When one assists at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Venerable Gregorian Rite, commonly called “the Traditional Mass”, one of the very first things you notice are THE HANDS.  Both the priest AND the servers in the sanctuary hold their hands as a default posture in what is called the “Orans” position.  “Orans” is a Latin term meaning “one who is praying or pleading”.  We all know it and do it almost, and perhaps literally, instinctively. It is the posture of holding both of your hands in front of you, roughly at the sternum with the palms together, fingers outstretched, and thumbs crossed, right thumb over left thumb. Sometimes the fingers are laced, but in the Sanctuary, the fingers of the priest and servers are almost always straight.

Like I said, this posture is ubiquitous.  Do a web search of “praying hands”, “praying figurine”, “praying man”, and you will see the Orans posture across the board. Here is an image from a book on serving The Mass for lads showing the proper Orans position.  Citation on the Servers Orans position HERE. Excellent little reference page for Altar Servers of all ages.  Worth a bookmark.

It bears mentioning that the Orans position with the hands approximately one foot apart is ONLY to be done by the priest, as at the Preface and the Pater Noster.  The fad of the past 50+ years of having the laity assume the priestly Orans (palms apart) during the Lord’s Prayer is an illiceity designed to blur the distinction between the the priesthood and the laity, which is to say to denigrate the priesthood.

Before the consecration, the priest’s fingers are extended – after the consecration, to protect from any loss of particles of the Host on the priest’s fingers until his fingers are purified in the Ablutions, the priest diligently holds his thumb and forefinger tips together in every hand posture. EVERYTHING has meaning and significance.

The Servers Orans position. This is the default position of the hands while serving the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and in the Sanctuary in general.

When one sees a lad or a man who is just learning how to serve the Mass, and has not been told how to hold his hands and thus is seen walking, standing or kneeling with his hands hanging at his sides, or even held together down in front of his pelvic area, it is jarring and distracting.  How to hold one’s hands in the Sanctuary should be the very first thing a lad or man is taught, because even if the neophyte server makes a mistake, he will always be properly comported, and can receive instruction of correction from the priest, emcee or senior server possibly without any of the faithful realizing it, and certainly not being jarred into distraction by an irreverent posture.

Well, this little jaunt down Rubric Road is all well and good, but what is the point?  The point is the answer to the question WHY is the Orans posture what it is? Why isn’t the Orans posture to hold one’s hands at one’s sides, or on one’s hips, or grasping one’s head? What does the Orans posture symbolize or demonstrate?  What does the Orans posture MEAN?

The answer is, it means PERFECT HUMILITY – the opposite of pride, and this is why it is the default position in the Sanctuary and for all Liturgical functions.

But WHY does this posture signify perfect humility?  Ah, let’s do an experiment.  Put both hands in front of you at chest height.  Now, touch the insides of your wrists together.  You know this posture.  This is the posture of a man in fetters, manacles or handcuffs, or submitting himself to have fetters, manacles or handcuffs placed upon him. Yes, when the priest and servers in the Sanctuary hold their hands in the Orans position, this signifies that they have freely chosen to be slaves to Christ – they are offering their hands to be bound by the Lord.  Now go back to our “handcuff” position from above.  Hands in front of you, insides of your wrists touching.  Now, lace your fingers together.  This is the posture of PLEADING.  In order to plead, one MUST be humble before the one being pled to, whether it be God, or a person.

Makes sense, right?  There is nothing more awesome than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  No one is worthy to offer it, or even serve it.  So, the only possible posture is one of total self-humbling, to communicate with one’s body, “I AM CHRIST’S SLAVE!”  Now, most western post-Christian men blanch at the notion of “being a slave” to anyone or any thing – even God.  How can it be wrong, bad or not in one’s very best interests to freely choose to have God Almighty, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as one’s Master?  How can it be anything other than incomprehensibly GOOD to be enslaved to PERFECT, INFINITE LOVE HIMSELF? Being a slave to Jesus Christ is INFINITELY BETTER than being the master of anything.

If Lucifer told God, “Non serviam,” that is, “I will not serve,” then what MUST our answer to God be? “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Now, let us look at some helpful counter-examples from Antipope Bergoglio himself.  Oh yes.  They are myriad – or should I say… LEGION.

