liturgy – Page 5

Pope speaks to New York Bishops: we ourselves are the first to need re-evangelization,

As you know, the Pope is meeting for next several months with all the bishops of the United States. Two weeks ago I noted the Ad Limina Apostolorum of the New England bishops; this week the Pope meets with the New York bishops and next week he’ll be meeting with the New Jersey and Pennsylvania bishops. His reflections and leadership on key areas are crucial for all of us to pay attention to right now for the good of the Church. The text of his address to the bishops of these three regions is given below.

I greet you all with affection in the Lord and, through you, the Bishops from the United States who in the course of the coming year will make their visits ad limina Apostolorum.

Our meetings are the first since my 2008 Pastoral Visit to your country, which was intended to encourage the Catholics of America in the wake of the scandal and disorientation caused by the sexual abuse crisis of recent decades. I wished to acknowledge personally the suffering inflicted on the victims and the honest efforts made both to ensure the safety of our children and to deal appropriately and transparently with allegations as they arise. It is my hope that the Church’s conscientious efforts to confront this reality will help the broader community to recognize the causes, true extent and devastating consequences of sexual abuse, and to respond effectively to this scourge which affects every level of society. By the same token, just as the Church is rightly held to exacting standards in this regard, all other institutions, without exception, should be held to the same standards.

Continue reading Pope speaks to New York Bishops: we ourselves are the first to need re-evangelization,

2 new Blesseds added US liturgical calendar

At their annual
meeting, the US bishops voted to have add to the US liturgical calendar Blessed
John Paul II and Blessed Marianne Cope, both are optional liturgical memorials
in the proper of saints. October 22 is designated to honor Blessed John Paul and January 23
for Mother Marianne.

The Church sets dates for liturgical “memorials are typically set for the
date of the person’s death, which in Mother Marianne’s case was Aug. 9, 1918.
However, that date is the feast of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith
Stein), who died Aug. 9, 1942. Jan. 23 is the optional memorial in the United
States for St. Vincent de Paul. That date was transferred from Jan. 22 so that
the U.S. church can observe the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of
Unborn Children — which itself shifts to Jan. 23 when Jan. 22 falls on a
Sunday.”

Vespers for All Saints and a lecture “Art, Beauty and the Sacred” in NYC

The Catholic Artists Society is hosting a lecture on October 31st at 6:30pm titled “Art, Beauty and the Sacred” given by Oratorian Father Uwe Michael Lang. The evening will include the celebration of First Vespers of All Saints in the Church of Saint Vincent Ferrer (NYC). The flyer can be viewed here: Catholic Artists Society All Saints and lecture.pdf

Vespers

We will celebrate the ancient and beautiful liturgy of Solemn First Vespers for All Saints, officiated by our special guest, Father Uwe Michael Lang, C.O. Father Bruno Shah, O.P. from Saint Vincent Ferrer, and Father Michael Barone from the archdiocese of Newark, will assist in the liturgical celebration. Gregorian chant and polyphonic settings will be provided by a professional choir led by David J. Hughes, Organist & Choirmaster at Saint Mary’s Church, Norwalk, CT.

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Guardian Angels

The 27th Sunday through the year trumps the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels. BUT I can’t resist thinking about angels. Today in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd I spoke to the children about the angels, though I centered my thoughts on the Archangels but the Guardian Angels factored in, too. Remember to say a prayer to your Guardian Angel intercession before God the Father.

Our belief in the existence of the guardian angels is not a pious idea that we teach to children; angels are biblical; Jesus speaks of the angels and the Church continues to give witness to the existence of angels in our lives.

So, what can we conclude? We conclude that God has concern for every human being by the protection of the Guardian Angels. Pope Benedict encourages us not to forget our angels in weekly audience (read about it here).

The Church prays….

O God, who in Your unfathomable providence are pleased to send Your holy Angels to guard us, hear our supplication as we cry to You, that we may always be defended by their protection and rejoice eternally in their company.

What are angels?

Angels are spirits. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “The existence of spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scripture usually calls “angels” is a truth of faith (329).

What do these spirits do? What is the nature of spirits?

They angel. Again, from the Catechism of the Catholic Church we hear of the Saint Augustine of Hippo who taught “‘Angel is the name of their office, not of their nature. If you seek the name their nature, it is ‘spirit’; if you seek the name of their office, it is ‘angel’: from what they are, ‘spirit’, from what they do , ‘angel'” (329).

