Show Notes
At the Pentecost Octave, the Church celebrates an end and a beginning. It is the close of the Paschal cycle, which celebrates the close of the Old Covenant. This is the beginning of the Time after Pentecost, celebrating the birth of the Church under the New Covenant not of the letter, but of the Spirit (II Cor. iii. 6). From Advent to Christmas to Lent, Easter, and the Ascension, Our Lord accomplished the work of establishing the New Kingdom of God. We may recall here the words of the Epistle at the Ascension: The former treatise I made, O Theophilus, of all things which Jesus began to do and to teach (Acts i. 1). From Advent to Pentecost, Our Lord’s work was only beginning. And again His Majesty has declared: Amen, amen I say to you, he that believeth in me, the works that I do, he also shall do; and greater than these shall he do, because I go to the Father (Jn. xiv. 12). Therefore we see in Pentecost and thereafter the work of Jesus Christ continued in His Body, the Church. Just as Our Lord was incarnate of the Holy Spirit, so too we sinners, like Mary Immaculate, say “fiat”: let it be done to me according to thy word (Lk. i. 38) We may speak, then, of the Season of Advent and Christmas of a season of the virtue of hope — first, of Our Lord’s coming in the flesh (and at the end of time), then in His infancy, the hope of His salvation to the world. This closes the season with Simeon’s words of hope in the last words of the Gospel at Candlemas: A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel (Lk. ii. 32). This phrase points to Pentecost, as we shall see. Through Lent, Passiontide, Paschaltide, and the Ascension, we recite the most important events in our creed, thus we see an emphasis on faith. This is the foundation of our hope for eternal salvation, since our King accomplished the work of despoiling the prince of darkness in order to establish his rule. This work is the object of our faith. For if thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him up from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For, with the heart, we believe unto justice; but, with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation (Rom. x. 9–10). This faith must believe unto justice in order to be a saving faith; as His Majesty said, he that believeth in me, the works that I do, he also shall do. We have been strengthened in our foundation, and now we must work. Thus we find in Pentecost the longest season of the year, named for the Gift of God, the Holy Ghost. As we will discuss in the next chapter, the Holy Spirit is particularly identified with Charity. He is Charity Himself, who directs the Church corporally and individually in every Christian. This direction is so that the faith and hope engendered may not be sterile in the Christian soul, but may produce charity. These are the greater works of Jesus Christ. Neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision: but faith that worketh by charity (Gal. v. 6), and again, if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing (I Cor. xiii. 2). It is by this charity of the Holy Ghost that Jesus Christ becomes the light of revelation to the Gentiles. Our Lord Himself closed His ministry at Jerusalem, having only occasional contact with the Gentile world. But His Majesty said, I have yet many things to say to you: but you cannot bear them now. But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will teach you all truth (Jn. xvi. 12). There were indeed many things Our Lord knew could not be borne by the apostles at that time. But the Holy Spirit, Who is Charity, enkindled at Pentecost that “fire within us that should never be quenched,” as Guéranger puts it. This fire of charity burned for souls, first among the Jews and then among the Gentiles. It was this fire of charity that made the Jewish Christians not scorn the heathen converts at Antioch, but marvel at the mercy of God: having heard these things, they
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Above: Titian, The Archangel Raphael and Tobias (c. 1512−1514) XXI Week after Pentecost XXIX Week Tempus per annum (aka “Ordinary Time”) MONDAY October 19 · Holy Prophet St. Joel (East Roman) · North American Martyrs (USA and General new Roman rite calendar) · St. Peter of Alcantara, one of the spiritual directors of St. Teresa of Avila
Painting above: Santa Teresa de Jesús (1868) by Benet Mercadé. * The new Complete Works edition of St. Teresa Benedicta (Edith Stein) from CUA Press. The first volume published is a new translation of St. Teresa Benedicta’s metaphysical magnum opus: * Edith Stein, Finite and Eternal Being An Attempt to Ascend to the Meaning of Being, new translation by Walter Redmond * Edith Stein encountered St. Teresa of Jesus and was immediately converted.[1] * St. Teresa of Jesus, “Doctor of the Council of Trent”[2] * Against the false spirit of Trent, which is an excessive militarism against Protestantism * The true spirit of the Church Militant and of Trent is St. Teresa of Jesus * This is the same spirit which animated Pope St. John XXIII (who was inspired by Tridentine saints) and thus the true spirit of Vatican II, following the Tridentine saints like St. Francis de Sales, St. Philip Neri, St. Peter Canisius * Vatican II: St. Teresa of Jesus was proclaimed Doctor of the Church in 1970 * Lumen Gentium sided with the Dominicans on the dubium regarding the interior life for the laity[3] * Every saint practiced the “Three Ages of the Interior Life” * But the Carmelites systematised this and explained it more than any other tradition within the Church * The new Roman rite Collect for St. Teresa is more strict than the old Roman rite (aka the Latin Mass) * St. Edith Stein says that St. Teresa of Jesus “says what is unsayable” about the interior life, creating a “coherent work of art.”[4] * Not even St. Thomas Aquinas could speak about his own mystical life as St. Teresa did * “Is there any tradition more important than the Latin Mass? Yes. And it’s the ‘One Thing Necessary’” * The Avila Institute & Apostoli Viae has changed my life * This institute and confraternity pass down the Christian mystical tradition under the patronage of St. Teresa of Jesus [1] Teresia Renata Posselt, Edith Stein: the Life of a Philosopher and Carmelite (Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 2005), 63. [2] Edith Stein, The Hidden Life: Essays, Meditations and Spiritual Texts (Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 2014), 13-15. [3] Taylor Patrick O’Neill, “Vatican II and the Lasting Influence of Garrigou-Lagrange’s Mystical Theology,” Church Life Journal (January 31, 2022). [4] Edith Stein, Finite and Eternal Being: an Attempt to Ascend to the Meaning of Being, trans. Walter Redmond (Washington, DC: CUA Press, 2023), 471.
XXVIII Week Tempus per Annum (aka “Ordinary Time”) XX Week after Pentecost Romanitas - a new framework for Meaning of Catholic * Romanitas is a note of the Church * The east Roman rite * Against the term “Byzantine” * The old Roman rite is the tradition of Romanitas of the city of Rome * Due to the false spirit of Trent, the entire Latin tradition was suppressed de facto and replaced by the old Roman rite = against Romanitas * The new Roman rite has been judged Roman by six Roman Pontiffs to be the Roman rite celebrated by the city of Rome but this should not mean that the old Roman rite should be suppressed but rather cherished, preserved, promoted and spread more and more among Latin bishops. * The new Roman rite restores Romanitas in relation to the local rites and customs if it is grounded in Tradition, especially the old Roman rite, as envisioned by Pope St. Paul VI. * The new Roman rite (in the context of Lumen Gentium and St. Teresa of Jesus) answers the most pressing dubium of modernity, which is the debate between the OPs and SJs about holiness. * The Collect for St. Teresa of Jesus - compare with the old Roman rite * Doctor of the Church in 1970
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