Go You Are Dismissed (The Mass Is Ended, Go In Peace)

I was thinking of what I'd do with this blog when I'm no longer a newbie to the Latin Mass. Like what I rename it? Would I keep the name the same? Or what I just start another blog with a different name? Or would I say I'm a newbie forever-just not as new as I used to be?

Yesterday I thought of a possible new name for this blog or for the new blog. Ite Missa Est. As I said the Mass is a sending forth and we continue to live our lives as Catholics and Christians outside of the church walls. I'm living that life now whether I'm a newbie or not. I think I still am-I have been going to the Latin Mass for not even a year and a half-I'm sure there's still something for me to learn-whether it's from Father-or even one of the lay people who joins us for breakfast after Mass.

I definitely have my place among the hearing Church-I feel that I'm a part of that division-not just because I'm a layperson instead of a priest or bishop-but just because I possess such limited knowledge about the Faith-and have so much more to learn. But I have my place in the Church too. Maybe it may not be as prominent as that of that of the priest. But the we're all called by the Lord to do something-even if it's not to celebrate Mass or give the sacraments. All baptized Catholics are part of the Priesthood of Believers-even babies!

I feel that I can learn from other lay people even though they are also considered the "hearing Church." I hope I can help someone else learn the faith and about the Latin Mass. I may even have a calling to do this through this blog and through other means.

Also, I need to be an example to others. That's the hard part-but probably the most important part of the preaching. St. Francis of Assisi used to say, "Preach the Gospel always-when necessary use words."

We need to live our faith by example. Actions speak louder than words. This is something that I've done a terrible job of in the past-and definitely need more improvement in that area.

Obedience School

Obedience is a very part of our walk with the Lord. I always was an arguer who tried to get out of doing what I was told to do so I could get out of doing it. And I didn't want to disobey those in authority-such as my parents or supervisors at work. 

I sat in on a Confirmation class that Father taught last year. He talked about a priest he had to work for who was difficult to live with. Father didn't "talk" back to the older priest but was very loving toward him. Father was very obedient to him until he was transferred back to the parish he was at before. 

O, I wish I were more like that with my parents and everyone else. I even got in trouble at the place I live at during on Holy Wednesday ("long story"-rather not get into at this time) with this arguing and disobedience and didn't make it to Mass for Holy Thursday or Good Friday. I did get to go to Mass Easter Sunday.

I was trying to "strongarm" someone into changing her mind-not obeying her. Even if this person changed her mind and told me to do whatever I wanted her to do to get me out of her face-I still am being disobedient. And if I did do exactly what I was told and grumbled about it-I'm still being disobedient.

Obedience 

"The mind [must be] ever on the alert to discover the indications of Providence, and the will prepared to carry them out."
 
St. Vincent de Paul


For Reflection:
To what extent do I go through my day "alert to discover the indications of Providence?" In other words, do I actively seek for the will of God in and through the events of my daily life? Can I think of one strategy that would help me to do so?

Feast Day of Corpus Christi-the Body of Christ

Today Father gave First Communion to six children at our Latin Mass. What a perfect day for a First Communion. The words corpus Christi actually mean "the body of Christ." When we receive Communion-we actually receive Jesus-not a piece of bread or a sip of wine. So this is a very important-in fact the most important day-of a Catholic's life since this is when the person actually eats the body (and drinks the blood of-if applicable) of Christ. 

And these kids actually help the rest of us in our spriritual journey-this is an opportunity for a plenary indulgence for the rest of us. But we need to make a good Confession within 8 days of the First Communion to get this indulgence. This Confession can be either the week before or the week after the First Communion.

Father told us in his homily today that for the benefit of the "doubting Thomases" among us that a consecrated host has actually been changed to human tissue and the blood of Christ took on the property of real blood-including coagulation.

The "Fourth Day"-A Sending Forth to Serve the Lord

According to the book I quoted yesterday, the day after the first Pentecost, the Apostles began their work of preaching to the world. This concept of going out into the world reminds me of what we called the "Fourth Day" at the end of the Cursillo I made. This was a three day "weekend" starting Thursday evening and ending sometime on Sunday.

