Tridentine Community News - Spiritual Suggestions for Lent

"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"
Tridentine Community News by Alex Begin (February 23, 2020):

January 23, 2020 - Quinquagésima Sunday

Spiritual Suggestions for Lent

Much press is given to the meritorious practice of giving something up for Lent. We can all do without our favorite sweets or a certain enjoyable activity during this holy season. It’s also worthwhile to consider going an extra mile during Lent by making a special effort to participate in some additional spiritual activities. Here are a few suggestions:

Weekday Mass: Try to attend one of the local weekday Masses in the Extraordinary Form once per week during Lent. If you can’t make it to a Tridentine Mass, consider attending Holy Mass in the Ordinary Form at a parish which offers it in a traditional manner, such as the daily 12:15 PM Mass at Old St. Mary’s.

Spiritual Communion: On each day that you cannot receive Holy Communion, take a minute and make a Spiritual Communion. Holy Mother Church grants a Partial Indulgence for this practice. St. Alphonsus Maria de’ Liguori composed the following prayer for this purpose:

My Jesus, I believe that Thou art present in the Blessed Sacrament. I love Thee above all things, and I desire Thee in my soul. Since I cannot now receive Thee sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. As though Thou wert already there, I embrace Thee and unite myself wholly to Thee; permit not that I should ever be separated from Thee. Amen.

Daily Rosary: Strive to pray the Holy Rosary every day during Lent, for an intention of your choosing. If you are able to pray the Rosary in a church, with a group or privately, you may gain a Plenary Indulgence for yourself or for the Souls in Purgatory, under the usual conditions of Confession within 20 days, reception of Holy Communion once per Plenary Indulgence sought, prayer for the Holy Father’s intentions, and freedom from attachment to sin.

Confession: Try to begin the habit of going to Confession at least once per month, if you don’t already.

Adoration: At least once per week, make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. Many churches offer extended hours for this purpose, including the Stone Chapel at St. Hugo of the Hills in Bloomfield Hills, the 24/7 Adoration Chapel at the Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica in Royal Oak, and the Rosary Chapel at Assumption Church in Windsor. If you are able to spend 30 minutes in Adoration, you may gain a Plenary Indulgence under the above conditions.

Stations of the Cross: Pray the Stations at least once during Lent. If done in a church, you may gain a Plenary Indulgence under the above conditions. If you are making the devotion privately, you must physically move from station to station.

Indulgence for each Communion: Strive to gain a Plenary Indulgence for the Souls in Purgatory for each Holy Communion you receive. This is a great act of charity for souls who cannot help themselves. Praying the Rosary in a church or spending 30 minutes in Adoration are two easy ways to attain this goal.

Indulgenced Prayer Before a Crucifix: On the Fridays of Lent, the Church grants a Plenary Indulgence for the simple act of praying this prayer before a Crucifix after receiving Holy Communion, under the usual conditions. A Partial Indulgence may be gained by praying this same prayer after receiving Holy Communion at other times.

En ego, o bone et dulcíssime Jesu, ante conspéctum tuum génibus me provólvo, ac máximo ánimi ardóre te oro atque obtéstor, ut meum in cor vívidos fídei, spei et caritátis sensus, atque veram peccatórum meórum pæniténtiam, eáque emendándi firmíssimam voluntátem velis imprímere; dum magno ánimi afféctu et dolóre tua quinque vúlnera mecum ipse consídero, ac mente contémplor, illud præ óculis habens, quod jam in ore ponébat tuo David Prophéta de te, o bone Jesu: “Fodérunt manus meas et pedes meos: dinumeravérunt ómnia ossa mea.”

Behold, O kind and most sweet Jesus, I cast myself upon my knees in Thy sight, and with the most fervent desire of my soul, I pray and beseech Thee that Thou wouldst impress upon my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope, and charity, with a true contrition for my sins and a firm purpose of amendment; while with deep affection and grief of soul I ponder within myself and mentally contemplate Thy five wounds, having before my eyes the words which David the prophet put on Thy lips concerning Thee: “My hands and My feet they have pierced, they have numbered all My bones.”

On Saints’ Feast Days, Pray the Collect [Opening Prayer] from the Mass: If you have a hand missal for the Extraordinary or Ordinary Forms, on Feast Days of Saints, take a minute and pray the Collect for the day’s Mass. This practice is enriched with a Partial Indulgence.

Resolve to make the nine First Fridays or the five First Saturdays: Metro Detroit now has sites where you can conveniently attend these weekday Masses in the Extraordinary Form, for example Old St. Mary’s on First Fridays and St. Mary of Redford and Ss. Peter & Paul Westside on First Saturdays.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Tue. 02/25 7:00 PM: High Mass at Holy Name of Mary, Windsor (St. Matthias, Apostle)
• Wed. 02/26 8:00 AM: High Mass at St. Matthew, Flint (Ash Wednesday)
• Wed. 02/26: 8:00 AM & 12:00 Noon Low Mass, 7:00 PM High Mass at St. Joseph (Ash Wednesday)
• Wed. 02/26 7:00 PM: High Mass at St. Alphonsus, Windsor (Ash Wednesday)
• Sat. 02/29 8:30 AM: Low Mass at Miles Christi (Saturday After Ash Wednesday)
• Sun. 03/01: No Mass at OCLMA/Academy

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@detroitlatinmass.org. Previous columns are available at http://www.detroitlatinmass.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Albertus (Detroit), Academy of the Sacred Heart (Bloomfield Hills), and St. Alphonsus and Holy Name of Mary Churches (Windsor) bulletin inserts for February 23, 2020. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]

Recipe for a more profitable Holy Week

Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" [temporary link] (Assumption Grotto News, March 25, 2018):

Directions for a more profitable Holy Week:

Save this page and thoughtfully read over the following quotations every day:

• "You will all fall away because of Me this night." (Mt 26:31)
• "Even if I must die with You, I will not deny You." (Mt 26:35)
• "You will deny Me three times." (Mt 26:34)
• "What will you give me if I hand Him over to you?" (Mt 26:15)
• "I have sinned in betraying innocent Blood" (Mt 27:4)
• "Jesus offered up prayers ... with loud cries and tears." (Heb 7:7)
• "I thirst." (Jn 19:28)
• "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." (Lk 23:34)
• "My God, my God, why have You abandoned Me?" (Mt 27:46)
• "When they had mocked Him, they stripped Him." (Mt 27:31)
• "A Lamb led to the slaughter." (Is 53:7)
• "When I am lifted up, I will draw all men to Myself." (Jn 12:32)
• "Behold the wood of the Cross on which hung the Savior of the world." (Antiphon, Good Friday)
• "Let us go to die with Him!" Jn 11:16)
• "If we die with Christ, we shall live with Him." (2 Tim 2:11)
• "Let a man deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me." (Mt 16:24)
• "Where I am, there will My servant be." (Jn 12:26)
• "God forbid that such a thing should happen to You!" (Mt 16:22)
• "My soul is sad, even unto death." (Mt 26:38)
• "Christ became obedient for us, even unto death, dying on a cross." (Phil 2:8)
• "They spat on Him and struck Him." (Mt 27:30)
• "Father, let this cup pass Me by." (Mt 26:39)
• "The cross is foolishness to those headed for ruin." (1 Cor 1:18)
• "Now judgment has come upon this world." (Jn 12:31)
• "You will all leave Me." (Jn 16:32)
• "They pierced My hands and My feet." (Ps 22:16)
• "My one companion is darkness." (Ps 88:18)
• "By Your blood You purchased people for God." (Rev 5:9)
• "By Your holy cross You have redeemed the world." (Stations of the Cross)
• "Could you not keep watch with Me one hour?" (Mt 26:26, 28)
• "The Lamb has been sacrificed." (1 Cor 5:7)
• "I trod the winepress alone." (Is 63:3)
• "Golgotha -- the place of the skull." (Mt 27:33)
• "They shouted all the more, 'Crucify Him!'" (Mk 15:13)
• "His sweat became as great drops of blood." (Lk 22:44)
• "They jeered at Him." (Mk 5:40)
• "His face was so marred beyond human likeness." (Is 52:14)
• "I offered My back to the smiters." (Is 50:61)
• "A soldier pierced His side." (Jn 19:34)
• "This Jesus ... whom you crucified." (Acts 3:36)
• "I have forgotten what peace is." (Lm 3:17)
• "He was bruised for our offenses." (Is 53:4)

