Mass in the Catacombs during the Persecutions
by VP
Posted on Thursday June 29, 2023 at 11:09AM in Tradition
1. The traditional Roman liturgy of the Mass was the liturgy of our Catholic ancestors. It was the form of the Mass with which most of the European nations (except some Eastern European countries and the Ambrosian and Mozarabic rites), all American nations, and most of the African, Asian, and Oceanian nations were evangelized.
2. “What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too” (Pope Benedict XVI).
3. “The problem with the new Missal lies in its abandonment of an ever-continuous history, before and after St. Pius V, and in the creation of a thoroughly new book (albeit compiled of old material)” (Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger).
4. The new Missal’s “publication was accompanied by a kind of prohibition of all that came before it, which is unheard-of in the history of ecclesiastical law and liturgy” (Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger).
5. “I can say with certainty, based on my knowledge of the conciliar debates and my repeated reading of the speeches made by the Council Fathers, that this [i.e., the reform as it is now in the new Missal] does not correspond to the intentions of the Second Vatican Council” (Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger).
6. The traditional Roman liturgy of the Mass was the liturgy of all the Latin-rite Saints whom we know at least during the entire last millenium; hence its age is millennial. Although commonly called the “Tridentine” Mass, the exact same form of the Mass was already in use several centuries before the Council of Trent, and that Council asked only to canonize that venerable and doctrinally sure form of the liturgy of the Roman Church.
7. The traditional Roman liturgy of the Mass has the closest affinity with the Eastern rites in bearing witness to the universal and uninterrupted liturgical law of the Church: “In the Roman Missal of Saint Pius V, as in several Eastern liturgies, there are very beautiful prayers through which the priest expresses the most profound sense of humility and reverence before the Sacred Mysteries: they reveal the very substance of the Liturgy” (Pope John Paul II).
8. The Pope and the bishops do not have, therefore, the authority to forbid or to limit such a venerable form of the Holy Mass, which was offered by the Saints for over a thousand years, in the same way as the Pope or the Bishops would not have the authority to forbid or significantly reform the venerable form of the Apostolic or Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, precisely because of their venerable, continuous, and millennium-old use.
9. Complying with the abusive prohibition of that venerable form of the Mass of the Saints, issued unfortunately by current churchmen in a time of unprecedented ecclesial crisis, would constitute a false obedience.
10. Noncompliance with the prohibitions of the traditional Mass does not make one, by that fact, schismatic, provided one continues to recognize the Pope and the bishops and continues to respect them, and pray for them.
11. In disobeying formally such an unheard-of prohibition of an inalienable patrimony of the Roman Church, one in fact obeys the Catholic Church of all ages and all the Popes who diligently celebrated and commanded the preservation of that venerable and canonized form of the Mass.
12. The current prohibition of the traditional rite of the Mass is a temporary phenomenon and will cease. The Roman Church is experiencing today a kind of liturgical exile, i.e., the traditional Latin Mass has been exiled from Rome; yet the exile will, for sure, one day come to an end.
13. Since the traditional Latin Mass has been in uninterrupted use for more than a millennium, sanctified by universal reception over time, by the Saints and by the Roman Pontiffs, it belongs to the inalienable patrimony of the Roman Church. Consequently, in the future the Roman Pontiffs will without doubt once again recognize and re-establish the use of that traditional liturgy of the Mass.
14. Future Popes will thank all priests and faithful who, in difficult times, notwithstanding all pressures and false accusations of disobedience, and in a spirit of sincere love for the Church and for the honor of the Holy See, maintained and transmitted the great liturgical treasure of the traditional Mass for future generations.
