Holy Tuesday

 

Today the Passion account of St. Mark is read.   The connection to the Last Supper and the Institution of the Holy Eucharist is omitted in the 1962.

The text is Mark 14:1-72; 15:1-46

The Gospel is separate from the Passion.  It is Mark 15: 42-46.

Palm Sunday

Pre-1955 Holy Week

The 1962 Missal was the beginning transition into the Novus Ordo.  The reformers began small, but rapidly picked up the pace.  It all began with the changes to Holy Week in 1955.  Palm Sunday and the Easter Vigil suffered the greatest damage, but Holy Thursday and Good Friday were significantly affected too.  

PALM SUNDAY

 The ceremony for the Blessing of the Palms was much longer and more solemn.  On Candlemas and Ash Wednesday, there was the blessing ceremony of candles or ashes before Mass.  In both, there are 4 or 5 blessings that the priest gives before distributing them to the people.  In the reformed Palm Sunday, the blessings are reduced from 6 to only one!

Here is the ancient ceremony:

 Antiphon:  Hosanna Filio David

Collect

Epistle

Responsory

Gospel

Blessing #1

Preface and Sanctus

Blessings #2-6

Sprinkling and Incensing of Palms

Distribution of Palms

Final Prayer

Procession outside of church

Singing Gloria, Laus et Honor at the closed church door

Re-entry into the church while singing Ingrediente

Then Mass begins!

There are some interesting things to note in this.  First it is a very solemn ceremony.  Secondly this takes place at the main altar inside church, not outside at a designated location.  It also shows continuity between the 3 major blessings of the Church in the Candles, Ashes and Palms, including the color of Violet for all three Blessings.  (Not Red as in the new Palm Sunday).  Note that the Gospel is read BEFORE the palms are blessed and distributed. (This will be important later in the reading of the Passion at Mass.)

The Procession is the most beautiful and symbolic part of all.  Since the Blessing was in the church, the procession leaves the church and goes around the church grounds while several Antiphons are chanted.  When it returns to the church, the doors are closed and no one can enter.  From inside two cantors begin singing “Gloria, Laus et Honor”.  The people outside sing the chorus after each verse.  Once the hymn is finished, the priest (or deacon) knocks on the door with the processional cross.  The door is immediately opened and all enter the church.  The symbolism is beautiful!  The cantors inside represent the angels in heaven.  The closed doors show that after Original Sin, the gates of heaven were closed.  It was only through the death of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross that heaven was reopened to us.  Now why would anyone want to remove this precious symbolism from Palm Sunday? 

The Mass of Palm Sunday is basically the same except for:

1)      The Asperges Me is still done before the Blessing of the Palms

2)      The prayers at the Foot of the Altar are still prayed, except the Psalm Judica Me

3)      There is the Passion AND Gospel

4)      The Last Gospel is read.

Reading of the Passion

1)      Remember that the palms were not blessed until after the Gospel earlier.  We are to hold our palms during the Passion. 

2)      Dom Gueranger says in TLY, “in order that we may show both heaven and earth that we are not scandalized, as were the disciples, at the sight of His apparent weakness and the triumph of His enemies, we hold in our hands the palms, wherewith we have been proclaiming Him as our King.”

3)      All the Passion accounts are shortened in the reformed Holy Week.  The connection to the Last Supper is removed.   This includes Holy Tuesday and Spy Wednesday.

4)      Today for Palm Sunday it should be Matthew 26:1-75; 27:1-66.

5)      The Passion concludes with a Gospel

6)      At Mt 27:62-66, the Missal is incensed and the tone of chant changes to the Gospel tone. 

 If you are lucky enough to have a Father Lasance or older St Andrew Missal (before 1955), you can read through the ancient Holy Week.  And of course, Dom Gueranger's The Liturgical Year has it all, along with his eloquent commentary. 

To read through the prayers of the pre-1955 Palm Sunday, you can go here:

www.pre1955holyweek.com/_files/ugd/01/15a_eb53c0d433f5464689e3b90e5d9a69a2.pdf  

Pope St. Gregory the Great

 

Not only was St. Gregory the Great a pope, he is also a Doctor of the Church.  If his feast is celebrated rather than the Lenten feria, there would be a Credo. 

Pope St. Gregory the Great, pray for us! 

