This Sunday, the 21st after Pentecost in the traditional Roman calendar, Holy Church gives us the Lord’s Parable about the Wicked or Ungrateful Servant from Matthew 18:21-35. Christ uses this parable to instruct His future Vicar, Peter, and therefor all future Vicars, the need for being forgiving. In how many ways does the Lord underscore…
As our planet whirls along we are walking together from summer into autumn in the still dominating Northern Hemisphere, where Holy Church arose and formed our liturgical rites and calendar. With our shift into the harvest and dying season, the Church now presents end of the world themes and glimpses of the Second Coming. For…
In the northern hemisphere, the solar rhythm of which dominates the development of the Roman Church’s calendar, we are moving inexorably toward autumn. With that autumnal mindset it is not a surprise that we begin, as the 20th century commentator Pius Parsch reflects, to receive more hints at the Church’s harvest time, the Second Coming.…
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,…
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…
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…
