The LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying: Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God; let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky! But Ahaz answered, “I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!” Then he said: Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary men, must you also weary my God? Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel. which means “God is with us!”
Psalms40(39),7-8a.8b-9.10.11.
Sacrifice or oblation you wished not, but ears open to obedience you gave me. Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not; then said I, “Behold I come.”
“In the written scroll it is prescribed for me, To do your will, O my God, is my delight, and your law is within my heart!”
I announced your justice in the vast assembly; I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
Your justice I kept not hid within my heart; your faithfulness and your salvation I have spoken of; I have made no secret of your kindness and your truth in the vast assembly.
Letter to the Hebrews10,4-10.
Brothers and sisters: it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats take away sins. For this reason, when he came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight in. Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll, Behold, I come to do your will, O God.'” First he says, “Sacrifices and offerings, holocausts and sin offerings, you neither desired nor delighted in.” These are offered according to the law. Then he says, “Behold, I come to do your will.” He takes away the first to establish the second. By this “will,” we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke1,26-38.
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Dominican tertiary, Doctor of the Church, co-patron of Europe Prayer of March 25, 1379 (Elevation 21)
“God who is mighty has done great things for me.” (Lk 1:49)
Mary, temple of the Trinity, hearth of divine fire, Mother of mercy…, you are the new shoot (Isa 11:1), which brought forth the flower that gives fragrance to the world, the Word, the only Son of God. This Word was sown in you, fertile earth (Mt 13:3ff.). You hid the fire in the ashes of our humanity. Vessel of humility, where the light of true wisdom burns…, by the fire of your love, by the flame of your humility, you drew the eternal Father to yourself and to us…
Thanks to that light, O Mary, you were never like the foolish virgins (Mt 25:1ff.), but you were filled with the virtue of prudence. That is why you wanted to know how the angel’s words to you could be accomplished. You knew that “nothing is impossible with God”; you had no doubt of that. So why say: “I do not know man”?
It was not because you were lacking in faith; your profound humility made you say that. You did not doubt God’s power; you saw yourself as unworthy of such a great marvel. You were troubled by the angel’s word; it was not out of fear. In the very light of God, it seems to me that it was rather out of admiration. And what did you admire, O Mary, if not the immensity of God’s goodness? Looking at yourself, you considered yourself to be unworthy of that grace and it left you stupefied. Your question is the proof of your humility. You were not filled with fear, but only with admiration before the immense goodness of God compared to your littleness, to your humble condition (Lk 1:48).
Thus says the Lord GOD: O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people! I will put my spirit in you that you may live, and I will settle you upon your land; thus you shall know that I am the LORD. I have promised, and I will do it, says the LORD.
Psalms130(129),1-2.3-4.5-6.7-8.
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD LORD, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to my voice in supplication.
If you, O LORD, mark iniquities, LORD, who can stand? But with you is forgiveness, that you may be revered.
I trust in the LORD; my soul trusts in his word. My soul waits for the Lord more than sentinels for dawn.
For with the LORD is kindness and with him is plenteous redemption; and he will redeem Israel from all their iniquities.
Letter to the Romans8,8-11.
Brothers and sisters: those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John11,1-45.
Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and dried his feet with her hair; it was her brother Lazarus who was ill. So the sisters sent word to him, saying, “Master, the one you love is ill.” When Jesus heard this he said, “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was. Then after this he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and you want to go back there?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in a day? If one walks during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” He said this, and then told them, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him.” So the disciples said to him, “Master, if he is asleep, he will be saved.” But Jesus was talking about his death, while they thought that he meant ordinary sleep. So then Jesus said to them clearly, “Lazarus has died. And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe. Let us go to him.” So Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go to die with him.” When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” Martha said to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, “The teacher is here and is asking for you.” As soon as she heard this, she rose quickly and went to him. For Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still where Martha had met him. So when the Jews who were with her in the house comforting her saw Mary get up quickly and go out, they followed her, presuming that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Sir, come and see.” And Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.” But some of them said, “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?” So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him, “Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.” And when he had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.” Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him.
Saint Augustine (354-430) Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church Commentary on the Gospel of St John: Tractate 49;13-14
Listen and rise!
And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him; but Mary sat [still] in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if You had been here, my brother had not died. But I know that even now, whatsoever You will ask of God, God will give it You. She did not say, But even now I ask You to raise my brother to life again. For how could she know if such a resurrection would be of benefit to her brother? She only said, I know that You can, and whatsoever You are pleased, You do….
Jesus says unto her, Your brother shall rise again. This was ambiguous. For He said not, Even now I will raise your brother; but, Your brother shall rise again. Martha says unto Him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection, at the last day. Of that resurrection I am sure, but uncertain about this. Jesus says unto her, I am the resurrection. You say, My brother shall rise again at the last day: true; but by Him, through whom he shall rise then, can he rise even now, for I, He says, am the resurrection and the life.
Give ear, brethren, give ear to what He says. Certainly the universal expectation of the bystanders was that Lazarus, one who had been dead four days, would live again; let us hear, and rise again. How many are there in this audience who are crushed down under the weighty mass of some sinful habit! Perhaps some are hearing me to whom it may be said, Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; Ephesians 5:18 and they say, We cannot. Some others, it may be, are hearing me, who are unclean, and stained with lusts and crimes, and to whom it is said, Refrain from such conduct, that you perish not; and they reply, We cannot give up our habits.
O Lord, raise them again. I am, He says, the resurrection and the life. The resurrection because the life.
