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Second Sunday After Epiphany

Laudetur Iesus Christus! Sunday is the second Sunday after Epiphany, which commemorates the third manifestation of Christ during Christmastide, which his first public miracle at the wedding at Cana.  As custom we provide commentary on the prayers of the Mass by Dr. Mike Foley: https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2021/01/the-orations-of-second-sunday-after.html#.YeNrlvhOmHt

Sunday Mass & Winter Weather:

Due to the potential for winter weather Bishop Jugis has dispensed the faithful from the obligation to attend Mass Sunday due to the weather.  Currently all Sunday Latin Masses in the diocese of Charlotte remain on normal schedule at this time (however you may wish to check parish websites in case something changes). As a reminder, while the obligation to attend Sunday Mass today is dispensed, the faithful are still required one to keep Sunday holy if one is unable to attend Mass.  Here are some suggestions how to do this:

Respect Life Latin Mass – Next Saturday January 22nd at 8am, St. Ann parish:  Saturday marks the 49th anniversary of the tragic Roe vs. Wade decision which legalized abortion. St. Ann will offer 8am Latin Mass, followed by prayers at the abortion facility.  A Holy Hour of Reparation will also be offered immediately after Mass for those unable to travel to the abortion facility. 

Blessing of Candles – February 2nd: With Candlemas coming, if one wants to order 100% pure beeswax candles, Lux Candles operated by a Catholic family in South Dakota is a good choice. You have place orders the old fashioned way – via telephone.  http://www.luxcandlecompany.com/

New & Local Catholic Tech Company Offering E-mail Service: We are pleased to share that a new Catholic tech company has formed, founded by a faithful parishioner at St. John the Baptist in Tryon. Fidei.email is a new service which provides private e-mail without the connections to big tech or the surveillance/ marketing industry. It also has plans to offer other tech services. Check them out at: https://fidei.email/

Latin Mass & Traditional News

  • Dr. Alice von Hildebrand (R.I.P.) 1923-2022: The Latin Mass movement has lost one of her brightest candles this past week with the passing of Dr. Alice von Hildebrand at age 98.  A philosopher, theologian, and college professor in the New York area, she was predeceased by her husband the great Dietrich von Hildebrand, who according to sources was called by Pope Pius XII, the “Doctor of the 20th Century”, for his philosophic work. Dietrich wrote the groundbreaking book The Devasted Vineyard, which examined the crisis in the Church after Vatican II.  Dr. (Alice) von Hildebrand continued her husband’s work in her own way and very active in promoting the Traditional Latin Mass, speaking at conferences and giving interviews. Please pray for the repose of her soul. We post a few interviews here:
  • God Created Monarchy: This week will mark the one year anniversary of the inauguration of a head of state, of a government which has over the last few decades promoted abortion on demand, same sex unions, contraception, and most recently promoted coerced vaccinations (linked to abortion). Some of these heads of state claimed to be Christian or now recently even Catholic. While some of these presidents may have been less morally offensive to a degree, they ultimately still presided over a government which is automated to promote policies and programs contrary to Church teachings and to God. Seeing all this, it makes one ask, are representative republics and democracies really the best form of government to advance a society that allows the Church to save many souls? If they could speak, the souls of the 55 million babies who were brutally murdered from legalized abortion in our land, may be in the best position to answer this question. Thankfully though, the Kolbe Center for the Study of Creation (a Catholic apostolate whom the CLMC co-hosted in 2019), has assisted in this effort by posting an excellent essay, using the traditional doctrine of creation, arguing how a monarchy best reflects the government established by God in His kingdom: https://www.kolbecenter.org/god-created-monarchy/ (N.B. For more on the kingship of Christ, please see Fr. Jason Christian’s 2016 talk to the CLMC)
  • Liturgical Arts Journal: Our Lady of Guadalupe FSSP Seminary in Nebraska: Local writer John Paul Sonnen has penned another excellent architectural review in recent weeks, this time on the Fraternity of St. Peter’s (FSSP) Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, Nebraska. This recently constructed edifice (in the last 20 years) has many great qualities to admire in traditional sacred architecture which Mr. Sonnen examines. This would be of interest to CLMC readers not only for the fact that the FSSP priests offer the Traditional Latin Mass exclusively, and operate parishes that do likewise, but also because two St. Ann parishioners and CLMC friends are also seminarians attending this seminary. Take a look: https://www.liturgicalartsjournal.com/2022/01/our-lady-of-guadalupe-fssp-seminary-in.html
  • Vaccine Mandates: What Future Do You Want? Freedom or Tyranny?: Speaking of the FSSP, Fr. Daniel Nolan, FSSP recently gave a second sermon on the morality of vaccine mandates and how the unvaccinated have been deprived of their basic human rights. He furthermore demonstrates why the Catholic Church should be casting judgement on the actions of society and speaking out against the COVID tyranny going on – particularly due to the danger to souls. This excellent sermon is posted by Sensus Fidelium: https://odysee.com/@SensusFidelium:c/vaccine-mandate-what-future-do-you-want:9

