Advent Readings & The Cantena Aurea

During Advent I have decided I am going to post the readings for Sundays and possibly weekday readings along with some of the commentary from the Catena Aurea. If you are unfamiliar with the Catena Aurea, here is a description from Aquinas & More:

St. Thomas Aquinas'  Catena Aurea is a masterpiece anthology of Patristic commentary on the Gospels – it includes the work of over eighty Church Fathers.
St. Thomas Aquinas’ work demonstrates intimate acquaintance with the Church Fathers and is an excellent complement to the more recent attempts to understand the inner meaning of the Sacred Scriptures. For each of the four Gospel writers, the Catena Aurea starts by indicating the verses to be analyzed, then phrase-by-phrase, provides the early Fathers’ insights into the passage.
The unchanging rule of the Church is that “no one [is] to interpret the Sacred Scripture… contrary to the unanimous consent of the Fathers” (Vatican I). Just as in our own day there has been renewed interest in the Church Fathers, so in the 13th century, when the Catena Aurea was compiled, the western church was undergoing a similar revival of interest in the ancient patristic authors – and the works of many Eastern Fathers were translated from Greek to Latin for the first time. During this period there was increasing hunger for the true and authentic interpretation of Scripture, which the Church Fathers hold the key to.
St. Thomas Aquinas was commissioned to write the Catena Aurea by Pope Urban IV, in order that an orthodox Patristic commentary on the Gospels was readily available to all readers. John Henry Newman, who is widely expected to be canonized next year, was responsible for its translation into English in 1841. Cardinal Newman hoped that the Catena would become a source of catechesis within the family and the Church. Cardinal Newman’s edition of the Catena Aurea is one of the jewels of the 19th century Catholic Restoration, making the scholarship of the Fathers available to a wider audience. As with many 19th century texts it employs a sober, dignified style of English, which is eminently suitable to the unsurpassable mysteries of the Catholic Faith.

If you want a good resource for the Catena Aurea and other good Church Reference materials check out:
http://www.catecheticsonline.com/

Bp. Trautman's "jihad" against the New Translation of the Missal

Fr. Z has once again "hit the nail on the head" about Bp. Trautman and his inconceivable stance against the New Roman Missal translation which is coming up for approval soon. See his post here:
Bp. Donald “Ineffable” Trautman’s jihad against the new translation [Fr. Z POLL]

For a refresher on this issue go to my first post here:
"Bp. Trautman on New Missal Translation: 'Slavishly Literal'"

A quick summary of the issue is:
There is a newly proposed translation of the english version of the Roman Missal. The Missal is essentially the "play book" for the Mass. It contains all the rubrics, rules, and sayings that guide the Mass. Precision and true translation are important. When the current translation came out, it had a lot of words and phrases that were theological and literal "Stretches" in an effort to create a "bigger tent" mentality within the Church. The proposed translation is much truer to the latin and to the purposeful meaning of the words within the Mass. It also aligns much closer to other Rites and translations that exist, especially the Orthodox. If the Catholic Church is really a universal church, its most important texts much show that universality through congruent translation. Now to this current issue....

The problem at this point is that Bishop Trautman has seemingly taken on this fight not for true philosophical reasons but for some more deep rooted and tangental reason. Why do I say that? Because of this section of the article:

Trautman said he thinks the only procedural way the bishops can halt the process and gain a new review of texts they have already approved (including Vatican reversals of many of their amendments to earlier texts) is to vote down at least one of the final segments up for review and form a committee to go to Rome and consult with the Vatican on what he considers the questionable texts approved by the Holy See.

Now granted this  article is written in the very liberal leaning National Catholic Reporter (NCR - not to be confused with the National Catholic Register which is a faithfully orthodox Catholic paper), but I am sure it still captures the essence of what Trautman is really trying to do - OPPOSE, OPPOSE, OPPOSE, and by any means necessary.

It is important that some translation occurs, and that it isn't opposed SOLELY for the purpose of opposing it. We need unversality in the Church and the texts are the foundation of the quest.

Bp. Trautman thinks the new Missal translation is 'elitist'...

...or he thinks that Catholics can't read well. Those are essentially the ideas he espoused at a recent talk at CUA (Catholic Univ. of America). You can find the full article at... wait for it... NCR of course! "Slavishly Literal translation of Missal criticized" ...

I can't do a full analysis because I am at work, but I have to quote one part, my Comments are in [Blue]:

He said the "sacred language" used by translators "tends to be elitist [Big words = elitist??]and remote from everyday speech [No one has ever said "everyday language" is the best language to learn things in... they sure don't use it at universities] and frequently not understandable" and could lead to a "pastoral disaster."[Did he just call "everyday" Catholics dumb? Of course he didn't, but did he imply something?]
"The vast majority of God's people in the assembly are not familiar with words of the new missal like 'ineffable,' 'consubstantial,' 'incarnate,' 'inviolate,' 'oblation,' 'ignominy,' 'precursor,' 'suffused' and 'unvanquished.' The vocabulary is not readily understandable by the average Catholic," Trautman said.[Where is Fr. Z - 'ineffable'!!!] [Also... He again implies the average Catholic can't read these words, or use the internet, or a dictionary, or expand their knowledge - we don't want THAT! Isn't that the mentality of the days gone past when Catholics were told not to read their bible for fear of "reading it wrong?"]
"The [Second Vatican Council's] Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy stipulated vernacular language, not sacred language," he added. "Did Jesus ever speak to the people of his day in words beyond their comprehension? Did Jesus ever use terms or expressions beyond his hearer's understanding?" [He contradicts himself here... YES Jesus used terms beyond peoples expression, hence nobody understanding what was meant by the Temple, or the Son of God, or how he was the Messiah! Had they understood he wouldn't have been CRUCIFIED!]

The rest of the article is pretty much the same... I will try and do more later... hopefully Fr. Z or someone else smarter than I am can give a more complete and intellectual analysis or response. Someone ask him... I really want to hear what Fr. Z has to say about Bp. Trautman's take on the "admittance to Heaven" thing... I'll get to that later if I can.

[[**UPDATE**]]:
So of course... I should have checked WDTPRS?.com before I posted, because I should have known that Fr. Z would be all over this. Read his excellent commentary:
Wherein Bp. Trautman runs down new translation and Fr. Z responds

Compendium Eucharisticum - Manual for proper celebration of the Mass

**UPDATE**:
Due to the fact that I post from a time zone 4 hours behind the eastern time zone, I am a little slow to news sometimes. So Fr. Z has obviously not only posted this story but updated as well. I should probably read all of my RSS feeds before posting.
Read his updates here:
Details about the new Compendium Eucharisticum


The CNA posted this story earlier:
Manual for proper celebration of the Mass presented to the Pope

EXCITING! Something official like this is definitely encouraging! It means that people can't simply dismiss such a publication as "the thoughts and ideas of an uber-fundamentalist."

According to the daily edition of L’Osservatore Romano, the document “puts together texts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, prayers, theological explanations of the Roman Missal’s Eucharistic prayers and everything that may be useful for the correct understanding, celebration and adoration of the Sacrament on the altar.”

L’Osservatore Romano also explained that the Pope’s desire is that the compendium will help both priests and laity in “believing, celebrating and increasingly living out the Eucharistic Mystery.” The Holy Father also hopes that it will stimulate “every faithful person to make of their own lives a spiritual worship,” the paper added.

Wow... you combine this with "The Spirit of the Liturgy" by Pope Benedict, writing as Cardinal Ratzinger, and you have a Mass primer set that is second to none!