The Feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist

This is a re-post of a homily by Fr. Eric Andersen, who is currently at St. Stephen's in Portland, OR. This post first appeared on this blog three years ago.

A homily by Fr. Eric M. Andersen, on The Passion of St. John the Baptist

“It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.” Death has no power over these words (cf. Gueranger. The Liturgical Year. vol. 14., p. 109). A tyrant may put to death the man who speaks these words, but he cannot put these words to death. They are truth itself. “It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.” This is not a man made law. This is God’s eternal law that cannot be broken without dire consequences.

These are the dire consequences:

“Josephus relates how [Herod Antipas] was overcome by the Arabian Aretas, whose daughter he had repudiated in order to follow his wicked passions; and the Jews attributed the defeat to the murder of St. John. He was deposed by Rome from his tetrarchate, and banished to Lyons in Gaul, where the ambitious Herodias shared his disgrace. As to her dancing daughter Salome, there is a tradition gathered from ancient authors, that, having gone out one winter day to dance upon a frozen river, she fell through into the water; the ice, immediately closing round her neck, cut off her head, which bounded upon the surface, thus continuing for some moments the dance of death" (Gueranger 112).

This feast actually celebrates four events. The first event is the beheading itself. “The second event is the burning and gathering, or collecting, of St. John’s bones” (Voragine, The Golden Legend. Vol II., p. 135). This is called the second martyrdom of St. John the Baptist. His disciples had buried his body at Sebaste, a city in Palestine…and many miracles had occurred at his tomb (cf. Voragine 135). “For this reason the pagans, by order of Julian the Apostate, scattered his bones, but the miracles did not cease, and the bones were collected, burned, and pulverized, and the ashes thrown to the winds to be blown over the fields…” (135). On the day when the bones were collected to be burned, some monks from Jerusalem secretly mingled with the pagans and carried out many of the relics, saving them from destruction. They delivered these to Philip, bishop of Jerusalem, who sent them to Anastasius, the bishop of Alexandria. During the Crusades, many of them were brought into the West and distributed among many churches.

The third event commemorated on this feast is the finding of the head of St. John the Baptist which happened on this day. It is said that when John was beheaded, Herodias had John’s head taken to Jerusalem to be buried because “she feared that the prophet would return to life if his head was buried with his body. Four hundred years later some monks took the head to venerate it in a more proper place. It was stolen and hidden in a cave. The man who stole it revealed on his deathbed where it was, but the hiding place was kept secret for a long time. Many years later, a holy monk, St. Marcellus, had taken up residence in this cave. It was revealed to him where the head was hidden. The head was then enshrined in a beautiful church in Poitiers in France.

The fourth event is the translation of one of St. John’s fingers and the dedication of a church. The finger with which he pointed to the Lord, could not be burned. The finger made its way to Normandy, France where a church was built in honor of St. John the Baptist. 

Why Ad Orientem? A Short Video Explanation

Here's an instructive video, with this description on You Tube:

Published on Jul 25, 2014

One of the most obvious differences between the Old Rite of Mass and the Novus Ordo is the direction in which the priest faces.

Worship 'ad orientem', or facing East, is an ancient practice going back to the earliest centuries of the Church. Criticised by advocates of the New Mass as 'the priest turning his back to the people', it is nothing of the sort. Quite the reverse, in fact, it unites priest and people in a deep and spiritual way unheard of in most Novus Ordo celebrations.

Here Dr Joseph Shaw explains the ancient roots of Mass facing East, its theological and spiritual symbolism, and why arguments claiming that Mass facing the people was the practice in the early Church are totally spurious.

Fr. Andersen Homily: Becoming New Through Confession and the Eucharist

Homily for Sunday, August 2nd, 2015

Fr. Eric M. Andersen
August 2nd, 2015
St. Stephen Catholic Church

Dominica XVIII Per Annum, Anno B

  The philosophers and scientists of Ancient Greece and Rome had incredible intellects: Socrates, Plato, & Aristotle––to name a few. God gave them their intellect as He gives it to all of us. Man can achieve amazing things through the use of his God-given genius. It might sometimes seem like nothing is beyond what man can achieve through science. We turn to science to unlock the mysteries of creation and to reveal the truth. Science is always progressing. Truth however, does not progress. Truth was truth in the beginning, is now, and it ever shall be truth. 

