RESTAURATIO ECCLESIAE "EX OPERE OPERATO"

"This Sunday is Corpus Christi and we are going to have a very beutiful Mass at Yorba Linda with very solemn eucharistic veneration at the end. The Mass will start at 6:20 AM this Sunday as a result."

Below see the outline of the "very beutiful Mass".

Since when do we go to church to be spectators at a beautiful Mass?

Secondly, when was the Real Presence downgraded to being "venerated" and not adored?

"Recently, Father said to me in passing that I was part of the restoration. We may not see the fruits of the restoration in our lifetimes, but simply to know we are working towards it. Ever since he said this, it has renewed my enthusiasm to continue promoting the Traditional Latin Mass."

JOHN 2:

He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money-changers seated there.15 He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, 16 and to those who sold doves he said, "Take these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace." 17 His disciples recalled the words of scripture, "Zeal for your house will consume me." 18 At this the Jews answered and said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?" 19 Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." 20 The Jews said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?" 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.

JOHN 4

The woman said to him, "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem." 21 The woman said to him, "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem." 21 Jesus said to her, "Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth." 25 The woman said to him, "I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Anointed; when he comes, he will tell us everything." 26 Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking with you."

The restoration has taken place. Jesus has already done it. It goes forward, not backward. Jesus shed His blood for it. The Church has enjoyed 20 centuries of growth through 21 Councils (22 if you count Jerusalem). No one, (including the Pope and the Cardinal founder of the Canons) no single individual nor even a corporate entity will ever succeed in prevailing against the Spirit of the pedagogy of God and His Church. Others have tried and failed. You cannot succeed by bringing back the past, neither in your lifetime nor in many others.

Especially not with the "beautiful Mass" outlined below.

MISSA HERMOSA!

"In nomine pa..sss eeeee fff aaaa...........""In..........tr.............a...............................dei"

"Ju......mmmmmaammmddmmmm...".........

"Confiteor Deo.....mmm...om..........."

"Mmmmmm....luc.....tttt...bbbbbb..."

Kyrie Eleison Kyrie Eleison

Kyrie Eleison

Christe Eleison Christe Eleison

Christe Eleison

Kyrie Eleison Kyrie Eleison

Kyrie Eleison

"Gloria in Excelsis Deo......... mmmmmm........ Cum sancto Spiritu + in gloria Dei Patris. Amen"

MISSA HERMOSA Continuet...

"Dominus Vobiscum"

"Et cum spiritu tuo"

"Oremus...mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Per omnia saecula, saeculorum"

"Lectio epistolae.......mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm."

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm"

"Dominus Vobiscum"

"Et cum spiritu tuo"

"Lectio sancti evangelii secundum Lucam"

In illo tempore......mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm."

Verba celebrantis, dicitur "sermonis" Tempus somnulantiae

MISSA HERMOSA PERSEQUITUR

"Credo in unum Deum....mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm."

"Dominus vobiscum."

"Et cum spiritu tuo"

Oremus.....mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

"Orate Fratres....mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm"

"Per omnia saecula saeculorum"

"Amen"

"Dominus vobiscum"

"Et cum spiritu tuo"

"Sursum corda"

"Habemus ad dominum"

"Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro"

"Dignum et justum est"

"Vere dig.......................................mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm"

"Sanctus, Sanc...............................mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm'

Elevationes sequuntur consecrationem panis et vini, cujus verba auscultare nequeunt.

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....per omnia saecula saeculorum"

"Amen"

"Oremus, Praec....mmmmmmmmmmm...Pater noster....mmmmmmmmmmm

mmmmmmmmm...et ne nos inducat in tentationem"

"Sed libera nos a malo"

MISSA HERMOSA manet in via receptionis Corpus Domini nostri Jesu Christi.

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....Pax domini Jesu Christi sit semper vobiscum"

"Et cum spiritu tuo"

"Agnus Dei...mmmmmmm;

"Agnus Dei...mmmmmmm;

"Agnus Dei...mmmmmmm"

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..."

Nunc, recipitur invitationem appropinquandam mensam sanctissimae caenae.

