2017 – 2023
Tradistae marks the change of each season by recognizing the traditional Embertides, a penitential devotion which dates back to the Church Fathers. Here are our prayers and readings for each Embertide:
The following prayer was offered by Pope Francis at the conclusion of his apostolic exhortation, “Querida Amazonia“. The Holy Father warns us that “the equilibrium of our planet also depends on the health of the Amazon region… The cry of the Amazon region reaches everyone” (§ 48). Friends of Tradistae are asked to join this prayer to the Blessed Mother, especially during the Saturday of the Fall Embertide, in penance for ecological sins, so that humanity may be spared the chastisements of climate catastrophe.
Mother of life,
in your maternal womb Jesus took flesh,
the Lord of all that exists.
Risen, he transfigured you by his light
and made you the Queen of all creation.
For that reason, we ask you, Mary, to reign
in the beating heart of Amazonia.
Show yourself the Mother of all creatures,
in the beauty of the flowers, the rivers,
the great river that courses through it
and all the life pulsing in its forests.
Tenderly care for this explosion of beauty.
Ask Jesus to pour out all his love
on the men and women who dwell there,
that they may know how to appreciate and care for it.
Bring your Son to birth in their hearts,
so that he can shine forth in the Amazon region,
in its peoples and in its cultures,
by the light of his word,
by his consoling love,
by his message of fraternity and justice.
And at every Eucharist,
may all this awe and wonder be lifted up
to the glory of the Father.
Mother, look upon the poor of the Amazon region,
for their home is being destroyed by petty interests.
How much pain and misery,
how much neglect and abuse there is
in this blessed land
overflowing with life!
Touch the hearts of the powerful,
for, even though we sense that the hour is late,
you call us to save
what is still alive.
Mother whose heart is pierced,
who yourself suffer in your mistreated sons and daughters,
and in the wounds inflicted on nature,
reign in the Amazon,
together with your Son.
Reign so that no one else can claim lordship
over the handiwork of God.
We trust in you, Mother of life.
Do not abandon us
in this dark hour.
Amen.
Canticle of the Three Youths (Daniel 3:57-88, also available in this PDF with commentary from St. John Paul II)
The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary
Prayer to Our Lady of the Amazon (from Querida Amazonia)
On August 6th, 1945, at 8 a.m. the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima instantly killing ~75,000 men, women, and children, mostly civilians. On August 9th, 1945, another nuclear bomb was detonated on Nagasaki, Japan’s most Catholic-populated city, known as the “Rome of the East“. This second bomb landed next to the Urakami Catholic Cathedral, reducing it to rubble and vaporizing all human beings inside, along with ~50,000 others.
Despite the strict limitations of Just War, many Catholics would go on to support the use of nuclear weapons. Notable exceptions were Venerable Fulton Sheen and Servant of God Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement. The Americanist Catholics sided with President Truman, a 33rd Degree Freemason, when he stated, in the manner of an antichrist: “We thank God that it [the Bomb] has come to us, instead of to our enemies; and we pray that He may guide us to use it in His ways and for His purposes.”
The saintly Pope John XXIII spoke out fiercely against the arms race and condemned nuclear weapons in an Encyclical (quotation below). This teaching has been repeated by Pope Francis with even greater force. The following resources—prayers, videos, protests, papal messages, and readings—have been compiled for use in Christian homes, parishes, and other communities. Please join us in making reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, begging God’s mercy on the United States of America, and repenting of the culture of death which has manufactured eternal and barbarous warfare.
Hence justice, right reason, and the recognition of man’s dignity cry out insistently for a cessation to the arms race. The stock-piles of armaments which have been built up in various countries must be reduced all round and simultaneously by the parties concerned. Nuclear weapons must be banned. A general agreement must be reached on a suitable disarmament program, with an effective system of mutual control. In the words of Pope Pius XII: “The calamity of a world war, with the economic and social ruin and the moral excesses and dissolution that accompany it, must not on any account be permitted to engulf the human race for a third time.”
—Saint Pope John XXIII, Pacem in Terris § 112 (1963)
Episode #14 of the Tradistae Podcast (link above) contains audio recordings of the following readings from Day and Merton.
“The Catholic Holocaust of Nagasaki—’Why, Lord?’“ | Br. Anthony Josemaria (2010)
Psalm 104
The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary
Prayer in Union with Creation (from Laudato Si’)
Friends of Tradistae are asked to pray for all those afflicted by the coronavirus, especially all healthcare workers, the elderly, and the poor. The Cross of Saint Zacharias of Jerusalem, approved by the Council of Trent, can be worn, affixed to your door, or drawn with blessed chalk for protection. The letters of the cross are an acrostic for a prayer against the plague, which is translated below. A printable version of this page can be found here. Sharon Kabel has also created an excellent printable PDF with the Latin-English text.
