MEAN, BAD OLD ALTAR RAILING

But I like it!

The New Liturgical Movement has a photo of a recently installed mean, bad, new altar railing in St. Gabriel's in Stamford, Connecticut:

The theology I was taught as to why these mean, bad, old and new altar railings should be removed is that it separated the laity from the sanctuary making them spectators rather than participants and made it appear that what was most important was what was happening at the altar rather than what was happening in the congregation and the priestly people's actions at the liturgy should be as important and unseperated from the ordained "presider's" actions at the altar. So out they went to make the priestly people of God feel a part of the Mass and here they come again and the priestly people of God still feel a part of the Mass.

Do you ever feel like you are living in a revolving door in the Church these days, like everything old is new again and you wonder why the old was gotten rid of and that the reasons given then seem so dumb now?

EMPATHY AND ANXIETY AND "BE NOT AFRAID"

The more the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut sinks in, the more all of us are beginning to empathize with that community and to realize that that community is us!

The news coverage on the 24 hour networks acts as a two edge sword. On the one hand it helps us to be there and to realize that this tragedy could have happened anywhere. On the other hand, I worry that it will inspire other deranged people to consider a similar type atrocity simply to go down in a blaze of notoriety and 24 hour a day international news coverage that garners even the President of the USA's attention and "ministry."

Yesterday we remembered the victims and their families at all our Sunday Masses. Both Fr. Dawid and I had to make some changes to our homilies to tie the tragedy into them and to give a perspective of faith, although the Advent readings actually contributed to that and the homily I already had only needed some minor adjustments.

In fact Fr Dawid has a classmate from Mt. St. Mary's Seminary who is a priest in a nearby parish to Newtown and that parish has lost some of the children killed. Our local television station learned of it and wanted to interview him about it.

One parishioner asked me before the procession at the beginning of the 12:10 PM Mass if we had security, anyone with a concealed gun who could react at any of our Masses if someone came into the Church at any time to do what the killer in Newtown did. Our nerves are frayed and we live as though the other shoe will fall at any moment. I felt the same way in the hours and days following 9/11, I felt as though a jetliner would crash into the building in my town at the time, into my church too!

As soon as I heard the news on Friday, I wondered if something similar could happen at our school. I wondered what we would do as a parish and community if it had been our school and our kids and our teachers. Yes, the thought is a nightmare, a nightmare that is a reality for the people of Newtown at this very moment.

We have security similar to what this Newtown school had in place. We have locked doors and people have to be "buzzed" in and they must register at the desk and get a security card clearance. But we've got to do more and we will.

I think we may have to consider hiring off duty police to be present on our campus at all our Sunday Masses. Our CCD program at our school on Sunday needs to have the same security in place as our school does during the week.

But we can't live like the bubble boy. What about field trips, the school Masses we have in a wide open church? Do we over react and make our children even more insecure and dependent on living in a bubble, a manufactured, virtual world?

When we look at how much more protected our children are today compared to what we baby boomers were allowed to do growing up, and we lived dangerously, not only in automobiles that had no seat belts but also in what we did and where we went without our parents holding our hands and having to know where we were every moment of every day, just as long as we got home by dinner and after dinner returned home before it got dark.

Ultimately, and I can't believe I'm saying this, we must listen to the Saint Louis Jesuits' in their popular song, "Be Not Afraid."

We have to get back in the car, even though the neighbors and their children were killed in a car accident that day. We have fly in planes that could crash, be hijacked and used as a weapon of mass destruction. We have to go into hospitals and risk contagious diseases. We have to undergo minor and major surgery which in itself could end our lives.

We can't live life paralyzed by the extraordinary and what happened in Newtown is grossly extraordinary.

Ultimately, we have failed in communicating the true faith to our people, if we haven't taught them or made it clear in our Sacraments, especially the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, that our true home isn't here but in heaven and that Jesus Christ, the Son of God was murdered to show us that this world is hostile to goodness and to truth and to love and to hope because of Satan, because of Original Sin and certainly because of actual sin. We may have to experience a fate like His but death will not be the end if we have died a death like His for we will also share in a like resurrection!

The prophet Isaiah standing in the ruins of Jerusalem which had been destroyed, mournfully cries out "Rejoice, (Gaudete) in the Lord always, Again I say rejoice." "Rise up Jerusalem!"

Our salvation is at hand, but it won't be through the means that this world offers us, it will only be through our Faith in Jesus Christ and what He has wrought.

Finally, if our American people and the political parties to which they belong cannot see the connection between being pro-choice when it comes to killing a child in the womb and the choice that this deranged man made on Friday, they are truly delusional like he was. You can't declare that killing in one circumstance is a women's choice only and therefore off limits to even legal prohibition and at the same time lament what has happened in Newtown. Each of those children could have been killed by their mom as long as that child was hidden in her womb and by her private choice which has no law to prevent it. How many six year olds are absent from their schools this morning because of abortion and no one gives a damn? That truth is a part of this national nightmare scenario of the current circumstances we lament.

HOW MANY PARISHES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD DEPRIVED THEIR PARISHIONERS OF SACRED SCRIPTURE FOR THE INTROIT OF GAUDETE SUNDAY? AND HOW MANY PRIESTS AND DEACONS ACTUALLY WORE ROSE?

First for a bit of humor on this Gaudete Sunday, before I get into the serious stuff:

With all the preoccupation concerning the sexuality of priests these days, this is a group photo of Fr. Dawid Kwiatkowski, our parochial vicar, our deacons, Don Coates and Tom Eden and me. I seldom if ever wear an amice, but last night the amice served a very good purpose. We wanted to remain anonymous during the celebration of our Gaudete Sunday Vigil Mass last night as we donned our fancy pink. I suspect we should take this route too when we wear lavender. Do real priests wear pink? Are amices good for anything?

Please note how the Introit for Gaudete Sunday when chanted offers both sides of the reality of life, the need to rejoice even in the face of tragedy and exile. The melody is somewhat sad and yearning for something more, the words are the reality of what we expect, future salvation! However, our congregations which have now become accustomed to happy-clappy (my spell check is trying to tell me to change "clappy" to "crappy" maybe he knows something?) music of pop culture set to sacred words, an artificial spirituality of our own manufacturing and an artificial light that fails to illuminate the soul, will they like how the following Introits sound? Will they get it?

In traditional Latin Chant:

Or in modern English chant:

INTROIT: Phil. 4:4-6

Gaudete in Domino semper : iterum dico. Gaudete. Modestia vestra nota sit omnibus hominibus : Dominus enim prope est. Nihil solliciti sitis : sed in omni oratione petitiones vestræ innotescant apud Deum. Ps. 84:2: Benedixisti, Domine, terram tuam : avertisti captivitatem Jacob. Gloria...

Rejoice in the Lord always : again I say: Rejoice. Let your modesty be known to all men: for the Lord is nigh. Be nothing solicitous; but in every thing, by prayer let your petitions be made known unto God. Ps. 84:2: Thou hast blessed thy land, O Lord : thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob. Glory be to the Father...

Did you or will you hear the actual entrance chant of the Mass for the Third Sunday of Advent also known as Gaudete Sunday? Did your priest and deacon wear rose?

This Gaudete Sunday there are many who are questioning what this Introit Scripture is teaching us and by which we use it to worship God. Innocence has been taken from children and once again from our country. How can we rejoice in the face of such devastation visited on our brothers and sisters, our children in NewTown, Connecticut?

