For Those Who Are Pro-, Anti-, and Just Not Sure ...

Marcel - the movie!

Documenting the journey of Marcel Lefebvre

From Rorate caeli:

... regardless of where you stand on the current situation of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), this film will at bare minimum be entertaining, and a solid look at history -- but not in the way you may think.

The first half of the film really has little to do directly with the current crisis. It's more of a history of how the Church, led by Father, Bishop and Archbishop Lefebvre, made Christianity -- and society -- flourish in French West Africa. The interviews with priests, nuns and the laity whom were around during his time are both compelling, and historically important.

At one hour and 43 minutes, the film leaves you wanting for more. For those of you that didn't live through the troubling days of 1988, with its decisive and enduring consequences, or were too young to notice, you especially should consider watching. That goes for those who are pro, anti, and just not sure what to make of the current situation.

 Angelus Press: DVD: Archbishop Lefebvre—A Documentary

Sed Contra: The Spirit Is Willing

The President of the Polish Episcopal Conference, Archbishop Gadecki, on Spiritual Communion ... or Not:

“The divorced and remarried cannot make spiritual communion” , Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, President of the Polish Episcopal Conference affirmed in an intervention at the Convention “What God joined together…” Marriage, Family and Sexuality in the Context of the Synod of Bishops 2014-2015” which took place on April 14that the Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw. Archbishop Gadecki, who stood out during the Synod of Bishops in 2014 for his defense of Catholic morality, wanted to respond to those, such as Cardinal Kasper who sustain that if the divorced and remarried can receive spiritual communion, they can also receive the Sacrament. The use that is made of the term “spiritual communion” in order to justify the admittance of the divorced and remarried to the Sacraments is absolutely improper, explained Archbishop Gadecki. Spiritual communion refers, in fact, to people in a state of grace, who, on account of a physical impediment, cannot receive Communion (as happened for example, in the part of Poland occupied by the Soviets after the Second World War).

On the contrary, it cannot refer to those who are forbidden to receive the Eucharist on account of a moral impediment they can freely remove, by abandoning the situation of sin they are in. All those who are in a state of God’s grace can make a spiritual communion. Those who are in a state of sin, can pray, attend Mass, develop their relationship with God, but this relationship cannot be defined as spiritual communion. Pastoral care cannot contradict the Magisterium of the Church, reaffirmed Archbishop Gadecki, recalling that individual Episcopal Conferences do not have the authority to introduce doctrinal novelties, even if they were requested by the majority of Catholics in that [particular] Country. The Church, in fact, must express the sensus fidelium, which does not reflect the sociological majority of the faithful, but the consonance of the faith experienced with the perennial Magisterium of the Church. ~ Rorate caeli

Sed Contra, Your Excellency:

Lord, Thou knowest all,

Thou canst do all things,

and Thou lovest me!

 

‘Those who are not able to receive Communion, because they have not fasted or are in a state of serious sin (e.g., irregular marital situation) or are not Catholic, are encouraged to make a "spiritual Communion,” whereby one expresses one’s desire to receive by acts of love and thanksgiving to God which prepare the person to receive grace. ‘Communion, Holy’ in “Our Sunday Visitor’s Catholic Encyclopedia,” edited by the Reverend Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Ph.D., S.T.L., Our Sunday Visitor Press (Huntington, Indiana), 1991, p.237

Act of Spiritual Communion

Most loving Jesus, I adore Thee with a lively faith, Who art present in this Sacrament by virtue of Thine infinite Power, wisdon, and goodness. All my hope is in Thee. I love Thee, O Lord, with all my heart, Who hast so loved me; and therefore I desire to receive Thee now spiritually. Come, therefore, O Lord, to me in spirit, and heal my sinful soul. Feed me, for I am hungry; strengthen me, for I am weak; enliven and sanctify me with Thy saced Body and Blood; deliver me from all sin, and make me always obedient to Thy commandments; and let me never be separated from Thee, my Savior, Who, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, livest and reignest one God, world without end. Amen.

How consoling it is to remember that national episcopal conferences - and their office-holders - have no theological authority thereby in any authentic ecclesiology of the Holy Catholic Church. Amen. ~ Triregnum

Marvel Dazzling Every Age: The Easter Sequence

Victimae paschali laudes: The Easter Sequence

To the Paschal Victim, hymns of praise,
Come, ye Christians, joyous raise!

Lamb unstained, unmeasured price hath paid
Ransom for the sheep that strayed.
To a Father kind, rebellious men
Sinless Son hath led again:

Life and Death in combat fierce engage,
Marvel dazzling every age.
Prince of life, by hellish monster slain,
Liveth now, shall ever reign.

Tell us, Mary, thou our herald be,
What in passing thou didst see?

Empty tomb, where Christ, now living, lay,
Angels saw I in bright array,
Shroud and vesture loosely cast aside
Prove clear: He is risen glorified.

Yea! My hope hath snapped the fatal chain,
Death has smote and risen again:
Quick before you, sped to Galilee.
Christ in glory haste to see.

Know we now that Christ hath truly risen,
Wrenched the gates of hell's dark prison.

Hail, Thou Victor! Hail, Thou glorious King.
Help and save us while we sing.
Amen. Alleluia.

~ Father F. X. Lasance, The New Roman Missal [1945], p.540

All That Is Useful and Necessary

"He who exerciseth himself devoutly in the Passion of our Lord shall find abundantly all that is useful and necessary for him." ~ Thomas a Kempis

Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:

Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

~ I Peter 2.21-24

Holy Week & Tenebrae: Sanctus Simplicitus