Homily on Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Twenty-second Sunday
Today we return to reading the Gospel of St. Mark and hear Jesus confronting the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. The issue at hand is one that is actually most fundamental to our Christian belief- the relationship between what we see on the outside and what occurs on the inside. Closely connected to this, is the relationship between what we profess to believe and how we actually live. The Catechism describes it in this way:
The faithful must believe the articles of the Creed’ (that is what the Church teaches) so that by believing they may obey God, by obeying God they may live well, by living well they may purify their hearts and with pure hearts may understand what they believe.”
The faithful must not only believe with their whole minds what the church teaches, but they must live out those beliefs with purity of heart and will, in order to be saved…Consequently then, because it is a matter of our eternally salvation, it is important to understand exactly why Jesus is so strongly condemning the Pharisees and scribes.
The Pharisees were, of course, the group at the time of Jesus who were the most devote and pious. Their group began in the exile among the Jews who wanted to honor God and obey the Law, no matter what. However, in their zeal to try to obey the Law they went overboard, so to speak, they began to follow the law only for the sake of the Law and not as a way to show their love of God by serving Him in humility and faithful obedience. These men began to invent pious practices with mixed motives- they asked questions like, “How far can I go in order not to disobey the law? They begin to do good works to be seen by others and that they could justify themselves, and say, “look at what a good person I am.” However, they failed to have true faith, because they failed to love God and develop an intimate relationship with Him, carried out and shown by their love for one another, especially those seemingly most unlovable among them.
Today we read how carefully the Pharisees washed their hands and dishes. It’s not that this practice was necessary a bad thing, even though it was a practice of human origin, but that this act was done an impure heart. In this Gospel then, we discover that Jesus is not condemning the human tradition as such, but instead is condemning the spirit of the how the tradition was carried out. The discipline of the washing of the dishes and hands as well as other things was originally to symbolize the much deeper need for man to have purity of heart and purity of intention, in order to adore, worship and thus serve God correctly. So the intention to follow the Law by pious practices was not what Jesus was attacking. And, He also was not telling the people not to follow these practices…remember, Jesus told the disciples to follow what the Pharisees said, because they did have legitimate authority from God to teach the Law and command the pious practices well. What Jesus was attacking was something at a much deeper level, it was the level of the Pharisees intention, and so Jesus quotes Isaiah, “This people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
With this saying, Jesus moves our attention beyond the exterior practices alone and looks into the heart. What he desires is an interior conversion so that the exterior practices have a depth of meaning. This means that we always start with our interior attitude examining why are we doing the things we do, especially when it comes to practicing our Catholic Christian faith. Are we doing them with a humble heart, one that loves God over and above all things, especially over and above our own will, with a heart that desires not only the good things of God but union with God Himself, a loving union which is shown forth through love of neighbor. Just as a man who says He loves his wife must show that love by his actions, so to, a Christian, who says, I believe in and love God, must try to prove, show, carry out this love of God by obeying God’s commandments and the precepts or laws of His Church, with God’s help of course. So St. James says, “Be doers or put into practice the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.” And elsewhere, “Faith without works is dead.” At the same time, a believer can’t just do good works in order to justify themselves, proving what a good person they are, while at the same their heart is far from God and His law of love..
Let’s look at an example which really ties all this together, the Holy Mass, the source and summit of faith and examine our attitude toward it. The Christian who truly loves God, can’t just show up for Mass on Sundays in order to fulfill the law of the Church and then spend the rest of the week, with their hearts and minds turned away from God, living a life unworthy of the name of Christian from Monday through Saturday, failing to love Christ in their brother. While its true that the Church teaches infallibly, which is another way of saying the Holy Spirit teaches through the Church, that deliberately, willingly and knowingly, missing Mass on Sundays is a failure to follow the third Commandment to keep Holy the Sabbath day, and this failure is considered a mortal sin which cuts one off from friendship with God, the Church at the same time tell us that it doesn’t do much good to come to Mass Sunday an impure intention and without love.
So if a Catholic comes to Mass with the intention only to fulfill the law in order not to feel guilty and to avoid Mortal sin, but doesn’t come out of love for God, saying to himself, showing up at Mass is good enough, this same Catholic isn’t coming with a correct and pure intention of heart. So too, with the person that thinks by doing good works and being a good person during the week, he can please God without fulfilling the Third Commandment of this same God to worship and adore Him on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation. This isn’t a proper intention because it isn’t true faith, it’s the same as saying I can save myself with good works, or by being good enough, which isn’t true because can’t do the works we need to do in order to be saved without the grace of Christ given to us at Holy Mass.
Only Jesus can save us, we can’t save ourselves and Jesus saves through the grace given to us by the Sacraments of the Church, especially the Eucharist, the Holy Mass. We just cannot be good enough to save ourselves apart from grace, for on our own we cannot do the works required for our salvation, that’s why we need to received the Holy Eucharist, every week. Jesus Says, without me you can do nothing." This is in reference to the Holy Eucharist. Receiving the Holy Eucharist, we are enabled literally take Jesus out into our lives with us and allow Jesus to do good works in and through us, to love our neighbor in not only with our own love, but with the love of Jesus in us. But we can only do this if we receive Jesus with the proper intention of faith, allowing Him to possess our hearts and become Lord of our lives. . St. James points this out by saying “Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls.” This word, is the Word of God made flesh, it is the Holy Eucharist which is given to us at Holy Communion that is able to save our souls and save other soul through us, but only if we are pure of, living our lives the help of His grace, showing our love for God in faithful obedience to His Commandments and the Commandments and teachings of His Church…for we just can not love our brother if we are not following the commandments and the teachings of the Church and it is the Eucharist as well that give us the help we need to be obedient to these.
This week really ties into the last seven weeks of the Bread of Life discourse. Ultimately, our faith is anchored in the Eucharist. You just can’t be a faithful Catholic without believing in the Eucharist, without believing in transubstantiation, that at the Mass ordinary bread and wine are miraculously transformed into the God made Man, Jesus Christ. And we cannot just believe this with our mind, we must show this belief by how we receive Jesus, with pure hearts, humbling ourselves in body and soul before the Lord Our God. And that receiving this same Jesus with faith, with the proper intention and disposition, enables us to live out our Catholic faith, not only in word but in deed, to be practicers of the Word, and not hearers only. Lord I believe, help my unbelief.
Let us pray today that we might have a deeper interior conversion of heart that would manifest itself in our actions. We are here because we desire to follow the Lord with pure hearts and live lives of holiness, free from hypocrisy, in faithful obedience through love of God and of neighbor. May the seeds of faith we have received as a gift begin to grow and blossom more fully in our hearts, and may the Virgin Mary aide us with by her example, her prayers and her powerful intercession before the throne of God.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
A man goes into the confessional box.
He finds on one wall a fully equipped bar with Guinness on tap.
On the other wall is a dazzling array of the finest Cuban cigars.
Then the priest comes in.
"Father, forgive me, for it's been a very long time since I've been to confession, but I must first admit that the confessional box is much more inviting these days."
The priest replies, "Get out. You're on my side."
He finds on one wall a fully equipped bar with Guinness on tap.
On the other wall is a dazzling array of the finest Cuban cigars.
Then the priest comes in.
"Father, forgive me, for it's been a very long time since I've been to confession, but I must first admit that the confessional box is much more inviting these days."
The priest replies, "Get out. You're on my side."
Monday, August 24, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Confession
'Bless me Father, for I have sinned.
I have been with a loose girl'.
The priest asks, 'Is that you, little Joey Pagano ?
'Yes, Father, it is.'
'And who was the girl you were with?'
'I can't tell you, Father. I don't want to ruin her reputation'.
"Well, Joey, I'm sure to find out her name sooner or later
so you may as well tell me now. Was it Tina Minetti?
'I cannot say.'
'Was it Teresa Mazzarelli?'
'I'll never tell.'
'Was it Nina Capelli?'
'I'm sorry, but I cannot name her.'
'Was it Cathy Piriano?'
'My lips are sealed.'
'Was it Rosa DiAngelo, then?'
'Please, Father, I cannot tell you.'
The priest sighs in frustration. 'You're very tight lipped, and I admire that. But you've sinned and have to atone. You cannot be an altar boy now for 4 months. Now you go and behave yourself.'
Joey walks back to his pew, and his friend Franco slides over and whispers, 'What'd you get?'
'Four months vacation and five good leads.'
Friday, August 21, 2009
21st Sunday in Ordinary time. August 23rd 2009. It is our faith alone that will help us to ascent to The Mystery of Faith Regarding this mystery,
Homily on John 6: 60-69 Twenty-first Sunday
After a few weeks of reading the Bread of Life discourse, today, we read the final verses of the 6th chapter of St. John’s Gospel. This is the final reaction to all of what we have read and heard; it is the final reaction of hearts and minds to the revelation of the Greatest Mystery of Our Faith—Mysterium Fidei…The Mystery of our Faith. And we have heard that this Mystery of our Faith, is that Jesus is the bread of life; and this bread is His real flesh and blood for the life of the world. Jesus actually instructs us to eat his true body and to drink his true blood in faith if we are to have life. And He backs up these words by swearing an oath, twice—Amen! Amen! I swear an Oath! I swear an Oath! These teachings were and are shocking, and Jesus recognizes them as such by saying, “does this shock you?”
It is our faith alone that will help us to ascent to The Mystery of Faith Regarding this mystery, St. Thomas famously wrote, “et si sensus deficit, ad firmandum cor sincerum sola fides sufficit.” Our senses are not able to know the mystery; only the gift of faith will help. It looks like bread, it taste like bread, it feels like bread, but it is not bread…it is Jesus in the flesh, in the body he took from the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Mass may look like a normal “service”, but it is not…it is the re-presentation, the very act of Jesus’ Sacrifice on Calvary now made truly present in space and time on this altar…While at the same time, it is literally heaven on earth with all of the angels and saints, our family in heaven, present with us as we adore God. Heaven is the Eucharist unveiled for all eternity…O” Mystery of mysteries.”
We see today in our reading, a great profession of faith- when Peter affirms his faith in Jesus’ divinity, in the light of all of those who rejected it. It is interesting to note that in the Gospel of St. John, Peter’s confession of faith comes here at the end of the disclosure of the Holy Eucharist, which is the pivotal moment of the life of the apostles. Simon was named Peter in the first meeting of Jesus in the Gospel of St. John, but today in John, Peter as chief of the apostles and as the head of the Church, professes His faith in Jesus’ divinity by professing His faith in the Eucharist—which is really one and the same act of faith. But its important to note that Peter did so, struggling and weak. This is great hope for us, who struggle as well in the face of such a “hard saying”. But even in his weakness, Peter through the power of the gift of faith, professes, “Master, to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” So, even though Peter struggles, He believes, because Jesus who is God, says the Eucharist is truly His whole self, in the fullness of His Divinity and Humanity—and Jesus as God can neither deceive nor be deceived! We believe because Jesus as said it; and we believe that Jesus is God.
I think it’s also important to note, that the first mention of Judas’ betrayal comes here in John 6 as well, at this pivotal teaching of Jesus. We didn’t read it today, but it comes immediately after the act of faith of Peter. In contrast to Peter’s act, Judas refuses to believe in Jesus’ words and thus refuses to make an act of faith. As a result, it is very clear that Judas’ heart was filled with betrayal as a direct result of his failure to believe and to make an act of faith in the Holy Eucharist. Later in John, during the last supper, we are told that the devil enter into Judas because Judas receives the Eucharist without believing and as result makes a sacrilegious communion. Judas failed to ask God to help in his weakness of faith, he fail to ask God to increase his faith and profess that faith in action, and so falls prey to the snares of the devil, who always entices us all to deny the truth of the Holy Eucharist.
Back to the profession of Peter’s faith in the Holy Eucharist. We also have to realize that while this profession of Peter is a deeply personal act between Christ and Peter, it is also an act of the entire Church and as such it is a communal act…In other words, when it comes to faith in the Eucharist, its not just about Jesus and me…it is about that, yes, but not only that. When any person says, “I believe in the Holy Eucharist”, he or she can only say that in faith with, in and through the faith of the entire Church. That’s why in the Mass we say, look not on our sins, but on the faith of your church, which is another way of saying, “look not on the weakness of my own faith, but on the faith of the church and then strengthen my faith through the Church’s faith.
This reminds us that the church is a family and we all depend on that family for our personal faith. We cannot believe and cannot not love God in isolation, we depend on the prayers and the support of all…and I mean all of the members of the family—This is one of the reasons why we must attend Mass every Sunday--the entire family literally depends on us, each and every week.
We are all in this together and we need each other, we need each other in order to be able to believe, to make an act faith and to be able to live that faith out. We all need each others’ prayers, each others’ acts of adoration—when you adore Jesus at the Mass or Holy Hour, you help the whole Church. We need each member from the youngest to the oldest, we need them not only to believe but to live that belief out in action. We truly are a body- We are all vital organs! We have to be here for each other, if we are not, it is a failure in charity and in love on our part, and we end up separating ourselves from the entire body, who desperately needs us.
I remember one person coming to me lamenting that one of her friends left her parish because she was mad at the priest. This person said to me sadly, I am so hurt she left, what happens if I need her prayers…I need her prayers.” Now of course this friend can still pray for this lady, but its not the same as it is when families pray together—there is strength in unity. And to struggle to maintain unity is to fail in charity, to fail in love.
We need each other, we need each other in order to believe in Jesus, to believe that Jesus is the Eucharist; and we definitely need each other to live out this faith in our daily lives. Again, nobody believes in God in isolation and nobody loves God in isolation. We can’t be here just for ourselves but for others before ourselves.
So this brings up another point, when we love God in the Eucharist, then we must love God in our neighbor. We can’t love God and not love our neighbor. Don’t misunderstand me, we must love and adore God first and foremost, over and above all else, because we can’t love our neighbor the way we are commandment with out loving God and loving Him through adoring Him in the Eucharist, but then we must show this love of ours for God, by loving and yes, even serving our neighbor, especially the ones we don’t like; and most especially those in our parish family we struggle to love.
In the end, we must have two responses when we receive Holy Communion. First, like Peter, we must ascent in faith that it is truly “the Lord we are dealing with” in order to receive worthily the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus and receive Him in a way and manner that shows we really believe. But this act of faith must not end with just “Jesus and me” because Holy Communion extends to the love of neighbor. This is not an abstract kind of concept; it is real and practical. It is carried out in deeds, such as: forgiving the member of the Church family, both the lay members and the members of the clergy and religious; doing penance for those who wrong us, and forgetting ourselves and making sacrifices of our time, talent and treasure for the sake of the family of God, our parish family.
As we end this beautiful Bread of Life Discourse in the Holy Eucharist, hopefully in our prayerful hearing and meditation on the words of Jesus in the Sixth Chapter of St. John, we have discovered more fully that our deepest need is Jesus in the Eucharist. And hopefully, now we have discovered more deeply that this union with Jesus in the Eucharist is only as deep as our union with the Church which produces the Eucharist. This is why one of the Church’s great sorrows is to have her members leave this Communion with the Body of Christ, both His physical body in the Eucharist and His mystical body in the pews---we heard this happen in the Gospel, “Many of the disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.” How sad it is to hear someone say they have left the Church to “find” Jesus…How could you leave to “find Jesus” when He is right here, bodily and personally, really and truly at every Mass and in every tabernacle of every Catholic Church…And how could you leave your family--the Church, which is the family of God, both those members of heaven and of earth, who are able to come together as one at the Holy Mass to adore the Trinity in unity and in love.
Let us never leave Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, let us instead believe and at the same time cry out, “Lord help my unbelief!” The Eucharist is truly Jesus, God still among us, O Mystery of mysteries, Praestet fides supplementum Sensuum defectui…Faith will supply for all defects when our feeble senses fail us before such a great mystery as this.…Our Lady, Queen of the family of God on both heaven and earth, Queen of our hearts, Queen of the Most Holy Eucharist, pray for us…
After a few weeks of reading the Bread of Life discourse, today, we read the final verses of the 6th chapter of St. John’s Gospel. This is the final reaction to all of what we have read and heard; it is the final reaction of hearts and minds to the revelation of the Greatest Mystery of Our Faith—Mysterium Fidei…The Mystery of our Faith. And we have heard that this Mystery of our Faith, is that Jesus is the bread of life; and this bread is His real flesh and blood for the life of the world. Jesus actually instructs us to eat his true body and to drink his true blood in faith if we are to have life. And He backs up these words by swearing an oath, twice—Amen! Amen! I swear an Oath! I swear an Oath! These teachings were and are shocking, and Jesus recognizes them as such by saying, “does this shock you?”
It is our faith alone that will help us to ascent to The Mystery of Faith Regarding this mystery, St. Thomas famously wrote, “et si sensus deficit, ad firmandum cor sincerum sola fides sufficit.” Our senses are not able to know the mystery; only the gift of faith will help. It looks like bread, it taste like bread, it feels like bread, but it is not bread…it is Jesus in the flesh, in the body he took from the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Mass may look like a normal “service”, but it is not…it is the re-presentation, the very act of Jesus’ Sacrifice on Calvary now made truly present in space and time on this altar…While at the same time, it is literally heaven on earth with all of the angels and saints, our family in heaven, present with us as we adore God. Heaven is the Eucharist unveiled for all eternity…O” Mystery of mysteries.”
