Shortest Composite Proper

The variable chants, lessons and orations that comprise the Proper of the Mass vary widely in length; out of curiosity, I have assembled the shortest of each of them, taken from the Roman Missal of 1962 (in the case of the chants, this involved counting the notes of each) into a shortest composite proper, illustrative of the minimum required – which in the case of the chants and lessons, amounts to about a verse of Scripture each (two, for the Introit and Tract), and as for the prayers, a similar word-length applies:

NB Procession before Rogation Mass [used as an Introit in the Ordinary Form]

[44 notes, excl. psalm verse & Gloria Patri; 18 words; 21+23=44 syllables; 114 characters (no spaces): all statistics excl. Gloria Patri]

Ps. 43, 26

Exsurge, Domine, adjuva nos, et libera nos propter nomen tuum.

Ps. ibid., 2 Deus, auribus nostris audivimus, patres nostri annuntiaverunt nobis.

V. Gloria Patri.

Shortest Introit: SS Marius, Martha, Audifax & Abachum, Martyrs (19 Jan.) 

[57 notes excl. Ps. verse & Gloria Patri; one verse, plus Ps. verse, etc.; 26+32=58 syllables, 11+14=25 words, 136 characters (no spaces): all statistics excl. Gloria Patri]

Introitus Ps. 67, 4

Justi epulentur, et exsultent in conspectu Dei, et delectentur in lætitia. 

Ps. ibid., 2 Exsurgat Deus, et dissipentur inimici ejus: et fugiant qui oderunt eum, a facie ejus.

V. Gloria Patri.

NB Shortest Collect in the Breviary: “Absolution” [in form, a Collect] of First Nocturn of Matins

[10 words, 25 syllables, 62 characters (no spaces); excl. Qui...]

Exáudi, Dómine Jesu Christe, preces servórum tuórum, et miserére nobis: Qui...

Shortest Collect in the Missal: 17th Sunday after Pentecost 

[15 words, 37 syllables (same as shortest Epistle), 82 characters (no spaces); excl. Per...]

Oratio.

Da, quæsumus, Domine, populo tuo diabolica vitare contagia: et te solum Deum pura mente sectari. Per... 

Shortest Epistle: Daily Requiem Mass 

[one verse; 30 words, 70 syllables, 166 characters (no spaces)]

Lectio libri Apocalypsis beati Joannis Apostoli. 

Apoc. 14, 13 

In diebus illis: Audivi vocem de cælo, dicentem mihi: Scribe: Beati mortui, qui in Domino moriuntur. Amodo jam dicit Spiritus, ut requiescant a laboribus suis: opera enim illorum sequuntur illos.

Shortest Gradual: Common of a Virgin & Martyr, 1st Mass 

[62 + 93 = 155 notes; one verse; 13 words, 37 syllables, 81 characters (no spaces)]

Graduale Ps. 44, 8

Dilexisti justitiam, et odisti iniquitatem. 

V. Propterea unxit te Deus, Deus tuus, oleo lætitiæ.

Shortest Tract: Lenten Ember Saturday; Easter Vigil; Pentecost Vigil; Whit Saturday; September Ember Saturday 

[112 + 138 = 250 notes; 22 words; 54 syllables; 130 characters (no spaces)]

Tractus Ps. 116, 1-2

Laudate Dominum, omnes gentes: et collaudate eum, omnes populi. 

V. Quoniam confirmata est super nos misericordia ejus: et veritas Domini manet in æternum.

Shortest Alleluia: Queenship B.V.M. (31st May), 2nd Alleluia

[35 + 58 = 93 notes (excl. any repeat of the All.); 6 words, 10 syllables, 25 characters (no spaces), excl. All.]

Alleluja.

V. Nunc cum eo regnas in æternum. 

Alleluja.

2nd-Shortest Alleluia: Whit Saturday, 2nd Alleluia

[30+66 = 96 notes (excl. any repeat of the All.); one verse; 4 words, also 10 syllables, also 25 characters (no spaces), excl. All.]

Alleluja. 

V. Job 26, 13 Spiritus ejus ornavit cælos. 

Shortest Gospel: Circumcision (1st January); Holy Name of Jesus

[one verse; 25 words, 57 syllables, 143 characters (no spaces)]

Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Lucam.

Luc. 2, 21

In illo tempore: Postquam consummati sunt dies octo, ut circumcideretur Puer: vocatum est nomen ejus Jesus, quod vocatum est ab Angelo priusquam in utero conciperetur.

Shortest Offertory: St Stanislaus Kostka (13th November, PAL)

[88 notes; one verse; 10 words, 24 syllables, 54 characters (no spaces)]

Offertorium Ps. 42, 4

Introibo ad altare Dei: ad Deum, qui lætificat juventutem meam.

Shortest Secret: First Sunday after Epiphany; Sexagesima Sunday; Monday after the 4th Sunday in Lent 

[9 words, 24 syllables, 57 characters (no spaces); excl. Per...]

Secreta.

Oblatum tibi, Domine, sacrificium vivificet nos semper et muniat. Per...

Shortest Communion: 7th Sunday after Pentecost

[one verse; 43 notes; 7 words, 17 syllables, 38 characters (no spaces)]

Communio Ps. 30, 3

Inclina aurem tuam, accelera, ut eripias me.

Shortest Postcommunion: St John before the Latin Gate (6th May, PAL)

[9 words, 24 syllables, 61 characters (no spaces); excl. Per...]

Postcommunio. 

Refecti, Domine, pane cælesti: ad vitam, quæsumus, nutriamur æternam. Per...

Shortest Oratio super populum: Lenten Ember Friday

[11 words, 26 syllables, 64 characters (no spaces); excl. Per...]

