Thursday, May 5, 2016

"what with recollection we run through"

Sacramentarium Veronense, fol. 132r
(ed. Mohlberg, pp. 161-162).
Bibliotheca Capitularis Veronensis
"Grant, almighty God,
that we may celebrate
     with heartfelt devotion
     these days of joy,
which we keep in honour
     of the risen Lord,
and that what we relive
     in remembrance
we may always hold to
     in what we do.
Through. . . ."

     Collect, Sixth Sunday of Easter, Roman Missal.

"Fac nos, omnipotens Deus, hos laetitae dies,
quos in honorem Domini resurgentis exsequimur,
affectu sedulo celebrare,
ut quod recordatione percurrimus
semper in opere teneamus.
Per. . . ."

Cause us, Almighty God, these days of joy,
which in honor of the rising-again Lord we follow,
with sedulous affection to celebrate,
that, what with recordation we run through,
always in deed we may keep.
Through. . . .

Sources:

"laetitiae dies, quos in honorem Domini resurgentis":  Corpus praefationem no. 727 (6th/7th-century Veronese (or Leonine) Sacramentary no. 229 (ed. Mohlberg, p. 29); pre-670/680 sacramentary denominated "Trente" (no. 3786 in vol. 2 of the Deshusses edition of the Gregorian); 8th-century Old Gelasian Sacramentary no. 658; and so forth):  "Uere dignum:  post illos enim laetitiae dies, quos in honorem domini a mortuis resurgentis et in caelos ascendentis exigimus, . . ." < St. Leo the Great, Sermo 78.3 on the Feast of Pentecost:  "Igitur post sanctae laetitiae dies, quos in honorem Domini a mortuis resurgentis, ac deinde in caelos ascendentis . . . exegemus" ("Consequently, after the days of holy joy which we have spent in honor of the Lord, risen from the dead and then ascended into heaven, and after the reception of the gift of the Holy Spirit, the custom of a fast has been advantageously and needfully ordained" (trans. Freeland & Conway, FC 93 (1996), p. 346).  According to Edmond (Eugène) Moeller, writing in Corpus praefationum, Apparatus A-P (1980), pp. 347-348, and following a 1974 article by P. S. Agrelo (while citing much else), both Sermo 78 and the Preface from which this fragment derives should be dated to the year 441 (2 May 441 according to Freeland & Conway).


"affectu sedulo celebrare":  Corpus orationum no. 3355 (6th/7th-century Leonine Sacramentary no. 1282, Mense Decembris, in natale sancti Iohannis evangelistae, II alia missa, ):  "Miserator et misericors domine, . . . quae sedulo celebramus affectu, . . ."

"ut quod recordatione percurrimus semper in opere teneamus":  Corpus orationum no. 1308 (Gelasian Sacramentary no. 504, Gregorian Sacramentary no. 122*, and so forth):  "Deus, per cuius providentiam nec praeteritorum momenta deficiunt nec ulla superest exspectatio futurorum, . . . ut, quod recordatione percurrimus, semper in opere teneamus."

Sunday, May 1, 2016

"provided that we repent them sincerely"

"The mercy of God lies in the fact that he is always ready to forgive us when we repent our sin sincerely. Jesus himself told Peter when he asked him, 'when my brother sins against me, shall I forgive him seven times', and Jesus said, 'not seven times but seventy-seven times', that is, every time your brother sincerely asks you for forgiveness. Whenever we ask God to forgive our sins no matter how great and horrible they are, he will forgive us provided that we repent them sincerely, i.e. we are ready to avoid them in the future. But, unfortunately, the group of Cardinal Kasper and those clerics who support his theory, misinterpret and abuse the concept of mercy, introducing the possibility that God forgives even when we do not have the firm intention to repent and avoid the sin in the future. Ultimately, this means a complete destruction of the true concept of divine mercy. Such a theory says: you can continue to sin, God is merciful. This is a lie and in a way also a spiritual crime because you are pushing the sinners to continue to sin, and to be consequently lost and condemned for all eternity."

     Bishop Athanasius Schneider, as quoted by Dániel Fülep, Director of the Henry Newman Center of Higher Education, Hungary, Sümeg.  Interview with Bishop Schneider conducted on 6 March 2016.