Saint Paul
by VP
Posted on Friday June 30, 2023 at 09:35AM in Poetry
Prayer to Saint Paul
O Glorious Saint Paul, after persecuting
the Church you became by Godʼs grace its most zealous Apostle. To carry
the knowledge of Jesus, our divine Savior, to the uttermost parts of
the earth you joyfully endured prison, scourgings, stonings, and
shipwreck, as well as all manner of persecutions culminating in the
shedding of the last drop of your blood for our Lord Jesus Christ.
May your example inspire our parish priests today to be zealous in
their service to Godʼs people. Obtain for our priests the grace to labor
strenuously to bring the faith to others and to accept any trials and
tribulations that may come their way. Help them to be inspired by your
Epistles and to partake of your indomitable love for Jesus, so that
after they have finished their course they may join you in praising him
in heaven for all eternity. Amen.
Mass in the Catacombs during the Persecutions
by VP
Posted on Thursday June 29, 2023 at 12:09PM 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
The Devil Came to Ars
by VP
Posted on Monday June 26, 2023 at 10:08AM in Quotes
"Even the Devil came to Ars. Indeed, he had a reason. By the mouth of a possessed woman, he exclaimed one day to the Curé, “How thou makest me suffer! If there were three men on earth like thyself, my kingdom would be destroyed.” Father Vianney was outwitting the proud devil by saving so many souls. The kingdom of Heaven seemed to be growing faster than the kingdom of Hell. Frustrated, the devil would roar like a bull, growl like a bear, or snarl like a dog in an effort to intimidate the Curé. With a fearful voice he would cry out: “Vianney! Vianney! Potato eater! Ah, thou art not yet dead! I shall get thee, all right.”
More here
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 01:06PM 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 11:43AM 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
Act of Reparation to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
by VP
Posted on Friday June 16, 2023 at 12:12PM in Prayers
Sacred Heart, Raleigh
Most Sweet Jesus, whose overflowing
charity for men is requited by so much forgetfulness, negligence and
contempt, behold us prostrate before Thee, eager to repair by a special
act of homage the cruel indifference and injuries to which Thy loving
Heart is everywhere subject.
Mindful, alas! that we ourselves have had a share in such great
indignities, which we now deplore from the depths of our hearts, we
humbly ask Thy pardon and declare our readiness to atone by voluntary
expiation, not only for our own personal offenses, but also for the sins
of those, who, straying far from the path of salvation, refuse in their
obstinate infidelity to follow Thee, their Shepherd and Leader, or,
renouncing the promises of their baptism, have cast off the sweet yoke
of Thy law.
We are now resolved to expiate each and every deplorable outrage
committed against Thee; we are now determined to make amends for the
manifold offenses against Christian modesty in unbecoming dress and
behavior, for all the foul seductions laid to ensnare the feet of the
innocent, for the frequent violations of Sundays and holy days, and the
shocking blasphemies uttered against Thee and Thy Saints. We wish also
to make amends for the insults to which Thy Vicar on earth and Thy
priests are subjected, for the profanation, by conscious neglect or
terrible acts of sacrilege, of the very crimes of nations who resist the
rights and teaching authority of the Church which Thou hast founded.
Would that we were able to wash away such abominations with our blood.
We now offer, in reparation for these violations of Thy divine honor,
the satisfaction Thou once made to Thy Eternal Father on the cross and
which Thou continuest to renew daily on our altars; we offer it in union
with the acts of atonement of Thy Virgin Mother and all the Saints and
of the pious faithful on earth; and we sincerely promise to make
recompense, as far as we can with the help of Thy grace, for all neglect
of Thy great love and for the sins we and others have committed in the
past. Henceforth, we will live a life of unswerving faith, of purity of
conduct, of perfect observance of the precepts of the Gospel and
especially that of charity. We promise to the best of our power to
prevent others from offending Thee and to bring as many as possible to
follow Thee.
O loving Jesus, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mother,
our model in reparation, deign to receive the voluntary offering we make
of this act of expiation; and by the crowning gift of perseverance keep
us faithful unto death in our duty and the allegiance we owe to Thee,
so that we may all one day come to that happy home, where with the
Father and the Holy Spirit Thou livest and reignest, God, forever and
ever. Amen.
From the Raccolta, #256 (S. P. Ap., June 1, 1928 and March 18, 1932); Enchridion of Indulgences #26. This prayer was prescribed to be recited on this feast by Pope Pius XI
Saint Basil the Great
by VP
Posted on Wednesday June 14, 2023 at 10:26AM in Saints
Pd
"The good fight of the Lord: St. Basil, bishop of Caesarea, maintained, single-handed, the combat of the faith against the emperor Valens, the ardent partisan of Arianism. Although deserted by a great number of his colleagues, he did not lose heart; and though but freely seconded by those who remained faithful to him, he put himself in the foremost rank, in order to shield them with his protection. Having been first solicited and afterwards threatened by Modestus, the praetorian prefect, "What would you have, and what are your expectations?" he asked, "to lure me by the enticements of riches and dignities? these I despise. To drive me into exile? What matters it? To consign me to death? So much the better; I shall the sooner be with God!" "Never have I been spoken to thus," exclaimed Modestus. "That is because you have never had to deal with a bishop," replied Basil. Modestus went to give in his report to Valens, saying, " We are conquered." The emperor signed the sentence of exile; but his eldest son having been struck with sudden illness, he forthwith sent for Basil, who prayed for the child and cured it. The struggle did not terminate here, for heresy is as tenacious as faith is unbending; there was no further question of exiling him, however, and Basil died in peace in 379.
