Abbey-Roads2

Those are Corky’s lines from the hilarious film, “Waiting For Guffman.”

Sounds a little like Monseigneur Lefebvre, the deceased schismatic Archbishop, father of the SSPX. Gerald posted a few of his quotes - I couldn’t resist grabbing one (just for Corky!):

“All these [pre-John XXIII] popes have resisted the union of the Church with revolution; it is an adulterous union and from such a union only bastards can come. The rite of the new mass is a bastard rite, the sacraments are bastard sacraments. We no longer know if they are sacraments, which give grace or do not give it. The priests coming out of the seminaries are bastard priests who do not know what they are. They are unaware that they are made to go up to the altar, to offer the sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ and to give Jesus Christ to souls.” Thanks to, The Cafeteria Is Closed.

And some people tell me that he is most likely a saint, that the schismatic traditionalist movement does not engender doubt, dissension, and disobedience, while questioning if the Novus Ordo is even valid. It doesn’t seem to be a good spirit at work here. One has to be cautious.

Blessed John XXIII, pray for the Church.

October 11 is the feast of Blessed John XXIII, as well as the feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the day chosen to convene the historic Second Vatican Council in 1962. The first image of the Holy Father I present is one I painted for the occasion of his beatification by John Paul II, it is now in the possession of the Cathedral of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The second photograph captures the wonderful kindly spirit that was his.

I wrote to him when I was little and received a beautiful picture of His Holiness, with a little note, that unfortunately has been lost. (My mother hid it for safe keeping and I never knew what became of it after that.) He was universally loved, and is now venerated among the saints of God.

Pray for us Blessed John XXIII.

[snip] Before the reform of the General Roman Calendar today was the feast of the Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The theological controversies regarding the divinity of Christ which disturbed the Church during the fourth and fifth centuries led to a denial of the divine maternity of Mary. The heretics refused to honor Mary as Mother of God. The Council of Ephesus in 431 declared that the Blessed Virgin “brought forth according to the flesh the Word of God made flesh” and that in consequence she is the Mother of God. Thus she is rightly given the title of divine maternity. In 1931, on the fifteenth centenary of this great Council, Pius XI instituted today’s feast. By this act the pope wished to emphasize not only Mary’s divine maternity, but also her motherhood of all the members of Christ’s Mystical Body. [snip] Go to Catholic Culture for further reading.

(And do not neglect to visit tonight - and tomorrow for his homily - Don Marco’s “Vultus Christi” a superb blog, for his posts concerning Bl. John XXIII.)

The litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto.

In every era the Church has canonized new saints for the edification of the faithful. New devotions have been promulgated, such as devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, devotion to the Holy Face, and more recently devotion to the Divine Mercy. The devotions are not “new” yet their form and cult have been adapted for the needs of the faithful at any given time, oftentimes by express command from the Lord himself. (Although always requiring the recognition and approval of the Church.)

Recently, two new titles of Our Lady have been added to the litany of Loreto. It is my understanding that this is not unprecedented, having occurred in the past as well; in fact, certain religious orders have been permitted to add titles, such as “Queen of the Friars Minor” for the Franciscans - who incidentally are the custos of the Shrine in Loreto, Ancona, Italy. (See “History of the Litany” for details.)

In reading some traditionalist blogs, as well as comments left, it seems the changes add to their suspicion of anything new promulgated by the Vatican. Comments such as, “Why did JPII feel the need to add his innovations to everything that has been a defined devotion for centuries?” Of course, many will not accept the “Mysteries of Light” he suggested, since it increased the traditional 15 mysteries of the rosary to 20 mysteries.

Certainly proponents of the rosary understand the history and development of the devotion. Many realize that a series of beads used to count one’s aves and paters eventually became organized to become the original 150 aves emulating the 150 psalms. While the mysteries were categorically introduced later. One could always meditate upon other mysteries of our Lord’s life. Upon examination, the mysteries comprise in detail, the essential points of the creed. If one is so attached to 150 aves, then let them pray 150 aves a day, using the traditional mysteries or adding the new mysteries - just don’t exceed that magic number of 150. (Though praised by a succession of popes and saints, the rosary is not even a required devotion for Catholics.)

One website compared the more ancient text from the litany of Loreto with a supposed new litany they found in a missalette. It had been adapted and was obviously not the official litany. I found the official ‘new’ litany on the Holy See’s website - it is the same as the ancient one, except for the new titles. See for yourself:

