Topics: Why Do You Care: About Maniples.... Overheard of the Web: Snippets Off the Internet....People Look East: Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word...Thomas A'Kempis: For the Greater Glory of God and the Honor of The Blessed Virgin Mary...The Execution of Jesus of Nazareth: The Secular Reasons That Lead to Jesus Death...Of the Virtues Putting Vices to Flight: Kingman Catholic
"Why Do You Care So Much About Maniples?"
Courtesy: My Heart Was Restless
http://myheartwasrestless.blogspot.com/2009/04/why-do-you-care-so-much-about-maniples.html
Someone asked me today: "why do you care so much about maniples?"
Well, it's not a silly traddie vestment thing. Nothing to do with vestments is silly, nor ought it to be exclusively traddie!
What is a maniple?
The maniple is a narrow strip of linen, of the same colour as the chasuble, which is suspended from the left forearm so that if falls equally on both sides of the arm. It serves to remind the Priest that he must patiently bear the cares and sorrows of this earthly life in the service of God and for Heavenly reward. The use of the maniple was never abrogated in the Ordinary Form but it is a rare sight these days.
As the Priest puts on the maniple, he kisses the Cross on the maniple and prays, in Latin or in English:
Grant, O Lord, that I may so bear the maniple of weeping and sorrow, that I may receive the reward for my labors with rejoicing.
Merear, Domine, portare manipulum fletus et doloris; ut cum exsultatione recipiam mercedem laboris.
So why do I care? For one thing, it is an important part of the priestly ministry to be a servant and to live a life of sacrifice.
I also care as a member of the laity. I have been carried this far in my spiritual journey, thanks to God's mercy, even though I have no resources of my own. When God's will seems distasteful to me, as it does at times, I remember that I please Jesus not by feeling discouraged but by bringing Him my weakness. The Offertory of the Mass is the perfect time to do this. The Priest wears a maniple, and from the pews I do my best to interiorly unite myself with the Sacrifice by offering up my own sorrows in the Chalice.
Often the devil tries to convince us not to submit everything to the Lord. The devil does this because he knows that if we bring God our weakness then He will strengthen us. Maniples matter to me because they point to the integrity of the spiritual life and to the theology of the Mass.
Snippets Off the Web...Some Good, Some Not...
G.K. Chesterton: I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean.
Unknown source: It is because of it’s emptiness that the cup is useful.
St. Hildegard of Bingen: The entire world has been embraced by the kiss of God’s love.
St. Lawrence burning at the stake: "Let my body be turned; one side is broiled enough." After having been turned over a while, he turned to the executioner and said, "It is cooked enough; you may eat."
If you grew up in the generation before the Second Vatican Council and if you were asked what are two distinct things that you remember happening afterward, what would they be? The two most common answers would be that the Holy Mass is no longer in Latin and the priest no longer has his back to the people while celebrating Holy Mass. You would think that they were the primary “fruits” of Vatican II. However, the Council itself never discouraged either of the two. Upon reading the Council documents, we see the Church encouraged the faithful to learn basic Gregorian chants in Latin for a full, active, and conscious participation in the Sacred Liturgy. The position or direction of the priest facing the people while celebrating the Sacred Liturgy was something that came into effect after Vatican II. The Council documents never mentioned the priest facing the congregation during the Eucharistic Prayer of the Mass. This was done with the best intentions of trying to direct people’s minds and hearts into the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy and the Reality that is being made present on the Altar in the Holy Eucharist.
The question now has to legitimately be asked, “Has this been done?” or better stated, “Has the priest facing the people during the Eucharistic Prayer of the Mass actually drawn the faithful into a more full, active, and conscious participation?” or “Has it had drastic effects on how the faithful view and understand the Sacred Liturgy?” Most of our Catholic faithful do not even know that the Novus Ordo or Mass of Paul VI can still be celebrated with the priest facing the same direction as the people during the Eucharistic Prayer. If most of the Catholic faithful saw a priest facing the Altar during the Eucharistic Prayer they might be tempted to think that they are at an Extraordinary Form Mass or Tridentine Mass. The question must be raised, “Why did the priest face in that direction (toward the Altar) for centuries?”
There is a growing realization in the Roman Rite of the importance of liturgical orientation and direction during prayer, most especially during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The terms the Church uses for the posture or direction of the priest during the Eucharistic Prayer are called ad orientem (toward the east) or ad Dominum (toward the Lord). It must be said that the direction of the priest “facing away” from the people was never looked at by the Church as the priest “turning his back” on the people. Rather, from the time of the early Church, the understanding has always been that the priest is facing “with” the rest of the faithful in unison as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is being offered. The direction of this liturgical action was seen as not just something symbolic, but as an entering into (and facing a reality) far greater than ourselves. The Church when she celebrates the Sacred Liturgy is literally facing God and oriented toward the Lord. The Holy Mass is always directed toward the Eternal Father, in the Son, through the Holy Spirit.
This Trinitarian action is shown in the Holy Mass as the priest, standing in persona Christi (in the person of Christ), offers the once and for all perfect Sacrifice of the Son of God to the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit. The direction of the priest facing with the faithful toward the Lord as He raises the Holy Body and Blood of Christ has not only a practical, common sense dimension, but more importantly, an eschatological dimension. Simply put, this means our final end or end times when the Son of God and Son of Man will come again from the East.
Facing east during liturgical prayers is much more than an external gesture. It involves the whole of man’s purpose of striving to be a Christian. The external gesture of facing east has to also have an internal orientation of the heart toward the Lord. This internal orientation during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was precisely what Vatican II intended when it spoke of full, conscious, and active participation. When all of us face the Lord together, both priest and lay faithful, all creation comes together to worship the Father in the Son through the Holy Spirit.
Br. John Paul Mary, MFVA
Thomas A'Kempis
For the Greater Glory of God and the Honor of The Blessed Virgin Mary
Submitted by James Spencer
The Utilitarian Case for the Execution of Jesus of Nazareth
By Mark Llamas
Some two thousand years ago in the city of Jerusalem after a request by the high priest Caiaphas and the Jewish judicial body, a Galilean man was brutally executed by the Roman power establishment. Executions were commonplace, but for many locals of the time and for many worldwide today, one execution in particular stands out amongst the rest: the brutal torture and crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth.
What lead to this man’s grisly execution? Was it a power play by the Jewish priestly elite to quash a threat to their authority? Had Roman law been broken and the execution of Jesus a simple civic matter? Had the circumstances presented themselves in such fashion as to form a “perfect storm”, a storm in which the two authoritarian bodies acted in unison to extinguish a threat to their fragile co-existence?
Continue to article...
Posted by Fr. James Weldon on his blog Kingman Catholic
http://stpatskingman.blogspot.com/2009/03/i-really-like-this-one.html
Where there is charity and wisdom there is neither fear nor ignorance.
Where there is patience and humility there is neither anger nor worry.
Where there is poverty and joy there is neither cupidity nor avarice.
Where there is quiet and meditation there is neither solicitude nor dissipation.
Where there is the fear of the Lord to guard the house the enemy cannot find a way to enter.
Where there is mercy and discretion there is neither superfluity nor hard-heartedness.
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