We see today in our reading, a great profession of faith- when Peter affirms his faith in Jesus’ divinity, in the light of all of those who rejected it. It is interesting to note that in the Gospel of St. John, Peter’s confession of faith comes here at the end of the disclosure of the Holy Eucharist, which is the pivotal moment of the life of the apostles. Simon was named Peter in the first meeting of Jesus in the Gospel of St. John, but today in John, Peter as chief of the apostles and as the head of the Church, professes His faith in Jesus’ divinity by professing His faith in the Eucharist—which is really one and the same act of faith. But its important to note that Peter did so, struggling and weak. This is great hope for us, who struggle as well in the face of such a “hard saying”. But even in his weakness, Peter through the power of the gift of faith, professes, “Master, to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” So, even though Peter struggles, He believes, because Jesus who is God, says the Eucharist is truly His whole self, in the fullness of His Divinity and Humanity—and Jesus as God can neither deceive nor be deceived! We believe because Jesus as said it; and we believe that Jesus is God.
I think it’s also important to note, that the first mention of Judas’ betrayal comes here in John 6 as well, at this pivotal teaching of Jesus. We didn’t read it today, but it comes immediately after the act of faith of Peter. In contrast to Peter’s act, Judas refuses to believe in Jesus’ words and thus refuses to make an act of faith. As a result, it is very clear that Judas’ heart was filled with betrayal as a direct result of his failure to believe and to make an act of faith in the Holy Eucharist. Later in John, during the last supper, we are told that the devil enter into Judas because Judas receives the Eucharist without believing and as result makes a sacrilegious communion. Judas failed to ask God to help in his weakness of faith, he fail to ask God to increase his faith and profess that faith in action, and so falls prey to the snares of the devil, who always entices us all to deny the truth of the Holy Eucharist.
Back to the profession of Peter’s faith in the Holy Eucharist. We also have to realize that while this profession of Peter is a deeply personal act between Christ and Peter, it is also an act of the entire Church and as such it is a communal act…In other words, when it comes to faith in the Eucharist, its not just about Jesus and me…it is about that, yes, but not only that. When any person says, “I believe in the Holy Eucharist”, he or she can only say that in faith with, in and through the faith of the entire Church. That’s why in the Mass we say, look not on our sins, but on the faith of your church, which is another way of saying, “look not on the weakness of my own faith, but on the faith of the church and then strengthen my faith through the Church’s faith.
This reminds us that the church is a family and we all depend on that family for our personal faith. We cannot believe and cannot not love God in isolation, we depend on the prayers and the support of all…and I mean all of the members of the family—This is one of the reasons why we must attend Mass every Sunday--the entire family literally depends on us, each and every week.
We are all in this together and we need each other, we need each other in order to be able to believe, to make an act faith and to be able to live that faith out. We all need each others’ prayers, each others’ acts of adoration—when you adore Jesus at the Mass or Holy Hour, you help the whole Church. We need each member from the youngest to the oldest, we need them not only to believe but to live that belief out in action. We truly are a body- We are all vital organs! We have to be here for each other, if we are not, it is a failure in charity and in love on our part, and we end up separating ourselves from the entire body, who desperately needs us.
I remember one person coming to me lamenting that one of her friends left her parish because she was mad at the priest. This person said to me sadly, I am so hurt she left, what happens if I need her prayers…I need her prayers.” Now of course this friend can still pray for this lady, but its not the same as it is when families pray together—there is strength in unity. And to struggle to maintain unity is to fail in charity, to fail in love.
We need each other, we need each other in order to believe in Jesus, to believe that Jesus is the Eucharist; and we definitely need each other to live out this faith in our daily lives. Again, nobody believes in God in isolation and nobody loves God in isolation. We can’t be here just for ourselves but for others before ourselves.
So this brings up another point, when we love God in the Eucharist, then we must love God in our neighbor. We can’t love God and not love our neighbor. Don’t misunderstand me, we must love and adore God first and foremost, over and above all else, because we can’t love our neighbor the way we are commandment with out loving God and loving Him through adoring Him in the Eucharist, but then we must show this love of ours for God, by loving and yes, even serving our neighbor, especially the ones we don’t like; and most especially those in our parish family we struggle to love.
In the end, we must have two responses when we receive Holy Communion. First, like Peter, we must ascent in faith that it is truly “the Lord we are dealing with” in order to receive worthily the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus and receive Him in a way and manner that shows we really believe. But this act of faith must not end with just “Jesus and me” because Holy Communion extends to the love of neighbor. This is not an abstract kind of concept; it is real and practical. It is carried out in deeds, such as: forgiving the member of the Church family, both the lay members and the members of the clergy and religious; doing penance for those who wrong us, and forgetting ourselves and making sacrifices of our time, talent and treasure for the sake of the family of God, our parish family.
As we end this beautiful Bread of Life Discourse in the Holy Eucharist, hopefully in our prayerful hearing and meditation on the words of Jesus in the Sixth Chapter of St. John, we have discovered more fully that our deepest need is Jesus in the Eucharist. And hopefully, now we have discovered more deeply that this union with Jesus in the Eucharist is only as deep as our union with the Church which produces the Eucharist. This is why one of the Church’s great sorrows is to have her members leave this Communion with the Body of Christ, both His physical body in the Eucharist and His mystical body in the pews---we heard this happen in the Gospel, “Many of the disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.” How sad it is to hear someone say they have left the Church to “find” Jesus…How could you leave to “find Jesus” when He is right here, bodily and personally, really and truly at every Mass and in every tabernacle of every Catholic Church…And how could you leave your family--the Church, which is the family of God, both those members of heaven and of earth, who are able to come together as one at the Holy Mass to adore the Trinity in unity and in love.
Let us never leave Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, let us instead believe and at the same time cry out, “Lord help my unbelief!” The Eucharist is truly Jesus, God still among us, O Mystery of mysteries, Praestet fides supplementum Sensuum defectui…Faith will supply for all defects when our feeble senses fail us before such a great mystery as this.…Our Lady, Queen of the family of God on both heaven and earth, Queen of our hearts, Queen of the Most Holy Eucharist, pray for us…
Monday, August 17, 2009
Another excellent article on Actual Participation in the Sacred Liturgy as well as some good points on Ad Orientem. Fr. Z's comments in parenthesis
The Art of Celebrating the Liturgy
By Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes
(Clarion Herald – 8-08-09)
Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, [the former] Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of Sacraments, recently delivered the keynote address at the Gateway Liturgical Conference in St. Louis. He touched upon the central issue that we need to face if we are going to realize the vision expressed in the Constitution on Sacred Liturgy at the Second Vatican Council: the art of celebrating the Sacred Liturgy. [This is the ars celebrandi of which Pope Benedict speaks in Sacramentum caritatis.]
First, it is helpful for us to recognize that the term art usually refers to the creative skills for contributing to beauty. As it applies, however, to the sacred liturgy, human skills are subordinate to a divine reality that is taking place. When focus is on the human, apart from the divine, the celebration of the liturgy suffers.
There should be no tension between the art of celebrating and the full, active and fruitful participation of all the faithful. [On the contrary, ars celebrandi positively aids the active participation of the faithful.] Unfortunately, in the first stage of implementation of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council, a great deal of emphasis was placed [Wait for it…] upon external activity on the part of the people. As a result, the focus on full participation has gravitated more toward the involvement of lay liturgical ministries than to [Wait for it…] the interior dispositions required for making participation more fruitful. In the Sacred Liturgy, it is Christ who acts. [Sound familiar at all?] What is incredibly important is that we are interiorly united with him in the sacrificial offering that he once made historically and is re-presented in the sacramental celebration of the liturgy. The Lord is the artist. [Good phrase.] It is ours to be united with him.
Thus, the art of celebrating well is the enot so much a matter of a series of actions put together in a harmonious unity as a deeply interior communion with Christ and his self-sacrificial saving action. [Let’s not take that "not so much" to be a denial or opposition. It take both. But His Excellency has a good point: there is a logical priority to the interior which makes the exterior "authentic". On the other hand, the exterior elements can aid our interior receptivity.] This means that the priest needs to enter into a profoundly reverent, totally concentrated and self-abasing attitude of faith and prayerfulness. His sense of awe must be tangible. His desire to live out what he is celebrating must be recognized in his life. [Well said. Also, the celebrant must get himself out of the way. I would say that ad orientem worship facilitates this in a way far superior to that versus populum.]
Moreover, the sacred liturgy is an action that has been entrusted to the Church. The celebrant does not own the liturgy. It is not his with which to tamper. The liturgy is a gift, a treasure, to be respected and to be received with a sense of reverence and protected against inappropriate secularization.
Christ himself is the main celebrant. In Pope Benedict’s apostolic constitution, [opps…. it isn’t an "apostolic constitution". It is a Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation.] ‘The Sacrament of Charity,’ he affirms this truth powerfully: ‘Priests should be conscious of the fact that in their ministry they must never put themselves or their personal opinions in the first place, but Jesus Christ. Any attempt to make themselves the center of the liturgical action contradicts their very identity as priests. The priest is, above all, a servant of others and he must continuously work at being a sign pointing to Christ, a docile instrument in the Lord’s hands. This is seen particularly in his humility in leading the liturgical assembly, in obedience to the rite, uniting himself to it in mind and heart and avoiding anything that might give the impression of an inordinate emphasis on his own personality.’
One of the great risks in celebrating Mass facing the people is that the priest will be tempted to draw attention to himself. [So let’s try more ad orientem worship.] We are all human. But the center of the action is Christ. The way in which we speak and act must draw attention to this truth. Hence, a sense of awe and mystery should pervade the celebration with appropriate silence and in a spirit of prayer. What we do is Divine Liturgy. It is ecclesial in its shape and formation. It should not be subjected to personal adjustments. That is why the appropriate art of celebrating involves faithful adherence to the liturgical norms in all their richness.
The saintly Curé of Ars once wrote: ‘All good works together are not of equal value with the sacrifice of the Mass, because they are the works of men, and the holy Mass is the work of God. Martyrdom is nothing in comparison; it is the sacrifice that man makes of his life to God; the Mass is the sacrifice that God makes to man of his Body and his Blood.’
God grant to all of us who are priests the grace to realize and to fulfill this awesome role in such a way that we truly do foster ‘the full, active and fruitful participation of all the faithful.’
By Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes
(Clarion Herald – 8-08-09)
Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, [the former] Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of Sacraments, recently delivered the keynote address at the Gateway Liturgical Conference in St. Louis. He touched upon the central issue that we need to face if we are going to realize the vision expressed in the Constitution on Sacred Liturgy at the Second Vatican Council: the art of celebrating the Sacred Liturgy. [This is the ars celebrandi of which Pope Benedict speaks in Sacramentum caritatis.]
First, it is helpful for us to recognize that the term art usually refers to the creative skills for contributing to beauty. As it applies, however, to the sacred liturgy, human skills are subordinate to a divine reality that is taking place. When focus is on the human, apart from the divine, the celebration of the liturgy suffers.
There should be no tension between the art of celebrating and the full, active and fruitful participation of all the faithful. [On the contrary, ars celebrandi positively aids the active participation of the faithful.] Unfortunately, in the first stage of implementation of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council, a great deal of emphasis was placed [Wait for it…] upon external activity on the part of the people. As a result, the focus on full participation has gravitated more toward the involvement of lay liturgical ministries than to [Wait for it…] the interior dispositions required for making participation more fruitful. In the Sacred Liturgy, it is Christ who acts. [Sound familiar at all?] What is incredibly important is that we are interiorly united with him in the sacrificial offering that he once made historically and is re-presented in the sacramental celebration of the liturgy. The Lord is the artist. [Good phrase.] It is ours to be united with him.
Thus, the art of celebrating well is the enot so much a matter of a series of actions put together in a harmonious unity as a deeply interior communion with Christ and his self-sacrificial saving action. [Let’s not take that "not so much" to be a denial or opposition. It take both. But His Excellency has a good point: there is a logical priority to the interior which makes the exterior "authentic". On the other hand, the exterior elements can aid our interior receptivity.] This means that the priest needs to enter into a profoundly reverent, totally concentrated and self-abasing attitude of faith and prayerfulness. His sense of awe must be tangible. His desire to live out what he is celebrating must be recognized in his life. [Well said. Also, the celebrant must get himself out of the way. I would say that ad orientem worship facilitates this in a way far superior to that versus populum.]
Moreover, the sacred liturgy is an action that has been entrusted to the Church. The celebrant does not own the liturgy. It is not his with which to tamper. The liturgy is a gift, a treasure, to be respected and to be received with a sense of reverence and protected against inappropriate secularization.
Christ himself is the main celebrant. In Pope Benedict’s apostolic constitution, [opps…. it isn’t an "apostolic constitution". It is a Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation.] ‘The Sacrament of Charity,’ he affirms this truth powerfully: ‘Priests should be conscious of the fact that in their ministry they must never put themselves or their personal opinions in the first place, but Jesus Christ. Any attempt to make themselves the center of the liturgical action contradicts their very identity as priests. The priest is, above all, a servant of others and he must continuously work at being a sign pointing to Christ, a docile instrument in the Lord’s hands. This is seen particularly in his humility in leading the liturgical assembly, in obedience to the rite, uniting himself to it in mind and heart and avoiding anything that might give the impression of an inordinate emphasis on his own personality.’
One of the great risks in celebrating Mass facing the people is that the priest will be tempted to draw attention to himself. [So let’s try more ad orientem worship.] We are all human. But the center of the action is Christ. The way in which we speak and act must draw attention to this truth. Hence, a sense of awe and mystery should pervade the celebration with appropriate silence and in a spirit of prayer. What we do is Divine Liturgy. It is ecclesial in its shape and formation. It should not be subjected to personal adjustments. That is why the appropriate art of celebrating involves faithful adherence to the liturgical norms in all their richness.
The saintly Curé of Ars once wrote: ‘All good works together are not of equal value with the sacrifice of the Mass, because they are the works of men, and the holy Mass is the work of God. Martyrdom is nothing in comparison; it is the sacrifice that man makes of his life to God; the Mass is the sacrifice that God makes to man of his Body and his Blood.’
God grant to all of us who are priests the grace to realize and to fulfill this awesome role in such a way that we truly do foster ‘the full, active and fruitful participation of all the faithful.’
Pretty descent document on Summorum Pontificum by the Worship Director of Miami. Fr. Z corrects it's weaknesses (his comments in parenthesis)
Archd. of Miami Director of Worship on Summorum Pontificum
CATEGORY: Brick by Brick, SESSIUNCULA, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 8:37 pm
A reader alerted me to a piece written by the director of Liturgy for the Archdiocese of Miami. He writes on the website of the Archdiocese about Pope Benedict’s emancipation proclamation, the 2007 Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum. Let’s see what he has to say with my emphases and comments.
On July 7, 2007 Pope Benedict XVI published the Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum by which the Holy Father allows for and promotes [Get that? Not just "allows" but "promotes"] a wider usage of the liturgical books that were in use by the Roman Catholic Church in 1962. Pope Benedict XVI seeks in this Apostolic Letter [inter alia] to reconcile “in the heart of the Church” those individuals who have demonstrated an attachment to the liturgical forms that were in place before the liturgical renewal of the Second Vatican Council. He begins by defining two forms of the rule of prayer of the Latin Church: an ordinary form contained in the Roman Missal of Pope Paul VI, and an extraordinary form, as contained [once upon a time] in the Roman Missal of Pope Saint Pius V. [But more recently in that of Bl. John XXIII.] Both make up the Liturgy of the Roman Rite.
Any priest of the Latin Church may, without permission from the Holy See or his bishop, celebrate the extraordinary form in a Mass without the people at any time except during the Easter Triduum. It is noted that he may be joined by the faithful, since the extraordinary rite is primarily a private Mass. [I think I will take gentle exception to this. No Mass is primarily a private Mass. All Masses, that is all rites of Mass, are not intended to be private.] In parishes where a group of faithful are attached to the extraordinary form of the Mass, they may approach the pastor to request the celebration of the extraordinary rite, without permissions from the Holy See or the bishop. If a priest cannot demonstrate a minimum rubrical or linguistic ability in Latin, he is not to celebrate the extraordinary form of the Mass. [However… that doesn’t mean that those people making the request are out of luck… or rather, out of their rights. First, the priest really ought to know his own Rite, right? So, he should learn the older form if he doesn’t know it. Second, if he cannot see to these people himself, he ought to take steps to find someone who can help. That is part of his role as pastor. It is understood that if the group is very small, it might be hard to take a huge initiative. Yet large initiatives are implemented for very small groups all the time. Third, if the pastor can’t get anything going, then the diocesan bishop needs to help get things going… in that parish. Not just anywhere.]
Pope Benedict XVI is very clear in his apostolic letter that the current Roman Missal (Missale Romanum) is the ordinary form of the Eucharistic Liturgy and the extraordinary form is found in the 1962 Missal of Blessed John XXIII. He points out that there is “no contradiction between the missals” [...and, therefore, one form of Mass is not "primarily" private….] and that the history of liturgical books is characterized by “growth and progress, but not rupture.” In both the ordinary and extraordinary forms of the Roman Missal, full, conscious, and active participation of the faithful is to be desired above all else. [Properly understood, of course. And since this included the phrase "above all else" we can most suitably begin with the person’s baptized character and then his or her state of grace. You see, true active participation is first of all an interior reality, not an outward expression. It leads to outward expression, the most perfect of which – in the liturgy of Mass – is the reception of Communion by a baptized person in the state of habitual grace. To that end…. watch what this smart writer does….] This begins with interior participation [YAY! See? Interior! This priest gets it.] in the sacrifice of Christ. The ordinary form customarily accomplishes this participation through listening and responding to the prayers of the Mass in the vernacular [well… vernacular…. okay…] and by taking part in forms of exterior communal action. The extraordinary form accomplishes this interior participation largely by listening to the prayers in Latin and following the words and actions of the priests and joining our hearts to “what is said by him in the Name of Christ and [what] Christ says [to] him.” [hmmm…. those two forms of participation sound an awful lot alike.]
