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The castaway “Marian Pole” of Verona. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for Alessandro Minutella to tell the truth

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THE SHIPWRECKED POLO MARIANO IN VERONA. IT'S EASIER FOR A CAMEL TO GO THROUGH THE EYE OF A NEEDLE THAN ALESSANDRO MINUTELLA TO TELL THE TRUTH

Ours are strictly substantive questions, based on the facts and on the sums of money offered and transferred to specific current accounts. We await a response from Mr. Minutella, not interpretations or manipulations of reality as in many other cases it has done. We know that this is particularly difficult and tiring for him, but for once we hope to try to tell things as they really went, or: that for once try to tell the truth.

- Church news -

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Editors of The Island of Patmos

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Find the priest,

Jesus Christ be praised!

We wish to thank you for your availability and for the space you have agreed to reserve for us in your magazine The Island of Patmos.

We are a Venetian couple who lives in the Veronese hills, married by 27 year old. We received the great grace of re-conversion by going to March 2011 in a European center of Marian spirituality. Since then our only desire has been to consecrate our life and marriage to Jesus and Mary. Desire that has gone from strength to strength and consolidation, even though we later fell, in all good faith, in the spirals of the “Piccolo Resto” of the presbyter excommunicated e dismissed from the clerical state Alessandro Minutella.

On the morning of 23 February Mr. Minutella, in the direct address book Saints and Coffee On the canal Radio Domina Nostra, At the minute 07:10 he launched into a false statement, in which regard we would like to give our version of the facts so that the souls who follow this character seriously begin to consider which ominous and baleful way they are walking. This is how much Mr. Minutella declared:

«[…] I would like to say something that I have never said for a matter of modesty, let's call it, respect for situations. Anyway, since I have been asked by many what happened to the Polo Mariano. The Polo Mariano is not structurally linked to a place, whereby, if it has moved from the Veronesi hills to Trebaseleghe (Padova) nothing changes. There were some management problems, also due to my prolonged absence that I didn't like them. And until proven otherwise, I'm the one making the decisions. I begged for it, I thought about it and I realized that it was no longer possible to continue in those parts. But so, serenely, I had given indications that were obviously not respected, then everyone says what they want, we have personal conscience and that was it, the work continues elsewhere […]» [see video WHO].

This statement totally based on alteration and manipulation obliges us to highlight some facts, explaining why we decided to give a public witness, moved by that charity which has the salvation of souls as its main cornerstone, that is, all those people who need to know the true unfolding of the facts in order to then draw their own conclusions. Choice, this ours, resulting from a private period of extensive discussion with one of the people involved in the matter, according to the evangelical dictate of fraternal correction «If your brother commits a fault, go and admonish him between you and him alone" (Mt 18,15).

Now let's move on to the facts: our knowledge of the Palermo priest Alessandro Minutella dates back to June 2018, initially via the social network Facebook. After three months we decided to go and meet him in person in Sicily at the Center for Marian spirituality "Piccola Nazaret" which he founded in Carini. On that occasion we were invited to dinner and stayed with them for a few days. Impossible to deny and deny the feelings of esteem and sympathy that moved us in knowing this reality, in fact we decided more and more over time to collaborate in the work and "mission" of this priest. Subsequently, as they began to look for an available space to found another spirituality center in Northern Italy, precisely in the Verona area, since we are from the area, we have made ourselves available to help in finding a suitable place. After various searches we proposed to Minutella a place in the hills with a farmhouse of over 400 square meters and adjacent land for over 35.000 sq.m., where a relative of ours was born.

Back from one of his tour in Spain, Minutella came to visit the place and was enthusiastic about it, so much so that he immediately wanted to call "Polo Mariano" and found an Association that same day which he decided to call "San Michele Arcangelo". It was at that point that we bought the place and donated it to the Association. Minutella asked us to become the Presidents, but we blindly trusted and took a step back, also being incompetent in the matter. So another person decided, present there, as President of this newly formed Association. After some problems related to certain obstacles placed by third parties, we and the President in question decided to continue to carry on the Association, on the bank account of which substantial offers also began to arrive for the construction works of the Polo Mariano. All this with the approval of Minutella and the people close to him.

Towards the end of the year 2021 the President informs us of her intention to leave the Presidency of the Association, except, however, remain in office in accordance with the Staff of the minutella. So it kept going, despite the trying times, until communication came, justified in our opinion by sterile motivations, according to which the offers of the faithful destined for the creation of the Polo Mariano should no longer arrive on the IBAN account of the "San Michele Arcangelo" Association, as had hitherto been the case, but on the only IBAN account of Carini's "Little Nazareth".. At that point it was clear to us that something was wrong and we wondered the reason for that decision.

To this and other similar questions, encouraged by the many people who invited us not to give up, for the sake of peace, and for “not to disobey the father” ― classic leitmotiv which unfortunately still continues today to condition the minds of many poor faithful ―, we decided not to give answers, but to trust and accept this decision.

These were the results: from 1 January 2022 al 16 December 2022 (day on which the President resigned from the "San Michele Arcangelo" Association), the monthly offers of the faithful for the Polo Mariano have not arrived. The poor faithful donors who believed in this work and for which they paid their contributions, they began to wonder and inquire as to why the Polo was not going ahead. We reported all this to Minutella who answered us: «Tell for technical problems or the Municipality» (!?). Tired of lying we started telling people to call down to Sicily and inquire directly with interested people.

From then on it was all a succession of hidden recordings, which apparently is quite usual for them, of suspicion and humiliation in front of other people, without any possibility of defending himself against unfounded accusations, but this also seems to be very usual in that environment. All by the Minutella staff and the Minutella itself.

Since it has been pointed out several times privately to no avail, we would like to emphasize that it would be a duty on the part of the President of the "San Michele Arcangelo" Association to let the faithful who generously made their contributions in cash know where their offers ended up, given that they were collected for a specific purpose and behind specific projects. We look forward to it now, after this public testimony, the faithful are informed about all this precisely by virtue of that evangelical parrhesia, much praised by them.

Above all, we wish to thank God for having taken us away from this sectarian reality in which we had ended up above all through ignorance and approximation in matters of doctrine and faith, welcomed back today into His Holy and only Catholic Church. After totally and definitively dissociating ourselves from this dangerous sect, we wish to thank you for having allowed our souls - now aware of the error committed and of having seriously injured Our Lord -, to come back with more momentum, ardor and zeal in the arms of that Mother, the church, that despite being hurt and humiliated by His enemies, she is Mother and Mother she remains, continuing to breastfeed her children with the pure spiritual milk of the Holy Sacraments.

