|
The Old Roman is now on Facebook as a centralising online presence to facilitate unity and fellowship among Old Romans across the globe! There's also an Old Romans Group for people to meet each other, share prayer requests, events, news and information! Daily Mass and other broadcasts are now also broadcast live through The Old Roman page and posts from various other Old Roman pages can be shared on it also, so that a "one stop shop" is available for people to easily find the broadcasts and other information. A new logo (above) is also proving popular and instantly recognisable. Just click on the links to see for yourself and if you've a Facebook profile it couldn't be easier to sign up for updates to your newsfeed and join the Old Romans group!
|
|
IN THIS WEEK'S EDITION...
The Old Roman View...
THE LITURGY
- ORDO w/c Sunday 24th May 2020
- RITUAL NOTES... Rogationtide & Ascensiontide
- THE LITURGICAL YEAR Sunday within the Octave of the Ascension
- VIDEO Introit: Exaudi, Domine
- CONCERNING THE MASS Sunday within the Octave of the Ascension - Dom Prosper Gueranger
- MEDITATIONS FOR EVERYDAY OF THE YEAR - Bishop Richard Challoner
- A SERMON FOR Sunday within the Octave of the Ascension - Revd Dr Robert Wilson PhD
- THIS WEEK'S FEASTS... St Urban I, St Aldhelm, St Philip Neri, St Bede
- PENTECOST
CORONAVIRUS
- Update Info Links
- Policy Document
- Supporting those in isolation
- Staying in touch
- Advice for those self-isolating
- Practical advice for staying at home
- VIDEO Bi-vocation and COVID19
VOX POPULI
Voices from around the Communion on "Coronavirus impact" and "The Old Roman"
- How to worship online - Metropolitan Jerome of Selsey
- Schedule of Old Roman worship broadcasts
Old Roman Culture...
- GUEST ARTICLE: "Warriors of the Way" Fr S. Rindhal
- VIDEO Old Romans Unscripted Ep.9 - Bishop Nioclas Kelly OSF & Archbishop Jerome of Selsey discuss "Sacramentals and blessed objects"
- VIDEO Late Night Catechism "Chastity/Celibacy"- Archbishop Jerome of Selsey
- VIDEO In conversation with... Canon Raphael Villareal - Archbishop Jerome of Selsey
- VIDEO Conference... "on Charity" - Archbishop Jerome of Selsey
- VIDEO Old Romans Unscripted Ep.8 "Wolves in sheeps clothing" - Fr Thomas Gierke OSF and Archbishop Jerome of Selsey
- VIDEO "Wondering bishop"... Archbishop Jerome of Selsey "thinking aloud"
- VIDEO Catholic Unscripted - Dr Gavin Ashenden & Rod Dreher in conversation."Culture, Crisis & the Catacombs.'
Of your charity... prayer requests
Old Roman Mass Directory
Old Roman Clerical Directory
Vocations Info
The Old Roman Subscription Form
|
|
|
At the death of a beloved friend, we are filled with sorrow even though we know that his lot has been bettered. With this in mind we might expect the Church to commemorate her Savior’s ascension with at least some expression of sadness. Nothing can be further from the truth. Today Christ triumphs, and is receiving the reward of his well earned merit. He patiently paid the price of our redemption, because He sought to free us from Satan’s power and effect our return home. This work, the object of His love and His life’s blood is now completed. He returns to heaven as a conqueror; Son stands before Father and tells of His mission completed. We can characterise today’s feast as that of Christ’s heavenly enthronement, His coronation as King over heaven and earth.
|
|
ORDO w/c Sunday 10th May 2020
Click on the underlined hyperlinked text to information about the Saint/stational church or the Mass Propers for any given day…
|
|
|
|
|
OFFICE |
|
N.B. |
S
|
24.05
|
Sunday of Ascension Octave
(W) Missa “Exáudi, Dómine“
|
d.
|
2a) of Ascension Day
Gl.Cr.Pref.Comm.Hanc
of the Ascension |
M
|
25.05
|
St Urban I of Rome
Com. Ascension Octave
& St Gregory VII of Rome
(R) Missa "Protexisti"
In the UK__________________
St Aldhelm of Malmesbury
(W) Missa “Statuit ei”
|
d.
____
d.
|
2a) Ascension
3a) St Gregory
Gl.Cr.Pref.Comm.Hanc
of the Ascension
___________________
2a) Ascension
3a) St Urban
Gl.Cr.Pref.Comm.Hanc
of the Ascension |
T
|
26.05
|
St Philip Neri of Rome
Com. Ascension Octave
& St Eleutherius of Rome
(W) Missa "Caritas Dei" |
d.
|
2a) Ascension
3a) St Eleutherius
Gl.Cr.Pref.Comm.Hanc
of the Ascension |
W
|
27.05
|
St Bede the Venerable
Com. Ascension Octave
(W) Missa “In medio" |
d.
