Amare Cælestia

I have deliberately intituled this post with the above phrase, rather than the (in)famous words  terrena despicere, because the whole point of the Postcommunion of this, the second Sunday of Advent, which will be repeated all week, even at Mass of the Immaculate Conception, is that we must "love what is heavenly".  Now, if to do so we must "despise terrene things", well, fine!  As that golden book, the Imitatio Christi, reminds us, For transient and earthly things, men will labour without rest, yet for eternal and celestial reward, we scarce lift a foot from the ground.  O woe to such blindness, of which I am a chief example!

To-day's noble Postcommunion reminds us that Communion is not an end in Itself.  So often at (ordinary) Mass, it seems as if those present only bother to remain till they can get "It", and then chafe to be away - there seems perhaps a lack of recollection about What they have just encountered, and what it ought effect: as I once saw, when a dear old lady in hospital, being brought Holy Communion, turned off her bedside radio, received the Host very rapidly administered, and just as quickly popped the radio back on!

No, being not merely a most intimate entertainment of our Sovereign Guest, Communion has a purpose - to transform us into Christ, for in no other way will we ever leave this earth fitted for heaven.  

After all, let us reverse the sentiment of this prayer: who would wish us to love earthly concerns, and despise heavenly matters?  Satan, of course: that he may have us for his prisoners both on earth and eternally in hell, in torment without end.  No thank you!

It seems fair to say that the Crucified despised earthly things, having not where to lay His head, and ending up on the infamous gibbet; and most certainly He loved heavenly things, and not for Himself alone, but yearned that we too, poor sinners, might have the taste of them.  So as to wean us from the ultimately fruitless pleasures of earth, which would else drag us down to the Pit, He gave us the chiefest delight of heaven: Himself, in form of bread.  Awesome Mystery!  Sacrament unbelievable, were it not for the warrant of His Word!  Just as bread is the staff of life, so His Flesh is in truth what we pray it may subjectively appear to us - as the sum of all delights, the foretaste on earth of the ineffable ecstasy of the Vision of the Trinity above.

Ave in æternum, sanctissima caro Christi, 

mihi ante omnia et super omnia summa dulcedo!

Therefore we pray the Postcommunion:

Repleti cibo spiritualis alimoniæ, supplices te, Domine, deprecamur: ut hujus participatione mysterii, doceas nos terrena despicere et amare cælestia.  Per...

(Replenished by the food of spiritual nourishment, bending low Thee, Lord, we entreat: that by sharing in this Mystery, Thou mayst teach us to despise the earthly and to love the heavenly.  Through...)

One and a Half Masses

Again I was ad hoc choirmaster - totally without qualifications! - this morning at our 9.15 Missa cantata, as Fr had arranged with me.  Luckily for people's ears, he'd arranged with one of the ladies to psalm-tone the Propers, and she was glad to intone all the items we sang except for one or two, which means that they soon will be able to sing the Mass on their own.  

It had been decided by Fr Rowe that it was best to sing the well-known Kyrie, Sanctus and Agnus Dei, plus the Benedicamus Domino, from Mass VIII (de Angelis), paired as usual with Credo III (it would have been nice to sing Mass XVII, but we don't know it, nor does the congregation); and we again sang Knox's translation of the Veni, veni Emmanuel, split into two parts, for processional and recessional.  My only contribution was to choose the Advent Prose Rorate cæli to attempt at the Offertory (we four had some practice beforehand, and it went alright, albeit a bit wobbly), and at Communion we sang the Vesper hymn Creator alme siderum, plus the Advent anthem Alma Redemptoris Mater.  It was a quick service: Mass was over within an hour.

Now, I like to daydream, and given my taste in music (as opposed to my lack of ability therein), this is what I'd wish to hear:

If only I could have been transported to some High Baroque church, for Solemn High Mass with such music!  Anyhow, back to reality...

Before Mass, I'd fitted in Lauds, and for thanksgiving afterward said Prime, then, having put my Liber Usualis and Missal back in the car, walked around the grounds of the adjoining school while saying Terce, before joining the usual suspects for coffee and a snack.  We broke up from our chat at half eleven, so I wandered back to the Pro., arriving at the ecphonesis of the Secret, and knelt in my spot next to the organ for the rest of the Low Mass, taking the chance to pray Sext and then, turning back, Matins, which I was very grateful to get through.

Fr Rowe preached this Sunday on St Ambrose, since to-day, the 7th, is his feast (although it is supplanted this year by the Sunday Mass and Office), and, like St John the Baptist, Ambrose is a great role model for us as no mere "reed shaken by the wind", but a man of action, persuasion, prayer, penance and authority, teaching us how we must work hard, pray hard, "rebuke, entreat, exhort in season and out of season" even at the cost of worldly embarrassments, confess our sins and wisely direct those placed in our charge, if we be parents, persons with responsibilities for others at work, or clergy as the great Milanese bishop was.  Especially we ought heed his axiom: "Patient endurance is the perfection of charity".  Our new recruit Ambrose was delighted to get a sermon on his patron on this his name-day!