The Elephant in the Convention Living Room

Having watched the entire Thursday evening of the Republican Convention what struck me as most odd is that no one mentioned (and very few even alluded to) any of the following politically taboo words: "contraception", "abortion", "'gay' marriage". There was plenty of rhetoric about family and family values but with the typical political non-confrontational silence on the greatest attacks on the family which are our atheistic (neo-gnostic) education system (thumbs up to Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney for promoting school choice) and legal divorce (which necessitates both contraception and abortion because legal divorce is legalized adultery, fornication and now, sodomy. The contraception and the abortions are cheap attempts to cover up the consequences of the bi-partisan divorce culture). No one dares to bring up the contraception issue because they know that "everyone is using it." That is the elephant even in the GOP living room (or should we say bed room!) of which we are all in denial. We like our immorality too much to give it up! Woe to anyone who should condemn it! There is complicity on all sides!

Those who do not wink to the immorality are not welcome. That is probably one reason Rick Sanctorum was not there!

The Indispensable Moral Influence of the Catholic Priest

In Our Christian Heritage Cardinal Gibbons describes the iconic moral power of the Catholic priest to illustrate Christianity's unique positive influence upon morals.


'"Unlike all Pagan religions, [Christianity] made moral teaching a main feature of its clergy, moral discipline the leading object of its services, moral dispositions the necessary condition of the due performance of its rights.' The one great aim of our Christian ceremonial worship, of our Sacraments and Sacrifice, our preaching and priesthood, is the development of personal holiness.

"The moral power exercised by a good priest in his parish is incalculable. The priest is always a mysterious being in the eyes of the world. Like his Divine Master, he 'is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted.' (Luke II, 34) Various opinions are formed of him. Some say of him as was said of our Saviour: 'He is a good man. And others say: no, but he seduceth the people.' (John VII, 12) He is loved most by those who know him best. Hated or despised he may be by many that are strangers to him and to his sacred character; but he has been too prominent a factor in the civilization of mankind and the advancement of morality ever to be ignored.

"The life of a missionary priest is never written, nor can it be...There is no memoir of his private daily life of usefulness and of his sacred and confidential relations with his flock. All this his hidden with Christ in God, and is registered only by His recording angel.

'"The civilizing and moralizing influence of the clergyman in his parish,' says Mr. Lecky, 'the simple, unostentatious, unselfish zeal with which he educates the ignorant, guides the erring, comforts the sorrowing, braves the horrors of pestilence, and sheds a hollowing influence over the dying hour, the countless ways in which, in his little sphere, he allays evil passions and softens manners, and elevates and purifies those around him; all these things, though very evident to the detailed observer, do not stand out in the same vivid prominence in historical records, and are continually forgotten by historians.' (European Morals, I, 152)

"The priest is Christ's unarmed officer of the law. He is more potent in repressing vice than a band of constables. His only weapon is his voice; his only badge of authority his sacred office. Like the fabled Neptune putting Eolus to flight and calming the troubled waves, the priest quiets many a domestic storm, subduing the winds of passion, reconciling the jarring elements of strife, healing dissensions, preventing divorce, and arresting bloodshed.

"He is the daily depository of his parishioners' cares and trials, anxieties and fears, afflictions and temptations, and even of their sins. They come to him for counsel in doubt, for spiritual and even temporal aid. If he cannot suppress, he has at least the consolation of mitigating the moral evil around him.

"We must not overlook the strong inducements that the Christian teacher holds out to his disciples for the practice of virtue in the pressing motives he offers for its due fulfilment. In this respect Christianity has a great advantage over all systems of religion. The Stoic was incited to a moral life by a sentiment of duty; the Epicurean, by pleasure and self-interest; the Mohammedan, by the hope of sensual delight; the Jew, by servile fear; but the Christian is drawn chiefly by filial love...He is far, indeed, from excluding other motives...But his predominant motive for the practice of piety is love for his Heavenly Father, and love is the strongest of all moral forces." (338-341)

Call to Holiness

A brief comment on today's gospel Matt. 23:13-22 and Phariseeism.

The gift needs to be total in order to be real, if it is personal. Otherwise it is superficial, because relationships which remain only on the surface are fake. Authenticity means complete personal dedication.

