On December 17th we enter into that final stretch of our Advent preparation. In the Church’s solemn prayer of the hours, at Vespers, the great “O Antiphons” are sung. Today we have the first.
Years ago, I made a little webpage for the O Antiphons. It might be useful.
By way of introduction, here are a few points every Catholic should know.
First, the song Veni, veni Emmanuel is a musical presentation of the themes of the O Antiphons.
Second, the first letters of the “addressee” of the Antiphon, arranged backward spell out “Ero cras… I will be (there) tomorrow”. So, there is a clever “count-down” in the antiphons.
Third, each of the “O Antiphons” carries Old Testament biblical figures. At the same time each one carries an element of the New Covenant. These two characteristics are juxtaposed and a third dimension emerges which serves as a point of meditation when considering the Incarnate Word, the Son of God made flesh.
Today’s O Antiphon is O Sapientia.
LATIN: O Sapientia, quae ex ore Altissimi prodidisti, attingens a fine usque ad finem, fortiter suaviter disponensque omnia: veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.
ENGLISH: O Wisdom, who came from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from end to end and ordering all things mightily and sweetly: come, and teach us the way of prudence.
Scripture References:
Proverbs 1:20; 8; 9
I Corinthians 1:30
Relevant verse of Veni, Veni Emmanuel: O come, O Wisdom from on high,
who orders all things mightily,
to us the path of knowledge show,
and teach us in her ways to go.
In today’s “O Antiphon” – “O Sapientia” – we are drawn into the Old Testament’s wisdom literature. Wisdom is a divine attribute. The divine Wisdom is personified. Wisdom is the beloved daughter who was before Creation, Wisdom is the breath of God’s power, Wisdom is the shining of God’s (transforming) glory. (See Sirach 24:3 and Wisdom 8:1.)
Wisdom is also something which we deeply desire. It is also a human attribute, not just a divine attribute, though authentic human wisdom is never separated from a relationship with God. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, as we learn from the psalms as well as the school of personal hard-knocks. From this convergence of awesome respect for God with the experience of learning through life’s mysterious calendar, we understand (if we are wise) that wisdom is more than mere knowledge. It is something more than love. It is something more than just a special astuteness regarding how to get along in life, a certain kind of savior faire. Rooted as it is in fear of the Lord, true human wisdom is both love and that knowledge of God that seeks to understand, the knowledge that is completed by faith.
The Prologue of John’s Gospel refers to the “Verbum caro factum...the Word made flesh”. He is the divine Logos… the eternal thought/word/reason. Through Him all things were made. Without Him nothing can be. So, the New Testament image in the Prologue of John brings to completion the imagery of Wisdom. He, the Word, is the archetype of the material universe. All things are ordered in and to Him.
Our lives, to be happy, need order. Our individual private lives and our collective lives in larger society must have structure and order. They must be disposed in such a way that the real and genuine good of all is fostered and promoted. Thus, in human governance we struggle to find the proper balance of exercise of power (without which governance and order is not possible) and gentle concern for the individual and community (without which there is mere imposition and tyranny and exploitation for some end material or ideological). Wisdom permits the balance of these.
This first “O Antiphon” shows us the Creator of all that is invisible and visible, the whole of spiritual and material creation. Creation is moving according to an eternally disposed plan of divine Providence toward an inexorable end: that God may be all in all. In this end the blessed elect will participate. We have had the way opened for us toward this end by the Word (divine) made flesh (human). Our humanity now sits in transformed glory at the right hand of the Father in an indestructible bond with the Son’s divinity. The risen Christ is the new Adam…the new Creation. With unspeakable sweetness He orders our salvation. With irresistible power all things exist and move according to His will. Our lives have meaning only in Him, according to His guidance, who handles us “suaviter et fortiter“.
Our Old Testament and New Testament figures and images merge into a new point of reflection for our lives which today’s “O Antiphon” underscores as “prudence” – “Come…Teach us the way of prudence!”
“Prudence” comes from the Latin “to see/look ahead”. It is one of the four “cardinal” virtues, the one upon which the other virtues depend. Prudence is a habit of the intellect that allows us to see in any circumstance what is virtuous and what is not. Prudence helps us to seek what is virtuous and avoid what is not. Prudence perfects the intellect (rather than the will) in practical decisions. It determines which course of action must be taken. It indicates what the golden mean is hic et nunc…here and now. This mean is at the core of every virtue. Without the virtue of prudence courage becomes foolhardiness… rushing in to the wrong danger in the wrong way at the wrong time. Without the governing of prudence mercy devolves into slackness and enervated weakness, spinelessness.