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. God the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us. God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us. God the Holy Spirit, Have mercy on us. Holy Trinity, One God, Have mercy on us. Holy Mary, pray for us . Saint Joseph, pray for us. Illustrious son of David, etc. Light of the patriarchs, Spouse of the Mother of God, Chaste guardian of the Virgin, Foster-father of the Son of God, Watchful defender of Christ, Head of the Holy Family, Joseph most just, Joseph most chaste, Joseph most prudent, Joseph most valiant, Joseph most obedient, Joseph most faithful, Mirror of patience, Lover of poverty, Model of workmen , Glory of domestic life, Guardian of virgins, Pillar of families, Solace of the afflicted, Hope of the sick, Patron of the dying, Terror of demons, Protector of Holy Church, Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord. Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord. Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us. V. He made him the lord of His household, R. And prince over all His possessions.
Let Us Pray.
O God, Who in Thine ineffable providence didst choose Blessed Joseph to be the spouse of Thy most Holy Mother, grant that as we venerate him as our protector on earth, we may deserve to have him as our intercessor in Heaven, Thou Who livest and reignest forever and ever.
I arise today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity. Through belief in the threeness, Through confession of the oneness, Of the Creator of Creation.
I arise today Through the strength of Christ’s birth with His baptism, Through the strength of His crucifixion with His burial, Through the strength of His resurrection with His ascension, Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.
I arise today Through the strength of the love of cherubim, In the obedience of angels, In the service of archangels, In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward, In the prayers of patriarchs, In the predictions of prophets, In the preaching of apostles, In the faith of confessors, In the innocence of holy virgins, In the deeds of righteous men.
I arise today, through The strength of heaven, The light of the sun, The radiance of the moon, The splendor of fire, The speed of lightning, The swiftness of wind, The depth of the sea, The stability of the earth, The firmness of rock.
I arise today, through God’s strength to pilot me, God’s might to uphold me, God’s wisdom to guide me, God’s eye to look before me, God’s ear to hear me, God’s word to speak for me, God’s hand to guard me, God’s shield to protect me, God’s host to save me From snares of devils, From temptation of vices, From everyone who shall wish me ill, afar and near.
I summon today All these powers between me and those evils, Against every cruel and merciless power that may oppose my body and soul, Against incantations of false prophets, Against black laws of pagandom, Against false laws of heretics, Against craft of idolatry, Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards, Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul; Christ to shield me today Against poison, against burning, Against drowning, against wounding, So that there may come to me an abundance of reward.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity. Through belief in the threeness, Through confession of the oneness, Of the Creator of Creation.
Like many people years ago, as a child, my brother and I, together with our dad, always prayed in our “night prayers” the traditional prayer to our guardian angels: “Angel of God, my guardian dear to whom God’s love entrusts me here, ever this day (or night) be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.”
I still ask my guardian angel at night when I go to bed and, in the morning, when I get up, to watch over and protect me. Moreover, before writing, I always ask my guardian angel to give me clarity of thought and expression and to whisper the right words into my ears. Sometimes when I am struggling to find the right word, he places exactly the right word in my mind.
Prayers to one’s guardian angel are Biblically based:
• God instructs Moses, as the Israelites set off for the Promised Land: “Behold I send you an angel before you, to guard you on the way and bring you to the place which I have prepared. Give heed to him and hearken to his voice.” (Exodus 23:20-21).
• Psalm 91:11 affirms that one need not fear, “for he (God) will give his angels charge over you to guard you in all your ways.”
• Jesus himself states that we should not despise the little ones, “for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 18:10)
• In the Acts of the Apostles, when Peter escapes from prison and knocks on the door where the faithful were gathered, his brethren wrongly think: “It is his angel!” (Acts 12:13-15)
Although most of us will never see our guardian angels, many saints have. Padre Pio frequently conversed with his guardian angel, who would defend him against demonic attacks. Gemma Galgani was in daily contact with her guardian angel, who taught, protected, and corrected her. Sr. Faustina Kowalska spoke of her guardian angel accompanying her on her journeys. She also saw him when she was immersed in prayer, often asking her to pray for the dying.
The point of the above examples is not to say that one has to be a “saint” to speak with or behold one’s guardian angel. Rather, it is to illustrate that we, too, can converse with and be assured of our guardian angel’s protecting and guiding presence.
Moreover, we should dispel the romantic and “cute” notion that guardian angels are only relevant for vulnerable children. Adults are in as much need of their guardian angels – maybe even more so, for their temptations and affairs are often of a more serious nature.
Our guardian angels are therefore present to strengthen, to encourage, and to guide us in living out our respective vocations, whether single, married, religious, or priestly. To dismiss them as only suited for what is childish is to place ourselves in harm’s way.
The question has been asked: After death, do our guardian angels cease to be with us once we enter into Heaven? Obviously, we no longer need to be guarded. Do they, then, get recycled to someone newly conceived?
According to Catholic tradition, our guardian angels even remain with us in Heaven and together we give praise and glory to the most holy Trinity – to our heavenly Father who is the ultimate source of life, to the risen Jesus, the Father’s incarnate Son, who is our loving Savior and Lord, and to the Holy Spirit who cleanses us of sin and makes us holy.
With all of our brothers and sisters in Christ, along with our respective guardian angels, we will sing forever a glorious hymn of praise and thanksgiving.
Here, we perceive the confluence of the earthly and the heavenly liturgy. At the conclusion of the Preface at Mass the following, or something similar, is said: “And so, with the Angels and all of the Saints we declare your (the Father’s) glory, as with one voice we acclaim: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.”
With one voice, our earthly human voices, the heavenly voices of the saints, and the host of angelic voices, we all together declare that both Heaven and earth are filled with God’s threefold holiness.