|
2a) Ascension
Gl.Cr.Pref.Comm.Hanc
of the Ascension |
T
|
28.05
|
OCTAVE OF THE ASCENSION
Com. St Augustine of Canterbury
(W) Missa “Viri Galilaei” |
g.d
|
2a) St Augustine
Gl.Cr.Pref.Comm.Hanc
of the Ascension |
F
|
29.05
|
Friday after the Ascension
Com. St Mary Mag. dei Pazzi
(W) Missa“Exáudi, Dómine“ |
s.d
|
2a) St Mary Pazzi
3a) the BVM
Gl.Pref.Ascension |
S
|
30.05
|
Vigil of Pentecost
(V) The Prophecies
(R) Missa “Cum sanctificatus”
|
priv.1
|
2a) the BVM
3a) the Church
Gl.Pref.Comm.Hanc.
of Pentecost |
S
|
31.05
|
PENTECOST SUNDAY
(R) Missa “Spiritus Dómine“
|
d.1
|
Gl.Cr.Pref.Comm.Hanc.
of Pentecost
|
|
|
|
|
|
RITUAL NOTES
- On Ascension Day the Paschal candle is lit before the principal Mass. It is extinguished after the gospel and taken away after Mass. It is not used again, except at the blessing of the font on Whitsun.
|
|
|
Watch our NEW show airing at 6pm British Summer Time via Facebook on Saturday and Sunday evenings offering comment and observations on topical issues and apologetics for Old Roman Catholicism. See below for this week's episodes!
|
|
THE LITURGICAL YEAR
St Paschal of Baylon
|
|
|
O King of glory, Lord of hosts, who didst this day ascend in triumph above all the heavens! leave us not orphans, but send upon us the Spirit of truth, promised by the Father, alleluia.
Jesus has ascended into heaven. His Divinity had never been absent; but by the Ascension, his Humanity was also enthroned there, and crowned with the brightest diadem of glory. This is another phase of the Mystery we are now solemnizing. Besides a triumph, the Ascension gave to the sacred Humanity a place on the very throne of the Eternal Word, to whom it was united in unity of Person. From this throne, it is to receive the adoration of men and Angels. At the name of Jesus, Son of Man and Son of God—of Jesus, who is seated at the right hand of the Father Almighty, every knee shall bend, in heaven, on earth, and in hell.
Give ear, O ye inhabitants of earth! This is the Man Jesus, who, heretofore, was a little Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes; who went through Judea and Galilee, not having where to lay his head; who was bound by the sacrilegious hands of his enemies, was scourged, crowned with thorns, nailed to a Cross; who, while men thus trampled him, as a worm, beneath their feet, submitted his will to that of his Father, accepted the Chalice of suffering, and, that he might make amends to the divine glory, shed his Blood for the redemption of you sinners. This Man Jesus, child of Adam through Mary the Immaculate, is the masterpiece of God’s omnipotence. He is the most beautiful of the sons of men; the Angels love to fix their gaze upon him; the Blessed Trinity is well-pleased with him; the gifts of grace bestowed on him surpass all that men and angels together have ever received:—but he came to suffer, and suffer for you; and though he might have redeemed you at a much lower price, yet would he generously overpay your debts by a superabundance of humiliation and suffering. What reward shall be given to him? The Apostle tells it us in these words: He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the Cross; for which cause God also hath exalted him, and hath given him a Name, which is above all names.
You, then, who compassionate with him in the Sufferings whereby he wrought your redemption; you who devoutly follow him in the stages of his sacred Passion; now raise up your heads, and look up to the highest heaven! Behold this Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death! See how the Father has magnified him in return for his having emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, He who, in his other Nature, was equal with God. His crown of Thorns is replaced by a crown of precious stones. The Cross that was laid on his shoulders is now the ensign of his power. The Wounds made by the Nails and the Spear are now like five bright suns that light up all heaven. Glory, then, be to the justice of the Father, who has dealt thus with his Son! Let us rejoice at seeing the Man of sorrows become now the King of Glory, and let us, with all the transport of our souls, repeat the Hosanna wherewith the Angels welcomed him into heaven.
Nor must we suppose that the Son of Man, now that he is seated on the throne of his Divinity, is inactive in his glorious rest. No, the Sovereignty bestowed upon him by the Father, is an active one. First of all, he is appointed Judge of the living and of the dead, before whose judgement-seat we must all stand. No sooner shall our soul have quitted the body, than she shall be presented before this tribunal, and receive from the lips of the Son of Man the sentence she shall have deserved. O Jesus! by the glory thou didst receive on the day of thine Ascension, have mercy on us at that moment whereon depends eternity.
But the Judgeship of our Lord Jesus Christ is not to be confined to this silent exercise of his sovereign power. The Angels, who appeared to the Apostles, after his Ascension, told us that he is to come again upon the earth; that he is to descend through the clouds, as he ascended; and that then shall be the Last Judgement, at which the whole human race is to be present. Throned on a cloud and surrounded by the Angelic host, the Son of Man will show himself to mankind, and this time, with all Majesty. Men shall see him whom they pierced; the imprints of those Wounds, which will give additional beauty to his sacred Body, will be an object of terror to the wicked, while to the good they will be a source of unspeakable consolation. The Shepherd, seated on his ethereal throne, will separate the goats from the sheep; his voice, after so many ages of silence, will make itself once more heard upon this earth; he will speak to impenitent sinners, condemning them to eternal torments; he will speak to the just, calling them to approach him, and ascend, body and soul, into the region of everlasting bliss.
