Thursday, June 28, 2018

The twitch upon the thread ... that can enslave to sin and damn

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" (Assumption Grotto News, June 24, 2018):
We often use the expression "hanging on by a thread" to indicate insecurity or uncertainty. I'd like to invoke it for another cause, namely, to indicate how a fragile link can become a mighty powerful means of constriction. I mean this in reference to the subtle means the devil employs to take control of someone's life and either enslave him in sin or else inhibit him from doing good or making spiritual progress. It merely takes such a "thread."

We often acknowledge the devil's activity and power in relation to evils that are widespread. Even though they be ever so common, mortal sins bring on the loss of grace and -- lfet unforgiven -- eternal damnation. The evil one and his accomplices can rightly be blamed a good deal for the commission of such sins. And then there are those great evils such as war, abortion, torture, sacrilege and the like which are more readily attributed to devils. My topic here has to do not with these notorious sins but rather with the minuscule, featherweight, insidious "threads" by which demons entangle and ensnare their victims. Although I claim no special discernment of demonic arts, I, as everybody else, have my own experiences with sin and my own tendencies to sin to reflect upon. It doesn't take much of a thought, attraction, word, or object to become not only an occasion of sin but a very powerful tool of enslavement to evil.

Threads. I recall the Canons of the Holy Cross telling me about people in a poor mission country that wanted to build a cathedral church for which there was insufficient money. The Masons of that place, hearing about the intention to build a church, offered the bishop to finance the entire cost of construction on one sole condition: they had to agree to affix to one of its walls a small Masonic emblem, barely noticeable. The offer, howsoever tempting, was wisely and firmly rejected by the Church. All the devil wanted, you see, was his small cut.

From long back in my priesthood I remember hearing about a wife whose husband was kept from converting to Catholicism because of a little fetish he carried about with him and which he cherished. The man, a rather affable sort and a Catholic-inclined man, never succeeded in making the jump. He died a non-Catholic, unable to part with his little "relic."

You may find these stories interesting but perhaps not relevant until you reflect a little on your own sins. How often it is that people fall into the same sins they so recently confessed because some tiny "thread" of an evil, so small as to be dismissed as a thing of little significance, wasn't severed. (An example of self-deception!) In such a case, the snare was set and one fell into it, predictably. The sinner is guilty not only for the sin committed but for refusing to acknowledge and cut that connecting evil strand, be it ever so fragile a cobweb -- the instrument employed by the evil one. Consider the possibilities: the use of a computer, or a cell phone; the company of a certain person or visiting a certain place; that one alcoholic drink which inevitably leads to too much; wearing immodest clothes which entice others to sin. Eating, exercising, reading, music listening ... the list of possibilities need not be long. There is a specific "thread" which is the deathline of this person linking him to hell. I invite the reader to consider whether there may be some such thing to which he is attached and can't seem to let go of. It is such a thing that is the subject of this writing.

It takes a great deal of self-honesty, that is, integrity, to admit these subtle affections to evil, to confess them, and to be resolutely firm to disallow them to ensnare thenceforth. What a shame it would be for you to lose your soul eternally because of a tiny little fiber that bound you to eternal damnation.

Fr. Perrone

P.S. Today is Saint John the Baptist's feast day. (He was certainly not one to flirt with evil.) Friday is the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, two great giants of the Church. Next Sunday is -- already -- July 1st!

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Roberto De Mattei, "The Roots and Historical Consequences of Modernism"

