Merry Christmas and Year of Our Lord Jesus Christ MMXXIV!

 

Here is a recent performance of in dulci jubilo by the Regensburg Domspatzen.  I heard this amazing boy's choir sing for the annual Regensburg Ordination in the City Cathedral during my time in Regensburg a few years ago. It was the most beautiful sound I have heard in this life! They were singing directly behind me in the sanctuary of that medieval Cathedral. I am also familiar with the Audimax where they did this December 19, 2023 concert, that is the same auditorium of the famous/prize-winning Benedict XVI Regensburg Address at the University of Regensburg.

P.S. Today is the one year anniversary of the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. May he rest in the peace of Christ, and may he intercede for us before God for the Church and for the world, right now. Amen. We sorely need his help from heaven. May the Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on us all.

Here is the text of the song.

Latin/German Text	English Translation
1. In dulci jubilo, Nun singet und seid froh! Unsers Herzens Wonne liegt in praesepio, Und leuchtet als die Sonne Matris in gremio, Alpha es et O!	In dulci jubilo [In quiet joy] Let us our homage show Our heart’s joy reclineth In praesepio [In a manger] And like a bright star shineth Matris in gremio [In the mother's lap] Alpha es et O. [Thou art Alpha & Omega]
2. O Jesu parvule Nach dir ist mir so weh! Tröst' mir mein Gemüte O puer optime Durch alle deine Güte O princeps gloriae. Trahe me post te!	2. O Jesu parvule [O tiny Jesus] I yearn for thee always Listen to my ditty O puer optima [O best of boys] Have pity on me, pity O princeps gloriae, [O prince of glory] Trahe me post te. [Draw me unto thee]
3. O Patris caritas! O Nati lenitas! Wir wären all verloren (verdorben) Per nostra crimina So hat er uns erworben Coelorum gaudia Eia, wären wir da!	3. O Patris caritas [O Father's charity] O Nati lenitas [O Newborn's mildness] Deeply were we stained Per nostra crimina [by our crimes] But thou hast for us gained Coelorum gaudia [Heavenly joy] O that we were there.
4. Ubi sunt gaudia Nirgend mehr denn da! Da die Engel singen Nova cantica, Und die Schellen klingen In regis curia. Eia, wären wir da!	4. Ubi sunt gaudia [Where be joys] If that they be not there There are angels singing Nova cantica [New songs] There the bells are ringing In regis curia [At the king's court] O that we were there.

Bishops Conferences, Etc., Rejecting Fiducia Supplicans

Here is an updated list and links to episcopal conferences, cardinals, bishops, priestly associations, orders, etc., that oppose the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) declaration Fiducia supplicans on the blessing of homosexual couples (“irregular situations”):

1) Bishop Joseph Strickland, Bishop Emeritus of Tyler ( here ).

2) Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X. A short but very clear and penetrating text ( here ).

3) Malawian Bishops' Conference ( here ).

4) Archdiocese of Astana ( here ). Particularly strong: “With sincere brotherly love and with due respect, we turn to Pope Francis, who, by allowing the blessing of couples in an irregular situation and of same-sex couples, 'does not walk sincerely according to the truth of the Gospel' (cf. Gal 2:14) to borrow the words with which the apostle Paul publicly admonished the first pope in Antioch. Therefore, in the spirit of episcopal collegiality, we ask Pope Francis to revoke permission to bless unmarried and same-sex couples.”

5) Msgr. Marian Eleganti, emeritus. Auxiliary Bishop of Chur ( here ).

6) Msgr. José Munilla, Bishop of Orihuela-Alicante ( here ).

7) Msgr. Jaime Fuentes, Bishop Emeritus of Minas ( here ).

8) Zambian Bishops' Conference ( here ).

9) Nigerian Bishops' Conference ( here ). A particularly clear statement: “Therefore, there is no possibility in the church to bless same-sex partnerships and same-sex acts. This would violate the law of God, the teachings of the Church, the laws of our land and the cultural sensibilities of our people.”

10) Roman Catholic Bishops' Conference of Ukraine ( here ).

11) British Brotherhood of Catholic Clergy ( here ).

12) Cardinal Gerhard Müller ( here ). Substantial and clear document in which he states, among other things: “The priest who blesses homosexual couples commits a sacrilegious and blasphemous act against the Creator's plan and against Christ's death for us to bring the Creator's plan to fruition. This also affects the diocesan bishop.”