Fr. Perrone: Our Lord's physical sufferings and our own penances

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" (Assumption Grotto News, April 9, 2017):

Something struck me -- besides my hand -- when I said Domine, non sum dignus ("Lord, I am not worthy ...") at Mass this past week. The self-deprecating gesture, which we make also during the Confiteor, and by pious custom at the elevation of the Host and Chalice, and again during the Agnus Dei, derives from the Gospel parable of the two men who went into the Temple to pray: the justified of the two having struck his breast for his unworthiness to appear before God. The moment of illumination at Mass for me was the realization that this is a symbolic punishment of oneself (howsoever mildly) for one's sins. (A secular psychologist would suspect here a masochistic tendency; but for those of an authentically-formed religious mind it manifests remorse for having offended God.) The logic behind voluntary penances is twofold: as a corrective and as a compensation for the debt incurred by sin. I'm reminded of what Saint Paul spoke of as the chastisements he inflicted on his body to bring it into subjection to his will.

I mention this gesture to you at the beginning of Holy Week because I am much impressed by the corporal punishments inflicted on our Lord during His Passion. He, being sinless, had no need of corrective punishments. It was in compensation for our sins that He received the abuse visited upon Him. This aspect of reflection on Christ's Passion -- now much outmoded -- makes one realize the violence done to the innocent Christ for no wrongdoing of His own, but for ours. He was literally punched, struck, fiercely slapped, receiving what the Latin Vulgate Psalter (Ps 38) calls plagas, physical punishments. We deserve, each one, some of what He took upon Himself in our place. By these attacks and assaults and especially by His ruthless scourging, Christ became our proverbial whipping boy. We will sing of this on Easter: "For the sheep the Lamb has bled: (the) Sinless in the sinners' stead."

Perhaps by this brief reflection you will come to appreciate better what you do at Mass in striking the breast. You make a statement regarding yourself as a sinner and you are making recollection of the cruel punishment our Lord received for what you have done. Things to keep in mind this week.

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There ought not be need for me to remind you of conserving and consulting the enclosed Holy Week schedule. Lacking it, and without recourse to the much abused and overused "handheld device," you may consult our parish website which can supply where feeble memories have failed. Know that everybody should attend all the Holy Week services and that all should have confessed sometime before Easter. Do come and spend a significant amount of time in church this week, following with Christ in His sufferings, giving Him the comfort of your presence and your fidelity, seeing Him all the way through to His glorious rising. A terrible week. A wonderful week.

A closing word concerns our music for Holy Week. We do try to sing the prescribed chants of the Church all this week, and as best we can. This includes the chanting of the Passion and the many antiphons and hynmns which come down to us from centuries past. The orchestral Masses of Easter morning (9:30) and Divine Mercy Sunday (noon) will make heard some very stirring music by Franck, Gounod, and Mascagni. Without feigning and unbecoming obsequiousness, I must relate to you that the orchestral Mass played those days will be my own composition, a Missa Cantata in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a work orchestrated rather hastily in its first performance two years ago but which may be heard this year in a more perfected form. With all the great music written for the church by master composers it may be somewhat vainglorious to offer my own work -- yet once again. I ask your kind indulgence -- and our Lord's -- for this repeat performance which I hope will be nevertheless graciously received.

Fr. Perrone

P.s. The Tuesday evening Mass this week will be at 7:00 p.m. in the convent chapel, not in the church.

Fr. Perrone: with all the troubles in the Church and world, why is God in the Blessed Sacrament largely ignored?

From last week:

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" (Assumption Grotto News, March 19, 2017):

Sometimes I think of all the troubles in the Church and in the world and wonder why they are and what is to be done about them. Then I recall that God is here among us, in the Blessed Sacrament, and that there He's largely ignored. I think then I have my answer.

Where to begin to speak of this? Priests who no longer believe as they once did in the Real Presence? The careless, cavalier manner in which Christ is distributed and received in the hand? Precious particles of the Holy Sacrament scattered on church floors, carpets, altar tops? (Every particle of the host, every drop of the Precious Blood, is Christ whole and entire.) The indiscriminate distribution of Communion to those ill-disposed through mortal sin, to non-Catholics, or to those who have no supernatural faith? Passing before the Divine Presence in the tabernacle without genuflection or even a head bow? Talking to others in church, rudely ignoring the Divine Presence? Catholics believing Communion a mere symbolic presence and symbolic reception of Christ? Communion received with the requisite dispositions but without adoration, reverence, or further prayers? And what can be said of someone approaching Communion while chewing gum? (is it unspeakable ignorance or is it malice?) Spillage of the Precious Blood on clothing, altars, or pouring out the consecrated excess into the sacrarium or sink after Mass? All these done not by Christ's enemies but by His members! I recall words fromt he Gospel "to His own He came, but His own received Him not"; and "they seized Jesus and bound Him" (Jn 1:11; 18:12). While much is said in our time of heightened sensitivity about the abuse of persons through insulting words or assault, little or nothing is said of the horrible and widespread abuse of the Person of the Son of God in the Blessed Sacrament who, in a manner of speaking, suffers the ill-treatment and contempt of willful neglect, sacrilege, or abuse of the Holy Eucharist.

Here you have it, in your Grotto News, the greatest reason why so much is wrong in the Church and in the world. The naivety of your foolish pastor leads him to such an embarrassingly simplistic account for so many problems we have. I anticipate the reaction: "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" (Jn 6:60). I don't much care about dismissive and derisive reactions to my conjectures, but I do care a great deal that our Lord be rightly honored, adored, and treated with all due respect in the Holy Eucharist as holy Church prescribes and as the piety of God's people dictates.

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How's your Lent going? About now there's a temptation to fall from one's Lenten pledges, having become weary of self-denial and of crowding up one's time with those religious extras that need not be done by obligation. Next Sunday will be Laetare Sunday, the liturgical half-way marker of Lent. Have you already become weary of the holy season? Every morning of Lent the Church makes me say the psalm Miserere in the traditional Divine Office. She will not let me forget I am a sinner whose sin is "always before me," giving me ample reason to trudge through the day penitent and determined to keep Lent.

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March 19 ordinarily marks the feast day of Saint Joseph but on a Sunday in Lent this is transferred to the following day. Nevertheless we take the celebration into the gym today after the noon Mass for the traditional St. Joseph dinner. The great man may not get a lot of respect nowadays. Once he was highly honored, much invoked for a variety of benefits he was known to confer. We should not fail, in our alleged preference for a more Christ-centered piety, to invoke the saints who bestow and even greater honor to God through our patronage of them than we can give God by force of our own feeble prayers alone.

