Photo: Vatican media
Samedi 26 avril la messe conventuelle chantée de 10h sera offerte pour le pape défunt en même temps que son inhumation à Rome. On Saturday April 26th the Conventual Mass sung at 10h00 will be offered for the deceased pope at the same time as his funeral in Rome. Comme les messes de Requiem qui ne sont pas une messe d'enterrement sont interdites durant l'octave de Pâques, la messe sera celle du samedi de Pâques offerte pour le repos de son âme. Because requiem Masses that are not actual funerals are forbidden during the Octave of Easter, the Mass will be that of the Saturday of the Octave of Easter. It shall, nevertheless, be offered for the repose of his soul. Requiescat in pace. + The news of the death of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, reached us during Conventual Mass this morning.
At the end of the Mass the monks sang the "Subvenite..." for the repose of his soul and prayed the collect for a deceased pope. La nouvelle du décès du Saint-Père, le pape François, nous est parvenue ce matin lors de la messe conventuelle. À la fin de la messe, les moines ont chanté le « Subvenite… » pour le repos de son âme et ont prié la collecte pour un pape défunt. Requiescat in pace. + In the first instance permit me to wish you, on behalf of our monastic community, a very happy Easter: may the light of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ illumine your hearts, minds and souls now and forever! Secondly, please permit me to offer a word of thanks to all here present, particularly to our faithful oblates, families, friends and benefactors—here present and worldwide—who have generously contributed in so many different ways practical, artistic, ceremonial and musical to ensure that our worship of Almighty God has been as worthy and as dignified as possible. Often people ask us how a monastic community that is small in number manages to do so much. The answer can be found in a song of the English group The Beatles: “We get by with a little help from our friends.” In His Providence Almighty God has sent us many wonderful and generous friends, and we thank Him and we thank each one of you from the bottom of our hearts for that. Permettez-moi tout d'abord de vous souhaiter à tous, au nom de toute la communauté monastique, de très joyeuses fêtes de Pâques : que la lumière de la Résurrection de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ illumine vos cœurs, vos esprits et vos âmes, aujourd'hui et pour toujours ! Deuxièmement, permettez-moi de remercier toutes les personnes présentes, en particulier nos fidèles oblats, familles, amis et bienfaiteurs - ici présents et dans le monde entier - qui ont généreusement contribué de tant de manières différentes - pratiques, artistiques, cérémonielles et musicales - à faire en sorte que la célébration du culte que nous rendons à Dieu soit aussi digne que possible. Souvent, les gens nous demandent comment une communauté monastique peu nombreuse parvient à faire autant. Comme réponse nous pouvons citer Les Beatles : « Nous nous débrouillons avec un peu d'aide de nos amis »! Dans sa Providence, le Bon Dieu nous a envoyé de nombreux amis merveilleux, généreux et fidèles, et nous l'en remercions, ainsi que chacun d'entre vous, du fond du cœur.
+ In this Sacred Triduum, into which we solemnly enter today, Our Holy Mother, the Church, invites us to walk step by step from the somewhat confusing happenings of Upper Room to the agony and tumult of the Garden of Gethsemane. She takes us into the heart of the politics and power plays of the Praetorium before which Our Lord is almost complicitly silent. We are then led to Calvary where we kneel at the foot of the excruciating injustice of the Cross, after which we are left before the solemn silence of the tomb.
