The Prayer of Saint Edmund

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O Lord, into thy hands

and into the hands of thine holy angels,

I commit and entrust this day my soul,

my relatives, benefactors, friends and enemies,

and all thy Catholic people.

Keep us, O Lord, through the day,

by the merits and intercession

of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of all thy saints;

keep us from all vicious and unruly desires,

from all sins and temptations of the devil,

from a sudden unprepared death,

and the pains of hell.

Illumine my heart with the grace of thy Holy Ghost.

Grant that I may ever be obedient to thy commandments.

Suffer me not to be separated from thee, O God,

who livest and reignest with God the Father 

and the same Holy Ghost. Amen.

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Baxter: 'Ye Holy Angels Bright'

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The Hymn:


The Anthem:


The Hymn Text by Richard Baxter:

Ye holy angels bright,

who wait at God's right hand,

or through the realms of light

fly at your Lord's command,

assist our song,

for else the theme

too high doth seem

for mortal tongue.

Ye blessed souls at rest,

who ran this earthly race

and now, from sin released,

behold your Savior's face,

his praises sound,

as in his sight

with sweet delight

ye do abound.

Ye saints, who toil below,

adore your heavenly King,

and onward as ye go

some joyful anthem sing;

take what he gives

and praise him still,

through good or ill,

who ever lives!

My soul, bear thou thy part,

triumph in God above:

and with a well-tuned heart

sing thou the songs of love!

Let all thy days

till life shall end,

whate'er he send,

be filled with praise!

Richard Baxter

(1615-1691)

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Winkworth: St. Michael and All Angels

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Deus, qui miro ordine Angelorum ministeria hominumque dispensas: concede propitius; ut a quibus tibi ministrantibus in caelo semper assistitur, ab his in terra vita rostra muniatur, etc.

Some angels in Ely Cathedral, England

PRAISE and thanks to Thee be sung,

Mighty God, in sweetest tone !

Lo ! from every land and tongue,

Nations gather round Thy Throne,

Praising Thee, that Thou dost send,

Daily from Thy Heaven above,

Angel-messengers of love,

Who Thy threaten'd Church defend.

Who can offer worthily,

Lord of Angels, praise to Thee !

'Tis your office, Spirits bright,

Still to guard us night and day,

And before your heavenly might,

Powers of darkness flee away ;

Ever doth your unseen host

Camp around us, and avert

All that seeks to do us hurt,

Curbing Satan's malice most.

Lord, who then can worthily

For such goodness honour Thee !

And ye come on ready wing—

When we drift toward sheer despair,

Seeing nought where we might cling,

Suddenly, lo, ye are there !

And the wearied heart grows strong,

As an angel strengthen'd Him,

Fainting in the garden dim,

'Neath the world's vast woe and wrong.

Lord, who then can worthily

For such mercy honour Thee !

Right and seemly is it then

We should glory, that our God

Hath such honour put on men,

That He sends o'er earth abroad

Princes of the realm above,

Champions, who by day and night,

Shield us with His holy might ;

Come, behold how great His love !

Lord, who then can worthily

For such favour honour Thee !

Praise and thanks to Thee be sound,

Mighty God, in sweetest tone.

Lo ! from every land and tongue,

Nations gather round Thy throne,

Praising Thee that Thou dost send,

Hourly from Thy glorious sphere,

Angels down to help us here,

And Thy threaten'd Church defend.

Let us henceforth worthily,

Lord of Angels, honour Thee.

RIST. 1655

Catherine Winkworth, translator

Lyra Germanica

O EVERLASTING God, who hast ordained and constituted the ministries of Angels and mortals in a wonderful order : Mercifully grant that, as Thy Holy Angels always serve and worship Thee in Heaven, so by Thy appointment they may succour and defend us on Earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

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An Intercession for Christ's Poor Church

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 Honour and glory 
 be to God
the Father, the Son, 
and the Holy Ghost. 
Amen.


Kyrie eleison.
Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison. 