On Being Good and Safe

Si non caste, tamen caute. ("If you can't be good, be careful"). That is the wisdom of the world which values natural well-being over the supernatural. Hence "safe" sex means try to keep your dirty actions as clean as possible. Saint Paul (Ephesians 5:1-20, from which this Sunday's second reading is taken) says beware of this degrading wisdom of the world which presents itself as light to justify every form of lust, and is really darkness in disguise.

This worldly wisdom is even forcing it's way into our common greetings. For some years now the New York trains say "Have a 'safe' day," instead of the much more common, still, "have a good day." I have occasioned to hear parents tell their children: "be safe." "Be good!" is a much much safer direction. In other words: you will be safest when you are good. And if you cannot be safe being good, well, live dangerously, then we are in the age of martyrs! Christ was good even when it became dangerous!

Your chastity shall protect you, especially your soul. Protect your soul and your body will lack no good thing! There is no safety in the works of lust. That's death.

Random Advice on Liturgically Accenting the Upcoming Year of Faith (11 October 2012 - 24 November 2013)

Laymen
Receive communion (daily, if possible) only kneeling and on the tongue and only from an ordained minister. Promote and frequent the Traditional Latin Mass. Make at least a daily visit to the Most Blessed Sacrament and get to confession every week. And pray the daily family Rosary celeriter!

Priests
Learn to offer the Traditional Latin Mass and offer it as often as possible. Encourage the laity to kneel for communion and to receive directly on the tongue and to refuse to unnecessarily receive the Sacrament from lay people, and to frequent and promote the Traditional Latin Mass.

Pastors and Chaplains
Restore the Tabernacle to front and center.
Restore the high altar of your Parish (if it had one) making a worthy mensa for it if it was destroyed and exclusively use that restored ad orientem altar during this year of faith to accent the hermeneutic of continuity (continuity with our fathers' faith who built these precious churches and altars all over our land, and continuity with the fathers of the Second Vatican Council all of whom offered the Mass ad orientem on the most venerable altars of the Vatican throughout the Council itself!).
Restore the Communion rails and have cushions made for them for the convenience of the faithful to again receive at the altar on their knees during this year of faith. Encourage them to do so, and only on the tongue. The Communion rail is so efficient that you will not need any help besides the clerics of the parish to distribute Communion in most cases.
To ensure that everyone receive only on the tongue you can distribute the host by intinction and thereby also eliminate the unnecessary and ubiquitous Communion "cup"!
Construct traditional confessionals to eliminate the problematic and ubiquitous confessional room and "face to face" confession, which will also help to "protect God's children"...and God's priests!
Learn to offer the Traditional Latin Mass and do so as often as possible.
Schedule and you yourself offer at least on public Traditional Latin Mass (preferably at least a Missa Cantata if not a High Mass) per month (if not weekly or even daily!) and promote it.
Give Gregorian chant its Vatican II "pride of place" alongside sacred Latin Polyphony in all of the Parish ceremonies. Send your choir directors to the Musica Sacra annual gregorian chant and polyphony Colloquium.

Bishops
Learn to offer the Traditional Latin Mass and do so as often as possible, and participate in Pontifical Masses as often as possible. Defend, promote and use the Extraordinary Form rituals.

Bishop Ordinaries
Learn to offer the Traditional Latin Mass and do so as often as possible, and participate in Pontifical Masses as often as possible. Make them happen!
Establish (at least) a weekly traditional Mass at the Cathedral and offer it yourself at least monthly.
Restore the tabernacle to front and center in the Cathedral.
Restore the communion rail and its use, encouraging all of the people of the diocese to receive kneeling and directly on the tongue. You yourself follow the example of Pope Benedict and only distribute communion that way, to the kneeling communicant on the tongue. Have the priests of the Cathedral be the exclusive ministers of holy communion in the Cathedral, the clerics of the parish coming out to help with the distribution as necessary.
Give Gregorian chant its Vatican II "pride of place" alongside sacred Latin Polyphony in all of the Cathedral ceremonies. Send your choir directors to the Musica Sacra annual gregorian chant and polyphony Colloquium.
Restore traditional confessionals to your cathedral and eliminate the ubiquitous face to face confessional room which is a problem that has already happened! Help protect God's children and God's priest by reestablishing the age old norm of no priest behind a closed door alone with a woman or a child!
Establish at least one diocesan parish for exclusive use of the Extraordinary Form Rituals.
Firmly require all of the priests and religious within your diocese to always wear their proper clerical and religious attire in public and in the parish and establish and enforce a stiff fine (e.g. $300.00) for each infraction.


