Novena of prayer

A Novena of Prayer for the Election of the Supreme Pontiff

In the name + of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Veni, Creator Spiritus,  mentes tuorum visita:  imple superna gratia,  quae tu creasti pectora.  Qui diceris Paraclitus,  Altissimi donum Dei,  fons vivus, ignis, charitas,  et spiritalis unctio.  Tu septiformis munere,  digitus paternae dexterae,  tu rite promissum Patris,  sermone ditans guttura.  Accende lumen sensibus,  infunde amorem cordibus,  infirma nostri corporis  virtute firmans perpeti.  Hostem repellas longius,  pacemque dones protinus:  ductore sic te praevio  vitemos omne noxium.  Per te sciamus da Patrem,  noscamus atque Filium,  teque utriusque Spiritum  credamus omni tempore.  Deo Patri sit gloria,  et Filio, qui a mortuis  surrexit, ac Paraclito,  in saeculorum saecula. Amen.

Come, Holy Spirit, Creator come, From your bright heavenly throne! Come, take possession of our souls, And make them all your own. You who are called the Paraclete, Best gift of God above, The living spring, the living fire, Sweet unction, and true love! You who are sevenfold in your grace, Finger of God’s right hand, His promise, teaching little ones To speak and understand! O guide our minds with your blessed light, With love our hearts inflame, And with your strength which never decays Confirm our mortal frame. Far from us drive our hellish foe True peace unto us bring, And through all perils guide us safe Beneath your sacred wing. Through you may we the Father know, Through you the eternal Son And you the Spirit of them both Thrice-blessed three in one. All glory to the Father be, And to the risen Son; The same to you, O Paraclete, While endless ages run. Amen.

V.        Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful.
R.        And kindle in them the fire of your love.

V.        Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.
R.        And you will renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray

O God, who have taught the hearts of the faithful
by the light of the Holy Spirit,
grant that in the same Spirit we may be truly wise
and ever rejoice in his consolation.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, you who have established your Church on the solid foundation of the Apostle Peter and have promised to remain with us until the end of time, grant we beseech you that we may all be steadfast in faith and filled with zeal for the glory of your Name. We humbly ask that you grant to the College of Cardinals the Spirit of Truth that they may know your will, and acting in courage and faith, may elect as Supreme Pontiff him whom you have chosen to be Chief Shepherd of your flock, Successor of Peter, Bishop of Rome, and Servant of the Servants of God. Grant to us a Pope who will teach and guide by word and example so that together with the flock entrusted to his care he may arrive at eternal life in your Kingdom where you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us.

Hail Mary (x3)

Prayer to St Michael

Holy Michael the Archangel, defend us in the day of battle. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust down to hell Satan and all the wicked spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: have mercy on us. (x3)
Immaculate heart of Mary: pray for us.
St Peter and St Paul: Pray for us.

In the name + of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Regina coeli

Regina coeli laetare,
Alleluia,
Quia quem meruisti portare,
Alleluia,
Resurrexit,
Sicut dixit,
Alleluia,
Ora pro nobis Deum.
Alleluia.

The Regina coeli is the great Eastertide Marian anthem. The Easter cry of Alleluia – “Praise the Lord” – intersperses each phrase. Why? Because Easter is a time of great joy – a joy that will not be constrained or held down but that bursts out from our inadequate words at every opportunity, like the Risen Christ, bursting forth from the tomb on Easter Day. Alleluia is his people’s cry of joy and Alleluia, too, is his Mother’s cry of joy.

