Soon and Very Soon ...

No more O antiphons, the one for today is the first Vespers of Christmas; Cum ortus fuerit, 'At sunrise you will see the king of kings.." The birth of Our Lord is properly celebrated tomorrow but we start early by having a vigil Mass, at midnight here as is proper, a bit earlier at some other places..

In the meantime;

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment  In which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee,
O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires,
[mention your request here]
through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.

Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory be.

Almost There

Tomorrow there will be a first Vespers with some other antiphones but today we can still delight in the last of the O antiphons, O Emmanuel, this time again sung by the chaps at the Dominican student house in Oxford. Contrary to popular opinion -at least around here- Christmas does most definately not happen tomorrow on the 24th. There is a first Vespers on that day which begins the solemn celebration of the great feast on the 25th, the actual day on which the birth of Our Lord is celebrated.

We go on prepairing for Christmas by prayer;

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment
 In which the Son of God was born
Of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight,
in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold.
In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee,
O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires,
[mention your request here]
through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ,
and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.

Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory be.

O King Divine

 The internet is acting up today so no pictures. Nor did I actually manage to hear much of Vytautas Miškinis version of O Rex Gentium, the O-antiphon for today, beautifully (I am sure) sung by the Vilnius state choir.


We go on prepairing for Christmas by prayer;

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment
 In which the Son of God was born
Of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight,
in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold.
In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee,
O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires,
[mention your request here]
through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ,
and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.

Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory be.

Rorate Caeli, O Oriens etc.

Advent is slowly drawing to an end but it is not Christmas yet. The Introit for Mass (in both forms) today is Rorate Caeli one of my favourites. And not only mine, versions of it are used in the breviary, as a hymn in its' own right and of course as the proper introit for the Advent ember wednesday and 4th Advent. The version linked to above is by Palestrina and is sung by the Regensburg Cathedral choir (or one of them) conducted by one msgr Georg Ratzinger. The O-antiphons continue as well, O Oriens, which alludes to Our Lord being the light of the world, the sun of justice etc., is here sung by the Dominicans at Backfriars in Oxford. Visited there a couple of times. J.R.R. Tolkien, who frequently served Mass at this church, is said to have taken his inspiration for the descriptions of some of his characters in The Lord of the Rings from statues in this church.

We go on prepairing for Christmas by prayer

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment In which the Son of God was born Of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem,
in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires,
[mention your request here]
through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ,
and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.

Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory be.

O Clavis

The O-antiphon today is O-Clavis David  "O Key of David and Sceptre of the house of Israel..."

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment
In which the Son of God was born
 Of the most pure Virgin Mary,
at midnight, in Bethlehem,
in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires,
[mention your request here]
through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ,
and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.

Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory be.

The Root of Jesse

 At Vespers today I had the opportunity to be in church at the same time as the sisters and while the version of the office that we pray differs, the Magnificat and the O-antiphon for today are the same. That antiphone is  O Radix Iesse, O root of Jesse who, as will be remembered, was the father of king David who in turn was the father of Solomon the king who begat ... well you get the point, as Our Lord is a direct descendant of king David with all that it entails, he is also a descendat of Jesse.

 And the novena goes on..

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment
In which the Son of God was born
 Of the most pure Virgin Mary,
at midnight, in Bethlehem,
in the piercing cold.
In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires,
[mention your request here]
through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.

Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory be.

O antiphon and Novena

 The O-antiphons go on with O Adonai today, click the link for it. At the same time the novena should be kept up, just to remind you:



Hail and blessed be the hour and moment
In which the Son of God was born
 Of the most pure Virgin Mary,
at midnight, in Bethlehem,
in the piercing cold.
In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee,
  O my God,
to hear my prayer and grant my desires,
[mention your request here]
through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ,
and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.

Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory be.

Christmas Novena

With nine days left until Christmas day it is high time to start with the Christmas novena prayers. Through them we intesify the spiritual preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus. If one starts the novenan today, the last day will be the real feast day of our Lord's birth, the 25th of December (not as is commonly held here the 24th..)

