Bulletin 171

SAINT AGNES CATHEDRAL 533 South Jefferson Springfield, MO 65806

EXTRAORDINARY FORM OF THE MASS (LATIN)

CELEBRANT: Father Jeffery Fasching

September 29, 2013

Dedication of Saint Michael the Archangel

Epistle: Apoc. 1: 1-5
Gospel: Mt. 18: 1-10

Mon 30 Saint Jerome; Priest, Confessor & Doctor—No Latin Mass
Tue 1 Feria—No Latin Mass
Wed 2 Holy Guardian Angels
Thu 3 Requiem Mass + John Scaria
Fri 4 Sacred Heart of Jesus

The next pot-luck dinner will be Sunday, October 6th following the 2:30pm Latin Mass.
There will be no Latin Mass on Tuesday, October 1st.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a prayer! It must be offered with attention and devotion. The ritual is actually a collection of prayers. All who participate must be sure that they remain attentive in the sacrifice and the sacred mysteries that are occurring. This does not necessarily translate into being more physically active. Man is a creature of habit. It is possible to be physically active in something while the interior life is not at all connected with the activity. Therefore a ritual should be designed to maintain the attention of the faithful. Again, this does not mean it must be active and verbal. Rather the ritual should be one of profound beauty that will naturally draw the worshipper to its contemplation. It should not be chatty and activist in nature so as to cause distractions that make it difficult for someone to maintain focus on God. Motion by nature draws our attention; therefore activity can distract our focus. Our attention should not be drawn to motion, but to God. This is why a ritual should not be activist in nature.

The essential fruit of the Mass has its immediate and only source in the self-immolation of Christ, and is, therefore, independent of the contents of the formulas of the Mass Rite of the Church. The accidental fruit derived from the ritual of the Mass is something real and therefore must be taken seriously by those whose task it is to protect and administer the sacraments, namely the Magisterium.

In Christ,
Fr. Jeff Fasching

Relation of Catholic Church With Other Christian Churches

The Catholic Church recognizes that she is joined with all those separated Christian brothers who are baptized and profess faith in Christ, but she regrets that they do not preserve the fullness of Christian faith and are not united with her in the one visible community of love which Christ founded on Blessed Peter and which He wills for all His disciples.

The Church knows that in many ways she is joined with those who, being baptized, are honored with the name of Christian, though they do not profess the faith in its entirety or do not preserve unity of communion with the successor of Peter... (LG 15-Fl 366)

...Our separated brethren, whether considered as individuals or as communities and Churches, are not blessed with that unity which Jesus Christ wished to bestow on all those to whom He has given new birth into one body, and whom He has quickened to newness of life--that unity which the Holy Scriptures and the ancient Tradition of the Church proclaim...(UR 3b-Fl 455f)

Continue to pray for Christian unity!

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Divine Mercy

“He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me” (Lk 10:16). The Apostles are ambassadors of Christ just as Christ is the ambassador of the Father. The bishops are successors of the Apostles. Christ commands that the teaching of the Apostles should be religiously accepted and kept as if it were His very own. Vatican II, in its document Presbyterorum ordinis, states that “The function of the bishop’s ministry was handed over in a subordinate degree to priests so that they might be appointed in the order of the priesthood and be co-workers of the episcopal order for the proper fulfillment of the apostolic mission that had been entrusted to it by Christ.”

One key part of this mission is to continue to encourage Penance for the forgiveness of sins. The Church has always understood that Jesus Christ Himself conferred upon the Apostles authority to forgive sins. This power is exercised is the sacrament of Penance.

The sacrament of Penance is the most sublime expression of God’s love and mercy towards men. Christ waits for us and invites us to repentance. The Popes have always encouraged regular use of the sacrament of Penance. It is a means to grow in knowledge of ourselves and in Christian humility. Through confession we root out our vices and maintain spiritual fervor. Let us implore the mercy of God on ourselves and upon all mankind.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Prayer and Temptation

Christ our Lord allowed Himself to be tempted in order to give us an example and to instruct us. The Catholic Church teaches us that there are three levels of temptation. The first level is that of suggestion, or external temptation. This is the only way that Christ could be tempted since He was perfect. We can all undergo external temptation without committing any sin. The second level of temptation is that temptation in which we take delight. Although we may not give clear consent, this level of temptation becomes internal and thus becomes sinful. Finally, there is temptation to which we consent. This form of temptation is always sinful because it affects the deepest part of our soul. Christ allowed himself to be externally tempted in order to show us how to fight and conquer our own temptations. We must learn to trust in God and turn to prayer when we are tempted.

