Summorum Pontificum is continuing onward, regardless of those within and outside the Church, who dare to see that Her Tradition, and `t`raditions, are discarded. The Devil roams about like a bloodthirsty lion, wishing to sow dischord, deadly sins such as acecia, and many other sins in this unstable time, even among those in the Church who are practicing Catholics or even Latin Mass Traditionalists. Many of us who are wired to our computers and smart phones, got to see this infighting (particularly on ``C``atholic blogs) during the recent 2014 Extraordinary Synod of Marriage and the Family.
Did I forget to add that the Devil REALLY, HATES, the Latin Mass for its order and truth. and will use whatever or whomever he can to stop it, if the Latin Mass cannot be abused to his will in any manner? However, he, nor any machination of his, can stand up to the Mighty King that is our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, whose ultimate sacrifice redeemed us all and defeated him on the Cross.
Yesterday, October 26, 2014, was another example that our Lord and Sovereign King, Jesus Christ, prevailed once again, through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form, with the assistance of the St. Patrick`s Gregorian Choir.
And must I say that the fruition of this Mass was indeed, extraordinary, occurring against all odds. Allow me to explain how our Holy Sovereign gave His mercy and his royal blessing today, by giving a little snippet as to what made this possible. The Latin Masses take much skill and effort to do, with undo pressure, and don't just appear out of thin air. While others might not like these sort of details to be revealed on the Internet, perhaps you readers, by seeing this, will see what it takes, and that it is many hands, much time, even money, and prayer, that allows these beautiful and Holy liturgies to exist in our current Church today.
Despite the loss of our initial site and celebrant due to circumstances beyond the control of SPGC, and of no fault to the choir, we were forced to scout both a neutral, "Glad Trad" priest, and an alternative parish to hold the Latin Mass. With a request from the choirmaster, I assisted alongside my fellow altar servers, with a number of phone calls, in not only finding a parish to hold the Mass, but the chaplain of my Knights of Columbus council (of which I was recently ``knighted`` in the first degree Oct 6th,) agreed to do our Latin Mass.
Numerous questions came up as the process went on ... is there a Missal available? (Thankfully, the priest has his own 1962,), will there be an Asperges? (Yes, and thus, did the parish have the aspergillum + aspensorum, which they did)? What is the parish stocked with? Are we doing the Leonine prayers at the end (YES!), can you assist the priest for transportation? ... and so forth. Thankfully the choir has amassed a number of items such as the altar candles, an altar stand, etc. However such items to buy outright, are not cheap, e.g. new altar candlesticks from say, DiCarlo, would be anywhere from lowest, close to $400-500 EACH, to much higher, the fancier the set you want. Antiquated ones can cost much more if you do not want to try your luck on internet bidding. So between candles, fasteners for them, altar settings, vestment sets ... you cost to hold these Extraordinary Form liturgies will be heavy, though the items would be permanent to keep in the long run.
After many calls and questions answered, a Friday night altar practice, quickly rearranged choir practice repertoires now that the Mass was happening, and even a transportation issue for our good Holy priest of Christ .... The 2014 Mass of Christ the King was back on at the Catholic Church of St. Pius X, in the Archdiocese of Toronto at 330pm this fine day that has past.
Yes, aside from our collective efforts, one could say that the Lord was willing to allow us in His Holy Graces and Mercy, to have this Mass. Even when it looked liked the Devil had thrown many roadblocks and stresses on top of our work and social lives (and in my case, marital preparations), we pulled off a beautiful, solemn, and reverent Sung Latin Low Mass, with three *servers, and the majestic and heavenly tones of the St. Patrick`s Gregorian Choir.
What points, could be gleamed from today's Mass, particularly, the homily? One of the attendees who frequents the St. Patrick's Latin Masses had this to say:
- Fr. Burns talked about being a Canadian citizen, but that we are citizens of the Kingdom of God by virtue of our Baptism.