The actual text of the Regina coeli is very simple, addressing Mary as the Queen of heaven, acknowledging her privileged role as the God-bearer (Theotokos), announcing that Christ is risen as he promised and then asking Mary to pray for us: “Queen of heaven, rejoice… For he whom you did merit to bear… Is risen, as he said… Pray for us to God…” Yet within these simple words is encapsulated a sublime theology! The Incarnation – the taking of human flesh and blood by God when he chose to be conceived in Mary’s womb – is referred to in the second phrase: “For he whom you did merit to bear.” Mary’s “merit” was herself having been conceived immaculate so that she could respond to God’s call to be born in her womb with a totally free “Yes” to God. Because God chose to be born into this world as a human being, without losing his divinity, nor despising the humanity he assumed, he could work our redemption and bring us back to himself. Jesus freely accepted suffering and death in accordance with the Father’s will in order to redeem us, to reconcile us to his Father. His sacrifice of himself on the Cross – the same sacrifice that is made present on the altar at every Mass – achieves this: the winning of our salvation.

Death – although a reality – could not hold him – he is risen as he said. The “as he said” refers specifically to the words of Jesus in the Gospels and secondarily to the words in the Old Testament that point to his Resurrection [c.f. Mt17:9/Mk9:9, Mt26:32/Mk14:28, Mt26:61/Mk14:58/Jn2:19, Ps16:10, Is53:10-12].

His Resurrection from the dead changes everything: death is no longer the end and eternal life is offered to all who would believe in him. Further, those who do believe in him and live their lives for him, experience the fullness of his promises. These are the saints and foremost among the saints is the Mother of God, Mary. Her pre-eminence is attested to at the beginning of the anthem by her title of “Queen of heaven,” a title that refers to Mary’s Assumption into heaven at the end of her earthly life and her important position as the first among the saints, crowned as Queen. Mary’s destiny is our destiny – we too trust and hope that we may be called to share eternal life with God and all his saints. Since Mary and all the saints are with God now, it is quite natural to ask for their help, their intercession, so our anthem ends with a heart-felt prayer, that Mary will pray for us to God.

All of this is shot through with the word Alleluia, reminding us again and again of the joy of Christ’s Resurrection from the dead and all that this has achieved for us. This Eastertide, let us rejoice with Mary and all the Church at the Resurrection of Christ from the dead: “Queen of heaven, rejoice, Alleluia, For he whom you did merit to bear, Alleluia, Is risen, as he said, Alleluia, Pray for us to God, Alleluia.”

Alma Redemptoris Mater

Alma Redemptoris Mater, quae pervia caeli porta manes, Et stella maris, succurre cadenti, súrgere qui curat populo: Tu quae genuisti, natura mirante, tuum sanctum Genitorem: Virgo prius ac posterius, Gabrielis ab ore sumens illud Ave, peccatorum miserere.

O loving Mother of our Redeemer, gate of heaven, star of the sea,
Hasten to aid thy fallen people who strive to rise once more.
Thou who brought forth thy holy Creator, all creation wond'ring,
Yet remainest ever Virgin, taking from Gabriel's lips
that joyful "Hail!": be merciful to us sinners.

“Alma” - this is not just a greeting, but already a description of the one whom we will be addressing - loving, dear, kind, nourishing, one who nurtured her Son and who nurtures us! Mary is the “gate of heaven” – because it is through her becoming the Mother of our Redeemer that we have been given the opportunity of gaining heaven. Mary is also given the title of Star of the Sea here - stella maris - an important reminder to us that, she is our guide, one who will, like a star spotted from a storm-tossed ship with no other means of navigation, be the hope which we glimpse and by which we realise that we now have a way of finding our way to a safe haven - the safe haven, of course, of heaven itself.

Our Latin Anthem immediately throws in petitions to Our Lady - as if we are indeed the storm-tossed sailors, suddenly spotting this star of hope - “aid thy fallen people who strive to rise once more”. Mary’s nurturing, caring, is here seen as extending to helping and curing - a bringing back, not only towards our true home. Then we meditate on one of the amazing paradoxes of our faith: “Thou who brought forth thy holy Creator”. Mary, a created being, bears in her womb the uncreated Word - the Eternal Son of the Father - why? For us, as we heard in the first line - she is Mother of Our Redeemer - she bore Christ for that one reason - so that we might be redeemed and reconciled to God the Father, our Creator and her Creator.