Just some random thoughts on how to concretely exercise more deeply our liturgical piety under the rubric of Pope Benedict's "hermeneutic of continuity" and the present "reform of the reform." The year of faith should look and feel like a year of faith: the faith of our fathers, the faith of Pope Benedict XVI, which is the one and only faith of the Church. If we do these simple things we will do much in the exercise of our religious liberty with supreme clarity and thereby change the world regardless of who is president and what laws he enacts. Remember that the purpose of religious liberty is to rightly worship God according to our Tradition under His commands.

Exposing the Enemies of Basic Morality

I saw this Republican billboard today on the Pennsylvania Turnpike I-276 West going from the Delaware Memorial Bridge toward Valley Forge. Great message! However, honest citizens cannot accept the distortion of language and the distorted anthropology on which the confused language rests.

The first term should be in double overlapping quotes to say "so called 'gay' and so called 'marriage.'"

Thus the billboard could read:

Obama supports "'Gay' Marriage" and Abortion!
God condemns "'Gay' Marriage" and Abortion!
What about you?

"'Gay' Marriage" is a double misnomer. The proper terminology would be civilly sanctioned homosexual concubinage. Let's call things by their proper names!

The Nine Prayer Postures of Saint Dominic

In his weekly Wednesday General Audience His Holiness referred to a posthumous 13th century dominican work on the prayer of Saint Dominic called Los Nueve Modos de Orar de Santo Domingo. Pope Benedict says that everyone needs to pray even (and especially) on vacation. Prayer is the deepest and most meaningful vacation, the greatest pastime being the company of one's friends. Those who love God love to spend their time with Him, they live to spend time with Him. There is no true vacation therefore without God!

In his list,the Holy Father omitted the third posture: the discipline. Probably because that rigor, though necessary, must be undertaken with caution.


The nine postures of prayer are in ascending order to strive to ascend to God with the body.

1) The standing bow to express humility,

2) prostrate on the floor to beg pardon for his sins,

[3)standing, self flagellation with a metal chain, for one's own sins and for the intentions of our benefactors]

4) kneeling to do penance in participation with the sufferings of the Lord,

5) with arms extended before him like an open book, or crossed before his face, looking at the crucifix to contemplate the Supreme Love,

6) with arms outstretched like the priest at Mass,

7) with his face fixed heavenward feeling himself attracted to the world of God.

8) sitting quietly after the Liturgy of the Hours and after the Mass, reading from time to time from a book or just thinking on God in silent meditation,

9) contemplation of God, on his journeys, in all circumstances and in all things.

Jesus of Nazareth: Part Three

Pope Benedict has now completed, in German, the third volume of Jesus of Nazareth (Die Kindheitsgeschichten) on the childhood of Christ, and it shall soon be published in various languages. He is also working on his fourth encyclical, on faith, for the upcoming year of faith.
Cf. Palazzo Apostolico.


P.S. In his 11 Oct 2011 Motu Proprio Porta Fidei, his Holiness announced the upcoming year of faith which will begin 11 October 2012 (the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, the twentieth anniversary of the promulgation of The Catechism of the Catholic Church, the commemoration of Blessed Pope John XXIII, and the traditional feast of the Theotokos [The Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary]).

The year of faith will end on the Feast of Christ the King 24 November 2013.

The Oud in Heaven

The cover of the current issue of Magnificat has an angel playing an oud (lute), an ancient instrument which I just discovered in Palestine and is very prevalent in Arabic music.

In heaven the angels play the Arab guitar for our Lord and our Lady!

Orphans by Design!

Here is a great article about one of the insidious evils of homosexual households: orphans deliberately made so. The homosexualists now pride themselves on the children (which are necessarily orphans of surrogate parents) they produce for themselves. It is the in vogue exploitation of women and children. Any legalization of homosexual unions involves the approval and promotion of deliberately creating foster children! Both homosexuals in the so-called union are never the true parents of the child. They now deliberately usurp the child of another for their aberrant household to serve their distortion of the family reality.

Doesn't anyone care about the women and the children involved in this? The militant homosexuals and their advocates obviously do not! Where are the women's rights advocates now? No child should be deliberately produced to be raised by foster parents, heterosexual or homosexual.

Summertime Reading

This past 4th of July I began reading the classic apologetic work by the pioneer American Cardinal James Gibbons Our Christian Heritage. The prose is marvelous. Here are two samples: the first on God the Greatest Engineer and the second on God the Universal Provider.