Source: One Peter Five
Feast of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus - Thursday within the Octave of the Sacred Heart (1921)
by VP
Posted on Thursday June 22, 2023 at 12:06PM in Tradition
Allegory of the Holy Eucharist by Miguel Cabrera, 1750 pd
"Out of devotion to the Holy Eucharist and the Passion of Christ grew the devotion to the Sacred heart of Jesus with its feast and that of the S. Priesthood of Christ (Octave of Corpus Christi), and the more recent feast (1921) of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus on the Thursday following the third Sunday after Easter. (American Ecclesiastical Review V 68, 1923 page 470)
"This devotion does not substantially differ from the ordinary devotion to the Sacred Heart. It merely emphasizes the act of supreme love of the Heart in bestowing the gift of the Holy Eucharist upon us." The Raccolta
On 9 November 1921, Pope Benedict XV instituted the feast of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus to be celebrated on the Thursday within the Octave of the Sacred Heart with a Proper Mass and Office. The feast continues to be celebrated in some places. In instituting the feast, Pope Benedict XV wrote: "The chief reason of this feast is to commemorate the love of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the mystery of the Eucharist. By this means the Church wishes more and more to excite the faithful to approach this sacred mystery with confidence, and to inflame their hearts with that divine charity which consumed the Sacred Heart of Jesus when in His infinite love He instituted the Most Holy Eucharist, wherein the Divine Heart guards and loves them by living with them, as they live and abide in Him. For in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist He offers and gives Himself to us as victim, companion, nourishment, viaticum, and pledge of our future glory." The Raccolta
"122. It is likewise Our most fervent desire that all who profess themselves Christians and are seriously engaged in the effort to establish the kingdom of Christ on earth will consider the practice of devotion to the Heart of Jesus as the source and symbol of unity, salvation and peace. Let no one think, however, that by such a practice anything is taken from the other forms of piety with which Christian people, under the guidance of the Church, have honored the divine Redeemer. Quite the opposite. Fervent devotional practice towards the Heart of Jesus will beyond all doubt foster and advance devotion to the Holy Cross in particular, and love for the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. We can even assert - as the revelations made by Jesus Christ to St. Gertrude and to St. Margaret Mary clearly show - that no one really ever has a proper understanding of Christ crucified to whom the inner mysteries of His Heart have not been made known. Nor will it be easy to understand the strength of the love which moved Christ to give Himself to us as our spiritual food save by fostering in a special way the devotion to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, the purpose of which is - to use the words of Our predecessor of happy memory, Leo XIII - "to call to mind the act of supreme love whereby our Redeemer, pouring forth all the treasures of His Heart in order to remain with us till the end of time, instituted the adorable Sacrament of the Eucharist."(122) For "not the least part of the revelation of that Heart is the Eucharist, which He gave to us out of the great charity of His own Heart."(123). (Encyclical Haurietis Aquas Pope Pius XII May 15, 1956).
Proper Prayers for the Mass in the Extraordinary form for the Feast of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus
Prayer:
Heart of Jesus in the Eucharist, sweet companion in our exile, I adore Thee.
Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, I adore Thee.
Heart solitary, I adore Thee.
Heart humiliated, I adore Thee.
Heart abandoned, I adore Thee.
Heart forgotten, I adore Thee.
Heart despised, I adore Thee.
Heart outraged, I adore Thee.
Heart ignored by men, I adore Thee.
Heart, lover of our hearts, I adore Thee.
Heart desirous of being loved, I adore Thee.
Heart patient in waiting for us, I adore Thee.
Heart eager to hear us, I adore Thee.
Heart longing to be prayed to, I adore Thee.
Heart source of new graces, I adore Thee.
Heart wrapped in silence, desiring to speak to souls, I adore Thee.
Heart, the sweet refuge of the hidden life. I adore Thee.
Heart, teacher of the secrets of union with God, I adore Thee.
Heart of Him Who sleeps yet ever watches, I adore Thee.
Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, have pity on us,
Jesus, Victim, I desire to console Thee,
I unite myself to Thee, and sacrifice myself with Thee. I
I annihilate myself in Thy presence. I adore Thee.
I would forget myself to be mindful of Thee.
I would be forgotten and despised for love of Thee.
And be neither understood nor love, except by Thee.
I will silence myself to listen to Thee, I will abandon myself to lose myself in Thee.
Grant that I may thus appease Thy thirst, the thirst for my sanctification and salvation, and that being purified I am bestow on Thee a pure and true love. I would not longer weary Thy patience; take possession of me, I give myself to Thee.