In conclusion we would like to bring to Mr. Minutella this message from a large group of Veronese, inviting him to answer "on the contents" and not throwing anathemas left and right, or creating his usual fanta-stories and finally presenting himself as a victim against whom everyone rages. These are the questions on the merits:

 

  1. In Verona many people, after having made life choices in which we detached ourselves from our homes and in which we worked with the resources possible in the construction of the Polo Mariano, they wonder what happened to this project and the money offered for the realization of the same. He wants to provide an answer?
  1. In the face of the many donated offers, considers it serious to liquidate everything in less than a minute during a live on Domina Nostra channel Of YouTube?
  1. It is possible to have precise clarifications regarding the silence extended up to now on the Polo Mariano and which we only learned this morning not «to be structurally linked to a place», but something that "moves" from one part of the Veneto to another according to his personal and indisputable decisions?
  1. How can a serious and mature person settle in 40 seconds a work in which so many people have invested, believed and trusted, clearly letting it be understood that when something no longer suits him or when his indications "are no longer respected" he is ready to replace it without even having the intellectual honesty to say what really happened?
  1. A Verona, according to him at least until some time ago the only place that "the Madonna" had chosen before changing her mind and wanting to move to Padua, very serious doubts begin to arise about this project in general, intends to clarify everything both on a spiritual level and on a material and financial level?

Ours are strictly substantive questions, based on the facts and on the sums of money offered and transferred to specific current accounts. We await a response from Mr. Minutella, not interpretations or manipulations of reality as in many other cases it has done. We know that this is particularly difficult and tiring for him, but for once we hope to try to tell things as they really went, or: that for once try to tell the truth.

Thanks again dear Fathers de The Island of Patmos, we recommend ourselves to your prayers with a sincere wish for your apostolate.

Giannantonio and Barbara (Verona)

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Liturgical colors are not games of ideological rainbows, but visible signs of the sacred mysteries we celebrate

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LITURGICAL COLORS ARE NOT IDEOLOGICAL RAINBOW GAMES, BUT VISIBLE SIGNS OF THE SACRED MYSTERIES WE CELEBRATE

The sloppiness, like vanity, they are both diseases that destroy the liturgical sign, which by its nature - to be truly "beautiful" - needs truth and simplicity. It is certainly not by eliminating the signs that we arrive at a more "beautiful" and engaging liturgy or an unspecified "liturgy of the origins", but explaining their profound meaning.

— Liturgical ministry —

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Simone Pifizzi

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When the presbyters are consecrated priests the Bishop addresses a warning that should mark our entire existence: "Understand what you do, imitate what you celebrate, conform your life to the mystery of the cross of Christ the Lord " [See. Liturgy of the sacred ordination of priests, n. 150].

The priesthood is linked to a dimension of eternity, because we will be priests forever. The indelible character of the Holy Order confers a dignity that makes us superior even to the Angels of God, who stand aside before the priests. Our brother illustrates it in a masterful way Marcello Stanzione, considered one of the leading European experts of Angels and whose article I refer you to [see WHO].

The sacred liturgy it is made up of signs and symbols which are certainly not ends in themselves, because they constitute those "external accidents" or "outward signs" through which substance is concreted and takes shape. An example, indeed I would say the most striking example: the Most Holy Eucharist, mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ and his real presence among us, it is realized through the matter and the external sign of the bread and the wine which truly and substantially become the living and true Christ.

In the sacred liturgy every sign and gesture, even silences have their theological and mystagogical meaning. Of "liturgical silences" there are three foreseen by the rite of the Holy Mass: during the penitential act, after the celebrant said: «Before worthily celebrating these holy mysteries let us acknowledge our sins». Then after the proclamation of the Holy Gospel, if there is no homily, or after the homily. In the end, after Holy Communion. Moments of silence that it would be good to respect and not omit, thing that incidentally the Bishops would do well to remind those of their priests that in 15 few minutes celebrate the weekday Holy Mass, perhaps forgetting that he had recited the phrase from the beginning «…before celebrating worthily…». Word, that of "dignity", which should have a great weight, especially in the celebration of the "sacred mysteries".

Among these signs there are also liturgical garments which - like every sign - sometimes risk obscuring rather than revealing the reality to which they refer. In fact, we cannot hide the risk that in our cultural context some liturgical vestments, for their affectation and sophistication, may they tarnish the glory of God and be regarded simply as an exhibition of human vanity. But that unspeakable sloppiness is also deplorable - today considered poverty and simplicity, but which should instead be called by its name: sloppiness! - which not only distorts the liturgical sign (think of the various chasubles and rainbow stoles) but even, sometimes, he removes it altogether with an arbitrariness that no minister of God is permitted.

The sloppiness, like vanity, they are both diseases that destroy the liturgical sign, which by its nature - to be truly "beautiful" - needs truth and simplicity. It is certainly not by eliminating the signs that we arrive at a more "beautiful" and engaging liturgy or an unspecified "liturgy of the origins", but explaining their profound meaning.

The liturgical dress, compared to other signs, is of very relative importance. Proof of this is that for at least the first four centuries of the life of the Church, the sources do not report that ordained ministers wore special clothes during the celebrations, convinced that it was essentially important to be "put on Christ" [cf.. Gal 3, 26]. The Pope Celestine I, in the fifth century, he complained to some bishops in southern Gaul that some priests had begun to use showy clothes for the liturgy, and so he concluded:

“We must distinguish ourselves from others by doctrine, not for the dress; for conduct, not for the dress; for purity of mind, not for outward adornment" (cf.. Celestine I, Letter, PL 50, 431).

It would also be worth explaining how and why, during the first centuries, ancient symbols and clothes paganites Roman times merged into the early Christian liturgy starting from the beginning of the 4th century. These are external signs to which a profound Christian value was given. The structure of certain rites is even older, for example, those of the offertory of the Holy Mass have their roots in the ancient offertory liturgies performed by priests in the Temple of Jerusalem. However, these are complex topics related to the history of the liturgy that we will deal specifically with in another article.

Even in awareness well expressed by the ancient popular saying "the dress does not make the monk", that the liturgical dress, like all outward signs, has a secondary importance in Christian worship, this certainly cannot lead us to ignore that it belongs to that complex of conventional signs which humanity has used since the beginning to express the thought, lifestyle, the ideas and role of a person. The dress, whether you like it or not, he always sends out a message and expresses something about the role, of a person's identity and mission. And it is precisely starting from this last concept that we can identify one of the main meanings of liturgical vestments understood as a sign of a mandate and of a mission that is certainly not hoarded, but received from the Lord. And if it remains profoundly true for every baptized person that the Lord Jesus invites us to worship in spirit and in truth [cf.. GV 4, 24], so is the fact that we - who live in the regime of signs and see invisible realities "as in a mirror" [cf.. I Cor 13,12] ― we need these signs to be able to express a cult that is not theoretical, disenchanted, but that knows how to gather everything that is profoundly human to express to the fullest what it intends to communicate.

