Pope Benedict enters St. Peter’s Basilica through the newly opened Holy Door.
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“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
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- The most evident mark of God’s anger and the most terrible castigation He can inflict upon the world are manifested when He permits His people to fall into the hands of clerics who are priests more in name than in deed, priests who practice the cruelty of ravening wolves rather than the charity and affection of devoted shepherds.
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“Until the Lord be pleased to settle, through the instrumentality of the princes of the Church and the lawful ministers of His justice, the trouble aroused by the pride of a few and the ignorance of some others, let us with the help of God endeavor with calm and humble patience to render love for hatred, to avoid disputes with the silly, to keep to the truth and not fight with the weapons of falsehood, and to beg of God at all times that in all our thoughts and desires, in all our words and actions, He may hold the first place who calls Himself the origin of all things.”
- Prosper of Aquitaine (+c.455), De gratia Dei et libero arbitrio contra Collatorem 22.61
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"But if, in any layman who is indeed imbued with literature, ignorance of the Latin language, which we can truly call the 'catholic' language, indicates a certain sluggishness in his love toward the Church, how much more fitting it is that each and every cleric should be adequately practiced and skilled in that language!" - Pius XI
"Let us realize that this remark of Cicero (Brutus 37, 140) can be in a certain way referred to [young lay people]: 'It is not so much a matter of distinction to know Latin as it is disgraceful not to know it.'" - St. John Paul II
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Let us pray…
Grant unto thy Church, we beseech Thee, O merciful God, that She, being gathered together by the Holy Ghost, may be in no wise troubled by attack from her foes. O God, who by sin art offended and by penance pacified, mercifully regard the prayers of Thy people making supplication unto Thee,and turn away the scourges of Thine anger which we deserve for our sins. Almighty and Everlasting God, in whose Hand are the power and the government of every realm: look down upon and help the Christian people that the heathen nations who trust in the fierceness of their own might may be crushed by the power of thine Arm. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.






















I’m a little perplexed by this citation in Pope Francis’ address today:
“How much wrong we do to God and his grace when we speak of sins being punished by his judgment before we speak of their being forgiven by his mercy (cf. Saint Augustine, De Praedestinatione Sanctorum, 12, 24)! But that is the truth. We have to put mercy before judgment, and in any event God’s judgement will always be in the light of his mercy.”
As far as I can tell, 12, 24 has to to with unbaptised babies. Do I have the wrong section of the work? I certainly don’t want to dispute the mercy of God, but I think that this quote is out of context, which if so, is misleading.
Father – You cut off the video before we could hear Paul Inwood’s official hymn for the Year of Mercy.
I watched the Mass live on EWTN. I thought it was very nice, even if there was a lot more Italian than Latin. It was beautiful that His Holiness the Pope Emeritus was the first one to walk through the Holy Door after His Holiness the Pope. The official hymn for the Year of Mercy is also quite nice:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_qHRTblWZU
I hope a full orchestral version like at St Peter’s Basilica will available online at some point.
Spare us Oh Lord!
Today I became aware of the “Mystical Rose” devotion and the “hour of Grace” on the feast of the Immaculate Conception. It refers to Our Lady requesting prayers, penance, expiation for priests and religious who have forgotten, become lax or abandoned their vocations.
Oh. I can’t help but be glad for Pope Benedict, that he is not pope. He appears much too frail now to handle the convolutions of the Vatican and overseeing the Catholic Church. He has changed a lot in two years. God bless him.
CatholicMD–
Here ya go!
http://youtu.be/OgOitVtAgXA
You don’t need to bookmark it to hear it again. You will have a difficult time getting it to stop playing in your mind for the next year. Plus I’ve heard rumors (that appear true in my case at least) that the Year of Mercy logo is projected subliminally in your mind while the tune…er, I mean hymn… repeats interminably in your mind.
Aww…, sweet Benedict. It is so lovely to see that dear man. Ad multos annos Papa Emerito!
So touching to see Pope Benedict and Fr Georg helping him along by holding his hand. I am sorry he is more frail, but sure he is in Our Lady’s arms.
GSK – Try lib. 1, c. 2, 24, using the older chaptering, and you will see a section on how God mercifully gave us a bunch of stuff first. It is chapters 3-6 in other versions.
Papa Benedetto! What a blessing to have been alive when he was pope!
I watched the mass live……with that very….”Colorful” Gospel Book and “Year of Mercy” logo…….which both look like they came out the worst parts of the 1970’s Church…….and a Homily…..that was also, well….I’ll leave that up to the Theologians. But it was most wonderful to see Pope Benedict XVI. That was the highlight for me and many faithful Catholics of the Mass.