Mater Boni Consilii - 25-26 April

Pope Pius XII composed the below powerful prayer, in honour of Our Lady of Good Counsel:

Holy Virgin, moved by the painful uncertainty we experience in seeking and acquiring the true and the good, we cast ourselves at thy feet and invoke thee under the sweet title of Mother of Good Counsel. We beseech thee: come to our aid at this moment in our worldly sojourn when the double darkness of error and of evil plot our ruin by leading minds and hearts astray.
Seat of Wisdom and Star of the Sea, enlighten the victims of doubt and of error so that they may not be seduced by evil masquerading as good; strengthen them against the hostile and corrupting forces of passion and of sin.
Mother of Good Counsel, obtain for us our most urgent need….. (here mention your request) and secure for us from thy Divine Son the love of virtue and the strength to choose, in doubtful and difficult situations, the course agreeable to our salvation.
Supported by thy hand we shall thus journey without harm along the paths taught us by the word and example of Jesus our Savior, following the Sun of Truth and Justice in freedom and safety across the battlefield of life under the guidance of thy maternal Star, until we come at length to the harbor of salvation to enjoy with thee unalloyed and everlasting peace. Amen.

What went wrong in the traditional Catholic movement in Malta (Part 1)

Today, Easter Sunday, we start with a series aimed to show what went wrong in the traditional Catholic movement in Malta. Ten years ago there was much hope when a group in favour of the traditional liturgy in Malta was created. The results have however been very limited. 

We will see what type of divisions there were, the situation under Archbishop Cremona, Bishop Grech and Archbishop Scicluna. We will then see the current situation and finally what the outlook for the traditional Catholic movement in Malta is.

Pro Tridentina (Malta) was officially founded in August 2007, less than a month after the promulgation of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. Prior to this event, there was no lay movement in favour of the Tridentine Mass in Malta or Gozo. 

The developments that led to the founding can be traced back to November 2006. At the time, the FSSP, contacted a number of Maltese aiming to develop something concretely in this country. 

A first informal meeting was held on 21 April 2007 to determine the way forward. This was followed by another informal one on 20 July 2007 i.e. a week after the publication of Summorum Pontificum. Pro Tridentina (Malta) was accepted as a member of the FIUV in 2009. Its first President was elected to the FIUV Council in 2009 and served until 2015.

Since then, the Tridentine Mass became, albeit slowly, a reality in Malta. On the other hand, attempts in Gozo were met by obstacles by Bishop Grech, in defiance of Pope Benedict XVI.

Still, the Catholic Church in Malta is not favourably inclined to a wider, regular celebration of the Extraordinary Form. The media also presents a different picture than the reality is, namely that young people in Malta are among the most fervent followers of this form of the Mass. However, Tridentine Masses are known to have been held in Valletta, Cospicua, Birkirkara and other towns around the island.

In today's interview on Malta Today, Fr Mark Montebello, referring to the situation in the Catholic Church said:

    

"No, I don’t think we’re anywhere close to a schism. What I think is at present causing some turmoil is the changed official political standpoint of the papacy. From a far-right stance taken by the anti-Communist John Paul II and the anti-liberalist Benedict XVI over more than three decades, now, with Pope Francis, we have had four years of a third-positionist Peronista who seeks to mediate tensions caused by conflicting extreme poles."

We beg to differ. A schism, albeit a minor one, has already occurred in the Church in Malta. And once schisms appear they are hard to conceal.They lead to the division of a group into opposing factions. We will see in another post how this has taken place in Malta.

The Pope is dead

A holy Pope

Despised by the world and by the Modernists, and many a supposed “Catholic”, St. Pius X Sarto was eminently pleasing to His Creator. He cared not for the opinion of this world, but only to do the will of God. For this, he received a merciful judgment and heard from the Just Judge these words: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Mt 25:34).

 

Fast forward 100 years and we get the following:

 

In an interview with Fr Antonio Spadaro, the progressive editor of Jesuit journal, La Civiltà, Pope Francis criticsed young Catholics for their love of the Tridentine Mass:

Asked about the liturgy, Pope Francis insisted the Mass reformed after the Second Vatican Council is here to stay and “to speak of a ‘reform of the reform’ is an error.”

 

In authorizing regular use of the older Mass, now referred to as the “extraordinary form,” now-retired Pope Benedict XVI was “magnanimous” toward those attached to the old liturgy, he said. “But it is an exception.”