Thus, to participate at Mass, whether in a lowly chapel or in the grandeur of a basilica or a cathedral, earth is conjoined with the heavenly angelic liturgy, and the heavenly angelic liturgy is conjoined with earth.
The Mass, then, fulfills Isaiah’s heavenly vision: “I saw the Lord sitting upon his throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. . .and one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.’” (Isaiah 6:1-3)
At Mass, the earth is filled with the glory of God. Our churches are “jam-packed” with angels, and so, in unison with our guardian angels, we join the seraphim in singing this thrice-holy proclamation of the Trinity’s holiness.
At the end of funeral Masses, just prior to going to the cemetery, the priest prays: “To you, O Lord, we commend the soul [name], your servant, in the sight of your saints and in the presence of your angels. May the angels lead you into paradise; may the martyrs come to welcome you and take you to the holy city, the new and eternal Jerusalem.”
Our guardian angel will be among the saints and angels who will lead us (we hope) into the new and everlasting heavenly Jerusalem – rejoicing, knowing that he has accomplished the task God had given him to do – to guard and guide us into paradise.
Reflections by Saint John Henry Newman (Newman Reader – Meditations and Devotions)
(1) Against Thee only have I Sinned
1. THOU, O Lord, after living a whole eternity in ineffable bliss, because Thou art the one and sole Perfection, at length didst begin to create spirits to be with Thee and to share Thy blessedness according to their degree; and the return they made Thee was at once to rebel against Thee. First a great part of the Angels, then mankind, have risen up against Thee, and served others, not Thee. Why didst Thou create us, but to make us happy? Couldest Thou be made more happy by creating us? and how could we be happy but in obeying Thee? Yet we determined not to be happy as Thou wouldest have us happy, but to find out a happiness of our own; and so we left Thee. O my God, what a return is it that we—that I—make Thee when we sin! what dreadful unthankfulness is it! and what will be my punishment for refusing to be happy, and for preferring hell to heaven! I know what the punishment will be; Thou wilt say, “Let him have it all {334} his own way. He wishes to perish; let him perish. He despises the graces I give him; they shall turn to a curse.
2. Thou, O my God, hast a claim on me, and I am wholly Thine! Thou art the Almighty Creator, and I am Thy workmanship. I am the work of Thy Hands, and Thou art my owner. As well might the axe or the hammer exalt itself against its framer, as I against Thee. Thou owest me nothing; I have no rights in respect to Thee, I have only duties. I depend on Thee for life, and health, and every blessing every moment. I have no more power of exercising will as to my life than axe or hammer. I depend on Thee far more entirely than anything here depends on its owner and master. The son does not depend on the father for the continuance of life—the matter out of which the axe is made existed first—but I depend wholly on Thee—if Thou withdraw Thy breath from me for a moment, I die. I am wholly and entirely Thy property and Thy work, and my one duty is to serve Thee.
3. O my God, I confess that before now I have utterly forgotten this, and that I am continually forgetting it! I have acted many a time as if I were my own master, and turned from Thee rebelliously. I have acted according to my own pleasure, not according to Thine. And so far have I hardened myself, as not to feel as I ought how evil this is. I do not understand how dreadful sin is—and I do not hate it, and fear it, as I ought. I have no horror of it, or loathing. I do not turn from it with indignation, as {335} being an insult to Thee, but I trifle with it, and, even if I do not commit great sins, I have no great reluctance to do small ones. O my God, what a great and awful difference is there between what I am and what I ought to be!
(2) Against Thee only have I Sinned
1. MY God, I dare not offend any earthly superior; I am afraid—for I know I shall get into trouble—yet I dare offend Thee. I know, O Lord, that, according to the greatness of the person offended against, the greater is the offence. Yet I do not fear to offend Thee, whom to offend is to offend the infinite God. O my dear Lord, how should I myself feel, what should I say of myself, if I were to strike some revered superior on earth? if I were violently to deal a blow upon some one as revered as a father, or a priest; if I were to strike them on the face? I cannot bear even to think of such a thing—yet what is this compared with lifting up my hand against Thee? and what is sin but this? To sin is to insult Thee in the grossest of all conceivable ways. This then, O my soul! is what the sinfulness of sin consists in. It is lifting up my hand against my Infinite Benefactor, against my Almighty Creator, Preserver and Judge—against Him in whom all majesty and glory and beauty and reverence and sanctity centre; against the one only God. {336}
2. O my God, I am utterly confounded to think of the state in which I lie! What will become of me if Thou art severe? What is my life, O my dear and merciful Lord, but a series of offences, little or great, against Thee! O what great sins I have committed against Thee before now—and how continually in lesser matters Iam sinning! My God, what will become of me? What will be my position hereafter if I am left to myself! What can I do but come humbly to Him whom I have so heavily affronted and insulted, and beg Him to forgive the debt which lies against me? O my Lord Jesus, whose love for me has been so great as to bring Thee down from heaven to save me, teach me, dear Lord, my sin—teach me its heinousness—teach me truly to repent of it—and pardon it in Thy great mercy!