Moral Reflection: The combat is painful, but it is consolatory to die, saying, with St. Paul, "I have fought the good fight, and now I await the crown. " (2 Tim. 4. 7.)
Pictorial half hours with the saints By Auguste François Lecanu
Prayer to St. Anthony of Padua
by VP
Posted on Tuesday June 13, 2023 at 01:00AM in Saints
St. Anthony, St. Joseph Catholic Church, Raleigh, NC
Saint Anthony, glory of the Church and hammer of heretics, pray for our Holy Father, our bishops, our priests, our Religious Orders, that, through their pious zeal and apostolic labors, infidels, heretics, and all those outside the true Church of Christ may be converted and, united in faith, give greater glory to God. Amen.
Blessed Sacrament Book. Fr. Francis Xavier Lasance
Act of Reparation to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
by VP
Posted on Friday June 09, 2023 at 04:48PM in Prayers
Sacred Heart, Brittany
Act of Reparation to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Most Sweet Jesus, whose overflowing
charity for men is requited by so much forgetfulness, negligence and
contempt, behold us prostrate before Thee, eager to repair by a special
act of homage the cruel indifference and injuries to which Thy loving
Heart is everywhere subject.
Mindful, alas! that we ourselves have had a share in such great
indignities, which we now deplore from the depths of our hearts, we
humbly ask Thy pardon and declare our readiness to atone by voluntary
expiation, not only for our own personal offenses, but also for the sins
of those, who, straying far from the path of salvation, refuse in their
obstinate infidelity to follow Thee, their Shepherd and Leader, or,
renouncing the promises of their baptism, have cast off the sweet yoke
of Thy law.
We are now resolved to expiate each and every deplorable outrage
committed against Thee; we are now determined to make amends for the
manifold offenses against Christian modesty in unbecoming dress and
behavior, for all the foul seductions laid to ensnare the feet of the
innocent, for the frequent violations of Sundays and holy days, and the
shocking blasphemies uttered against Thee and Thy Saints. We wish also
to make amends for the insults to which Thy Vicar on earth and Thy
priests are subjected, for the profanation, by conscious neglect or
terrible acts of sacrilege, of the very crimes of nations who resist the
rights and teaching authority of the Church which Thou hast founded.
Would that we were able to wash away such abominations with our blood.
We now offer, in reparation for these violations of Thy divine honor,
the satisfaction Thou once made to Thy Eternal Father on the cross and
which Thou continuest to renew daily on our altars; we offer it in union
with the acts of atonement of Thy Virgin Mother and all the Saints and
of the pious faithful on earth; and we sincerely promise to make
recompense, as far as we can with the help of Thy grace, for all neglect
of Thy great love and for the sins we and others have committed in the
past. Henceforth, we will live a life of unswerving faith, of purity of
conduct, of perfect observance of the precepts of the Gospel and
especially that of charity. We promise to the best of our power to
prevent others from offending Thee and to bring as many as possible to
follow Thee.
O loving Jesus, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mother,
our model in reparation, deign to receive the voluntary offering we make
of this act of expiation; and by the crowning gift of perseverance keep
us faithful unto death in our duty and the allegiance we owe to Thee,
so that we may all one day come to that happy home, where with the
Father and the Holy Spirit Thou livest and reignest, God, forever and
ever. Amen.
From
the Raccolta, #256 (S. P. Ap., June 1, 1928 and March 18, 1932);
Enchridion of Indulgences #26. This prayer was prescribed to be recited
on this feast by Pope Pius XI
It is the duty of the faithful to pray God to send them good priests.
by VP
Posted on Tuesday June 06, 2023 at 10:21AM in Quotes
"Our Lord says: "Pray ye the Lord of the harvest that He send forth laborers into His harvest." (Matt. 9.38). Remember that a priest is the salvation or the perdition of his flock. In the Old Testament we read that when other scourges were of no avail to turn the people, hardened in sin, from their evil ways, God sent upon them the heaviest scourge of all, wicked and corrupt priests. Let us therefore make it our continual prayer, that we may have good priests. The Ember days are appointed for this purpose. Special prayer should be offered to the Holy Ghost, for unless a priest is enlightened by the Holy Spirit we may apply to him the words: "If the blind lead the blind, both fall into the pit." (Matt. 15.14)."
The Catechism Explained: An exhaustive Exposition of the Christian Religion by F.r Francis Spirago 1899