The liturgical dress, like all human expressions not exempt from that corruption that has its roots in the human heart, he will always have to "come to terms" between the "high" meaning he wants to express and those deviations represented by sloppiness, from vanity and power. The vestments of ordained ministers, like all the ritual dresses of instituted ministries and of the laity (and in this I would also put some clothes for weddings and first communions) they have the symbolic task of expressing an inner reality and an ecclesial service in a simple and clear way, and not for this reason in contrast with beauty and decorum, because beauty and dignity hardly lead to truth. All this always avoiding that they become elements that hinder the correct understanding of the message of which the liturgy carries, or that even distort the very essence of the sacred liturgy.

Overall signs and symbols on which the liturgy lives and feeds, the liturgical garments we have said have a secondary value. A fortiori this speech is valid for the colors that have entered into liturgical use both for clothes and for other decorations. However they are present in the liturgy and often arouse curiosities and questions in the faithful that need to be given a serious and precise answer, recalling that in Christian worship - especially since the reform of the Second Vatican Council - nothing must be simply decorative or superfluous or worse still relegated to pure external form, on the contrary: everything must have a theological and mystagogical meaning.

Leaving aside the complex historical details, at least in our context, I want to remind you that in the liturgy the colors, as symbols, they came in rather late. For seven centuries the colors have not had a particular importance in Christian worship. Surely - and both written and iconographic sources confirm this - there was a predominant use of white, always considered in the Mediterranean culture the color of celebrations and great occasions. Speaking of the white baptismal robe, the Holy Doctor of the Church Ambrose of Milan reminded the newly baptized:

"You then received white garments to show that you have cast off the sheath of sin and have put on the pure garments of innocence as the prophet said: cleanse me with hyssop and I will be cleansed: wash me and I will be whiter than snow" [Sant'Ambrogio, On mysteries, VII, 34].

Over the centuries what concerns the shape and the preciousness of the liturgical vestments is codified slowly, especially in the Byzantine liturgy. But to find an accentuation of sensitivity to the language of colors we have to wait for the Middle Ages, in a context where, what is no longer understood by the people through the Latin language and the meaning of the rites, it is rendered through visual language. It is not by chance, the middle Ages, it represented that happy time when you sign, symbols, gestures or silences spoke eloquently, but above all they were fully loaded with profound theological and spiritual meanings. With Pope Innocent III [†1216] we have ― with regard to the colors ― the first common directives that gradually impose themselves everywhere, finally being codified with the Missal of St. Pius V in the 1570, where the white robes are established, verdi, redheads, purple and black depending on the celebrations: the use of the color pink also appears on the 3rd Sunday of Advent and on the 4th Sunday of Lent, also said Happy Sunday, when the strict fast was broken.

The reform implemented by the Second Vatican Council he did not abolish the legislation regarding liturgical colors, however, considering it in the broader context of those signs that must be «clear, suitable for the understanding capacity of the faithful and do not need many explanations" [cf.. Holy Council, 34]. On the basis of this principle, the various national episcopal conferences are given the freedom to freely determine and use the liturgical colors according to the culture of the individual peoples [cf.. General Order of the Roman Missal, 346].

The current rules provide for the Roman rite and our western area the use of these colors:

– BIANCO: it is the color of light, of purity and joy. It is used on all solemnities and feasts of the Lord (except those of the Passion), for the feasts of the Virgin Mary, of the Angels, of non-martyr saints. It is also used to administer the Sacraments of Baptism and Marriage.

– ROSSO: color of fire and blood, symbol of Love / Charity, of the gift, of the sacrifice, of martyrdom. It is used in Holy Week for Palm Sunday and Good Friday, the day of Pentecost, for the feasts of the Apostles, of the holy martyrs, for the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, as well as in votive Masses to the Precious Blood of Jesus. It can also be used for the Mass of the Sacrament of Confirmation.

– VERDE: in our culture it is a restful color that expresses normality, tenacious and permanent journey of hope. It is used in the weekday and Sunday celebrations of Ordinary Time.

– VIOLA: Initially used as a variant of black, over time it has become a color in its own right. Solemn and serious colour, it expresses fatigue and hope at the same time. It is used during Advent and Lent and expresses penance and preparation for the coming of Christ. It is also used in celebrations of the dead instead of the color black, the use of which remains optional, because in our culture it best expresses the Christian hope which is also present in the face of the mystery of death.

– Rosacea: Conceived as a variation of purple, marks two breaks that the Church takes during times of penance. It is used twice a year, the third Sunday of Advent, this Dominica Gaudete and the fourth Sunday of Lent said Dominica to rejoice.

Besides these, in the various liturgical “families” other colors exist and are used in sacred celebrations:

– ORO: Symbolizing divine light gold or yellow can be used to substitute for any color except purple.

– NERO: Generally considered in relation to the celebrations of the dead, in the Middle Ages it was used to indicate penitential times. Since the Council of Trent it was also used for Good Friday.

– SKY BLUE: it is associated with the Marian dogma and can therefore only be used during celebrations related to the Blessed Virgin Mary, such as the Assumption or the Immaculate Conception. The only color that represents a true liturgical privilege, its use was authorized by the Council of Trent only in Portugal, in Spain, in the former territories of these two countries, in the former kingdom of Bavaria, in certain churches in Naples and finally in the Franciscan Order historically and theologically considered worthy of having defended the Marian dogma. This privilege is still valid today.

The liturgical colors, beyond their use and meaning, they serve to communicate the message that, according to the different celebrations, it can be festive, of hope, conversion, of solidarity in pain… All of this is certainly not enough as an end in itself, if it is not accompanied by the fundamental purpose of every Christian ― especially if an ordained minister ― and of every community of disciples of the Lord, or: live the gospel!

Not to make vestments, colors or other symbols and liturgical signs nothing more than expressions of folklore, strangeness or simple vanity, they need to become an "epiphany" of the mystery of salvation which finds its unique and profound root in the vital and life-giving encounter with Jesus, Word incarnate, Eternal Priest of the New Covenant. Why everything, in the sacred liturgy, manifests and expresses the mystery of the incarnate Word of God, died, resurrected and ascended to heaven. For this reason the liturgical assembly acclaims the living body and blood of Christ: "We announce your death, Lord, we proclaim your resurrection, waiting for your coming". This is the heart of the sacred liturgy.

 

Florence, 26 January 2023

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At the funeral of Benedict XVI could have been missing the “ideological priest” who denies Communion to a faithful who kneels and rejects him?

