UPDATE: As i reread the homily synopsis from Vatican Radio which I post below the video, is it possible that in an "informal" way, Pope Francis has declared Father Jacques Hamel to be a martyr of the Church and thus a saint, Saint Jacques? It sure seems like it to me with this quote:
This history, the Pope said – continues with our Father Jacques: he is part of this chain of martyrs.
“Father Jacques Hamel was slain as he celebrated the sacrifice of
Christ’s crucifixion. A good man, a meek man, a man who always tried to
build peace was murdered (…). This is the satanic thread of persecution”
he said.
Pope Francis concluded his homily holding up Fr Hamel and his example
of courage and said we must pray to him to grant us meekness,
brotherhood, peace and the courage to tell the truth: “to kill in the
name of God is satanic”.
The Mass was also offered for the martyred French priest, Father Jacques Hamel. But clearly, it wasn't for the "repose of his soul" but rather, to elevate him to the altar of martyrs.
Please note that the Holy Father says the Introit prior to the Sign of the Cross, which is what I do at daily Mass as well.
BOMBSHELL: After the homily, there is a long silence. BUT AS IN THE EF MASS, THE HOLY FATHER OMITS THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER, THERE ARE NO GENERAL INTERCESSIONS!
Of course a glaring omission in the current Ordinary Form Missal (not the Ordinariate's missal, thank God) is that there is no Offertory Antiphon although there is, thank God, the Communion Antiphon which I recite after I have received my Holy Communion, which completes the sacrifice, my communion, not the antiphon.
To the
congregation gathered at Santa Marta and which included Archbishop
Dominque Lebrun of Rouen, along with 80 other pilgrims from the diocese,
Pope Francis said that “to kill in the name of God is satanic”.
Reflecting on the many martyrs that are part of the history of the
Catholic Church, Pope Francis said: “this is a story that repeats itself
in the Church, and today, he said, there are more Christian martyrs
than there were at beginning of Christianity”
Today – he continued - there are Christians "who are murdered,
tortured, imprisoned, have their throats slit because they do not deny
Jesus Christ".
This history, the Pope said – continues with our Father Jacques: he is part of this chain of martyrs.
“Father Jacques Hamel was slain as he celebrated the sacrifice of
Christ’s crucifixion. A good man, a meek man, a man who always tried to
build peace was murdered (…). This is the satanic thread of persecution”
he said.
And, Pope Francis continued: "What a pleasure it would be if all
religious confessions would say: 'to kill in the name of God is
satanic'".
Pope Francis concluded his homily holding up Fr Hamel and his example
of courage and said we must pray to him to grant us meekness,
brotherhood, peace and the courage to tell the truth: “to kill in the
name of God is satanic”.
On the altar, a simple photograph of Fr Hamel who was slain by two
Islamist fanatics while celebrating Mass in the Church of
Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray on 26 July 2016.
16 comments:
"BOMBSHELL: After the homily, there is a long silence. BUT AS IN THE EF MASS, THE HOLY FATHER OMITS THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER, THERE ARE NO GENERAL INTERCESSIONS!"
What "bombshell"? Since the inclusion of the "universal prayer" is optional, as is clearly implied by the phrase "it is desirable that there usually be" in paragraph 69 of the 2011 GIRM:
"It is desirable that there usually be such a form of prayer [the Universal Prayer] in Masses celebrated with the people, so that petitions may be offered for holy Church, for those who govern with authority over us, for those weighed down by various needs, for all humanity, and for the salvation of the whole world."
Maybe the Pope was tired. That is the more likely explanation.
One quibble.
In the Old Testament, God almighty did call the chosen people to kill enemies in war and heretics for serious crimes against the common good (of which proper worship due to God is among the chief common goods for any society).
In the New Testament (of which we're a part), the Church did acknowledge capital punishment as legitimate both in warfare and against heretics for the crimes of scandal (i.e. normalizing evil habits and evil ideas which will lead the innocent astray to their own destruction). Capital punishment was understood not as vengeance as much as harsh medicine to shock the diabolical narcissist or the prodigal son into facing the 'music' and thus to hopefully lead them to repentance if only out of fear of mortality.