Nobody is above temptation. All the great saints were tempted. We must prepare ourselves for temptation by prayer and fasting just as Jesus did. This is why the Church gives us the beautiful season of Lent. Jesus’ withdrawal into the desert invites us to prepare ourselves by prayer and penance to battle temptation, but also teaches us how to prepare before making any significant decision or action.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

More of the Male Priesthood

The following are the principal arguments put forward by those who hold that women should not be excluded from ministerial priesthood because of their sex. First, women should have equal rights and dignity in the Church and should not suffer discrimination because of their sex. Vatican II recognized this principle, and so does Saint Paul: “All of you who have been baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Him. There does not exist among you Jew or Greek, slave or freeman, male or female. All are one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3.27). Granted that no one has a right to ordination, nevertheless one does have a right not to be discriminated against simply because of one’s sex.

Response: To recognize the differences between men and women is not to show discrimination, but to invite reflection on the proper way to promote the dignity and role of each sex. If a priest is to be a visible symbol of Christ, who stands in relation to the Church as groom and bride, it is not discriminatory to choose those to be priests who can represent Christ in this way.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

The Male Priesthood

Finally, the Holy See and the vast majority of bishops throughout the world teach that a male priesthood is divinely willed for the Church and that the Church does not have the authority to change this. The faithful are to give obsequium religiosum (religious submission, allegiance) to the Roman Pontiff and to the college of bishops when they teach as successors of Peter and the apostles.

Response: Granted that one should show respect for the magisterium of the Church, critics feel compelled to stand up for what they regard as a matter of truth and justice.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Women Priests...?

Second, the faith and practice of the early Church is normative for the Church of all ages. But the early Church, following the pattern set by Jesus, admitted only men to the offices of presbyter and bishop. Therefore the Church today must continue to do the same. If the early Church ordained only men to the presbyterate, it was not simply because the culture of the times excluded women from roles of religious leadership. Many pagan religions at that time employed priestesses.

Response: The fact that the early Church chose only men as bishops and presbyters is not based on any immutable law binding the Church in later times but reflects the influence of the male dominant cultures in which the Church had its origin and early development. In Israel, only men were allowed to serve as priests and elders of the people, just as only males were allowed to attend Jewish synagogue services. Despite the presence of priestesses in some pagan religions of that time, from which many early converts were drawn, all of the cultures which helped to shape the early Church were male dominant. Since we live in a different culture, we are not bound by these practices of a by-gone-day.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Who Receives the Fruits of the Mass?

There are three ways in which the fruits of the Mass are distributed: to the celebrant in a very special way (specialissime), to the whole Church in a general way (generalissime), and to those for whom the Mass was offered in a particular way (specialiter).

Those who offer the Mass receive the greatest fruit from the Mass. The fruit received is in proportion to the fervor and purity of dispositions with which they offer it. The priest enjoys certain special advantages in that it is easier for him to be fully attentive, since he performs the sacred rite, and he receives grace of state to celebrate the Mass worthily (he may fail to cooperate with that grace, of course, but it is given.

There are two kinds of intentions for which the Mass is offered, general and particular. "Every Mass is offered not for the benefit of only a few, but for the salvation of the whole world." Those for whom the Mass is offered in a particular way would benefit more than those for whom it is offered only in general. The fruits that anyone actually receives from the Mass depend upon the will of God for that individual, and the suitability of that person's dispositions for receiving grace.

For Baptists and Disciples of Christ, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is exclusively a memorial meal. In no sense is it a sacrifice. Presbyterians and Methodists accept the Eucharist as a sacrifice of praise. Some also see it as a sacrament (understood as a sacred sign) through which we offer ourselves to the Father in union with the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, which is commemorated, but not renewed, in the Eucharist. Lutherans continue to reject what the Council of Trent says about the Mass as a propitiatory sacrifice "offered for the living and the dead," since this implies a doctrine of Purgatory which they do not accept.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Christ Offers

It is the clear teaching of the magisterium that Christ is the principal offerer in every Mass; otherwise the Mass would not be the same sacrifice as that of Calvary. Christ offers through the ministry of the priest acting in His person.

Council of Trent, Doctrine of the Holy Sacrifice: “In this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered Himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner…The same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered Himself on the cross…”

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching