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  • Obama’s Health Care Plan Undercuts Civil Marriage

    Or so Mike McManus thinks:

    While abortion and public plan aspects of health reform have been debated, a far more vexing issue for defenders of the traditional family should be the very substantial marriage penalties buried in the 2,457 page bill moving through Congress.

    Indeed, the low and middle income subsidies in the “health insurance exchanges” are stacked against marriage – with penalties of up to 100 percent if a cohabiting couple decides to marry.

    Individuals, who do not now have insurance, who have incomes up to $43,500, will be able to buy it at a very low cost due to federal subsidies.

    For example, an individual earning $25,000 would pay only $1,538 in insurance premiums. But what if that person is cohabiting with a partner with the same income, and they decide to marry? Their premium is not $3,072, double the cost of one person, but $5,160.

    That’s a marriage penalty of $2,084.

    In theory, universal health care should take civil marriage out of the picture by ending the need for “partnering” to secure benefits.  That’s one of the reasons why the LGBT community has pushed for same sex civil marriage.

    But, because of the nature of the low income subsidies, you actually end up with a marriage penalty.  This is a repeat of many other aspects of our welfare laws that penalise civil marriage for low-income people.

    Instead of wasting theirs and everyone else’s time trying to make the state do what it’s “supposed to do” with civil marriage, defenders of “traditional” marriage would do well to work for a divorce–of marriage and the state.  Marriage needs to be strictly “under God” and the sooner the Christian community figures this out the better.

  • The Canon of the Mass: Canon “C”

    The form and structure of liturgies is something that churches which employ these in worship either take for granted or argue over intensely. But very few people understand how a) these came into being or b) how they should be revised or replaced in times of liturgical change. What kind of theology is embodied in a liturgy? What attention to the rhythm and metre is given? How will a liturgy work in a language other than one the one it’s written in? How well does a liturgy communicate its message, in addition to being the setting for the “sacred pledge” of the Eucharist? All of these important questions frequently get the short shrift, either by defenders of an existing liturgy of by proposers of a new one?

    Liturgical change is the time when these questions do get asked the most. Probably the most important liturgical transition of the last one hundred years took place when the Roman Catholic Church promulgated the Novus Ordo Missae, which was instituted in 1970. That mass was the result of both theological and liturgical forces that had been going on in the Church for most of the preceding century.

    Many of those changes—and probably some of the process that led to the NOM—were set forth in Cipriano Vagaggini’s book The Canon of the Mass and Liturgical Reform. Published in 1967, it is a careful and thorough treatment of the subject, and probably represents the thinking of those in charge of the liturgical reform initiated by Vatican II.

    The focus of his work is the anaphora, which is, by Vagaggini’s definition, “the liturgical text which accompanies and expresses the offering of the Church’s sacrifice to the Father.” The RCC had used the Roman Canon for nearly fourteen centuries and, while Vagaggini is careful to underline the importance of the Roman Canon to the life of the Church, he is also clear that it has its defects as well.

    In this series (which starts here,) we will reproduce the various historical anaphorae he sets forth, plus two Projects “B” and “C” which are his proposals (or perhaps those at the Vatican in the process of formulating the then really “new” NOM) for new anaphorae to be used in the church. Vagaggini also has extensive explanations for all of this; consult the book for these.

    I will reproduce the English translations of these anaphorae only. Serious liturgists would do well to consult his original Latin, as the translations look like they were taken from the Italian without consideration of the original Latin text. I have tried to winnow out errors in the OCR process but, if you find some, please bring them to my attention.

    A general overview of this topic can be found here.

    (Here ends the fixed portion of the introduction; the variable portion follows.)

    Our last anaphora is Vagaggini’s “Canon C,” which has a fixed preface, and which is “…to be used ad libitum on sundays of the year, and in those masses which do not have a proper preface .” It presents the history of salvation, which we saw in some of the ancient canons.

    I

    1-5 It is good and fitting, and for our salvation, to give glory to you; to offer thanks at all times, in every place, to you, Lord,

    6 holy Father,

    7 almighty and eternal God,

    8 through Christ our Lord.

    9 Through him you have enabled us to acknowledge the truth

    10-12 that we might humbly adore you above all things, Father of eternal glory, with your Son and the Holy Spirit;

    13 that in proclaiming you, Love itself beyond all telling, 14 we might love you with undying gladness of heart.

    15 It is in him. your only Son.

    16 that you have made all things, visible and invisible,

    17 in order that he be first among all men;

    18 and all creation is in him;

    19 and through him all forever praise your name.

    20-21 Through him, therefore, all the choirs of angels adore your eternal glory.

    22 the countless saints of heaven worship your eternal majesty.

    23 Gathered around your throne

    24 with unending joy they sing:

    25 Holy,

    26 Holy,

    27 Holy,

    28 Lord, God of all.

    29 The heavens and the earth are filled with your glory.

    30 Hosanna in the heights of heaven.

    31 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

    32 Hosanna in the heights of heaven.

    II

    33 You are indeed, Lord, holy:

    34 truly you have filled heaven and earth

    35 with the wonder of your glory.

    36 In the beginning you made man out of earth,

    37 made him in your image, like to yourself;

    38-43 so that, having subjected all living things to him, the wonders of your world are his to rule; all that you have made is a gift in trust, and at all times he adores you in the wonders of your works.

    44 After his fall from the life of grace

    45 you did not cease to favour him

    46 so that he still searched for you:

    47 in your goodness, through the Law and the prophets, you led him by the hand to the Saviour.

