questions of our pastors when we are in doubt, and should listen to their answers. Was Christ, the Eternal Wisdom, ashamed to ask questions and to answer? Why should we ignorant people hesitate? It is much to be regretted that persons who have many important things concerning their spiritual welfare on their minds, through pride and false shame, would rather go to perdition than ask advice, solely for fear of showing their ignorance.

Why did Mary say: Son, why hast thou done so to us?

These words were forced from her by pain at the absence of her Son, Whom she loved above all things, and not by indignation, for He was blameless. Mary’s conduct should teach parents to remember their duty of caring for their children, and punish them when they do wrong.

INSTRUCTION ON THE VIRTUE OF OBEDIENCE

He was subject to them (Lk. 2:51).

From this all Christians should learn to be obedient to the commandments of God and of the Church. God has united life or death, blessing or malediction with obedience or disobedience to His commandments, and the Bible (I Kings 15:22) shows that obedience pleases God more than sacrifices or the fat of rams, and that He despises disobedience as He does witchcraft and idolatry. We must be obedient to the Church, because Christ Himself with His holy Spirit lives in her, and governs her, and has said: Who hears not the Church, let him be to thee a heathen and a publican, therefore, shut out from eternal life. We must be obedient to our parents, because they are placed over us by God, and we are indebted to them, under Him, for life and many benefits. Those children who do not assist their parents when they are old, poor, and helpless, or are ashamed of them, have reason to be afraid, since even Christ Jesus, the God-Man, was obedient and subject in all things to His poor mother, and to a humble mechanic who was only His foster-father. Cursed be he that honoreth not his father and mother (Deut. 27:16); how much more cursed those who despise, deride and abandon their parents? Their eyes will one day be picked out by ravens (Prov. 30:17). If God commanded obstinate and disobedient children to be stoned (Dent. 21:20), what do those not deserve who even strike or abuse their parents?

How did Jesus advance in age, wisdom and grace?

He showed new effects of the wisdom and grace with which He was filled, as He advanced in years, and thus teaches us to progress the more in virtue, and fulfill the duties of our state in life that we may attain perfection hereafter.

ASPIRATION Most amiable Jesus! Who in the twelfth year of Thy age, didst permit Thyself to be found in the temple by Thy parents, and, as an example for us, wast humbly obedient to them, grant that we may diligently attend to the important affair of our salvation, willingly carry the yoke of Thy law from our youth, and be always obedient to the laws of Thy Church, to our parents, and superiors. Prevent uneducated youth from growing reckless, and preserve them from a scandalous life. Give parents wisdom and grace to educate their children according to Thy will in all virtue. Grant to us all, that we may never lose Thee by sin, or if we have lost Thee, anxiously to seek Thee, happily find Thee, and with Thy grace more and more increase in wisdom and in virtue. Amen.

TRUE PIETY

They found Him in the temple (Lk. 2:46).

Many people deceive themselves in regard to true piety, because their imagination represents it to them according to the effect produced by their passions or disposition of mind. He who fasts often and willingly believes that he is pious, though in his heart he nourishes a secret hatred, and while he fears to wet the tip of his tongue with wine, even with water, lest he should not live temperately enough, finds pleasure in detraction and slander, that unquenchable thirst for the blood of his neighbor. Another, because he is accustomed daily to recite a long string of prayers, esteems himself pious, though he gives vent afterwards to haughty, bitter, offensive language, hurting people at home and abroad. Another keeps his purse open for the poor, but keeps his heart ever closed to the love of his enemy, whom he will not forgive; another forgives his enemy with all his heart, but will not pay his creditors, until forced by law. All these think themselves pious, and are perhaps so regarded by the world, but in truth they are far from being pious. In what then does true piety consist? In the perfect love of God. This love is called the beautiful love, because it is the ornament of the soul, and attracts to itself with complacency the eyes of the Divine Majesty. When it strengthens us to do good, it is called the strong love; when it causes us to do that good quickly, carefully, and repeatedly, it is called piety. The ostrich has wings, it is true, but never uses them to fly; the chickens fly heavily and not high; but the eagles, the doves, and the swallows, fly high and swiftly, and do not easily tire. The sinners are but earthly people, they creep upon the ground; the just, who are still imperfect, rise, it is true, towards heaven but seldom, and then but slowly and heavily. But there are some, true, pious souls, who like the doves and the eagles soar high on strong, swift wings to God. In a word, piety is nothing else than a certain active, swift energy of the spirit, with which the strong love in us, or we with it, performs, as far as it is possible to us, all good. As the strong love urges us to keep God’s commandments, the perfect love, that is, piety, urges us to keep them carefully and with all possible zeal.

No one is just or pious who does not keep all God’s commandments without exception; for, to be just we must possess the strong love, and to be pious we must possess besides, a certain eagerness to profit by all the occasions of doing good, that present themselves. Thus St. Francis de Sales writes in his Philothea, from which it is seen that true piety consists not in special devotions, or the practice of special good works, but in the zealous, earnest, continuous obedi­ence to the commandments and performance of duty for the love of God.

A Blessed and Happy New Year to you, your Family, and Loved Ones. The First Friday & First Saturday, January, A.D. 2015, Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) schedule at St. Albert The Great Rectory Chapel is as follows:

First Friday, January 2, A.D. 2015, Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) will be offered by Fr. Richard K. Mc Fadden, Parochial Vicar of St. Charles Borromeo Roman Catholic Church, at the Rectory Chapel of St. Albert The Great Parish, 212 Welsh Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006, (T) 215-947-3500, at 7 p.m. preceded by Confessions at 6:30 p.m. This TLM will be a Christmastide Ferial Mass within the Octave of St. Stephen, offered in Reparation to The Sacred Heart of Jesus. White Vestments.

First Saturday, January 3, A.D. 2015 Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) will also be offered by Fr. Richard K. Mc Fadden, at the Rectory Chapel of St. Albert The Great Parish, at 9 a.m., preceded by Confessions at 8:30 a.m. This TLM will be a Christmastide Ferial Votive Mass of Our Lady, offered in Reparation to The Immaculate Heart of Mary. White vestments.

The St. Albert The Great Rectory, also known as the Parish Center, is behind the Church, which fronts on Welsh Road.

Mark Matthews