3. I beg Thee, O my dear Saviour, to recover me! Thy grace alone can do it. I cannot save myself. I cannot recover my lost ground. I cannot turn to Thee, I cannot please Thee, or save my soul without Thee. Ishall go from bad to worse, I shall fall from Thee entirely, Ishall quite harden myself against my neglect of duty, if I rely on my own strength. I shall make myself my centre instead of making Thee. I shall worship some idol of my own framing instead of Thee, the only true God and my Maker, unless Thou hinder it by Thy grace. O my dear Lord, hear me! I have lived long enough in this undecided, wavering, unsatisfactory state. I wish to be Thy good servant. I wish to sin no more. Be gracious to me, and enable me to be what I know I ought to be. {337}
In those days, in their thirst for water, the people grumbled against Moses, saying, «Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and our livestock?» So Moses cried out to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? A little more and they will stone me!” The LORD answered Moses, “Go over there in front of the people, along with some of the elders of Israel, holding in your hand, as you go, the staff with which you struck the river. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock in Horeb. Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it for the people to drink.” This Moses did, in the presence of the elders of Israel. The place was called Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled there and tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD in our midst or not?”
Psalms95(94),1-2.6-7.8-9.
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD; let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
Come, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before the LORD who made us. For he is our God, and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice: “Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the desert, Where your fathers tempted me; they tested me though they had seen my works.”
Letter to the Romans5,1-2.5-8.
Brothers and sisters: Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access (by faith) to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God. and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us. For Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John4,5-42.
Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” (The woman) said to him, “Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” Jesus said to her, “Go call your husband and come back.” The woman answered and said to him, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus answered her, “You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’ For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Anointed; when he comes, he will tell us everything.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking with you.” At that moment his disciples returned, and were amazed that he was talking with a woman, but still no one said, “What are you looking for?” or “Why are you talking with her?” The woman left her water jar and went into the town and said to the people, Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Messiah? They went out of the town and came to him. Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” So the disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, ‘In four months the harvest will be here’? I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest. The reaper is already receiving his payment and gathering crops for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together. For here the saying is verified that ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the work, and you are sharing the fruits of their work.” Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me everything I have done.” When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. Many more began to believe in him because of his word, and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”
Saint Gregory of Nyssa (c.335-395) monk and Bishop Homily 8, on Song of Songs 4:7 (Homilies on the Song of Songs)
The water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life (Jn 4:14)
“Come and pass through from the beginning of faith, from the peak of Sanir and Hermon.” (Song 4:8, translation of Gregory of Nyssa)What meaning, then, did we detect in these words? The wellspring of good things always draws the thirsty to itself just as in the Gospel the wellspring says: “If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37). For in using these words, he sets no limit, whether to thirst, or to the urge to come to him, or to the enjoyment of the drinking. Rather, by the openendedness of his injunction, he issues a continuing invitation to thirst and to drink and to be impelled toward him.
To those who have already “tasted” and have learned from experience “that the Lord is good” (cf. Ps 33:9; 1 Peter 2:3), the tasting becomes, as it were, an invitation to partake of yet more. On this account the invitation to come to him that has been off ered, and that ever and again draws us to better things, is never lacking to the person who is journeying upwards. Let us not be forgetful of the urging that the Word addressed to the Bride in earlier passages: “Come, my close one, he says, and again, Come, my dove, and Come for yourself … to the shelter of the rock.”
Th e text runs as follows: Come and pass through from the beginning of faith, from the peak of Sanir and Hermon. With these words, however, he
intim ates the mystery of the birth from above,8 for it is from there, they say, that the springs of the Jordan fl ow, over which there looms this mountain
that divides into two peaks with the names Sanir and Hermon. Since, then, the stream that flows out of these springs is for us the beginning of our being remodelled for existence at the level of the divine.
The small but growing Catholic Church in Norway is blessed to have two bishops now, native Norwegians, under fifty-two years old. Bishop Frederik Hansen, appointed the Bishop of Oslo in July 2025, joins the Cistercian Bishop Erik Varden, appointed Bishop of Trondheim, in October 2019.
Plans are currently underway to celebrate the millennium of the martyrdom of St. Olaf, the canonized King of Norway, spearheaded by Bishop Varden. It would not be inaccurate to say that the Catholic Church in Norway, with 2030 in sight, is being reinvigorated by the leadership of these two comparatively youthful bishops.
Bishop Erik, or Erik of Trondheim, to give him an accurate, though more medieval title, is a gentle Viking, although that moniker might sound warlike. The former Abbot of the Cistercian Monastery of Mount St. Bernard in England, he is also a former professor of Syriac, a man already highly regarded as a spiritual writer, teacher, and exemplary bishop.
Yet now, after having been chosen by Pope Leo to give the annual Spiritual Exercises for the Pope and the Roman Curia in the Vatican during the first week of Lent, his stature, principally because of the wisdom and depth of his short reflections, has risen considerably. There is much conjecture that he may be called to lead a dicastery in Rome, something that he would undoubtedly not wish for, and would be a great loss for the Church in Norway.
Almost any line or paragraph of Bishop Erik’s words would make an excellent subject for Lenten reflection. But there were one or two phrases that speak strongly to a theme that has been much discussed recently in the media, both religious and secular: namely, the appearance of a religious revival, albeit still small, in the West.
One of the questions that has yet to be answered is that, despite evidence that attendance has been much higher at celebrations such as Ash Wednesday in many countries, and that baptisms will be up this year at Easter, how many of these people, predominantly young, are returning to regular practice?
It’s unlikely that a young seeker, quite possibly unbaptized and with little, if any, knowledge of the Christian faith, is crossing the portal of the local Church to hear of either synodality, immigration, or debate over altar rails.
Bishop Erik Varden [source: Wikipedia]
Still less will they be seeking music, or something very like it, that was popular when their parents were teenagers, but as Bishop Erik put it sharply, is now distinctly “sounding last-season.”
More likely, if they are initially searching for beauty to lead them to the experience of the divine, the season they seek will be one long before the advent of bell-bottoms.