St Bernard has a lovely reflection on the moment of the Angel’s Annunciation - imagining all of creation to be holding its breath, waiting for Mary’s yes. Mary did give her yes, her fiat, to God’s will and so bore our Redeemer, Our Lord, Jesus Christ. All creation is, as our anthem says, “wond’ring” in amazement! Gabriel’s message, his “Ave” - “Hail” given to Mary is a joyful message for Mary says yes to it, she accepts it, welcomes it, and opens up the whole of God’s redemption of us through her Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Mary chooses for God. And in line with this, respecting her purity, her absolute dedication to him, God willed that Mary “remainest ever Virgin,” before the Angel’s message and after, before the birth of her Son and after. With one so blessed, so much a part of God’s plan for salvation for us, one so much our guide, we can and should turn to her in our needs. Hence we say, “be merciful to us sinners”: we ask her for her loving help, she whom we first addressed as loving - we know Our Mother will indeed help us with her prayers.

Alma Redemptoris Mater, quae pervia caeli porta manes, Et stella maris, succurre cadenti, súrgere qui curat populo: Tu quae genuisti, natura mirante, tuum sanctum Genitorem: Virgo prius ac posterius, Gabrielis ab ore sumens illud Ave, peccatorum miserere.
 

Ave Regina caelorum

Many thanks for all your prayers. We had about thirty people attend the last Extraordinary Form Mass for the Chair of St Peter: although down on the attendance at the first one, it was still very encouraging to see such a good mix of young and old.

Between Candlemas and Easter traditionally the Ave Regina caelorum is said or sung as the Marian Anthem:

Ave Regina caelorum! Ave Domina Angelorum! Salve radix, salve porta, ex qua mundo lux est orta. Gaude Virgo, gloriosa, super omnes speciosa. Vale, o valde decora, et pro nobis Christum exora.

Ave Regina caelorum! Ave Domina Angelorum! : our song begins with wonder - wonder and joy in addressing the Blessed Virgin Mary - Hail, Queen of Heaven. Hail, Lady of the Angels... These greetings address Mary, visualizing the glory into which she was assumed after her earthly life had run its course.

Next, her pivotal role in salvation history is emphasised: Salve radix, salve porta - Hail, the root, hail, the gateway! It is through Mary’s humble acceptance of God’s will that he could take our flesh in her womb and be born as man. And so it continues: ...ex qua mundo lux est orta... - from whom comes forth the Light into the world.

What possible response could there be to such a great privilege - to be the Theotokos, the God-Bearer? Gaude Virgo, gloriosa, super omnes speciosa - Rejoice, O Glorious Virgin, splendid above all else! Joy! Mary’s joy - and our joy at the wonder of this!

With one so glorious, so splendid, already seated as Queen among the Saints in heaven, it is then natural to turn to her for her powerful intercession: Vale, o valde decora - Do thou prevail, O thou who art of great virtue - et pro nobis Christum exora - and intercede for us with Christ.

This beautiful Anthem exults in Mary’s reversal of our fallen condition: it begins with two “Ave”s - Hail - but Ave is Eva - Eve - backwards - Mary is the New Eve, the one who reversed the disobedience of the First Eve. Mary is the one who will make possible the fulfilment of the Proto-evangelium of Genesis 3:15, when God addresses the Serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall crush your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” By her obedience to God’s will, God could take flesh, and come among us as man, Jesus Christ - true God and true man - who would crush the ancient Serpent’s head. The First Eve (and the entire human race) fell through disobedience at the foot of a tree; through the New Eve’s obedience, he who would lift us up again could come into this world and destroy death, through dying himself on a Tree.