First, let’s compare Pope Benedict XVI when he was announced as the Vicar of Christ on Earth back in ARSH 2005.  Note how his hands keep coming back to being clasped in front of him.  Knowing what we now know about the true meaning of the Orans posture and of displaying your hands in front of you as offering your hands to be bound in servitude, watch this with fresh eyes.  Pope Benedict tries to wave to the crowd, but JUST KEEPS COMING BACK to the posture of hands in front of him.  This isn’t Pope Benedict saying, “I won,” it is Pope Benedict gesticulating to the crowd, “Bind my hands. I am God’s servant, and thus your servant.” The timestamp is 2:48, but I think the embed should start at that point automatically. The Italian commentator even says at 3:14, “Ecco questo gesto con le mani.” “Look at (behold) this gesture with the hands.” Indeed.  Watch this, and every time Pope Ratzinger does the clasped hands gesture say, “I am your servant.”  The point becomes clear.

Now, watch this Diabolical Narcissist PSYCHOPATH.  This is a monster, drinking deep from the cup of power, surveying all the “useful idiots” that will “love him, and despair”.  Look at the hands.  Down at the sides.  No humility.  Only pride bellowing out at the world, “I’m in charge here!” Knowing what we know now, the signs were all there from literally the first seconds of this foul wretch Antipope usurping and squatting upon the See of Peter of what he was.

But remember, the reason why Bergoglio is an Antipope is because Pope Benedict’s attempted bifurcation of the papacy and “partial resignation” of only the “ministry of the active governance of the Church, and NOT the Petrine Office, was invalid due to “Substantial Error” per Canon 188, not anything Antipope Bergoglio has done.  The issue is February 28, ARSH 2013, NOT March 13th, ARSH 2013.  This is just an interesting illustration of Antipope Bergoglio’s glaringly visible luciferian pride, malignity and an illustration of how and why the carriage of the hands matters, and what it communicates.

But wait.  There’s more.  Perhaps you remember this horror from ARSH 2013.  Antipope Bergoglio went downstairs into the grottoes beneath St. Peter’s Basilica where many Popes are buried. There was a lad server there, and the wretched, wretched Antipope when he saw the lad server standing with his hands in the Orans position literally pried his hands apart and said to him in Italian, “Are your hands bound together?  It seems like they’re stuck.”

Filthy wretch.  He literally tried to convince the boy to join Lucifer in his cry, “I WILL NOT SERVE.”  The despicable apostate Antipope was trying to create another prideful narcissist storm trooper for satan’s army.

Let’s all, clergy and laity, take Antipope Bergoglio’s question and make it a point of departure for a meditation when we assist at Mass, serve in the Sanctuary, or for the priestly readers, even offer the Holy Sacrifice. And for those of you who have lads that serve, or who train lads to serve, PLEASE, PLEASE EXPLAIN things to them.  Absolutely EVERYTHING in the Traditional Mass is SATURATED with meaning.  Nothing is random.  Show them how to properly hold their hands, and then PLEASE explain WHY. And if you are a priest, remind them that you hold your hands in the same way for the same reason. The greatest producer of vocations is the Liturgy itself, but only so long as the demonic spirit of incommunication is thwarted and lads and young men are told all of the whats, whys and wherefores of what they are doing.

Likewise, as we laymen approach the Communion rail, we too should hold our hands in the Orans posture both coming and going.  You don’t sidle up to Holy Communion like you are walking through a mall, or getting ready to board a roller coaster. You don’t go up to Communion with Our Blessed Lord with your hands in your pockets, or with your hands all over your spouse, or with your arms crossed. Remember those sweet nuptial words from Ephesians 5: 24-25

Therefore as the Church is subject to Christ, so also let the wives be to their husbands in all things. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church, and delivered himself up for it.
-Ephesians 5: 24-25

Finally, one last image for you.  If you have ever been to Rome, you might have visited the church of Santa Prassede, just a few feet from St. Mary Major.  It is hidden on a back street, and would be easy to miss.  Inside this church is the very pillar at which Our Lord was scourged.  The top is broken off, but it is only about three feet high. It is not a full-height column as often depicted in art.

If you have ever watched Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ, you surely remember the Scourging scene, and that Our Lord was depicted being manacled to a short pillar.  Think of this when you go to Mass.  Assume the Orans posture exactly as Our Lord did when He went to the Pillar to be whipped until He was skinned for my sins and for yours. When you join your hands in prayer, remember that Jesus Christ, Almighty God, “took the form of a slave” for you, and held out His hands to be shackled to the Pillar.  Not only should we “take the form of a slave” for Him, we should literally BE His slaves, and submit ourselves entirely to His sweet yoke.

