ST. SYLVESTER DAY

Mass on December 31 was followed by Eucharistic adoration, during which we chanted the Te Deum, thanking God for the blessings of the past year.  Under the normal conditions, a plenary indulgence was possible for doing this.

CHRISTMAS MIDNIGHT MASS

Before Midnight Mass began, Father chanted the proclamation of the Birth of Jesus.  This tradition takes a passage from the Roman Martyrologium, which briefly tells the story of the martyrs, saints and feasts for each day on the religious calendar.  For December 25, the Martyrologium recounts how many years since the creation of the world, the flood in Noah's time, the birth of Abraham, and so on, Christ was finally born.

Mass begins with Father carrying the Infant Jesus (Niño) to the belen (Nativity Scene or creche).  The schola sings "Ecce Nomen Domini Emmanuel."  Hail, the Lord's name is Emmanuel!

The Kyrie, Sanctus and Agnus Dei for Midnight Mass were taken from the Misa Pastorela.  It was taught to the Chamorros in Saipan by Spanish missionaries and is sung just for Christmas.

As is the custom on Guam, Masses all throughout the Christmas season end with the veneration of the Niño (Infant Jesus).

PHOTOS

The Sermon

The Consecration

The Last Gospel

(Photos and Video courtesy of Bryan Quinata)

RORATE MASS

On Saturday morning at 6AM, December 17, Father celebrated a Rorate Mass.  The idea is to experience the light of Christ grow into the fullness of daylight in the midst of our darkness.  So Mass is said in darkness, except for the light of candles.  As Mass continues, the sun gradually fills the chapel with light.

With the aid of the flash, this is what the chapel looked like at 6AM

But this is what people saw at 6AM when they entered the chapel.

In the early part of the Mass, during the lessons, it was still very dark and Father had to read the Missal with the help of candles.

By the middle of Mass, at the Sanctus, the sun had risen enough to start filling the chapel with light, though candles were still helpful.

After the Mass, in full daylight, we prayed the rosary for the intention of the Pro-Life cause, and chanted the Litany of Loreto.

GAUDETE SUNDAY

GAUDETE (REJOICE) SUNDAY

Third Sunday of Advent

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

The Schola sings Dom Pothier's Tota Pulchra Es, in honor of the Immaculate Conception.

The beginning verses of this hymn say :

Tota pulchra es, O Maria, tota pulchra es

et macula non est in te.

Quam speciosa, quam suavis

in deliciis Conceptio illibata.

Veni, veni de Libano; veni, veni de Libano;

veni, veni coronaberis.

Thou art all fair, O Mary, thou art all fair

and no stain is in thee.

How lovely, how sweet

in its delights, thy Conception unstained.

Come, come from Mount Lebanon; come, come from Mount Lebanon;

come, come you will be crowned.

These words come from the Song of Songs, which tells of a man calling out to his beloved.  This is symbolic of the beauty God finds in Mary's holiness, which began at her Immaculate Conception.

REMEMBERING THE POOR SOULS

Blood of Christ, freeing souls from purgatory, save us!

"It is a good and wholesome thing to pray for the dead." (2 Macc 12:43)

