Latin Mass Triduum, 2018 in Archdiocese of Toronto. Better Late than Never.

(Source: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/jesus-on-the-cross-roman-piercing-kurt-miller.html)

``... Regnum meum non est de hoc mundo .... Ego in hoc natus sum, at ad hoc veni in mundum, ut testimonium perhibeam veritati: Omnis qui est ex veritate audie vocem meam.`(Douay-Rheims John 18: 36 - 37: ``My kingdom is not of this world ... For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, that I should give testimony to the truth. Every one that is of the truth, heareth my voice.``)

Hello Everyone,

Forgive my tardiness that I did not get this out for yesterday, Holy Thursday, but I write this as finally, I have a chance to myself, as my first born son is being quiet. I became a father as of 1024h last Friday, Mar 23rd.

Thanks to a Latin Mass mailing list I'm on, I have come across information for the annual Latin Mass Triduum (since 2014 or 2015) that is held in Toronto. From the e-bulletin, I share the following information:

WHERE: Chapel of the Carmel Heights Retirement Residence, staffed by Carmelite Sisters.
Address: 1720 Sherwood Forrest Circle, Mississauga, Ontario, CAN
Website for Residence: http://www.carmelheights.ca/

MASSES:

• Holy Thursday/Solemn Mass of the Lord's Supper (Thurs Mar 29, 2018) 730pm EST Start time
• Adoration to 1100pm
• GOOD FRIDAY (TODAY, Fri Mar 30, 2018)
• Stations of the Cross (EF/Usus Antiquor): 2PM EST
• SOLEMN Service: 3PM EST
• HOLY SATURDAY/SOLEMN Paschal Vigil (Tomorrow, Apr 1/18)- 830pm EST Start Time

Some notes:

1) I, and my closest allies and siblings in Christi in the TLM in Toronto, have no personal/professional nor desired relationship with certain parties involved in the Triduum liturgies, nor have been asked by any party involved to assist. In spite of this, I promote this Triduum on my blog because: Fr. Russell Asch is chaplain to the residence (incl. the sisters, and does their Masses IN ADDITION to those of the Latin Mass) and has been faithful to ALL parties in the TLM community including my friends of St. Patrick's Gregorian Choir (plus technically, one could say he is pastor of the chapel;)) one of my closest friends in faith has decided to sing in the choir for these liturgies/services; and most of all for the good of the lay faithful (and clergy to an extent) who have honest and non-radically traditionalist interest in the EF liturgy of the Roman Rite, particularly in the most, important time of the Catholic Faith during the year.

2) While priests who are under the spiritual authority of the Archdiocese of Toronto are involved in the carrying out of these Masses/services, in no way, shape, or form, is this directly due to the Archdiocese of Toronto proper, or any of its episcopal members, up to and including His Eminence, Thomas Cardinal Collins. This has been independently organized via the efforts of parties involved, individual lay men and women, and the assisting clergy. 

3) All services and/or Masses of these EF liturgies will be done at the level of the Missa Cantata/Sung or High Mass, with one priest officiating and carrying out the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass/Good Friday service, with a full complement of altar servers and a liturgical choir. 

4) Fr. Steven Szakaczki, priest for the EF at St. Lawrence the Martyr Toronto (and veteran, as well as mentioned numerous times here on S.U.D.) will be the celebrant/priest for the Holy Thursday and Good Friday liturgies/services. Fr. Russell Asch will be the celebrant/priest for Holy Saturday. 

_________________________________

If you have not spread the word to your family and friends, please do so! Don`t forget to arrive early! Pew space is limited to about 75 bodies, plus maybe 40 seats on the sister's side (single Transept) for overflow. After that it will be standing room only. 

Spread the Word, and may you contemplate with deep fervor and passion, that of His Lord, Jesus Christ, who sacrificed himself on the wood of the Cross for the opportunity for us to obtain Eternal Salvation. 

PAX TIBI CHRISTI, Julian Barkin. 

REPORT: High Mass/Missa Cantata on Saturday, June 10, 2017 at 7:00pm EST

REPORT: High Mass/Missa Cantata on Saturday, June 10, 2017 at 7:00pm EST

(Source: https://www.marylake.com/upcoming-events?tag=Tridentine%20Mass.)

Hello Everyone,

Allow me the privilege to release another report of an offering of a Missa Cantata/High Mass in the Extraordinary Form that occurred during the summer season. On June 10, 2017, 7:00 pm EST the Augustinian brothers of the Marylake Shrine of Gratitude, in King City, ON, graciously allowed for their annual offering of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite/Latin Mass, to take place. This offering has now been offered annually, either for its 3rd or 4th year at the Shrine.

For this offering, Fr. Steven Szakaczki, head of the Latin Mass contingent of the parish of St. Lawrence the Martyr, Scarborough, and veteran priest to the Latin Mass offerings in the Archdiocese of Toronto, was main celebrant for this Mass. Servers were requested independently, via contact by the Master of Ceremonies, including I, the author of this posting, for service at the altar. For this EF liturgy, I was acolyte 2 alongside my longest friend in the Faith, who served as Acolyte 1.

Prior to the Mass Fr. Steven, and all servers in their positions, met at the Shrine for a rehearsal, and to iron out liturgical particulars between our knowledgeable Master of Ceremonies, Giovanni, Fr. Paul, who was the current head prior/brother of the Shrine (and organizer for the choir portion of the Mass,) Fr. Steven, and the servers. Ironing out these particulars was essential, as mentioned before in my prior announcement post here, this Mass fell on an interesting time of year in the EF calendar, the Saturday of an Ember week in the Octave of Pentecost, and thus some changes to the order of the Mass (readings, etc.) needed to be known to all parties involved.

The liturgical differences, due to being an Ember Saturday were:

• On an ember day liturgy, up to 5 additional Old Testament "lessons" of Scripture are added in addition to the standard Epistle. This is followed by a collect after each lesson. As was custom before in the EF, there is the granting to the celebrant of the option of a shorter amount of only one lesson in addition to the main collect, followed by the Epistle, a tract (instead of an Alleluia), a "sequence," and then the Gospel reading. It was decided for the sake of time and unnecessary burden on all present, the shorter option was in effect.
• A sequence was sung (being in the Octave of Pentecost) called the Veni Sancte Spiritus, before the Gospel was proclaimed. This is NOT the same as the "Come Holy Spirit ..." prayer, though ``Come Holy Spirit`` is the literal translation of the title of the sequence, based on its first three Latin words. 

