Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Stational Church: Tuesday in the First Week of Lent


Today's Stational Church is at the Church of St. Anastasia.  For information on this devotion, see the Stational Churches of Lent Homepage. I will post on each Stational Church for Lent. Information is from the Canon Regulars of St. John Cantius:

Linked to this church is the tradition of the "first-light" Mass—Mass at dawn—which is celebrated in the first hours of the Christmas morning.

We keep this day in company with the widow-martyr, whose heavenly birthday the Church observes on the very birthday of the Light of the world. In the Christmas Mass "at dawn" St. Anastasia, whose name means "dawn"—the new light—is commemorated. In that "aurora Mass" and again today, the words fulgebit, fulgeat—"shine, radiate—occur.

A holy "radiating" is the fruit of a holy Lent. Everyone is called to be an "Anastasia", a new light, replenished by the light of Christ—Lumen Christi.

Let us pray: Look down upon Thy household, Lord, and grant that our souls, chastened by the mortification of the flesh, may radiate in Thy sight with the desire for Thee. Through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
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Monday, February 26, 2007
Stational Church: Monday in the First Week of Lent

Image Source: In front of the Relics of St. Peter's Chains in the Church of St. Peter's Chains in Rome (c) A Catholic Life Blog, 2016

Today's Stational Church is at the Church of St. Peter in Chains. For information on this devotion, see the Stational Churches of Lent Homepage. I will post on each Stational Church for Lent. Information is from the Canon Regulars of St. John Cantius:
From the heart of the Roman Forum, the penitential procession climbed up the road winding up towards the Esquiline Hill and came to the church of St. Peter in Chains, also called the "Eudossian Basilica" (as it had been built in the place of another church by Eurdossia, wife of the emperor Valentinian III, to preserve in it the chains of St. Peter).

The Station of this day is at St. Peter in Chains and the Church takes us today to the divinely appointed watchman of "the lambs and sheep of Christ"—St. Peter.
The Chains, which held the shepherd of the lambs and sheep consist of forty-four links. Forty-four days separate us from Holy Thursday, the beginning of the Paschal solemnities when our "Lenten" work must be an accomplished fact.

How many links has that chain from which Christ, our good Shepherd, desires to free us in this acceptable time? We are fully aware that during this season of salvation this chain must be broken and the links thrown out—the big ones in particular. Which are your principal faults? Are you working against them?

Let us pray: Convert us, O God our salvation, that the Lenten fast may be of profit to us. Instruct our minds with heavenly discipline. Through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
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Sunday, February 25, 2007
The Council of Trent: Part 2

Continuing my series on "The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent", I would like to start by linking to my previous article on the Fifth Session.

The Sixth Session is the Decree Concerning Justification. Chapter I through XVI (Pages 29-42 in my book) are a wonderful presentation of the Catholic theology in a very scholarly manner. I know many Protestants, and I wish that they would read the Catholic Church's official, theological statements on justification since they are a source of great hope.

Here is a list of the Canons of the Council in the Sixth Session. We must still hold and belief what is taught through the Council of Trent. Many of these are very theological, so I would encourage reading them slowly and in pieces to comprehend all of the parts.

Canons:

CANON I - If any one saith, that man may be justified before God by his own works, whether done through the teaching of human nature, or that of the law, without the grace of God through Jesus Christ; let him be anathema.

CANON II - If any one saith, that the grace of God, through Jesus Christ, is given only for this, that man may be able more easily to live justly, and to merit eternal life, as if, by free will without grace, he were able to do both, though hardly indeed and with difficulty; let him be anathema.

CANON III - If any one saith, that without the prevenient inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and without his help, man can believe, hope, love, or be penitent as he ought, so as that the grace of Justification may be bestowed upon him; let him be anathema.

CANON IV - If any one saith, that man's free will moved and excited by God, by assenting to God exciting and calling, nowise co-operates towards disposing and preparing itself for obtaining the grace of Justification; that it cannot refuse its consent, if it would, but that, as something inanimate, it does nothing whatever and is merely passive; let him be anathema.

CANON V - If any one saith, that, since Adam's sin, the free will of man is lost and extinguished; or, that it is a thing with only a name, yea a name without a reality, a figment, in fine, introduced into the Church by Satan; let him be anathema.

