Thursday, June 10, 2010

Not a good Pope


We do not have a good Pope: we do not have an outstanding Pope, we have have a great Pope! I wonder if most of us, lay and clerical, realize the Pope that we have been given at this precise moment in history.


Tomorrow we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, of which the priesthood is the expression of his love, as St. John Vianney said. The Holy Father answered five questions from priests from different continents - his extemporaneous answers were, quite literally, extraordinary. Watching the Holy Father,through the blessing of EWTN, I realized that George Weigel's book 'God's Choice' was absolutely correct. As diabolic forces mass against the Church and her priests, what an incredible blessing to hear Peter address the priests of the world - the priests of Jesus Christ.

9 comments:

Liz said...

I thoroughly agree with you, Owl! BTW it's ironic that the word verification for this post is anobali, hmm isn't that the name of the guy who was the architect of the new liturgy, that Pope Benedict is now attempting to repair? Spelling is probably different, but still...

pt said...

Fr. - We do, indeed, have a great pope. Though I'm not much of a Weigel fan, to be honest.


Liz - the spelling is close. Fr. Annibale Bugnini was the architect Novus Ordo. And it will take lots and lots of time and effort to repair the mess that was made, but things are certainly moving in the right direction. Unfortunately, even a rubrically "perfect" Novus Ordo, celebrated in Latin, ad orientem, with great piety, still lacks much of the theology of the Immemorial Mass of Tradition. The focus on the propitiatory, sacrificial nature of the Mass was greatly reduced.

Consider, for example, the difference between Offertory prayers in the two rites:

Rite of 1962: "Accept, O holy Father, almighty and eternal God, this unspotted host, which I, Thy unworthy servant, offer unto Thee, my living and true God, for my innumerable sins, offenses, and negligences, and for all here present: as also for all faithful Christians, both living and dead, that it may avail both me and them for salvation unto life everlasting. Amen.

O God, who, in creating human nature, didst wonderfully dignify it, and still more wonderfully restore it, grant that, by the Mystery of this water and wine, we may be made partakers of His divine nature, who vouchsafed to be made partaker of our human nature, even Jesus Christ our Lord, Thy Son, who with Thee, liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God: world without end. Amen.

We offer unto Thee, O Lord, the chalice of salvation, beseeching Thy clemency, that it may ascend before Thy divine Majesty, as a sweet savor, for our salvation, and for that of the whole world. Amen.

Accept us, O Lord, in the spirit of humility and contrition of heart, and grant that the sacrifice which we offer this day in Thy sight may be pleasing to Thee, O Lord God.

Come, O almighty and eternal God, the Sanctifier, and bless this Sacrifice, prepared for the glory of Thy holy Name."


--


Novus Ordo: "Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you: fruit of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life.

By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity.

Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the wine we offer you: fruit of the vine and work of human hands it will become our spiritual drink.

With humble spirit and contrite heart may we be accepted by you, O Lord, and may our sacrifice in your sight this day be pleasing to you, Lord God."

Pretty substantial difference, isn't there? And that's just one little example, from one part of the Mass.

Which leads me to believe that, while the impending new translation is a good thing, much, much more is needed. The Novus Ordo was certainly not an organic development from the old rite. It was an entirely new rite. Then-Cardinal Ratzinger's comment on it is as follows: "After the Council… in place of the liturgy as the fruit of organic development came fabricated liturgy. We abandoned the organic, living process of growth and development over centuries, and replaced it, as in a manufacturing process, with a fabrication, a banal on-the-spot product”.

At any rate, praise God things are moving in the right direction. Hopefully Pope Benedict will see to it that the novelties, "free-interpretation," confusion, rubrically-lax attitude, etc. that have all proceeded from the Council will be put to a swift end.

gemoftheocean said...

I would just be happy if from the offertory on in the NO we used all the old prayers, but in English. I think the average parish would be far better off if we did so.

Volpius Leonius said...

If JPII was great then great is not a good enough word for Pope Benedict.

Father John Boyle said...

Have tagged you

GOR said...

A little late with this, but…I couldn’t agree more Father about the blessing we have in Pope Benedict! When he was elected I initially had reservations – probably going back to my days at the Gregorian during Vat II when he and Rahner were considered ‘suspect’ by certain professors..! I hadn’t followed his ‘career’ very closely but merely saw mention made of him at various times – mostly disparaging - as head of the CDF.
Then I began to read his books – everything and anything I could find by him. What a revelation! I began to appreciate him more and more and I do believe he is the right Pope for our time and history will recall him as one of our greatest Popes. We are blessed to live in these times!

Terry Nelson said...

I couldn't agree more - Holy Father is a great Pope.

BTW - Owl of the Remove was going through my head all day long - I couldn't figure out where I heard it before or id it was a film or a line from a poem - so I Googled it and found you. Now I shall link to you. God bless!

My word verification is my cat's name, "agnes". So providential, huh?

gemoftheocean said...

Psst! Owl..how's your summer?

:-D I've been missing your posts.

Julie said...

I think he's a great Pope too, but I wish he was a bit more brave in standing up to the Islmamists...

BTW, to brighten your day with a smile here's the link to a clever Catholic who's written a blog piece about the Catholic Church closing her doors upon the news that Anne Rice is leaving Christianity...


http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2010/08/the-rome-august-10-2010-wyt-a-growing-number-of-anonymous-vatican-officials-are-confirming-the-shocking-news-that-th.html