On this 16th Sunday after Pentecost according to the calendar of the Vetus Ordo we go with the Lord into what is obviously a trap. In Luke 14 Christ goes to the house of a leader of the Pharisees for a Sabbath meal. Many were present including other Pharisees and nomikoi, experts in the Law,…
The readings we are given by Holy Mother Church, repeated year in, year out, have contexts. When you begin, perhaps on Thursday or Friday, to prepare your participation at Sunday Mass, preview the readings and orations so that you can actively receive them as they are pronounced or sung. Look at the surrounding contexts of…
17 So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. 18 A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will know them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:17-20 RSV) Thusly I…
The Law in Leviticus 13:45-46 required that people with “leprosy” must wear torn clothing, live outside the camp, leave their hair unkept, cover the lower part of their face and cry our “Unclean! Unclean”. This treatment hasn’t yet made its way into the Holy See’s documents oppressing the faithful who desire the Traditional Latin Mass. …
Often in the Gospels, when Christ associates Himself with the Father in such a way that He suggests that He, too, is divine, some scribe or Pharisee, that is, an expert on the Law and Prophets, get up in His face and interrogates Him. This is what happens in the Gospel reading from Luke 10:23-37…
Bl. Idefonso Schuster (+1954) wrote about this 11th Sunday after Pentecost, “now the heavy clusters are taking on luscious color upon the smiling hills of the Roman Campagna.” In our northern hemisphere, however you calculate their duration, we are deep into the Dog Days, the dies caniculares, when serious heat imposes on the terrestrial with…
Last year, when we were working mostly on the Epistle readings for Sunday Masses in the Usus Antiquior, the Gregorian Rite, the Pian Rite, the Tridentine Rite, the Traditional Latin Mass – the Vetus Ordo, the 10th Sunday after Pentecost was supplanted by the Feast of the Transfiguration. Therefore, let’s circle back and fill in…
The 20th century commentator Pius Parsch remarks in The Church’s Year of Grace, that the Sundays after Pentecost could be divided into three groups. The first group stresses the Lord’s miraculous healings which point to, ultimately, the saving of souls. The second, from the 7th to 14th Sundays, emphasizes the kingdom of God versus the…
This week allow me to attempt a connection between the Collect for Sunday’s Mass, the 8th Sunday after Pentecost, and the Epistle pericope from Romans 8:12-17. Pray for me. An initial observation about this Sunday’s text is that, like last week, we have a sharp contrast between the two kingdoms or spirits, that is, the…
This 7th Sunday after Pentecost is the 17th anniversary of the day Pope Benedict XVI released the text of Summorum Pontificum, 07-07-07, the liturgical “emancipation proclamation” for those who desire the benefits of the Vetus Ordo. Let us pray earnestly for those who are charged with the governance of such matters now, that they eschew…
On this 6th Sunday after Pentecost, we return to Epistle readings from the letters of Paul. Last week we had a reading from a letter of Peter, historically brought in on that Sunday because of the gravitational pull of the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. From now on we continue in the time after…