Oratio.

Exaudi nos, misericors Deus: et mentibus nostris gratiæ tuæ lumen ostende. Per...

Banal Insipid Prayers

I was initially delighted that at long last the lawful authorities in Holy Mother Church had noticed a glaring omission in the modern  Roman Missal – the absence of any Votive Mass in Time of Mortality (that is, by Pestilence and Plague) – and had issued a new Mass in Time of Pandemic, for the professed purpose of "implor[ing] God to bring an end to this pandemic" (A peste perambulante, Decree of the Congregation for Divine Worship, 30th March 2020).

This Mass proper may be used on all days not solemnities or of equivalent rank, so it may replace even Feasts of Our Lord, his Mother, his Apostles, and the Saints, as well as Sundays of Ordinary Time (no great loss, that), and both Sundays of Christmastide and Days within the Octave of Christmas! 

There are only 47 days of the year when it may not be used! These are the Sundays of Advent, Lent and Eastertide (including Pentecost Sunday of course); Ash Wednesday, all the days of Holy Week, the Easter Triduum, the Easter Octave, the Ascension of Our Lord, and Trinity Sunday; and also the Solemnities of Corpus Christi, the Sacred Heart, and Christ the King – all these being "movable feasts", amounting to 36 days – and moreover 11 solemnities that occur on fixed dates: those of Christmas, Mary the Mother of God, the Epiphany, St Joseph, the Annunciation, the Nativity of St John Baptist, Saints Peter & Paul, the Assumption, All Saints, All Souls, and the Immaculate Conception.

However, and most unfortunately, the prayers of this new formulary are disappointingly banal, insipid and uninspiring. I trust the good Lord will bear with such limp and timid effusions, for he knows mankind all too well; but we must acknowledge that this is a jejune and feeble production of the CDW, unworthy of the sacred liturgy. Compare this to the EF Votive Mass in Time of Mortality, drawn up by Clement VI in 1348 at the onrush of the Black Death! The comparison is extremely telling.

To begin with, in the Novus Ordo the readings are usually taken from those of the ferial day, but if desired, a selection (itself extracted from those For Any Necessity) is proposed for use with these appointed prayers – yet none of these readings actually mentions plague, disease, pestilence or illness! 

To be fair, the suggested Epistle is the magnificent ending of Romans chapter 8 (verses 31b-39), but while a most uplifting passage, it is not explicitly ad rem. The alternative Lesson (Lamentations 3:17-26) is also pleasant enough, but not directly concerned with epidemics or universal contagion. The same can be said of the two alternative responsorial psalms – abbreviated from Psalms 79(80) and 122(123) – and the Gospel Acclamation (2 Cor. 1: 3b-4a): they are by their very nature as inspired Scripture written for our edification, but they do not directly address the matter at hand. The Gospel pericope, even more peculiarly, is not one of the many in which Our Lord heals the sick, but rather concerns him stilling the wind and the waves (Mark 4:35-41), when the disciples cry out in fear.

What of the EF Mass from the days of the Black Death? Its Lesson speaks of the Davidic Plague and its averting by God's mercy, when he relented at the prayer of the repentant King, and restrained the destroying angel he had sent, in his wrath at David's sin, to inflict the punishment of pestilence. The Gradual recalls that the Lord sent his word, and he healed and saved men from death. The Gospel relates how Christ in his days on earth healed the sick and drove out demons. The Offertory refers to Aaron's propitiatory offering of incense (cf. Numbers 16:46-48), which appeased the anger of God and stilled the plague he had sent to punish rebellious Israel. But such themes are evidently strong meat, despite being truths taught explicitly in the Bible, and would be too, too much for effete, delicate moderns who can bear only the milk of a milk-and-water religion.

To return to this new OF proper Mass, the appointed Entrance and Communion Antiphons are well-known, indeed beloved texts offering consolation (Is 53:4; Mt 11:28), but have no direct reference to a pandemic. By contrast, the Introit and Communion of the EF Mass pro vitanda mortalitate (to use its older title) are much more relevant: the former refers directly to the Davidic Plague (as does the Lesson), while the latter refers to Our Lord's healing of the sick.

Now, to the prayers of the just-published Mass in Time of Pandemic, which include the special Lenten feature of a Prayer over the People after the Prayer after Communion:

Omnípotens sempitérne Deus, in omni perículo singuláre præsídium, qui fílios tuos in tribulatióne fide supplicántes exáudis, nobis propitiáre benígnus, et præsta, quǽsumus, defúnctis réquiem ætérnam, solámen plorántibus, salútem infírmis, moriéntibus pacem, operántibus pro fratrum sanitáte robur, spíritum sapiéntiæ illis qui nos in potestáte moderántur, et ánimum ad omnes benévole accedéndi ut cuncti nomen sanctum tuum glorificáre valeámus. Per Dóminum. 

Súscipe, Dómine, múnera quæ, in hodiérnis perículis, tibi offérimus, et fac, quǽsumus, ut, omnipoténtia tua, in fontem sanitátis pacísque convertántur. Per Christum. 

Deus, a quo recépimus vitæ ætérnæ medicínam, concéde, quǽsumus, ut, per hoc sacramentum de cæléstis remédii plenitúdine gloriémur. Per Christum. 

Protéctor in te sperántium, Deus, bénedic pópulum tuum, salva, tuére, dispóne, ut, a peccátis liber, ab hoste secúrus, in tuo semper amóre persevéret. Per Christum.