"We owe unspeakable gratitude to God, therefore, for allowing us to do more for our departed friends and relatives than to merely mourn over their graves. For by helping them, we obtain for ourselves a right to the special protection of God, and the angels and the saints, who rejoice whenever they can welcome a newcomer into their midst. Most of all, however, we gain friends among the Holy Souls themselves, and when they reach heaven, they will surely remember and help us."

~~~Provincial Council of Vienna 1858

MONTH OF THE HOLY SOULS

November is the month of the Poor and Holy Souls in Purgatory

There is no need to pray for the dead if they are all in heaven, since our prayers cannot improve the perfect joy of the saints in heaven.

Nor if the dead are all in hell, since our prayers cannot improve the just condemnation of the unrepentant sinners in hell.

We pray for the dead only because some of them are in neither place.  Some of them are in a temporary place of purification, and they can be helped by our prayers.

Some saints have taught that our prayers for the souls in Purgatory are the most pleasing to God because our prayers for them are the most charitable.  How so?  As we said, praying for the souls in heaven or hell is fruitless.  Besides the souls in Purgatory, the only other people we can and should pray for are those still alive on earth.  But, to some extent, some more than others, everyone on earth can in some way improve their own situation.  Not so the souls in Purgatory!  They can do nothing whatsoever to decrease their pains in Purgatory.  The time for merit is over.  They depend entirely on the judgment of God, and the prayers of the saints in heaven and the faithful on earth.  What can be more charitable than to help the most helpless, and the souls in Purgatory are certainly the most helpless.  And since God is charity, the most charitable prayers and works please Him the most.  If we want to be as charitable, good and holy as God is, we will be very active in praying and sacrificing for the souls in Purgatory.

The souls in Purgatory are both holy, because they died in the state of grace and are destined for heaven; and they are also poor, because they are suffering the just delay of heaven on account of their venial sins and incomplete reparations.

Practical Things We Can Do for the Holy Souls this Month

• Offer Holy Mass for their intention.  This is the best thing we can do for them, for in Holy Mass we offer not just our own unworthy and imperfect prayers, but the saving sacrifice of Jesus.
• Pray the Rosary and the Chaplet for the Holy Souls for them
• Offer little sacrifices, penances, mortifications for them like fasting or abstinence
• Spread devotion to them, reminding people to pray for them
• Make a Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament for them
• When gaining indulgences, apply them to the Holy Souls rather than for yourself
• Visit the cemeteries (Coemeterii Visitatio).  Some saints have told us that the souls experience more consolation when we visit their graves or the sites of their death.  Say prayers at the gravesite.  If you do this on or before November 8, a plenary indulgence can be gained; for the rest of the month, a partial indulgence.

The Grandmother of the late Fr. Daniel Lord, SJ

Father Lord was a famous Jesuit; an orthodox Catholic writer and teacher who was a key person in composing a code of decency used by Hollywood at the time.  He tells the story how his grandmother would take him many Sundays to the cemetery, where, besides praying, they would bring a picnic basket of sandwiches and sweets.  Their visits to the cemetery were real visits, not just quickies.  To stay in a cemetery for an hour or so was to really spend time with one's loved ones, to give them real attention.  It reminds us that, though physically dead, our loved ones are alive in the spirit.  We are still one family - the Communion of Saints.  How neglected the souls are!  Not by this grandmother!

To eat a picnic lunch at the cemetery is a reminder that life goes on.  Death is only of the body.  The soul is immortal.  On Judgment Day, our bodies will re-unite with our souls and join it wherever the soul may be.

NEXT SUNDAY : CHRIST THE KING

The truth that Christ is King is very old; the feast of Christ the King is very new.

The truth is old.  In the Old Testament, God promises King David that he will have a descendant who will be a great king with a throne that last forever; a king who will build a house to God's name; a kingdom where God will be a father to the King.  The prophets of the Old Testament pointed to a future messiah who would rule over Israel.  The Jews believed that the messiah would indeed be a king.  The kings of Israel were anointed with oil; "messiah" means "anointed."  This was all fulfilled in Christ, who, in His human origins, is Son of David.