But there was a "Fourth Day"-which lasts the rest of our lives-not just the closest Monday. This is after you come home and have to go back into the world you were a part of before your Cursillo. You hear a lot of talks during the weekend, you pray and fellowship, there's an opportunity for Confession-and you're sent back afterwards.

The Mass is also a sending forth-the very word "Mass" comes from the Latin word missa, meaning "sent." This word is part of part of the phrase ite missa est said by the priest at the end of the Mass. This phrase is translated as "Go, you are dismissed." At the vernacular (English) Masses I used to attend, the priest would say, "The Mass is ended, go in peace" and then he'd have us sing a recessional hymn after that. At the Latin Mass we also sang a hymn after that, but Father also leads us in prayer-in English-at the end of Mass. He kneels at the altar and we say the Hail Mary, the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, and maybe a couple of other prayers in English. 

Yesterday was Pentecost. Today is Monday, and I just got a whiff of freshly brewed coffee; back to the "Old Grind!" But this is the world we're sent back into. We're Christians and Catholics 24 hours a day 7 days a week-not just on Sundays. If that's not true-then the 7-Eleven closes at 6 pm and stayed closed until 10 am. And you know that store is opened 24 hours a day-7 days a week.

Happy Birthday, Church

Today, which is almost over with-is Pentecost-the birthday of the Church. And Jesus only started one church-not many churches. So we didn't have a church of Ephesis or a church of Corinth back then or a St. Patrick's or St. Joseph's church now. These groups were or are communities that worship together-so they may be parishes-not individual churches. And that place I call "St. Patrick's Church" is really a building that's used for worship; the people in it and all other baptized Catholics under the Pope-the Church.

And this includes a couple little people that joined the Church last Sunday. These were babies Father baptized after Mass. This is the point at which one enters the Church is at Baptism. This morning after I had come home from Mass-I read a chapter of an old book called My Catholic Faith, which I highly recommend. I read something in this chapter called "Foundation of the Church."

According to this book, all Catholics belong to one of two divisons-either the "teaching Church" or the "hearing Church." The teaching Church consists of our priests, bishops, and the Pope. It is also called the hierarchy. The Bishops and the Pope are the teaching magisterium. I recall this word coming from a Latin word for "teacher" but thought I better look up the word. The word that it came from is magister, which means "master, canon / master of a school, professor." And we lay people do need to keep learning about God and the Church-the children, the new converts, and the seminarians aren't the only ones. And we forget, and need a "refresher course." 

I feel that a lot of our religious formation-especially when I was growing up-has been "glossed over." I've been Confirmed over 30 years ago, but Father allowed me to sit in on the Confirmation class he taught last year. He taught the kids a bunch of stuff I never knew as well as showed a lot of enthusiasm for the Sacrament that I had never heard before. Now this man is definitely doing his job as a member of the "teaching church." Now I need to keep my ears open and pay attention to what he, the Pope, and other priests have to say. They're here to teach us-not just administer the Sacraments and lead us in prayer.

So I definitely have a role as a learner in the "hearing Church." And it's not just because I have had little formal religious training. All lay people are part of this division.
 
Something this book mentioned that I found interesting was that "Christ completed the founding of His Church just before His Ascension when he said to His Apostles, 'Go into the world and preach the Gospel to every creature' (Mark 16:15)"
 
He had the Apostles go to all nations to promise salvation to believers and "threatening condemnation to those refusing to believe."

And on that first Pentecost St. Peter preached a sermon and afterwards three thousand people converted and were baptized. These were our first members since the Ascension of our Lord. And the following day, the Apostles, our first Bishops, went out and started preaching.

This has to be the most important birthday on anyone's calendar. And I'm one who loves cards, presents, and cakes for my birthday and a lot of people know it too.Maybe someone ought to bake a cake and have put on it "Happy Birthday Church."
 