Since I was not serving as thurifer, this year, and got to remain in sanctuary the whole time, I had the privilege of listening to Fr. Steven's homily in full. Here is from my recollection the main points of this homily:

• Where we are today in the calendar of the Novus Ordo, is that we are not celebrating Pentecost anymore, but have moved back into Ordinary time during the weekdays. Unfortunately, in the liturgical changes, the Octave of Pentecost was removed from the calendar. 
• In the Extraordinary Form Calendar, we are on the Saturday of the Octave of Pentecost, specifically the Ember Saturday. While people in both forms may have partaken in the Novenas (for Pentecost or more likely to,) the Holy Spirit, it is unfortunate that this was taken from the Novus Ordo Calendar. 
• We should be truly fortunate in the EF Calendar to have the Octave, to be celebrating the Joy of the Feast of Pentecost, as without this truly remarkable event, there would not be the Catholic Church.
• Before we discuss Pentecost, just what is the Holy Spirit? The Spirit is the Third Person of the Trinity, as revealed to us in the Scriptures, with intention of God and our Lord to exist, sharing the same divine nature as the other Persons. What the Holy Spirit is, is the LOVE of our Lord and his Only Son. 
• When there is a relationship that involves love, there are three persons: the person giving love, the one receiving it, and the Love itself. 
• God the Father, so loved all of us that He gave His Only Son to us, Jesus. God Loved his Son, and the Son loved His Father in Return, that between the two exists the Love that "spirates" from both of them, and that is the Holy Spirit. 
• When we examine the events surrounding Pentecost, we come to the Apostles, who were vital to spreading the Gospel and hence, establishing the Church after Christ's Death, Resurrection, and even Ascension to Heaven. Even after His Ascension into Heaven, the Apostles did not go about an just make the Church happen. They were still fearful of persecution by the Roman authorities, having been so close to our Lord. Further, they likely discussed many things about their Lord, and likely still had much doubt about Him and what He said.
• So here they were, all hiding in the upper room alongside our Virgin Mother, Mary, and some others, waiting out their days in hiding. Then, comes the very paraclete that Our Lord said would be sent to help them carry out His mission. The tongues of fire came down upon them and they were filled with those Gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the courage to go out and establish the Church, doing the Lord's work. 
• When they went about doing the Lord's work, filled with the Holy Spirit, they did many amazing works and converted scores of people to our Lord and the Faith, even performing miracles and amazing works! 
• So then, why do we not see many, or any, of these supposed works that happened with the Apostles after being filled with the Holy Spirit, despite many Catholics being baptized and confirmed, and receiving the Holy Spirit with the Sacraments? There are two key reasons
• 1. TRUST - Sadly today, many people, even Catholics, do not place their full trust in the Lord, and in the Holy Spirit. They place their trust in the things of this world, or things of man, many a time being led to sin and unhappiness. The Apostles were able to place their trust in our Lord with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. 
• 2. LOVE - When we go about doing our spiritual works, or our lives, we often do not do many things with the Love of the Holy Spirit. [Editor's note: As the Holy Spirit IS LOVE itself, then we must, as Children of God. go about with the LOVE of the Lord in our whole being in what we do, and that LOVE IS the Holy Spirit.] 
• So, on this Feast of Pentecost, may we pray for the opening our hearts to trusting in the Lord, and the TRUST and LOVE that our Apostles exhibited when filled with the Holy Spirit, to be able to serve our Lord fully. 

All in all, the liturgy and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, was carried out in a solemn, reverent, and even joyful capacity, and the chapel was clearly filled with the presence of something "awesome" happening in that holy space, meeting (though not literally replicating) that very same experience the Apostles had in the upper room, being so close to our Lord and His Holy Spirit, in the Latin Mass. 

As for attendance, while not as full as last year, the chapel, which I estimate visually to be capable of holding about 200 bodies in its pews, was almost completely full, with only the odd spare seat in the back couple of pews. That is still a remarkable attendance for an offering in a Chapel, held not in the immediate core of the Archdiocese, AND had only parish posters and some internet promotion, which seems limited to this blog and my requests on some Facebook groups. When you factor all that, there is CLEARLY demand for the Latin Mass, and even some spreading, will bring out a good sizable number of the Faithful, including young people, who thanks to social media are discovering this treasure of liturgy that they rightfully deserve from the Church at large. 

This young acolyte (and assuredly, all present in the pews and involved in carrying out the sacred liturgy) are truly thankful for the generosity of the Augustinian Fathers for offering, even yearly, the opportunity for the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite to be offered in their shrine, in the Archdiocese of Toronto. Likewise, Fr. Paul was truly impressed and thankful for the hard work and dedication we all showed, including true reverence for our Lord in the Liturgy, our organization and efficiency in carrying out the Liturgy, and the humility we brought to the Latin Mass. 

We hope that by efforts such as the Augustinian Fathers, more offerings will become established via influence in King City, and surrounding areas of Vaughan, Woodbridge, Aurora, Newmarket, and Brampton. 

Also, it is hoped that this annual tradition will continue in future, as it has been found out that as of this summer, the prior head brother, Brother Paul, who was appreciative of the Latin Mass, will be leaving the Shrine and Br. John Paul Szura, is now the new superior/head brother of Mary Lake. It is with good hope that the new head, Br. John Paul, will continue on allowing the tradition to continue, one which will maintain good report with those who favour Catholic Tradition/the Latin Mass of the faithful in the surrounding municipalities of the Shrine and those in the Archdiocese of Toronto, and further meet the spiritual needs of those faithful and the youth, who truly want a deep and personal connection to Christ in the Liturgy. May the love of St. Augustine and the fraternal order founded on this great saint for our times, continue to thrive in our Archdiocese of Toronto. 

Thank you, Augustinian Brothers, and those in the E.F./Latin Mass for making this sacred event happen. 

Pax Tibi Christi. Julian Barkin. 

Missa Cantata/High Latin Mass at Mary lake Shrine in King City This Saturday June 10th, 2017 7pm

(As advertized on https://www.marylake.com/upcoming-events?tag=Tridentine%20Mass, this is the poster that has been distributed to nearby parishes.)

Hello everyone, particularly those living in King City, Ontario, and the surrounding areas of Woodbridge, Vaughan/Maple, Brampton, Newmarket, Aurora, and Richmond Hill, 

As is now the annual tradition of the Mary Lake Shrine in King City, overseen by the Augustinian Fathers, in the month of June they allow for a yearly celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite a.k.a the Latin Mass. Last year I was able to altar serve that offering as thurifer and the posting of that past offering is here, where I also briefly talk about the Fathers and the Shrine.

Once again, the Augustinian Fathers will be organizing a Missa Cantata/High Latin Mass, with the offering being celebrated by Fr Steven Szakaczki, one of the main priests in our archdiocese of Toronto who celebrates the Latin Mass, and is frequently consulted for such offerings by multiple parties. Fr. Szakaczki also oversees the St Lawrence the Martyr, Scarborough, daily Latin Mass offerings. In addition, a full complement of 5 servers (MC, 2× acolytes, crucifer and thurifer,) including myself as acolyte 2, will be serving our Lord at the service of the altar.

The date of this Mass in the EF is this coming Saturday, June 10, 2017 at 7pm EST start time, at the Mary Lake Shrine of our Lady of Grace, 13760 Keele St., King City, ON, just north of Keele St. and King Rd. This will take place in the Eucharistic adoration chapel, beside the main altar/sanctuary at Mary Lake Shrine. 

Allow me to add some additional notes of generality and of the liturgy:

Generally speaking (and for the laity to attend):

• In the Latin Mass calendar, this is "Ember Saturday" in the Octave of Pentecost. For the laity, there used to be binding laws of partial abstinence from meat and full fasting. Partial abstinence means meat is ONLY eaten at one meal/the main meal of the day. While the current Canon Code of Law of 1983, combined with the change of the Novus Ordo (vernacular) liturgy, the Papal document Paenitemini of Pope Paul VI, and the Vatican II "invention" of Bishop's Conferences, they have made these practices not binding by sin/law in today's Church. STILL, one should always be encouraged to participate in the customs and life of the Latin Mass, such as these. So if capable, do fast and partially abstain from meat this coming Saturday.

• There WILL be confessions before the actual Mass, as the prior has been made aware. A priest will be available for the sacrament in the confessional beside the main altar

Liturgical notes:

• At the decision of the Augustinian Fathers, the regular maximum of five servers will be maintained, with no additional servers to be added in supplementary roles such as boat bearer and torchbearers. Part of this was an organizational decision (as the sanctuary in the chapel is small,) while at the same time, it was also motivated by allowing for the richness of the liturgy to be fully seen and carried out as per the EF/TLM of 1962. Therefore, our acolytes (myself included,) will also be pseudo-torchbearers in the Mass of the Canons from the Sanctuary until after the people's communion. You will receive communion with acolytes as "guards" next to each prie deux.