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Next Saturday, March 25, the feast of Annunciation will be observed on its assigned day. The event commemorated is in a sense greater even than Christmas day since it began the time God first came to live in the humanity of Jesus Christ, that humanity which came 'into the open' on His birthday.

Fr. Perrone

Fr. Perrone: How to rid yourself of sins this Lent

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" (Assumption Grotto News, March 12, 2017):

Lent is a time for self-reflection on our sins: how we got into committing them, how we rid ourselves of them, and -- this is important -- how we can compensate for them. Perhaps we think little of that latter thing. We have more often in mind our sins as transgressions of reason and God's laws and we feel the need to be freed of them through Confession. Yet we should also recognize that our sins have disrupted the objective moral order, causing external damage, so to say, as well as the interior harm done to ourselves. This needs to be redressed. The scales of justice have to be balanced after the objective order has been disturbed.

The Church and sacred scripture borrow the language of commerce to explain sin and its redress as a kind of spiritual transaction. (God's side is another matter. His it is to pardon, to forgive as He pleases, usually through absolution of the priest.) On our part, sin has contracted a debt owed to the offended majesty of God. This is the objective 'damage' done to Him by our sins. Such debts incurred through our misdeeds demand repayment, satisfaction. We must have some means of paying this debt; hence the necessity to do good works: prayer,d enial of the use of some good things, giving alms to the needy, etc. Of ourselves we are unable to make full repayment for sin to the all-holy God. While He may have written off the debt of sin without requiring any satisfaction, He did not do this. He asks, demands compensation from us, even though He substantially paid the whole debt Himself by becoming man and by suffering and dying for our justification and salvation. That redemptive act of Christ more than compensated for all the offenses contracted against God. Yet, out of justice, He expects satisfaction to be made also by the offenders, each one contributing some part. Through belonging to the great society oand union of the Church we are able to offer God Christ's acquired sum of good works He did for us as payment for the debts of our own sins. (An aside: This seems unfair. How is it that we can borrow from another's accumulated 'treasure,' appropriate it to ourselves and use it in payment for our sins? A mystery!) We know that we can indeed offer from the pool of wealth that is the merit of our Lord's Passion and death, and the added sum of merits of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints, against our indebtedness to God for our sins. One draws from this 'bank account' when gaining indulgences (grants given through the Church) and when one offers Christ's sacrifice of Himself in the Mass, in union with the priest; or when one says, in the chaplet of Divine Mercy, "Eternal Father, I offer You the body, blood ... of Jesus." We offer God a sum not our own. This is possible through our incorporation into the Church by which we have, so to speak, a joint bank account of the merits of christ, Our Lady, and the saints.

We should all want to leave this life, when we die, debt free. Otherwise, we shall remain in purgatory until we will have "paid the last penny" in payment of the whole amount of our debt to God (cf. the servant in the parable threatened with being sold in payment of a debt). Only when it will be fully paid will the scale of justice in our regard be rightly balanced and we will become justly fit for heaven where "nothing defiled" can enter.

Lent is now here. We ought to do two things: 1) pay off the debt of our sins by works of penance; 2) draw upon the merits of Christ and the saints by our prayers, the co-offerings of Mass, and gaining the Church's indulgences for ourselves and for the souls in purgatory -- helping them pay their debts out of our love for them.

Do as much good as you can while you have time for yourselves and for others. "Now is the acceptable time." This is the reason we have Lent.

P.S. James Likoudis will be here today after the 9:30 Mass for a book-signing. Jim is an outstanding layman -- he would no doubt blush to hear his praises -- author and lecturer, defender of the faith. Onetime national president of Catholics United for the Faith (CUF) which in a time of terrible confusion and revolution in the Church fought to preserve our Catholic patrimony in doctrine, worship, and catechesis. (Believe it or not, there was a time in recent history when things were worse than they now are. CUF is one of the reasons for the betterment of the present state of the Church in this country. I welcome Mr. Likoudis, who has written compellingly about the rapprochement of the Orthodox Churches with the Catholic church. We wish him much added grace and rich blessings.

Fr. Perrone

De Profundis (Out of the depths)

Psalmus 129 (130)

1 De profundis clamavi ad te Domine
2 Domine exaudi vocem mean fiant aures tuae
intendentes in vocem deprecationis meae
3 Si iniquitates observabis Domine Domine quis
sustinebit
4 Quia apud te propiatio est propter legem tuam
sustinui te Domine sustinuit anima mea in verbum
eius
5 Speravit anima mea in Domino
6 A custodia matutina usque ad noctem speret Israel
in Domino
7 Quia apud Dominum misericordia et copiosa apud
eum redemptio

Psalm 129 (130)

1 Out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord:
2 Lord, hear my voice. Let my ears be attentive to the voice of
my supplication.
3 If Thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities: Lord, who shall stand it.
4 For with Thee there is merciful forgiveness: and by reason of
Thy law, I have waited for Thee, O Lord. My soul hath relied on His word:
5 my soul hath hoped in the Lord.
6 From the morning watch even until night, let Israel hope in the
Lord.
7 Because of the Lord there is mercy: and with Him plentiful
redemption.
8 And he shall redeem Israel from all His iniquities.

"O Come and Mourn with Me Awhile": Fr. Perrone on Holy Week

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" [temporary link] (Assumption Grotto News, March 20, 2016):

“I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished!” (Lk 12:50).

As we enter into Holy Week, these words of our Lord come to mind, expressing as they do the fervent desire and zeal He held within His Sacred Heart to enter upon the laborious work of His suffering and death for our redemption. It’s not possible to fathom the measure of that love for us ingrates and seemingly worthless creatures. God did not spare His own Son to ransom a slave. What father would sacrifice the
life of his own child to win a useless, degenerate and unappreciative person in exchange? Well can we sympathize with St. Peter when he attempted to thwart our Lord’s plan to redeem mankind through the Passion. But Christ was not to be deterred by any miscomprehension of His intentions or a misguided loyalty. “We will go up to Jerusalem,” He said. And Thomas, in excessu mentis (the Latin expression from Ps 30:25 for being ‘out of one’s mind’ is so expressive) said, “Let us go and die together with Him!” The apostles would indeed ‘drink the cup’ of suffering with Christ, but at a later time, and Saint Peter himself would be bound and carried off to die for Him. For the moment, however, it was the time for Christ to fulfill His great desire. The members of His Church would have to await their own time to die with Him.

This is our time to die (in a manner of speaking) with the Lord. Lent–for those who have taken it upon themselves–has been in preparation for this very moment. We should not now be deterred, not turn back. We have been permitted to accompany Christ in this most important week. A favorite hymn from childhood, “O Come and Mourn with Me Awhile,” beckons us to enter this week bravely and Our Lady and with full abandon to accompany our Lord in His final journey to Jerusalem.

Each year I make an appeal for all of you to attend the Holy Week services of Holy Thursday evening, Good Friday afternoon and Holy Saturday night. None of these–apart from Easter day itself–is obligatory. But what’s the point of missing, voluntarily, these events by which you were bought and paid for? Here’s then a measure to measure your love for Christ. Moreover, I ask not only that you come to the church and be present on those days, but that you do so with an eager and alert mind, fully cognizant of what those days mean, following along with our Lord with a
compassionate heart. In this way you will be with Him bodily as well as mentally, all for love of Him and for the love of your own souls. Kindly see and keep the inserted page which gives the schedule of services and confessions for the week. This will
relieve some of the stress of answering callers to the rectory during this very busy week. Note carefully that confessions will not be heard on Easter day. It is your duty to come to confession, however. Do not omit this most important obligation. You need Holy Week. It’s an annual rejuvenation of your spiritual lives. It’s a purifying bath of your defilements, a recalibration of your wills, an adornment of heavenly graces for you.