    48 You loved the world so much. holy Father,

    49 that you sent you only Son to be our Saviour,

    50 that you might love in us what you have always loved in the Son.

    51 Conceived through the Holy Spirit in the virgin Mary,

    52 he has brought back to us, in abundance,

    53 the gifts we lost in the first Adam.

    54 He loved us to the end;

    55-56 thus, through the Holy Spirit he offered himself to you, a blameless Victim,

    57 fulfilling in himself what the sacrifices of old prefigured,

    58 and once for all gained our eternal redemption.

    59 He arose from the dead in glory,

    60 ascended to his place at your right hand,

    61 the eternal High Priest, living forever to intercede for us.

    62 He will come to judge the living and the dead,

    63-64 and we have his promise he will be with us forever.

    65 And so, from you, Father, he has sent another Paraclete,

    66 the Spirit of truth, to teach us all things

    67 and fill the world with all holiness.

    III

    68 We ask, therefore, most merciful Lord,

    69-71 that the Holy Spirit be pleased to fill with the presence of his glory these gifts w.e offer for you to sanctify;

    72 through him may they become the body and the blood

    73 of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord,

    74 to be a sacrifice pleasing to you,

    75 the sacrifice he demanded we offer you.

    IV

    76 For he, the day before his passion,

    77-78 gave us in trust this great mystery of the new covenant,

    79 an everlasting memorial of his marvellous works:

    80 in his mercy he ordained before he offered himself on the cross

    81 that we too, his humble servants

    82 should constantly offer this sacrifice

    83 in the mystery of his body and his blood.

    84 So when he was about to give himself to die,

    85 he took bread in his holy and blessed hands,

    86 looking up to heaven, to you, God, his all-powerful Father,

    87 he gave thanks, blessed and broke it and gave to his disciples saying:

    88 take and eat, all of you:

    89 this is my body which shall he given for you.

    90 Do this in memory of me.

    91 In the same way when they had eaten,

    92 he took wine and water in a cup,

    93 gave thanks, blessed and gave it to his disciples saying:

    94 take and drink,all of you:

    95 this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood

    96 which shall be poured out for you and for everyone

    97 to take away all sins.

    98 Do this in memory of me.

    V

    99 Therefore, Lord,

    100 we your servants, and your holy people,

    101 remember the glorious passion of your Son,

    102 his wonderful resurrection and ascension into heaven;

    103 thus, while we await his second coming,

    104 we confidently approach the throne of your loving mercy;

    105-106 we thank you, we offer you this bloodless sacrifice, the gift which you yourself have given us :

    107 the pure Victim,

    108 the holy, blameless Victim.

    109 the victim given that the world might live.

    VI

    110 We beg you, eternal Lord,

    111 receive this Victim, for you desired our salvation through his intercession.

    112 Look with kindness on the offering of your Church,

    113 an offering made holy by the work of your Spirit.

    114 Accept it, we pray;

    115 grant, in your goodness, that as many of us as receive the body and blood of your Son,

    116 may be filled with this Holy Spirit;

    117 may we become in him one body, one spirit.

    118 May he make us an eternal offering to you,

    119 that we may come to the lasting inheritance the saints enjoy.

    VII

    120 Above all in company with the blessed, glorious, and ever-virgin Mary,

    121 mother of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ;

    122 with blessed Joseph and John the Baptist,

    123 your holy apostles Peter and Paul,

    124 saint N. (patron of the diocese), saint N. (saint of the day), and all your saints; [in Masses which are not de sanctis the individual priest—or community—may here insert a saint’s name of his own choice.]

    125 we trust that through their merits and prayers we shall receive your help, as they plead on our behalf.

    VIII

    126 Remember, Lord, your holy Church throughout the entire world,

    127 for which we offer this saving Victim.

    128 Be pleased to gather your people from every place on earth and protect them,

    129 with your servant our Pope N., and all the bishops of the world,

    130 our own bishop .N., and the holy people you have redeemed.

    IX

    131 We pray, Lord, accept

    132 the petitions and prayers of those who have made this offering

    133 and all those here present, who offer this sacrifice of praise to make amends.

    134 Wipe away their sins through these holy mysteries, 135 and. in your kindness. cleanse them

    136 that they may receive forever the gift of your faithful love.

    X

    137-8 Look on us, ministers at your altar, with mercy, Lord, for we too are sinners.

    139 Accept our service kindly,

    140 grant that our lives may be true to the mystery we celebrate.

    XI

    141 Remember also, Lord, those men and women, your servants, who have died

    142 marked with the sign of faith,

    143 and rest in the peace of Christ.

    144 Let them enter, we pray, that place of eternal joy and light,

    145 where we hope one day to enjoy with them the everlasting vision of your glory.

    XII

    146 Through Christ, our Lord,

    147 through whom you give all gifts to the world, [when food is blessed here, there is said: …through whom you ever create all things, and they are good, you make them holy, you endow them with life, you bless them, and you offer them to us.]

    148 through him,

    149 with him,

    150 and in him

    151-3 be all honour and glory, to you, God the almighty Father, one with the Holy Spirit,

    154 forever and ever. Amen.

  • The Canon of the Mass: Canon “B”

    The form and structure of liturgies is something that churches which employ these in worship either take for granted or argue over intensely. But very few people understand how a) these came into being or b) how they should be revised or replaced in times of liturgical change. What kind of theology is embodied in a liturgy? What attention to the rhythm and metre is given? How will a liturgy work in a language other than one the one it’s written in? How well does a liturgy communicate its message, in addition to being the setting for the “sacred pledge” of the Eucharist? All of these important questions frequently get the short shrift, either by defenders of an existing liturgy of by proposers of a new one?