If we are pagans, atheists, agnostics or Catholics of lite faith, we cannot rejoice in the Lord this Sunday. We are grieving as a people who walk in darkness who have not seen the wonderful light or the light we have seen is not the true light of the world, it is an artificial light we have concocted for ourselves in our manufactured faith and our manufactured liturgies both of which fail us when the harsh realities of Satan and sin enter into the sanctuary of our manufactured faith and shatter it.

Even the young seem to sense that a manufactured faith of artificial light is a useless faith and that meaning and purpose can be found elsewhere, like bars and opium dens.

But there are still others who find true meaning in life when life seems so meaningless and tragic. They are the young who yearn for something more than plastic, manufactured faith, they yearn for orthodoxy, tradition and a sense of rootedness in the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of mammon.

Yesterday I met with an 18 year old senior from a public high school who lives in a small Georgia town 30 minutes south of Macon. Ever since he watched Pope John Paul II's funeral on television almost eight years ago, when he was 10, he has been fascinated with the Catholic faith and her traditions, her orthodoxy.

He started coming to Mass about a couple of months ago, driving to Macon for it. He's been here four times for Mass and this past Sunday God struck him in a way he hadn't been struck before. He attended our 12:10 PM Mass, with our 29 year old Parochial, orthodox vicar preaching the Mass celebrated ad orientem for the Liturgy of the Eucharist, completely sung, with incense and bells and the option to kneel and receiving Holy Communion by way of intinction on the tongue.

He also has been reading my blog. I told him there were other Catholic Churches closer to his town and asked him why he was driving to Macon and St. Joseph. He said he loves the traditional architecture of St. Joseph and our ORTHODOXY! His word, not mine! This from an 18 year old man, who is a senior in a southern public high school.

He will be joining our Inquiry phase of our RCIA starting in January and God willing will be baptized, confirmed and receive Holy Communion at the Easter Vigil of 2014! Pray for him.

Jeffrey Tucker at the Chant Cafe tells of a tail of two churches:

[The first church] "the brand of Christianity they are selling is what one might call fashionable in an academic sense. Every effort is made to avoid what might be called Christian orthodoxy. Homilies are community conversations in which every expression of any idea is considered right. People who suggest the truth of basic points of the Nicene Creed are looked upon with suspicion. The social activities revolve around political issues like the environment, racial justice, and LGBT concerns. If you believe something approximating what Christians have always believed, you have to prepared to be schooled in the ways of the modern world.

The other (church) provide(s) what you might expect from religious institutions: actual belief. People pray. There is teaching. There is liturgical form. There are Bible studies and people seek truth in the Scriptures. Christians are not looked upon as the bad guys of all human history. Reverence and seriousness dominates the services. Social activities presume a faith commitment. They celebrate the joyfulness of Christian life rather than sit around grousing about social and political problems like racism, inequality, and environmental decay. To be sure, these active Churches all have different doctrines and traditions, but whatever they are, each is proclaimed and practiced with conviction.

Trends in the Catholic Church today seem to be on the right side of history. The new English Missal takes the faith seriously. We are slowly backing away from the trends of the past decades to ignore the liturgical music tradition and replace it with fashionable pop songs. Parishes are realizing that Catholicism itself has a certain cultural cache because it, nearly alone, has stuck by truth and stood up to the powers that be, even in the face of relentless persecution. There is a certain heroism about professing the Catholic faith today.

And even within the Catholic framework, differences are emerging between the flimsy faith of the contemporary past and the new traditionalism. Among the traditional orders, we are seeing expansion but among those who bought into the temporary mushheadedness, we see faltering and decay. Publishers like Ignatius Press are booming while others are not. The programs of the Church Music Association of America are packed to capacity but not so with others.

A Christianity that doesn’t believe in itself lives for a while on momentum of the past but doesn’t have much of a future. A Christianity that is authentic renews itself regardless of the changing times precisely because it makes its foundation the eternal truths that transcend the passage of time."

Thank you Jeffrey Tucker for your cogent insights!

CROCODILE TEARS CAN'T BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY UNTIL THE PRESIDENT CRIES FOR THE UNBORN WHOM HE SACRIFICES TO A WOMAN'S CHOICE TO KILL EVEN WITH PARTIAL BIRTH ABORTION--HIPOCRACY TO THE NTH DEGREE!

From Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta on the culture of death and the choice to kill children:

"America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father's role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts — a child — as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the independent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters"

"And, in granting this unconscionable power, it has exposed many women to unjust and selfish demands from their husbands or other sexual partners. Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being's entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign."

From the Commander in Chief, the most rabidly pro-choice president in the history of the nation:

"We’ve endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years. And each time I learn the news I react not as a President, but as anybody else would -- as a parent. And that was especially true today. I know there’s not a parent in America who doesn’t feel the same overwhelming grief that I do.

The majority of those who died today were children -- beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. They had their entire lives ahead of them -- birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own. Among the fallen were also teachers -- men and women who devoted their lives to helping our children fulfill their dreams.

So our hearts are broken today -- for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children, and for the families of the adults who were lost. Our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivors as well, for as blessed as they are to have their children home tonight, they know that their children’s innocence has been torn away from them too early, and there are no words that will ease their pain.

As a country, we have been through this too many times. Whether it’s an elementary school in Newtown, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner in Chicago -- these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods, and these children are our children. And we're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.

MY COMMENT: IF ONLY THE PRESIDENT COULD HAVE SET ASIDE POLITICS AND ALSO INCLUDED THE GREATER HORROR COMMITTED EACH DAY IN THIS COUNTRY UNDER HIS FULL CONSENT AND ENCOURAGEMENT, "A WOMAN'S RIGHT TO CHOOSE AN ABORTION" AND HIS EVEN MORE INSIDIOUS SUPPORT OF PARTIAL BIRTH ABORTION.

CATHOLICS WAKE UP! AMERICA WAKE UP! DEMOCRATIC PARTY, WAKE UP! IF WE COULD SEE THE CARNAGE OF MILLIONS OF BABIES KILLED BY ABORTIONISTS WITH THEIR MOTHER'S CONSENT AS WE CAN SEE THE CARNAGE IN NEWTOWN, CONNECTICUT, WOULD WE HAVE 24 HOUR NEWS COVERAGE ON THAT?

Pray for the conversion of President Barack Obama and all pro-choice politicians and mothers and fathers. Pray for the conversion of America!

MORE ON THE AUTHENTIC INTERPRETATION OF VATICAN II WHICH IS FAR FROM THE HERETICAL RUPTURE INTERPRETATION THAT WE WERE SPOON FED UNTIL ABOUT SEVEN YEARS AGO

The following are excerpts from the recent homily of Papal Preacher Capuchin Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa which you can read in its entirety HERE.

THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL: 50 YEARS LATER
A KEY TO ITS INTERPRETATION

[Blessed John XXII said at the opening of Vatican II:] “The twenty-first Ecumenical Council […] wishes to transmit the Catholic doctrine, pure and integral, without any attenuation or distortion […]. However, our duty is not only to guard this precious treasure, as if we were concerned only with antiquity, but also to dedicate ourselves promptly and without fear to that work which our era demands of us, pursuing the path which the Church has travelled for almost twenty centuries […]. It is necessary that this certain and unchanging doctrine, to which our faithful assent is due, be studied and expounded in the manner required by our times”.