My brothers and sisters, no matter how many times we have made this pilgrimage, this evening we must renew our fervour in commencing it anew. For if we thoroughly immerse ourselves, heart, mind and soul, in the Church’s Sacred Liturgy in these days—in the great, solemn ceremonies, as much as in the small and early hours of the Divine Office—we shall draw deeply from the wellspring of salvation (cf. Is. 12:3). Indeed, if we look deeply into the face of Christ, if our eyes meet His and we keep His gaze in these charged days, our faith, our hope and our charity shall be renewed. But we must keep His gaze. We must not look away. We must not falter when the Truth about who Jesus of Nazareth is becomes almost too much to believe, or when the suffering and pain becomes intolerable. We must stay with Him, indeed cling to Him, when the potestas tenebrarum—the power of darkness of which He spoke in yesterday’s Gospel—reigns (cf. Lk 22:53). We must suffer His anguished cries on the Cross. And when the tomb finally encloses His lifeless body, we must maintain hope. In so doing we shall, of course, not only draw deeply from the riches of these privileged days and their venerable rites: we shall also be formed and re-formed in Christ so that we, too, may endure the potestas tenebrarum when it encircles us. We shall be given that hope which does not fear our own tomb, confident that the darkest shadows of the Cross are cast by the light of Easter morning—to which, even as we walk with Christ in these turbulent days, we look forward in faith and hope, most particularly in this solemn vesperal offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. + + Nous entrons aujourd'hui solennellement dans le Triduum sacré et notre Sainte Mère l'Église nous invite à revivre pas à pas les événements, quelque peu déroutant du Cénacle, jusqu'à l'agonie et le tumulte du jardin de Gethsémani. Elle nous emmène au cœur de la politique et des jeux de pouvoir du prétoire, devant lesquels notre Seigneur garde un silence presque coupable. Nous sommes ensuite conduits au Calvaire où nous nous agenouillons au pied de l'injustice atroce de la Croix, après quoi nous sommes laissés devant le silence solennel du tombeau. Mes frères et sœurs, peu importe le nombre de fois que nous avons fait ce pèlerinage, ce soir nous devons renouveler notre ferveur pour le recommencer à nouveau. En effet, si nous nous immergeons complètement, cœur, esprit et âme, dans la sainte liturgie de l'Église de ces jours solennels – à travers les grandes cérémonies solennelles comme dans les Heures mineures de l'Office divin - nous puiserons profondément à la source du salut (cf. Is. 12, 3). En effet, si nous regardons profondément le visage du Christ, si nos yeux rencontrent les siens et si nous fixons son regard en ces jours qui ont changés le monde, notre foi, notre espérance et notre charité seront renouvelées. Mais nous devons fixer son regard. Nous ne devons pas nous en détourner. Nous ne devons pas faiblir lorsque la vérité sur l'identité de Jésus de Nazareth devient presque trop difficile à croire, ou bien lorsque la souffrance et la douleur deviennent intolérables. Nous devons rester avec Lui, voire nous accrocher à Lui, lorsque le potestas tenebrarum dont il a parlé dans l'Évangile d'hier - le pouvoir des ténèbres - règne en maître (cf. Lc 22, 53). Nous devons souffrir ses cris angoissés sur la Croix. Et lorsque le tombeau renfermera enfin son corps sans vie, nous devrons garder l'espérance. Ce faisant, nous ne nous contenterons pas seulement de puiser profondément dans les richesses de ces journées privilégiées et de leurs rites vénérables : mais nous serons également formés et reformés dans le Christ afin de pouvoir, nous aussi, endurer cette potestas tenebrarum lorsqu'elle nous encerclera. Nous recevrons cette espérance qui ne craint pas notre propre tombeau, car nous serons confiants que les ombres les plus sombres de la Croix sont chassées par la lumière du matin de Pâques. Alors même que nous marchons avec le Christ en ces jours turbulents, nous attendons dans la foi et l'espérance ce matin béni, tout particulièrement dans cette offrande solennelle vespérale du Saint Sacrifice de la Messe. + With orders coming in steadily from monasteries, monks and others interested in praying the monastic office since our announcement of the republication of the 1963 Breviarium Monasticum – well over 100 to date – we have also received many questions, particularly in respect of the appendix of older texts that will be included in this edition.
Depuis que nous avons annoncé la réédition du Breviarium Monasticum de 1963, monastères, moines et autres personnes intéressées par la prière de l'office monastique nous ont régulièrement passé des commandes - plus d'une centaine à ce jour - et nous avons également reçu de nombreuses questions, notamment en ce qui concerne l'appendice de textes plus anciens qui sera inclus dans cette édition. The appendix to each volume will include as many of the texts that the reforms of the early 1960s omitted from the Ordinary, Temporal and Sanctoral of the Monastic Breviary as we are able to include—we are limited by the amount of space available. Hence the full text of psalm 13 (Thursday Prime), the Saturday Lauds ferial canticle from Deuteronomy, the texts for the Octave of the Epiphany, the Feast of the Precious Blood, ancient offices of important saints, etc. Once the typesetting has been completed we will be in a position to publish a detailed list of the content of the appendix to each volume. L'appendice de chaque volume comprendra le plus de textes que les réformes du début des années 1960 ont omis dans l'Ordinaire, le Temporal et le Sanctoral du Bréviaire monastique que nous pouvons en inclure - nous sommes malheureusement limités par l'espace disponible. Ainsi, seront inclus le texte intégral du psaume 13 (jeudi à Prime), le cantique férial, tiré du Deutéronome, des Laudes du samedi, les textes de l'Octave de l'Épiphanie, de la fête du Précieux Sang, des saints importants, etc. Une fois la mise en page terminée, nous serons en mesure de publier une liste détaillée du contenu de l'annexe de chaque volume. Be sure to order your copy before publication so as to benefit from the 50 euro discount. For further details click here. N'oubliez pas de commander votre exemplaire avant la publication afin de bénéficier de la réduction de 50 euros. Plus d'informations clickez ici. + The acrimonious dispute between Our Lord and the Jews descends into grave accusations and potential violence in this morning’s Gospel: “Now we know that you have a demon…” the Jews exclaim, as “they [take] up stones to throw at him…” This dispute is about the Truth—it is about who Jesus of Nazareth in fact is. And in reality, it is no wonder that the Jews were ready to stone a young man who dared, in the very Temple itself, to claim that “before Abraham was, I am.” It is unheard of in its audacity. Indeed, it is utterly blasphemous—unless it is true.