Roberto De Mattei, "The Roots and Historical Consequences of Modernism," translated by Giuseppe Pellegrino (1P5, June 23, 2018). Pellegrino writes:
Roberto de Mattei’s paper, presented today in Rome, is entitled “The roots and historical consequences of Modernism”. It provides a detailed study of the origin of the present theological confusion in the Church in the ideas embraced at the time of the so-called “Modernist crisis” of the early 20th century. The teaching of Maurice Blondel that experience is the criteria of truth spread to influential theologians such as Alfred Loisy, George Tyrrell, and Ernesto Buonaiuti, who all affirmed in various ways that truth is not immutable, rather it evolves as man evolves. These writers in turn influenced Teilhard de Chardin, Henri de Lubac, and Karl Rahner, all of whom were extremely influential on the work and teaching of the Second Vatican Council. This “Neo-Modernism” subtly tried to influence the Church without revealing its agenda of dismantling the philosophical foundation of the immutable nature of Truth and the theological foundation of the unchanging character of Divine Revelation. Through a “revolution of language,” one of the key principles of Marxism, those who seek to foment revolution in the Church have used words such as “renewal,” “aggiornamento,” and “accompaniment” to radically change the Church’s praxis, falsely setting up a separation between doctrine and praxis. The writings and statements of contemporary churchmen such as Walter Kasper, Bruno Forte, and Jorge Bergoglio are imbued with this same thinking. Bergoglio is clearly a disciple of Blondel. The only effective way to combat the present culmination of the “Modernist crisis” is to embrace the immutable Tradition of the Church.

Sunday, June 24, 2018

Tridentine Masses coming this week to metro Detroit and eastern Michigan


Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

Sunday


Monday


Tuesday


Wednesday


Thursday


Friday


Saturday


Sunday (July 1st)


* NB: The SSPX chapels among those Mass sites listed above are posted here because the Holy Father has announced that "those who during the Holy Year of Mercy approach these priests of the Fraternity of St Pius X to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation shall validly and licitly receive the absolution of their sins," and subsequently extended this privilege beyond the Year of Mercy. These chapels are not listed among the approved parishes and worship sites on archdiocesan websites.

Tridentine Community News - The Napa Institute; TLMs this coming week


"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"

Tridentine Community News by Alex Begin (June 24, 2018):
June 24, 2018 – Nativity of St. John the Baptist

The Napa Institute

Perhaps you’ve heard of various gatherings of über-wealthy individuals, in places such as Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Folks like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett meet up to discuss weighty issues of global concern. Did you know there’s a Catholic equivalent to those elite retreats?

One of America’s most interesting yet low-profile Catholic philanthropists is Southern California’s Tim Busch. Tim owns a sizable law firm in Irvine, California, eight resort hotels, and believe it or not, co-owns the Busch’s Family Market chain here in suburban Detroit, where he was born.

Inside his law firm’s offices is the Queen of Life Chapel (http://www.queenoflifechapel.org/), which offers a well-attended daily Mass and is home to an Anglican Ordinariate parish on the weekends. Rare for a privately-owned chapel, Tim received permission to reserve the Blessed Sacrament there. Tim did the legal work for the sale of Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral to the Diocese of Orange, where it now serves as Christ Cathedral. Tim is the founder or co-founder of numerous grand-scale Catholic ventures, including JSerra High School in San Juan Capistrano. In a way one can think of him as California’s version of Michigan’s Tom Monaghan; in fact Tim cites Monaghan as a role model. In 2016 Tim made the largest donation ever to Washington, DC’s Catholic University of America: $15 million.

One of Tim’s most interesting ventures is The Napa Institute. The name doesn’t give away much, and perhaps that’s intentional. It happens to be the Catholic version of one of those aforementioned conferences of wealthy people. Every summer, some of the country’s most financially blessed Catholics gather at one of Tim’s hotels, the Meritage Resort and Spa, along with some of the biggest names in the global Church, for seminars, for social events such as a Cigar Bar evening, for golf, and yes, for the Tridentine Mass.


Various clerics ranging from Norbertine priests who serve Tim’s Queen of Life Chapel up to Madison, Wisconsin Bishop Robert Morlino [pictured above, photo by the Traditional Latin Mass Society of San Francisco], and San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone offer the Extraordinary Form for those attending the conference, in the Our Lady of the Grapes Chapel or the grotto-like Estate Cave on the grounds of the Meritage Resort. Stop and think about that for a moment: High profile clerics offering the Traditional Mass for America’s wealthiest Catholic elite.

This year attendees can hobnob with Cardinal Gerhard Müller, Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput, and Anglican Ordinariate Bishop Steven Lopes, among others.


The talks are more conservative than traditional in subject matter, and rather big-picture oriented, as seen above.

