A happy and most blessed feast of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus! Only a few days ago we celebrated the feast of the Sacred Heart, which many parishes celebrated yesterday as an External Solemnity, and today’s celebration stands as a great complement to that feast. The Precious Blood of Our Lord flows from His Sacred Heart, and was poured out as a fountain of mercy and salvation for us when this Heart was pierced upon the Cross. It is this same Blood that becomes present for us upon our altars at every Mass, and incidentally, we recently commemorated the feast of Corpus Christi, the great celebration of the gift of the Eucharist. Three feast days and the most eloquent praises are insufficient to render adequate thanks for such a superabundance of gifts: the love of this Heart, the salvation won for us by this Blood, the spiritual sustenance given us by the Eucharist! “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly,” says Our Lord in St. John’s Gospel, and certainly He spared nothing of Himself in granting us this abundance, giving Himself totally for us and for our salvation.

In addition to attending Holy Mass if you can today, we recommend taking a moment to recite the beautiful Litany of the Precious Blood. We also wish a happy patronal feast day to Most Precious Blood Parish, our apostolate in Tulsa, Oklahoma! +

The Litany of the Most Precious Blood

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.

Blood of Christ, only-begotten Son of the Eternal Father, save us. (after each line)
Blood of Christ, Incarnate Word of God,
Blood of Christ, of the New and Eternal Testament,
Blood of Christ, falling upon the earth in the Agony,
Blood of Christ, shed profusely in the Scourging,
Blood of Christ, flowing forth in the Crowning with Thorns,
Blood of Christ, poured out on the Cross,
Blood of Christ, price of our salvation,
Blood of Christ, without which there is no forgiveness,
Blood of Christ, Eucharistic drink and refreshment of souls,
Blood of Christ, stream of mercy,
Blood of Christ, victor over demons,
Blood of Christ, courage of martyrs,
Blood of Christ, strength of confessors,
Blood of Christ, bringing forth virgins,
Blood of Christ, help of those in peril,
Blood of Christ, relief of the burdened,
Blood of Christ, solace in sorrow,
Blood of Christ, hope of the penitent,
Blood of Christ, consolation of the dying,
Blood of Christ, peace and tenderness of hearts,
Blood of Christ, pledge of Eternal Life,
Blood of Christ, freeing souls from purgatory,
Blood of Christ, most worthy of all glory and honor,

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. Thou hast redeemed us, O Lord, in Thy Blood.
R. And made us, for our God, a kingdom.

Let us pray:
Almighty and eternal God, Thou hast appointed Thine only-begotten Son the Redeemer of the world and willed to be appeased by His Blood. Grant, we beg of Thee, that we may worthily adore this price of our salvation and through its power be safeguarded from the evils of the present life so that we may rejoice in its fruits forever in heaven. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

A happy and most glorious feast day of Sts. Peter and Paul! Today is a first-class feast and a patronal one for our Fraternity, named for the Prince of the Apostles. Members of the Confraternity of St. Peter can gain a plenary indulgence today under the usual conditions.

St. Peter is the rock upon which Christ built His Church, the first of those Vicars that He has put in place to keep her on firm footing as she treads the often twisted and tempestuous paths of history. St. Paul’s mission was to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles, which he was uniquely suited to do, being both a Jew and a Roman. The Acts of the Apostles and his own letters to the various churches among which he worked bear testament to the incredible extent of his journeys and labors, which would start one fateful day on the road to Damascus, take him thousands of miles through Israel, Syria, Turkey and Greece and end with his martyrdom in Rome.

The lives of both saints are parables of God’s mercy and Providence: St. Peter is almost as well-known for his denial of Christ as for his confession of Him, and St. Paul, before becoming Christianity’s most avid missionary, was first its most avid adversary. “But by the grace of God, I am what I am; and his grace in me hath not been void”, says St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians, proclaiming in the second letter to the same community that “power is made perfect in infirmity”. Certainly these two saints and their prayers on our behalf should give us every reason to hope that God will use our own infirmities as illustrations of His divine power, which is able to turn our frail humanity into just what He needs to accomplish His Will if we, like Sts. Peter and Paul, respond to the call.