I offer Thee all my actions, my intellect to be illuminated by Thee, my heart to be guided by Thee, my will to be made strong, my soul and body to be nourished, my misery to be lightened. Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, whose blood is the life of my soul, may it be no longer I that live but do thou alone live in me. Amen. Blessed Sacrament Book Fr. Francis Xavier Lasance. page 676
Resources:
- The Eucharistic Christ: Reflections and Considerations on the Blessed Sacrament By Fr Albert Tesnière (PDF) 1897
- The Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, Readings for the Month of June, by Fr. Albert Tesnière 1928
- A Neglected Gem in the Traditional Roman Missal: The Eucharistic Heart of Jesus by Peter Kwasniewski, PhD
Sunday for Priests
by VP
Posted on Sunday June 18, 2023 at 10:43AM in Tradition
O Holy Spirit, Creator, be propitious to the Catholic Church; and by Thy heavenly power make it strong and secure against the attacks of its enemies; and renew in charity and grace the spirit of Thy servants, whom Thou has anointed, that they may glorify Thee and the Father and His Only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. amen.
Manual of prayers to the Holy Ghost by Very Rev. Fr. Felix of Jesus 1941
Summer Ember Saturday: The Heart of Jesus sending us the Gift of Fear
by VP
Posted on Saturday June 03, 2023 at 12:00AM in Tradition
Meditation for Ember Saturday:
"And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God: whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption." (Eph. iv. 30.)
1st
Point.-Love is the fruit of knowledge, and fear is the golden shield
which protects love. Consider what a holy, beautiful, precious gift is
fear. There can be no deep love without fear. True love must always be
based upon reverence, and reverence is but another word for fear. It is
said of Jesus, in His adorable Humanity, that "He was heard for His
reverence." (Heb. v. 7.) The souls who love most deeply, generally are
most full of fear; but it is the fear of intense reverence, not
the fear of slavish dread, for that fear is "cast out by perfect
charity." He that feareth with the fear of a servant, is not "perfected
in charity" (1 John, iv. 18); but he who fears with the reverence of a
child, has attained its highest consummation. Oh, let us pray for this
golden gift, and give no rest, by our urgent importunity, until we have
obtained it!
2nd Point. This fear manifests itself, when most
perfect, in an interior dread of "grieving the Holy Spirit of God." It
is the fruit of burning love; and in souls who are far advanced in
charity, its manifestations are surpassingly beautiful. They speak in
their hearts all day long to Jesus, and Jesus speaks to them; not always
with evident sensible consolation, but with a distinctness often
accompanied with extreme dryness and darkness, which may perhaps be sent
as a balance to this unspeakable favor. They scarcely commit an
imperfection, ere it is distinctly pointed out to them; and the love
that burns so strongly within them, excites their fear, and they suffer,
as only such souls can suffer, from intense fear, lest they should
grieve their Beloved. To such souls there is no fear like the fear of
grieving the object. of their love; yet, because of their familiarity
with Him, they are often supposed to fear less than those who love less.
3rd
Point. This gift also manifests itself in another form, in souls who
are not so much led by personal love to Jesus. In them it is simply fear or
awe of God and of His judgments; and such souls walk very blamelessly
before Him, but rather from the love of fear, than from the fear of
love. Let us pray to-day, as the octave of gifts closes upon us-let us
pray above all things for holy fear: God will impart the gift to each
soul in the way best suited to promote its perfection. The Spirit is our
"seal unto the day of redemption." Oh, let us beware how we break or
cast from us that blessed seal! Let us begin a new life of prayer to the
Third Person of the ever-blessed Trinity; let us try to convince
ourselves firmly of the importance of His office, and of the immense
importance of invoking His help daily as our Teacher and our Comforter.
Source: Meditations for Advent and Easter, p 280
Hymns, readings and prayers for this Whit Embertide:
Veni, Sancte Spiritus (Come, Thou Holy Spiritus, come)
Veni, Creator Spiritus, (Come Holy Spirit, Creator Blest)
Readings:
Ember Saturday:
Leviticus, 23. 9-11, 15-17, 21
Saint Paul to the Romans, 5. 1-5
Prayers:
An excellent prayer for this purpose is the Litany of the Saints, in which so many bishops, priests, and levites are invoked; or the Rosary may be appropriately said, grouping those for whom we pray into five
classes, corresponding to the five decades.