    Liturgical change is the time when these questions do get asked the most. Probably the most important liturgical transition of the last one hundred years took place when the Roman Catholic Church promulgated the Novus Ordo Missae, which was instituted in 1970. That mass was the result of both theological and liturgical forces that had been going on in the Church for most of the preceding century.

    Many of those changes—and probably some of the process that led to the NOM—were set forth in Cipriano Vagaggini’s book The Canon of the Mass and Liturgical Reform. Published in 1967, it is a careful and thorough treatment of the subject, and probably represents the thinking of those in charge of the liturgical reform initiated by Vatican II.

    The focus of his work is the anaphora, which is, by Vagaggini’s definition, “the liturgical text which accompanies and expresses the offering of the Church’s sacrifice to the Father.” The RCC had used the Roman Canon for nearly fourteen centuries and, while Vagaggini is careful to underline the importance of the Roman Canon to the life of the Church, he is also clear that it has its defects as well.

    In this series (which starts here,) we will reproduce the various historical anaphorae he sets forth, plus two Projects “B” and “C” which are his proposals (or perhaps those at the Vatican in the process of formulating the then really “new” NOM) for new anaphorae to be used in the church. Vagaggini also has extensive explanations for all of this; consult the book for these.

    I will reproduce the English translations of these anaphorae only. Serious liturgists would do well to consult his original Latin, as the translations look like they were taken from the Italian without consideration of the original Latin text. I have tried to winnow out errors in the OCR process but, if you find some, please bring them to my attention.

    A general overview of this topic can be found here.

    (Here ends the fixed portion of the introduction; the variable portion follows.)

    Here we veer away from the ancient liturgies and look at Vagaggni’s own “Canon B, “ “with a movable preface to be used ad libitum in the Masses with a proper preface.”

    I

    It is good and fitting. ..

    Holy. . . Hosanna in the heights of heaven.

    II

    1 You are indeed holy, Lord,

    2 and it is right that your creation

    3 gives you unending praise

    4 with a voice proclaiming forever

    5 that the heavens and earth are filled with the wonders of your glory;

    6 for through your Son, Jesus Cnrist, our Lord,

    7 and through the life of the Spirit within us

    8 vou make all things -live. all things holy.

    III

    9 We ask, therefore, most merciful Lord,

    10 be pleased to bless these gifts, and make them holy,

    11 gifts which we offer for you to sanctify.

    12 We pray you, bid your Spirit in his strength, to enter them

    13 by the power of your Anointed, our Lord,

    14 so that they become, for us, his body and his blood,

    15 a sacrifice pleasing to you

    16 such as he demanded we offer you.

    IV

    17 For he, the day before his passion,

    18-19 gave us in trust this great mystery of the new covenant,

    20 an everlasting memorial of his marvellous works:

    21-22 in his mercy he ordained before he offered himself on the cross that we too, his humble servants

    23 should constantly offer this sacrifice

    24 in the mystery of his body and his blood.

    25 So, when he was about to give himself to die,

    26 he took bread in his holy and blessed hands,

    27 looking up to heaven, to you, God, his all-powerful Father,

    28 he gave thanks, blessed and broke it: and gave to his disciples saying:

    29 take and eat, all of you:

    30 this is my body which shall be given for you.

    31 Do this in memory of me.

    32 In the same way when they had eaten,

    33 he took wine and water in a cup,

    34 gave thanks, blessed and gave it to his disciples saying:

    35 take and drink, all of you:

    36 this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood

    37 which shall be poured out for you and for everyone

    38 to take away all sins.

    39 Do this in memory of me.

    V

    40-42 Therefore, Lord, we your servants, and your holy people, remember the glorious passion of your Son,

    43 his wonderful resurrection and ascension into heaven;

    44 thus, while we await his second coming,

    45 we confidently approach the throne of your loving mercy;

    46 we thank you, we offer you this gift which you yourself have given us,

    47 this bloodless sacrifice:

    48 the pure Victim,

    49-50 the holy, blameless Victim,

    the Victim given that the world might live.

    VI

    51 We beg you, eternal Lord,

    52-57 receive this Victim, for you desired our salvation through his intercession. Look with kindness on the offering of your Church, an offering made holy by the work of your Spirit. Accept it, we pray; grant, in your goodness, that as many of us as receive the body and blood of your Son, may be filled with this Holy Spirit;

    58 may we become in him one body, one spirit.

    59 May he make us an eternal offering to you,

    60 that we may come to the lasting inheritance the saints enjoy;

    VII

    61 above all in company with the blessed, glorious, and ever-virgin Mary,

    62 mother of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ;

    63 with blessed Joseph and John the Baptist,

    64 your holy apostles Peter and Paul,

    65 saint N. (patron of the diocese), saint N. (saint of the day), and all your saints; [in Masses which are not de sanctis the individual priest—or community—may here insert a saint’s name of his own choice]

    66 we trust that through their merits and prayers we shall receive your help, as they plead on our behalf.

    VIII

    67 Remember, Lord, your holy Church throughout the entire world,

    68 for which we offer this saving Victim.

    69 Be pleased to gather your people from every place on earth and protect them,

    70 with your servant our Pope N., and all the bishops of the world,

    71 our own Bishop N., and the holy people you have redeemed.

    IX

    72-73 We pray, Lord, accept the petitions and prayers of those who have made this offering and all those here present,

    74 who offer this sacrifice of praise to make amends.