 

Pope Francis told Father Spadaro he wonders why some young people, who were not raised with the old Latin Mass, nevertheless prefer it.

 

“And I ask myself: Why so much rigidity? Dig, dig, this rigidity always hides something, insecurity or even something else. Rigidity is defensive. True love is not rigid.”

 

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Matthew 11:15

Desperate Evil by Don Ottavio Michelini

Don Ottavio Michelini

My son, the matter of which I shall speak to you this evening is not new. I have told you of it several times in previous Messages. It is the struggle that Satan has unleashed against man.

Unable to face God directly, he fights it indirectly by unleashing his desperate wickedness (made of hatred, envy and jealousy) over the man destined to fill the open gaps with his rebellion to God.

Satan is called Prince of darkness because his fundamental intent is to obscure and overshadow the light of God in souls.

God is Light, Satan is Darkness.
God is Love, Satan is Hate.
God is Humility, Satan is Sovereignty.

The war declared by Satan to man in hatred of God has assumed so vast and grand proportions in its horrible reality that it has no comparison in human history.

The war, in general, is formed by a chain of battles. This battle, of a war that will continue until the end of time, is the greatest and dreadful one. Its epilogue is not far off, it will happen by the direct intervention of the Mother of mine and yours.

She will crush the Serpent's head again. She, the humble Servant of the Lord, by her humility has overcome pride and pride, and will definitely overcome it at the end of time.

Satan is darkness and therefore he does not see. His desperate pride prevents him.

 

Nevertheless he fears the defeat of this battle, which for him will be a cause of shameful debasement, while for my purified Church will be a long period of peace and so will be for the newly healed people of the many evils they suffer today.

This is why Satan has committed all his possibilities and those of his legions.

All the cunning, all the insidias of his corrupted nature but rich in innumerable gifts of power, intelligence and will, are used in his mad attempt, born and matured in him from the moment of his rebellion to God.

Destroy Me, the Christ, the Word of God made Flesh, and the Church out of my open Heart are the goal desperately longed for, and tenaciously pursued.

Close your eyes

But the crazy blindness has made him commit numerous tactical errors, typical of that of discovering too much.
 

An insightful general never lets his plans glimpse at his enemies, knowing full well that this is an unpardonable recklessness. Instead Satan has discovered many of his letters.

This is why My Vicar on earth has recently been able to say that today in the Church there are facts that can not be explained humanly: in them the direct interventions of the Prince of Darkness are evident.

However Bishops, Priests and almost all of the faithful do not see. They do not see because they close their eyes to the light, because they have their minds and hearts wrapped in darkness.

When Paul VI said: "The smoke of Hell has entered the Church" what did he mean? The contagion of Satan has entered the Church. The contagion of Satan is pride, pride.

I repeat: Satan in his mad, desperate illusion intends as a main objective to erase from the face of the earth Me, the Eternal Word of God and naturally with Me, to My Church out of my open Heart. I would like to annihilate the Mystery of the Incarnation, reason and cause of the liberation of humanity from its tyranny.

With the fall of Adam and Eve he thought to have defeated God, to have secured for ever a complete dominion over the children of guilt; He was convinced that he had snatched away his creatures by deception and cunning to God the Creator by subjecting them to his undeniable dominion, in time and in eternity.

But God is Love and with the unanimous concurrence of the divine Trinity, the Mystery of Salvation was decreed: hence the relentless hatred of Satan against God and against man.

Victory in your hands

 

Nowadays Satan, being darkness does not have the right vision of things, is convinced that he has the victory in his hands so that not without dramatic, horrible and dreadful convulsions he will let escape his prey, which is the humanity infected by his Evil: pride and presumption.

 

This war will have its epilogue to the end of time, but war is a chain of battles as I said; And the battle now in action is the largest, after the battle by St. Michael and his legions against the rebel powers.

Many battles have since been fought over the centuries but none of these are comparable to this present battle in which nations and peoples from all over the world are included.

...

I who am Wisdom, Mercy, Love and Omnipotence will know how to bend the dark manoeuvers and the crazy pride of Satan and his legions to get a triumph from all this; My Church purified.

Woe to those, my son, who refuse to see! An act of sincere humility is enough to allow light to seep into their souls.

Foolish and foolish if they persist in resisting the Love that wants them saved. Do they not know and do not think what they are giving up? Do they not know and do not think about what they are addressing?

You see in this my son, how much darkness has become in My Church ...