• As this is the Saturday of Ember days during the Octave of Pentecost, some interesting additions to the liturgy will happen:
• On an ember day liturgy, up to 5 additional Old Testament "lessons" of Scripture are added in addition to the standard Epistle. This is followed by a collect after each lesson. As was custom before in the EF, there is the granting to the celebrant of the option of a shorter amount of only one lesson in addition to the main collect, followed by the Epistle, a tract (instead of an Alleluia), a "sequence," and then the Gospel reading. It has been decided that for the sake of time and unnecessary burden on all present, that the shorter option will be in effect on this day.  

• In addition there is a sequence sung during the Octave of Pentecost called the Veni Sancte Spiritus, before the Gospel is proclaimed. This is NOT the same as the "Come Holy Spirit ..." prayer we know, though ``Come Holy Spirit`` is the literal translation of the title of the sequence, based on its first three Latin words. 

Thankfully, the more senior brothers of the Augustinians here, including the head brother, have a solid appreciation for this form of the liturgy and a good head about how one goes in celebrating this form. As just one example, while all of us servers, Fr. Steven, and the head brother/prior, were waiting outside to begin practice this Monday, Fr. mentioned that he has seen in his many years a true and reverent way of celebrating/serving the Latin Mass, and ways it has not been such. When serving or celebrating, one must not be an "actor on a stage" moving like clockwork. Your movements must not be grandiose, but smooth, and genuine, with an attitude of true humility and service to our Lord at the altar.  

I ask kindly that you please spread word of this offering by any means of communication, and bring any family and friends to this offering. I hope to see some of you there, afterwards, when we will have a post-Mass celebration with refreshments. 

Pax Tibi Christi, Julian Barkin. 

Report: High Latin Mass/Missa Cantata at Mary Lake Shrine of the Augustinian Fathers in King City, ON, Saturday June 11, 2016

Source: http://villavallelonga.com/canada/MarylakeShrine/Images/Gallery/pages/

shrine004.htm

Hello Everyone,

I'll admit in light of my married life, as well as focusing on my major work whereby I had to call out a professor of OLSWA for his attack on Jean Vanier, (Part I, and Part II) this is long overdue, and I haven't had a chance to do this until now.

A month and a half ago, the Mary Lake Shrine in King City, Ontario, one of the parishes blessed with being a site of the Doors of Mercy of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year, held a beautiful and reverent Missa Cantata. The celebrant was none other than our Archdiocese's Latin Mass Chaplain, Fr. Steven Szakaczki, currently residing at St. Lawrence the Martyr Scarborough. I refer you to this link, that I had for promoting the Mass for some brief information about the Shrine and the Fathers' charism, but how blessed was the Archdiocese that these fine brothers would allow a Latin Mass. It turns out that this is their 2nd or 3rd year in a row that they have done an annual offering at the shrine of the Latin Mass, and for a yearly offering, they are happy to oblige.

I personally was going to attend with my best friend in faith, as this Mass was entirely independent of any specific organization, and being celebrated by Fr. Steven at a magnificent place. Initially, I had also inquired about serving. At that time, numbers seemed ok, but I was asked to be on "standby" later, in case of increasing the level to a Cantata with incense.

It turns out that, we were part of the Lord's plan, as a last minute change of plans necessitated me robing up and serving. We also had another young man join us who had served some other Latin Masses in the Archdiocese that my friend knew, and an old ally from our last St. Patrick's offering, just happened to show up, who was originally going to be in the pews. Thankfully, we had an extra cassock on hand and I lent my spare, cotton surplice, to him that I keep with me. With four servers, we had enough for incense and elevation to a Missa Cantata! Since none of us had the experience to do the Master of Ceremonies role, we went with two acolytes, a thurifer, and a crucifer.

Overall, we were able to give each other quick rundowns for our roles and I had crammed a little thurifer reading on the Missa Cantata just in case. For the most part, the serving went well, although without an MC, it was a bit challenging to know cuing of parts and such. The four of us are not part of an established Latin Mass program/parish so there's where the challenged lay. I also had a relative lengthy distance for the midpoint to walk for a coal exchange for the thurible, as the sacristy was near the main altar, and to get to that, you had to exit the back of the chapel, out to behind the main altar. Thank goodness Fr. Steven is a master of the Latin Mass! He led us fantastically in the Mass, and we were able to carry out a beautiful Missa Cantata.

However, a Mass isn't just priest and servers alone. I also give mention to the choir and the crowd. The choir was a small size schola, a combination of some of the Augustinian Fathers including the pastor/"prior" of the parish, as well as a couple of laypeople with an interest in Gregorian Chant and singing. Considering this Mass is held annually, the schola possessed considerable talent! They had clearly prepared well for this Mass and it showed. As for the laity, I was impressed! The Eucharistic chapel of Mary Lake, I'd estimate, could seat about 150-180 people in the pews. For this offering of the Latin Mass, the chapel was full! Of those in attendance, I saw a mix of people of varying age, but also a number of young people too. Even a couple of old friends of mine from Aurora showed up, and two people from my current Novus Ordo parish I never expected! All in all, it was a great showing that we could pack the chapel full, with standing room only!

As per my usual reporting, here are photos of the altar set up to celebrate the Extraordinary Form:

The chapel of the Mary Lake Shrine, which is usually open for perpetual adoration. The tabernacle ... is to the right of the altar. Yeah, it's construction is "modern." 

This is the altar close up, before the Mass began, and before a couple more items were added. 

The credence table for the Mass. 

These are two of the altar cards that are in the sacristy after Mass, that were on the altar. Interestingly, these are the altar cards of the Mary Lake Shrine!!! I, nor Fr. Steven, had to supply the cards this time around! See the picture above for the center altar card. 

Also, traditionally in my reports, I recapitulate the homily from the Latin Mass, as a "snippet" of interest. Unfortunately, because of my thurifer duties, and the length of time that has passed since the Mass in June, I have forgotten most of it. What I can remember is the following, with my own embellishment to explain the points made by Fr. Steven:

• The central topics/themes of the Homily were: The forgotten other half of Mercy, which is justice; The Blessed Virgin Mary; Humility and how the B.V.M. exhibits this humility; the Devil and how he has a total lack of humility. 

• On Mercy and justice, Fr. opened up his homily with the theme of Mercy. He likely started with this because this was a Doors of Mercy parish with a Holy Door in the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. He commented on how there are two parts to the Lord's Mercy, and that the virtue of justice is its second component, going hand in hand with Mercy.

• Unfortunately, there is a current trend in our society that is rapidly rising both in our world and in our Church. Father than began to explain how both mercy and virtue must be balanced, and the errors/sins we make when we pursue each too far in their extremes. 

• With mercy, it is good and well to forgive those of their faults and transgressions, but we err and overemphasize mercy to the point that we allow the person to not correct their mistakes or work at turning away from their sins, and we actually harm them, giving them license to remain stagnant in their personal and spiritual development.

• Father Steven also commented on the other part of the combination of mercy/justice, that we as humans, err in also overemphasizing justice to the point where we lack mercy. When something or someone wrongs us, our instincts are to lash out and punish the source of offence and injustice. Part of that is a desire of revenge or to serve "justice," though it also reflects the good part of nature to correct the injustice. Unfortunately, the manner in which we do so, can be to the point it is merciless, or malicious in intention, making the virtue inordinate. [Editortial note: I would not be surprised if Father was thinking about the Pharisaical "armchair theologians" that are rising in number on the Internet.]