Today’s Mass is primarily concerned with the Apostle Peter, the Epistle recounting his miraculous deliverance from prison by the angel, and the Gospel his confession of Christ’s divinity. This feast is normally followed on June 30th by the Commemoration of St. Paul, a Mass more specifically dedicated to the Apostle of the Gentiles, though this year the 30th falls on a Sunday so it will be superseded by the Mass of the Sunday.

Please remember all the priests of our Fraternity in your prayers today, especially the six deacons from our Wigratzbad seminary who will be ordained to the sacred priesthood today by the Most Reverend Czesław Kozon, Bishop of Copenhagen. +

O God, Who hast made this day holy by the martyrdom of Thine Apostles Peter and Paul: grant that Thy Church may in all things follow the precepts of those through whom she received the beginnings of the Faith. 

– the Collect for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul

This September marks the 24th annual Pilgrimage for Restoration to the Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs in Auriesville, New York. The sixty-two mile trek is walked over the course of three days, beginning at the shores of Lake George and concluding in Auriesville at the sites of the 17th century martyrdoms of the Jesuit Father Isaac Jogues, lay brothers Jean de Lalande and René Goupil and several Native American converts.

This year’s pilgrimage will take place Friday through Sunday, September 27th – 29th, and will be led by FSSP Allentown pastor Fr. Gregory Pendergraft and assistant pastor Fr. Joseph Favole. Visit the pilgrimage’s website for more information and to register. Pilgrims receive a discount off the registration fee if they register by June 30th. +

On the evening of Friday, May 31st, 2019, the Most Reverend Terrence Prendergast, Archbishop of Ottawa, conferred the sacred priesthood upon the Reverend Mr. Luc Poirier, FSSP, in a ceremony that took place at the beautiful Cathedral Basilica of Notre-Dame in Ottawa. Assisting the Archbishop at the altar were FSSP Superior General Fr. Andrzej Komorowski, North American Superior Fr. Michael Stinson, FSSP Vancouver pastor and FSSP assistant Fr. Daniel Geddes, FSSP Montréal pastor Fr. Robert Dow and Fr. Benoit Guichard from Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary.

Also in attendance were three of Fr. Poirier’s four classmates who were ordained in Nebraska one week prior: Fr. John Killackey, Fr. R.J. Oballo and Fr. Daniel Powers. One of the central features of an ordination – the matter of this particular Sacrament, in fact – is the laying of the bishop’s hands upon the heads of the ordinandi, signifying the power of the priesthood that he is passing on to them. He says nothing, the prayer that constitutes the form of the Sacrament taking place a little further on. After the bishop, each of the priests present similarly lays his hands upon the heads of those about to join their ranks (see the cover photo from our post on the NE ordinations). That Friday, the laying on of hands occurred as normal, but included an unusual feature: three new priests, only a week ordained, gave this silent “ordination blessing” to their own classmate when Fr. Killackey, Fr. Oballo and Fr. Powers laid their newly-consecrated hands on the head of Fr. Poirier.

Fr. Poirier hails from the eastern province of New Brunswick, which borders our state of Maine to the west, the province of Québec to the north and the Atlantic ocean and Nova Scotia to the east. Attending the ordination were a majority of our Canada-based priests, who converged on the cathedral from the nearby apostolate in Ottawa, St. Clement, and the more distant but still local apostolates in Montréal and Québec City (of course, by “local” we mean local by Canadian standards: 2 hours and 4.5 hours by car, respectively). And they came from further away than that, flying clear across the country from our apostolates in Vancouver, British Columbia and Calgary, Alberta. While it is not at all a rare event for a Canadian priest to be ordained for the FSSP – we have seven apostolates north of the border and many Canadian priests and seminarians, two in this year’s class with Fr. Oballo coming from Calgary – it was nonetheless an impressive sight to see the priests, most of whom are native Canadians, turn out for the support of their countryman and of FSSP Canada more generally.