The earth is a place of exile, the whole Humanity is on the march towards the Eternity.

The materialism

Materialism, the incarnation of Satan, denying and replacing God intends to give men a paradise here on earth, a happiness that she does not possess and therefore can not give.

A tragic lie, a shrewd deception to which many Christians, priests and even Bishops have clung in the name of progress, forgetting the end of Creation and of Redemption!

This is why we are no longer talking about the New Ones, the true enemy of man, the sin with which Satan's work is identified. Bishops, many priests, are responsible for this.

Almost all Christians have allowed themselves to be seduced by straying from the straight path. Meanwhile every man as an individual is on the march towards Eternity, or eternal joy or eternal damnation.

The man, the prey of Satan, is at the centre of a furious struggle of Satan, unleashed to snatch it from God who, with a providential design, has sent to the earth his Word made Flesh, to liberate man and thus to give him primitive grandeur, Dignity and freedom.

Who is it to guide man on his earthly journey and pilgrimage?

To My Church.

But in my Church the Prince of darkness has brought his contagion: pride and pride, obscuring minds and hardening hearts.

The church is mine

But the Church, my son, is mine!

She has come out of My Heart Merciful and open.

I want My Church: one and holy, pure and resplendent of my Doctrine and not divided by heretics in opposition to perennial contrast between themselves. And so it will be after the near purification.

I have triumphed as I told you, in suffering and in pain and so it will be for My Church.

I have known hours of darkness, I have known violence and humiliations of all kinds. I even shouted, "Father, my Father, why have you forsaken me?" This cry will lift many of my children to Heaven in the height of their passion.

But can God who is Love, abandon his children whom he has loved and loved from all eternity?

The woman in labour groans, but then rejoices because she has given birth to a son.

It is time for the grain thrown into the bosom of the earth to decompose and then bear much fruit.

The time is near when my Church will groan in the fierce and unheard of persecution to be reborn One, Pure, Holy and Immaculate.

She will be the mother of the peoples who will gather under her wings and in peace and justice, she will be a teacher and sure guide for all men of good will.

Here's why I tell you: it's urgent to do it soon. I want bishops and priests to prepare themselves in humility and penance, in prayer that must be unanimous. Do not forget that My Passion followed My Resurrection.

I bless you, my son.

Grant me your sufferings, console My Heart pierced by the harshness and insensitivity of my redeemed, my ministers and those whom I have called and loved as brothers and friends.

 

From "Confidences of Jesus to a Priest" - 2 November 1975 - Don Ottavio Michelini (14 August 1906 - 15 October 1979) of Mirandola, Italy, considered to be a mystic.

Venerable Fulton Sheen: a prophecy for our times?

 

[Satan] will set up a Counter-church, which will be the ape of the Church. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. We are living in the days of the Apocalypse, the last days of our era. The two great forces - the Mystical Body of Christ and the Mystical Body of the Antichrist - are beginning to draw battle lines for the catastrophic contest.

The False Prophet will have a religion without a cross. A religion without a world to come. A religion to destroy religions. There will be a Counterfeit Church. Christ's Church, the Catholic Church will be one, and the False Prophet will create the other. The False Church will be worldly, ecumenical, and global. It will be a loose federation of churches and religions, forming some type of global association, a world parliament of Churches. It will be emptied of all Divine content; it will be the mystical body of the Antichrist.

The Mystical Body on earth today will have its Judas Iscariot, and he will be the False Prophet. Satan will recruit him from our bishops. The Antichrist will not be so called; otherwise, he would have no followers. He will not wear red tights nor vomit sulphur nor carry a trident nor wave an arrowed tail as Mephistopheles in Faust. This masquerade has helped the Devil convince men that he does not exist. When no man recognizes, the more power he exercises. God has defined Himself as "I am Who Am," and the Devil as "I Am Who Am Not."

Nowhere in Sacred Scripture do we find warrant for the popular myth of the Devil as a buffoon who is dressed like the first "red." Rather is he described as an angel fallen from heaven, as "the Prince of This World," whose business it is to tell us that there is no other world. His logic is simple: if there is no Heaven, there is no Hell; if there is no Hell, then there is no sin; if there is no sin, then there is no judge; and if there is no judgment, then evil is good, and good is evil. But above all these descriptions, Our Lord tells us that he will be so much like Himself that he would deceive even the elect - and certainly no Devil ever seen in picture books could deceive even the elect.

