For the Sake of His Sorrowful Passion...

Have Mercy on Us and on the Whole World!

I wanted to share something I discovered when reading the traditional Good Friday “Adoration of the Cross,” which is the third of four parts of that day’s liturgy.

There is a text shortly after the beginning of the Adoration, which reads:

O holy God! O holy strong One!

O holy immortal One, have mercy upon us.

I’m sure this is very familiar to all of you, the words of the prayer at the end of the Divine Mercy Chaplet:

Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One,

Have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Assuming Saint Faustina wrote those words, we now know where she most likely got it!

Some chaplet pamphlets will include an additional prayer from Faustina’s diary, “A Prayer for Divine Mercy.” Saying it this past week, I have been continually struck by the beauty of the last sentence:

“For Jesus is our Hope: through His merciful Heart as through an open gate,

we pass through to Heaven.”

It is fitting for this to be said during Paschal Time, as the Hebraic word “pasch” means “Passover” or “passage.” This originally referred to passing over the Red Sea. The idea of passage relates to so many facets of our Faith. There is a recurring theme of death leading to new life. Even nature sings this song, as the fallen leaves fertilize the ground for the next Spring. The sacramental life is all about various passages. The Passion, Resurrection and Ascension is all a flowing passage. It is an interwoven tapestry which gives us a lifetime of meditation upon these mysteries.

Easter Friday, Major Rogation Day / Dom Prosper Gueranger

Tomorrow, Easter Friday is a solemnity, as is every day in the Octave of Easter. Therefore, there is no Friday penance required.

However, the Major Rogation Day (or Greater Litanies) of April 25th still stands in the trad calendar, which typically IS a day of penance. Saint Mark’s feast is not celebrated.  So, how do we deal with the conundrum of a joyful Easter Week solemnity, in addition to a day of penance? 

Just so happens, I found the perfect answer to this question at Catholic Culture.  They gave an excerpt from Dom Prosper Gueranger’s The Liturgical Year, a 15-volume work written in the 19th century.  Here’s an excerpt of the excerpt…

“We gather from an expression of St. Gregory the Great that it was an ancient custom in the Roman Church to celebrate, once each year, a Greater Litany, at which all the clergy and people assisted. This holy Pontiff chose April 25 as the fixed day for this procession…The question naturally presents itself—why did St. Gregory choose April 25 for a procession and Station in which everything reminds us of compunction and penance, and which would seem so out of keeping with the joyous season of Easter?  [He explains the history of all this, see Catholic Culture link above for full piece]…

But there was a striking contrast resulting from this institution, of which the holy Pontiff was fully aware, but which he could not avoid: it was the contrast between the joys of Paschal Time and the penitential sentiments wherewith the faithful should assist at the procession and Station of the Great Litany. Laden as we are with the manifold graces of this holy season, and elated with our Paschal joys, we must sober our gladness by reflecting on the motives which led the Church to cast this hour of shadow over our Easter sunshine…”

It seems that Holy Church in her wisdom gives us the occasional reminder, when this date is within the Octave of Easter, that we are not to get too caught up in festivities.  Even after the long, penitential Lent, we must remain vigilant in this brief life, when our actions will determine our eternal fate.  This is what I glean from Gueranger’s analysis.  Read his words and see what you think.

Gueranger goes on to say that on this day, in Italy and France, there was abstinence from meat.  In France, it was also deemed a day of rest.  The Litany of the Saints would be prayed as well, through the centuries.  There was however, no fasting. 

So the answer seems to be:  Yes, be joyful, but give yourself a reminder of the Lent you just experienced.  Do not run to the opposite extreme and forget Our Blessed Lord on the Cross.  Do not abandon him, as did so many others.