"Ecce agnus Dei..mmmmmm"

"Domine non sum dignus...mmmmmmmmmmm" x 3

"Corpus Dom...mmmmmmmmmmmmm"

ORATIONES HERMOSAE POSTEA COMMUNIO recitandae sunt a sacerdote, sotto voce ut quasi omnes orationes illae missae hermosae

"Dominus vobiscum"

'Et cum spiritu tuo"

"Ite missa est"

"Deogratias"

"Dominus vobiscum"

"Et cum spiritu tuo"

Initium Sancti evangelii sancti Joannae.....mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...et verbum caro factum est...mmmmmmmmmmm.

"Deo gratias."

SIC CUMPLET MISSAM HERMOSAM.

Even though you were only a spectator at a "very beutiful Mass", you did receive a valid sacrament despite your minimal participation in the celebration of it.

ONE YEAR AGO, CABBAGE NIGHT

BOO! I can't believe that is has been one year since I have put myself through the pleasure of grousing about something in public. It isn't that I haven't thought of anything, it is that I have been working at some pretty intensive jobs over this time. Some of you may be reacting with smirks and fire-spitting eyes with the jealousy born of hearing me complain about about working when many of you wish that you were working instead of reading me. I guess you will just have to get over it. I am not going to quit because you are out of work. I can't quit. Who can quit and try to maintain a life style on Social Security? You know, that socialist benefit that old people are entitled to have because they and their employers have paid into the program forever...or so it seems. So, OK, I'll change the subject.

How about the dear friend who disappeared into thin air about six months ago? Now, that's a bummer. I don't know what got into her. One day we're "texting" away (not "sexting", smarty pants) and suddenly she fell off the end of the earth. Not a word in six months. No, it's not the economy, stupid. It can't be my B.O. at a distance of 100 miles! Imagine, the wonders of the twenty-first century ganging up on you and making your life miserable. If we didn't have cell phones, we would never imagine that friends could be right next to us while being physically so far away. Then, poof!, no more contact. This, by the way, was not one of those Facebook "friends". This was a real, live, honest to goodness breathing person, full of life, love and the pursuit of happiness. She is too young to die, but not too young to disappear. Boo Hoo!

Ah, yes! Facebook. How many times over the last year have I pushed the "delete" button on e-mail that said, "Francie Chrystafragellistic wants to be your friend." Huh? Friend? Who? Why? Cold Cock a poor guy with a proposal to be friends without ever having met face to face? Not even in "Pete's Hole Inn the Wall" bar on South Canal Street? Friend? Are you kidding me. Get "delete" lost!

WHY I DIDN'T VOTE FOR JOHN McCAIN

The other day I received an email entitled "Redistribution" and made fun of the socialistic views of Barack Obama. I immediately fired off a reaction that read something like, "Imagine that, the fighter pilot who got shot down doesn't realize that he is running his campaign on redistributed money." My friend wrote back and said that he respects John McCain for what he did for his country. I have no intention of jeopardizing my friendship with this individual, so I will tell you all why I did not vote for John McCain.

1. Getting shot down and surviving a concentration camp does not train you to be president.
2. Running a disorganized campaign proves that it doesn't train you to manage, period.
3. Being a maverick does not qualify you to be president. It might qualify you to be "complainer in charge."
4. Was that Gordon Liddy I saw you with the other day?
5. Did I hear that you voted for aid to the Contras?
6. I thought that I saw you one time with Ollie North.
7. Why doesn't Cindy ever let you out of her sight?
8. Maybe you are the one who needs her around all the time for moral support?
9. You are too wimpy to even want to talk with the Castro Boys?
10. You are not polite and respectful.
11. So you said that Obama is not an Arab, he is a "decent man." So Arabs aren't decent?
12. You proved to me that you easily go off half-cocked.
13. Over a year ago at a college campus, while you were on "Hardball" you answered a question about abortion just before the break. Then after the break you changed your answer.
14. The list of half-cocked reactions is too long to suffer through.
15. Your choice of Sarah Palin was bad, for a lot of reasons.
16. She too hangs around with bad people. the Alaskan Independence Group ring a bell?
17. She is cleaning your clock. It is hard to believe that you are in charge over there.
18. Will you show us a picture of you handing over a check for nearly $500 mil to Khalidi?
19. How about a picture of you speaking at a posh affair put on by ACORN?