13) Msgr. Carlo Maria Viganò ( here ).

14) Ghanaian Bishops' Conference ( here ).

15) Father Gerald Murray, canon lawyer for the Archdiocese of New York ( here ).

16) Beninese Bishops' Conference ( here ).

17) Togolese Bishops' Conference ( here ).

18) Rwandan Bishops' Conference ( here ).

19) Symposium of the Bishops' Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SCEAM) ( here ).

20) Polish Bishops' Conference ( here ).

21) Cameroon Bishops' Conference ( here ).

22) Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church of Ukraine ( here ).

23) Zimbabwe Bishops' Conference ( here ).

24) Episcopal Conference of Angola and São Tomé ( here ).

25) Congolese Bishops' Conference ( here ).

26) Episcopal Conference of Burkina Faso and Niger ( here ).

27) Burundian Bishops' Conference ( here ).

28) Haitian Bishops' Conference ( here ).

29) Antillean Episcopal Conference ( here ).

30) Hungarian Bishops' Conference ( here ).

31) Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, Archbishop of Kinshasa ( here ).

32) Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier OFM, em. Archbishop of Durban ( here ).

33) Msgr. Victor Masalles, emeritus. Bishop of Bani ( here ).

34) Msgr. Jesus Sanz Montes OFM, Archbishop of Oviedo ( here ).

35) Msgr. Alberto Molina Palma, Archbishop of Los Altos in Guatemala (here).

36) Cardinal Jean-Pierre Kutwa, Archbishop of Abidjan ( here ).

37) Msgr. Hector Aguer, em. Archbishop of La Plata ( here ).

38) Msgr. Robert Mutsaerts, Auxiliary Bishop of Herzogenbusch ( here ).

39) Msgr. Charles Chaput, em. Archbishop of Philadelphia ( here ).

40) Msgr. Adair Guimarães, Bishop of Formosa in Brazil ( here ).

41) Cardinal Daniel Sturla, Archbishop of Montevideo ( here ).

42) Msgr. Philip Anyolo, Archbishop of Nairobi ( here ).

43) Msgr. Czeslaw Kozon, Bishop of Copenhagen ( here ).

44) Msgr. Eric Varden OCSO, Bishop of Trondheim ( here ).

45) Msgr. Bernt Eidsvig, Bishop of Oslo ( here ).

46) Msgr. Hans Hendricks, Bishop of Amsterdam ( here ).

47) Msgr. Michael Nazir-Ali, former Anglican Bishop of Rochester ( here ).

48) Msgr. Gintara Grušas, Archbishop of Vilna ( here ).

49) Msgr. Antonio Suetta, Bishop of Ventimiglia-San Remo ( here ).

50) Province of the USA and Argentina of the Marian Order ( here ).

51) Order of the Transalpine Redemptorists ( here ).

52) Association of Catholic Lawyers of Argentina ( here ).

53) Brotherhood of Catholic Clergy of the USA ( here ).

54) Brotherhood of Catholic Clergy of Australia ( here ).

55) Msgr. Paul Kariuki Njiru, Bishop of Wote ( here ).

56) Gabonese Bishops' Conference ( here ).

Compilation: Caminante Wanderer/Giuseppe Nardi

The Thug Who Invented Kwanzaa

Born Ronald McKinley Everett, later changing his name to Maulana Ndabezitha Karenga, Karenga is "best known as the creator of the pan-African and African-American holiday of Kwanzaa," which no one either in Africa or America celebrate, though it is widely advertised in the USA by the liberal, anti-Christian media.

Karenga invented "Kwanzaa" in an attempt to supplant Christmas. "During the early years of Kwanzaa, Karenga said it was meant to be a black alternative to Christmas. Karenga, a secular humanist, challenged the sanity of Jesus and declared Christianity a 'White religion' that black people should shun." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maulana_Karenga

Here is what the Kwanzaa website says about the anti-Christmas foundation of Kwanzaa.