• ... at this point, I had to go out and change the thurible coals, so I missed a good chunk of the homily. When I came back ....

• Father then was explaining the virtue of humility. While I do not remember the beginning part of the explanation, he did illustrate the example. He wanted us to think of the famous WWE wrestler, Hulk Hogan, a muscular strong opponent. If a little girl were to be his opponent, this would be awful and not humble at all, embarrassing, and cruel, on the part of the Hulkster. If you, as a grown adult tried to fight with all your strength, with honesty and sportsmanship, you would obviously lose, but would lose the challenge with humility at fighting an opponent such as the Hulkster. 

• With humility explained, Fr. Steven entered into speaking about Satan and how he exhibited a total lack of humility in his rebellion against God. In heaven, then Lucifer, meaning "bearer of light," had witnessed the creation of the world, especially that of humanity. Looking at that, he could not bear it. How could God create something so inferior and to show his desire and love them. They are mortal beings! We angels are superior and deserve that privilege simply by right that we are pure spiritual beings! 

• Were Satan humble, he would have exhibited obedience to his creator, God, and accepted humanity as part of His Divine Plan, and that he created free willed human beings out of the totality of His Love, in being the Divine Creator. Instead, Satan, as an angel with a pure will, made an irreversible decision to rebel against God along with 1/3 of the angels in Heaven [editor comment: which one can logically speculate to include angels of other choirs, like powers, thrones, dominions ... they didn't all just come from one choir.]

• The Devil, was even more furious after the fact, when He decided to make Mary, a virgin, Blessed, in bearing the Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ. He chose a human flesh woman, to bear through the family and natural childbirth, our Saviour, to take the form of the World of God made flesh. What a travesty to Satan!!! God, purposely decided to have a human nature, of those fleshlings that Satan so hated with all his being, and further, used a human woman to do so. 

•  As for Mary, she was the counter to the example of the Devil, the women who would crush the Devil's head, as foretold by God after the Fall of Adam and Eve. Unlike Satan, her "fiat" to willingly accept what God wanted after being told by Gabriel, was accepted in total humility, despite not knowing the totality of it, the risks involved, etc. Being faithful to the Lord in practice of her Jewish Faith, as well as a deep devoted level of the virtue of Faith, she was the example of humility, an example which we should emulate in our lives with the Lord. 

When the Mass was over, we were overjoyed, and we all celebrated with refreshments after the Mass in the courtyard space next to the main body of the Church. 

Once again, we must thank the Lord Jesus Christ for the mercy and the loving hearts of the Augustinian Fathers, as another parish in the Archdiocese of Toronto, under the merciful and loving pastor ship of His Eminence, Cardinal Thomas Collins, allowed the Extraordinary Form/Latin Mass to occur. 

Even though it would be great if a parish like Mary Lake or any of the other Vaughan/Woodbridge parishes would offer a frequent Latin Mass offering for the northern regions of the Archdiocese of Toronto, it is a blessing even a yearly offering occurs at a parish! May we thank the Lord for these offerings, and may we pray steadfast to him for the growth and proliferation of offerings in the Archdiocese of Toronto and the Church, under positive leadership that practices the Joy of the Gospel. 

Pax Tibi Christi, Julian

Announcement: Latin Mass in King City with Celebrant Fr. Steven Szakaczki Sat June 11 7pm

Hello Everyone,

I have an important announcement to make about an upcoming, extraordinary, public offering of a Latin Mass at another parish. This parish has only held the Latin Mass on one occasion since 1964. This announcement especially concerns those residents of the York Region in the Greater Toronto Area, or the municipalities/cities of: Vaughan, Woodbridge, Richmond Hill, Aurora, Newmarket, Markham, and Brampton. 

A close contact of mine who attends Latin Masses in the Archdiocese of Toronto, sent me something of great interest on Facebook. It turns out that the Mary Lake Shrine of the Augustinian Fathers, which happens to be one of the 9 parishes in the Archdiocese of Toronto with Doors of Mercy for Pope Francis' Extraordinary Jubilee, is allowing the Archdiocese's Latin Mass Chaplain, Fr. Steven Szakaczki, to celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite at Mary Lake next month. The advertisement on the Augustinian's site is attached above.

The Augustinian Fathers
The Augustinian fathers, if you have guessed, are devoted to the life and teachings of St. Augustine. Yes, he is that St. Augustine of Hippo, of 5th Century AD, who wrote the Confessions, and has an excellent movie called Restless Heart about his life. It is entirely appropriate that the Augustinians are doing the Year of Mercy, for of those early saints in the Church, St. Augustine was certainly an exemplar of the kind of soul who needed Christ's healing and mercy. After studying rhetoric to become what was then a "lawyer" in Carthage, he lived an amoral life full of hedonism of every kind, before his conversion and ordination.

As for these Augustinians, I can personally vouch for them in a couple of regards. While the Mary Lake parish is of mostly modern design, let that not deter you, reader and/or Catholic Traditionalist, from approaching this shrine and grounds. The first major vouching point is their approach to the Sacrament of Mercy and confession. They are similar to the Redemptorists I am fond of here on S.U.D., as the Augustinians go above the regular Diocesan priests in their offerings of confession. As you see here, they offer ample time for confession daily, up to Saturday (though I WISH they would offer confession before Masses on the Sat vigil and Sunday, like the Redemptorists.)

In addition, they will accept special arrangements if they are notified, or see a special need for that sacrament. Once, with a number of my fellow young adults in the Faith, we came in the evening and a few wanted confession. Thankfully the brother that was around accepted our request, and gave a good number of our party the sacrament. In addition, one of the more older brothers actually is fond of Tradition and appreciates the Latin Mass, and that night we sought confession, he even absolved me in Latin!!!

Mass at the Shrine

How Blessed and fortunate that there will finally be another Latin Mass in York Region of the Greater Toronto Area after so many years! To the best of my knowledge, save the one other occasion at Mary Lake, a Latin Mass has NEVER been celebrated since pre-Vatican II in the parishes of York Region in the Archdiocese of Toronto (unless there's a municipality or city that has, and I've missed it. Please inform me if so.)

It is a blessing that the Augustinian Fathers are allowing Fr. Steven to celebrate the EF liturgy. Fr. Steven has been a great grace and blessing to this diocese in promoting the Latin Mass in this Archdiocese. On numerous occasions, he has given his time to being one of the clergy members for the Masses that I assist at, organized by St. Patrick's Gregorian Choir over the years, and I have also altar served the Latin Mass with him outside of the SPGC Masses, such as here in 2012 for Christmas, and for occasional regular EF offerings at his home parish, St. Lawrence the Martyr in Scarborough.

Let it also be known that this Mass is being done independently of any Latin Mass Society/group currently at work in the Archdiocese, including those I assist. This is truthfully a Latin Mass, being held at an archdiocesan parish with their blessing!

In addition to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form/according to the 1962 Missal, there will be refreshments served after, so please if you do come, be a social and joyous Glad Trad! Stay for the tea and sweets!

I hope you will be in attendance at this Shrine of Mercy, partake in the Indulgence for the Doors of Mercy, and be enamoured with the sacredness and beauty of the Latin Mass, celebrated by Fr. Szakaczki. Hopefully, my close and friend and I will be in attendance, and I might meet some of you.

Pax Tibi Christi, Julian Barkin.

REPORT: Christ the King Solemn Latin Mass on Sunday Oct 25th, 2015 at Loretto Abbey Chapel.