Mary is thus seen as the root of and the gateway by which our salvation has been made possible - by her gentle, obedient, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done to me according to thy word” [Lk.1:38]. Because of her importance in God’s plan of salvation this Anthem turns to her with such wonder, such honour, and, playing twice more with the word, Eva, with Vale and valde - prevail and great - recognises that the New Eve’s influence and position in heaven in praying for us is surely greatly effective.

This beautiful Anthem to Our Lady is ideal for Lent with its subtle references to her role in letting God’s salvation come into our fallen world and the recognition of our continual need of help: a help we know that will be all the more forthcoming thanks to her prayers to Christ our Saviour.

Extraordinary Developments

I am fortunate that I am an Assistant priest - a Curate - in a busy city centre parish. I have been celebrating the Extraordinary Form of the Mass here on my days off since I arrived here - initially in private - but, since I was convinced that there are people from the parish who would like to attend the “Traditional” or “Old” Mass, I have arranged that I can now celebrate Masses in the EF here, open to all on my days off. My first one attracted about fifty people. This was something quite unexpected! I anticipated maybe fifteen. Praise be to Our Lord Jesus Christ and to his Blessed Mother that so many people attended Holy Mass then.

Please pray for me as I prepare to celebrate another EF Mass this Tuesday for the Chair of St Peter. The Tract for that Mass, Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petrum aedificabo Ecclesiam meam, encapsulates the Church’s dependence on Peter and his Successors - “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church”. Please pray for Pope Benedict and all the bishops that they may be strengthened in the task assigned to them of being Good Shepherds of Christ's flock. Also, please pray especially for those people who have separated themselves/or have been separated from Christ’s Church - for whatever reason - that they might be reconciled to Holy Mother Church.

Michaelmas Day

Greetings on Michaelmas Day! - when we celebrate the feast of the Archangels Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. The prayer asking for St Michael's assistance in the struggle to live the Christian life is a particularly powerful one. Pope Leo XIII added it to the Leonine prayers to be said after Mass:

Sancte Míchael Archángele,
defénde nos in proelio,
contra nequítiam et insídias diáboli
esto praesídium.
Imperet illi Deus,
súpplices deprecámur:
tuque,
Princeps milítiae coeléstis,
Sátanam aliósque
spíritus malígnos,
qui ad perditiónem animárum
pervagántur in mundo,
divína virtúte,
in inférnum detrúde. Amen

St. Michael the Archangel,
defend us in the day of battle;
be our safeguard
against the wickedness
and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him,
we humbly pray:
and do thou,
Prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God,
thrust down to hell
Satan and all
wicked spirits,
who wander through the world
for the ruin of souls. Amen.

This is the shorter version of a prayer that Leo XIII composed following a vision on October 13th 1884.

John Paul II urged us to carry on saying this prayer:

"Possa la preghiera fortificarci per quella battaglia spirituale di cui parla la Lettera agli Efesini - May prayer strengthen us for the spiritual battle of which the Letter to the Ephesians speaks: 'Attingete forza nel Signore e nel vigore della sua potenza' - 'Draw strength from the Lord and from the vigour of His power' (Eph 6:10). E’ a questa stessa battaglia che si riferisce il Libro dell'Apocalisse, richiamando davanti ai nostri occhi l'immagine di san Michele Arcangelo. - It is this same battle to which The Book of Apocalypse refers, recalling before our eyes the image of Saint Michael the Archangel (cf. Ap 12:7). Aveva di sicuro ben presente questa scena il Papa Leone XIII, quando, alla fine del secolo scorso, introdusse in tutta la Chiesa una speciale preghiera a San Michele - Pope Leo XIII certainly had this scene very much in mind when, at the end of the last century, he introduced a special prayer to Saint Michael throughout the Church: San Michele Arcangelo difendici nella battaglia contro i mali e le insidie del maligno; sii nostro riparo . . . - St Michael the Archangel, defend us in the day of battle; be our safeguard against the wickednesses and snares of the devil...