From all of the above we see that the Church continues to treasure the riches of its past, [which is now its present] especially with regard to the sacred liturgy. The spirit of earlier liturgical forms, which permeated the spirit and culture of many who still remember these forms, continues in the celebration of both rites. Thus, it was through pastoral concern that Pope Benedict XVI was motivated to more easily allow for the celebration of more ancient liturgical rites and prayers by issuing Summorum Pontificium.
Msgr. Terence Hogan
Director, Office of Worship and Spiritual Life
WDTPRS kudos to Msgr. Hogan. Well done.
I think I might have added something stemming from that organic growth comment about another objective of Summorum Pontificum and the use of the older Rites. The use of these older forms will exert an influence on the way the newer forms are celebrated.
Still and all, you folks in Miami can be pleased that this priest has a clear sense of some very important concepts for a sound liturgical praxis. He has a far better understanding of active participation than we have seen coming from most liturgical offices for several decades. He speaks with respect about the older form and has not merely conveyed a reluctant tolerance toward it. He speaks of continuity and eschews clichés about the Second Vatican Council.
CATEGORY: Brick by Brick, SESSIUNCULA, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 8:37 pm
A reader alerted me to a piece written by the director of Liturgy for the Archdiocese of Miami. He writes on the website of the Archdiocese about Pope Benedict’s emancipation proclamation, the 2007 Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum. Let’s see what he has to say with my emphases and comments.
On July 7, 2007 Pope Benedict XVI published the Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum by which the Holy Father allows for and promotes [Get that? Not just "allows" but "promotes"] a wider usage of the liturgical books that were in use by the Roman Catholic Church in 1962. Pope Benedict XVI seeks in this Apostolic Letter [inter alia] to reconcile “in the heart of the Church” those individuals who have demonstrated an attachment to the liturgical forms that were in place before the liturgical renewal of the Second Vatican Council. He begins by defining two forms of the rule of prayer of the Latin Church: an ordinary form contained in the Roman Missal of Pope Paul VI, and an extraordinary form, as contained [once upon a time] in the Roman Missal of Pope Saint Pius V. [But more recently in that of Bl. John XXIII.] Both make up the Liturgy of the Roman Rite.
Any priest of the Latin Church may, without permission from the Holy See or his bishop, celebrate the extraordinary form in a Mass without the people at any time except during the Easter Triduum. It is noted that he may be joined by the faithful, since the extraordinary rite is primarily a private Mass. [I think I will take gentle exception to this. No Mass is primarily a private Mass. All Masses, that is all rites of Mass, are not intended to be private.] In parishes where a group of faithful are attached to the extraordinary form of the Mass, they may approach the pastor to request the celebration of the extraordinary rite, without permissions from the Holy See or the bishop. If a priest cannot demonstrate a minimum rubrical or linguistic ability in Latin, he is not to celebrate the extraordinary form of the Mass. [However… that doesn’t mean that those people making the request are out of luck… or rather, out of their rights. First, the priest really ought to know his own Rite, right? So, he should learn the older form if he doesn’t know it. Second, if he cannot see to these people himself, he ought to take steps to find someone who can help. That is part of his role as pastor. It is understood that if the group is very small, it might be hard to take a huge initiative. Yet large initiatives are implemented for very small groups all the time. Third, if the pastor can’t get anything going, then the diocesan bishop needs to help get things going… in that parish. Not just anywhere.]
Pope Benedict XVI is very clear in his apostolic letter that the current Roman Missal (Missale Romanum) is the ordinary form of the Eucharistic Liturgy and the extraordinary form is found in the 1962 Missal of Blessed John XXIII. He points out that there is “no contradiction between the missals” [...and, therefore, one form of Mass is not "primarily" private….] and that the history of liturgical books is characterized by “growth and progress, but not rupture.” In both the ordinary and extraordinary forms of the Roman Missal, full, conscious, and active participation of the faithful is to be desired above all else. [Properly understood, of course. And since this included the phrase "above all else" we can most suitably begin with the person’s baptized character and then his or her state of grace. You see, true active participation is first of all an interior reality, not an outward expression. It leads to outward expression, the most perfect of which – in the liturgy of Mass – is the reception of Communion by a baptized person in the state of habitual grace. To that end…. watch what this smart writer does….] This begins with interior participation [YAY! See? Interior! This priest gets it.] in the sacrifice of Christ. The ordinary form customarily accomplishes this participation through listening and responding to the prayers of the Mass in the vernacular [well… vernacular…. okay…] and by taking part in forms of exterior communal action. The extraordinary form accomplishes this interior participation largely by listening to the prayers in Latin and following the words and actions of the priests and joining our hearts to “what is said by him in the Name of Christ and [what] Christ says [to] him.” [hmmm…. those two forms of participation sound an awful lot alike.]
From all of the above we see that the Church continues to treasure the riches of its past, [which is now its present] especially with regard to the sacred liturgy. The spirit of earlier liturgical forms, which permeated the spirit and culture of many who still remember these forms, continues in the celebration of both rites. Thus, it was through pastoral concern that Pope Benedict XVI was motivated to more easily allow for the celebration of more ancient liturgical rites and prayers by issuing Summorum Pontificium.
Msgr. Terence Hogan
Director, Office of Worship and Spiritual Life
WDTPRS kudos to Msgr. Hogan. Well done.
I think I might have added something stemming from that organic growth comment about another objective of Summorum Pontificum and the use of the older Rites. The use of these older forms will exert an influence on the way the newer forms are celebrated.
Still and all, you folks in Miami can be pleased that this priest has a clear sense of some very important concepts for a sound liturgical praxis. He has a far better understanding of active participation than we have seen coming from most liturgical offices for several decades. He speaks with respect about the older form and has not merely conveyed a reluctant tolerance toward it. He speaks of continuity and eschews clichés about the Second Vatican Council.
Interesting Article on Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion (their correct title). Fr. Z's comments are in parenthesis.
The question of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion
CATEGORY: "How To..." - Practical Notes, SESSIUNCULA — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 3:55 am
I think you have all seen it happen.
As the time for Holy Communion approaches, a small throng of EMHCs troop up into the sanctuary.
On the blog Uncommon Sense there is a proposal, worth reading and passing around. I include the whole thing here so as to make it a bit more visible. Be sure to visit that blog, however.
His emphases in the original but with my emphases and comments.
Whereas the General Instruction for the Roman Missal 162 states: “The priest may be assisted in the distribution of Communion by other priests who happen to be present. If such priests are not present and there is a very large number of communicants, the priest may [not must] call upon extraordinary ministers to assist him, e.g., duly instituted acolytes or even other faithful who have been deputed for this purpose. In case of necessity, the priest may depute suitable faithful for this single occasion.
And whereas the Instruction “Redemptionis Sacramentum” in paragraph 88 states “Only when there is a necessity may extraordinary ministers assist the Priest celebrant in accordance with the norm of law.”
And whereas the same instruction in paragraph 151 states: “Only out of true necessity ["necessity"... sensing a theme yet?] is there to be recourse to the assistance of extraordinary ministers in the celebration of the Liturgy. [NB…] Such recourse is not intended for the sake of a fuller participation of the laity but rather, by its very nature, is supplementary and provisional. [I don’t know how many times I have heard priests and laypeople talking about giving laypeople something to do during Mass.] Furthermore, when recourse is had out of necessity to the functions of extraordinary ministers, special urgent prayers of intercession should be multiplied that the Lord may soon send a Priest for the service of the community and raise up an abundance of vocations to sacred Orders.”
And whereas the same document states in paragraph 158: “Indeed, the extraordinary minister of Holy Communion may administer Communion only when the Priest and Deacon are lacking, when the Priest is prevented by weakness or advanced age or some other genuine reason, or when the number of faithful coming to Communion is so great that the very celebration of Mass would be unduly prolonged. [The problem is that "necessity" and "unduly" can be loosely interpreted and there isn’t really any way to tighten up the meaning.] This, however, is to be understood in such a way that a brief prolongation, considering the circumstances and culture of the place, is not at all a sufficient reason.
And whereas the Vatican instruction “On Certain Questions Regarding the Collaboration of the Non-Ordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of Priest” states in Article 8 § 2: “Extraordinary ministers may distribute Holy Communion at Eucharistic celebrations only when there are no ordained ministers present or when those ordained ministers present at a liturgical celebration are truly unable to distribute Holy Communion. They may also exercise this function at Eucharistic celebrations where there are particularly large numbers of the faithful and which would be excessively prolonged because of an insufficient number of ordained ministers to distribute Holy Communion.
And whereas the same document at the end of Article 8 states: ”To avoid creating confusion, certain practices are to be avoided and eliminated where such have emerged in particular Churches: the habitual use of extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion at Mass thus arbitrarily extending the concept of “a great number of the faithful.” [Again, this practice, as it is usually observed today tends to blur the distinct roles of priest and laypeople in Holy Mass.]
And whereas the conclusion of the same document states: ”All particular laws, customs and faculties conceded by the Holy See ad experimentum or other ecclesiastical authorities which are contrary to the foregoing norms [On Certain…] are hereby revoked.” [In other words, they cannot be continued out of an excuse that it is local custom.]
And whereas in “Norms for the Distribution and Reception of Holy Communion Under Both Kinds in the Dioceses of the United States of America” paragraph 24 states: ”In practice, the need to avoid obscuring the role of the priest and the deacon as the ordinary ministers of Holy Communion by an excessive use of extraordinary ministers might in some circumstances constitute a reason either for limiting the distribution of Holy Communion under both species or for using intinction instead of distributing the Precious Blood from the chalice.” [Intinction also gets rid of Communion in the hand…]
And whereas the same norms in paragraph 28 states: ”When the size of the congregation or the incapacity of the bishop, priest, or deacon requires it, the celebrant may be assisted by other bishops, priests, or deacons. If such ordinary ministers of Holy Communion are not present, “the priest may [not "must"] call upon extraordinary ministers to assist him, i.e., formally instituted acolytes or even some of the faithful who have been commissioned according to the prescribed rite. In case of necessity, the priest may also commission suitable members of the faithful for the occasion.” … When recourse is had to Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, especially in the distribution of Holy Communion under both kinds, their number should not be increased beyond what is required for the orderly and reverent distribution of the Body and Blood of the Lord. In all matters such Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion should follow the guidance of the diocesan bishop [Mindful of the fact that this paragraph draws its authority from GIRM 151 which speaks only of instances where a great number of the faithful are gathered, and it is the competence of the Holy Father alone, and of no bishop or priest, to legislate anything in the liturgy against the norms which the Holy Father has duly set forth].
[All that having been laid out…] We put forth the following observations:
Observation 1: The habitual use of extraordinary ministers at Masses in the United States is in fact a violation of the norms set forth in “On certain questions.” In most parishes across this country are even scheduled weeks ahead of time.
Observation 2: The majority of these Masses are not attended by “a great number of the faithful” and thus this term is being arbitrarily extended in violation of the norms of the Holy Father set forth in “On Certain Questions…”.
Observation 3: In point of fact, aside from being viewed as supplementary and provisional, extraordinary ministers are being utilized in such a way that they believe that their ministry involves a fuller participation in the Eucharistic celebration, in violation of the norms set forth by the Holy Father in “Redemptionis Sacramentum.”
Observation 4: The continued unnecessary recourse to the use of extraordinary ministers continues to blur the distinction between the ordained and lay members of the Catholic Church.
[Therefore] And in light of the above observations we submit the following petition:
Petition: Considering the constant violations of the norms set forth above, we humbly ask you [bishops and priests] to implement the provisions set forth in the Norms for the United states, namely that Holy Communion normally be distributed only by the ordinary minister, under one species [the Host], or by intinction in those parishes and communities where the faithful wish to receive under both species.
CATEGORY: "How To..." - Practical Notes, SESSIUNCULA — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 3:55 am
I think you have all seen it happen.
As the time for Holy Communion approaches, a small throng of EMHCs troop up into the sanctuary.
On the blog Uncommon Sense there is a proposal, worth reading and passing around. I include the whole thing here so as to make it a bit more visible. Be sure to visit that blog, however.
His emphases in the original but with my emphases and comments.
Whereas the General Instruction for the Roman Missal 162 states: “The priest may be assisted in the distribution of Communion by other priests who happen to be present. If such priests are not present and there is a very large number of communicants, the priest may [not must] call upon extraordinary ministers to assist him, e.g., duly instituted acolytes or even other faithful who have been deputed for this purpose. In case of necessity, the priest may depute suitable faithful for this single occasion.
And whereas the Instruction “Redemptionis Sacramentum” in paragraph 88 states “Only when there is a necessity may extraordinary ministers assist the Priest celebrant in accordance with the norm of law.”
And whereas the same instruction in paragraph 151 states: “Only out of true necessity ["necessity"... sensing a theme yet?] is there to be recourse to the assistance of extraordinary ministers in the celebration of the Liturgy. [NB…] Such recourse is not intended for the sake of a fuller participation of the laity but rather, by its very nature, is supplementary and provisional. [I don’t know how many times I have heard priests and laypeople talking about giving laypeople something to do during Mass.] Furthermore, when recourse is had out of necessity to the functions of extraordinary ministers, special urgent prayers of intercession should be multiplied that the Lord may soon send a Priest for the service of the community and raise up an abundance of vocations to sacred Orders.”
And whereas the same document states in paragraph 158: “Indeed, the extraordinary minister of Holy Communion may administer Communion only when the Priest and Deacon are lacking, when the Priest is prevented by weakness or advanced age or some other genuine reason, or when the number of faithful coming to Communion is so great that the very celebration of Mass would be unduly prolonged. [The problem is that "necessity" and "unduly" can be loosely interpreted and there isn’t really any way to tighten up the meaning.] This, however, is to be understood in such a way that a brief prolongation, considering the circumstances and culture of the place, is not at all a sufficient reason.
And whereas the Vatican instruction “On Certain Questions Regarding the Collaboration of the Non-Ordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of Priest” states in Article 8 § 2: “Extraordinary ministers may distribute Holy Communion at Eucharistic celebrations only when there are no ordained ministers present or when those ordained ministers present at a liturgical celebration are truly unable to distribute Holy Communion. They may also exercise this function at Eucharistic celebrations where there are particularly large numbers of the faithful and which would be excessively prolonged because of an insufficient number of ordained ministers to distribute Holy Communion.
And whereas the same document at the end of Article 8 states: ”To avoid creating confusion, certain practices are to be avoided and eliminated where such have emerged in particular Churches: the habitual use of extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion at Mass thus arbitrarily extending the concept of “a great number of the faithful.” [Again, this practice, as it is usually observed today tends to blur the distinct roles of priest and laypeople in Holy Mass.]
And whereas the conclusion of the same document states: ”All particular laws, customs and faculties conceded by the Holy See ad experimentum or other ecclesiastical authorities which are contrary to the foregoing norms [On Certain…] are hereby revoked.” [In other words, they cannot be continued out of an excuse that it is local custom.]
And whereas in “Norms for the Distribution and Reception of Holy Communion Under Both Kinds in the Dioceses of the United States of America” paragraph 24 states: ”In practice, the need to avoid obscuring the role of the priest and the deacon as the ordinary ministers of Holy Communion by an excessive use of extraordinary ministers might in some circumstances constitute a reason either for limiting the distribution of Holy Communion under both species or for using intinction instead of distributing the Precious Blood from the chalice.” [Intinction also gets rid of Communion in the hand…]
And whereas the same norms in paragraph 28 states: ”When the size of the congregation or the incapacity of the bishop, priest, or deacon requires it, the celebrant may be assisted by other bishops, priests, or deacons. If such ordinary ministers of Holy Communion are not present, “the priest may [not "must"] call upon extraordinary ministers to assist him, i.e., formally instituted acolytes or even some of the faithful who have been commissioned according to the prescribed rite. In case of necessity, the priest may also commission suitable members of the faithful for the occasion.” … When recourse is had to Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, especially in the distribution of Holy Communion under both kinds, their number should not be increased beyond what is required for the orderly and reverent distribution of the Body and Blood of the Lord. In all matters such Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion should follow the guidance of the diocesan bishop [Mindful of the fact that this paragraph draws its authority from GIRM 151 which speaks only of instances where a great number of the faithful are gathered, and it is the competence of the Holy Father alone, and of no bishop or priest, to legislate anything in the liturgy against the norms which the Holy Father has duly set forth].
[All that having been laid out…] We put forth the following observations:
Observation 1: The habitual use of extraordinary ministers at Masses in the United States is in fact a violation of the norms set forth in “On certain questions.” In most parishes across this country are even scheduled weeks ahead of time.
Observation 2: The majority of these Masses are not attended by “a great number of the faithful” and thus this term is being arbitrarily extended in violation of the norms of the Holy Father set forth in “On Certain Questions…”.
Observation 3: In point of fact, aside from being viewed as supplementary and provisional, extraordinary ministers are being utilized in such a way that they believe that their ministry involves a fuller participation in the Eucharistic celebration, in violation of the norms set forth by the Holy Father in “Redemptionis Sacramentum.”
Observation 4: The continued unnecessary recourse to the use of extraordinary ministers continues to blur the distinction between the ordained and lay members of the Catholic Church.