As a prayer for the Novena the following is well suited:

 

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment
In which the Son of God was born
 Of the most pure Virgin Mary,
at midnight, in Bethlehem,
in the piercing cold.
In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee,
  O my God,
to hear my prayer and grant my desires,
[mention your request here]
through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ,
and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.

Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory be.

For those of us who say the Divine Office the O-antiphons make their first appearance today. Of these antiphones the first one is the haunting O Sapientia, "O Wisdom, that proceeds from the mouth of the most High..."

St. Francis Xavier

And so the feast of St. Francis Xavier comes around again. Years ago, having just read his biography, I chose him as my confirmation saint for his zeal for souls and missionary spirit. Xavier met his countryman St Ignatius Loyola as a student in Paris and joined his band there, becoming one of the first jesuits. He accompanied St Ignatius and the others on their abortive attempt to get to the Holy Land and ended up in Rome. From there he was one of the first jesuits sent via Portugal to Goa.

He promptly began traveling up and down the coast of India preaching the Gospel and baptizing the natives. Much like St Paul he was driven ever onwards and ended up travelling as far as newly discovered Japan. Realizing how much that country depended on the influence of Chinese culture he tried to get into China, in order to preach Christ to the Chinese and to use the impetus of Chinese acceptance of the message of Christ to further the work in Japan. He died on the island of Shangchuan, just West of Macau and Hong Kong, while still awaiting pemission to enter China. As might be expected he is the patron of Goa and also of all missionaries.

May his prayer prompt us to redouble our efforts to make Jesus Christ more known and more loved by everyone around us, ad maiorem Dei gloriam and for the salvation of souls.

Noblesse Obligé

In the series of things one did not thinkt that deeply about before ordination..
The status brought by the priesthood and living in the rectory has certain perks. Even in this fairly small place there are people -both volunteers and religious- doing laundry, cleaning, cooking and in general taking care of things. It is, to start with, a bit hard to get used to and the whole set-up sometimes seems reminiscent of "Upstairs, Downstairs" or "Downton". The comparisons are of course mismatched on many levels; I am never dressed by a butler - though I have had altarservers help me vest for Mass -  nor are there fox hunts or that many big, fancy dinners. Still, it might give a small inkling.. 

The term noblesse obligé might not be that accurate in the literal sense, my background is thorughly bourgeois (though the maternal grandfather's civil service career would likely have earned him at least a knighthood in a less republican time and place). Having said this, the concept still applies. The privilege, prestige and power of the clerical state have obligations attached to them. Some of these are obvious, people have the right to expect and recieve the purely sacramental and sacerdotal services that their priest is there to provide. However, noblesse obligé goes deeper than merely "doing the job". It calls for a certain decorum even in externals; in behaviour, dress, and in generally cultivating a style and manners that can be characterised as priestly. This principle is of course not unique to the clergy. There is for instance a wonderful BBC series that goes through the regimental traditions of the British army. One of the customs related that I remember (around 20 min in) is that of turning up properly dressed - i.e. not in your t-shirt & jeans or BDU - for the weekday evening dinner at the mess hall. The rationale? The staff and people go through a lot of work to prepare the food and setting, the least that can be done to honour them in turn is to go through the trouble of dressing up properly. Arguable the same would apply to the cleric, regardless of whether he uses clericals or civvies for the occasion. 

I emphasise the externals because they tend to be neglected, or even dismissed, these days. While the internals -spiritual life, intelectual ability, know-how etc.- are certainly more important, the externals should never be completely ignored. As we are created as composite beings, i.e. soul and body, both are important if not equal, a clerical noblesse obligé looks to both. It does this not out of vanity but in knowing that there are legitimate expectations laid on someone in a privileged position, that the priest must be what he is, not just do a job. Noblesse obligé requires that he takes himself, or rather his state and faith, seriously. That he takes the faith seriously, certainly because it is, but also because he has an obligation to the girl who has lost dozens of friends for taking her faith seriously, to the man who went through a Vietnamese "re-education camp" for taking his faith seriously, to the family that has relatives in IS controled territory and to many others, including the volunteers and religious that do much of the supporting work.  

Long Live the King!