Varden rightly and perceptively focuses on the reality that, in a highly confused and technocratic age, people are echoing the question of Pilate: “What is truth?”
The Church, and ancient wisdom, has long taught that, along with truth, beauty and goodness are paths to God. Bishop Erik warned his audience, with Pope Leo prominently seated in front, that the Church, or certainly many churchmen, imagine that they must ape fashion in order to be ‘relevant’ and “attract the youth.”
But this is a great danger for any religious revival. And Bishop Varden echoed, in a sense, Chesterton’s belief – which is probably shared by many seekers: “We do not want a Church that will move with the world, we want a Church that will move the world.”
Bishop Erik, a profoundly cultured man, knows well of which he speaks, both as a university professor and Abbot. Is there anything more embarrassing than a Churchman who is trying to be fashionable? One thinks of Dean Inge’s line that a Church that “marries the spirit of this age will be a widow in the next.” Bishop Varden gives the Church and, I would argue, every parish, a program for the seeker.
In the first place, he argues that those seeking the truth are asking the “question [What is truth?] earnestly – we cannot let it go unanswered.” This is the function, not only of the teaching office of the Church, whether in the clarity of papal statements and doctrinal fidelity, but also, at the “first point of contact,” the preaching and teaching in the parish.
Pope Leo XIV and Bishop Varden at the conclusion of the Lenten retreat [source: Vatican Media]
There is no place for objections, as a friend recounted that he experienced on the Feast of the Assumption, that the Assumption “was invented in 1950.” Instead, Bishop Erik says, “We need our best resources to uphold substantial, essential, freeing truth against more or less plausibly shining, more or less fiendish substitutes.”
Best resources – in the Seminary, continuing education of clergy, and, as Fr. Richard John Neuhaus used to say, “fidelity, fidelity, fidelity.”
Along with the “freeing truth” substantially proclaimed, Varden’s renewal program identifies the fact that the Church has Her own language; a language, it must be said, that will be new to many who come to Her.
This language consists of the liturgy and Scripture, which, if spoken well, will make the Church “original and fresh, ready to express crucial truths in new ways, standing a chance of orienting culture.”
These new ways have nothing to do with novelty; they are the ways that are “ever ancient, ever new.” This is, in its essence, what the phrase “new evangelization” really means: It means, once again, the “best resources” – music, art, and the experience of the transcendent within the walls of the Church. Restoring all that will cost money, but perhaps less than the endless conferences and synods on synodality.
Finally, there’s the way of goodness, the “beauty of holiness,” the evidence of saintly lives, transformed by the presence of Christ. These, the bishop says, make the claim to truth “compelling.”
All this is to proclaim that the “Church reminds women and men of the glory secretly alive in them.” That is a program that will keep a seeker enthusiastically coming back.
On Prayerful Posse, Raymond Arroyo, Fr. Gerald Murray, and Robert Royal analyze the U.S. bishops’ Supreme Court brief on birthright citizenship and prudential judgment in immigration. They discuss a Vatican probe into alleged misconduct by a California bishop, German Church leadership, and possible SSPX bishop ordinations. The panel also covers Notre Dame fallout, Pope Leo XIV’s AI warning, and encouraging signs of Catholic renewal.
The LORD said to Abram: “Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you.” Abram went as the LORD directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
Psalms33(32),4-5.18-19.20.22.
Upright is the word of the LORD, and all his works are trustworthy. He loves justice and right; of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.
See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him, upon those who hope for his kindness, To deliver them from death and preserve them in spite of famine.
Our soul waits for the LORD, who is our help and our shield, May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us who have put our hope in you.
Second Letter to Timothy1,8b-10.
Beloved: So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God. He saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to his own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began, but now made manifest through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus, who destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew17,1-9.
Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them, then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate and were very much afraid. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and do not be afraid.” And when the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one else but Jesus alone. As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, “Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716) preacher, founder of religious communities The Love of Eternal Wisdom (15,16,19,70)
The revalation of His glory!
For here all human beings must close their eyes so as not to be blinded by the vivid brightness of his light.
All should be silent for fear of tarnishing his perfect beauty by attempting to portray him. Every mind should realise its inadequacy and adore, lest in striving to fathom him, it be crushed by the tremendous weight of his glory.
Adapting himself to our weakness, the Holy Spirit offers this description of eternal Wisdom in the
Book of Wisdom which he composed just for us. “Eternal Wisdom is a breath of the power of God, a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty.
Hence nothing defiled gains entrance into him. He is the reflection of eternal light, the spotless mirror of God’s majesty, the image of his goodness” (Wisd. 7:25,26).
He is the substantial and eternal idea of divine beauty which God the Father was well pleased with the sovereign beauty of eternal Wisdom, his Son, throughout
time and eternity, as he himself explicitly testified on the day of his Son’s baptism and his transfiguration, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased” (Mt. 17:5; cf. Mt. 3:17. Cf. Nos. 55, 98).
Finally, in order to draw closer to men and give them a more convincing proof of his love, eternal Wisdom went so far as to become man, even to become a little child, to embrace poverty and to die upon a cross for them.
In a sweeping and uncompromising letter to Pope Leo XIV, Bishop Athanasius Schneider dismantles the claim that episcopal consecrations without papal mandate are inherently schismatic, appeals to the witness of the Church Fathers, and urges the Holy Father to act as a true bridge-builder by granting the Apostolic Mandate to the Society of Saint Pius X—before a needless and devastating rupture hardens in the life of the Church.