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AT THE FUNERAL OF BENEDICT XVI THE “IDEOLOGICAL PRIEST” WHO DENIES COMMUNION TO A FAITHFUL WHO KNEES HIM AND REJECTS HIM?

In a world that kneels before all the worst idols, never let anyone dare to kneel before the Most Holy Body of Christ, because it is a real affront!

— Pastoral Liturgical —

 

 

Author
Editors of The Island of Patmos

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No, the “ideological priest” can never miss, especially on the most particular and delicate occasions. What could be better to do than to deny a faithful Holy Communion for having dared to kneel before the Most Holy Eucharist? All at the funeral of Benedict XVI who during his pontificals administered Holy Communion from the kneeler at the altar of confession, offering it to his mouth. This presbyter, besides not knowing the abysmal difference between a “poor priest” it's a “poor priest”, perhaps belongs to the consortium of those who think "Carnival is over"? Someone wanted a "poor Church" and we ended up with the poor Church! Does anyone remember this crowded square, because maybe it will be the last.

 

the Island of Patmos, 5 January 2023

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OPEN THE VIDEO

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Dear Readers,
this magazine requires management costs that we have always faced only with your free offers. Those who wish to support our apostolic work can send us their contribution through the convenient and safe way PayPal by clicking below:

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The Fathers of the Island of Patmos

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Father Simone
Father Simone
Simone Pifizzi
Priest and liturgist
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The Education “Sacramentum” and liturgical abuses: tell it to the Bishops, don't tell Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk

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EDUCATION THE SACRAMENT OF REDEMPTION AND THE LITURGICAL ABUSE: TELL IT TO THE BISHOPS, DON'T TELL MARK ZUCKERBERG AND ELON MUSK

In conclusion, thinking about it, every community of the faithful always ends up having the priest it deserves, exactly like us priests, that we often end up "condemned" to a just and deserved punishment to have the bishops we deserve.

— Pastoral Liturgical —

Author
Simone Pifizzi

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Suggestion to your Bishop to solve the root problem: lock him inside a room of two meters by two meters with the Padri de The Island of Patmos (click on image to open the video)

Iour brother Ivano Liguori he dealt with the problem of liturgical abuses, even if in the specific case the abuse had the connotations of sacrilege perpetrated during the celebration of the Holy Mass [cf.. WHO, WHO, WHO, WHO].

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in liturgical language it is customary to speak of the Canon of the Holy Mass. The word stock canon it is the precise norm to be followed to celebrate divine worship. The fee is by its nature fixed and rigid. Unfortunately, when certain terms are used, today many tend to turn up their noses because they do not know the true meaning of words and end up confusing "fixed" with fixism and "rigid" with rigidity. Nothing more wrong. The celebrant is a faithful and scrupulous instrument of the sacred liturgy, non-master or arbitrary master, worse than ever: free creator. The sacred liturgy invests the life of the entire universal Church, of which it is an expression and common prayer of praise to God. Creatively abusing the sacred liturgy means making it unstable and taking away that univocal dimension, common and universal prayer. This is why the liturgical abuse, whether small or big, gives rise to a double fracture: with the communion of the Church and with its dimension of universality. We recall that the etymology of the word "Catholic", dal greco throughout, it means universal and thus indicates its universality.

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The 25 March 2004, Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, “by disposition of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II, drawn up by the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, in agreement with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith” the Instruction was issued Sacramentum. Subtitle: «On some things that are to be observed and avoided concerning the Most Holy Eucharist».

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The final closing of this Document, with the subjects involved, immediately makes us understand that we are not dealing with a series of pious recommendations but with a text that is binding on both conscience and practice, and whoever does not comply commits a real abuse, the gravity of which can reach the point of actual sacrilege, as unfortunately we have also seen recently.

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Someone will object that in this way the wings of initiative and creativity are clipped. Generally these types of objections come from the mouth of those who have made relativism - a truly great corrosive disease of the contemporary Church - a sort of norma normans non normata, forgetting that the Church, of a treasure that is so absolute, because it was left as a gift by the Divine Redeemer, is keeper, no mistress. In the Eucharistic liturgy the Church celebrates the perennial actualization of the saving action of the Lord Jesus in her life, in his passion, in his crucifixion, in his death and resurrection [cf.. n. 40], for this after the consecration of the sacred species, the People of God acclaim the living body and blood of Christ present in soul, spirit and divinity:

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"We announce your death, Lord, we proclaim your resurrection, waiting for your coming".

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There is a basic question which runs through the entire education: it is really necessary to pay attention to liturgical abuses? It is not enough to reaffirm the importance and the need to follow the liturgical norms according to the spirit of the Second Vatican Council which affirms:

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«the integral public cult is exercised by the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, from the Head and its members. As a result, every liturgical celebration, as the work of Christ the priest and of his Body which is the Church, it is sacred action par excellence» [Holy Council, n. 7].

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On the columns of this magazine It has been explained several times over the years that if, after six decades since the closing of a great ecumenical council, the Church has found itself forced to publish two very specific corrective documents - these are the Lord Jesus (c)he reaffirms the salvific uniqueness of Christ and his Church, to follow with the Sacramentum in which he refers to the basic foundations of art celebration - something went wrong. That said, it is good to clarify that it was not the Council that malfunctioned, element of necessary pastoral renewal which the Church needed, exactly as it was four centuries ago another great Council, that of Trent. To malfunction, indeed sometimes very badly, it was the post-council interpreters of the so-called spirit of the Council who often ended up generating an idea of ​​the Council all their own. this is what didn't work and generated the problems we sadly have to deal with today. Who takes advantage of certain objective data, from doctrinal bewilderment to often almost institutionalized liturgical abuses, to impute the blame to the last Council of the Church, one of two: or sin of profound ignorance, or, out of pure ideology, consciously lies.

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In the Encyclical Letter Church of the Eucharist preceding education by one year Sacramentum the Holy Pontiff John Paul II recalls that the liturgical norms

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“they are a concrete expression of the authentic ecclesiality of the Eucharist; this is their deepest sense. The liturgy is never anyone's private property, nor of the celebrant, nor of the community in which the Mysteries are celebrated. The priest who faithfully celebrates the Mass according to the liturgical norms and the community which conforms to them demonstrate, in a silent but eloquent way, their love for the Church" [cf.. n. 52].

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Obviously that's not enough only one external participation, because celebrating the Eucharist requires faith, hope and charity. In this regard, the Instruction states Sacramentum:

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“A purely external observance of the rules, as is evident, would conflict with the essence of the sacred liturgy, in which Christ the Lord wants to gather his Church, why it is, with him, “one body and one spirit”. The external act must be, therefore, enlightened by the faith and charity which unite us to Christ and to one another and generate love for the poor and afflicted".