Meanwhile he exercises over all nations the royal power, which he received, as Man, on the Day of his Ascension. He redeemed us all by his Blood; we are therefore his people, and he is our King. He is, and he calls himself, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The kings of the earth reign not either by their own prowess, or by the boasted social compact; they lawfully reign by Christ alone. Peoples and nations are not their own masters; they belong to Christ and are his subjects. His law requires no sanction from man; it is above all human laws, and should be their guide and controller. Why have the nations raged, and the people devised vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against his Christ. They said: Let us break their bonds asunder, and let us cast away their yoke from us. How vain all these efforts! for, as the Apostle says, he must reign, until he hath put all his enemies under his feet, that is, until his second coming, when the pride of man and Satan’s power shall both be at an end.
Thus, then, the Son of Man, crowned at his Ascension, must reign over the world to the end of time. But it will be objected: “How can he be said to reign in these our times, when Kings and Emperors and Presidents acknowledge that their authority comes from the people; and when the people themselves, carried away with the ideas of self-government and liberty and independence, have lost all idea of Authority?” And yet, he reigns; he reigns in his justice, since men refused to be guided by his clemency. They expunged his law from their statutes; they gave the rights of citizenship to error and blasphemy: then did he deliver them up, both people and rulers, to their own follows and lies. Authority and power are become ephemeral: and as they scorn to receive the consecration of the Church, the hand that holds them today may be empty tomorrow. Then anarchy, then a new Ruler, and then a fresh Revolution. This will be the future, as it is the present, history of Nations, until they once more acknowledge Jesus as their King, and resume the Constitution of the Ages of Faith: “It is Christ that conquers! it is Christ that reigns! it is Christ that commands! May Christ preserve his people from all evil!”
On this thy Coronation Day, receive our devoted homage, O Jesus, our King, our Lord, our Judge! By our sins, we were the cause of thy humiliations and sufferings; so much the more fervently, then, do we unite with the acclamations made to thee by the Angels when the royal diadem was placed on thy head by the Eternal Father. As yet, we but faintly see thy grandeur; but the Holy Spirit, whom thou art about to send upon us, will teach us more and more of thy Sovereign power, for we are, and wish to be eternally, thy humble and faithful subjects!
In the Middle Ages, the Sunday within the Octave of the Ascension, was called “The Sunday of Roses,” because it was the custom to strew the pavement of the Churches with roses, as an homage to Christ who ascended to heaven when earth was in the season of flowers. How well the Christians of those times appreciated the harmony that God has set between the world of grace and nature! The Feast of the Ascension, when considered in its chief characteristic, is one of gladness and jubilation, and Spring’s loveliest days are made for its celebration. Our forefathers had the spirit of the Church; they forgot, for a moment, the sadness of poor earth at losing her Emmanuel, and they remembered how he said to his Apostles: If ye loved me, ye would be glad, because I go to my Father! Let us do in like manner; let us offer to Jesus the Roses wherewith he has beautified our earth: their beauty and fragrance should make us think of him who made them, of Him who calls himself The Flower of the field and the Lily of the valleys. He loved to be called “Jesus of Nazareth;” for Nazareth means a Flower: and the symbol would tell us what a charm and sweetness there is in Him we serve and love as our God.
|
|
|
Postlude for the Sunday within the Octave of the Ascension by Charles Tournemire
|
|
Sunday within the Octave of the Ascension
The Introit, which is taken from the Book of Psalms, expresses the longings of the Church to behold her Spouse, who has fled far from her. The faithful soul is possessed with the same desire; she unites in the prayer of our Holy Mother, and says to Jesus: “Oh! hearken to the wish of my heart, and show me thy divine face!”
Hear, O Lord, my voice, with which I have cried out to thee, alleluia. My heart hath said to thee: I have sought thy face! I will seek thy face, O Lord: turn not thy face from me. Alleluia, alleluia. Ps. The Lord is my light, and my salvation: whom shall I fear? ℣. Glory, &c. Hear, &c.
The Collect, teaches us to ask of God that good will which will render us worthy of seeing our Jesus, by its making us zealous in the service of his Divine Majesty.
O Almighty and eternal God, inspire thy servants with true devotion, and grant that we may serve thy divine Majesty with sincere hearts. Through, &c.
A commemoration of the Ascension is added, by the collect of Ascension Day.
LESSON Lesson of the Epistle of Saint Peter the Apostle.
Dearly beloved: Be prudent, and watch in prayers. But before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covereth a multitude of sins. Using hospitality one towards another, without murmuring, As every man hath received grace, ministering the same one to another: as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak, as the words of God. If any man minister, let him do it, as of the power, which God administereth: that in all things God may be honoured through Jesus Christ: to whom is glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen.
INSTRUCTION The Prince of the Apostles—who presided over the holy assembly that awaited, in the Cenacle, the descent of the Divine Spirit—here addresses us who are in expectation of the same great Gift, and recommends us to practice fraternal charity. This virtue, says he, covereth a multitude of sins: could we make any better preparation for receiving the Holy Ghost? This Paraclete is coming that he may unite all men into one family; let us, then, put an end to all our dissensions, and prove ourselves to be members of the Brotherhood established by the preaching of the Gospel. During these days of our preparing to receive the promised Comforter, the Apostle bids us be prudent and watch in prayers. Let us follow his instruction; we must show our prudence by excluding everything that might be an obstacle to the Holy Ghost’s entering our hearts; and as to prayer, it is the means which will open our hearts to him, that he may make them his own forever.