What can be said of the immensely long, almost wearisome Collect? If divided up, as I am about to demonstrate using its official English version, it would be better as a series of petitions in the Universal Prayer:

Almighty and eternal God, our refuge in every danger, to whom we turn in our distress; in faith we pray[:]
(1) look with compassion on the afflicted,
grant
(2) eternal rest to the dead,
(3) comfort to mourners,
(4) healing to the sick,
(5) peace to the dying,
(6) strength to healthcare workers,
(7) wisdom to our leaders and
(8) [to us] the courage to reach out to all in love,
so that together we may give glory to your holy name. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

Note carefully: petitions 1 and 2 ask for what cannot be seen (God's compassionate eye cast upon the afflicted, and eternal rest granted to the dead); petitions 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8 ask for good emotional and intellectual states of mind; and petition 4 alone actually asks for a visible benefit (healing for the sick) that, frankly, will come to most anyway (since only a small percentage die of this disease). Certainly God is our refuge in danger and distress; certainly we ought pray for all these benefits; but where is the prayer that this pandemic cease? Isn't that the professed purpose of this whole Mass? So why does it nowhere ask for it?

Do the author(s) and those who have promulgated this formulary perhaps not believe that God can bring this pandemic to an end, whensoever and howsoever he has decided in his all-wise providence?

The new Orationes super oblata, post communionem and super populum are reasonable, but could be used generally as they contain hardly anything more than vague references – the first refers to "the perils of these days" ("this time of peril" in the official translation), and prays that the offered bread and wine become a source of healing, but nothing more than that, which many such offertory prayers express in similar terms; the second is even more general, even as regards its allusions to Holy Communion as medicine and a heavenly remedy (which expressions are again commonly used in such prayers); the third of these is much the best, as it asks God, the Protector of those who hope in him, to bless, save, protect and dispose them to persevere, but I don't think that we generally regard this present pandemic as an "enemy", and the prayer – of course – has to end with an embarrassingly glib reference to "love".

Those prayers of the almost-seven-centuries-old Missa in tempore mortalitatis, on the other hand, are most explicit in their insistence that pestilence is the just punishment due on account of our sins, and so we must repent and cry to God for mercy:

Deus, qui non mortem, sed pænitentiam desideras peccatorum: populum tuum ad te revertentem propitius respice; ut, dum tibi devotus exsistit, iracundiæ tuæ flagella ab eo clementer amoveas. Per. 

Subveniat nobis, quæsumus, Domine, sacrificii præsentis oblatio: quæ nos et ab erroribus universis potenter absolvat, et a totius eripiat perditionis incursu. Per. 

Exaudi nos, Deus salutaris noster: et populum tuum ab iracundiæ tuæ terroribus liberum, et misericordiæ tuæ fac largitate securum. Per.

In the Collect, the first oration above, God is confessed as desiring not the death, but the repentance of sinners, such that he is implored graciously to regard his people turning back to him, that he may mercifully remove from us the scourges of his wrath.

Likewise, in the Secret of this traditional formulary, we beg the Lord that the offering of this present sacrifice may both powerfully absolve us from all errors, and deliver us from every incursion of perdition; and in the Postcommunion, God our health and salvation is asked to hear us, that his people be freed from the terrors of his wrath, and made secure in the gracious gift of his mercy.

How much more concise and to the point these prayers are.

Luckily, given that worldwide Masses are more and more said only in private, and less and less in public – how annoying to proud modern liturgists! – it is more and more the case that priests, unfettered by any de facto constraints on their free choice, are able to offer Mass according to the Vetus Ordo, and thus may sensibly choose the older of these two opposed propers, for "the old is better" (Luke 5:39).

St Alexius

Today is the feast of St Alexius of Rome, son of a Senator, yet who, moved by a special inspiration of God, forsook his wife on their wedding night and, abandoning all, even his name, travelled as a poor beggar pilgrim to all the most illustrious churches of Christendom for seventeen years, until by a miracle his identity was divulged at Edessa, whereupon to flee fame and regain anonymity, he took ship for Rome where his own parents, family servants and wife did not recognise him after so long and such a penitential life, but granted to him, out of charity to a poor homeless beggar, to live under the stairs of his own house, where he dwelt another seventeen years until he died, whereupon all was revealed and he was acclaimed a saint.

It seems only yesterday I attended solemn Mass in his honour at WYD in Sydney...

Formerly, by grant of Pope Clement XII at the petition of the Roman Senate, there was a proper Mass of his feast used at Rome, as follows; it is an example of eighteenth-century liturgical piety, since the whole Mass tells the tale of his life (in the 1962 Roman Missal, only the Epistle and Gospel are the same):

Proper Mass of St Alexius, for the City and all the District of Rome

Introitus. Gen. 12, 1.

Egredere de terra tua, et de domo patris tui, et veni in terram, quam monstrabo tibi.

Ps. 44, 11-12. Obliviscere populum tuum, et domum patris tui: et concupiscet rex decorem tuum.

V. Gloria Patri.

Oratio.

Deus, qui beatum Alexium Confessorem tuum in mundi contemptu mirabilem effecisti: præsta, quæsumus; ut intercessionis ejus auxilio, fideles tui terrena despiciant, et ad cælestia semper aspirent. Per Dñm.

Lectio Epistolæ beati Pauli Apostoli ad Timotheum. 1 Tim. 6, 6-12.

Carissime: Est quæstus magnus pietas cum sufficentia. Nihil enim intulimus in hunc mundum: haud dubium quod nec auferre quid possumus. Habentes autem alimenta, et quibus tegamur, his contenti simus. Nam qui volunt divites fieri, incidunt in tentationem et in laqueum diaboli, et desideria multa inutilia, et nociva, quæ mergunt homines in interitum et perditionem. Radix enim omnium malorum est cupiditas: quam quidam appetentes, erraverunt a fide, et inseruerunt se doloribus malis. Tu autem, o homo Dei, hæc fuge: sectare vero justitiam, pietatem, fidem, caritatem, patientiam, mansuetudinem. Certa bonum certamen fidei, apprehende vitam æternam.