Not surprisingly for such an ambitious entrepreneur, Tim is expanding The Napa Institute: A European conference took place in Vienna in 2017, and a tour of historic churches in Chicago – with talks by traditional architectural experts Duncan Stroik and Denis McNamara – is planned for August.

How can one attend The Napa Institute? It’s actually open to all, if you can afford it. Tickets are $2,500 per person. For more information visit: www.napa-insitute.org

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week
  • Tue. 06/26 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Holy Name of Mary, Windsor (Ss. John & Paul, Martyrs)
  • Sat. 06/30 8:30 AM: Low Mass at Miles Christi (Commemoration of St. Paul, Apostle)
[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 June 24, 2018. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]

Friday, June 22, 2018

Tridentine Community News - Corpus Christi Maiden Lane; Tridentine Mass at the Pantheon in Rome; Tridentine Masses This Coming Week (metro Detroit)

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"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"

Tridentine Community News by Alex Begin (June 17, 2018):
June 17, 2018 - Fourth Sunday After Pentecost

Corpus Christi Maiden Lane

The hymn Sweet Sacrament Divine is a staple in our repertoire, used often on Feast Days thematically related to the Blessed Sacrament. It was written by Fr. Francis Stanfield, who was pastor in the 1880s of London, England’s Corpus Christi Parish. This small but ornate church is located on Maiden Lane in the Covent Garden theatre district. Msgr. Ronald Knox was a regular visitor, preaching for decades at their 40 Hours Devotions.

In recent times Corpus Christi Church has been an important site for Catholics devoted to the Traditional Mass. It is one of the few locations in the world where the Tridentine Mass has been offered consistently for decades. In the wake of the Agatha Christi Indult in 1971, the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales, whose office is also in Covent Garden, began to organize weekly Monday evening High Masses at Corpus Christi. Those Masses continue to this day.

Following a multi-year restoration project, in which the sanctuary was restored, a new Communion Rail installed, and gold leaf applied throughout, Westminster Archbishop Vincent Cardinal Nichols raised Corpus Christi Parish to the status of a Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament. On Sunday, June 3rd, His Eminence led a procession with the Blessed Sacrament from Corpus Christi through the streets of Covent Garden, yet another example of the exuberant display of Catholicism which one often sees in London. [Photos by John Aron from Corpus Christi Church’s Facebook page]


A few days earlier, on Thursday, May 31, a Pontifical Mass in the Extraordinary Form was celebrated there for the Feast of Corpus Christi by Abbot Hugh Allan, O.Praem. [Photo at top of next column].

On a personal note, Corpus Christi was the locus of a particularly terrifying memory: this writer was invited to sing in the choir there several years ago. Expecting to sing psalm tone Propers, at the last minute the choir decided to sing the full Liber version instead, a moment of true panic for someone not accustomed to the challenge of singing those complicated notes on the fly.


An upgraded web site invites the faithful to make a pilgrimage to this place of devotion to the Real Presence, certainly a worthy stop among many other Catholic landmarks in London. See: https://corpuschristimaidenlane.org.uk.

Tridentine Mass at the Pantheon in Rome


One of the oldest buildings in Rome is the Pantheon. Dating to the second century A.D. and originally built as a temple to the Roman gods, since the seventh century it has functioned as a Catholic church. A main tourist stop, liturgically the Pantheon is known for the ceremony of rose petals dropped from the opening at the top of the dome each year on the Feast of Pentecost. From time to time the Pantheon hosts Masses in the Extraordinary Form. One such Mass was held in January of this year.

The complete set of photos may be seen at: https://tridentini.com/2018/01/29/mass-at-the-pantheon-photos/

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week
  • Tue. 06/19 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Holy Name of Mary, Windsor (St. Juliana of Falconieri, Virgin)
  • Sat. 06/23 8:30 AM: Low Mass at Miles Christi (Vigil of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist)
[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 June 17, 2018. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Pray for renewal of faith in Cuba



An influential acquaintance and friend recently made a second trip with her husband to Cuba. She writes:
The Cuban people are among the most resourceful, determined, resilient and passionate folk I’ve encountered. You would know that following the extended suppression of religious practice, spiritual apathy is widespread and pervasive. For a large portion of the younger generation, true religiosity is something associated with a by-gone age and tangible connection with Catholicism is essentially cultural. Crucifixes are worn, but prayers are not part of the mix.