CANON VI - If any one saith, that it is not in man's power to make his ways evil, but that the works that are evil God worketh as well as those that are good, not permissively only, but properly, and of Himself, in such wise that the treason of Judas is no less His own proper work than the vocation of Paul; let him be anathema.

CANON VII - If any one saith, that all works done before Justification, in whatsoever way they be done, are truly sins, or merit the hatred of God; or that the more earnestly one strives to dispose himself for grace, the more grievously he sins: let him be anathema.

CANON VIII - If any one saith, that the fear of hell,-whereby, by grieving for our sins, we flee unto the mercy of God, or refrain from sinning,-is a sin, or makes sinners worse; let him be anathema.

CANON IX - If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification, and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema.

CANON X - If any one saith, that men are just without the justice of Christ, whereby He merited for us to be justified; or that it is by that justice itself that they are formally just; let him be anathema.

CANON XI - If any one saith, that men are justified, either by the sole imputation of the justice of Christ, or by the sole remission of sins, to the exclusion of the grace and the charity which is poured forth in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, and is inherent in them; or even that the grace, whereby we are justified, is only the favour of God; let him be anathema.

CANON XII - If any one saith, that justifying faith is nothing else but confidence in the divine mercy which remits sins for Christ's sake; or, that this confidence alone is that whereby we are justified; let him be anathema.

CANON XIII - If any one saith, that it is necessary for every one, for the obtaining the remission of sins, that he believe for certain, and without any wavering arising from his own infirmity and disposition, that his sins are forgiven him; let him be anathema.

CANON XIV - If any one saith, that man is truly absolved from his sins and justified, because that he assuredly believed himself absolved and justified; or, that no one is truly justified but he who believes himself justified; and that, by this faith alone, absolution and justification are effected; let him be anathema.

CANON XV - If any one saith, that a man, who is born again and justified, is bound of faith to believe that he is assuredly in the number of the predestinate; let him be anathema.

CANON XVI - If any one saith, that he will for certain, of an absolute and infallible certainty, have that great gift of perseverance unto the end,-unless he have learned this by special revelation; let him be anathema.

CANON XVII - If any one saith, that the grace of Justification is only attained to by those who are predestined unto life; but that all others who are called, are called indeed, but receive not grace, as being, by the divine power, predestined unto evil; let him be anathema.

CANON XVIII - If any one saith, that the commandments of God are, even for one that is justified and constituted in grace, impossible to keep; let him be anathema.

CANON XIX - If any one saith, that nothing besides faith is commanded in the Gospel; that other things are indifferent, neither commanded nor prohibited, but free; or, that the ten commandments nowise appertain to Christians; let him be anathema.

CANON XX - If any one saith, that the man who is justified and how perfect soever, is not bound to observe the commandments of God and of the Church, but only to believe; as if indeed the Gospel were a bare and absolute promise of eternal life, without the condition of observing the commandments ; let him be anathema.

CANON XXI - If any one saith, that Christ Jesus was given of God to men, as a redeemer in whom to trust, and not also as a legislator whom to obey; let him be anathema.

CANON XXII - If any one saith, that the justified, either is able to persevere, without the special help of God, in the justice received; or that, with that help, he is not able; let him be anathema.

CANON XXIII - lf any one saith, that a man once justified can sin no more, nor lose grace, and that therefore he that falls and sins was never truly justified; or, on the other hand, that he is able, during his whole life, to avoid all sins, even those that are venial,-except by a special privilege from God, as the Church holds in regard of the Blessed Virgin; let him be anathema.

CANON XXIV - If any one saith, that the justice received is not preserved and also increased before God through good works; but that the said works are merely the fruits and signs of Justification obtained, but not a cause of the increase thereof; let him be anathema.

CANON XXV - If any one saith, that, in every good work, the just sins venially at least, or-which is more intolerable still-mortally, and consequently deserves eternal punishments; and that for this cause only he is not damned, that God does not impute those works unto damnation; let him be anathema.

CANON XXVI - If any one saith, that the just ought not, for their good works done in God, to expect and hope for an eternal recompense from God, through His mercy and the merit of Jesus Christ, if so be that they persevere to the end in well [Page 48] doing and in keeping the divine commandments; let him be anathema.