Gradually, however, as the Council’s work and sessions progressed, two opposing fronts formed, depending on whether, of the two purposes mentioned, the first or the second was being emphasized: i.e., continuity with the past or innovation with respect thereto. For the latter front, the word ‘aggiornamento’ came to be replaced by the word ‘rupture’, but it bore within it a very different spirit and very different intentions. For the so-called progressivists, it was an achievement to be greeted with enthusiasm. For the opposing front, it was a tragedy for the entire Church.

Standing between these two fronts – which agreed on the statement of the fact but were opposed in their judgment regarding it – we find the position of the papal Magisterium, which speaks of “renewal in continuity”. In Ecclesiam suam, Paul VI returns to John XXIII’s word “aggiornamento” and states that he wishes it to be regarded as a “guiding principle”. John Paul II reiterated the judgment of his predecessor at the beginning of his pontificate, and on several occasions he expressed himself in the same vein. Above all, however, it has been the current Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI who has explained what the Magisterium of the Church means by “renewal in continuity”. He did so a few months after his election, in the address delivered to the Roman Curia on December 22, 2005. Let us listen to several passages:

“The question arises: Why has the implementation of the Council, in large parts of the Church, thus far been so difficult? Well, it all depends on the correct interpretation of the Council or - as we would say today - on its proper hermeneutic, the correct key to its interpretation and application. The problems in its implementation arose from the fact that two contrary hermeneutics came face-to-face and quarreled with each other. One caused confusion, the other, silently but more and more visibly, bore and is bearing fruit. On the one hand, there is an interpretation that I would call "a hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture"; it has frequently availed itself of the sympathies of the mass media, and also one trend of modern theology. On the other, there is the "hermeneutic of reform".

The Pope acknowledges that a certain discontinuity and rupture did in fact occur. However, it did not pertain to the basic principles and truths of the Christian faith but rather to several historical decisions. Numbered among them was the conflict that had arisen between the Church and the modern world, culminating in the wholesale condemnation of modernism under Pius IX. However, it also regarded more recent situations, such as that created by developments in science and by the new relationship among religions, with the implications this holds for the problem of freedom of conscience. Not last was the tragedy of the Holocaust, which required a rethinking of attitudes toward the Jewish people. The Pope writes:

“It is clear that in all these sectors, which all together form a single problem, some kind of discontinuity might emerge. Indeed, a discontinuity had been revealed but in which, after the various distinctions between concrete historical situations and their requirements had been made, the continuity of principles proved not to have been abandoned. It is easy to miss this fact at a first glance. It is precisely in this combination of continuity and discontinuity at different levels that the very nature of true reform consists”.

The insufficient attention paid to the role of the Holy Spirit explains many of the difficulties that arose in the reception of the Second Vatican Council. The Tradition in whose name some have rejected the Council was a Tradition wherein the Holy Spirit played no role at all. It was a collection of beliefs and practices fixed once and for all, not the wave of apostolic preaching, which advances and sweeps through the centuries and, like every wave, cannot be grasped except in movement. To freeze the Tradition by making it begin, or end, at a certain fixed moment means making it a dead tradition, unlike that which St. Irenaeus describes as a “living Tradition”. Charles Péguy explained this great theological truth with a poet’s pen:
“Jesus didn’t give us dead words either
For us to seal up into little boxes
(Or even big ones.)
And for us to preserve in rancid oil …
Like the Egyptian mummies.
Jesus Christ, my child, didn’t give us canned words
To keep;
Rather, he gave us living words
To nourish …
He depends on us, weak and carnal,
To bring to life and to nourish and to keep alive in time
These words pronounced alive in time”.

However, it must immediately be said that, on the opposing front of extremism, things were not going any better. Here there was willing talk of the “spirit of the Council”, but unfortunately it was not the Holy Spirit. “Spirit of the Council” denoted that greater impulse toward the new, that greater innovative courage that wasn’t able to be part of the Council texts due to the resistance of some, and to the compromises it was necessary to make between parties to reach unanimity.

All this sheds a unique light on the post-conciliar era. Perhaps here, too, the true realizations of the Council lay in places other than where we were looking. We were looking at changes in structures and institutions, at a different distribution of power, at the language that was to be used in the liturgy, while we failed to realize how small these changes were compared to the work that the Holy Spirit was accomplishing. We imagined we would break the old wineskins with our own hands, while God was offering us his own method of breaking old wineskins, by filling them with the new wine.

When asked whether there was a new Pentecost, we should respond without hesitation: Yes! What is the most convincing sign of this? The renewal of the quality of Christian life wherever this Pentecost was received. The key doctrinal event of Vatican II can be found in the first two chapters of Lumen Gentium, in which the Church is defined as a sacrament and as the people of God journeying under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, animated by his charisms, under the guidance of the hierarchy. In short, the Church as mystery and institution; as koinonia before gerarchia. John Paul II reinforced this vision and made its implementation a priority as the Church entered into the new millennium.

We wonder: where has this image of the Church passed from the documents to life? Where has it assumed “flesh and blood”? Where is the Christian life being lived out according to the “law of the Spirit” with joy and conviction, by attraction and not by constraint? Where is God’s Word held in highest honor? Where is it that the charisms are being manifest? Where is the eager concern for a new evangelization and for the unity of Christians being felt?

Since we are dealing with an interior reality that takes place in human hearts, the ultimate answer to these questions is known to God alone. Concerning the new Pentecost, we should repeat what Jesus said about the Kingdom of God: “No one will say: ‘Lo it is here!’ or ‘Lo it is there!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (Lk 17:21). And yet, we can perceive some of the signs, also with the help of religious sociology, which deals in these matters. From this point of view, the answer given in many quarters to this question is: in the ecclesial movements!
One thing however should immediately be pointed out. Belonging to the ecclesial movements are also those renewed parishes, associations of the faithful and new communities in which the same koinonia and the same quality of Christian life are being lived out. From this perspective, movements and parishes should not be seen in opposition to or in competition with each other, but united in the realization, in different ways, of the same model of Christian life. Some of the so-called "basic communities” are also to be numbered among these realities; those at least, in which the political element has not taken precedence over the religious.

GUN CONTROL AND PRESS CONTROL AND CATHOLIC LITE REQUIEMS

Why in the name of God and all that is holy, was the following removed from the Post Vatican II Requiem Mass? Does it not capture the sentiments of the horror of death when we are separated from God and loved ones?

Libera Me

íbera me, Dómine, de morte ætérna, in die illa treménda:
Quando cœli movéndi sunt et terra.
Dum véneris iudicáre sǽculum per ignem.
Tremens factus sum ego, et tímeo, dum discússio vénerit, atque ventúra ira.
Quando cœli movendi sunt et terra.
Dies illa, dies iræ, calamitátis et misériæ, dies magna et amára valde.
Dum véneris iudicáre sǽculum per ignem.
Réquiem ætérnam dona eis, Dómine: et lux perpétua lúceat eis.

English Translation:

Deliver me, (Wouldn't Liberate Me, be a better translation?) O Lord, from death eternal on that fearful day,
When the heavens and the earth shall be moved,
When thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.
I am made to tremble, and I fear, till the judgment be upon us, and the coming wrath,
When the heavens and the earth shall be moved.
That day, day of wrath, calamity, and misery, day of great and exceeding bitterness,
When thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.
Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord: and let light perpetual shine upon them.

There has been a lot of talk lately and once again about gun control and who and who can't purchase them. It does appear to this American priest that we Americans are gun-crazy and our gun culture leads to home violence and the type of demonic violence we have just experienced.

But we also have a problem with mental health and a reluctance to institutionalize on a permanent or long term basis those who are a threat to themselves and to others. We emptied our institutions in the 1980's and the reluctance to revisit common sense solutions concerning the mentally ill has led to a proliferation of street people and crime.