[Therefore] And in light of the above observations we submit the following petition:
Petition: Considering the constant violations of the norms set forth above, we humbly ask you [bishops and priests] to implement the provisions set forth in the Norms for the United states, namely that Holy Communion normally be distributed only by the ordinary minister, under one species [the Host], or by intinction in those parishes and communities where the faithful wish to receive under both species.
Good Article on Active (actual) participation. Fr Z's Comments are in parenthesis.
Drilling into an article on “active participation”
CATEGORY: Brick by Brick, SESSIUNCULA, The Drill — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 5:57 pm
I discovered on CNA a interesting feature. Louie Verrecchio writes a column called Harvesting the Fruit of Vatican II. One of his columns concerns active participation in the liturgy.
WDTPRS has been working to spread a correct understand of active participation for a long time and combat the madness that has corroded our identity through a distorted understanding.
Let’s see what Mr. Verrecchio has to say, with my emphases and comments.
July 23, 2009
Active Participation: Doing liturgy and becoming church
By Louie Verrecchio
I don’t remember the first time I encountered the phrases "doing liturgy" and "becoming church," nor do I recall my specific reaction. [I remember. The US seminary I was in, and out of. And I felt sick.] Regular readers of this column, however, can pretty much imagine what that might have been, but I’m getting a little ahead of myself.
I’d like to share with you a snapshot of my home parish, which I suspect is probably not unlike most others.
My parish of record is a warm and inviting place. It’s my home-base community within the Church Universal; a place where I have worshipped and celebrated and mourned with family and friends for many years.
I have a great deal of affection for my parish’s pastor. He is a kind and genuinely loving caretaker of souls who has offered me and others who are dear to me priestly ministry and good counsel on more than one occasion.
Why then over the last twenty months or so have I been traveling more than thirty miles out of my way to participate in Sunday Mass at a different parish? Simply put, because my home parish has unfortunately become overly enamored with the idea of "doing liturgy" and "becoming church." [Anyone else had this experience? Stop! STOP! Don’t trample… okay… I get it!]
To that end, my parish has a "Liturgy Committee" whose mission statement – taken almost verbatim from the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy – reads, "Our goal is to enable the People of God to engage in full, conscious, and active participation in the celebration of the sacred liturgy." [A good goal… provided they have a correct understanding of what that means.]
The result of their effort is a Mass that is increasingly nuanced by what appears to be the self-imposed pressure to constantly inject new forms of creativity into the liturgy. In practice this means that liturgical prayers and procedures are altered; liturgical roles are assigned to as many lay persons as possible, individuals are singled out during the Mass for special recognition and applause, and music for the Mass is apparently selected more for the catchiness of its tune than for the meaning of its content. [Anyone else had this … no wait… STOP already!]
I have no doubt that the Liturgy Committee means well, but I wonder how many its members have actually read Sacrosanctum Concilium; the aforementioned conciliar document to which they attribute their stated mission?
Those who have explored the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy would know that the Council’s idea of "active participation" has nothing whatsoever to do with turning the Mass into a production with an ever increasing number of lay cast members, much less its entertainment value.
Before we examine the Council’s thoughts more closely, it’s important to consider that the desire for liturgical participation on the part of a well-formed laity was not invented in the 1960’s.
In 1947 Pope Pius XII lauded and encouraged the laity’s active participation in the liturgy – yes, the Traditional Latin Liturgy – saying:
"Therefore, they are to be praised who, with the idea of getting the Christian people to take part more easily and more fruitfully in the Mass, strive to make them familiar with the ‘Roman Missal,’ so that the faithful, united with the priest, may pray together in the very words and sentiments of the Church. They also are to be commended who strive to make the liturgy even in an external way a sacred act in which all who are present may share. This can be done in more than one way, when, for instance, the whole congregation, in accordance with the rules of the liturgy, either answer the priest in an orderly and fitting manner, or sing hymns suitable to the different parts of the Mass, or do both, or finally in high Masses when they answer the prayers of the minister of Jesus Christ and also sing the liturgical chant." (Mediator Dei – 105)
Pope Pius XI some two decades earlier had offered similar encouragement saying, "The faithful come to church in order to derive piety from its chief source, by taking an active part in the venerated mysteries and the public solemn prayers of the Church." (Divini Cultus – 1928)
Neither of these examples represent "out of the box" thinking, mind you; on the contrary. Active participation in the liturgy is as old as the Church itself as indicated by St. Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians, a letter written sometime in the mid-first century, in which he underscored the importance of proper disposition when participating in the Body and Blood of Christ. (cf 1 Cor. 11:23-34)
So [here is the big question] what does active participation in the context of the Mass as we know it actually mean, and what did the Council have in mind? For clarity of the matter, let us turn directly to one of the Council Fathers, Pope John Paul II.
In his Ad Limina Address to the Bishops of the United States in 1988, the Holy Father saw fit to expound upon some of the misunderstandings that lead to "abuses, polarization, and sometimes even grave scandal" in the liturgy.
"Full participation does not mean that everyone does everything, since this would lead to a clericalizing of the laity and a laicizing of the priesthood; and this was not what the Council had in mind," the Holy Father said.
"Active participation certainly means that, in gesture, word, song and service, all the members of the community take part in an act of worship, which is anything but inert or passive," he said, honing in on the most overlooked point of all. "Active participation does not preclude the active passivity of silence, stillness and listening: indeed, it demands it." [Get that?]
The Council Fathers notion of how authentic participation is achieved is indicated in the very title to Chapter II of Sacrosanctum Concilium, "The Promotion of Liturgical Instruction and Active Participation."
You see, "instruction," according to the mind of the Council, is the essential key to "participation;" one cannot possibly hope to penetrate the sacred Mysteries in such way as to actively participate in them without first comprehending, to the extent that it is possible, what is taking place. [He is correct. And that phrase "to the extent that it is possible" is important by the fact that we are dealing with an encounter with mystery. The point of worship is an encounter with mystery. Our understanding, opened by what we can learn and comprehend, edges us a little close to that chink in the rock through which we peer at the God who passes by.]
To the Council Fathers, fostering active participation among the laity meant providing the "liturgical instruction" necessary in order for the "faithful to take part in the sacred liturgy fully aware of what they are doing." (cf SC 11) [Perhaps a bit too optimistic, unless we mean that we come to understand that we don’t understand. What we know helps us to know what we don’t know.]
The Mass itself is a teacher, [well… yes… okay… well… Mass is not a didactic moment. Mass is not a teaching experience. Yes, we learn things through the texts and other elements, but the purpose of Holy Mass is not for "learning".] according to the Council Fathers, [?] and they envisioned a revised liturgy that might more effectively communicate our belief that "every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the priest and of His Body which is the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others." (SC 7) [I don’t think SC 7 supports the claim that "Mass itself is a teacher". Yes, we can learn things from perceptible signs. But this is not the point of Mass.]
"Liturgy," in other words, is not so much something we "do" as it is a gift we are privileged to receive along with the invitation to unite ourselves to the Lord’s sacred action. [EXACTLY. A constant theme here at WDTPRS has been that the core of a proper understanding of active participation is interiorly active receptivity. Our active participation begins with our interior character, our baptismal character which makes us members of Christ and allows us to receive the other graces offered through the sacraments. We must strive to unite ourselves to the liturgical action, which is really being enacted by the true Actor, Christ the Priest. Our interior receptivity becomes outward expression at the appropriate times and in the appropriate ways indicated in the liturgical rites.] Likewise, "church" is not so much something we "become" as it is that which we already are by virtue of our incorporation into Christ’s Body through Baptism; the gateway to fully conscious and active participation in the sacred liturgy. [After years of writing this in my columns and on the blog, I sense that progress has been made.]
A focus on "doing liturgy" and "becoming church" has brought us to the unfortunate point where Mass in many places, including my parish, all too often obscures the inherent sacredness of the action as much as it communicates it.
Though I admit to being somewhat apprehensive, I will one day "bite the bullet" and respectfully share some of these thoughts with my pastor in the hope that by the grace of God I may be able to repay him well for the good counsel that he’s so freely given to me over the years.
Louie Verrecchio is the author of Harvesting the Fruit of Vatican II; a highly acclaimed adult faith formation tool – endorsed by George Cardinal Pell – that has been helping parish based study groups and individuals worldwide to faithfully explore the documents of the Second Vatican Council since 2004. For more information please visit: www.harvestingthefruit.com
WDTPRS kudos to Mr. Verrecchio for getting it right!
CATEGORY: Brick by Brick, SESSIUNCULA, The Drill — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 5:57 pm
I discovered on CNA a interesting feature. Louie Verrecchio writes a column called Harvesting the Fruit of Vatican II. One of his columns concerns active participation in the liturgy.
WDTPRS has been working to spread a correct understand of active participation for a long time and combat the madness that has corroded our identity through a distorted understanding.
Let’s see what Mr. Verrecchio has to say, with my emphases and comments.
July 23, 2009
Active Participation: Doing liturgy and becoming church
By Louie Verrecchio
I don’t remember the first time I encountered the phrases "doing liturgy" and "becoming church," nor do I recall my specific reaction. [I remember. The US seminary I was in, and out of. And I felt sick.] Regular readers of this column, however, can pretty much imagine what that might have been, but I’m getting a little ahead of myself.
I’d like to share with you a snapshot of my home parish, which I suspect is probably not unlike most others.
My parish of record is a warm and inviting place. It’s my home-base community within the Church Universal; a place where I have worshipped and celebrated and mourned with family and friends for many years.
I have a great deal of affection for my parish’s pastor. He is a kind and genuinely loving caretaker of souls who has offered me and others who are dear to me priestly ministry and good counsel on more than one occasion.
Why then over the last twenty months or so have I been traveling more than thirty miles out of my way to participate in Sunday Mass at a different parish? Simply put, because my home parish has unfortunately become overly enamored with the idea of "doing liturgy" and "becoming church." [Anyone else had this experience? Stop! STOP! Don’t trample… okay… I get it!]
To that end, my parish has a "Liturgy Committee" whose mission statement – taken almost verbatim from the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy – reads, "Our goal is to enable the People of God to engage in full, conscious, and active participation in the celebration of the sacred liturgy." [A good goal… provided they have a correct understanding of what that means.]
The result of their effort is a Mass that is increasingly nuanced by what appears to be the self-imposed pressure to constantly inject new forms of creativity into the liturgy. In practice this means that liturgical prayers and procedures are altered; liturgical roles are assigned to as many lay persons as possible, individuals are singled out during the Mass for special recognition and applause, and music for the Mass is apparently selected more for the catchiness of its tune than for the meaning of its content. [Anyone else had this … no wait… STOP already!]
I have no doubt that the Liturgy Committee means well, but I wonder how many its members have actually read Sacrosanctum Concilium; the aforementioned conciliar document to which they attribute their stated mission?
Those who have explored the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy would know that the Council’s idea of "active participation" has nothing whatsoever to do with turning the Mass into a production with an ever increasing number of lay cast members, much less its entertainment value.
Before we examine the Council’s thoughts more closely, it’s important to consider that the desire for liturgical participation on the part of a well-formed laity was not invented in the 1960’s.
In 1947 Pope Pius XII lauded and encouraged the laity’s active participation in the liturgy – yes, the Traditional Latin Liturgy – saying:
"Therefore, they are to be praised who, with the idea of getting the Christian people to take part more easily and more fruitfully in the Mass, strive to make them familiar with the ‘Roman Missal,’ so that the faithful, united with the priest, may pray together in the very words and sentiments of the Church. They also are to be commended who strive to make the liturgy even in an external way a sacred act in which all who are present may share. This can be done in more than one way, when, for instance, the whole congregation, in accordance with the rules of the liturgy, either answer the priest in an orderly and fitting manner, or sing hymns suitable to the different parts of the Mass, or do both, or finally in high Masses when they answer the prayers of the minister of Jesus Christ and also sing the liturgical chant." (Mediator Dei – 105)
Pope Pius XI some two decades earlier had offered similar encouragement saying, "The faithful come to church in order to derive piety from its chief source, by taking an active part in the venerated mysteries and the public solemn prayers of the Church." (Divini Cultus – 1928)
Neither of these examples represent "out of the box" thinking, mind you; on the contrary. Active participation in the liturgy is as old as the Church itself as indicated by St. Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians, a letter written sometime in the mid-first century, in which he underscored the importance of proper disposition when participating in the Body and Blood of Christ. (cf 1 Cor. 11:23-34)
So [here is the big question] what does active participation in the context of the Mass as we know it actually mean, and what did the Council have in mind? For clarity of the matter, let us turn directly to one of the Council Fathers, Pope John Paul II.
In his Ad Limina Address to the Bishops of the United States in 1988, the Holy Father saw fit to expound upon some of the misunderstandings that lead to "abuses, polarization, and sometimes even grave scandal" in the liturgy.
"Full participation does not mean that everyone does everything, since this would lead to a clericalizing of the laity and a laicizing of the priesthood; and this was not what the Council had in mind," the Holy Father said.
"Active participation certainly means that, in gesture, word, song and service, all the members of the community take part in an act of worship, which is anything but inert or passive," he said, honing in on the most overlooked point of all. "Active participation does not preclude the active passivity of silence, stillness and listening: indeed, it demands it." [Get that?]
The Council Fathers notion of how authentic participation is achieved is indicated in the very title to Chapter II of Sacrosanctum Concilium, "The Promotion of Liturgical Instruction and Active Participation."
You see, "instruction," according to the mind of the Council, is the essential key to "participation;" one cannot possibly hope to penetrate the sacred Mysteries in such way as to actively participate in them without first comprehending, to the extent that it is possible, what is taking place. [He is correct. And that phrase "to the extent that it is possible" is important by the fact that we are dealing with an encounter with mystery. The point of worship is an encounter with mystery. Our understanding, opened by what we can learn and comprehend, edges us a little close to that chink in the rock through which we peer at the God who passes by.]
To the Council Fathers, fostering active participation among the laity meant providing the "liturgical instruction" necessary in order for the "faithful to take part in the sacred liturgy fully aware of what they are doing." (cf SC 11) [Perhaps a bit too optimistic, unless we mean that we come to understand that we don’t understand. What we know helps us to know what we don’t know.]
The Mass itself is a teacher, [well… yes… okay… well… Mass is not a didactic moment. Mass is not a teaching experience. Yes, we learn things through the texts and other elements, but the purpose of Holy Mass is not for "learning".] according to the Council Fathers, [?] and they envisioned a revised liturgy that might more effectively communicate our belief that "every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the priest and of His Body which is the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others." (SC 7) [I don’t think SC 7 supports the claim that "Mass itself is a teacher". Yes, we can learn things from perceptible signs. But this is not the point of Mass.]
"Liturgy," in other words, is not so much something we "do" as it is a gift we are privileged to receive along with the invitation to unite ourselves to the Lord’s sacred action. [EXACTLY. A constant theme here at WDTPRS has been that the core of a proper understanding of active participation is interiorly active receptivity. Our active participation begins with our interior character, our baptismal character which makes us members of Christ and allows us to receive the other graces offered through the sacraments. We must strive to unite ourselves to the liturgical action, which is really being enacted by the true Actor, Christ the Priest. Our interior receptivity becomes outward expression at the appropriate times and in the appropriate ways indicated in the liturgical rites.] Likewise, "church" is not so much something we "become" as it is that which we already are by virtue of our incorporation into Christ’s Body through Baptism; the gateway to fully conscious and active participation in the sacred liturgy. [After years of writing this in my columns and on the blog, I sense that progress has been made.]
A focus on "doing liturgy" and "becoming church" has brought us to the unfortunate point where Mass in many places, including my parish, all too often obscures the inherent sacredness of the action as much as it communicates it.
Though I admit to being somewhat apprehensive, I will one day "bite the bullet" and respectfully share some of these thoughts with my pastor in the hope that by the grace of God I may be able to repay him well for the good counsel that he’s so freely given to me over the years.
Louie Verrecchio is the author of Harvesting the Fruit of Vatican II; a highly acclaimed adult faith formation tool – endorsed by George Cardinal Pell – that has been helping parish based study groups and individuals worldwide to faithfully explore the documents of the Second Vatican Council since 2004. For more information please visit: www.harvestingthefruit.com
WDTPRS kudos to Mr. Verrecchio for getting it right!
Saturday, August 15, 2009
20th Sunday "The Mass is not so much something we "do" as it is a gift we are privileged to receive along with the invitation to offer ourselves....
For the last couple of weeks we have been reading from the sixth Chapter of St. John on the Holy Eucharist. We are Catholics are the true fundamentalist, for we take these words of Jesus literally. There is in fact no other way to take them. Jesus says, “Amen! Amen!” To say Amen is to swear an oath that what I am about to say is the truth. To say Amen twice is to make sure you understand that I am not speaking symbolically. The word Jesus uses for eat the Hebrew word that is used when one eats flesh; it means to gnaw and grind with one’s teeth. No wonder why the early Christians were accused of cannibalism.
These readings should have then, moved us to beg our Lord for a deeper faith in the great mystery of the Holy Eucharist, a mystery that most of Jesus followers denied in his day, and most Christians still deny today. Let’s do a short recap what we heard thus far. We started this Chapter a few weeks ago with the miracle of multiplication of the loaves and fishes. We learned that Jesus gave them bread as a sign of a greater miracle to come, the miracle of Transubstantiation. But the crowd misunderstood and wanted to make him an earthly King, a political leader to fill their earthly bellies, their earthly desires, to give them economic security. So Jesus rebukes them for their lack of faith, for not looking for Him in faith, he tells not to look for earthly food but for the bread of eternal life. Instead of believing Jesus in faith, they appeal to Moses as the one who gave them bread from heaven. Jesus tells them it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven but my Heavenly Father you gives you the real true bread from heaven. And then Jesus gives them the shock of their lives by telling them all that He, himself is the true bread come down from heaven-the Bread of Life sent by His Father for the for the life of the world, and that all who believe in him, meaning all that believe what He has just said, will have eternal life.