CANON XXVII - If any one saith, that there is no mortal sin but that of infidelity; or, that grace once received is not lost by any other sin, however grievous and enormous, save by that of infidelity ; let him be anathema.

CANON XXVIII - If any one saith, that, grace being lost through sin, faith also is always lost with it; or, that the faith which remains, though it be not a lively faith, is not a true faith; or, that he, who has faith without charity, is not a Chris taught; let him be anathema.

CANON XXIX - If any one saith, that he, who has fallen after baptism, is not able by the grace of God to rise again; or, that he is able indeed to recover the justice which he has lost, but by faith alone without the sacrament of Penance, contrary to what the holy Roman and universal Church-instructed by Christ and his Apostles-has hitherto professed, observed, and taugh; let him be anathema.

CANON XXX - If any one saith, that, after the grace of Justification has been received, to every penitent sinner the guilt is remitted, and the debt of eternal punishment is blotted out in such wise, that there remains not any debt of temporal punishment to be discharged either in this world, or in the next in Purgatory, before the entrance to the kingdom of heaven can be opened (to him); let him be anathema.

CANON XXXI - If any one saith, that the justified sins when he performs good works with a view to an eternal recompense; let him be anathema.

CANON XXXII - If any one saith, that the good works of one that is justified are in such manner the gifts of God, as that they are not also the good merits of him that is justified; or, that the said justified, by the good works which he performs through the grace of God and the merit of Jesus Christ, whose [Page 49] living member he is, does not truly merit increase of grace, eternal life, and the attainment of that eternal life,-if so be, however, that he depart in grace,-and also an increase of glory; let him be anathema.

CANON XXXIII - If any one saith,that,by the Catholic doctrine touching Justification, by this holy Synod inset forth in this present decree, the glory of God, or the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ are in any way derogated from, and not rather that the truth of our faith, and the glory in fine of God and of Jesus Christ are rendered (more) illustrious; let him be anathema.
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Living Lent: The First Sunday by Cardinal Rigali

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Vatican Official Acknowledges Liturgical Crisis

Feb. 23, 2007 (CWNews.com) - In an unusually candid conversation with the monthly Inside the Vatican, the secretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship concedes that liturgical reform after Vatican II “has not been able to achieve the expected goals,” and indicates that Pope Benedict XVI is determined to address the crisis in Catholic liturgy.

In a lengthy interview, Archbishop Albert Malcom Ranjith Patabendige Don told the Inside the Vatican that a revival of the Catholic liturgy is essential to counteract the decline in practice among the faithful, particularly in the Western world.
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Stational Church: First Sunday of Lent


Image Source: Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome by A Catholic Life Blog (c) 2016 

Today's Stational Church is at the Lateran Basilica of the Most Holy Savior, commonly called St. John Lateran. For information on this devotion, see the Stational Churches of Lent Homepage. I will post on each Stational Church for Lent. Information is from the Canon Regulars of St. John Cantius:
The Cathedral Basilica of Rome—caput et mater omnium ecclesiarum Urbis et Orbis—triumphantly celebrates the first solemn day of Lent.

Today, the faithful pilgrim in spirit to the Lateran Basilica of the Most Holy Savior, "head and mother of all the churches of the City and the World," the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome. In this basilica Lent officially begins, in this church also, it is concluded.

The acceptable time is at hand. "We exhort that you receive not the grace of God in vain." "It is true," says St. Leo, "there is no season, which is not rich with God' gifts. His grace does ever give us an entry to His mercy, yet at this time the minds of all should be urged with greater earnestness towards spiritual progress, and should be animated by a trust in God stronger than ever, for now the anniversary of that day on which we were redeemed is drawing near. Therefore, let us be moved to perform every work of godliness, to the end that we may be able to celebrate, with clean minds and bodies, that mystery, which excels all others—the mystery of the Lord's passion." (Matins, Second Nocturne)

This holy fast (Quadragesima) will open unto us the gates of Paradise. We must embrace it with prayer and supplication, so that we may rejoice with the Lord on the day of Resurrection.

