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Clarifying “latin Mass” November 15, 2012

Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Dallas Diocese, Eucharist, General Catholic, Glory, Interior Life, Latin Mass, Liturgy, North Deanery, Tradition, Virtue.
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I had a discussion with a pious woman today after Mass, a discussion I’ve had many times before.  She is a nice lady who I know has been trying hard to grow in her faith for several years.  And she has an interest in assisting at Latin Mass, especially the Traditional Latin Mass.  But, she had a lot of questions over terms.  I’ve heard these questions so  many times, I thought I would put together a post to help people understand what is meant by various phrases used to describe different forms of the Mass.  I pray that one day, there will only be ONE form of the Mass.  I think you know which form I am alluding to.

Anyway, to hopefully put to rest some of the confusion, here is what we have:

  • There are TWO forms of the Mass.
  • The Extraordinary Form of the Mass, so-called by Pope Benedict XVI, is the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), the Mass that existed prior to Vatican II, the Mass many remember from their youth/childhood. It is also sometimes called the Tridentine Mass.
  • The Ordinary Form is the Mass since Vatican II (the Novus Ordo), the Mass you see at most every parish in the country day-in and day-out.  This is almost always in the vernacular (English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, etc), but can be in Latin.

The Extraordinary Form Mass, or Traditional Latin Mass, is what it is – and what it is, is awesome!  There are some variants – low Mass, high or sung Mass, Solemn Pontifical Masses, but, this Mass is always in Latin, it’s always offered by the priest facing the Lord in the Tabernacle, it is very much the same no matter where it is offered.

The Ordinary Form can be offered in Latin, but rarely is.  There are actually far fewer Novus Ordo, or Ordinary Form, Latin masses in the US right now than there are TLMs.  There just isn’t a great deal of demand for Novus Ordo Latin Mass.  Those who want a really traditional Mass, ummmm……..tend to prefer the Traditional Latin Mass.  The vast majority of Ordinary Form Masses, as I said, are in the vernacular.  There are also all kinds of variants of the Ordinary Form that trick it up – or butcher it, depending on your opinion – to one degree or another. There is the youth Mass, the children’s Mass, the Lifeteen Mass, the folk Mass, the charismatic Mass, the mariachi Mass (increasingly popular), and of course the 255 different languages in which the Ordinary Form is presently offered (that might be old – it could be more by now).

At St. Mark on Monday nights, we (still?) have the Novus Ordo Latin Mass.  It’s the same Mass as in virtually every parish in the country, but in Latin.  The Novus Ordo is also offered in Latin on Sundays and most holy days at St. William in Greenville.

The Traditional Latin Mass in this Diocese is only offered at the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) parish of Mater Dei.  The prayers and actions of the priest in the TLM are very, very different from those of the Novus Ordo. There is a much heavier focus on sacrifice, our need for contrition for our sins, and our unworthiness to be present at – let alone receive! – such an august, stupefyingly beautiful Sacrament.  But, God’s beneficent Mercy also comes shining through this Mass, producing, in many, a sense of profound thanksgiving. If you have never been to a Traditional Latin Mass, I cannot recommend it strongly enough!  But, if you do go, go at least 3 or 4 weeks (or days) in a row, because there will be a period of adjustment.

I know most of this will be superfluous for most of my readers, but I pray it may prove helpful to some.

Dominus vobiscum!

On the radio tonight at 9pm! November 15, 2012

Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin, awesomeness, Dallas Diocese, fun, General Catholic, Sacraments, Society.
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Salve Regina radio is back tonight (Thurs, Nov. 15) on Fidelis Radio!  Listen live here or anytime after the fact!  I will be discussing some further aspects of the election and the leadership we need to be praying for from our episcopate!   I also plan to talk about Confession some more, and how we all need to be availing ourselves of this great and so very necessary Sacrament on a very regular basis!

Next week I hope to have Fr. Rodriguez back on.

When I said they saw Obama as their lord and savior…….. November 15, 2012

Posted by Tantumblogo in asshatery, disaster, error, foolishness, General Catholic, secularism, sickness, silliness, Society.
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……I didn’t really mean to be hyperbolic.  I think there are people in this country – more than a trivial amount, I mean millions of people – who look on Barack Hussein Obama as really a messiah.  There was of course the whole “lightworker” garbage in 2008, and the weird cult-like followings with use of children, and the people expecting Obama to pay their rent, and car payments, and grocery bills (check, check, and check!) etc, but now we have a black university professor at predominately black  Florida A&M who has written a book describing Obama as an “apostle,” and not only that, an “apostle” who has a new “gospel:”

According to a book written by longtime Florida A&M University professor Barbara A. Thompson, Barack Obama is no mere mortal. He is, as she wrote, “Apostle Barack,” sent to create a “heaven here on earth,” a post at PJ Tatler said Monday.

In her book, “The Gospel According to Apostle Barack: In Search of a More Perfect Political Union as ‘Heaven Here on Earth,'” Professor Thompson says she was given this message in her dreams.

“Yes, Barack had worked tirelessly on behalf of the American people, [with all that golf, and constant junkets to Vegas, and the numerous vacations his wife and kids have taken at taxpayer expense] especially those who elected him in 2008. His followers needed to re-elect him to a second term, so that he could continue to accomplish the promises he made, thus, realizing his vision of America as a more perfect political union or heaven here on earth,’” the book description at Amazon says. [Uff da…….]

“Then, as I began to contemplate ways to assist Barack in his 2012 re-election bid something miraculous happened. I felt God’s (His) Spirit beckoning me in my dreams at night. Listening, cautiously, I learned that Jesus walked the earth to create a more civilized society, [no, no, NO NO!  Jesus is God Incarnate on earth to offer up the Sacrifice of the God-man to God for the salvation of souls!  To provide a Sacrifice acceptable to God for the infinitely heinous crime of sin, which our first parents committed. This is the perversion of Christianity into marxist materialist liberation theology claptrap.  Archbishop Muller of the CDF, your ears should be burning!]  Martin (Luther King) walked the earth to create a more justified society, but, Apostle Barack, the name he was called in my dreams, would walk the earth to create a more equalized society, for the middle class and working poor,” she added. [First of all, this is so parochial it’s not even funny.  There is, after all, an entire world outside the US. And whatever red light Obama has, it’s pretty dim in most of the rest of the world]

“Barack, the next young leader with a new cause, had been taken to the mountaintop and allowed to see over the other side. He had the answers to unlock the kingdom of ‘heaven here on earth’ for his followers. The answers were repeated – over and over – in speeches Barack had made from his presidential announcement to his inaugural address. Those speeches or his teachings contained the answers to the middle class and working poor people living in a ‘heaven here on earth.’ For when the answers were unlocked and enacted, Apostle Barack’s vision of America would be realized,” Thompson wrote.

Alright.  Obviously, someone has drunk a bit too much kool-aid.  But I don’t think I would be incorrect in claiming that there are presently millions of Americans who have this incredibly reductive view of…..is it even Christianity, anymore?……whatever materialist worldly “religion” they feel they hold.  This is something the Popes have been warning about for 2 centuries and more, especially since the French Revolution, materialists within and without the Church who see Christianity as nothing more than a vehicle of social change.  I have no idea of what kind of faith, if any, this woman professes, but I know that what she is preaching is entirely in line with the very screwed up “gospel” Barack Obama heard from Jeremiah Wright for decades at that churchy place in Chicago.  It’s not Christianity, it’s socialism aping some Christian terms for effect.

And how many Catholics are there who think similarly, if not perhaps to the same warped, almost deranged degree?