"If, on reaching [an] uninhabited island...you discovered there in the midst of the solitude, a railroad engine complete in all its parts, though you could find no trace of man, you would, at once, reasonably conclude that some skillful mechanic had wrought it. And we see before us this grand and complex engine of the Universe so vast in proportions, so perfect in detail; --an engine not standing still, but in perpetual motion. This earth which we inhabit, though it forms but an insignificant part of the whole machinery of nature, is revolving around its own axis at the rate of a thousand miles an hour, and is rushing through space with the surprising velocity of 68,400 miles an hour; yet so smoothly does it make its revolutions, that so far from experiencing any jarring sensation, we are quite unconscious of its motion.
"And there are myriads of other planets constantly moving like our own, each in its own sphere, and with so much order as never to diverge from their proper source, and never to occasion the slightest collision." pp.21-22

"Cast your eyes about you. See the great palace of nature constructed for you by your Heavenly Father. Observe with what order and regularity this palace is superintended. It is so carefully renovated every day, from its bright green floor to its azure roof, that it never shows signs of decay or old age.
"See how diligently every member of this vast household is provided for, from the huge elephant of the forest and the leviathan of the deep to the flying bird and the crawling worm. Imagine the quantity and variety of food that is necessary to sustain so immense a family. O Heavenly Father, Thy commissariat never fails. Thou makest ample provision for all. 'Thou openest Thy hand and fillest with blessing every living creature.'" Ps. 145 pp. 82-83

Appropriately, this same psalm 145 was last Sundays psalm for the Mass (Seventeenth Sunday of ordinary time [year B]); and the Gospel, just as appropriately, the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and fishes (John 6:1-15). Isn't it remarkable how so often one's personal spiritual reading agrees with the prayer of the Church! It is a sign of unity, harmony, and supernatural peace.

The Oud: the ancient Lute

The typical Arabic guitar is the oud (Eng. lute), the ancient instrument which was the precursor of the guitar. Listen to some of the master oud players and you will immediately see the origins of the Spanish guitar genius. Check out Farid al-atrach "The King of the Oud!"

The Way, Saint James, and Our Blessed Mother his Aunt

Today is the Feast of Saint James the Greater.

According to the 1913 edition of The Catholic Encyclopedia, Saint James (and John, his brother) is a close blood relative of our Lord (a 1st or 2nd cousin), because their mother, Salome is probably the woman identified in John 19 as "...His [our Lord's] mother's sister." That would explain the prominence of James and John with Peter, as witnessed in the Gospels: e.g. Transfiguration and Gethsemani; and the various discussions about who is the greatest among them and who should have the first places in Christ's kingdom. It would also explain the special relationship which is historically evident between Saint James and our Lady (e.g. Nuestra Señora del Pilar) and our Lord's commendation of the Blessed Virgin to her own nephew.

Pope Benedict made his Papal pilgrimage to the tomb of the Apostle James during the 2010 Jubilee and spoke of the meaning of the pilgrimage experience.

He said: "In the secret of their heart, knowing it explicitly or sensing it without being able to express it, so many pilgrims,...as they walk the way to Santiago de Compostela to embrace the Apostle...experience...the Gospel...the path by which, in renouncing a selfish and short-sighted way of thinking so common today, and taking on instead Jesus' own way of thinking...attain fulfillment and become a seed[s] of hope. The fatigue of the journey, the variety of landscapes, their encounter with peoples of other nationalities--all of this opens their heart to what is the deepest and most common bond that unites us as human beings: we are in quest, we need truth and beauty, we need an experience of grace, charity, peace, forgiveness and redemption. And in the depth of each of us there resounds the presence of God and the working of the Holy Spirit. Yes, to everyone who seeks inner silence, who keeps passions, desires and immediate occupations at a distance, to the one who prays, God grants the light to find him and to acknowledge Christ. Deep down, all those who come on pilgrimage to Santiago do so in order to encounter God, who, reflected in the majesty of Christ, welcomes and blesses them as they reach the Portico de la Gloria." Zenit, 6 November 2010

Taybeh and Franziskaner

It is rumored that Franziskaner is Pope Benedict's favorite beer, an excellent (widely available in the US, and inexpensive--under $30 case in the NY Metropolitan area) Bavarian weissbier brewed since 1363! An authentic medieval ale!

