Monday 20 February 2017
Sunday 19 February 2017
Sexagesima Sunday.
Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.
Sexagesima Sunday.
Station at Saint Paul-without-the-Walls.
Semi-Double.
As on Septuagesima Sunday, and on those which follow until Passion Sunday, The Church teaches us "to Celebrate The Paschal Sacrament" by "The Scriptures of both Testaments" (Prayer of Holy Saturday after The Seventh Prophecy).
Through the whole of this week, The Divine Office is full of the thought of Noah. God, seeing man's wickedness was great upon the Earth, said: "I will destroy man, whom I have created"; and He told Noah: "I will establish my Covenant with thee and thou shalt enter into The Ark."
For forty days and forty nights, rain fell on the Earth, while the Ark floated on the waters which rose above the mountain tops and covered them; and, in this whirlpool, all men were carried away "like stubble" (Gradual); only Noah and his companions in The Ark remaining alive.
Then, God remembered them, and, at length, the rain ceased. After some time, Noah opened the window of The Ark and set free a dove, which returned with a fresh olive leaf, and Noah understood that the waters no longer covered the Earth.
And God told him: "Go out of The Ark, thou and thy wife, thy sons and the wives of thy sons, with thee" (Communion). And the rainbow appeared as a sign of reconciliation between God and men.
That Noah's story is related to The Paschal Mystery is shown by the fact that The Church reads it on Holy Saturday [Second Prophecy); and this is how she, herself, applies it, in the Liturgy, to Our Lord and His Church. "The just wrath of The Creator drowned the guilty World in the vengeful waters of The Flood, only Noah being saved in The Ark.
But then the admirable power of love lavéd (washed) the World in blood" [Hymns for The Feast of The Precious Blood]. It was The Wood of The Ark, which saved the human race, and it is that of The Cross, which, in its turn, saves the World.
"Thou, alone," says The Church, speaking of The Cross, "hast been found worthy to be, for this shipwrecked World, The Ark which brings safely into port" [Hymn at Lauds in Passiontide]. "The open door in the side of The Ark, by which those enter who are to escape from The Flood, and who represent The Church, are, as is explained in the Liturgy, a type of The Mystery of Redemption; for, on The Cross, Our Lord had His Sacred Side open and, from this Gate of Life, went forth The Sacraments, giving true life to Souls. Indeed, The Blood and Water, which flow from thence, are symbols of The Eucharist and of Holy Baptism" [Lessons from Saint Chrysostom and Saint Augustine, Matins of The Feast of The Precious Blood].
"O God, Who by water didst wash away the crimes of the guilty World, and, by the overflowing of the deluge didst give a figure of regeneration, that one and the same element might, in a Mystery, be the end of vice and the origin of virtue: Look, O Lord, on the face of Thy Church and multiply in her Thy regenerations, opening the fonts of Baptism all over the World for the renovation of the Gentiles" [Blessing of the Baptismal Font on Holy Saturday].
"In the days of Noah," says Saint Peter, "eight Souls were saved by water, whereunto Baptism, being of the like form, now saveth you also."
On Maundy Thursday, when the Bishop Blesses The Holy Oil from the olive tree, which is to be used for The Sacraments, he says: "When of old, the crimes of the World were atoned for by the waters of The Flood, a dove, foreshadowing the gift to come, announced by an olive branch, the return of peace to the Earth.
And this indeed is made clear by its effects in latter times: When the waters of Baptism, having washed away all guilt of sin, the unction of the oil makes us joyous and serene." The Blood of Christ is The blood of The New Covenant, which Almighty God has made with man, through His Son. "Thou," cries The Church, "Who, by an olive branch, didst command the dove to proclaim peace to the World."
Peace is often mentioned in The Mass, which is The Memorial of The Passion: "Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum." And we shall find the Collect for Easter Friday, speaking of The Paschal Sacrament, as The Seal of Reconciliation between God and man.
Above all, however, in his Divinely-Appointed Mission as father of all succeeding generations, Noah is a figure of Christ [Sixth Lesson of Septuagesima Sunday]; he was truly the second father of the human race and he remains the type of life continually renewed. We are told in the Liturgy that the olive branch, by means of its foliage, is a symbol of the prosperous fertility bestowed by Almighty God upon Noah when he came forth from The Ark, and The Ark, itself, is called by Saint Ambrose, in today's Office, the "seminarium," or nursery, that is, the place containing the seed of life which is to fill the World.