☩ O Cross of Christ, save me.
Z. May zeal for your house free me.
☩ The Cross conquers; the Cross reigns; the Cross rules; by the sign of the Cross free me, O Lord, from this plague.
D. God, my God, drive this plague away from me, and from this place, and free me.
I. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit, my heart, and my body.
A. Before heaven and earth, God was; and God is able to liberate me from this plague.
☩ The Cross of Christ is able to expel the plague from this place and from my body.
B. It is good to wait for the help of God in silence, that he may drive away this plague from me.
I. I will incline my heart to performing your just deeds, and I will not be confounded, for I have called upon you.
Z. I had zeal on occasion of the wicked; seeing the peace of sinners, I have hoped in you.
☩ The Cross of Christ puts demons and corrupt air† to flight and drives away the plague.
S. I am your salvation, says the Lord; cry out to me, and I will hear you, and I will liberate you from this plague.
A. Abyss calls to abyss, and you have expelled demons by your voice; liberate me from this plague.
B. Blessed the man who hopes in the Lord, and does not look upon vanities, and false extravagances.
☩ May the Cross of Christ, which was once the cause of scandal and indignity, and is now in glory and nobility, be for my salvation, and expel from this place the demon, and corrupt air†, and plague from my body.
Z. May zeal for the honor of God convert me before I die, and in your name, save me from this plague.
☩ May the sign of the Cross free the people of God, and those who trust in him, from the plague.
H. Will this foolish people return to the Lord? Make good on your vows, offering a sacrifice of praise and faith to him, because he is able to liberate this place and me, from this plague; for whoever trusts in him will not be confounded.
G. If I will not praise you, let my tongue stick to my throat and to my jaws; free those who hope in you; in you I trust; liberate me and this place, O God, from this plague, for your name has been invoked in prayer.
F. At your death, O Lord, darkness fell over the whole earth; my God, render the power of the devil tenuous and dim, for it is for this that you have come, O Son of the living God: so that you might destroy the works of the devil. With your power, drive out from this place and from me, your servant, this plague; and may the corrupt air† depart from me into the outer darkness.
☩ Defend us, O Cross of Christ, and expel from this place the plague, and free your servant from this plague, you who are kind, and merciful, and of many mercies, and true.
B. Blessed is he who does not look upon vanities, and false extravagances; on the day of evil the Lord will free him; Lord, I have trusted in you; free me from this plague.
F. God has become my refuge; because I have trusted in you, free me from this plague.
R. Look upon me, O Lord my God, Adonai, from the holy seat of your Majesty, and have mercy on me, and because of your mercy, free me from this plague.
S. You are my Salvation: heal me, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved.
Amen.
† The phrase “corrupt air” corresponds to the miasmic theory of disease, widely held in the 16th century. Given the advent of germ theory, and in the spirit of Gaudium et Spes § 36, an alternative PDF of this page which translates “aerem corruptum” as “corrupt germs” is made available here.
The Book of Genesis, Chapter 1: The first account of creation. The seven days.
The Book of Genesis, Chapter 2: The second account of creation. The Garden of Eden.
Sirach 42:15 – 43:35: A contemplation concerning the works of God in nature.
The Catechism on Creation: Excerpts on the visible world and on respect for the integrity of creation.
Psalm 148
The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary
Prayer in Union with Creation (from Laudato Si’)
Two excerpts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, respectively on the visible world and on respect for the integrity of creation.
337 God himself created the visible world in all its richness, diversity and order. Scripture presents the work of the Creator symbolically as a succession of six days of divine “work”, concluded by the “rest” of the seventh day. [1] On the subject of creation, the sacred text teaches the truths revealed by God for our salvation, [2] permitting us to “recognize the inner nature, the value and the ordering of the whole of creation to the praise of God.” [3]
338 Nothing exists that does not owe its existence to God the Creator. The world began when God’s word drew it out of nothingness; all existent beings, all of nature, and all human history are rooted in this primordial event, the very genesis by which the world was constituted and time begun. [4]
339 Each creature possesses its own particular goodness and perfection. For each one of the works of the “six days” it is said: “And God saw that it was good.” “By the very nature of creation, material being is endowed with its own stability, truth and excellence, its own order and laws.” [5] Each of the various creatures, willed in its own being, reflects in its own way a ray of God’s infinite wisdom and goodness. Man must therefore respect the particular goodness of every creature, to avoid any disordered use of things which would be in contempt of the Creator and would bring disastrous consequences for human beings and their environment.