Taybeh is the only Palestinian beer. It takes it's name from the town of the Brewery: Taybeh--the only remaining completely Christian town of the Holy Land today. In Palestine last month I enjoyed that beer which claims to be "the finest in the Middle East." It's only been around since 1995--thanks to teetotallying Islam!

The quaint town of Taybeh is built like a fortress on a hill much like many of the medieval towns of Europe, a worthy source for this Palestinian heart warming thirst quencher.

It Takes a Village...To Make a Marriage...Forever

Your holy marriage is not your own private property: it belongs to God, it belongs to the Church, and it is an integral part of the larger society: the neighborhood, the town, the state. Therefore, you cannot manipulate it or dispose of it at will. This was the Holy Father's message to an engaged African couple from Madagascar in the same Milan interview cited above. It is interesting that the Holy Father speaks of the positive aspects of traditional arranged marriages. In those marriages it was the religious and social responsibility of the spouses to learn to love each other, and that was possible because love is an act of the will. That is why small towns and rural areas throughout the world, even today, have very low divorce rates. The commitment is all encompassing. It entails every aspect of one's religious and social life, it is not based merely on the passing infatuation of two individuals. Read the relevant passage below.

...You spoke of different types of marriage: we know the “traditional marriage” (mariage coutumier) of Africa and western marriage. In Europe too, to tell the truth, until the 1800s, a different model of marriage was dominant: often the marriage was in reality a contract between clans in which the aim was to preserve the clan, hoping to adapt the one to the other. This is also how it was in part where I come from. I remember that it was still very much like this in a small town where I went to school. But then, beginning in the 1800s, there was the emancipation of the individual, personal freedom, and marriage was no longer based on the will of others but on personal choice; first a couple fell in love, then they got engaged and then came marriage. At that time we were all convinced that this was the only correct model of marriage and that love alone guaranteed the “forever,” because love is absolute, it wants everything and therefore also the whole of time: it is “forever.” Unfortunately, the reality was not thus: we see that falling love is beautiful, but perhaps it is not always perpetual, just as sentiment is not: it does not remain forever. So, we see that the passage from falling in love to engagement and then to marriage requires different decisions, different interior experiences. As I said, this sentiment of love is beautiful, but it must be purified, it must follow a path of discernment, that is, it must enter into the reason and will; reason, sentiment and will must join together. In the Rite of Matrimony the Church does not say: “Are you in love?” but “Do you will?” (Vuoi?), “Are you decided?” (Sei deciso?) In other words, falling in love must become true love involving the will and reason on a journey, which is that of engagement, of purification, of greater depth, so that truly the whole person, with all of his capacities, with the discernment of reason, the power of the will, says: “Yes, this is my life.” I think often of the marriage at Cana. The first wine is delicious: this is falling in love. But it does not go all the way: a second wine must come, that is, it must ferment and grow, mature. A definitive love that really becomes a “second wine” is more beautiful, better than the first wine. And this is what we must seek. And here it is also important that the “I” is not isolated, I and you, but that they community of the parish, the Church, friends be involved too. These things – the proper personalization, communion of life with others, with families that support each other – are very important and only in this way, in this involvement of the community, of friends, of the Church, of faith, of God himself, can there grow a wine that lasts forever.

Pope Benedict Reflects on His Own Family Life and the Centrality of Sunday and Song

"Sunday was always the important time for our family, but Sunday already began Saturday evening. Father read the readings to us from a book that was very popular in Germany at that time. The book also included an explanation of the readings. That is how Sunday began: we were already entering into the liturgy, in a joyful atmosphere. The next day we went to Mass. My home is very close to Salzburg, so we had a lot of music – Mozart, Schubert, Haydn – and when the Kyrie began it was as if heaven had opened up. And at home the big lunch together was naturally important. And we also sang a lot: my brother is a great musician, he composed music for all of us already as a young man, and the whole family sang. Dad played the zither and sang; they are unforgettable moments. Then, of course, we took trips together, walking; we were near a forest and so walking in the forests was very nice: adventures, games, etc. In a word, we were one heart and one soul, with many shared experiences, even in very hard times, because it was wartime – first there was the dictatorship, then poverty. But this love that we had for each other, this joy even in simple things was strong and so we were able to overcome and endure even these things. I think that it was very important that even little things gave us joy because the other person’s heart expressed itself in this way. And in this way we grew up in the certainty that it was good to be a human being, because we saw that God’s goodness was reflected in our parents and in us children. And, to tell the truth, if I try to imagine a little how paradise will be, I think always of the time of my youth, of my childhood. In this context of confidence, of joy and love we were happy and I think that paradise must be something like how it was in my youth. In this sense I hope to go “home,” going to the “other side of the world.”"