I could not bring myself to vote for John McCain for president of the United States.

Non Omne Quod Sintillat aurum est

This painting is entitled "Transition". The reason why it is here is because it communicates the confusion that some transitions force on the people who have to go through them. I am sure that I am not the only one who feels this way. Our community is presently in the throes of a magnificently mismanaged transition as these words are drummed unto the page. The process is now nearly four months along and we are wondering how much longer it is going to last.

The community that is suffering this is a Roman Catholic parish. Roman Catholics have a special kind of life. They belong to communities which are called "parishes". These communities are geographically defined to be accessible to a centralized church. The church of course has a pastor. Unlike their Protestant counterparts, Catholics do not get to hire the pastor following a serious recruitment and vetting process. What happens is that the incumbent pastor leaves and a replacement is chosen by the bishop and sent to the vacated position. Sometimes these transitions are smooth, sometimes they are not. The clash of personalities and management styles from the one to the next are sometimes rather tectonic. One of the good aspects of the system is that the members of the community can always say, "Don't look at me, I didn't vote for him." One of the nasty sides of the system is that everyone knows that the next six years (yes, six) are going to be VERY interesting.

The situation that we are observing these days is of the second kind. Pastor comes in and right off the top complains about the lack of income. Then of course, he proceeds to lay off his brightest and best because, of course, they are being paid the most. Then, of course begins the recruitment of volunteers to replace the professionals who have accepted the invitation to move on because the parish "can no longer afford your services."
This takes place rapidly and in a dictatorial way. The new man looks around, sees who comes to church, who speaks his language most fluently, asks a question or two and then invites the person to take charge of programs about which the new volunteer knows nothing. This goes on for a while before the participants in the programs start to realize that they are so confused that they can't see where they are going.
It's interesting to watch. Meetings get called with miniscule advance notice. Those who can come to the meeting have no idea about what the agenda is, or even if there is one. In one case a long time class group was confronted by the replacement of the teacher that they were accustomed to and the person in charge of the change did not appear to introduce the new person to the group. Great transition management! There are more stories about the shock treatment of bad transition management, but that would be too boring and repititious.

Money. Of course, money. New paint, new chairs, new decor and a remodel of sorts, not yet finished, in my opinion.

Finally, not a single clerical priest in the entire parish is fluent in the language that dominates the lives of 85% of the parish. So, the spiritual life of the community is being burnished by the material changes in the environment.

Meanwhile, education processes clippity-clop along. The management of documents required is foggy. Who knows, this whole enterprise is living on the promise that "the powers of hell shall not prevail against it." All we can hope for is that the holy remnant of Ezequiel will be around when the six year term comes to an end.

SIN THAT CRIES OUT TO GOD FOR VENGEANCE

There are those of us who know that there are certain sins among those that we call "mortal" or "grievous" because we find their description as such in Sacred Scripture. The past Sunday (October 26, 2008), the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, the first reading described one of these grievous, mortal sins. The Church presented this description to us as being in direct opposition to the lesson that Jesus was about to give to the sarcastic scholar who asked what the greatest law of all was.

"34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them [a scholar of the law] tested him by asking, 36 "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" 37 He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and the first commandment. 39 The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments." (Matt. 22; 34-40)

The scholar of the law should have known the answer. In fact, Jesus knew the answer because it appears in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verse 5 "Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength." Jesus added the fulfillment sentence that He came to earth to deliver, about loving your neighbor. We have the same trouble with this saying of Jesus that the scholar of the law did. It is really a hard-nosed law. There are not too many teachers of scripture and homilists who have the courage to
confront the true meaning of this expectation that God has of us. It just happens that the first reading of this Sunday showed us just how high God has set the bar in this area of love of neighbor.
Listen:
Thus says the LORD:"You shall not molest or oppress an alien,for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt. You shall not wrong any widow or orphan. If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me,I will surely hear their cry. My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword;then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans.
"If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people, you shall not act like an extortioner toward him by demanding interest from him. If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, you shall return it to him before sunset; for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body. What else has he to sleep in? If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate."(Ex 22:20-26)