Hello Everyone,

The St. Patrick's Gregorian Choir (SPGC) once again organized another beautiful and sacred Solemn Latin Mass in our Archdiocese of Toronto.

On this the Feast of Christ the King in the Extraordinary Form/Latin Mass calendar, and co-incidentally the 9th anniversary of the formation of the SPGC, we were blessed by the hospitality and generosity of the sisters of the Incarnate Word of Blessed Virgin Mary (IBVM) to have usage of their chapel, attached to Loretto Abbey Catholic Secondary School. Our Mass was 330pm in the afternoon this past Sunday, October 25th, 2015.

In preparation for this Mass, our servers met at St. Lawrence Martyr Catholic Church on the Friday evening prior, to go over their roles for the Mass. Practice went well, and all save our crucifer (due to work) were accounted for. With 7 servers in tow, including myself as First Acolyte and our Master of Ceremonies, we were organized and motivated to have a great Solemn Mass, fit with even torchbearers!!! In addition, some of these servers have had prior experience, be it assisting at St. Joseph Streetsville, St. Lawrence the Martyr, or other Latin Mass initiatives in Toronto.

As usual, the SPGC choir practiced after their 5:00pm Mass downtown at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, the Redemptorist Parish and the National Shrine Church of Canada for Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The 5pm vigil is their regular Mass, by the way, where they provide hymns for the liturgy, and chant or sing in Latin the major response parts of the Novus Ordo Mass.

As for the day of, we arrived at 2pm to prepare the chapel for Mass, and to go over roles for the liturgy. We had some interesting issues to contend with:

• Some liturgical equipment was not provided for us (e.g. a "triple chain" thurible, acolyte candles ...) or was more "modern" (a processional cross with a resurrected Jesus/"Resurrefix")  but thankfully, most equipment that was lacking, was supplied by the choir, as well as a few editions of my own I've payed personally for, to be able to assist the choir and anyone else I do the Latin Mass with. Whatever was not of usual, we used the chapel equipment just the same. Regardless, here's the setup of the liturgical equipment:

The acolyte candles, gracefully provided by St. Patrick's Gregorian Choir. There were none readily available at the chapel! 

The lavabo bowl, washing cruets, and towel (yes, a real towel) from the chapel. As for those fancy cruets and the communion paten, those are from my personal liturgical stockpile. 

This little incense boat was part of my liturgical collection to be used for Masses. It has a little gold-coloured spoon inside too. 

A side view of the sediliae, as well as bells, aspergillum and aspergillus, with single chain censer and stand, lavabo bowl and jug with a towel (that's all there was), provided by the chapel. 

This, my friends, is a beautiful wooden tabernacle, made by one of the choir members. Turns out they do not just sing you know. They bear many a talent to glorify the Lord. Best part is that it is light weight, and can be used for the Latin Masses, when needed to replace one, if the main tabernacle is off to the side, or if we cannot use one, regardless of reason. Also present is one of three altar cards, of the set owned by the choir. 

Voila! The complete credence table complete with additions of chalice with veil, the humeral veil, and the Epistolarium, either from the Choir or from our clergy who celebrated the Mass. 

The completed front altar, set up for the Latin Mass. Unfortunately we were not allowed to use the high altar, as this has been set up by the media company for the daily mass recordings. 

A final view of the sanctuary from afar, and the lovely stained glass window and sanctuary of the chapel. This chapel was built in 1950 prior to Vatican II, and despite small changes that were standard at that time of the Council (e.g removal of altar rails), much of this is untouched! Just looked at the wooden crucifix and the reredos in the back! 

• Space. Wow ... well this is a chapel, not a full size church, so processing was somewhat of a challenge. The side rows were maximum two normal people's width, making maneuvering a little challenging. This also was a smaller sanctuary than normal, and I personally found this a challenge. There was barely any space between me, my chair, and the sediliae in front of me, so much so getting up and down to kneel, meant hitting the wood of my chair. Ugh.  

• A new caveat: Since last year, the Archdiocese of Toronto's daily Mass recordings have moved from St. Basil's in University of Toronto, to the chapel of Loretto Abbey for Monday to Saturday (daytime) Mass. You can view it here online at https://www.youtube.com/ user/dailymass. However, for us, we were told NOT to move any major items. If we moved something minor, it was put back in place. Because of this, we had to opt NOT to use their still intact high altar, and instead use the Novus Ordo Altar for the Mass. Usually most churches do not have high altars anymore, or renovated to make them non-usable, so we were not bothered by this fact. 

The Mass


Prior to the Mass, laity were provided with booklets, which contained the Propers and liturgical readings for the Mass in Latin and English, along with a copy of the hymn, "Sweet Sacrament Divine," to encourage vocal participation in the Latin Mass. Here's some pictures of the booklet:

These booklets also contained commentary on the feast day, from a famous traditional book, The Liturgical Year, by Dom Prosper Gueranger. 

With all the preparation and last minute directions for the servers, now in their location of the Mass, we proceeded ahead with the sacred liturgy. For the Mass, our clergy, all priests experienced with carrying out the Extraordinary Form in our Diocese were:

1. Fr. Jean- Pierre Pilon, formally trained by Fraternal Society of St. Peter; pastor of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish in Peterborough - Subdeacon (also, please see my January posting on his initiative, begun this year.)
2. Fr. Steven Szakaczki, Latin Mass Chaplain of the Archdiocese of Toronto, residing at St. Lawrence the Martyr - Deacon
3. Fr. Russell Ashe, Associate Latin Mass Chaplain working with Fr. Steven, assisting @ St. Lawrence the Martyr - Celebrant (Priest).

As for the Homily, this was said by our celebrant, Fr. Ashe. Between the echo-ey acoustics, being at the side vs. in front of Father, the good Father's accent (British?), and my poor sleeping habits, I'll admit that I do not remember the majority of the homily, but here's the small tidbits I remember, with links/additions where needed from sources, such as papal documents:

• Father began the Homily with a quote from Scripture, when Christ is being magnified in the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, and God speak of him as in Luke 9:35: "....  “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” God clearly indicates the authority of His Divine Son in this passage. 
• Father than continued on to explain the origins of the feast day of Christ the King, in how it was established by Pope Pius XI in 1929, in the encyclical Quas Primas. 

• Part of the reason for Pope Pius XI releasing the exhortation, and establishing the feast day, was to combat religious laicism in society and the Church: whereby people would not acknowledge the Kingship of Christ as lord, or any God for that matter. This Feast day was to make public pronouncement in the Church, of the Lord as our Saviour, but also our Divine King whose kingdom is in Heaven. 

• Father also mentioned St. Joseph in the capacity of Christ the King. We do not usually connect kingship with St. Joseph normally, as we usually acknowledge him as St. Joseph the Worker. However, a father in a family relationship is a "king" of sorts. He is the natural leader; he rebukes, chastises, but he also loves and serves those whom are in his servitude or under is governance. Christ's Kingship is exactly like that, as being God Made Flesh, whereby like God Jesus is not a tyrant ruler judging us, but He is the Divine Lord and Father, rebuking, chastising when necessary, but also loving and leading us so that way we are led to proper governance, and proper salvation to Him. 

• In a way, we all share in the kingship of the Lord. Father Ashe reminded us of a particular portion of Vatican II, from the decree APOSTOLICAM ACTUOSITATEM, that  "...  the laity likewise share in the priestly, prophetic, and royal office of Christ and therefore have their own share in the mission of the whole people of God in the Church and in the world." (AA, 2)

• I also think that Father touched upon a point I remember from one of years' past Masses on Christ the King, the concept of self-governing one and rebelling against the King. When one accepts the "kingship" of self or the Devil, he is accepting one of anarchy and non-authority, being the sole governor of one's life. 

