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Friday, August 26, 2022 – GREGORY DIPIPPO

Imagine most of our readers have already seen at least one particular section of the interview which the actor Shia LaBoeuf gave yesterday to His Excellency Bishop Robert Barron. But if you have only seen or read the part in which he talks about the role the traditional Latin Mass played in his recent conversion, and his appreciation of it, I would very strongly urge you to listen to the whole thing, which is incredibly moving and interesting.

Vidi Aquam

During Eastertide, the preface to the mass changes. The Asperges me is replaced in the order of the Mass by the Vidi aquam, adapted from Ezekiel 47. I saw water flowing from the right side of the temple, alleluia, the choir sings, and all they to whom that water came were saved, and they shall say, alleluia, alleluia. In and through this chant, the Church makes three interconnected statements – about ourselves, about our salvation, and about our Saviour.

During the remainder of the year, the preface to the Mass begins with the choir singing from Ps. 50, Miserere mei. Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy. And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity. The Miserere mei is, perhaps, the most perfect of the penitential psalms, expressing both a firm awareness of both our sinfulness and our sin – For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me – but also a firm conviction of the mercy and forgiveness of the Lord. Asperges me hyssopo, et mundabor; lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor. Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. It is this latter verse, rather than any other, that is sung while the priest sprinkles water over the congregation, matching word to deed, action to consequence.

During Eastertide, while the action of the priest’s sprinkling remains the same, the antiphon changes. Vidi aquam egredientem de templo, a latere dextro, alleluia. I saw water flowing from the right side of the temple, alleluia. This antiphon reminds us from where the water of the sprinkling comes, the water with the power to forgive sins and give life. It comes from the temple – the same temple of which our Lord said Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. For forgiveness of sins was only purchased with the birth of the church, when one of the soldiers with a spear opened his side, and immediately there came out blood and water. And to this day we say and we sing, all they to whom that water came were saved, and they shall say, alleluia, alleluia.

And this is the third thread that binds the Vidi aquam to the Asperges me. For it was not water only that issued from the open side our Lord Jesus Christ, but blood and water. Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, the psalmist writes. Why is it that David specifies hyssop? It is because by hyssop David recalls the first passover. Dip a bunch of hyssop in the blood that is at the door, and sprinkle the transom of the door therewith, and both the door cheeks: let none of you go out of the door of his house till morning. For the Lord will pass through striking the Egyptians: and when he shall see the blood on the transom, and on both the posts, he will pass over the door of the house, and not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses and to hurt you. Whose is the blood? The blood is of the lamb without blemish… the victim of the passage of the Lord. It is that selfsame lamb whom is offered, under the species of bread and wine, at every altar of the Church in every nation of the world.

There is more that can be said. There is always more that can be said of the treasures of the Faith. But today, let us only say, with the rest of the Church, Give praise to the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Terra Tremuit

Terra tremuit et quievit dum resurgeret in judicio Deus.

Alleluia.

(Composer: Giovanni Perluigi da Palestrina)

Today is the sixth day in the octave of Easter – so Happy Easter!

The Terra Tremuit – a most peculiar Offertory for the most joyful day of Easter. The earth trembled, and was still when God arose to judgement. At first glance, very unlike the Gradual of the day – Haec dies quam fecit Dominus: exultemus et laetemur in ea. This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice therein. Earthquakes are considered by tradition to be one of the great punishments for sin, especially the sin of a whole nation; even in the Litinae Sanctorum, we pray – A flagello terraemotus, libera nos, Domine. From the scourge of the earthquake, free us, O Lord. Why this antiphon, from Psalm 75, on this day?

The first, most obvious answer, is found in Matthew’s account of the Resurrection. And in the end of the sabbath, when it began to dawn towards the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalen and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre. And behold there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and coming, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. The very first Easter morning was heralded by a great earthquake, one that broke open the tomb where the Lord lay buried.

Interestingly, this earthquake Matthew records is the second of the Triduum, not the first; the first is on Good Friday. At the very moment of our Lord’s death, the apostle records, And behold the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top even to the bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rocks were rent. This, most certainly, is an occasion for judgement; even a sin of a whole nation against God, a sin that cries out to heaven for vengeance like the blood of Abel. But this is not Good Friday; today is Easter, the very day when we celebrate the victory of mercy over judgement, and life over death. The question remains; why? Why now? Let us turn at last to Psalm 75 itself, from which the offertory is taken:

Thou hast caused judgment to be heard from heaven: the earth trembled and was still,

When God arose in judgment, to save all the meek of the earth.

