A Very Happy Easter To One & All!
V. Regina caeli, laetare, alleluia.
Queen of heaven, rejoice, alleluia.
R. Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia,
For he whom you did merit to bear, alleluia,
V. Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia.
Has risen as he said, alleluia.
R. Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.
Pray for us to God, alleluia.
Trusting that everyone has enjoyed a peaceful Lent and Holy Week – welcome back!
Feel free to share favourite prayers, hymns, stories etc on the Easter theme, on this thread.
We may also use this thread to “catch up” on news and views. Whatever!
A very happy Easter to one and all!
Comments (30)
Catching up on the news…
In conversation with some friends during Lent, I was taken aback to discover that, at his Chrism Masses, Pope Francis has never preached on the institution of the Mass and the Priesthood. I had presumed that the publicity surrounding his new-fangled washing of the feet ritual had simply taken attention away from the traditional Maundy Thursday reminders that Our Lord instituted the Mass and the Priesthood at the Last Supper, on Holy Thursday, the night of His arrest. Seems not, and this year’s homily is no exception – one cannot help but ask …why?
Click here to read the full text of this year’s Chrism Mass homily, centred on the theme “joy of the Gospel”.
Butm hey, don’t let the “joy of the Gospel” spoil the joy of Easter for us!
A very happy Easter to everyone!
I may be wrong but Papal homilies usually address broader issues, and that, for example, they might publish letters addressing priests and/or the topics of The Eucharist and Priesthood centred on the season, or officially published for Holy Thursday.
Certainly Pope Saint John Paul did for many years.
St Martin,
This is an extract from the homily of Pope John Paul II at the Chrism Mass in 1997: (it was just the first one that came up when I Googled it, and I Googled it because I was so surprised at your comment about “usual” papal homiles and Pope John Paul II so I thought I would check it out.)
“Holy Thursday is the day of the institution of the Eucharist and, together with it, the sacrament of the priesthood. These seem to indicate the words of Revelation, re-echoed in the second reading in a special way: “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever” (Rv 1:5-6). This doxology is addressed to Christ, “priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek” (cf. Heb 5:6). Melchizedek was king and priest of the Most High God. He did not offer living beings in sacrifice, but bread and wine. In the Upper Room Christ instituted the Eucharist in which, under the appearances of bread and wine, he made the sacrifice of his death on the Cross present until the end of time.
The Church continuously renews in an unbloody manner the bloody sacrifice of her Lord, the immolation of his Body and his Blood. Looking with the eyes of faith, all those who participate in the Eucharist know that they are taking take part mystically in the sacrifice of the Cross which culminated in the piercing of Christ’s side by a Roman soldier. St John, re-echoing the prophet Zechariah, writes in his Gospel: “They shall look on him whom they have pierced” (Jn 19:37); and in Revelation: “every eye will see him, every one who pierced him; and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him” (Rv 1:7).
Dear brother priests, Holy Thursday is a special day for our priesthood. It is the feast of its institution. For this reason all the Bishops, in their respective Dioceses dispersed throughout the world, will concelebrate the Eucharistic liturgy with the priests of their communities. The Bishop of Rome also does it. With our souls full of gratitude, let us renew together the promises we made on the day of our ordination, when we received the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray that the grace of that anointing will never leave us and that it will comfort us. Indeed, may it accompany us every day of our ministry so that, faithful to Christ who has called us, we may serve the Christian people with apostolic zeal and reach the end of our days vigilant and active.”
http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/homilies/1997/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_19970327_crismal.html
Lily,
Thank you for that very interesting extract from a homily of Pope John Paul II at a Chrism Mass. That’s always been the usual homily on that day. And as you have demonstrated, even the modernist (with bells on) Pope John Paul II struck to the script. Again, thanks for that.
Lily
You miss my point entirely:
1. Papal homilies always address broader issues.
2. Pope Saint John Paul over many years published a Holy Thursday letter to priests.
I would add that I didn’t check what The Pope had said on Holy Thursday as I took Editor at her word. However, in fact the Pope not only spoke of priesthood he more than once directly addressed priests in his Mass. To quote:
“Like Jesus, the priest makes the message joyful with his entire person. When he preaches – briefly, if possible! –, he does so with the joy that touches people’s hearts with that same word with which the Lord has touched his own heart in prayer. Like every other missionary disciple, the priest makes the message joyful by his whole being. For as we all know, it is in the little things that joy is best seen and shared: when by taking one small step, we make God’s mercy overflow in situations of desolation; when we decide to pick up the phone and arrange to see someone; when we patiently allow others to take up our time…
Dear priests, as we contemplate and drink from these three new wineskins, may the good news find in us that “contagious fullness” which Our Lady radiates with her whole being, the “inclusive concreteness” of the story of the Samaritan woman, and the “utter meekness” whereby the Holy Spirit ceaselessly wells up and flows forth from the pierced heart of Jesus our Lord. ”
The Chrism Mass takes some of its focus from the Holy Oils, as the name suggests, and an homily about The Eucharist might be preached at The Mass of The Lord’s Supper. However, The Mass of The Lord’s Supper, because of The Mandatum is recalled, might lead to an homily on Christian Service.
It is therefore difficult to see what the basis of the complaint really is,
St Martin,
“I would add that I didn’t check what The Pope had said on Holy Thursday as I took Editor at her word.”