GOSPEL Sequel of the holy Gospel according to John.
At that time: Jesus said to his disciples: when the Paraclete cometh, whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceedeth from the Father, he shall give testimony of me. And you shall give testimony, because you are with me from the beginning. These things have I spoken to you, that you may not be scandalized. They will put you out of the synagogues: yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth a service to God. And these things will they do to you; because they have not known the Father, nor me. But these things I have told you, that when the hour shall come, you may remember that I told you of them.
INSTRUCTION
Here we have our Jesus telling us the effects, which the coming of the Holy Ghost will produce in our souls. These words were first addressed to the Apostles, at the Last Supper. He told them that the Paraclete would give testimony of him, that is, would instruct them upon his Divinity, and teach them to be faithful to him, even so as to lay down their lives for him. A few moments before his Ascension, Jesus again spoke to them concerning the Paraclete, and called him: the Power from on high. Severe trials were awaiting these apostles; they would have to resist unto blood. Who would be their support—for, of themselves, they were but weak men? The Holy Ghost, who was to abide with them. By him they would conquer, and the Gospel would be preached to all nations. Now, this Spirit of the Father and Son is about to descend upon us; and what is the object of his visit, but that of arming us for the combat, and strengthening us against the attacks of our enemies? As soon as this holy Season of Easter is over, and we no longer have the celebration of its grand mysteries to enlighten and cheer us, we shall find ourselves at the old work of battling with the three enemies—the devil, who is angered by the graces we have received; the world, to which we must unfortunately return; and our passions, which, after this calm, will again awaken and molest us. If we be endued with the Power from on high, we shall have nothing to fear. Let us, therefore, ardently desire to receive him; let us prepare him a worthy reception; let us use every endeavor to make him abide with us; and we shall gain the victory, as did the Apostles.
The Offertory gives us the words of the Psalmist, describing the glories of Jesus’ Ascension. Holy Church wishes to impress the thought of this triumph well upon us, that our hearts may be fixed on the dear country where our Jesus awaits us.
God ascended in triumph, and the Lord at the sound of the trumpet, alleluia.
The Secret While offering to God the bread and wine, which are soon to be changed into the Body and Blood of Christ—the Church, in the Secret, prays we may not only be made pure by our contact with these divine mysteries, but that we may also receive the vigor and energy which are so indispensably needed by every Christian.
May these unspotted sacrifices purify us, O Lord, and invigorate our souls with heavenly grace. Through, &c.
A commemoration is then made of the Ascension, by the Secret of the Feast, given on Ascension Day.
The Preface is that of the Ascension.
The Communion-Anthem is formed of the words addressed by Jesus to his Eternal Father, after having instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist, at the Last Supper. They show us what his wishes are in our regard.
Father, when I was with them, I kept those whom thou gavest me, alleluia: now I return to thee: I do not pray that thou mayest taken them out of this world, but that thou wouldst keep them from evil. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Post-Communion Thanksgiving is the Christian’s first duty after receiving, in holy Communion, the Body and Blood of Christ. The Church, which appreciates so much more perfectly than we can ever do, the greatness of the favor thus bestowed on us, prays, in her Postcommunion, that we may ever be giving thanks to our divine Benefactor.
Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, that we may be always thankful for the sacred gifts, with which we have been filled. Through, &c.
|
|
MEDITATIONS FOR EVERY DAY IN THE YEAR
BY BISHOP CHALLONER
|
|
|
Richard Challoner (1691–1781) was an English Roman Catholic bishop, a leading figure of English Catholicism during the greater part of the 18th century. The titular Bishop of Doberus, he is perhaps most famous for his revision of the Douay–Rheims translation of the Bible.
|
|
SUNDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF THE ASCENSION
ON THE PRECEPTS OF CHARITY TO OUR NEIGHBOURS
Consider first, that after that greatest and first commandment, of loving God with our whole heart and soul, the next of all the divine precepts is, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.' This, saith our Lord, is like to the other; and indeed it has so necessary a connection with it that we cannot fulfil the one without the other. 'God is charity,' says the beloved disciple, 1 John iv. 16, ‘and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him.’ And again, ‘he that loved, not [his neighbour] knoweth not God, for God is charity,’ v. 8. And again, ‘if any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar,’ v. 20. These two precepts of charity by which we are commanded in the first place to love God above all things, and in the next place, to love our neighbours as ourselves, contain an abridgement of the whole duty of a Christian. They are two branches that spring from the same root, and belong to the self-same divine virtue, because the same motives that oblige us to love God for his own goodness’ sake, oblige us also to love all that are made after his image and redeemed by the blood of his Son, for the sake of their maker and redeemer. It is he that requires this love of us, and requires it in such a manner as that we should love him in our neighbours, and love them in him. O the Infinite goodness and bounty of our God! that, notwithstanding the immense distance there is betwixt him and us, he should be pleased to put us as it were upon an equality, by requiring that we should love one another with the like love, and upon the same motive, as we love himself.