    75 Wipe away their sins through these holy mysteries,

    76 and, in your kindness, cleanse them

    77 that they may receive forever the gifts of your faithful love.

    X

    78-79 Look on us, ministers at your altar, with mercy, Lord, for we too are sinners.

    80 Accept our service kindly,

    81 grant that our lives may be true to the mystery we celebrate.

    XI

    82-84 Remember also, Lord, those men and women, your servants, who have died, marked with the sign of faith, and rest in the peace of Christ.

    85 Let them enter, we pray, that place of eternal joy and light,

    86 where we hope one day to enjoy with them the everlasting vision of your glory.

    XII

    87 Through Christ, our Lord,

    88 through whom you give all gifts to the world,

    [when food is blessed here, there is said: . . . through whom you ever create all things, and they are good, you make them holy, you endow them with life, you bless them, and you offer them to us.]

    89 through him,

    90 with him,

    91 and in him

    92 be all honour and glory,

    93 to you, God the almighty Father,

    94 one with the Holy Spirit,

    95 for ever and ever.

    Amen.

  • Calling the Police on Santa Claus

    Only in the UK…

    The children detained in the Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre are lost somewhere in the UK’s asylum system.  There more about this strange business here.

    “Santa Claus” is in reality the Rev. Canon James Rosenthal, a world class authority on the original “St. Nick,” St. Nicholas of Myra.  I love the Anglican blessing of the toys; perhaps that’s what takes place before the sleigh takes off.

    HT to Anglicans Online.

  • Using Jesus, Joseph and Mary to Encourage Census Participation

    This is another one of those “I thought I had seen everything” kind of moments:

    In an effort to encourage participation in the Census, the National Association of Latino Elected Officials is distributing this poster (mostly in Spanish) to churches nationwide:

    Rev. Miguel Rivera, who heads the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, calls it “blasphemous.” The Washington Post quoted him on his radio show as saying, “The Census would never do the same thing using the name of Muhammed during Ramadan.”

    In a country whose elites are as hell-bent on excising religion from public life as ours are, this is a doozy of an effort.  (And I use that expression knowledgeably; my grandfather was a Dusenberg dealer.)

  • The Canon of the Mass: The Anaphora of St. Mark

    The form and structure of liturgies is something that churches which employ these in worship either take for granted or argue over intensely. But very few people understand how a) these came into being or b) how they should be revised or replaced in times of liturgical change. What kind of theology is embodied in a liturgy? What attention to the rhythm and metre is given? How will a liturgy work in a language other than one the one it’s written in? How well does a liturgy communicate its message, in addition to being the setting for the “sacred pledge” of the Eucharist? All of these important questions frequently get the short shrift, either by defenders of an existing liturgy of by proposers of a new one?

    Liturgical change is the time when these questions do get asked the most. Probably the most important liturgical transition of the last one hundred years took place when the Roman Catholic Church promulgated the Novus Ordo Missae, which was instituted in 1970. That mass was the result of both theological and liturgical forces that had been going on in the Church for most of the preceding century.

    Many of those changes—and probably some of the process that led to the NOM—were set forth in Cipriano Vagaggini’s book The Canon of the Mass and Liturgical Reform. Published in 1967, it is a careful and thorough treatment of the subject, and probably represents the thinking of those in charge of the liturgical reform initiated by Vatican II.

    The focus of his work is the anaphora, which is, by Vagaggini’s definition, “the liturgical text which accompanies and expresses the offering of the Church’s sacrifice to the Father.” The RCC had used the Roman Canon for nearly fourteen centuries and, while Vagaggini is careful to underline the importance of the Roman Canon to the life of the Church, he is also clear that it has its defects as well.

    In this series (which starts here,) we will reproduce the various historical anaphorae he sets forth, plus two Projects “B” and “C” which are his proposals (or perhaps those at the Vatican in the process of formulating the then really “new” NOM) for new anaphorae to be used in the church. Vagaggini also has extensive explanations for all of this; consult the book for these.

    I will reproduce the English translations of these anaphorae only. Serious liturgists would do well to consult his original Latin, as the translations look like they were taken from the Italian without consideration of the original Latin text. I have tried to winnow out errors in the OCR process but, if you find some, please bring them to my attention.

    A general overview of this topic can be found here.

    (Here ends the fixed portion of the introduction; the variable portion follows.)

    This is the “Anaphora of St. Mark,” which, like St. Basil’s comes from Alexandria, is nevertheless more in the Egyptian tradition.

    …Holy, holy, holy Lord of all! Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

    Fill us too with your glory, and deign to send your Holy Spirit upon these offerings which you have created, and make this bread the body of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and this cup the blood of the new covenant of our same et Lord, God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. And as this bread scattered on the mountains and hills has been gathered to become one body… just as this wine from David’s holy branch and this water from the spotless lamb have been mixed so as to become a single sacrament: so gather together the catholic Church of Jesus Christ.

    For our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night in which he gave himself up … (Beginning and last part of the prayer which follows the anamnesis)…your death we announce; your resurrection we proclaim.. . and we pray. .. grant us your servants the power of the Holy Spirit that our faith may grow to the hope of the eternal life that is to come.

    Through our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom glory is given to you Father with the Holy Spirit forever. Amen.

    I

    The Lord be with you all.

    And with you.

    Let us lift up our hearts.

    We have raised them up to the Lord.

    Let us give thanks to the Lord.

    That is right and fitting.

