Wisdom

 

Wonder at the Offertory, here's Farrer:

THE alms for which your generosity is asked are nothing exterior to the sacrament, but a part of it.  If you were living in the days of the ancient church, you would be bringing not money, but cakes of bread and flasks of wine.  All would be placed upon the altar; part would be consecrated for the eucharist, the remainder would be given to the sick and poor.  Now you bring money.  But your money is still presented along with the bread and wine, and it still means the same thing.  The offering is your offering; it is you yourselves who are laid on the altar to be consecrated, and to be made the body of Christ.  Your gift is a token of yourself.  I break the bread for the death of Christ, and we are all sacrificed to God in Christ's death, dying in him to our own will, and receiving Christ our true life in communion.

 

...it is you yourselves who are laid on the altar to be consecrated, and to be made the body of Christ. Reflect on that, dear readers, all three of you, as you approach the altar with altar with joy and gladness, to say nothing of fear and trembling before the living presence of God.

If you think, in your vain, worldly conceit that you can somehow ignore this and come out smiling like a gilded loon at the other end you are sadly mistaken. I'll put it another way. God will not be mocked, not least by the risible Rainbow Cult which is a mockery in itself. Homily over and mind how you go.

Salve,

LSP

Ascension

 

Look here you lot, it's the great Feast of the Ascension, so enough Putinism, war theory and, ahem, bikers. Here's a meditation by Austin Farrer from Words of Life:

Where then, in all my spreading world is Jesus Christ, the man risen and glorified? When clouds received him from our sight, into what height, what distance did he go? However far away I place him, I gain nothing by it: he fits no better beyond Orion than behind the nearest trees. His risen being is no part of our interlocked system of bodily force, whether far or near. He is nowhere in this world. He is not outside it, either, for it hasn’t got an outside where he could be. Where is he then?

It is useless to start from me, and to fan out and out, looking for Jesus Christ: I must start from Jesus Christ, and fan out from there until, I reach myself.…

At first it may seem that we have two answers, spreading on independent planes and nowhere touching at a single point. Christ’s universe of spirit, and ours of physical force. Yet thinking further we perceive that it cannot be so. For while it is indeed impossible to place heaven in the world, it is impossible not to place the world in heaven. If Christ’s knowledge is spiritual, as ours is physical, then he knows us, for we are spirits too, spirits in fleshly bodies; and if he knows our spirits, he knows what our spirits know, including their bodily knowledge. He hears us speak from within our throats; he thinks our thoughts as fast as we can form them. But he feels in our fingers too, and looks through our eyes; he lives out along the lines of our vision, and our sun, moon and stars are his. By sheer love, heaven grafts the world into itself, and roots our universe in its own heart. 

Jesus Christ, living Son of the living God, clothed in our nature, I cannot place you in my world, but neither can I escape from yours. I cannot reach you by many steps, but I can reach you by one, the single step of faith, which lands me in the heart of heaven. If ever I am to end with you, it is from you I must begin. Thou God seest me; and if ever I am to see across the gulf from me to you, it will be by starting with you, and seeing myself through your holy and compassionate eyes.

 

And again, from Crown of the Year:

WE are told in an Old Testament tale, how an angel of God having appeared to man disappeared again by going up in the flame from the altar.  And in the same way Elijah, when he could no more be found, was believed to have gone up on the crests of flaming horses.  The flame which carried Christ to heaven was the flame of his own sacrifice.  Flame tends always upwards.  All his life long Christ's love burnt towards the heart of heaven in a bright fire, until he was wholly consumed in it, and went up in that fire to God.  The fire is kindled on our altars, here Christ ascends in fire; the fire is kindled in the Christian heart, and we ascend.  He says to us, Lift up your hearts; and we reply, We lift them up unto the Lord.

 

Yes indeed.

Sursum Corda,

LSP

Palm Sunday

Behold beauty from Farrer:

AFTER Jesus had died on the cross, his disciples hoped to keep his body with them as a sacred relic. They shut it in with stone, they came to embalm it. St. Magdalen was disconsolate that she could not find it. But Jesus had given his body to them at the Supper in the form in which he meant them to have it, a form which did not inolve its being stored on earth. He would continually give it them from heaven, where he lives. It is a heavenly being he bestows on us, it is in his heavenly body that he unites us. Lift up your hearts; by this sacrament you are parts of Christ, and Christ is the heart of heaven.

God bless you all,

LSP

Gaudete!