But this is still a kind of prudence which is merely human prudence, not looking beyond the issues of daily life. We must also look beyond this vale of tears. In addition to the prudence which grows out of the school of hard-knocks and which becomes a sound and good habit through repeated acts, there is another prudence, an “infused” prudence. This kind of prudence is a grace given us by God out of His merciful love. This greater prudence, which governs other grace-filled virtues, cannot be separated from the life of grace. It is exercised in the state of grace. Mortal sin is its enemy. This higher kind of prudence helps us to determine the proper things that help us to salvation. It helps us to avoid things that slam the door that Christ opened (mortal sin). Thus, prudence cannot be separated from charity, which is in the soul as a characteristic of sanctifying (habitual) grace.
Today in the opening “O Antiphon” we sing to Emmanuel who is coming. We plead with Him, for He orders all things “sweetly and strongly.” He teaches us how to avoid things that harm us, both in material concerns and in our pursuit of the happiness of heaven. He teaches us true prudence.
Take stock: is there something going on in my life that needs to be examined in prudence? Am I doing something which is going to be an obstacle to the happiness of heaven? Christ is coming, both at Christmas as the infant King and the end of the world as the Judge and King of fearful majesty. This is a cause to rejoice. But it is also cause to prepare prudently and well the way of the Lord and make straight His paths before He comes, as we heard about on “Gaudete” (“Rejoice!) Sunday of Advent.
Listen to the monks at Le Barroux sing this antiphon and the Magnificat with which it is inextricably bound:
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On the churchy side of things, a couple articles of note.
First, Larry Chapp eviscerates Card. Cupich’s recent clericalist attempt to force people to receive Communion according to his 70’s preferences. He also looks at the “sham” of “walking together” and what went on at Vatican II. HERE
At Crisis they are – deservedly – piling on. There is another opinion piece about the dreadful Communion letter. HERE A taste:
taking a moment during the blessed Advent season to cast judgment on people’s piety would not aid in a deeper appreciation for Christ in the Eucharist.
Also, there is a review of Edward Feser’s book: Immortal Souls: A Treatise on Human NatureHERE I haven’t read this yet, but I’ve read other things by Feser which touch on the topic. He’s good. I think the book will be hard, but rewarding.
Michael Matt of The Remnant has a great piece about Joselito, St Jose Sanchez del Rio.
Here’s a story to inspire your children. Joselito, the young Cristero martyr:
“We are going to kill you!” they taunted.
“Viva Cristo Rey y la Virgen de Guadalupe!” he cheered.
At the cemetery, Gomez the gravedigger waited with pick and shovel near the open grave. He had been… pic.twitter.com/rGS7KUhFpd
Lately my friend Fr. Carlos Martins has been in the press. It is not a coincidence that the very day that his book on exorcism is released he is accused of something “inappropriate” with a child, and the reportage from a particular source irresponsibly make it sound as if it were something sexual (hence, doing the Enemy a great favor). Fr. Martins has been, for now, silenced by his superiors. He has engaged representation. Meanwhile, some people who have listened and read have retained their heads in the correct direction. A good example are the folks from Catholic Unscripted. Two of their team made a video which pretty much sums up the state of the situation.
Fr. Martins has changed lives through his apostolate Treasures of the Church with relics. Will he be cleared to the point that it can continue? I pray so. May the agents of the Enemy fail.
Another view of the presepio at The Parish™ in Rome. So much going on!
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More from the Archconfraternity’s day for feeding those in need.
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Thanks also to WW who switched away from Continue.
And over at San Damaso…
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The other day the Arch of the Windy City made it clear in his archdiocesan paper that he didn’t want people to kneel to receive Communion, because – get this – it’s against tradition. Yes, that’s his argument. Here it is in a nut shell (and I do mean nut): Communion time involves a procession, processions are traditional, stopping to kneel is contrary to the procession, therefore kneeling is against tradition. You can’t make this stuff up.
In any event, this nonsense has been refuted by Edward Feser HERE
Cardinal Cupich’s concerns are about procedural efficiency and human community. The Eucharist is about communion with God, which infinitely outweighs such considerations – and the awareness that it does is precisely what the practice of kneeling helps inculcate.
Even at that, he’s wrong, dead wrong, about the sense of human community. At the Communion rail, you will have an experience you will otherwise never have, and it will be precisely one of community: kneeling beside a stranger, while the Lord approaches, and not having to worry about stepping on his shoes or getting out of his way. You can see people’s faces as they receive. He is dead wrong. I won’t speculate as to how he came to be so insensible to such moments.
Furthermore, the Holy See made it crystal clear that the faithful ALWAYS have the right to kneel to receive, and to receive on the tongue, in Redemptionis Sacramentum.