Now, Christ, much more than Noah, was the second Adam, peopling the World with a race of believing Souls, faithful to God. On Holy Saturday, in The Prayer following The Second Prophecy, which is concerned with Noah, The Church humbly asks Almighty God to "peacefully effect," by His Eternal Decree, "the work of human Salvation," and to "let the whole World experience and see that, what was fallen, is raised up; what was old, is made new," and that "all things are re-established, through Him from Whom they received their first being, Our Lord Jesus Christ".
It was through The Word that God made the World in the beginning (Last Gospel), and it is by the Preaching of His Gospel that Our Lord came to bring men to a new birth. "Being born again," says Saint Peter, "not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, by The Word of God, Who liveth and reigneth for ever . . . And this is The Word, which, by the Gospel, hath been preached unto you".
From this, we can see why today's Gospel is taken from The Parable of The Sower, for "the seed is The Word of God". If, in Noah's days, men perished, Saint Paul tells us, it was because of their unbelief, while, at the same time, it was by Faith that Noah "framed The Ark . . . by the which he condemned the World, and was instituted heir of the justice which is by Faith".
In the same way, those who believe in Our Lord's words will be saved.
According to Saint Augustine's exposition, "as there were three floors in The Ark, so there are three different Spiritual Harvests". In today's Epistle, Saint Paul recounts all that he did and suffered in the course of preaching The Faith to the Gentiles and, indeed, he, The Apostle to the Gentiles, was the outstanding preacher of the World.
He is the "Minister of Christ", that is, the one whom God had chosen to unfold to all Nations the good news of The Incarnate Word. "Who will grant me", cries Saint John Chrysostom, "to walk around Saint Paul's body, to embrace his tomb, to behold the dust of that body which filled up what was lacking in Christ's sufferings, which bore the marks of his wounds, which everywhere spread abroad, like good seed, the preaching of the Gospel ? [In The Office for The Octave of Saint Peter and Saint Paul].
The Roman Church has fulfilled this desire, in the case of her own children, by making a Station on this day to the Basilica of Saint Paul-without-the-Walls. "Through the Church's Neophytes", we read in the Liturgy, "the Earth is renewed, and thus renewed, she brings forth fruit, as it were, from the dead ! [Easter Monday at Matins].
Every Parish Priest Celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.
Sexagesima Sunday.
Station at Saint Paul-without-the-Walls.
Semi-Double.
Privilege of The Second Class.
Violet Vestments.
Violet Vestments.
The Seed is The Word of God.
Illustration: UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY
Artist: Rene de Cramer.
"Copyright Brunelmar/Ghent/Belgium".
Used with Permission.
As on Septuagesima Sunday, and on those which follow until Passion Sunday, The Church teaches us "to Celebrate The Paschal Sacrament" by "The Scriptures of both Testaments" (Prayer of Holy Saturday after The Seventh Prophecy).
Through the whole of this week, The Divine Office is full of the thought of Noah. God, seeing man's wickedness was great upon the Earth, said: "I will destroy man, whom I have created"; and He told Noah: "I will establish my Covenant with thee and thou shalt enter into The Ark."
For forty days and forty nights, rain fell on the Earth, while the Ark floated on the waters which rose above the mountain tops and covered them; and, in this whirlpool, all men were carried away "like stubble" (Gradual); only Noah and his companions in The Ark remaining alive.
Then, God remembered them, and, at length, the rain ceased. After some time, Noah opened the window of The Ark and set free a dove, which returned with a fresh olive leaf, and Noah understood that the waters no longer covered the Earth.
Exsurge, quare obdormis, Domine ?
The Introit for Sexagesima Sunday.
Available on YouTube at
And God told him: "Go out of The Ark, thou and thy wife, thy sons and the wives of thy sons, with thee" (Communion). And the rainbow appeared as a sign of reconciliation between God and men.
That Noah's story is related to The Paschal Mystery is shown by the fact that The Church reads it on Holy Saturday [Second Prophecy); and this is how she, herself, applies it, in the Liturgy, to Our Lord and His Church. "The just wrath of The Creator drowned the guilty World in the vengeful waters of The Flood, only Noah being saved in The Ark.
But then the admirable power of love lavéd (washed) the World in blood" [Hymns for The Feast of The Precious Blood]. It was The Wood of The Ark, which saved the human race, and it is that of The Cross, which, in its turn, saves the World.