But I do think that those who are criminally insane either temporarily or permanently and are inclined to copy-cat killings are egged on by our out of control news media that has turned news into entertainment.

Is it necessary to have round the clock news and news specials on the very day that a tragedy hits and all the facts are muddled and people are in a state of shock?

And today many national reporters think that the best television interview is one where the one being interviewed breaks down and cries. They believe too that the best film footage is the horror on people's faces when they find out that their child is the one who was killed. These newscasters think showing the initial reaction makes for good reporting and good news skills.

I'm not saying there shouldn't be reporting of a big news story. It just shouldn't be taking place as the news is in progress and it shouldn't be turned into a reality show for the country's sick entertainment.

The next mass murder will take place because the one who is now plotting it sees how much attention it will bring to him and that he can go out in a blaze of national and international news coverage. The notoriety may be just too much for him not to want to avoid.

Finally from the perspective of faith, I realize that many people are brought closer to their faith when these things happen but many others are pushed away. Perhaps our sanitized Catholicism and Christianity in general today has not prepared people for the harsh realities of sin and death. Nor have we prepared our people to deal with the demonic. If our theology of Church and Jesus is all about hand-holding Christianity and singing kumbaya songs to comfort us and all we hear is Pollyanna, Charlie Brown theology, how can we cope with why Jesus came and was crucified?

Perhaps the Spanish Church in pre-Vatican II times with its emphasis on the sufferings of Christ needs some sort of resurrection in our Catholic psyche.

As well, in the post below, I have excerpts of Faure's Requiem based on the Extraordinary Form's Requiem Mass. I also include the Gregorian Chanted Dies Irae, Day of Wrath.

How much better do the words, if not the melody capture the sentiments of true Catholic theology at the time of death, especially tragic, senseless death.

The Ordinary Form's Funeral Mass might see the following replacing the actual liturgical words of the Requiem:

1. In place of the Introit "Requiem Eterna" why not just sing "Be Not Afraid."

2. Let's remove the Kyrie altogether from the Requiem Mass

3. Let's remove the Day of Wrath altogether from the Requiem Mass and sing Alleluia for the Gospel Acclamation

4. Let's sing "On Eagle Wings" in place of Pie Jesus

5. Let's get rid of Libera Me altogether and sing in its place "For All the Saints"

6. Let's get rid of In Paradisum and sing in its place "Going Home"

When we do this sort of thing to the Liturgy, whether it is the Requiem, the Nuptial Mass or the typical Sunday Mass, can't we see and experience how we have substituted banal tripe for authentic liturgical spirituality? Can't we see how we have lost a sense of the sacred and made the Liturgy into horizontal confab?

The traditional Requiem sung in plain chant or more solemn versions of Gregorian Chant captures the sentiments of our heart and pierces it. Our culture that wants a quick fix in time of pain and grief does not want the soul piercing depth of spiritual reality that the authentic Requiem brings to the grieving soul and purges it with its haunting, sobering reality.

ETERNAL REST GRANT UNTO THEM O LORD AND GRANT COMFORT TO THOSE IN DARKNESS

A MARKED GRAVE, A PLACE ANTICIPATING THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST AND THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY

I've been waiting patiently for my mom's foot marker to be placed at her grave. It came yesterday and my sister sent me this by way of her phone. For almost three months my mom's grave has been an "unmarked grave" and created a sense of distress for both my sister and me. That's over now!

Just this week I've ministered to three people who have died and their families. The funeral I have today is for one of our 99 year old parishioners, a faithful, devout Catholic all her life. She'll be buried after her Requiem Mass at the nearby Riverside Cemetery.

Sadly, though, the two others that died were non-practicing Catholics. I was able to anoint one and give the apostolic absolution to her prior to her death to which her husband said to me "I guess that's her ticket to heaven." She died shortly thereafter. Sad and fortunate for her to have received the final rites of the Church!

The other one who died, non-practicing, was dead by the time I got to the emergency room. His son had the good sense to know that at least a priest should be called. I said the prayers for the dead over him with his son and daughter-in-law there. I then asked the son what plans he wanted to make for the funeral. He told me his dad didn't want a funeral, simply to be buried at sea. I presume this means cremation and the tossing the ashes in the ocean at some future date. No Catholic anything for this poor soul except the prayers after death which certainly count for something.

The two non-practicing Catholics are baby boomers, the confused Catholic generation. I think we are going to see a lot more of this sort of thing in the future. Sad!

THE PERFECT AD ORIENTEM MASS, FOLLOWING IN THE MOST EXPLICIT WAY SAYING THE BLACKING AND DOING THE RED WITH ADAPTATIONS FOR LOCAL CUSTOMS

Yes, Viginia, this is an Ordinary Form Mass celebrated completely by the books in an Extraordinary Form Mass sort of way and by Bishop Morlino of Madison, Wisconsin! And please notice that the young seem to be attracted to Catholicism of this kind!

But first, a rant and kudos. Cardinal Dolan is ranting that the drive-by media isn't reporting on the success of some law suits the Catholic Church has against the HHS mandate. What else is new? If the news isn't about celebrity, who cares?

But I must ask the Holy Catholic Church leaders in this country and other Catholic bloggers who have yet to comment on the bombshell news from the NCCB that we Catholics are "encouraged" to support the sanctity of life, the sanctity of marriage and religious liberty by: 1. fast and abstinence every Friday of the year; 2. A holy hour the last Sunday of each month; 3. Pray the Rosary every day; 4. add a prayer to the Universal prayer for life, liberty and marriage; 5. participate in 2013's fortnight of freedom.

Has anyone seen nary a mention of any of this anywhere else? Is there a news blackout? Just ranting and wondering!

Now two kudos:

1. British weekly notices growing popularity of traditional Catholicism: (And this has to be the quote of the year!): The Economist notices the rising popularity of the Latin Mass among the faithful in England, and remarks that the congregations seem disproportionately young. A magazine rarely sympathetic toward the Catholic Church, The Economist sees this trend toward traditionalism as a sign that something has gone wrong.

HERE'S THE BOMBSHELL QUOTE OF THE YEAR:

The return of the old rite causes quiet consternation among more modernist Catholics. Timothy Radcliffe, once head of Britain’s Dominicans, sees in it “a sort of ‘Brideshead Revisited’ nostalgia”. The traditionalist revival, he thinks, is a reaction against the “trendy liberalism” of his generation. Some swings of pendulums may be inevitable. But for a church hierarchy in Western countries beset by scandal and decline, the rise of a traditionalist avant-garde is unsettling. Is it merely an outcrop of eccentricity, or a sign that the church took a wrong turn 50 years ago? READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE HERE!

2. Bishop Morlino of Madison gave a homily on Ad Orientem worship. I wonder if he read my little old blog and the interest here about it? This is what he has to say:

Bishop Morlino gave another killer catechetical homily this last Sunday on the need for ad orientem in worship.

[The first reading] says, “look to the east and see your children gathered” meaning the children, the saints, of the new and heavenly Jerusalem. [...] The essence of waiting is waiting with your whole heart and soul. You’re turned in the direction that is that which you’re waiting for. And that gives your waiting a sure and certain hope, a beautiful hope. The prophet says “Look to the east.” Look toward heaven. Look toward the heavenly Jerusalem. And John the Baptist repeats the prophet in another place, saying: “Every valley will be made lifted up, every mountain will be leveled, and a straight way will be made to heaven so that all flesh will see the salvation of God.