    II

    It is indeed right and fitting, holy and just, and most wholesome for our souls, to praise you who are the Master and Lord, God the almighty Father, and to thank and rejoice in you, to speak and to sing of you, in the day and in the night, our lips never quiet and our hearts never silent. For it is you who made the heavens and all they contain, the earth and all that is in it, the sea, the torrents, the rivers, the lakes and all that is in them. It is you who made man in your own image and likeness and bestowed on him the delights of paradise; when he had sinned you did not scorn and abandon him, but in your loving kindness called him again through your law and instructed him by your prophets. At last, you restored and renewed him by this most wonderful, heavenly and life-giving sacrament. All this you accomplished through him who is your wisdom, the true light, your only Son, our Lord, God, and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

    III

    It is through him that we offer to you, as also to him and to the Holy Spirit, this spiritual and unbloody sacrifice which all the nations offer you Lord, from the East to the West, from the North to the South. Because great is your renown among all the nations, and in every place a sacrifice of incense is offered to your name, a pure sacrifice, a fragrant offering.

    IV

    We ask and prav vou Lord that you who are the true lover of mankind may be mindful of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church, which stretches from one end of the earth to the other; remember, Lord, all your peoples and all your flocks.

    Fill all our hearts with that peace which comes from heaven, and give us peace in this life.

    (A long series of prayers of intercession are inserted here for various intentions. For the most part they are rather wordy and without much order, with repetitions which show that the text is certainly later than that of the Strasbourg papyrus. So we give here in the footnote, the Latin translation of this passage of the papyrus.)

    (Deacon: Let those who are seated rise)

    Free the prisoners, come to the aid of those who are in need, nourish those who are hungry, omfort the anguished, convert those who are in error; enlighten those who are seated in darkness, lift up those who have fallen, give courage to those who hesitate, heal the sick; lead all in the way of salvation and gather them all into your sheepfold; cleanse us from our sins, you who in all things are our protector and guardian.

    V

    (Deacon: Look towards the East)

    You are above all kingdoms, powers, empires and dominations, and above every name that can be named, not only in this world but in the world to come. You have around you thousand upon thousand of holy angels and all the armies of archangels. You have before you those most noble beings: the cherubim with the innumerable eyes, and the six-winged seraphim, who use two wings to cover their faces, two to cover their feet, and two to fly. They cry one to another, never ceasing to speak and to utter your sacred praises, singing that triumphal and thrice holy hymn, proclaiming, glorifying and exalting the splendour of your glory:

    Holy! holy! holy! Lord God of all! Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

    (He raises his voice): All things glorify you at all times, but grant that together with all those who glorify you, you may also receive the praise we offer to you, our Lord and Master, we who praise you with them and say:

    (People): Holy! holy! holy! Lord, God of all! Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

    VI

    Truly, heaven and earth are full of your glory through the coming of our Lord, God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Fill, O God, this sacrifice with that blessing which comes from you by the coming of your most Holy Spirit.

    VII

    Our Lord and God and sovereign king Jesus Christ, on the night in which he gave himself for our sins and suffered death in his flesh for all men, when he was eating with his apostles and disciples, took bread into his holy and spotless hands, lifted his eyes to you, his Father, our God and the God of all, gave thanks, blessed, sanctified, broke it and gave it to his holy and blessed apostles and disciples saying:

    (in a loud voice)

    Take and eat.

    (Deacon: Stretch out your hands)

    (in a loud voice)

    This is my body, which is broken for you and is shared among you for the forgiveness of sins.

    (People: Amen)

    Likewise, when he had finished the meal, he took the cup, filled it with wine and water, lifted his eyes to you, his Father, our God and the God of all, gave thanks, blessed, sanctified, filled it witb the Holy Spirit and gave it to his holy and blessed apostles and disciples saying:

    (in a loud voice)

    Drink some of this all of you.

    (Deacon: Stretch out your hand again)

    This is my blood, the blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for you and for aU men for the forgiveness of sins. (People: Amen) Do this in memory of me. In fact, whenever you eat this bread or drink this cup, you will proclaim my death and my resurrection and announce my ascension, until the time when I return.

    VIII

    That is why, Master and all powerful Lord, King of heaven, in proclaiming the death of your only Son, our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ; in acknowledging his blessed resurrection from the dead on the third day, his ascension into heaven and his sitting at the right hand of you, Gad, his Father; and in waiting for his glorious and terrible second coming, when he will come to judge the living and the dead with justice and will give to each man according to his works,

    -spare us, Lord our God

    we place before you these gifts which come from you.

    IX

    We ask and pray you, you who are the true lover of mankind, to send from your heavenly sanctuary, from your celestial dwelling and unutterable dwelling place, the Paraclete himself, the Holy Spirit of truth, who is Lord and giver of life, who has spoken through the law, through the prophets, and through the apostles. He is present everywhere and fills all things, and he brings about by his own power and not as a minister, the sanctification of those whom he chooses of his own free will. He is simple in essence, but has many different operations; he is the source of divine gifts and consubstantial with you; he proceeds from you and sits with you on the throne of your kingdom, which is also the kingdom of your only Son, our Lord, God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

    Look on us and send upon these loaves and cups your Holy Spirit, that, being God almighty, he may sanctify and consecrate them,

    (in a loud voice)

    and make of this bread the body

    (People: Amen)

    (in a loud voice)

    and of this cup the blood of the new covenant of our Lord, God, Saviour, and sovereign King, Jesus Christ. (Deacon: Deacons, come down.) May we who participate in it find there faith, soberness, healing, wisdom, holiness, renewal of our souls, bodies and spirits, a share in happiness, eternal life and immortality, the glorifying of your holy name and the remission of sins.

