Tag Archives: Chrism Mass

Don’t blame un-elite me, because you have heard that it was said by actually elite vaticanista journalists that even as the world largely goes to hell assenting to synodality same-sex freak shows, whether on the Vatican’s own Synod website or in Germany or in so many other places right around the world, ubiquitously, it seems that the most important thing for Pope Francis to do, ever, is maybe to possibly perhaps promulgate an Apostolic Constitution on 3 April 2023, Monday of Holy Week, an Apostolic Constitution that will mostly or entirely forbid the offering of the Traditional Latin Mass, and perhaps also force priests to concelebrate at least the Chrism Mass in Holy Week.

Some conjecture the date for the Apostolic Constitution being a month later on the feast of St Pius V or on other insanely sarcastic possible dates. But because of the apparent emphasis on forcing priests to concelebrate, and it being that the concelebration is intensely recommended for the Chrism Mass, and it being that 3 April 1969 was the kind-of-promulgation of Paul VI’s Novus Ordo (but not at all any kind of abrogation of the Traditional Latin Mass), it is 3 April 2023, just prior to the Chrism Mass around the world, that seems to be the probable date.

And, by the way, it is not a conspiracy theory to think that there is Apostolic Constitution coming up. It is quite necessitated by the promise of Pope Francis to undo the Traditional Latin Mass quite completely in his 16 July 2021, Traditionis custodes. And this is entirely within his own projected time-frame. And we have been advised of this umpteen times by authoritative powers-that-be.

For us, in this diocese, the first hypothetical post-Apostolic Constitution Chrism Mass would take place hours later on Tuesday Morning of Holy Week, though I think that if there are to be important changes to the Chrism Mass, our diocese may well cancel the Mass that Tuesday and move it to its traditional Holy Thursday morning time, two days later (not necessarily for reasons of tradition, but so as to revise participation booklets for the priests). Of course, they could stay up all night making photocopies for the priests to use, you know, handing out the already printed booklets before Mass, but then handing out the photocopies of participation-aids just before they are needed during the Chrism Mass itself.

Anyway, I doubt all this because it is simply absurd to have such a juxtaposition in the same document, the trouncing of the Traditional Latin Mass and a mere disciplinary measure regarding concelebration. But because of the intensely rumored insistence that such a juxtaposition is to take place whereby, say, priests not concelebrating but rather merely being “in choir” is ruled out, you know – or else! – because of that, I’m thinking that – Hey! – there may be other things introduced by this Apostolic Constitution for the Chrism Mass itself that will put believing priests into a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation, the kind of bullying ubiquitous in these times of ultra-fake-synodality. It would be a surprise if there wasn’t any baiting-to-get-bullied situation (not in the intention of our diocese, mind you, but that being intended from across the pond).

Just say that there are some specious rewordings in the texts of the Chrism Mass, heretical, sacrilegeous, will a priest, realizing half-way through the Chrism Mass that he’s been forced to concelebrate so as to be a puppet for heresy and sacrilege have the bravery to walk out of whatever Cathedral, cameras rolling, trying not to cause a scene, but making himself look like Judas, who, freshly possessed by Satan, left the Last Supper, going out into the dark? I doubt it. Very, very few would have the gumption to up and leave. Since I’ve done this before in the same kind of forced situation, I have no problem with leaving.

Look, obviously, what I’m doing here in this post is to proffer hyperbolic provocative rhetorical baiting. This is a reaction to what is, truth be told, baiting done by the Vatican, you know, leaking this and that like a manure spreader round about the world so as to see what the reaction is before actually moving forward with something, giving themselves a chance to tighten the script a bit in answer to any baited objections in advance. Very useful, that. This is the long established modus operandi. It can be quite vicious.

And leaking is not necessarily any kind of indicator of anything to come. For instance, it’s also the longstanding practice of, say, someone in the Secretariat of State to “leak” something to a “friend” (be careful of friends) in, say, the Dicastery for Bishops. But that “leak” is entirely imaginary, and only to that one person, by mistake, after some purposed drinks. If, rumors being rumors, it works its way back to the source of that “leak” in the Secretariat of State, but from someone, say, in Austria or Belgium, well then, you know whether you have a traitor or a good megaphone, depending on whether you want to sack the guy or use him. Moreover, now you know his “friends.”

