Gaudete Sunday 2024

At the Mass (of the Third Sunday of Advent), the Introit is about the second coming (of Christ): “Rejoice ye always in the Lord, and again I say, Rejoice!” For the Apostle does not speak of the first coming when he says “The Lord is near”, but about the second coming; by this, he invites us to spiritual joy, through which we steadfastly await the joys of His second coming. For this reason he says “Rejoice ye always in the Lord”, that is, in awaiting the second coming, and “Rejoice” is repeated, because spiritual joy causes us to sweetly bear with all the troubles of the world, so that nothing may tear us away from the hope of those things which are eternal. Therefore, because spiritual joy is so necessary, he repeats it in this manner; or else, because of the joy of both comings, which the Saints have. It is modesty which guards this joy, and therefore follow the words “Let your modesty (be known to all men, for the Lord is near.”) The Church expresses its desire for this joy, which is peace for all the Saints, for her sons in singing the verse “And may the peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding, (keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.)” – William Durandus, Rationale Divinorum Officiorum, 6.5.2

In the Middle Ages, the verse which accompanies this Introit was usually not taken from Psalm 84, as we have it in the Missal of St Pius V, but rather from Philippians 4, continuing the text of the Introit, and it is this verse to which Durandus refers at the end of the passage given above. There were a few other examples of this in the Missal, such as the Introit of Pentecost, whose verse continued from the Book of Wisdom, and that of the Rorate Mass, which continued from Isaiah 45. The editors of the Tridentine Missal apparently decided it was better to have all the verses taken from the Psalms, a custom which is attested in some of the most ancient Graduals.

The Mass of the Third Sunday of Advent (beginning in the middle of the left hand column), from a Roman Missal printed at Lyon in 1497, with the Introit Gaudete and the verse “Et pax Dei...”

Rorate Mass and Gaudete Sunday Photopost 2023 (Part 5)

On the third day of Christmas, we still haven’t finished with the huge number of your Rorate Mass and Gaudete Sunday contributions, which is a great problem to have, and a good sign of the steady recovery of our authentic Catholic liturgical traditions. So there will be one final post in this series, which will go up tomorrow.

In the meantime, we already have enough photos of your Christmas liturgies to make at least two posts, but there is always room for more, so please send yours in to photopost@newliturgicalmovement.org, and remember to include the name and location of the church, and any other information you think important. Christus natus est nobis: venite, adoremus!   

Cathedral of the Holy Rosary – Vancouver, British Columbia

Gaudete Sunday

Rorate Mass

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Rorate Mass and Gaudete Sunday Photopost 2023 (Part 4)

We are now at the fourth post in our Advent photopost series, but still not haven’t finished – Deo gratias! There will be at least one more, but there is always room and time for more, so please send in yours to photopost@newliturgicalmovement.org. Remember to include the name and location of the church, and remember that you are doing great work in preserving our authentic liturgical heritage, and evangelizing through beauty!

The Assumption and St Charles (Karlov) – Prague, Czech Republic

St Bernard’s Abbey – Cullman, Alabama

Tradition will always be for the young.

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Rorate Mass and Gaudete Sunday Photopost 2023 (Part 3)

We continue with your photos of Advent liturgies, especially Rorate Masses; in this post, we also have a bit of the Ambrosian Rite, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, and some very nice rose-colored Gaudete Sunday vestments. The number of contributions has been truly incredible, and there will be at least two more posts in this series, but there is always room and time for more, so please feel free to send in yours to photopost@newliturgicalmovement.org. Remember to include the name and location of the church, and remember that you are doing great work in preserving our authentic liturgical heritage, and evangelizing through beauty!  

Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe – LaCrosse, Wisconsin

Solemn Rorate Mass, celebrated in the presence of His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke, who founded the shrine while he was bishop of LaCrosse (1994-2003).  

St Benedict – Chesapeake, Maryland (FSSP)

Most Precious Blood of Jesus – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (ICRSP)

Photos by one of our favorite photographers, Mrs Allison Girone.

Tradition will always be for the young!