So who was this intriguing Dom Gueranger, who wrote so eloquently?  Adoremus has an article written by Joseph O’Brien, a Catholic homesteader in Wisconsin (he’s quite the writer himself) on the book by Dom Guy Marie Oury:  Dom Gueranger: A Monk at the Heart of the Church.  Here’s a portion…

“Dom Guy Marie Oury’s [book]…is an important book, if only because it offers our dying culture a road map to recovery…It should come as a surprise to no one that our culture—and Western Civilization as a whole—is dying. I say this not as a matter of pessimism. Nor am I discounting divine intervention. But there are symptoms enough to show that our culture is very much like the ‘patient etherized upon a table’ in T.S. Eliot’s ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’…

The answer is right before our eyes—and present to our other senses as well—in the sacred liturgy [he follows with facts about the life and times of Gueranger]…

Dom Gueranger: A Monk at the Heart of the Church provides a fully drawn…portrait of the man who had almost singlehandedly renewed the liturgy as the cultural heart of the Church. It also provides a living example of how Catholics can save civilization, one celebration of the Holy Mass at a time.”

Isn’t it wonderful to revive these traditions that connect us, like a golden thread, with the Body of Christ, the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, through the ages?

  “I have no doubt that one day Catholicism will return to its place in this world, to which it alone holds the secret.”

Dom Prosper Gueranger

Divine Mercy Sunday ~ Plenary Indulgence

From the FSSP Liturgical Ordo:

“April 27, 2025, Divine Mercy Sunday: A plenary indulgence is granted to those who take part in the prayers and devotions held in honor of Divine Mercy, or who, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament exposed or in the tabernacle, recite one Our Father and the Creed, adding a devout prayer to the merciful Lord Jesus. Those who for a just cause cannot get to church can gain the same indulgence by reciting one Our Father, the Creed, and a devout prayer to the merciful Lord Jesus before an image of the Divine Mercy.”

Note: The usual conditions for plenary indulgence (see link above) also apply. See if your parish is celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday with special devotions and use that opportunity to obtain the indulgence. Let your pastor know you appreciate this.

saint faustina, pray for us!

jesus, i trust in thee!

+++ GOOD FRIDAY +++ Plenary Indulgence

+++ Station at Holy Cross in Jerusalem +++

Pray for Peace in the Holy Land.

Jesus Christ crucified, have mercy upon us!

Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us!

And may the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.

Amen.

From the New Marian Missal:

“The faithful who, on Good Friday during three hours, shall meditate, in public or in private, the sufferings of Our Lord on the Cross, and shall remember the words He spoke on the Cross, or say some psalms, hymns or other mental prayers, can gain: Plenary Indulgence after confession and Communion on Maundy Thursday or during the Octave of Easter with a prayer for the intentions of His Holiness.”

There is also a Divine Mercy Sunday Plenary, which will be posted here next week!

Stay tuned for some Easter Triduum thoughts from the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, as well.

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence ~ Caitelen Schneeberger

Let all mortal flesh keep silence,

And with fear and trembling stand,

Ponder nothing earthly-minded,

For with blessing in His hand,

Christ our God to earth descendeth,

Our full homage to demand.

King of Kings, yet born of Mary,

As of old on earth He stood,

Lord of Lords, in human vesture,

In the Body and the Blood,

He will give to all the faithful,

His own Self for heav’nly food.

Rank on rank the host of Heaven,

Spreads its vanguard on the way,

As the Light of Light descendeth,

From the realms of endless day,

That the pow’rs of Hell may vanish,

As the darkness clears away.

At His feet the six-winged seraph,

Cherubim with sleepless eye,

Veil their faces to the Presence,

As with ceaseless voice they cry:

Alleluia, Alleluia,

Alleluia, Lord Most High!

From Liturgy of St. James, Early Church Era

Translation by Gerard Moultrie, 1864

***ALERT: Divine Mercy Novena starts today! See Home page for further info.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day / Thoughts for the Day

SAINT PATRICK, PRAY FOR US!

From today’s trad Mass:

O God, Who didst deign to send blessed Patrick, Thy confessor and bishop, to preach Thy glory to the nations, grant, through his merits and intercession, that those commands which Thou dost set before us we may by Thy mercy be able to fulfill.