 
  The great men of antiquity discovered and passed on to us the fruits of their inquiry by the natural use of their minds. Yet, as great as they were, these great men of science from pagan antiquity represent the old man, about which St. Paul writes. The old man has much to commend him. The natural state of man is pretty amazing, by God’s design; but it pales in comparison with the supernatural state of man––also by God’s design. Who, then, is the new man? If the old man is one in his natural state, the new man is one in a supernatural state, elevated by God with sanctifying grace. St. Paul teaches us that we are to put off the old man and put on the new man. 

 
  St. Thomas writes: “The substance of human nature is not to be rejected or despoiled, but only wicked actions and conduct” (Aquinas. Commentary on Ephesians. C.4 L.7 §241). First, we must be renewed in the spirit of our mind, which refers to our rational spirit. Here is a good example of how pagan antiquity got it right, but not fully. Aristotle observed that human beings are distinguished above all other creatures by their rational intellectual souls. St. Thomas Aquinas is famous for christianizing the philosophy of Aristotle. St. Thomas corrected it based upon his own intellect having been elevated by means of sanctifying grace. Aristotle represents the old man; St. Thomas represents the new man of grace.   

  The ancient Greek and Roman philosophers sought truth, and by the natural use of their reason, they came close. They discovered some truth, but not the fullness of truth. The fullness of truth cannot be discovered by unaided reason. God assists the new man by elevating his intellect by grace through faith. Faith and reason must accompany one another to arrive at a higher truth which must be revealed by God.
   

  Likewise, Plato and Aristotle, by the natural use of their reason arrived at the truth of monotheism (one God), but they could not arrive at the truth that there is one God in three persons. Unaided reason cannot arrive at that. It must be revealed by God and received with the help of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of knowledge and understanding. 

 
  Now, I must clarify something. Earlier I spoke of the old man who is natural and the new man who is supernatural. I need to clarify: The true order of nature is the state of original justice, like Adam and Eve before the fall. What we refer to as nature today is fallen nature. The true natural state is restored in us by God in the sacrament of Baptism. God gives us new life, as the new man, by placing His Holy Spirit within us by means of the sacramental life. He tells us “My Father gives you the true bread from heaven…who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (Jn. 6:34). And then the clincher: “I AM the bread of life.” 

  The Church takes this literally. I AM is the name of God given to Moses. Jesus not only identifies that He is God––the very same God revealed to Moses––but He also identifies Himself with a bread from heaven that is greater than the miraculous manna given in the desert. The Manna was miraculous. This bread, however, is not just miraculous, it is even more. This bread from heaven is the Holy Eucharist that we celebrate in this and every Mass. The old man cannot understand this by the unaided use of his reason. We must put off the old man and put on the new man in order to understand what Jesus is saying. We must receive it with the help of the Holy Spirit who elevates our intellect to understand it. 

 
  But what if I doubt? Am I lacking faith? Is it a sin to doubt? Is it my fault that I doubt? These are good questions. Doubt can be a temptation. What happens when we entertain thoughts that are temptations? We risk giving into the temptation. When that happens, we become like the old man again. Do not despair. Take it to Confession. Confess that you struggle with doubt. Give it over to God. He will renew and refresh each of us as new men, as new women, putting off the old man of doubt. St. Paul says, “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” In Confession, the Holy Spirit renews our minds and infuses our souls with the supernatural virtue of faith to combat doubt. God will help us, but we must cooperate with Him. 

 
  By our cooperation with Him––as new men, as new women––we can far exceed in faith what the most brilliant men of old acquired by unaided reason. We may not become geniuses in the eyes of the world when it comes to science, but being renewed in the Spirit, we will come to know the mind of God and to share in His knowledge. We will look upon the Sacred Host in adoration, understanding deeply in our souls that the Eucharist is not just a piece of bread, not just a symbol, but in reality, the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ who is the Almighty and Eternal God. That’s pretty incredible! Now, imagine what the most brilliant of scientific minds could achieve in our day in a habitual state of sanctifying grace through regular confession and worthy reception of Holy Communion. Now, imagine what each of us could achieve in our day in a habitual state of sanctifying grace through regular confession and worthy reception of Holy Communion. 

The Feast of St. Martha, Virgin

From the Office of Matins:

Martha was the daughter of noble and wealthy parents, but is best known as having been the hostess of the Lord Christ. After that He was ascended into heaven, Martha, along with her brother Lazarus, her sister Mary Magdalene, her waiting-woman Marcella, Maximin, who was one of the seventy-two disciples of the Lord Christ, and who had baptized the whole of the family, and many other Christians, was taken by the Jews, and turned adrift upon the open sea in a ship without sail or oars, to meet with certain wreck, but by the governance of God the ship came to land at Marseilles with all safe.

