The theme of today’s Mass: Let your ears tune in on the Word of God speaking through His Church.
Let your tongue broadcast the message of the Gospel in the “holy place” of your daily activities, in the “house” of your family, amongst the “people” of your acquaintance (Introit). In the Epistle St. Paul relates how he received God’s Word through Divine mercy; how he then became Christ’s witness, testifying everywhere to Christ’s Resurrection which calls for our faith in His divinity. Before curing the man “deaf and dumb,” Jesus took him apart. If we are to “hear” His Voice at our Sunday Mass, we must go “apart” from the outside “multitude” of weekday distractions. Only then, like the cured deaf mute, shall we be able to return and “publish” the truth. Realising our chronic indifference and frequent defiance of His Word, let us cry, “O God, be not silent” (Gradual) lest we shut out Thy Voice forever. The Prayer reveals how the Mercy of God is more willing to give than we are to ask or even deserve. This same Mercy will receive our offering of “His Sacrifice and ours” to “support our weakness” (Secret) and will bestow help for body and soul on receiving “His Sacrament and ours” (Postcommunion). Today is Vigil of St. Laurence M., one of the most revered of martyrs who was put on the gridiron in 258 and slowly roasted. St. Laurence told the executioner that he was done on the one side and ought to be turned over! His name is inscribed in the Canon of the Mass, and a slight bow is made toward the Crucifix at its mention. St. Laurence was known for his charity, and when the Prefect of Rome demanded he turn over the wealth of the Church, the Saint showed him a crowd of beggars who had the True Faith, which was the true wealth of the Church. In the 1962 Missal the Vigil is deleted, but one might still pray for the strength of the Saint in his own life. From Life Site .... figures updated to reflect current tally Over 425,897 people, including 104 prelates - cardinals, archbishops, and bishops - have so far signed the “Filial Petition” to His Holiness Pope Francis asking for “a word of clarification” as the “only way to overcome the growing confusion among the faithful” on the issues of marriage, divorce, and homosexual unions.
In a press release, the organizers of the petition said today that “an intervention by the supreme authority is needed in order to counter the creeping advance of the Cultural Revolution promoted by anti-Christian forces, which for decades have sought to undermine people’s moral convictions based on the Gospel and the Natural Law.” Among the signatories is Cardinal Raymond Burke, who himself personally issued a call widely reported in the media for Pope Francis to clarify the Church’s teachings on sexuality last November. His call for clarification came after weeks of confusion during the Vatican’s Extraordinary Synod on the Family, where some bishops openly pushed for the Church to allow divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive communion, seemingly with the tacit support of the pope. Others pushed for greater openness of the Church towards homosexuality. Cardinal Burke said at the time that he has heard from lay people that “there’s really just a growing confusion about what the Church really teaches, and we’re not coming to any clarity." “And the impression now is given that this will now go out to the dioceses and they will express their opinions and the bishops will come and vote on this. But that isn’t the way Church doctrine is formulated. And that’s not the way Church discipline is formulated. The Church is not a democracy,” Burke said. Today's press release states that “the Church always keeps alight the torch of sound doctrine and consistent discipline based on the Lord’s teachings,” a torch that “paradoxically” has the effect of attracting “more and more numerous young people from the most diverse social contexts, who are tired of the noxious consequences of the sexual revolution and wish to start authentic Christian families.” However, said the organizers of the Filial Appeal, “at the Extraordinary Synod on the Family held in October 2014, the light of that torch, rather than being reinvigorated seemed to falter due to confused and dissonant opinions that emerged inside and outside the synod hall. These theses were immediately taken up and spread by the secularist propaganda machine.” The group of lay organizations behind the appeal have formed the “Filial Appeal Association.” Beyond the massive petition, the association also aims to spread worldwide the booklet entitled Preferential Option for the Family, authored by three bishops, Most Rev. Aldo di Cillo Pagotto, Most Rev. Robert F. Vasa, and Most Rev. Athanasius Schneider. It is a user-friendly manual in one hundred questions and answers. This initiative has also found broad support among ecclesiastical and civil personalities. The work has been translated into several languages and has been distributed to all residential bishops around the world. Copies of Preferential Option for the Family can be requested at [email protected]. You can also sign the petition to Pope Francis on www.filialappeal.org. Mass times for the next few months can be found by clicking here.
It should be noted that there is no 2nd Sunday Mass at Llay in August. The 10th Sunday after Pentecost might be regarded as “Mercy Sunday” as the liturgy shows us how humility and penitence on the part of man brings forgiveness from God. Sin cuts off the flow of Divine Graces to the soul. Pride, the basis of all sin, turns us into devils. Humility makes us the friend of God again. The Introit reminds us that God hears our “voice” when we are humble. The Collect reflects the sentiment that God shows “mercy and pity” in exercising His Power.