Our Lord Jesus Christ is king. The Gospel for the feast this year as it is celebrated in the Novus Ordo as well as the other readings, emphasize that He is the king who comes to judge the world at the end. This is undeniably true, He will come in his glory with his angels, He will come to judge the world as its’ king. It is true, but it is not the whole truth. He is not only the end-time king who is to come sometime in an undetermined future, He is king now. Born of the Virgin Mary and recognized by St. Joseph as his child, Jesus was a descendant of David and arguably at least by that fact heir to the thrones of Israel and the Kingdom of Judea. For this reason, there were Jews who, after He had fed five thousand men, wanted to take Him by force and make Him king (John 6:15). However, as Jesus himself says to Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36), He is not a king in the same way as earthly rulers are; His kingdom is not limited to the territory of Israel. Christ is king, but he is greater than what we imagine when we hear the word 'king', especially when we hear it today and think of the kingdoms, which we have around us, for example, in England or the Nordic countries. The power and authority of ordinary kings was and is always limited in various ways, their power is not eternal nor does it extend to all times and places. Christ, by contrast, is the king of the universe, "for in him were created all things in


the heavens and on earth ... all things were created through Him and for Him." (Kol 1:16) "He has been given all authority in heaven and on earth" (Matt28: 18). Where the kings of this world have inherited their kingdom by right of succession or going further back in history, won it with weapons, Christ has conquered on the cross. By His death, He defeated the devil, death, and all His adversaries. 

Christ's kingdom is not of this world, He is king from the beginning of creation.  By His cross and resurrection, He takes final possession of the kingdom that already is His by divine right. When it comes to Christ there is no problem about the 'Divine rights of kings' He is Lord of lords and King of kings (Revelation 17:14), this means that he has the right to rule over everything and everyone; all nations have a solemn obligation to recognize Him as their king. Therefore, there is no nation or country that, before God, has the right to refuse to recognize the kingdom of Christ and choose not to follow His laws and bend to His rule, nor do they really, if you stop to think about it, have the right to follow any religion other than that which the Lord Himself has revealed, 'God has exalted him above all else ... that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow ... whether in the heavens or on the earth, and ... every tongue should confess that "Jesus Christ is Lord '" (Philippians 2: 9-11). Every tongue means every tongue and every knee means every knee. That is regardless if those body parts happen to belong to someone living in a deeply Catholic village in Croatia or be attached to someone riding over the sands of the Arabian peninsula. The first commandment applies to everyone and Christ is king over all peoples.

We know, however, that most states do not even nominally recognize the kingdom of our Lord who says, "He that is not with me is against me" (Matt12: 30). As if that is not enough the majority of nations pass laws which are blatantly contrary to His commandments. It follows that almost all nations are in a state of open revolution against Him who is their sovereign.  It is not surprising that He should withhold His blessing from a country or nation that does not bless Him; we see this happening to Israel over and over again in the Old Testament. This is very interesting if we read St. Paul in his letter to the Romans as well. According to the apostle, homosexuality and other gravely sinful acts like avarice, fornication, murder, detraction etc., are the result of God withholding His blessing because of the idolatry practiced by the peoples that really should have been able to know Him through nature and a bit of philosophy (Rom 1:18-32). The immorality of the age, as well as in any age, comes from idolatry, from rebellion. In the context of what we hear out of different synods and territories Romans 1:32 becomes quite scary /saddening; highly placed churchmen that, while they [I hope and pray] might not practice the things listed by St. Paul, applaud them by supporting cohabitation, "divorce", serial-polygamy, homosexual unions of various sorts and much else. Treachery and revolt by those who should be the most loyal servants of their Divine king..

Revolutions or revolts do tend to be organized and run by fairly small groups that manage to get just enough people to go along for their coup to work. The October revolution in Russia is as good an example as any, a relatively small band when compared to to the population at large yet the revolutionaries managed to take over and radically change an empire steeped in Orthodoxy into a communist state. Throughout the Old Testament God seems to show a predilection for faithful remnants, if a small group can change the world for the worse through revolution, why should not a similarily sized counter-revolutionary remnant -or leaven to use the New Testament term- be able to change the world for the better, to restore the sway of the rightful king? 