Consider 2ndly, that this charity to our neighbours is so essentially necessary to salvation, that without it, though we spoke with the tongues of men and angels, had the gift of prophecy, and all knowledge of the deepest mysteries, and faith strong enough even to remove mountains, we should still be nothing; and though we should give our whole substance to the poor, and our bodies to the flames, it would profit us nothing, saith St. Paul, 1 Cor. xiii. ‘He that loveth not,’ saith St. John, 'abideth in death,’ 1 John iii. 14. 'He is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because the darkness hath blinded his eyes,’ chap. ii. 11. And this charity which is so necessary to salvation, must be general; for, as we learn from our Lord in the parable of the good Samaritan, Luke x., all men, without exception of nations or opinions, are here to be considered as our neighbours: and if there should be any mortal whom we should exclude from our charity, our heavenly Father would exclude us from his mercy. Matt. xvii. 25.
Consider 3rdlv, how much our Lord takes to heart that we should have this mutual love and charity for one another. He has made it his favourite commandment; the very badge by which he would have his disciples known and distinguished. ‘I give you a commandment,’ saith he, John xiii. 34,35, 'that you love one another as I have loved you. By this shall men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’ And chap. xv. 12, 'This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.’ And this mutual love for one another he desires may be so perfect that it may in some measure resemble the love and union that there is between him and his Father; as he has declared in that heavenly prayer that he made for his disciples, John xvii. 20,21. 'And not for them only,’ said he, ‘do I pray, but for them also, who, through their word shall believe in me; that they all may be one as thou Father in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou best sent me' This mutual love, this union and charity, he inculcates in these strong terms in this last confidence of his mortal life with his beloved disciples, that both they and we might consider it as his last dying injunction, and as a most precious legacy which he has bequeathed to us all. O my soul, embrace this legacy of love which has been thus left thee by thy Lord dying for the love of thee.
Conclude to prove thyself henceforward to be a disciple of Christ indeed, by this spirit of universal charity for all, as he has died out of charity for all. In the beginning of the church, 'the multitude of the believers had but one heart and one soul,’ Acts iv. 32. Such was their mutual love and union. O blessed charity, when shall we see thee once more reign in this manner amongst Christians?
|
|
A SERMON FOR THE SUNDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF THE ASCENSION
Revd Dr Robert Wilson PhD
|
|
|
Today marks the Sunday after Ascension Day. The Ascension (which we celebrated on Thursday and are now continuing to commemorate for the next week in this Ascensiontide Octave) marks the end of Jesus’ resurrection appearances to his disciples, and looks forward to the coming of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, which we will celebrate next Sunday.
It is important to observe this Ascensiontide Octave, not simply because it is sadly neglected today in modern Western Christianity, but because the truth of the doctrine of the Ascension is fundamentally important to our faith. It teaches that the Word made flesh, who took man’s nature from the womb of his mother and lived and dwelt and suffered among us, after he was risen and glorified, did not abandon his human nature, but raised it to God’s right hand, where he now lives to make intercession for us until he comes in glory at the end of the age. St. Gregory of Nazianzen refuted those who denied the fullness of Christ’s humanity by stating that the unassumed is not healed, in other words Christ must truly become man in order to redeem man. The doctrine of the Ascension teaches us that this applies not simply to the earthly life of Christ, but that now that he is risen, ascended and glorified, he does not abandon his manhood. The Christian faith is not about the abandonment of our human nature, weak and fallen though it is, but rather the redemption of our humanity. But that comes by our becoming by grace what Christ is by nature, as he humbled himself to share our humanity that we might become partakers of the divine nature. But, in so doing, we become more, not less truly human, for we are enabled by grace to become what we were created to be.
A hymn by Christopher Wordsworth gives a clear exposition of the truth of this doctrine:
See the Conqueror mounts in triumph,
See the King in royal state,
Riding on the clouds his chariot
To His Heavenly palace gate
Hark! The choirs of Angel voices
Joyful Alleluias Sing
And the Portals High are lifted,
To receive their heavenly King
Thou hast raised our human nature,
In the clouds to God’s right hand
There we sit in heavenly places,
There with these in glory stands
Jesus reigns, adored by Angels,
Man with God is on the throne:
Mighty Lord in thine Ascension,
We by faith behold our own.
“Man with God is on the throne”. In another context this might seem like blasphemous Humanism. Was not the Fall of Man caused by human pride and vanity in seeking to become like God? Was not the sin of those who built the Tower of Babel that they sought to build a tower that reached to heaven, a monument to human pride and vanity? Yes, it was, but that was because man sought to achieve glorification by his own efforts, and so the human race fell. But when the Word made flesh, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, came into the world, he sought glorification not by self exaltation, but by self giving, culminating in his sacrificial death for our sins. Now that he who by his death has destroyed death, is risen, ascended and glorified, he has raised our human nature on the clouds to God’s right hand to prepare a place for us, that where he is we also might ascend and reign with him in glory.