In the New Testament, Saint John has a vision of Christ in great splendor and power, and on Christ's garment and thigh are written : King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  (Revelations 19:15)

The Church has always regarded Christ as King.  But the feast was only put on the Church calendar in 1925.  Why?

What was happening in the world in that Jubilee Year of 1925 and the years before it?  It was a time of great social and political tension (as in every age).  Europe was getting rid of many of its kings.  It was also the aftermath of the First World War, one of the worst in history in terms of human casualties.  The Communists were in power in Russia and communist/socialist parties in other countries were becoming powerful.  Social classes were at odds; the workers versus the corporate bosses.  Fascism won in Italy and was starting in other nations.

For the Church, anti-clericalism was on the rise.  Communist Russia was a sworn enemy of all religion.  Even in traditionally Catholic countries, the Church was persecuted because it was accused of meddling in politics.

Pope Pius XI therefore proclaimed this new feast to remind the world of a couple of things.  The first is that, no matter how many kings the world topples, one king will always remain : Christ the King.  The Pope wrote that Christ is not just King over the Catholics of the world; Christ is King of the universe - period.  Christ's authority is not exercised with guns, but with the proclamation of the truth; and the Church has the right to preach that truth and work for its implementation.

Secondly, the Pope taught that only a world obedient to Christ the King can bring true peace and security to the world.  Christ is not King of the Jews; He is King of all who listen to the Truth, because He is the way, the truth and the life.  His rule is a rule of mercy and justice, and if we were all under this rule, mercy and justice would put away this world's violence and injustice.

WHY IS CHRIST - AND NOT THE FATHER - KING?

"The Father is greater than I." (John 14:28).  But Jesus is God (John 20:28), so how can one divine person (the Son) be less than another divine person (the Father)?  Are they not equal?  Yes, they are equal in divinity.  As we say in the Creed, Christ is consubstantial with the Father (one in essence).  As far as the divinity is concerned, Christ is equal to the Father.  But the Son and the Father are not the same persons; the Son is begotten of the Father.  The Son is the self-knowledge of the Father, and so He is called the Logos, the Word of God.  Christ is not begotten in time, as if there was a time when He was not, and then, in time, He became.  No; since He is God and therefore eternal, Christ is begotten in eternity (not in time); there was never a moment when the Word/Son was not.  He always was, but He is begotten of the Father.  Therefore, in this sense, the Father is greater than the Son.

Because He is the Word of God, the Father creates all things through the Word.  God says (word) : Let there be light - and there is light!  Everything created - angels - animals - humans - are created through the Word.  In this sense, Christ is the King of all creation.

This creation was in need of redempton.  Christ took on the nature of a creature (He became man), and redeemed us.  In this second sense, Christ is King of redeemed creation.  Only the angels in heaven (who do not need redemption), and the demons in hell (who are incapable of redemption) were not redeemed.  Yet Christ is still their King because they were created through the Word (Christ did not create demons; He created angels, some of whom became demons by their own freely chosen rebellion).

Because He is King of the redeemed, Christ is King of the Church, the body of redeemed, of which He is the Head.

Thus, in Christ, one can see the unity and reconciliation of all things.  God and creation were at odds since the Fall.  In Christ, creation is united to a divine person.  Through His death and resurrection, creation is redeemed and exalted.  Thus, Christ has to be King; He has to be the leader who obeyed the Father to the point of shedding His blood, who brings rebellious man under the rule of God.  He does not force man to submit; He redeems only those who are open to the Truth (see Gospel).  Truth is the weapon of this King.

God the Father makes His Son King, because the Father sees in His obedient, loyal Son, the only way all creation can come back to the Father.  "No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

CHANGE OF THE FEAST DAY

