LENTCAzT 2026 – 29: Wednesday 4th Week in Lent – Purity and Mud

Posted on 18 March 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A 5 minute daily podcast to help you in your Lenten discipline.

We hear about St Paul’s outside the walls, the Roman Station.  The man born blind represents the human race. And Benedict XVI on water, light and life.

Yesterday’s podcast – HERE

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SSPX in Italy sent a book all Italian Bishops about the upcoming consecrations

Posted on 17 March 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The days are ticking down.  What’s going to happen?

The SSPX in Italy has sent a booklet to all the residential bishops of the Italian Bishops Conference. HERE

The Priestly Society of Saint Pius X has sent to all the residential bishops of Italy the recently published book in which it explains the reasons behind the announced episcopal consecrations. The booklet, published by Edizioni Piane, the official publishing house of the SSPX in Italy, with the eloquent title ” At the Service of the Church ,” sets out the main theological and canonical arguments justifying what Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, in 1988, called “operation survival” of Tradition.

Delivered to the Bishops these days, the book introduces itself with a quote from St. Paul: “Even if we, or an angel from heaven, were to preach to you a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be accursed” (Gal 1:8). By “we ourselves,” the Apostle refers to the entire Apostolic College, with Peter at its head, and today we must acknowledge the dire reality of this “gospel” adulterated by the very Shepherds of the flock who place souls in the need to protect themselves, a situation that underlies the right to resist Authority invoked by the Society of St. Pius X.

This gesture is intended to be, writes the District Superior, Don Gabriele D’Avino, in his letter of presentation to the Bishops, “an invitation to renew reflection on the crisis” in the Church, and on the battle that must be undertaken to contribute to its Restoration; hoping “to be able to provide an opportunity, with this contribution, for a shared journey of reflection, study, and discussion, always and only in the interest of souls and for the greater glory of God.”

I wonder. How many of the 200+ diocesan bishops will read any of it it?  Maybe… tens?

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Daily Rome Shot 1568

Posted on 17 March 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Once a year, on the Feast of St. Frances of Rome, the convent she founded in the 15th c. is opened to the public. These rooms are painted with scenes from the life of the saint, so beloved by the Romans.

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This…

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LENTCAzT 2026 – 28: Tuesday 4th Week in Lent – Mass and Cross

Posted on 17 March 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A 5 minute daily podcast to help you in your Lenten discipline.

We hear about San Lorenzo in Damaso, the Roman Station.  Fulton Sheen aligns moments of the Mass with Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross.

Yesterday’s podcast – HERE

This is not to be missed.

Tenebrae at Ephesus

US HERE – UK HERE

These are the RESPONSORIES of Tenebrae for all three days of the Triduum.  They are, arguably, the most beautiful chants of the entire liturgical year.  Exquisitely sung by the Benedictine nuns of Gower Abbey.

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Daily Rome Shot 1567 – It was worse than we thought

Posted on 16 March 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The chapel of an old Roman family in the Palazzo Massimo. It has the status of a church. The Palazzo is open once a year on the anniversary of a miracle worked by St. Philip Neri: he raised the Prince’s son from the dead. Priests are able to celebrate Mass in the chapel on this day. I have done so many times, though not lately.

Photos from The World’s Best Sacristan™.

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First, check this out…. the “Pachamama” demon garbage that infected the Vatican and St. Peter’s itself at the time of the Amazon “Walking Together” debacle is even worse than most of us knew.  We knew it was bad – yes, putting that demonic-idol bowl on the altar over the bones of Peter was a horrid sacrilege – but its really bad, as in human sacrifice bad.  HERE

Meanwhile, Holy Sepulcher is closed.

And…

Black to move and mate in 4. HERE

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Such wealth and depth we have in the traditional Roman Rite

Posted on 16 March 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Before Lent was lengthened, yesterday, Laetare Sunday, was the mid-point of Lent. Another nickname for the 4th Sunday in Lent is “Mediana“. In this week the fast, but not abstinence, was somewhat relaxed as a kind of refresher before Passiontide. Hence, Laetare Sunday was also called “Refreshment” Sunday along with “Mothering” Sunday because of the maternal imagery, especially in the Antiphon. On that note, in the Vetus Ordo, today, Monday in mediana, we have the famous judgment of two mothers by Solomon from 1 Kings 3:16-28 (which is 3 Kings in the DRV).  The two mothers (prostitutes) symbolize the Synagogue verses the Church.  There are representations of the scene in painting in Pompeii!