• Father also, in reference to this rebellion, commented on the war of the Angels and devils. Satan bucked this Divine kingship of the Lord, saying to him "Non-Serviam," meanwhile St. Michael, dutifully acknowledges Christ's Kingship, and having the name Michael signifies "quis et deus" which means in Latin "who is like God." I am not sure if Fr. had this planned, or he took inspiration from a couple of depictions of the archangel commander (see pictures below.)

Despite everything (ugh that chair!), we came out with a sacred, Solemn Latin Mass, and we even had the addition of the Asperges Rite as well as torchbearers!!! Also, considering that the school chapel was a bit out of the way from major streets (closest station is York Mills and you have to go up the hill to get close to it), we still had a good turnout of about 50 laity in our pews, and a couple of sisters were around while the Mass was going on. Also, a master of ceremonies from other Latin Mass initiatives in the Archdiocese attended our Mass! It was great to see our brothers in serving support us.

Hopefully, the choir will consider doing as usual, their offering of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Tuesday December 8th. I will definitely be reporting on this when I receive any official word from Surinder and the SPGC choir.

To conclude, some personal anecdotes and musings (and school spirit)
Occasionally, when these masses occur, some little interesting anecdotes or facets just happen, because of the site, or by the grace of the Lord. I would like to share a few of them with you.

To begin, my lovely fiancee finally made it out to a Solemn Latin Mass held by the choir!!! While I wished there had been a bigger crowd, regardless I was happy to see here there, and to know that she supports my endeavours, as I support hers (though I have to work on my temperance and stop being so critical of things and going "rah rah rah Latin Mass" too much.). In case you are curious about her, (e.g. a picture, a name) let`s just say that there`s a few things I hold close to the vest at the given moment. I decline from posting any information to her.

A second and third note, joined together. At one of my fiancee`s parishes she currently assists in Novus Ordo liturgies, as a ``jack of all trades`` (Server, MC, Sacristan, EMHC ...,) sometimes in multiple roles when short-handed, I have been blessed when she has been an EHMC to be able to receive communion from her. It`s a touching moment being served by the one you love, with the One Who LOVES TOTALLY, as she will best exemplify in this Sacrament of Marriage. Today, I had to do somewhat of a ``reverse role``, with me assisting the deacon (Fr. Pilon) in handing out communion to the lay faithful via holding the communion paten. My fiancee came up beside me, on the prie-deux to kneel and receive communion from Fr. Pilon as deacon. I of course was filled with glee seeing my beloved there, but then afterwards a thought occurred to me. Fr. Pilon and I (with of course Fr. Pilon as ordinary minister serving her the Sacred Body of Christ, so don`t misinterpret what I say.) ``served`` her, when normally I am the one being served Christ`s Body by her as an EMHC in the Novus Ordo Mass.

Then, it clicked to me. Here we are, both of us, having been served Christ`s Body, and are serving with Christ, in a literal and other sense, and also have assisted the other in being served. When I marry this golden gift of the Holy Family, my love of my life, we will be doing this in everything, with the sacrament of Marriage presenting ourselves to Christ. When a couple marries, this is their primary vocation, serving the Lord, and serving each other as He served us, and being his exemplar, as him with the Church to the world, for our salvation. In the Eucharist is his Love, served to us through the Church, HIS TOTALITY!!! Also, the couple is to help each other achieve salvation, and become saints through the Sacrament and lifetime of love. Wow, just wow. That was what, all of 2-3 seconds in the Latin Mass and I got that awesome insight??? The Latin Mass did that for me .... Deo Gratias.

Finally, as I was looking around the chapel of the Loretto sisters, I came across two poignant signs .....

 

The picture was outside of the Chapel. The statue is right above the entrance to the chapel, on the inside. 

Wow!!! These are magnificent depictions of St. Michael. What beauty! What strength!!! It turns out that in chatting with an IBVM sister who came by at the end of the Mass, she revealed that in the history of their order, their devotion or protection/patronage to St. Michael, goes as far back as England from when they came over.

In a related side note, (for any of you who are St. Michael's College School alumni/current SMCS students (BTW I'm an 2002 grad,)) the history of the "sister school" to St. Michael, is that St. Mike's TRUE sister school, was the Abbey. Holy Name of Mary College School in Mississauga changed that, but the Abbey was the sister school of St. Mikes for the longest time, with a history of social exchange (dances) as well as students applying to each other's dramatic productions, and even a cheer-leading squad for sports games, prior to the late 90's. They also have the "double blue" as part of their colour scheme for their kilts and uniforms, just like our school colours. To me ... the Abbey will always be the true sister school to St. Mike's.

So seeing these depictions of St. Michael, my devotion, this blog under St. Michael's patronage, and my alma mater's interesting history with the Abbey, one could say I had a lot of signage and connection with St. Michael that day. It was great to see his presence with us as we glorified the Lord, and made me ever more thankful for his patronage, and watch over us and the Abbey.

Finis

I hope you have enjoyed yet another report of the liturgical initiatives of the St. Patrick's Gregorian choir whom I serve with. If you attended the Mass of the 50 or so people, thank you for attending. May your souls have been uplifted to Heaven with the Saints and angels, and your soul nourished. Please stay tuned for the next offering from the choir. 

Pax Tibi Christi, Julian Barkin. 

REPORT: Solemn Latin Mass for Feast of the Sacred Heart, Fri June 12, 2015 @ St. Paul's Basilica, Toronto

Hello Everyone,

After a good length of time since Immaculate Conception 2014, for St. Francis of Assisi's centenary celebrations, the esteemed St. Patrick's Gregorian Choir, (SPGC) operating within the Archdiocese Toronto, began it's 2015 season of organizing higher level Latin Masses for the lay faithful of the Archdiocese. Of course, yours truly once again served alongside this awesome choir in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

For SPGC's first Mass in 2015, to commemorate the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the choir was welcomed back to St. Paul's Basilica in Toronto, a real treasure of a parish/worship site. The last Solemn Mass that the choir held at this site was for the Feast of Divine Mercy/Low Sunday, back in 2012.

Having had artistic renovations in the last decade, the basilica is what I like to describe as, a "mini Sistine Chapel." Let the pictures below tell the tale, even though this is only a sampling of this gorgeous site:

The exterior, in classic church design with a functional bell tower. 

A snapshot from the back of the Body of the Church. Look at all the painted frescoes on the ceiling! 

Close-up of some of those frescoes. I am not sure of the top and bottom, but the middle is a depiction of either Peter's thrice-fold denial, or the wagering of Christ's clothes by lots (dice). 

This must be the Holy Family, with the Holy Spirit in classic dove symbolism, atop a standard, classic style confessional. 

In addition to the lovely space for the Holy Mass, we were blessed to be in the presence once again, of the Archdiocese of Toronto's most experienced Latin Mass priests: Fr. Russell Asch, associate pastor of St. Joseph's ("Streetsville") Catholic Church in Mississauga, and Fr. Steven Szakaczki, who is responsible for St. Lawrence the Martyr Scarborough's Latin Mass program, and other Latin Mass inquiries in the archdiocese. Fr. Steven took over after Fr. Howard Venette of the FSSP left Toronto in 2010. Both priests have been veterans in the Latin Mass circuit for High/Solemn Latin Masses in our Archdiocese, and have been a blessing in assisting the needs of those seeking the Extraordinary Form without prejudice or bias.

