Qui Locutus - Formerly The CathApol Blog - a Catholic Apologetics Blog
Defending the Faith and keeping Catholics Catholic!
Scott Windsor, MEd. - aka: CathApol
Our priest today, who happens to be French, taught us today that this is kind of a French Feast Day. It started in France in the 9th century, there-abouts, and was not approved by Rome until the 14th century, stating "every Sunday is a celebration of the Trinity." Our priest chuckled, then in the 14th century they elected a French pope - and he declared it to be a feast day for the whole Church.
Today we celebrate one of the foundations of Christianity - Three Divine Persons in One God. It is an extraordinary feast which we celebrate in Ordinal Time, the First Sunday After Pentecost.
I was just viewing a Bible study online with Fr. Bill Halbing which brought back memories of the Jewish Studies course my wife and I took several years ago with Rabbi Perlmutter. One thing which caught my eye, which I didn't quite get from the previous course we took, comes from the three main feasts in Judaism:
Pasach - or Passover - coincides with Good Friday.
Pentecost - In Christianity we use the same name - coincides with Christ going into Heaven.
Sukkoth - Feast of huts, or tents - the harvest - coincides with Christ's second coming.
Fr. Halbing then points out - these refer to "Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again." Something which is proclaimed in the Ordinary Rite just after the Mystery of Faith which is the Consecration of the Eucharist. It is good to remind everyone, the Mystery of Faith is NOT "Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again," for those are two statements of history and one of prophecy and there is no real mystery here. The Mystery of Faith, in the context of the Mass, is the Consecration of the Eucharist where mere bread and wine are substantially transformed into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ - THAT is the Mystery of Faith! But, to reiterate Fr. Halbing's point - that which is professed during the Ordinary Rite of the Mass comes to us from our Jewish heritage.
I have not finished this online Bible study yet myself, but thus far I am finding it quite interesting. If you are interested, I am including the video (and a link) below.
Fr. Halbing also does live Zoom meetings on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. You can find more information here: http://www.godswordalivetoday.org/
The Feast of Corpus Christi was celebrated last Sunday - the actual Feast Day was last Thursday, May 31st. Due to the nature of this Feast - the celebration is moved to a Sunday. It falls on the Second Sunday after Pentecost by the Traditional ordinal/counting; or by the post-concilliar "ordinary" counting, this year it was the ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time. (This can change, depending on how many Sundays there are after Epiphany before Lent begins).
This is a magnificent feast day for it is one in which we celebrate that which truly separates us from nearly all Protestants. It is on this day that we celebrate the Real Presence of Jesus Christ, body, blood, soul and divinity, in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. This celebration is anything BUT "ordinary" by the "ordinary" use of the term (but I digress, more on this in a later posting).
We, Catholics, celebrate and honor the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist as truly the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ because that is what it is and what Scripture tells us it is! Scripture tells us to receive this Holy Communion "unworthily" is guilty of the body and blood of the Lord:
Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. (1 Cor. 11:27).
And why?
For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord. (1 Cor. 11:29 emphasis added).
It has long puzzled me as to WHY most Protestants "don't get this!" This is not the use of symbolism, it is stating that the eating and drinking of THAT bread and drink (that which was just consecrated by the words a few verses earlier: 1 Cor. 11:23-25) in an unworthy manner brings judgment upon that person for what? For not discerning the body of the Lord! It doesn't get much clearer, my friends!
The logical conclusions we can draw from this are at least:
That which Protestants celebrate in "Communion" is NOT "THIS bread or drink" for why would they deliberately eat and drink judgment upon themselves. I say this because Protestants, with very few exceptions (Anglican) deny that the bread and wine (if they even use real wine) are not REALLY the body and blood of Christ - but only symbols. Scripture does not say the unworthy reception of THIS bread and wine results in judgment for not discerning the symbols of Jesus' body and blood - but for not discerning His body and blood, period.
That which Protestants celebrate is NOT "THIS bread or drink" because they have no authority to consecrate being that they are not part of a valid apostolic succession which has this authority. Thus, their celebration truly is "just a memorial" or is "symbolic."
By any logic it seems they should come home to that which their ancestors protested against when they LEFT the Catholic Church sometime within the last 500 years.
On January 1st, we, the Catholic Church, celebrate the Solemnity of the Holy Mother of God. Why does this declaration make so many so uncomfortable? Mary is the mother of Jesus. We have declared what Jesus declared--that He is God. His human mother, Mary, bore the God-man. This solemnity, while a Marian Feast day, celebrates Christ's Godhead as well. Every feast, every holy day, every title given to Mary is in honor of her Son.