 

Well here we are on sunny Advent III, Gaudete, Rejoice! And so we must, not least after three Masses, the last being in Spanish. Vaguely on topic, the diocese kindly fired off a Mexican deacon to the Missions and what a good man.

El Senor con ustedes? Y con tu espiritu, type of thing. Speaking of which, since when did a country having a border become Fascist? Since the Left decided to go hell for broke immigrant votes. Not that I'm complaining, though my legal Deacon might. He's all about El Senor, Trump, so we get on just fine. 

Regardless, here's Farrer by way of spiritual illumination:

JESUS gave his body and blood to his disciples in bread and wine. Amazed at such a token, and little understanding what they did, Peter, John and the rest reached out their hands and took their master and their God.  Whatever else they knew or did not know, they knew they were committed to him, body and soul; they were consenting that he should die for them, and that they, somehow, should live it out.  The cock had not crowed twice that night before Peter thrice denied, but still he knew he was committed to Christ, for Christ had given him his body and his blood.  Christ’s body and blood lived in him, and Christ forgave him; there was no breaking of the sacramental tie.  We are not worthy of Christ, but we are bound to Christ.  With all the sincerity of our minds let us renew the bond, and pray to live for him who has died for us.

 

Bless you all,

LSP

A Short Advent Reflection

 

What a beautiful drive to Mission #2 for evening Mass as the sun tried to break through the clouds. "This," I thought gravely to myself, "is Texas." Mind like a steel trap, you see, but en lieu of anything beyond bears, climate change and impending civil war, here's Austin Farrer on the season, behold wisdom:

OUR journey sets out from God in our creation, and returns to God at the final judgement.  As the bird rises from the earth to fly, and must some time return to the earth from which it rose; so God sends us forth to fly, and we must fall back into the hands of God at last.  But God does not wait for the  failure and the expiry of our days to drop us back into his lap.  He goes himself to meet us and everywhere confronts us.  Where is the countenance which we must finally look in the eyes, and not be able to turn away our head?  It smiles up at Mary from the cradle, it calls Peter from the nets, it looks on him with grief when he has denied his master.  Our judge meets us at every step of our way, with forgiveness on his lips and succour in his hands.  He offers us these things while there is yet time.  Every day opportunity shortens, our scope for learning our Redeemer’s love is narrowed by twenty-four hours, and we come nearer to the end of our journey, when we shall fall into the hands of the living God, and touch the heart of the devouring fire.

 

Touch the heart of the devouring fire. I love that.

Pax,

LSP

Pater Noster

 

Jesus taught us to pray, Our Father, Pater Noster. Here's wisdom from Austin Farrer:

CHRIST taught us to pray for daily bread in saying the Pater Noster, and added some comments to the prayer. He taught that for the very reason that God is our Father and we his family, it is fitting that we should seek our bread from his hand. We say the Pater Noster in this sacrament, remembering how Christ went from the Last Supper straight to Gethsemane, and prayed to his Father there in the spirit of a true Son. Abba, Father, he said, asking for the wholesome bread of life if he could have it, but willing to receive the bitter cup of death and shame if it was his Father’s will. St. Paul says that it is the Spirit of Sonship, overflowing from Christ to us, which speaks in our hearts when we say Our Father. We kneel with Christ in Gethsemane to say that prayer, and even then it is not truly said unless Christ says it in us through the Holy Ghost.

 

St. Paul says that it is the Spirit of Sonship, overflowing from Christ to us, which speaks in our hearts when we say Our Father. We kneel with Christ in Gethsemane to say that prayer, and even then it is not truly said unless Christ says it in us through the Holy Ghost.

Amen to that,

LSP 

++++

And for all you Latin dogs:

PATER NOSTER, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.

 

They say the Devil, like an English schoolboy, hates Latin. 

Epiphany

 

It's the Feast of the Epiphany today and here's Austin Farrer:

THE Magi took the lids from their urns and unfastened their caskets, when they presented the symbols of universal homage to our infant prince.  But when a woman came to anoint the king in his royal city, she shattered her alabaster jar, that she might pour the precious spikenard on his head.  There was a sympathy between her action and the approaching Passion: the perfume of man’s homage could not be offered to God, without breaking the veined alabaster, the body of the Son of Man.  Our incense may rise, like that of the Magi, from unbroken vessels, if we present our bodies a living sacrifice.  Yet a living sacrifice is also a sacrifice, and is made so by some participation in the shattering of the vase.  Christ, sacrificing himself, joins us with him in sacrificing him; Christ, sacrificing himself, sacrifices us, for he has made us parts of him.  We come to offer our homage to Christ, but his star has brought us, and the breaking of his mortal vase has furnished all the perfume of our offering.