 Qadishat Aloho     ܩܰܕܺܝܫܰܬ ܐܰܠܳܗܳܐ 

  Qadishat Hayelthono   ܩܰܕܺܝܫܰܬ ܚܰܝܠܬܳܢܳܐ 

  Qadishat Lomoyotho   ܩܰܕܺܝܫܰܬܠܳܐ ܡܳܝܽܘܬܳܐ 

  Itraham 'Alein        ܐܶܬܪܰܚܰܡ ܥܰܠܝܢ

    Agios o Theos,                Sanctus Deus.
   Agios Ischyros,                Sanctus Fortis,
        Agios Athanatos,           Sanctus Immortalis,  
       eleison imas.                  miserere nobis.

Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
have mercy upon us.

WE beseech Thee, O Lord 

that our fragility may be upheld by the remedies of Thy mercy, 

so that what of itself is falling into ruin

may, by Thy clemency, be restored. Amen.

    O GOD, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Saviour, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions. Take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatsoever else may hinder us from godly, union and concord: that as there is but one Body and one Spirit, and one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

    O GRACIOUS Father, we humbly beseech Thee for Thy Holy Catholic Church; that Thou wouldst be pleased to fill Her with all truth, in all peace. Where She is corrupt, purify Her; where She is in error, direct Her; where in anything She is amiss, reform Her. Where She is right, establish Her; where She is in want, provide for Her; where She is divided, reunite Her; that, when the hour cometh, She be found radiantly adorned, the one true Bride for Her heavenly Bridegroom, even Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen.  

Our Father, Hail Mary

    O GOD, who hast made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and didst send Thy blessèd Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere may seek after Thee and find Thee, bring the nations into Thy fold, pour out Thy Spirit upon all flesh, and hasten the coming of Thy Kingdom; through the same Thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

O GOD of unchangeable power and eternal might:
Look favourably upon Thy whole Church,
that wonderful and Sacred Mystery;
by the effectual working of Thy Providence,
carry out in Tranquillity the Plan of Salvation;
let the whole world see and know
that things which were cast down are being raised up,
and things which had grown old are being made new,
and that all things are being brought to their perfection
by Him through Whom all things were made,
Thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord;
who liveth and reigneth with Thee
in the Unity of the Holy Ghost,
one God, for ever and ever. 
Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost:
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.

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COMPLAINT

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I was prepared to write a glowing report on the Mass today in Philadephia.  For the Mass itself and all those who worked together for the Divine Worship of the Eucharistic Lord, I praise the Blessed Trinity and ask His blessing upon them all.  I am especially grateful for the efforts and witness of the young Deacon who chanted the Gospel and the extremely gifted young woman who served as cantor.  

I am always grateful that such Masses are broadcast by EWTN.  But I lament that EWTN never learns to simply broadcast a Mass and to tell their host and commentators to shut up until the Mass is over at the conclusion of the 'processional out'.  Unfortunately, today EWTN and Raymond Arroyo and company have me in a state of high dudgeon over their breaking in to yammer during the distribution of the Body and Blood of Christ.

To decide to talk during the distribution of Holy Communion is bad.  One could understand if they had Sister say a prayer for Spiritual Communion for those who could not receive, but Sister's lovely voice was not to be heard.  And no prayer was offered for those who would have benefitted from an act of Spiritual Communion.

What made it even worse is that Arroyo and company decided to start yammering during the singing of "You Satisfy the Hungry Heart" a hymn beloved by Catholics in the USA and originally written for that great Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia many years ago.  It is the Philadelphia Catholic Hymn of all hymns.  

For Arroyo to launch into his commentary was to underline Arroyo's and EWTN's consistent insensitivity to the nature of worship and the place of music within Holy Mass at these great Eucharistic events.

What made it even more appalling was that Arroyo and company decided to use the time to take apart (read: attack) an element in the Holy Father's homily as well as his style of leadership and manner of spontaneous speaking.  It was truly an appalling moment .... APPALLING ... and I am ashamed of EWTN and Raymond Arroyo for deciding to take apart and attack the Pope's words while Holy Mass was still being celebrated.