Just as the priests in attendance represented the various regions where we work in Canada, they represented the linguistic variety to be found in that country as well. Although Ottawa is a decidedly bilingual area where knowledge of French is not a necessity, it seemed that French was the language of choice of many of the priests and faithful in attendance, and the music of it was heard regularly throughout the course of the weekend’s activities. Fr. Poirier’s own French-speaking roots will certainly serve him well when he begins his first assignment in the predominantly francophone city of Montréal in July.

On Saturday morning at St. Clement, Fr. Poirier celebrated his first Mass, a Solemn High at which Fr. Killackey and Fr. Powers assisted as deacon and subdeacon. Afterwards Fr. Poirier and Fr. Powers bestowed their first blessings on the many faithful there, and if you received a blessing from Fr. Poirier, you were the fortunate recipient of not one but two ordination cards – one in English and one en français! +

Why do many prayers mention being in the “shadow of God’s wings”? God has no wings, He is God. – George from Wisconsin

Dear George,

The best questions come with their own answers attached. It is true that God is… well, God, and therefore transcends everything we can imagine. The Triune God does not have wings—true. Unfortunately for us mere humans we must think through sensible things, and therefore metaphor is required for us to describe the Divine nature and God’s activity in governing His creation. Artistry must employ things that are, at one time, both accessible to us and point to the inaccessible. Pseudo-Dionysius gives a beautiful description of this process: “We now grasp these things in the best way we can, and as they come to us, wrapped in the sacred veils of that love toward humanity with which scripture and hierarchical traditions (i.e. liturgy) cover the truths of the mind with things derived from the realm of the senses.” Scripture, with the written word, and Liturgy, with its various symbols, are veils trying to give a glimpse—in a human way—to a Divine reality. The Council of Trent also acknowledged this reality in its 22nd session: “Such is the nature of man, that, without external helps, he cannot be easily upraised to the meditation of divine things.”

If one wanted to deny the use of physical images applied to God, why stop at wings? God does not have ears, nose, hands or even feet and yet the psalmist cries, “Incline thy ear unto me” (Psalm 16:6), upon Noah offering a smoky sacrifice “the Lord smelled a sweet savor” (Genesis 8:21), a reflecting Isaiah says, “You [God] are our potter, we are all the work of Your hand” (Isaiah 64:8), and when the first parents sinned they hid themselves from God because “they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in paradise” (Genesis 3:8). In truth, if one wanted to deny images applied to God (a truly gross iconoclasm) one would be left with very little… actually nothing. The Triune God transcends the physical world and our imagination remains grounded in it—only metaphor can form a bridge between the two until the end of our earthly sojourn when we will see God “face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

The above answer should suffice as a reply to the unspoken question underlying your own answer, “God has no wings, He is God.” But what of your first question? What are God’s wings?

The contemporary American imagination has been formed through the popular song On Eagles’ Wings (based on Psalm 90), which uses Exodus 19:4 and Deuteronomy 32:11 to define the metaphor “I have carried you upon the wings of eagles.” In other places eagle wings are also used as an image for swiftness and endurance (Isaiah 40:31), but these citations portray a different image than our expression; they describe having wings or riding upon them, whereas we are trying to understand what is meant by being “underneath His wings,” and again our expression doesn’t really identify the wing type. St. Augustine shies away from eagles’ wings and chooses a more domestic image: “The hen defends her chickens beneath her wings; how much more shalt thou be safe beneath the wings of God,” clearly using Christ’s metaphor recorded in Matthew 23:37 (Luke 13:34-35) as his inspiration.

I offer another possible interpretation which in fact is not a metaphor, but a specific location and an architectural feature. The phrase “shadow of thy wings” and its twin “covert[1] of thy wings” are only used in the Book of Psalms, respectively Psalms 16:8, 52:2, 90:4 and 35:8, 60:5, 62:8.