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Abuses have always existed, also in the so-called "Everlasting Mass", neologism invented by whose mind, playing with Latin, it ignores not only the history of the liturgy, but the same history of the Church. However it is good to remember that as far as the Eucharistic celebration is concerned, not all abuses have the same weight. If in fact it can happen to inadvertently get the color of a sacred vestment wrong, to mistakenly use an ordinary preface when the liturgy provides for one of its own, or to use unsuitable songs, in this case we are in the realm of human error. Other abuses threaten instead: or to invalidate what is being celebrated, or to manifest an absolute lack of Eucharistic faith, producing devastating effects on the People of God, in an ever higher and more disturbing decay of the Eucharistic cult and of the perception of its sacredness which supports the very structure of the Church, which is in itself a Eucharistic mystery, because it is founded on the body and blood of the Word of God made man. Other abuses, on the other hand, risk generating confusion among the people of God, or even to desecrate the celebration itself. That is why abuse cannot be taken lightly, as if they were … excesses of creativity.

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One thing is certain: all members of the Church need liturgical formation, which is sadly missing today. The Second Vatican Council specifies that it is absolutely necessary to give first place to the liturgical formation of the clergy [cf.. Holy Council, n. 14]. But it is also true that they exist in one or another ecclesial context, abuses that contribute to obscuring the right faith and the Catholic doctrine on this wonderful Sacrament [cf.. Church of the Eucharist, n. 10]. The Sacramentum specifies that "Abuses are often rooted in a false concept of freedom" [cf.. n. 7]. “Arbitrary acts, indeed, do not contribute to an effective renewal" [cf.. n. 11]. It is good to clarify what has been reaffirmed in several acts and documents of the magisterium: "Such abuses have nothing to do with the authentic spirit of the Council and must be corrected by the Pastors with an attitude of prudent firmness" [cf.. John Paul II, 40 anniversary of the conciliar Constitution on the Liturgy, Apostolic letter Spirit and bride, n. 15]. The Instruction clarifies the same Sacramentum:

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“To those who modify the liturgical texts on their own authority, it is important to point out that the sacred liturgy is intimately connected with the principles of doctrine, and the use of unapproved texts and rites consequently causes it to weaken, or get lost altogether, the necessary link between the the law of prayer the A law of belief» [cf.. n. 10], (known Latin expression which in the language of the sacred liturgy means: the law of prayer is the law of believing).

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For Catholic believers reading this Instruction would indeed be very instructive, it is no coincidence that it is called Education. Surely it will be much more instructive than looking for unlikely answers about social media, if not worse, improvise liturgists and give answers that often one is not really able to give, contributing in this way only to generate confusion and sterile controversy, but above all to increase the lack of knowledge of the many who, in increasing numbers, but they assume they know. In fact, if the Church makes certain texts and documents available to the faithful, it is precisely to instruct them also on how it is good and proper to react to the liturgical abuses of certain celebrants. Therefore it is of little use to blame the priest forge of liturgical abuses on a page Facebook. The Church indicates precisely which are the errors and abuses that no celebrant must commit, after which it indicates to the faithful how to act and who to contact. He does not exhort them to go looking for improbable answers where it is impossible to find them, or worse to argue where the controversy will end up being something solely an end in itself.

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Many would be examples, let's pick one at random: several times it happened to us priests to collect the discomfort of the faithful who complained about the unjustified use of extraordinary ministers of Communion, if anything, while the celebrant was seated at the headquarters and a couple of lay people were distributing the Most Holy Eucharist. We are undoubtedly dealing with a serious abuse, the Instruction itself specifies it by clarifying:

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«It is reprehensible the practice of those Priests who, although present at the celebration, however, they abstain from distributing Communion, entrusting the laity with this task" [cf.. n. 157].

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This rule was in turn preceded twenty years earlier by a reply of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments [11 July 1984: AAS 76 (1984) p. 746]. This delicate task entrusted to the laity is in itself an altogether extraordinary ministry, in fact, it pertains to ordained ministers, to the presbyter and the deacon, distribute Holy Communion to the faithful. Only in cases where the ordained ministers are not sufficient for the large number of people, appeal can be made to the ministers of Communion, who exercise a wholly extraordinary ministry.

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Faced with abuses of this kind and to the numerous others described in this Instruction, on which it would not be possible to dwell, the Catholic faithful are required to contact their bishop, certainly not a Facebook e Twitter, because our dioceses are not governed by either Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk, who among other things cannot exercise any power over priests or admonish them for any reason.

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Before the objective responsibilities of our clergy, defective and sinful, we don't back down, indeed we are the first to admit the obvious mistakes of the few or many of our confreres who unfortunately seem to celebrate at times almost with their feet. However, the responsibilities of those faithful are no less serious, or presumed such, that instead of informing the bishop, as they should do, they think they can complain with the rag of their clothes on social media, even better if behind a fantasy name, because in that case they will become extremely aggressive and severe, rather than act as God commands and assume all their responsibilities as Catholic believers, simply informing the bishop.

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In conclusion, thinking about it, every community of the faithful always ends up having the priest it deserves, exactly like us priests, that we often end up "condemned" to a just and deserved punishment to have the bishops we deserve.

Florence, 10 December 2022

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That liturgy in which one often participates without knowing the meaning and significance of what is being recited and celebrated. Let's start with a brief journey through the Prefaces of the Advent season …

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THAT LITURGY IN WHICH WE OFTEN PARTICIPATE WITHOUT KNOWING THE MEANING AND SIGNIFICANCE OF WHAT WE RECITE AND CELEBRATE. LET'S BEGIN WITH A BRIEF JOURNEY THROUGH THE PREFACE OF THE SEASON OF ADVENT ...

Advent, try to live it and celebrate it in churches, not on social media. And if you have any doubts, or things to clarify, turn to us Priests, that however inadequate, sinners, inept and disappointing - as many write in their vents on the Internet - something more than the improvised theologians on Facebook e Twitter, rest assured that we know it and are able to offer it to you, always free the amor Dei.

— Pastoral Liturgical —

Author
Simone Pifizzi

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PDF print format article

 

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Editor's note: you have Padri de The Island of Patmos a new editor has joined, the Florentine priest Simone Pifizzi, pastor and liturgist [see WHO]

There are many Catholics, even those devoted and animated by sincere faith, unaware of the meaning of the words spoken and the gestures made by the Priest during the Holy Mass. The sacred rite which through the Holy Mass renews the bloodless sacrifice of Christ is full of signs and symbols, each of which is loaded with a profound theological and mystagogical meaning. Since it is always necessary to explain every word, remember that “mystagogy”, word of Greek origin, whose meaning is "initiation into the mysteries", in the Christian lexicon it indicates the discovery of the new life of grace that we have received through the sacraments. The Catechism teaches:

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“The liturgy is the culmination towards which the action of the Church tends e, together, the source from which all its virtue flows. Catechesis is intrinsically linked to all liturgical and sacramental action, because it is in the Sacraments, and above all in the Eucharist, that Jesus Christ acts fully for the transformation of men" [cf.. n. 1074]. Liturgical catechesis aims to introduce into the mystery of Christ (it is in fact “Mystagogy”) as it proceeds from the visible to the invisible, from the signifier to what is signified, from the "sacraments" to the "mysteries" [cf.. n. 1075].