    X

    And in this time as in all times, may your most holy, venerable and glorious name be glorified and praised with Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

    (People: As it was, is, [and shall be from generation to generation and for ever and ever. Amen]).

  • Allan Bloom’s “Baptism of Fire” and Cornell’s Student Protests

    Fans of Allan Bloom will find this article a fascinating account of Cornell University’s 1969 student revolt:

    While the administration cowered, many students and faculty members objected. Allan Bloom, one of Cornell’s most popular—and controversial—professors, told the Cornell Daily Sun that he was “shocked” by the agreement, and an unnamed “senior government professor” warned that “this conceivably could be the end of Cornell University.” Before the faculty met to discuss the issue, 50 students, calling themselves part of the “silent center,” protested the administration’s cowardice, waving signs reading DON’T LET THEM BULLY YOU and BERLIN ’32, ITHACA ’69. Some students, under Bloom’s direction, handed out excerpts from Plato’s Republic.

    The faculty by a wide margin voted down the administration’s recommendation to dismiss charges against the students who had overturned the vending machines. Though the faculty did not reject other elements of the agreement, the vote against amnesty infuriated the AAS. Jones gave an incendiary speech on campus radio threatening the lives of faculty who had supported the resolution, calling them racists and mentioning the names of three professors (Bloom, Clinton Rossiter, and Walter Berns) and four administration officials (including Perkins and provost Dale Corson). He even reported their home addresses, warning that they would be dealt with if the faculty didn’t reverse its position by 9:00 PM. Jones closed his remarks by announcing: “Cornell has three hours to live.”

    The threatened faculty brought their families to motels, registering under assumed names. Bloom also helped protect a black student, Alan Keyes, whom the AAS saw as a traitor because he opposed the takeover. Bloom put Keyes on a late-night bus to Montreal and arranged financial aid for him to finish his studies at Harvard.

    Keyes wasn’t the only student of later fame to study under Bloom; the article details a long list of them, serving on both sides of the political spectrum.

    But the legacy of Cornell’s experience lives on:

    In addition to its effect on specific people, the Straight crisis had more atmospheric, long-term consequences for Cornell, starting with a collapse of civil discourse on campus. With the emergence of threats, intimidation, and the publicizing of opponents’ home addresses, political differences became personal. Opposing parties lost the ability to debate differences openly, or to resolve them in a nonviolent manner. The threat of violence, not any adherence to principle, had determined campus policy in the Straight crisis. Once the precedent was established that protest, whether violent or not, could change university policy, the university became increasingly politicized. Any decision would have a political component, and any decision could therefore be challenged, and changed, through political action.

    That’s our political system today.

  • Health Care: Which End of the Camel is in the Tent?

    I agree with Grace-Marie Turner that the health care proposals currently bouncing through Congress are overreach.  But I’m getting especially tired of “camel’s nose” analogies such as this:

    When Sen. Joe Lieberman vowed to vote against the Senate bill if it contains a public plan, Reid had to have something to replace it. He revived a Kennedy-era idea to lower the age of Medicare eligibility to 55. But when Rep. Anthony Weiner (D., N.Y.) let it slip that this would constitute “the mother of all public options,” Reid’s hand was called. “Expanding Medicare is an unvarnished, complete victory for people like me who support a single-payer system,” Weiner inconveniently boasted. “Never mind the camel’s nose — we got his head and neck in the tent.”

    I think Rep. Weiner is wrong.  I think they’re backing the camel into the tent, with all of the unsavoury things that go with it.

    It’s no secret that the end game of the whole health care initiative is a state run, single-payer system like the UK’s NHS.  The intermediate system being debated is crafted for political purposes.  Its implementation will make a single-payer system look good.  But those who pass it may not survive the political backlash that will result.

  • Chandrasekhar Rao: A New State From the “Fast Unto Death” and a Lesson for Christians

    Christians who admire the non-violent protest methods of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King should consider this:

    Wonder what Mahatma Gandhi would have made of this. India’s newest state, its 29th, came about with a local politician, Chandrasekhar Rao, using the Gandhian protest of “fasting unto death”.

    It ended 11 days later with the central government surrendering to his demand to create Telengana from Andhra Pradesh, the southern Indian state of which Hyderabad is the capital. It could be one of the more foolish decisions in independent India’s history, not because of the decision, but the manner in which it was made.

    More astonishingly, Rao had resigned as party chief this June following his Telangana Rashtra Samithi party being defeated in the parliamentary elections, after campaigning for a Telengana state. After democracy chucked out his ambitions, hijacking Gandhi’s weapons has worked. He is likely to be the first chief minister of the new state.

    Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his cabinet stand accused of blinking under pressure and surrendering to political blackmail. Caught between choices of showing determined leadership, a three decades-long spluttering demand for a Telengana state and the devil and the deep blue sea, Manmohan’s government could have turned to democratic relief, such as a referendum.

    But on December 9, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) ordered the process to carve out Telengana – possibly the first province in the world to have been born on account of a solitary man voluntarily going off foodstuffs.

    The “fast unto death” was a centrepiece of Gandhi’s non-violent protest method.  That’s something that Christians (such as fans of the Manhattan Declaration) may have forgotten.  But Gandhi used it for a far different purpose than Chandrasekhar Rao:

    Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi started his Satyagraha or “truth force” movement in South Africa in 1907 to successfully protest an apartheid law. The “Asiatic Act” or Registration Law discriminated against people of Asian origin, from restricting their movements to not recognizing non-Christian marriages.

