Erasmus over

Well, that's it. I'm now back in my little village near Edinburgh and my year abroad is now over. As with a lot of things, my mind has instantly erased all memories of ever having been abroad and I have to struggle to remember people's faces and what they were like. It is awful. I really miss some of my friends over there, but at the same time I'm glad to have this sort of "fresh start" back in normality. I now have an excuse to be different - to act more Catholic - because of being away. It should be great, but also difficult.

So now I'm a Catholic Scot reporting from Scotland...

Prayer meme

I've noticed this prayer meme travelling through the blogs I read and unbelievably it has reached my blog through Scottish Catholic Teuchtar and his great blog with its Scottish focus, something which obviously interests me greatly.
Anyway, my three favourite prayers are:

1. The Angelus. I try to say this everyday at noon and at 6 o'clock. Often I recite it and then just get on with my day, but very frequently the simple recitation of Bible verses recalling the Incarnation just overwhelm me. See my previous post on it.

2. The De Profundis. The psalm occurs each Wednesday for Compline in the Divine Office, and I look forward to it. (Indeed this week I was heartily disappointed and annoyed with myself when I recited Tuesday's Compline again instead of Wednesday's). It both reminds us of our sinfulness in the depths of the world, reminds us to always watch for the Lord and then recalls the fact that the Lord redeems.

3. And finally, like Scottish Catholic Teuchtar, the Anima Christi. I was definitely influenced by the fact that my confirmation saint, St Ignatius Loyola, included this prayer before his spiritual exercises.

Unfortunately, I have no one to tag, as everyone I would tag has received it already. Nevertheless, I recommend, along with Scottish Catholic Teuchtar above, Seraphic Spouse.

Comprehensive video on the Blessed Virgin Mary

Are student residences dangerous?

At least, in the spiritual sense?

Surely, some students commit terrible stuff in halls. There may even be students who, seriously or not, dabble in pagan worship or Satan worship. Does this have an effect on our spiritual lives? Are we more likely to come under attack from demons? Are we therefore more likely to lose sanctifying grace through mortal sin? Is it just the atmosphere of more alcohol and hedonism which can prevail in student residences? Or do we just become lazy in our spiritual warfare?

Future of this Blog

As my reader may have noticed, I've not posted anything for over a month now. Even when I get the impulse to write something, I often feel as though it's stupid and not worthwhile posting. So now I'm considering whether to continue with it at all. Furthermore, I'm almost finished with my year abroad, which is half the reason I started it. I'm just all dried up on material and if you want to read an opinion about anything Catholic, you can most definitely read a better one elsewhere. I'm basically not a writer.

On another note, I passed my third year at university, meaning only one more year to go till I've finished my degree. :D

Evening Hymn to the Trinity

Firmly I believe, and truly
God is Three, and God is One;
And I next acknowledge duly
Manhood taken by the Son;

And I trust and hope most fully
In that manhood crucified;
And each thought and deed unruly
Do to death, as He has died.

Simply to His grace and wholly
Light and life and strength belong;
And I love supremely, solely,
Him the holy, Him the strong.

Adoration aye be given,
With and through the angelic host,
To the God of earth and heaven, 
Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Venerable J. H. Card. Newman 

Pro seipso sacerdote

I read this great post by the incomparable Father Z today on the prayers that the priest said for himself on the anniversary of his ordination. The first mentioned are those of the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite. They emphasise the humility of the priest as a servant to all, above all to God, who in His mercy established the priesthood. The post speaks for itself so I'll just post it all here.

In the traditional, Extraordinary Form a priest can add orations for the anniversary of his ordination, Pro seipso sacerdote.

The 2002MR has three formularies Pro seipso sacerdote while the 1962MR has but one.

Since this is a time of year when new priests are being ordained, and many priests are observing their own anniversaries, let’s have a WDTPRS look at the prayers Pro seipso sacerdote from the traditional, Extraordinary Form.

COLLECT (1962MR):
Omnípotens et miséricors Deus,
humilitátis meae preces benígnus inténde:
et me fámulum tuum, quem,
nullis suffragántibus méritis,
sed imménsa cleméntiae tuae largitáte,
caeléstibus mystériis servíre tribuísti,
dignum sacris altáribus fac minístrum;
ut, quod mea voce deprómitur,
tua sanctificatióne firmétur.

SLAVISHLY LITERAL VERSION:
Almighty and merciful God,
kindly hark to the prayers of my humility:
and make me, Your servant, whom,
no merits of my own favoring me,
but by the immense largess of your indulgence,
You granted to serve the heavenly mysteries,
to be a worthy minister at the sacred altars;
so that, that which is called down by my voice,
may be made sure by Your sanctification.