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I was saying that the sacred liturgy is rich in signs and symbols, each of which has a profound meaning. Even the silences or nods of reverence of the Priest have their theological and mystagogical meaning. To understand it, it would be enough to listen to the masters, instead of chasing improbable theologians and liturgists who rant about social media. Let's try to clarify everything with an example taken from the First Eucharistic Prayer, also said Roman Canon. In the above where reference is made to Communion of Saints the Priest recites:

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«[…] In communion with the whole Church we remember and venerate above all the glorious and ever virgin Mary Mother of our God and Lord Jesus Christ".

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Mentioning the Blessed Virgin Mary the Priest hints at a slight bow with his head, when a little later he mentions Jesus Christ, hints at a deeper bow. Because? The reason is contained in the words themselves: the "Virgin Mary Mother" is a creature, that is, a created creature, which is venerated as such (hence the slight bow), while Christ is "our God and Lord", which is not a creature, but "begotten not created of the same substance as the Father", that is, it is God, so you love it. These are very important steps, even if not always known to sorcerer's apprentice who from one day to the next began to "play" with the ancient Missal of St. Pius V and who never miss an opportunity, in their exasperations you often border on mariolatry, to demonstrate the inability to distinguish the incarnate God, Second Person of the Holy Trinity, from the purest of creatures, that however immaculate it still remains a created creature, with the serene peace of those who claim her co-redemptrix, despite the clear refusal of the Supreme Pontiffs, last in order of series Benedict XVI and Francis. This substantial distinction between "creature" and "God", in the sacred liturgy it is not expressed with words and least of all with lessons of dogmatic theology, of Christology or Mariology, but with two simple bows: a light one to Mary created creature, a deep one, to Christ God begotten not created, which does not need co-redeemers and co-redeemers, as delicately expressed by Benedict XVI, in a slightly more “rough” way, but equally incisive and clear, by Pope Francis [cf.. Catechesis on prayer – Pray in communion with Mary].

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Said amiably: Fathers de The Island of Patmos, when they celebrate and thus exercise the the task of sanctifying, they know what they are doing. When they thus teach and exercise the the task of teaching, they know well what they teach. Without making a fool of themselves in front of the listeners like those circus phenomena who fill their serious theological gaps by listing the theological doctorates obtained. Of course, every reference is completely involuntary, not to mention casual…

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In the liturgy it is called the Preface the solemn praise which introduces the Eucharistic Prayer and which constitutes its introductory first part. A prayer in both the old missal of St. Pius V and in the missal of St. Paul VI begins in both with a dialogue between the celebrant and the faithful:

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The Celebrant: "The Lord be with you". The people respond: "And with your spirit". The Celebrant resumes: "Lift Up Our Hearts". The people: "They are addressed to the Lord". The Celebrant (nodding his head) "We give thanks to the Lord our God". And the People concludes: "It's good and right".

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The part recited by the Celebrant alone follows, whose central section varies according to the celebration, because the prefaces are numerous and for this reason they vary from Ordinary Time to that of Lent, from Advent to Christmas, from Easter to Pentecost, to follow with other "proper prefaces" used in celebrations in memory of the Blessed Virgin, of the saints, of the martyrs, of the dead. For this reason the second part is always variable, because its purpose is to explain, like a short catechesis, the reason why glory and thanksgiving from the whole universal Church is due to God. Let us take the III Preface of the Blessed Virgin Mary as an example to understand this catechetical element contained in the sacred liturgy. Recite the text:

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At the announcement of the Angel, welcomed your Word in the immaculate heart and deserved to conceive him in the virginal womb; becoming the mother of her Creator, marked the beginnings of the Church.

At the foot of the cross, for the testament of love of your Son, extended her motherhood to all men, generated by the death of Christ for a life that will never end.

Image and model of the praying Church, joined in the prayer of the Apostles waiting for the Holy Spirit.

Assumed to the glory of heaven, accompany the Church with maternal love and protects it on its way to the homeland, until the glorious day of the Lord.

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In the end the final part, structurally always the same, except for the difference of a few words from one Preface to another, whose purpose is to introduce the singing and acclamation of the Holy of all the People of God gathered in assembly:

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And we, together with the Angels and the Saints,

we sing endlessly

the hymn of your praise: Santo …

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The time of Advent we are about to enter it has a double feature, as the liturgical norms explain:

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«[…] It's time to prepare for the solemnity of Christmas, commemorating the first coming of the Son of God among men and, at the same time, is the time when, through this memory, the spirit is led to expectation of the second coming of Christ at the end of time» [cf.. General norms for the organization of the liturgical year and the calendar, n. 39].

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Over the course of the centuries, the short but intense “strong” liturgical Season of Advent has always preserved these two great aspects of Preparation to the memorial celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ in time and of wait of his glorious final return. These two dimensions are recalled both by the biblical and patristic texts used both in the Eucharistic celebration and in the Liturgy of the Hours. To this period which marks the mystery of the incarnation of the Word of God made man, from which the new revelation and the mystery of salvation will come to life, precisely because of its fundamental importance, great Holy Fathers and doctors of the Church dedicated writings and sermons to it. We could name just a few, by Saint Irenaeus of Lyons [cf.. Inside, 1,88-95.99] to St. Gregory the Great [cf.. Homilies 1, 8], by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux [cf.. Fourth Discourse on Advent 1. 3-4], to follow in more recent times with St. Charles Borromeo who explains how the time of Advent requires to be piously sanctified by men [cf.. Pastoral Letters].

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Among the many texts which enrich the liturgy of this liturgical season, the Prefaces proper to Advent deserve particular attention, which constitute in themselves a real liturgical-spiritual itinerary suitable for enriching the Christian life.

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For the Advent season, the Italian Roman Missal contains four texts: the first two (I e I/A) they are used from the First Sunday of Advent until 16 December, seconds (II by II/A) for the remaining days. Prefaces I and I/A especially emphasize the final coming of Christ at the end of time, in what is called Russia. The other two (II by II/A) they are an invitation to prepare your heart and mind for the celebration of his first coming, while not losing sight of the emphasis made in the first two.

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Now we come to the texts, obviously taking into consideration only the "movable part" or the second part of the Preface, what we have previously indicated and defined as catechetics.