?Just in: Archaeologists have discovered new evidence of Christianity from the early third century near Frankfurt, Germany.
A scroll was found reading “Saint Titus”: “Holy, holy, holy! In the name of Jesus Christ, Son of God!” pic.twitter.com/bwXm85pl9q
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 traditional 3rd Sunday of Advent?
Tell us about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass.
Any local changes or (hopefully good) news?
[…]
When the Lord returns, He is going to come by the straight way, whether you have helped to straighten it or not. Right now, that straightening can be gentle and merciful, even if there are repentant tears and the burdens of repairing wrongs and doing penance. However, when the Lord returns as Just Judge, King of Fearful Majesty, it will not be with gentle mercy. This week’s Gospel and next week’s from Luke 3 coordinate in Isaiah 40 about the ultimate Advent.
From the presepio at SS. Trinità dei Pellegrini in Rome. The Pope stopped for a visit.
For those of you in Columbia Heights, that’s was the Rome shot
This is not from the presepio….
It was bracing cold for a couple of days and remarkably refreshing. Now, it’s time to go, hopefully with no adventures- especially like a few days ago.
Meanwhile, back in Rome the Archconfraternity that St Philip Neri founded at Ss. Trinità hosted a meal for street people and the poor. They do this regularly. Right now they have to do it at the little oratory called the Caravita, next Sant’Ignazio. That’s because the octopus-like Community of Sant’Egidio has the Archconfraternity’s own refectory next the church in their tentacles and they cling to it, even though they have no need for it and it is underused. Thanks.
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White to move and win.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
However, I got this in the mail today, and it looked interesting. The fact that my old schoolmate Bp. Schneider is favorable is a good sign.
This is what they sent me:
Dear Father Z,
Praised be Jesus Christ! I hope this message greets you well in the adorable Jesus and in the sweet Mother Mary, our Hope!
My name is Sister Loretta-Maria, and I am the founding Sister of a new Traditional Carmelite Community that is building a monastery in High Springs, Florida.
This building project is for the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls through our vocation as contemplative women religious. Your assistance in helping us to spread the word to those who would be interested in helping us will be a wonderful blessing.
This building project will especially help traditional women in the religious world who have been persecuted for their love and devotion for conservative practices such as the Traditional Latin Mass.
His Excellency Bishop Athanasius Schneider blessed our building fund project, as we pursue our desire to build our autonomous Carmelite Monastery in the spirit of the Traditional Discalced Carmelites founded by Saint Teresa of Avila.
We have founded a 501c3 nonprofit corporation entitled “Habit Forming Sisters Corporation” in order to raise money through crowdfunding.
Our website showcases our community’s devotion to the traditions of the Holy Roman Catholic Church and the charism of Saint Teresa of Avila. https://habitformingsisters.wixsite.com/buildingproject
Our story was featured on several Catholic news outlets: https://habitformingsisters.wixsite.com/buildingproject/related-articles
Please help us with your prayerful support! We will keep you and the work of your priestly ministry very specially remembered in our life of prayer.
God bless you! Jesus and Mary love you!
In Christ,
Sister Loretta-Maria, OCD and Community of the future Our Lady Co-Redemptrix Carmelite Monastery
Many years ago I wrote in one of my foundations “manifestos” HERE:
Considering what is happening in the world now, I am pushed to think about the way Mass is being celebrated, even the number of Masses being celebrated. Once there were many communities of contemplatives, spending time before the Blessed Sacrament or in contemplation, in collective and in private prayer. There were many more Masses.
Many more people went to confession.
Who can know how they all lifted burdens from the world and turned large and small tides by their prayers to God for mercy and in reparation for sin?
One of you long-time readers here, FV, alerted me to the fact that his daughter contributed artwork for a post at NLM about St. Lucy. The idea was to contrast that hideous Jubilee mascot, the gay’d-up creepy Greta wannabe, Luce, with St. Lucy. Thanks to FV for this head’s up! I usually look at NLM but I appreciate the tip.
Here it is. I say, pretty talented! Fr. Z kudos.
__
13 December was the darkest day – with the least length of sunlight – of the old Julian calendar. Hence, it was once the Winter Solstice.
Today in the Gregorian calendar is the feast of St. Lucy, whose name from the Latin lux, for “light”, reminds us who dwell in the still darkening northern hemisphere that our days will soon be getting longer again.
Lucy will usually be depicted in art with a lantern, or with a crown of candles, or – most commonly – with her own eyes on a platter.
