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Fourth Sunday Of Advent

Laudetur Iesus Christus! Sunday is the 4th Sunday of Advent, and as custom we provide a reflection on the Collect by Dr. Mike Foley: http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2020/12/the-indulgent-collect-of-fourth-sunday.html

St. Ann Annual Blessing of Religious Objects – Today Sunday December 19

Today after the 12:30pm St. Ann parish Latin Mass, Father will bless religious objects in the Traditional Rite. These items can be, statues, holy water, salt, oil, medals, Rosaries. Three tables will be set up in the north cry room (to the right when entering the church)  – please place items on the blessing tables prior to the 12:30pm Mass. Immediately after Mass, Father will begin blessing – so no new objects can be placed on the table after that point. Table should be up by 12 noon – 12:15pm.

Mass Cancellations This Week

  • Friday December 24 – Vigil of Christmas: Both the 7am at St. Ann, and the 12:30pm St. Mark Friday Latin Masses are cancelled.
  • Fasting Note: In the1962 Missal/Calendar, Christmas Eve was traditionally a day of fasting and abstinence (though now voluntary).

(The Wednesday December 22 6pm Low Mass at St. Ann will be a Latin Mass as regularly scheduled.)

Christmas Schedule – Saturday December 25

  • St. Ann, Charlotte – Midnight Latin Mass
  • St. Thomas Aquinas, Charlotte – Midnight Latin Mass
  • St. John the Baptist, Tryon, NC – Midnight Latin Mass (2 hours west of Charlotte)
  • Prince of Peace, Taylors, SC – Midnight Latin Mass (2 hours southwest of Charlotte)
  • St. Elizabeth of the Hill Country, Boone, NC – Midnight Latin Mass (2 hours northwest of Charlotte)
  • Our Lady of Grace, Greensboro – 11am High (1.5 hours north of Charlotte)

(Attending Mass on Christmas does not fulfill Sunday’s obligation on Dec. 26)

For the rest of the Christmastide schedule – including Epiphany – see our website: https://charlottelatinmass.org/mass-times/

Tomorrow Monday December 20, 7pm – Defending Conscience Rights Against Vaccine Mandates – (St. Thomas Aquinas parish)

This Christmas many Catholic employees and families are threatened with the loss of employment, income, and livelihood due to employer vaccine mandates which go against their conscience and pro-life beliefs.  To support Catholic workers and families and their conscience rights, the Carolina Family Coalition (CFC) is organizing a special Defend Your Conscience Rights event on Monday December 20 at 7pm at St. Thomas Aquinas parish – Aquinas Hall (1400 Suther Road, Charlotte). The event will feature talks by an attorney, impacted workers, and a reflection by a priest on how to suffer for Christ and His teachings.  The event is free. CFC is an organization founded in 2018 by Catholic pro-life leaders in Charlotte to defend the family against the secular culture. 

December 21 – Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle

Tuesday December 21 is the traditional feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, who often gets overlooked due to the crowded liturgical schedule of Ember Week and Christmas. Yet this saint is not the least by any means, as tradition holds that St. Thomas evangelized not only India, but Persia including baptizing the 3 Magi; and also much of the globe – including the western hemisphere.  As custom each December 21, we share with you a great sermon posted by Sensus Fidelium, on St. Thomas the Apostle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1bBepndSGY Dom Prosper Gueranger also has a reflection for this saint: https://sensusfidelium.us/the-liturgical-year-dom-prosper-gueranger/december/december-21-saint-thomas-apostle/

Traditional Christmas Proclamation

We are pleased to share that both St. Ann and St. Thomas Aquinas parishes will be chanting the traditional Christmas proclamation at Midnight Mass this Christmas (occurs a minute or two before Mass begins). This is a beautiful chant that was unfortunately lost after 1960s, only to return in a weaker modernized format in 1994. Graciously, the scholas at St. Ann and St. Thomas Aquinas will both be signing the traditional Christmas proclamation. Here are links to compare the traditional and the modern:

The noted differences are the more specific years of the various events in the traditional, the which the former (traditional) was taken from the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament)

Latin Mass & Traditional News

  • True Obedience: A Key Consideration for Our Time – Dr. Peter Kwasniewski: In light of current events (see below section), our friend Dr. Kwasniewski announced he is writing a book on the proper understanding of true obedience in the Church, its scope and its limitations. He recently posted an excerpt of a chapter on OnePeterFive, which we also share to give our readers an understanding that we owe our ultimate obedience to God, and need to obey Him over men, when certain commands of man violate God:

    “If we are convinced that something essential, something decisive in the Faith is under attack from the pope or any other hierarch, we are not only permitted to refuse to do what is being asked or commanded, not only permitted to refuse to give up what is being unjustly taken away or forbidden; we are obliged to refuse, out of the love we bear to Our Lord Himself, our love for His Mystical Body, and our proper love for our own souls.