A Fraternal Appeal to Pope Leo XIV to Build a Bridge with the Priestly Society of St. Pius X
The current situation regarding the episcopal consecrations in the Priestly Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) has suddenly awakened the entire Church. Within an extraordinarily short time following the February 2ndannouncement that the SSPX will proceed with these consecrations, an intense and often emotionally charged debate has arisen throughout wide circles of the Catholic world. The spectrum of voices in this debate ranges from understanding, benevolence, neutral observation, and common sense to irrational rejection, peremptory condemnation, and even open hatred. Although there is reason for hope—and it is by no means unrealistic—that Pope Leo XIV could indeed approve the episcopal consecrations, already now proposals for the text of a bull of excommunication of the SSPX are being put forward online.
The negative reactions, though often well-intentioned, reveal that the heart of the problem has not yet been grasped with sufficient honesty and clarity. There is a tendency to remain at the surface. Priorities within the life of the Church are reversed, elevating the canonical and legal dimension—that is, a certain juridical positivism—to the supreme criterion. Moreover, there is at times a lack of historical awareness concerning the Church’s practice with respect to episcopal ordinations. Disobedience is thus too readily equated with schism. The criteria for episcopal communion with the Pope, and consequently the understanding of what truly constitutes schism, are viewed in an overly one-sided manner when compared with the practice and self-understanding of the Church in the Patristic era, the age of the Church Fathers.
To believe in the Papal Primacy, to acknowledge the actual Pope, to adhere with him to all that the Church has taught infallibly and definitively, and to observe the validity of the sacramental liturgy, is of divine right. Yet, a reductive view that equates disobedience to a papal command with schism—even in the case of a bishop’s consecration performed against his will—was foreign to the Church Fathers and to traditional canon law.
In this debate, new quasi-dogmas are being established that do not exist in the Depositum fidei. These quasi-dogmas maintain that the Pope’s consent to a bishop’s consecration is of divine right, and that a consecration carried out without this consent, or even against a papal prohibition, constitutes in itself a schismatic act. However, the Church’s practice and understanding during the time of the Church Fathers, and for a long period thereafter, argue against this view. Furthermore, there is no unanimous opinion on this matter among the recognized theologians of the Church’s two-thousand-year tradition. Centuries of ecclesial practice, as well as traditional canon law, also stand in opposition to such absolutizing assertions. According to the 1917 Code of Canon Law, an episcopal consecration carried out against the will of the Pope was punished not with excommunication, but only with suspension. By this, the Church clearly manifested that she did not consider such an act to be schismatic.
The acceptance of papal primacy as a revealed truth is often confused with the concrete forms—forms that have evolved throughout history—through which a bishop expresses his hierarchical unity with the Pope. To believe in the Papal Primacy, to acknowledge the actual Pope, to adhere with him to all that the Church has taught infallibly and definitively, and to observe the validity of the sacramental liturgy, is of divine right. Yet, a reductive view that equates disobedience to a papal command with schism—even in the case of a bishop’s consecration performed against his will—was foreign to the Church Fathers and to traditional canon law. For example, in 357, St. Athanasius disobeyed the order of Pope Liberius, who instructed him to enter into hierarchical communion with the overwhelming majority of the episcopate, which was in fact Arian or semi-Arian. As a result, he was excommunicated. In this instance, St. Athanasius disobeyed out of love for the Church and for the honor of the Apostolic See, seeking precisely to safeguard the purity of doctrine from any suspicion of ambiguity.
In the first millennium of the Church’s life, episcopal consecrations were generally performed without formal papal permission, and candidates were not required to be approved by the Pope. The first canonical regulation on episcopal consecrations, issued by an Ecumenical Council, was that of Nicaea in 325, which required that a new bishop be consecrated with the consent of a majority of the bishops of the province. Shortly before his death, during a period of doctrinal confusion, St. Athanasius personally selected and consecrated his successor—St. Peter of Alexandria—, in order to ensure that no unsuitable or weak candidate would assume the episcopate. Similarly, in 1977, the Servant of God Cardinal Iosif Slipyj secretly consecrated three bishops in Rome without the approval of Pope Paul VI, fully aware that the Pope would not allow it because of the Vatican’s Ostpolitik at the time. When Rome learned of these secret consecrations, however, the penalty of excommunication was not applied.
To avoid misunderstanding, under normal circumstances—and when there is neither doctrinal confusion nor a time of extraordinary persecution—one must, of course, do everything possible to observe the canonical norms of the Church and to obey the Pope in his just injunctions, in order to preserve ecclesiastical unity both more effectively and visibly.
But the situation in the life of the Church today can be illustrated with the following parable: A fire breaks out in a large house. The fire chief allows only the use of new firefighting equipment, even though it has been shown to be less effective than the old, proven tools. A group of firefighters defies this order and continues to use the tried-and-tested equipment—and indeed, the fire is contained in many places. Yet these firefighters are labelled disobedient and schismatic, and they are punished.
To extend the metaphor further: the fire chief permits only those firefighters who acknowledge the new equipment, follow the new firefighting rules, and obey the new firehouse regulations. But given the obvious scale of the fire, the desperate struggle against it, and the insufficiency of the official firefighting team, other helpers—despite the fire chief’s prohibition—selflessly intervene with skill, knowledge, and good intentions, ultimately contributing to the success of the fire chief’s efforts.
Faced with such rigid and incomprehensible behavior, two possible explanations present themselves: either the fire chief is denying the seriousness of the fire, much like in the French comedy Tout va très bien, Madame la Marquise!; or, in fact, the fire chief desires that large parts of the house burn, so that it may later be rebuilt according to a new design.