Some accounts have Lucy slain by having her throat thrust through with sword. Other accounts say that to protect her virginity she disfigured herself by cutting her own eyes out and sending them to her suitor, a plot likely to discourage him. St. Lucy is therefore the patroness of sight.
St. Lucy shows up fairly often in Dante’s great Divine Comedy. She is first in the Inferno. It is Lucy who asked Beatrice to help Dante. In Purgatory the eagle that bears Dante upward in a dream is actually Lucy who is bearing him to the gate of Purgatory. Eagles, of course, are “eagle-eyed” and see very well. In the Paradiso she is placed directly across from Adam in the Heaven of the Rose. She can gaze directly at God.
Imagine. Our human, physical eyes will be enabled to see God. Our human eyes, in Christ and Mary, are already there.
St. Lucy was something of a patroness for Dante and that he was devoted to her because, as we glean from various works, he may have had a problem not just with his eyes but also struggling with sins of the eyes.
Next week we also have Ember Days, which in Advent come after the Feast of St. Lucy. Do you remember the little mnemonic poem? “Lenty, Penty, Crucy, Lucy”, or else “Fasting days and Emberings be / Lent, Whitsun, Holyrood, and Lucie.”
Ember Wednesday will be the Missa aurea.
In the meantime, let’s have a look at Lucy’s Collect in the Novus Ordo. While the Vetus Ordo oration is a solid and standard prayer, it isn’t as rich.
This prayer was not in the pre-Conciliar editions of the Missale Romanum. It is based on a prayer in the ancient Gelasian Sacramentary for St. Felicity (VIIII KALENDAS DECEMBRIS).
Intercessio nos, quaesumus, Domine, sanctae Luciae virginis et martyris gloriosa confoveat, ut eius natalicia et temporaliter frequentemus, et conspiciamus aeterna.
First, you will have immediately caught the elegant hyperbaton, the separation of intercessio and the adjective that goes with it, gloriosa. There is also a nice et… et construction.
Confoveo is “to cherish, caress, keep warm.” It is a compound of foveo which essentially is “to be hot, to roast”. It obviously deals with heat, flame, light. This is a good word for this time of year in the northern hemisphere (unless you are in, say, Florida).
Conspicio is “to look at attentively, to get sight of, to descry, perceive, observe”. We are obviously dealing the seeing and sight. This word should ring mental bells for the throngs of you readers who attended Holy Mass in the Novus Ordo celebrated in Latin. Conspicio is in the Collect for the 3rd Sunday of Advent, used in a an extremely clever way juxtaposed to exspecto. They share a common root. But I digress.
Natalicia refers to birthdays. In the Christian adaptation of this word, we are always referring to the saints being “born” into heaven.
CURRENT ICEL (2011):
May the glorious intercession of the Virgin and Martyr Saint Lucy give us new heart, we pray, O Lord, so that we may celebrate her heavenly birthday in this present age and so behold things eternal.
Perhaps you might say a prayer today to St. Lucy, that she will intercede with God and implore Him, for us in the vale of tears, to open the eyes of so many of our Church leaders.
Also, let anyone having problems with their eyes, literally, pray to St. Lucy for help.
The angelic choir in the presepio at the great Ss. Trinità in Rome.
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On the churchy side…
St. Thomas Aquinas on effeminacy. Effeminacy is on the rise. What is “effeminacy”? HERE
One of the new cardinals says that denial of Communion to adulterers is an injustice. HERE
Nice people! Great service! Christmas gifts!
“Now you see it. Now you don’t”. First, there was going to be a homosexuality element to the Jubilee Year. Then there wasn’t then there way. First, in the Vatican nativity scene, Baby Jesus was lain up on a keffiyeh (sending an interesting signal to Israel and Jews everywhere). Now the keffiyeh is gone.
Does anyone have the whole article in the Atlantic about Bp. Barron? HERE
‘Dumbed-Down Catholicism Was a Disaster’
America’s most watched bishop, Robert Barron, is scouting out a new future for Christianity.
By Molly Worthen
Speaking of cardinals, he of the Windy City – where I am as I write – issued a letter in the diocesan paper with an admonition for the faithful to stop kneeling to receive Communion. Why? Processions!
He starts with this as if it were undeniable writ: “We all have benefited from the renewal of the church ushered in by the Second Vatican Council.” I’m not sure that this is universally acknowledged or can be easily backed up. No matter, just accept it as a FACT and move on to where he quotes the adage about the relationship of worship and belief, in his version, (emphasis added)
“lex orandi, lex credenda,” a phrase often associated with Prosper of Aquitaine…
Hey, don’t blame me.
