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Holy Name of Jesus

Laudetur Iesus Christus! Sunday is the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, which falls between the Sunday after the feast of the Circumcision (January 1) and before Epiphany (January 6). We provide a reflection by Dom Prosper Gueranger, who quotes from St. Bernard of Clairvaux:

‘The Name of Jesus is Light, and Food, and Medicine. It is Light, when it is preached to us; it is Food, when we think upon it; it is the Medicine that soothes our pains when we invoke it. Let us say a word on each of these. Tell me, whence came there, into the whole world, so bright and sudden a light, if not from the preaching of the Name of Jesus? Was it not by the light of this Name that God called us unto his admirable Light? Wherewith being enlightened, and in this light, seeing the Light, we take these words of Paul as truly addressed to ourselves: Heretofore, you were darkness; but now, light in the Lord [Eph. v. 8].

1st Sunday Latin Mass in Salisbury – January 2nd, 4pm

There will be a 4pm Latin Mass Sunday at Sacred Heart parish in Salisbury (45 minutes north of Charlotte). Fr. Noah Carter will be the celebrant and will hear confessions from 3:15 – 3:45pm. There will also be a social after Mass in Brincefield Hall – please bring a snack to share. For more information please visit the Salisbury Latin Mass Community at www.salisburylmc.org

Feast of the Epiphany Festivities – January 5-6

Wednesday January 5 – Vigil of Epiphany

  • Prince of Peace, Taylors, SC – 12 noon Latin Mass
  • St. Ann, Charlotte – 6:00pm Low Mass (followed by blessing of Epiphany Holy Water, a 45-minute blessing)  Note: Please only bring EMPTY water bottles/containers. The priest will bless the parish’s large water containers and laity can fill up their empty containers with the blessed water.

Thursday January 6 – Feast of the Epiphany

  • St. Ann, Charlotte – 6pm High Mass – followed by the annual Kings’ cake (Rosca de reyes) celebration after Mass
  • St. Thomas Aquinas, Charlotte – 7pm High Mass
  • Our Lady of the Lake, Chapin, SC – 6:30pm Low Mass, followed by blessing of chalk and salt (2 hours south of Charlotte)
  • Prince of Peace, Taylors SC – 6:30pm Blessing of water, chalk, gold, frankincense, and myrrh; 7pm Solemn High  Mass followed by an 8pm Royal Procession of the Epiphany Crib and Benediction (2 hours southwest of Charlotte)

Defending Conscience Rights video and recap

The Carolina Family Coalition held a Defending Conscience Rights Against Vaccine Mandates event shortly before Christmas, and they have now released the video for those unable to attend. The event was organized to help support Catholic workers stand up for their conscience rights against vaccine mandates, which violate Church teaching. Readers even may see a few Latin Mass faces among the speakers.  To view the event visit: https://www.prolifecharlotte.org/defending-conscience-rights/

Latin Mass and Traditional News

  • New Traditional Catholic Biology Book for Students: Biology: A Traditional Catholic Perspective – 2nd Edition (Textbook): We are pleased to share that the Kolbe Center for the Study of Creation (whom the CLMC co-sponsored in 2019) has just released a biology book that is in accord with the traditional teachings of the Church and is not tainted with evolutionary theory. It’s great for homeschoolers. To learn more visit: https://www.kolbecenter.org/product/biology-a-traditional-catholic-perspective-2nd-edition-textbook/
  • Important Declaration of the Superior of the Fraternity of St. Vincent Ferrer: The Fraternity of St. Vincent Ferrer, a traditional Dominican order that exclusively observes the Traditional Latin Mass and breviary (presumably in the Dominican Rite), issued a statement that they will be obeying Sacred Tradition, and not the strange politics going on in Rome: https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2021/12/important-declaration-of-superior-of.html
  • Belmont Abbey Basilica Renovation 1964-1965: If you’ve ever set foot into the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians at Belmont Abbey and wondered in a bewildered manner “What happened to the interior?!” – local writer John Paul Sonnen provides some excellent research and documentation in this great article (shared with us by a CLMC reader) about this project which can only be called tragic. Just like the Traditional Latin Mass, only a full restoration of traditional architecture in our diocese and beyond can help restore the culture: https://www.liturgicalartsjournal.com/2021/12/belmont-abbey-basilica-renovation-1964.html
  • Sermon – Do Not Succumb to the Pandemic Madness: We are pleased to share a wonderful sermon give by Fr. Daniel Nolan, FSSP, a Latin Mass priest out west who reminds Catholics of their moral obligation to not participate in someone’s delusional version of reality. Failure to do so will result in tyranny: https://courageousclergy.com/do-not-succumb-to-pandemic-madness?list
  • Traditionalists are Achieving the Main Goal of Vatican II: Last week we shared a thought provoking article by writer Phil Lawler who pointed out that, contrary to conventional thinking, most people who deny the validity of the Novus Ordo Mass aren’t Latin Mass attendees (as critics claim) but the rather large percentage of Novus Ordo attendees who actually deny the validity of the Mass through their disbelief in Our Lord Jesus Christ’s presence in the Eucharist.  This week we share a interesting article from OnePeterFive, in which the author argues that if the official mission* of Vatican II was to evangelize the Catholic faith to the world more effectively, it’s actually traditionalists who are doing it. The article is here: https://onepeterfive.com/traditionalists-are-achieving-the-main-goal-of-vatican-ii/