Well, editor DID check the homily before posting the comment, so you did well to take me at my word, as the homily did not, as I said, make any mention of the Last Supper as being the occasion when Our Lord instituted both the Mass and the Priesthood. A mention of the priest “making the message joyful” blah blah, doesn’t cut it.
The Chrism Mass was the occasion when all the priests of the diocese gathered in the cathedral, and the bishop traditionally (cough, cough) preached on the institution of the Mass and the Priesthood at the Last Supper. End of.
So, you’ll have to wait for another excuse to write about Pope “saint” John Paul II because this one has fallen flat on its face. As Lily has demonstrated, even the “liberal” Pope John Paul II kept the Chrism Mass homily custom of reminding Catholics of the glorious roots of the Mass and the Priesthood, both instituted by Christ Himself at the Last Supper.
And spare me the list of “experts” who question that – I’m sure they mean well.
Wishing, and praying, for everyone that they enjoy the blessings of this Easter Season.
A very happy and holy Easter to you all. Surrexit Dominus Vere Alleluia!
He is Risen! Alleluia! Happy Easter to you all.
https://damselofthefaith.wordpress.com/2017/04/16/he-is-risen-alleluia/
Happy Easter to one and all! I thought this greeting on the TIA website was very good:
We await the “resurrection” of the Mystical Body of Christ from the present day crisis, just as Our Lord actually resurrected from death. The difference is that the Catholic Church does not die, as He did. But her suffering is so profound that it appears to be a death.
We expect her to rise up from her passion so pure and refreshed that it will look as if she has a new life. Then, she will liberate the souls tormented by this crisis, just as He freed the souls of Limbo. She will give an exceptional glory to God as Christ did when He ascended to God the Father after encountering Mary Magdalene.
It will be the Reign of Mary, which will be the best pre-figuration on earth of the Celestial Jerusalem at end times.
It is with this hope that we greet our dear friends, donors and readers this Easter amid the dusk of Church and Civilization.
Like, I mean, they couldn’t just have said “happy Easter” like the rest
of us?!**! 😀
A very happy Easter to all and their families.
wishing everyone a Happy and Holy Easter.
I wish you all a very happy and holy Easter.
I hope everyone on the CT blog has had a happy Easter day.
Happy Easter everyone.
Editor,
I agree with you about the Pope’s homily on Maundy Thursday. This most important day of the liturgical year should have been about the first Mass and the institutions of the Blessed Sacrament and the sacred priesthood. Instead the Pope spoke about the joy of the Gospel, carefully avoiding all that might offend non-Catholics. But I also noted that the Pope avoided talking about the Cross, which always partners joy in the Gospels, as well as in the spiritual life. There is no eternal reward without the Cross.
Athanasius,
Agreed. It’s all about “joy” – the “joy of the gospel” or “the joy of love” (Amoris Laetitia) but never the true joy which is always present in the soul set on doing the will of God. The sort of “joy” achieved by twisting the Gospel to the creation of an earthly kingdom, or the kind of “joy” achieved by twisting God’s mercy into an excuse for living in sin and diabolically arguing that, nevertheless, such people are in “communion” with Christ and thus may receive the Eucharist, is not joy at all, but a superficial emotion of some kind that fools the guilty into believing that God is OK with their false ideas about the Gospel, sin and sacrilege.
All that, and all I meant to say was… “Agreed”.
What am I like? (rhetorical question, Therese!)
V. Gaude et laetare, Virgo Maria, alleluia.
R. Quia surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia.
Христос воскрес! Аллилуйя!
Да, он действительно воскрес! Aллилуйя!
Saintes et joyeuses Pâques à tous! / Holy and happy Easter to all!
Lionel,
Saintes et joyeuses Pâques à tous, as well 😀
Thank you
I hope everyone had a Happy and Holy Easter!
A happy Eastertide to everyone.
I absolutely loathe the word “homily”, a post Vatican II novelty. Whatever happened to the good old “sermon”? My father, a convert from Anglicanism (in 1946) says it’s a protestant term.
Please, please let us not use any nu-Church terminology here!
Benedict,
We use it here because homilies, not sermons, is what is on offer in the modern churches.
A homily is a “chatty” address to a congregation. A sermon is substantially more than that, with exhortations and instructions, based on dogma/scripture etc. Indeed, homily is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as A religious discourse which is intended primarily for spiritual edification rather than doctrinal instruction. “Sermon” is defined along the lines of my paraphrase above.
Update your lovely dad!
I consider myself updated too 🙂
Glad to oblige! 😀
“Христос воскрес! Аллилуйя! Да, он действительно воскрес! Aллилуйя!”
Sorry, another rant. The Russian above is another Novus Ordo Church innovation. The correct use is:
Христос воскрес!
Воистину воскрес(-е)!
(Christos voskres(-е)!
Voistinu voskres(-е)!)
(The version with -e is in Church Slavonic, one without it is in modern Russian; both are widely used).
The Rusyns and Greek Catholics of Ukraine use their Slavic version of the Russian above.
Thank you for these interesting precisions!
This thread is now closed to comments, with gratitude to everyone who contributed to it, kindly exchanging festive greetings.
Thank you each one.
http://www.lucialai.org/UserFiles/Image/risenlord3.jpg
Comments are closed.