Last week, we heard the Jews murmuring amongst themselves, refusing to believe that Jesus Himself is the bread that satisfies our deepest hunger, which is for love. Our day is no different, there are still those who murmur amongst themselves and deny Jesus’ teaching of the Holy Eucharist. They deny that Jesus is the Holy Eucharist, believing instead that what we receive at Holy Communion is merely bread and wine instead of Jesus in His true resurrected and glorified body. They deny that the Holy Mass is that event which by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the ordained priesthood makes sacramentally present the true bread of life, which is Jesus truly present in the Holy Eucharist. As a result of their lack of faith, Jesus can do no great works in their lives.
With their lack of faith in the Holy Eucharist they also murmur and so deny the sacrificial nature of the Mass, that the Holy Mass makes present in reality Calvary to us; and so, is not only the source of our salvation, but also as the Second Vatican Council taught that the Mass is, “the source and summit of the Christian life.” Without the Mass and correct belief in it we cannot live a truly authentic Christian life. In His Encyclical on the Holy Eucharist, John Paul explained all of this saying, “The most Holy Eucharist contains the Church’s entire spiritual wealth: Christ Himself, our Passover and living bread. Through his own flesh, now made living and life-giving by the Holy Spirit, he offers life to men. Consequently the gaze of the Church is constantly turned to her Lord, present in the Sacrament of the Altar, in which she discovers the full manifestation of his boundless love.”
We need to beg our Lord to increase our faith in the great gift of the Holy Eucharist. Maybe we don’t deny outright this main truth of our faith, but do we mummer against Jesus by taken the Holy Mass, the Holy Eucharist for granted, and so end up losing sight of its great mystery and sacredness. Do we fail to see that the Mass is primarily the work of Jesus the head, in which Jesus out of love for us offers Himself anew to the Father, not only for our Salvation, but that we might enter into a deep loving intimacy of love with Him and through Him with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, a union in which God literally weds our soul? And so, the Mass is not so much something we "do" as it is a gift we are privileged to receive along with the invitation to unite ourselves to the Lord’s sacred action, to His very self. Again, this is what the Vatican council really meant by full and active (it really used the word “actual”), participation in the Liturgy. What could be more active than offering ourselves to the Father, in union with Jesus through his sacrifice on Calvary?
How about our preparation for the Holy Mass? Do we come to Holy Mass dress for a day at the park or beach, instead of being dressed for a wedding, the wedding of our soul with God at the foot of the cross? We should dress for Holy Mass better than we dress for any event of our lives, for it is truly the most important event of our lives. Do we humbly prepare ourselves, our minds and our hearts for Mass in prayer? Or do we habitual show up for Holy Mass just in time or even late instead of coming early to prepare our hearts and minds, asking the Holy Spirit to help us to adore our Lord by adequately examining our conscience, asking for forgiveness? Do we pray the Mass or just say the Mass?
Do we then reverently receive Holy Communion, not only realizing what we are receiving, but more importantly Whom it is that we are receiving—Truly Our Lord and Our God? Our Holy Father, Benedict, is again calling for Catholics to again receive communion kneeling not only in body if they are able but also in mind and heart—humble before the Lord.
How about our thanksgiving after Holy Mass for receiving the Holy Eucharist? Do we sit around and visit and forget to thank Jesus for the total gift of himself to us in the Eucharist? Do we talk and murmur in Church after Mass interrupting those who are praying in thanksgiving and so fail to realize that this space is Holy and Sacred, that because Jesus is still truly present in the tabernacle that the Mass is still in a sense always going on. We all have to be reminded that this space is a house of prayer and adoration, not for visiting; that is done in the vestibule or outside. The Church in its General Instruction on the Roman Missal and in other recent documents is constantly reminding us of the silent reverence we need to restore and to maintain in the presence of the Holy Eucharist contained in the tabernacle, not to mention the wonder and awe we should have when approaching such an august Mystery.
In the last 40 years there has been some confusion over these matters, even sadly with some bishops and priest. However, now the Church is clearing up this confusion, so we all, including myself, must take a look at any bad habits we might have picked up and work to change them. As John Paul II the said in his encyclical on the Holy Eucharist, “The Eucharist is too great a gift to tolerate ambiguity and depreciation. Stripped of its sacrificial meaning, often it is experienced as if it were simply a fraternal banquet. Let us dispel all doubt and reawakening our wonder at the real presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.” (cf. JPII Ecclesia Eucharistia).
Let us in this Mass truly open our hearts to the gift of Jesus in the Eucharist. We don’t have to be perfect in order to do this, we just need to become like little Children trusting in God for what we lack. We can come to the Mass in our brokenness and in our sinfulness in order to receive what we need to change and to grow in love, in intimacy with the Lord. What we need is Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. He is truly present in the Holy Eucharist, the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. He is really there and He will change our unworthiness, heal our sinfulness and increase our love; and He will do so, by giving us His own Sacred Heart which is contained in the Holy Eucharist and still beats for love of us. But we must repent of our sinfulness, our stubbornness and our lack of faith; we must freely offer to Him at Holy Mass our hearts and our wills.
Let us ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to help us at this Mass and every Mass we are blessed to attend to lift up our hearts in adoration to the Lord; in others words, to offer our hearts in union through the Heart of Jesus, with the heart of Jesus and in the heart of Jesus in the unity and by the power of the Holy Spirit, giving all glory and honor to the almighty Father by offering ourselves along with Jesus in sacrifice of adoration and praise. Let us make this offering of ourselves to our Heavenly Father who gave us the great gift of the Eucharist in order that in thanksgiving we could give back to Him, the gift of our lives, the gift of our very self in order to be united with Him, along with all the angel and saints, in eternal happiness beginning right now at this Holy Mass and forever in the eternal Mass of heaven. Amen.
These readings should have then, moved us to beg our Lord for a deeper faith in the great mystery of the Holy Eucharist, a mystery that most of Jesus followers denied in his day, and most Christians still deny today. Let’s do a short recap what we heard thus far. We started this Chapter a few weeks ago with the miracle of multiplication of the loaves and fishes. We learned that Jesus gave them bread as a sign of a greater miracle to come, the miracle of Transubstantiation. But the crowd misunderstood and wanted to make him an earthly King, a political leader to fill their earthly bellies, their earthly desires, to give them economic security. So Jesus rebukes them for their lack of faith, for not looking for Him in faith, he tells not to look for earthly food but for the bread of eternal life. Instead of believing Jesus in faith, they appeal to Moses as the one who gave them bread from heaven. Jesus tells them it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven but my Heavenly Father you gives you the real true bread from heaven. And then Jesus gives them the shock of their lives by telling them all that He, himself is the true bread come down from heaven-the Bread of Life sent by His Father for the for the life of the world, and that all who believe in him, meaning all that believe what He has just said, will have eternal life.
Last week, we heard the Jews murmuring amongst themselves, refusing to believe that Jesus Himself is the bread that satisfies our deepest hunger, which is for love. Our day is no different, there are still those who murmur amongst themselves and deny Jesus’ teaching of the Holy Eucharist. They deny that Jesus is the Holy Eucharist, believing instead that what we receive at Holy Communion is merely bread and wine instead of Jesus in His true resurrected and glorified body. They deny that the Holy Mass is that event which by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the ordained priesthood makes sacramentally present the true bread of life, which is Jesus truly present in the Holy Eucharist. As a result of their lack of faith, Jesus can do no great works in their lives.
With their lack of faith in the Holy Eucharist they also murmur and so deny the sacrificial nature of the Mass, that the Holy Mass makes present in reality Calvary to us; and so, is not only the source of our salvation, but also as the Second Vatican Council taught that the Mass is, “the source and summit of the Christian life.” Without the Mass and correct belief in it we cannot live a truly authentic Christian life. In His Encyclical on the Holy Eucharist, John Paul explained all of this saying, “The most Holy Eucharist contains the Church’s entire spiritual wealth: Christ Himself, our Passover and living bread. Through his own flesh, now made living and life-giving by the Holy Spirit, he offers life to men. Consequently the gaze of the Church is constantly turned to her Lord, present in the Sacrament of the Altar, in which she discovers the full manifestation of his boundless love.”
We need to beg our Lord to increase our faith in the great gift of the Holy Eucharist. Maybe we don’t deny outright this main truth of our faith, but do we mummer against Jesus by taken the Holy Mass, the Holy Eucharist for granted, and so end up losing sight of its great mystery and sacredness. Do we fail to see that the Mass is primarily the work of Jesus the head, in which Jesus out of love for us offers Himself anew to the Father, not only for our Salvation, but that we might enter into a deep loving intimacy of love with Him and through Him with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, a union in which God literally weds our soul? And so, the Mass is not so much something we "do" as it is a gift we are privileged to receive along with the invitation to unite ourselves to the Lord’s sacred action, to His very self. Again, this is what the Vatican council really meant by full and active (it really used the word “actual”), participation in the Liturgy. What could be more active than offering ourselves to the Father, in union with Jesus through his sacrifice on Calvary?
How about our preparation for the Holy Mass? Do we come to Holy Mass dress for a day at the park or beach, instead of being dressed for a wedding, the wedding of our soul with God at the foot of the cross? We should dress for Holy Mass better than we dress for any event of our lives, for it is truly the most important event of our lives. Do we humbly prepare ourselves, our minds and our hearts for Mass in prayer? Or do we habitual show up for Holy Mass just in time or even late instead of coming early to prepare our hearts and minds, asking the Holy Spirit to help us to adore our Lord by adequately examining our conscience, asking for forgiveness? Do we pray the Mass or just say the Mass?
Do we then reverently receive Holy Communion, not only realizing what we are receiving, but more importantly Whom it is that we are receiving—Truly Our Lord and Our God? Our Holy Father, Benedict, is again calling for Catholics to again receive communion kneeling not only in body if they are able but also in mind and heart—humble before the Lord.
How about our thanksgiving after Holy Mass for receiving the Holy Eucharist? Do we sit around and visit and forget to thank Jesus for the total gift of himself to us in the Eucharist? Do we talk and murmur in Church after Mass interrupting those who are praying in thanksgiving and so fail to realize that this space is Holy and Sacred, that because Jesus is still truly present in the tabernacle that the Mass is still in a sense always going on. We all have to be reminded that this space is a house of prayer and adoration, not for visiting; that is done in the vestibule or outside. The Church in its General Instruction on the Roman Missal and in other recent documents is constantly reminding us of the silent reverence we need to restore and to maintain in the presence of the Holy Eucharist contained in the tabernacle, not to mention the wonder and awe we should have when approaching such an august Mystery.
In the last 40 years there has been some confusion over these matters, even sadly with some bishops and priest. However, now the Church is clearing up this confusion, so we all, including myself, must take a look at any bad habits we might have picked up and work to change them. As John Paul II the said in his encyclical on the Holy Eucharist, “The Eucharist is too great a gift to tolerate ambiguity and depreciation. Stripped of its sacrificial meaning, often it is experienced as if it were simply a fraternal banquet. Let us dispel all doubt and reawakening our wonder at the real presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.” (cf. JPII Ecclesia Eucharistia).
Let us in this Mass truly open our hearts to the gift of Jesus in the Eucharist. We don’t have to be perfect in order to do this, we just need to become like little Children trusting in God for what we lack. We can come to the Mass in our brokenness and in our sinfulness in order to receive what we need to change and to grow in love, in intimacy with the Lord. What we need is Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. He is truly present in the Holy Eucharist, the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. He is really there and He will change our unworthiness, heal our sinfulness and increase our love; and He will do so, by giving us His own Sacred Heart which is contained in the Holy Eucharist and still beats for love of us. But we must repent of our sinfulness, our stubbornness and our lack of faith; we must freely offer to Him at Holy Mass our hearts and our wills.
Let us ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to help us at this Mass and every Mass we are blessed to attend to lift up our hearts in adoration to the Lord; in others words, to offer our hearts in union through the Heart of Jesus, with the heart of Jesus and in the heart of Jesus in the unity and by the power of the Holy Spirit, giving all glory and honor to the almighty Father by offering ourselves along with Jesus in sacrifice of adoration and praise. Let us make this offering of ourselves to our Heavenly Father who gave us the great gift of the Eucharist in order that in thanksgiving we could give back to Him, the gift of our lives, the gift of our very self in order to be united with Him, along with all the angel and saints, in eternal happiness beginning right now at this Holy Mass and forever in the eternal Mass of heaven. Amen.
Friday, August 14, 2009
The Blessed Virgin is indeed the first fruits of Jesus truly raised from the dead.
Today we celebrate the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, body and soul into heaven. This dogma, this truth of our faith that every Catholic must assent to fully with intellect and will, was solemnly defined by Pope Pius the XII in the apostolic constitution, Munificentissimus Deus on November 1st, 1950. This doesn’t mean however as some of our separate brethren think that the Church thought up this belief in 1950; no, it means that the Church solemnity proclaimed that which all believing Christian held to be true from the very beginning.
In their homilies and sermons on this feast, the holy fathers and great doctors (of our faith) spoke of the assumption of the Mother of God as something already familiar and accepted by the faithful. They gave it greater clarity in their preaching and used more profound arguments in setting out its nature and meaning. Above all, they brought out more clearly the fact that what is commemorated (today) in this feast is not simply the total absence of corruption from the dead body of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but also her triumph over death and her glorification in heaven, after the pattern of her only Son, Jesus Christ.
The Blessed Virgin is indeed the first fruits of Jesus truly raised from the dead. As Her Son truly rose incorruptible in body and soul from the grave, so too did His mother, who most perfectly followed Him in life, now follow Him into eternity in body and soul. And so one of the great fathers of our faith, Saint John Damascene, said, “It was necessary that she who had preserved her virginity inviolate in childbirth should also have her body kept free from all corruption after death. It was necessary that she who had carried the Creator as a child on her breast should dwell herself in the tabernacles of God. It was necessary that the bride espoused by the Father should make her home in the bridal chambers of heaven. It was necessary that she, who had gazed on her crucified Son and so was pierced in the heart by the sword sorrow which she had escaped in giving him birth, should contemplate him seated with the Father. It was necessary that the Mother of God should share the possession of her Son, and be venerated by every creature as the Mother and Hand Maid of the Lord.”
Perhaps, a simple way to look upon this feast and so on the Blessed Virgin Mary, is that Jesus her Son who Created her, simply didn’t not want His mother to be for one second in the power of Satan. So, He first gave her the privilege of the Immaculate Conception to preserve her from sin; and then as a result, He did not want the sinless body of His Mother to be subject to worms and decay, so He gave her the privilege of the Assumption. Think about it, if we could have created our own mother we would have, like Jesus, created her without sin; and if we could have, would we have, in order to show our mother our great love like Jesus, keep her body, after her death, from worms and decay. It’s only common sense to believe that Jesus did these things for His Mother in order to honor her and most especially out of His perfect love for her. Which one of us, wouldn’t have done the same for our own mother if we could have.
What joy for Jesus to welcome His Mother into His heavenly home! What joy for Mary to see visibly the face of her Son again, this time in glory! What joy for the angels and the blessed in heaven to greet their Queen, their Mother! What joy for the heavenly Father to receive His favorite daughter! What joy for the Holy Spirit to meet again the chosen woman who had cooperated to bring the Son of God to this earth as a man! What joy for St. Joseph to have the companion of his earthly days with him in heaven!
This great feast is really feast of hope for us all, for we too long to follow our Heavenly Mother, into heaven. We too long for the happiness of loved ones meeting them again and embracing them again those who have gone before us. On this Assumption day, because of Mary’s assumption, our hope is not a pipe dream, it is real. A creature, the first of all creatures, who is the Mother of God and our Mother as well, as made it to heaven, body and soul. And so on this joyful feast of the assumption, because of her, we too can look forward in hope to the day when we will enter heaven there to meet Jesus, His Mother and all of those who gone before us as friends of Jesus. We too can look forward to the day when we will be able to experience our loved ones not only with our souls, but with our souls again united to our bodies in order that we can again embrace them with our love now perfected. We don’t think of this enough.
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary fills us with joy, and it encourages us in our struggle to leave sin behind and so convert and grow closer to our goal which is Jesus and union with Him, for He is our true goal and so our true hope. This feast doesn’t leave us complacent or presumptuous of our salvation; no it reminds us that we must, if we are to share in the joy of our Heavenly Mother, increase our struggle to be good and faithful sons and daughters of God; to increase our effort to keep our souls clean through frequent confession and the worthily reception of the Holy Eucharist. In this way we will reach heaven, not in the same way as the most Holy Virgin, since due to sin our bodies will experience corruption. But Nevertheless, if we die in God’s grace, our soul will go to heaven, perhaps by way of Purgatory first….And then at the end of the world at the resurrection of the dead our bodies too will join again our souls and we will then receive our eternal reward, joining in unending and unfathomable Joy, Jesus and His Most Holy Mother together with all the angels and saints…this is our true goal in this life and in the life to come; this is our true hope that we celebrate on this very special day!