American black separatist Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966 during the aftermath of the Watts riots as a non-Christian, specifically African-American, holiday. Karenga said his goal was to "give black people an alternative to the existing holiday of Christmas and give black people an opportunity to celebrate themselves and their history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society." For Karenga, a figure in the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s, the creation of such holidays also underscored the essential premise that "you must have a cultural revolution before the violent revolution. The cultural revolution gives identity, purpose, and direction."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwanzaa#History_and_etymology

Karenga was sent to prison from 1971-1975 in prison, sentence to ten years in prison on counts of felony assault and false imprisonment. This man and the non-holiday he created are typical of the apostasy and disgrace promoted among the blacks in America.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maulana_Karenga

Jesus Christ, Christianity, and Christmas are totally and authentically African and African-American, the greatest treasure of the African people everywhere! Christ Himself during The Flight into Egypt, spent the first seven years of his life in the African continent, Himself born in Bethlehem of Judea, racially and religiously a Jew. Here is another irony, to reject Jesus Christ is anti-Semitism. Karenga, in his zealous anti-Christian apostasy is also anti-Semitic.

N.B. Hannukah is the Jewish Kwanzaa, a mid-20th century American invention intended to supplant and distract from Christmas. "In the United States, Hanukkah became a more visible festival in the public sphere from the 1970s when Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson called for public awareness and observance of the festival and encouraged the lighting of public menorahs."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukkah#Rituals

Cf. https://www.bitchute.com/video/BAWcPBumLVvT/

Cf. Jews Took Christ out of Christmas

The Litany of Trust

How to pray the Litany of Trust

Make the Sign of the Cross. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Ask Jesus to deliver you from the various fears and insecurities that hold us back from fully trusting Him. After each petition, respond with “Deliver me, Jesus.”

From the belief that I have to earn Your love
From the fear that I am unlovable
From the false security that I have what it takes
From the fear that trusting You will leave me more destitute
From all suspicion of Your words and promises
From the rebellion against childlike dependency on You
From refusals and reluctances in accepting Your will
From anxiety about the future
From resentment or excessive preoccupation with the past
From restless self-seeking in the present moment
From disbelief in Your love and presence
From the fear of being asked to give more than I have
From the belief that my life has no meaning or worth
From the fear of what love demands
From discouragement


Place your trust in Jesus, knowing that He will always wrap you in His arms. After each petition, respond “Jesus, I trust in You.”

That You are continually holding me, sustaining me, loving me
That Your love goes deeper than my sins and failings and transforms me
That not knowing what tomorrow brings is an invitation to lean on You
That You are with me in my suffering
That my suffering, united to Your own, will bear fruit in this life and the next
That You will not leave me orphan, that You are present in Your Church
That Your plan is better than anything else
That You always hear me and in Your goodness always respond to me
That You give me the grace to accept forgiveness and to forgive others
That You give me all the strength I need for what is asked
That my life is a gift
That You will teach me to trust You

Conclude with the Sign of the Cross. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.


SISTERS OF LIFE

Annunciation Motherhouse

38 Montebello Road Suffern, NY 10901

845.357.3547

Written by Sr. Faustina Maria Pia, SV

Jews Took Christ out of Christmas

Jingle kvells! The great American Christmas was invented by Jews

Tanya Gold

The Jewish Chronicle

December 14, 2022

If you hate Christmas music, blame the eastern European pogromists that inspired it

The fact that the most beloved Christmas songs were written by American Jews is not an anomaly if you understand Jews. The idea of America in cinema was invented by Ben Hecht, Hermann Mankiewicz and Billy Wilder.
The superhero genre was invented by Jerry Siegel and Bob Kane; imagine Superman and Batman as surnames, and you can hear Siegel and Kane’s longing for superpowers a century on. So why not invent the American Christmas too?

The most glittering example is White Christmas by Irving Berlin, and his story is typical. His childhood name was Israel Beilin and he was born in Siberia, the youngest son of Moses, a cantor. Their home was burnt down by anti-Jewish arsonists when Israel was four or five. Berlin’s biographer, Jody Rosen, believes Israel’s earliest Christmas memories were of pogroms, which tended to reach a pitch during Christian festivals.

The family moved to America and Irving Berlin – now renamed after an English actor and a German city, said a wag – grew up on the Lower East Side of New York City.

He left school to become a busker, a singing waiter, and a songwriter at Tin Pan Alley where, in an act of chutzpah and subconscious fear, he turned himself into the perfect American. He wrote God Bless America, which became his adopted homeland’s anthem; Easter Parade; and White Christmas. When asked how a Jew could write a song about Christmas, he replied, “I wrote it as an American”. I’m not sure that is true.