What does the word “angel” mean?

Messenger.

What does the Church teach about angels?

Angels “are servants and messengers of God. Because they ‘always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven’ (Mt 18:10) they are ‘the mighty ones who do his word’ (Ps 103:20).

The Jewish people are familiar with angels –there are plenty of angels in the Old Testament (see Genesis 28-29; Exodus 12-13 and 32:34; Psalm 90:11; Job 38:7 among many sources). The Prophet Daniel (c. 550BC) speaks of Michael as “the great prince which stands for the children of His people.” And Our Lord speaks of the 12 legions of angels as being at his side.

Do angels exist? I think so. The witnesses are hard to beat.

Mike Aquilina’s 2009 book, Angels of God, is an excellent resource.

I recommend all of Mike’s writings, so purchase everything!!!

AND send an angel postcard given here…

Pray for the monks of the American-Cassinese Congregation who have the Holy Guardian Angels as their heavenly patrons. Monasteries in this congregation places like St Vincent’s (Latrobe, PA), St Anselm’s (Manchester, NH), St Martin’s (Lacey, WA), St Mary’s (Morristown, NJ), Newark Abbey (Newark, NJ) and a few more.

Saint Michael the Archangel and the archangels

No better day than today to recall the work of the archangels: Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.

Raphael is least known, but he’s remembered because of his ability to heal in God’s name and then there’s the famous Gabriel who announces to a young Jewish girl, Mary, that she’s to bring into history God, the Incarnate Word of God known to us as Jesus and then we know Michael because he’s best known for throwing Lucifer to hell (he was the 4th archangel turned Satan or known as the devil). Michael means “who is like unto God.”

Catholics know Saint Michael for 4 things:

1. he provides aid for the spiritual struggle fought by all people;

2. he is present at every deathbed, giving hope for one’s redemption;

3. weighs the merits of a person’s soul following death: you are judged worthy of heaven, purgatory or hell;

4. he guarantees Jesus Christ’s promise to that the gates of hell won’t prevail upon the Church and that the Church will last to the end of time.

Since the time of Pope Leo XIII in the 19th century, we’ve prayed …

Saint Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do thou, Oh Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, cast into hell, Satan and all the other evil spirits who prowl about the world, seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

The Liturgical Commentaries of St Symeon of Thessalonika

I am happy to recommend my friend’s recently published book, The Liturgical Commentaries of St Symeon of Thessalonika.

From the book:

This volume contains an edition and facing
English translation of Explanation of the Divine Temple and “On the Sacred
Liturgy,” the two commentaries on the pontifical (hierarchal) Byzantine Divine
Liturgy by St. Symeon of Thessalonika (†1429). This edition is based on MS
Zagora 23, which contains extensive corrections and additions apparently added
to the text by the author himself. The book opens with a historical and
theological foreword on liturgical commentaries and mystagogy by Archimandrite
Robert Taft. The introduction surveys the life and career of St. Symeon,
analyzes the structure and theology of the commentaries, and concludes with an
account of technical and editorial questions. The index includes references to
names, places, and topics in Symeon’s text and in the introduction and traces
key terms in the commentaries in both Greek and English.

A review:

With this book Fr.
Steven Hawkes-Teeples, SJ, Professor of Byzantine Liturgy at the Pontifical
Oriental Institute in Rome, fills a gaping hole in the scholarly literature
associated with the overlapping academic fields of Byzantine Studies, Medieval
Studies, Orthodox Theology, and Oriental Liturgiology. The present volume
represents the first translation into any modern western academic language of
both commentaries of St. Symeon of Thessalonika (d. 1429) on the Byzantine
Divine Liturgy or Eucharist. Such neglect is surprising, for St. Symeon is an
author of the first importance. As the last and most prolific Orthodox
liturgical theologian of the Byzantine era, who lived at the point when the
Byzantine Empire was moving toward its demise before the Ottoman onslaught, he
crowns and closes his era. — Robert F. Taft

Vox Clara Committee meets in Rome this week

The group of bishops and experts who oversee the translation and promulgation of liturgical texts in English met in Rome this past week. Read the CNS story on the meeting by Cindy Wooden. Here is the press release.