We are called to become by grace what he is by nature. But this is not something we can achieve by our own efforts. It is the work of the Holy Spirit, whose coming we will celebrate next Sunday at Pentecost. In today’s Gospel, we are continuing to read from Jesus’ farewell discourse in St. John’s Gospel, in which he promises the coming of the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit. “When the truth giving Spirit who proceeds from the Father, has come to befriend you, he whom I will send to you from the Father’s side, he will bear witness of what I was” (John 15:26). The disciples will face persecution and martyrdom, for the truth will always encounter opposition. They will be able to persevere in the face of adversity by the strengthening power of the Holy Spirit.
St. Peter reminds us in the epistle that each of us has received different gifts, which we should make use of to the best of our ability ungrudgingly. “One of you preaches, let him remember that it is God’s message that he is uttering; another distributes relief, let him remember that it is God who supplies the opportunity; that so, in all you do, God may be glorified in Jesus Christ our Lord.” He emphasises the need for watchfulness and prayer, but “above all things preserve constant charity among yourselves; charity draws the veil over a multitude of sins.”
In this Ascensiontide, as we await the coming of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, let us pray that God will pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of charity, that the Holy Spirit may bear fruit in our lives.
|
|
THIS WEEK'S FEASTS
& COMMEMORATIONS
|
|
|
St Urban I of Rome
May 25
|
|
|
After the death of Pope St. Callistus I on October 14, 222, St. Urban I was elected as the Supreme Pontiff.
Pope St. Urban I was a Roman who served as the Successor of St. Peter for nearly nine years. According to legend, St. Urban baptized Valerian, the husband of St. Cecilia. But little is known with certainty of his life. He died in 230 and is buried in the Cemetary of Callixtus.
Concerning St. Urban, Butler's Lives of the Saints offers the following:
The notice in the Roman Martyrology reads : "At Rome on the Via Nomentana, the birthday of Blessed Urban, Pope and Martyr, by whose exhortation and teaching many persons, including Tiburtius and Valerian, received the faith of Christ, and underwent martyrdom therefor ; he himself also suffered much for God's Church in the persecution of Alexander Severus and at length was crowned with martyrdom, being beheaded."
It is to be feared that even this short notice is mainly apocryphal. The reference to Tiburtius and Valerian is derived from the very unsatisfactory Acts of St Cecilia, from which also the account of Urban in the Liber Pontificalis has borrowed. It is quite certain in any case that Pope Urban was not buried on the Via Nomentana, but in the cemetery of St Callistus, on the Via Appia, where a portion of his sepulchral slab, bearing his name, has been found in modern times.
Not far from the cemetery of Callistus on the same main road was the cemetery of Praetextatus, and there another Urban, a martyr, had been buried. Confusion arose between the two, and an old building close beside the Praetextatus catacomb was converted into a small church, afterwards known as St Urbano alia Caffarella.
|
|
St Gregory VII of Rome
May 25
|
|
|
Gregory VII, one of the greatest of the Roman Pontiffs and one of the most remarkable men of all times, was known as Hildebrand before he became Pope. Born in Tuscany in 1020, he was sent to Rome to be educated under his uncle, who was Abbot of Saint Mary's monastery on the Aventine Hill. It was a time of great danger for the Church, when the Emperors of Germany were claiming it was their role to elect the successors of Saint Peter, the Vicars of Jesus Christ. They sold ecclesiastic dignities at auction or gave them to unworthy favorites, and many sees were occupied by persons who had obtained them with gold. It was this humble monk who had embraced the Benedictine Rule at the famous monastery of Cluny in France, who was chosen to bring a remedy to the current evils. The three great abuses, simony, concubinage, and the custom of receiving investiture from lay hands, seemed to threaten the very foundations of the Church. This great servant of God would never cease to oppose those corruptions of the reign of Christ.
Hildebrand was admired by the bishops of France when for a time he was at the Court of the Emperor Henry III. He returned to Rome with the bishop of Toul, who had been chosen Pope by the Emperor Henry III, and who invited him to accompany him. The young monk reproached him for having received from his relative a favor which should be granted only by the clergy and people of Rome; but when the bishop ceded to his arguments, he said he would accompany him if he would have his election ratified there. This was carried out, and Hildebrand became the right arm of the good Pope Leo IX. He was made a cardinal and named Superior of the Roman monastery of Saint Paul-Outside-the-Walls, which lay almost in ruins because the major part of its revenues had been usurped by powerful laymen. Hildebrand succeeded in recovering its lands and restored the monastery to its ancient splendor.
When Leo IX died, the clergy and people of Rome sent Hildebrand at the head of a delegation to the Emperor, with full power to elect a Sovereign Pontiff. It was he who chose Pope Victor II, against the Emperor's wishes, and again he became the right arm of the Pope in the combat against abuses. Pope Victor II sent him as legate to France, to stop the practice of simony in the collation of ecclesiastical benefices. He served as Archdeacon under three more Popes, Stephen II, Nicholas II and Alexander II. Upon the death of the last-named in 1073, he was compelled to fill the vacancy.