Let us today, pray for an increase in devotion and love for the Blessed Virgin Mary. Let us from this day forward pray her rosary daily and with a greater intensity, as a way of holding her hand as we contemplate the mysteries of her Son and so see Him through her eyes of love. And let us offer ourselves fully to her so that she may before the throne of God, present our hearts to her Son and through Him to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and so obtain for us the great gift and grace of final perseverance in order to be with her in body and soul in heaven united with the Blessed Trinity forever. Amen.
In their homilies and sermons on this feast, the holy fathers and great doctors (of our faith) spoke of the assumption of the Mother of God as something already familiar and accepted by the faithful. They gave it greater clarity in their preaching and used more profound arguments in setting out its nature and meaning. Above all, they brought out more clearly the fact that what is commemorated (today) in this feast is not simply the total absence of corruption from the dead body of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but also her triumph over death and her glorification in heaven, after the pattern of her only Son, Jesus Christ.
The Blessed Virgin is indeed the first fruits of Jesus truly raised from the dead. As Her Son truly rose incorruptible in body and soul from the grave, so too did His mother, who most perfectly followed Him in life, now follow Him into eternity in body and soul. And so one of the great fathers of our faith, Saint John Damascene, said, “It was necessary that she who had preserved her virginity inviolate in childbirth should also have her body kept free from all corruption after death. It was necessary that she who had carried the Creator as a child on her breast should dwell herself in the tabernacles of God. It was necessary that the bride espoused by the Father should make her home in the bridal chambers of heaven. It was necessary that she, who had gazed on her crucified Son and so was pierced in the heart by the sword sorrow which she had escaped in giving him birth, should contemplate him seated with the Father. It was necessary that the Mother of God should share the possession of her Son, and be venerated by every creature as the Mother and Hand Maid of the Lord.”
Perhaps, a simple way to look upon this feast and so on the Blessed Virgin Mary, is that Jesus her Son who Created her, simply didn’t not want His mother to be for one second in the power of Satan. So, He first gave her the privilege of the Immaculate Conception to preserve her from sin; and then as a result, He did not want the sinless body of His Mother to be subject to worms and decay, so He gave her the privilege of the Assumption. Think about it, if we could have created our own mother we would have, like Jesus, created her without sin; and if we could have, would we have, in order to show our mother our great love like Jesus, keep her body, after her death, from worms and decay. It’s only common sense to believe that Jesus did these things for His Mother in order to honor her and most especially out of His perfect love for her. Which one of us, wouldn’t have done the same for our own mother if we could have.
What joy for Jesus to welcome His Mother into His heavenly home! What joy for Mary to see visibly the face of her Son again, this time in glory! What joy for the angels and the blessed in heaven to greet their Queen, their Mother! What joy for the heavenly Father to receive His favorite daughter! What joy for the Holy Spirit to meet again the chosen woman who had cooperated to bring the Son of God to this earth as a man! What joy for St. Joseph to have the companion of his earthly days with him in heaven!
This great feast is really feast of hope for us all, for we too long to follow our Heavenly Mother, into heaven. We too long for the happiness of loved ones meeting them again and embracing them again those who have gone before us. On this Assumption day, because of Mary’s assumption, our hope is not a pipe dream, it is real. A creature, the first of all creatures, who is the Mother of God and our Mother as well, as made it to heaven, body and soul. And so on this joyful feast of the assumption, because of her, we too can look forward in hope to the day when we will enter heaven there to meet Jesus, His Mother and all of those who gone before us as friends of Jesus. We too can look forward to the day when we will be able to experience our loved ones not only with our souls, but with our souls again united to our bodies in order that we can again embrace them with our love now perfected. We don’t think of this enough.
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary fills us with joy, and it encourages us in our struggle to leave sin behind and so convert and grow closer to our goal which is Jesus and union with Him, for He is our true goal and so our true hope. This feast doesn’t leave us complacent or presumptuous of our salvation; no it reminds us that we must, if we are to share in the joy of our Heavenly Mother, increase our struggle to be good and faithful sons and daughters of God; to increase our effort to keep our souls clean through frequent confession and the worthily reception of the Holy Eucharist. In this way we will reach heaven, not in the same way as the most Holy Virgin, since due to sin our bodies will experience corruption. But Nevertheless, if we die in God’s grace, our soul will go to heaven, perhaps by way of Purgatory first….And then at the end of the world at the resurrection of the dead our bodies too will join again our souls and we will then receive our eternal reward, joining in unending and unfathomable Joy, Jesus and His Most Holy Mother together with all the angels and saints…this is our true goal in this life and in the life to come; this is our true hope that we celebrate on this very special day!
Let us today, pray for an increase in devotion and love for the Blessed Virgin Mary. Let us from this day forward pray her rosary daily and with a greater intensity, as a way of holding her hand as we contemplate the mysteries of her Son and so see Him through her eyes of love. And let us offer ourselves fully to her so that she may before the throne of God, present our hearts to her Son and through Him to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and so obtain for us the great gift and grace of final perseverance in order to be with her in body and soul in heaven united with the Blessed Trinity forever. Amen.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Happy St Philomena's day!
Today is St Philomena's Day so happy feast day to all those named after her and to all those who have a special devotion to her.
In the Year of the Priest it is appropriate to remember the great love that St John Vianney had for St Philomena. Here is a Litany to St Philomena composed by the Curé of Ars.
For many people, the only thing they know about St Philomena is that she "didn't exist", and therefore how silly it is to have devotion to her. The relatively recent scientific report shows that those who had the courage to doubt the blanket of doubt had good reason, and those who had devotion to her were not so foolish after all. As well as St John Vianney, these devotees include Bl Pope Pius IX, St Pius X, Bl Bartolomo Longo, and, of course, Ven Pauline Jaricot, founder of the APF.
Today is St Philomena's Day so happy feast day to all those named after her and to all those who have a special devotion to her.
In the Year of the Priest it is appropriate to remember the great love that St John Vianney had for St Philomena. Here is a Litany to St Philomena composed by the Curé of Ars.
For many people, the only thing they know about St Philomena is that she "didn't exist", and therefore how silly it is to have devotion to her. The relatively recent scientific report shows that those who had the courage to doubt the blanket of doubt had good reason, and those who had devotion to her were not so foolish after all. As well as St John Vianney, these devotees include Bl Pope Pius IX, St Pius X, Bl Bartolomo Longo, and, of course, Ven Pauline Jaricot, founder of the APF.
Litany to St. Philomena
(Composed by St. John Vianney)
Lord have mercy on us.
Christ have mercy on us.
Lord have mercy on us.
God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity one God, have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, Queen of Virgins,
St. Philomena, pray for us.
St. Philomena, filled with the most abundant
graces from your very birth, pray for us.
St. Philomena, faithful imitator of Mary, pray for us.
St. Philomena. model of Virgins, pray for us.
St. Philomena, temple of the most perfect humility, pray for us.
St. Philomena, inflamed with zeal for the Glory of God, pray for us.
St. Philomena, victim of the love of Jesus, pray for us.
St. Philomena, example of strength and perseverance, pray for us.
St. Philomena, invincible champion of chastity, pray for us.
St. Philomena, mirror of the most heroic virtues, pray for us.
St. Philomena, firm and intrepid in the face of torments, pray for us.
St. Philomena, scourged like your Divine Spouse, pray for us.
St. Philomena, pierced by a shower of arrows, pray for us.
St. Philomena, consoled by the Mother of God, when in chains, pray for us.
St. Philomena, cured miraculously in prison, pray for us.
St. Philomena, comforted by angels in your torments, pray for us.
St. Philomena, who preferred torments and death to the splendors of a throne, pray for us.
St. Philomena, who converted the witnesses of your martyrdom, pray for us.
St. Philomena, who wore out the fury of your executioners, pray for us.
St. Philomena, protectress of the innocent, pray for us.
St. Philomena, patron of youth, pray for us.
St. Philomena, refuge of the unfortunate, pray for us.
St. Philomena, health of the sick and the weak. pray for us.
St. Philomena, new light of the church militant, pray for us.
St. Philomena, who confounds the impiety of the world, pray for us.
St. Philomena, who stimulates the faith and courage of the faithful, pray for us.
St. Philomena, whose name is glorified in Heaven and feared in Hell, pray for us.
St. Philomena, made illustrious by the most striking miracles, pray for us.
St. Philomena, all powerful with God, pray for us.
St. Philomena, who reigns in glory, pray for us.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
V.) Pray for us, Great St. Philomena,
R.) That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray
We implore Thee, O Lord, by the intercession of Saint Philomena, Virgin and Martyr, who was ever most pleasing to Thy eyes by reason of her eminent purity and the practice of all the virtues, pardon us our sins and grant us all the graces we need (and name any special grace you may require). Amen.
Novena to St. Philomena
O great St. Philomena, glorious Virgin and Martyr, wonder-worker of our age, I return most fervent thanks to God for the miraculous gifts bestowed on thee, and beseech thee to impart to me a share in the graces and blessings of which thou hast been the channel to so many souls. Through the heroic fortitude with which thou didst confront the fury of tyrants and brave the frowns of the mighty rather than swerve from thy allegiance to the King of Heaven, obtain for me purity of body and soul, purity of heart and desire, purity of thought and affection.
Through thy patience under multiplied sufferings, obtain for me a submissive acceptance of all the afflictions it may please God to send me and as thou didst miraculously escape unhurt from the waters of the Tiber, into which thou wert cast by order of thy persecutor, so may I pass through the waters of tribulation without detriment to my soul. In addition to these favours, obtain for me, O faithful spouse of Jesus, the particular intention I earnestly recommend to thee at this moment. O pure Virgin and holy Martyr, deign to cast a look of pity from Heaven on thy devoted servant, comfort me in affliction, assist me in danger, above all come to my aid in the hour of death. Watch over the interests of the Church of God, pray for its exaltation and prosperity, the extension of the faith, for the Sovereign Pontiff, for the clergy, for the perseverance of the just, the conversion of sinners, and the relief of the souls in purgatory, especially those dear to me. O great Saint, whose triumph we celebrate on earth, intercede for me, that I may one day behold the crown of glory bestowed on thee in Heaven, and eternally bless Him who so liberally rewards for all eternity the sufferings endured for His love during this short life. Amen.
Prayer
O most pure Virgin, glorious Martyr, St. Philomena, whom God in His eternal power has revealed to the world in these unhappy days in order to revive the faith, sustain the hope and enkindle the charity of Christian souls, behold me prostrate at thy feet. Deign, O Virgin, full of goodness and kindness, to receive my humble prayers and to obtain for me that purity for which thou didst sacrifice the most alluring pleasures of the world, that strength of soul which made thee resist the most terrible attacks and that ardent love for our Lord Jesus Christ, which the most frightful torments could not extinguish in thee. So, that wearing thy holy cord and imitating thee in this life, I may one day be crowned with thee in heaven. Amen.
Copyright (c) 1996 EWTN
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Provided courtesy of:
Eternal Word Television Network
PO Box 3610
Manassas, VA 22110
Voice: 703-791-2576
Fax: 703-791-4250
Data: 703-791-4336
FTP: EWTN.COM
Telnet: EWTN.COM
Email address: SYSOP@ EWTN.COM
EWTN provides a Catholic online
information and service system.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
(Composed by St. John Vianney)
Lord have mercy on us.
Christ have mercy on us.
Lord have mercy on us.
God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity one God, have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, Queen of Virgins,
St. Philomena, pray for us.
St. Philomena, filled with the most abundant
graces from your very birth, pray for us.
St. Philomena, faithful imitator of Mary, pray for us.
St. Philomena. model of Virgins, pray for us.
St. Philomena, temple of the most perfect humility, pray for us.
St. Philomena, inflamed with zeal for the Glory of God, pray for us.
St. Philomena, victim of the love of Jesus, pray for us.
St. Philomena, example of strength and perseverance, pray for us.
St. Philomena, invincible champion of chastity, pray for us.
St. Philomena, mirror of the most heroic virtues, pray for us.
St. Philomena, firm and intrepid in the face of torments, pray for us.
St. Philomena, scourged like your Divine Spouse, pray for us.
St. Philomena, pierced by a shower of arrows, pray for us.
St. Philomena, consoled by the Mother of God, when in chains, pray for us.
St. Philomena, cured miraculously in prison, pray for us.
St. Philomena, comforted by angels in your torments, pray for us.
St. Philomena, who preferred torments and death to the splendors of a throne, pray for us.
St. Philomena, who converted the witnesses of your martyrdom, pray for us.
St. Philomena, who wore out the fury of your executioners, pray for us.
St. Philomena, protectress of the innocent, pray for us.
St. Philomena, patron of youth, pray for us.
St. Philomena, refuge of the unfortunate, pray for us.
St. Philomena, health of the sick and the weak. pray for us.
St. Philomena, new light of the church militant, pray for us.
St. Philomena, who confounds the impiety of the world, pray for us.
St. Philomena, who stimulates the faith and courage of the faithful, pray for us.
St. Philomena, whose name is glorified in Heaven and feared in Hell, pray for us.
St. Philomena, made illustrious by the most striking miracles, pray for us.
St. Philomena, all powerful with God, pray for us.
St. Philomena, who reigns in glory, pray for us.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
V.) Pray for us, Great St. Philomena,
R.) That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray
We implore Thee, O Lord, by the intercession of Saint Philomena, Virgin and Martyr, who was ever most pleasing to Thy eyes by reason of her eminent purity and the practice of all the virtues, pardon us our sins and grant us all the graces we need (and name any special grace you may require). Amen.
Novena to St. Philomena
O great St. Philomena, glorious Virgin and Martyr, wonder-worker of our age, I return most fervent thanks to God for the miraculous gifts bestowed on thee, and beseech thee to impart to me a share in the graces and blessings of which thou hast been the channel to so many souls. Through the heroic fortitude with which thou didst confront the fury of tyrants and brave the frowns of the mighty rather than swerve from thy allegiance to the King of Heaven, obtain for me purity of body and soul, purity of heart and desire, purity of thought and affection.
Through thy patience under multiplied sufferings, obtain for me a submissive acceptance of all the afflictions it may please God to send me and as thou didst miraculously escape unhurt from the waters of the Tiber, into which thou wert cast by order of thy persecutor, so may I pass through the waters of tribulation without detriment to my soul. In addition to these favours, obtain for me, O faithful spouse of Jesus, the particular intention I earnestly recommend to thee at this moment. O pure Virgin and holy Martyr, deign to cast a look of pity from Heaven on thy devoted servant, comfort me in affliction, assist me in danger, above all come to my aid in the hour of death. Watch over the interests of the Church of God, pray for its exaltation and prosperity, the extension of the faith, for the Sovereign Pontiff, for the clergy, for the perseverance of the just, the conversion of sinners, and the relief of the souls in purgatory, especially those dear to me. O great Saint, whose triumph we celebrate on earth, intercede for me, that I may one day behold the crown of glory bestowed on thee in Heaven, and eternally bless Him who so liberally rewards for all eternity the sufferings endured for His love during this short life. Amen.
Prayer
O most pure Virgin, glorious Martyr, St. Philomena, whom God in His eternal power has revealed to the world in these unhappy days in order to revive the faith, sustain the hope and enkindle the charity of Christian souls, behold me prostrate at thy feet. Deign, O Virgin, full of goodness and kindness, to receive my humble prayers and to obtain for me that purity for which thou didst sacrifice the most alluring pleasures of the world, that strength of soul which made thee resist the most terrible attacks and that ardent love for our Lord Jesus Christ, which the most frightful torments could not extinguish in thee. So, that wearing thy holy cord and imitating thee in this life, I may one day be crowned with thee in heaven. Amen.
Copyright (c) 1996 EWTN
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Provided courtesy of:
Eternal Word Television Network
PO Box 3610
Manassas, VA 22110
Voice: 703-791-2576
Fax: 703-791-4250
Data: 703-791-4336
FTP: EWTN.COM
Telnet: EWTN.COM
Email address: SYSOP@ EWTN.COM
EWTN provides a Catholic online
information and service system.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Saint Philomena Question Answered
4/17/2005 - 21:19 PST
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Catholic PRWire
A conference was held in Rome to get answers for “The Philomenan Question”.
On April 9, 2005, a panel, of scientists, priests and devotees presented reports that offered resounding answers which will put to rest the years of questioning once and for all time.
It was a Blessed week in Rome, as many of us experienced the celebration of our beloved Pope John Paul II.
Also, it is a wonderful coincidence that the magazine, “Inside the Vatican” should have a large article about our Saint on the news stand the same week. Inside the magazine, there are lots of pictures and among other things, it reports about the great growth of the devotion world-wide to our Saint, estimating it to be around five million strong now. The Sanctuary wants to praise each of you in each Universal Archconfraternity. This is truly a testament to all of the very hard work you do to spread the devotion of St. Philomena.
The following is the statement released by the Rector of the Sanctuary of St. Philomena, Monsignor Giovanni Braschi:
2005 is a very special year for all us devotees of St. Philomena as it is the celebration of the 200th anniversary year of translation of her Sacred Relics from Rome to the Sanctuary of Mugnano del Cardinale. This journey itself is a story and you will be able to read of this and many other historical events surrounding our Saint in our newsletters this year, The Messenger of St. Philomena.
Two hundred years ago St. Philomena was placed in a special Altar at the Sanctuary, situated on the central left side as you walk into the Church. And from that moment she changed the lives of everyone who encountered her. Now, in these present days she touches the lives of many people worldwide and calls them to the Sanctuary in Mugnano del Cardinale.