[Adapted and expanded from homily] 

Get the Consecration Done Already, or Again..

Considering the news out of  Crimea, Ukraine etc. lately I am beginning to see the point made by those who claim that the consecration of Russia asked for by Our Lady at Fatima really has not been done. Or at least not properly, in accordance with the instructions given by Our Lady. Which really is saying that it has not been done.. 

I know the argument that the collapse of the Soviet Union -much lamented by such diverse characters as Putin and H.E. cardinal Koch- as well as the communist block in general, is given in evidence that the consecration was done. I have seen some of the texts, which do seem to fulfill at least some of the requirements. They mention consecration to the Immaculate Heart, they talk of Russia (Pius XII) or "the people of the Russias" (in praesenscunctos Russiarum populus). Paul VI did consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on November 21st 1964 and while it was certainly done in the presence of the bishops gathered for an ecumenical council, he failed to specifically mention Russia. John Paul II did do some consecrations but was, it seems, both vague when it came to Russia, nor apparently did he include the world wide episcopacy as stipulated by Our Lady. This last, collegial requirement, seems to be what is most usally missing in the various consecrations.


Meanwhile, errors continue to spread out of Russia.. 

Buzz Words

Got involved, on the sidelines, in an online discussion and critique of a devotional radio talk. What comes up there is similar to much that plagues much of modern Christian discussion, discourse and talk. There are the buzzwords, the struggle to avoid disagreements, the sugar-coating of theological points and all the rest. The "other side" in the thing stood(?), in a word, for sentimentality.

In all this talk of grace, mercy, tenderness, caresses etc. ad nauseam, of late, the actual and very precise theological meanings of the words are swept away to be replaced by a banal sentimentality. This runs the risk of loosing the real sense of the words when they are used properly, Grace and mercy are not permissivness or indifference to sin, as the terms all too often seem to be used like. The various appelations of grace are actual theological realities, reflecting the various ways in which God sanctifies souls. Mercy is not a taking away of obstacles or rules but an undeserved forgiveness and restoration of the state of grace. Sentimentality sweeps all this away and cries out for tender caresses. Everything that is not the right shade of pink has to go. Every experience of struggle, loss or hurt has to be denied or fled from. Witness the way death is dealt with. In this same radio talk there was the example of a father whose daughter is normally encouraged to dance and laugh in church, during services. (A behaviour deserving a post of its' own..) As the service this time was a memorial service she was discouraged, with the explanation that "though the dead are all with Jesus, some of the people here today miss them and are sad" or words to that effect. We cannot know the final destination of loved ones, and though we can hope and pray for their salvation, sweeping statements like this tend more to dismiss the very real sorrow and longing of those left behind. It is sentiment replacing faith, wishes taking the place of hope. It is truth being cut in pieces and fed to the listeners piecemeal, avoiding the harder parts. 

These technical-terms-become-buzzwords, ruin precise theological concepts to satisfy sentimentality and end up presenting half-truths. They take away the faith taught to us by Our Lord and handed down to us through the ages and replace it with a man-made replica which is exactly the kind of crying blanket or crutch that those atheists denying our hope accuse all religion of being. Worse, perhaps thoughtlessly, it replaces the faith revealed to us by the second person of the Trinity with something we make up. It says, "that's all very interesting Jesus, I'll take your teachings but I'll just scrap this part, add this thing I found somewhere else and voilá! Now my version is better than your original one, I'll stick to mine thak you very much".

San Carlo

Today is the feast of St. Charles Borromeo. Born into the noble Borromeo family at their castle of Arona, he was very early enrolled in the clergy. At the young age of 22 when his uncle Pius IV appointed him secretary of state, created him cardinal and gave him the see of Milan. These were some of the stormiest times in Europe, France was a mess, the hopeful restoration of England came to nothing as Mary Tudor died without an heir and the country plunged back into schism and heresy.

