Let’s not overstate Bugnini’s role in propagating the Novus Ordo

From the book The Second Vatican Council:An Unwritten Story, comes the following excerpt:

“There were those who tried to place all the responsibility fort eh Novus Ordo on the shoulders of Monsignor Bugnini, interpreting his removal from office as Pope Montini’s response to the treason of which he was supposedly the victim. The testimonies to the contrary are utterly conclusive and no surprising, Paul VI, one of his biographers Yves Chiron wrote, will no doubt go down in history as the pope who brought the Second Vatican Council to its conclusion, but also as the one who gave the Church a new Mass. From the 1930’s on, in fact, the young Montni, under the influence of Father Bevilacqua, had been a follower of the “Liturgical Movement,” in which he saw the ecllesial expression of Maritian’s humanism.”

Earlier in the book, Roberto de Mattei recounts that Monsignor Bugnini was only removed from the concillium and exiled to Tehran after what might be said to be a type of blackmail that would have exposed the Masonic influence in the hierarchy itself. So too the victim mentality that often is spoken of in connection to Paul VI was a real aspect of Paul VI’s personality, it might have been related to the war he was so heavily involved with under Pius XII.  For more on the victim mentality of Paul VI in action read Michael Davie’s Apologia Pro Marcel Lefebvre which is mind blowing!

Happy New Year! Pray for the Holy Father!

+JMJ+

Pray for Priests (and update on Fr. Walker and Terra FSSP)

Fr. Kenneth Walker, Fr. Joseph Terra: (FSSP Supporters Facebook)

Take the time today to pray for priests!

A Prayer for Priests to the Mother of God Mother of our Redeemer,

In this era dedicated to you, with great joy we call you blessed. You believed in the Word of God the Father and declared yourself His handmaid, and so, through you, the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. We salute you as Mother, our Mother, the Mother of the Church. With what great love you must have watched over the infant Church and what motherly solicitude encouraged the apostles as they committed themselves to carry on the work of Your Divine Son on earth. Make the Church ever to be the sign and instrument of intimate union with God.

 To you, our Mother, we entrust in a special way our Bishop and the priests of our diocese. To them has been given a special sharing in the priesthood of Your Divine Son.He has chosen them to be ministers of His Word and Sacrament. Ask Him to fill them with zeal, to keep them faithful and joyful in His service, conscious of the fact that they care and so bring glory to the Father and honor to the Church.

 Holy Mother, increase the ranks of our priests by inspiring our young people to be more generous in their response to serve Jesus in the priesthood and in religious life. 

 Sustain all of us, O Virgin Mary, on our journey of faith and obtain for us the grace of eternal salvation.


Also, Fr. Terra recently blessed a new stained glass window in Fr. Walkers memory:

h/t FSSP Supporters

"Even setting aside the prayer, this image, by itself, says so much about the Jesus-Mary relationship"

+JMJ+

h/t Matthew Olson

There is no salvation outside of Adobe PDF

You must declare that there's only one Adobe

The little known forth major monotheistic religion:

h/t: Fr. Edmund Montgomery Twitter feed

A reflection by Chesterton on the real and actual simplicity of the Catholic Faith (Fixed)

The following excerpt comes from the latest issue of Gilbert Magazine, more specifically it is part of an essay by Chesterton Called "The Definition of the Dragon", originally published in the New Witness (October 8, 1920)

“In person Chesterton was a large man who was something of a strain on his clothes."

"...Here we might take the body as an illustration of the soul. Health is a simple and single thing – so long as you have got it. A young man walking in wild and sun for pleasure does not say. “How harmoniously my left lung is working,” or “I take particular pleasure in the nervous system of my right leg.” So long as those things are all right they are all one thing. And so, for all I know, there may be a spiritual state in which all truths are one truth, and that a simple and self-evident truth. For all I know, there may have been some Garden of Eden in which a man really did not need a theology, and could really be content with a religion. Nor need I deny that others; that children or a particular sort of poets may have some such short cut to paradise. But all such speculations are irrelevant in the face of admitted maladies or mishaps. If a man’s lung is threatened with pneumonia, it is no good to ask him why he is not content with the simple breath of life breathed into his nostrils by God in the Garden of Eden. It is no good to call medical details morbid or medical distinctions pedantic. If a man has had a fall and broken his leg, it is not helpful to urge him to continue the march of progress, or exult the ecstasy of perpetual motion. Still less is it helpful to complain of the ugliness of the anatomical diagrams from which the doctors learn how to mend his leg. But according to any sane philosophy that any sane person can possibly hold, it is obvious that man is at least very liable to fall somehow and break something. This being so, we cannot do without ugly diagrams and morbid details and pedantic distinctions. We cannot do without them in the case of the soul any more than in the case of the body. Or, to speak more strictly, we can do without them in the case of the body. Or, to speak more strictly, we can do without them for considerable periods of security and unconsciousness; but we always discover the need of them in hours of danger and disintegration. And when I said that the Catholic philosophy formulated in mediaeval times is still the foundation even of modern morality, I might say that it is in this sense the unconscious foundation. It is so, at least, where that morality is moral..."

