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The gravest abuse of the Mass is Communion in the Hand? September 29, 2011

Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, Dallas Diocese, disaster, episcopate, Eucharist, foolishness, General Catholic, Interior Life, Latin Mass, Liturgy, North Deanery, Papa, priests, scandals, sickness, Tradition.
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Rorate Caeli has a post that claims that the most serious problem afflicting the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in many, many locales is not a bad translation, or the priest with his back turned to the Lord, or altar girls, or crummy music, but Communion in the hand.  New Catholic at Rorate Caeli claims that all other abuses flow from this one, which I am not certain is historically correct, since the Novus Ordo predates the indult for Communion in the hand by several years (although widespread abuse did pre-date the indult), but, nonethless:

(1) Any human being who has ever had any experience with any edible object based on a milled product knows that crumbling is a natural part of the process of consuming it: loaves, wafers, cookies, biscuits, crackers, tortillas, nachos – it does not matter, fragmentation takes place. 
(2) Catholics believe that the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ are truly present in each of the Consecrated Species, and completely in every single and minute fragment of it.
Because of (1) and (2), the Church was traditionally extremely careful regarding the distribution of Holy Communion. That meant reducing to the minimal imaginable level the possibility that any Fragment of the Body of Christ, even the smallest one, might be profaned or lost – which meant only the celebrant himself touched the Body of Christ, that all Fragments could be held under control on the Altar, and that all gestures in the distribution of Holy Communion by the Priest (or Deacon) to the servers and faithful would mean that no Fragment could ever go unaccounted. (And that same process also took place with the distribution under both Species in the East, in a slightly different evolution, but with the same end result: consecrated hands distributing Holy Communion in such a way to make any loss or spillage unlikely and under strict control.)
 
What the liturgical innovations following the Council did was to inculcate Catholics with the notion that the Fragments of the Body of Christ do not matter – and it would be absurd to limit that only to the abhorrent practice of Communion in the hand; no, it is not just a matter of respect, but of Belief that God Himself is entirely present in each single Fragment of the Consecrated species; and Communion in the hand is only one aspect of this. In fact, all those allowances for distribution by people other than those with consecrated hands that are not purified before and after the Distribution of Holy Communion, the use of all kinds of “vessels”, and all related matters – happening thousands upon thousands of times every single day around the world – also necessarily lead to abuse. Or, rather, they ARE the abuse. 

All other problems with the New Mass are intimately related with this gravest of problems. If the Sacred Liturgy is the “summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed” (SC, 10), the handling of the Body of Christ by the non-ordained is the pit from which all and every single liturgical abuse ontologically flows.
 
When I first converted to the Church, I had no idea the Church believed that Jesus Christ is present Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Eucharist.  I was totally ignorant of this.  When my true conversion came, when the veils were lifted at least to some degree from my eyes by the Grace of God, and I learned that Sacred Scripture and Tradition both showed conclusively that Jesus Christ was really and literally present in the Eucharist, I rapidly came to believe I had to receive Communion kneeling, and from a priest.  I am an unworthy sinner.  How can I pick up Christ in my hands and put him in my mouth?  How can I receive from any one of umpteen EMHCs at Mass?  A priest has hands consecrated to God, hands ‘set aside’ for certain purposes for which they are specifically called (or, we pray they are called, and not in the priesthood in the absence of a true vocation.  Sadly, that may not always be the case). 
 
I know this topic drives many people away.  I’m sorry – all I can do is relate what I’ve come to believe. I really believe this has been revealed to me – that this is what the Lord wants me to do.  Possibly it is just my pride or some perversion of what I think is sanctification that has driven me to believe inalterably that I absolutely must kneel to receive my Lord and Savior in the Blessed Sacrament – certainly, such has been claimed against me in the past – but I think not.  All one must do is to look at the timeless practice of the Church, the organic development of the Liturgy and especially Doctrine regarding the Blessed Sacrament, and see that there has been, for almost all if not ALL of the history of the Church, a great desire to preserve the integrity of the Blessed Sacrament and prevent abuse or accidents with it.  Total reverence for the Blessed Sacrament, which meant reception kneeling and on the tongue, was de riguer up until 35-40 years ago. 
 
Is Communion in the hand the ultimate basis of all abuses in the Mass?  I’m not convinced of that – I think it is the gravest abuse of the Mass, but I’m not certain that it is the fount of all the others, although, it could be.  One way to tell would be what happens if the indult were more formally rolled back (since, it seems it expired in the US, at least 6 years ago). If there is ever a formal action taken from Rome to end the practice, with actual punishment meted out (not holding my breath), what happens then?  Will those who have developed a sort of virtual theology around this practice submit, or will they claim that they didn’t leave the Church, but the Church left them? 
 
A related video from Michael Voris:
 
 
I had not heard about the priest in El Paso who refuses to pray before the Blessed Sacrament.  What a contrast with Fr. Michael Rodriguez – I’m sure the priest how denies the Real Presence remains in ‘good standing’ in a comfortable parish in the middle of El Paso.
 
Here is another useful video on the topic, although this young man has a manner I find a little disquieting:
 

Today is the Dedication of St. Michael the Arcangel September 29, 2011

Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, Interior Life, Latin Mass, North Deanery, Tradition, Virtue.
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Also known as Michaelmas.  I may be a bit late posting this for many people, but wouldn’t today be a really good day to assist at Mass?  Perhaps a traditional Mass?  Four days is getting to be too long without a TLM for me.  And, if you have been praying a Novena for the intercession of St. Michael, “capping” that Novena with Mass on his feast day could result in much Grace.

