The Ordination of Jonathan Gibson

The Canadian Deanery of St. John the Baptist, having added 3 deacons to its clergy last weekend (see the story at Deborah Gyapong's Foolishness to the World blog),  will add another member of the faithful to the clergy, for the ministry of the Sacraments, the preaching of the pure Word of the Lord 

and the greater glory of God.

ORDINATION TO THE DIACONATE
Saturday 18th May
at 10.30 a.m. at St. John the Evangelist
by Bishop Frederick Henry

ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD
Saturday 25th May
at 10.30 a.m. at St. John the Evangelist
by Bishop Frederick Henry
in the presence of Msgr. Jeffery Steenson, Ordinary
Hat tip to Michael Trolly

Novena to the Holy Ghost

Courtesy of Father Phillips at Our Lady of the Atonement, San Antonio, Texas. To be prayed daily starting today.

NOVENA TO THE HOLY GHOST

In the Name of the Father, + and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Each day, the Novena begins with this prayer:

O HOLY SPIRIT, our Lord and our God, we adore thee and humbly acknowledge here in thy sacred presence that we are nothing, and can do nothing, without thy operation within us. Come, great Paraclete, thou Father of the poor, thou Comforter of the blest, fulfill the promise of our Saviour, who would not leave us orphans, and enter our minds and hearts as thou didst descend on the day of Pentecost upon the Holy Mother of Jesus and upon His first disciples. Grant that we may have a part in those gifts which thou didst so graciously bestow upon them.

Take from our hearts all that is not pleasing to thee and make of them a worthy dwelling-place for Jesus. Illumine our minds, that we may see and understand the things that are for our eternal welfare. Inflame our hearts with the pure love of the Father, that, cleansed from attachments to all unworthy objects, our lives may be hidden with Jesus in God. Strengthen our wills, that they may be conformed to the will of our Creator and guided by thy holy inspirations. Aid us to practice the heavenly virtues of humility, poverty, and obedience which are taught to us in the earthly life of Jesus.

Descend upon us, O mighty Spirit, that, inspired and encouraged by thee, we may faithfully fulfill the duties of our various states in life, carry our particular crosses with patience and courage, and accomplish the Father's will for us more perfectly. Make us, day by day, more holy and give to us that heavenly peace which the world cannot give.

O Holy Spirit, thou Giver of every good and perfect gift, grant to us our special intentions of this novena of prayer. May the Father's will be done in us and through us; and mayest thou, O mighty Spirit of the living God, be praised and glorified for ever and ever. Amen.

Here is said or sung the Veni Creator Spiritus:

Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire,
and lighten with celestial fire,
thou the anointing Spirit art,
who dost thy sevenfold gifts impart.

Thy blesséd unction from above,
is comfort, life, and fire of love,
enable with perpetual light
the dullness of our blinded sight.

Anoint and cheer our soiled face
with the abundance of thy grace.
Keep far our foes, give peace at home;
where thou art Guide, no ill can come.

Teach us to know the Father, Son,
and thee, of both, to be but One;
that through the ages all along,
this may be our endless song:

Praise to thy eternal merit,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

OUR FATHER, who art in heaven; hallowed be thy Name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Here is said the Proper Prayer for the Day:

FIRST DAY
Come, O Holy Ghost, the Lord and Lifegiver; take up thy dwelling within our souls, and make of them thy sacred home. Make us live by grace as adopted children of God. Pervade all the energies of our souls, and create in us fountains of living water, springing up unto eternal life.

SECOND DAY
Come, O Spirit of Wisdom, and reveal to our souls the mysteries of heavenly things, their exceeding greatness, and power, and beauty. Teach us to love them above and beyond all the passing joys and satisfactions of earth. Show us the way by which we may be able to attain to them, and possess them, and hold them hereafter, our own forever.

THIRD DAY
Come, O Spirit of Understanding, and enlighten our minds, that we may know and believe all the mysteries of salvation, and may merit at last to see the eternal light in thy light; and in the light of glory to have the clear vision of thee and the Father and the Son.

FOURTH DAY
Come, O Spirit of Counsel, help and guide us in all our ways, that we may always do thy holy will. Incline our hearts to that which is good, turn them away from all that is evil, and direct us by the path of thy commandments to the goal of eternal life.

FIFTH DAY
Come, O Spirit of Fortitude, and give courage to our souls. Make our hearts strong in all trials and in all distress, pouring forth abundantly into them the gifts of strength, that we may be able to resist the attacks of the devil.