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In the I Preface of Advent the double coming of Christ is announced with these words:

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"At his first advent in the humility of the human condition he fulfilled the ancient promise and opened for us the way to eternal salvation. When he comes again in the splendor of glory, he will call us to possess the promised kingdom that we now dare to hope vigilantly in expectation".

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The title already expresses all the meaning of this liturgical season: memory of Christ's first coming in the flesh and anticipation of his glorious return. Three important passages stand out in the first part: the emphasis on the abasement of the Son of God, which immediately brings to mind the famous Christological hymn:

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"Christ Jesus, while it is of divine nature, He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God; but he stripped himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in human likeness; appeared in human form, humbled himself by becoming obedient unto death and death on a cross" [Fil 2,5-8].

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Follows the “fulfilment of the ancient promise”. Jesus, with his Incarnation, it gives ultimate and definitive fulfillment to all the prophecies and promises made to the Fathers throughout the First Testament. Or to quote the solemn opening of the letter to the Hebrews:

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"It gave, who had already spoken in ancient times many times and in different ways to the Fathers through the Prophets, lately, in these days, he spoke to us through his Son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he also made the world" [EB 1, 1-2].

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In the end, in the conclusion, the definitive opening - operated by the One who will present himself as the Way, Truth and Life [cf.. GV 14, 6] - of eternal salvation and life without end. The second part takes us to the end of time, where humility will be replaced by glory. In this glory, eternal and definitive the Word will introduce all who believe in him and that with hope, already in this life, they look at this moment.

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I would like to emphasize the presence of these two verbs that concern us: one in the future ― «he will call us to possess» ― and one in the present - «we dare» ― which say the "already and not yet" in which every believer is inserted with Baptism and which is renewed in every Eucharistic celebration and in every sacramental sign.

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In the Preface I/A Christ is celebrated, Lord and judge of history, through these words of praise:

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«You have hidden from us the day and the hour in which Christ your Son, Lord and judge of history, will appear in the clouds of heaven clothed with power and splendor. On that tremendous and glorious day the present world will pass away and new heavens and a new earth will arise. Now he comes to meet us in every man and in every time, because we welcome him in faith and bear witness in love to the blessed hope of his kingdom".

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In this text everything is projected on the final coming of the glorious Christ. The language is solemn and emphatic: "Lord and Judge", "clothed in power and splendor", "on that awful and glorious day". However, this "not yet" is compared with the present, in which every believer is called to recognize the coming of Christ in the face of the brother he meets in everyday life in the experience of the three Theological Virtues explicitly referred to here: Faith, Hope and Charity. The hope, typical Virtue of Advent, it is welcomed with Faith and witnessed with an authentic Charity.

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In Preface II we have the two expectations of Christ pictured and explained in these words:

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«He was announced by all the prophets, the Virgin Mother waited for him and carried him in her womb with ineffable love, John proclaimed his coming and indicated him present in the world. The same Lord, who invites us to joyfully prepare for his Christmas, find us vigilant in prayer, exultant in praise".

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Extraordinary educational text which summarizes all of salvation history in preparation for the coming of the Son of God in the flesh: the prophetic announcement, the Holy gestation of the Virgin, the preaching and testimony of the Baptist and who not only announces the coming of the Lord but who also has the grace to see its realization. The believer is invited to rejoice because Jesus is already present and we can experience this presence both in personal prayer, as "vigilantes in prayer" and in the liturgical one, or: «rejoicing in praise».

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Preface II/A focuses on Maria new Eve, clarifying the role entrusted to her by God in the mystery of salvation, or as they say in the economy [the greek economy] of salvation:

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« We praise you, we bless you, we glorify you for the mystery of the Virgin Mother. From the ancient adversary came ruin, from the virginal womb of the daughter of Zion the one who feeds us with the bread of angels germinated and salvation and peace arose for all mankind. The grace that Eve took from us is given back to us in Mary. In her, Mother of all men, motherhood, redeemed from sin and death, opens to the gift of new life. Where guilt abounded, your mercy abounds in Christ our Savior".

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The text of this Preface of Marian imprint leads us directly to the contemplation of the Virgin Mother of God: Holy Mary, protagonist par excellence of the last days of Advent. Mary is paralleled with Eve, using the category of “motherhood”. From the womb of Eve - tempted by the Ancient Adversary, the serpent - a humanity marked by the experience of sin arose, a real "ruin". Mary is the new Eve, the Mother of a new humanity, not so much and no longer in a biological sense but in a spiritual sense. If on the one hand it is true that we are all men born in a flesh marked by the experience of sin, the Incarnation of the Divine Word - here exquisitely indicated with two images with a strong biblical flavour: "bread of angels" and "sprout" - opens wide before us the gift of Redemption and a new life, divine and spiritual. In the last period the words of the Apostle Paul have reverberated almost literally:

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«The law then came to give full awareness of the fall, but where sin abounded, abounded grace, because like sin he had reigned with death, so let also grace reign with justice for eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord". [RM 5, 20-21].

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This is what we should always remember too, in every moment of our life, especially when we feel the weight of our shortcomings, of our faults, when life seems like a litany of failures and even when faith itself risks faltering for internal and external causes. Why about everything, even about sin, his infinite mercy abounds, his love.

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Let us meditate carefully on these texts that the Mother Church gives us to prepare us for the Birth of the Lord and much more for our personal encounter with Him, when we will see him no longer as in a mirror, but face to face, and we will know him as we are now recognized by him [cf.. 1 Color 13, 12].

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I close with a recommendation: the Advent, try to live it and celebrate it in churches, not on social media. And if you have any doubts, or things to clarify, turn to us Priests, that however inadequate, sinners, inept and disappointing - as many write in their vents on the Internet - something more, compared to improvised theologians on Facebook e Twitter, rest assured that we know it and are able to offer it to you, always free the amor Dei.

Florence, 17 November 2022

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______________________

Dear Readers,
this magazine requires management costs that we have always faced only with your free offers. Those who wish to support our apostolic work can send us their contribution through the convenient and safe way PayPal by clicking below:

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The Fathers of the Island of Patmos

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Father Simone
Father Simone
Simone Pifizzi
Priest and liturgist
Father Simone
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How to speak of Christian death in a society that rejects the very idea of ​​death?

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HOW TO TALK ABOUT CHRISTIAN DEATH IN A SOCIETY THAT REJECTS THE SAME IDEA OF DEATH?

Contemporary culture seems not to ask the question of death, or try to exorcise it and make it fall into oblivion, do not ask questions and give no answers, while Divine Revelation assures us that God created man for a purpose of happiness that goes beyond earthly life.