Pope Pius XI decreed that this feast be celebrated on the last Sunday of October, so that it comes before the feast of All Saints.  He saw the last Sunday of October as coming towards the end of the liturgical year, which had celebrated many of the more important events of the life and ministry of the Lord on the prior Sundays.  This Sunday, therefore, was a kind of crowning of all those events, and precedes the celebration of the saints who are the fruit of Christ's redemption.

He also ordered that Catholics renew their consecration to the Sacred Heart on this feast.

Pope Paul VI moved this feast to the last Sunday of the liturgical year, whatever Sunday that may be on the civil calendar.  It will always be the Sunday before the first Sunday of Advent.  The whole previous liturgical year, therefore, would be crowned by the Kingship of Christ.

Since the Motu Proprio, under which we observe the traditional Mass (Extraordinary Form), decrees that we follow the rules and calendar of the 1962 Missal, the Extraordinary Form celebrates this feast on the last Sunday of October.

CHRISTUS VINCIT! CHRISTUS REGNAT! CHRISTUS IMPERAT!

Christ conquers! Christ reigns! Christ rules!

OCTOBER : Month of the Holy Rosary

Our Lady of the Rosary

Saint Dominic and Saint Catherine of Siena

October is traditionally the Month of the Holy Rosary.  Why?

 

Primarily because the feast of the Holy Rosary falls in the month of October - October 7th to be specific.

 

Something else happened on October 7, back in the year 1571.  The armies and navies of half a dozen Catholic nations fought against the Muslim Turks at Lepanto.  The Turks had more ships and more men, and Catholic Europe would have been laid open to Turkish invasion if the Catholic forces had lost.  Pope Saint Pius V had Catholics storm heaven by praying the rosary and the Catholic forces not only defeated, but nearly destroyed, the Turkish fleet.  It was a decisive victory that saved Catholic Europe.

 

Pope Saint Pius V happened to be a Dominican, great promoters of the Rosary.  He made October 7 the Feast of the Holy Rosary (originally the feast of Our Lady of Victory).  He also promulgated the Roman Missal that is basically the 1962 Missal we now use.

 

The Battle of Lepanto

While the earthly battle rages below, the heavenly court of saints and angels above approaches the Blessed Mother begging her assistance.

 

SEPTEMBER : OUR LADY OF SORROWS

The month of September is dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows, whose feast is kept this month on the 15th, the day after the feast of the Triumph of the Cross.  Wherever our Lord is, His Blessed Mother is not far behind, even in the Church calendar.

The sorrows of Our Lady were foretold by Simeon the Prophet in the Temple of Jerusalem (Luke 2:34-35).  Devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows is a source of strength for us in our own struggles on earth.  She shows us how to unite our crosses with that of Jesus and to derive countless blessings from that union.

Some recommended devotions this month :

A short prayer (short prayers were called ejaculations or aspirations in traditional terminology) which can be prayed daily, many times; or added to our family rosary or personal prayer :

Mary most sorrowful, Mother of Christians, pray for us.

A longer prayer :

Most holy Virgin and Mother, whose soul was pierced by a sword of sorrow in the Passion of thy divine Son, and who in His glorious Resurrection wast filled with never-ending joy at His triumph; obtain for us who call upon thee, so to be partakers in the adversities of Holy Church and the sorrows of the Sovereign Pontiff, as to be found worthy to rejoice with them in the consolation for which we pray, in the charity and peace of the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

The devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows has also been called The Seven Dolors of Mary.  "Dolors" is an old word, hardly used anymore, which means "sorrows."  It comes from the Latin word for sorrow.  We get the Spanish word "Dolores" and "Dolorosa" from that, too.

The Seven Sorrows of Mary were :

1. The Prophecy of Simeon
2. The Flight into Egypt
3. The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple
4. Mary meets Jesus carrying the Cross
5. The Crucifixion
6. The Body of Jesus is given to Mary
7. The Body of Jesus is buried in the Tomb

A rosary of the Seven Sorrows can be prayed this way : The Sign of the Cross, three initial Hail Mary's, seven Hail Mary's for each Sorrow, after the seven Sorrows the Act of Contrition and the following final prayer :

V : Pray for us, O Most Sorrowful Virgin;