I was surprised and delighted to learn that there is an effort to establish Traditional Latin Mass [TLM] in Matanzas, a city east of Havana. An oratory was devised and the TLM [has] begun to gain supporters. Currently, Una Voce Cuba is the project of a gentleman in Dallas, Albert Doskey, whose mother was Cuban. He lived with his mother’s parents over some 9 years, no doubt developing a taste for cafécita as well as a sense of Cuba. I’ve shared some correspondence with him (and personally contributed to a GoFundMe campaign for UVC).

The Remnant posted about UVC, and I shared the information with local TLM followers.

Truth and beauty do persist, one thinks, and certainly both are joined in the usus antiquior.
So pray for Cuba and the people of Cuba -- both practicing and prospective practicing Catholics. They've been through a spiritual desert, and they need the solid resources offered by Sacred Tradition rather than the commercialized erzatz peddled by alternative religionists.

Sunday, June 10, 2018

Tridentine Masses coming this week to metro Detroit and east Michigan


Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

Sunday


Monday


Tuesday


Wednesday


Thursday


Friday


Saturday


* NB: The SSPX chapels among those Mass sites listed above are posted here because the Holy Father has announced that "those who during the Holy Year of Mercy approach these priests of the Fraternity of St Pius X to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation shall validly and licitly receive the absolution of their sins," and subsequently extended this privilege beyond the Year of Mercy. These chapels are not listed among the approved parishes and worship sites on archdiocesan websites.

Tridentine Community News - Church Restoration: St. Stephen the Martyr, Columbus, Ohio; Making Catholic Schools Affordable: A Lesson from the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska; Sub Tuum Præsídium; Tridentine Masses This Coming Week


"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"

Tridentine Community News by Alex Begin (June 10, 2018):
June 10, 2018 – Third Sunday After Pentecost

Church Restoration: St. Stephen the Martyr, Columbus, Ohio

In what is becoming a regular occurrence throughout North America, another church has undergone an upgrade from bland, modern design to a traditional arrangement with Communion Rail. Unlike most such examples, this is a modest, low-ceilinged church. One does not have to have an expansive building to undertake this sort of a restoration. [Before and after photos from the Liturgical Arts Journal blog and William Heyer Architect]




Making Catholic Schools Affordable: A Lesson from the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska

Not so long ago a significant number of parishes in the Archdiocese of Detroit and elsewhere had parochial schools. Most were elementary to middle schools, going up through Eighth Grade; a few parishes also offered high schools. The virtual disappearance of teaching nuns in recent decades meant that the cost of running such schools skyrocketed, since lay teachers earn significantly more pay. Many parishes started to subsidize their schools, often falling into debt as a result. With declining enrollment, many parochial schools were forced to close. Only a relative handful of parishes offer schools today.

Much has been written about the successes of the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska. Never lacking in vocations, it consistently has the #1 or #2 highest ratio of priests-to-laity of any diocese in America. All of its seminarians learn the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter has its own seminary in the diocese, along with the diocese’s own St. Gregory the Great Seminary. Reverent Masses in the Ordinary Form are the norm. Only altar boys are permitted. There are no Permanent Deacons, however laymen are installed as Acolytes and Lectors. And their Catholic schools are healthy and well-attended.

One of the reasons their schools have attracted so many students is that tuition is kept very low, on the order of $1,000 or lower, depending on the school. A “Parish Scholarship” system funded by stewardship at the diocesan and parish level makes up for the shortfall in the actual cost of educating a student. This buy-in from the top down has resulted in the Diocese of Lincoln opening new Catholic elementary schools at the same time that many other dioceses are experiencing net closures of schools. Perhaps the others should look to Lincoln for an example.

Sub Tuum Præsídium


A brief, historic prayer to our Lady, enriched with a Partial Indulgence, is the Sub Tuum Præsídium:
Sub tuum præsídium confúgimus, sancta Dei Génetrix; nostras deprecatiónes ne despícias in necessitátibus, sed a perículis cunctis líbera nos semper, Virgo gloriósa et benedícta.

