God bless the Pope!

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Feast of Sts Peter and Paul, 29 June 2011

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Many other miracles hath God showed by his life, and also after his death, which were overlong to write in this book, for they would, I suppose, contain a book as much as all this and more, but among other corrections, I will set herein one miracle, which I have seen painted on an altar of St Augustin at the black friars at Antwerp, howbeit I find it not in the legend, mine exemplar, neither in English, French, ne in Latin.

St Augustine speaks to the mysterious Boy on the beach.

It was so that this glorious doctor made and compiled many volumes, as afore is said, among whom he made a book of the Trinity, in which he studied and mused sore in his mind, so far forth that on a time as he went by the sea-side in Africa, studying on the Trinity, he found by the sea-side a little child which had made a little pit in the sand, and in his hand a little spoon. And with the spoon he took out water of the large sea and poured it into the pit.

And when St Augustin beheld him he marvelled, and demanded him what he did. And he answered and said: “I will lade out and bring all this water of the sea into this pit.”

“What?” said he, “it is impossible, how may it be done, sith the sea is so great and large, and thy pit and spoon so little?”

“Yes, forsooth,” said he, “I shall lightlier and sooner draw all the water of the sea and bring it into this pit than thou shalt bring the mystery of the Trinity and His Divinity into thy little understanding as to the regard thereof; for the Mystery of the Trinity is greater and larger to the comparison of thy wit and brain than is this great sea unto this little pit.”

And therewith the child vanished away. Then here may every man take ensample that no man, and especially simple lettered men, ne unlearned, presume to intermit ne to muse on high things of the Godhead, farther than we be informed by our faith, for our only faith shall suffice us.

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Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, 19 June 2011

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Our Lord promises the Apostles that He will send them the Holy Ghost.

In today’s Gospel our Lord tells His Apostles that they must not expect honour, authority, riches, or the goods and pleasures of this world as a reward of their faith, but, on the contrary, He reveals to them a future full of hardships, contempt and persecution for His sake. He is, however, unwilling to leave them as orphans in the world, so, after foretelling much that is painful, He promises them sweet and sure consolation. “When the Paraclete, the Comforter, cometh, whom I will send you from the Father, He shall give testimony of me.” The Holy Ghost is a Comforter to all Christians, and not only to the Apostles. Even although we are not called upon to suffer what they did, if we try to lead a really good life on earth, it will be full of trials and difficulties.

St Paul tells us, “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3: 12); but, provided that we hold fast to the Holy Ghost and His grace, we shall never be without some consolation, such as the world is unable to supply, in all the circumstances of life. The Holy Ghost alone can give the only true kind of consolation in the matter that most concerns our eternal salvation. He alone can comfort us by forgiving our sins, when we confess them.

The world has no power to comfort us when we have sinned. If it suggests that God will not judge us harshly, owing to His goodness and mercy, our own reason and faith should prevent our accepting this consolation, for they tell us with absolute certainty, “Yes, God is good and merciful, but He is also just.”

Sometimes the world acknowledges that we ought to make reparation for our sins, and so it devises works of penance, and the heathen also have inflicted upon themselves fearful and yet absurd tortures in order to appease the anger of God; yet we can derive no consolation from such self-imposed penalties, for the question inevitably presents itself: “Can we determine the conditions on which God, when offended, will forgive us? Must not He decide what we ought to do to make atonement?”

If the world seeks to distract us and make us forget our sins by dragging us into the vortex of earthly pleasures and amusements, there can be no true consolation in thus stifling the voice of conscience. For a time we may forget it, but sooner or later the hour will come when we shall remember our sins, and they will disturb and torture our minds, so that no earthly pleasure and no amount of gaiety will ever allay our fears. If we were left to our­selves and the world, the thought of our own sinfulness would embitter a life otherwise happy, and what misery would await us at death! We can never be grateful enough to our Lord for the Holy Ghost, the true comforter that He has sent us. He consoles us in the Sacrament of Penance whenever we receive it worthily; He comforts us for the sake of Jesus Christ, who, in accordance with the will of His heavenly Father, made satisfaction for us by His bitter Passion and death.

Sacrament of Penance

For Christ’s sake our sins are really forgiven. Before confession our hearts are burdened with the consciousness of guilt and with the load of sin that we have laid upon our conscience, but after it they are light and joyful. We seem to have cast aside a burden, to have forever done with a sorrowful past, so that we are, as it were, born again, looking towards a happier future. Nothing can afford so much consolation as the forgiveness of our sins, which brings with it the great joy that we are now not merely called God’s children, but are such in deed and in truth. Let us, whenever we go to Confession, pray the Holy Ghost to give us this comfort, and let us receive the holy Sacrament of Penance with a good will, honestly and with contrition.