Prayers for Ember Days:
Listen, Almighty God, we beseech Thee, to the prayers which Thy universal Church offers to Thee at this time, beseeching Thy blessing on those who are about to be admitted to Thy Holy Service of the Altar, in particular on Deacon Nicolas Rapkoch. Give Thy grace to all who are called to any office and administration amongst Thy clergy, and so replenish them with the truth of Thy doctrine, and indue them with innocence of life, that they may faithfully serve Thee, to the glory of Thy great name and the benefit of Thy Holy Church. Amen
O
God, of Whose mercies there is no number, and of Whose goodness the
treasure is infinite, we humbly thank Thee for the gifts thou hast
bestowed upon us. Continue Thy mercy to us, and give us also so much of
Thy temporal blessings as Thou knowest to be for our good.
Grant that
the fruits of the earth may, by Thy holy favor, increase and multiply.
Defend them from all drought, frosts or tempests, or whatever else may
be hurtful to them. It is from Thy hand only that we look for succor,
and to Thee we have recourse in all our necessities. Amen.
Source: St. John's Manual 1856, Archbishop of New York John J. Hugues
Summer Ember Friday: The Heart of Jesus Sending us the gift of Piety
by VP
Posted on Friday June 02, 2023 at 12:00AM in Tradition
Meditation for Friday in Whitsun Week:
"Be ye therefore followers of God, as most dear children and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath delivered Himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odor of sweetness." (Eph. v. 1, 2.)
1st Point. The gift of piety is the very soul of devotion. It is an intense filial love of God which leads us to "walk in love, as most dear children.” Oh, blessed gift! Oh, precious gift! Gift which the world cannot know or understand! Gift which is bestowed in the richest abundance on the most saintly souls! "Be ye therefore followers of God, as most dear children." Oh, how the heart of the great apostle burned with love as he wrote these words! "Be ye therefore." Wherefore? Because, as he tells us in the preceding words, "God hath forgiven you in Christ." This is the reason why we are to be followers of God, as most dear children. We are very dear indeed to God, for our purchase has cost Him the life and the blood of His only Son. We slew Him, it is true; but for all that God has forgiven us in Christ, and He only seeks now, in return for all His love, that we should be "followers of God, as most dear children."
2nd Point. Consider how loving children follow their parents. They follow them, by imitating their example. A loving child is firmly persuaded that no one is so good or so wise as his own parents, and considers their conduct as the highest model which he can follow. If they have faults, he does not see them, for love blinds him. He follows them, by keeping close to them. A loving child prefers the society of his parents to that of others. He follows them, clings to them, and weeps when he is separated from them. Are we thus following our Father, as "most dear children"? Children may be deceived by their love, and follow bad and imperfect example; but we never can be deceived when we follow our Father. A child may injure his prospects in life by too great attachment to his parents; but the closer we keep to our Father, the more we shall advance our best interests.
3rd Point. The gift of piety will also enable us to "walk in love." How much is implied in these words: To "walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us." How did He walk in love? The apostle tells us : it was by " delivering Himself for us as an oblation and a sacrifice to God." Are we willing to walk thus in love, to sacrifice ourselves for our Beloved, even as He sacrificed Himself for us? To sacrifice ourselves in every detail of our daily life for the brethren, for those with whom we associate, because they are Christ's representatives to us; this is, indeed, to "walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us." O sweet Spirit, come! Spirit of adoption, Spirit of love, come, and enkindle in our hearts Thy heavenly fire-come and fill us with this blessed gift of piety, that we may indeed "be followers of God, as most dear children "!
Aspiration. "My Beloved to me, and I to Him." (Cant. ii. 16.)
Source: Meditations for Advent and Easter, 1866 p 278
Hymns, readings and prayers for this Whit Embertide:
Veni, Sancte Spiritus (Come, Thou Holy Spiritus, come)
Veni, Creator Spiritus, (Come Holy Spirit, Creator Blest)
Readings for Ember Friday:
Prayers:
An excellent prayer for this purpose is the Litany of the Saints, in which so many bishops, priests, and levites are invoked; or the Rosary may be appropriately said, grouping those for whom we pray into five
classes, corresponding to the five decades.