So…are YOUR hands bound together?

YES.  I AM CHRIST’S SLAVE!

I hope this helps.

The abbreviated date prefix ARSH stands for:

Anno
Reparatae
Salutis
Humanae

This means, “in the Year of the Reparation of Human Salvation”.

There are several forms of this wonderfully and beautifully Christian prefix to dates.  The most common, which we are all familiar with, is “A.D.”, which of course stands for “Anno Domini”, which means, “the Year of The Lord”.  BUT, there are actually FIVE more forms which one sees in documents, books, plaques and inscriptions:

A.S. = Anno Salutae = “The Year of Salvation”

A.N.S. = Anno Nostrae Salutis = “The Year of Our Salvation”

A.S.H. = Anno Salutis Humanae = “The Year of Human Salvation”

A.R.S. = Anno Reparatae Salutis = “The Year of Salvation Accomplished/Reparated”

And finally, the most florid and most glorious:

A.R.S.H. = Anno Reparatae Salutis Humanae = “The Year of the Reparation of Human Salvation”

This “moment zero” from which all dates are counted is, of course, the Annunciation, when Our Blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Triune Godhead, became incarnate in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary at her words, “Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum,” that is, “Be it done to me according to thy word.” This is why up until not too terribly long ago in Christendom, March 25, NOT January 1, marked the beginning of a new year, and was when the date rolled over.  Hence, March 24, ARSH 1514 was followed the next day by March 25, ARSH 1515.

This event is so massively incomprehensible in its infinite love for mankind that we bend the knee TWICE at Mass when it is mentioned:  the first instance is when the Creed is recited.  All should kneel at the words, “Et incarnátus est de Spíritu Sancto ex María Vírgine: Et homo factus est,” that is in English, “And became incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary: and was made man.”

The second instance is at the Last Gospel, recited at the end of almost every Mass, all genuflect at the words, “Et Verbum caro factum est,” which is, “And the Word was made flesh.”

And so, years and years ago, in fact, when I was sixteen years old and got my first checking account, I started always putting “A.D.” beside the date when I wrote checks, just as a little way of working a witness to the Incarnation into daily life.  Later, when I launched Barnhardt.biz, I asked my website developer to write into the code that all timestamps would include “A.D.”  THEN, several years ago, after visiting Rome on pilgrimage, the abbreviation ARSH was suggested to me as the “ultimate” date prefix.  I was sold, because with me, it’s “go big or go home”.  And there are no words adequate to declare the awesome loving miracle of God incarnating as Man so that we might be saved.

I find it a strange compliment that 1958 sedevacantists and Trad Inc. partisans most especially, seem to think that the pinnacle and proof of my evil and stupidity is my little revival of the use of a beautiful Latin abbreviation for the pivot point of Salvation History when the Blessed Virgin Mary by her freely-chosen “Fiat” became the Mother of God and Co-redemptrix, by which all of mankind, including atheists, Communists, Jews and musloids, all measure time.

It’s… odd.

Here are some pics of ARSH used in various places:

An inscription from Naples, Italy.  Not ridiculous.

From a Hungarian text. Not ridiculous.

From a French text, in fact explaining Latin abbreviations. Not ridiculous.

I have long loved Da Vinci’s Annunciation and must admit that I was quite struck by the Archangel Gabriel.  I have spoken before about the notion of “Ferocious Love”.  This comes from C.S. Lewis in Perelandra:

“Pure, spiritual, intellectual love shot from their faces like barbed lightning. It was so unlike the love we experience that its expression could easily be mistaken for ferocity.”

As I zoomed in and looked closer at Gabriel’s countenance, I saw exactly that – “ferocious” love.  He is kneeling, bowing, honoring and blessing her – Gabriel loves Our Lady.  But look – LOOK at his face.  Look at his eyes.  Oh my.

Man, that’s what I want to be when I grow up. That’s what I’m gunning for, right there.

St. Gabriel, pray for us!

STICKYPOST. SCROLL DOWN FOR NEW CONTENT.