THE LORETO LITANY

Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy.
Christ hear us.
Christ graciously hear us.
God, the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
God the Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, one God,
Holy Mary, pray for us.
Holy Mother of God,
Holy Virgin of virgins,
Mother of Christ,
Mother of the Church, (Officially added - although suggested by Paul VI after V.II)
Mother of divine grace,
Mother most pure,
Mother most chaste,
Mother inviolate,
Mother undefiled,
Mother most amiable,
Mother admirable,
Mother of good counsel,
Mother of our Creator,
Mother of our Saviour,
Mother of mercy,
Virgin most prudent,
Virgin most venerable,
Virgin most renowned,
Virgin most powerful,
Virgin most merciful,
Virgin most faithful,
Mirror of justice,
Seat of wisdom,
Cause of our joy,
Spiritual vessel,
Vessel of honour,
Singular vessel of devotion,
Mystical rose,
Tower of David,
Tower if ivory,
House of gold,
Ark of the covenant,
Gate of heaven,
Morning star,
Health of the sick,
Refuge of sinners,
Comfort of the afflicted,
Help of Christians,
Queen of Angels,
Queen of Patriarchs,
Queen of Prophets,
Queen of Apostles,
Queen of Martyrs,
Queen of Confessors,
Queen of Virgins,
Queen of all Saints,
Queen conceived without original sin,
Queen assumed into heaven,
Queen of the most holy Rosary,
Queen of families, (Officially added - do you have to wonder why in a time of the disintegration of the family?)
Queen of peace.

The Church and the Holy Father certainly have a right to add to the devotional life of the Church, certain elements requiring our attention. Why is the litany so sacrosanct that titles of the Blessed Virgin may not be added, or the rosary, that additional mysteries of our Lord’s life may not be added? These are devotions after all, and become the means of catechises in their formulation. As far as the rosary goes, there are many forms; the Franciscan Crown, the Brigittine, along with a variety of chaplets. In one’s private devotion, one may meditate upon any mystery of the Lord’s life one wishes while praying the rosary; as with the litany, when privately prayed one may praise the Mother of God with varying titles according to one’s devotion - so long as they conform to Church teaching and revealed truth.

Queen, Beauty of Carmel, pray for us. (A privilege given to the Carmelite order when they were custos of the shrine.)

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray. Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord God, that we, your servants,may enjoy perpetual health of mind and body; and by the intercession of the Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, may be delivered from present sorrow, and obtain eternal joy. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Pictured, “The Good Samaritan” - Hungarian artist, Henrik Stefan. (The painting reminds me of St. Martin of Tours clothing the beggar.)

Yesterday’s Gospel continues to resonate within me. The most disturbing line at the outset was concerning the scholar continuing to press Jesus; the Gospel says, “But because he wished to justify himself” he asked Jesus “Who is my neighbor.” And of course, Jesus goes on to relate the parable of the Good Samaritan.

The priests and teachers of the law always were testing Jesus, looking for a way to catch him, while seeking to justify themselves. It seems everyone one in the world today is eager to justify himself as well - gosh, I always do it in my examination of conscience - until I’m convicted by the Holy Spirit otherwise.

We today are perhaps the most educated people to have walked the face of the earth. Many people in the pew may even be more highly educated than the priest who is giving the homily. Reading our blogs, one might get the impression that bloggers are the new scholars of the law and the prophets, looking for the chinks in the Church and her ministers, and ready to criticize, if not condemn whenever we uncover something.

It makes me wonder if many bloggers pray. I hear it is a maxim at the Angelicum in Rome that to study is to pray. Which reminds me of the maxim dubiously attributed to Augustine, to sing is to pray twice. Many people may be substituting knowledge and study, or, God forbid, blogging, for prayer. Having the form of religion, yet without an interior life.

“Wishing to justify himself…” We all do it. The conflict between Catholic progressives and traditionalists has many scholarly spokesman seeking to justify their positions; along with the less broadly educated who seem to know a lot about a little; as well as the not so highly educated, yet intelligent, passionately speaking their convictions. (I obviously fall into the last category.)

The story of the Good Samaritan reminds me of what some of the opponents of Megjugorje (An apparition I have little affinity for) who insist the Virgin cannot be appearing there because of the way she answered a question once. She was asked who the holiest person was in the vicinity, and to the scandal of some, she cited a Muslim woman nearby. I expect the Muslim woman was devout as well as being humble, kind and charitable. Every uber-Catholic I know brings this up as proof that Our Lady could not possibly say such a thing. Really?

Yet her Son, when asked who one’s neighbor was, illustrated his point by telling the story of the Good Samaritan. As everyone knows, Samaritans were outcasts, little better than pagans. Not unlike our idea of Islam today. Yet Jesus held this man up as an example of holiness. What was our Lord saying?

There really are people outside the Church who are holy and will be saved, and have been saved. I think of Betsy Ten-boom, who in the Nazi death camp was a source of light and spirituality to women of mixed races and religions. In death her face radiated a mystical light, such as witnessed in the deaths of many Catholic saints. I also think of the girl from Columbine who died for the faith. And more recently, the little Amish girls who were shot to death, laying down their lives in the hope to save the others, while forgiving their executioner. Afterwards, the entire Amish community quietly and peacefully forgave the murderer, while consoling his family.

What did St. Paul write? “If any man thinks he is wise, let him become ignorant.” Or something like that.

(Thanks to The Penitent Blogger, who always writes well, with his recent post on the same subject. His commentary reminded me to post my own thoughts on yesterday’s Gospel. The Penitent obviously prays; his commentary never fails to be rich, insightful, and full of wisdom. I recommend that you read his posts everyday - especially if you can’t get to daily Mass - he normally has a fine lectio on the daily readings.)