How will he come in this new age to win followers to his religion? The pre-Communist Russian belief is that he will come disguised as the Great Humanitarian; he will talk peace, prosperity and plenty, not as means to lead us to God, but as ends in themselves. The third temptation, in which Satan asked Christ to adore Him and all the kingdoms of the world would be His, will become the temptation to have a new religion without a Cross, a liturgy without a world to come, a religion to destroy a religion, or a politics which is a religion - one that renders unto Caesar even the things that are God's.

In the midst of all his seeming love for humanity and his glib talk of freedom and equality, he will have one great secret which he will tell to no one: he will not believe in God. Because his religion will be brotherhood without the fatherhood of God, he will deceive even the elect. He will set up a Counter-church which will be the ape of the Church, because he, the Devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the Antichrist that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ. But the twentieth century will join the Counter-church because it claims to be infallible when its visible head speaks ex cathedra from Moscow on the subject of economics and politics, and as chief shepherd of world Communism.  

Fulton J. Sheen, Communism and the Conscience of the West, Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, (1948), pp. 24-25.

Mass in the Extraordinary Form in Żabbar

Pro Tridentina (Malta) is informed that, apart from the traditional Latin Mass (aka Tridentine Mass) in Birkirkara, celebrated every Sunday in Birkirkara by the Diocesan Chaplain for the Extraordinary Form of the Mass in Malta, Canon Doublet, the Tridentine Mass is also being celebrated in Żabbar.

It would be appreciated if anyone from Żabbar, or who attends this Mass, can inform this Blog in which church or chapel it is celebrated, and at what time. A regular Tridentine Mass in the South of Malta is much needed.

Christmas Season in Birkirkara

Quotes to reflect upon (13)

Sir Alec Guinness in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

“Much water has flown under Tiber's bridges, carrying away splendour and mystery from Rome, since the pontificate of Pius XII. The essentials, I know, remain firmly entrenched and I find the post-Conciliar Mass simpler and generally better than the Tridentine; but the banality and vulgarity of the translations which have ousted the sonorous Latin and little Greek are of a super-market quality which is quite unacceptable. Hand-shaking and embarrassed smiles or smirks have replaced the older courtesies; kneeling is out, queueing is in, and the general tone is rather like a BBC radio broadcast for tiny tots (so however will they learn to put away childish things?) The clouds of incense have dispersed, together with many hidebound, blinkered and repressive attitudes, and we are left with social messages of an almost over-whelming progressiveness. The Church has proved she is not moribund. ‘All shall be well,’ I feel, ‘and all manner of things shall be well,’ so long as the God who is worshipped is the God of all ages, past and to come, and not the idol of Modernity, so venerated by some of our bishops, priests and mini-skirted nuns.” Sir Alec Guinness in Blessings in Disguise.

Important announcement

Those interested in joining Pro Tridentina (Malta) are kindly asked to meet one of the member of the provisional Committee who will be attending Mass in the Extraordinary Form on the dates indicated in the poster or every Sunday at 19:00.

 

SPREAD THE WORD!

Festa tal-Beatu Karlu I tal-Awstrija

Bi pjaċir inħabbru li l-Festa Liturġika tal-Beatu Karlu I tal-Awstrija ser tiġi ċċelebrata permezz ta` Quddiesa bil-Forma Straordinarja tar-Rit Latin fil-Knisja ta` San Pawl tal-Wied f`Birkirkara l-Ħadd 23 ta` Ottubru, 2016 fis-7:00 pm. Kulħadd huwa mistieden biex jingħaqad mal-membri tal-Moviment ta` Talb tal-Imperatur Karlu għal din l-okkażżjoni. Wara jsir il-bews tar-Relikwija u ser jiġi inawgurat inkwatru tal-Beatu Karlu I li ser ikun espost permanenti f` din il-knisja.

Aktar tagħrif fuq: Emperor Karl League of Prayers for Peace among Nations

New schedule for TLM in Birkirkara

A laudable initiative by Canon Rev. Nicholas Doublet

A sustained attack in Malta on those in favour of the Tridentine Mass - 2

A smashed statue of Jesus (not in Malta)

Another contribution from the Sunday Times of Malta, dated 31 July 2016.

Fr John Caruana, Birkirkara

New and old in the Church

In his article ‘Thank you; but no thank you’ (The Sunday Times of Malta, July 17), which discussed the curious position of a Vatican prelate, Fr Joe Borg wrote that “our local brand of Tridentine conservatives, fuelled by several priests who were ordained during the past 15 years or so, were thrilled to no end”.