R : That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray.  Lord Jesus, we humbly implore, both now and at the hour of our death, the powerful intercession of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Thy Mother, whose immaculate and most holy soul was pierced at the moment of Thy passion with a sword of grief.  Grant us this favor, O Savior of the world, Thou who livest and reignest with the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

Mt. Carmel Church, Agat

Many of our local churches have large, Spanish-style statues of Our Lady of Sorrows (Dolorosa).  Many women, and mothers especially, found comfort in a Mother who also knows the pains of life.

PORTIUNCULA INDULGENCE

The Church of Our Lady of the Angels in Assisi

or The Portiuncula

Today was a feast in the Franciscan calendar.  But attached to it is a special, plenary Indulgence.  For more information on it, see www.newadvent.org/cathen/12286a.htm.

NEW SCHOLA SINGS FIRST MASS

These six young men, ages 17 to 27, formed a schola and sang their first Mass today, the 7th Sunday after Pentecost.  They sang the Missa de Angelis and simplified propers based on psalm tones.  They sang prayerfully and they sang well.  We are blessed to have young men take this leadership in our community.  May Saint Cecilia continue to bless them.  With the Men's Choir and the younger Schola singing on different Sundays, we can have many more Sung Masses every month.

REQUIEM MASS FOR FATHER CH'E

The Reverend James Ch'e served the Church on Guam for 38 years in a humble, dedicated way.  May he rest in peace from his labors, for his good deeds go before him.

Prayer for a Deceased Priest

O God, Thou didst raise Thy servant, James, to the sacred priesthood of Jesus Christ, according to the Order of Melchisedech, giving him the sublime power to offer the Eternal Sacrifice, to bring the Body and Blood of Thy Son Jesus Christ down upon the altar, and to absolve the sins of men in Thine own Holy Name. We beseech Thee to reward his faithfulness and to forget his faults, admitting him speedily into Thy Holy Presence, there to enjoy forever the recompense of his labors. This we ask through Jesus Christ Thy Son, our Lord. Amen.

Corpus Christi - External Solemnity

MONTH OF THE SACRED HEART

June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  After Mass on every Sunday in June, we will chant the Litany of the Sacred Heart before the Blessed Sacrament exposed on the altar; pray for the Holy Father, make the Consecration to the Sacred Heart and end with Benediction.

Quote from Pope Benedict XVI

"The Church was born from the heart of the Redeemer, from His pierced side, and she is ceaselessly renewed in the sacraments."  --- Address to the pilgrims from Verona, Italy, June 4, 2005

ROGATION PROCESSION

May 31, 2011

MAY DEVOTIONS

May Devotions to the Blessed Mother began locally in different places hundreds of years ago, and then spread all over the world.  May is spring time, the time of new life.  Mary is God's greatest flower, the highest of our human race.  Mary, above all, rejoices in the Risen Life of Her Son during this Easter Season (Paschaltide).  Our custom on Guam for hundreds of years is for little girls to dress as angels and throw flowers to our Lady's image.

The congregation prayed the Rosary and made the Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  We will do this every Sunday in May.

REGINA CAELI

THE CHAPEL AT EASTER TIME

COOKING FOR THE HOMELESS

Sean, William and Gavin

Kusinan Kamalen Karidat is a Catholic center that provides the homeless on Guam a hot meal for dinner every day.  Four young men who regularly attend the Traditional Latin Mass and who also happen to be candidates to the Capuchin Order, prepared today's meal for them.  God bless Gavin, William, Joe and Sean! 

A good number of our Traditional Mass community donated funds for the meal.  God reward you!  We can truly say this was a corporal act of mercy done by the Traditional Mass community.

Gavin, William and Joe

GOOD FRIDAY

ECCE HOMO

OUR YOUNG PEOPLE LOVE THE TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS!

CONFESSIONS ON GOOD FRIDAY / HOLY SATURDAY

Pope John Paul II hearing confessions

Many Catholics have heard that no sacraments at all are permitted during Good Friday and Holy Saturday.  The short answer to this comes from the 2002 English edition of the Sacramentary, based on the 2000 Latin Editio Typica Tertia, which, under the instructions for Good Friday, states :

"Hac et sequenti die, Ecclesia, ex antiquissima traditione, sacramenta, praeter Paenitentiae et Infirmorum Unctionis penitus non celebrat."

"Today and tomorrow, the Church, according to very ancient tradition, except for Penance and the Anointing of the Sick, does not celebrate at all the sacraments."