SIXTH DAY
Come, O Spirit of Knowledge, and make us to understand and despise the emptiness and nothingness of the world. Give us grace to use the world only for thy glory and the salvation of thy creatures. May we always be faithful in putting thy rewards before every earthly gift.

SEVENTH DAY
Come, O Spirit of Piety, possess our hearts, and incline them to a true faith in thee, to a holy love of thee, our God. Give us thy grace, that we may seek thee and find thee, our best and our truest joy.

EIGHTH DAY
Come, O Spirit of holy Fear, penetrate our inmost hearts, that we may set thee, our Lord and God, before our faces forever; and shun all things that can offend thee, so that we may be made worthy to appear before the pure eyes of thy divine Majesty in the heaven of heavens.

NINTH DAY
Come, O Holy Comforter, and grant us a desire for holy things. Produce in our souls the fruits of virtue, so that, being filled with all sweetness and joy in the pursuit of good, we may attain unto eternal blessedness.

The following prayer concludes the Novena each day:

O GOD, who as at this time didst teach the hearts of thy faithful people by sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit: grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgement in all things, and evermore to rejoice in His holy comfort; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth with thee in the unity of the same Holy Spirit ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

Springtime Feast Days at Mount Calvary Church, Baltimore, Maryland

Rogationtide

The calendar for the Personal Ordinariate restores to a modern Catholic Calendar the Rogation Days which were left on the cutting room floor following the calendar change in 1969. The Minor Rogation Days are the three days following Rogation Sunday (or, the 3 days preceding Ascension Thursday, when it's actually celebrated on Thursday as it is, fortunately, here in the Archdiocese of Boston).

There are 3 prayers for Rogationtide in the Book of Divine Worship:

I. For fruitful seasons
Almighty God, Lord of heaven and earth: We humbly pray
that thy gracious providence may give and preserve to our
use the harvests of the land and of the seas, and may prosper
all who labor to gather them, that we, who constantly receive
good things from thy hand, may always give thee thanks;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with
thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

II. For commerce and industry
Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ in his earthly life
shared our toil and hallowed our labor: Be present with thy
people where they work; make those who carry on the
industries and commerce of this land responsive to thy will;
and give to us all a pride in what we do, and a just return for
our labor; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and
reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God,
now and for ever. Amen.

III. For stewardship of creation
O merciful Creator, whose hand is open wide to satisfy the
needs of every living creature: Make us, we beseech thee,
ever thankful for thy loving providence; and grant that we,
remembering the account that we must one day give, may be
faithful stewards of thy bounty; through Jesus Christ our
Lord, who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

More information about the Rogation days is from the web site of Holy Trinity German Church here in Boston.

The Rogation Days Are...

Universally Christian,

• The use of litanies goes back to the Old Testament, when the cantor would recite something and the congregation would reply with a set line, such as "His mercy endureth forever" (Ps. 135) or "Praise and exalt Him above all forever" (Dan. 3.57-87). Litanies are the most sensible form of song for pedestrians, as they enable both cantor and congregation to catch their breath in between verses.
• The Jews also prayed for blessings on their crops and homes at certain key points of the year. In fact, two of the three great Hebrew feasts of the year -- the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and the Feast of Tabernacles -- were related to the harvest.
• Christianity retained the spirit of both of these practices, and rightfully so, as everything that happened in the Old Testament happened so that it might instruct us on a deeper figurative level. Litanies such as the Kyrie eleison, for example, were treasured by both Eastern and Western Christians, as were blessings over the fruits of the earth. 

Uniquely Roman,

• While the Rogation Days tie into a universally Christian tradition, they are nevertheless quintessentially Roman. The Major litanies on April 25, for example, are a Roman Catholic "baptism" of the Robigalia, a pagan procession to gain favor from the Robigo, the Roman god of grain. Since the Church had no objection to praying for the harvest, it threw out Robigo while keeping the procession.
• Interestingly enough, the Lesser litanies are not, strictly speaking, Roman at all. They were begun in 470 by Bishop Mamertus of Vienne, whose diocese (along with the rest of France) practiced not the Roman rite, but the Gallican. Mamertus instituted these petitions in response to a terrifying series of natural calamities (storm, floods, earthquakes, etc.). The practice spread through France and Germany, and was eventually incorporated into the Roman rite. Despite this fact, however, they are still a good example of a uniquely Roman phenomenon, which is the engrafting of Gallican or Frankish practices onto the Roman rite. Not only were the other historic apostolic rites far more self-sufficient, but there is no other instance in Christendom of an area under a patriarch’s authority practicing a rite different than his own. 

