Wednesday
February 22, 2006
vol 17, no. 40

The Verbumquo for today is "Petram", the Latin word for "Rock" which is the Church - prefigured on the first head of the Church whom Christ called Peter - "Petrus. Upon this foundation is based all the truths of Christ's teachings for all times in the New Covenant for the salvation of every soul, bar none, on what was given to Simon BarJona.

Editor's Note: This is a new series the editor is launching in highlighting one word from the Proper of the day's Mass. Taking the Latin Verbum and Quotidianum, which mean respectively "Word" and "Daily", we we have coined the word "Verbumquo" by contracting quotidianum to quo and running it together as VerbumQUO for this feature series, thus "The Daily Word," as in the sum of the message, the 'quotient', if you will. It is also our hope that in choosing the Latin word with its meaning and etimology more will be attuned to hearing the word read at the altar and better comprehend the beauty of the Mother tongue. Hopefully in this Time of Septuagesima and Lent we can gain a higher appreciation and contemplation on how the Daily Proper of the Holy Mass applies in our lives in alignment with the will of Christ and His Blessed Immaculate Mother and His Mystical Bride, His Holy Roman Catholic Church.

    On this Double Major Feast of Saint Peter's Chair at Antioch, the verbumQUO is "Petram", the objective on which Jesus Christ established "the New and Eternal Testament, the Mystery of Faith, Which shall be shed for you and for many unto the remission of sins." This Mystery is only available in the Church our Lord founded upon the Rock - "Petram".

    The Epistle for today reinforces this, in part by Peter himself in 1 Peter 1: 2 on the perpetual continuation of the Holy Sacrifice offered only in the authentic sacrifice Christ established as expiation for our sins and which He leaves to us to participate in a propitiatory manner wherein we can re-enact His ultimate Sacrifice on Calvary in an unbloody manner. The Epistle, from verses 2 through 7 reinforces the solidity of what Peter speaks.

...eléctis ádvenis dispersionis Ponti, Galatic, Cappadociæ, Asia; et Bithynia:, secúndum præsciéntiam Dei Patris, in sanctificationem Spiritus, in obediéntiam, et aspersionem sánguinis Jesu Christi: grátia vobis, et pax multiplicétur. Benedictus Deus, et Pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui secúndum misericordiam suam magnam regeneravit nos in spem vivam, per resurrectionem Jesu Christi ex mortuis, in hereditatem incorruptibilem, et incontaminatam, et immarcescíbilem, conservátam in coelis in vobis, qui in virtúte Dei custodímini per fidem in salútem, parátam revelari in témpore novíssìmo. In quo exsultébitis módicum nunc si opórtet contristari in varlis tentatiónibus: ut probátio vestræ fídei multo pretiósior auro (quod per ignem probátur) inveniátur in laudem, et glóriam, et honórem, in revelatióne Jesu Christi Dómini nostri.		...elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father, unto the sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ; grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who according to His great mercy hath regenerated us unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that can not fade, reserved in Heaven for you, who by the power of God are kept by faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time Wherein you shall greatly rejoice, if now you must be for a little time made sorrowful in diverse temptations: that the trial of your faith, much more precious than gold (which is tried by the fire), may be found unto praise, and glory, and honor, at the appearing of Jesus Christ our Lord.

    The heart of the Church Jesus Christ founded - the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church - as codified at the Council of Jerusalem by the Apostles with the Apostles' Creed, is found in the Mystery of the Transubstantiation when the bread and wine becomes the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the priest, acting as the alter Christus offers, on our behalf, the crucified Christ to His Heavenly Father in an unbloody manner.

    In his Epistle, Peter also carries through the same message as Saint Paul emphasized in the Epistle for Sexagesima Sunday: the necessity of suffering and coming through the perils and dangers that serve as obstacles to being purified. Peter speaks of the diverse temptations and that only through persevering in the true Faith by trials will we be strengthened with grace and solidified in the kiln of heat (fire) for, as a wise seminary priest advised many years ago, "one needs strong winds and storms to make a tree grow strong and straight." So also we need to be conditioned by the trial of fire to emerge pure and worthy of being admitted into the presence of the Beatific Vision and see Christ face to face.

    The Petrine Primacy is the unbroken link that connects Christ only to the true Church and, despite these times of apostasy when the authentic Roman Catholic Church is in eclipse, Christ has promised He will never abandon it nor will satan triumph completely for "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" That is His promise and our hope and assurance that the present conditions with the apostasy of the Vatican II Church will soon implode for as our Lord affirms in Matthew 7: 19-20, "Every tree that yieldeth not good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them." Since there have been no lasting good fruits from the conciliar church, can you say "Timber!!!"?

    One reason the bad tree of Vatican II will come crashing down eventually - hopefully soon, very soon for the sake of souls everywhere - is chiefly because the conciliar popes have abandoned the rock-solid teachings and compromised the very Petrine Primacy with the collegiality which denies Peter his rightful place in the hierarchy of the Church Christ established as the everlasting reigning King of all countries, cultures and beliefs. We see in the Gospel today, specifically Matthew 16: 18-19, why clinging to these truths is paramount to identity with His true Church founded upon Petram:

"Beátus est Simon BarJona: quia caro et sanguis non revelávit tibi, sed Pater Meus, qui in coelis est. Et ego dici tibi, quia tu es Petrus, et super hanc Petram ædificábo Ecclésíam Meam, et portæ inferi non prævalébunt advérsus eam. Et tibi dabo claves regni Coelórum. Et quodcúmque ligáveris super terram, erit ligátum et in Coelis: et quodcúmque sólveris super terram, erit solutum et in Coelis."		"Blessed art thou, Simon BarJona, because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but My Father Who is in Heaven: and I say to thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this Rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it; and to thee I will give the keys of the kingdom of Heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in Heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in Heaven."

    The Latin root for Peter is petra. Webster's does not have a definition of the proper name, but we find the etimology in various words derived from it which signify solidity which is the Barque of Peter built on the Rock:

petrology - "the science of rocks in its broad aspects" and petrography - "The description and systematic classification of rocks"

    We can see from this root comes petroleum and petrify. Thus the Petrine teachings which are rock-solid doctrines and teachings which, contrary to the conciliar popes, cannot change for it is like a rock which remains stable and firm. From Peter through Pius XII the Petrine Primacy remained stable and firm, despite the human fallen nature of several popes whose character and morality were greatly questioned, yet they never overstepped their bounds by altering doctrines. That is the difference between the True Church and the new religion founded upon the sands of Vatican II. The latter is built on the grains of change that will crumble, whereas the former is built on the rock-solid truths of the Man-God Who canst neither deceive nor be deceived. If we have been deceived then we know it cannot be from Christ but of the devil. It behooves everyone to realize this and fasten your line to the ever-stable, unchanging, and solid Rock of All Ages.

Michael Cain, editor, The Daily Catholic