See also from the Congregation for Divine Worship, Protocol 690/03/L (April 9, 2003) stating that not only is it allowed but also LAUDABLE (praiseworthy) that confessions be heard on Good Friday and Holy Saturday, and mentions that the late Pope John Paul II regularly heard confessions at St. Peter's every Good Friday.

PALM SUNDAY : TWO VIDEOS OF THE PROCESSION

PALM SUNDAY : DISTRIBUTION OF PALMS

The retablo was decorated with palm branches from trees growing on Friary grounds.

Everyone, young and old, received a bless palm.

They kissed the palm and then the priest's hand.

HOW TO RECEIVE THE BLESSED PALM

At the communion kneeler, the priest will hand you the blessed palm like seen above.  Take hold of both ends of the palm with both your hands.

Then, kiss the palm and then the priest's hand.  Rise and return to your seat.

BLESSED PALMS ARE SACRAMENTALS AND ARE TO BE TREATED WITH REVERENCE.  TAKE IT HOME AND PLACE ON YOUR HOME ALTARS OR ON THE WALL ALONGSIDE OR BEHIND A CRUCIFIX OR SACRED IMAGE.  REMEMBER WHAT THE PALMS STAND FOR EVERYTIME YOU SEE THEM.  IF THERE ARE EXTRA PALMS AFTER MASS, PLEASE TAKE MORE HOME FOR PRIVATE DEVOTION.

PALM SUNDAY PROCESSION

It would be a good idea for you to practice singing the refrain of this hymn we will be singing during the Palm Sunday procession.  The priest will begin the refrain, then those who know it can join in singing it a second time.  The priest then sings all the verses, and those who know the refrain can sing the refrain in between the verses.  The text is :

Gloria, laus et honor tibi sit, Rex Christe Redemptor : cui puerile decus prompsit Hosanna pium.

English : Glory, praise and honor to Thee, O Christ, King, the Redeemer : to whom children poured their glad and sweet hosanna's song.

The above youtube clip will be helpful.

PRACTICE NOW THE VIDI AQUAM

During Easter season, at a Sung Mass, we sing the Vidi Aquam instead of the usual Asperges Me. Since it is sung fewer times in the year, we need to familiarize ourselves with it.   We will sing it at least once in the coming Easter season.

Here is the Latin text :

Vidi aquam / egredientem de templo / a latere dextro : alleluia!
Et omnes ad quos pervenit / aqua ista / salvi facti sunt /
et dicent : alleluia!


Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus / quoniam in saecula misericordia eius.


Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto / sicut erat in principio / et nunc et semper / et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

The English translation :

I saw water coming forth from the temple on the right side : alleluia!
And all those to whom this water came / were saved and shall say : alleluia!


Give praise to the Lord for He is good / for His mercy endureth forever.


Glory be to the Father...

THE MEANING

When our Lord was hanging on the cross, a soldier thrust his lance into the Lord's side and out flowed blood and water, representing the sacraments of the Church which give us grace and life.

Christ is the true temple, seen in the vision of the prophet Ezekiel as quoted in the Vidi Aquam. Ezekiel saw the temple, and, from the right, flowed water which turned into a river that gave birth to all kinds of vegetative and animal life. This vision was prophetic and symbolic of the life-giving sacraments, coming forth from the pierced side of the crucified Jesus, the true temple.

See Ezekiel, chapter 47, verses 1 and 9.

VEILING THE STATUES

On Passion Sunday, the Sunday before Palm Sunday, all religious images in a church or chapel are covered in purple, at least the main ones in the sanctuary. It is a striking and impressive sight. Why is it done?

Essentially, to deprive us of some comfort and consolation. Religious images bring us comfort. But by Passion Sunday, we enter a time in Christ's life where He was bereft of comfort. We want to accompany Him in the most difficult days of His life.

We read in the Gospel that, when the Jews picked up stones to hurl at Jesus, He hid Himself and left the Temple.

In hiding Him, we yearn for Him and seek Him all the more. We ache from His absence. And we rejoice all the more when, risen from the dead, we have Him and His image back.

BIRTHDAY BLESSING

Jared stopped by the Friary yesterday to ask for a blessing on his birthday. Happy Birthday Jared and God bless you!

LAETARE SUNDAY (Fourth Sunday of Lent)

LAETARE SUNDAY - ASPERGES

Missa Cantata on Quinquagesima Sunday

It has been two years since our last Missa Cantata (Sung or High Mass) but the Lord allowed us to celebrate one for Quinquagesima Sunday.  The choir was able to practice with only a month's notice and they did wonderfully.  A Missa Cantata involves a Master of Ceremonies and more responsibilities for the servers (as candle bearers, crucifer and thurifer) with more complicated actions at Mass, and they too did a fine job.  Deo gratias!  The Lord deserves no less than our best efforts in rendering Him worship and honor.