Prayers for Ember Days:
Listen, Almighty God, we beseech Thee, to the prayers which Thy universal Church offers to Thee at this time, beseeching Thy blessing on those who are about to be admitted to Thy Holy Service of the Altar, in particular on Deacon Nicolas Rapkoch. Give Thy grace to all who are called to any office and administration amongst Thy clergy, and so replenish them with the truth of Thy doctrine, and indue them with innocence of life, that they may faithfully serve Thee, to the glory of Thy great name and the benefit of Thy Holy Church. Amen
O
God, of Whose mercies there is no number, and of Whose goodness the
treasure is infinite, we humbly thank Thee for the gifts thou hast
bestowed upon us. Continue Thy mercy to us, and give us also so much of
Thy temporal blessings as Thou knowest to be for our good.
Grant that
the fruits of the earth may, by Thy holy favor, increase and multiply.
Defend them from all drought, frosts or tempests, or whatever else may
be hurtful to them. It is from Thy hand only that we look for succor,
and to Thee we have recourse in all our necessities. Amen.
Source: St. John's Manual 1856, Archbishop of New York John J. Hugues
Sunday for Priests
by VP
Posted on Sunday May 21, 2023 at 09:42AM in Tradition
O Holy Spirit, Creator, be propitious to the Catholic Church; and by Thy heavenly power make it strong and secure against the attacks of its enemies; and renew in charity and grace the spirit of Thy servants, whom Thou has anointed, that they may glorify Thee and the Father and His Only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. amen.
Manual of prayers to the Holy Ghost by Very Rev. Fr. Felix of Jesus 1941
Prayer to the Holy Ghost for Priests
O Holy Ghost, Thou Friend of priests, send them daily Thy seven gifts, that they may live
worthy of their calling, and become all to all in order to win souls for heaven. Give them
patience with children, pity for the sick, humility toward the poor, and generosity toward
the enemies of Thy holy Church. Make them active in teaching, untiring in the tribunal of
penance, and zealous in distributing Holy Communion. Let them be terrible to the demons
of hell and messengers of peace to all who are of good will.
May Thy blessing accompany
them wherever they may go; may Thy peace enter with them in the dwellings they may
visit; mayest Thou bless all whom they may bless. Make them true apostles and saints. Amen.
Come Holy Ghost, a compilation of prayers in honor of the Divine Spirit.
1932 Fr. Lester Martin Dooley.
Prayer to the Holy Spirit by Cardinal Désiré-Joseph Mercier (1851-1926)
"I am going to reveal to you the secret of sanctity and happiness. Every day for five minutes control your imagination and close your eyes to the things of sense and your ears to all the noises of the world in order to enter into yourself Then, in the sanctity of your baptized soul (which is the Temple of the Holy Spirit), speak to that Divine Spirit, saying to Him:
Oh, Holy Spirit, beloved of my soul, I adore You.
Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me.
Tell me what I should do; give me your orders.
I promise to submit myself to all that You desire of me
and to accept all that You permit to happen to me.
Let me only know Your will. Amen.
If you do this, your life will flow along happily, serenely, and full of consolation, even in the midst of trials. Grace will be proportioned to the trial, giving you the strength to carry it, and you will arrive at the gate of Paradise, laden with merit. This submission to the Holy Spirit is the secret of sanctity."
Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus
by VP
Posted on Tuesday May 16, 2023 at 12:00AM in Tradition
Devotion to the Holy Face: Carmelites, Buffalo NY
Holy Face Devotion in the Raleigh Diocese, NC:
- Anyone may join St. Catherine's in Wake Forest as we do phone devotion to
the Holy Face every other Tuesday at 9:30 .Simply
call. (4 FREE )1 701 892 5279; ACCESS CODE IS 7970106# and join in.
- Our Lady of Lourdes: 6:15 pm (Fallon Center) every Tuesday.
The principal object of the devotion to the Holy Face is to offer respectful love and homage to the Adorable Face of Jesus disfigured in the Passion; to make reparation for blasphemy and the neglect of Holy Days, which outrages Him afresh; and, lastly, to obtain of God the conversion of sinners and profaners of the Holy Days:
Eternal Father, we offer You the Holy Face of Jesus, covered with blood, sweat, dust, and spittle, in reparation for the crimes of communists, blasphemers, and for the profaners of the Holy Name and of the Holy Day of Sunday.