— Liturgical ministry —

Author
Simone Pifizzi

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PDF print format article

 

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William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1859. Day of the Dead. Museum of Fine Arts, Lyon

The Fathers of the last Council of the Church wrote that «In the face of death the enigma of the human condition reaches its climax» [cf.. The joy and hope, 18]. The Solemnity of All Saints and the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed are offered to us every year as an occasion to «contemplate the city of heaven, holy Jerusalem which is our mother" and to remind every baptized person that towards this common homeland "we pilgrims on earth hasten our journey in hope, rejoicing in the glorious lot of the elected members of the Church whom the Lord has given us as friends and role models" [cf.. Preface of November 1st].

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Usually many people, even the inexperienced ones, there is no shortage in these days of remembering their deceased loved ones, participating in the Eucharist in the parishes and visiting the cemeteries. With heartbreaking affection we remember those who loved us, grateful for what we have received, eager perhaps to forgive and to be forgiven. There are many children who are no longer young, if anything with adult children or even grandparents, who before the graves of their parents reflect on many moments of their lives, saying to themselves, now with tenderness now with bitterness, sometimes even with deep feelings of guilt, that if it were possible to go back they would have had other attitudes and behaviors towards them.

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Death can only lead us to question ourselves because - as I often say in funeral celebrations - nothing is more certain than that as we received this life, one day we will have to make it. Wisely an old English apologue expresses how a baby gives the first cry, already starting to age, so the age that passes - were even a few minutes, or a month or a year - it makes you inexorably old. This is why a child born from a minute is one minut old (a minute older).

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When man finds the strength to stop and think about yourself, he feels like death does not belong to him. We feel, in our deepest innermost, that we are made for life. But not simply for eternal life on this earth, where he should be eternally subject to the contradictions and limitations of this world, or in a sort of modern highlander, painfully forced to part with loved ones and situations. We carry within our hearts a seed of eternity that arises every time we are faced with the mystery of death and what derives from it: disease, suffering, fear that everything will end forever. The dead, good to remember: it is an “invention” and consequence of human action. God created us immortal, non-mortals subject as such to physical decay, aging and pain, all elements that enter the scene of the world and human experience through original sin [cf.. Gen 3, 1-19], because of which a corrupted nature was given to all mankind to come. All fruit of the freedom and free will that God gave to man at the very moment of his creation [cf.. cf.. Gen 1, 26; Dt 7, 6].

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Contemporary culture seems not to ask the question of death, or try to exorcise it and make it fall into oblivion, do not ask questions and give no answers, while Divine Revelation assures us that God created man for a purpose of happiness that goes beyond earthly life. God has called and calls man to cling to him with his whole nature in perpetual communion with his divine life. Jesus, Word incarnate, with his incarnation, passion, death and resurrection fully embraced our human nature; by dying he conquered death and by rising he gave man life again.

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The resurrection of Jesus it is the central nucleus of the Christian faith. Whoever lives and dies in Jesus participates in his death in order to participate in his resurrection, as we recite in the III Eucharistic Prayer when we do Memory of deceased: "He (n.d.r Cristo) will transfigure our mortal body into the image of His glorious body". The Incarnate Word in the priestly prayer addressed to the Father before undergoing the passion asks that «all those you have given me are also with me where I am, so that they may contemplate my glory" [GV 17,24]. This is why the Apostle Paul says: “Certain is this word: if we die with Christ, we will also live with him" [2TM 2, 11]. It is in this that the novelty and essence of Christian death consists: with Baptism, the Christian is "sacramentally" dead with Christ, and is already entered into a new life. Therefore, physical death, consummates our dying with Christ and definitively completes our incorporation into Him. The Christian, despite knowing that death is also a painful passage ("pangs") he faces the inexorable shortening of his days in hope, knowing that Jesus has conquered death, that He is that light of the world also symbolized by the Paschal candle placed in front of the coffin during the funeral, the firstborn of the resurrected, the Head of the Body which is the Church [cf.. With the 1, 18] through which the certainty of eternal life reaches all members.

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The Christian view of death it is expressed in an unsurpassable way in the gestures and words of the funeral rite e, in general, in the forms of the Holy Mass of the dead. Omitting for obvious reasons the texts, we want to emphasize the liturgical rites, in which the Church expresses its faith, well summarized by the words of the first preface of the dead: «To your faithful, o Lord, life is not taken away, but transformed; and while the home of this earthly exile is being destroyed, an eternal habitation is prepared in heaven".

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On the day of the funeral the Church, after having entrusted his children to God, sprinkles the bodies with blessed water. Water is the primary and fundamental element for life to exist. It reminds us that we are made for life. It reminds us of Baptism in which we were inextricably united to Christ's death and resurrection and inscribed our name in the book of life. After sprinkling with water, the body of the deceased is incensed. Incense is used in the liturgy to honor God and what He means. In addition to the Eucharist, the altar is also incensed, l'Evangelario, the celebrant, the assembly, the sacred images... The body of the deceased is thus honored because it is recognized as a "temple of the Holy Spirit" and an instrument of communion with God and brothers.

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The body of the faithful departed it is finally entrusted to the earth as a seed of immortality, buried in it as he awaits the never ending spring at the end of time. In this regard, I find these words of Cardinal Giuseppe Betori appropriate, Archbishop of Florence, with which I conclude:

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“Even today, cemeteries are a place to exercise faith by praying for our loved ones. They used to stand at the churches so that there, where Jesus died and rose again, the deceased were also remembered and their memory referred to Jesus, Lord of the living and the dead. Even today the Church recommends burial as the closest form to our faith. It also allows for other choices, such as cremation, provided it is not made explicitly to deny belief in the final resurrection. In all cases, he asks that the ashes be kept in cemeteries, not in one's own homes and never disperse them in nature, denying a precise place to remember together and where the Christian community can ensure constant prayer. May these holidays give us that light and warmth that we deeply need and ease the step for those who in faith walk towards the place of bliss and peace, where God will be all in all".

Florence, 2 November 2022

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1 He is a presbyter of the archdiocese of Florence and a specialist in the sacred liturgy and history of the liturgy

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PRAISE OF DEATH

Popular liturgical hymn

Church of Santa Maria della Misericordia, Lastra a Signa (Florence)

Octave of the Dead, November 2013

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Of our brothers,
afflicted and weeping,
Lord of the people:
pardon, compassion.

Submerged in fire
of a horrible prison
they cry out to you:
pardon, compassion.

If at our works
regards severe,
then I no longer hope:
pardon, compassion.

But I look kind
if you turn to the cross,
repeats each voice:
pardon, compassion.

To our brothers
therefore give rest,
the loving priest:
pardon, compassion.

Until from that fire
they will be resurrected,
Lord of your dead:
pardon, compassion.

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