One of the joys of the EF and of the Ordinariate Form is the Introibo ad Altare Dei with the Psalm at the foot of the altar.
It has such a sense of human uncertainty and weakness being supported by the knowledge that one is young-every-morning (qui laetificat iuventutem meam); and the wonderful bit where I express my wobbly feelings and the server in his most robust tones instructs me to stop whinging and pick myself up and just get on with it (Spera in Deo ...). And as I walk up those steps to the Altar, I know that I am in the footsteps of Abraham and of the Incarnate Word Himself, going up ad montem sanctum Dei et ad tabernacula eius, to the one and only Place of Sacrifice where Shed Blood expiates; as it always has since the Creator inscribed this indelibly in the grammar of his Creation.
I think it is a wonderful example to the People for them to see their priest or bishop humbling himself before the Presence ... before he does anything ...
The only thing that troubles me is the thought that I really ought to get round to making an honest man of myself by changing my surname to Cohen. What greater privilege is there than offering every morning the One Great Sacrifice of the Lamb, which fulfills and clasps together the differentias hostiarum? The Preparation at the foot of the Altar is the perfect preparation for this mighty Action.
A correspondent has asked me how the old Praeparatio might be incorporated into a reformed Novus Ordo. Our splendid Ordinariate Missal makes this very clear. Simple. You just bung it onto the the start of Mass, before the Priest goes up the steps to kiss the Altar. After all, in the monocultural 1970s mainstream Novus Ordo they have the illegally interpolated Versicle and Response V Good Mor - - ning Every - - Body. R Good Mor - - ning Fa - - ther, a useless duplication [cf Sacrosanctum Concilium 50 on the inappropriateness of duplications] of Dominus vobiscum.
So it can hardly be dangerously improper to say a psalm and to acknowledge ones sinfulness immediately after the Entrance.
(Then, in the Ritibus Initialibus of a Said Mass without music, because the People will have heard already the Confiteor, one could use the farced Kyries, i.e. the Kyries with penitential interpolations.Or, in view of the relaxed ease with which 'mainstream' celebrants omit the Sermon and/or the Creed whenever they happen to feel like it, one could just omit the novus Ordo Confession. Despite Paul VI's naughty little fib in the eighth paragraph of Missale Romanum, the corporate Act of Reconciliation is not 'patristic'.)
Cohen? Come, come kind pastor; your Christian name suffices.
ReplyDeleteDear Father. The Cohens effected only a legal sanctity for the Jews of the Synagogue, and them alone, and the Cohens were of the priesthood of Aaron whereas Catholic Ministers have no connection with them.
ReplyDeleteYour suggestion reminds me of Pope Paul VI wearing the ephod act.
Of course in Irish the versicle would not be "Good morning" but "God be with you" and the response would be "God and Mary be with you" - a bit closer to the Latin original!
ReplyDeleteChanging your name to Cohen? Risky. Cultural appropriation and all that.
ReplyDeleteBut both here in decomposing Amurrica and in the multiracial non-nationalist land once inhabited and ruled by the English, there's a long tradition of Cohens changing their names so as to appear to be one us Anglo-goyim and we are in no way allowed to protest or even notice that Ashley Montagu or Merrick Garland (etc etc etc) are Bnai Israel.
Hillaire Belloc had it well figured out in 1922, but no one listened to him.