Within the context of most of these psalms an actual location for the psalmist’s prayer comes to light. Psalm 35 refers to the “plenty of thy [God’s] house” (v.9). Psalm 16 refers to appearing in God’s “sight and glory” (v.15). Psalm 56 refers to God’s “glory” being lifted up (vs.6 and 12). Psalm 60, “in thy tabernacle I shall dwell forever” (v.5). Psalm 90 refers to having confidence under God’s wings which “overshadow” from above and later refers to angels providing protection overhead (v.11). Finally, Psalm 62 ties many of these terms together: “in the sanctuary have I
come before thee, to see thy power and thy glory” (v.3).

I would suggest that the wings are those of angels, specifically the cherubim which adorned the ark, or the cherubim built later by Solomon which overshadowed the entire Holy of Holies. Solomon “set the cherubim in the midst of the inner temple and the cherubim stretched forth their wings” (3 Kings 6:27) and “the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord into its place, into the oracle of the temple, into the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the cherubim” (3 Kings 8:6). To be under His wings is to reside inside the inner sanctum of the temple. It was the closest one could be to God on earth in the Old Testament; the nearest parallel in the new covenant would be the faithful at the communion rail, devoutly kneeling in the true substantial presence of the Lord. May we always remain under His wings. +

Answered by:
Fr. Dominic Savoie, Assistant Pastor, FSSP Sacramento

1. covered in the sense of sheltered or veiled (i.e. secret).

A happy and most blessed Father’s Day to all our fathers! This Father’s Day is also Trinity Sunday, a feast that illustrates the integral role of fatherhood in the divine plan. In the Trinity, fatherhood has existed from all eternity: the relationship among the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity is defined in terms of fatherhood, sonship and the love that this relationship entails. Our Lord constantly speaks of Himself in reference to His Father throughout the Gospels and of the unity and love between them. He also reminds us frequently that His Father is our Father too and that He came to prepare a place for us in His Father’s house. “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (John 20:17).

But in His generosity God also desired to give us an earthly model of fatherhood and to illustrate in human terms the sanctity of this role and of family life, and so He chose for His Son an adopted father, St. Joseph, to be the model and guide of all fathers. And those of us who honor our earthly and spiritual fathers today find our own model in Jesus, Who, though being God Himself, submitted Himself to Our Lady and St. Joseph in love and obedience, and Who partook for thirty years in the hidden life of Nazareth.

As a Fraternity of spiritual fathers, we ask your special prayers today for our priests, that they may always carry out their duties with devotion and love. St. Joseph, patron of fathers, pray for us!

This Ember week of Pentecost marks the 5th anniversary of the death of Fr. Kenneth Walker, FSSP. He died on June 11th, 2014, which in that year was, like today, an Ember Wednesday. Just 28 years old and 2 years a priest, Fr. Walker was shot and killed during a tragic incident at the rectory of Mater Misericordiae Mission, our apostolate in Phoenix where he served as assistant pastor. The pastor, Fr. Joseph Terra, was badly beaten, but despite his injuries selflessly administered Last Rites to Fr. Walker.

In his letter following the tragedy, then-Superior General Fr. John Berg wrote eloquently of the life and virtues of the young priest:

He has been described by the parishioners he served in the same manner that he would be by his confreres; he was earnest; he was persevering; he was ready first to serve; nothing ever seemed to inconvenience him. Our Lord’s description of Nathaniel perhaps fits him best: he was a man without guile. He will perhaps be remembered as an example to us as confreres more for what he did not say; one would be hard pressed to find anyone who ever heard him complain or speak badly about anyone. As a former professor of Fr. Walker in the seminary, and as superior, I also knew him as one who took correction well; never pridefully objected; and sincerely sought to improve in all areas of formation both as a seminarian and later as a priest.

In such tragic circumstances I realize that it can be easy to fall into hyperbole, but there was an innocence to Fr. Walker which is rarely found in this valley of tears.