Usefully Natural,

• Rogationtide not only crystallizes the prayers of those whose livelihood depends on the harvest, but it reminds all of us of our dependence on the fruits of the earth. The Rogation Days are in fact the only days in the church calendar which are explicitly agricultural.
• Rogationtide also makes us aware of our reliance on nature’s clemency. Natural disasters such as those experienced in fifth-century Gaul ever threaten to disrupt civilization. The Lesser Rogation Days are the only days in the church calendar which explicitly remind us of this fact.
• Thus, whereas the Ember Days commemorate nature from the perspective of its seasons, Rogationtide commemorates it vis-a-vis its relation to man and the city, both as a source of bounty and as a source of potential harm.
• Put differently, there is a communal dimension to Rogationtide’s portrayal of nature. This can be adapted to modern parish life in ingenious ways. The Catholics of Cold Springs, Minnesota, for example, erected "Grasshopper Chapel" in thanksgiving for the end to an 1877 grasshopper plague that was miraculously stopped by their prayers. To commemorate their deliverance, parish Rogation Days thereafter were marked by processions to this chapel. 

Communally Reconciling,

• The Rogation Days (especially the Lesser) were also used as occasions of reconciliation among parishioners who had grown angry at each other. This custom, popular in the Middle Ages, also stems from the communal dimension of Rogationtide and could apparently be quite successful.  

And Personally Prayerful

• The Litanies used for both the Greater and Lesser Rogation Days are exquisite. God and the saints are invoked in a perfect theological hierarchy, followed by a touching plea for deliverance from various evils. The psalms that are used -- the seven penitential psalms of David -- also beatify the ceremony immensely. The litanies are therefore not only an excellent mode of prayer, but an objection of great reflection.
• Finally, the Lesser Litanies are a good preparation for Ascension Thursday. Psychologically, it is difficult to keep up the jubilance of Pashaltide for forty days. The penitential character of the Lesser Litanies allows for an emotional denoument so that we may rejoice all the more for the "novena" from Ascension Thursday to Whitsunday.

Ordinariate Ordination in June in California

Founding members of St. Augustine of Canterbury, Oceanside

From Fr. Bartus at Blessed John Henry Newman Church in Orange County, California:

The lay administrator of St. Augustine of Canterbury in Oceanside, Mr. George Ortiz-Guzman, will be ordained in a private service to the Sacred Order of Deacons on June 19, 2013! He will be ordained in a public service to the Sacred Order of Priests on Wednesday, June 26, 2013 at 10:00am at St. Margaret Catholic Church in Oceanside (St. Augustine’s host parish).
St. Augustine’s will, after nearly a year after being received into the Church, have their first Mass according to the Anglican Use, on Sunday, June 30, 2013 at 12:45pm inside St. Margaret’s, Oceanside.

Congratulations to all the members of St. Augustine's and to the future Fr. Ortiz-Guzman

7 PM Mass to be Launched Pentecost, May 19th at St. Thomas More Church, Scranton

from the May newsletter of St. Thomas More parish in Scranton, Pennsylvania:

On the Solemnity of Pentecost, Sunday, May 19, for the first time ever we will add a second Mass to our weekend schedule, which will be on Sunday evenings at 7 p.m. ... a kind of “last chance Mass” for those who have yet to fulfill their Sunday obligation, and of course for anyone else who wants to attend. As a Low Mass there will less musicthan on Sunday mornings, though there will still be hymns and a Mass setting led by cantor and organ. While keeping our Sunday morning traditions intact, this additional Mass time will also allow us to learn the Ordinary of the Mass (Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, & Agnus Dei) in Latin to Healey Willan’s St. Theresa Mass, which we will introduce gradually, mastering one movement for a month or so before introducing the next. If you have non-Catholic (or lapsed Catholic) family and friends who might be a bit overwhelmed by our Sunday morning experience, but whom you would still like to expose to the beauty of the Anglican Use, this Mass may provide a great opportunity for evangelization!

Head of Anglican ordinariate grateful for former pope’s generosity, hopeful for future

By MARIO BIRD

Monsignor Jeffrey Steenson delivers a homily, March 7, at Our Lady of
Guadalupe Church in Anchorage during Father Ken Bolin’s
ordination to the priesthood. — Photo by Fr. Frank Reitter

Monsignor Jeffrey Steenson is a Catholic priest and former bishop in the Anglican Church. In 2012 Benedict XVI appointed him to lead the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, the new structure in North America by which former Anglicans can enter the Catholic Church while preserving many of their traditions.