New Series for St. Stans Facebook page

Greetings!

So recently I was given a little bit of influencing power over the St. Stans Facebook page...

Not that much but now I am activly involved with the content being shared.

Either sometime later today or tomorrow morning St. Stans Facebook will feature a new series of posts entitled "Extraordinary Questions".  The purpose of these posts will be to explore real honest questions put forth by people within and without Our Holy Mother touching mostly on topics related to the traditional teachings and practices.  Below you will find the unedited (soon to be for the actual posting) first post.  I hope you enjoy and I will likely post them all here as time goes on too.

Why is the Eucharistic prayer of consecration silent to those in the nave?

I would first like to thank you all for sending in the questions for our “Extraordinary Questions” posts.

Our first question is related to the prayer of consecration over the host and the chalice.  Specifically it was asked why can’t people not in the sanctuary hear what is being said like how it is done in the Ordinary Form?

This is a fantastic question and there is much to be said on the matter.  It should first be noted that the prayer is not said to us as if it was a prayer of intercession seeking our help in return.  Instead, the prayer is specifically said with its direction being made toward the host.  When the priest says “This is My Body” he is speaking to the host and the substance (the breadness, for lack of a better term) is transformed into the literal body of Christ, while the accidents (taste and texture of what was once bread) remain. Thus it can be stated that the consecration prayer can be said in a very low tone because the purpose of it is not for our understanding, rather it is for transubstantiation to take effect.

There is another aspect of the question that seems to be implied, that being why is there a sort of shielding or veiling of the words said from the people in church?  Some people may object to the use of Latin or the near silent nature of the spoken prayer saying that when Christ died the temple veil was torn from top to bottom revealing the Holy of Holies, that was once reserved to only the high priest, was now afforded for all to see. 

To this it should be remembered that we veil that which is Holy.  Whether it is the tabernacle which is veiled with the cloth in front or the women’s head with a hat or mantilla, that which is set apart for God is veiled.  When Moses went up on the mountain to talk with God he was so affected by seeing the Lord that his face was shining with the Glory of God (Exodus 34:35). The Jewish people seeing such a wonder asked him to veil himself and he did so.  So too Latin and perceived silence act as a type of veil in the west, while the iconostases veils the prayers among the Eastern Rite Catholics.  In both ancient rites the veil of silence to those assisting at the liturgy is observed.

Our modern day focus on needing to have our senses fulfilled in-order to participate in the sacred can best be re-ordered by hearing the story of Elias:

And he said to him: Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord: and behold the Lord passeth, and a great and strong wind before the Lord over throwing the mountains, and breaking the rocks in pieces: the Lord is not in the wind, and after the wind an earthquake: the Lord is not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire: the Lord is not in the fire, and after the fire a whistling of a gentle air. And when Elias heard it, he covered his face with his mantle, and coming forth stood in the entering in of the cave, and behold a voice unto him, saying: What dost thou here, Elias? And he answered: With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant: they have destroyed thy altars, they have slain thy prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek my life to take it away.”

Silence and gentleness is of God, who is Meek and Humble of Heart. Let us pray that we too may learn to be virtuous and submit our desires and wills to him daily.

+JMJ+

-------------------------------

Update: Its now up!

Post by St. Stanislaus Catholic Church (Milwaukee, Wisconsin).

Blessed John Duns Scotus and the Immaculate Conception

"You can't change the world..."

Those were the words of my mother recently after I was trying to gently get my family to recognize the importance of the Sabbath.

Source

In this age of lackluster, luke-warm faith, dominated by spiritual and temporal relativists it seems like there is no safe place for an absolutist to lay his head.  Just making mention of truths being actually capital T true evokes anger and ddefensivenessamong those (including my own fallen self) that prefer modernities comforts. Rather than seeing the opportunity for holiness we (I especially) sink to the lowest common denominator, ignoring the formed conscience in favor of following irrational passions.

St. Wojtyla in veritatis splendor reminded us that conscience has rights because it has duties to observe .  These are true rights, not the american values often under girded by sentimental texts given in modernity.  Their ends are with God, every action must have its end in something, either for or against God.  Even indifference is an affront to the living God, for existence and sustenance are given for this time to each of us and to lack desire for good or bad is to waist a gift as mere triviality.

I do believe that part of the issue rests with protestantism, and how the faith alone idealism (and frankly nonsensicalism) led to the deception that your day to day decisions have no moral, and necessarily eternal, consequences.  The protestant cannot imagine the call to moral excellence because they are so depraved that any attempt at such would be fruitless because ultimately all fruit related to us in anyway is rotten according to them. Yet the call from our Blessed Lord "Be ye perfect..." was no mere idealistic proposal, but a necessity.  Nothing imperfect enters heaven, The call to holiness is a definate and it is not enough to say I cant do it.  Take up your cross.