"Thou, alone," says The Church, speaking of The Cross, "hast been found worthy to be, for this shipwrecked World, The Ark which brings safely into port" [Hymn at Lauds in Passiontide]. "The open door in the side of The Ark, by which those enter who are to escape from The Flood, and who represent The Church, are, as is explained in the Liturgy, a type of The Mystery of Redemption; for, on The Cross, Our Lord had His Sacred Side open and, from this Gate of Life, went forth The Sacraments, giving true life to Souls. Indeed, The Blood and Water, which flow from thence, are symbols of The Eucharist and of Holy Baptism" [Lessons from Saint Chrysostom and Saint Augustine, Matins of The Feast of The Precious Blood].
Sexagesima Sunday.
Sacred Heart Church,
United States of America.
Available on YouTube at
"O God, Who by water didst wash away the crimes of the guilty World, and, by the overflowing of the deluge didst give a figure of regeneration, that one and the same element might, in a Mystery, be the end of vice and the origin of virtue: Look, O Lord, on the face of Thy Church and multiply in her Thy regenerations, opening the fonts of Baptism all over the World for the renovation of the Gentiles" [Blessing of the Baptismal Font on Holy Saturday].
"In the days of Noah," says Saint Peter, "eight Souls were saved by water, whereunto Baptism, being of the like form, now saveth you also."
On Maundy Thursday, when the Bishop Blesses The Holy Oil from the olive tree, which is to be used for The Sacraments, he says: "When of old, the crimes of the World were atoned for by the waters of The Flood, a dove, foreshadowing the gift to come, announced by an olive branch, the return of peace to the Earth.
And this indeed is made clear by its effects in latter times: When the waters of Baptism, having washed away all guilt of sin, the unction of the oil makes us joyous and serene." The Blood of Christ is The blood of The New Covenant, which Almighty God has made with man, through His Son. "Thou," cries The Church, "Who, by an olive branch, didst command the dove to proclaim peace to the World."
"Commovisti, Domine, terram . . ."
The Tract for Sexagesima Sunday.
Gregorian Chant notation from The Liber Usualis (1961).
Latin lyrics sung by The Benedictine Nuns
of Notre-Dame de l'Annonciation,
Le Barroux, France.
Available on YouTube at
Peace is often mentioned in The Mass, which is The Memorial of The Passion: "Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum." And we shall find the Collect for Easter Friday, speaking of The Paschal Sacrament, as The Seal of Reconciliation between God and man.
Above all, however, in his Divinely-Appointed Mission as father of all succeeding generations, Noah is a figure of Christ [Sixth Lesson of Septuagesima Sunday]; he was truly the second father of the human race and he remains the type of life continually renewed. We are told in the Liturgy that the olive branch, by means of its foliage, is a symbol of the prosperous fertility bestowed by Almighty God upon Noah when he came forth from The Ark, and The Ark, itself, is called by Saint Ambrose, in today's Office, the "seminarium," or nursery, that is, the place containing the seed of life which is to fill the World.
It was through The Word that God made the World in the beginning (Last Gospel), and it is by the Preaching of His Gospel that Our Lord came to bring men to a new birth. "Being born again," says Saint Peter, "not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, by The Word of God, Who liveth and reigneth for ever . . . And this is The Word, which, by the Gospel, hath been preached unto you".
Benediction after Mass.
Sexagesima Sunday,
Edinburgh, Scotland.
Available on YouTube at
From this, we can see why today's Gospel is taken from The Parable of The Sower, for "the seed is The Word of God". If, in Noah's days, men perished, Saint Paul tells us, it was because of their unbelief, while, at the same time, it was by Faith that Noah "framed The Ark . . . by the which he condemned the World, and was instituted heir of the justice which is by Faith".
In the same way, those who believe in Our Lord's words will be saved.
According to Saint Augustine's exposition, "as there were three floors in The Ark, so there are three different Spiritual Harvests". In today's Epistle, Saint Paul recounts all that he did and suffered in the course of preaching The Faith to the Gentiles and, indeed, he, The Apostle to the Gentiles, was the outstanding preacher of the World.
He is the "Minister of Christ", that is, the one whom God had chosen to unfold to all Nations the good news of The Incarnate Word. "Who will grant me", cries Saint John Chrysostom, "to walk around Saint Paul's body, to embrace his tomb, to behold the dust of that body which filled up what was lacking in Christ's sufferings, which bore the marks of his wounds, which everywhere spread abroad, like good seed, the preaching of the Gospel ? [In The Office for The Octave of Saint Peter and Saint Paul].