Offering of the Holy Face by St. John Vianney, the Cure of Ars:
Oh, my beautiful Immaculate Mother Mary, Queen of Sorrows, I beg of you, by the inexpressible agony you did endure at the foot of the Cross, to offer to the Eternal Father, in my stead, the Holy Face of your Divine Son, my Jesus, covered with Blood, wounds, and other indignities heaped upon Him during His Sacred Passion, and beg of Him to grant … (Here mention the grace or favor you desire). Amen.
The Divine Praises in Reparation for Blasphemies
Blessed be God.
Blessed be His Holy Name.
Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man.
Blessed be the Name of Jesus.
Blessed be His Most Sacred Heart.
Blessed be His Most Precious Blood.
Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.
Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most holy.
Blessed be her holy and Immaculate Conception.
Blessed be her glorious Assumption.
Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother,
Blessed be St. Joseph, her most chaste Spouse.
Blessed be God in His Angels and in His Saints.
I salute, adore, and love Thee, O Jesus, my Savior, covered anew with outrages by blasphemers, and I offer Thee, through the heart of Thy blessed Mother, the worship of all the Angels and Saints, as an incense and a perfume of sweet odor, most humbly beseeching Thee, by the virtue of Thy Sacred Face, to repair and renew in me and in all men Thy image disfigured by sin. Amen
Source: Veronica, or the Holy Face of Our Lord Jesus Christ 1871A Prayer for the Church
O God, by Thy Holy Name have pity on us, protect us, and save us.
O good Jesus, in the sweet Name guard our Sovereign Pontiff; breathe into his
soul the spirit of the Comforter.
Jesus, thy Church is menaced with great trials! Holy Father, by the virtue of
thy salutary Name protect the Church of Jesus Christ. This was the last will of
thy Divine Son; it is the holy prayer which love prompted towards the end of his
life. Holy Father, keep in thy Name those thou hast given me (St. John chap. xxxvii. 11)
O most holy and worthy Mother, refuge of the Church, intercede for us and save us by
the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
St. Michael and the Holy Angels, guard the bark of Peter; disperse its enemies
by the Holy Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Source: Sister Saint-Pierre and the Work of Reparation. Manual of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face, 1887
Prayer to Obtain the Settlement of all Our Needs
Oh, Eternal Father, since it has pleased our Divine Savior to reveal to
mankind in our present century the power residing in His Holy Face, we
now avail ourselves of this treasure in our great needs. Since our
Savior Himself promised that by offering to You, oh Eternal Father, the
Holy Face disfigured in the Passion, we can procure the settlement of
all our affairs, and that nothing whatsoever will be refused us, we now
come before Your Throne.
Offering to You, oh God, this
adorable Countenance, disfigured with painful bruises and covered with
shame and confusion, we beg through the merits of this Holy Face to
obtain these, our pressing needs.
Grant us pardon, Eternal
Father, for the worst crimes of our age, which are atheism, blasphemy,
and the desecration of Your holy days. May this offering of the Holy
Face of our Savior before Your throne obtain for us deliverance from
these evils.
Send us, oh God, many vocations to the
priesthood and to the religious life, so that by their prayers, their
works, and their sacrifices, they may spread the blessings of Your
Church and confound Your enemies. Amen
More resources:
- The Feast of the Holy Face (World Report)
- League of Saint Martin
- Oratoire de la Sainte Face Tours, France
- Video From the Diocese of Tours (In French)
Priests' First Saturday
by VP
Posted on Saturday May 06, 2023 at 09:17AM in Tradition
Mary as Mother of Priests is in the Dominican Priory Church of the Holy Cross in Leicester. by Lawrence OP
The Priest's Saturday:
It is something quite simple and easy, yet immeasurable great in its results. You should make it a point to offer the Saturday after the First Friday of each month to your Savior, through the hands of Mary, the great mediatrix of all graces, for the sanctification of all the priests and students for the priesthood throughout the whole world. For this purpose you should give the Saturday wholly and entirely to Him, that is to say, Holy Mass, Holy Communion, all prayers, labors, sacrifices, joys and sorrows. Whatever you cannot do on this day (Holy Mass and Holy Communion) you ought to supply immediately on Sunday. So there is really nothing new for you to do. You merely offer up this Saturday (or even every Saturday or some other day) for the sanctification of priests. It is not a case of any sodality of fraternity or anything like that. Like the First Friday in honor of the Sacred Heart, the Priest's Saturday seeks to become something religiously observed by all the Catholics of the world.