Preparation for the Mass

After making arrangements to secure the necessary serving and clerical roles, a practice was arranged for servers and those needing additional practice work for their roles, on Tuesday, June 9. The practice was held at St. Lawrence the martyr, with Fr. Szakaczki generously allowing for the practice space. Unfortunately, the basilica was not able to be booked for a practice.

During the practice at St. Lawrence, our Master of Ceremonies (MC)/Instructor went over the necessary parts for all servers, and assigned roles accordingly, with your author being assigned Acolyte 1. In an additional blessing and bonus, a full contingent of 6 servers were acquired for this Mass, with the optional roles of crucifer and boat bearer being fulfilled too! In addition one new server joined us, who had not assisted with the choir's Masses previously.

With this new server, and new attendees partaking in the choir's offerings, I've come to discover, that positive word is being spread about efforts in the Latin Mass via St. Patrick's Gregorian choir! I am sure my blog has played a portion in this on social media, and I am glad to serve the Lord in this way, by promoting those efforts whose modus operandi aligns with the Mind of the Church, and true obedience to its Magisterium and its Holy Fathers, past and present.

Our practice was successful, and smaller arrangements for Friday were taken care of.

Setup for St. Paul's Basilica
Arriving in considerable time, the choir and servers set about in preparing the altar for the Solemn Latin Mass. Latin to English translation booklets, with the order of the Mass and appropriate cues for the laity, were provided, though we will need to increase the quantity that we produce in future!

Anything last minute to go over was re-freshed and dealt with, and the altar was promptly set up for Holy Mass. Pictures below, as usual, display how the altar and credence table were set up for this Mass:

Alb, supplementary notes, and the Evangelarium opened, last minute things for our Sub-deacon to chant his reading properly.

Credence table, rear view, setup for Mass. The cruet set pictured here is NOT property of the basilica. This is actually an addition to my serving hauls that I splurged some of my earnings on, as a gift for whomever I have the pleasure to serve with. Let's just say they don't make cruets like these anymore, with a serving dish to house them. 

Frontal view of the credence table.. 

The Altar set up prior to the start of the entrance procession. Beautiful. 

The censer was primed with burning charcoal, acolyte candles were lit, and after some preparatory prayer from our Celebrant, Fr. Steven, our party went out in procession to go unto the altar of the Lord.

The Mass, Including Homiletic Notes From my Memory.

Save some minor difficulties of navigation of the sanctuary space, due to not having the basilica for practice earlier in the week, the Mass was done in a beautiful and solemn manner. The servers carried out all their roles in holy reverence to our Lord, from our newest servers as crucifer, to our stalwart MC, who ensured the liturgy was carried out with dignity and order. This was accomplished from the very start of the procession and prayers at the Foot of the Altar .....

Thurifer and boat bearer in sync, followed by crucifer, flanked by acolytes 1 (me) and 2.

Our clergy, sub-deacon, deacon, and celebrant. 

``Introibo ad altare Dei. Ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam ....``  

..... to the end of the Holy Mass. Our choir, sang quite beautifully, pulsating their sacred music throughout the echoes of the basilica.

Surinder S. Mundra, leading the St. Patrick`s Gregorian choir in chanting the music for the Sacred Liturgy. 

Their effect was so powerful, that as one attending lay member described to me, that the moment the choir began to sing it's beautiful Gregorian chant, his whole self became filled with calm, and a euphoria at being elevated to the Holy Mass thorough our choir's prayerful music. I have no doubt that this happened to the majority of those in attendance as well. The effect a well-carried out Latin Mass can have on a person`s soul is magnanimous.

As always, the preaching contained in the Latin Mass never ceases to disappoint, nor fail to teach those in attendance something new and true of our Faith, while addressing the needs of the faithful.
Fr. Steven Szakaczki, delivered quite a homily that spoke to our "hearts: as it were, about Christ's Sacred Heart. That is, the Love of His heart, and even, our love, or reason for lack thereof, for Him.

Of the points (that I could remember,) Fr. Steven spoke about these topics as such:

- When we speak about the Heart, we often speak about love. What were Christ's two greatest commandments? To love the Lord your God above one another, and to love your neighbour as God loves you.
- Often when I give homilies, I ask those in the congregation, "On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you love God, though our Lord?"

- God is loved above all other things, because what God provides is necessary to our salvation, to our being, to our locution .... 

- Now, on a scale of one to 10, how much do you love others, including our Lord?

- One reason that we find it so hard and challenging to love the Lord, is due to justice.

• We must emphasize that both Justice and Mercy go hand and hand. You cannot be merciful if you are not also just.
• When we see depictions of Christ`s Sacred Heart, such as the Divine Mercy, there are two rays radiating from His heart. These rays represent Christ as being both infinitely Merciful, but also infinitely Just. 
• When it comes to justice, we want to punish one who transgresses or causes an injustice. For humanity, when we want to resolve the injustice, we have ourselves or the person commit some form of action in reparation, either equivalent to the harm caused by the injustice, or beyond. 
• With us, we feel that when we sin, we feel that God loves us less, that we are insufficient, and not worthy of God's love because of guilt and our sense of justice [editor: that is, that we have committed an injustice against Him.] 
• Now, Christ, the Word of God Made Flesh, came down from Heaven, for us in the human state, and in our injustice, he suffered through such depravity and torture in His Passion. They beat Him, bruised Him, slashed Him already though He was badly bruised, mocked Him, crowned Him with thorns, all ending up with Him being crucified in agony on the Cross at Calvary. 
• The Roman soldiers, being experts at what they do .... their "job," as the Roman Empire's military force, ensured that those men who were on the Cross, including Christ, were truly dead. They purposely aimed with their spears at the crucified men, piercing their lungs and heart to ensure that they would be truly dead in their entirety. 
• Christ, suffering all He did, gave himself in the ultimate sacrifice of Love from God, for all men, for all time, regardless of one's sins they have and would commit. Christ's redeeming act, truly shows that God loves us that much to have done so. [Editorial note: again I'm paraphrasing. Yes, you need confession for mortal sin. Fr. Steven OBVIOUSLY knows that, but his point is that he is countering this reason that people, including numerous Catholics, hold erroneously, via what lies within Christ's Passion and Death on Calvary.] 
• When we attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we participate in his ultimate act of Love for us, represented by the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 
• ..... We also see example in St. Margaret Mary, when she was presented with the vision of Christ for the Sacred Heart, He was present holding his most Sacred Heart in His hand, extending his heart in hand out to St. Mary....

- Another reason that we find it difficult to the love the Lord is because of a lack of that which allows us to Love.