How's that for crying out to God for vengeance? These are sins that today occur every day our world. They are right up there with the others that are found in the Scripture: Murder, sodomy and the withholding of wages. How often do we offer prayers of intercession for these grievous sins? How often to we even think about them? How often have they been spelled out from the pulpit? How often have they been uttered in the same breath as abortion? Even abortion has a special niche in our lives...September and October of every election year. Along with sexual
misbehavior, homosexuality (sodomy) included, we have our moral map handed to us when it comes time to vote. It's almost as though voting against pro-abortion politicians is the one sacrificial act that can bring us justification. What do we do the rest of the year? We hope and pray that the killing will stop and that a miracle will happen that will cause the change of the law. We already know that this is a sin that cries out to God for vengeance. We pray that we will see the day when His wrath will be manifest. In the meantime we shake our heads and wonder how to attack this monster. And what if the anti-abortionist is pro-sodomy and negligent of the blue collar, or "no collar" worker? What if the anti-abortionist has an international policy that has war as the answer to most problems?

It is unfortunate that our narrow minded, one issue attitude envelops us so tightly that we cannot be creative enough to apply other tactics to the problem than to vote against the pro-abortion candidate. This attitude sends us down the path of voting for some well accomplished dunces. We are encouraged to vote for those who would listen to our holier-than-thou preaching about one sin while forgetting the terrible destruction that can be wreaked by an accumulation of other criminal behaviors that bring us to our knees and cause more abortions to take place because of the despair that the anti-abortionist causes. We have a hard time making the pious ones see that the pro-abortion whiz could construct a community that would be more at peace with itself, therefore making abortion less desirable in times of moral difficulty. We are made to believe that abortion is the gravest sin committed by our society. I think that there is room for discussion there. I happen to have a corner of my conscience that says that the sin of electing an anti-abortionist who presents a strong probability of destroying the fabric of the entire country is just as grave, if not worse. Running the country into despair would only cause a lot more sin to be committed, including more abortion. While it is true that running a country to the brink of despair is not classified as a sin that cries out to God for vengeance, it nevertheless would be close enough to satisfy me.

Let's get back to the answer that Jesus gave to the scholar of the law. Jesus did not tell him to avoid any of the 630 precepts of Jewish Law. He quoted Scripture. He quoted the law of love as found in chapter 6, verse 5 of Deuteronomy, "Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength." Then, to fulfill the will of His Father and to complete the dictate of His Mission he added, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Matt. 22; 39)
How many of us look for the candidate who most closely lives the tenet of love in his life? How many of us prepare ourselves to go to the polls with an inclusive, positive attitude rather than an exclusionary, negative mind set? How many of us prepare to go to the polls liking one candidate and disliking another? How many of us can ask ourselves 15 questions about what it would take to be a good president and apply the yes/no Ben Franklin test to each candidate? I get the impression that most of us prefer to listen to bishop so and so who writes an 800 word essay against the pro-abortionist and go to the polls with that. Is that adult Catholicism? I don't think so.
A while ago I wrote an essay entitled "God is pro-Choice". (March, 2006) I received a very scholarly response from a serious theologian who cautioned me that such statements can and will be interpreted according to the political terminology of the times. It is not therefore proper to try to change the meaning of the words because they will not be understood in the absolute sense that the writer (in this case, yours truly) intends. I do stick to my opinion. Even the person who opts for an abortion, makes a choice. Nothing gets done without someone making a choice. Adult Catholics make choices according to their conscience. Normally a good solid conscience is formed with the framework of Church teaching. I believe that a good solid conscience of a well-informed lay person is as good a guide as the well informed conscience of bishop so and so. The bishop can say all he wants but the conscience of the listener can be based on valid truths that dictate another line of action. The proof of the validity of this is the example of the community of bishops around the world making differing and even contradictory statements about the same behavior. That is why I listen, I pray, I make up my own mind according to the dictates of my conscience and I act.

Now that you know that I am at peace with myself about these things, when you go to my funeral I want to hear you saying something like, "He was weird, but look at that s___t
eating grin he has on him!" That's the sign that you should never, ever think of crying at my funeral.