But when we have been restored to a state of grace, through the Comforter, it behooves us to remain in it by avoiding sin and doing right in future. The thought of this duty distresses us, for our tendency to sin is very strong, and we are very weak; our hindrances in the right way are many, and our power of endurance is but slight. How little is the world able to help us, when it is a question of doing what is good, and of avoiding what is evil! It can only give us a number of fine maxims, of eloquent words and well-meant counsels. These serve very well and are quite satisfactory as long as we feel in our hearts no temptation and no passionate desire to disregard them. But when the storm of passion is aroused, the fine words are of no avail, and are quickly forgotten. When temptation rages within us, and in our anxiety we think it impossible to withstand the evil one, what is the use of all the beautiful maxims that we read in worldly books? They vanish like soap bubbles, and at the moment of temptation we are exposed to sin, helpless and without comfort. The wisdom of the world can give us no consolation, none can help us save the Spirit sent us by the Eternal Word, for He supplies us with grace and strength. At the hour when we have to fight the good fight, He is with us, reminding us that what to us is impossible becomes possible by His aid. Let us hold fast to His gracious consolation and consoling grace; and then we shall succeed in doing what is right and in overcoming evil.

Let us therefore today have recourse to the Holy Ghost, asking Him to work in and with us. Let us promise to co-operate with Him to the best of our ability, and then we need have no fear of stumbling on the way of salvation, of abandoning what is good or of plunging into the abyss of destruction. May the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, guide us all safely to eternal comfort and eternal salvation. Amen.

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for Sunday after Ascension, 5 June 2011

In your charity, please pray for the soul of Nicholas Lee, who had passed away very suddenly at around 6 p.m. on Low Sunday, 1 May 2011.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.

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Thomas answered and said to Him: ‘My Lord and my God.’

St John 20:28

Pope St Gregory the Great

In commenting on today’s gospel, St Gregory says very beautifully: “Do you think that it happened accidentally that the Apostle Thomas was first absent, and, after he came, heard; and having heard, doubted; and having doubted, touched; and by touching obtained faith?” No, all this did not happen accidentally, but by the grace of God; for in a very wonderful way God in His mercy allowed the wounds of our unbelief to be healed by the Apostle who, because he doubted, touched the actual marks of His Divine Master’s wounds. St. Thomas, by his want of faith, did more towards helping us to believe than did the other Apostles by their faith, since he was brought back to faith by touch, and this fact encourages us to cast aside all doubt and strengthens our faith. Therefore, our Lord permitted this disciple to doubt after the Resurrection, but He did not let him continue to do so. He wished Thomas to be a witness to the truth of the Resurrection, because, in consequence of his doubts, he actually touched the marks of our Saviour’s wounds.

St Thomas places his finger into the wounded side of Our Lord.

People might have been inclined to think that the Apostles’ credulity led them to deceive themselves, or to be deceived, regarding the Resurrection, had it not been impossible even to suspect St Thomas of credulity. He said: “Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” But afterwards, being thoroughly convinced, he threw himself at Christ’s feet, exclaiming: “My Lord and my God.” Surely only one unwilling to believe could still refuse to admit the truth of the Resurrection! Thomas cried: “My Lord”; Thou art here Thyself; it is no illusion of my excited imagination, no ghost, no apparition resembling Thee that I behold; Thou art here, with the same body which suffered the torture of the Cross and the agony of death. “My God.” From the very fact that Thou art Thyself present, I know Thee, Jesus, to be indeed my God. Thus spoke St Thomas, and thus we, too, should speak with him.

Through Christ’s Resurrection we recognise His divinity. The truth, so often and so plainly proclaimed, that He was God, was confirmed by all His miracles, for God would certainly never give one, who spoke untruths, power to work miracles. It is impossible for God, being all holy, to confirm falsehoods by miracles. Therefore, our Lord’s miracles in general are a proof of His Divinity, but His Resurrection is the greatest and most glorious of them all; for Christ rose from the dead by His own power. He was not raised by some higher authority. By rising again He proved the truth of the words “I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it up again; as the Father hath life in Himself, even so hath He granted to the Son to have life in Himself. I am the Resurrection and the Life.” Every creature has life, not of itself, but given to it by its Creator; God alone has life in Himself; consequently Jesus is God. This doctrine of our Lord’s Divinity is a fundamental doctrine in Christianity, and denial of it involves a denial of Christianity as a whole; for to deny that Jesus is God involves a denial that He spoke the truth, when He declared Himself to be God indeed, the Son of the Almighty Father. Let us always hold fast to this sacred truth, which is confirmed by the strongest proofs. Everything, all our faith and all our virtue, depends upon our belief in the Divinity of Christ.

Jesus is truly God. Of what avail is the learning of men, profound and attractive as it may appear? Every man, however wise, is not only capable of error, but does actually err in many respects.

History teaches us this truth; for we read of great men who have propounded famous theories, universally accepted and believed, and yet in course of time the errors underlying them have revealed themselves, and the theories have gradually been discarded, giving place to others, more recently put forward; until at last the mention of these men and their doctrines is enough to remind us how easy it is to make mistakes. We should indeed be in a sad plight had we to rely exclusively upon human learning. We should have no firm foothold, but only a fear of being compelled to deny tomorrow what today appears true, and to curse what today seems most sacred. But, as it is, we rely not on the doctrines of men, but on the teaching of Him who, by His Resurrection, proved Himself to be God. What can make us waver in our faith? Nothing, for what we believe is the word of the eternal, unchanging Truth, and His doctrines are as true now as they were in the past and as they will be forever. Heaven and earth may pass away, but His words can never pass away.