 

God Bless,

LSP

Sunday Message

 

I know, there's only so much hideous degeneracy dawgishness a person can take, so here's a short and uplifting Sunday message for Advent III from Austin Farrer:

JESUS gave his body and blood to his disciples in bread and wine. Amazed at such a token, and little understanding what they did, Peter, John and the rest reached out their hands and took their master and their God.  Whatever else they knew or did not know, they knew they were committed to him, body and soul; they were consenting that he should die for them, and that they, somehow, should live it out.  The cock had not crowed twice that night before Peter thrice denied, but still he knew he was committed to Christ, for Christ had given him his body and his blood.  Christ’s body and blood lived in him, and Christ forgave him; there was no breaking of the sacramental tie.  We are not worthy of Christ, but we are bound to Christ.  With all the sincerity of our minds let us renew the bond, and pray to live for him who has died for us.

God bless you all,

LSP

Judgement Runs Out Into Mercy

Listen up, you lot. It's not Christmas yet, it's Advent, and you've probably forgotten this so I'm posting it again. Wisdom, from Austin Farrer:

Our journey sets out from God in our creation, and returns to God at the final judgement. As the bird rises from the earth to fly, and must some time return to the earth from which it rose; so God sends us forth to fly, and we must fall back into the hands of God at last. But God does not wait for the failure of our power and the expiry of our days to drop us back into his lap. He goes himself to meet us and everywhere confronts us. Where is the countenance which we must finally look in the eyes, and not be able to turn away our head? It smiles up at Mary from the cradle, it calls Peter from the nets, it looks on him with grief when he has denied his master. Our judge meets us at every step of our way, with forgiveness on his lips and succour in his hands. He offers us these things while there is yet time.Every day opportunity shortens, our scope for learning our Redeemer's love is narrowed by twenty-four hours, and we come nearer to the end of our journey, when we shall fall into the hands of the living God, and touch the heart of the devouring fire.

Advent brings Christmas, judgement runs out into mercy. For the God who saves us and the God who judges us is one God. We are not, even, condemned by his severity and redeemed by his compassion; what judges us is what redeems us, the love of God. What is it that will break our hearts on judgement day? Is it not the vision, suddenly unrolled, of how he has loved the friends we have neglected, of how he has loved us, and we have not loved him in return ; how, when we came (as now) before his altar, he gave us himself, and we gave him half-penitences, or resolutions too weak to commit our wills? But while love thus judges us by being what it is, the same love redeems us by effecting what it does. Love shares flesh and blood with us in this present world, that the eyes which look us through at last may find in us a better substance than our vanity.

I love that.

LSP 

Almost Christmas

While you're all recovering from Festivus and getting ready for Kwanzaa, I'm gearing up for the first Masses of Christmas, fortified by Huevos Rancheros, strong coffee, and corn tortillas.

Excuse me?

Here's some Austin Farrer to reflect on before Mass:

“WHEN Mary laid Jesus Christ upon her knees, when she searched him with her eyes, when she fed him at the breast, she did not study to love him because she ought, she loved him because he was dear: he was her Son. His conception had been supernatural, perplexing, affrighting; it had called for faith in the incomprehensible, and obedience beyond the limit of human power. His nativity was human and sweet, and the love with which she embraced it was a natural growth, inseparable from the thing she loved. She was blessed above all creatures, because she loved her Maker inevitably and by simple nature; even though it needed the sword—wounds of the Passion to teach her fully that it was her Maker whom she loved. The Son of Mary is the Son of all human kind; we embrace him with the love of our kind, that we may be led up with Mary to a love beyond kind, a selfless love for the supreme Goodness, when we too shall have climbed the ladder of the cross.”

I love that -- the Farrer, not the random dancing priestess, obviously.

God bless,

LSP

Hail the day that sees Him rise

After an invigorating evolution of strong coffee, Morning Prayer, and cantering about on the horse, I set my mind to the Feast of the Ascension. I liked this, from Austin Farrer's 'Crown of the Year',

“All his life long Christ’s love burnt towards the heart of heaven in a bright fire, until he was wholly consumed in it, and went up in that fire to God. The fire is kindled on our altars, here Christ ascends in fire; the fire is kindled in the Christian heart, and we ascend. He says to us, Lift up your hearts; and we reply, We lift them up unto the Lord.”

Farrer was, to my mind, genius and a holy man with it.

Have a blessed Feast,

LSP

PS. Some people have rashly supposed that this site is against Mr. Steyn. That is not true.