St. John Chrysostom
by VP
Posted on Thursday January 26, 2023 at 11:21PM in Quotes
"It is not man who causes the things lying on the altar to become the Body and Blood of Christ; but that Christ who was crucified for us. The priest stands performing his office, and pronouncing the words; but the power and grace are the power and grace of God. He says, this is my body, and these words effects the change of the things offered."
Source:The United States Catholic Magazine and Monthly Review, Volume 3. Homely de Prodi. Judae. St. John Chrysostom
Eucharistic Revival
by VP
Posted on Wednesday January 18, 2023 at 11:00PM in Quotes
"Kneeling indicates and promotes the adoration necessary before receiving the Eucharistic Christ. From this perspective, the then-Cardinal Ratzinger assured that: "Communion only reaches its true depth when it is supported and surrounded by adoration."
Source: The Spirit of the Liturgy (Ignatius Press, 2000), p. 90
Anti-Christ
by VP
Posted on Thursday December 29, 2022 at 01:28AM in Quotes
"Who shall resist Anti-Christ when he comes if we show such patience
towards the vices and crimes of his precursors? By such leniency, we
encourage kings to become tyrants and tempt them to withdraw every
privilege and all jurisdiction from the Churches." St. Thomas Becket
"Do not dare to fight against the work of the Holy Spirit.” Bishop Schneider
by VP
Posted on Sunday November 06, 2022 at 09:38AM in Quotes
Traditional Roman Rite, Sacred Heart Downtown Raleigh (Former Cathedral)
It is "Contrary to reason and to sound liturgical theology to assert that a
form of the Roman Rite celebrated uninterruptedly for some 15 centuries
is no longer a valid form of the Roman Rite" Cardinal Raymond Burke
Saint Jerome (Priest and Confessor)
by VP
Posted on Sunday October 30, 2022 at 12:00AM in Quotes
Jerome (...) wrote (...) a famous letter in which he enumerated the austere duties of the sacerdotal life. Amongst many other lessons to be found in it is the following, which applies to all preachers, and which Fenelon has inserted in his third " Dialogue upon Eloquence":
"When teaching in the church do not excite the applause but rather the lamentations of the people; let the tears of your auditors be your commendation. The sermons of a priest should overflow with Holy Scripture. Be not an orator, but a sincere expounder of the mysteries of your God."
Source: Saint Jerome by Father Largent, translated by Hester Davenport 1913
Kneeling
by VP
Posted on Monday October 24, 2022 at 12:20AM in Quotes
Kneelers at Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh NC
“The practice of kneeling for Holy Communion has in its favor a centuries-old tradition, and it is a particularly expressive sign of adoration, completely appropriate in light of the true, real and substantial presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ under the consecrated species.” Cardinal Ratzinger
"The Council also said nothing about moving the Tabernacle. It said nothing about removing altar rails. It said nothing about taking out kneelers. It said nothing about turning the altar around. It said nothing about multiple canons. That, too, is an invention; a pure invention." Father Fessio, SJ 1999
“The Church from Rome never said to remove the altar rails.” Cardinal Arinze
“It distinguishes between the sanctuary and the nave and the priest from
the people. It harkens back to the Jewish understanding of the Holy of
Holies where the people are invited to confidently step up to the very
edge of the Holy of Holies in reverence.” Without an altar rail, he
wrote, “the people approach the Communion station and, after receiving
Communion, hurriedly depart. A panoramic devotional view of a beautiful
sanctuary, like the splendor of decorations adorning a wedding feast, is
thus unlikely. The reception of Communion is individualistic, not
communal.” The Magic of the Altar Rail
Bigots
by VP
Posted on Monday August 29, 2022 at 12:00AM in Quotes
"The Catholics are bigoted." But, which, I ask, is the greater bigot, the catholic, who, perhaps quietly dropping his beads, and insulting no one, is yet indeed forcibly attached to his religion, because it is the religion of the saints, and the faith of every age, or the protestant, who, although, it may be, he is not attached to any peculiar creed, still, with relentless animosity, insults his catholic brethren; misrepresenting their tenets, vilifying their characters; casting suspicion upon their sincerity; and calling down upon them, not merely the ill will of the state; but, what is worse, the ill will of their fellow-citizens; which of these, I ask, is the greater bigot! No doubt, it is the latter.
Well; and if so, then it is likewise true, that the bigots of the latter description are, I do not say, general, but exceedingly common, even in the best educated ranks of Protestantism."
Source: The Catholic's Manual. Jacques Bossuet 1817
Celebration of the Mass
by VP
Posted on Tuesday August 02, 2022 at 12:00AM in Quotes
"Unless a Priest esteem the Holy Sacrifice as it deserves, he can never celebrate it with suitable devotion. Assuredly there is no action, which man can perform, so sublime, so sacred, as the celebration of Mass.
God Himself could not enable a man to perform anything greater than the celebration of Mass."
Source: Sacerdos sanctificatus; or, Discourses on the Mass and Office, St. Alphonsus Liguori 1861
Not a loose federation
by VP
Posted on Thursday June 30, 2022 at 10:46PM in Quotes
“The Catholic Church is not a loose federation where different national
synods or gatherings and prominent leaders are able to reject essential
elements of the Apostolic Tradition”. Cardinal Pell
Banished...
by VP
Posted on Monday April 18, 2022 at 12:00AM in Quotes
"Oh, how sad would be the state of society were the Popes, the bishops and priests to be banished from the earth! The bonds that unite the husband and wife, the child and the parent, the friend and the friend would be broken. Peace and justice would flee from the earth. Robbery, murder, hatred, lust, and all the other crimes condemned by the Gospel, would prevail. Faith would no longer elevate the souls of men to heaven. Hope, the sweet consoler of the afflicted, of the widow and the orphan, would flee away, and in he stead would reign black despair, terror, and suicide. Where would we find the sweet virtue of charity, if the Popes, the bishops and priests were to disappear forever? Where would we find that charity which consoles the poor and forsaken, which lovingly dies the tears of the widow and the orphan; that charity which soothes the sick man in his sufferings, and binds up the wounds of the bleeding defender of his country? Where would we find that charity which casts a spark of divine fire into the hearts of so many religious, bidding them abandon home, friends, and everything that is near and dear to them in this world , to go among strangers, among savage tribes, and gain there, in return for their heroism, nothing but outrage, suffering and death?
Where, I ask, would we find this charity, if the Popes, the bishops and priests were to disappear forever?
Leave a parish for many years without a priest, and the people thereof will become the blind victims of error, of superstition, and of all kinds of vices.
Show me an age, a country, a nation without priests, and I will show you an age, a country, a nation without morals, without virtue. Yes, if "Religion, Science, Liberty, and Justice, Principle and Right, " are not empty sounds - if they have a meaning, they owe their energetic existence in the world to the "salt of the earth" to the Popes, bishops and priests."
Source: The Catholic Priest, Rev. Michael Muller C.S.S.R
Prayer for Zealous Priests
Sanctify to Thyself, O my Lord, the
hearts of Thy priests, that, by the merits of Thy sacred humanity, they
may become living images of Thee, children of Mary, and full of the fire
of the Holy Ghost, that they may guard Thy house, and defend Thy glory,
and that through their ministry the face of the earth may be renewed,
and they may save those souls which have costs Thee all Thy blood. Amen
Queen of the Apostles, pray thy Son, the Lord of the Harvest, to send laborers into His harvest, and to spare His people. Amen.
The Prayer Book. Imprimatur Samuel Cardinal Stritch Archbishop of Chicago, May 10, 1954.