“The two holidays that celebrate the divinity of Christ — the divinity that’s the very heart of the Jewish rejection of Christianity — and what does Irving Berlin brilliantly do?” wrote Philip Roth, Berlin’s most canny observer, in Operation Shylock. “He de-Christs them both! Easter turns into a fashion show and Christmas into a holiday about snow… He turns their religion into schlock. But nicely! Nicely! So nicely the goyim don’t even know what hit ’em ….”

Even in America, Jews were excluded from so-called respectable professions. The established population had no interest in the new mass culture and the way was clear for a cultural flowering and symbiosis: Jews would make it for them. They had the tradition of Yiddish theatre and song, and the cacophony of Israel Zangwill’s Melting Pot to draw on. “Had I been born on the Lower East Side,” Cole Porter, the only elite gentile songwriter of the time, said in tribute, “I might have been a true genius.”

White Christmas began as satire: a swell (the kind of man the half-Jewish but gentile-passing Fred Astaire always played) sitting in Hollywood, longing for the comforts of home. “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas…” But Berlin realised he had something more profound. He was an unreliable narrator with multiple stories of the song’s creation myth. It is possible that its wistfulness comes from the fact that his baby, Irving Berlin Jnr, died on Christmas Day 1928, but he would never have said so explicitly. He was a joy-maker who made myths.

White Christmas spoke to the itinerant soul of America. They had all, as refugees to the United States, or migrants from country to city during the Great Depression, left their homes behind. The critic Michael Beckerman wondered if the song was, “a kind of holiday Moby-Dick, a distant image of things that can never be reclaimed: the past, childhood, and innocence itself?”

It was first performed by Bing Crosby on Christmas 1941, shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbour. The Jewish songwriter must have a gentile singer as an avatar, which Rosen calls “a projection of Jewish desire… downtown street smarts but uptown ‘class’”. White Christmas became the anthem of the war: the musical version of Casablanca, a story about refugees who likewise cannot go home, likewise written by Jews from the Lower East Side – the Epstein brothers – and released in 1942. “Away down under this latest hit of Irving Berlin,” wrote Carl Sandburg, “catches us where we love peace”. It became the best-selling single of all time.

Many songs followed it. Let it Snow and Santa Baby were written by American Jews; so were Walkin’ in a Winter Wonderland; Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire; Silver Bells; It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year; Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree; A Holly, Jolly Christmas; and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

These songs express the longing of the immigrant to create a world where he is safe, a dazzling act of tribute, cynicism, and control. If you hate Christmas music, blame the eastern European pogromists that tangentially inspired it. But I am with Philip Roth when he marvels: “If supplanting Jesus Christ with snow can enable my people to cosy up to Christmas, then let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!”

On a similar note, Hannukah is the Jewish Kwanzaa, a mid-20th century American invention intended to supplant and distract from Christmas.

https://www.bitchute.com/video/BAWcPBumLVvT/

Ars Nova Musicae

Philippe de Vitry, a French theorist, poet, philosopher and composer, wrote a treatise on music in 1322 that changed the way music was written and expressed. It was entitled Ars Nova notandi, a new technique in writing music. We use this moment as the line to divide two eras of music. Ars nova is a musical style which flourished in the Kingdom of France and its surroundings during the Late Middle Ages. The term is used relative to the preceding ars antiqua and the ars subtilior which came after.

The differences in the music of these writing techniques are subtle to our modern ears, but the innovations of de Vitry’s new system allowed for increased rhythmic freedom and expression to the composer. A good analogy would be the use of perspective in the visual arts; the use of foreground and background. No longer were all of the voices in music on the same rhythmic plane, they now had greater independence from each other.

One of the most prominent composers of the Ars Nova style was Guillaume De Machaut, another French poet and composer who was a little younger than de Vitry.

His work, Messe de Nostre Dame, is the earliest complete Mass of which we are aware written by a single composer. This is significant because it stands as an example of music taking on the personality of an individual. Machaut used the tools of the Ars Nova to create a work that was unified and expressive. He put his stamp on it; he made it personal. In addition to being written as a form of worship at Mass, the De Machaut Mass stands as an object of art by itself, a personal expression of an individual. That’s what the innovations of de Vitry and the Ars Nova movement allowed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ars_nova

https://www.vermontpublic.org/vpr-classical/2015-06-15/timeline-008-ars-nova-versus-ars-antiqua

5 Lessons From the Iron

Source: Art of Manliness (AoM)

Back in 2015, I started weightlifting seriously.

Over eight years of training, I was able to get strong. But more importantly, I discovered a hobby that brought me immense satisfaction.