Don’t Stop Celebrating: After Christmas Day, Christmas Continues

While the secular world has long forgotten the decorations, “songs”, and feasts of Christmas, and is going through a desolate self-imposed winter fast (until their solemn “feast” of Superbowl Sunday), the Church, through the Traditional Latin Mass, is still in the midst of its Christmas season, which runs from December 25 – February 2nd.  As noted above, today is the second Sunday in Epiphanytide, the extended Christmas season and this article from Dr. Peter Kwasniewski describes Sunday’s commemoration:

“The three great theophanies or divine manifestations honored in this season—namely, the visit of the Magi, the baptism in the Jordan, and the wedding of Cana—are given their full individual due, without haste, without unseemly compression or alternation. Indeed, there is a leisurely feel to this Epiphany season, a sense of time suspended. It is as if Holy Mother Church, like a mother watching her children grow up too fast, cannot quite resign herself to parting from the young Christ.

Epiphanytide is the afterglow of the revelation of Christ to the world, Christ who is the true Enlightenment against which the devil vainly (although at times with considerable temporary success) attempts to establish his substitutes—most especially the rationalist and liberal worldview under which Catholics have been living, and which they have slowly adopted, over the past several centuries, to the near extinction of their liturgical life.”

The Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ/Octave Day of Epiphany

This past Thursday January 13, was one of the major feasts of Christmastide – the Baptism Of Our Lord Jesus Christ, traditionally called the Octave Day of Epiphany (Prior to 1955, Epiphany had its own Octave or 8 days of celebration):

Additionally, there appears to be debate among some about whether Christmas season ends on January 13 or February 2. Thankfully, Greg DiPippo helped to clear this up a few years ago (spoiler alert: it ends on February 2nd):

St. Hilary, Confessor and Bishop – January 14

As we move further into Christmastide, the Church introduces more feast days of saints in mid to late January which at first glance may seem to have no connection to Christmas. But as Dom Prosper Gueranger, the great Benedictine liturgist and author of The Liturgical Year, notes in his entry about the fourth century bishop St. Hilary of Poitiers, it has everything to do with Christmas, including his connection to St. Thomas Beckett’s feast (December 29) which occurs in the Christmas Octave:

“AFTER having consecrated the joyous Octave of the Epiphany to the glory of the Emmanuel who was manifested to the earth, the Church—incessantly occupied with the Divine Child and his august Mother, during the whole time from Christmas Day to that whereon Mary will bring Jesus to the Temple, there to be offered to God, as the law prescribes—the Church, we say, has on her Calendar of this portion of the year the names of many glorious Saints, who shine like so many stars on the path which leads us, from the joys of the Nativity of our Lord, to the sacred mystery of our Lady’s Purification.

And firstly there comes before us, on the very morrow of the day consecrated to the Baptism of Jesus, the faithful and courageous Hilary—the pride of the Churches of Gaul, and the worthy associate of Athanasius and Eusebius of Vercelli in the battle fought for the Divinity of our Emmanuel.

…A few days ago we were celebrating the Feast of our holy Martyr, St Thomas of Canterbury; today, we have the Feast of the glorious Confessor, whose example enlightened and encouraged him in the great struggle. Both Hilary and Thomas a Becket were obedient to the teaching left to the Pastors of the Church by the Apostles; who, when they were arraigned the first time before the authorities of this world, uttered this great maxim: We ought to obey God rather than men.[Acts 5:29]

The Apostles and the Saints were strong in the battle against flesh and blood, only because they were detached from earthly goods, and were convinced that the true riches of a Christian and a Bishop consist in the humility and poverty of the Crib, and that the only victorious power is in the imitation of the simplicity and the weakness of the Child that is born unto us. They relished the lessons of the School of Bethlehem; hence no promise of honours, of riches, or even of peace, could make them swerve from the principles of the Gospel.”

Sunday commemorates the wedding at Cana, the third manifestation of Christ during Christmas season. What Mass are you attending Sunday?