If they want to take apart the Holy Father's words on Arroyo's "World Over" show on EWTN, then go ahead.  Rip them apart and dissect them, but NOT during Holy Mass!  

To interrupt the singing of a great hymn by talking over it (and then talking right through another hymn "Taste and See") whilst engaging in critique, criticism and commentary during Holy Mass is simply beyond the Pale. 

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PRAY FOR THE POPE.   DON'T FORGET!

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Icon of the Holy Family - Philadelphia

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The beautiful painting below is of the Holy Family with the Grandparents of the Lord by Neilson Carlin. It was used as the icon of the Holy Family at the World Meeting of Families A.D. 2015 in Philadelphia with H.H. Pope Francis I.

Anyway ...

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Padre Pio Santo

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"Pray, hope, and don't worry." 

"Worry is useless. 

God is merciful and will hear your prayer." 

 "Those who pray have hope. 

"Those who pray little are in great danger. 

"Those who do not pray are lost." 

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C.S. Lewis: THE GREAT DANCE

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The extended excerpt printed below comes from C.S. Lewis' Perelandra, one of the books in his Space Trilogy.  I think everyone should read everything C.S. Lewis wrote, but I acknowledge that in this day and age it is unlikely that most of those who read this and other blogs shall have had the time or the inclination to read Lewis' Space Trilogy.  This Trilogy is in many ways the beginning of Science Fiction and Space Fantasy as we know it, but these books are so much more.

The following quotation may prove confusing at first, but imagine you have entered a temple on a non-terrestrial plane and beings greater than yourself are praising the Creator and trying to explain to you how things really are in the Great Creation all about you in this Universe.  Drink in the words, and keep on reading.  One can read it through and then come back and pour over each paragraph.

No one knows the extent of C.S. Lewis' own mystical experiences.  Some have believed that he experienced such things of God that he struggled for language to explain to the average Joe precisely what he had encountered in God.  I think the following passage from Perelandra goes a long way towards touching upon those things that would make certain kinds of christians very, very nervous.  And other believers like me, well, such words delight the soul as they do touch on bright and luminous things of God that are beyond the pages of a sacred book or the precise rendition of liturgical choreography ... the substance of which leads to the very Heart of the Creator of All.



C.S. Lewis writes:


“We would not talk of it like that,” said the first voice. “The Great Dance does not wait to be perfect until the peoples of the Low Worlds are gathered into it. We speak not of when it will begin. It has begun from before always. There was no time when we did not rejoice before His face as now. The dance which we dance is at the centre and for the dance all things were made. Blessed be He!”

Another said, “Never did He make two things the same; never did He utter one word twice. After earths, not better earths but beasts; after beasts, not better beasts but spirits. After a falling, not recovery but a new creation. Out of the new creation, not a third but the mode of change itself is changed for ever. Blessed be He!”

And another said, “It is loaded with Justice as a tree bows down with fruit. All is righteousness and there is no equality. Not as when stones lie side by side, but as when stones support and are supported in an arch, such is His order; rule and obedience, begetting and bearing, heat glancing down, life growing up. Blessed be He!”

One said, “They who add years to years in lumpish aggregation, or miles to miles and galaxies to galaxies, shall not come near His greatness. The day of the fields of Arbol will fade and the days of Deep Heaven itself are numbered. Not thus is He great. He dwells (all of Him dwells) within the seed of the smallest flower and is not cramped: Deep Heaven is inside Him who is inside the seed and does not distend Him. Blessed be He!”

“The edge of each nature borders on that whereof it contains no shadow or similitude. Of many points one line; of many lines one shape; of many shapes one solid body; of many senses and thoughts one person; of three persons, Himself. As in the circle to the sphere, so are the ancient worlds that needed no redemption to that world wherein He was born and died. As is a point to a line, so is that world to the far-off fruits of its redeeming. Blessed be He!” 

“Yet the circle is not less round than the sphere, and the sphere is the home and fatherland of circles. Infinite multitudes of circles lie enclosed in every sphere, and if they spoke they would say, For us were spheres created. Let no mouth open to gainsay them. Blessed be He!”