McCain - Palin

"Senator Obama does not understand." Repeat this several times and you get a grumpy old man raining disdain down upon a younger one. The further ahead John McCain went into the exercise of disparagement that was the presidential debate of September 26, 2008, I could only shake my head and play some interesting scenarios in my mind.
McCain to Putin: "Y'know, Vlad, I don't think you understand just how much the United States cares about Georgia."
McCain to Ahmadinejad: "You really don't understand what could happen to your country if you continue to be so hard-headed."
McCain to Pelosi: You don't understand what it means when I say that single-payer health care in the United States is not an option."
McCain to Reid: "You don't understand that the minimum wage will not be increased by one thin dime."
Palin to Governor Richardson: "You don't understand how to deal with the Mexican Government because there is no maritime border of any consequence between New Mexico and Mexico."
Palin to Katie Curic: "Ma'am, I got those papers you were asking about."
McCain to Gordon Brown: "You don't understand the negative economic impact that it would have if the United States imported all those French Fries fom your neighbor across the Channel."
McCain to the Pope: "You don't understand the good will that you could cause between the United States and Italy if you bought your car from General Motors rather than FIAT."
McCain to "Our Dear Leader": "You don't understand how fast your 2 million man army could be vaporized by China."
McCain to Stephen Harper: "What part of '54 / 40 or fight!' don't you understand?"
McCain to Calderon: "You don't understand that the 'Great Texan River' belongs to the United States, south bank, water and all the fish and people that it contains and north bank. Take it or leave it."

Mr. McCain: You don't understand the basic rules of civility. That's why you're going to lose. As a true son of the South, you spent 90 minutes disparaging a Black Man. That Black Man will come back to haunt you.

RCIA -- RUN TO BAPTISM == NOT!!!

RCIA, the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults in the Catholic Church is a source of great happiness and consolation as well as of deep frustration.  At its base, the rite is meant to emulate the journey that Jesus took with His disciples for three years,  He teaching them the true meaning of discipleship in the light of the Scriptures and they absorbing the way of life that He was showing to them.  The moral conversion of their lives was not an easy one to make.  They were not really spiritual people, they were simple Jews.  They did not come from the Temple, they came from the secular working class.  Surely they knew their basic Scriptural lessons from the Old Testament, but Jesus was there to show them how He meant for these same lessons to be lived.  

Slowly, daily contact and daily exchange of ideas began to have an effect on them.  Slowly, he came to understand what He meant and where He wanted them to go.  Slowly, they came to appreciate the difference between Jesus, themselves, the Temple people and the people on the street.  That is the goal of the Church: to teach those who would be Catholic the meaning of true discipleship with Jesus.  The goal of the Church is not to prepare people to received the sacrament of Baptism.  Although Baptism is essential to Christian life, the living of the grace infused into the soul through this essential sacrament is, after all a lifetime calling.  To live this calling dynamically on a daily basis is where our eternal salvation is crafted in the company of Jesus, in and through the Church.  This life is not fulfilled by the mechanical reception of sacrament after sacrament; it is not fulfilled by getting to accumulate more and more intellectual information about God and His Church;  it is fulfilled by living the Mission given to us all, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the sick, etc.  

It brings me to other points:  The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is not a catechism program to prepare candidates for Baptism, First Communion and Confirmation.  

The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is not a seasonal program that lasts from the second week of September to the third week of May, gloriously cranking out newly baptized Catholics after 8 months of text book preparation.  Ever stop to think if that's the way the Baptists do it? I'd bet that a caller who would be told in July to get back to us in September would resolve the problem by finding someone who would solve the problem NOW.

The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is a hard row to hoe.  It requires a deep commitment by deeply spiritual people.  These people do exist.  Note to pastors:  These people do exist.  The pastor is not in a position to "pity" the volunteers  who dedicate themselves to the Rite by giving them the Summer off.  It is not up to him to create a revolving group of "teachers" or "presenters" so that no one will have to be up and ready for 52 weeks per years.  This does not create the community that Christ created with His disciples because of His constant presence among them.  The Rite is based on creating Community so that people can convert to the Community of the Church, the Communion of Saints.  

That's the bottom line.  It all leads to walking with Jesus and learning to work at doing what He told us to do.  That's what true Catholics do.  The pastors should facilitate this process through the priesthood of all faithful by humbly accepting that their are lay people in this world who are more zealous that those who are sent to lead them.