The Vox Clara
Committee met from July 24-26 in Rome. This Committee of senior Bishops from
Episcopal Conferences throughout the English-speaking world was formed by the
Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on July
19, 2001 in order to provide advice to the Holy See concerning English-language
liturgical books and to strengthen effective cooperation with the Conferences
of Bishops in this regard.

Continue reading Vox Clara Committee meets in Rome this week

Monastic Worship Forum launched

Periodically the Benedictine monks, nuns and sisters meet to discuss issues pertaining the sacred Liturgy and sacred music as done in their monasteries. They met two weeks ago at the Archabbey of Saint Meinrad for the meeting and decided to formally merge the liturgical and musicians’ groups into one: The Monastic Worship Forum. This work has been in process since 2009. The purpose of the Forum is to provide support, education, and formation in the sacred Liturgy for monastic contexts in order that God maybe glorified.

Benedictine monk Father Godfrey Mullen chairs the committee that will lead the Forum. Father Godfrey earned his doctorate in Liturgy from the Catholic University of America and serves as the VP for Saint Meinrad Seminary and the Archabbey’s director of Liturgy.

The new website can be found here.

Blessed Ildefonso Schuster, and all Benedictine saints and blesseds, pray for us.

Work of Human Hands: A Theological Critique of the Mass of Paul VI: Alcuin Reid reviews

Much has been said about Anthony Cekada’s book Work of Human Hands, some of the critique is lazy, or rigidly steadfast to one’s limp opinion. Nothing is so relevant as information, and nothing so problematic as ignorance (being “untrained”). My hope is that we’d not be too preoccupied by our our thinking; I have confidence that Truth can be revealed in honest thinking and dialogue. The sacred Liturgy, because of its import in our worship of the Triune God, needs to be faithful to Christ and to the Tradition the Church. Cekada’s work is a sizable and it deserves attention. Because of my interest in the sacred Liturgy I am re-posting the book review originally posted on the New Liturgical Movement blog. I am grateful to Dr Alcuin Reid for his tour of the work and the author, and to Shawn Tribe for posting Reid’s review.

Anthony Cekada, Work of Human Hands: A Theological Critique of the Mass of Paul VI, Philothea Press, West Chester, Ohio 2010.

I have long been in Father Cekada’s debt, for it was his booklet The Problems with the Prayers of the Modern Mass that alerted me almost twenty years ago to the significant theological difference between the pre-conciliar and post-conciliar Roman Missals. Work of Human Hands is by no means so succinct a publication. It is a substantial attempt to demonstrate profound theological rupture between the two, and more. It deserves serious attention.

Some will dismiss this study because Father Cekada is canonically irregular and a sede vacantist. Whilst these are more than regrettable, ad hominem realities are not sufficient to dismiss this carefully argued and well researched work. We must attend to his arguments on their merits.

The principal thesis is that “the Mass of Paul VI destroys Catholic doctrine in the minds of the faithful and in particular, Catholic doctrine concerning the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the priesthood and the real presence,” and that it “permits or prescribes grave irreverence.” His secondary thesis is that the Mass of Paul VI is invalid. His practical conclusion is that “a Catholic may not merely prefer the old rite to the new; he must also reject the new rite in its entirety. The faith obliges him to do so.” These strong, even extreme, positions may themselves repel readers. But again, they must be examined.

Continue reading Work of Human Hands: A Theological Critique of the Mass of Paul VI: Alcuin Reid reviews

Aidan Kavanagh, monk, priest, liturgical scholar: 5th anniversary of death

Students of the sacred Liturgy are familiar with the scholarship and some would say “pioneering work” in the realm of adult baptism and the new (in 1972) Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) by Father Aidan Kavanagh, a Benedictine monk and priest of the Archabbey of Saint Meinrad.

Most of Father Aidan’s professional teaching life was spent away from Saint Meinrad having only taught a few years in his monastery’s seminary. In discernment with his abbot, Father Aidan devoted his energies to teaching at the University of Notre Dame and then for many years Yale Divinity School (New Haven, CT).

Why mention this? Well, today is the fifth anniversary of Father Aidan‘s death. The necrology is always an occasion to express our gratitude to God for graces bestowed on his through his children. I am grateful for the books written by Father Aidan (he is required reading in the study of the Liturgy) and the countless peoples he taught and guided in the Christian life.

May God be merciful to Father Aidan and may his memory be eternal.