Grant, we beseech Thee, O Almighty God, that, giving thanks for the favors we have received, we may, by the intercession of blessed Patrick, Thy confessor and bishop, obtain blessings still greater. Amen.

~ ~ ~

I belong here because I am here.

~ ~ ~

When you look beyond the horizon, the obstructions collapse.

~ ~ ~

Envy is the inability to receive another person’s gifts, which were meant for you.

~ ~ ~

The mystic surrenders his life to the Mystery.

The thoughts shared here which are not in quotes, are recent meditations of mine which I have crystallized into simple ideas. All writing on this site is by CF Mathews, unless otherwise noted.

March is the Month of Saint Joseph, Part 2

A new feature we recently started is monthly homeschool activities (see topic to the right>>>).  In Part 1, our reader Jenna gave some ideas on how to observe the monthly devotions, so we will use some of those…

Homeschool Activities for March

1. Can you find a 9-day novena to Saint Joseph?  Do you think you can pray it this month or sometime during Lent?  Try to get all 9 days in a row!  (Mothers, you might want to abbreviate the prayers for young children.)

2. Write a short prayer to Saint Joseph and memorize it.

3. Which feast in honor of Mary do we celebrate this month?  Where is this account found in Holy Scripture?

For more information on traditional monthly dedications, see the link below from Catholic Online.  History and indulgences are discussed.  Below is an excerpt of the month of March…

Special Devotions for Months

“St. Joseph (feast, 19 March); indulgences, three hundred days daily for those who privately or publicly perform some pious practice in honour of St. Joseph, during the month, a plenary indulgence on any day of the month under the usual conditions ( Pius IX, "Rescript Congr. Indulg.", 27 April, 1865). This month of devotions may commence in February and be concluded 19 March ( Pius IX, 18 July, 1877). March can be replaced by another month in case of legitimate impediment (Raccolta, 404). The practice of a triduum [A time frequently chosen for prayer or for other devout practices, whether by individuals in private, or in public by congregations or special organizations in parishes, in religious communities, seminaries, or schools. The form of prayer or devotion depends upon the occasion or purpose of the triduum. The three days usually precede some feast, and the feast then determines the choice of the pious exercises.] before the feast of St. Joseph has been recommended by Leo XIII (Encycl. "Quamquam pluries", 15 August, 1889).”

And here is a post from June, 2016…we now have a full 10 years of posts here…

A New Prayer to Saint Joseph!

Cardinal Burke's Septuagesima Thoughts

Ash Wednesday is Approaching... Are You Ready?

“What am I going to do this Lent to draw closer to God in prayer? What am I going to do this lent to purify my life of things that are sinful?” Cardinal Burke prompts us to ask ourselves for the intense period of prayer, fasting and almsgiving during Lent.

In the video above, Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke mentions Septuagesima as something that was practiced in the past and encourages his flock to renew this custom. We traditional Catholics still observe this season of preparation for Lent. Listen to Cardinal Burke’s inspiring thoughts and consider perusing the “Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe” website. They also have a YouTube channel.

February is the Month of the Passion of Our Lord

As the Cycle of Christmas comes to a close this month, we begin to meditate upon the sufferings of Our Blessed Lord.  The second part of the traditional liturgical year begins with Septuagesima on Sunday, the 16th.  The Cycle of Easter extends until the next Church year, the beginning of Advent.  This is when we contemplate the Mystery of the Redemption, through Septuagesima, Lent, Passiontide, Easter Time and Time after Pentecost.  So bringing to mind the Passion, after celebrating the joyful Christmas Season, is most appropriate this month.