For the thought of man shall give praise to thee: and the remainders of the thought shall keep holiday to thee.

Vow ye, and pay to the Lord your God: all you that are round about him bring presents. To him that is terrible,

Even to him who taketh away the spirit of princes: to the terrible with the kings of the earth. Ps 75 vv 9-13

Here! Here is an answer to why we celebrate, why we give praise, and bring presents to Him; for today we keep holiday of the day He executed judgement, taking away the spirit of princes. We celebrate that judgement has been executed not against us, but for us – to save all the meek of the earth, may we be counted among them. Instead, today the judgement is exercised against the princes and the kings of the earth.

Who are these princes, to whom God is not merciful, but terrible? Read in the most literal sense, these are the princes of the Gentiles, the leaders of nations, the mighty men of the earth; and, while this is frequently true, this is not the full meaning. If we turn to Psalm 81, we find another, fuller meaning:

God hath stood in the congregation of gods: and being in the midst of them he judgeth gods.

How long will you judge unjustly: and accept the persons of the wicked?

Judge for the needy and fatherless: do justice to the humble and the poor.

Rescue the poor; and deliver the needy out of the hand of the sinner.

They have not known nor understood: they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth shall be moved.

I have said: You are gods and all of you the sons of the most High.

But you like men shall die: and shall fall like one of the princes.

Arise, O God, judge thou the earth: for thou shalt inherit among all the nations. Ps. 81

Psalm 81 is the key to understanding this offertory, and why we celebrate not only Surgens Jesus, Dominus noster, but also and particularly resurgeret in judicio Deus. The princes of the earth upon which judgement has been executed this day are the elohim, the gods of the nations. Today, the incomparable Son of God arises in judgement over the “sons of the Most High”. And the sentence is this: the gods of the nations, the demons, shall die like men, for the Son of Man stands victorious over death – and Hell.

This Easter, take consolation in the judgement of our Lord, for it is also the final refuge of His mercy; and take comfort in His promises.

But I tell you the truth: it is expedient to you that I go: for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he is come, he will convict the world of sin, and of justice, and of judgment. Of sin: because they believed not in me. And of justice: because I go to the Father; and you shall see me no longer. And of judgment: because the prince of this world is already judged. John 16:7-11

(Traditional)

Prudential Judgment and the Death Penalty

Frodo: I am frightened; and I do not feel any pity for Gollum. … he is as bad as an Orc, and just an enemy. He deserves death.

Gandalf: Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends. I have not much hope that Gollum can be cured before he dies, but there is a chance of it.

— J.R.R. Tolkein. The Lord of the Rings. The Fellowship of the Ring. Book One. II. The Shadow of the Past

The Great State of Missouri executed three men since November and that prompted me to get down to work on this essay again. It had been cooking in my mind since this past summer. I don’t recall the circumstances, but a conversation had turned to the topic of capital punishment. I’d cited the Catechism on the point, and asserted that in Missouri in 2013 capital punishment isn’t licit. I heard something like this in reply:

The Church is not against the death penalty – she leaves it as a matter prudential judgment by Catholics, and that means the plain, everyday Catholics. The Church does not tell them they have to take college courses in theology, or do advanced research before making prudential judgments; she trusts them to make these prudential decisions for themselves. My prudential judgment is for capital punishment. Read more “Prudential Judgment and the Death Penalty” →

The Value of Preaching to the Choir

When we say, “preaching to the choir,” we mean “preaching to the converted.” It suggests that a lot of energy is being squandered trying to convince people of something about which they are already convinced, which is why preaching to the choir, whom we assume to be among the converted, is considered a waste of time.

So why do it? Chesterton and Dale Ahlquist tell us in this article from the Bellarmine Foundation Forum.

What Young Catholics Truly Want

One advantage I suppose to the condition of never quite having grown up is I spend time with young adults. This is becoming more and more difficult as I am less and less young myself — before my hair turned entirely grey I could fit in a little easier. Still, one thing I hear from time to time is a cry in the wilderness about what young Catholics truly want. Maybe I get to hear it because I’m 1) not their parents, and 2) not a priest. But especially from the better educated or more sensitive, some variation on this is common

The problem is all these pastors, youth pastors and music directors keep telling us young folk what bores us, what we really like, what we find interesting. And guess what, THEY’RE WRONG!