495 Called in
the Gospels "the mother of Jesus", Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at
the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as
"the mother of my Lord".144 In fact, the One whom she
conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according
to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second
person of the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that Mary is
truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos).145 144 Lk 1:43; Jn 2:1; 19:25; cf. Mt 13:55; et al.
145 Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.
The Solemnity of the Holy Mother of God
115. On New Year's Day, the octave day of Christmas, the Church
celebrates the Solemnity of the Holy Mother of God. The divine and
virginal motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a singular salvific
event: for Our Lady it was the foretaste and cause of her extraordinary
glory; for us it is a source of grace and salvation because "through
her we have received the Author of life"(127).
The solemnity of the 1 January, an eminently Marian feast, presents an
excellent opportunity for liturgical piety to encounter popular piety: the
first celebrates this event in a manner proper to it; the second, when
duly catechised, lends joy and happiness to the various expressions of
praise offered to Our Lady on the birth of her divine Son, to deepen our
understanding of many prayers, beginning with that which says: "Holy
Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners". [From the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy]
We celebrate Mary's motherhood, Jesus Christ's Godhood, and the eternal connection between mother and Son.
If you're Catholic, don't forget to go to Mass tomorrow. If you're Christian of any other kind, think about Christ, His mother, and the message of peace on earth this day.
The Holy See shares the profound aspirations of man for peace. Since
1967, 1 January has been designated "world day for peace". [from sec. 117 of the Directory cited above]
Mary and the Christ Child by Raphael
Immaculate Mary, hymn whose author is unknown, using a traditional french tune:
Immaculate Mary, thy praises we sing,
who reignest in splendor with Jesus our King.
Ave, ave, ave, Maria, ave, ave Maria.
In heaven, the blessed thy glory proclaim;
On earth, we thy children invoke thy fair name.
Ave, ave, ave Maria, ave, ave Maria.
Thy name is our power, thy virtues our light,
They love is our comfort, thy pleading our might.
Ave, ave, ave Maria, ave, ave Maria.
We pray for our mother, the Church upon earth;
And bless, dearest Lady, the land of our birth.
Ave, ave, ave, Maria, ave, ave Maria.
1 - Immaculate Mary, thy praises we sing,
who reignest in splendor with Jesus our King.
Refrain: Ave, Ave, Ave Maria, Ave, Ave Maria.
2 - In heaven, the blessed thy glory proclaim;
On earth, we thy children invoke thy fair name.
3 - Thy name is our power, thy virtues our light,
Thy love is our comfort, thy pleading our might.
4 - We pray for our mother, the Church upon earth;
And bless, dearest Lady, the land of our birth. - See more at: http://www.wf-f.org/SolemnityMary.html#sthash.j52u9gfT.dpuf
My son and wife during our trip to Italy in 2010 in front of St. John Lateran, "The Pope's Cathedral."
Today we celebrate the Dedication of the
Lateran Basilica in Rome on 9th November 324 AD by Pope St. Sylvester.
Every bishop has a cathedral, and the Pope’s cathedral is the Basilica
of St. Johns Lateran, not the Basilica of St. Peter. Hence it bears the
title Omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater, et caput (the mother of
all the churches in the city and in the world – and their head). The
Laterani palace was donated to Pope by Constantine, the first Christian
Roman Emperor. The first church built in that property was called the
Basilica of the Savior. Later the Church was dedicated to St. John the
Baptist and St. John the Evangelist and so it was called the Basilica of
St. Johns Lateran. The central theme of today’s readings is the warning
that, as baptized Christians, we are the temples of God where the
Spirit of God, the real Source of all spiritual blessings, dwells and
that we should not desecrate the temple of God by sin. Read more here...
St. Clare of Assisi was placed in a monastery by St. Francis. Besides being the founder of the "Poor Clares" she is known for a miracle in 1240 wherein as Muslims were invading and attacking the monastery she prayed to Jesus before the Blessed Sacrament and for "reasons unknown" the Saracen mercenaries turned and fled. This happened again in 1241 when troops of Vitalis d'Aversa attacked Assisi and were turned away after Clare prayed before the Blessed Sacrament. Legend has it that she held up the monstrance before the attacking troops and they fled, thus she is often portrayed holding a monstrance.
St. Anne, Mother of the Immaculate Conception and Grandmother to our Lord and God, Jesus Christ! It was in the womb of St. Anne that the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived and preserved from the stain of Original Sin. The definition of the Immaculate Conception does not state that Mary was preserved entirely from Original Sin, but only from the stain of it - she did inherit the penalty of it in that she died, and in death she too was in need of her Redeemer whom is found in her Son.