Loss of political power meant the Jews could no longer mete out capital punishment of heretics.... similar loss of Christendom likewise removes capital punishment from Christian societies as the secular state takes over this function.
But I would submit that the absence of capital punishment doesn't reduce the likelihood of scandalous heretics that will lead the innocent astray unto their destruction but the INCREASE of such scandalous men and women and their spiritual victims.
Spare the rod = spoil (ruin) the child. Spare the sword is to deny justice and lead to the rise in all manner of injustice that inevitably leads to sins that cry to heaven for vengeance when human justice is lacking. When sin abounds in a society the sure and ultimate result is death.
Peace is "tranquilias ordinis", the tranquility of order, of justice. "No justice = no peace". So letting mass murderers go, and keeping child abusers, rapists, and child pornographers, human traffickers etc. out of "life in prison without parole" means they will never repent and never cease scandalizing (normalizing their evil) our society.
The Pope's message thus can only make sense if he's talking about the unjust and unprovoked killing OF THE INNOCENT.
What a beautiful and inspiring liturgy. The attention to detail and tradition was humbling. It was so nice to see a Feast day of the Holy Cross celebrated with absolutley no solemnity whatsoever in the Vatican. It was just so humble. So humble in fact that the con celebrants didn't even bother with chasubles. Who care that the Vatican has racks of them. It was humble.
It's so inspiring to see all the priests enter the chapel to say Mass and never once acknowledge the Real Precense of God in the tabernacle. The Faith makes me want to weep. Oh wait....never mind.
Father, I don't know if you may already have learned this, but Harold Mcmanus, the assistant organist at St Joseph's passed away this morning around 7:00 AM. This was at one of the hospitals here in Macon. I was told by Susan Pritchard that he passed away peaceably. The good news is that this past weekend he was brought into the Church and confirmed.
Jusad...Do you...did you ever, have a child? (I really hope not.) If so, did you beat them with a stick (rod)? I guess it was OK. They were not "THE INNOCENT". Were they? I guess it was OK if you found them guilty.
Exultation of the Holy Cross
By the one Cross and one Death was mankind redeemed. It is by this one Cross and the one Death, and the merits which flow from this Sacrificial offering, that human society, so much in need of redemption, is ever preserved from its own destruction. By the one Cross does redemption come to man continuously down through the ages. It is by the one Sacrifice of the Holy Cross that God's Love and Mercy is made manifest in every time and place to the benefit of our salvation. It is through the merits of the Holy Cross that value is imparted to our own sufferings and death.
"We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You because by Your holy cross you have redeemed the world."
What is it that is lacking in people nowadays and even in believers themselves? It's the Cross, because in the Mystery of the Cross there is everything: there is faith, there is obedience--there is human pain, there is the way of glory.
- Blessed Dominic Lentini (1794-1828),
"Know this: just as the wood of the ark saved the just from drowning, so too, by the mystery of His wooden Cross, does Christ, the Church’s God and King, save us from drowning in the sea of this world. In the symbol of a thing made of wood He gave human beings a foreshadowing of both the judgment to come and the salvation of the just."
— St. Augustine
"Apart from the cross, there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven."
— St. Rose of Lima
In my comment @ September 14, 2016 at 6:43 PM, I should have typed that Harold was -received- into the Church. He,responding to God's grace desired to be Catholic, and so he was at his passing from this life. Also, it would have been more correct to say he passed away -peacefully-.
I would drop the sermon and kiss of peace before dropping the bidding prayers, but I would readily drop the bidding prayers on ferial days and memorials.
Dear Mr Rambo,
I am old enough to remember being caned at my school for what today would be regarded as minor infractions. And my father went so far occasionally to hit me with his belt when I probably deserved it.......
Do you honestly believe that the way things are now with millions of children lacking a little physical discipline guidance from fathers and teachers are better days?
