A reflection on Mass celebrated ad Orientem

By Fr Andrew Wise PP

When the priest is at the High Altar for the Canon or Eucharistic prayer facing the crucifix and tabernacle, he is leading the people in prayer as their representative and mediator, acting in the person of Christ the High Priest. Priest and people together face the same direction, coming through Christ and His cross and resurrection to God the Father. We are a pilgrim people journeying together through this life to our Fathers home above. To put it another way, if you were travelling in a bus, you would hardly want the bus driver to be facing you! You would be glad to see his back as it hopefully means he has his attention on the road ahead. Moreover, we are obviously not offended by looking at the back of the person in the pew in front of us, as we know we are one as a congregation in turning toward the Lord in prayer and worship.

Part I

Part II

brisbaneoratory@gmail.com

The late Bishop Morlino offered Mass ad orientem

From LifeSiteNews:

In 2016, Morlino became the second U.S. bishop to officially adopt the ad orientem posture facing the altar with the people while offering Mass at his regular cathedral parish. He said his flock received this well because he made catechesis on the liturgy a focus of his episcopate.

“The particular community that worships with me have been made aware and catechized about the meaning of ad orientem for years now,” he said. “When I announced to them that I would begin to celebrate in the ad orientem in the Ordinary Form, they smiled and nodded yes.”

Offering Mass this way “enhances beauty, it enhances reverence, and it enhances that feeling of comfort, that predictability that somehow the priest is much less likely to share off-the-cuff when he’s celebrating ad orientem,” said Morlino.

Read full article here.

50 Years of Effete and Infertile Liturgical Culture Is Enough

By Anthony Esolen

Last Sunday I was away from home. It means I must hear Mass somewhere else. (…)

The Second Vatican Council’s document on the liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, says that Latin is the language of the Church; there was no Latin. It says that the pipe organ is best fitted for worship for its grandeur; there was no music on the organ, there was a woman playing the piano, in that style befitting a hotel lounge or a posh funeral parlor—all tinklety-tinkly ninths and elevenths and swoons. Sacrosanctum Concilium says that the people in charge of the music should avail themselves of the vast treasury of Christian hymns; there was one true hymn while the other three were show tunes—slovenly, effeminate, unfit for the liturgy, and impossible to sing for a congregation of both sexes. (…)

Sacrosanctum Concilium says that silence should be respected, but there was no silence. How could there be? We are to be silent before the holy, but at Saint Secular of Southern California there was no sense of the holy.

Read the whole article here.

Wavel Cathedral – Kraków, Poland

Parafia Archikatedralna św. Stanisława BM i św. Wacław
Parish of the Archicathedral of St Stanislaus B. M. and St Wenceslaus M.
Parrocchia dell’Arcicattedrale di San Stanislao Vesc. e M. e San Venceslao M.

http://www.katedra-wawelska.pl/

Msze święte w Katedrze na Wawelu:
Niedziele i święta
8.30 w języku łacińskim przy relikwiach św. Stanisława

Holy Mass at Wawel Cathedral:
Sunday and holidays
8.30 am Holy Mass in Latin at the relics of St Stanislaus

Santa Messa nella Cattedrale del Wavel
Domeniche e giorni di precetto
8:30 santa Messa in latino presso le reliquie di San Stanislao

The death of Bishop Morlino – La morte del Vescovo Morlino

We inform you of the death of Most Reverend Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison. Bishop Morlino died tonight, Saturday, November 24th, at approximately 9:15 pm at St. Mary Hospital in Madison at the age of 71.

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace.

Vi informiamo della morte di Sua Eccellenza Robert C. Morlino, Vescovo di Madison (USA). Il vescovo Morlino è morto questa notte, sabato 24 novembre, alle ore 21:15 circa al St. Mary Hospital a Madison all’età di 71 anni.

L’eterno riposo donagli, o Signore, e splenda a lui la luce perpetua. Riposi in pace.