Graduale. Jer. 12, 7. Reliqui domum meam, dimisi hæreditatem meam.

V. Ps. 72, 28. Quia bonum mihi est adhaerere Deo, ponere in Domino Deo spem meam.

Alleluja, alleluja.

V. Ps. 5, 8 et 131, 14. introibo in domum tuam: hæc requies mea in sæculum sæculi; hic habitabo, quoniam elegi eam.

Alleluja.

Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Matthæum. Matt. 19, 27-29.

In illo tempore: Dixit Petrus ad Jesum: Ecce nos reliquimus omnia, et secuti sumus te: quid ergo erit nobis? Jesus autem dixit illis: Amen dico vobis, quod vos, qui secuti estis me, in regeneratione, cum sederit Filius hominis in sede majestatis suæ, sedebitis et vos super sedes duodecim, judicantes duodecim tribus Israël. Et omnis qui reliquerit domum, vel fratres, aut sorores, aut patrem, aut matrem, aut uxorem, aut filios, aut agros, propter nomen meum, centuplum accipiet, et vitam aeternam possidebit.

Offertorium. Gen. 32, 9.

Revertere in terram tuam, et in locum nativitatis tuæ, et benefaciam tibi.

Secreta.

Propitius esto, Domine, supplicationibus nostris, et intercessione beati Alexii Confessoris tui, omnium nostrum ad te corda converte: ut a mundanis cupiditatibus expediti, te solum pura mente sectemur. Per Dñm.

Communio. Job. 19, 15 et Ps. 26, 10.

Inquilini domus meæ, et ancillæ meæ sicut alienum habuerunt me, et quasi peregrinus fui in oculis eorum: Dominus autem assumpsit me.

Postcommunio.

Sumpsimus, Domine, sacri dona mysterii, humiliter deprecantes: ut beatum Alexium Confessorem tuum, quem admirabilem in mundi contemptu prædicamus in terris, intercessorem habere mereamur in cælis. Per Dñm.

TRANSLATION:

Introit. Gen. 12, 1.

Go forth out of thy country, and out of thy father’s house, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.

Ps. 44, 11-12. Forget thy people and thy father’s house: and the king shall greatly desire thy beauty.

V. Glory be.

Collect.

O God, who didst make blessed Alexius thy Confessor wonderful in contempt of the world: grant, we beg, that by the help of his intercession, thy faithful may despise earthly things, and ever aspire to things heavenly. Through our Lord…

A Lesson from an Epistle of blessed Paul the Apostle to Timothy. 1 Tim. 6, 6-12.

Dearly beloved: Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out. But having food, and wherewith to be covered, with these we are content. For they that will become rich, fall into temptation, and into the snare of the devil, and into many unprofitable and hurtful desires, which drown men into destruction and perdition. For the desire of money is the root of all evils; which some coveting have erred from the faith, and have entangled themselves in many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, fly these things: and pursue justice, godliness, faith, charity, patience, mildness. Fight the good fight of faith: lay hold on eternal life.

Graduale. Jer. 12, 7. I have forsaken my house, I have left my inheritance.

V. Ps. 72, 28. For it is good for me to adhere to God, to put my hope in the Lord God.

Alleluia, alleluia.

V. Ps. 5, 8 et 131, 14. I will come into thy house; this is my rest for ever and ever: here will I dwell, for I have chosen it.

Alleluia.

The continuation of the holy Gospel according to Matthew. Matt. 19, 27-29.

At that time: Peter said to Jesus: Behold we have left all things, and have followed thee: what therefore shall we have? And Jesus said to them: Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of his majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting.

Offertory. Gen. 32, 9.

Return to thy land and to the place of thy birth, and I will do well for thee.

Secret.

Be propitious, O Lord, to our supplications, and by the intercession of blessed Alexius thy Confessor, convert all our hearts to thee: that set free from worldly desires, we may seek thee alone with a pure mind. Through our Lord…

Communion. Job. 19, 15 et Ps. 26, 10.

They that dwelt in my house, and my maidservants have counted me a stranger, and I have been like an alien in their eyes: but the Lord hath taken me up.

Postcommunion.

We have received, O Lord, the gifts of [thy] sacred mysteries, humbly praying, that blessed Alexius thy Confessor, whom we proclaim on earth [to be] admirable in contempt of the world, we may deserve to have as an intercessor in heaven. Through our Lord…

Saint Maravillas

One of the greatest testimonies to the truth that the One True Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church under the Pope is the continuing flowering of heroic saints, whether holy martyrs (even in this century, too numerous to mention), priests after the Heart of Our Lord (such as St Josemaria Escriva), laymen living lives of perfection in the world (such as Bl Pier Giorgio Frassati), or devout virgins, such as this day's saint. (Let other denominations consider what proofs by sanctity they may adduce!)

The Carmelites keep to-day (in the modern calendar) the memorial of a new saint (beatified in 1998, canonized in 2003), a worthy successor to St Teresa of Avila, being raised up like her to revivify the Order and found many holy hives of nuns: St Maria Maravillas of Jesus, O.C.D.

This contemplative religious woman, foundress of eleven Carmels, ever active in charity (even from within the cloister, by trust in Providence, able to arrange to be built a whole suburb of homes for the poor!) and sturdy confessor of the Faith (having been imprisoned and threatened by the Communists during the Spanish Civil War, yet by God's inscrutable designs her hopes of martyrdom were not granted) is well-named: for Maravillas is the Spanish for Mirabilia, referring to the marvels and wonders that are the great works God hath wrought - she herself, by her fidelity to grace, became a signal instance of the Mirabilia Dei that we hymn in the psalms.

Born in 1891, entering Carmel in 1920, she died this day, the 11th of December, in 1974, repeating constantly the stirring words, What happiness to die a Carmelite!

May she intercede for our souls, now and at the hour of our death.

******

While to-day I heard a ferial Mass at the Church of the Apostles in town, at our Carmel the following Mass was said:

Entrance Antiphon (Ps 45:15b-16)

She is led to the king with her virgin companions. They are escorted with gladness and joy; they enter the palace of the king.

(Is not heaven upon earth to be found in the cloister of Carmel, the garden enclosed that is the palace of the King, with whom do holy virgins continually dwell?)

Opening Prayer over the Gifts

Lord God, who drew Saint Maria Maravillas of Jesus into the secrets of the heart of your Son, grant through her intercession and example, that we may work together for the salvation of souls, experiencing the delights of your love. Through...

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord, we see the wonder of your love in the life of the virgin Saint Maria Maravillas of Jesus and her witness of Christ. Accept our gifts of praise and make our offering pleasing to you. Grant this through Christ our Lord.

(Her love for her neighbour was the fruition of her amazing love for God, since in all she saw Him, and her works were not fruitless.)

Communion Antiphon (Rev 21:3a-c)

I heard a loud voice speaking from the throne: Here God lives among men, and he shall dwell with them.

(This is the glory of Carmel: that there, upon Carmel's height, dwell chosen souls alone with the Alone.)

Prayer after Communion

Lord God, may this eucharist renew our courage and strength. May we remain close to you, like Saint Maria Maravillas of Jesus, by accepting in our lives a share in the suffering of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you for ever and ever.

(St Maravillas endured much suffering, whether persecutions or illnesses, and accepted all these and the strictest voluntary poverty as so many sacrifices and holocausts that she could offer up in union with her Lord, for the salvation of souls, as the Apostle teaches.)

******

Here, too, I subjoin the appointed second reading at the Office of Readings for her feast:

From the letters of St. Maravillas of Jesus, Virgin
(Letters to her spiritual directors: 305, 254, 101, 458b)

Yesterday, Sunday, on climbing the stairs to go to the upper choir for the sung Mass, I was quite recollected, yet without any particular thought, when I heard clearly within me, "My delight is to be with the children of men." These words which made a strong impression on me, I understood were not for me this time, but rather in the nature of a request the Lord was making me to offer the whole of myself to give Him these souls He so much desires. It is hard to explain, but I saw clearly, that a soul which sanctifies itself becomes fruitful in attracting souls to God. This so deeply moved me that I offered with my whole heart to the Lord all my sufferings of body and soul for this purpose, despite my poverty. It then seemed to me that this offering was right, but what was strictly important was to surrender myself, wholly and completely to the divine will, so that He could do what He desired in me and likewise I would accept the pain along with the pleasure. I seemed to understand that what pleased Him was not the greatest sacrifice but rather the exact and loving fulfilment in the least detail of that will. In this I understood many things I find hard to explain, and how He wished me to be very sensitive in this fulfilment, which would carry me a long way in self-sacrifice and love.

I offered myself in such a way that nothing would excuse me, not even hell, (if there you can love the Lord), but then I am so cowardly. The Lord will remedy that, since I can do no more than commit myself to Him in all my misery. I began experiencing this as a desire to commit myself for souls and to be faithful for this purpose: thinking about what He had done for them, it seemed He was saying to me I could not do much, but He could, with my help. On feeling this immense desire of the Lord for the salvation of souls, it seemed so amazing that nothing remained but to be committed to God so that He could carry out all His work in the soul and thus make it, despite its poverty, capable of giving Him what He desires. Each time it became clearer to my soul so that nothing of my own remained important, except that the Lord alone be glorified.

What a treasure the Lord has given me in allowing me to live in Carmel! Here, everything is arranged with such simplicity, yet in such a way that, living it to the full, you can do everything. How can we live in the House of the Virgin, pleasing the Lord with her, yet not imitating her, as the Holy Mother desired? I felt that this is the Carmelite's way, imitating Mary, how we must grow less, to be truly poor, self-sacrificing, humble, nothing. I felt quite deeply how Jesus gives us in His own life continual examples of sacrifice, of humiliation, of making ourselves small, yet we do not understand. I felt His mercy and zeal for souls in this way, that here is the strength that can take hold of our life throught His mercy. By His grace, may I, who am so absolutely poor in everything, be well able to imitate Him in this with more ease than other creatures. I seemed also to understand that these lights were not given only for myself, but also for guiding my sisters. The sole thing I do, many times in the day, is to say to the Lord that I wish to live only to love Him and to please Him, that I desire all that He wishes in the way that He wills.

Our Lady of Perpetual Succour

I am the mother of beautiful love, of fear, of knowledge and of holy hope.  

(Ecclus xxiv, 24.)

Terra has alerted me that to-day is the feast-day of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour (or Help), pro aliquibus locis: in Australia, the Blessed Virgin under this title is the Patroness of three dioceses, and so two of them (poor bushwhacked Wilcannia-Forbes, and Maitland-Newcastle) keep her hallowed memory this day as a Solemnity - but Sale (newly supplied with a decent Catholic for bishop at last, so all power to His Lordship Christopher Prowse, and goodbye silly Jeremiah Coffey) wierdly keeps the feast instead on the 15th of November, who knows why (even more oddly, prior to the Council Sale kept the feast on the 3rd of July).

It astonishes me that the bishops of Australia didn't long ago, before the postconciliar decades of crisis, have Our Lady under this title given a feast throughout the land: basically, in having Our Lady Help of Christians as "Australia's Forgotten Patroness" - to quote the title of an ancient pamphlet I found - they missed the boat of popular devotion completely, since every single parish has a reproduction image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, usually with banks of lighted candles before it kept resupplied by eager votaries, but very few one of her as Help of Christians.  Typically, advised by undevout "liturgists", the bishops - even His Eminence - now push a new title, Our Lady of the Southern Cross, that again has no real popular support in the piety of the masses.  Now, don't get me wrong, de Maria numquam satis, but it really would make far more sense to have Our Lady of Perpetual Succour's feast day raised in importance.

I'm sure all Redemptorists would agree - and I must inquire of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer in Christchurch for a copy, if possible, of the Traditional Office of Our Mother of Perpetual Help.  The Proper Mass I have to hand:

MASS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY OF PERPETUAL SUCCOUR

27^th June, pro aliquibus locis

INTROIT

Gaudeámus omnes in Dómino diem festum celebrántes, sub honóre beátæ Maríæ vírginis: de cujus solemnitáte gaudent ángeli, et colláudant Fílium Dei.  Ps. 44, 2.  Eructávit cor meum verbum bonum: dico ego ópera mea Regi.  V/.  Glória Patri…

COLLECT

Dómine Jesu Christe, qui genitrícem tuam Maríam, cujus insígnem venerámur imáginem, matrem nobis dedísti perpétuo succúrrere parátam: concéde, quæsumus; ut nos, matérnam ejus opem assídue implorántes, redemptiónis tuæ fructum perpétuo experíri mereámur: Qui vivis…

EPISTLE (Ecclesiasticus xxiv, 23-31)

Ego quasi vitis fructificávi suavitátem odóris: et flores mei, fructus honóris et honestátis.  Ego mater pulchræ dilectiónis, et timóris, et agnitiónis, et sanctæ spei.  In me grátia omnis viæ et veritátis: in me omnis spes vitæ et virtútis.  Transíte ad me omnes qui concupíscitis me, et a generatiónibus meis implémini.  Spíritus enim meus super mel dulcis, et heréditas mea super mel et favum.  Memória mea in generatiónes sæculórum.  Qui edunt me, adhuc esúrient: et qui bibunt me, adhuc sítient.  Qui audit me, non confundétur: et qui operántur in me, non peccábunt.  Qui elúcidant me, vitam ætérnam habébunt.

GRADUAL & ALLELUIA (Canticle vi, 3 & 9; Judith xiii, 22; St Luke i, 28)

Tota formósa et suávis es, fília Sion, pulchra ut luna, elécta ut sol, terríbilis ut castrórum ácies ordináta.  V/.  Benedíxit te Dóminus in virtúte sua, quia per te ad níhilum redégit inimícos nostros.

Allelúja, allelúja.  V/.  Ave, María, grátia plena: Dóminus tecum: benedícta tu in muliéribus.  Allelúja.

GOSPEL (St John xix, 25-27)

In illo témpore: Stabant juxta crucem Jesu mater ejus, et soror matris ejus María Cléophæ, et María Magdaléne.  Cum vidísset ergo Jesus matrem, et discípulum stantem, quem diligébat, dicit matri suæ: Múlier, ecce fílius tuus.  Deínde dicit discípulo: Ecce mater tua.  Et ex illa hora accépit eam discípulis in sua.

OFFERTORY (cf. Jeremias xviii, 20b)

Recordáre, virgo Mater, in conspéctu Dei, ut loquáris pro nobis bona, et ut avértat indignatiónem suam a nobis.

SECRET

Tua, Dómine, propitiatióne, et beátæ virginis et matris Maríæ intercessióne, ad perpétuam atque præséntem hæc oblátio nobis profíciat prosperitátem et pacem. Per…

PREFACE of Our Lady (…Et te in festivitáte…)

COMMUNION

Regína mundi digníssima, María virgo perpétua, intercéde pro nostra pace et salúte, quæ genuísti Christum Dóminum Salvatórem ómnium.

POSTCOMMUNION

Adjuvet nos, quæsumus, Dómine, immaculátæ genitrícis tuæ sempérque vírginis Maríæ intercéssio veneránda: ut, quos perpétuis cumulávit benefíciis, a cunctis perículis absolútos, sua fáciat pietáte concórdes: Qui vivis…

The Collect, the solemn asseveration of Holy Church, teaches us by its confident plea that it is Our Lord Himself Who deigned to give us His Mother to be our mother of perpetual help, whose singular image we revere, that we may assiduously implore her maternal aid, and thereby ever deserve to receive the fruit of the redemption He wrought for us on Calvary.  (Of course, all this is but a consequence of Our Crucified Lord's donation to us of His Mother to be ours, as St John's Gospel reveals; and of the truth that we may rightly view with loving regard such a beautiful portrait of she who is our mother.)  

Note how the Secret and Postcommunion, originally from the common fund of Marian orations, have been slightly reworded - clearly they were selected because both contain the word "perpetual"; in the Secret, the words "and mother" have been inserted, albeit with "ever" removed, while in the Postcommunion, the original word "glorious" has been replaced with "immaculate": these minor adjustments emphasise in both cases that the Virgin Mary is also Mother, Mother of God and, by her maternal intercession, the Mother of Perpetual Succour for all her faithful children, vouchsafed to her by her dying Son in the person of the Beloved Disciple (as the Gospel of the Mass portrays).  The Offertory and Communion chants also focus on her endless prayers to God on our behalf, the Offertory being a daring rewording of the words the prophet Jeremias prayed to God: "Remember that I have stood in thy sight, to speak good for them, and turn away thy indignation from them".  As for the Epistle... "I am the mother of beautiful love, of fear, of knowledge and of holy hope."  (Ecclus xxiv, 24.)  It says it all really.