The current crisis surrounding the announced—but as yet unapproved—episcopal consecrations in the SSPX exposes, before the eyes of the whole Church, a wound that has been smouldering for over sixty years. This wound can be figuratively described as ecclesial cancer—specifically, the ecclesial cancer of doctrinal and liturgical ambiguities.
The current crisis surrounding the announced—but as yet unapproved—episcopal consecrations in the SSPX exposes, before the eyes of the whole Church, a wound that has been smouldering for over sixty years. This wound can be figuratively described as ecclesial cancer—specifically, the ecclesial cancer of doctrinal and liturgical ambiguities.
Recently, an excellent article appeared on the Rorate Caeli blogspot, written with rare theological clarity and intellectual honesty, under the title: “The Long Shadow of Vatican II: Ambiguity as Ecclesial Cancer” (Canon of Shaftesbury: Rorate Caeli, February 10, 2026). The fundamental problem with some ambiguous statements of the Second Vatican Council is that the Council chose to prioritize a pastoral tone over doctrinal precision. One can agree with the author when he says:
“The problem isn’t that Vatican II was heretical. The problem is that it was ambiguous. And in that ambiguity, we’ve seen the seeds of confusion that have flowered into some of the most troubling theological developments in modern Church history. When the Church speaks in vague terms, even if unintentionally, then souls are at stake.”
The author continues:
“When a doctrinal ‘development’ seems to contradict what came before, or when it requires decades of theological gymnastics to reconcile with previous magisterial teaching, we have to ask: Is this development, or is it rupture disguised as development?” (Canon of Shaftesbury: Rorate Caeli, February 10, 2026).
One may reasonably assume that the SSPX desires nothing more than to help the Church emerge from this ambiguity in doctrine and liturgy and to rediscover her saving perennial clarity—just as the Church’s Magisterium, under the guidance of the Popes, has done unequivocally throughout history after every crisis marked by doctrinal confusion and ambiguity.
In fact, the Holy See should be grateful to the SSPX, because it is currently almost the only major ecclesiastical reality that forthrightly and publicly points out the existence of ambiguous and misleading elements in certain statements of the Council and the Novus Ordo Missae. In this endeavor, the SSPX is guided by a sincere love for the Church: if they did not love the Church, the Pope, and souls, they would not undertake this work, nor would they engage with the Roman authorities—and they would undoubtedly have an easier life.
Most Holy Father, grant the Apostolic Mandate for the episcopal consecrations of the SSPX. You are also the father of your numerous sons and daughters who have been cared for by the SSPX, who love the Pope, and who wish to be true sons and daughters of the Roman Church. Therefore, stand aside from the partisanship of others and, with a great paternal and truly Augustinian spirit, demonstrate that you are building bridges, as you promised to do before the whole world when you gave your first blessing after your election.
The following words of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre are deeply moving and reflect the attitude of the current leadership and most members of the SSPX:
“We believe in Peter, we believe in the successor of Peter! But as Pope Pius IX says well in his dogmatic constitution, the pope has received the Holy Ghost not to make new truths, but to maintain us in the faith of all time. This is the definition of the Pope made at the time of the First Vatican Council by Pope Pius IX. And that is why we are persuaded that in maintaining these traditions we are manifesting our love, our docility, our obedience to the Successor of Peter. We cannot remain indifferent before the degradation of faith, morals, and the liturgy. That is out of the question! We do not want to separate ourselves from the Church; on the contrary, we want the Church to continue!”
If someone considers having difficulties with the Pope to be among his greatest spiritual sufferings, that in itself is a telling proof that there is no schismatic intent. True schismatics even boast of their separation from the Apostolic See. True schismatics would never humbly implore the Pope to recognize their bishops.
How truly Catholic, then, are the following words of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre:
“We regret infinitely, it is an immense pain for us, to think that we are in difficulty with Rome because of our faith! How is this possible? It is something that exceeds the imagination, that we should never have been able to imagine, that we should never have been able to believe, especially in our childhood–then when all was uniform, when the whole Church believed in her general unity and held the same Faith, the same Sacraments, the same sacrifice of the Mass, the same catechism.”
We must honestly examine the evident ambiguities regarding religious freedom, ecumenism, and collegiality, as well as the doctrinal imprecisions of the Novus Ordo Missae. In this regard, one should read the recently published book by Archimandrite Boniface Luykx, a Council peritus and renowned liturgical scholar, with its eloquent title A Wider View of Vatican II. Memories and Analysis of a Council Consultor.
The SSPX should be allowed to make a theological contribution with a view to clarifying, supplementing, and, if necessary, amending those statements in the texts of the Second Vatican Council that raise doctrinal doubts and difficulties.
As G. K. Chesterton once said: “Upon entering the church, we are asked to take off our hat, not our head.” It would be a tragedy if the SSPX were completely cut off, and the responsibility for such a division would rest primarily with the Holy See. The Holy See should bring the SSPX in, offering at least a minimum degree of Church integration, and then continue the doctrinal dialogue. The Holy See has shown remarkable generosity toward the Communist Party of China, allowing them to select candidates for bishops—yet her own children, the thousands upon thousands of faithful of the SSPX, are treated as second-class citizens.
The SSPX should be allowed to make a theological contribution with a view to clarifying, supplementing, and, if necessary, amending those statements in the texts of the Second Vatican Council that raise doctrinal doubts and difficulties. This must also take into account that, in these texts, the Magisterium of the Church did not intend to pronounce itself with dogmatic definitions endowed with the note of infallibility (cf. Paul VI, General Audience, January 12, 1966).