St Charles did not have much experience but he had a solid faith and firm principles. He saw that to the torrent of errors, Rome had in the first place to fight for that truth of which she is the guardian. He understood well how the Church, in contest with a movement that in the name of 'reformation' let loose all the passions and spread chaos, could take the chance to strengthen her discipline and reinvigorate her sancity. This was not an original idea, the council of Trent had been gathered for this purpose but had at the time of St. Charles's appointment been suspended for 8 years. He dedicated all his energy to have the council resume its work and in 2 years managed to have it gather again. Much of the councils later work owes its success to St Charles. He it was who caused the liturgical books to be revised and who oversaw the compilation of the Roman Catechism.

With the death of his uncle, he refused all entreties to remain at Rome instead taking possesion of his episcopal see of Milan. He worked tirelessly to reform the clergy and people of the long neglected city. He gave himself completely to the care of souls without care for himself, without a thought for the judgements of others. When the plague ravaged the city he went out himself to take care of the sick. In the midst of all his work he wrote volumes dedicated to the running of the church and her internal life.

Zeal, uncompromising, tireless zeal for souls, for the house of God marked him. Unlike many others, both then and today, making compromises with the powerful or pandering to the popular would not enter his mind. Truly a saint and model for bishops today in our time of decadence.

The Great Leader

For a surprising number of conservative, traditionally minded Christians of various stripes Putin has been seen as the saviour of Christian morals. He is touted as the great statesman who stands up to the Western decadence and defends marriage, opposes the spread of homofascism, fights for all the pro-life issues and supports the Church. Anything he and Russia under his leadership does is excused.

All this is of course blindness, culpable blindness. The man is a politician. As long as his goals happen to leave room for, or at some points coincide with that of conservatives he will support them. Do not be surprised to have all support dropped and the bear turn against you the moment it suits his plans. "Useful idiots" are good to have as long as they serve your purpose but when they are no longer needed they are dumped. 

This is the great leader of the moral crusade who presides over a nation that has record levels of abortions, who invades his neighbours, who hoards riches, who dumps his wife for a younger, prettier one, the list goes on.. 

And here is the latest indignity in that long list. All priests and religious, that are not citizens, serving on Crimea are to be deported by the end of the year. How is that for being the champion of the Church?  
 
Is stopping a gay-pride parade really all it takes to pull the wool over the eyes of conservatives these days?

Indulgences!

A bit late with this because of travels and internet and what not but;

Normally a partial indulgence can be obtained by visiting a cemetery and praying for the departed any time of the year
This week, between 1st and 8th November you can gain a plenary indulgence by visiting a cemetery each day and praying for the dead. In addition, of course, to the usual requirements.

These plenary indulgences are applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory. Only one can be gained each day.

Sed Distinguo..

In the midst of other business like misplacing synodal report translations - odd that the controversial mid-synod paper was translated into several languages in about 48 hours, and the 'final' one was left only in Italian for weeks - we easily miss other things. Like this.

There was a meeting between the holy father and the representatives of the 'Ark Community' founded by the pope's evangelical friend Tony Palmer, currently dead. Ark is according to their own description an "internet-based, Inter-denominational Christian Convergent Community" which in reality seems to be a mishmash of evangelicals and episcopalians. It is all very confusing..

In the private meeting  these people had with pope Francis some things were said. Apparently
“We are sinning against Christ’s will... because we continue to focus on our differences" when; “our shared baptism is more important than our differences.” and that Christians should not wait for theologians to reach agreement, but should walk, pray and work together now.


Now, while all this might sound very fine it really is not. What is praised here is a wild ecumenism that ignores the very real differences that separate the Catholic Church from the various sects and groups. It is an attitude of indifference about truth that is based on the idea that the whole edifice of Catholic doctrine is open to debate, that the "special" "Catholic truths" are peculiarities that we might hold to while others have their own "truths", neither of which really matter that much as long as we can all get along.
Another Francis begs to differ. St. Francis de Sales, when he penned his "The Catholic Controversy" focuses exactly ON what differs. He did it in order to win back those souls that were lead astray by Calvinism. Doubtless, St Francis Xavier did the same when meeting the schismatic Christians in Kerala and around Goa. Were they, the English martyrs, the German martyrs, and so many others "sinning against Christ's will" when they went to the scaffold "focusing on differences" and refusing to equate the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic faith with half-truths?

Truth, half-truths and outright falsehood are not the same thing. Never have been, never can be.