Through this miracle and the preaching of the Saints, the people of Marseilles first, and then those of Aix, and of the uttermost tribes, believed in Christ, and Lazarus was made Bishop of Marseilles, and Maximin Bishop of Aix. Mary Magdalene sat still at Jesus' Feet, being altogether given to prayer and the contemplation of heavenly blessedness, that that good part which she had chosen might not be taken away from her, withdrew herself to a great cave in an exceeding high mountain, where she lived for thirty years, utterly cut off from all conversation with men, and every day during that time carried up by Angels into the air, to listen to them that dwell in heaven praising God.

Martha, by the wondrous holiness and charity of her life, drew upon herself the love and wonder of all the inhabitants of Marseilles. She withdrew herself in company with some other honourable women into a place out of the way of men, where she lived long, with great praise for godliness and discretion. She foretold her own death long before, and at last, illustrious for miracles, passed away to be ever with the Lord, upon the 29th day of July. Her body is held in great worship at Tarascon.

Commentary on the Gospel for this Feast

From the Holy Gospel according to Luke
Luke 10:38-42
 At that time: Jesus entered into a certain village, and a certain woman, named Martha, received Him into her house. And so on.

Homily by St Austin, Bishop of Hippo.
26th upon the Words of the Lord.
 

The words of our Lord Jesus Christ which have just been read from the Gospel, give us to wit that there is one thing toward the which we are making our way, all the while that we are striving amid the divers cares of this world. Thitherward we make our way, while we are still strangers and pilgrims, unpossessed as yet of any abiding city, still on the journey, not yet come home, still hoping, not yet enjoying. Still thitherward let us make our way, not slothfully nor by fits and starts, but so that some day we may arrive thither. Martha and Mary were sisters, not in the flesh only, but also in godliness; together, they clave unto the Lord; together, with one heart they served the Lord present in the Flesh.

Martha received Him into her house. It was just as strangers are received, but it was the handmaiden receiving her Lord, the sick receiving her Saviour, the creature receiving her Creator. She received Him, to give bodily meat unto Him by Whom she herself was to be fed unto eternal life. It had been the Lord's will to take upon Him the form of a servant, to be fed by servants, (still out of His good pleasure, not of necessity,) and in that form of a servant which He had taken upon Him. This was His good pleasure, to offer Himself as a subject for hospitality. He had Flesh, wherein He was sometimes hungered and thirsty, but know ye not how that, when He was in the desert and was an-hungered, angels came and ministered unto Him. Himself it was therefore, That gave unto them of whom He was fain to be fed, the wherewithal. And what wonder is this if we consider how that holy Elijah, coming from being fed by the ministry of ravens, asked bread of the widow of Zarephath, and himself gave her the wherewithal to feed him? Had God failed to feed Elijah when He sent him unto the widow? God forbid. He did so that He might bless that godly widow for a service rendered unto His servant.

Thus was that same Lord received as a guest, Who came unto His own, and His own received Him not, but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, adopting servants and making them children, redeeming prisoners and appointing them coheirs. Perchance some of you will say: O how blessed were they who were worthy to receive Christ as a guest into their own home! but mourn not, neither murmur, for that thou hast been born in an age wherein thou canst no more see Christ in the flesh. He hath not put the honour of receiving Him beyond thy reach. Inasmuch, saith He, as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me. The above remarks have occurred to me regarding the Lord considered as fed in the flesh, and I shall now touch briefly, as time permits, upon the Same, considered as the Feeder of the soul.

Save the Liturgy, Save the Large Family

July 19-25, 2015 is “NFP Awareness Week”. Although the USCCB intends this to be a week of promotion of NFP, this post presents the other side of the issue, and makes a point concerning the importance of the liturgy as it influences how we choose to live our lives.

An NFP-teaching couple once made the following comment:

My husband and I are NFP teachers, and we do the "sex talk" at the marriage prep our cluster hosts every spring. We work hard to put forth the essence of the Church's teaching in the 45 minutes given to us. We also think carefully about how we present ourselves verbally and physically in an attempt to make Catholic Large Family life attractive. (we have 7 children so far).

This is what it looks like in the trenches (at least in the Northeast). One or 2 couples out of 30 in these prep classes have an understanding of Church teaching. Most are openly living together and contracepting. Even those who go to Mass every weekend are often introduced to the reasons behind the teaching against contraception for the first time at our session!...

It is a fact that most couples – even Catholics – live together and/or are having sex before marriage, and often they are using contraception. Bishops, priests, and the laity are all quite aware of this.