    Because this is true, any penalty or punishment meted out for “disobedience” to the revolutionaries would be illicit. If a punishment is given on false theological or canonical premises, it is null and void, just as the canonical trial and excommunica­tion of Joan of Arc were recognized as illegitimate twenty-five years after her execution at the hands of corrupt and politically-motivated clergy.”
True Obedience: A Key Consideration for Our Time
  • The Liturgical Year with Steve Cunningham: Our own Steve Cunningham (who runs the great online apostolate Sensus Fidelium) gave a great talk on Dom Prosper Gueranger’s book, The Liturgical Year (which we cite often), and Gueranger’s reflections on Advent. If you’d like to learn about how to understand and put into practice the liturgical year, especially with Advent, this would be a good “starter” video to watch. It was hosted by our friends with the Columbia (SC) Traditional Latin Mass Supporters: Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gr_KpEMsRU
  • Morality, Efficacy and Safety of COVID-19 Vaccines – by Pamela Acker: We are pleased to share a link to Pamela Acker’s talk on the morality of the COVID-19 vaccines given at St. John the Baptist in Tryon on Saturday December 4.  Her talk is helpful to review as she covers important topics related to the morality, safety, and efficacy of the COVID.  Her talk also covers the efficacy the COVID-19 vaccines and their safety, and the traditional theological approach to looking at the immorality of the abortion linked vaccines. You can view the talk here: https://www.prolifecharlotte.org/morality-safety-and-efficacy-of-the-covid-19-vaccines/ (as readers may recall the CLMC co-sponsored Ms. Acker and the Kolbe Center in 2019)
  • Do You Hear What I Hear?: Fr. William Rock, FSSP pens a great article on how the tones of the traditional breviary chants changes through Advent and as the Church approaches Christmas. These small tonal inflections have theological symbolism with other feasts such as the Easter season, linking the coming of Christ at Christmas, with the Resurrection at Easter, and other feasts of the year: https://fssp.com/do-you-hear-what-i-hear/

Pray, Hope and Don’t Worry

Padre Pio, who repeated the words of the above header, was one of the few priests of the post-conciliar era (1960s) rumored to have been granted an indult to continue offering the Traditional Latin Mass for the rest of his priesthood after Vatican II. It’s fitting we use his quote, because of some of the statements coming from Rome may be a cause of worry to some. Yet, as CLMC readers know, this is nothing new.  Over the past few weeks we shared two important commentaries by noted exorcist and theologian, Fr. Chad Ripperger, who observed that the modernists have showed their intent to eliminate the Latin Mass. We should not be surprised by their attempts as they tried this in the past.  However, this “sixties” generation is aging out quickly and such actions are really nothing more than an act of desperation. We re-share Fr. Ripperger’s September sermon and excerpts:

“Their project is failing. They’ve spent 40 years (or 50 years) on a project that has been an unmitigated disaster…There’s been a consistent decline for 40 or 50 years. The only thing that is growing is the Traditional movement and they know it. Which is a sign to them that their project didn’t work. So what do they have to do? They lost the argument intellectually…Over the last 20 years there has been sufficient theological work done, to show point in fact, that the Old Mass is better than the New… In the end, they don’t have an intellectual argument and the only thing left is force. [Describing modernists:] You have to force your position. You have to use power to maintain it. Because that’s how you keep people in check when you don’t have an intellectual argument and you can’t persuade them.

We have to be spiritually prepared for even more serious draconian documents. They not going to let this go until they are in the grave.”

More recently, we shared a few weeks ago that Fr. Ripperger also reported that in a recent exorcism, he learned that God may be taking away the power of the devil, who has no doubt caused havoc within the Church and without.  Fr. Ripperger believes this is why the demons are in a panic, causing havoc in the civil and ecclesial spheres. He also offers some hopeful thoughts, and what could happen to the Church when this happens:

What are we to do at this point? Simply put, let us be prepared, be vigilant, attend Latin Mass regularly – especially on Sundays, and pray for our priests and bishop during this challenging and confusing time (and for the Pope). If you aren’t attending the Traditional Latin Mass on Sundays, now may be a good time to consider it.

In the above sermon, Fr. Ripperger noted that the Latin Mass will last until the second coming of Christ. This week, Christ will come at Christmas. What Mass are you attending on Sunday and…Christmas?