And to a couple from the United States the Holy Father stressed the importance of defending Sunday for the defense of man.

"I hope that Sunday is observed in America. Sunday seems very important to me, the day of the Lord and, precisely as such, the “day of man” too, because we are free. This was, in the creation account, the Creator’s original intention: that on one day everyone would be free. In this freedom for each other, for ourselves, we are free for God. And so I think that we are defending man’s freedom when we defend Sunday and holidays as God’s days and therefore days for man."

[Excerpted from Pope Benedict's 4 June Milan Dialogue With Families]


My recent sojourn in Palestine and Israel with the almost absolute Friday Muslim rest and the equally almost absolute Saturday Jewish rest in that Holy Land I could not but think of the all but defunct "blue laws" of my youth in our erstwhile Christian nation. Even the international airport of Tel Aviv is closed for the Sabbath! The non-believers are more zealous than believers in defending the day of the Lord according to their false beliefs. What a shame for us! May their fervor stir up our piety.

Golgotha and the Tomb

There is a curious fact about many of the ancient holy places in the Holy Land which is perhaps especially evident at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, viz. the sites seem too close to one another. The tomb in this Church is just down from Calvary (Golgotha). Here is a cross section of how it is so (and has been so since the Roman Empress Saint Helena built the Church precisely on this site.

The Romans were experts at building with precision at significant locations: e.g. the Vatican Basilica in Rome originally built by Constantine with the high altar directly over the grave of Saint Peter, as it is today.

There is one much deeper reality which must be kept in mind as one visits the Holy Places and hears all the discussion about accuracy of place. Men fight about land and places and temples, but Christ declared that He Himself is the True Temple of God. Places are not Holy except from the Holy God who makes anything Holy that is Holy. Christ said "the Kingdom of heaven is within you"! Christ and Jesus Christ alone is God's Holy Temple, God's Holy Place, the Holy Land. You are in the Holy Land in so far as you are in Christ, living in Him and He in you. That, in fact, is heaven. Heaven is fundamentally a relationship. God is love. He who lives in love lives in God and God in Him.

You are truly in the Holy Land only when you are holy! And, if you are holy, you are in the Holy Land no matter where you are. The Holy Land is within you!, in your parish tabernacle, in your personal dedication to the daily duties of your state in life: your family, your work, your personal relationship with Christ. There are no territorial substitutes for the love that God has for you.

Una Voce Jerusalem

6:00 AM this morning I offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on the Catholic (Medici) altar on Calvary in the extraordinary form.  Two Missionary of Charity Sisters attended with one other Religious Sister and a couple of laymen.  It was a low Mass for the first class feast today: Saints Peter and Paul.  I offered it for everyone who has asked me to pray for them and everyone for whom I have promised to pray, and especially for the deceased members of my family, most especially one deceased brother.  That Mass on Calvary was the climax and the ultimate purpose of my entire trip and study this month in the Holy Land.

One note on the logistics of offering the extraordinary form here (and perhaps anywhere in the Holy Land): BYOB!  Bring your own book (and cards and anything else you will need) for they are clueless about the Traditional Mass.  When I asked the Franciscan Friar Sacristan if they happened to have a 1962 ritual on hand he had no idea what I was talking about even after explaining the Motu Proprio.  Anyway, thank God I had my pocket daily Missal with me.  In contrast, Santiago de Compostela provided a beautiful and almost unused old Missal and traditional vestments when I was there a couple of years ago.

Although the Latin Patriarchate has expressed it's approval of such Masses (which it has no authority to forbid in any case) it seems that nothing has been done to facilitate it.  The Holy Sepulchre sacristy had myriad Missals in dozens of languages.  I'm sure they have a pre-1962 Missal hidden away in any number of the Patriarchate churches and  houses right here in Jerusalem (as I found in Bir Zeit for my daily Masses there all month).  This is a very warm and hospitable land, I suggest the Holy Places give a little attention to this matter so close to the heart of Pope Benedict.  I noted last night that the beautiful pilgrim procession and benediction led by the Franciscans was done completely in Latin Chant.  The Old Mass makes sense here where the ancient rituals are done in the ancient languages for the glory of God and the benefit of the faithful here from every land.

