Posted on July 29, 2018 View all news
Laudetur Jesus Christus! Gelobt sei Jesus Christus!
Sia lodato Gesù Cristo! Praised be Jesus Christ!
Next week, the much planned for and anticipated music retreat will be held. The retreat begins on Wednesday, August 8. Thank you to John Schauble for organizing the event. Our own schola and scholas from the region and around the country will be here to participate. Leading composers and musicians from the Catholic world in the United States will be here to present.
The event will culminate with two Pontifical Masses, with His Excellency, Bishop Edward Slattery, as the celebrant. The Masses will be according to the Traditional Latin Mass and is undoubtedly not to be missed. The first Mass will be at Old St. Mary’s on Saturday, August 11. The Office of the Dead, Matins & Lauds, will precede Mass at 9:30 a.m. Mass itself will begin at 10:15 a.m. This particular Mass will be a Pontifical Requiem (funeral) Mass, with prayers at the catafalque (am empty casket).
Bishop Slattery will then celebrate the 11:00 a.m. Sunday Mass at Sacred Heart, again a Pontifical Solemn Mass. A reception will be held after Mass, and the retreat will conclude with Solemn Vespers at 2:30 p.m. at Sacred Heart.
I encourage everyone to attend these two special Masses. It is not often that a bishop comes to our parishes and celebrates such Masses. Even if the Traditional Latin Mass is foreign to you, this would not be an opportunity to pass up.
In the Roman Rite, as with any of the ‘rites’ of the Church, the fullness of the Roman Rite is experienced in Solemn Mass with a bishop. This is particularly true when it is the bishop/archbishop in his diocese celebrating Mass in his Cathedral from his throne, the cathedra. While Bishop Slattery is not the Archbishop of Cincinnati, he will still offer many of the particularities of a Pontifical Mass. It is likely that both parishes will have many guests for these Masses. Please be sure to welcome any guests we may have, and to assist them if they look confused as to our particular customs or where things may be.
To celebrate the feast of St. Alphonsus, a man who once considered joining the Congregation of the Oratory in Naples, please find the following two quotes for your meditation this week! Have a blessed week ahead!
“The more a person loves God, the more reason he has to hope in Him. This hope produces in the Saints an unutterable peace, which they preserve even in adversity, because as they love God, and know how beautiful He is to those who love Him, they place all their confidence and find all their repose in Him alone…
Acquire the habit of speaking to God as if you were alone with Him, familiarly and with confidence and love, as to the dearest and most loving of friends. Speak to Him often of your business, your plans, your troubles, your fears— of everything that concerns you. Converse with Him confidently and frankly; for God is not wont to speak to a soul that does not speak to Him.” – St. Alphonsus