As a married man, Msgr. Steenson cannot be ordained a bishop and thus depends on Catholic bishops to ordain priests for the Anglican ordinariate.

In March he was at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Anchorage where he delivered the homily at Father Ken Bolin’s ordination to the priesthood. Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz ordained Father Bolin for the Anglican ordinariate.

After the liturgy, Msgr. Steenson spoke with the Catholic Anchor.

Could you comment on the Anglican ordinariate, how you’ve seen it develop, and how you think it will continue with the next papacy?

Msgr. Steenson: Our time with Pope Benedict was way too short! He created the ordinariate for the U.S. and Canada just last January 1. But he had been involved with this project when he was Cardinal Ratzinger. He’s so important to this.

I remember that, when I heard the news that he was stepping down as pope, I had a little stab of fear in my heart: “What’s going to happen to us?” But, in his wisdom, when he created the ordinariate he did it with an Apostolic Constitution, which gives us stability and permanence. The last two weeks I’ve been in Rome to meet the various congregations, and I consistently heard from everyone, “You’re family now.” I think that, whoever is chosen as pope, we’re not going to have to start from scratch.

Many cardinals were excited that the ordinariate is about bringing people into the church. Groups that are committed to evangelization and Christian unity will thrive — the Lord will bless them. That’s the heart of what Jesus had for us.

You liberally quoted the Church Fathers in your homily. Could you comment on Pope Benedict’s beatification of (Anglican convert) John Henry Cardinal Newman, and how Newman’s study of the Fathers brought him into the Catholic Church?

Msgr. Steenson: I was at Newman’s beatification. I was sitting with the priests as a concelebrant. It was so thrilling — it was the happiest I had ever seen Pope Benedict. He was so totally “in” that liturgy. And his face was beaming, you know, because Newman was important for him as a seminarian.

It’s a controversial point, but Newman is sometimes called the “hidden peritus” of the Second Vatican Council. What Newman did for the Catholic Church was teach her to think historically, with a critical-historical eye, to begin to understand the development and continuity of doctrine. This is something that deeply influenced Pope Benedict.

Newman is incredibly important for so many of us. He worked through the question, “Can you be a Catholic without being in communion with Rome,” and how the early church theologians would answer that question. “The Arians of the Fourth Century” — it’s not read by many people, but it is really a phenomenal piece of work. In there, (Newman) talks about the role of the Bishop of Rome, and how the whole Arian crisis (which claimed that Christ was not equal to God) was ultimately resolved. That really affected me...

Read the rest at the Catholic Anchor.

Msgr. Steenson in Canada May 29th

May issue of The Portal is available

The Portal, the official magazine of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in the UK has posted its May issue a few days early.

Among the stories, there's an interesting response to an essay posted by Telegraph writer/blogger Damian Thompson, which I noted here when it first came out. The essay in The Portal is woven around the comment by Mr. Thompson "Put it this way: one of the treasures of Anglicanism that the Ordinariate can bring to Rome has nothing to do with vestments or prayer books – it’s the tradition of the Anglo-Catholic ‘slum priests’ who carried the Gospel to the darkest alleyways of Jack the Ripper’s London.?"

Hat tip to Fr. Smuts at his eponymous blog for pointing out the early publication.

Feast of St. Mark

Today was a Red Letter Day, the feast of St. Mark. The Book of Divine Worship collect for today is:

Almighty God, who by the hand of Mark the evangelist hast
given to thy Church the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of
God: We thank thee for this witness, and pray that we may
be firmly grounded in its truth; through the same Jesus
Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the
Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

There being no Mass at St. Athanasius today, I went to St. Paul's in Cambridge, Mass, home to the only Catholic boys choir school in the United States. The choir, together with the Men's Schola, sang for a Solemn High Mass in the Extradordinary form, with Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, who blogs at What Does the Prayer Really Say?, serving as celebrant. The Mass, and following talk (which I couldn't stay for) were sponsored by Juventutem Boston. Here are some photos and video of tonight's Mass.

Servers and clergy entering the Sanctuary.

The conclusion of the Introit.

During the Introit, Prayers at the Foot of the Altar.

The deacon chants the Gospel for the feast.

Clergy in choro.

Boys choir and Men's schola sing Palestrina's motet Sicut Cervus at the Offertory.

Sanctus, Consecration and Benedictus. The Ordinary was the
Missa Quarti Toni by Tomás Luis de Victoria.

Ecce Agnus Dei.

Holy Communion.

Fr. Z leaving the sanctuary after the chanting of the Regina Coeli.