Echoes of Times Long Lost

 Something that came to my attention again this morning

Appendix to the Roman Ritual (1921)

 

(Revised and reissued by Order of the Fathers of the First Plenary Council of Quebec)

 

Part I, Chapter II — Special announcements

On the Sunday following an election, the Parish-Priest shall say:

Now that the elections have taken place, Dear Brethren, I ask you to forgive each other for any lack of mutual charity, as you hope to be forgiven. Humility and Charity are two essential virtues for all true Christians, and members of different political parties are not dispensed from their observance.

Put your dissensions on one side, Dear Brethren, and work together with loyalty and goodwill for the well-being of your parish and your country. Do not bring your political divisions into parochial, municipal or educational questions — still less into dealings between relatives.

“God is charity,” says the Inspired writer, “and those who dwell in charity dwell in light”; they have life in them : charity is the fulfillment of the law, and for this reason those who have not charity are dead in the eyes of God.

I find it nearly impossible to believe that this was written a mere century ago, and that there are people alive today who may remember having heard it spoken to them. Today, it seems like an intercepted message from another world.