We fly to your patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.
Tridentine Masses This Coming Week
  • Tue. 06/12 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Holy Name of Mary, Windsor (St. John of San Facundo, Confessor)
  • Sat. 06/16 8:30 AM: Low Mass at Miles Christi (Saturday of Our Lady)
[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 June 10, 2018. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]

Saturday, June 02, 2018

Manners in the presence of others and in the Real Presence: "Zeal for Your house ..."

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" (Assumption Grotto News, May 6, 2018):
Zeal for Your house consumes Me.

Walking along outdoors on one of those fine sunny days of the past week, discreetly saying my rosary the while, I caught sight of a young woman approaching me from the opposite direction. Quickly letting go of the beads concealed in my pocket, I readied myself to tip my cap (visor worn forward, mind you) in a gesture of respect I had often seen my father make to women in similar circumstances. To no avail. The young lady, perhaps fearing an untoward glance, kept her eyes firmly riveted to the ground.

Many courtesies once commonplace are now passé. The aforementioned baseball cap reminds me how youth are generally unmindful of what a breech of good manners it is for men to wear hats indoors, a fortiori at the table. Equally vanishing from the scene are young couples walking together on the sidewalk with the male on the outside, that is, on the street side, indicating chivalrous protection of his consort. The drinking of water, in full view of others, from plastic bottles flared high, with one's throat strained crane-like towards the heavens is perhaps beyond the capability of people in our time to consider as discourteous, however so mildly it may be so. Discourtesies so ubiquitous as now to be regarded as benign if not fully accepted may include the public picking of one's teeth, cutting or painting the nails, the yawn full agape. Needless to add are certain bodily noises -- amongst which I confine myself to belching and spitting -- which are best discharges in private chambers or, at best, in the seclusion of familial quarters.

My subject matter is the coarsening of good manners as representing a diminishing respect for others. (Manners, let it be said, can be overdone, even unto a fastidious prissiness, unbecoming for a man -- dare I invoke the outmoded phrase, for a gentleman?). As desirable as it is for rational beings to cultivate good habits respecting the presence of one's fellows, yet my primary motivation in writing on this rare, perhaps indignifying subject, is not in the hope of rekindling polite conduct towards one's "fellow man" (a contrived, feminist faux pas) but rather to bring attention to the indifference if not ill-treatment by Catholics in our time towards His Majesty in the tabernacles of our churches. Vanishing is the genuflection, that posture whichuniquely evidences both faith in the Real Presence and adoration of Christ's divinity. Even the less satisfactory curtsy or nod of the head towards the place of His reposition has become scarce. The general rule is to disregard God sacramentally in-residence and to carry on coram sacratissimum Sacramentum (in the presence of the most holy Sacrament) as if He were not there. Whether this is do to malice, to disbelief, or to the wide-embracing ignorance of right doctrine and practice by Catholics is hard to determine. But the resulting insult to a God who did not disdain to endure the crucifixion for the salvation of mankind cannot be denied.

Recently I visited a Catholic church where people were gathered to hear a concert -- a thing permitted under certain conditions, among which is the removal of the Blessed Sacrament and Its telltale sign, the sanctuary lamp. These prescribed measures were, to all appearances, not observed. As a result, not only was there the ordinary, moderate-tones chitchat of the audience before a performance but even the inducement to chaos by the evening's MC, as is now the prevailing custom in many a parish church, that everyone should turn to greet his neighboring pewsters on all sides. I was heartbroken as I thought of the Lord in His self-induced imprisonment to beckon a voluntary profession of faith in and respect for His divine Presence. While surely not all attendees of the musical event were Catholics, yet by no outward sign of theirs was witness given of their belief in the Divine Presence. Or, is that the point, namely, that faith in the Real Presence of Christ -- Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Holy Sacrament -- is absent? Have we come to this state?

