Ad Orientem As A First Step Toward Spiritual Renewal

Saint of the Day for February 4: St. Joseph of Leonissa (Jan. 8, 1556  – Feb. 4, 1612)
February 4, 2019
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February 4, 2019

Editor’s note: Bishop Athanasius Schneider leads the final prayers after the Conference Summorum Pontificum at the Pontifical Angelicum University in Rome, Italy on June 13, 2015. (Photo credit: Bohumil Petrik / CNA)

By David G. Bonagura, Jr., Crisis Magazine, February 4, 2019

Pope Francis and his pontificate go on trial February 21-24, when the heads of the world’s bishops’ conferences gather for a summit on “The Protection of Minors in the Church” after the fallout from clergy sexual abuse and its episcopal cover-up. Catholics worldwide are demanding real, structural reform that will prevent such scandals from ever happening again.

Since the Church is not a mere human institution, but a divine one with a spiritual, not temporal end, the only way that structural reform can succeed is if it is preceded by genuine spiritual reform: the spirit gives meaning and gravitas to the structures. It is never the other way around.

There is a spiritual reform that Francis and the bishops could enact that, if brought about with true devotion to God and an acknowledgement of the infinite debt we owe him, would communicate a new direction, a new orientation, for the Church in these troubled times: turning the priest to the east when he offers the holy sacrifice of the Mass, so that he and the people face the Lord together, looking in the same direction….Read entire article at: crisismagazine.com/2019/ad-orientem-as-a-first-step-toward-spiritual-renewal