Our advent waiting is a full intent directed waiting. Just as I look for dad up the street to make that turn around the [corner after work], so too we are looking to the east.

We have to be people who concretely, physically, look to the east. Now clearly, that doesn’t mean nobody can go to work or school tomorrow, because we’re going go spend the day looking toward the east. Our great opportunity to look east is here at the liturgy.

Pope Benedict says over and over again that to look toward the east means to turn toward the Lord. And that’s why it’s so important to have the crucifix front and center, both for the priest and for the people.

Because during Mass, I’m supposed to be looking toward the east, toward heaven. I’m not supposed to be trying to entertain you, or hold your attention in some way. I’m supposed to be looking toward the east. So it’s good that the crucifix is right there, so that I can’t see the people clearly, nor can they see me clearly. They’re not looking at me, the priest. They’re looking at Jesus Christ, the high priest, toward the east.

The crucifix on the altar, a big one, is not an obstruction. It’s there to help us live the very basics of our faith, including advent, which means looking toward the east, which is turning toward the Lord. And when we look at the crucifix, you from your side, I from my side, we’re all turned toward the Lord.

And I’m sure that the day will come when we will turn toward the Lord together, in even a more full way when we all face east, when we all turn toward the Lord in the same direction. And when we do that, that’s not the priest turning his back on the people, it’s the priest directing the people to look toward the east, to obey the prophetic word, to believe how concrete, real, physical and visible Jesus Christ was and is. How concrete, real, physical and visible is the last coming, from the east.

The east matters. It matters a lot. That’s why the creator gave us the sunrise from the east to remind us that from there, comes the light, who is Christ.

As we behold the flesh and blood of Christ, in the sacramental sign of the Eucharist, we are turned toward the east, as Jesus comes to use here in mystery, to remind ourselves that our whole life is an eager, prayerful waiting for him to come in majesty, waiting for him to come from the east, turning toward the Lord.


And now let's stop talking in academic, theoritical ways about the Ordinary Form of the Mass and ad orientem. This is Saint Joseph's perfect solution each Sunday at our 12:10 PM Mass and it is by the 2012 Roman Missal Book, with local adaptations of course!

And of course, I know there are those who insist on some Latin in the Ordinary Form done by the book as we did for the first time at our 12:10 PM Mass for the Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist. This was an experimental Mass for this normally scheduled Mass at our 12:10 PM Sunday Mass time slot that then enabled me to sprint forward with this Mass being ad orientem regularly at 12:10 PM:

MORE REFORM OF THE REFORM OF THE ORDINARY FORM OF THE HIGH SCHOOL CATHOLIC CHAPEL

A reader of my blog sent me a very nice email concerning my blog and also sent a link to Jesuit High School in New Orleans which has quite a stunning chapel for their school. Parishes should be so fortunate. You can look at the complete link HERE.

Here are a couple of photos of Jesuit High's chapel:
The big chapel:

And their small chapel:

And another from The New Liturgical Movement blog:
Chapel of Saint Joseph, and is located at the center of Saint Joseph High School in South Bend, Indiana:

OKAY, LET'S JUST GO BACK TO BASICS AND DESIGN THE MASS OF THE ORDINARY FORM COMPLETELY AD ORIENTEM

Ordinary Form Mass celebrated in an Extraordinary Form sort of way:

As the official Introit is sung, the Procession makes its way to the altar, the priest kisses it, and if incense is used, incenses it.

Then he goes to the foot of the altar and after the Introit is sung, he begins with the Sign of the Cross, Greeting and introduction to the Penitential Act at the Foot of the Altar.

He chooses the options that are available in the current OF.

After the absolution, He ascends the altar. If the Confiteor has been the chosen option, the Kyrie is begun once at the altar, otherwise the Gloria is intoned and sung with the priest at the middle of the altar.

After the Gloria, the priest turns to the faithful and sings or says, "Let us pray" then he goes to the Epistle side of the Altar to chant or say the Collect.

All are seated and the Liturgy of the Word takes place as usual in the Ordinary Form.

During the singing of the Gospel Acclamation, the Roman Missal is transferred as in the EF Mass, from the Epistle side to the Gospel side, the deacon or priest takes the book of the Gospel and processes to the ambo.

After the homily, the Credo is chanted or said at the center of the altar as well as the Universal prayer.

Then all are seated, the altar is prepared, the gifts brought forward and prepared and the Liturgy of the Eucharist and the Rite of Holy Communion are all ad orientem.

As Holy Communion is distributed, the vessels are cleansed at the altar, the Roman Missal is transferred to the Epistle side, the priest turns to the congregation, says, Let us Pray, goes to the Epistle side to chant or read the Post Communion Prayer, then goes to the center of the altar, facing the congregation and offers the final blessing in simple or solemn form and the deacon or priest chants or says the dismissal. They turn and kiss the altar and then join the procession for the recessional.

What about this? Is my Penitential Act at the Foot of the altar kosher and is it kosher even today to have the missal on the altar throughout Mass and using the Epistle and Gospel sides as I have described.

Keep in mind, nothing else is changed in the current English Roman Missal whatsoever.

THREE RATS, I MEAN, RANTS AND ONE KUDOS

My kudos is at the end of my first three rants, but this is a teaser. Compare this high school chapel (Cathedral High School on the left coast in San Diego, CA) which actually has a quite beautiful shell of a building with post-Vatican II blah liturgical sensibilities, completely utilitarian, mechanical and devoid of any real external call to piety and mystery. It looks as though it was designed by John Calvin to be a Presbyterian Church! In addition to its utilitarian and minimalistic design, where is the tabernacle? Compare this photo to the new Blessed John Paul II High School chapel in Huntsville, Alabama at the end of my three rants. The south rises again, but this time the Catholic south!

I'm really bummed out! My birthday is December 21st and I don't know if I should plan for it or not! The Vatican astronomer seems to think that the world won't end on that date. I'm inclined to believe him. However, the only reason I do believe him is that I'm suppose to turn 59 years old on the 21st. However, if I had been turning 60 years old on that date this year, truly the world would be ending.

You remember the "rats in the rectory" saga of just a couple of years ago. Well, we had a mouse in the house recently and our custodian set a couple of conventional mouse traps in the kitchen to get him. Well, it didn't do quite the job that the trap was suppose to do. The mouse was not killed but critically injured, unbeknownst to me. The poor little thing dragged himself under the refrigerator only to die an agonizing death. Then he began to rot! Keep in mind this rot was in our kitchen where our food is cooked and most of the time I eat my meals. Not very appetizing.

For my final rant, as I ate my supper in the kitchen on Tuesday night (my parochial vicar tells me he had to go to Buffalo, NY to visit an aunt until Saturday, but if he has a tan when he returns I'll be rather suspicious)from behind me I heard something rather large moving and gnawing. Of course, I still suffer from current and post traumatic stress syndrome as it concerns the rats in the rectory sagas, so I jumped out of my seat to try to listen more carefully. The movement and gnawing continued. It sounded like to me that it was in the wall behind the dishwasher. But it was hard to tell and it sounded bigger than a tiny mouse! I almost lost my appetite and had to move my plate from me with my back to the wall sitting at the table to the other side of the table so I could see the wall!