Sadly, many devotees have reported to me confusion stemming from the St. Philomena controversy. I have been Rector of the Sanctuary for over twenty years and I have worked to correct any confusion or misunderstandings surrounding St. Philomena. Therefore, as Rector, I decided the most effective solution was to devote myself to engage the best minds available in the scientific world today to find out the truth about our Saint. From the onset of this effort, I was prepared to accept the truth as final no matter what the results of the scientific research revealed. My desire was to settle the controversy once and for all to relieve any anxiety devotees may have about our Saint.
We announced the results of the new and exhaustive scientific research at the Conference of the New Philomenian Studies on April 9, 2005, at the Catacombs of St. Pricilla in Rome, where the tomb of Saint Philomena was discovered in 1802.
There are two main parts of this investigation; the first is that of the tomb stones. They tell the story of the person buried there with specific symbols depicting the history of the sufferings and the death which occurred along with the name of the person.
The controversy was initiated when the case of St. Philomena was discussed and argued in the beginning of the 20th Century: using scientific methods only available in his time, the archaeologist Orazio Marucchi stated the theory that the tomb stones had been sealed more than once, which would have meant they were re-used.
Additionally, he postulated that the reason the order of the first and last tomb stone were reversed is because the tomb had been opened and then resealed.
The present-day scientific investigations using modern and technically advanced equipment has demonstrated clearly that the tomb stones were only sealed once.
More importantly, with these modern techniques, they are dated 202 A.D, which mean that St. Philomena is an earlier Martyr of the Church than first thought.
With the new scientific results of the tomb stones which originally were placed in the wrong order now have an explanation; With powerful modern tools a closer and more detailed examination of the three tiles revealed a surprise that no one previously had realized.
At the time of her burial, there where originally two tomb stones, but three were needed to completely close the tomb. The larger of the two stones was cut horizontally in half resulting in two separate stones out of it, which made the required three in total. The now three tiles were laid out and the inscription was applied across the total of them, PAXTE – CUMFI – LUMENA. Each of the three tiles had a portion of the message the first stone had, PAXTE, the second stone had CUMFI and the third stone, LUMENA.
After having done this, the mason worker realized that the tomb was taller at one end than the other. The stones were reversed to move the wider stone to the wider opening to accommodate the wider opening. Therefore, in order for the stones to be placed to properly fit the opening, it resulted in reversing the three sections of the inscription to the following order: LUMENA – PAXTE – CUMFI, placing the last original stone in the place of the first one, which by doing this, meant that the words on them were put in the wrong order.
The second part of the results of the new scientific investigation was regarding the glass vase which was found in the tomb with the Relics of Saint Philomena. It has been scientifically proven now to have blood in it and to our surprise a small fragment of bone was also found in it. This new discovery indicates that St. Philomena did have a violent death.
I sought to find the truth, again, regardless of the results, and happily, I am able to report now that the results dispel any confusion or misunderstanding that may have existed before about St. Philomena.
All the representatives of the worldwide Universal Archconfraternity centres of St. Philomena will receive a full transcript of the conference and scientific results soon.
They also have a full detailed list of the events which will be held at the Sanctuary for this special anniversary year.
For the 200th anniversary I ask you all to spread the word of St. Philomena to as many as you can, let her name be a common word in your community and encourage the joining of a local novena prayer circle. Form these little family and friends groups and pray to this powerful Saint who is very close and powerful with God.
Blessing you with the benediction of St. Philomena through the Sacred Heart of Our Lord and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Monsignor Giovanni Braschi
Santuario Santa Filomena
83027 Mugnano del Cardinale
Avellino, Italy
tel:+39 81 8257204
fax: 081-511 2733
e-mail: SantaFilomena@philomena.it
www.philomena.it
Contact: Santuario Santa Filomena
http://www.philomena.it , IT
Giovanni Braschi - Rector, 81 - 8257204
Keywords: Saint Philomena
4/17/2005 - 21:19 PST
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Catholic PRWire
A conference was held in Rome to get answers for “The Philomenan Question”.
On April 9, 2005, a panel, of scientists, priests and devotees presented reports that offered resounding answers which will put to rest the years of questioning once and for all time.
It was a Blessed week in Rome, as many of us experienced the celebration of our beloved Pope John Paul II.
Also, it is a wonderful coincidence that the magazine, “Inside the Vatican” should have a large article about our Saint on the news stand the same week. Inside the magazine, there are lots of pictures and among other things, it reports about the great growth of the devotion world-wide to our Saint, estimating it to be around five million strong now. The Sanctuary wants to praise each of you in each Universal Archconfraternity. This is truly a testament to all of the very hard work you do to spread the devotion of St. Philomena.
The following is the statement released by the Rector of the Sanctuary of St. Philomena, Monsignor Giovanni Braschi:
2005 is a very special year for all us devotees of St. Philomena as it is the celebration of the 200th anniversary year of translation of her Sacred Relics from Rome to the Sanctuary of Mugnano del Cardinale. This journey itself is a story and you will be able to read of this and many other historical events surrounding our Saint in our newsletters this year, The Messenger of St. Philomena.
Two hundred years ago St. Philomena was placed in a special Altar at the Sanctuary, situated on the central left side as you walk into the Church. And from that moment she changed the lives of everyone who encountered her. Now, in these present days she touches the lives of many people worldwide and calls them to the Sanctuary in Mugnano del Cardinale.
Sadly, many devotees have reported to me confusion stemming from the St. Philomena controversy. I have been Rector of the Sanctuary for over twenty years and I have worked to correct any confusion or misunderstandings surrounding St. Philomena. Therefore, as Rector, I decided the most effective solution was to devote myself to engage the best minds available in the scientific world today to find out the truth about our Saint. From the onset of this effort, I was prepared to accept the truth as final no matter what the results of the scientific research revealed. My desire was to settle the controversy once and for all to relieve any anxiety devotees may have about our Saint.
We announced the results of the new and exhaustive scientific research at the Conference of the New Philomenian Studies on April 9, 2005, at the Catacombs of St. Pricilla in Rome, where the tomb of Saint Philomena was discovered in 1802.
There are two main parts of this investigation; the first is that of the tomb stones. They tell the story of the person buried there with specific symbols depicting the history of the sufferings and the death which occurred along with the name of the person.
The controversy was initiated when the case of St. Philomena was discussed and argued in the beginning of the 20th Century: using scientific methods only available in his time, the archaeologist Orazio Marucchi stated the theory that the tomb stones had been sealed more than once, which would have meant they were re-used.
Additionally, he postulated that the reason the order of the first and last tomb stone were reversed is because the tomb had been opened and then resealed.
The present-day scientific investigations using modern and technically advanced equipment has demonstrated clearly that the tomb stones were only sealed once.
More importantly, with these modern techniques, they are dated 202 A.D, which mean that St. Philomena is an earlier Martyr of the Church than first thought.
With the new scientific results of the tomb stones which originally were placed in the wrong order now have an explanation; With powerful modern tools a closer and more detailed examination of the three tiles revealed a surprise that no one previously had realized.
At the time of her burial, there where originally two tomb stones, but three were needed to completely close the tomb. The larger of the two stones was cut horizontally in half resulting in two separate stones out of it, which made the required three in total. The now three tiles were laid out and the inscription was applied across the total of them, PAXTE – CUMFI – LUMENA. Each of the three tiles had a portion of the message the first stone had, PAXTE, the second stone had CUMFI and the third stone, LUMENA.
After having done this, the mason worker realized that the tomb was taller at one end than the other. The stones were reversed to move the wider stone to the wider opening to accommodate the wider opening. Therefore, in order for the stones to be placed to properly fit the opening, it resulted in reversing the three sections of the inscription to the following order: LUMENA – PAXTE – CUMFI, placing the last original stone in the place of the first one, which by doing this, meant that the words on them were put in the wrong order.
The second part of the results of the new scientific investigation was regarding the glass vase which was found in the tomb with the Relics of Saint Philomena. It has been scientifically proven now to have blood in it and to our surprise a small fragment of bone was also found in it. This new discovery indicates that St. Philomena did have a violent death.
I sought to find the truth, again, regardless of the results, and happily, I am able to report now that the results dispel any confusion or misunderstanding that may have existed before about St. Philomena.
All the representatives of the worldwide Universal Archconfraternity centres of St. Philomena will receive a full transcript of the conference and scientific results soon.
They also have a full detailed list of the events which will be held at the Sanctuary for this special anniversary year.
For the 200th anniversary I ask you all to spread the word of St. Philomena to as many as you can, let her name be a common word in your community and encourage the joining of a local novena prayer circle. Form these little family and friends groups and pray to this powerful Saint who is very close and powerful with God.
Blessing you with the benediction of St. Philomena through the Sacred Heart of Our Lord and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Monsignor Giovanni Braschi
Santuario Santa Filomena
83027 Mugnano del Cardinale
Avellino, Italy
tel:+39 81 8257204
fax: 081-511 2733
e-mail: SantaFilomena@philomena.it
www.philomena.it
Contact: Santuario Santa Filomena
http://www.philomena.it , IT
Giovanni Braschi - Rector, 81 - 8257204
Keywords: Saint Philomena
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
19the Sunday in Ordinary Time. "The Mystery of our Faith".
For the last couple of weeks we have been reading from the sixth Chapter of St. John on the Holy Eucharist. These readings should have moved us to beg our Lord for a deeper faith in the great mystery of the Holy Eucharist, a mystery that most of Jesus disciples denied in his day, and most Christians deny today. Let’s do a short recap what we heard thus far.
We started this Chapter a few weeks ago with the miracle of multiplication of the loaves and fishes. We learned that he gave them bread as a sign of a greater miracle. But the crowd misunderstood and wanted to make him an earthly King, a political leader to fill their earthly bellies, their earthly desires. He confronts them for their lack of faith, for not looking for Him in faith, he tells not to look for earthly food but for the bread of eternal life. Instead of believing Jesus in faith, they appeal to Moses as the one who gave them bread from heaven. Jesus tells them it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven but my Father you gives you the real bread from heaven. And then Jesus gives them a shock by telling them all that He, himself is the true bread come down from heaven-the bread of life sent by his father for the for the life of the world and that all who believe in him will have eternal life.
Today, we hear that the Jews murmured amongst themselves, refusing to believe that Jesus is the bread that satisfies our deepest hunger, which is for love. Our day is no different, there are still those who murmur amongst themselves and deny Jesus teaching of the Holy Eucharist, that Jesus is the Holy Eucharist. They deny the Holy Mass is that event which by the power of the ordained priesthood makes sacramentally present the true bread of life, which is Jesus. Sadly, there are those even within the Church herself who murmur and deny this teaching trying to make the Holy Mass into a event where we built merely a human community (not a supernatural one) by coming together to remember what Jesus did for us and sharing in the bread and wine—a special action of course, but only in meaning not in reality, a mere human action. They, like the Jews, want Jesus as an earthly king, denying any supernatural action in the Mass and closing off their hearts and minds to Jesus’ desire to come truly and deeply into their hearts. They deny the sacrificial nature of the Mass, that it makes present in reality Calvary to us, and that the bread and the wine are transformed through the miracle of transubstantiation into the physical Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus, his whole self. These folks fail to listen to the Holy Father when he correctly interprets the Second Vatican Council’s proclamation that the Eucharistic sacrifice is “the source and summit of the Christian life.” In the Encyclical on the Holy Eucharist John Paul explains this when he says, that, “the most Holy Eucharist contains the church’s entire spiritual wealth: Christ Himself, our Passover and living bread. Through his own flesh, now made living and life-giving by the Holy Spirit, he offers life to men. Consequently the gaze of the Church is constantly turned to her Lord, present in the Sacrament of the Altar, in which she discovers the full manifestation of his boundless love.”
We need to beg our Lord to increase our faith in the great gift of the Holy Eucharist. Maybe we don’t deny outright this main truth of our faith, but do we mummer against Jesus by being too familiar with the Mass and lose sight of its great mystery and sacredness, failing to see that it is the sacrifice of Jesus. Do we in our actions, in our hearts treat the Holy Mass more like a gathering of the community in a restaurant, gathering around the table and eating bread and wine, talking about ourselves and upcoming events instead of adoring Jesus by offering ourselves on the altar and then in return partaking in Jesus’ flesh and blood so that we may be one with him.
Do we mean the words of the preface we pray just before we kneel for the changing of the bread and wine into his flesh and blood, when the priest tells us to, “lift up your hearts, and we respond, “We lift them up to the Lord.” Lifting up our hearts means that we offer them to the Lord, we offer our whole selves- everything in sacrifice to God—this is what adoration truly means--this is what the Vatican council really meant by full and active participation in the Liturgy. What could be more active than offering ourselves in union with Jesus through his sacrifice on Calvary to the Father? This should cure us from boredom- our being too familiar with Jesus at Mass. Adoration is an offering of our hearts to God and a dying to self and our will; it is recognition that God is the source of our being and our goal in this life and the next, that we are absolutely dependent on him for everything.
How about our preparation for the Holy Mass? Do we come to Holy Mass dress for a day in the park instead of for Calvary? We should dress for Mass better than we dress for any event of our lives, for it is the most important event of our lives. Do we humbly prepare ourselves, our hearts for Mass in prayer? Or do we show up for Holy Mass just in time or even late instead of coming early to prepare our hearts, asking the Holy Spirit to help us to adore our Lord by adequately examining our conscience, asking for forgiveness? Do we pray during Mass or just let our minds wonder, failing to realize that we are truly present at Calvary at the foot of the cross? How would we act if we were present there two thousand years ago? Well the Holy Mass makes it possible for us to be at Calvary, not just by remembering what Jesus did for us, but by the power of the Ordained priesthood which makes present in reality the once and all sacrifice of Jesus for our salvation. Then do we reverently receive Holy Communion, not only realizing what we are receiving, but more importantly whom we are receiving--Our Lord and Our God?
How about our thanksgiving after Holy Mass for receiving the Holy Eucharist? Do we sit around and visit and forget to thank Jesus for the total gift of himself to us in the Eucharist? Do we talk and murmur in Church after Mass interrupting those who are praying and thus failing to realize that this space is Holy and Sacred, that because Jesus is still truly present in the tabernacle that the Mass is still in a sense going on. This space is a space for adoration, not visiting. Community, unity and family is not built by talking in Church but it is built by adoring Jesus in the Holy Eucharist firstly and primarily, then when we meet at the appropriate time and space for visiting with one another in the narthex or at coffee and donuts. We will never have true unity until we recognized that we must keep the sanctuary of our churches as places of adoration. This space is not the space to visit, it is the place to adore Jesus, offering ourselves to him, begging him to fill us with his love so that we can love one other, not just with our imperfect human love but with his perfect divine love. Then we can go out and truly visit, building a community in the love of God and become one family united in Christ. True community and family are only built through Adoring Jesus first. This is the first commandment, to love God with your whole heart, mind and soul so you can love you neighbor as yourself, with the very love of God. For those of you who read the article in the Northwest Herald, this is why the Church in its General Instruction on the Roman Missal and in other documents is reminding us of the reverence we need to have in the presence of the Holy Eucharist. In the last 40 years there has been some confusion over these matters, even with some priest. However, now the Church is clearing up this confusion, so we all, including myself, must take a look at any bad habits we might have and change them.
Let us in this Mass truly open our hearts to the gift of Jesus in the Eucharist. We don’t have to be perfect in order to do this, we just need to become like little Children trusting in God for what we lack. We can come to the Mass in our brokenness and our sins in order to receive what we need to change, to grow in love. Jesus will change our unworthiness, increase our love, by taking our human hearts and replacing them with His Sacred Heart so we can love with a divine love and be truly happy. But we must repent of our sinfulness and our stubbornness; we must freely give him our hearts and our will. Let us ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to help us lift up our hearts in adoration to the Lord, in others words to offer our hearts in union through the Heart of Jesus, with the heart of Jesus and in the heart of Jesus in the unity and by the power of the Holy Spirit, giving all glory and honor to the almighty Father by offering ourselves along with Jesus in sacrifice of adoration and praise. Let us make this offering of ourselves to our Heavenly Father who gave us the great gift of the Eucharist in order that we could give him back the gift of our lives, of our very self to be with him in eternal happiness beginning right now at this Holy Mass and for ever and ever. Amen.
We started this Chapter a few weeks ago with the miracle of multiplication of the loaves and fishes. We learned that he gave them bread as a sign of a greater miracle. But the crowd misunderstood and wanted to make him an earthly King, a political leader to fill their earthly bellies, their earthly desires. He confronts them for their lack of faith, for not looking for Him in faith, he tells not to look for earthly food but for the bread of eternal life. Instead of believing Jesus in faith, they appeal to Moses as the one who gave them bread from heaven. Jesus tells them it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven but my Father you gives you the real bread from heaven. And then Jesus gives them a shock by telling them all that He, himself is the true bread come down from heaven-the bread of life sent by his father for the for the life of the world and that all who believe in him will have eternal life.
