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Last year, it was pointed out on this blog that there is a mini-season of Advent called Sapientiatide (analogous to Passiontide at the end of Lent) that runs from Dec. 17-23. “Sapientia” is Latin for “wisdom,” so “Wisdomtide” would be the English translation. At Vespers on those nights, the Church prays the “Great O Antiphons.” In order, these begin with the words:
O Sapientia (hence the name of the season)
O Adonai
O Radix Jesse
O Clavis David
O Oriens
O Rex Gentium
O Emmanuel
You may remember these titles of Our Lord from the English hymn, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” Well, the initial letters of these titles create a backwards acrostic: ERO CRAS. That’s Latin for “I’ll be tomorrow,” or, more loosely, “I’ll arrive tomorrow.” Of course, the night after the 23rd is the Vespers of Christmas Eve, so the “speaker” of the acrostic is Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom of the Father. It’s as though Christ, after being addressed in the antiphons by those seven titles over the past week, is answering the prayer Himself. So the folks who arranged the prayers for Sapientiatide must have been pretty “wise” themselves!
For some edifying reading on Divine Wisdom, that which the Three Wise Men came from the East seeking (see painting above), see St. Louis de Montfort’s work here at EWTN.
What did the Holy Family do with all the precious goods given from the Three Kings?
You know, one of my professors here at Cornell, a lapsed Catholic, recently asked me the same thing. If the Three Wise Men gave them gold, then why was the Holy Family so poor? Why could they afford only turtledoves at the Presentation if they’d just received precious treasures?
I don’t know if there is any tradition on this. Maybe the myrrh was used to dress Our Lord’s body after the Crucifixion, which was a traditional use of myrrh? Maybe the Holy Family needed the gold for when the lived in Egypt — but then St. Joseph presumably was a carpenter there too.
Being many thousands of miles from a traditional priest, I cannot easily seek out the answer. But I’m sure there is one. These are the types of questions that the Novus Ordo is incapable of answering because they are cut off from the Sacred Traditions of the Church. If it isn’t in a post-Vatican II document they are almost ignorant of it. And also this is the type of question that probably has a perfectly sound and reasonable answer and adds to the completeness and sacredness of our Holy Faith.
Speaking of tradition or lack thereof, why do so many Novus Ordo priests feel it necessary to mention from the altar that Jesus was not born on December 25th; only that the Church decided to celebrate that day to symbolize the Light entering the world on the darkest day of the year.
This of course is complete Novus Ordo hogwash - which does nothing but make those Catholics who already have a weak faith more prone to questioning and doubting all sacred things.
Are we to presume that the Church knew better than God what day his birth should be?
Are we to presume that Our lady and Our Lord’s closest friends didn’t share this precious information with the Apostles and His other disciples?
Are we to presume that the Apostles and disciples didn’t pass this information on?
God save us from the Novus Ordo!
Merry Christmas!
Yes, Merry Christmas! Say, were you able to attend one of Pope Benedict’s Masses in Turkey?
Unfortunately, no.
It’s a shame too because the Mary’s House chapel has a capacity of about 100, and they actually had a problem finding 100 people to attend the Mass, so it would have been one of the most intimate of papal venues.
A delightful observation, Tobias. I hadn’t seen that remarked before. Where did you come across that? Or was it your native wisdom?
Joe,
Are all Novus Ordo hogwash by definition, or is it just your experience? My rxperience with N.O. has been great in 2 out of three parishes. The 2 promoted pro=life in homily after homily and condemned birth control, cafeteria Catholicism, same sex marriage, etc. They celebrated Mass with reverence.
But the other parish? Well, they were “Spirit of Vat II” all the way. One priest was loving and compassionate and caring and artistic, and all that. He was dedicated to God. I believe he was wrong the way a good Methodist is wrong.
Another priest there was guilty of every liturgical infraction I ever read about. He knew it, and didn’t appear to care. We left. The church was within walking distance, the people were friendly, but we left. We’d do the same if it were any other Catholic church.
I’m sorry your experience hasn’t been mine.
Iosephe, actually, I first came across it on the blog of a Lutheran minister who was teaching chant to his congregation (something interesting in itself). Then I typed “ero cras” into google, and many of the (relatively few) sites that mention Sapientiatide, the Great O Antiphons, etc., mention the backwards acrostic. Merry Christmas!
Cranky,
Definitely to have a good Novus Ordo priest is a blessing. But I’ve found often that being a “good” Novus Ordo priest means we are thankful that he is not an open heretic regarding at least one or more matters of the faith and that he celebrates Mass as if he actually believes in the gravity of what he’s doing. The bar is so low now that when we find a priest who actually seems to care for souls we are willing to overlook a half-dozen lesser faults.
While on the other hand among tradition priests we tend to find men who are 100% Catholic with no apologies.
Furthermore, even among the Novus Ordo priests who want to do the right thing, even among those whose hearts are in the right place, the sad fact remains that their formation is lacking in many areas. A traditional priest has at his disposal traditional moral manuals, the teachings of the doctors, the teachings of the sacred councils of the Church, and often a personal network of more experienced priests in such areas as moral theology, philosophy, and others. He threads all these together, when appropriate, in forming his sermons, and when giving advice in the confessional.
The debate over the birth of Christ may seem like a matter of relatively little importance given the major issues of today. But I’ve never ever heard a Novus Ordo priest defend December 25th as the actual birthday of Our Lord. When I first heard an FSSP priest make this declaration and give his supporting remarks (all in the form of a preface to his intended Christmas sermon) - I was stunned. It all made sense. It made perfect sense. It’s a greater leap of faith to believe that December 25th isn’t the actual date of Christ’s birth.
Furthermore, the questioning of birth date, does, I think, tend sc