(1) On GKIRKUK the admirable and learned Dr Kirk raises the question of Vincent Cardinal Nichols' interestingly sycophantic letter to the Holy Father, and asks ... why ... why now ...
My hypothesis is that Vin knows Bergoglio well enough to realise how deeply he resents dissent; and that he, Vin, wrote this letter at a time when he knows that our beleaguered Holy Father is coming under a lot of behind-the-scenes pressure and expressions of concern from mainstream Cardinals and Bishops. So the letter's message is: Hard times, but I'm behind you; I love you; and you can rely on me to see to it that the entire English Church is soundly bergoglianist! Franciscus papa et Vincentius contra mundum!
(2) The SSPX USA website has a series of six good pieces by a professor at Econe explaining that Bergoglio is not a formal heretic, and has not lost the Petrine See. Recommend it to any panicky friends who are toying with the unmitigated nonsenses, the illiterate rubbish, of sedevacantism!
(3) Eponymous Flower has good videos of the Liturgical celebrations in S Petersburg last autumn. How splendid to see such vast crowds; such a public and corporate exhibition of the Faith in the great City of our Lady of KAZAN ... who is the very same as the Mother of God of FATIMA!!! Her Immaculate Heart will prevail!! Most Holy Mother of God, save us!!
(4) Settimo Cielo blog has fine extracts from a piece by Rabbi Professor Giuseppe Laras, complaining about the "homilies of the Pontiff" which "on a daily basis" repeat and reinforce "the old inveterate structures" of ignorant misrepresentation of Judaism. A paper of my own on this very subject is due, God and the printers willing, to be published in two or three weeks. I wish Rabbi Laras and I had been able to synchronise our ...
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Don't miss Fr. Straviskas' offering on this matter....
http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/5495/papal_antijudaism.aspx
He is the same Priest who came up with the suggested NO "improvements" to the Pian rite.
How can our Lady save us ?
How can our Lady save us ?
How can our Lady save us ?
Dear Declan, Declan, and Declan
I'm sorry; I'm not (and have never claimed to be) an expert on Byzantine Liturgy and Mariology.
Find a Byzantine and ask him to explain this Byzantine refrain!
God bless you all!
John Hunwicke
The interesting thing about The Mother of God of Kazan is that the Havana Declaration, signed last year by HH The Patriarch of Moscow and the pope of the city of Christian Martyrdom, was in fact signed in front of that same icon, which is associated with the expulsion from Moscow of the Catholic Poles 400 years ago. I doubt the clean-shaven gentleman in white saw the significance of this.
On the invocation "Most Holy Theotokos, Save us!", which is used both at liturgy and recommended by some Eastern fathers as an invocation before sleep, I would have resorted to my copy of (ROCOR) Fr. Pomazansky's "Orthodox Dogmatic Theology", but it is currently packed away awaiting moving, so I resorted to a quick check of the internet, which yields a number of articles explaining this invocation. The first one that I clicked on seems thorough enough, and can be found at the website of All Saints Orthodox Church (of the Antiochian jurisdiction) here: http://www.allsaints-stl.org/Most%20Holy%20Theotokos%20Save%20Us.pdf
The link is to a paper by Archpriest Michael Salaris on Orthodox veneration of the Virgin Mary. For those who do not want to wade through the rest of the paper (which seems quite complete, and of course has a few points of difference between Rome and Orthodoxy) the discussion of "save us", which essentially seems to repeat what we are taught by Rome on Mary's (secondary) mediation, is as follows:
"And now for the tough question: What does it mean when you say, “Most Holy Theotokos save us? First of all, let it be stated unequivocally that Jesus Christ is truly the only Savior of humankind. By His birth, life, crucifixion, death, resurrection, and ascension, He has destroyed sin and death and opened the gates of paradise for us sinners. The question of “Mary save us” can be answered in several different ways. First, look at an icon of the Theotokos. A proper icon of the Virgin Mary is never shown without her Son in her arms. Obviously we do not teach that Mary died on the cross for us, nor are we denying the fact that Christ is the only mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5); however, Mary saves us in the sense that through her Jesus Christ became incarnate and thus was able to do all that He did for our salvation. Because of this, we refer to Mary as the mediatrix for our salvation because He suffered the Passion of the Cross in the flesh that He assumed from her... Secondly, at the end of certain divine services such as Vespers, there is what this author likes to refer to as a “liturgical dance.” The priest exits the royal doors, faces the congregation, and states, “Christ our God, the existing one, is blessed always now and ever and unto the ages of ages.” After the people respond, the priest turns to the icon of the Theotokos and says, “Most Holy Theotokos save us.” The people again sing a response, “More honorable than the Cherubim....” Note what happens next. The priest turns to the icon of Christ and says, “Glory to you, O Christ, our God and our hope….” In this “liturgical dance” we turn to Mary and ask her to save us, but we are then immediately directed to Him who is our God and our sure hope – the Lord Jesus Christ. Thirdly, think about this analogy. Bob and Mary go on a cruise ship vacation. While taking in the sights, Bob falls overboard into the ocean. He cries out, “Mary, save me!” Unfortunately, Mary can’t swim. She can not save Bob directly. However, Mary can summon Captain Joshua, the boat’s commander-in-chief, a former Olympic Gold-Medalist in swimming, who then dives into the waters and saves Bob. Mary saves Bob indirectly by summoning Capt. Joshua just as the Theotokos saves us by forever interceding on our behalf and by forever directing our lives towards her Son Jesus Christ who, by the Cross, entered into the chaotic waters of Death, loosed the bonds of Hades, and rose from the dead on the third day. Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!"