It is a matter of serious reflection that the Epistle warns us that the Holy Ghost will enter only into the soul of the humble person. Rather than attempting to do things on our own, without the help of God we should implore Him to “Keep me, O Lord, as the apple of Thy eye; protect me under the shadow of Thy wings.” (Gradual). The Gospel gives Our Lord’s own views on the subject of humility: “everyone who exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” With all the science of today, and many people in the world rejecting faith, having as Satan told Adam and Eve the attributes to “be like God, knowing good and evil,” which is only an arrogant manner of saying as Satan did “I will not serve” rather than humbling oneself and accepting the teachings of Our Lord. The Offertory is our plea for God to intervene and keep our enemies at bay who try to prevent us from following the teachings of Our Lord. The Secret reminds us that the gifts being offered first came from God, and that we are but returning them. At Communion time we should remind ourselves of the humility of the publican so ashamed of his weakness and sinfulness. Rather than raise his eyes to Heaven he merely struck his breast and said:“O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” The Postcommunion reminds us that our strength comes from humble reception of the “Holy Sacraments.” Indulgentia Portiunculae Today, from Noon today to Midnight tomorrow, the Indulgentia Portiunculae, for benefit of the Poor Souls, may be made by any person entering a church or public oratory, preferably of the Friars Minor or Capuchins preferably, or where the III Order exists, or any church if none of above available. Six Our Fathers, Hail Mary’s, and Gloria Be’s, with prayers for intentions of the Holy Father, are said to gain the Plenary Indulgence under the usual conditions. It is Feast Day today of St. Alphonsus Mary de Liguori E. C. D., great founder of the Redemptorists, whose mission was to preach in towns and cities to bring the message of Christ to the people similarly to the Apostles. Although not commemorated in the 1962 rubrics of the Mass, we should pray to St. Alphonsus for ability to openly practice the Faith and bring others to the truth of Jesus Christ. The 2nd August is also a commemoration of St. Stephen Pp. M., who served from 254 to 257, martyred under Valerian, whose famous letters to St. Cyprian regarding Baptism of heretics, still survive. St Catherine’s Summer School and the Latin Mass Society held a joint pilgrimage to the Cathedral Church of Our Lady of Sorrows yesterday.This Gothic Revival church was designed by 23-year-old Edwin Welby Pugin (son of ‘A.W.’ - Augustus) as parish church, that is to say it was never intended that it be used as the mother church of a diocese. It was built during the 1850’s to replace a small Catholic chapel in nearby King Street, now the site of the bus terminus. It was completed in 1857.
The church was commissioned by Richard Thompson (1799-1866) who, with his father and uncle, had developed the local coal and iron industries in the 19th century. In the cloister is a tomb with an effigy of Ellen Thompson, Richard’s wife, who died of cholera in 1852. Designed in the Gothic style attributable to the 13th Century, known as Early Decorated or Geometric, the style is characterised by the use of circles as the basis for its window tracery and by the sturdy columns topped with capitals carved with slightly stylised plants and animals. Menevia had been erected as a diocese in 1898 by Pope Leo XIII and the church was chosen as the Episcopal seat. It was consecrated a pro-cathedral for the original Diocese of Menevia on the 7th November 1907, fifty years after its completion. In 1987, Menevia was spilt by a decree of Saint John Paul II and the smaller Diocese of Wrexham was created. Wrexham takes in the North of Wales (Flintshire, Conwy, Gwynedd, Denbighshire, Anglesey and the northern part of Powys). Significant alterations and additions were made to the church in 1957 and then again in 1966. During the pilgrimage, we venerated the relics of local martyr, St. Richard Gwyn (c.1535-1584). A shrine to St Richard commemorates the local teacher, husband and father who was martyred in Wrexham’s Beast market in an age of religious intolerance. You can read more about St Richard here. The LMS have previously held pilgrimages marked by a Low Mass around the time of St Richard’s feast on 17th October and yesterday marked a return to Wrexham after a number of years with a High Mass celebrated by Fr. Mark Kirby, prior of the Benedictine priory of Silverstream in Éire. You can read Fr. Kirby's homily here. In addition to the Summer School students who travelled up from their base at the Franciscan Retreat Centre at Pantasaph, there were about 30 pilgrims, making an estimated total of 60 assisting at Mass. A good number remained for veneration of the relic of St Richard and Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament after the short lunch interlude. We hope to hold another pilgrimage in 2016. My thanks go to the clergy – Fr. Mark Kirkby O.S.B., Abbé Cosme Montjean of the ICKSP who was deacon and seminarian Anthony Dorsa of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter as subdeacon, the servers, choir and Cathedral staff. In particular my thanks go to the Rt. Rev. Peter Brignall, the Bishop of Wrexham and Fr. Simon Treloar, Cathedral Dean for allowing us the use of the church. Photographs by Alan Frost. |
Oremus pro Pontifice nostro Francisco: Dominus conservet eum, et vivificet eum, et beatum faciat eum in terra, et non tradat eum in animam inimicorum eius.
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui facis mirabilia magna solus: praetende super famulos tuos, et super congregationes illis commissas, spiritum gratiae salutaris; et, ut in veritate tibi complaceant, perpetuum eis rorem tuae benedictionis infunde.
Any views expressed neither represent those of the Latin Mass Society or the Diocese of Wrexham.
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