Anche se oggi questa preghiera non viene più recitata al termine della celebrazione eucaristica, invito tutti a non dimenticarla, ma a recitarla per ottenere di essere aiutati nella battaglia contro le forze delle tenebre e contro lo spirito di questo mondo - Even if this prayer is no longer recited at the end of every Mass, I ask everyone not to forget it, but to recite it so as to obtain help in the battle against forces of darkness and against the spirit of this world." [From John Paul II's address during the Regina Coeli, 24.04.1994]

The Smoke of Satan

"From some fissure, the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God." There seems to be quite a little confusion over this quote of Pope Paul VI, indeed, doubt is currently being cast as to whether he ever actually said anything of the kind. He did say exactly that on 29th June 1972. Here is a paragraph from his homily that day - SS Peter and Paul - as presented on the Vatican website [it seems itself to be a commentary on the homily and not the pure text itself] with a line by line translation:

Riferendosi alla situazione della Chiesa di oggi, il Santo Padre afferma di avere la sensazione che «da qualche fessura sia entrato il fumo di Satana nel tempio di Dio». Regarding the present day situation of the Church, the Holy Father affirms the feeling that, "from some fissure the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God."
C’è il dubbio, l’incertezza, la problematica, l’inquietudine, l’insoddisfazione, il confronto. There is doubt, uncertainty, problems, uneasiness, dissatisfaction, confrontation.
Non ci si fida più della Chiesa; ci si fida del primo profeta profano che viene a parlarci da qualche giornale o da qualche moto sociale per rincorrerlo e chiedere a lui se ha la formula della vera vita. There is not trust in the Church any more; there is trust in the first profane prophet that speaks to us from some newspaper or from some social movement, to run after him and ask him if he has some formula of true life.
E non avvertiamo di esserne invece già noi padroni e maestri. And instead we are unaware that we are already masters and teachers of it.
È entrato il dubbio nelle nostre coscienze, ed è entrato per finestre che invece dovevano essere aperte alla luce. Doubt has entered our consciences, and it has entered via the windows which instead should have been open to the light.
Dalla scienza, che è fatta per darci delle verità che non distaccano da Dio ma ce lo fanno cercare ancora di più e celebrare con maggiore intensità, è venuta invece la critica, è venuto il dubbio. From science, pursued [literally, which is done] in order to give us truths which do not detach us from God but make us search for him even more and acknowledge him with greater intensity, [from this] has come, instead, criticism, [from this] has come doubt.
Gli scienziati sono coloro che più pensosamente e più dolorosamente curvano la fronte. Scientists are those who most thoughtfully and most sorrowfully frown...
E finiscono per insegnare: «Non so, non sappiamo, non possiamo sapere». ...and they end up teaching, “I don’t know, we don’t know, we cannot know.”
La scuola diventa palestra di confusione e di contraddizioni talvolta assurde. School becomes the training ground of confusion and often absurd contradictions.
Si celebra il progresso per poterlo poi demolire con le rivoluzioni più strane e più radicali, per negare tutto ciò che si è conquistato, per ritornare primitivi dopo aver tanto esaltato i progressi del mondo moderno. Progress is celebrated in order that it might then be demolished with ever more strange and radical revolutions, to negate everything that has been won, in order to return as primitives after having exalted the progresses of the modern world.

This certainly leaves some food for thought. Notable is the opening sentence in which Paul VI admits that this applies to the Church, not just the world. This was just seven years after the end of Vatican II. Paul VI was at the centre of the storm, he saw the "doubt, uncertainty, problems, uneasiness, dissatisfaction, confrontation" as they presented themselves. For me, this chimes very strongly with the present Holy Father's comments about two hermeneutics: one of rupture and one of continuity. Out of these doubts, problems, etc. emerged two interpretations of the last Council. Only one is valid: that which is in continuity with the past. The smoke of Satan obscures the past and confuses the present and makes for a hermeneutic of rupture. There can only ever be one response to this: to reject it.