Pope Gregory VII immediately called upon the clergy throughout the world to lay down their lives rather than betray the laws of God to the will of princes. Rome was in rebellion due to the ambition of the Cenci, a family of Rome whose history is a series of acts of violence and crimes. Pope Gregory excommunicated them. As a consequence they laid hands on him during the Christmas midnight Mass, wounded him and cast him into prison; the following day the people rescued him. He then was forced to face Henry IV, Emperor of Germany, who openly relapsed into simony and claimed to depose the Pope. The Emperor too was excommunicated. The people turned against Henry and he sought absolution of Gregory at Canossa, but he regrettably did not persevere; he set up an antipope and besieged Gregory in the castle of Saint Angelo in Rome. The aged Pontiff was obliged to flee.
Opinion is unanimous that no Pontiff since the time of the Apostles undertook more labors for the Church or fought more courageously for her independence. While he was saying Mass, a dove was seen to come down on him; the Holy Spirit thus bore witness to the supernatural views which guided him in the government of the Church. Forced to leave Rome, he withdrew to Monte Cassino, and later to the castle of Salerno, where he died in 1085.
|
|
Saint Philip, one of the glories of Florence, was born of an illustrious Christian family in that city of Tuscany, in 1515. His parents lived in the fear of God and the observance of His commandments, and raised their son to be obedient and respectful. Already when he was five years old, he was called good little Philip. He lost his mother while still very young, and it seemed he should have died himself when he was about eight or nine years old. He fell, along with a horse, onto a pavement from a certain height. Though the horse landed on top of him, he was entirely uninjured. He attributed his preservation to a special intervention of God, destined to permit him to dedicate his life to the service of God.
He fled from a prospective inheritance to Rome, where he desired to study, and there undertook to tutor the two sons of a nobleman who offered him refuge. He led so edifying a life that word of it reached Florence, and his sister commented that she had never doubted he would become a great Saint. He studied philosophy and theology, and after a short time seemed to need to study no longer, so clear were the truths of God in his mind. He always kept the Summa Theologica of Saint Thomas Aquinas near him for consultation; this and the Holy Bible were his only books.
Saint Philip seemed surrounded by a celestial splendor, the effect of his angelic purity, which he never lost in spite of the many dangers that surrounded him; he came victorious from every combat, through prayer, tears and confidence in God. He often visited the hospitals to serve the sick and assist the poor. At night he would go to the cemetery of Saint Callixtus, where he prayed near the tombs of the martyrs.
He attracted a number of companions who desired to perform these devotions with him. He loved young boys most of all; he wanted to warn them against the world's seductions and conserve their virtue in all its freshness. He would wait for them and talk to them after their classes; and many whom his examples impressed consecrated themselves to God. Assisted by his excellent confessor, he founded a Confraternity of the Most Holy Trinity for the relief of the poor, convalescents, and pilgrims who had no place of refuge. He gave lodging to many in the great jubilee year of 1550, even receiving several complete families in the houses he had obtained.
At the age of 36 he was not yet a priest, and his confessor commanded him under obedience to receive Holy Orders, which he did in the same year of 1551. He joined a society of priests and heard many confessions. Saint Ignatius of Loyola called him Philip the Bell, saying he was like a parish church bell, calling everyone to church, but remaining in his tower — this because he determined so many souls to enter into religion, without doing so himself. He himself was about to follow Saint Francis Xavier's renowned examples, by going to India with twenty young companions, but was advised by an interior voice to consult a saintly priest. He was then told that the will of God was that he live in the city of Rome as in a desert.
The famous Society of Saint Philip, called The Oratory, began when a group of good priests joined him in giving instructions and conferences and presiding prayers; for them he drew up some rules which were soon approved. He became renowned all over Italy for the instances of bilocation which were duly verified during his lifetime. Many holy servants of God were formed in the Oratory, a society of studious priests, made ready by ten years of preparation in the common life for a service founded on sacerdotal perfection. Saint Philip died peacefully in 1595 on the Feast of Corpus Christi at the age of 80, having been ill for only one day. He bears the noble titles of Patron of Works of Youth, and Apostle of Rome.
|
|
St Bede the Venerable
May 27
|
|
|
Saint Bede, the illustrious ornament of the Anglo-Saxon Church and its first English historian, was consecrated to God in 680 at the age of seven, and entrusted to the care of Saint Benedict Biscop at Weremouth. He became a monk in the sister-house of Jarrow, which he would never leave, and there he trained no fewer than six hundred scholars, whom his piety, learning, and sweet disposition had gathered around him.
He was ordained a priest in 702. To the toils of teaching and the exact observance of his Rule he added long hours of private prayer, with the study of every branch of science and literature then known. He was familiar with Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. In a treatise which he compiled for his scholars, still extant, he assembled all that the world had then conserved of history, chronology, physics, music, philosophy, poetry, arithmetic, and medicine. In his Ecclesiastical History he has left us beautiful lives of Anglo-Saxon Saints and holy Fathers, while his commentaries on the Sacred Scriptures are still in use by the Church.
It was to the study of the Divine Word that he devoted the whole energy of his soul, and at times his compunction was so overpowering that his voice would break with weeping, while the tears of his scholars mingled with his own. Once he was accused of heresy by certain jealous ones, but this scholar who had always made a great effort not to depart from tradition, wrote a letter which vindicated him and stopped the bad reports. He had little aid from others, and during his later years suffered from constant illness; yet he worked and prayed up to his last hour. It has been said of him that it is easier to admire him in thought than to do him justice in expression.