- Having celebrated the Novus Ordo the prior week (and likely, most people present there had gone to the Novus Ordo the prior weekend,) he also related today's Gospel readings with last week's Gospel readings..."render unto Caesar what is Caesars and render unto God what is Gods." [ed. note: I personally see here a little hidden nugget of the forms mutually enriching each other, as Pope Benedict wished when releasing Summorum Pontificum]
- Fr. Burns said that the Kingdom or Reign of God does not really work like a modern democracy where citizens vote to choose their elected officials. Since monarchs inherit their power and authority from their bloodline/parents and not by vote, Jesus Christ as King gets his power and authority from God, his Father.
- He also discussed the topic of inheritance within the context of the Kingdom of God.
If there was any point to me where our Holy King had triumphed (and we were a part of this victory,) and the success and truth of this Holy Low Mass was evident, it was when our Holy priest dismissed us at the ite missa est. The power, strength, beauty, and tone of his voice was that of a perfect reflection of our King, regal and royal. For all priests of valid and licit ordination are alter Christi, ``other Christs.``How fitting then, nourished by the Eucharist consecrated in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, was our Priest, like Christ, our King, giving us soldiers of the Church Militant our orders to go out into the depths and peripheries of the world to proclaim the Gospel. No sooner had our Alter Christi given us this dismissal, than the sacred tones of the SPGC choir resonated in reply with Deo Gratias in a symphony of similar reverence, beauty, and thankfulness.
If there is anyone to thank in all this though, first and foremost is Our Lord Jesus Christ, High Priest and Sovereign King, whose eternal dominion we acknowledge and pray on in the EF, and will be done in the OF in a month`s time.
Secondly, we thank both the pastor of St. Pius X, Fr. Min-Kyu Park, who graciously and in a short time frame, allowed us to use the church for the Holy Mass, and our celebrant, Fr. Leo Burns, C.S.B. Fr. Burns is a Basilian priest who was ordained in the EF in 1964, just before the storm of the liturgical, philisophical, and theological changes that changed much of the Church`s operations in today`s world.
Without these two holy priests, we would have had no Mass today. Christ was here through his ``others.`` It is priests like these, older and younger, who will help carry out the New Evangelization and the ``reform of the reform`` that Benedict XVI hoped to achieve.
As per usual, I have a few photos to share with you of our event. The first are, as normal with my reports, pictures of our altar fully set up for the Mass (taken prior to, NOT DURING, the Mass). The last two are of our basic translational document we provided for the Mass, containing the liturgy`s propers and the major readings in Latin and English, and even some music in chant notation for the Allelulia.
The altar set up for Low Mass
Inside our Mini-booklet
Front and Back page of our mini-booklet
To end this report, it is only fitting that I post the post-communion translated in English from my 1962 Baronius Press missal, for after we were fed his Holy Eucharist:
``We have received the food of immortality and beg, Lord, that we who are proud to fight under the banner of Christ our King,may reign with Him for ever in His realm above.``
I, Julian of Servimus Unum Deum, alongside my serving allies, and with the St. Patrick`s Gregorian choir, will continue to fight under his banner. Christ wants the salvation of all souls under his kingship and to join him in Heaven. We will continue our King`s mission, to do our best to help in His cause, through the provision of the Holy Sacrifice in the Mass in the Extraordinary Form in the Archdiocese of Toronto.
PAX TIBI CHRISTI, JULIAN BARKIN, ON THIS THE FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING 2014.
* I have done this before, at St. Lawrence the Martyr for either a Requiem Mass or Christmas 2012. While excessive amounts of servers are not appropriate, I do not know of any rubric or outdated liturgical law that says 3 servers at a Low Mass is unacceptable, or violates the licitness or validity of the Holy Mass. Do your research before you contest this fact and have a Fr. Z speckled-filled nutty and the combox filter is on with my blog rules intact.
[minor edits made 27/10/2014].
