The Sacred and Holy
PERSEVERE TOWARD HOLINESS
06/03/08 18:52
It is an essential part of the Catholic faith, this season of Lent and all of its ceremonies, especially that of receiving ashes which becomes an outward sign to the world of one’s Catholic character. This Catholic character can be seen in those who have worldly or secular positions in society but yet are not afraid to exhibit their Catholic character i.e.
Thomas More while he was Chancellor of the English realm. Thomas More was loyal to his sovereign the King, nevertheless openly put God first on all occasions his sterling character was challenged: for example, his conscientious fulfillment of all the duties of his state of life, no matter how large or how small and insignificant.
The Christian character consists in: 1. Fidelity to one’s duty– giving all one’s due, be it to God, our fellow man, or ourselves. 2,. Freedom from human respect– readiness to practice one’s Read More...
"SACRUM SILENTUM" (SACRED SILENCE)
25/04/07 12:12
The most viable test of the ostensible reverence and efficacy of any Holy Sacrifice of the Mass ought to be "sacrum silentium", be it the "Novus Ordo Missae" (New Order of the Mass) or the "Missa Latina Tridentina" (the Tridentine Latin Mass). Indeed, this truly verifiable sign of efficacious prayer in the most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass can be seen, most visibly, in the deportment of the congregation of Catholic worshippers themselves: their attentiveness, their participation, and their reverence in prayers. And what, more than anything else, obstructs these pillars of all efficacious prayer: attention, participation, and reverence of the congregation at Mass than the lack of "sacrum silentium."
This necessity for "sacrum silentium" is particularly obvious when one looks at Christ's most powerful parable on efficacious prayer in Holy Scripture: the pharisee and the publican praying in the temple. The babbling words by the pharisee's declaratory and impetratory prayer before God, as to his own sinlessness and goodness, with many words of self-adulation to fill up the silence of the temple; and, in contrast, the contrite and unadulterated silence of the publican, beating his breast and begging God for mercy in the total silence of his repentant heart, only clarifies further the compelling necessity Read More...