Fr. Perrone

P.S. Good Friday is a day of fast and abstinence.

P.P.S. I thank the Romanos for hosting, preparing, serving (and cleaning up) after the annual St. Joseph Day meal held last Sunday. It’s a labor of love, as they say, for the great Saint and for you, our parishioners. Many thanks!

Parce mihi Domine (Spare me Lord): Office for the Dead, Matins, First Nocturne, for Thursday

In primo nocturno.
Pro feria secunda, et quinta.

Ant: Dirige.

Lectio prima (Iob 7):
Parce mihi Domine: nihil enim sunt
dies mei. Quid est homo, quia
magnificas eum: aut quid apponis
erga eum cor tuum? Visitas eum
diluculo, et subito probas illum.
Usquequo non parcis mihi, nec
dimittis me, ut glutiam salivam
meam? Peccavi. Quid faciam tibi, o
custos hominum? Quare posuisti me
contrarium tibi, et factus sum
mihimetipsi gravis? Cur non tollis
peccatum meum? Et quare non
aufers iniquitatem meam? Ecce nunc
in pulvere dormiam, et si mane me
quaesieris, non subsistam.

R: Credo quod redemptor meus vivit:
et in novissimo die de terra
surrecturus sum: Et in carne mea
videbo Deum salvatorem meum.

V: Quem visurus sum ego ipse, et non
alius, et oculi mei conspecturi sunt. Et
in carne mea videbo Deum
salvatorem meum.

In the first nocturne.
On Monday, and Thursday.
Ant: Direct.

The first lesson (Job 7):
Spare me O Lord for my days are
nothing. What is man, that thou
magnifiest him: or why settest thou
thy heart toward him? Thou dost
visit him early in the morning, and
suddenly thou provest him. How long
dost thou not spare me, nor suffer
me, that I swallow my spittle? I have
sinned. What shall I do to thee, O
keeper of men? Why hast thou set me
contrary to thee, and I am become
burdensome to myself? Why dost
thou not take away my sin, and why
dost thou not take away mine
iniquity? Behold now I shall sleep in
the dust, and if thou seek me in the
morning, I shall not be.

R: I believe that my redeemer liveth,
and that in the last day I shall rise
from the earth: and in my flesh shall
see God my saviour.

V: Whom I myself shall see and not
another, and mine eyes shall behold.
And in my flesh I shall see God my
saviour.

Lenten lesson: the fist step is the hardest ... as it must have been for St. Denis to carry his decapitated head two miles

Fr. George W. Rutler, "From the Pastor" (Pastor's Corner, Church of St. Michael, March 13, 2016):

In 1943, just up the street from our church in the Hotel New Yorker, the pioneer of electrical inventions, including the alternating current, Nikola Tesla, died in room 3327. He wrote: “With ideas it is like with dizzy heights you climb: At first they cause you discomfort and you are anxious to get down, distrustful of your own powers; but soon the remoteness of the turmoil of life and the inspiring influence of the altitude calm your blood; your step gets firm and sure and you begin to look - for dizzier heights.”

Saint Peter obeyed our Lord, to get out of his fishing boat and take a step on the water. That first step, which must have seemed dizzying, made all the difference in the course of world history. The apostle James was in that boat and watched what happened. Later he would write: “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8). Taking the first step is an act of faith. Babies have faith enough in their thrilled parents to hold their hands as they bid them take the first step. From that step proceeds all the walks through life.

From time to time, one counsels a young person hesitant to take a first step: to accept a new job, or to propose marriage, or to seek the priesthood. The challenge can be intimidating in our culture whose chief seduction is to find comfort and security. Nothing great or noble has been achieved by seeking safety. Jesus promised: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you” (Matthew 6:33). That means taking the first step toward Jesus, and then he will step toward you. The surest way to make it up the staircase without tripping is to focus on the top landing. But it all begins with the first step.

The poet Horace said in the first book of his Odes: “Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero”—roughly meaning: “Seize today and don’t worry about tomorrow.” That was about a generation before Jesus said in a Judean backwater: “Come, follow me.” Today. Take the first step. The Book of Numbers speaks of “journeying” nearly ninety times, and that journeying, which is a microcosm of the entire human experience, began with one first step.

In response to the credulous Cardinal de Polignac, who claimed that the martyr Saint Denis had carried his decapitated head two miles, the caustic wit Marie Anne Marquise du Deffand said, “Il n'y a que le premier pas qui coûte.” (The distance doesn't matter; it is only the first step that is the most difficult.) By an incontestable logic, it is the first step that counts. In Lent, if we can manage just one first step toward Jesus, he will walk with us all the way to Easter and Heaven itself.

[Hat tip to JM]

Fr. Perrone's homily (audio) on the importance of Lenten mortifications

In case you missed it, this is Fr. Eduard Perrone's homily from the 2nd Sunday of Lent, February 20, 2016. It's just good enough to listen to again.

There are three 'gods' of the world around you: money, sex, and power. There are three vows voluntarily taken by members of Catholic religious orders: poverty, chastity, and obedience. It's not hard to imagine how insane the Catholic practice of self-mortification looks to the world around us. What? Why punish yourself like that! Live a little. Life is short. You only go around once. So they say. You've heard it all before, and you know how mistaken it is. Yet it can get to you unless you take counter measures. The thing is, once you shoulder the burden, you find it's light. And your spiritual vision comes into sharper focus. You know this. So listen to Fr. Perrone.

What are you reading this Lent?

Anything interesting? Anything spiritual reading offering new insights? I would very much like to know. Your thoughts?

I have personally profited by some of the suggestions I have received previously from some of you, and perhaps that is a benefit that can be shared with others as well.

Fr. Perrone: Lent is not for the self-indulgent, who cast aside participating in Christ's passion for the softer, more delicate predilections of our age. Make a good Lent!

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" [temporary link] (Assumption Grotto News, February 28, 2016) [emphasis mine]:

Lent’s allotted forty days is the time par excellence for meditation on Christ’s Passion. That is the old thinking of many generations past but which has been cast aside in this softer, more delicate age whose predilection for comforts, pleasantries and pleasures urge its contemporaries forward. Nevertheless, that is to say, in spite of this tendency towards effeminacy, Lent is not for self-babying wimps but for serious-minded, courageous Christians, and for those who want to be such as that.

It was said of Christ that He suffered in His body as much as is possible for a man to suffer. That, in a classic understatement, would mean quite a lot. When one thinks how each and every part of the human body has a potential for suffering pain, then Christ’s Passion was indeed an overwhelming ocean of physical agonies such that no one can fully imagine them. Isaiah prophesied this of Christ when he wrote that “from the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in him.” And–just to complete the true depiction of what our Lord underwent for love of our ungrateful souls–His immense physical pains were but secondary to His mental sufferings, that is, to degradation, desolation, anguish, grief, abandonment, etc. (Anyone who has suffered deep depression or desperation would concur that mental suffering exceeds the intensity of physical pains.) Our thoughts of Christ in this season ought to reflect on the consequences upon Him for our sins.

But there is yet more.

We Christians make up the mystical body of Christ–‘mystical’ here stands in contradistinction to the physical body He took on in becoming man and to His Eucharistic body in the holy Sacrament. Saint Paul said it: we, each one, are members of that mystical body. It is on account of being thus ‘incorporated’ (i.e., being in His corpus, or body) that Paul affirmed that he had to participate in the Passion of Christ who suffered in every member of His flesh. Paul’s words: “I rejoice in my sufferings for your (the Church’s) sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, the Church” (Col 1:24). Every
‘member’ of Christ’s body then must take its own portion, suffering with and in Christ.

