Skip to main content

Gaudete! rejoice! The comforting message on the 3rd Sunday of Advent

+
JMJ

Even though we are living in a great crisis, there is still cause to rejoice!

P^3



Courtesy of SSPX.ca

We Christians must rejoice, we even have all kinds of reasons to be joyful: this is the Church's comforting message on the third Sunday of Advent.

Until now, it has always been believed that joy and cheerfulness were the lot of people without piety, bad subjects who do all kinds of tricks. But that all Christians, young or old, poor or rich, sick or well, must be joyful people, that is what many people did not know, and those who knew lived it as if they did not know it. Today the Church tells us this expressly and it cannot be repeated enough. From the door of the sanctuary, she announces to us: "Rejoice in the Lord. I tell you again, rejoice. 
But, holy Church our mother, don't you see the misery of those thousands of unfortunate people who don't have a piece of bread? don't you see the misery of souls that gives such great worries? don't you see the persecution of Christians in so many countries? can we then rejoice?

The Church answers us: My dear children, I see all this, I know all the miseries better than you do. My maternal heart feels all the suffering that is inflicted on my children and that my children are preparing for me. Yet I have the right to rejoice and I call you to joy. Why? Because you are the children of God, because Jesus Christ is your brother, because heaven is your homeland. How long does earthly life last? It passes like a bad dream. Because, in heaven, we will be rich, happy, beautiful, healthy and that this heavenly life will last forever.

Ah ! Holy Mother Church, are we tempted to say, earthly life is very painful and it lasts so long and heaven is so far away. Who knows?..... Here we are caught and the Church can answer us: Do you know, my children, why you cannot achieve the true joy of Christianity? it is because you do not have a strong, deep, full and living faith. Believing is risky, I'll give you that. The dove of eternal life is placed on the roof of heaven, the sparrow of poor earthly life is in your hand. Faith consists in letting this sparrow escape from your hand to find the dove on the roof. Only the living Christianity, the one who is conscious of divine life, who has enough faith to abandon earthly well-being and exchange it for eternal life, can achieve a true and authentic state of joy. It is to this Christian joy and faith that our Mother the Church calls us today: Rejoice without ceasing, I tell you once again: Rejoice.

 
 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Curious Case of Steve Skojec and the Dangers of Deep Diving into the Crisis Sub-Titled: The Failings of Others

 + JMJ It's been a while now since Steve Skojec sold 1P5 and abandoned the Catholic Faith. I've been a 'Trad' since 1982 and in those 40+ years I seen this death-spiral before with a similar end point. It seems that anyone who jumps into the fray unprepared for the enormous task of righting wrongs will, eventually, become discouraged by not the task but the people who surround them.   I remember when Skojec complained of the treatment his family received from a traditional priest.  This seems to have been the start of the end for him. So what can we learn from the likes of Steve Skojec, Michael Voris (maybe?), Louie Verrecchio, Gerry Matatix and other celebrity Catholics? Probably quite a lot about what not to do. First, don't burn out on the crisis?  When you burn out, on work or anything else, little things assume a more greater importance than they are due.   This is one of my 'canary in the coal mine' signals that I've been stretching myself too thin

Morning and Evening and other sundry Prayers

+ JMJ Along the theme of P^3 (Prayer, Penance, Patience), and for my own reference ... here is a collection of Morning and Evening prayers from the Ideal Daily Missal along with some additional prayers. In this crisis of the Church, I do not think it is possible to do too much prayer, penance and have patience. P^3

What the heck is a congregation of "Pontifical Right"

+ JMJ In a discussion with a friend the question occurred to me that I didn't actually know was is involved in being a religious order of 'pontifical right'. I had a vague notion that this meant they reported to Rome as opposed to the local diocese. I'm also aware that, according to the accounts I have heard, the Archbishop received 'praise' and the written direction to incardinate priests directly into the SSPX.  This is interesting because it implies that the SSPX priests were no longer required to incardinate in the local diocese but in the SSPX. This is something that belongs to an order of 'pontifical right'. Anyway here's some definitions: Di diritto pontificio is the Italian term for “of pontifical right” . It is given to the ecclesiastical institutions (the religious and secular institutes, societies of apostolic life) either created by the Holy See or approved by it with the formal decree, known by its Latin name, Decretu

Comparision of the Tridentine, Cranmer and Novus Ordo Masses

+ JMJ I downloaded the comparison that was linked in the previous article on the mass (here) . ... a very good reference! P^3 From: Whispers of Restoration (available at this link) . CHARTING LITURGICAL CHANGE Comparing the 1962 Ordinary of the Roman Mass to changes made during the Anglican Schism; Compared in turn to changes adopted in the creation of Pope Paul VI’s Mass in 1969 The chart on the reverse is a concise comparison of certain ritual differences between three historical rites for the celebration of the Catholic Mass Vetus Ordo: “Old Order,” the Roman Rite of Mass as contained in the 1962 Missal, often referred to as the “Traditional Latin Mass.”The Ordinary of this Mass is that of Pope St. Pius V (1570) following the Council of Trent (1545-63), hence the occasional moniker “Tridentine Mass.” However, Trent only consolidated and codified the Roman Rite already in use at that time; its essential form dates to Pope St. Gregory the Great (+604), in whose time the R