The Sacred Sig

I've never understood the mindset of surrender that would leave one to believe the wooden doors of a church were talismans which prevented the deranged from entering with guns, or any other weapons of mass destruction. (No pun intended.) As recent events have made abundantly clear, personal safety requires personal responsibility, no matter the location. The growing threats come in many forms.

I have mused on the topic of Catholics and guns previously. Relevant to Virginia residents, a former Attorney General also opined on the legal aspects of carrying in a church, noting that "carrying a weapon for personal protection constitutes a good and sufficient reason under the statute to carry a weapon into a place of worship while a meeting for religious purposes is being held there."

Yesterday, Fr. John Zuhlsdorf tackled questions on the propriety of being armed, for both laity and clergy, on his blog. Among the topics covered, somewhat tongue in cheek, was a suggested prayer to be used by a priest when vesting with his firearm before Holy Mass.

Domine, scutum noster et salvator, firma manus meas ad debellandas inimici insidias et digitos meos doce ad proelium contra omnes diabolicas potestates.

Translated from the latin, the prayer reads, "O Lord, the shield of our God and the Savior of the law, without prejudice to the hands, teach my hands to war, and my fingers against the wiles of the enemy, and cleared away all the diabolic powers."

That's rather a nice thought I think.

Read Fr. Z's entire post at ASK FATHER: Firearms at Mass, laity and priests.