Among all the saints, I highly admire Saint Peter. What a stalwart giant of a man he was! No wonder our Lord called him rock. When Peter first heard that Christ was going to receive ill-treatment, endure abuse and be cruelly tortured unto death he–mighty champion and bodyguard of Christ that he was–protested and pledged to die in defense of his Lord. But that valorous offer was rejected because it would deter our Lord from redeeming humanity through suffering. “It was necessary that the Christ should suffer and enter into His glory” (Lk 24:26). (Peter would, however, get his wish later, when he would become a martyr for Christ, when was fulfilled our Lord’s word to him: “you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go” (Jn 21:18).

My purpose in writing this? You’re a cheat and unidentifiable as a member of Christ’s body if you’re not keeping some Lenten penances, for these things are, among others, your willing participation in the Lord’s Passion. This means that you should not only be thinking about the Passion of Christ–a wholly good thing to do–but participating in it: the difference being between pious reflection with sympathy, and compassion (which literally means ‘suffering with’). Do not neglect to take upon yourself your assigned part: life’s daily sacrifices (patiently endured, mind you); your mental discomforts, confusions and upset; your physical aches and pains; and, yes, the specific Lenten practices you pledged to keep. And whenever you’re tempted to pity yourself over what life has dealt you, think of Isaiah’s “Man of Sorrows, acquainted with grief, wounded for our transgressions, oppressed and afflicted, the lamb led to the slaughter” and you will recoil in shame.

Fr. Perrone

Fr. Perrone: For the love of your own souls, you need to do something for Lent!

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" [temporary link] (Assumption Grotto News, February 21, 2016):

Frequently during Lent I ask myself, What’s the point of this? If you are indeed doing anything significant this holy season, that question must come to you as well sometime. If you are not doing some good works which cost you, that is, which constitute a personal sacrifice, you are to be pitied because you’re missing out on an immense benefit to yourself. I read that Saint Teresa of Avila wrote that once in heaven she knew she would no longer be able to merit anything for a greater share in the riches of heaven (this is a certainty: namely, that the time of merit ends at our death). She added, however, an important thought. There, in heaven, in the state of shared glory with God, she will wish that she could return to earth once again if only by doing so she might say one more Hail Mary for an increase of heavenly riches.

That “one Hail Mary” captivated my mind. How many innumerable moments are lost in this life to idleness, futile industry, frivolities–if not outright sin–when we could make profitable use of our time for a spiritual gain whose possession would be everlasting. To think that way is to have a supernatural perspective on life. To act according to that way would be to live the life of a saint. But then, we are so busy with everything else–much of it being necessary–that we have not a thought about God throughout our very active day. God knows this. There is, however, a way so to live as to get everything done that needs be done and yet make it all count for eternity. This is the way of offering up even our most ordinary acts of the day as a sacrifice to God. This means that even our eating, sleeping and daily working can be done for the glory of God, which is not so say that we may set aside doing particular spiritual works of the day, ‘praying as we go,’ would be all sufficient. No. The sacred time of Lent ought to weigh on our minds the obliging duty to do spiritual good works.

To get back to my initial question–What’s the point?–not only does our determined course of leading the devout life have as its goal the increase of merit, but even more importantly is its final end the greater possession of Christ, even here and now. I think of Saint Paul’s “I want to know Christ.” Imagine that he who had seen the Lord in the glory of heaven, yet could say that there was more to know of Christ.

A priest must carry about within him not only the burden of his own weaknesses and sins but also those of his people whose spiritual condition and needs are known to him. My fear is not only that you have sins which impede entirely, or else retard, your spiritual life, but that you may be doing little or nothing to help yourselves. For the love of your own souls, you need to do something for Lent! You simply must cut away at those things that are holding you back from the possession of Jesus. Yes, it’s really all that urgent and that simple. I can ask, exhort, suggest, and urge you to quit your sinful attachments, to begin again to live for God, and to make acts of penance. All such petitioning from me, or anyone else interceding for you, can go only so far. The rest must come from your own wills. As the saying goes, God redeemed you without your help but He will not save you without it.

It seems to me at times as if the enterprise of leading the devout life is in a way a selfish pursuit. It is, after all, for the salvation of my own soul. That only grasps the matter partially, however. The final reason of why we should be doing Lent, denying ourselves not only of sins but even of some good things and by doing penances, is for the glory of God. For His sake should we want to be saints. This is God’s will: our sanctification. “Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life” (Romans 6:22).

Please keep doing, or begin seriously to do, something truly beneficial for Lent, even at this late hour. Do it for God, if not for the love of your own souls. It is surely a grief to the Sacred Heart of Jesus that there are many–may you not be among them!–who have no regard for the salvation of their own souls.

Fr. Perrone

Tridentine Community News - Archdioces of NY issues new norms for sacred art; Lenten liturgical quirks; Louisiana Bishop espouses TLM, Schelude of TLMs this week

"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"
Tridentine Community News by Alex Begin (February 21, 2016):

February 21, 2016 – Second Sunday of Lent

Archdiocese of New York Issues New Norms for Sacred Art

Following on the heels of the Diocese of Marquette, Michigan’s recent document concerning norms for sacred music, the Archdiocese of New York has recently published its own document establishing standards for sacred art that may be commissioned for its churches. Entitled “Guidelines for the Commissioning and Care of Sacred Art”, the document makes several praiseworthy points:

- Sacred art must elevate the mind and soul to things divine.

- Devotional Art, such as paintings and statues, edifies the faith of the individual. Liturgical Art, such as vestments and altars, has a functional as well as inspirational purpose.

- Sacred vessels such as ciboria and chalices must be made of metal. Glass and earthenware vessels are prohibited.

- “Symbols depicted on vestments should be expressive of sacred realities.” No bland or secular images should be used.

- Sacred art should be blessed before being put into use.

- Donations of sacred art are only to be accepted if they meet the same standards as commissioned art.

- “An inventory of those vestments which have significant artistic or historical value should be kept in both the parish and diocesan archives.” In other words, historic vestments should not be casually discarded if no longer deemed suitable to a parish’s needs.

- An appendix details “The Care and Cleansing of Altar Linens”

- Repeated emphasis is made that sacred art which is no longer needed and cannot be sold or given to a suitable new owner should be burned or buried, not simply thrown away.

On a practical level, a document such as this is needed at many parishes, where volunteers and parish council members can benefit from an introduction to the sorts of responsibilities associated with selecting, acquiring, and maintaining sacred objects. We cannot blame people for poor artistic choices or careless maintenance if they have not been educated in the first place.

The document is available at: http://nyliturgy.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/nyguidelinesforsacredart.pdf

Lenten Liturgical Quirks

You may have noticed a few changes to the format of the Mass during Lent. Some are obvious: The Glória is suppressed, and the Alleluia is replaced by a Tract. The overall purpose of these modifications is to restrain the usual jubilance in the Mass.

It so happens that the Tract is only provided on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The Gradual alone is used on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

No unaccompanied organ is permitted during Lent, except on Lætáre Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Lent. That means no Prelude, Postlude, or Elevation (instrumental piece after the Consecration) may be played. The organ may only be used to accompany singing.