(...) Concern about the holiness of priests is the concern of the Heart of the Divine Savior and of His blessed Mother. Therefore, you also should be sure to take part in this "apostolate to the apostles. " The Holy Father, all bishops, all priests, all students for the priesthood, and especially also your own pastor, earnestly beg of you thus to participate."
Priests' First Saturday
Divine Savior, Jesus Christ, Who hast
entrusted the whole work of Thy redemption, the welfare and salvation of
the world, to priests as Thy representatives, through the hands of Thy
most holy Mother and for the sanctification of Thy priests and
candidates for the priesthood I offer Thee this present day wholly and
entirely, with all its prayers, works, sacrifices, joys, and sorrows.
Give truly holy priests who, inflamed with the fire of Thy divine love,
seek nothing but Thy greater glory and the salvation of our souls.
And thou, Mary, good Mother of priests, protect all priests in the
dangers of their holy vocation and, with the loving hand of a Mother,
also lead back to the Good Shepherd those poor priests who have become
unfaithful to their exalted vocation and have gone astray. Amen
In addition to the above make it a point also to recite frequently the following:
Divine Savior, Jesus Christ, Who Hast entrusted the weal and woes of
Thy Holy Church to priests, with all the fervor of my heart I recommend
to Thee the wants of my pastor and all priests. Enrich them more and
more with true priestly sanctity. Give them generous, all embracing,
apostolic hearts, full of love for Thee and for all Thy souls, so that
they, being themselves sanctified in Thee, may sanctify us who are
confided to their care, and may lead us safely to heaven. Bestow upon
them in rich abundance all Thy priestly graces!
Let them ever
give us a glowing example of love and fidelity towards Holy Mother
Church, towards the Pope, and bishops, and grant that by word and
example they may shine as models of every virtue.
Most loving
Jesus, bless all their priestly labors and sacrifices! Bless all their
prayers and words at the altar and in the confessional, in the pulpit,
and in school, in confraternities, and at the bedside of the sick!
Protect and preserve them in all dangers from within and from without.
Divine Savior, give to Thy Church priests who abound in true holiness!
Call many good boys and young men to the priestly and religious state!
Aid and sanctify all those who are to become Thy priests! And to the
souls of departed priests grant everlasting rest.
But to me
give a true spirit of faith and humble obedience, in order that in my
pastor I may ever behold the representative of God and willingly follow
all his teachings. Amen
Source: Priest's Saturday Series, #2 Prayers and Devotions for Priest's Day. used with permission
Finding of the Holy Cross
by VP
Posted on Wednesday May 03, 2023 at 01:42PM in Tradition
Perseverance and Success: St. Helen, the pious mother of Constantine the Great, had conceived the purpose of restoring to the veneration of the faithful the saving wood whereon the Son of God expiated the sins of the world. When nearly eighty years old she repaired to Palestine, to carry out the holy search; but the pagans had for three centuries concealed from the reverence of the faithful this precious memorial, and no one knew what had become of it. Acting on vague suggestions, however, the princess undertook the task of directing excavations to be made towards the summit of Calvary, and, contrary to general expectation, first one cross was discovered, then a second, and subsequently a third, but without an indication to show the reliable worth of either. As perplexity increase, St. Macarius, bishop of Jerusalem, caused a sick woman to be brought to the spot, who, by contact with one of the crosses, was straightway cured; he had a dead body exhumed, and the dead was restored to life. Thenceforth to doubt was no longer possible; this was the Holy Cross of the Savior; it was borne aloft in triumph, and Christendom at large raised its loud acclaim.
Moral reflection: In every undertaking, the beginning merely does not suffice. "Whosoever shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. St. Matthew 24. 13.
Little Pictorial of the Saints 1910 Abbe Lecanu