Is any of this “leaking” sincere in looking for a reaction for the adjustment of any upcoming Apostolic Constitution, or is it just some logistical craft for the purging or promotion of personnel? Whatever. I’ll play along and do my part of the process in taking the bait so as to bait those in the Holy See all the more. My purpose in this “reaction” is to convert those who need it.

So, this is just a mind exercise, a “What if?” or two asking why there is such a juxtaposition in an Apostolic Constitution if that is, in fact, the case: (1) of the kind-of-abrogation of the TLM, and (2) of a strictly disciplinary measure regarding a style of participation at a certain Mass. I mean, the latter reference to concelebration refers to, say, the legislation of penalties for a priest who does not go to the Chrism Mass at all, you know, because maybe he has stress-related-diarrhea on that day and so does not participate. Will he be removed from active ministry? suspended? Laicized?

Here we go with some pre-diarrhea execrations:

There’s been what I consider to be a silly rumor coming from many places regarding a change to the consecrations at Holy Mass. As soon as someone puts up such a rumor it is taken back down. So, it’s extremely doubtful. But then it pops up again and again and again. St Philip Neri usefully speaks of such rumors. Just because they keep popping up doesn’t mean they are true.

Just for the sake of this mind exercise, let’s ask how that might work. I’m guessing that there would be change in the second consecration, that of the Chalice. Here’s the present translation with a possible innovation consonant with the repeated pastórial demands of Pope Francis that have been reiterated with real anger, violence even, on his part. He means what he says. My hypotheses [in bold red in brackets].

• “Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many [all] for the forgiveness of sins [for the repentant and the unrepentant]. Do this in memory of me.”

The word “which” is a qualifier whose associated content must necessarily be consonant with the provenance of the blood, but if the qualification is untrue (for the repentant and the unrepentant), the very consecration is rendered invalid: the provenance of the blood, Jesus, manifestly does NOT offer forgiveness for unrepented sin, and therefore it’s not Jesus’ blood of which we are speaking. There cannot be any true intention to consecrate. That’s the inescapable logic of it. This renders this consecration invalid. The worst thing a priest can do is to consecrate the bread to be the Body of Christ, but then not consecrate the Chalice. This is an unspeakable crime. Nefas est.

Here you go: https://catholicherald.co.uk/pope-francis-rants-against-delinquent-priests-who-withhold-absolution-2/

Pope Francis used bad language spoken with real violence to say that priests who withhold absolution from those who are not repentant for their sins are clericalists, criminals, delinquents, vehicles for evil, unjust, f***ing up the lives of others.

So, that little change to the consecrations is not at all beyond the realm of possibility, is it? I mean, that would absolutely fulfill Daniel’s prophesy that the Daily Sacrifice will come to an end. And to speak of that would be… to be… a dreaded conspiracy theorist! I would say, however, that we are living in times of unprecedented evil.

But – Hey! – that’ll never happen. Pfft. Never. That would be like the Pope establishing the abomination of desolation demon of all demon death idols on the Holy of Holies, on the Altar of Jesus’ Sacrifice in Saint Peter’s Basilica, where it must not be by divine mandate. He ain’t gonna do that with the Pachamama demon thing, right? Never! Not even at the closing Mass for the Amazon Synod on 27 October 2019. Oh, wait…

Anyway, let’s just quietly move on and examine a more plausible innovation, say, with the renewal of one of the many priestly ordination promises that the priests reiterate with the bishop at the Chrism Mass, just the third one. That would be less controversial, right? Here’s the original with my guess of a change in [bold-red], you know, just for a hypothetical mind-exercise for this hypothetical would-be forced concelebration of the Chrism Mass:

• Bishop: Are you resolved to be faithful stewards of the mysteries of God in the Holy Eucharist and the other liturgical rites [exclusively according to the Second Vatican Council and post-Conciliar spirit] and to discharge faithfully [with synodality and accompaniment] the sacred office of teaching, following Christ the Head and Shepherd, not seeking any gain, but moved only by zeal for souls?
  • Priests: I am.

Nah. That won’t happen. The priests would choke on their words, aghast, looking at each other in dismay, trying to figure out the word “spirit.” It wouldn’t work. Right?