Today, we hear that the Jews murmured amongst themselves, refusing to believe that Jesus is the bread that satisfies our deepest hunger, which is for love. Our day is no different, there are still those who murmur amongst themselves and deny Jesus teaching of the Holy Eucharist, that Jesus is the Holy Eucharist. They deny the Holy Mass is that event which by the power of the ordained priesthood makes sacramentally present the true bread of life, which is Jesus. Sadly, there are those even within the Church herself who murmur and deny this teaching trying to make the Holy Mass into a event where we built merely a human community (not a supernatural one) by coming together to remember what Jesus did for us and sharing in the bread and wine—a special action of course, but only in meaning not in reality, a mere human action. They, like the Jews, want Jesus as an earthly king, denying any supernatural action in the Mass and closing off their hearts and minds to Jesus’ desire to come truly and deeply into their hearts. They deny the sacrificial nature of the Mass, that it makes present in reality Calvary to us, and that the bread and the wine are transformed through the miracle of transubstantiation into the physical Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus, his whole self. These folks fail to listen to the Holy Father when he correctly interprets the Second Vatican Council’s proclamation that the Eucharistic sacrifice is “the source and summit of the Christian life.” In the Encyclical on the Holy Eucharist John Paul explains this when he says, that, “the most Holy Eucharist contains the church’s entire spiritual wealth: Christ Himself, our Passover and living bread. Through his own flesh, now made living and life-giving by the Holy Spirit, he offers life to men. Consequently the gaze of the Church is constantly turned to her Lord, present in the Sacrament of the Altar, in which she discovers the full manifestation of his boundless love.”
We need to beg our Lord to increase our faith in the great gift of the Holy Eucharist. Maybe we don’t deny outright this main truth of our faith, but do we mummer against Jesus by being too familiar with the Mass and lose sight of its great mystery and sacredness, failing to see that it is the sacrifice of Jesus. Do we in our actions, in our hearts treat the Holy Mass more like a gathering of the community in a restaurant, gathering around the table and eating bread and wine, talking about ourselves and upcoming events instead of adoring Jesus by offering ourselves on the altar and then in return partaking in Jesus’ flesh and blood so that we may be one with him.
Do we mean the words of the preface we pray just before we kneel for the changing of the bread and wine into his flesh and blood, when the priest tells us to, “lift up your hearts, and we respond, “We lift them up to the Lord.” Lifting up our hearts means that we offer them to the Lord, we offer our whole selves- everything in sacrifice to God—this is what adoration truly means--this is what the Vatican council really meant by full and active participation in the Liturgy. What could be more active than offering ourselves in union with Jesus through his sacrifice on Calvary to the Father? This should cure us from boredom- our being too familiar with Jesus at Mass. Adoration is an offering of our hearts to God and a dying to self and our will; it is recognition that God is the source of our being and our goal in this life and the next, that we are absolutely dependent on him for everything.
How about our preparation for the Holy Mass? Do we come to Holy Mass dress for a day in the park instead of for Calvary? We should dress for Mass better than we dress for any event of our lives, for it is the most important event of our lives. Do we humbly prepare ourselves, our hearts for Mass in prayer? Or do we show up for Holy Mass just in time or even late instead of coming early to prepare our hearts, asking the Holy Spirit to help us to adore our Lord by adequately examining our conscience, asking for forgiveness? Do we pray during Mass or just let our minds wonder, failing to realize that we are truly present at Calvary at the foot of the cross? How would we act if we were present there two thousand years ago? Well the Holy Mass makes it possible for us to be at Calvary, not just by remembering what Jesus did for us, but by the power of the Ordained priesthood which makes present in reality the once and all sacrifice of Jesus for our salvation. Then do we reverently receive Holy Communion, not only realizing what we are receiving, but more importantly whom we are receiving--Our Lord and Our God?
How about our thanksgiving after Holy Mass for receiving the Holy Eucharist? Do we sit around and visit and forget to thank Jesus for the total gift of himself to us in the Eucharist? Do we talk and murmur in Church after Mass interrupting those who are praying and thus failing to realize that this space is Holy and Sacred, that because Jesus is still truly present in the tabernacle that the Mass is still in a sense going on. This space is a space for adoration, not visiting. Community, unity and family is not built by talking in Church but it is built by adoring Jesus in the Holy Eucharist firstly and primarily, then when we meet at the appropriate time and space for visiting with one another in the narthex or at coffee and donuts. We will never have true unity until we recognized that we must keep the sanctuary of our churches as places of adoration. This space is not the space to visit, it is the place to adore Jesus, offering ourselves to him, begging him to fill us with his love so that we can love one other, not just with our imperfect human love but with his perfect divine love. Then we can go out and truly visit, building a community in the love of God and become one family united in Christ. True community and family are only built through Adoring Jesus first. This is the first commandment, to love God with your whole heart, mind and soul so you can love you neighbor as yourself, with the very love of God. For those of you who read the article in the Northwest Herald, this is why the Church in its General Instruction on the Roman Missal and in other documents is reminding us of the reverence we need to have in the presence of the Holy Eucharist. In the last 40 years there has been some confusion over these matters, even with some priest. However, now the Church is clearing up this confusion, so we all, including myself, must take a look at any bad habits we might have and change them.
Let us in this Mass truly open our hearts to the gift of Jesus in the Eucharist. We don’t have to be perfect in order to do this, we just need to become like little Children trusting in God for what we lack. We can come to the Mass in our brokenness and our sins in order to receive what we need to change, to grow in love. Jesus will change our unworthiness, increase our love, by taking our human hearts and replacing them with His Sacred Heart so we can love with a divine love and be truly happy. But we must repent of our sinfulness and our stubbornness; we must freely give him our hearts and our will. Let us ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to help us lift up our hearts in adoration to the Lord, in others words to offer our hearts in union through the Heart of Jesus, with the heart of Jesus and in the heart of Jesus in the unity and by the power of the Holy Spirit, giving all glory and honor to the almighty Father by offering ourselves along with Jesus in sacrifice of adoration and praise. Let us make this offering of ourselves to our Heavenly Father who gave us the great gift of the Eucharist in order that we could give him back the gift of our lives, of our very self to be with him in eternal happiness beginning right now at this Holy Mass and for ever and ever. Amen.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Homily for 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time August 2, 2009. They are still looking for food!
In today’s Gospel we read the account of the people looking for food. Again, we will continue to read from St. John, Chapter 6 for the next couple of weeks. If you recall, last week we read about the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, this week, we join the crowds on the day after this great miracle; and they are still looking for food. It is a very enlightening passage- Jesus tries to teach the people that the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes was really a miracle to help them and lead them to faith in the miracle of the Eucharist, the Food they are really looking for. All of the miracles Jesus performed on earth were to prepare the hearts and minds of the people for His teachings on the Holy Eucharist.
The people in today’s Gospel didn’t understand what Jesus was teaching them. They only saw the signs or the miracles Jesus’ performed in an earthly way. In the multiplication miracle, the people thought they recognized a sign pointing to a commonly held belief in those days, that the new messiah would bring bread, much like Moses had done in the O.T. In other words, they thought the messiah, when he would come would bring them economic prosperity and victory of their enemies. And so they ask themselves, “Could Jesus be the one?” Sadly, they only saw in Jesus the possibility that he was the one to fulfill their earthly bellies, their earthly desires, after all just the day before he filled their bellies with food produced from a miracle. They wanted Jesus to be an earthly king, one that would give them what they wanted instead of what they needed. They wanted Jesus to be the one that would give the economic prosperity, telling them how great and wonderful they were, all the while allowing them to remain in their sins.
Through the miracle of the multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, the crowds had had their earthly bellies filled with earthly food, but now the next day they are hungry again; they failed to see that the fulfillment of our earthly desires just leaves us starving in the end. And so, Jesus knowing of their true hunger, the hunger of their hearts, tells them to search not for the food of this world, the things of this world that will only leave you wanting for more, but instead no search for the food that would fill their deepest hunger the hunger for God and his love. Jesus was not to fulfill their earthly desire for a political leader, but he would go far beyond their earthly desires to the inner depths of man’s heart-to his deepest desire, which is to be love; to be loved by Jesus, the Love of the Father sent to be with us in the Holy Eucharist. Jesus desired to give them the gift of faith, to take away their sins which prevented them receiving God’s love and so which causes death by starvation.
Faith is the key; faith in Jesus, faith that Jesus is really, truly present in the Holy Eucharist. But, what really is faith? I think, too seldom do we consider our faith in a deep way. We can ask ourselves some questions to help us consider our faith, for instance; why do I come to Church on Sunday? What am I looking for when I come to Mass? Do I just come to feel good, to have my earthly belly filled with good feelings, instead being filled with the bread of Life—Jesus and His Truth. Do I come only to ask Jesus for something or so that he will bless me in an earthly way. Do I come so that nothing bad will happen to me in this life or so that I don’t feel guilty for missing Mass.
Do we come, but in the end do we just tolerate Mass? We look at our watch and think, when will this ever end- I have things to do and places to go. Will this homily ever end; I hope we don’t go a whole hour. I heard this new pastor even goes passed an hour sometimes?
For you young people here, why do you come to Mass. Do you come because your parents make you? I’d rather be home playing video games or watching television, or playing sports, at least I would not be so bored. By the way, boredom only occurs at Mass when you don’t understand the Mass. Was the Blessed Virgin Mary bored at the foot of the cross? Mass makes it possible for us to be at the foot of the cross and so we have no excuse to be bored. Mass is also literally heaven on earth, how can that be boring. We have to have faith to see what I cannot see, hear can’t not hear nor has it even entered into the mind of man what occurs at each and every Holy Mass.
One final question, “do we all truly come to Mass to pray; to spend time with Jesus; to be nourished by him, his whole self in the Holy Eucharist?” Spending time with Jesus truly present in the Holy Eucharist is never a waste of time. If it is, one should want to waste all of our time on Him. The time we spend is really an extremely important element of prayer—Because He loves us, Jesus, our Lord and our God, desires us to spend time with him. Perhaps we are very busy and praying at Mass seems just too hard. If this is the case, then let us simply come to give our burdens to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist in prayer during this Holy Mass and simply rest our tired head on his shoulder.
But there is something even deeper; a deeper reason why we come to Mass. With the multiplication of the Loaves and fishes, Jesus had awaken, in those he fed, their deepest hopes and longings. Thousands of people had followed Jesus and had been fed with the early food. They were so impressed that they wanted to make him their king. And so Jesus says to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” The great Saint Augustine said what Jesus is really saying to the people filled with the loaves and fishes and to us is, “You seek me for world motives, not for spiritual ones. How many people there are who seek Jesus solely for worldly ends!... Far too many just Jesus for what he will do for them or for what they can get out of Him. Rarely does someone look for Jesus for the sake of Jesus.
Let us at this Holy Mass ask Jesus to be among the few that really seek Him alone. If we have not all ready done so let us go as soon as we can to confession and ask for His forgiveness for seeking other things before Him. Let us ask Him today, for the grace to help us not just seek something from Jesus but to seek Him alone. For today Jesus desires to give us, not only all his love but his very self for He is Love; He is the God who is Love. But to receive Him fully, we must give ourselves to Him in return and leave sin behind.
Let us pray for a increase of faith to realize that the Holy Eucharist is Jesus and desire this true food from heaven more than any food, anything, this world has to offer us. When we receive Him in the Holy Eucharist let us spend some time kneeling in our pew adoring and loving him, and asking him to help us to adore, love, trust and believe in him more. When we receive Communion , we receive Christ Himself with his Body, his Blood, his Soul, and his Divinity. He gives himself to us in an intimate union which, if we give ourselves to him, binds us to him in a real way. Our life is transformed into his life, if we but offer Him our lives in response to His great love for us. In Holy Communion Christ is not only God with us, but God in us.
(Often throughout our day, all throughout our week we should think about the next time we will be able to receive Jesus again into our souls. Then we should make spiritual communions asking Jesus to come spiritual into our souls by praying often, “I wish my Lord to receive you with purity, the humility and devotion with which your Holy Mother received you, with the spirit and fervor of the saints.” These spiritual communions will increase our longing to receive Jesus sacramentally in Holy Communion during or next Mass, possessing and being possessed by Love incarnate.)
Let us ask the Blessed Virgin to help us. Holy Mary, Mother of the Holy Eucharist, help us to love Jesus in the Holy Eucharist above all things and to offer our love, our hearts and our whole self to him at this Holy Mass. Amen. O Lord I am not worthy to receive you under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed. Amen.
The people in today’s Gospel didn’t understand what Jesus was teaching them. They only saw the signs or the miracles Jesus’ performed in an earthly way. In the multiplication miracle, the people thought they recognized a sign pointing to a commonly held belief in those days, that the new messiah would bring bread, much like Moses had done in the O.T. In other words, they thought the messiah, when he would come would bring them economic prosperity and victory of their enemies. And so they ask themselves, “Could Jesus be the one?” Sadly, they only saw in Jesus the possibility that he was the one to fulfill their earthly bellies, their earthly desires, after all just the day before he filled their bellies with food produced from a miracle. They wanted Jesus to be an earthly king, one that would give them what they wanted instead of what they needed. They wanted Jesus to be the one that would give the economic prosperity, telling them how great and wonderful they were, all the while allowing them to remain in their sins.
Through the miracle of the multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, the crowds had had their earthly bellies filled with earthly food, but now the next day they are hungry again; they failed to see that the fulfillment of our earthly desires just leaves us starving in the end. And so, Jesus knowing of their true hunger, the hunger of their hearts, tells them to search not for the food of this world, the things of this world that will only leave you wanting for more, but instead no search for the food that would fill their deepest hunger the hunger for God and his love. Jesus was not to fulfill their earthly desire for a political leader, but he would go far beyond their earthly desires to the inner depths of man’s heart-to his deepest desire, which is to be love; to be loved by Jesus, the Love of the Father sent to be with us in the Holy Eucharist. Jesus desired to give them the gift of faith, to take away their sins which prevented them receiving God’s love and so which causes death by starvation.
Faith is the key; faith in Jesus, faith that Jesus is really, truly present in the Holy Eucharist. But, what really is faith? I think, too seldom do we consider our faith in a deep way. We can ask ourselves some questions to help us consider our faith, for instance; why do I come to Church on Sunday? What am I looking for when I come to Mass? Do I just come to feel good, to have my earthly belly filled with good feelings, instead being filled with the bread of Life—Jesus and His Truth. Do I come only to ask Jesus for something or so that he will bless me in an earthly way. Do I come so that nothing bad will happen to me in this life or so that I don’t feel guilty for missing Mass.
Do we come, but in the end do we just tolerate Mass? We look at our watch and think, when will this ever end- I have things to do and places to go. Will this homily ever end; I hope we don’t go a whole hour. I heard this new pastor even goes passed an hour sometimes?
For you young people here, why do you come to Mass. Do you come because your parents make you? I’d rather be home playing video games or watching television, or playing sports, at least I would not be so bored. By the way, boredom only occurs at Mass when you don’t understand the Mass. Was the Blessed Virgin Mary bored at the foot of the cross? Mass makes it possible for us to be at the foot of the cross and so we have no excuse to be bored. Mass is also literally heaven on earth, how can that be boring. We have to have faith to see what I cannot see, hear can’t not hear nor has it even entered into the mind of man what occurs at each and every Holy Mass.
One final question, “do we all truly come to Mass to pray; to spend time with Jesus; to be nourished by him, his whole self in the Holy Eucharist?” Spending time with Jesus truly present in the Holy Eucharist is never a waste of time. If it is, one should want to waste all of our time on Him. The time we spend is really an extremely important element of prayer—Because He loves us, Jesus, our Lord and our God, desires us to spend time with him. Perhaps we are very busy and praying at Mass seems just too hard. If this is the case, then let us simply come to give our burdens to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist in prayer during this Holy Mass and simply rest our tired head on his shoulder.
But there is something even deeper; a deeper reason why we come to Mass. With the multiplication of the Loaves and fishes, Jesus had awaken, in those he fed, their deepest hopes and longings. Thousands of people had followed Jesus and had been fed with the early food. They were so impressed that they wanted to make him their king. And so Jesus says to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” The great Saint Augustine said what Jesus is really saying to the people filled with the loaves and fishes and to us is, “You seek me for world motives, not for spiritual ones. How many people there are who seek Jesus solely for worldly ends!... Far too many just Jesus for what he will do for them or for what they can get out of Him. Rarely does someone look for Jesus for the sake of Jesus.
Let us at this Holy Mass ask Jesus to be among the few that really seek Him alone. If we have not all ready done so let us go as soon as we can to confession and ask for His forgiveness for seeking other things before Him. Let us ask Him today, for the grace to help us not just seek something from Jesus but to seek Him alone. For today Jesus desires to give us, not only all his love but his very self for He is Love; He is the God who is Love. But to receive Him fully, we must give ourselves to Him in return and leave sin behind.
Let us pray for a increase of faith to realize that the Holy Eucharist is Jesus and desire this true food from heaven more than any food, anything, this world has to offer us. When we receive Him in the Holy Eucharist let us spend some time kneeling in our pew adoring and loving him, and asking him to help us to adore, love, trust and believe in him more. When we receive Communion , we receive Christ Himself with his Body, his Blood, his Soul, and his Divinity. He gives himself to us in an intimate union which, if we give ourselves to him, binds us to him in a real way. Our life is transformed into his life, if we but offer Him our lives in response to His great love for us. In Holy Communion Christ is not only God with us, but God in us.
(Often throughout our day, all throughout our week we should think about the next time we will be able to receive Jesus again into our souls. Then we should make spiritual communions asking Jesus to come spiritual into our souls by praying often, “I wish my Lord to receive you with purity, the humility and devotion with which your Holy Mother received you, with the spirit and fervor of the saints.” These spiritual communions will increase our longing to receive Jesus sacramentally in Holy Communion during or next Mass, possessing and being possessed by Love incarnate.)
Let us ask the Blessed Virgin to help us. Holy Mary, Mother of the Holy Eucharist, help us to love Jesus in the Holy Eucharist above all things and to offer our love, our hearts and our whole self to him at this Holy Mass. Amen. O Lord I am not worthy to receive you under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)