340 God wills the interdependence of creatures. The sun and the moon, the cedar and the little flower, the eagle and the sparrow: the spectacle of their countless diversities and inequalities tells us that no creature is self-sufficient. Creatures exist only in dependence on each other, to complete each other, in the service of each other.
341 The beauty of the universe: The order and harmony of the created world results from the diversity of beings and from the relationships which exist among them. Man discovers them progressively as the laws of nature. They call forth the admiration of scholars. The beauty of creation reflects the infinite beauty of the Creator and ought to inspire the respect and submission of man’s intellect and will.
342 The hierarchy of creatures is expressed by the order of the “six days”, from the less perfect to the more perfect. God loves all his creatures [6] and takes care of each one, even the sparrow. Nevertheless, Jesus said: “You are of more value than many sparrows”, or again: “Of how much more value is a man than a sheep!” [7]
343 Man is the summit of the Creator’s work, as the inspired account expresses by clearly distinguishing the creation of man from that of the other creatures. [8]
344 There is a solidarity among all creatures arising from the fact that all have the same Creator and are all ordered to his glory:
May you be praised, O Lord, in all your creatures, especially brother sun, by whom you give us light for the day; he is beautiful, radiating great splendor, and offering us a symbol of you, the Most High. . .
May you be praised, my Lord, for sister water, who is very useful and humble, precious and chaste. . .
May you be praised, my Lord, for sister earth, our mother, who bears and feeds us, and produces the variety of fruits and dappled flowers and grasses. . .
Praise and bless my Lord, give thanks and serve him in all humility. [9]
345 The sabbath – the end of the work of the six days. The sacred text says that “on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done”, that the “heavens and the earth were finished”, and that God “rested” on this day and sanctified and blessed it. [10] These inspired words are rich in profitable instruction:
346 In creation God laid a foundation and established laws that remain firm, on which the believer can rely with confidence, for they are the sign and pledge of the unshakeable faithfulness of God’s covenant. [11] For his part man must remain faithful to this foundation, and respect the laws which the Creator has written into it.
347 Creation was fashioned with a view to the sabbath and therefore for the worship and adoration of God. Worship is inscribed in the order of creation. [12] As the rule of St. Benedict says, nothing should take precedence over “the work of God”, that is, solemn worship. [13] This indicates the right order of human concerns.
348 The sabbath is at the heart of Israel’s law. To keep the commandments is to correspond to the wisdom and the will of God as expressed in his work of creation.
349 The eighth day. But for us a new day has dawned: the day of Christ’s Resurrection. The seventh day completes the first creation. The eighth day begins the new creation. Thus, the work of creation culminates in the greater work of redemption. The first creation finds its meaning and its summit in the new creation in Christ, the splendor of which surpasses that of the first creation. [14]
2415 The seventh commandment enjoins respect for the integrity of creation. Animals, like plants and inanimate beings, are by nature destined for the common good of past, present, and future humanity. [15] Use of the mineral, vegetable, and animal resources of the universe cannot be divorced from respect for moral imperatives. Man’s dominion over inanimate and other living beings granted by the Creator is not absolute; it is limited by concern for the quality of life of his neighbor, including generations to come; it requires a religious respect for the integrity of creation. [16]
2416 Animals are God’s creatures. He surrounds them with his providential care. By their mere existence they bless him and give him glory. [17] Thus men owe them kindness. We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St. Francis of Assisi or St. Philip Neri treated animals.
2417 God entrusted animals to the stewardship of those whom he created in his own image. [18] Hence it is legitimate to use animals for food and clothing. They may be domesticated to help man in his work and leisure. Medical and scientific experimentation on animals is a morally acceptable practice if it remains within reasonable limits and contributes to caring for or saving human lives.
2418 It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly. It is likewise unworthy to spend money on them that should as a priority go to the relief of human misery. One can love animals; one should not direct to them the affection due only to persons.
Footnotes:
Gaudium et Spes § 33-35: Human progress must honor and glorify God.
Gaudium et Spes § 36-37: Science must be purified by faith.
Gaudium et Spes § 38-39: By the grace of God, we can build a better world.
Laudes Creaturarum (“Canticle of the Sun”)
The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary
Prayer for the Earth (from Laudato Si’)