• For some people, this could be exemplified in actions or circumstances which happen to them in one`s life. This can range in anything from one`s environment, being burdened more than other people, or some form of trauma or bad actions happening in the world, perhaps even bad actions that other people have inflicted onto you. Such actions are not inflicted because you are loved less than others by the Lord. 
• Also part of this reason is comparison to other people, such as the Saints. We often feel that God `made them special` or bestowed special graces onto them, making them more favored in God`s eyes, yet we are not. 
• This is actually not true in the sense that they were favored. In fact, the saints often times suffered quite harshly and were not ``favored`` this way, yet were highly capable of expressing such Love of Christ. 
• E.g. 1: St. Paul: Prolific in spreading the Church, Paul was jailed a number of times, not well received in every town he preached in, got abandoned or shipwrecked twice [Êditorial note: One of those times being shipwrecked on the isle of Malta], and he eventually was brought to final imprisonment, and then even martyred by [necessary edit 19/6/2015] beheading as Christian tradition holds. 
• E.g. 2: Highly important to Canada's patron sainthood, the primary saint is St. Joseph. Second most important, would be the North American Martyrs. St. Jean de Brebeuf is a prime example of Christ's Love, and being able to Love Christ, despite the most awful of circumstances and inflicted abuse and pain and suffering. 
• The Jesuits in doing mission work in North America, attempted to spread the Gospel to the Native Canadians. One group they were not received by was the Iriquois nation.
• The Iriquois was a war-nation. They detested the white man, and any associated allies. This included the Huron tribe of Native Canadians, who did assist and accept the company of the Jesuit missionaries. 
• The Iriquois attacked the Jesuits and Hurons, and took many of them captive. 
• With Jean de Brebeuf, they saw him as a "leader" of the group, and wanted to make an example out of him to instill fear in the Hurons and other white man followers.
• With St. Jean, they of course physically assaulted him. Of other tortures they inflicted upon him [warning .... extreme depravity and grotesque acts, but they were true and documented!!!!!! .....], they ripped out his finger nails and toe nails, forced him to walk back in the frigid cold with his fellow Hurons back to their village, made him run the gauntlet which is two rows of Iriquois at each side and you get beaten with clubs while running through the center, etc.
• After that they attached him to a post, and while he was there, they scalped him alive. They boiled water and poured this scalding water over the scalp-less part of his head. They even performed acts of cannibalism, eating parts of his flesh while he was alive. 
• Finally, to kill him, one or more of them, took an awl, and stabbed him repeatedly to finish the job. 
• Yet, even while experiencing these extreme torments, he pleaded and encouraged his tormentors to repent and believe in the Gospel and to believe in the Lord. Most of all, he forgave them and loved every single one of them, despite what they were doing to him and his Huron companions. 

- Therefore, on a scale of one to ten, now, how much does God truly love us? He loves us infinitely. It is this love, expressed in the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, that we focus on today for this Feast, in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

After the homily, the Mass proceeded accordingly in the second part, the Mass of the Canons. Provided below are digital photographs from that portion:

Preparations of the Altar, at the Offertory. Boat bearer and thurifer assist in the preparations for the incensation of clergy and laity, while Acolyte 2 awaits to remove the missal, next to our Master of Ceremonies. 

Incensation of the celebrant by the deacon, with thurifer next to the deacon.

``HOC EST ENIM CORPUS MEUM`` - The consecration of the Sacred Host to His Body.

``HIC EST ENIM CALIX SANGUIS MEI ...`` - The Consecration of the Sacred Wine into His Blood.

``Ecce Agnus Dei, ecce qui tollit peccata mundi.`` - Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who taketh away the sins of the world.

Myself as Acolyte 1, waiting for the return of the cruets, while the post-communion ablution takes place. 

With the cruets in my hands after the ablutions, I bow to the clergy. 

The Last Gospel. 

``Ita Missa Est. Deo Gratias.``

Concluding Notes

Once again, it was an honour and divine pleasure, to serve at the Lord's altar through the most holy and charitable works of the St. Patrick's Gregorian Choir. Each Mass involves much preparation and arrangements, not to mention dealing with other behind the scenes issues that pop up. Satan tries his best to throw curve blocks in our path of various forms, but every time, SPGC has over come these barriers, and the result is epic Masses that inspire the lay faithful, and the choir, clergy, and servers that partake in them.

Clearly, there was a good response from the Laity to our Mass. One prosperous sign, is that we only made 70 Latin-to-English booklets for the Mass. All were taken by those in attendance! We surpassed that number at least 2x fold! By my visual estimate, we had about 130-160 in attendance. This was quite a marvel considering the urban location for the basilica, cloudy/rainy weather, and a Friday evening after a long work-week!

In the crowd, I say a number of people of varying ages and cultural demographics. Aside from the usual baby boomers and seniors who would have been familiar with the EF Mass, there were other types of people of note. I saw a few young people in attendance on their own at the Mass. I saw a young couple or two as well. I am quite positive I even saw a home-schooled, traditionally Catholic family of 4 or 5 children from youth to teen to young adult in the pews! (I might be wrong on the homeschooling part, but usually their presence is quite obvious in dress, disposition, and family size. By the way, homeschooling or not, if you read this, thank you graciously for coming! Sorry I could not speak to you and introduce myself to you!). I think I might have even spotted a familiar face from when I used to attend and assist another Latin Mass group`s offerings. Overall, the mix of ages and attendees was a great sign! The Latin Mass is for all peoples, of all ages and backgrounds!

Every time these Masses are held, they contribute to the New Evangelization, and the liturgy is one of the most powerful means of the Church to (re-)educate its Body of members, renew their hearts and souls, and truly FEED them spiritually in its direct, visual, and powerful ethos and operation.

In addition, allow me to share a personal sentiment about St. Patrick`s. I have remained with the choir for the longest time, of 3.5 years, since October 2011. My first ever Latin Mass I served was a Missa Solemnis/Solemn Mass at St. Patrick`s Catholic Church Toronto, as a torch-bearer. I have remained with this choir, because all its members exude a true, fraternal love and charity, with boundless joy for Christ and His Church.

Intra-Church or Intra-liturgical politics, critical harshness thinly veiled as `fraternal correction`, or liturgical self-policing by chastising other priests and organizations publicly, are not present here with this fine group of men, women, and young adults. Rather, they express the very joy and love of Christ, qualities that our Holy Father, Pope Francis, is encouraging the Church to express, in order to show the world the Church`s beauty and life. Because SPGC does so, I remain with this group of loyal sons and daughters of the Lord, and will continue to do so until the Will of the Lord absolutely prevents me from doing so. What SPGC does, brings justice and truth to what the Latin Mass truly is all about ..... the Love of Christ that emanates from His Sacred Heart.

To all of you reading this report, if you attended the Solemn Latin Mass at the basilica, thank you dearly and honestly for supporting St. Patrick`s Gregorian Choir, but more importantly, for loving your Lord, Jesus Christ, in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

For those of you who live in the Toronto area or close by, and did not attend, I hope that after reading this report, you will be intrigued about the Latin Mass, and will seek to attend a future offering of the High/Solemn level Latin Mass, offered by parishes and/or the St. Patrick's Gregorian Choir.

Should anyone wish to attend the next offering, SPGC annually organizes a Mass in October, for the Feast of Christ the King, which takes place in the EF calendar, during the last Sunday of October. Traditionally, this has been an afternoon Mass, which when at the higher levels, will include the Asperges (holy water) rite prior to the beginning of the actual Mass. This year's anticipated date is Sunday, October 25, 2015. The choir also holds this Mass annually in commemoration of their formation in 2006 on that feast day in the EF calendar. Please keep this specific Sunday in mind, by looking for the next offering on social media such as my blog (but also Facebook, and occasionally, other websites.)

Whether you are looking for more information for future offerings such as Christ the King, or be a young man, aspiring (as in seminarian), or ordained cleric (Deacon, priest, or higher) interested in assisting in the EF, via SPGC, please feel free to contact Surinder, choirmaster and head of the Choir. Contact information is in my Latin Mass offerings tab, or you can look at the opening picture above in this post for his phone number.

Finally, I would like to extend due credit and thanks to Emad Alfred, one of the attendees at our Mass, who offered out of kindness to share with the choir and I, the pictures he took at the Solemn Mass, which are posted here in this report. While the pictures prior to the start of the Mass are my personal property, all other pictures are those of Emad. Thank you!!!

We hope you have enjoyed this report of the St. Patrick's Gregorian choir's Sacred Heart 2015 Mass.

PAX TIBI CHRISTI! Julian Barkin.