All this reminds me: I really have yet another shrine to visit in Rome: the church of St Alphonsus, where reposes the hallowed icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour - the church and icon being in care of the Redemptorists, who as indefatigable missioners sedulously promoted this devotion worldwide, as in their famous Perpetual Novena to her (familiar to me from the Redemptorist's great church in Perth, W.A., which is absolutely packed for the Novena every Saturday afternoon; the same devotion is so popular at their church in Singapore that the nearest railway station is actually called Novena Station!) with what fruits are obvious in the ubiquitous nature of this sacred image of the Blessed Virgin. 

Don't forget to look to Redemptorist Father Scott Bailey's blog for the traditional three Novena prayers...

Fisk: Interim Proper of the Mass of Our Lady of the Southern Cross

Upon requesting it, I have been kindly emailed the interim texts for the proper Mass of Our Lady of the Southern Cross, at present celebrated in the Diocese of Toowoomba in Queensland.  I anticipate there is nothing wrong with posting these here on my blog for the purpose of analysing and critiquing them...  Please be aware that I offer these thoughts without wishing to be uncharitable, but rather that my fisking may be constructive.

To be honest, I was looking forward to finding some nice devout prayers to say to Our Blessed Lady under this title, but have been disappointed.

1.  So, first, the opening prayer, which I prefer (following the newest Latin editions of the Missal as well as the older) to name the collect:

Blessed Virgin Mary of the Southern Cross

Interim Texts*

Opening Prayer

God of all peoples,

you inspire us by the courage of our pioneers

and enrich us by the ancient wisdom

of the Indigenous people who first inhabited this land.

Through the intercession of Mary of the Southern Cross

may the people of this Diocese

and all who live within our shores

be gathered together to form one people

working together for your kingdom, in harmony and peace.

We ask this through our Lord, Jesus Christ...

I must admit that I find this a very contrived, politically correct, awkward prayer.  No doubt God is indeed the God of all peoples (Deus gentium omnium), but the Roman Rite typically uses an address along the lines of "Almighty God", "Lord God", or somesuch: this business of using an adjectival genitive - "God of loving-kindness", "God of our sisters and brothers" - is sadly typical of many would-be contemporary euchologists; one suspects it is really about avoiding what amusingly enough ICEL invented: the constant use of "God our Father" and other "patriarchal" references to the First Person of the Trinity, which are actually quite rare in the Latin orations.  So much for the invocation!

Next, telling the Lord (as if He weren't aware, if it is in fact the case) that "you inspire us" by courageous pioneers and indigenous wisdom is in fact rather trite, and simply increases the feelgood aura of niceness that cloys this collect.  Do we really need to point out in prayer that the indigenous were the first inhabitants of Austalia?  After all, isn't that what the very word "indigenous" means?  So we do away with a relative clause for God (and use "you" rather than "who"), but next insert one to labour the point about our dear aboriginal friends...

Let us be honest, who exactly are really, actually enriched by indigenous wisdom?  Can this honestly be said to be true for the good Christians of Toowoomba?  The truth in rural Australia is often far otherwise.  And frankly what has this to do with a prayer honouring Our Lady of the Southern Cross?  No doubt all indigenous wisdom is inspired by the Lord to both benefit its possessors and act as a præparatio Evangelica, but it seems overdone and self-conscious to drone on about it, bespeaking a certain fashionable middleclass guilt.

And, harking back to the blessed early settlers and their courage, again, are they (rather than, say, the All-Holy Mother of God, all brave martyrs and the saints triumphant who have fought the good fight) really to be lauded and praised, as so amazingly significant Christian heroes for the Catholics of Toowoomba - in a collect for a Marian feast?

We finally arrive at a mention of Our Lady of the Southern Cross, and her intercession.  Now, the central problem is this: the title "of the Southern Cross" is pregnant with meaning, but the prayer expounds none of it.  Surely the title has at least a threefold signification, bringing to mine her dauntless stance at the foot of the Cross on Calvary, her coredemptive office there, standing as a sign to all Christians to take up their cross, have their share in Christ's sufferings, and fill up what is lacking therein for the sake of His Body, the Church (cf. Col. i, 24), and furthermore alluding to her patronage over Australia, the land of the Southern Cross, which for countless ages before Christ and the consequent advent of His Gospel here had hung as a mysterious sign of the coming redemption in the skies of the Great South Land?  But this collect is dumb as regards all this and whatever else it may signify, sadly.

What are we to pray for, through Holy Mary's intercession?  That all in the Diocese, and all in our nation girt by sea, shall work for the coming of the kingdom in justice and peace.  

O social justice!   What crimes have been committed in your name!  

Being gathered together to build a socialist utopia is Marxism, not Christianity: of course, this prayer doesn't pray for that, it is of course a worthy aim to advance God's kingdom on earth (as by extending the social reign of Christ the King, converting Australia and making it a confessional state by concordat with the Holy See - but I suspect this idea is not quite what the liturgical author intended).  However, in practice such a nothing statement is interpreted in relentlessly secular terms, reducing the Gospel to helping the poor (most laudable) but leaving the universal call to holiness aside (which is Americanism). Having been through Catholic schooling, I have long past had a gutful of social justice pestering, and like Goering it makes me wish to reach for a revolver.

Being "gathered together" reminds me of that dreadful modern misguided notion of patronizingly didacticizing the opening rites of Mass, into a meet-and-greet à la kindergarten show and tell.  And "working together" is such a jejune phrase in its current setting.

