Liturgical Slaughter

 

One of the ways Satan attempts to destroy the Church, the Ark of Salvation, is by deforming its language, the language of worship. We see this clearly in the liturgical revisions of the 1970s and '80s. These were supposed to make the language of corporate prayer available to all and succeeded in turning everyone off.

Why? Because the revisions were rubbish, the language ugly, banal, and unprayable. Here's the modern, ahem, Nunc Dimittis from the 1979 Episcopalien Book of Common Prayer, I believe it's common to the Breviary:

Lord, you now have set your servant free *

to go in peace as you have promised;

For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, *

whom you have prepared for all the world to see:

A Light to enlighten the nations, *

and the glory of your people Israel.

"These eyes of mine." Well isn't that just dandy, said no one ever who's tried to pray this deformed attack language. Here's the original:

LORD, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, 

* according to thy word.

For mine eyes have seen * thy salvation,

Which thou hast prepared * before the face of all people;

To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, * 

and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

Do you see the difference? One is hideous, the other is beautiful. Satan, punters, does his best to destroy our worship, in this case through language.

Here at the Missions we ignore demonic innovation,

LSP

A Typical Day in Texas

It was just the normal kind of thing, get up, say Morning Prayer, check ZeroHedge, Drudge, Virtueonline, Stand Firm and head off to the front office porch to conduct the business of the day. Sure enough, before you can say Boycott Burger King, half the Mission turns up on the porch to "get the job done," whatever the various "jobs" might happen to be. I like that and think it's right for clergy to live in parish housing; it puts you in the action.

The Butts

Then I figured it was time for a shoot, so I drove off to the range where I cleverly shot Marlboro Light boxes off of sticks at around 50 yards with a venerable J.C. Higgins .22. Then I moved to a more dangerous paper adversary, the green silhouette. 

Lush Verdant Range Thanks to Climate Change

A Biretta PX4 Storm .45 beat that down and I was pleased to see a decent group. A little left of the X but hey, not too bad.

Go On. Get in the X Ring.

Fun over, I drove back to the compound, met with several church people, said Evening Prayer and drove off to one of the Missions to say Mass. When I got back, a maniacal chicken rushed my truck. Like an assassin. Then it swerved off into the side of HQ to peck at the wall of my house; the bird was mad, obviously, and I walked over to speak to Pedro, its owner.

Must Say Mass in Spanish

Pedro was afraid I'd report his chickens to the "city" and I told him no, I liked his chickens and would be sad if they left. I also hinted that Pedro and Maria might wake up on Sunday morning and come to Mass. He thought that was a good idea.

Back in the Front Office

The day ended back in the front office, where I cleaned a pistol and talked with church people. 

So now you know what it's like, in Texas. On a good day.

God bless,

LSP