So, moving on, trying to figure out this strange forcing of concelebration in a hypothetical Apostolic Constitution about a kind-of-abrogation of the Traditional Latin Mass, what if there are enculturation “surprises” such as that pictured up top of this post. That’s a concelebrated Mass for the Synod on Synodality recently. That’s the demon idol Pachamama who has a place in the sanctuary. People are sacrificed to that demon idol to this day. I dunno. Whadaya think? That blanket thing with other rags is draped over the steps, like, really weirdly, inconsistent with the fall of the steps themselves. Am I seeing things? Is that, like, a youth-mannequin stretched out in front of Pachamama under that blanket thing, or… maybe is that actually is a …? Surprise! Once you see it – not difficult – you can’t unsee it.

Nah. That can’t be, not even as a “joke.” Right? But are those tufts, locks of black hair, a couple of feet in front of the demon death idol Pachamama? Surely, at the most, it’s just a youth-mannequin…

I wonder if I should schedule a sick day on Chrism Mass day, you know, because of stress-diarrhea.

Nah. None of this will happen, anywhere, ever. If any of this were to turn out to be true, well, that would cause rebellion to take place in my priestly ministry, and I’m not ready for that [who is?], so…

Begin sarcasm: I’ll just say that that’s crazy! What an idiot I am! I’ll just go and meekly take my place with the other priests and turn out the lights in my mind and heart and soul, not look to the wounds of Jesus, but just fit-it with the others, going along to get along, not stand out, not draw attention to myself like some kind of Judas, because being meek and mild is safe, and nice, and comfortable… [vomit… vomit… vomit…]. End of sarcasm.

If that Apostolic Constitution is published 3 April 2023, and it’s not at all as outrageous as others predict, I’ll also show up for the Chrism Mass in plenty of time, check out the program, make sure there are no innovations, hope there’s no innovations during Mass, no photocopies that we weren’t warned about, go to the meal afterward, get the Holy Oils for the parish (and that’s the point of going), have a good time catching up with priest-friends, do up some plotting, laughing loudly, hear some confessions, maybe go to confession myself. And then make the trip back home, dropping off the Holy Oils at various parishes along the way, as always, happy happy.

The purpose of this mind-exercise is just to say that it’s good to be on guard against all that is not good, all that is not holy. There really are bad and evil things happening right around the world, horrific things against the faith, without precedent, not even in the Sacred Scriptures, and right in the Vatican, right to the top. Yep. At this point, anything can happen.

Calming down some 48 hours later, on Holy Thursday morning, during a quiet moment, maybe I’ll dig up one of those letters of John Paul II to all the priests in the world that he was in the custom of writing on Holy Thursday year after year, letters filled with his devotion for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, for the Most Blessed Sacrament, filled with encouragement for priests, with real love for them. Ah, yes, the good ol’ days. From 2003. And from the hospital 2005.

But the dear Lord has blessed us to be in these days.

It will make for quite the Holy Week if there’s any teeth in that possible 3 April 2023 Apostolic Constitution.

I hope to have the bandwidth on 3 April 2023 to get any Apostolic Constitution by email. I hope not to see therein things which will have me say Non possumus! (We cannot [do this]!) Truth be told: Sine dominico non possumus! (Without That-of-the-Lord [without the Eucharist of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass] we are not able [to live]!). So exclaimed the martyrs of Abitinae on their way to death, what with their witnessing to the Lord’s Love and Truth, His Sacrifice. And so say us all. Non possumus!

Just to say, even if none of what I’ve written here plays out, I think it’s been a useful mind exercise to have written it. The question of the usefulness is this: Could this have been written under any other pontificate in the history of the Church? Manifestly, the answer is No. It could only have been imagined during the pontificate of Pope Francis. I think that says quite a bit, regardless of whether I’ve fallen off my rocker in my old age.

As far as percentages of clown-bishops, blasphemous bishops, sacrilegious bishops, back in the days of the Arian heresy which insisted that Christ was not a divine Person, most all the bishops were violently, murderously anti-Catholic. Just ask Saint Athanasius of Alexandria. Most all the bishops were violently, murderously anti-Catholic. Think about that. We’ve seen all this previously. We’ve seen the wounds of Christ Jesus, also at the hands of his own Apostles, Judas betraying, Peter denying, all the rest running away.

• “You’re a conspiracy theorist, Father Byers!”

Finally, some poetry: If there are bad and evil things in that Apostolic Constitution, I will surely have to schedule some diarrhea for the Chrism Mass, and that won’t be an untruth. It will be the diarrhea of stress, one’s very heart being sprayed out one’s back-end, leaving one eviscerated, helpless, almost in a coma.

Happy, joyful to do that, Jesus. Maranatha! I can’t wait!