    Gandhi brought his Satyagraha method to India in 1915 and it led the country’s struggle for independence in 1947. Among the many Satyagraha ground rules is the dictate that it “must always provide a face-saving ‘way out’ for opponents. The goal is to discover a wider vista of truth and justice, not to achieve victory over the opponent.”

    If there’s one lesson that the last thirty years of Christian political activism in the U.S. should have taught everyone, it’s that the line between acts of conscience and political grandstanding can be very thin.  But those who have led the crusade for the “moral majority” have been so successfully demonised–even within the Christian community–that learning substantive lessons from their mistakes can be difficult.  One of those lessons is that we may get results, but the blowback may negate them.

    But not learning lessons from history is an American pastime, and we all know what happens when history repeats itself.

  • The Canon of the Mass: The Anaphora of Theodore of Mopsuestia

    The form and structure of liturgies is something that churches which employ these in worship either take for granted or argue over intensely. But very few people understand how a) these came into being or b) how they should be revised or replaced in times of liturgical change. What kind of theology is embodied in a liturgy? What attention to the rhythm and metre is given? How will a liturgy work in a language other than one the one it’s written in? How well does a liturgy communicate its message, in addition to being the setting for the “sacred pledge” of the Eucharist? All of these important questions frequently get the short shrift, either by defenders of an existing liturgy of by proposers of a new one?

    Liturgical change is the time when these questions do get asked the most. Probably the most important liturgical transition of the last one hundred years took place when the Roman Catholic Church promulgated the Novus Ordo Missae, which was instituted in 1970. That mass was the result of both theological and liturgical forces that had been going on in the Church for most of the preceding century.

    Many of those changes—and probably some of the process that led to the NOM—were set forth in Cipriano Vagaggini’s book The Canon of the Mass and Liturgical Reform. Published in 1967, it is a careful and thorough treatment of the subject, and probably represents the thinking of those in charge of the liturgical reform initiated by Vatican II.

    The focus of his work is the anaphora, which is, by Vagaggini’s definition, “the liturgical text which accompanies and expresses the offering of the Church’s sacrifice to the Father.” The RCC had used the Roman Canon for nearly fourteen centuries and, while Vagaggini is careful to underline the importance of the Roman Canon to the life of the Church, he is also clear that it has its defects as well.

    In this series (which starts here,) we will reproduce the various historical anaphorae he sets forth, plus two Projects “B” and “C” which are his proposals (or perhaps those at the Vatican in the process of formulating the then really “new” NOM) for new anaphorae to be used in the church. Vagaggini also has extensive explanations for all of this; consult the book for these.

    I will reproduce the English translations of these anaphorae only. Serious liturgists would do well to consult his original Latin, as the translations look like they were taken from the Italian without consideration of the original Latin text. I have tried to winnow out errors in the OCR process but, if you find some, please bring them to my attention.

    A general overview of this topic can be found here.

    (Here ends the fixed portion of the introduction; the variable portion follows.)

    Today we look at the “Anaphora of Theodore of Mopsuestia.” That’s a name that can get you into trouble, but here it’s an anaphora in the Edessa or East-Syrian tradition.

    I

    The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the gift of the Holy Spirit be with all of us, now and for ever-more.

    May your minds be raised aloft, to the sublime heights, to the awe-inspiring region of glory where the wings of the cherubim never cease to move and the seraphim never cease from singing the sweet praises of your holiness.

    They are with you, O God.

    The living and worthy offering of our first fruits, the acceptable and unbloody victim, the Son of our race, is offered for the creatures of the universe to God. the Lord of all.

    That is right and fitting.

    (Deacon: Peace be with us.)

    II

    It is right, Lord, every day, and fitting at all times, and good at every hour to give thanks to your holy name and to adore your divine majesty in every region and place: you, O God, Father in very truth, who exist from eternity, and your only Son our Lord Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit for ever and ever: for you are Lord and creator of all things, seen and unseen: who through your only Son, God and Word, who is the reflection of your glory, the splendour which radiates from you, and the image of your substance, have created and established heaven and earth with all they contain. And through your Holy Spirit of truth, who comes from you, Father, all rational natures, seen and unseen, are strengthened, sanctified and made worthy to offer praise to your adorable godhead.

    In truth, Father, there stands before you and before your only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ and before the Holy Spirit thousands upon thousands of sublime spirits, and ten thousand times ten thousand holy angels, whose bliss in life lies in hallowing, by never-ceasing praise, your name, great and holy. Through your grace, Lord, you have once more made our frail race of mortals worthy to give praise and honour, with all the choirs of these sublime beings, to your majesty which controls all things; with those who rejoice without pause before your supreme holiness, in celebration of the glory of your glorious Trinity, exclaiming, glorifying perpetually, crying out one to another, saying and replying: Holy, holy (The priest says this prayer: Holy, holy, holy the all-powerful Lord).

    III

    (The priest says this prayer of supplication in a low voice)

    Truly holy and worthy of praise, Lord for all eternity. You are holy, God our Father, unique and true, and holy is the Holy Spirit, of divine nature, not created, the founder of all things, who is by nature truly and absolutely holy: holy is his name and holy his dwelling place, he who sanctities all those who are worthy to receive the gift of his grace. And we give praise, glory, thanksgiving and adoration to you, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, now and for ever age after age.

    We adore you, Lord, give you our thanks and glorify you for all your gifts to us: for you created us out of nothing, and made us worthy by honouring us with the gift of liberty and understanding: you who are solicitous at every instant to preserve in being the life of every one of us.

