Which way should the Priest face?

"Much could be said too regarding the direction the altar faces. Msgr.Schuler of happy memory, the former pastor of St. Agnes, told me of saying Mass facing the people way back in the early 1950's in a downstairs Church in St. Paul. He thought at the time, “This will never last.” There was no law forbidding the altars from being turned around before Vatican II, and no law requiring them to be turned around after! As Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict) quipped in the early 1990's, the fact that the Church never ordered the altars to be turned around is perhaps the reason it happened so quickly!   

When the altars were turned around many other things changed as well. On the upside was more personal connection with the priest, and seeing the words spoken as well as hearing them at Mass. One of the downsides was that the priest tended to become the center of Mass instead of Christ. It opened up to a lot of clowning around and dumbing down of the sacred liturgy. It broadly facilitated what became a refocusing of the Mass from being Theocentric (God Centered) to being Anthropocentric (Man Centered). Church design tended to become theater shaped and often the choir was placed up front. This in no way invalidates the Mass, but takes away many of the transcendent qualities.   

Now with forty years or more of experience many people are craving something more. Those who attend modern casual churches in the suburbs, which all tend to be anthropocentric, look forward to visits to the Basilica. They crave the beauty and dignity of that grand church. But I think they also crave order, with a sanctuary set apart and the focus on the altar. Rectangular   churches, much like the Meeting Tent of Moses, the Jewish Temple, and Christian churches, allow everyone to choose how close to come, to be in front or back, on the side or the aisle, to be seen or unseen, all of which is impossible in a church in the round, and in many modern churches.   

Which way should the altar face? The traditional direction is called “Ad orientem.” “Oriens” meaning “the rising sun” -- thus “the East” or “the dawn” – and with the preposition “ad” meaning “to” or “towards.” AD ORIENTEM means facing east. Churches were literally built so that the priest AND congregation both faced EAST during public worship. The reason was that the sun rose each day in the east. The Son of God rose from the dead on Easter morning, when the sun rose in the East. Hence, Christians were keen to respect that by facing east when they worshiped their Lord and Savior. Churches were built from Ancient to Mediaeval times facing east. The priest was not seen as ‘turning his back’ on the congregation, rather, BOTH priest and congregation were facing east TOGETHER. Does the bus driver or airplane pilot have his/her back toward the passengers OR rather is he/she facing the same direction of the destination everyone hopes to arrive at?  

So “ad orientem” is not the priest being bad mannered with his back to the people, but it is the whole people of God looking with awe and joy at the resurrected Lord Jesus and in expectation and hope looking for his coming in glory.   

Therefore, saying Mass facing “ad orientem” is completely lawful as things stand today in the Catholic Church."   


-- Which way should the Priest face? by Fr Thomas Dufner


** Fr Thomas Dufner is pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church in St Louis Park, Minnesota. He's a very holy man active in the pro-life movement. For years he has been leading a Rosary praying group on Saturdays next to an abortion clinic - regardless of weather conditions!

I am alone on the altar for your love

"One day I was alone in my room.  Because of my illness they spoiled me so that I could not remain alone.  That day Lucita was sick and Elisea-a servant who took care of my dear grandfather, went to be with her. I then became envious and troubled and began to cry.  My tearful eyes began to fix themselves on a picture of the Sacred Heart and I heard a very sweet voice telling me: 'What!  I, Juanita, am alone on the altar for your love, and you cannot even suffer for a moment?'   From that time, the dear Jesus spoke to me, and I spent entire hours conversing with Him.  That is the reason I enjoyed being alone. He went on teaching me how I should suffer and not complain, and about intimate union with Him. Then He told me that He wanted me for Himself, that He would like me to become a Carmelite.  Ah!   Mother, you cannot imagine what Jesus was doing in my soul.  At that time I did not live in myself, it was Jesus who was living in me"


-- From the Diary of St Teresa of the Andes, ocd

Memorial of St Boniface

"Winfrid, afterwards called Boniface, was an Englishman, and born in England, towards the end of the seventh century.  From his very childhood, he turned away from the world, and set his heart upon becoming a monk.  His father tried in vain to turn him from his wishes by the beguilements of the world, and he entered a monastery, where the Blessed Wolphard instructed him in all godliness and divers kinds of learning.  At the age of twenty-nine years he was ordained Priest, and became an unwearied preacher of the Word of God, wherein he had a gift which he used with great gain of souls.  Nevertheless, his great desire was to spread the kingdom of Christ, and he continually bewailed the vast number of savages who were plunged in the darkness of ignorance and were the servants of the devil.  This zealous love of souls increased in him in intensity day by day, till nothing would serve him, but, having implored the blessing of God by tears and prayers, and obtained authority from the head of his monastery, to set forth for the coast of Germany.

