News Item: : Pentecost Sunday 2018
(Category: Torch of The Faith News)
Posted by admin
Sunday 20 May 2018 - 20:54:43

The Traditional Missal teaches us that the Church today worships in a special way the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth and holiness, Who endows the True Church of Christ with infallibility in preaching and efficacy in sanctifying.

The vestments in the Holy Mass are red, in memory of the tongues of fire which descended to Our Blessed Lady and the Apostles. In the first centuries, Pentecost was the conclusion of the Easter period, but in the 11th-Century it was made an independent feast, and given an octave, during which the newly-baptized from Easter are traditionally prayed for.

During those years I spent in the seminary, there was a ''recommended reading'' shelf which, though it did contain some good material, was also a means for the unfortunate propagation of writings from the likes of Hans Kung, Richard McBrien, Karl Rahner and Edward Schillebeeckx; as well as some less well known authors who were promoting similarly reductionist ideas, specifically in the fields of Biblical studies, liturgy, sacramental theology and church architecture.

Although these writings were ''recommended'' for the coursework, I avoided most of them; scanning only sufficient material from some of them to pass the courses concerned.

The paucity of good, orthodox reading on that shelf led me to do some extra-curricula reading in my own time, by venturing into the aisles of the well-stocked sections of older Catholic books in the library.

Had I known what I know nowadays, I would have spent a great deal more time in those library aisles reading and learning, and much more time alone in the chapel praying, but they do say that youth is wasted on the young.

Nevertheless, I did make some good use of my time in those years, by becoming familiar with the Christology of the early Church Councils, some of the writings of the Fathers at the Council of Trent, those of the Popes of the 19th - early-20th-Centuries, the history of the Oratorians, John Paul II's Redemptoris Mater and the splendid writings of St. Irenaeus of Lyons (AD 130 - 202).

Thanks be to God, for that priceless opportunity.

I would still say that, for my formation in the Faith, St. Irenaeus' Adversus Haereses (Against All Heresies), together with the early Church Councils, continues to rank among the most important and faith-shaping texts that I have read.

Period.

As such, it seems appropriate on this great feast of Pentecost to provide a short section for the edification and prayer of readers.

St. Irenaeus wrote: ''Therefore the Lord promised to send us the Holy Spirit to make us fit for God's purposes. Just as dry flour cannot coalesce into a lump of dough, still less a loaf, without moisture, so too we, being many, could not become one in Christ Jesus without the water which comes from Heaven. And just as dry soil cannot bear fruit unless it receives moisture, so we, who to begin with are dry wood, can never bear the fruit of life unless the rain from Heaven falls upon our wills... For our bodies through the water of Baptism have received the unity which leads to freedom from corruption; but our souls have received it through the Holy Spirit.''

On this feast day, and during the holy octave which follows, it can also be very fruitful to spend some time in silence to pray slowly and devotedly through the words of the Veni, Sancte Spiritus; which forms the Sequence in the Traditional Latin Mass for today.

Here, also, is the Postcommunion prayer for Pentecost (Whit Sunday) in the Traditional Latin Mass: May the inpouring of the Holy Spirit purify our hearts, O Lord, and render them fruitful by the sprinkling of His dew over our innermost being. Through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in unity with the same Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.

We wish all our readers a blessed and holy feast of Pentecost. May we all receive a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, homes and lives, on the Church and on our society. Amen.

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This news item is from Torch of The Faith
( http://www.torchofthefaith.com/news.php?extend.1686 )