Keep in mind about three years ago we had a super-rat in the house who liked eating plastic. He was able to get behind the dishwasher and ate all the plastic piping behind it rendering the dishwasher unusable and I on the verge of institutionalization. This particular rat, (not to be confused with the one that was stalking me in the kitchen sometime later as well as in my office, not to mention my bedroom where in fact I think he stared at me as I slept!), knew his way through the walls of the house from the ground level of the house to the attic which would be four floors! In the attic there was a nest of them, called tree rats, and very large I might add, the size of sewer rats!, who gnawed their way into the attic. This particular rat liked plastic very much because in addition to eating the plastic piping of the dishwasher, he had dragged upstairs to the attic either from outside or from our kitchen (I suspect he found it outside) a plastic lid covering, very large, on the top of a deli tray you might buy at the deli for a party!

Now for the kudos. Have you seen some Catholic High School chapels like the first I post above. Usually these are very modern and do not have a sense of the sacred at all. Usually these chapels are very ugly. The New Liturgical Movement Blog is reporting on the new chapel at Huntsville, Alabama's Blessed John Paul II High School and the blog says:

Design and Furnishing of New High School Chapel, including all artwork, lighting, flooring, liturgical appointments, furniture, etc. The Franz Mayer Crucifix is from the former Visitation Academy in Wheeling, West Virginia and dates from the early 1860s. It was installed in the chapel at the height of the Civil War and hung there until 2011 when it was restored and transferred to the chapel here. The statues are also Franz Mayer and date from the same period. The custom altar, ambo, etc. are all of solid cherry. The altar features a Gothic-revival brass image of the Agnus Dei that was once part of an 1860s English reredos. The porcelain tile floors feature a parquet design in the nave and gray and white harlequin pattern in the sanctuary.

Now if this isn't the influence of the "reform of the reform of the ordinary form but within continuity" than I don't know what is! Kudos to Blessed John Paul II! I think this chapel is very inviting to high schoolers not only for Mass but private prayer, meditation, contemplation and public and private devotions. I don't think the extreme minimalistic and utilitarian example at the top invites any of that, so I suspect the chapel above is not used at all except for Mass. I think the Calvinists and the Presbyterians and some Baptists would like the first picture above and in fact I suspect they designed that chapel!

I'VE UPDATED MY HOPED-FOR REFORM OF THE REFORM OF THE ORDINARY FORM OF THE MASS

YOU CAN READ MY 12/12 UPDATE OF "THE REFORM OF THE REFORM OF THE ORDINARY FORM OF THE MASS IN CONTINUITY" BY PRESSING THIS SENTENCE. IT NOW INCLUDES A PENITENTIAL PRELUDE AT THE FOOT OF THE ALTAR, WHICH HAS TWO OPTIONS, EITHER THE ASPERGES OR THE PRAYERS AT THE FOOT OF THE ALTAR. THE ACTUAL MASS BEGINS FOLLOWING THE PENITENTIAL PRELUDE AT THE FOOT OF THE ALTAR, WITH THE SINGING OR SAYING OF THE INTROIT. I'VE ALSO REVERTED TO THE ORDINARY FORM'S CONFITEOR, PLACED THE KISS OF PEACE AFTER THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER AND COMBINED THE COMMUNION RITE OF THE PRIEST AND LAITY IN A MARVELOUSLY WONDERFUL REFORM OF THE REFORM BUT WITHIN CONTINUITY OF THE ORDINARY FORM OF THE MASS..

This EF in Sweden! The EF Mass will remain as the Ordinary Extraordinary Form of the Mass and will be the primary way that Latin is maintained and will be required in every parish that has more than two Sunday Masses or can be the Ordinary Form of the Mass for parishes who choose it with the local bishop's approval! HOWEVER, VATICAN II SENSIBILITIES IN TERMS OF THE UNITY OF THE PRIEST AND THE CONGREGATION ARE TO BE APPLIED TO IT AND ACTUAL PARTICIPATION AS UNDERSTOOD IN THE ORDINARY FORM, MEANING THE CONGREGATION TAKES ITS PARTS WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN NORMALLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE ALTAR SERVERS AND/OR CHOIR.

I DON'T KNOW HOW I MISSED THIS IN 1996, THE OXFORD DECLARATION ON THE LITURGY--BOMBSHELL? MAKES GOOD READING TODAY IN THE CONTEXT OF THE REFORM OF THE REFORM OF THE MASS IN CONTINUITY WITH OUR HERITAGE

THE OXFORD DECLARATION
(1996)
(The appearance of the Oxford Declaration and the immediate response to it is one indication of the fact that a revived liturgical movement is now gaining strength and confidence in England as well as the United States. The Declaration was published in the name of the Liturgy Forum of the Centre for Faith and Culture, constituted under the chairmanship of Mgr Peter J. Elliott, a Vatican official and author of Ceremonies of the Roman Rite, at the conclusion of the Centre's summer conference).

1. Reflecting on the history of liturgical renewal and reform since the Second Vatican Council, the Liturgy Forum agreed that there have been many positive results. Among these might be mentioned the introduction of the vernacular, the opening up of the treasury of the Sacred Scriptures, increased participation in the liturgy and the enrichment of the process of Christian initiation. However, the Forum concluded that the preconciliar liturgical movement as well as the manifest intentions of Sacrosanctum Concilium have in large part been frustrated by powerful contrary forces, which could be described as bureaucratic, philistine and secularist.

2. The effect has been to deprive the Catholic people of much of their liturgical heritage. Certainly, many ancient traditions of sacred music, art and architecture have been all but destroyed, Sacrosanctum Concilium gave pride of place to Gregorian chant, yet in many places this "sung theology" of the Roman liturgy has disappeared without trace. Our liturgical heritage is not a superficial embellishment of worship but should properly be regarded as intrinsic to it, as it is also to the process of transmitting the Catholic faith in education and evangelization. Liturgy cannot be separated from culture; it is the living font of a Christian civilization and hence has profound ecumenical significance.

3. The impoverishment of our liturgy after the Council is a fact not yet sufficiently admitted or understood, to which the necessary response must be a revival of the liturgical movement and the initiation of a new cycle of reflection and reform. The liturgical movement which we represent is concerned with the enrichment, correction and resacralization of Catholic liturgical practice. It is concerned with a renewal of liturgical eschatology, cosmology and aesthetics, and with a recovery of the sense of the sacred--mindful that the law of worship is the law of belief. This renewal will be aided by a closer and deeper acquaintance with the liturgical, theological and iconographic traditions of the Christian East.

4. The revived liturgical movement calls for the promotion of the Liturgy of the Hours, celebrated in song as an action of the Church in cathedrals, parishes, monasteries and families, and of Eucharistic Adoration, already spreading in many parishes. In this way, the Divine Word and the Presence of Christ's reality in the Mass may resonate throughout the day, making human culture into a dwelling place for God. At the heart of the Church in the world we must be able to find that loving contemplation, that adoring silence,which is the essential complement to the spoken word of Revelation, and the key to active participation in the holy mysteries of faith.

5. We call for a greater pluralism of Catholic rites and uses, so that all these elements of our tradition may flourish and be more widely known during the period of reflection and 'ressourcement' (going back to the sources) that lies ahead. If the liturgical movement is to prosper, it must seek to rise above differences of opinion and taste to that unity,which is the Holy Spirit's gift to the Body of Christ. Those who love the Catholic tradition in its fullness should strive to work together in charity, bearing each other's burdens in the light of the Holy Spirit, and persevering in prayer with Mary the Mother of Jesus.