He set sail from England with two companions and reached the town of Dorestadt in Friesland.  A great war being the raging between Radbod, King of the Frieslanders and Charles Martel, Winfrid preached the Gospel in vain.  He went back to England, and betook himself again to his monastery, whereof he was, against his own will, chosen to be the head.  After two years he obtained the consent of the Bishop of Winchester to resign his office, and went to Rome, to seek an Apostolic commission to preach to the heathen.  When he arrived at the city he was courteously welcomed by Gregory II, who changed his name from Winfrid to Boniface.  He departed thence to Germany, and preached Christ to the tribes in Thuringia and Saxony.  Radbod, King of Friesland, who bitterly hated the Christian name, being dead, Boniface went a second time among the Frieslanders, and there, with his comrade St. Willibrord, preached the Gospel for three years with so much fruit, that the idols were hewn down, and countless churches arose to the true God.

St. Willibrord urged upon him to take the office of Bishop, but he deferred to seek it, that he might the more instantly toil for the salvation of the unbelievers.  Advancing into Germany, he reclaimed thousands of the Hessians from devil-worship.  Pope Gregory sent for him to Rome, and after hearing a noble profession of his faith, consecrated him a Bishop.  He again returned to Germany, and thoroughly purged Hesse and Thuringia from all remains of idolatry.  On account of such great works, Gregory III advanced Boniface to the dignity of an Archbishop, and on the occasion of a third journey to Rome, he was invested by the Sovereign Pontiff with the powers of Legate of the Apostolic See.  As such, he founded four Bishopricks, and held divers Synods, among which is especially to be remembered that of Lessines, held in Belgium, in the diocese of Cambrai, wherein he made his strongest endeavours to spread the Faith among the Belgians.  By Pope Zacharias, he was named Archbishop of Mainz, and by command of the same Pope, he anointed Pepin to be King of the Franks.  After the death of St. Willibrord, he undertook the government of the Church of Utrecht, at first through Eoban; but he afterwards was released from the care of the Church of Mainz and established his see at Utrecht.  The Frieslanders having again fallen back into idolatry, he once more betook himself to preach the Gospel among them, and while he was busied in this duty, he grasped the crown of martyrdom, being murdered by some ungodly savages, along with his fellow-Bishop Eoban, and many others, in a bloody massacre near the River Born.  In accordance with the wish expressed by himself during life the body of St. Boniface was carried to Mainz, and buried in the monastery of Fulda, of which he had been the founder, and where God hath gloriously honoured it by the working of many signs and wonders.  Pope Pius IX ordered the Office and Mass in his memory to be used throughout the whole Church."

-- From the 1911 Breviary of St Pius X

What is devotion?

" The greatest trouble those persons suffer from who give themselves to Prayer is the failing in Devotion which they so often experience in it.  When there is no such failing, there is nothing sweeter, or more easy that to pray.  For this reason, now that we have treated upon the subject-matter of Prayer, and upon the manner of  praying, it will be well to consider the things which help Devotion, and also those which hinder it, and the temptations which most often assail devout people in it;  and certain other points that are necessary to observe in this exercise.  But first it will greatly help the matter to set forth what Devotion is, that we may know to begin with, what is the precious thing for which we are contending.