SAINT ANTHONY OF PADUA Confessor and Doctor of the Church
Jesus, the pursuing shepherd of souls, follows and sustains each person in his worst battles with the world, the flesh, and the devil. Even when, ignoring Christ's presence and rejecting His grace, a man chooses to sin, Jesus does not abandon the sinner but gives him the graces of sorrow and of confidence in God's forgiveness. Following Christ's example, the Pope continues to shepherd souls by making himself the "servant of the servants of God."
DOUBLE / WHITE
INTROIT Ps. 24:16, 18Look upon me, O Lord, and have pity on me, for I am alone and desolate. See my poverty and my pain, and pardon all my sins, O my God. Ps. 24:1-2. I have lifted up my soul to You, O Lord, in You I place my trust, O my God. Let me not be put to shame.
V. Glory be . . . COLLECT O God, You are the protector of all who trust in You, and without You nothing is strong, nothing is holy. Be even more merciful towards us, and rule and guide us that we may use the good things of this life in such a way as not to lose the blessings of eternal life. Through our Lord . . . Commemoration of SAINT ANTHONY Anthony Padua (1195-1231), a native of Portugal, was inspired to enter the Franciscan Order on the occasion of the translation of the relics of the first Franciscan martyrs from Morocco to Coimbra. Anthony was soon assigned to Africa, but he had scarcely landed there when he fell desperately ill. After his forced return to Europe, his superiors discovered his marvelous power as a preacher, and with it his profound grasp of Sacred Scripture ( later Pope Gregory IX called him the "Ark of the Testament"). Under the guidance of St. Francis, he began his phenomenal preaching apostolate in Italy and France. Although his life offers no satisfactory explanation for his subsequent cult as the saint to be invoked for lost articles, his sermons certainly brought immediate results in reformed lives. Anthony died at the age of 36, and was canonized within the year.
O God, let the Church rejoice on the occasion of the solemn commemoration of Your blessed confessor and doctor Anthony. May she always be protected by Your divine help so that her members may one day be worthy of eternal happiness. Through our Lord . . . EPISTLE I Peter 5:6-11 Beloved: Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
GRADUAL Ps. 54:23, 17, 19 Cast your care upon the Lord and He will support you.
V. When I called upon the Lord, He heard my voice and delivered me from those who war against me.
Alleluia, alleluia! V. Ps. 7:12 God is a just judge, strong and patient. Shall He be angry all the time? Alleluia!
GOSPEL Luke 15:1-10 At that time, the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them."So he told them this parable: "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
"Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents." OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Ps. 9:11-12, 13 Let those trust in You who cherish Your name, O Lord, for You do not forsake those who seek you. Sing praise to the Lord, enthroned in Sion, for He has not forgotten the cry of the poor.
SECRETO Lord, look with favor upon the offerings of Your Church as she prays to You. Bless these gifts, that the faithful who receive them may attain salvation. Through our Lord . . .
Commemoration of SAINT ANTHONY May this offering aid the salvation of Your people, O Lord, for whom You have willed to offer Yourself as a living victim in sacrifice; who lives and rules with the same God the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God. COMMUNION ANTIPHON Luke 15:10 I say to you, there will be joy among the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
POSTCOMMUNIONO Lord, let the reception of Your Holy Sacrament bring us to life, atone for our sins, and prepare us to receive Your unfailing mercy. Through our Lord . . .
Commemoration of SAINT ANTHONY Nourished with Your Divine Gift, O Lord, we ask that we may feel the effect of Your life-giving sacrifice through the merits and intercession of Your blessed confessor and doctor Anthony. Through our Lord . . .
OK, the above is the lectionary according to the Extraordinary Rite, I take no credit for that, and now for my blog/commentary....
For "Traditional Catholics" this Sunday is anything but "ordinary." It is the Third Sunday after Pentecost (a continual reminder during this season of the birth of the Catholic Church), plus it is the Commemoration of St. Anthony of Padua - AND it is within the octave (within 8 days) of the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus! This Sunday seems a "special" day according to the Extraordinary Rite - but to look at what our bishops have in the Ordinary Rite - the "Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time" does seem quite "ordinary." Check out the link and see if you agree with me. There are certain parts of our heritage which should not have been tampered with. As more and more of us return to the Extraordinary Rite - perhaps more and more bishops will get the message.
As God Himself was hidden in the flesh of man - so too is the flesh of man hidden in the Eucharist. The Eucharist is God physically present with us through this great Mystery of Faith. A presence not possible in any Protestant church - and utterly rejected by nearly all of them - yet it is and has been a foundational teaching of THE Church beginning with Scripture and throughout the Early Church Fathers.
June 23rd is the actual feast day, but it is permissible for the bishops to "move" such feasts to the nearest Sunday, and most bishops do this for the Feast of Corpus Christi.