By the way, the Palestinian funeral of the mother of a priest which I attended in Jifna in the presence of the Patriarch, though moving in many ways, included some blatant liturgical abuses: e.g. the Patriarch himself and other clerics concelebrated with nothing more than cassock and stole!  I was aghast in disbelief.  One more reason for Una Voce in the Holy Land.

Hitch-hiking the Holy Land

Tiberias

This was my first impression of the Sea of Galilee, having been picked up by two young Israeli professionals who were articulate and modest on the Middle East political situation.  The Jews are the hitch-hikers in the Holy Land and so I experienced it as an excellent way to mingle with them, not to mention the fact that my trip was largely on Saturday so that getting public transportation was impossible.  I got from Cana to Capernaum and back to Nazareth without a hitch! and some great, though brief, and much needed, open air road time on the Sea of all Seas!  It was hot.  I sweated.  And it was wonderful.  Capernaum is very much alive with the sea, the monuments new and old, and the activity of the Lord, again, very active here even today.  The place is quiet and pristine.  A great place for a retreat: e.g. Tabgha, the site of the miraculous catch, at the foot of the hill of the beatitudes and just a couple of miles down the coast from Capernaum.

All this was last weekend, my last full weekend in the Holy Land.  The previous weekend I went to Bethlehem.  Nazareth and Bethlehem made me think of Pope Benedict's upcoming third volume of Jesus of Nazareth (on the Infancy and Hidden Life) which should come out any day now.  I can't wait!

Plinthos in Palestine

Here in the land of Our Blessed Lord for the first time, I had arranged to take a course in Arabic at  Birzeit University near Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority.  Birzeit (approx. population of 8500) is an ancient and traditionally Christian town and is still largely Christian with a large Latin Rite Catholic Church (the steeple at the right).  The priests wear cassocks on the street, so I fit right in.  The Palestinians, Muslims and Christians, are very respectful of and friendly to priests.  The parish is very active and there are many activities which include processions: e.g. in my short stay so far (ten days) we have had two May processions and an outdoor kindergarten graduation and a funeral and street procession of the mother of a priest: the Latin Patriarch and his predecessor and a couple of other bishops and around twenty other priests participated.

As I write the minaret call to prayer is sounding (as it does five times a day).  The Muslims are fascinating.  They act just like everyone else, except most of the women wear their traditional and very beautiful traditional long colorful dresses and shawls with head completed covered.  The other day at the university the director of the program assigned a Muslim female student as my conversation partner.  So, me in my cassock, we sat down with a dozen other female students on the steps of one of the academic buildings as they enthusiastically and joyfully helped me get through some of the more difficult Arabic pronunciation. I was enchanted by their beauty, innocence, simplicity, friendliness and refinement.  At the same time I considered how comical the scene was.  Here I am, a Roman Catholic priest at the "Hamas" University surrounded by Muslim young ladies.  I could not help to think first that that is a picture that I have to get before I leave (if my friends could see me now!) and, second, that we must be breaking at least some Muslim law!  Well, the following day I received word that the young lady would no longer be my tutor and I now have a young Muslim male student tutoring me with just as much enthusiasm.  I think I'll keep it low key this time!

Back in my town I have been mingling with the youngsters at the couple of pool halls in town: nice tables!  They have a policy: loser pays.  Well, I have played alot and paid only once!  They are all enthusiastic (Muslim and Christian alike) to play with the priest.  The environment is very wholesome, typically Mediterranean (you can see the sea from here on a clear day just beyond the Tel Aviv skyline), with no drinking and no women out a night!  The greatest scandal is the pool shark priest!

By the way, yesterday I was in Ramallah for the second time and my first time alone.  I loved it!  It was just like being anywhere in Greece or Italy or Spain.  Everyone is great and very welcoming.  The food is great and I have not gotten sick, except perhaps a bit homesick.  And the climate is wonderful.  This is an essential and crucial and very much alive part of the Holy Land.  I would dare to say that this is the heart of the Holy Land, at least the Christian heart, viz. the Palestinian Christians (the Christian Philistines (not Arabs!) , as they term themselves).  "Palestine" in Arabic is said "Philistine".

Pope Benedict is scheduled to come to Lebanon in September.  

I better go, it's time to shoot pool.

Tomorrow is my first Philistine wedding experience.  It should be great!