And why are people living this way?  Consider this possibility:

Historically, right around the time of Humanae Vitae and Roe v. Wade, Catholics had also been introduced to the Novus Ordo, and they were being shown that it was acceptable to tamper with the liturgy, to make it “more relevant”, to not follow the rubrics. What would this tell them about the Church? It would suggest that if we may interpret the “source and summit” the way we want to, then surely we may interpret other Church teaching that way, too. And it would suggest that surely we should be living contemporary lives; maybe the Church is just behind the times on this contraception thing. We’ve got to help her along and make the change ourselves so that the Church will be more relevant to others.

Now, if we are free to re-write liturgical rules for the Mass, why should we not be free to form our consciences according to moral relativism? And this is what happened.

Dissident theologians and priests, aided and abetted by silent bishops (and some vocal ones, as well), led the faithful astray by blatantly asserting that disobedience was the order of the day when it came to Humanae Vitae’s affirmation of the Church’s ban on contraception.

The changes in the Mass took away some of the mystery that had been there previously, including the mystery of the Eucharist. Belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist has declined precipitously since Vatican II. Reverence at the typical Novus Ordo Mass has declined compared to what it was (and still is) in the extraordinary form. The number of religious vocations has declined. The number of children born to Catholic families has declined. It seems unlikely that all these things are unrelated.

The liturgy has suffered in its redefinition and revision; and our faith has suffered because of that: lex orandi, lex credendi.

The innovations and modifications that resulted in a weakening of the sense of reverence that was previously shown for the Eucharist include:

• receiving Holy Communion in the hand instead of on the tongue (which diminishes the sense of the Real Presence of Christ);
• allowing lay “ministers” to handle the Eucharist (creating a false sense of our “equality” with priests and therefore with Jesus);
• renovations that lower the sanctuary to the level of the people;
• removing “barriers” (like communion rails) between the people and the sanctuary;
• having the priest face the people as if he is a talk-show host; de-emphasizing the altar as a place of sacrifice and over-emphasizing the concept of Mass as a shared meal;
• introducing popular music as a replacement for Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony.

Likewise, our sense of the mystery, beauty, and inherent dignity of life – from conception to natural end, and even of life that has not yet been conceived – has been compromised by the innovations, modifications, and revelations of science. While scientific advances themselves have the potential to increase our sense of reverence for life, they can also be used for evil: the capability of creating a new human being outside the womb; the advances in fertility treatment that result in “extra” babies being aborted; the use of human embryos to harvest stem cells for research. All of these things give us the sense that we mere creatures have become Creators, able to “create” (and destroy) life at our own whim; able to regulate the health and genetic soundness of that life; and able to “create” or “not create” that life as we see fit – as if life is just another commodity or resource we must learn to exploit to our advantage.

To recap: After Vatican II, the liturgy changed…dramatically: Less reverence…less respect…fewer “absolutes”. After Vatican II, Humanae Vitae confirmed the Church’s perennial teaching against contraception, but dissident theologians and clergy encouraged dissent and rebellion against that teaching: Less reverence for life…less respect for large families…fewer “absolutes”.

People saw that the Church could change the liturgy; why couldn’t the Church change the teaching on contraception? And why didn’t She?! If the stodgy old men in Rome won’t make the Church more “contemporary”, the faithful must do it themselves…right?!

So the Catholic faithful were taught to follow their consciences with regard to birth control, and many of them chose illicit contraception. Family size decreased. The vocations “crisis” ensued. Etc.

Interestingly, if you find a group of people who attend the EF Mass regularly, you will often find large families. While correlation does not imply causation, it’s worth a try: if we return to the reverence and mystery and awe of the EF Mass, perhaps we can recover the sense of reverence and mystery and awe of life that leads couples to embrace the concept of not limiting the number of children they will accept from God.

Save the liturgy, save the large family.

But instead, for now, NFP has been called in to save the day. The commenter mentioned above added:

But in defense of NFP teachers, we need to meet people where they are before we hit them with the deeper issues behind Catholic teaching. “Hmmm, NFP might work for us...” is a more possible step than “I need to get off contraception and be open to life!” Though I have seen this happen too, happily!

There is some truth to this statement, too: Our bishops and priests have neglected to talk about the evil of contraception for over 40 years now. To counteract contraceptive use, the USCCB calls for NFP programs in every diocese; NFP teachers have to deal with the contraceptive mentality of today’s culture, which has infected an overwhelming proportion of Catholics.