I'm sorry, this is coming to you late-I tried to get on the computer a couple times during Pentecost, but both times it was occupied. And my own computers aren't working-so I need to "share."

1. A Manual of Religion, Morrow STD, Most Reverend Louis LaRavoire, Bishop of Krishnagar, MY MISSION HOUSE,  Kenosha, Wisconsin, 1958, p. 102

2. Ibid

Prayer for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Prayer for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Holy Spirit, divine Consoler, I adore You as my true God, with God the Father and God the Son. I adore You and unite myself to the adoration You receive from the angels and saints. I give You my heart and I offer my ardent thanksgiving for all the grace which You never cease to bestow on me.
O Giver of all supernatural gifts, who filled the soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with such immense favors, I beg You to visit me with Your grace and Your love and to grant me the gift of holy fear, so that it may act on me as a check to prevent me from falling back into my past sins, for which I beg pardon.
Grant me the gift of piety, so that I may serve You for the future with increased fervor, follow with more promptness Your holy inspirations, and observe your divine precepts with greater fidelity.
Grant me the gift of knowledge, so that I may know the things of God and, enlightened by Your holy teaching, may walk, without deviation, in the path of eternal salvation.
Grant me the gift of fortitude, so that I may overcome courageously all the assaults of the devil, and all the dangers of this world which threaten the salvation of my soul.
Grant me the gift of counsel, so that I may choose what is more conducive to my spiritual advancement and may discover the wiles and snares of the tempter.
Grant me the gift of understanding, so that I may apprehend the divine mysteries and by contemplation of heavenly things detach my thoughts and affections from the vain things of this miserable world.
Grant me the gift of wisdom, so that I may rightly direct all my actions, referring them to God as my last end; so that, having loved Him and served Him in this life, I may have the happiness of possessing Him eternally in the next.
Amen.

St. Alphonsus Liguori

Pentecost Sunday-coming soon at a church near you

We're just 3 days away from Pentecost Sunday, which is the birthday of the Church. This is the day Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit-just 10 days after He ascended into Heaven-which is what we call the Feast Day of the Ascension. Until recently it was a holy day of obligation on Thursday. But in some areas of the United States, the obligation has been transferred to the nearest Sunday. In fact the diocese I live in is in one of the areas in which the Bishops voted to make the change. 

But our Bishop didn't like the change; he was outvoted. I didn't like the change either. And I now know the Bishop we had then and I are far from being the only two people who dislike the switch to Sunday. Last year Father announced that we were going to have a Mass on Ascension-that is on Thursday itself-not Sunday! He doesn't like the change to Sunday either and said "we traditionalists" don't like the switch either. 

He said if you don't like the move to the following Sunday, then either come to Thursday Mass or quit complaining. We're no longer obliged under pain of mortal sin to go on this particular Thursday but Father said we'll get extra graces for going to Ascension Mass.

I guess I kind of gotten off topic like I tend to do quite a bit.

Getting back to Pentecost, the Apostles were scared to be left alone without Jesus. They were afraid of persecution & spent the next nine days in prayer in an upper room. According to Father, it was our very first novena. Then the Holy Spirit came to the upper room and gave them all these gifts-including the gift of tongues. This allowed them to preach to people who spoke in other languages.

I can't think of a more important birthday to celebrate-the birthday of the Church-unless it's Christmas-the birthday of our Savior.

Father talked to the kids in the Confirmation class about Pentecost and the gifts of the Spirit. You receive the Holy Spirit in Baptism, but even more fully in Confirmation.  

He talked about seven gifts of the Holy Spirit which every Confirmed Catholic has. These aren't the "charisms" or charismatic gifts such as the gift of tongues or prophecy. He talked about Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel (right judgment), Fortitude (courage), Knowledge, Piety (reverence), and Fear of the Lord (wonder and awe.)

According to St. Thomas Aquinas wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and counsel direct the intellect and fortititude, piety, and fear of the Lord direct the will toward God.