6. We hope that any future liturgical reform would not be imposed on the faithful but would proceed, with the utmost caution and sensitivity to the sensus fidelium, from a thorough understanding of the organic nature of the liturgical traditions of the Church. Our work should be sustained by prayer, education and study. This cannot be undertaken in haste, or in anything other than a serene spirit. No matter what difficulties lie ahead, the glory of the Paschal Mystery - Christ's love, his cosmic sacrifice and his childlike trust in the Father - shines through every Catholic liturgy for those who have eyes to see, and in this undeserved grace we await the return of spring.

THERE ARE FREE STANDING ALTARS AND THEN THERE ARE FREE STANDING ALTARS

This is the free standing altar that was placed in front of the perfectly good old altar at St. Joseph Church from about 1968 to 2006"

This is the new altar installed in 2006 and "appears" to be the table part of the reredos that is behind it:

A bird's eye view:

I wonder how these gates would look in St. Joseph Church, Macon?

EVIDENTLY THE REFORM OF THE REFORM IS WORLD WIDE AND CERTAINLY LIKE A NEW PENTECOST SWEEPING THE HOLY SPIRIT'S WIND THROUGHOUT THE LITURGY

It appears that parishes, monasteries, religious houses and chapels which were renovated to accommodate the Vatican II Mass or at least add a table or another altar in front of a perfectly good altar was all unnecessary. What a waste of time, faith, energy and money! The reform of the reform within continuity continues to gain momentum and you never know where it will strike next!

A Chapel in Poland:

The unnecessary new altar that was placed in front of the perfectly good old altar

The old altar restored to new and the new altar, deposed

The new Mass on the same old altar, the way it should have been all along!

I wonder how this altar railing would look in Saint Joseph Church, Macon?

CAN THE POPE ACTING ALONE DO MORE THAN AN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL RECOMMENDED?

Yes, Pope Paul VI in issuing his revised Roman Missal had the authority to go above and beyond what Vatican II envisioned for the Roman Missal.

By the same token, Pope Benedict had/has the authority to revised the Roman Missal, allow for the 1962 version or any other version for that matter and could on his own authority actually revised the Pauline Missal to make it more like what Vatican II actually sought.

Or Pope Benedict could do what Pope Paul VI did and do something else altogether different.

What the pope cannot do is the change the faith and morals of the Church that are either defined dogma or doctrine. The pope cannot do something new if that new thing isn't within the Tradition of the Church, for example ordain women priests or bishops. He doesn't have the authority to do that.

Limitations on authority is good but having authority is good too when exercised under the parameters of Tradition.

A MODEST PROPOSAL FOR THE REFORM OF THE ORDINARY FORM OF THE MASS IN AN EXTRAORDINARY FORM SORT OF WAY BUT STILL RESPECTING VATICAN II AND SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM

UPDATED 12/12, I'VE TWEAKED THE INTRODUCTORY RITE AND COMMUNION RITE AND PLACED THE KISS OF PEACE IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE UNIVERSAL PRAYERS AND PRIOR TO THE OFFERTORY COLLECTION!

I firmly believe that we cannot and will not undo the last 50 years of the post-Vatican II experience. God will use it as He wills.

So, SC stated that we should keep Latin but have some vernacular, that there should be noble simplicity and that there should be actual participation which in part means that the laity take their vocal parts in some sections of the Mass once the domain of choirs, scholas and altar servers.

One to the things that I like about the Ordinary Form of the Mass and Vatican II is that we see all the baptized as a priestly people, meaning that we all worship God, although the Sacramental Priesthood has a function that is not accorded to the general priesthood of all the baptized. That distinction must be kept separate and dignified. But with that said, we should see the laity joining with the ordained priest who is a sacramental sign of Jesus Christ the Bridegroom of the Church and the High Priest. So the laity should take their parts and role as seriously and pro-actively as the ordained priest does. They should not be just passive spectators of what goes on beyond the altar railing if there is one in your church.

So, this is my revision of the Mass in the Ordinary Form.

I'm keeping the 2012 English version of the Roman Missal and only modifying the calendar as the Anglican Ordinariate has already done. So everything that is in the 2012 Roman Missal remains. The only change I would make is that the Introit be developed as in the Extraordinary Form with refrain, verse and Glory be (no Gloria be for Requiems). The Offertory Antiphon is reinserted in the Missal.

The major change is to the Order of the Mass. It reverts to the 1965 Order of Mass which is a slight modification of the 1962 missal.

I keep all the Eucharistic prayers and the only modification I make for any of them which are still to be spoken or chanted aloud is that there is a double genuflection after the consecration of both the Sacred Host and the Precious Blood. Also, I call for the profound bow on the altar for the consecrations.

I keep the Ordinary Form's Offertory prayers over the bread and wine, but reinsert some of the 1965 prayers at this point including the prayer to the Holy Trinity.

Of course the Mass is celebrated Ad Orientem. This version remains in English:

I. The procession either simple or solemn to the altar may be accompanied by instrumental music or a hymn. Both the Asperges or the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar are to be described as the "Penitential Prelude to the Mass."

II. THE ASPERGES

(The "Asperges" or sprinkling of holy water takes place before the principal Mass on Sundays and replaces the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar.)

Antiphon: Sprinkle me, O Lord, with hyssop, and I shall be purified; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (Ps. 50, 3) Have mercy upon me, O God, in Your goodness. V. Glory be, etc. - Sprinkle me, etc.

(During Passion Time, the "Glory Be" is omitted. During Paschaltime, substitute the following antiphon:)

Antiphon: I saw water coming forth from the temple, from the right side, alleluia: and all those were saved to whom that water came, and they shall say: alleluia, alleluia. (Ps. 117, 1) Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever. V. Glory be, etc. - I saw, etc.

P: Show us, O Lord, Your mercy. (P.T. Alleluia.)

C: And grant us Your salvation. (P.T. Alleluia.)

P: O Lord, hear my prayer.

C: And let my cry come to You.

P: The Lord be with you.

S: And with your spirit.

P: Let us pray.

Hear us, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God; and graciously send Your Holy Angel from heaven to watch over, to cherish, to protect, to abide with, and to defend all who dwell in this house. Through Christ our Lord.

S: Amen.

(Following the Asperges, the priest changes to chasuble, the introit is sung and the priest approaches the altar as he would after the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar, although omitted when the Asperges is sung)

II. If the Asperges is omitted, the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar spoken aloud in either a sung or spoken Masses after the procession and any music that accompanies the procession.

P: In the Name of the Father, + and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I will go to the altar of God.

Congregation: To God Who gives joy to my youth.

P: Our help is in the Name of the Lord.

C: Who made heaven and earth.

(My comment: I have both the priest and congregation saying the confiteor together rather than separately, but I have a double "absolution" as I think it is important for the congregation to offer the priest an absolution which the EF Mass has and is truly cool!)

Priest and Congregation together:

I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and what I have failed to do, (and striking their breast, they say:) though my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.

P: May Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you your sins, and bring you to life everlasting.

C: Amen

C: May Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you your sins, and bring you to life every lasting.

P: Amen.

P: May the Almighty and Merciful Lord grant us pardon, + absolution, and remission of our sins.

C: Amen.

P: O God, You will give us life again.

C: And Your people will rejoice in You.

P: Show us, O Lord, Your kindness.

C: And grant us Your salvation.

P: O Lord, hear my prayer.

C: And let my cry come to You.

P: The Lord be with you.

C: And with your spirit.

P: Let us pray.

(Going up to the altar, he prays silently:)

Take away from us our sins, O Lord, we beseech You, that we may enter with pure minds into the Holy of Holies. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Kissing the altar, he prays silently:)

We beseech You, O Lord, by the merits of Your Saints whose relics lie here, and of all the Saints: deign in your mercy to pardon me all my sins. Amen.