Offer Novenas for Fr. Michael Rodriguez September 29, 2011

Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, episcopate, General Catholic, Interior Life, priests, sadness, scandals.
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I have covered the Fr. Michael Rodriguez situation in depth.  I was thinking while traveling that I had been a fool not to have asked folks to pray Novenas for him and his apostolate.  In fact, I began the Novena for the intercession of St. Michael the Arcangel last week, and my intention had been that God may work through this situation to allow Fr. Rodriguez to be an even more fruitful vehicle of God’s Grace, no matter where he serves.  Some may wish to have the intention that Fr. Rodriguez be restored at San Juan Bautista, and this time as pastor, not “pastoral administrator.”   I will continue praying Novenas for these intentions. 

Below are the dates of some upcoming Novenas:

SEPT 29 – OCT 7: Novena in Honor of St. Michael (typically started before the Feast Day, which is today, but you can start it today)
OCT 8 – OCT 16: Novena to St. Therese
OCT 17 – OCT 25: Novena to St. Francis
OCT 26 – NOV 3: Christ the King Novena

For your convenience, a moderate length version of the St. Michael Novena:

Glorious Saint Michael,
guardian and defender
of the Church of Jesus Christ,
come to the assistance of His followers,
against whom the powers of hell are unchained.
Guard with special care our Holy Father,
the Pope, and our bishops, priests,
all our religious and lay people,
and especially the children.

Saint Michael,
watch over us during life,
defend us against the assaults of the demon,
and assist us especially at the hour of death.
Help us achieve the happiness
of beholding God face to face
for all eternity. Amen.

Saint Michael,
intercede for me with God
in all my necessities, especially….

“the intention is stated here”

Obtain for me a favorable outcome
in the matter I recommend to thee.
Mighty prince of the heavenly host,
and victor over rebellious spirits,
remember me for I am weak and sinful
and so prone to pride and ambition.

Be for me, I pray,
my powerful aid in temptation and difficulty,
and above all do not forsake me
in my last struggle with the powers of evil.
Amen.

I strongly encourage all to offer all these Novenas, as well as Rosary intentions and other prayers, for Fr. Michael Rodriguez and all good, holy priests they know.  In our family, we pray for many priests every night during our family prayer time.  These prayers not only help the priests, they help us.  Prayers for others are a great spiritual work of mercy.  I pray our joint efforts may effect great wonders!

The cheap ‘price’ of sex – cultural collapse in microcosm? September 29, 2011

Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, disaster, foolishness, General Catholic, horror, Interior Life, sadness, scandals, sickness, Society, Tradition.
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I think this article on reasons why young women today give it up at the drop of a hat grossly oversimplifies very complex situations, but I did want to post it and make a couple of comments:

Women are jumping into the sack faster and with fewer expectations about long-term commitments than ever, effectively discounting the “price” of sex to a record low, according to social psychologists.

More than 25% of young women report giving it up within the first week of dating……….

researchers found a full 30% of young men’s sexual relationships involve no romance at all — no wooing, dating, goofy text messaging. Nothing. Just sex………[I’m sure the young men are very self-satisfied.  Very likely they have never even heard someone mention as a possibility whether fornication could lead to a soul’s damnation]

“If sex has been very easy to get for a particular young man for many years and over the course of multiple relationships, what would eventually prompt him to pay a lot for it in the future — that is, committing to marry?”
 
……..So, what can women do to return the balance of sexual power in their favor? Stop putting out…….
Sorry for the vulgar language – it is the sad language of our times.  And all the talk in the article about the “price of sex” is just silly.  All that talk means is that women are giving up sex for virtually any man they find remotely interesting.  More on that later.   The article made a point at the end that women in other, “less egalitarian” and presumably less “enlightened” cultures, tend to “group together” to deny sex to men and so keep their “sexual value” high.  First of all, commodotizing God’s precious gift of sexuality, as the article does, is disgusting, but the behavior of the vast majority of people in today’s culture is far worse.   The women in the “backwards” cultures don’t refrain from sex to keep their value “high,” or if they do it’s a tertiary or lower concern, they do so because they operate in a culture that still knows and follows traditional morality, which is derived from the natural law and the moral code of God that is written on all men’s hearts.  If they were to be a ‘loose woman,’ they know they would be ostracized in that culture.  In our culture, we have the opposite paradigm – those who prize chastity and other moral virtues are viewed as bizaare, as oddities to be observed perhaps occasionally but kept well away from.  And the culture continues to collapse into morass – precisely because there are absolutely no moral standards anymore.  The domination of modernism is total (outside of small communities of faithful of various stripes – orthodox Catholics and some other Christian sects, orthodox Jews, some muslims (who have their own issues….), etc), everything is relative, there is no truth but your “truth.” 
 
The other point I wanted to make was that studies have shown that women that have had several partners are incredibly more likely to divorce.  That is, they tend to grow dissatisfied with their marriages and initiate divorce.  I posted on this some time back, but some study showed that a woman who had 20 or more partners prior to marriage has a likelihood of divorce of nearly 100%.  Those who have had 3 partners have a likelihood of 50%.  So even if these many, many young women of today who have had numerous partners ever do marry, the likelihood is that they will divorce at least once.  And the destruction of marriage continues.
 
There is only one way out of this morass, and that is a return to traditional morality.  Cultures that have gone down the path of self-degradation and rejection of God’s Law in the past have invariably collapsed.  And the people who populate those cultures endure incredible sufferings and unhappiness as a result of their actions.  The young people of today, especially the men, may feel happy at present in a superficial way, always getting what they want and not having to pay any significant price, but the price even then is high, for they are denying that voice of God calling to them from inside, and who knows what life will be like for them in their 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond, when they are alone and have no partner?
 
And only 14% of Catholics think premarital sex is sinful.  Now, why would that be?
 
Lord, please restore your Church.