Well, I dunno. Cardinal Canizares, we are told, is to petition the Holy Father to extend the Feast Of Our Lord, Priest, from the Dominions of His Most Catholic Majesty to the Universal Church. Thursday after Pentecost, where it will interfere with the Octave (why couldn't it precede Pentecost? On the Octave day of the Ascension it would rather elegantly take up the Biblical theme of Christ, Ascended, sending down his charismata upon his Church. I rather like Pentecost Thursday with its jolly and exuberant propers on the Holy Spirit and his power in the Church's mission). And it will be represent a bit more silting up of the Calendar.
My own feeling is that we could do, first, with the recovery of things lost in the Bugninizeit. Such as the Precious Blood. And such as our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces (which was really on a roll to take over May 31 in the Universal Church until Pius XII meddled). And the old Easter feasts of the Holy Cross and S Joseph. And, for that matter, the Octave of Pentecost! But perhaps we do need a reassertion of the importance of the Sacred Priesthood. Which makes me hope that the current post-Bugnini votive won't be the basis of the new propers, because it doesn't do that terribly well. If this has to happen, I would prefer that some literate chappie went through the early Roman Sacramentaries ... where there are appropriate euchological materials.
I presume the Cardinal knows that the Holy Father will agree ... if he didn't, that in itself would be interesting! And it will be diverting to see whether propers are issued in both the EF and OF. Irritating, of course, that Rome always come up with initiatives just when the ORDO is nearly ready for the printers.
If I were a Bookie, I would now open a Book on how many misprints and grammatical errors there will be in the Notitae publication of the new CDW Latin texts. If anyone wants an informed guess, based upon my years of experience, ... six.
Bring back the Octave of Pentecost at all costs, even if nothing else is achieved. It's so important.
ReplyDeleteFr. H,
ReplyDeleteI think you should express your opinion to the Cardinal; regardless of your probably accurate suspicion that this is a "done deal"?
Yes Father, don't hide your light under a bushel, write!
ReplyDeleteI think that one of the problems with Rome is that the neo-conservatives are forced to prioritise the teaching and outlook of twentieth-century pontificates. Traditionalists everywhere should be heard now, precisely because they have not lost touch with the previous 19 centuries. The cross-fertilisation of the old and new rites should give priority to the most ancient and venerable traditions over recent inventions, no matter how worthy.
Dear Fr. H,
ReplyDeleteIs this Mass the same as (or related to) the Votive Mass of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, as discussed by Fr. Mark, for example, at the link below?
http://vultus.stblogs.org/2009/06/votive-mass-of-jesus-christ-et.html
Many thanks for all your good work.
Quite right, Fr H: the Octave of the Ascension would fit best - for the EF; in the OF, the Octave of Pentecost being absent, it slots nicely in on the Thursday after Pentecost, being a week before Corpus Christi.
ReplyDeleteOn which Sunday should one observe the external solemnity of Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest?
How about this extract from a handy little volume, as an alternate second reading for this new feast? (Fr H, I assume the Latin is decent enough...)
ReplyDeleteA reading from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (nn. 1544, 662, 1545-1547).
Everything that the priesthood of the Old Covenant prefigured finds its fulfilment in Christ Jesus, the “one mediator between God and men.” The Christian tradition considers Melchizedek, “priest of God Most High,” as a prefiguration of the priesthood of Christ, the unique “high priest after the order of Melchizedek”; “holy, blameless, unstained,” “by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified,” that is, by the unique sacrifice of the cross.
“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” The lifting up of Jesus on the cross signifies and announces his lifting up by his Ascension into heaven, and indeed begins it. Jesus Christ, the one priest of the new and eternal Covenant, “entered, not into a sanctuary made by human hands… but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” There Christ permanently exercises his priesthood, for he “always lives to make intercession” for “those who draw near to God through him”. As “high priest of the good things to come” he is the centre and the principal actor of the liturgy that honours the Father in heaven.
The redemptive sacrifice of Christ is unique, accomplished once for all; yet it is made present in the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Church. The same is true of the one priesthood of Christ; it is made present through the ministerial priesthood without diminishing the uniqueness of Christ’s priesthood: “Only Christ is the true priest, the others being only his ministers.”
Christ, high priest and unique mediator, has made of the Church “a kingdom, priests for his God and Father.” The whole community of believers is, as such, priestly. The faithful exercise their baptismal priesthood through their participation, each according to his own vocation, in Christ’s mission as priest, prophet, and king. Through the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation the faithful are “consecrated to be… a holy priesthood.”
The ministerial or hierarchical priesthood of bishops and priests, and the common priesthood of all the faithful participate, “each in its own proper way, in the one priesthood of Christ.” While being “ordered one to another,” they differ essentially. In what sense? While the common priesthood of the faithful is exercised by the unfolding of baptismal grace – a life of faith, hope, and charity, a life according to the Spirit – , the ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood. It is directed at the unfolding of the baptismal grace of all Christians. The ministerial priesthood is a means by which Christ unceasingly builds up and leads his Church. For this reason it is transmitted by its own sacrament, the sacrament of Holy Orders.
And here is the present Office (so far as I can ascertain) as used in Spain, etc.:
ReplyDeleteOFFICIUM D.N.I.C. SUMMI ET ÆTERNI SACERDOTIS
On which Sunday should one observe the external solemnity of Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest?
ReplyDeleteThat's handy - on either date, you can't do it (or at least, from the Octave of the Ascension you can only do it by putting the Ascension itself back onto its proper day).
If we're to have new Solemnities in honour of Our Lord, how about several feasts still observed in the OF even: the Redemptorist feast of Our Most Holy Redeemer, on the 23rd of October (or on a Sunday)? or their special feast of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, on the Thursday after the Sacred Heart? or the Passionist feast of the Five Glorious Wounds of Our Lord, in Eastertide? (A very Sarum feast, that latter one.)
ReplyDeleteThe Passionists also still keep the Feast of Our Lord's Prayer and Agony in the Garden on Shrove Tuesday. For that matter, whatever happened to that happy Baroque set of Lenten feasts, covering such Passion relics as the Sacred Crown of Thorns, the Most Holy Shroud and the Holy Lance and Nails?
Those wishing to brighten up the post-Epiphany stretch could always keep the memory of the Flight of Our Lord into Egypt, and its counterpart the Christophoria, the Ambrosian Rite feast of His Return from thence.
After all, who really knows or cares what green Sunday it is in Boring Time?
It's better than "Social Justice Sunday" or "Environment Sunday"...
Our Lady in the modern Roman Rite has her own special Missal containing a prodigious number of Votives: her Son should have the same.
One could of course argue that England, France, and indeed Canada are all dominions of Francis II of Bavaria.
ReplyDelete