The Mass begins after the Penitential Prelude in either or its forms:

INTROIT

(In the sung Mass, the Introit begins as soon as the priest approaches the altar during his silent prayers, reverences it and incenses it. In spoken Masses, the Introit is spoken by all as soon as the priest kisses the altar and then goes to the Epistle side for it. The entire Mass is prayed at the altar as in the EF Mass, with the Epistle and Gospel side designations. After the Introit, either sung or spoken the priest goes to the center of the altar for the Kyrie, either sung or spoken.)

KYRIE (nine-fold)

GLORIA

COLLECT

P: The Lord be with you.

C: And with your spirit.

Through Christ our Lord.

C: Amen

LITURGY OF THE WORD AS IS IN THE ORDINARY FORM

(Prior to the Gospel the Priest says for himself or to the deacon quietly:)

Cleanse my heart and my lips, O Almighty God, Who cleansed the lips of the Prophet Isaiah with a burning coal. In Your gracious mercy deign so to purify me that I may worthily proclaim Your holy Gospel. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. Lord, grant Your blessing. The Lord be in my heart and on my lips, that I may worthily and fittingly proclaim His holy Gospel. Amen.

CREDO

UNIVERSAL PRAYER

THE KISS OF PEACE

P: The peace of the Lord be with you.

C: And with your spirit.

Deacon or Priest: In a holy and dignified way, let us offer each other the kiss of peace.

LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST:

Offertory Procession of offerings

Preparation Prayers

P: (Over the Bread: Blessed are you...(as currently in the OF Mass)

C: Blessed be God forever. (If prayer is said aloud, otherwise the priest prays his parts quietly).

Blessing and pouring of water said quietly by priest:

O God, Who established the nature of man in wondrous dignity, and still more admirably restored it, grant that through the mystery of this water and wine, we may be partakers of His Divinity, Who has condescended to become partaker of our humanity, Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord. Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.

P: (Over the wine: Bless are you...)

C: Blessed be God forever.

Washing of Hands, said quietly by the priest:

I wash my hands in innocence, and I go around Your altar, O Lord, giving voice to my thanks, and recounting all Your wondrous deeds. O Lord, I love the house in which You dwell, the tenting-place of Your glory. Gather not my soul with those of sinners, nor with men of blood my life. On their hands are crimes, and their right hands are full of bribes. But I walk in integrity; redeem me, and have pity on me. My foot stands on level ground; in the assemblies I will bless You, O Lord. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Prayer to the Holy Trinity, prayed quietly by priest:

Accept, Most Holy Trinity, this offering which we are making to You in remembrance of the Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus Christ, our Lord; and in honor of Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, Blessed John the Baptist, the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and of these, and of all the Saints; that it may add to their honor and aid our salvation; and may they deign to intercede in heaven for us who honor their memory here on earth. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

ORATE FRATRES

Prayer over the Offerings

Preface Dialogue and Preface

Sanctus

Eucharist Prayer (any contained currently in the Ordinary Form Missal. The only rubrical change is that there are double genuflections at both consecrations and that the priest genuflects each time the pall is removed from the consecrated Precious Blood, with specific rubrics for the pall).

Mystery of Faith

Great Amen

RITE OF HOLY COMMUNION

The Lord's Prayer (all)

Our Father, Who art in heaven, * hallowed be Thy name; * Thy kingdom come; * Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. * Give us this day our daily bread; * and forgive us our trespasses * as we forgive those who trespass against us; * and lead us not into temptation, * but deliver us from evil.

P: Deliver us, we beg You, O Lord, from every evil, past, present, and to come; and by the intercession of the Blessed and glorious ever Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, of Andrew, and all the Saints, in Your mercy grant peace in our days, that by Your compassionate aid we may be ever free from sin and sheltered from all turmoil. Through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.

C: Amen.

P: May the peace of the Lord be always with you.

C: And with your spirit.

(The priest puts a small particle into the chalice, saying:)

May this mingling and consecration of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ help us who receive it to life everlasting. Amen.

Agnus Dei (all)

PRIEST'S PRAYERS BEFORE HOLY COMMUNION RECITED DURING THE AGNUS DEI WHEN SUNG

KNEEL

(Then inclining toward the altar, priest says silently:)

O Lord Jesus Christ, Who said to Your Apostles: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you,” regard not my sins but the faith of Your Church, and deign to give her peace and unity according to Your Will: Who live and reign, God, forever and ever. Amen.

O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, Who, by the will of the Father, with the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, have by Your death given life to the world, deliver me by this Your Most Sacred Body and Blood from all my sins and from every evil. Make me always cling to Your commandments, and never permit me to be separated from You. Who with the same God the Father and the Holy Spirit, live and reign, God, forever and ever. Amen.

Let not the partaking of Your Body, O Lord Jesus Christ, which I, though unworthy, presume to receive, turn to my judgment and condemnation; but through Your goodness, may it become a safeguard and an effective remedy, both of soul and body. You Who live and reign with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.

THE COMMUNION RITE MORE CLOSELY ALIGNED TO THE CURRENT ORDINARY FORM'S

(Holding up a Sacred Host OVER THE CHALICE AND FACING THE CONGREGATION, the priest says:)

P: Behold the Lamb of God, * behold Him Who takes away the sins of the world, Blessed are those called to the Supper of the Lamb.

P&C: (three times): Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. * Speak but the word and my soul will be healed.

(The priest turns back to the altar to receive Holy Communion himself first:)

Priest: I will take the Bread of heaven, and call upon the name of the Lord.

May the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my soul to life everlasting. Amen.

(The priest reverently consumes the Sacred Host.)

What return shall I make to the Lord for all He has given me? I will take the Chalice of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord. Praising I will call upon the Lord and I shall be saved from my enemies.

May the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my soul to life everlasting. Amen.

(The priest reverently consumes the Precious Blood.)

Communion antiphon and Hymns begin as soon as the priest turns back to the altar to receive.

(The Communicants receive at the altar railing kneeling and by way of intinction:)

P/EMC: The Body of Christ and Blood of Christ.

Communicant: Amen.

(The priest purifies chalice with wine, saying:)

What has passed our lips as food, O Lord, may we possess in purity of heart, that what is given to us in time, be our healing for eternity.

(He purifies his fingers with wine and water, saying:)

May Your Body, O Lord, which I have eaten, and Your Blood which I have drunk, cleave to my very soul, and grant that no trace of sin be found in me, whom these pure and holy mysteries have renewed. You who live and reign, forever and ever. Amen.

THE PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION

STAND

P: The Lord be with you.

C: And with your spirit.

P: Let us pray.

…forever and ever.

C: Amen.

THE BLESSING

KNEEL

(The priest remaining at the Epistle side of the altar, following the Post-Communion Prayer, turns to the congregation for the blessing, either solemn or simple.)

P: May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen.

The priest turns back to the altar, goes to its center and prays silently the placeat:

May the tribute of my worship be pleasing to You, Most Holy Trinity, and grant that the sacrifice which I, all unworthy, have offered in the presence of Your Majesty, may be acceptable to You, and through Your mercy obtain forgiveness for me and all for whom I have offered it. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

(After the Placeat, the priest kisses the altar, turns to the congregation at the center of the altar:)

THE DISMISSAL

P: The Lord be with you.

C: And with your spirit.

Deacon (or Priest): Go in peace glorifying the Lord by your life.

C: Thanks be to God.

Recessional Hymn