The following Sunday, like this year, was Father’s Day. The two events considered together certainly form an apt reflection as we celebrate both natural and spiritual fatherhood this Sunday, the love that is the source and summit of both, and the great and heroic cost that both sometimes entail. Please continue to pray for the soul of Fr. Walker and for his family, friends, parishioners and brother priests who still grieve his loss, as we all hold to the lively hope that such a humble and holy soul may find his place among the angels. +

Réquiem ætérnam dona ei, Dómine: et lux perpétua lúceat ei. Requiéscat in pace. Amen.

On Friday, May 24th, 2019, the Fraternity rejoiced in the ordination of four new priests. Fr. John Killackey, Fr. R.J. Oballo, Fr. Daniel Powers and Fr. Jesus Valenzuela were ordained to the sacred priesthood by His Excellency the Most Reverend Fabian Bruskewitz, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Lincoln. Many priests from throughout the District were in attendance, and the church was filled with faithful souls who had come to join in this solemn and joyful occasion. Superior General Fr. Andrzej Komorowski, North American Superior Fr. Michael Stinson, Fr. Benoit Guichard from Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary and Fr. Adrian Debow, who serves at our General House in Switzerland, assisted at the altar.

Please pray for the new priests as they embark upon their duties as ministers of God’s sacred mysteries. Your spiritual support was essential to them as they studied, prepared and discerned throughout their years of seminary, and your prayers will continue to speed them on as they celebrate first Masses at various parishes, give their blessings to countless faithful and begin their first assignments.

Stay tuned for an upcoming Missive post on the ordination of Fr. Luc Poirier, which took place one week later at Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica in Ottawa! +

A happy and most glorious feast of the Ascension of Our Lord! Today is a Holy Day of Obligation in some places, so be sure to check the regulations in your diocese. Even if there is no obligation, we encourage you to attend Mass if you can on this glorious feast day, which commemorates the day when Our Lord’s earthly mission came to an end and, giving His final commission to His Apostles, He returned to Heaven to take His place at the right hand of the Father.

Since Easter, the Paschal Candle, the symbol of the Risen Christ, has stood lit in the sanctuary during Mass and some other liturgical offices to symbolize His presence among us for forty days after His Resurrection. After the Gospel of today’s High Mass it is extinguished, since He has ascended into Heaven and is no longer visibly present on earth. It is removed after Mass to a place near the baptismal font.

Today’s Introit, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, recounts the words which the angels addressed to the Apostles who had just witnessed the Ascension. They admonish them to take up without delay the mission given to them by Christ:

Viri Galilǽi, quid admirámini aspiciéntes in cœlum? allelúia: quemádmodum vidístis eum ascendéntem in cœlum, ita véniet, allelúia, allelúia, allelúia.

Ye men of Galilee, why wonder you, looking up to heaven? alleluia: He shall so come as you have seen Him going up into heaven, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

We wish you a blessed and reflective Memorial Day. While today is an opportunity to take a break from work and spend time with our friends and family, perhaps attend a barbecue or play some baseball with buddies, the real purpose of this day is to remember all those who have died in service to our country and who cannot be present with us today.

The picture to the right shows the “Missing Man” table, which stands as a memorial to fallen, missing or imprisoned servicemembers and is often seen at military ceremonies or events. The table seen here includes a place for four of the five branches of the military (Air Force, Army, Marines and Navy). As Catholics, we appreciate the great value of material things in illustrating spiritual realities, and we certainly see many familiar symbols here, albeit with their own particular meanings: the upturned glasses signify the toasts that the fallen cannot raise with us; the lemon, the bitterness of their fate; the red rose, the blood they shed; the lit candle the hope that lives on in the hearts of their loved ones.

Though death is always accompanied by sorrow, we also hold to the hope of eternal life and resurrection, and to that end we pray continually for the souls of our deceased veterans and of all the faithful departed. Many parishes today will offer Masses for the souls of the fallen, including our parish in Chesapeake, which offers an annual Requiem Mass on this day. We encourage you to attend Mass today for our deceased servicemembers if you can or to offer particular prayers for the repose of their souls, and to pray for the safe return of all our deployed military personnel. +

Réquiem ætérnam dona eis, Dómine: et lux perpétua lúceat eis. Requiéscant in pace. Amen.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord: and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.