What is old, what is new in religion? What is progressive, conservative? If Fr Borg’s comment is valid, how come younger priests are giving the impression that they are conservative or antiquated, and the elderly priests more progressive or more modern? Admittedly these phrases – antiquated, modern – doctrinally mean very little, but they could have relative pastoral importance.

At 75 I am adamant not to distance myself from the young in general and more so from younger priests, and not to fall into the trap of the so-called ‘generation gap’. It would be stupid of us elderly in the Church to disdain any suggestion coming from the young, and equally stupid of the younger priests and laity – but especially the priests – to fall into the same trap.

I am in the 50th year of my priesthood. It is opportune to point out that the reforms that came about in the post-Vatican II Church, such as introducing the local language in the liturgy, were brought about by the old of today!

Other reforms simplified liturgical vestments: parish priests put away their munzetta (mozzetta) and the monsignors used the mitre more sparingly.

Great strides forward were taken in the administration of Church finances, including in Malta, leaving behind traces of feudalism and emphasising the fact that the Church is not after money for its own sake. Priests’ salaries reflect the fact that priestly life is essentially a mission, not a profession.

The missionary spirit was revamped by Vatican II. Most of today’s missionaries are among the elderly who are fortunately passing on a praiseworthy example to the young.

Above all, the magisterium accepted the principle of ‘development of doctrine’ meaning that not all teaching is ‘dogmatic’ in nature.

Pope Francis, who was incidentally chosen by elderly cardinals, is helping the Church, through the celebration of Synods, not to forget the irreversible path traced by Vatican II.

Let us pray that the fear expressed by Fr Borg, that a closed Tridentine  mentality is “fuelled by several priests who were ordained during the past 15 years or so” abates, following in the footsteps of Pope Francis whose pontificate is epitomising the best of  Vatican II.

After all, one is justified in asking, what is old, what is new in the practice of religion?

One thing is certain: fundamentalism kills the Spirit.

A sustained attack in Malta on those in favour of the Tridentine Mass - 1

Fr Joe Borg regularly writes against traditional Catholics.

The below letter, dated 17 July 2016, published in the Sunday Times of Malta, is the latest in a sustained attack on those Catholics faithful who like the Tridentine Rite. Seems that this priest (who is a member of the Facebook Group of Pro Tridentina Malta) has never heard of what the contemporary Popes said about the Tridentine Mass. And by contemporary we mean Popes who were very much involved in the Second Vatican Council and who implemented the reforms ensuing from it.

To facilitate matters, he might want to refer to the following documents, among others:

1. Veterum Sapientia - On the Promotion of the Study of Latin, issued by Pope Saint John XXIII in 1962;
2. Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium,  promulgated by Blessed Pope Paul VI in 1963;
3. Protocol N. 1897/71 issued by Archbishop Annibale Bugnini in 1971; 
4. Quattuor Abhinc Annos, issued by the Office of the Congregation for Divine Worship, in 1984;
5. Motu Proprio Ecclesia Dei, promulgated by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1988;  
6. Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, promulgated by Pope Benedict XVI and the accompanying letter addressed to all bishops;
7. Motu Proprio Latina Lingua, establishing the Pontifical Academy for Latin, promulgated by Pope Benedict XVI.

The text of the letter by Fr Joe Borg follows (emphasis ours):

Thank you; but no thank you

Those of you who during the past 15 days devoted your time to watching football, or lazing by the sea or cursing the English for Brexit, would have probably missed the stirring of the ecclesiastical pot as a result of the address given by Cardinal Robert Sarah during the opening of the Sacra Liturgia conference in London on July 5.

Sarah exhorted priests to start celebrating Mass facing the east while giving their backs to the congregation. Sarah is not an average Joe. As head of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, his comments carry weight. More so since a couple of weeks earlier he took the same position during an interview with the French maga­zine Famille Chrétienne.

Social networks provided the battleground between those who were exultant or in shock at the proposal made by such an authoritative darling of the conservative wing of the Church. Our local brand of Tridentine conservatives, fuelled by several priests who were ordained during the past 15 years or so, were thrilled to no end.