    (*note: this article sets aside, for the moment, the important and legitimate discussion over the influence Freemasons and Protestants may have had at the Council).

    CLMC note: The best thing any diocese could do to restore the faith and evangelize the world is to restore the Traditional Latin Mass at each parish. All the evidence points in that direction and not the opposite.

Don’t Stop Celebrating: After Christmas Day, Christmas continues (Part II)

As mentioned in last Sunday’s update, the traditional Christmas season only began on December 25 and runs for 40 days until the feast of the Presentation (Candlemas) on February 2nd. This is radically different when compared to the pagan world which ignores Advent and “celebrates” Christmas from at least “Black Friday” until Christmas Eve, then on December 26, it begins fasting from Christmas celebrations and decorations. As this article which appeared in The Remnant during Advent describes, it is an inversion of what the Church teachers. This article was written in Advent but it is still relevant for this festive season. We provide a few excerpts:

“Throughout all of Advent,  Christmas trees, lights, wreaths, and Nativity scenes line the streets and sidewalks. We hear Christmas carols on the radio, in shops, and in stores. In short, we see everything we would expect to see at a Christmas party for almost all of December, and in the week following the 25th, everything disappears.

Advent, rather than being one of the most penitential and sorrowful seasons of the liturgical year, is celebrated as if Christmas has come early, and Christmastide is forgotten completely, tearing us from a premature party and plunging us into the dark, quiet, desolation of winter.

In as much as this is the case, that the modern secular celebration of Christmas in the West has come to be an inversion of the way in which the Church has traditionally celebrated it, and prepared for that celebration, I think that there is cause for great concern, not merely because this represents the loss of a longstanding practice of our religious patrimony, which is tragic in its own right, but because the traditional relationship between Advent and Christmas bears an important symbolic significance, and the inversion of traditional symbolism often has sinister undertones.

…In closing, I would invite and encourage all Christians to restore in their own lives where they can, the traditional practice of Advent and Christmastide. Advent is a beautiful season in its own right, and there are so many wonderful Advent traditions – devotions like St. Martin’s Lent, the Barabara Branch, the St. Andrew Novena, etc., that Catholics can take up while they await the beginning of the Christmas season. Advent doesn’t just have to be a sort of “empty” season of “not-Christmas-yet.” And as for the Christmas season, there’s the feast of the Epiphany, Candlemas, and let’s be honest – who doesn’t want to add a whole extra month onto their Christmas party?

Conforming one’s life to the liturgical calendar is an integral part of the spiritual life, and as Christmas in the West becomes increasingly secular and decreasingly Christian, efforts need to be made to turn the tide. Restoring this liturgical order is a great strategy for restoring Christmas in general, as a constitutive element of Christian culture.”

Christmastide and the Latin Mass News

To keep the Christmas celebration continuing, we share or reshare a few articles about this past week’s liturgies and feast days:

Sunday is the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. The Traditional Latin Mass always honors the Holy Name with an obligatory feast day on a Sunday (most years).  What Mass are you attending Sunday?