Zeal for Your house consumes Me," our Lord lamented, when He ousted the money-changers from the Temple (Jn 2), abridging words of the psalm (68:9) which adds, "and the insults of those who insult You have fallen on Me." I too have some of Christ's "zeal," and I feel embarrassment and sorrow that my Lord is treated dismissively by His own. "Be silent before the Lord, all flesh, for He has roused Himself from His holy dwelling place" (Zech. 2:13) -- that admonition was made in reference to God's rather vague manner of presence in the Jerusalem Temple. Yet what have we in our churches but the very Incarnate Son of God under sacramental signs?

I insist that in our parish church the Lord not be abused by "outrage, sacrilege, and indifference" (to quote the familiar prayer). Avoid talking to your neighbor in church or, if the matter warrants it, in a whisper. The Lord has "zeal" for the sanctity of His house.

"Be still before the Lord!" (Ps. 36, Vulgate).

Fr. Perrone

God's gift at Pentecost

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" (Assumption Grotto News, May 20, 2018):
Pentecost. You'd be right to think that with the prefix pent- this day has something to do with the number five. It actually concerns the fiftieth day, or the seventh week, from the beginning of the harvesting of grain in Old Testament times. An agricultural feast, it had other names as well: the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of the First Fruits. It was at this time, that is, seven weeks (fifty days) since Easter, that the Holy Spirit descended upon Our Lady, the Apostles, and the other disciples of Christ. As a Christian feast it ranks higher in significance than it did for Jews since the first Christians on this day were given "power from on hight," as our Lord promised them before ascending into heaven. The "power" received was of a supernatural kind which strengthened their souls to convert the nations and to face a world that would be unwelcoming of their message. To this end they were given the grace needed to withstand opposition, and they were consoled in advance for the time when imprisonment, torture, and death for the sake of Christ would be their lot. Immediate visible signs attended the Holy Spirit's arrival: a violent wind, fiery tongues, and the much-disputed tongues by which the disciples could speak of Christ in various languages of the peoples. As it is in many places of the New Testament, Saint Peter is the champion of the day, appearing fearless and speaking with extraordinary conviction to the Jews about the new faith in Christ.

The gift of the Holy Spirit for Christians who are already baptized is not the vocalization of unintelligible babbling but the Sacrament of Confirmation which perfects the graces conferred in baptism, much as in the order of nature adulthood completes childhood. The red vestments in use this day in the Roman rite are reminiscent of the flames ('tongues') of fire that alighted upon the heads of those present on Pentecost day, and for us it is also a reminder of the blood which must sometimes be shed as the sole convincing sign to unbelievers of the truth of Christ and which won for the sufferers the highest places in heaven.

Pentecost's flames were consuming. Fire has a purifying quality which, in the spiritual sense, burns away the corrosive residue of sin by its painful heat. Our Lord's disciples had not yet known the suffering of martyrdom but the experience of Pentecost gave them the fire which consumed the self love that inhibits a consummate witness to Christ. For us, the metaphorical fire of the Holy Ghost is the purifying, toughening, and inuring of the soul against the inevitable trials, temptations to sin, and hostility to Christian truth which at times must greet every sincere witness to the Lord.

If these themes seem forbidding and weighty, one may also draw attention to the joyfulness of Pentecost as the birthday of the Church. Like Adam in the beginning of the human story who was first formed in clay and later came to birth upon receiving the breath of God's Spirit, so was the Church first formed by Christ when He promised to build it upon St. Peter's rock but fully animated with Spirit on Pentecost. It is a birthday and the cause of great happiness. (We will give full vent to our joy in the Latin mass today with the exuberant music of Bach.)

In the liturgical calendar formerly universals observed in the Latin Church, and now once again in use for the traditional Latin liturgy, Pentecost was deemed a day too great for a single day of celebration. Eight days are set aside for it to be celebrated and contemplated. I already announced that Pope Francis has designated Pentecost Monday as a commemoration of the Holy Virgin Mary as Mother of the Church. Mother of Christ on Christmas, Mother of all Christians on Pentecost -- both instances of a spiritual maternity which depended on the fertility of the Holy Ghost. There is a mysterious collaboration of Mary and the Holy Spirit both in the Son of God made man and in the making of us as other sons of God, reborn by the Holy Spirit and of Mother Church.

Fr. Perrone