Like conservatives overseas they form a motley bunch more than a monolithic block. Undoubtedly there are some mode­rate conservatives who have a right to their views and with whom one can dialogue. Others share the views of the extreme right, which consider the post-Vatican II Mass as ‘a protestant rite’. Sarah fell foul even with these ultra-traditionalists, so much so that the website askaCatholic describes Sarah as “a weak and incompetent neo-con hero”.

The practice of orienting both the liturgy – and Church buildings – toward the east is a very old tradition in the Catholic Church. It is still the norm for Orthodox Christianity and Eastern Catholic churches. John of Damascus wrote about it as far back as the seventh century. It is based on Matthew 24,27: “The coming of the Son of Man will be like lightning striking in the east. And flashing far into the west.” This practice also means that the priest celebrates Mass with his back to the people.

Sarah believes that if this practice becomes mainstream (instead of the exception it now is) the Church will be putting God back at the centre of the Church’s liturgical life. He quoted the “lament of God” proclaimed by the prophet Jeremiah: “The people have turned their backs on me.” “Let us turn again towards the Lord!” he said.

I have no doubt that Cardinal Sarah has taken this position because he sincerely believes that it is for the good of the Church. However, he is intelligent enough to know that his use of this scriptural quote is, at best, very unfortunate, as it has nothing to do with the direction of one’s gaze or the position of one’s back while celebrating Mass.

Sarah exhorted priests to start celebrating Mass facing the East while giving their backs to the congregation.

Looking towards the east (as he suggests) or the west or in any other direction will not in itself help people experience the beauty of the love that is celebrated during Mass, which is the community’s sacrificial meal par excellance. The Church’s celebration of the earthly liturgy will not give participants a better foretaste of the heavenly liturgy just by looking towards the east and by having the celebrant give his back to the congregation.

When congregation and celebrant face each other their communication and bonding is definitively much better. This bonding will then help them experience the presence of Christ that is guaranteed whenever people are gathered in his name. The presence of he who is the way to the Father will then help the community understand that “the liturgy is not about us but about God” (to quote Benedict XVI). There is absolutely no need to revert to yesteryear’s symbols to live this perennial reality.

Luckily, the Vatican immediately quash­ed all rumours that Sarah was flying Pope Francis’s kite. Many got this impression as Sarah himself had twice mentioned during his London address that he had the full support of Pope Francis in his quest to “reform the reform”.

Fr Federico Lombardi SJ, the Vatican spokesperson, said that the Pope met Cardinal Sarah two days after the London speech, making it clear that the “ordinary” form of celebrating the Mass is the one promulgated after the Second Vatican Council. He added that the “extraordinary” form, while accepted under the means expressed by Benedict XVI, should not become the norm.

Francis practices what he preaches about the possibility of celebrating Mass ad orientem in extraordinary and exceptional circumstances. Since his election, he has celebrated this rite at least once a year, for the annual tradition of the Pope baptising the newborns of Vatican employees in the Sistine Chapel.

Lombardi added that the General Instruction of the Roman Missal states that the altar should be built in such a way “that Mass can be celebrated at it facing the people, which is desirable wherever possible”.

Lombardi also said that “it is better to avoid using the expression ‘the reform of the reform’ (as Sarah did in his London speech), given that this has sometimes been the source of misunderstanding”.

Those using the expression form a spectrum ranging from those who would reasonably like to tweak certain exaggerations that some unfortunately indulge in, to those eager to throw the clock backwards, thus deforming the reform.

Pope Francis is of a different opinion. Last year he celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first Mass offered in Italian. In his homily he said that:

“Let us thank the Lord for what he has done in His Church in these 50 years of liturgical reform… It was truly a courageous gesture for the Church to draw near to the people of God, so that they are able to understand well what they are doing."

“It is not possible to go backwards,” he said. “Always forward! Those who go backward are mistaken.”

My final comment to the good cardinal and to the local enthusiasts of the deforming the reform movement: thanks, but no thanks.

Litanija ta` Riparazzjoni lil Ġesu` Sagramentat

Litanija ta` Riparazzjoni lil Ġesu` Sagramentat

Mulej, ħniena
· Kristu, ħniena,
· Mulej, ħniena,
· Kristu, ismagħna,
· Kristu, ilqa' t-talb tagħna.
· Missier Etern, Alla, ħenn għalina.
· Iben, Alla, li fdejt id-dinja, ħenn għalina.
· Spirtu s-Santu, Alla, ħenn għalina.
· Trinita Mqaddsa, Alla wieħed, ħenn għalina.