Devotion, says St. Thomas Aquinas, is a power which makes one prompt and ready for any virtue, and stirs and helps one to do well. (Summa II, II, Q. 82, Art. 1.)  This definition declares manifestly the great necessity and usefulness of this power, for it contains in itself more than some would think.  We have on this account to consider that the chief hindrance to living a good life is the corruption of human nature which came to us through sin, and from which comes the great inclination we have towards evil, and the difficulty and unwillingness we have in respect to what is good.  These two things make the path of virtue most difficult to us, while in itself it is the thing most sweet, most beautiful, most to be desired, most honorable in the world.  It is against this difficulty and unwillingness the Divine Wisdom has provided this most complete remedy in the power and succor of Devotion.  For as the north wind disperses the clouds, and leaves the sky clear and serene, so true Devotion drives away from our mind all that unwillingness and difficulty, and leaves it then free and disposed for all that is good.  This virtue so become as power within us as being at one a very special gift of the Holy Spirit, a heavenly dew, a succor and visitation of God attained through Prayer.  Its very nature is to contend against the difficulty of which we have spoken, and to overcome this luke-warmness, to give us readiness and fill the soul with good desires, to enlighten the understanding, to strengthen the Will, to kindle in us the Love of God, to extinguish the flame of evil desires, to teach hatred of worldly things, and abhorrence of sin, and to give us new fervor, new spirit, new power, and incentive to well doing.

For as Samson, wile possessed of his hair, had greater strength than any man in the world, and when this was taken away from him, became as weak as other men; so is the Christian soul strong when he has this Devotion, and weak when he has it not.

And this is what St. Thomas desired to show in his definition, and, without doubt, this is the greatest praise one could give to this virtue, that, being of itself only one virtue, it is a stimulus and incentive to all others.  Let not him then that would travel by the path of virtues, go without these spurs;  for without them he will never be able to arouse the evil beast of his nature form is sluggishness.

From what has been said it will be clearly seen, then, what is true and real Devotion.  For Devotion is not a certain tenderness of heart, or sense of consolation which those who pray feel sometimes, unless there be also a promptitude and disposition for good works, for, when at times God would prove who are His own, it often happens that the one is found and not the other.  The truth is that form this Devotion and readiness there often arises the consolation spoken of:  and, on the other hand, that very consolation and spiritual delight will increase the Devotion itself, which is the readiness and incentive to well-doing.  And, therefore, God's servants may, with good reason, desire and ask for these joys and consolations, not for the pleasure they give, but because they are the means of increasing the Devotion which fits them for well-doing, as the Prophet showed when he said, "I will run the way of Thy commandments, when Thou has set my heart at liberty," (Ps. 119:32) that is, with the joy of Thy consolation which was the cause of my readiness.

And now let us proceed to treat of those means by which this Devotion is to be attained, and, since with this virtue are united all others leading to the special knowledge of God, we will consider the means of attaining to the perfection of Prayer and Contemplation, to the consolations of the Holy Spirit and the love and wisdom of God, and to that union of our souls with God, which is the goal of all spiritual life.

And this, lastly, is to consider the means by which we may attain to the possession of God Himself in this life, which is that Treasure of the Gospel, the "Pearl of great price" for the possession of which the husbandman joyfully despoiled himself of all that he had.

Hence it is we see that the highest aim of our theology is, that from it we may learn the way to the Supreme Good, and may make this life to become a ladder by which we may advance step by step to the eternal happiness awaiting us."

-- Treatise on prayer and meditation by St Peter of Alcantara

The Feast of Corpus Christi

"Among the immeasurable benefits, which the goodness of God hath bestowed on the Christian people, is a dignity beyond all price.  For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is unto us?  The only-begotten Son of God was pleased to make us partakers of his divine nature; that is, he took our nature upon him, being himself made man that he might, as it were, make men into gods.  And this body, which he took from us, he gave wholly unto our salvation.  For, on the Altar of the Cross, he offered up his body to God the Father, as a sacrifice for our reconciliation, and thereon he shed his own blood for our redemption; that is, his blood is the price whereby he redeemeth us from wretchedness and bondage, and the washing whereby he cleanseth us from all sin.  And for a noble and abiding Memórial of this his so great work of goodness, he hath left unto his faithful ones the same his very Body for Meat, and the same his very Blood for Drink, with which we are fed under the forms of Bread and Wine.