Are societies around the world especially in the West better places now than 40 or 50 or 60 years ago?
How many teenagers and young men in the last 30 years or so have to end up in juvenile detention or jails and prisons to receive a sort of institutional parenting that could and should have taken place at home or school?
Paul.
Rambo,
Yes I have children. Yes we spank them to teach them not to do dangerous things. That's the criteria: only for behavior that would get them or others seriously hurt.
We never spank in anger or for merely disciplinary items. And we've never had to spank past 3 years of age.
Nor do we seek to inflict harm. A spank is to focus the mind on CONSEQUENCES. It doesn't have to do injury or inflict terror to accomplish that purpose.
And so, following the best findings of psychological and historical research, having impeccable results so far in our children, I ask - since it's becoming a social problem - why wouldn't you spank your child if the alternative is to create the conditioning whereby they are more likely than not to do things that will result in permanent injury to themselves or others?
Their FEELINGS are not as important as their objective good. And neither is mine and neither is yours. We are not saved by FEELINGS.
Juice...It seems that Fr. McD chose not to run my response to this. It's his call....maybe just as well....
Regarding the so-called 'Universal Prayer', known in the British Isles as 'Bidding Prayers', what is universal about them? They seem to be ad hoc compositions often reflecting what is currently in the news. Not infrequently they appear to have been written by some right-on member of a parish committee and are couched in the anodyne platitudes of the 'politically correct', e.g. 'Let us pray for justice and peace especially in the Middle East, and an end to all forms of discrimination.'
Particularly irritating are the polyglot Bidding Prayers at papal Masses. The deacon sings the intention in Latin, someone comes up to the ambo and repeats it in his native tongue, the deacon then sings 'Dominum deprecemur' and everyone is supposed to respond 'Te rogamus, audi nos' although most of the congregation, here as elsewhere, don't sing anything. (As an aside, congregations at papal Masses seem sublimely uninterested in the liturgy - so much for participatio actuosa.)
And what is the point of praying for the Church, the pope and the bishop at this point? In 1964 the Canon was still silent and in Latin but these intentions are now audible in the Eucharistic Prayer (even in the wretched EP II). I thought that unnecessary repetition was something the new Mass was supposed to eradicate.
JusadBellum:
Regarding capital punishment for heretics, aren’t you treading on dangerous territory? One man’s heretic is another man’s True Believer and all that? Innocence, too, may be in the eye of the beholder. Recall the sanguinary game. For example: Edward out and Mary in -- Catholics 20, Protestants nil; Mary out and Elizabeth in -- Protestants 20, Catholics nil (although Elizabeth tended to see the actions of Catholic martyrs as treasonable). I think the Pope has it right. Anyway, not only is execution of heretics wrong, it is short sighted and stupid because it doesn’t work in the long run. Surely, if we have learned nothing else from history, we have learned this. Many in the Muslim world have yet to learn this lesson and will only do so after much more blood has been spilled. Meanwhile, God weeps.
Talking of which, why the constant denigration of feelings? To be sure, we must use our reason as well, but not exclusively or disproportionately. Instead, emotions and reason should be properly integrated with one another. When they are, one may discover that non-violent alternatives are often just as effective, if not more effective, than violent ones, whether one is talking about children or one’s international adversaries. In any event, I hope you would agree that violent measures are only to be employed as a very last resort when all else has failed.
Anonymous 2
Not for the first time, you have nailed it. When the state applied capital punishment for heresy (seen as threatening to the unity of the body politic and thus tantamount to treason) it also hanged thieves and forgers, and branded vagabonds.
This morning I was waiting at a bus stop (park-and-ride, Oxford) and a young mother had a particularly stroppy toddler who would not have her shoes put on. She said: 'Do not shout at me like that. If you do so again, you will get a smack and I don't mind how many people are watching. Do you understand?' The child said 'Yes' and did as she was told.
Good parenting, in my opinion. And every day you see bad parenting and the effects of it.
Post a Comment