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Photopost Reminder for December: Tradition Will Always Be for the Young

This year, Christmas being on a Monday, Advent is the shortest it can be (three weeks and one day), and we are already at the end of the first week, so I thought it would be a good idea to put out a distant-early-warning photopost request. As we do every year, we will have a photopost series for Rorate Masses, which will also include photos of Gaudete Sunday liturgies, yesterday’s feast of the Immaculate Conception, and anything else people care to share with us. Of course, we welcome photos of the EF, the OF, the Ordinariate Rite, the Eastern liturgies etc., as well as pictures of other services such as Vespers and processions. Please send them to photopost@newliturgicalmovement.org, and remember to include the name and location of the church, and any other information which you think important.

Last year, we reached a record-breaking six posts in this series, with over 270 photos from churches in 19 American states and 11 other countries (with several duplicates: three Canadian provinces, three locations in England etc.) By the time the last of them went up on December 29th, it had been announced that His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI was in his final illness, and he died two days later. I mention this first and foremost as a reminder to pray for his eternal repose, and to thank God for all the benefits that accrued to the Church from his great pastoral wisdom.

But I also mention it because two days ago, a student senator at a Catholic university told a cardinal that the question he was asked most often by his fellow students is “Why is there no traditional Latin Mass on campus?”, and asked the cardinal for advice on how he ought to respond. That very day being His Eminence’s own 76th birthday, his response was that the young people need to get with the times, and that “tradition dies a slow death, sometimes a bloody death.” The rest of his response made no mention of Pope Benedict at all, much less of any of the reasons why he chose to issue Summorum Pontificum, after decades of serious consideration of the state of the liturgy, and the importance of preserving continuity with our history, and the inestimable treasures of the Roman liturgical patrimony.

Let’s see what we can do to show the world that tradition is not dying, and will always be for the young!

From the first post in last year’s Advent series: the feast of the Immaculate Conception at the church of the Annunciation in Imperia, Italy.

From the second post: Mass in the Dominican Rite on the feast of St Lucy, celebrated more rorante by our long-time contributor Fr Lawrence Lew O.P. at Our Lady of the Rosary and St Dominic in London, England.

From the third post: Rorate Mass at the church of St Paul in Birkirkara, Malta.

From the fourth post: a procession in honor of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe at the Premonstratensian Abbey of St Michael in Silverado, California.

From the fifth post: Vespers of Gaudete Sunday at the Church of the Assumption in Nashville, Tennessee.

From the sixth post: Rorate Mass at the Church of St Peter in Waco, Texas.

Gaudete Sunday and Rorate Mass Photopost 2022 (Part 5)

Even with our fifth Gaudete Sunday and Rorate Mass photopost of this year, we still aren’t finished; the record-breaking sixth post will appear shortly after Christmas. Once again, our heartfelt thanks to everyone who sent these in, and don’t forget to have your cameras ready for Christmas and the following feasts. We wish you all a most blessed and peaceful Christmas Eve - today you shall know that the Lord will come, and in the morning, you shall see His glory.

Church of the Assumption – Nashville, Tennessee

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Gaudete Sunday and Rorate Mass Photopost 2022 (Part 3)

The latest installation in our ongoing photopost series of your Rorate Masses and other Advent liturgies takes us to six different countries, another hopeful sign of the great progress that has been made, and will continue to be made, in recovering the riches of our Catholic liturgical tradition. We still aren’t even close to done, and there will definitely be at least two more posts in this series. It would be great if we got up to six for the first time, and in any case, there is always room for more, so please keep sending your contributions to photopost@newliturgicalmovement.org. Don’t forget to include the name and location of the church, and any other information you think pertinent, so our readers can see how many places are continuing the good work of evangelizing through beauty!

Church of St Paul – Birkirkara, Malta

Oratory of St Mary – Wausau, Wisconsin (ICRSP)

First Vespers of the Immaculate Conception, followed by Benediction

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Gaudete Sunday and Rorate Mass Photopost 2022 (Part 2)

Our second Gaudete Sunday and Rorate Mass post takes us to five different countries, and also includes celebrations of the Immaculate Conception. Special kudos go to the photographers of the Rorate Masses here! There will definitely be at least two more posts in this series, so there is always room for more - please send your pictures to photopost@newliturgicalmovement.org, and remember to include the name and location of the church, and any other information you think important. Prope est jam Dominus; venite, adoremus!