Unlike most other Ferial Masses, when the Mass is a repeat of the previous Sunday’s Mass, the Ferias of Lent are unique. There are specific Propers for, for example, Tuesday in the Second Week of Lent. Lenten [and Advent] Ferias are Third Class, so only higher ranking Saints’ Feasts like St. Joseph on March 19 can displace them. When there are lesser Saints on the calendar, they are commemorated via a second Collect, Secret, and Postcommunion Prayer after the Ferial Mass’ ones. That takes place this coming Tuesday, February 23, for example, when St. Peter Damian is commemorated.

After the Postcommunion Prayer at weekday Feria Masses, there is a Prayer Over the People. It begins with the celebrant asking the faithful to bow their heads. This tradition has been carried over to the Ordinary Form, as well.

Louisiana Bishop Espouses the Traditional Mass

It’s always good news to learn of bishops who embrace the Extraordinary Form. Bishop Glen Provost of the Diocese of Lake Charles, Louisiana is one such Ordinary. On December 30, 2015, Bishop Provost celebrated his eleventh Solemn Pontifical Mass in the Extraordinary Form, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. By comparison, there have only been three Solemn Pontifical Masses in our region over the past eleven years, one celebrated by Bishop Carl Mengeling at All Saints Church in Flint in 2005, one by Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Perry at St. Josaphat Church in 2010, and one by then-Bishop of Marquette Alexander Sample at Assumption Grotto in 2012. A Solemn Pontifical Mass is far more elaborate than the Missa Cantatas that local bishops usually celebrate, thus it is all the more impressive that Bishop Provost is setting such a laudable if unpublicized example with this complex liturgy in his own diocese. It might not surprise our readers that vocations are strong in the Diocese of Lake Charles, and that many young priests are offering the Tridentine Mass. (Source: www.newliturgicalmovement.org)

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Mon. 02/22 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (Feria of Lent)
• Tue. 02/23 7:00 PM: High Mass at Holy Name of Mary (Feria of Lent)
• Fri. 02/26 7:00 PM: High Mass at Old St. Mary, Detroit (Feria of Lent) – Celebrant: Fr. Stephen Pullis, Priest Secretary to Archbishop Vigneron. Music by Wassim Sarweh and the choir of Windsor’s St. Benedict Tridentine Community. Stations of the Cross at 6:15 PM. Juventútem Michigan will host a dinner for young adults age 18-35 after Mass in the Parish Hall.

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@detroitlatinmass.org. Previous columns are available at http://www.detroitlatinmass.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Albertus (Detroit), Academy of the Sacred Heart (Bloomfield Hills), and St. Alphonsus and Holy Name of Mary Churches (Windsor) bulletin inserts for February 21, 2016. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]

Fr. Perrone on the effects of fasting: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" [temporary link] (Assumption Grotto News, February 14, 2016):

We missed celebrating the feastday of Our Lady of Lourdes on Thursday since it was only a commemoration, falling as it did after the beginning of Lent. On account of the Holy Mary’s gracious apparition in France we have the honor of possessing our Lourdes Grotto, the building of which was an inspiration of our first pastor, Father Amandus Vandendriesche. I commend all our parishioners to the care of The Immaculate Conception, for the good of their souls and the health of their bodies.

Lent is much on our minds–even unto being forced to concentrate on it if we are doing penitential acts. You know how highly I recommend the practice of fasting for Lent, and I hope that those of you who are able will take up and persevere in this traditional form of penance and mortification.

The inspiration for the Christian fast comes not from Judaism but from our Lord Himself. I recall reading the story of a priest held in a concentration camp during the Second World War. He told of how his fellow prisoners behaved when they had been deprived of sufficient food while made to work like slaves. Men ordinarily rational and civil to one another become just short of beasts when starved, even to the point of being willing to kill another man for a morsel of bread. I mention this because of the fasting of Jesus in the desert for the forty days (our period of Lent). He was not only hungry, but ravenous, intensely hungry. So, when the devil proposed to Him to turn stones into bread, one has to imagine the power of that suggestion to His imagination. Our Lord refused. An iron will surely, but more, He was redeeming sinners by His denial to succumb to the blandishments  of the devil. He was compensating for our indulgent self-willfulness, an heroic act which we should not be too ready to attribute to His divine power only. Our Lord felt deeply in His human body the aching, nearly deadly, desire for food and drink.

Fasting has the advantage of making us tough willed people. I read more recently about Cardinal Sarah of the Holy See where he is head of the Congregation for Divine Worship. In an interview he admitted that he goes on a yearly retreat in which he eats and drinks nothing for three full days. I doubt he told that to be admired by his listeners. He was rather trying to relate to them the secret of his spiritual strength. He has been a very courageous man, defending the teachings and traditions of the Church, sometimes standing nearly alone. How does a man come to have such force of his convictions? The fasting is the answer. Repeatedly denying the craving of the flesh for the satisfaction, the comfort, of eating has the double effect of dulling the hankering appetites of the flesh and of sharpening the edge of the spirit. We all are weak and easy prey for the devil unless we do penances to make the soul dominate over the flesh. If there were an easier method, I’d be happy to share it with you. From the apostles, following the example of Christ, down to our time there is the tradition of taking on the discipline of fasting–a practice of indispensable spiritual value. ‘Nough said.

Today, I note, is Valentine’s Day–Saint Valentine’s day. As with so many other good things that the Church brought into our culture, this has been thoroughly secularized, and even debased as a pagan celebration of erotic love. The difference between charity–a Christian, theological virtue–and romantic love is,  believe it or not, often confused in the minds of young people who have never had a religious upbringing. I can testify to that myself in having instructed young converts to the faith who were astonished to learn that sex and love were not interchangeable terms–so successful has been the entire depreciation of Christian culture and the triumph of ignorance of the faith. The real man Valentine died for Christ’s sake: a martyr. Certainly, wish one another a Happy Valentine’s Day today–meaning a day filled with the love of Christ.

Fr. Perrone

Tridentine Community News - Next TLM at Old St. Mary (Greektown) on Feb. 26th; Suggestions for Lent; TLM schedule

"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"
Tridentine Community News by Alex Begin (February 14, 2016):

February 14, 2016 – First Sunday of Lent

Next Mass at Old St. Mary on February 26

Following upon the success of the first Tridentine Mass held at Old St. Mary Church in Greektown last October, the parish will be holding another Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form on Friday, February 26 at 7:00 PM. The celebrant will be Fr. Stephen Pullis, Priest Secretary to Archbishop Vigneron. Wassim Sarweh and the choir of Windsor’s St. Benedict Tridentine Community will once again provide the music. Stations of the Cross will be prayed at 6:15 PM. Juventútem Michigan will hold a dinner for young adults age 18-35 after the Mass in the Parish Hall. already.


Please consider attending this Mass to demonstrate to the parish that there is interest in continuing to hold Tridentine Masses in this beautiful historic church. already.

Spiritual Suggestions for Lent already.

Much press is given to the meritorious practice of giving something up for Lent. We can all do without our favorite sweets or a certain enjoyable activity during this holy season. It’s also worthwhile to consider going an extra mile during Lent by making a special effort to participate in some additional spiritual activities. Here are a few suggestions: already.

Weekday Mass: Try to attend one of the local weekday Masses in the Extraordinary Form once per week during Lent. Mass is offered at 7:00 PM on Mondays at St. Josaphat in Detroit, at 7:00 PM on Tuesdays at Holy Name of Mary in Windsor, and Monday-Friday at 7:30 AM and 7:00 PM [7:45 PM on Fridays] at Assumption Grotto. If you can’t make it to a Tridentine Mass, consider attending Holy Mass in the Ordinary Form at a parish which offers it in a traditional manner, such as the daily 12:15 PM Mass at Old St. Mary. already.