The Saint was employed in translating the Gospel of Saint John from the Greek, even to the hour of his death, which took place on the eve of the Ascension in the year 735. He spent that day joyfully, writes one of his scholars. In the middle of the afternoon he said: It is time that I return to the One who gave me being, creating me out of nothing... The moment of my liberty is approaching; I desire to be freed from the bonds of the body and to join Jesus Christ. Yes, my soul longs to see Jesus Christ its king, in the splendor of His glory. In the evening a scribe attending him said, Dear master, there is yet one chapter unwritten; would you be disturbed if we asked you additional questions? He answered, No; take your pen, and write quickly, which the disciple did. He prayed then until his last breath.
|
|
St Augustine of Canterbury
May 28
|
|
|
Saint Augustine was prior of the monastery of Saint Andrew on Mount Coelius in Rome, when he was appointed by Saint Gregory the Great as Superior of the forty missionaries he was sending to England. The Christian faith of England, more than that of any other nation of Europe, was the fruit of the labors and spiritual conquests of the ministry of monks. Its deepest Christian roots are more ancient than Saint Augustine and his companions, and date from the era of the Apostles. England, in the first century, furnished its contingent of martyrs during the persecution of Diocletian. England sent its bishops to the first Councils held after the religion of Christ became that of the Empire in 313. But in the time of Saint Augustine, the Anglo-Saxon conquest had cut down almost all the branches of the tree.
When Saint Augustine arrived, ruined churches, scarcely a Christian to be found to narrate a tradition, attested to the sacrilegious and incendiary hand of paganism, despite the labors of Saint Palladius and Saint Germain d'Auxerre in the fifth century. The last Christian Britons had taken refuge in the mountains of Wales. And England, the land of the Angles, had become a land of infamous slave-traders for the continent, including Rome; its merchants did not spare their own people when profit was at stake. In this way did Saint Gregory the Great come to purchase the English boys he saw marketed at the Roman Forum, and raise them in his house, which he had transformed into a monastery. Thus the definitive conversion of England began, in his compassionate heart, when in the sixth year of his pontificate he chose the prior of his own monastery for the mission to England.
Saint Augustine and his companions during their journey heard many reports of the barbarism and ferocity of the pagan English. They were alarmed and wished to turn back. But Saint Gregory sent word to them saying, Go on, in God's name! The greater your hardships, the greater your crown. May the grace of Almighty God protect you, and permit me to see the fruit of your labor in the heavenly country! If I cannot share your toil, I shall yet share the harvest, for God knows that it is not good-will which is wanting. The band of missionaries went on in obedience, after halting briefly to deliver letters of Saint Gregory at the Abbey of Lerins, and to the bishops of Aix, Tours, Marseille, Vienna, Autun, and Arles, as well as to obtain translators for the mission of the monks.
Landing at Ebbsfleet, they sent ahead of them their translator-emissaries, to say to the king of those lands that they had come from Rome, to announce to him not merely good news, but the Good News of all ages, with its promises of heavenly joy and an eternal reign in the company of the living and true God. They met with the Saxon King Ethelbert who had been reigning for thirty-six years, and with his barons under a great oak tree at Minster in the present county of Kent, and announced to him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was predisposed to listen to the missionaries; his Christian wife, Bertha, was a great-granddaughter of Saint Clothilda and Clovis. He wished to deliberate for a few days nonetheless, and when they returned in procession, chanting and preceded by the Cross, he promised only to give them liberty to practice their faith unmolested. He gave them a residence in Canterbury and provided for their needs. Their good example brought many to them for instruction and then Baptism, and at Pentecost 597, the Anglo-Saxon king, too, entered into the unity of the Church of Christ. His example was followed by the greater number of his nobles and people.
By degrees the Faith spread far and wide, and Augustine, as papal legate, set out on a visitation of Britain. He failed in his attempt to enlist the Christian Britons of the west in the work of his apostolate, but his success was otherwise triumphant from south to north. He died after eight years of evangelical labors, but his monks continued them and perpetuated them. The Anglo-Saxon Church which Saint Augustine founded is still famous for its learning, zeal, and devotion to the Holy See, while its calendar commemorates no fewer than 300 Saints, half of whom were of royal birth.
|
|
ifty days after the high feast of Easter, the Church comes together to celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. It is one of the principal feasts of the year and marks the end of the Easter season. Historically the feast of Pentecost was given a greater emphasis and its vigil the day before was connected to the Easter Vigil in many ways.
There was a service called by the English Whitsun Eve, during which the catechumens who had not been baptized at Easter received the sacraments on the eve of Pentecost. Similar to the Easter Vigil, it was celebrated in a “night watch” liturgy that included the reading of six prophecies and a solemn blessing of the baptismal font.
After the celebration of Baptism, the newly baptized would be vested in a white alb, symbolizing their new birth in the life of grace. Thus Pentecost is also called Whitsunday by English speakers, a word that simply means “White Sunday,” in reference to the white albs the newly baptized would wear.
|
|
UPDATE INFO LINKS
Links to Government websites; remember these are being updated regularly as new information and changes in statuses develop:
|
|
|
|