Nuestra Señora del Pilar – Guadalajara, Mexico (FSSP)

Gaudete Sunday

Rorate Mass

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Gaudete Sunday and Rorate Mass Photopost 2022 (Part 1)

The response to our request for photos of Gaudete Sunday and Rorate Masses has been pretty remarkable, and we will definitely have at least three more posts in this seris. Of course, there is always room for more, so if you’d like to contribute, please send your pictures to photopost@newliturgicalmovement.org, remembering to include the name and location of the church, and any other information you think important. And again I say, Rejoice! for the good work of evangelizing through beauty continues.

St Barnabas – Fallon, Missouri

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Gaudete Sunday 2022

From a sermon of Pope St Leo the Great (440-61) on the Ember days of December, read today in the Divine Office. Note that the fasting of the Ember days and the station of Ember Saturday are already well-established customs, well over a century before the time of St Gregory the Great, and our oldest copies of the associated liturgical texts.

We preach to you, most beloved, that which both the order of the season, and the custom of our devotion urges upon us, to wit, that the fast of the tenth month is to be celebrated, by which, in thanks for all the fruits received over the year, an offering of continence is made most worthily to God, their Giver. For what can be more effective than fasting? by the observation of which we come close to God, and by resisting the devil, overcome the allure of the vices. For fasting hath ever been the food of virtue, from abstinence proceed pure thoughts, reasonable desires, and healthier counsels, and by voluntary mortifications the flesh dieth to its lusts, and the spirit is renewed in might.

The interior of the ancient basilica of St Peter, where St Leo would have preached this sermon, used as a setting for the proclamation of the edict of Milan in a fresco by the students of Raphael. This painting represent in the building in much better condition than the badly dilapidated state it actually was in at the time, the early 1520s. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons, cropped.)

But since fasting is not the only means whereby is acquired health for our souls, let us add our fasting to the mercies shown to the poor. Let us spend in good deeds what we take away from indulgence. Let the abstinence of him that fasteth become the refreshment of the poor. Let us be intent upon the defense of the widow, the service of the orphan, the consolation of the mourning, and the peace of those at variance. Let the stranger be taken in, the oppressed helped, the naked clothed, the sick fostered; so that whoever among us from these just labors offer to God, the author of all good things, a sacrifice of such duty, may merit to receive from Him the reward of the heavenly kingdom. Therefore let us fast on Wednesday and Friday, and likewise on Saturday, let us keep the vigil with blessed Peter, and by the help of his merits, may we be able to obtain what we ask, through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who with the Father and the Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth unto all ages. Amen.

Our friend Jacob has just published his video about today’s station at St Peter’s basilica on his YouTube channel, Crux Stationalis.

Gaudete Sunday and Rorate Mass Photopost Request 2022

Our next major photopost will be for Masses on Gaudete Sunday, which is tomorrow, featuring your rose-colored vestments, as well as Rorate Masses, in either Form of the Roman Rite or the Ordinariate Rite. We will be very glad to include anything else from your Advent celebrations, such as Vespers, Masses of the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Guadalupe etc. Please send photos to photopost@newliturgicalmovement.org for inclusion, and be sure to include the name and location of the church, and any other information you think important.

Last year, for the second year in a row, we got up to five posts in this series, with a total of 230 photos from over 40 churches in twelve different countries. I hope you all find it as encouraging as I do to see that the worship of God, and the recovery of our liturgical tradition, continues apace, along with the good work of evangelizing though beauty!

From our first Rorate/Gaudete post of last year, Gaudete Sunday at Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrni, the FSSP church in Rome.

From the second post: a Rorate mass at Old St Mary’s Oratory in Cincinnati, Ohio.

From the third post: Gaudete Sunday at the church of St Ann in Charlotte, North Carolina.

From the fourth post: a Rorate Mass at the cathedral of the immaculate Conception in Tyler, Texas.

From the fifth post: a procession on the feast of the Immaculate Conception at the church of St Francis of Assisi in São João Del Rei, Minas Gerais, Brazil.