Ubi Petrus

The Manchester Union Leader has a nice article about two sets of twin brothers serving in the Diocese of Manchester. One of them just so happens to be (drum roll…) our new pastor (he’s the one on the left). Fr. Paul has been wonderful even, as he says in the article, following in the footsteps of a legend. As I told him after the Easter Vigil, I’m not easily impressed in liturgy, and his liturgies were very impressive – precisely because they weren’t about him, but about Him. We consider ourselves very lucky, very blessed, and very unworthy to have him as our pastor.

This does say something, does it not, about the family having a decided influence on the willingness of young men to accept the possibility of having a vocation to the priesthood. I think the reference in the article to being sent “two by two” is rather insightful. God never asks us to do anything alone.

From CWN:

Chicago, Apr. 9, 2007 (CWNews.com) – Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George was released from a local hospital on Easter Sunday after suffering a fractured hip in an accident during a Holy Saturday service.

Cardinal George slipped and fell while he was blessing food baskets scheduled for Easter delivery by the members of St. Ferdinand’s parish in Chicago’s northwest. Participants in the service said that after sprinkling holy water, the cardinal evidently slipped on the wet marble floor.

The cardinal continued the service, despite obvious pain, and celebrated Mass at St. Ferninand’s before checking into a hospital where he was diagnosed with a fractured hip. He remained there overnight, missing Easter Mass at the cathedral, but returned to his residence later in the day.

Cardinal George, who suffers from poor balance as the result of a childhood bout with polio, commented that the accident was not unusual, since he falls down several times a year.

One does have that sneaking suspicion of a demonic hand giving him a little “help” in that slip. I say that with only the slightest hint of tongue-in-cheek. Cardinal George is a towering figure in the Church in America and I’m sure the Enemy would relish any opportunity to put him out of commission for even a single day.

I realized a while ago that I was coming up on a significant anniversary, but today it came to a new depth. Our deacon showed the Chrism oil to our Elect at our dry-run this afternoon. Just a whiff of that scent brought back a flash of memories of that day ten years ago when I uttered those fateful, and faithful, “I do”s. When Father poured water over my head (extra-liberally in my case, he would later tell me) “in the Name of the Father (douse), and of the Son (douse), and of the Holy Spirit (douse)”. I remember distinctly when he Confirmed me and the scent made me feel like I had been given an olfactory glimpse into the scent of Heaven itself. I remember wanting the scent to last forever and thinking like a kid who just touched a rock star, “I don’t ever want to wash that off”. And what a rock star indeed.

Ten years ago tonight (adjusted, of course, for whatever vagaries of the liturgical calendar are necessary) I made the longest, hardest, deepest, most transforming move in my life. And now tonight I get to watch as three people whom I have had the grace of helping in some small way these past months make that same move, and see the Body of Christ become that much more full. It is truly a blessed day.

After our Easter Vigil dry-run for the Elect: “I’d love to see the Tabernacle moved back here somewhere (hand gesturing toward the back wall of the church)”. Padre, you just made several peoples’ day. There may even be hope for a proper reredos some day if we can figure out how to pay for it. What a whirlwind our new pastor has been already. Deo gratias!

Mike Aquilina has a very hard to read, very moving post about the crucifixion from a forensic point of view. As with so many things about our faith, it is far deeper, and far more pointed when you know the details. Something to contemplate either before or after Veneration today.

We’re now fully into the Triduum and posting will be light as I seek time to spend in prayer rather than online. But I simply had to come and post on last night’s Holy Thursday Mass at my parish. To put it bluntly, I was blown away. First, the place was packed (when we later left, we noticed people triple parked, just to give you an idea). Second, Fr. Paul knows how to put together a beautiful Mass.

We had not one, not two, not even four but ten altar servers. Right from the initial procession I knew this was going to be something special. They proceeded to a small ceremony to receive the oils from the Chrism Mass. One thing I found intriguing (being a nit as I am) was the split in duties between the deacon and the priest – the deacon provided the introduction to each oil, the priest received it from the parishioner who held it, handed it to the deacon who then put it on a table; the priest then gave a short but deep explanation of what that particular oil was used for and what it meant. The division struck me as a representation of both their respective consecrated duties (the deacon to service and preaching and the priest to sacramental duties and fullness of preaching) and also a reflection on the roles they fulfill in the proclaiming of the Gospel (deacon) and the homily reflecting on it (priest). Maybe that was intentional, maybe it wasn’t – maybe I’m reading something into it that wasn’t really there. Who knows.

I won’t continue on for the whole Mass or I’d be here for a while. Suffice it to say we had incense. Lots of incense – the Gospel was incensed before it was proclaimed, the altar was incensed and Father as well. They even incensed the congregation after the mandatum (I think that’s when they did it). Father used a humeral veil as well for the procession. And the choir actually used Latin for the procession – my heart positively lept. Fortunately after the terrible storm we had, the parking lot to the school was clear or the procession would have been treacherous – I think God may just have made sure of that.

Father is doing something right – two things tell me that. One, a parishioner turned to me during the procession and said, “we haven’t had anything like this in years” – that’s not a complaint about times past but a reflection on the gifts of the new. Two, my wife absolutely loved the liturgy and she said something quite profound: “I had no idea we had all these things” – meaning the candelabras, the thurible, all the trappings that made it such a beautiful and moving experience. Then there was my son, whose eyes were fixed on Father when we reached the end of the procession and I picked him up so he could watch. When a (almost) seven year-old is transfixed even well after bed time, you know something was done right.