While I don’t barbell train like I used to, I still religiously lift weights.

During my eight years of serious training, I’ve learned some important life lessons from the iron.

Below, I share five of them.

1. Success Comes From a Long Obedience in the Same Direction

When people decide to get serious with exercise, they tend to focus on the minutiae of their new regimen. People spend a lot of time looking for the right program and the right equipment. They think they’ll see incredible gains if they find the optimal set and rep range.

But there’s something just as, if not more important, than the training program you choose:

Being consistent with it for months and even years.

How did I deadlift 600 pounds? I trained consistently for six years. Sure, my programming changed during that time, but the thing that didn’t change was me going down to my garage four times a week to train.

The necessity of consistency applies to every other endeavor in life.

I’ve used the consistency principle to lose 30 pounds this year. I didn’t do any crash dieting. I just gradually reduced my calories and stuck to my macro target almost every day for eight months. That’s it.

When people ask me for advice about their online business, they often ask me about the tools and tricks Kate and I use that helped us get AoM to where it is today.

Keeping up with the latest trends in technology, marketing, and social media hasn’t been nearly as important as simply sticking to our publishing schedule; for coming up on sixteen years now, we’ve published several pieces of content nearly every single week. AoM isn’t slick, flashy, or even particularly cool, but it is consistent.

As Nietzsche put it, “everything of the nature of freedom, elegance, boldness . . . and masterly certainty”; everything to do with “virtue, art, music, dancing, reason, spirituality”; everything “that is transfiguring,” that makes “life worth living,” is premised on one thing:

A “long obedience in the same direction.”

The trick is figuring out ways to stay consistent over the long haul.

When it comes to exercising, we’ve written about how to work out while you’re on vacation, sick, or simply don’t feel like it. There’s plenty of good advice there, and I think it carries over to other parts of life, too.

But the real secret for staying consistent over the long haul is that . . .

2. You Got to Have Ganas

Ganas is Spanish for desire.

I’ve written about the centrality of ganas in finding success in whatever you do.

Most of the things I’ve achieved in life were because I really wanted to accomplish those things. I had ganas for those goals.

A big reason I was able to deadlift 600 pounds is that I really, really wanted to deadlift 600 lbs. That strong desire was what compelled me to rarely miss a workout for four years. My coach could give me programming and offer corrections on technique, but he couldn’t make me want to go after a 600-lb deadlift. I had to have the desire myself.

Discipline is really harped on these days as the key to success.

Discipline is one way to achieve the consistency that’s essential to reaching your goals.

But constantly exercising self-control is exhausting.

A better way to stay consistent is to operate with inherent motivation — to enjoy the thing you’re doing so that you want to do the thing that will lead to success.

What William George Jordan said about duty applies to discipline as well:

Duty is a hard, mechanical process for making men do things that love would make easy. It is a poor understudy to love. It is not a high enough motive with which to inspire humanity. Duty is the body to which love is the soul. Love, in the divine alchemy of life, transmutes all duties into privileges, all responsibilities into joys.

I loved going for big personal records (PRs), which is why I could be consistent with powerlifting for so long. Kate and I love working on AoM, which is why we’ve been able to do it for over a decade and a half.

Love, desire, is the motor that powers your progress.

3. Progress Isn’t Linear

In my quest for barbell PRs, I had a lot of ups and downs. Some weeks, I’d make consistent progress, and some weeks, I went backward. I’d have weeks where I’d deadlift 500 pounds with ease one workout, and then the next, I couldn’t even budge 405 off the floor. Injuries and sickness would pop up and throw my progress out of whack for weeks and even months.

At first, the up-and-down nature of my progress frustrated the heck out of me, but eventually, I learned that the undulations were part of the process. I adjusted my expectations to the fact that I wouldn’t have continuous linear progression. That did a lot to assuage my angst.

I also had to teach myself to approach my plateaus and setbacks with some detachment. Instead of freaking out about it and dramatically changing my programming, I just kept doing what I was doing for the most part. Usually things started moving forward again. If I needed to make a change, they’d only be minor tweaks.

I’ve seen the idea that progress isn’t linear in other parts of my life. During my weight loss journey this year, I’d have weeks where I didn’t lose weight or even gained a few pounds. I didn’t freak out. I just stuck to the plan and made minor adjustments now and then.