There’s a young woman with a blog who calls herself Rachel and wrote an essay What Young Catholics Truly Want. I recommend it. Some of the comments are evidently from priests who seem to know what Young Catholics Truly Want and want (evidently) to give it to them, but they’re afraid of alienating Catholics my age on up. I don’t quite know what to tell them about that particularly, but it sure looks to me like the concept of Youth Ministry should be revisited. Any Young Catholics reading this? What do you think?

Archbishop Carlson’s Sermon

In case you missed it, here is a transcription of Archbishop Carlson’s Sermon given at the closing Mass of the Fortnight For Freedom, July 3rd, 2013. For the time being at least, you can click here to hear and see the St. Louis Review’s video (sorry, no longer available) made at the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica, with about 1,500 in attendance. It may go behind the paywall, we don’t know. The transcript was made from the video by a Credo Board member, and he added some footnotes and hyperlinks. The opening greetings have been omitted. Without further ado, the Most Reverend Robert J. Carlson, Archbishop of St. Louis:

… As I welcome you to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, as we gather to pray this day for the protection of Religious Freedom, we do so on the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle. St. Thomas is probably best remembered for the passage in today’s Gospel that speaks about his doubt of the resurrection of our Lord. But through God’s great mercy and love, he was able to encounter in a personal way as each of must Jesus Christ. And through God’s good Grace, his heart was opened. And he said to the Lord as we read in today’s Gospel making his great act of faith “my Lord and my God¹”. Read more “Archbishop Carlson’s Sermon” →

Go and Announce the Gospel of the Lord Archbishop…

Archbishop J. Carlson has written a pastoral letter for the Year of Faith titled Go and Announce the Gospel of the Lord wherein he gives a forthright recitation of what Credo Co-Founder Ken Jones called Leading Catholic Indicators, asks what it means for the future, and moves on to examine what caused it and what can be done about it.

He identifies three causes: 1) Confusion following Second Vatican; 2) Secularization, and 3) Personal Sin, which his Excellency called “Personal Choices”. But he wrote unequivocally about sin. He hints at solutions in this section: leadership, education, engagement and personal holiness. Read more “Go and Announce the Gospel of the Lord Archbishop Robert J Carlson” →

Peter Kreeft Lecture on Blaise Pascal and the New…

The first annual John Cardinal Glennon Lecture in Philosophy was a Peter Kreeft Lecture on Blaise Pascal and the New Evangelization. This assigned topic turned out a lively recap of his 2003 book Christianity for Modern Pagans, which is a commentary on (some of) Pascal’s Pensées (thoughts), which in turn was a posthumously published collection of little notes he’d made and didn’t live long enough to ruin by turning them into a book. If you’re wondering what Pascal might have to offer “apostate Christendom” besides his famous Wager, Kreeft said he thinks Pascal is the single most effective apologist he knows of for moderns. What follows here is only one example from the lecture and is very much abbreviated, so by all means order a copy of the lecture by calling St. Joseph Radio at (636)447-6000. $10, tax & postage included. If you can send a little extra, it will help pay the rent and carry on with an important (if grossly underutilized) service. We recommend buying several copies and giving them to any modern pagans you may know. Maybe it’ll whet their appetites for the book. Read more “Peter Kreeft Lecture on Blaise Pascal and the New Evangelization” →

Can Dignitatis Humanae Be Reconciled With Traditional Catholic Doctrine?

Can Dignitatis Humanae be reconciled with traditional Catholic doctrine? A new book-length debate on this question between Credo Spiritual Adviser Fr. Brian Harrison O.S. and Arnold T. Guminski has just come off the press and is available for order from St. Augustine’s Press by clicking here.

One of the gravest and most divisive issues confronting the Catholic Church in recent decades—a major factor in an ongoing institutionalized rupture between Rome and at least half a million traditionalist Catholics – is the question of whether Vatican II’s Declaration Dignitatis Humanae (DH) can be reconciled with traditional Church doctrine on religious liberty. Although the book is not a primer on the Church’s traditional teaching and is not an exhaustive treatment of DH, it does provide a tour and “a sound albeit select introduction to the history of Church teaching on religious liberty.” Read more “Can Dignitatis Humanae Be Reconciled With Traditional Catholic Doctrine?” →