Will you fall?  It is likely at least in small ways you will, but the sacraments particularily confession is there for you!

Each of us make a difference in this world with every action we take, seen or unseen, heard or silent.  Consider how the church has always considered liturgical abuses causing harm to the world, not just spiritually, but temporally because this world is not just spirit as the sacramental structure of the mass is not just spirit.

Modernity must be confronted, but how this needs to be done is not a uniform formality.  We tend to think that our personal apostolates need to have many people in attendence and growing as a result of our efforts at every time of the day, this is well meaning but it lacks hope.  12 Jewish boys were sent to the edges of the world (no im not a flat Earther) sometimes having success and at other times having none.

Mother Theresa reminds us that our call is not to success, rather to faithfullness.  You can change the world if you put everything you have into living for Him, with Him and in Him.  This life of ours is a gift.  As Mother Angelica says "We are each called to be great saints, dont miss the opportunity!"

+JMJ+

“If your church was built on Simon Peter you have a rough foundation.”

This is kind of abstract but see this through.
In a debate between Karl Keating and Dr. Peter Ruckman the latter stated the following:

“If your church was built on Simon Peter you have a rough foundation.”

The thing is that God can use anyone he wants to do his will without defeating their own free will, but he always chooses the least so they can be seen as magnifying his glory. 

Consider the following examples:

Gideon’s remaining army
David
St. Mary Alacoque
St. Bernadette

Protestants tend to believe that Jesus wouldn’t use such a broken vessel like Peter who can do such good then have to be corrected sternly by Paul. It would be easy for God to take hold of Alexander the Great or a great Paraoh to do his will, but how much more amazing is it for him to use a sinner like you and I to change the whole world?

There is a beauty in God’s plan that we cant see often because our sin has darkened our vision.  I think GK Chesterton out of all people takes on and answers the Why Peter question the best in his book Heretics:

“Now this is, I say deliberately, the only defect in the greatness of Mr. Shaw, the only answer to his claim to be a great man, that he is not easily pleased. He is an almost solitary exception to the general and essential maxim, that little things please great minds. And from this absence of that most uproarious of all things, humility, comes incidentally the peculiar insistence on the Superman. After belaboring a great many people for a great many years for being unprogressive, Mr. Shaw has discovered, with characteristic sense, that it is very doubtful whether any existing human being with two legs can be progressive at all. Having come to doubt whether humanity can be combined with progress, most people, easily pleased, would have elected to abandon progress and remain with humanity. Mr. Shaw, not being easily pleased, decides to throw over humanity with all its limitations and go in for progress for its own sake. If man, as we know him, is incapable of the philosophy of progress, Mr. Shaw asks, not for a new kind of philosophy, but for a new kind of man. It is rather as if a nurse had tried a rather bitter food for some years on a baby, and on discovering that it was not suitable, should not throw away the food and ask for a new food, but throw the baby out of window, and ask for a new baby. Mr. Shaw cannot understand that the thing which is valuable and lovable in our eyes is man—the old beer-drinking, creed-making, fighting, failing, sensual, respectable man. And the things that have been founded on this creature immortally remain; the things that have been founded on the fancy of the Superman have died with the dying civilizations which alone have given them birth. When Christ at a symbolic moment was establishing His great society, He chose for its corner-stone neither the brilliant Paul nor the mystic John, but a shuffler, a snob a coward—in a word, a man. And upon this rock He has built His Church, and the gates of Hell have not prevailed against it. All the empires and the kingdoms have failed, because of this inherent and continual weakness, that they were founded by strong men and upon strong men. But this one thing, the historic Christian Church, was founded on a weak man, and for that reason it is indestructible. For no chain is stronger than its weakest link.”

Pope Francis against common Eucharistic celebrations with Protestants

Francis admonished for ad limina visit Swiss bishops: not blur difference between priests and laity!

 Vatican City (kath.net/KAP/red) Francis Pope has spoken out against a common celebration of the Eucharist by Catholics and Protestants. "If we have to hide our Eucharistic faith under the pretext of a certain accommodation by, then we take our own treasure neither nor our interlocutor seriously enough," he said on Monday in front of the Swiss bishops at the Vatican. In ecumenical dialogue, the bishops should make sure that the believers of all faiths could live their faith "unambiguous and free of confusion" and "without the differences at the expense of truth wegzuretuschieren".

At the same time, the Pope, the Swiss bishops called on the difference between priests and laity not to blur. It is good to acknowledge the dedication of the laity and support, but this must always be "in clear respect for the difference between the common priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial priesthood." The bishops would have their followers the importance of the truths of faith for the liturgical, parochial, family and social life convey. For this purpose, they would have their employees select "carefully". In addition, the Pope warned against over-reliance of the Catholic Church in Switzerland by state institutions. If the church avoided to depend on organizations "that could impose through economic means a style of life, the little Christ" have to do that it would "make the gospel more visible" in their structures He called for further clarification of the ratio to between church and state.

Read the Rest HERE

h/t Matthew Olson