The Sacred Liturgy of Passiontide relives this dramatic clash over who this Jesus of Nazareth is. How dare He claim to be the unique Son of God! How can he, a carpenter’s son, be the Christ of God sent to save His people? He must be wrong. He must be lying—a man of iniquity. Yet, He maintains His stance. There appears to be no end to His arrogance. Throughout these intense days the Church cries out to God to vindicate the Truth in the words of the psalmist, as we have sung in this morning’s Introit, Gradual and Tract. “Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people; from deceitful and unjust men deliver me!” “Deliver me, O LORD, from my enemies! I have fled to thee for refuge! Teach me to do thy will…” “‘Sorely have they afflicted me from my youth,’ let Israel now say—'Sorely have they afflicted me from my youth,’ yet they have not prevailed against me.” There is no doubt that these anguished cries of the psalmist prefigure the Passion of Our Lord. However, they are also the prayer of the Church today. They are your prayer as they are mine and as they are the prayer of the whole Church of God on this Passion Sunday 2025. For just as Our Lord suffered for insisting on the Truth of His person and mission, so to the One True Church He founded suffers down to this day for insisting on this Truth in a world riddled with the spiritual, moral and doctrinal cancers of relativism and syncretism. At this very time there are Catechumens around the world preparing for the cleansing Truth of Baptism at Easter who are in fear of their own families because of their utter rejection of it. There are Catholics in parts of the world who may not openly practice their faith, or even wear a religious symbol in public or in their workplace, so that the product of rationalism—the god of secularism—or the false gods worshipped by other religions, may be duly appeased. These societies—distant and near—would not hesitate to crucify Our Lord anew were he to stand in their public squares and proclaim the Truth in them just as they do not hesitate to persecute those who witness to Him today. So too, there are those in authority throughout the world whose sole ‘truth’ is that which is politically expedient according to the governing ideology of the moment. Hence the Truth about the inviolability of innocent human life is relativised through the promotion of a culture of death that now kills the elderly as well as the young and increasingly anyone who simply wants to end their life. The Truth about the nature of men and women and about human sexuality is relativised by what is euphemistically called ‘gender reordering’ and by the application of the once-sacred term “marriage” to any union kind of union people wish to enter. Contradicting these falsehoods is considered a heinous crime that is loudly decried and is as mercilessly punished, just as was Our Lord Himself. Even in Christ’s own Church we increasingly experience the sacrifice of Truth on the altar of ideology, as process replaces revelation and the worship of contingent policies seeks to block the arteries that convey to us the very life of Christ handed on in her traditional worship and teaching. Priests who oppose this falsification of the Faith are ‘cancelled’ just as Our Lord was crucified, whilst the rightful concerns of lay men and women who seek the fulness of the Truth the Church was founded to convey for themselves and for their children are marginalised or ignored. Ambitious clerics pursue power as ruthlessly as might any politician and do not hesitate to abuse it and those under their authority as might any Ceasar. Rightly, then, do we cry out in the liturgy of Passiontide: “Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people; from deceitful and unjust men deliver me!” If we ourselves are in the happy situation to be free from such evils at present, let us use our freedom to pray all the more earnestly for those many who are not. At matins this morning, St Leo the Great reminded us that as long as piety is alive, persecution will not be lacking: we must take up our Cross and follow Our Lord—that is the substance of daily perseverance in Christian life. And yet, as unjustly as Crosses may be laid upon us, and no matter how they may press us down, they are but a conduit—a path. For so long as we are faithful to Christ, who has carried the Cross before us, and who carries our crosses with us, our cries for justice shall be heard and we shall enjoy the ultimate victory that is His that we shall celebrate with great solemnity on Easter day—a foretaste of which we are offered in this, and every, Holy Mass to sustain us along the way. + Following our announcement of our forthcoming republication of the 1963 Latin Breviarium Monasticum
we are happy to recommend to English speakers the recently published volume A Companion to the Monastic Breviary – Libri Sancti Press which contains a translation of the rubrics of the monastic breviary which govern its celebration, as well as a brief commentary on the different hours of the Office. This volume will be very useful in understanding how to use the Breviary. + Our Lord often asks the impossible. He does so in this morning’s Gospel when he asks St Philip (of whom, as well as St Andrew, a relic is present on the altar today): “How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” Let us bear in mind that we are talking about five thousand people. Feeding such a number was no simple matter.