At the Chrism Mass the Pope gave one of his more metaphorical homilies in recent times. In reading the CNA article about the homily I was impressed by the way you felt you could genuinely picture what he was talking about.

The Pope begun his long homily by recalling a passage from the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoi, whom in one of his tales tells the story of how a poor Russian shepherd explained to a king who God was by asking him to exchange clothes, and thus make him aware of how Jesus, being God, changed his noble ‘clothes’ to become a man and take upon him our poor vestments.

“Christ put on our ‘clothes’: the pain and the joy of being a man, the hunger, the thirst, the tiredness, the hopes and disappointments, the fear of death, all our apprehensions, through to his death. And He gave us his ‘clothes,’” the Holy Father recalled.

This was just the beginning of his illustrations. He later goes on to address his brother priests:

The Pope reminded the priests of the world that, “in the moment of Priestly Ordination, the Church makes visible and comprehensible these “new clothes” even on the outside, as we are re-clothed in the liturgical vestments. In this outward gesture, the Church wants to make evident the interior event and the task which is given us through the event: re-clothing Christ; giving oneself to Him as He gave Himself to us.”

His discussion of the liturgical vestments is something I can only say some of our priests would do well to review. So many want to reduce them to the simplest possible level of meaning, to remove from them any spiritual symbolism as if it is something that should not be contemplated. Not so, the Pope reminds us:

The Holy Father then turned to the individual vestments of the priest, beginning with the amice, the white cloth which priests put on first, over their shoulders and collar.

“In the past, and in monastic orders to this day,” Pope Benedict said, “[the amice] was placed first on the head, as a sort of hood, becoming in this way a symbol of the discipline of the senses and the thoughts as necessary for the proper celebration of the Holy Mass.”

This necessity remains to this day, the Holy Father said, emphasizing that, “my thoughts must not wander through the worries and expectations of my daily life; my senses must not be distracted by those things within the Church which would casually grab my eyes and ears.”

The priest’s heart, the Pope continued, must be turned to the Lord in his midst. “If I am with the Lord, then with my listening, speaking, and acting, I will also draw the people into communion with Him.”

Turning then to the alb and stole, the Holy Father recalled that the ancient prayers connected with these vestments refer to the new clothes which are put on the prodigal son when he returns to the house of his father; and for that reason, “When we approach the liturgy to act on behalf of Christ, we all realize how far we are from Him, how much dirt exists in our life.”

It is only the blood of the lamb, as cited in the book of Revelation, that “washes our robes and makes them white.” Therefore, Benedict said to the priests present, “by wearing the alb, we should remember: He suffered for me as well. And only because His love is greater than all my sins, can I act on His behalf and be the witness of His light.”

The Holy Father also explained how the alb should recall the “vesting with love,” to which we who are called to the wedding feast are called.

For this reason, the Pope added, we should ask ourselves, “Now that we are getting closer to the celebration of Holy Mass… whether we wear this dress of love. Let’s ask the Lord to take any hostility away from our soul, to remove from us any feeling of self-sufficiency and to really dress us in the dress of love, so that we will be bright people, not people who belong to darkness.”

Pope Benedict also touched briefly on the meaning of the Chasuble, which according to his explanation, symbolizes the yoke of Christ. “Wearing the yoke of the Lord means first and foremost: learning from Him; always being willing to be taught by Him.

Makes me feel like moving to Rome just to hear his homilies. Somehow I don’t think that’s in the cards though. Ah well, that’s what St. Blogs is for, right?

My, but Satan is getting feisty. It’s unlike him to let his horns show so boldly. From CWN:

Apr. 5, 2007 (CWNews.com) – The leader of Scotland’s Green Party, Robin Harper, has called for the abolition of Catholic schools.

“State education should be secular,” Harper said, promising that the Green Party would work to end government support for the parochial schools.

The existence of separate religious schools “tends to divide communities,” Harper said. He argued that Catholics should receive their religious instruction through their parents and pastors, so that religious education in schools is unnecessary.

The existence of separate secular schools tends to divide communities as well, Mr. Harper. I live in a city with two major secular high schools and they get along, well, just like any group of high school kids who are routinely set up to compete against each other.

Now, I would love for it to be the case that his last assertion were true, but it simply is not and has not been for a long time. Quite frequently, frankly, parents simply do not have the education in their faith to be able to educate their children, and taking only an hour in CCD a week simply cannot delve into the depths of the Catholic faith. Then again, maybe that’s what Mr. Harper wants.

A commenter on the story makes a very eloquent and important point. Forcing all state schools to be purely secular would be to renege on the promises of the 1916 Education Act wherein the Bishops agreed to allow all the schools to be incorporated into the state system. But then, that is how Satan is working these days – no frontal assaults. First, create a crack in the surface that seems innocuous enough. Then, wait until that change has been forgotten. Then barge through that crack at top speed screeching about diversity, inclusivity or some such drivel. Then finally portray your position as one of “human rights” and the majority of people devoid of knowledge of history succumb to the “loudest voice wins” theorem and *poof* victory is yours. Without firing a single shot. As was once said, a dictator who rules “for the good of the people” is the most tyrannical of them all.