Let us pray: O God, who does purify Thy Church by the yearly observance of forty days; grant to Thy household that what we strive to obtain from Thee by self-denial, we may secure by good works. Through Christ, Our Lord.
Amen.
Image Source: Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome by A Catholic Life Blog (c) 2016 

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Saturday, February 24, 2007
"The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ"

I have just finished the initial parts of "The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ", which is the book containing the private revelations of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich. While it is not necessary for Catholics to believe private revelation after the time of the apostles, I strongly believe in her visions. The account I just finished reading of the Last Supper was so poignant and incredibly detailed. I did not know that the Supper Room of Jesus at one time housed the Ark of the New Covenant! Plus, the home was set up so that in the most inner part, Jesus and the 12 disciples ate the Last Supper, while being separated from the other areas by a veil. It is symbolic of the Temple veil! And, the Holy Grail was originally owned by Abraham and even used by Melchizedek!

I strongly am suggesting this book should be read during Lent. If you don't or can't get a physical copy, you can read "The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ" online.

Private Revelation

Like all private revelation since the time of the Bible, these visions and promises do not have to be believed by anyone. The Church, in her authority, declares them worthy of belief, but a Catholic does not have to believe them in order to remain a Catholic.

Pope Benedict XV said: "The approbation of such revelations implies nothing more than, after mature examination, it is permissible to publish them for the unit of the faithful. Though they don't merit the same credence as the truths of religion, one can, however, believe them out of human faith, conforming to the rules of prudence by which they are probable, and supported by sufficient motives that one might believe in them piously."
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Stational Church: Saturday after Ash Wednesday


Today's Stational Church is at St. Augustine. For information on this devotion, see the Stational Churches of Lent Homepage. I will post on each Stational Church for Lent. Information is from the Canon Regulars of St. John Cantius:
Pope Pasquale II (1099-1118) laid the relics of St. Tryphon to rest under the present church of St. Augustine.

Health of body and, above all, health of soul are precious gifts from God—gifts for which we must be grateful. The Church is particularly concerned about the health of our soul, the well being in us of the life of Christ. She knows our spiritual shortsightedness, she knows, the unsteadiness of our will, she knows the power of our passions, all of them—infirmities caused by Original Sin, as well as by our personal sins. She sees her children make resolutions and break them. She knows how often the fuller unfolding of the sacramental life is impeded because her sons and daughters are lacking in purity of intention and proper appreciation of God's gifts.

For that very reason she instituted this holy season as a time of great healing. Lent is God's hospital. Serious operations are to be performed during this time. And blessed are they who gladly submit to them. Vitia comprimis, mentem elevas—vices are to be curbed, spiritual cancers to be removed, the mind is to be renewed, elevated, so that, after our stay in His hospital, the same mind may be in us, which is also in Christ Jesus. We humbly implore our dual Saints to guide us to the Divine Physician, the Healer of our soul and body.

Let us pray: Be mindful, O Lord, of our supplications, and grant that we may keep with devout service this solemn fast, which thou has wholesomely ordained for the healing of our souls and bodies. Through Christ, Our Lord.
Amen.
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Friday, February 23, 2007
Coming Canonizations in 2007

An Ordinary Public Consistory was held by Pope Benedict XVI to announce the canonization on June 3, 2007 for the following Blesseds. The Brazilian priest will be canonized on May 11 when Pope Benedict XVI visits Brazil:

George Preca, priest and founder of the Societas Doctrinae Christianae

Szymon of Lipnica, priest of the Order of Friars Minor

Charles of St. Andrew, priest of the Congregation of the Passion

Antonio de Santa Ana, priest of the Order of Discalced Friars Minor and founder of the Convent of the Conceptionist Sisters "Recolhimento da luz."

Marie Eugenie de Jesus, founder of the Institute of the Sisters of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

Image Source: REUTERS/Osservatore Romano/Pool (VATICAN)

Sources:

United Press International
Argent by the Tiber
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Traditional Latin Mass at Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis


Update: Watch Video

Update: View the photos

As a supporter and defender of the Tridentine Latin Mass, I am extremely pleased to hear that a Tridentine Mass will be celebrated in the Cathedral Basilica.



On Wednesday, March 7, 2007 at 7 p.m., the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas according to the traditional calendar, the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest will offer Solemn High Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis.

This is a truly exciting event-- it will will be the first traditional Latin Mass publicly celebrated in the Archdiocesan Cathedral for at least 35 years. Deo gratias! All are welcome to attend.

Keep Reading...
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