My mood is another area where I’ve seen progress, but not linearly. I’m mercurial and melancholy by nature. I’ve struggled with the black dog (discouragement) for most of my adult life and been consciously working on it for the better part of 15 years. Overall, I think I’m in a much better place now with my mood. Kate would affirm this. My temperamental troughs are less frequent than they were a decade ago, and when they hit, they’re shorter in duration.

But there have been many ups and downs along the way to get to this point. The big thing that’s changed is that when I backslide, I don’t beat myself up over it. I just see it as a setback and stick to my long-standing plan for keeping the black dog leashed.

4. You Have to Learn How to Grind

A skill I had to learn how to develop in my barbell training was “grinding.” The “grind” is when you keep exerting yourself on a rep as much as you can for as long as you can, even though your body is telling you to stop. A successful grind doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily complete the rep (though you’ll often manage to do so); it just means you push or pull as hard and as long as you can before you cry uncle. You give it your all and leave nothing on the platform.

Grinding is what you do when you’re training to failure, which is how you increase the size of your muscles.

Grinding isn’t something you naturally want to do. It’s incredibly uncomfortable. Your natural tendency is to want to stop a lift once it starts to get hard. However, research has shown that much of the “wall” we run into isn’t physical; it’s mental. We can override this innate desire to quit uncomfortable physical activity. You just have to practice this override mode. Grinding is an acquired skill.

My ability to grind on the platform has carried over to other parts of my life. I’ll have moments with work when I just want to give up, but I’ve learned to override that feeling and grind a bit longer. I’ve learned that it’s in the grind that growth happens. Or as entrepreneur Seth Godin puts it: “It’s always the hard part that creates value.”

5. Reaching Goals Won’t Make You As Happy as You Think

I hit a bunch of PRs during my serious barbell training days. For some of those PRs, I’d have to train for a long time to achieve it. For example, reaching 315 pounds on my bench press — the awesome-feeling three-plate milestone — took me three years.

You’d think I’d be incredibly happy and excited when I achieved the goals I had worked on for years, right?

Well, I was.

But only for about a minute.

An hour later, I felt exactly the same as before I hit the PR.

A day later, I wasn’t even thinking about it. I was thinking about my next PR.

Paul Carter calls the idea that you’ll be over-the-moon happy when you achieve a big weightlifting goal the “arrival fallacy.”

The arrival fallacy is the belief that once you achieve some goal, you’re finally going to unlock the happiness you’ve long desired. But the post-goal happiness you experience is fleeting. So you continue the chase by setting a new goal. And on the cycle goes.

It’s not that this cycle doesn’t carry its own satisfactions and isn’t excellence-producing. It does and it is. But you have to manage your expectations. If you think that notching a goal will make you happy in the sense of a sustainably elevated mood, you’re going to be disappointed. But, if you think that notching a goal will make you happy in the sense of giving your life purpose, structure, drive, and the joy that comes from tackling challenges, then goal-setting and attaining will enhance your life.

Whether you’re hoisting barbells, learning a musical instrument, or trying to make it as an entrepreneur, it’s about coming to love the process even more than the results.

The Sermon/Homily Require Opposite Re-Orientations

Here is my assessment of the dynamic of preaching vs. not-preaching at Mass, Extraordinary Form (EF) vs. Ordinary Form (OF).

In the two respective Forms of the Roman Rite, the preaching/not-preaching is an anti-climactic reversal of orientation in opposite ways.

In the EF, the sermon is anti-climactic, interrupting the transcendent action of the Mass and going down to the immanent dimension of the priest face-to-face with the congregation, hence the sign of the cross before and after the sermon to exit and return to the Mass.

In the OF, not to give the homily would seem to be anti-climactic, because it truncates the immanent dimension of the dialogue with the people already happening in the vernacular/versus populum pulpit, meant for preaching. Not to preach might seem to be a premature interruption of the immanent action of the Mass (the Liturgy of the Word) which should climax in the personal witness of the preacher.

In this regard, recall that Pope Benedict XVI did not preach during his first Mass (OF) as Pope, but after it.

PRIMUM NUNTIUM SUMMI PONTIFICIS BENEDICTI XVI POST CONCELEBRATIONEM EUCHARISTICAM CUM CARDINALIBUS ELECTORIBUS IN «CAPPELLA SISTINA»

Picture: Saint Vincent Ferrer. Timete Deum et date ille honorem, quia venit hora iudicii eius.