There follows an explanation that in the Mass there are processions. We’ve always had processions at the beginning, offertory, and Communion. This is true. So, processions are traditional. I’ll bite. Anything that inhibits a procession, like kneeling, is against processions. … ? … So, because bishops tell you not to kneel for Communion,
Disrupting this moment only diminishes this powerful symbolic expression, by which the faithful in processing together express their faith that they are called to become the very Body of Christ they receive. Certainly reverence can and should be expressed by bowing before the reception of Holy Communion, but no one should engage in a gesture that calls attention to oneself or disrupts the flow of the procession. That would be contrary to the norms and tradition of the church, which all the faithful are urged to respect and observe.
Get that? Processing expresses “their” (your) faith. Faith is what? “that (you) are called to become the very Body of Christ (you) receive.” So, Communion is a communal thing more than it is an individual act. If someone is out of lock step, so to speak, and does something against The Procession, then he is breaking the communal experience and, I suppose, diminishes the faith because of what he wrote: lex orandi, lex credenda (sic). Moreover, you haven’t realized how selfish you are being because by your kneeling you are calling attention to yourself (not the communal processional hive action. Not only that, since processions are traditional… this is the good one… kneeling is against tradition.
Wasn’t there a video on Twitter/X of a procession in Chicago wherein the participants are practically power walking?
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Next, In New Hampshire some jackasses set up a monument to the Devil which was promptly destroyed. HERE
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“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
The most evident mark of God’s anger and the most terrible castigation He can inflict upon the world are manifested when He permits His people to fall into the hands of clerics who are priests more in name than in deed, priests who practice the cruelty of ravening wolves rather than the charity and affection of devoted shepherds.
Merelin on YOUR URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS: “Please pray that my husband will get a full-time job by St. Joseph’s feast day, March 19th. May God bring…”
Anneliese on YOUR URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS: “To be healed of multiple sclerosis. I know I’m supposed to persevere and unite my suffering with Christ’s but this…”
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“Until the Lord be pleased to settle, through the instrumentality of the princes of the Church and the lawful ministers of His justice, the trouble aroused by the pride of a few and the ignorance of some others, let us with the help of God endeavor with calm and humble patience to render love for hatred, to avoid disputes with the silly, to keep to the truth and not fight with the weapons of falsehood, and to beg of God at all times that in all our thoughts and desires, in all our words and actions, He may hold the first place who calls Himself the origin of all things.”
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“He [Satan] will set up a counter-Church which will be the ape of the Church because, he the devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the anti-Christ that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ. In desperate need for God, whom he nevertheless refuses to adore, modern man in his loneliness and frustration will hunger more and more for membership in a community that will give him enlargement of purpose, but at the cost of losing himself in some vague collectivity.”
“Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops.”
“The modern habit of doing ceremonial things unceremoniously is no proof of humility; rather it proves the offender's inability to forget himself in the rite, and his readiness to spoil for every one else the proper pleasure of ritual.”
- C.S. Lewis
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As for Latin…
"But if, in any layman who is indeed imbued with literature, ignorance of the Latin language, which we can truly call the 'catholic' language, indicates a certain sluggishness in his love toward the Church, how much more fitting it is that each and every cleric should be adequately practiced and skilled in that language!" - Pius XI
"Let us realize that this remark of Cicero (Brutus 37, 140) can be in a certain way referred to [young lay people]: 'It is not so much a matter of distinction to know Latin as it is disgraceful not to know it.'" - St. John Paul II
Grant unto thy Church, we beseech Thee, O merciful God, that She, being gathered together by the Holy Ghost, may be in no wise troubled by attack from her foes. O God, who by sin art offended and by penance pacified, mercifully regard the prayers of Thy people making supplication unto Thee,and turn away the scourges of Thine anger which we deserve for our sins. Almighty and Everlasting God, in whose Hand are the power and the government of every realm: look down upon and help the Christian people that the heathen nations who trust in the fierceness of their own might may be crushed by the power of thine Arm. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.
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The "sign of peace" during Mass in the Ordinary Form...
I dread it as it approaches and think of ways to avoid it. (36%, 9,555 Votes)
I tolerate it. (35%, 9,195 Votes)
I hate it so much I won't go to Mass where it is done. (12%, 3,205 Votes)
I like it and am happy to do it. (11%, 2,955 Votes)
I don't care one way or another. (6%, 1,696 Votes)
On December 17th we enter into that final stretch of our Advent preparation. In the Church’s solemn prayer of the hours, at Vespers, the great “O Antiphons” are sung. Today we have the first.
In chessy news… 
Chessy news… 
Chessy news… 
13 December was the darkest day – with the least length of sunlight – of the old Julian calendar. Hence, it was once the Winter Solstice.
In chessy news…
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