The Mass of Saint Pius V: Spiritual And Theological Commentaries by Bernard-Marie de Chivre is an essential reading for priests, seminarians, and all those within the religious life.
Fr. Bernard-Marie de Chivre was a 20th century Dominican priest who spent time as a prior, spiritual director, and military chaplain. A friend of Archbishop Lefebvre, he preached retreats at Econe in the early days of the battle for Tradition. This book is a collection of his conferences given between 1968 and 1970 on the traditional Latin Mass. The writings of Fr. de Chivre are so profound that portions were used in our Roman Catholic Daily Missal. These profound and beautiful meditations will help you assist at Mass more fruitfully.
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Aufer a Nobis: “Scarcely has he finished the prayers at the foot of the altar than the priest ascends toward the tabernacle, drawn by his movement of confidence, saying very quietly the following short prayer: “Take away from us, O Lord, all of our iniquities, that we might deserve to enter into the Holy of Holies with a pure mind.”
Kyrie: “The Kyrie is a cry of nature, an echo of the sick and injured waiting patiently along the roadside in order to seize any opportunity to appeal to Jesus’ pity: “Lord, that I may see; that I may walk.”
Gloria: “Very few people give a thought to the splendid content of the Gloria in Excelsis. It is so often sung with an accent of routine which speaks volumes about the monotonous flatlands where we spend most of our time. Those false accents betray a lack of purity of understanding, because there is no more longing for the mountain crests. And yet, that is where God is: solely in the heights.”
This is My Body: “If Christ had ended His Life with a mere symbol, He would have been lying to His extraordinary Power manifested in all of His prior activities, after having affirmed Himself irresistible Power in all the kingdoms of creation:
- The Vegetable Kingdom: the multiplication of the loaves;
- The Animal Kingdom: the multiplication of the fishes;
- The Mineral Kingdom: the silver coin found in the mouth of the fish;
- The Absence of Kingdom: the horror of a bodily decomposition, Lazarus. He would have ended with a scam, the scam of a symbol which would have placed Him in contradiction with His own Power.”
From The Mass of Saint Pius V
“Christians who assist at Mass ought to go there to come before God, to offer themselves to God and to offer Him choice and personal offerings which arise from their personal qualities, from their graces and their lights…
“The Mass maintains our day in its true meaning according to God and according to our duties; according to the Faith and according to our commitments; according to our Hope and according to our ideal; according to our Charity and according to our most noble sentiments.
“Missa est…” The Sacrifice ends so that we might prove ourselves capable of our own sacrifice, prove ourselves sons of God and brothers of the Redeemer…
“At that moment, a man is able to seize hold of his day like an offering and repeat the prayer of the Supra quae propitio, in being certain that he, too – servant, leader or consecrated soul – is in possession of gifts that are pleasing to God.”