St Andrew’s response is honest and straightforward: we cannot feed them. He explains: “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?” It is impossible. How many times do we say the same thing: “It’s impossible!”? How often do we retreat behind the words “I cannot”? How many good initiatives are never put to the test because I simply do not have the resources to hand to begin them, let alone to sustain them? “I am not rich,” “I do not have the energy,” “I don’t even know where to begin,” we sigh as we retreat back into the security of mediocre inactivity. But of course, we are right. Often we do not have the means or strength or expertise to see initiatives through. We all have our limits and these are real, not imaginary. It could be grossly imprudent to launch out into the deep without the wherewithal to navigate the seas—which can be utterly tranquil at one moment and can then become utterly treacherous. Far better that we leave their navigation to experienced seafarers in vessels capable of withstanding the storms that will buffet them at one time or another. How are we to navigate such waters in but a small boat? Its impossible. And so we stay on the shore. Yet, when Our Lord asks us to set out into the deep, we should learn from St Peter who responded to this very instruction with a protest, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!”—and with faith: “But at your word I will let down the nets.” (Lk 5:5) A verse from this morning’s Gospel is equally applicable to the instruction Our Lord gave to St Peter in his boat as it is to the questions put to St Philip: “This He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.” My brothers and sisters, here we find ourselves at the very heart of the reality that, on this fourth Sunday of Lent, our Holy Mother the Church wishes us to not only to understand, but from which to live and depend. That reality is nothing less than the fact that Our Lord asks much of us, very much indeed—sometimes even the impossible—but He does so in order to test us, “for gold is tested in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation,” as the book of Sirach/Wisdom teaches us (2:5). And He does so all the while knowing what He Himself will do. Let us put this another way. We are utterly inadequate. Deep waters scare us. We rightly recoil from tackling impossible situations. We cannot do much that that we would like to do: we do not have the personal, moral or material resources. Confronted by the Lord’s demands with St Peter we plead the honest excuse: “Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.” And yet, we ought to attend to the response St Paul received when he pleaded his inadequacy: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness,” the Lord told him. For in calling both St Peter and St Paul to become the greatest of the Apostles, the Lord knew what He Himself would do in and through them. They, however, did not: they were frightened by their limitations and sins, which they knew well enough. But here, again, we touch the heart of the message of the Gospel. It is not about us and what we can or cannot do. “I” do not matter. God does. Whether it is a sinful Peter or a weak Paul, whether it is five barley loaves and two fish—whether it is you or I or anyone else similarly or worse damaged and bruised and fatigued by the vicissitudes of the world, the flesh and the devil, or by persecution from within or without—God can and does and will work in and through us unto His own Providential ends. But He can only do so if we allow Him. He can only do so if we offer Him all that we have, inadequate as it is, and allow Him to take us, to bless us, to break us as necessary and to give us to others for their nourishment in a manner we cannot presently imagine. It is for this reason—for what the Lord can do and wills to do—that we rightly sing Laetare Jerusalem in the Introit of this Holy Mass. For whilst we correctly pursue our Lenten regime of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we do so not out of a Pelagian determination to make ourselves better people, but in order all the more purely to offer our five barley loaves and two fish to the Lord, in faith, trusting that He Himself knows what He will do with them if only we shall allow Him. It is in this reality that we can rejoice, even as its implications may astound us—just as they astounded St Philip and St Andrew, and St Peter and St Paul. As we place all that we have before the Altar in this Holy Mass, let us ask their intercession that we too may come truly to rejoice in the accomplishment of what the Lord already knows He will do with that which we have to offer. + Tous les horaires de la Semaine Sainte 2025 sont publiés dans le fichier pdf ci-dessous. All of the times for Holy Week 2025 are published in the pdf file below. Your browser does not support viewing this document. Click here to download the document. |
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