St Thomas Aquinas

Today is the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas who is a Doctor of the Church.  If his Mass is celebrated today, rather than the Lenten feria, there would be a Credo. 

St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us! 

 

Lent

The current Lenten Fast only dates back to 1966.  Prior to that, the Fast was much more intense.  It may surprise you to hear that Catholics fasted ALL 40 days of Lent.  In addition to that, they abstained from meat on all Fridays (as we do now), but also observed partial abstinence on all other days except Sunday.  This meant that meat was only eaten at the main meal of the day.  The other two smaller collations were meatless.  

Pope Benedict XIV said in 1741: “The observance of Lent is the very badge of the Christian warfare.  By it we prove ourselves not to be enemies of Christ.  By it we avert the scourges of divine justice. By it we gain strength against the princes of darkness, for it shields us with heavenly help. Should mankind grow remiss in their observance of Lent, it would be a detriment to God's glory, a disgrace to the Catholic religion, and a danger to Christian souls. Neither can it be doubted that such negligence would become the source of misery to the world, of public calamity, and of private woe.” 

Look at the world around us.  It is a mess.  A total hedonistic culture surrounds us.  Even the Church Herself is in crisis and Her numbers are rapidly decreasing, especially in certain countries like France who is the Eldest Daughter of the Church.  Pope Benedict XIV was right!  We must try to recapture what our forefathers did.  To go from 2 days of fasting to 40 would be difficult, but we can build up to it gradually.  One could add in another day or two of the week to fast, such as Wednesday (because that was the day when Our Lord was betrayed by Judas).  Or once Passiontide or Holy Week arrives, increase your fasting days.  Partial abstinence could easily be added to our meals.  By God’s grace we can reclaim this great tool to achieve self-discipline and ultimately sanctity.  “I can do all these things in Him Who strengtheneth me.”  Philippians 4:13.

During these 2 ½ weeks of Septuagesima, the Church has been preparing us for Lent.  Already at Mass, we have the violet vestments of penance and the Gloria and Alleluia have been taken away.  Once Lent begins, the organ is no longer played (except at Benediction) and there are no flowers on the altar.  All of these omissions show us the seriousness of this Liturgical Season as we focus on Our Lord’s Passion and Death and all that He suffered to redeem us.

There is one more omission in the pre-1955 that we no longer have.  The Ite, Missa Est at the end of Mass was also taken away and replaced by a simple Benedicamus Domino (Let us bless the Lord.)  This was a further penitential aspect to the Mass.  Anytime the priest wore violet, this was the ending of Mass.  Now we only hear it where there is a procession after Mass which is rare.

St. Cyril of Alexandria

 

Since St. Cyril is a Doctor of the Church, there would be a Credo today. 

St. Cyril of Alexandria, pray for us! 

Candlemas - The Blessing of the Candles

The feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of my favorite feasts.  It is unlike any other of the Liturgical Year.  One of the key features of this feast is the Blessing of the Candles and the Procession.  Bring your candles to be blessed.  These candles are sacramentals and can be used especially during times of trouble, storms and when the Sacrament of Extreme Unction is being given.

The Blessing of the Candles is one of the three principle Blessings of the Liturgical Year.  The other two are the Blessing of Ashes and Palms on Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday.  There is a unique characteristic of the pre-1955 Blessings that is missing in the 1962 Missal.  The color for all three Blessings is violet.  This gives a continuity and uniformity between these major Blessings.  

In the 1962 Missal, each feast has its own color.  The connection between the three is completely gone.  White is for Candlemas, Violet for Ash Wednesday and Red for Palm Sunday.  

Violet is for penitential times and calling down God's mercy and grace upon us.  Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday already have violet since they are in Lent.  Candlemas is often in the Season of Septuagesima which also has the color of violet.  This continuity of color keeps us focused on the these great sacramentals and the extraordinary graces they give us is we use them.

The symbolism of the Procession around the church with lit candles is very beautiful, as the Light of Christ is to be spread throughout the world. The candles are lit again for the Gospel reading (Luke 2:22-32) recounting the Purification, and finally at the Consecration, as the Light joins us in the Real Presence of the Blessed Sacrament. The Preface of the Nativity right before the Canon is used for the last time of the year, again recalling the birth of Our Savior.