“The peoples of the ancient worlds who never sinned, for whom He never came down, are the peoples for whose sake the Low Worlds were made. For though the healing what was wounded and the straightening what was bent is a new dimension of glory, yet the straight was not made that it might be bent nor the whole that it might be wounded. The ancient peoples are at the centre. Blessed be He!”

“All which is not itself the Great Dance was made in order that He might come down into it. In the Fallen World He prepared for Himself a body and was united with the Dust and made it glorious for ever. This is the end and final cause of all creating, and the sin whereby it came is called Fortunate and the world where this was enacted is the centre of worlds. Blessed be He!”

“The Tree was planted in that world but the fruit has ripened in this. The fountain that sprang with mingled blood and life in the Dark World, flows here with life only. We have passed the first cataracts, and from here onward the stream flows deep and turns in the direction of the sea. This is the Morning Star which He promised to those who conquer; this is the centre of worlds. Till now, all has waited. But now the trumpet has sounded and the army is on the move. Blessed be He!”

“Though men or angels rule them, the worlds are for themselves. The waters you have not floated on, the fruit you have not plucked, the caves into which you have not descended and the fire through which your bodies cannot pass, do not await your coming to put on perfection, though they will obey you when you come. Times without number I have circled Arbol while you were not alive, and those times were not desert. Their own voice was in them, not merely a dreaming of the day when you should awake. They also were at the centre. 

“Be comforted, small immortals. You are not the voice that all things utter, nor is there eternal silence in the places where you cannot come. No feet have walked, nor shall, on the ice of Glund; no eye looked up from beneath on the Ring of Lurga; and Ironplain in Neruval is chaste and empty. Yet it is not for nothing that the gods walked ceaselessly around the fields of Arbol. Blessed be He!”

“That Dust itself which is scattered so rare in Heaven, whereof all worlds, and the bodies that are not worlds, are made, is at the centre. It waits not till created eyes have seen it or hands handled it, to be in itself a strength and splendour of Maleldil. Only the least part has served, or ever shall, a beast, a man or a god. But always, and beyond all distances, before they came and after they are gone and where they never come, it is what it is and utters the heart of the Holy One with its own voice. It is farthest from Him of all things, for it has no life, nor sense, nor reason; it is nearest to Him of all things for without intervening soul, as sparks fly out of fire, He utters in each grain of it the unmixed image of His energy. Each grain, if it spoke, would say, I am at the centre; for me all things were made. Let no mouth open to gainsay it. Blessed be He!”

“Each grain is at the centre  The Dust is at the centre  The Worlds are at the centre  The beasts are at the centre. The ancient peoples are there. The race that sinned is there. Tor and Tinidril are there. The gods are there also. Blessed be He!”

“Where Maleldil is, there is the centre  He is in every place. Not some of Him in one place and some in another, but in each place the whole Maleldil, even in the smallness beyond thought. There is no way out of the centre save into the Bent Will which casts itself into the Nowhere. Blessed be He!”

“Each thing was made for Him. He is the centre  Because we are with Him, each of us is at the centre  It is not as in a city of the Darkened World where they say that each must live for all. In His city all things are made for each. When He died in the Wounded World He died not for me, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, he would have done no less. Each thing, from the single grain of Dust to the strongest eldil, is the end and the final cause of all creation and the mirror in which the beam of His brightness comes to rest and so returns to Him. Blessed be He!”

“In the plan of the Great Dance plans without number interlock, and each movement becomes in its season the breaking into flower of the whole design to which all else had been directed. Thus each is equally at the centre and none are there by being equals, but some by giving place and some by receiving it, the small things by their smallness and the great by their greatness, and all the patterns linked and looped together by the unions of a kneeling with a sceptred love. Blessed be He!”

“He has immeasurable use for each thing that is made, that His love and splendour may flow forth like a strong river which has need of a great watercourse and fills alike the deep pools and the little crannies, that are filled equally and remain unequal, and when it has filled them brim full it flows over and makes new channels. We also have need beyond measure of all that He has made. Love me, my brothers, for I am infinitely necessary to you and for your delight I was made. Blessed be He!”