The Roman Church has fulfilled this desire, in the case of her own children, by making a Station on this day to the Basilica of Saint Paul-without-the-Walls. "Through the Church's Neophytes", we read in the Liturgy, "the Earth is renewed, and thus renewed, she brings forth fruit, as it were, from the dead ! [Easter Monday at Matins].
Every Parish Priest Celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.
Mass: Exsurge, quare obdormis.
Collects: As on Septuagesima Sunday.
Preface: Of The Holy Trinity. On weekdays, The Common Preface.
Saturday 18 February 2017
Saint Simeon. Bishop And Martyr. Feast Day, Today, 18 February.
Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.
Saint Simeon.
Bishop And Martyr.
Feast Day 18 February.
Simple.
Red Vestments.
Icon of Saint Simeon of Jerusalem.
Date: Unknown.
Source: The picture originates
from the days.ru open catalogue ([1]
Author: Unknown.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Saint Simeon, son of Cleophas and of Mary, who was so closly related to The Blessed Virgin Mary as to be called her sister, "was Anointed with Holy Oil" (Gradual) and became Bishop of Jerusalem after Saint James the Less.
A Disciple of Christ, Whom he had known, he was for this reason arrested and crucified (Gospel). Although he was 120 years of age, the Venerable old man "suffered this cruel punishment with constancy and received The Crown of Life, which God prepares for those who love Him" (Epistle). His Martyrdom took place in 106 A.D.
Like Saint Simeon, let us unite ourselves to Jesus by dying to sin at this Holy Season of Penance.
Mass: Státuit. Of a Martyr Bishop.
Saint Mary Bernard Soubirous. Virgin. Feast Day, Today, 18 February.
Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.
Saint Mary Bernard Soubirous.
Virgin.
Feast Day 18 February.
Double.
White Vestments.
Saint Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes.
Date: Circa 1858.
Source: Weltwoche 8/08.
Author: Unknown.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Bernadette Soubirous was born at Lourdes in 1844. Our Blessed Lady appeared eighteen times to her in The Grotto of Massabielle at the beginning of 1858 (Collect).
On 25 March 1858, The Blessed Virgin Mary said to her: "I am The Immaculate Conception", thereby confirming The Dogma officially proclaimed by Blessed Pope Pius IX in 1854.
Leaving everything to purchase at such a price The Kingdom of Heaven (Gospel), she entered the Convent of The Sisters of Charity, at Nevers, France, in 1868. Here, she was given the name of Sister Mary Bernard, and died on 16 April 1879, after a hidden life of Prayer and Penance (Secret).
She was Canonised by Pope Pius XI on 8 December 1933 [Editor: The Feast Day of The Immaculate Conception]; in 1936, her Feast Day was ordered to be Celebrated by The Universal Church eight days after The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.
Mass: Vultum tuum.
Commemoration: In Lent of The Feria and of Saint Simeon.
Friday 17 February 2017
The First Traditional Latin Mass In Waterford Cathedral, Ireland, In Fifty Years. Deo Gratias.
Illustration: NEW LITURGICAL MOVEMENT
From The Latin Mass Society of Ireland comes this report of the first Traditional Latin Mass held in the Cathedral of Waterford in fifty years. The next Traditional Latin Mass in Waterford Cathedral is scheduled for 26 February 2017, Quinquagesima Sunday, at 10 a.m.
After a fifty-year absence, The Traditional Latin Mass returned to the oldest Cathedral Seat of the oldest City in Ireland. With the kind permission of Very Rev. Canon Edmund Cullinan, Administrator., The Traditional Roman Catholic Mass was offered in Waterford Cathedral on Sunday, 22 January 2017, at 10 a.m.
The Celebrant, Polish Priest Fr Andrzej Komorowski, processed in a rather fitting Green Cope through a respectably-filled Cathedral of over 250 people, all eagerly awaiting The Traditional Mass.
Holy Trinity Cathedral, Waterford, Ireland.
The Waterford Architect, John Roberts,
was invited to build
Holy Trinity Cathedral for Waterford’s Roman Catholic community.
Founded in 1793, it was the first post-Reformation Catholic Cathedral
to be built in Ireland. Roberts was still working on it when he died
on 23 May 1796 at the age of eighty-two.
Illustration: WATERFORD VIKING TRIANGLE
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