It’s been a while since I’ve given any sort of personal update. As I have mentioned previously, I am moving the proverbial “Van Down by the River”, and moving day fast approaches. I’ve been in the same “parking spot” for 6.5 years, but the winds have changed and it is definitely time to go. My primary motive for moving is UNFETTERED AND UNINTERRUPTED ACCESS TO THE MASS AND SACRAMENTS IN THE VENERABLE GREGORIAN RITE. Where I am going, the Mass will NOT be changed or altered, and can only be stopped – literally – by men with guns. After every Mass, one of my prayer petitions for YEARS has been, “May I always be able to accurately see and recognize the One True Church, visible in terrifying eclipse, and keep me within easy walking distance of daily Mass in the Gregorian Rite.” Our Lord has answered my prayer, and done it in advance of any possible liturgical wars that might unfold in the coming weeks and months. I am beautifully PRE-positioned for perfect continuity. There will be no scrambling.

Secondarily, as has happened to me multiple times now, Our Lord positively rolled out the red carpet for me – and when He rolls out the red carpet for you, WALK IT. No angst, no drama, no second-guessing. Just do it, trust in the Divine Providence, in fact, ABANDON YOURSELF to the Divine Providence, and everything will be more than fine. As we hear at the conclusion of each meditation in the Stations of the Cross by St. Alphonsus Ligouri, “Grant that I may love Thee always, and then do with me what Thou wilt.” Say it, mean it, live it.

Thirdly, the place that I am moving into is old construction that has been totally remodeled and is perfectly suited to SURVIVABILITY. The building can be functional WITHOUT PUBLIC GRID ELECTRICITY, and has zero natural gas. Wood can service almost everything. It also has considerable defended space with highly fertile soil and sunlight. It’s time, folks. It’s time.

Fourth, my monthly outlays for rent are actually going to be slightly reduced as I move from an urban setting back to a quasi-rural setting, which will be most welcome right now, as I’m sure we all agree.

So, I’m in hardcore packing mode right now. It actually feels really good to purge old stuff, give stuff away (I’ve given tons of decades-old clothes away as I’m now all about the 1950s dresses that I’ve mentioned here recently), and contemplating WHY I put all of that JUNK in drawers over the years. As in literal trash. Why do we do this? Why do we save garbage? It seems very allegorical, somehow.

I’m not sure if the WiFi will be up and running when I arrive at the new place, but I will definitely be able to post to the blog using 4G signal through my phone. So blog posts will continue, but we probably won’t record Barnhardt Podcast 189 until after I’m settled and the WiFi in the house is on. Speaking of which, thanks to the podcast listeners who email in with kind requests for “the next episode”. I was saying to Nurse Claire the other day that it STILL, after nearly six years, doesn’t fully sink in that thousands and thousands of people genuinely enjoy Supernerd and me sitting around and shootin’ the breeze. I’m flattered and grateful.

SPEAKING OF GRATITUDE, I don’t say “thank you” as much as I should because I just hate bringing up money at all. It’s so CRINGE, as the kids say. I’ll never get used to the whole “donation” paradigm, and I still pray for some sort of situation to develop such that I can take the donation button down forever. But, that’s in the hands of the Infant Jesus of Prague, who is in charge of my finances. For now, the donation button must remain. I have the moving costs in hand and safely secured in a mayonnaise jar. I went ahead and hired pros to do it, plus I get a ride in the truck to the new place, which is huge since I no longer mess with owning cars. Right now my priority in terms of finances is to pre-pay as much rent as possible (I’d like to be at least six-months forward on rent) AND to stack as much cash as possible. I know it’s just a matter of time before I am totally canceled from being able to engage in any mainstream financial transactions. Read my thoughts on sodomy lately? Yeah….

Eleven years ago when I quit the futures brokerage business, I wasn’t exactly worried about my future (I’m not a big worrier no matter what), but I had absolutely no idea how good my life was about to get, especially given a 95% reduction in income. Yes, you read that right – a 95% reduction. It’s too soon to “release the memoirs”, but as I have said before, I’m quite sure that I have one of the highest qualities of life of anyone on earth today, and that includes, perhaps most especially, during the two years of de facto house arrest. When the memoirs are published, you’ll want to skip directly to the chapter on “Holy Week of ARSH 2020” and read that first. And it is all due to the astounding and consistent munificence of YOU, the readers and listeners of the Barnhardt blog and Podcast.

Money is a proxy for man’s capacity to labor, produce and create through time. Every dollar that comes into my hand from you is a piece of your life, and piece of your time, a piece of your labor, a piece of your talent, A PIECE OF YOUR HEART. Instead of directing that to your family, your friends, or your neighbors, you are freely choosing to give a piece of yourself to me, who is for the vast majority of you, a stranger that you will never meet in person on this earth. And you are moved to do this just because I talk on the internet. It’s absolutely mind-blowing. No one owes me anything, I am entitled to absolutely nothing. Speaking obvious truths and doing the right thing is NOT heroic – it is baseline human behavior. I have made my choices in life, made my proverbial bed to sleep in, and anything I receive from you is completely gratuitous.