    In the presence of your great and awesome name, we kneel and adore: and with us give praise and thanks all the choirs of the sublime spirits, because through your inexpressible favour to us, mankind, and for our salvation, your only Son, the Word, although he was the image of God, did not cling to his rank of equality with God, hut emptied himself and took upon himself the likeness of a slave, descended from heaven, put on our humanity, a mortal body and a rational soul endowed with intelligence and immortality, through the holy Virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit: he thus accomplished and completed the whole of this great and admirable dispensation which had been prepared in your foreknowledge before the foundation of the world. You have again fulfilled it in most recent times through your only Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, in whom dwells corporeally all the fullness of the Godhead: it is he who is the head of the Church and the first-born from among the dead, and he himself is the perfection of all things, because it is through him that they achieve perfection. He offered himself without spot to God, through the eternal Spirit and sanctified us through the oblation of his body, made once and for all. Through the blood of his cross he has brought peace to heaven and earth. He was delivered up for our sins and he rose again for our justification.

    IV

    On the night when he was betrayed, with his apostles he celebrated this mystery, great, awesome, holy and divine: taking bread he blessed it and broke it and gave it to his disciples saying: this is my body which is broken for you so that sins may be forgiven. Likewise with the chalice: he offered thanks, gave it to them and said: this is the blood of the new covenant which is shed for many so that sins may be forgiven. Take, all of you, and eat of this bread and drink of this chalice, and do this whenever you assemble in memory of me.

    V

    We are now assembled just as he prescribed, we, your servants, humble, poor and helpless, to celebrate by your favour the great, awesome, holy and divine mystery by which the salvation of all our human race has been accomplished. (Canon)At the same time we offer praise, honour, faith and adoration to the Father, to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and for evermore.

    (The deacon says: Pray in your hearts, etc. The priest says this prayer: The all-powerful Lord …)

    We adore you, Lord, and give you thanks and glorify you because, although unworthy on account of our sins, you have given us access to yourself through your countless mercies: and you have renewed us and sanctified us by the grace of the Holy Spirit, and made us worthy to carry out this awe-inspiring and divine mystery in your presence, for the salvation of our life: at the same time we profess our faith before you with great thanksgiving for the salvation granted to us by your well-loved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. In the presence of your glorious Trinity, and with a humble heart and penitent spirit, we offer this living and holy sacrifice, which is the mystery of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, asking and praying in your presence, Lord, that your adorable divinity may find it pleasing and that through your mercy this pure and holy oblation, by which you are appeased and reconciled, may be accepted for the sins of the world.

    VI

    Now once again, O Lord, this oblation is offered-in the presence of your great and awesome name, for all your holy and catholic Church: so that your tranquility and peace may dwell in her midst for all time; and that she may remain far removed from persecutions, agitations, schisms and division, and that we may ail be united among ourselves in unanimous agreement, with pure hearts and in perfect love.

    And for all our father bishops, priests and deacons, who are in this ministry of truth: in order that they may hold firm and fulfil their ministry in your presence in a pure, radiant and holy manner, and so please your will that they may deserve to obtain from you sublime blessings in the revelation of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

    And for all the sons of the holy Catholic Church who are here and in every land: that they may advance in adoration of your majesty, in true faith, good works and praises for the salvation of their lives.

    And for your servant, sinful and guilty: so that by your grace, Lord, you may pardon my sins and forgive the offences which I have committed in your presence knowingly or in ignorance.

    And for all those for whom this sacrifice is offered: so that they may find mercies and graces in your presence, and live. And for the fruits of the earth and the calmness of the air: so that the year may be blessed in your grace and kindness.

    And for the whole race of men who are to be found in sin or error: so that by your grace you may make them worthy to know the truth and adore your majesty: so that they may come to the knowledge of you as Lord from all eternity, divine nature, not created, creator of all things, Father, Son and Holy Spirit: and so that they may know that for us men, for our salvation, the Son of God, the Word of God, put on the perfect man, he who is our Lord Jesus Christ: he was made perfect and justified by the power of God and by the Holy Spirit, and be is the mediator between God and man, he who gives life age after age to those who through him have access to God the Father: to whom be praises and blessings for ever-more.

    Lord our God, receive from us, by your grace, this sacrifice of thanksgiving, the worthy fruits of our lips so that they may become in your presence a happy memorial of just men of former times, of holy prophets, of the blessed apostles, martyrs and confessors, bishops, doctors, priests, deacons and of all the sans of the holy Catholic Church, of those who have de-parted this world in the true faith, so that by your grace, Lord, you may grant them the forgiveness of all the sins and errors they have committed in sinning and offending you in this world, mortal and subject to change, for there is nobody who does not sin.

    VII

    We ask, beg and beseech you Lord, that your adorable divinity be pleased, and that by your goodness

    (Deacon: In silence and fear)

    the grace of the Holy Spirit may come down upon us and upon this oblation, that he may stay and descend on this bread and on this chalice, bless them, sanctify them and sign them with his seal in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: and that the bread may become by the power of your name-this bread I mean-the holy body of our Lord Jesus Christ, and this cup, the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ: so that to all those who eat of this bread and drink of this cup in true faith, there will be given the pardon of sins and the forgiveness of offences, the great hope of the resurrection from the dead, the salvation of body and soul, and the new life in the kingdom of heaven.

    And make us all worthy, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that with all those who have been pleasing to your will and directed their lives according to your commandments, we may rejoice in the kingdom of heaven in the possession of those goods which will not pass away.

    VIII

    And here below and there on high we will all equally and in unison profess our faith, adore and praise the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit now and for ever age after age.

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