The Candle Bearers and Crucifer begin the Entrance Procession.



The Asperges

On Sundays, the sprinkling of the people with holy water can be done.  It is called the Asperges and it represents the purification of the congregation before the start of Mass.

A Missa Cantata involves the incensing of the altar at the beginning of Mass; the incensing of the Missal just before the Gospel is sung; and the incensing of the gifts (the host and the wine) at the offertory.  The priest and the people are also incensed.  This incensation expresses the sanctification of the objects incensed and also our desire that our prayers rise to heaven as the smoke of the burning incense rises.  Just as the incense is sacrificed and consumed by the burning charcoal, we sacrifice ourselves, in union with the sacrifice of Jesus to the Father at Mass.

The Thurifer incenses the congregation.

Father is incensed by the Master of Ceremonies.

Father incenses the Altar at the beginning of Mass.

The Chapel was filled to capacity for the Missa Cantata.

The Choir sang Missa XI Orbis Factor.

THE CHAPEL VEIL

You will notice many women of all ages, even the very young, wearing veils in chapel.  Saint Paul taught (1 Cor 11:1-16) that women should cover their heads while at prayer.  If his apostolic authority were not enough, Saint Paul tells those who would object that the Church knew no other custom or tradition!  So it is a matter of Catholic tradition.  The early Fathers of the Church, both East (Saint John Chrysostom) and West (Saints Ambrose and Augustine) strongly advocate the covering of the woman's head, at all times.  The wearing of the chapel veil was legally enshrined in the Code of Canon Law issued in 1917, Canon 1262.2.  The 1983 Code of Canon Law is in force today, and makes no mention of it at all, neither mandating nor prohibiting the chapel veil.  Some would argue that the 1983 Code itself calls for the retention of the custom, since the 1983 Code says that unless Church law specifically revokes an old custom or law, that custom or law is still in effect. Whatever the case may be whether the custom is still law or not, the chapel veil is full of religious significance.  It promotes modesty in dress; it is a reminder, as Saint Paul teaches, of the relationship between God, man and woman; and it symbolizes the woman's connection with the Blessed Mother, and not only because the veiled woman shares the same gender as Mary.  In Scripture, veiled things represent the presence of God.  The first temple was actually a tent, a kind of large veil.  When the temple made of stone was built, a veil hung before the holiest room in the temple where God was present in a special way.  Mary is the true tabernacle of God, and she was veiled.  So the veiled woman in chapel or church reminds us that God became man through a woman, the Blessed Mother.  What an honor then for the woman to be veiled in church!  Chapel veils can be purchased through the several Catholic gift shops on island.

Sexagesima Sunday

Father Andre was the celebrant and preacher for Sexagesima Sunday, two Sundays away from Ash Wednesday.  A major theme of the liturgy is the Word of God.  We give thanks that we have heard the Word (Introit), which Saint Paul faithfully preached despite so many obstacles (Epistle).  The Gospel is all about hearing the Word of God in a way that produces good fruit, and not in a way that wastes or kills the seed offered to us by God through His holy Word.  In the Offertory, we ask God to hear our words of petition, but only after we have first heard His holy Word.  The liturgy for Sexagesima Sunday is a call for man to prepare for Lenten repentance by becoming attuned to God's Word.

Septuagesima Sunday

On February 20 we celebrated Septuagesima Sunday, the start of a short period encompassing three Sundays to prepare us for the penance of Lent.  According to some accounts, Pope Paul VI wasn't favorable to the suggestion made after Vatican II to eliminate this preparatory period when the idea was put before him.  However, eliminated it was.  Today's liturgy reflects this gradual preparation for Lent in the violet color of the vestments and the elimination of the Gloria and Alleluia at Mass.  The Scripture lessons of the day highlight man's sorrowful condition and need for salvation, and the importance of man's penitential cooperation in the salvation of his soul as he "runs the race" in order to win an eternal prize.

Training Altar Boys

Father Andre has been busy training our wonderful group of altar boys, both the veterans and the new ones.  We are blessed to have many boys willing to serve at the altar of the Lord.  God bless them and their parents!