Let us seek to observe a holy Septuagesima, when we prepare for Lent.  Why do this?  There is a lot of very good commentary out there on Septuagesima, which goes into it much deeper than we do here.  One thing we can do is educate ourselves more on this forgotten liturgical season.  But to answer the question, it is best to enter Lent spiritually and practically prepared.  This takes some time and prayer.  Certainly, Septuagesima would be a time for the Sacrament of Penance.  Meditating upon the Passion will be most productive if we are putting the spiritual life first.  You will find that a good observance of this pre-Lenten time will be immensely rewarding!

If we merge Septuagesima with our contemplation of the Passion, it really starts out strong with the Introit of the first Sunday Mass…

“The groans of death surrounded me, the sorrows of hell encompassed me.”

We’re not in the Christmas Season anymore.  But we know that baby in His Mother’s arms, honored by the Magi, came to suffer and die for our sins.  And there is no Resurrection without the Cross.  No joy without tears.  It is time now for us to walk the Via Dolorosa with Our Lady and Our Lord, to our Heavenly reward.  The words above are those of one crying out to God, but they could just as easily be the words of Our Lord Himself as He walked that walk.

During the first 2 weeks of Septuagesima, we honor 3 Apostles:  Saint Simeon’s feast (Simon the Zealot) is the 18th, the Chair of Saint Peter is the 22nd and Saint Matthias’ feast is the 24th.  As for Simeon, there is no scripture directly associating him with the Passion, but, he was of course present at the Last Supper.  From the Mass of Saint Simeon, our sins are likened to a “weight,” calling to mind the weight of the Cross, which our Lord carried for these sins:

“Look mercifully, almighty God, upon our weakness, and because the weight of our own deeds presses upon us, may the glorious intercession of Saint Simeon, Thy martyr and bishop, be our protection.”

The feast of the “Chair of Saint Peter” refers to a great relic which symbolizes the papacy.  As such, we are indeed honoring the glorious Saint Peter.  From Matthew 16:18…

“And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Simon Peter was intimately linked to the events of the Passion.  Luke describes his following in the distance, his denial, the glance with Our Lord, and Peter’s weeping (Luke 22:54-62).  During this time before Lent, let us flee to St. Peter’s intercession for a good examination of conscience and to see the ways in which we ourselves, deny the will of God.  Saint Peter, pray for Holy Church at this time!

From EWTN VATICAN, 11/17/24…

Rare Vatican Relic on Display:

The Story Behind St. Peter’s Chair

(Includes a wonderful video of the Chair at the Vatican.)

Excerpt:

This historic wooden throne, known as the Cathedra Sancti Petri, holds immense spiritual and historical significance, symbolizing the authority and mission of the papacy…Scholars have studied the chair extensively over the years, revealing that its oldest components date as far back as the 6th century…Each year, on February 22nd, we celebrate the Feast of the Cathedra Sancti Petri, the “Chair” of Peter…“It can be presumed,” [Prof. Francesco Buranelli] continued, “that it was used as the papal throne until the 1600s”…The Cathedra Sancti Petri, a profound symbol of the unbroken line of succession from St. Peter…was last displayed publicly in 1867 to mark the 1800th anniversary of St. Peter’s martyrdom…In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI described the Chair as “a symbol of the special mission of Peter and his successors to shepherd Christ’s flock, keeping it united in faith and charity.” 

Saint Matthias would never have become associated with the 12 Apostles, if Judas had not betrayed Jesus.  Matthias was faithful to Our Savior, even unto death.  From the old Catholic Encyclopedia:

Matthias was one of the seventy disciples of Jesus, and had been with Him from His baptism by John to the Ascension. It is related (Acts 1:15-26) that in the days following the Ascension, Peter proposed to the assembled brethren, who numbered one hundred and twenty, that they choose one to fill the place of the traitor Judas in the Apostolate. Two disciples, Joseph, called Barsabas, and Matthias were selected, and lots were drawn, with the result in favour of Matthias.