What thanks can I give? I can only think of two things: to have the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered daily for my benefactors and supporters for as long as I live, and the commitment to keep going here on the blog and on the Podcast for as long as physically possible. When the internet goes away, or I get tossed in a gulag, well, so be it. Thanks to you, I will have had one heckuva run. Hopefully the Ivermectin dosage tables and other things are sufficiently dispersed to not require my survival online.

All I can say is, Thank You. Including to my enemies and people who have decided that they hate me, for whatever various and sundry reasons. I pray for my enemies every day, and once you’re on the Barnhardt donor-supporter list, you’re there forever, no matter what. Nobody gets scratched, ever. Nobody.

Now, I need to go to buy some boxes and bubble wrap. May God, from whom all blessing flow, bless you and keep you and yours.

In Christo Mariaque-
Ann

https://vladtepesblog.com/2023/03/21/it-was-not-a-mistake-a-video-reminding-us-to-not-allow-a-way-out-for-the-perpetrators/

This clip is very instructive and clearly shows three concepts that most people are very, very fuzzy on.  The first is SERVILE FEAR.  Now notice at the 0:45 mark, the Father takes off his belt and puts it on the table as he declares “Now we’re not raising any sheep in this family, and I WILL WHUP YOUR ASS if you turn into a wolf.”  Were you taken aback at that?  Did that rub you the wrong way?  It probably did many of you.  Do you know why?  Because we have all been trained to hate and despise masculine strength and to consider as “evil” anything that inspires or elicits SERVILE FEAR. In short, we have been inculcated to believe the lie that ALL SERVILE FEAR IS BAD.

Do you see in the video clip how the boys are startled and wide-eyed with SERVILE FEAR of their father when he makes it perfectly clear that THERE WILL BE SWIFT, SEVERE CONSEQUENCES for bad behavior – both the weakness of “the sheep”, and ESPECIALLY the evil of “the Wolves”, which will call down an ass-whupping?  This is a good and beautiful thing to see.  This is the Father DOING HIS JOB. The father is STRONG and POTENT.  The father WILL PUNISH bad behavior. The boys know this, understand this, and RESPECT THIS.  The boys recognize the strength and AUTHORITY of their father.  The boys have a very healthy and good SERVILE FEAR of their Father.

Now, look again at the 0:52-0:55 mark.  This is actually really cool.  This is where the mother simply says her husband’s name: “Wayne….”

What we see here is a wife calling her husband to MEEKNESS. “Meek” is one of the most mistakenly-defined words in the English language.  If you stopped 100 average Americans on the street and asked them what the word “meek” meant, I think north of 95 of them would say “weak” or something similar.  This is 100% incorrect.  MEEKNESS is POWER UNDER CONTROL.

Look at the video clip.  That is EXACTLY what we see.  The wife, complimentary helpmate to her husband, with just the utterance of her husband’s name calls him to MEEKNESS – that is, to keep his power, his strength UNDER CONTROL, and you can see the father physically check and contain his potency without losing or reducing it in any way. In fact, his meekness only augments and points up his strength and potency.  Absolutely beautiful.

Finally, we see in the eyes of both of the boys the love and respect they have for their father, and their desire to be good in his eyes, to make him proud, to be good for his sake.  Note how even while the boys just a few seconds before jumped in servile fear of their father, they continue to look him dead in the eye, and look him in the eye when they answer his questions.  The younger son answers his father with a genuinely respectful, “Yessir”, and then the older son answers his father with a nod, looking him dead in the eye.  This is FILIAL FEAR.  Because their father is a strong man, a meek man, and a highly moral man, they boys respect him and thus LOVE HIM, and do not want to disappoint him because to disappoint him would hurt him deeply, and they know it, and can’t stand the thought of letting him down.

Is it any wonder that masculinity, potency, virility, fatherhood, and the headship of the domestic church held by the husband and father has been and continues to be under such ruthless, relentless attack? The only thing “toxic” in today’s male culture is EFFEMINACY and MORAL IMPOTENCY.

If you would like to read more about these concepts as they apply to our relationship with God, might I recommend “THE ONE ABOUT… FEAR OF THE LORD“.

I hope this helps.