Spiritual Communion: On each day that you cannot receive Holy Communion, take a minute and make a Spiritual Communion. St. Alphonsus Maria de’ Liguori composed the following prayer for this purpose:

My Jesus, I believe that Thou art present in the Blessed Sacrament. I love Thee above all things, and I desire Thee in my soul. Since I cannot now receive Thee sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. As though Thou wert already there, I embrace Thee and unite myself wholly to Thee; permit not that I should ever be separated from Thee. Amen.

Daily Rosary: Strive to pray the Holy Rosary every day during Lent, for an intention of your choosing. If you are able to pray the Rosary in a church, publically or privately, you may gain a Plenary Indulgence for yourself or for the Souls in Purgatory, under the usual conditions of Confession within 20 days, reception of Holy Communion once per Plenary Indulgence sought, prayer for the Holy Father’s intentions, and freedom from attachment to sin. already.

Confession: Try to begin the habit of going to Confession at least once per month, if you don’t already.


Adoration: At least once per week, make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. Many churches offer extended hours for this purpose, including the Stone Chapel at St. Hugo of the Hills in Bloomfield Hills, the 24/7 Adoration Chapel at the Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica in Royal Oak, and the Rosary Chapel at Assumption Church in Windsor. If you are able to spend 30 minutes in adoration, you may gain a Plenary Indulgence under the above conditions. already.

Stations of the Cross: Pray the Stations at least once during Lent. If done in a church, you may gain a Plenary Indulgence under the above conditions. If you are making the devotion privately, you must physically move from station to station. already.

Indulgence for each Communion: Strive to gain a Plenary Indulgence for the Souls in Purgatory for each Holy Communion you receive. This is a great act of charity for souls who cannot help themselves. Praying the Rosary in a church or spending 30 minutes in adoration are two of the easiest ways to attain this goal. already.

On Saints’ Feast Days, Pray the Collect [Opening Prayer] from the Mass: If you have a hand missal for the Extraordinary or Ordinary Forms, on Feast Days of Saints, take a minute and pray the Collect for the day’s Mass. This practice is enriched with a Partial Indulgence. already.

Resolve to make the nine First Fridays or the five First Saturdays: Realistically this means attending Mass in the Ordinary Form, but there are good sites to accomplish this goal, again for example Old St. Mary’s, which offers Confessions before every Mass and devotions after First Saturday Mass. already.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Mon. 02/15 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (Feria of Lent)
• Tue. 02/16 7:00 PM: High Mass at Holy Name of Mary (Feria of Lent)
• Sun. 02/21: No Mass at St. OCLMA/Academy of the Sacred Heart

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@detroitlatinmass.org. Previous columns are available at http://www.detroitlatinmass.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Albertus (Detroit), Academy of the Sacred Heart (Bloomfield Hills), and St. Alphonsus and Holy Name of Mary Churches (Windsor) bulletin inserts for February 14, 2016. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]

How can the wrath of an almighty God be just against the limited offense of a mere mortal?

Indeed, is not our God a merciful Father whose heart overflows with infinite love for us? Consider:

The Apostles declared that all you must do is "believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved -- you and your household." Psalm 3:12 says: "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." Isaiah 1:18 says "... though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow ...." James 1:17 says: "Every good and perfect gift is from our heavenly Father." St. Paul says in Rm 8:18 that nothing in this life can be compared "with the glory that awaits us." And he says in 1 Corinthians 2:9 - "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him."

Love Him? But of course, how could we possibly not love such a heavenly Father who gives us everything we want and then promises even more? Hmmm ...

As C.S. Lewis once said, a man cannot be too careful about what he reads! St. Robert Bellarmine suggests an analogy:

Let us say that our king comes to love some obscure common man, adorns him with public offices and finally places him in command of the beautiful and fully-equipped citadel of his own empire. Now let us say that this person conspires with enemies against his own king and allows the citadel committed to his care to come into their hands. If it should happen by some issue of events that this man were captured and brought into his king's presence, what do you suppose the king would do with him? Would the fact that the king once dearly loved that traitor deter him from pronouncing upon him the penalties due to traitors? Indeed, the penalties would be atrocious, and so much the more so as the benefices previously conferred upon him had been greater. So it is with us. Even though God has loved us with a mighty love and has sent His Son to us and willed that He suffer and endure so many things for our liberation, yet despite this, He will still punish us with eternal tortures if we desert to the camp of the enemy and betray the citadels of our souls to demons.

Indeed, St. Bellarmine suggests a paraphrase of that aforementioned happy verse from 1 Corinthians 2:9:

"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man the tortures and torments which God hath prepared for those who offend Him."

Happy Lent!

[Acknowledgements: quoations are from some happy Lenten reading, St. Robert Bellarmine's "Hell and Its Torments", a sermon delivered at Louvain University, ca. 1574. Audio HERE]

Fr. Perrone: Why should Catholics make reparation for their sins during Lent?

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" [temporary link] (Assumption Grotto News, February 7, 2016) [emphasis mine]:

You were pre-warned of Lent’s approach and we are soon made to face it. I want this coming season to be profitable for you. A word needs be said about the meaning of it all.

Why do we go through the annual exercise of Lent? Among the plausible answers is that this is a time to meditate on the Lord’s Passion. This is a “traditional” response to Lent, and it has a long list of saints that stands behind it. Modern attempts to make sense of Lent have done away with this aspect of it because the emphasis on the sufferings and redemptive death of Christ–even in the Mass as the sacrifice of Calvary renewed–has been obscured, if not denied. Just as we have a long period of celebration of the Resurrection in the Easter season so we have a lengthy season devoted to the memory of the Lord’s Passion. This reason for having Lent should remain. Moreover, it has great power to deepen our union with Christ.

Another motive for the Forty Days is to make reparation for our sins by penitential practices. Here again, the notion of causing oneself inconvenience, of denying some good things to oneself, of taking on some form of self-punishment in compensation for wrongdoing is very far from the modern self-absorbed mind. We ought to realize, however, that unless we do penance in reparation we will be made to pay the debt of sin’s temporal punishments in the life hereafter. This kind of reparative Lenten practice then is a form of justice to God whose honor has been derogated by sin.

Yet another reason for Lent has to do with making substantive spiritual betterment of oneself. This need not be something discreditable or unworthy of our Lenten goals. As long as a supernatural intention is present in our minds we can and should seek to improve ourselves through fasting and other forms of penance.

A whole other question is how effective such practices may be in the long run and whether or not, once Lent will have passed, our old, bad ways will return. To respond to this one should note that self improvement is always a difficult thing to access for oneself. We may seem, after Lent is over, to be going back to our former selves without any discernible and lasting change having taken place. God alone, however, is the One to make the true evaluation of our efforts, weighing them justly. We cannot accurately estimate them. One should not be reluctant to practice good works or to impose self disciplines because of the seeming futility of their  effectiveness in the long run. Recall that there is merit for all works done in a state of grace and it is this “weight” of our good deeds which constitutes their essential value–not the discernible and measurable effects they have for our improvement.

Some Lenten things for the record. Ash Wednesday is a day of fast and abstinence from meat. Blessed ashes will be given at the beginning of the two Masses, 7:30 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Distribution will also take place at noon, but without a Mass. All Fridays of Lent are strictly binding as meatless days. Every Friday there will be the K of C Fish Fry in the gym from 4:00 until 7:00. I will be giving talks there on the Psalms, sharing with the people some of the richness that I have discovered in teaching my home school course. These talks will be in the gym, during the last part of the fish dinner. Only those dining there will be able to hear the talks. Stations of the Cross will follow these meals at 7:30 (note the new time). Friday evening Mass will succeed the Stations, sometime around 7:45. Thursday is the commemoration of Our Lady of Lourdes, a special day in view of our Lourdes Grotto. If it is opportune, we will pray the rosary at the Grotto on that day. This will be announced at Mass.