Moving on with Septuagesima through the lens of the Passion, Quinquagesima Sunday, March 2nd, includes the Gospel account of Our Lord foretelling his arrest and death:

Luke 18:31-43

Other notable feasts of February from the trad and new calendars:

2nd-Presentation of the Lord/Purification of the BVM/Candlemas

3rd-Saint Blaise, Blessing of Throats

6th-Saint Titus, Companion of Saint Paul, Bishop

11th-Our Lady of Lourdes

14th-Saint Valentine

23rd-Sexagesima Sunday

Homeschool Activities This Month

1)       List 5 ways we can prepare for Lent.

2)       Write a short essay on the history of the Chair of Saint Peter (handwrite in cursive).

Get on our email list and you’ll receive these monthly posts automatically, along with exclusive content from CF Mathews’ recent research…always free, privacy respected.

The Ten Warnings Based on the Ten Commandments

I             A people who worship false gods shall be ruled by the godless.

II            A people who take the Holy Name of God in vain shall become nameless.

III           A people who profane the Sabbath Day shall have no rest.

IV           A people who dishonor their elders shall be dishonored by their own children.

V            A people who kill the innocent shall themselves be killed.

VI           A people who dishonor their own bodies shall be subject to all manner of bodily harm.

VII          A people who steal from God and man shall be left with nothing.

VIII        A people who deceive shall be deceived by those more powerful.

IX           A people who covet the things of the flesh shall live in deprivation.

X            A people who covet the things of the world shall become enslaved. 

WANT TO PRINT THIS? HERE’S THE PDF!

November is the Month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory

Of course, November begins with the glorious All Saints Day.  The Triduum of Death, beginning with the All Saints Day vigil, encourages us to meditate upon the Four Last Things:

Death  +  Judgement  +  Heaven  +  Hell

However, Holy Church always calls us to be joyful and at peace.  At every traditional Holy Mass we hear the words, “May the peace of the Lord be always with you” or “Pax Domini sit semper vobis cum.”  All Saints Day is truly wondrous as we honor the entire Heavenly host and hope for our eventual union with them.  This feast originated with the Church’s desire to honor the martyrs whose bones were kept at a particular church which was dedicated to all the saints, as this location was previously dedicated to “all the gods.”  The Litany of the Saints, invokes both human saints and angels.  All Souls Day, on the 2nd, is also a happy feast, as we know our prayers for the Holy Souls resound to God and expiate some, if not all (if a Plenary Indulgence is performed) of their cleansing in Purgatory.

See our previous 2 posts on the Plenary Indulgences which are so easy to obtain during the first week of November.  Holy Church opens the Gates of Heaven this week in an incredible way!

What else can we do for the souls in Purgatory this month?  After November 8th, you may still visit a cemetery with mental prayer for the Holy Souls, but the indulgence will be partial (you may do this any time of year).  Other partial indulgences could be the recitation of the Office of the Dead or the De Profundis.  Here’s also a well-known prayer by Saint Gertrude the Great, whose feast we celebrate on the 16th:

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the Universal Church, those in my own home and within my family.

Amen.

We have 2 more “Greats” this month:  Saint Leo on the 10th and Saint Albert on the 15th. 

Let us not forget the feast of Christ King of the Universe, on the 24th, a Sunday.  We celebrate 2 Marian feasts:  The Presentation of Mary on the 21st and Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal on the 27th.  The following day, the 28th, we honor the seer of the Miraculous Medal, Saint Catherine Laboure. 

On the 13th, we honor Mother Frances Cabrini, a 20th century saint.  I had the privilege of viewing her body in New York City some years ago at her shrine.  The body is filled out with wax.  The saint’s heart remained incorrupt and was transported to Codogno, Italy, where she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  It is appropriate that her heart was preserved from corruption, as she was so devoted to the Heart of Our Lord.

We celebrate the Apostle Andrew on the 30th and December 1st begins Advent.  If you plan to perform Advent exercises, think about preparing in advance. 

Heavenly blessings to all in this month of the Holy Souls!

We discuss both trad and new feasts.  Please consult your own calendar sources for further details.