“He has no need at all of anything that is made. An eldil is not more needful to Him than a grain of the Dust: a peopled world nor more needful than a world that is empty: but all needless alike, and what all add to Him is nothing. We also have no need of anything that is made. Love me, my brothers, for I am infinitely superfluous, and your love shall be like His, born neither of your need nor of my deserving, but a plain bounty. Blessed be He!”

“All things are by Him and for Him. He utters Himself also for His own delight and sees that He is good. He is His own begotten and what proceeds from Him is Himself. Blessed be He!”

“All that is made seems planless to the darkened mind, because there are more plans than it looked for. In these seas there are islands where the hairs of the turf are so fine and so closely woven together that unless a man looked long at them he would see neither hairs nor weaving at all, but only the same and the flat. So with the Great Dance. Set your eyes on one movement and it will lead you through all patterns and it will seem to you the master movement. But the seeming will be true. Let no mouth open to gainsay it. There seems no plan because it is all plan: there seems no centre because it is all center. Blessed be He!”

“Yet this seeming also is the end and final cause for which He spreads out Time so long and Heaven so deep; lest if we never met the dark, and the road that leads no whither, and the question to which no answer is imaginable, we should have in our minds no likeness of the Abyss of the Father, into which if a creature drop down his thoughts for ever he shall hear no echo return to him. Blessed, blessed, blessed be He!”
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And now, by a transition which he did not notice, it seemed that what had begun as speech was turned into sight, or into something that can be remembered only as if it were seeing. He thought he saw the Great Dance. It seemed to be woven out of the intertwining undulation of many cords or bands of light, leaping over and under one another and mutually embraced in arabesques and flowerlike subtleties.

Each figure as he looked at it became the master figure or focus of the whole spectacle, by means of which his eye disentangled all else and brought it into unity— only to be itself entangled when he looked to what he had taken for mere marginal decorations and found that there also the same hegemony was claimed, and the claim made good, yet the former pattern not thereby dispossessed but finding in its new subordination a significance greater than that which it had abdicated.

He could see also (but the word “seeing” is now plainly inadequate) wherever the ribbons or serpents of light intersected, minute corpuscles of momentary brightness: and he knew somehow that these particles were the secular generalities of which history tells— peoples, institutions, climates of opinion, civilisations, arts, sciences, and the like— ephemeral coruscations that piped their short song and vanished.

The ribbons or cords themselves, in which millions of corpuscles lived and died, were things of some different kind. At first he could not say what. But he knew in the end that most of them were individual entities. If so, the time in which the Great Dance proceeds is very unlike time as we know it. Some of the thinner and more delicate cords were beings that we call short-lived: flowers and insects, a fruit or a storm of rain, and once (he thought) a wave of the sea. Others were such things as we also think lasting: crystals, rivers, mountains, or even stars.

Far above these in girth and luminosity and flashing with colours from beyond our spectrum were the lines of the personal beings, and yet as different from one another in splendour as all of them from all the previous class. But not all the cords were individuals; some were universal truths or universal qualities. It did not surprise him then to find that these and the persons were both cords and both stood together against the mere atoms of generality which lived and died in the clashing of their streams: but afterwards, when he came back to earth, he wondered.

And by now the thing must have passed altogether out of the region of sight as we understand it. For he says that the whole solid figure of these enamoured and interinanimated circlings was suddenly revealed as the mere superficies of a far vaster pattern in four dimensions, and that figure as the boundary of yet others in other worlds: till suddenly as the movement grew yet swifter, the interweaving yet more ecstatic, the relevance of all to all yet more intense, as dimension was added to dimension and that part of him which could reason and remember was dropped farther and farther behind that part of him which saw, even then, at the very zenith of complexity, complexity was eaten up and faded, as a thin white cloud fades into the hard blue burning of the sky, and a simplicity beyond all comprehension, ancient and young as spring, illimitable, pellucid, drew him with cords of infinite desire into its own stillness. He went up into such a quietness, a privacy and a freshness that at the very moment when he stood farthest from our ordinary mode of being he had the sense of stripping off encumbrances and awaking from trance, and coming to himself. With a gesture of relaxation he looked about him. . . .