Jesus is the Vine from which we, the branches, grow.

Jesus is truly God. This truth strengthens us to do right. Even if men could teach infallibly what is right and true, their teaching would be of no avail, since the fairer the colours in which they depicted virtue, the more painfully should we recognise our inability to attain to it, as they could not impart to us strength to do right. But He who teaches us is truly God, the Bestower of grace, the support of our souls, the vine of which we are the branches, and the strength of our hearts, without whom we can do nothing, and with whom we can do all things. God Himself helps us to accomplish what He would have us do. How consoling and encouraging is this doctrine! Whoever recognises Christ as truly God, can never cease to strive after perfection, knowing that he will not strive in vain, as, by aid of the grace given by our risen Saviour, it is possible for him to advance daily on the way of salvation.

My Lord and my God! In Thy Resurrection I recognise Thee as my true God, whose teaching and grace are given me for my salvation. Throughout my life I will acknowledge Thee as my God, by the firmness of my faith and perseverance in doing what is right. Amen.

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Low Sunday, 1 May 2011

The Leese Brothers: Andrew and Randall

On 3 April, 2009, American brothers Andrew and Randall Leese embarked on a round-the-world bicycle trip to raise money for the relief of Indian orphans. The Brothers invite you to experience their ride vicariously via their trip blog, and encourage you to do your part — by making a donation to the Orphan Ride Cause!

Kindly remember these two brothers in your daily prayers, as they continue to make their journey around the world in an effort to raise funds for the Servi Domini Orphanage in India.

If you would like to donate to their cause, you are most welcome to do so via their website, which has been added to the list of site links on the right. All proceeds go directly to the orphanage. The Leese Brothers are funding their trip entirely from their own pockets.

You may like to read more about their journeys on their travel blog, which can be found on the website and also the blogroll on the right.

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Surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia!
The Lord is truly risen, alleluia!

Sanctuary of the Priory of St Pius X on Easter Sunday

And if Christ be not risen again, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. (1 Corinthians 15:14)

Servus Domini wishes all readers of this blog a blessed and holy Easter!

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The Improperia is a series of twelve antiphons and responses, in which Our Lord Jesus Christ reminds of us all He has done for us and our ingratitude towards Him. It is traditionally sung during the adoration of the Cross in the Mass of the Presanctified on Good Friday.

(This video only includes the first part (three verses) of the Improperia.)

My people, what have I done to you? How have I offended you? Answer me.
For I led you out of the land of Egypt, but you have prepared a cross for your Savior.

O holy God!
O holy God!
O holy strong One!
O holy strong One!
O holy immortal One, have mercy on us.
O holy immortal One, have mercy on us!

For I led you through the wilderness forty years,
And fed you with manna, and brought you into a land exceeding good;
But you have prepared a cross for your Savior.

O holy God! …

What more ought I have done for you that I have not done?
Indeed I planted you, my most beautiful vineyard,
and you have become exceeding bitter to me;
In my thirst you gave me vinegar to drink,
And with a lance you have pierced the side of your Savior.

O holy God! …

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Good Friday, 22 April 2011

A plenary indulgence may be gained, under the usual conditions (confess, communicate and pray for the Pope’s intention), on Maundy Thursday by reciting the Tantum Ergo.

"Tantum ergo Sacramentum..."

Tantum ergo Sacramentum
Veneremur cernui:
Et antiquum documentum
Novo cedat ritui:
Praestet fides supplementum
Sensuum defectui.

Genitori, Genitoque
Laus et jubilatio,
Salus, honor, virtus quoque
Sit et benedictio:
Procedenti ab utroque
Compar sit laudatio.
Amen.

Panem de caelo praestitisti eis.
Omne delectamentum in se habentem.

Oremus: Deus, qui nobis sub sacramento mirabili, passionis tuae memoriam reliquisti: tribue, quaesumus, ita nos corporis et sanguinis tui sacra mysteria venerari, ut redemptionis tuae fructum in nobis iugiter sentiamus. Qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

The Tantum Ergo comes from the last two verses of the Eucharistic hymn Pange Lingua.

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On Spy Wednesday and during the Sacred Triduum, the Matins and Lauds of the Divine Office are often sung in a haunting service known as the Tenebrae service (“tenebrae” means “shadows”), which is basically a funeral service for Jesus. During the Matins on Good Friday, one by one, the candles are extinguished in the Church, leaving the congregation in total darkness, and in a silence that is punctuated by the strepitus (sometimes, this is done by repeatedly hitting the pew in front with the Liber Usualis) meant to evoke the convulsion of nature at the death of Christ. It has also been described as the sound of the tomb door closing. During the Triduum, the Matins and Lauds readings come from the following day’s readings each night because the hours of Matins and Lauds were pushed back so that the public might better participate during these special three days (that is, the Matins and Lauds readings heard at Spy Wednesday’s tenebrae service are those for Maundy Thursday, the readings for Maundy Thursday’s tenebrae service are from Good Friday, and Good Friday’s readings are from Holy Saturday’s Divine Office).

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