O how precious a thing then, how marvellous, how health-giving, yielding royal dainties, is the Supper of the Lord.  Than this Supper can anything be more precious?  Therein there is put before us for meat, not as of old time, the flesh of bulls and of goats, but Christ himself, our very God.  Than this Sacrament can anything be more marvellous?  Therein it is that Bread and Wine become unto us the very Body and and Blood of Christ; that is to say, perfect God and perfect Man, Christ himself, is there under the veils of a little bread and wine.  His faithful ones eat him, but he is not mangled; nay, when the veil which shroudeth him in the Sacrament is broken, in each broken fragment thereof remaineth the whole Christ himself, perfect God and perfect Man.  All that the senses can reach in this Sacrament, all these abide of bread and wine, but the Thing is not bread and wine.  And thus room is left for faith.  For Christ, who hath a Form that can be seen, is herein taken and received not only unseen, but seeming to be bread and wine, and the senses, which judge by the wonted look, are warranted against error.

Than this Sacrament can anything be more health-giving?  Thereby are sins purged away, strength is renewed, and the soul fed upon the fatness of spiritual gifts.  This Supper is offered up in the Church, both for the quick and the dead; it was ordained to the health of all, all get the good of it.  Than this Sacrament can anything yield more of royal dainties?  The glorious sweetness thereof is of a truth such that no man can fully tell it.  Therein ghostly comfort is sucked from its very well-head.  Therein a Memorial is made of that exceeding great love which Christ shewed in time of his sufferings.  It was in order that the boundless goodness of that his great love might be driven home into the hearts of his faithful ones, that when he had celebrated the Passover with his disciples, and the Last Supper was ended, then, knowing that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end, and instituted this Sacrament.  For this Sacrament is the everlasting forth-shewing of his death until he come again; this Sacrament is the embodied fulfilment of all the ancient types and figures; this Sacrament is is the greatest wonder which ever he wrought, and the one mighty joy of them that now have sorrow, till he shall come again; and thereby their heart shall rejoice, and their joy no man take from them."
-- From a Sermon by St Thomas Aquinas

** Most dioceses have transferred this feast to this Sunday, while the Vatican and those following the 1962 liturgical calendar observe it today.

The fruit to be derived from prayer and meditation

"Since this short treatise speaks of prayer and meditation, it will be well to state in a few words what is the fruit which may be derived from this holy exercise, so that men may give themselves to it with more willing heart.  It is a well known fact that one of the greatest hindrances we have to attaining our final happiness and blessedness, is the evil inclination of our hearts, the difficulty and dullness of spirit we have in respect to good rules; for, if this was not in the way, it would be the easiest thing possible to run in the path of virtues, and attain to the end for which we were created.  Concerning which the Apostle says, "I delight in the Law of God, according to the inward man; but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin." (Rom. 7:22-23)  This, then, is the universal cause of all our evil.  One of the most efficacious means for overcoming this dullness and difficulty, and for facilitating this matter, is devotion; for as St. Thomas says, "Devotion is nothing else than a certain readiness and aptitude for doing good."  For this takes away from our mind all that difficulty and dullness, and makes us quick and ready for all good.  It is a spiritual refection, a refreshment, like the dew of Heaven, a breath and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, a supernatural affection.  It so orders, strengthens, and transforms a man's heart, that it imparts a new taste and inspiration for spiritual things, a new distaste and abhorrence for sensible things.  The experience of every day shows us this.  For when a spiritually minded person rises from deep devout prayer, then straight away all his good resolutions are renewed, together with fervor and determination to do good; the desire then to please, and to love, a Lord so good and kind as He has then shown Himself to be, a willingness to endure fresh troubles, and chastenings, even to shedding blood for His sake, then, finally, all the freshness of soul is renewed and blooms again.