And why does the USCCB call for NFP programs? It’s not because NFP is a good thing. It’s because unrestrained use of NFP is a lesser sin than the use of illicit contraception. The teaching of NFP is promoted because “if we don’t teach them NFP, they’ll use contraception.”

That may well be true. The illicit use of NFP is to be preferred over the use of illicit contraception (it is permitted to choose a lesser evil over a greater evil)…but only if there is no other option.

There is another option in this case, though: Teach the evil of contraception. Teach the need for “serious reasons” to avoid procreation. Teach the sanctity and value of life – the blessings and joys – and yes, the sacrifices – of large families.

Teach the Truth.

And follow the thread back to the source: restore to the liturgy the dignity, reverence, and devotion that is proper to the worship of God – who is, after all, the Author of Life.

Angels, Demons, and Healing: Fr. Eric Andersen

This is Fr. Eric Andersen's homily for Sunday, July 12, 2015, taken from his Face Book page.

Fr. Eric M. Andersen
St. Stephen Catholic Church
July 12th, 2015

Dominica XV Per Annum, Anno B

“The Twelve drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them."

  When God created the heavens and all things invisible, He created the angels. St. Paul writes (elsewhere in the scriptures) about thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers (Col. 1:16); elsewhere again about the virtues (Eph 1:21); angels (Heb. ch.1), archangels (1 Thess. 4:15), and cherubim (Heb. 9:5). The scriptures give us one other type of angel called seraphim (Is. 6:2). That makes nine different ranks or choirs of angels. Each of these nine choirs of angels are hierarchically ordered. We acknowledge that each of the various hierarchies exercise different offices, some higher and some lower. In order to learn about the science of angelology, we can look to one of the Church Fathers named Dionysius the Areopagite in his work, “The Celestial Hierarchy.” We can also look to St. Thomas Aquinas. 

 
  St. Thomas, keeping with Dionysius the Areopagite, “divides the angels into three hierarchies each of which contains three orders.” So, there are three sets of three. They are ranked and ordered according to their proximity to the God: The Supreme Being. “In the first hierarchy he places the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones; in the second, the Dominations, Virtues, and Powers; in the third, the Principalities, Archangels, and Angels”(cf. Pope, Hugh. "Angels." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. pg. 478 (column II). 11 Jul. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01476d.htm>.). 

 
  Venerable Prosper Gueranger writes that “It is from the lowest of the nine choirs, the nearest to ourselves, that the Guardian Angels are for the most part selected” (The Liturgical Year. Vol. XIV. Feast of the Guardian Angels). By this he is saying that the guardian angels may be called from among the other choirs of angels, but principally from among the lowest choir which are called angels. Other angelologists (cf. “Our Guardian Angel” available from Opus Sanctorum Angelorum. http://www.opusangelorum.org/Books/Books.html) teach that our guardian angels are assigned to us from among all nine choirs of angels according to our needs, our talents, and our personality. To understand this, let’s look back at each of the nine choirs of angels to see what each of them do. Venerable Prosper Gueranger continues:

 
“God reserves to the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones the honour of following His Own immediate court. The Dominations, from the steps of His throne, preside over the government of the universe; the Virtues watch over the course of nature's laws, the preservation of species, and the movements of the heavens; the Powers hold the spirits of wickedness in subjection. The human race in its entirety, as also its great social bodies, the nations and the churches, are confided to the Principalities; while the Archangels, who preside over smaller communities, seem also to have the office of transmitting to the Angels the commands of God, together with the love and light which come down even to us from the first and highest hierarchy.” (The Liturgical Year. Vol. XIV. Feast of the Guardian Angels).

 
Each of us has a holy guardian angel. That holy angel will have been taken from among these nine choirs of angels and during the time of our life on earth, that angel will serve us and guard and protect us. He will encourage us to virtue and holiness. But there are other angels who are not holy. These angels seek to discourage us and tempt us to turn from God. 

 
  In the beginning, there was an angel from among the highest choir––the seraphim––who refused to stoop to serve a mere man. He said, Non serviam!  “I will not serve,” and by those words, he fell taking with him a third of the angels. Our Lord tells us elsewhere that He watched satan fall like lightening from heaven. Those angels spend their time prowling about the earth for the ruin of souls. We can call them fallen angels or demons. 