In short, I find the prayer sums up the worst of modern Catholic obsessions with secondary matters, to the exclusion of unpacking the tremendous symbolism of the title "of the Southern Cross" as applied to the Blessed Virgin: it is not a product of organic development from the traditional models of collect-writing in the one Roman Rite.

2.  Next, to the oratio super oblata:

Prayer over the Gifts

God of all the ages

receive the fruits of the earth that we bring as gift to you,

who first gifted us with this rich and diverse land,

so that, gathered from every people and nation,

we who receive them may become one body

alive in the one spirit, through Jesus Christ the Lord.

Here we are in the midst of the mindset that can seem to imply, as Bishop Elliott satirically opined, that the Eucharist is a cereal offering.  

The people will already most likely have heard the modern preparation of the gifts prayers recited ("Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation.  Through your goodness we have this... to offer...  which earth has given... work of human hands..."), so why labour the point that bread and wine are now prepared upon the altar?  They are indeed the fruits of the earth, and thus ultimately come from God - "Thine own of thine own do we offer unto Thee".  

However, the purpose of what was for long ages called the secret prayer is not to point out the obvious, but to look forward to the consecration of these oblations (the Latin is things brought and offered, oblata; "gifts" is too banal in English) and to pray for the effects of the sacrifice to be effected in the consecration of the sacrament.  This offertory prayer doesn't know what it's for.  Indeed, without making explicit that the offerings will be changed into holy mysteries, the Sacrament of the Eucharist, it seems peculiar to pray that these fruits of the earth may mystically incorporate and spiritualize us.

Another annoyance reappears: again that potty adjectival genitive rears its head: perhaps "God of the new world order" would be the phrase with which to parody it.  Of course the Lord is ruler of all the ages; of course this land Australia is rich and diverse (as the national anthem insists), and its peoples have come across the seas to live herein, a sign in the natural order of our supernatural ingathering into the Ecclesia Christi, that we be one Body and one Spirit in Christ: but is this prayer for Australia Day?  No, it is for the feast (to be imprecise) of Our Lady of the Southern Cross; so surely she deserves a mention, as after all it was by her agency that Our Lord took flesh and dwelt amongst us, that we should, by His Sacrifice and Presence offered us in the Sacrament, become partakers of His Divinity.

3.  The Preface to be used is that of "The Blessed Virgin at prayer with the Apostles" from the Sacramentary of Masses for the BVM, which has Vatican approval, so I shall omit commentary upon it.  I think, however, that a great opportunity to write some sublime liturgical poetry was missed here; or, why was not the Preface for "The Blessed Virgin Mary at the Foot of the Cross" used?

4.  Now for the postcommunion:

Prayer after Communion

God of our joy,

through the communion we receive

unite us under the care of Mary of the Southern Cross,

as one people in Jesus Christ

who dwells with you forever and ever.

This prayer after receiving Holy Communion is I think quite decent: it is a happy turn of phrase to pray that we be united "under the care of Mary of the Southern Cross" - though I think it would sound less jarring if she were given a title such as Holy Mary or such (else it sound a bit too much as if it were referring to Blessed Mary (MacKillop) of the Cross, Australia's one and only beata) - and most certainly we would hope and pray that our reception of the Sacrament would make us to be one people in Christ.  

However, the issues plaguing these prayers (and their author?) glare forth in the first and last lines.  As I said above, the adjectival genitive when used of the Deity can sound absolutely ridiculous: "God of our joy" indeed!  (At least we are not subjected to "Joyful God" or "God of our happiness and laughter".)  And the theological, or rather ideological mindset that shrinks from Christ "living and reigning" with the Father is manifested by the strange use of "dwells" (the Johannine notion of abiding, no doubt), which is foreign to the Roman tradition: the short ending is by definition qui (tecum) vivit et regnat in sæcula sæculorum.

5.  At least the solemn blessing supplied (vide infra), which I suspect but cannot at this moment prove to come from that collection of Marian Masses (because of the un-Australian spelling of "Savior", if for no other reason), is perfectly orthodox and quite good:

Blessing

May you be filled with the grace of God the Father,

whose Word was conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin

to become the Savior of the human race. R/. Amen.

May your hearts rejoice at the salvation won by Christ,

Son of God, and Son of Mary, as he hung upon the cross. R/. Amen.

May the light and grace of the Holy Spirit

that filled Mary of Nazareth remain with you,

that you may await the Coming of Christ

vigilant in prayer and with songs of praise on your lips. R/. Amen.

May almighty God bless you,

the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit. R/. Amen.

So much for the euchological texts of this local Mass.

6.  The readings are taken from the Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary: they are Apocalypse 11:19 and 12:1-6,10 (in Eastertide: signum magnum apparuit in cælo, alluding to Our Lady and her connexion to the Southern Cross in the starry sky) or Isaiah 9:1-6, which can be construed as having an apposite application, although probably 7:10-14 would have been better; Galatians 4:4-7; and St John 19:25-27 (so at last the Cross, the Virgin's steadfast stance thereat, and Our Lord's gift of His Mother to us get a mention).  The responsorial psalm to be used was not mentioned in the email I received, but is probably the one paired with whichever of the first readings gets used.  

Update: having been able to check a lectionary (tho' annoyingly the page numbers didn't match, and the original references I was given gave only page numbers), and now having had further correspondence to clarify these details, it appears the responsorial psalm used is Ps 44:11-12,14-17 (R/. v. 11).  As for the Gospel Acclamation or Alleluia verse paired with the Gospel reading, it is "Blessed is Mary who stood by the cross of her son, believing that the promises of the Lord would be fulfilled."  (Cf. Jn 19:25; Lk 1:45.)

* The proper is an interim text approved for use by Bishop William Morris for use in the Diocese of Toowoomba.