The prayer focuses on priest’s self-awareness of his lowliness and that who he is and what he does is from God’s grace and choice and not his own. 

It also emphasis the relationship of the priest to the altar, that it, the bond of the priest and Holy Mass.  In the older form of Holy Mass, after the consecration during the Canon at the Suppplices te rogamus... the priest bends low over the altar, puts his hands on it… they were annointed, the altar was annointed… kisses the altar, makes the sign of the Cross over the consecrated Host on the corporal, over the Precious Blood in the chalice, over himself.  Christ is Victim.  Christ is Priest.  The priest is victim and priest as well.  This moment during Holy Mass reveals the mysterious bond of altar where the priest sacrifices the victim, the sacrificial victim and the sacrificing priest.  They are one. At the altar he is alter Christus, another Christ, offering and offered.

What also comes to mind as I look at this is the Augustinian reflection of the speaker of the Word and the Word spoken, and the message and reality of the Word and the Voice which speaks it.  The voice of the priest and the priest himself are merely the means God uses in the sacred action, the sacramental mysteries at the altar, to renew in that moment what He has wrought.  Finally, this is done through mercy.  The words misericors, clementia, largitas, benignus all point to the mercy of God.

The priest speaks and God makes what he speaks reality.  He takes the insubstantial words and makes them firm and real.  How important it is for the priest to get himself out of the way when he is at the altar, where the True Actor is in action, Christ the Eternal and High Priest.

SECRET (1962MR):
Huius, Dómine, virtúte sacraménti,
peccatórum meórum máculas abstérge:
et praesta;
ut ad exsequéndum injúncti offícii ministérium,
me tua grátia dignum effíciat.

SLAVISHLY LITERAL VERSION:
O Lord, by the power of this sacrament,
cleanse the stains of my sins:
and grant;
that it may make me worthy by Your grace
unto the performance of the ministry of the office that has been imposed.

Priests are sinner in need of a Savior just like everyone else.  They confess sins and receive absolution like everyone else.  They, to, must do penance for past sins like everyone else.  They come to the altar as sinners.  In the older form of Holy Mass, the texts of the ordinary constantly remind the priest of who he is and who he isn’t.  In this Secret, spoken quietly, the priest prays for what only God can do: remove the stains of sins from his soul.

The prayer brings also to mind the burden of the yoke of the priesthood, symbolized as by the priestly vestment, the chasuble.  As the priest vests he says as he puts on this vestment, "O Lord, Who said: My yoke is easy and My burden light: grant that I may bear it well and follow after You with thanksgiving. Amen."   The yoke is the ancient sign of subjugation.  The ancient Romans caused the conquered to pass under a yoke, iugum. 

POSTCOMMUNION (1962MR):
Omnípotens sempitérne Deus,
qui me peccatórem sacris altáribus astáre voluísti,
et sancti nóminis tui laudáre poténtiam:
concéde propítius, per hujus sacraménti mystérium,
meórum mihi véniam peccatórum;
ut tuae majestáti digne mérear famulári.

SLAVISHLY LITERAL VERSION:
Almighty eternal God,
who desired me, a sinner, to stand at the sacred altars,
and to praise the might of Your Holy Name:
propitiously grant, through the mystery of this sacrament,
the forgiveness of my sins for me;
so that I may merit to wait upon Your majesty.

On the day of ordination the priest lies down upon the floor.

He becomes the lowest thing in the church.

As I read this, I am struck by the two sets of contrasts.

First, there is the contrast of the low state of the servant sinner and the majesty of God.

Second, there is the present moment contrasted with the future to come.

Majestas is like gloria, Hebrew kabod or Greek doxa, a divine characteristic which – some day – we may encounter in heaven in such a way that we will be transformed by it forever and forever.  When Moses encountered God in the cloud on the mountain and in the tent, he came forth with a face shining so brightly that he had to wear a veil.  This is a foreshadowing of the transformative power of God’s majestas.

A priest waits on this majestas.  He awaits it and waits upon it.  He desires it for his own future, but in the present moment he waits upon it as a servent.  He is an attendent, in every sense, one who waits and one who waits.

May God have mercy on priests, sinner servants, attendent on the unmerited grace and gifts of the Victim Priest and Savior.

Consider the mercy of God in His gift of the priesthood during these last days of the year of the priest.

The feast of Corpus Christ this year falls on the first Thursday of June, the last day lay people can gain a plenary indulgence by praying for priests in this Year of the Priest.