Fr. Perrone

The intrepid Fr. Perrone on Catholic ecumenism; and some bracing suggestions for Lent

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" [temporary link] (Assumption Grotto News, January 24, 2016):

We are in the midst of the Church Unity Octave, a thing given scant attention to here, not for want of the desire that all Christians profess the one, true Catholic faith. Putting the matter thus already slants the issue in the decidedly Catholic way the Church has always understood and intended the unity of Christians. Indeed, how could it be otherwise? It is not a matter of vain hubris but of revealed (and thus unalterable) truth that Christ founded but one Church (a fact which all Christians assert in the Creed) and that this one Church cannot be other than the Catholic Church, that is, the one built upon the Rock, Saint Peter and his successors. The reason for slighting these eight days of unity is that church unity has become, by and large, a dead issue with most non-Catholics. Moreover, the intentions for each of its days as the Popes originally published them read today [seem] rather embarrassing to a people whose mind has been formed by the modernist heresy of indifferentism (that obvious falsehood that holds all religions to be equally valid, or equally good). Just for the record, I quote for you here the very unpolitic (“incorrect”), designated  prayer intentions for each day of the Church unity Octave, as the Holy See had originally designed them: 1. The return of all the ‘other sheep’ to the one fold of St. Peter, the one shepherd. 2. The return of all Oriental Separatists (i.e. the Orthodox) to communion with the Apostolic See. 3. The submission of Anglicans to the authority of the Vicar of Christ (viz., the Pope). 4. That Christians in America may become one in communion with the Chair of St. Peter. 5. The return to the Sacraments of lapsed Catholics. 6. The conversion of the Jews (i.e. to Christianity). 7. The missionary conquest of the world for Christ. (Day 8 is the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. It would be understood here that he was converted from Judaism to the only Church identically subsisting in the Catholic Church.) So, there you have it, real  ecumenism – the embrace of all believers in the one, holy, Catholic Church. We’ve come a long way away from having the mind of the Church on this matter, due to the aforementioned modernist indoctrination by which many Catholics have no grasp of the exigency of truth to exclude error. Asserting what is logical necessity which no rational mind can deny (namely that there can be only one truth), we who hold fast to it are made to seem bigoted and uncharitable. To the contrary, nothing could be more conciliating or more loving towards others that to proclaim truth in all its disarming honesty, even in the face of some glaringly compromised statements to the contrary issuing from our ecclesiastical leaders. It makes one want to cry out in desperation with words from the psalter, “Heu mihi, quia incolatus meus prolongatus est!” (Pardon my French. But the Vulgate is so expressive: “Woe is me, for my sojourning is extended” – meaning that I have to live yet longer in this valley of tears.)

In the ancient tradition, this Sunday begins the pre-Lenten season of Septuagesima. I have before lamented the passing of this preparatory season which eases us into Lent rather than lets us be rudely hit on Ash Wednesday. A thoughtful parishioner wisely suggested that we begin now to plan what we should do for this holy season to come upon us lest it catch us unawares. I heartily endorse this proposal and invite parishioners to exercise their creativity and share some ideas they may have on how to spend well the Forty Days. Here are some of the proffered ideas, slightly modified.

Prayers and Religious Practices: Daily Mass. Daily holy hour. Daily rosary. Daily
Divine Mercy chaplet. Daily Stations of the Cross. Weekly confession. Daily prayers for the Dead. Daily Litany of Our Lady of Loretto. Daily reading of the Catechism. Daily Bible reading. Daily reading Fulton Sheen’s The Life of Christ or The Imitation of Christ, or the Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales, or St. Alphonsus Liguori’s Preparation for Death.

Penances: One main meal only per day.  Cold versus warmed foods. No desserts. No meat. No stimulants (sugars, tobacco, coffee). Dialing down the heat in home and car. Getting up a half hour earlier for a daily meditation. Cleaning and ordering the home or workplace in a penitential spirit. Good works: Visiting the sick or those in nursing homes. Spending more time with family (sic!). Cooking meals for the elderly or sick who have difficulty cooking for themselves. Shoveling a neighbor’s drive or walkway. Increasing support to the parish (a pastor’s favorite!). Going out of one’s way to do helpful things to people in one’s life, especially family members.  No doubt there is something here for everyone. I’d be glad to share with fellow parishioners other ideas you may have if you get them to me in good time. But whatever you decide to do, do it for the Lord and not for some lesser, natural motives which would diminish or even nullify their merit.

Fr. Perrone

Fr. Perrone: Reflections on penitential discipline mid-way through Lent

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" [temporary link] (Assumption Grotto News, March 15, 2015):

Over the years I’ve maintained a certain childlike (my detractors would say ‘childish’) attitude towards Lent. I still believe in the value of penitential practices of self-denial, such as giving up desserts and sweets (a favorite thing in Lent for kids in my day), fasting for the forty days (as adults once did in former times), and the avoidance of entertainments. When modernity hit the Church, in the later ‘60s and after, such things were regarded with disdain, as unworthy of mature Catholics. Reading the bible for Lent (a thing much talked about but not much observed), doing good for the needy (harder to practice than to talk about), going to Mass more often during the week (this was sometimes done)–these were thought substitutes for the works of penance for a Catholicism come of age. While those alternative things are good in themselves–but not diligently followed–a dimension of the spiritual life was missing in this new, positive emphasis. Doing the harder things was an admission of the fallenness and weakness of human nature which can be remedied only by hard measures. Would that there was an easier way to self discipline apart from them! When it became evident that Catholics were losing the “salty” distinction, it was almost too late to turn back to those discarded disciplines which had come to be regarded antiquated and unworthy of human dignity. The road back to a more circumscribed observance of Lent is difficult for anyone to find once it’s been abandoned. I’m glad to see now that some young families have recognized the value of doing penance and are instilling this virtue into their children once again. “Unless you do penance, you will perish,” are God’s words. There really is no substitute for ascetical (penitential) practices, the good of which does not lie in their severity but in the healthful outcome they offer for having a greater freedom to live as a true disciple of Christ. My encouragement is to keep going in your Lenten resolves and, should you have relaxed them, take them up once again.

This brings me to say that we have now arrived at Lent’s midpoint, today being Lætare Sunday. It’s a very Catholic thing, don’t you know, that when one is carefully observant of the rules that one can also, at the right moment and prudently, let up on the restraints and celebrate. I’d go so far as to say that only one who has experienced a lack or privation of some good thing fully knows it’s value. Conversely, no one appreciates a thing less than one who is spoiled, having all, all of the time. One of the little beauties of Lent is that at this time the Church, with the finishing line of Easter day in view, can bid us to rejoice. This is the meaning of Lætare Sunday, with its rose-colored vestments, the return of the organ and with flowers placed on the altar. And so, celebrate a little today, not to lose what you may have gained, but to increase your eagerness to attain the spiritual rewards of Easter. Perhaps I’ll just have some ice cream today (there go my childish ways again).

One more joyful note is the approach of Saint Joseph’s Day, March 19^th, which falls this year on Thursday of this week. With all due respect to the Irish observance of Saint Patrick’s on Tuesday, Saint Joseph is a saint of universal relevance and importance for the Church....

Fr. Perrone