C.S. Lewis

Perelandra

The Macmillan Company

(1944)

“The splendour, the love, and the strength 

be upon you.” 

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A Charles Wesley Eucharistic Hymn

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Anyone looking for a Catholic thread in Wesleyan Methodism need look no further than the Eucharistic hymns of Charles Wesley and John Wesley. Today many Methodists do not know these hymns, but they are a most rich resource for eucharistic devotion and praise to Our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Charles Wesley hymn below echoes the eucharistic theology of Psalm 116 (KJV-AV). This is a favourite hymn of mine, and I pray that your encounter with this hymn will be a blessing to you today. 

(If the type below is too small, please click on the image below (or double-click depending on your computer or phone) and a slightly larger more legible version should appear.)

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A wee tale

Long, long ago in a galaxy more or less on top of us, a Cardinal-General spoke to an insignificant hermit via Galactic-Skype.

This event was a great accomplishment for the Cardinal-General because the hermit would normally not communicate unless it was face to face.

The hermit was asked by the hierarch what did he think of the Universal Pontiff's new encyclical.

The hermit told the Cardinal-General that he had read it in a few dozen vernacular languages.

More insistently the hierarch asked the hermit "But what do you think of it?"

The hermit replied, "But I have not read it yet."

The Cardinal-General looked befuddled and asked, "What do you mean? You just said..."

The hermit interrupted him -- something hierarchs are not accustomed to experiencing -- and said, "When it is released I shall eagerly read it."

Quite heatedly the Cardinal-General asked, "Are you playing some game?"

The hermit looked at the hierarch and said, "Are you?"

The Cardinal-General looked near to apoplexy, so the hermit spoke.  "You act as if it has been released, and we should all know what it says and be able to discuss it.

"But until it is released in Latin it has not been released.  And until it is released in Latin ...  it does not exist.  And until it is released in Latin, and you and I have read it, fasted and prayed over it, we have nothing to discuss with regard to it."

The storm clouds passed from the hierarch's face, and he began to laugh.  "Only you would say such a thing to me."

With piercing eyes, the hermit looked into the little camera at the top of the view-screen and spoke firmly but quietly: "I suppose I must be the last fool alive in your court, O King."

And with those words, the hermit disconnected the connexion, left the small library at the mission compound, and began his long trek up into the wilderness where he lived and where Jesus was waiting with some cooked fish for lunch.

Uher Hymn: Christ My God, My Faith Discerning

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This hymn was written in honour of Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation, PCPA, on the occasion of her birthday some years ago.  In its present form the text may be useful for some churches at the current time and in the Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis to begin later this year.

Christ my God, my faith discerning,

Present here through heaven's Bread,

With my heart and mind adoring

By your life my soul is fed.

By your Blood my sins are covered.

By your grace I am renewed.

In your Spirit may I journey

With your light and life imbued.

Magnify, my soul, God's greatness

Even in the day of wrath.

Though great darkness falls on nations

Christ our Light reveals our path.

Let the faithful praise the Body

And the Blood of Christ our Lord --

Holy Wisdom, Word eternal,

Light and Life by all adored.

Calvary's sacrifice and offering

In the Chalice and the Host -

Here is mercy like an ocean

From Our Lord in whom we boast.

With great joy we share his Body

Reverently with hearts raised up.

Pain or blessing, joy or sorrow,

Lovingly we drink his Cup.

We adore the Lord our Brother

In the Sacrament of Life

Cherishing his very Presence

Bringing peace to end all strife.

May we, fed by Christ's own Body,

Serve and see God's kingdom come,

And with all saints praise the Spirit

With the Father and the Son.

Words: Copyright © 1997-2007 by Vincent Uher.

Suggested tunes: Holy Manna or Hyfrydol

Meter: 87 87 D

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