 
  So there are holy angels who encourage us and demons who discourage us. This is nothing to squirm about. Each of us encounters temptation every day of one sort or another. It is common to refer to a temptation as a demon or a spirit. For instance, if one is tempted to doubt a truth of the faith, one could acknowledge the doubt itself to be a spirit. It is the spirit of doubt that tempts one to doubt God. There is a spirit of jealousy, a spirit of unforgiveness, a spirit of self-pity, a spirit of sloth, pride, lust, etc. We can just as well call them spirits as we do demons. 

 
  When the gospel says that “The Twelve drove out many demons” this is the context. Some are more afflicted by demons than others. The Twelve drove out demons from those who were possessed, those who were oppressed, those who were obsessed, those who were harassed, and from those who were merely fighting normal temptations. This must happen before a person can be healed by anointing. The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick is referred to as a Sacrament for the living. The Church acknowledges that among the seven sacraments there are two sacraments of the dead and five sacraments of the living. The sacraments of the dead are baptism and penance: “sacraments of the dead aim to give sanctifying grace to one spiritually dead through sin” (LaRavoire Morrow, My Catholic Faith, pg. 251). “Sacraments of the living are those that may be received only by one living in the state of grace” (ibid.). 

 
  So first we must be given life; then that life may be healed. In the gospel, the Twelve first drove out the demons, then they anointed the sick and cured them. We see this in the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, aka., the Anointing of the Sick. One must be living in order to receive the healing grace of the Sacrament of Anointing. It is a sacrament of the living in order to prepare for a holy death which leads one to eternal life.

 
  The Council of Trent teaches us that the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, aka the Anointing of the Sick, is the completion of the Sacrament of Penance. Many are under the mistaken belief that the Anointing of the Sick forgives one’s sins. That is not true unless one is unconscious or unable to confess due to illness which would prevent it. In that case, the sacrament supplies the grace for the forgiveness of sins provided that one intends to confess. But ordinarily, as long as one is able to confess, then one must confess sacramentally to a priest first, and then receive the anointing as the completion of the Sacrament of Penance.

 
  Good health is not only physical, but also spiritual, mental, and emotional. When we are in a state of sanctifying grace, the Holy Spirit fills our souls and we are truly alive and we are truly healthy. We receive this health when we get rid of the spirits of anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, jealousy, self-righteousness, pride, lust, etc., in the sacrament of Penance. We make a good confession and ask God to banish all of these spirits, these vices and sins in the name of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit then comes to fill our souls. This is what our holy guardian angels will constantly encourage us to do. The fallen angels will constantly try to discourage us and fill us with fear and anxiety about going to Confession. They know that Confession will give us peace, and health, and eternal life. Our enemies prowl about the earth seeking the ruin of souls by spreading anxiety, sickness and death.

 
  Let us not listen to the voices of the fallen angels. Let us listen to the voices of the holy angels: our holy guardian angel, the holy archangel of this parish, the holy principality of this archdiocese and of this nation. But in order to hear the voices of the holy angels, we must listen. We must pray and we must have silence in our life. The demons will try to fill our ears and our eyes with noise and distractions. At the grocery store, we are bombarded with tabloids celebrating vice and scandal. Where will we hear the encouraging message of holiness, purity, and virtue if we do not listen to our guardian angels?  We must listen and we must repeat what they say to us. We must also be the voices of our guardian angels to the rest of the world. We must counter the messages of vice and scandal by our good example of living well and encouraging others to seek truth, goodness, beauty, and to live lives of virtue and holiness. We must be the voice of such things in this world because nobody else is going to do it. If the Church does not speak up, and if Christians do not encourage one another, then who will speak out against the evils of the world?

 
  Let us first confess our sins and ask Jesus Christ to drive out the demons so that we can be healed. Let us listen to our own guardian angels, and then be as guardian angels to one another and to the world, repeating their holy words of encouragement. Let us seek to counter the voices of discouragement and offer the hope of healing to a wounded world.   

Another Summary of Why to Attend the EF Mass

Be sure to read this article by Peter Kwasniewski and Michael Foley in its entirety here.

Here's an excerpt from the conclusion:

In sum, the classical Roman Rite is an ambassador of tradition, a midwife for the interior man, a lifelong tutor in the faith, a school of adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, and supplication, an absolutely reliable rock of stability on which we can confidently build our spiritual lives.

As the movement for the restoration of the Church’s sacred liturgy is growing and gaining momentum, now is not a time for discouragement or second thoughts; it is a time for a joyful and serene embrace of all the treasures our Church has in store for us, in spite of the shortsightedness of some of her current pastors and the ignorance (usually not their own fault) of many of the faithful. This is a renewal that must happen if the Church is to survive the coming perils.

 Click here for the full article.