Why 7-7-07?
Just curious.
I’ve been wondering why the Pope chose Saturday, July 7th, to promulgate his motu propio acknowledging the place of the still-valid classical Latin Mass in the Church’s liturgical and recognizing the fact it was never banned by the last ecumenical council ("the 1962 Missal...was never juridically abrogated and, consequently, in principle, was always permitted." -from the Peope explanatory letter today).
I believe it was back in May, we were honored to have the Very Reverend Berg, Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, celebrate Mass at the catacombs, er, I mean mausoleum, where our bishop allows the classical Latin Mass. This was just prior to one of the rumored releases of the motu propio. The specific date fell on a Saturday. I asked Msgr. Berg if he thought the rumors had any validity. He admitted they were rumors, and said there was no knowing the mind of the Pope, but, he added that is was very rare for the Vatican to issue any documents on Saturday.
So, today’s release made me go, “Hmmmmm?”
I checked my missal and saw that July 7th was not the feast of any particular saint.
What’s up? A last minute promulgation before His Holiness left Rome on vacation to his summer quarters? No other days left? A slow news day? He shoots craps for fun?
Then I recalled a lecture a priest gave some years ago on numerology in the Bible, so I dug out my notes. I saw the number 7 was used for earthly completeness. For example, Christ created 7 sacraments because that’s all we’d need in this life. (In case you’re wondering, here are some others: 3 = stability; 12 = heavenly completeness; 30 = incomplete preparation; 40 = complete preparation.) Was His Holiness sending a hidden message on his thoughts about the classical Mass and earthly completeness?
Unlike Pope John Paul II the philosopher, Pope Benedict is a theologian. Would he have picked 7-7-07 for its symbolism? Or was it just happenstance?
I don't know, but I'm curious.
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