Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord

Recently Heard at Mass

Recently heard at Mass from a newly ordained priest:

“Go in peace, the Mass is ended…er…uh…the other way around.”

Novena to the Immaculate Conception

Today begins the Novena to the Immaculate Conception. These 9 days of prayer conclude on December 8th, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. This feast is a Holy Day of Obligation in the United States as it is our patronal feast day.

There are many different versions of the Novena out there. EWTN has a particularly nice page devoted to it.

This year I am using the Novena found in the Midwest Theological Forum / Our Sunday Visitor Daily Roman Missal.

Alma Redemptoris

Beginning at 1st Vespers of Advent the Seasonal Marian Antiphon changes from the Salve Regina to the Alma Redemptoris.

Ad te levávi

This is the Introit (Entrance Antiphon) for the Mass of the Roman Rite in both its Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms for the 1st Sunday of Advent. And it was the inspiration for the name of this blog.

Ad te levávi ánimam meam, Deus meus, in te confído, non erubéscam. Neque irrídeant me inimíci mei, étenim univérsi qui te exspéctant non confundéntur.

To you, my God, I lift my soul, I trust in you; let me never come to shame. Do not let my enemies laugh at me. No one who waits for you is ever put to shame.
(Official ICEL translation)

To Thee have I lifted up my soul: in Thee, O my God, I put my trust, let me not be ashamed: neither let my enemies laugh at me: for none of them that wait on Thee shall be confounded.
(1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal)

2 Years

Approximately 2 years ago, on the 1st Sunday of Advent, I began this blog with a post on explaining the name I had chosen for the blog.

Over the course of the past 2 years I have taken 2 extended breaks from blogging. The first was due to ridding myself of the internet for several months. And the most recent was due to my outright disgust over over both the actions of pro-abortion Fr. John “Babykiller” Jenkins of the University of Notre Shame and over several things that have happened recently (and not so recently) in my own diocese. I just needed a break for awhile.

But, I always seem to come back eventually.

A Meditation on Psalm 19 and Psalm 137

Hat Tip to man with black hat

By the rivers of Babylon Where we sat down There we wept When he remembered Zion	By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. Psalm 137:1
Then the wicked Carried us away in captivity Required from us a song Now how shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land	For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land? Psalm 137:3-4
Let the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart be acceptable in thy sight here tonight	Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14

Edited to add:

Liturgically Psalm 19:14 (which is 19:15 in the NAB) is used:

- Monday 1st Week of Lent Responsorial Psalm

- Saturday 1st Week in Ordinary Time Year I Responsorial Psalm

- 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C Responsorial Psalm

- Monday 7th Week in Ordinary Time Year II Responsorial Psalm

Liturgically, Psalm 137:1 is used:

- 4th Sunday of Lent Year B Responsorial Psalm

- Friday 12th Week in Ordinary Time Year II Responsorial Psalm

- Wednesday 26th Week in Ordinary Time Year I Responsorial Psalm

- Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael (September 29th) Communion Antiphon

- Mass for Various Needs and Occasions: In Thanksgiving Communion Antiphon (1st Option)

and 137:3-4 is used:

- 4th Sunday of Lent Year B Responsorial Psalm

- Friday 12th Week in Ordinary Time Year II Responsorial Psalm

- Wednesday 26th Week in Ordinary Time Year I Responsorial Psalm

Most Holy Trinity

“We worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance…This is the Catholic faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.”

Athanasian Creed

I Believe

Plaque outside of Holy Family Catholic Church in Columbus, Ohio:

“I believe in the Holy Spirit…”

- Apostles’ Creed

Veni Sancte Spiritus

Veni Sancte Spiritus is the Sequence to be sung or read at every Mass on Pentecost Sunday in the Roman Rite. In the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite the Sequences of Corpus Christi and the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows are optional (and therefore rarely heard). But, those of Easter and Pentecost are always mandatory.

The Sequence, which is optional except on Easter Sunday and on Pentecost Day, is sung before the Alleluia.
General Instruction of the Roman Missal 64

Veni Sancte Spiritus is typically attributed to either Pope Innocent III or to Archbishop Stephen Langton, the man who divided the Bible into chapters.

Come, Holy Spirit, come!
And from Thy celestial home
Shed a ray of light divine!

Come Father of the poor!
Come source of all our store!
Come within our bosoms shine!

Thou, of comforters the best;
Thou, the soul’s most welcome guest;
Sweet refreshment here below;

In our labor, rest most sweet;
Grateful coolness in the heat,
Solace in the midst of woe.

O most blessed Light divine
Shine within these hearts of Thine.
And our inmost being fill!

Where you are not, man has naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint of ill.

Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour Thy dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away:

Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.

On the faithful who adore
And confess you, evermore
In your sevenfold gift descend;

Give them virtue’s sure reward;
Give them Thy salvation, Lord;
Give them joys that never end.
Amen. Alleluia.