09 September 2007

Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost

Our Lord Jesus Christ has snatched us from eternal death, as He once snatched the young man of Naim from natural death. Doing this He shows the compassion which he feels for our mother the Catholic Church lamenting over sinners, just as He was moved by pity for the poor widow lamenting over her son.

One more note on yesterday's Mass at Mariazell with Pope Benedict XVI:

Appropriately enough, on the centennial of Pope St. Pius X's encyclical letter Pascendi Dominici Gregis, in which he condemned the modernist heresy with force and clarity, Pope Benedict XVI spoke the following yesterday in his homily at Mariazell:

"Only He [Jesus] is God and therefore only He is the bridge that truly brings God and man together. So if we Christians call him the one universal Mediator of salvation, valid for everyone and, ultimately, needed by everyone, this does not mean that we despise other religions, nor are we arrogantly absolutizing our own ideas; on the contrary, it means that we are gripped by him who has touched our hearts and lavished gifts upon us, so that we, in turn, can offer gifts to others. In fact, our faith is decisively opposed to the attitude of resignation that considers man incapable of truth - as if this were more than he could cope with. This attitude of resignation with regard to truth, I am convinced, lies at the heart of the crisis of the West, the crisis of Europe. If truth does not exist for man, then neither can he ultimately distinguish between good and evil."

Back to today:

This morning, for the second Sunday in a row, I was subjected to an emotive guitar Mass. Blithly assuming that the Byzantine Divine Liturgy would also be offered at 10:00 I arrived to find the Divine Liturgy already well underway, leaving me no other means by which to fulfill my Sunday obligation than by attending the Mass about to begin in the main chapel. I could not help recalling to mind again the words of Pope St. Pius X in his Instruction on Sacred Music, Tra Le Sollecitudini:

"It is vain to hope that the blessing of heaven will descend abundantly upon us, when our homage to the Most High, instead of ascending in the odor of sweetness, puts into the hand of the Lord the scourges wherewith of old the Divine Redeemer drove the unworthy profaners from the Temple."

Iesu dulcissime, cuius effusa in homines caritas, tanta oblivione, negligentia, contemptione, ingratissime rependitur, en nos, ante altaria tua provoluti, tam nefariam hominum socordiam iniuriasque, quibus undique amantissimum Cor tuum afficitur, peculiari honore resarcire contendimus...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Strong words, indeed -- but I don't disagree with them. These foggy English translations of the Mass, the inappropriate choices of liturgists for music and other trappings of Mass, etc., are not helping us lift up our hearts and minds to the Lord. While some of those who make these choices know what they are doing, I think there are many who are simply oblivious to what would be appropriate in these categories -- and why it would be.

I was talking with Peter Herbeck the other day, and he made an intriguing point: a lot of the ways, prayers, liturgies, processes of the Church *assume* an Acts-of-the-Apostles relationship with the Holy Spirit and with other Christians. The fact that this communio is absent from so many Catholics' lives **while the framework surrounding us continues to assume it** is one of the largest gaps in the Church these days.

For example: We got a homily at IHM today that included the suggestion to pause and take something from the homily or Gospel and think of a way to implement it in your life -- and to tell a friend, ask for their support in changing your life.

During the pause given, I thought, "Baloney! I'm prayin' for these people to receive the Holy Spirit!" The source of power is so often incorrectly identified -- because many Catholics have not yet experienced the power of the Holy Spirit.

Anyway -- let we who have pray and work for those yet to see!

Unknown said...

That is quite an intriguing point, I'll have to mull that over a bit. I certainly agree that without a real interior transformation not much else matters. I'd love to think more on the points you've raised but if I do now I'll be late for class.

Pax!