· Ostja Mqaddsa, offerta għas-saħħa tal-bnedmin, ħenn għalina.
· Ostja Mqaddsa, umiljata fuq l-Altar minna u għalina, ħenn għalina.
· Ostja Mqaddsa, offiża mill-ħżiena, ħenn għalina.
· Ostja Mqaddsa, miġġielda mill-eretiċi u minn dawk li ma jemmnux fik, ħenn għalina.
· Ostja Mqaddsa, imżebilħa mid-dgħajfa, ħenn għalina.
· Ostja Mqaddsa, ħobż tal-anġli mogħti lil min ma jixraqlux, ħenn għalina.
· Ostja Mqaddsa, ittraskurata u abbandunata fil-knejjes, ħenn għalina.



·  Alla, kun ħanin magħna, u aħfrilna.
· Alla, kun għalina ta' għajnuna, u ismagħna.
· Għad-disprezzi bla qies lejn is-Sagrament hekk tal-għaġeb, aħna npattulek, Mulej!
· Għat-tqarbin ħażin, aħna npattulek, Mulej!
· Għall-Quddies sagrileġġ, aħna npattulek, Mulej!
· Għan-nuqqas ta' qima tal-insara, aħna npattulek, Mulej!
· Għan-nuqqas ta' ġieħ fil-knejjes Tiegħek, aħna npattulek, Mulej!
· Għas-serq tal-Pissidi Mqaddsa, aħna npattulek, Mulej!
· Għad-dagħa ta' sikwit tal-ħżiena, aħna npattulek, Mulej!
· Għall-wiri ta' films ħżiena li joffendu s-sentimenti ta' pajjiż nisrani, aħna npattulek, Mulej!
· Għall-ebusija u kefrija tal-eretiċi, aħna npattulek, Mulej!
· Għal Ġesu’ Kristu ppersegwitat fil-Vigarju Tiegħu f'din l-art, aħna npattulek, Mulej!
· Għal Ġesu’ Kristu ppersegwitat fl-Isqfijiet Tiegħu, aħna npattulek, Mulej!
· Għal Ġesu’ Kristu ppersegwitat fis-saċerdoti Tiegħu, aħna npattulek, Mulej!
· Għal Ġesu’ Kristu diżoronat mill-ġurnali ħżiena, aħna npattulek, Mulej!
· Għad-diskors ħażin li jingħad fil-knejjes Tiegħek min-nies bla għaqal, aħna npattulek, Mulej!
· Għall-profanaturi tal-knejjes, li jagħmluhom post ta' skandlu, aħna npattulek, Mulej!


· Mulej kattar fl-insara kollha r-rispett lejn l-Adorabbli Sagrament tal-Altar,
Ismagħna, nitolbuk, Mulej!
· Mulej, ikxef is-Sagrament tal-imħabba Tieghek lill-eretiċi,
Ismagħna, nitolbuk, Mulej!
· Mulej, ixħet fuqna l-offiżi ta' dawk li jiddisprezzawk,
Ismagħna, nitolbuk, Mulej!
· Mulej, ilqa' t-tpattija tagħna magħmula bi spirtu ta' umilta’,
Ismagħna, nitolbuk, Mulej!
· Mulej, agħmel li togħġbok dejjem l-adorazzjoni tagħna,
Ismagħna, nitolbuk, Mulej!
· Ostja Pura, ismagħna.
· Ostja Mqaddsa, ismagħna.
· Ostja Immakulata, ismagħna.
Ħaruf ta' Alla, li tneħħi d-dnubiet tad-dinja, aħfrilna, nitolbuk, Mulej.
Ħaruf ta' Alla, li tneħħi d-dnubiet tad-dinja, ismagħna, nitolbuk, Mulej.
Ħaruf ta' Alla, li tneħħi d-dnubiet tad-dinja, ħenn għalina.
O Sinjur tagħna Ġesu’ Kristu, f'ġieħ l-Omm Tiegħek Marija jkollok ħniena minna, ilqa' dawn l-atti ta' riparazzjoni, u bierek l-ulied tal-Omm Tiegħek. Ammen.

Inħeġġeġ lil kulħadd biex titolbu din il-litanija wara li smajna b`serqa sagrilega tas-Santissimu Sagrament minn Kunvent fil-Belt Valletta. Wasal il-mument li t-tqarbin jibda isir fil-ħalq biss biex nevitaw aktar riskji.