The SSPX makes exactly the same Professio fidei as that made by the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council, known as the Tridentine-Vatican Professio fidei. If, according to the explicit words of Pope Paul VI, the Second Vatican Council did not present any definitive doctrines, nor intend to do so, and if the faith of the Church remains the same before, during, and after the Council, why should the profession of faith that was valid in the Church until 1967 suddenly no longer be considered valid as a mark of true Catholic belief?
Yet the the Tridentine-Vatican Professio fidei is considered by the Holy See to be insufficient for the SSPX. Would not the Tridentine-Vatican Professio fidei in fact constitute “the minimum” for ecclesial communion? If that is not a minimum, then what, honestly, would qualify as a “minimum”? The SSPX is required, as a conditio sine qua non, to make a Professio fidei by which the teachings of a pastoral, and not definitive, nature from the last Council and the subsequent Magisterium must be accepted. If this is truly the so-called “minimum requirement,” then Cardinal Victor Fernández appears to be playing games with words!
Pope Leo XIV said at the ecumenical Vespers on January 25, 2026, at the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, that there is already unity between Catholics and non-Catholic Christians because they share the minimum of Christian faith: “We share the same faith in the one and only God, the Father of all people; we confess together the one Lord and true Son of God, Jesus Christ, and the one Holy Spirit, who inspires us and impels us towards full unity and the common witness to the Gospel” (Apostolic Letter In Unitate Fidei, 23 November 2025, 12). He further declared: “We are one! We already are! Let us recognize it, experience it and make it visible!”
How can this statement be reconciled with the claim made by representatives of the Holy See and some high-ranking clergy that the SSPX is not doctrinally united with the Church, given that the SSPX professes the Professio fidei of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council—the Tridentine-Vatican Professio fidei?
Further provisional pastoral measures granted to the SSPX for the spiritual good of so many exemplary Catholic faithful would stand as a profound testimony to the pastoral charity of the Successor of Peter.
Further provisional pastoral measures granted to the SSPX for the spiritual good of so many exemplary Catholic faithful would stand as a profound testimony to the pastoral charity of the Successor of Peter. In doing so, Pope Leo XIV would open his paternal heart to those Catholics who, in a certain way, live on an ecclesiastical periphery, allowing them to experience that the Apostolic See is truly a Mother also for the SSPX.
The words of Pope Benedict XVI should awaken the conscience of those in the Vatican who will decide on the permission of episcopal consecrations for the SSPX. He reminds us:
“Looking back over the past, to the divisions which in the course of the centuries have rent the Body of Christ, one continually has the impression that, at critical moments when divisions were coming about, not enough was done by the Church’s leaders to maintain or regain reconciliation and unity. One has the impression that omissions on the part of the Church have had their share of blame for the fact that these divisions were able to harden. This glance at the past imposes an obligation on us today: to make every effort to unable for all those who truly desire unity to remain in that unity or to attain it anew” (Letter to the Bishops on the occasion of the publication of the Apostolic Letter “motu proprio data” Summorum Pontificum on the use of the Roman Liturgy prior to the reform carried out in 1970, 7 July 2007)
“Can we be totally indifferent about a community which has 491 priests, 215 seminarians, 6 seminaries, 88 schools, 2 university-level institutes, 117 religious brothers, 164 religious sisters and thousands of lay faithful? Should we casually let them drift farther from the Church? And should not the great Church also allow herself to be generous in the knowledge of her great breadth, in the knowledge of the promise made to her?” (Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church concerning the remission of the excommunication of the four Bishops consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre, March 10, 2009).[1]
Provisional and minimal pastoral measures for the SSPX, undertaken for the spiritual good of the thousands upon thousands of its faithful around the world—including a pontifical mandate for episcopal consecrations—would create the conditions necessary to calmly clarify misunderstandings, questions, and doubts of a doctrinal nature arising from certain statements in the documents of the Second Vatican Council and the subsequent Pontifical Magisterium. At the same time, such measures would provide the SSPX with the opportunity to make constructive contribution for the good of the entire Church, while maintaining a clear distinction between what belongs to divinely revealed faith and doctrine definitively proposed by the Magisterium, and what has a primarily pastoral character in particular historical circumstances, and is therefore open to careful theological study, as has always been the practice throughout the life of the Church.
With sincere concern for the unity of the Church and the spiritual good of so many souls, I appeal with reverent and fraternal charity to our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV:
Most Holy Father, grant the Apostolic Mandate for the episcopal consecrations of the SSPX. You are also the father of your numerous sons and daughters—two generations of the faithful who have, for now, been cared for by the SSPX, who love the Pope, and who wish to be true sons and daughters of the Roman Church. Therefore, stand aside from the partisanship of others and, with a great paternal and truly Augustinian spirit, demonstrate that you are building bridges, as you promised to do before the whole world when you gave your first blessing after your election. Do not go down in the history of the Church as one who failed to build this bridge—a bridge that could be constructed at this truly Providential moment with generous will—and who instead allowed a truly unnecessary and painful further division within the Church, while at the same time synodal processes that boast of the greatest possible pastoral breadth and ecclesial inclusivity were taking place. As your Holiness recently stressed: “Let us commit ourselves to further developing ecumenical synodal practices and to sharing with one another who we are, what we do and what we teach (cf. Francis, For a Synodal Church, 24 November 2024)” (Homily of Pope Leo XIV, Ecumenical Vespers for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, January 25, 2026).
Most Holy Father, if you grant the Apostolic Mandate for the episcopal consecrations of the SSPX, the Church in our day will lose nothing. You will be a true bridge-builder, and even more, an exemplary bridge-builder, for you are the Supreme Pontiff, Summus Pontifex.
+ Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana
Catholicism Pure & Simple 
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