Sorry, Fr. Stephen (not Michael) Salaris.
Re #2, I find it interesting to contrast two definitions of heresy--and useful to bear in mind that statements in CCL are not de fide.
Here we have CCL:
Heresy is, “the obstinate denial or obstinate doubt after the reception of baptism of some truth that must be believed by divine and catholic faith.” 1983 CIC 751.
Next, a medieval bloke from a hick town in Italy named Aquino offers his view:
Therefore heresy is a species of unbelief, belonging to those who profess the Christian faith, but corrupt its dogmas.
...
Now a thing may be of the faith in two ways, as stated above (I:32:4; I-II:1:6 ad 1; I-II:2:5), in one way, directly and principally, e.g. the articles of faith; in another way, indirectly and secondarily, e.g. those matters, the denial of which leads to the corruption of some article of faith; and there may be heresy in either way, even as there can be faith. ST, II-II, Q11, a1-2.
Finally on "Most holy Mother of God, save us", from a couple of Eastern sources closer to Rome, so to speak, I note that in the excellent new Ukrainian Greek Catholic catechism, "Christ our Pascha" the concept of Mary's mediation through her prayer for us is also discussed briefly, the main part being "Her constant intercession before the Creator is celebrated by the Church in the feast of the Protection of the Most Holy Mother of God [October 1/14]: 'Today the Virgin stands before us in the church, and together with the choirs of saints invisibly prays to God for us'". [from the Kontakion of the feast] There is more, of course, but I risk committing too many typos to try to reproduce it. What is very interesting about this treatment is that it connects the actual historical event of the protection of the City (Constantinople) from barbarian invaders by the Theotokos, I.e. material protection, with the protection of our souls at her intercession. There are several famous prayers commemorating the event and asking for her saving help, again with both material and spiritual meanings, I would think. Finally here is a link to a UGCC parish site's link over to Orthodox nun Sister Vassa, who publishes daily spiritual commentary, on Mary's saving work: http://stmichaelukrainian.org/2017/01/10/does-the-theotokos-save-us/ . Sister Vassa is well worth visiting from time to time, if not daily.
And really finally, the treatment in "Christ Our Pascha" is primarily found in the section "Devotion to the Most Holy Mother of God", nos.311-313, the latter being the source of the quotation.
There is no such thing as Judeo-Christianity as it is the case that since 70 A.D. Rabbinical Judaism was formed to oppose the Catholic Church and that formation severed the link between those who are now acknowledged as Jewish spokesmen and the Old Testament Jews and, thus we are accused of Mariconism etc but that is an absurdity for far from rejecting the Old Testament the One True Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church owns the Old Testament:
Dom Orchard’s 1953 “A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture,” observes: It is the teaching of the Church that the Old Testament Scriptures were transferred to her ownership by Christ himself in view of her position as the new “Israel of God” and the heir of the OT promises; and that the New Testament Scriptures being written within the Church by some of its members for the benefit of all (or more precisely, within the society of the Catholic Church by Catholics and for Catholics), are likewise her exclusive property, of which she is the absolute Owner, Guardian, Trustee and Interpreter.
The past half-century, and more, of an attempted political accommodation between the Church and The Synagogue has failed in many manifest ways and the latest nasty accusations by the Rabbinate is aught but another example of that.
Ecumenism is the Universal Solvent of Tradition and it seems we are doomed to continue to pursue this political path at the expense of the Great Commission, but to what end?
How many souls of the Jews will be lost so we can feel good about ourselves rather than to preach the fullness of truth in season and out and to seek the salvation and sanctification of Jews because we love them?
Both The Catholic Church the The Synagogue know that were a Pope to do his duty and call for the conversion of the Jews would be to explode the nuclear weapon which would cause the political rapprochement to be blowed-up and we all know how important meetings and joint appearances are...
Can any Catholic today even imagine a Pope or Prelate preaching Christ were he to be invited to a Synagogue?
To ask the question is to answer it and the answer is also a description of the absurd situation we have created for our own selves.
Regarding #3, I recall that Orthodox priest Fr. Stephen Freeman of the OCA has written an essay on this subject on his blog:
https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/glory2godforallthings/2013/10/19/saving-mary/
The link with Fatima is strong. There was an Icon of Our Lady of Kazan kept in the Domus Pacis (the one with the onion dome) in Fatima for many years which was eventually returned to Russia. I am not sure whether it was the one shown in the video as there are more than one but it did look remarkably similar.
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