Fra Andrew Bertie, R.I.P

His Most Eminent Highness

Fra Andrew Willoughby Ninian Bertie,

Prince and 78^th Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of
St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta,
Most Humble Guardian of the Poor of Jesus Christ.

May 15, 1929
February 7, 2008

NEW GOOD FRIDAY PRAYER FOR THE JEWS:

Note of the Secretariat of State

In reference to the dispositions contained in the Motu proprio «Summorum Pontificum», of July 7, 2007, on the possibility of using the last edition of the Roman Missal prior to the Vatican II Council, published in 1962 with the authority of Blessed John XXIII, the Holy Father Benedict XVI has ordered that the Oremus et pro Iudaeis of the Liturgy of Good Friday in the aforesaid Roman Missal be replaced with the following text:

Oremus et pro Iudaeis. Ut Deus et Dominus noster illuminet corda eorum, ut agnoscant Iesum Christum salvatorem omnium hominum.

Oremus.

Flectamus genua.

Levate.

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui vis ut omnes homines salvi fiant et ad agnitionem veritatis veniant, concede propitius, ut plenitudine gentium in Ecclesiam Tuam intrante omnis Israel salvus fiat. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Unofficial English Translation:

Let us pray, and also for the Jews.

May our God and Lord enlighten their hearts, so that they may acknowledge Jesus Christ, saviour of all men.

Let us pray.

Let us kneel.

Arise.

Almighty and everlasting God, who wills that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of truth, mercifully grant that, as the fullness of the Gentiles enters into Thy Church, all Israel may be saved. Through Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

Candlemas

Image of Our Lady of Candlemas.

February 2

Forty days after the birth of Christ Mary complied with this precept of the law, she redeemed her first-born from the temple

Whatsoever is firstborn of all flesh, which they offer to the Lord, whether it be of men, or of beasts, shall belong to thee: only for the firstborn of man thou shalt take a price, and every beast that is unclean thou shalt cause to be redeemed___Numbers 18:15

and was purified by the prayer of Simeon the just, in the presence of Anna the prophetess.

[A]fter the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were accomplished, they carried him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord…[T]here was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser. She was far advanced in years and had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity. 37 And she was a widow until fourscore and four years: who departed not from the temple, by fastings and prayers serving night and day. 38 Now she, at the same hour, coming in, confessed to the Lord: and spoke of him to all that looked for the redemption of Israel. 39 And after they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their cityNazareth.____Luke 2:22; 36

ECCE AGNUS DEI

"John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said,
'Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world'."
___Saint John 1:29.

In pointing out the Lord as the Lamb of God, Saint John the Baptist calls attention to images in the Old Testament that clarify the mission of the Christ. The first of these is the Pascal Lamb that was prescribed in the Law of Moses as the sacrificial sign of God’s covenant with the children of Israel.

The Lord said to Moses…in the land of Egypt, "This month shall stand at the head of your calendar…Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month every one of your families must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household.…The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish…You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole assembly of Israel present, it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight. They shall take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of every house in which they partake of the lamb….For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every first--born of the land, both man and beast, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt-I, the Lord!

But the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thus, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you. "This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the Lord, as a perpetual institution.

___Exodus.

A second image that is presented to us by the title, Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the World, is that of the sorrowful servant in Isaiah 53.

Who has believed our message? To whom will the Lord reveal his saving power? My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence…He was despised and rejected – a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief.…

Yet it was our weaknesses he carried. It was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God for his own sins! But he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the guilt and sins of us all.

He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.
___Isaiah

Finally as a point of interest, it should be noted that in Aramaic the term Lamb can also mean, in a casual sense, “Son” or male child. In other words when the Baptist points out Christ and calls Him lamb of God, he is saying: Behold the Son of God, He it is who takes upon Himself (and suppresses) the sins of mankind.

St. Vincent Pallotti, Apostle of Rome

St. Vincent Pallotti

Feast: January 22

St. Vincent Pallotti, was born in Rome in 1795, ordained a priest, he dedicated himself to the conversion of all non-Catholics to Christ but especially the Mohammedans. To this end he inaugurated a revolutionary program which envisaged the collaboration of the laity in the apostolate of the clergy. But St. Vincent was also well aware of the many deprivations in the natural sphere that hindered the spread of the Faith. He thus obtained and spent huge sums for the poor and underprivileged. He founded guilds for workers, agriculture schools, loan associations, orphanages and homes for girls - all of which made him the pioneer and precursor of Catholic Action. His great legacy was the congregation which he founded for urban mission work, known as the "Society for Catholic Action". He died in 1850 from a severe cold which he most likely caught on a cold rainy night after giving his cloak to a beggar who had none. The uncorrupted body of Saint Vincent rests in the Church of St. Salvatore in Onda, Italy.

The Baptism of the Lord

January 13th

Thus says the Lord:
Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
upon whom I have put my spirit;
he shall bring forth justice to the nations,
not crying out, not shouting,
not making his voice heard in the street.
a bruised reed he shall not break,
and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
until he establishes justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait for his teaching.

___Isaiah

Blessed Gregory X Pope

January 10^th

At Arezzo in Tuscany, blessed Gregory X, a native of Piacenza, who was elected Sovereign Pontiff while he was archdeacon of Liege. He held the second Council of Lyons, received the Greeks into the unity of the Church, appeased discords among the Christians, made generous efforts for the recovery of the Holy Land, and governed the Church in a most holy manner.

And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.

R. Thanks be to God.

___Roman Martyrology.