From today onward our Gospels will be mainly from John. If there are variants, they result from the time of Gregory II as later additions. Today, however, in the Gospel of John 2 the Lord chases the money changers from the Temple where they had occupied the courtyard of the Gentiles. Christ makes a divinity claim that will be held against him in His trial, so we are already looking toward Passiontide in this liturgical moment, as kind of forward-looking review.

Such wealth and depth we have in the traditional Roman Rite, so carefully tended and polished and adjusted over more than a millennium of loving care.

During the feria days of Lent, we have a final “Prayer over the people” after the Postcommunion.

Let us pray.
Bow your heads to God.
Generously heed our entreaty, O Lord, we beseech You, and grant Your helpful protection to those who have been given a desire to pray.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
R. Amen.

Here is today’s with a comment about it by Bl. Ildefonso Schuster.

The missa, or Prayer of Benediction over the people before their dismissal, begs the divine clemency that, having granted us the grace of raising our supplications to God in order to obtain protection from the dangers that threaten us, we may duly attain to the salvation for which we pray.

The grace of prayer is one of the highest favours that God imparts to the human soul. Prayer is indeed the atmosphere in which holiness develops and flourishes; it enables the Holy Ghost to communicate himself to the soul and to bind it to himself with the bonds of love. The whole essence of asceticism is contained in this one word ” prayer.” We first pray in order to obtain the help of God’s grace in our struggles in the path of purification ; and, when we are engaged in the path of meditation, again we have recourse to prayer. In heaven itself we shall do nothing else but pray, so we may consider prayer as the beginning of our future state of blessedness.

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LENTCAzT 2026 – 27: Monday 4th Week in Lent – The truth and you

Posted on 16 March 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A 5 minute daily podcast to help you in your Lenten discipline.

We hear about Santi Quatro Coronati, the Roman Station.  Joseph Ratzinger delivers insights about the truth and union with the Church.

Yesterday’s podcast – HERE

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Your Sunday Sermon Notes – Laetare Sunday, 4th in/of Lent 2026

Posted on 15 March 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Too many people today are without good, strong preaching, to the detriment of all. Share the good stuff.

Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at your Mass of obligation for this Laetare Sunday the 4th in Lent and in the Novus Ordo 4th Sunday of Lent?

Tell us about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass.

Any local changes or (hopefully good) news?

A taste of what I offered at 1 Peter 5 this week:

[…]

St. John Henry Newman, in a description preserved in Wilfrid Ward’s Life of Cardinal Newman, captured the Roman concreteness of the place: “This Basilica is so called, because Saint Helena, not only brought the True Cross there, but earth from Mount Calvary on which the Chapel or the Altar there is built.” The translation needed is scarcely more than the sentence itself, for it is plain English and deeply suggestive: Rome received Jerusalem into herself, so that one may stand in the heart of Rome and touch, as it were, the soil of Calvary. Newman continues, “thus if there be a centre of the Church, we shall be there, when we are on earth from Jerusalem in the midst of Rome.”

[…]

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LENTCAzT 2026 – 26: Laetare Sunday, 4th in Lent – The goal

Posted on 15 March 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A 5 minute daily podcast to help you in your Lenten discipline.

We hear about Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, the Roman Station. Fr. Troadec delves into this point in Lent. Card. Bacci says prayer is the key to Heaven. He has sobering words at the end.

Yesterday’s podcast – HERE

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Daily Rome Shot 1566

Posted on 14 March 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links.  US HERE – WHY?  This helps to pay for health insurance, utilities, groceries, and now also my late mother’s place.  At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.  

Happy PI DAY!

Old orders can go dormant and then be revived later by fresh blood!

White to move and mate in 4. HERE

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