If you ask me, by what means so powerful and noble an affection of devotion is attained, the same holy teacher answers that it is by meditation and contemplation of diving things;  for from deeply meditating and pondering over these things there springs up this disposition, and affection in the will, which is called devotion;  and this stirs and moves us to all good.  It is on this account that this holy and religious exercise is so extolled and commended by all the Saints, as being The Means of acquiring devotion, which, though it is but one virtue only, yet it disposes and moves one to all the other virtues, and exists as a general stimulus to them all.
If you would see how true this is, hear how plainly St. Bonaventure declares it in these words:

"If you would suffer patiently the adversities and miseries of this life, be a man of prayer.  If you would gain power and strength to overcome the temptations of the enemy, be a man of prayer.  If you would mortify your will with all its affections and lusts, be a man of prayer.  If you would understand the cunning devices of Satan, and defend yourself against his deceits, be a man of payer.  If you would live joyfully, and with sweetness walk in the path of penitence and sorrow, be a man of prayer.  If you would drive out the troublesome gnats of vain thoughts and cares from your soul, be a man of prayer.  If you would sustain your soul with the richness of devotion, and kept it ever full of good thoughts and desires, be a man of prayer.  If you would strengthen and confirm your heart in the pilgrimage with God, be a man of prayer.  Lastly, if you would root out from your soul every vice and in their place plant the virtues, be a man of prayer, for in this is obtained the unction and grace of the Holy Spirit who teaches all things.
"And besides all this, if you would climb to the height of contemplation, and delight in the sweet embraces of the Bridegroom, exercise yourself in prayer, for this is the way by which the soul mounts up to contemplation and to the taste of heavenly things.
"You see, then, of how great virtue and power is prayer, and for proof of all that has been said (to say nothing of Holy Scripture) let this now be sufficient assurance that we have seen and heard, and see, day by day, many simple persons who have attained to all these things above mentioned and to others greater, through the exercise of prayer."

Thus far the words of St. Bonaventure.Then, what richer treasure? What field can be found more fertile, yielding more abundantly than this?  Hear also what another most religious and holy doctor, speaking of this same virtue, says:

"In prayer the soul is cleansed from sin, pastured with charity, confirmed in faith, strengthened in hope, gladdened in spirit.  By prayer the inward man is directed aright, the heart is purified, the truth discovered, temptation overcome, sadness avoided, the perceptions renewed, languishing virtue restored, lukewarmness dismissed, the rust of vices done away;  and in it there do not cease to come forth living sparkles of heavenly desires, with which the flame of divine love burns.  Great are the excellencies of prayer, great are its privileges!  Before it Heaven is opened, secrete things are made manifest, and to it the ears of God are ever attentive." (St. Lawrence Justinian, In Signo Vitae)

This now is sufficient to show in some way what is the fruit of this holy exercise."

-- Treatise on prayer and meditation by St Peter of Alcantara

** St Peter of Alcantara is a very important holy man in the history of the Reform. He encouraged, counseled and defended St Teresa of Avila in her reform. A reference in the book of her Life and another one in Foundations have led scholars to believe that she read this tiny book.

Let your first thought be of God

"The matraque whirrs with that strange sound which wakes Carmelites to a new day, and for which I was pleasantly prepared on my arrival as a Postulant by the warning: it will sound like a ton of coal being delivered at your door. It does.

Let your first thought be of God, we are always told in Religion, for that will set the theme for the rest of the day. And indeed it is true. I remember a girl I knew in the world, who told me that although she worked in a busy office and had to give her whole attention to what she was doing, yet the sense of her early morning Mass never left her entirely. If she heard a bicycle bell as she went out to lunch, its tinkle was sufficient to bring back to her all the grace of the hushed church in spite of the roar of the traffic around, and the moment she waited all day was the moment when, on her way home again, sometimes late, sometimes early, she could slip into the quiet chapel of some nuns with Perpetual Adoration, and kneel for a few minutes before the Blessed Sacrament.

Just an ordinary London business girl, but she knew something which many of us might be glad to know: how to begin her day aright and how to hold it there until its close. Each day is only one day in a long sequence, when all is said and done, and so, one supposes, when she comes to die, the same will be true for all her life.

To begin the day aright is most emphatically to begin it with prayer, and to follow that up with the Mass. The prayer may only last for a brief moment or two, or it may last for an hour, according to our circumstances, but it is enough to offer to God the day's work, the day's trials, the day's successes, so that everything in it will belong to Him, as it should by right, and nothing be left out. It is the act of the will which matters, the offering of everything to God and for God: after that it is mainly a matter of following the grace of the moment."

-- Catch us those little foxes by A Carmelite Nun

** Photo by lkw51