In This Issue:
April, 2008
St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church
100 Oak Dr. South
Lake Jackson, Texas
LIGHT FOR THE WORLD
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In This Issue: |
The liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council have enjoyed great success in bringing many Catholics closer to the perfect sacrifice of praise that Christ the Lord offered from the wood of the cross. Perhaps most of all, the reforms of the Missale Romanum (Roman Missal), which regulates the celebration of the Eucharist as the “source and summit of the Christian life”, have been the cause and witness of this great work
(From Foreword to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, or GIRM)
The GIRM reminds of the royal priesthood of the faithful and that the celebration of the Eucharist is an action of the whole Church, and in it, each should carry out solely but completely that which pertains to him or her, in virtue of the rank of each within the People of God. This people grows continually in holiness by its conscious, active and fruitful participation in the mystery of the Eucharist.
By the mid-second century, the celebration of the Eucharist, already separated from its setting within a regular meal, was usually preceded by a scripture service. The people gathered in silence and, when all had arrived, a reader began to proclaim the Word. In the fifth century, St. Augustine greeted the people before the Scriptures were proclaimed, and in the late 7th-century, the Pope passed through the assembly in procession and then began with an initial prayer. Over the centuries, other elements reflecting the piety of generations and cultures were added before the Scripture proclamations.
Today, parts preceding the Liturgy of the Word, namely, the entrance song, greeting, penitential rite, Kyrie, Gloria, and opening prayer or collect, have the character of beginning, introduction, and preparation. The purpose of these rites is to make the assembled people a unified community and to prepare them properly to listen to God’s Word and celebrate the Eucharist.
In order for the laity to know and understand how they can fully participate, they should understand the parts of the Mass – the structural elements - and their role in all the parts. In coming to Sunday Liturgy, we have mentally prepared ourselves beforehand, hopefully read the scriptures that will be proclaimed that day, greeted fellow members of the body of Christ, reverently entered into the Holy Ground that is the church building and quietly and prayerfully collected ourselves to begin the celebration.
SINGING AT MASS/THE ENTRANCE SONG
“Singing is the sign of the heart’s joy” (GIRM 39). Singing has been a part of Mass ever since the Last Supper (Matthew 26: 30). The first Christians sang songs, hymns, and spiritual songs (Colossians 3:16). We echo them.
“Great importance should therefore be attached to the use of singing in the celebration of the Mass” (GIRM 40).
As Mass begins, everyone stands to sing a song. The General Instruction for the Roman Missal calls this the Entrance Chant. Its purpose is “to open the celebration, foster the unity of those who have been gathered, introduced their thoughts to the mystery of the Liturgical Season or festivity, and accompany the procession of the priests and ministers”. This song, designed to accompany a procession, is the first strictly liturgical action of the people among whom Christ is active and present.
If you choose not to sing the entrance chant, you fail to open the celebration, you frustrate the unity of those assembled, you postpone thinking about the mystery we have gathered to celebrate, and you disassociate yourself from the procession. Surely, no one intends to do all this, but that is the effect.
Everyone is invited to sing at every Mass. “every care should be taken that singing by the ministers and the people is not absent in celebrations that occur on Sundays and on holy days of obligation”. (40)
Music belongs at every Mass. It helps us participate with body, soul, mind and strength.
(Adapted from Paul Turner)
MARTYR (Greek martyros – witness) The word was originally used simply to mean witness or testimony. Because those who die in persecutions are the supreme witnesses of the Faith, the term “martyr” gradually came to refer primarily to these who lay down their lives as the ultimate testimony of their true love for God and His Church.
The reason early martyrs suffered death was, generally, they were the most outspoken and zealous in proclaiming the Faith with their lives, before being called to proclaim it with their deaths.
We all need to be martyrs, loyal “witnesses” to the Faith! While few, if any, of us will be called to the glorious vocation of literally dying for our faith, all of us are called to stand tall in living and giving testimony to the Faith for which the martyrs died.
QUIZ
(TRUE/FALSE)
Q. At special occasions, the people may join in with the prayer: “Through
Him, with Him, in Him…” if the priest invites them to do so.
(Click here for answers, or scroll down)
That Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament grew out of a fear that people no longer believed in the Real Presence?
At certain times in history, notably in the 13th century, there seems to have been less emphasis among the faithful on the importance of the belief in and the assurance of the true and real presence of Jesus in the sacrament He gave us at the Last Supper, and adoration of the consecrated Host became, for many, their only level of devotion to the Eucharistic Lord.
The elevation of the Host at Mass was treated as an epiphany; some people placed exaggerated importance on it and would rush from one church to another just to see this moment. They did not receive communion, only the priest did, because the Lord had become too distant, too majestic to be “in communion” with, and looking at the Host with devotion was considered “communion of the eyes”. The idea that the faithful were also in communion with each other as brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ had faded.
The Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 commanded Catholics to receive Communion at least once a year at Eastertime, as a “duty”; such was the frail understanding of the meaning of Communion.
We should all be on guard that this will not happen again. We can learn from our history not to turn the Eucharist into a “thing”, an end in itself. We can keep appreciating its meaning as sacrament, as encounter, as banquet, as Communion with Christ and with one another through Him.
(From Catechist magazine.)
"What miracles! Who would ever have imagined such!...If the angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason; Holy Communion.”
St. Maximillian Kolbe
EASTER SEASON
Easter Sunday was very early this year; however, Easter did not end on March 24th, but extends for 50 days. The fifty days of Easter form one single feast, and was called by St. Athanasius, the one “great Sunday” celebrated in joy and exultation. The octave of Easter, nonetheless occupies a special position in the liturgy of this period.
Just as in Holy Week, no other celebration is permitted to take place during it. (Note that, just as St. Joseph’s Feast Day, March 19th , was observed on March 15th this year because it fell during Holy Week, the Annunciation of Our Lord, usually on March 25th , will be observed this year on March 31st, because it fell during Easter Week.)
During the initial week of this season, the Gospel readings first logically cycle through each evangelist’s account of the Resurrection. Each of these days are still bathed in the light of the Paschal Candle and marked with special solemnity and a constantly repeated Alleluia forming a simple but impressive hymn of praise.
Beginning with the second week of Eastertide, the lectionary returns to a number of pre-Resurrection discourses of Christ found only in the Gospel of St. John and are read every day, although not a strictly continuous reading. These Gospel passages, which the Church thus considers anew, are among the most mystic teachings of the Lord, since none of them can be properly understood without the light of Easter faith and has led to the development of a paschal theology and a quest to discover the saving significance of Christ’s death and resurrection..
The weekday liturgy from mid-Lent onward, is inspired above all by the readings from and meditations on the Gospel of John, so the 90 days of Lent and Easter give prominence to themes essential in the life of faith, including the sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist, the presence and absence of Christ, the Spirit and the Church. During the Octave of Easter, meditation is given to the Resurrection of Christ. The liturgy proclaims the same message with many variations: “The old world has passed away and a new world is already born.”
During Eastertide, there is also an almost continuous reading of the Acts of the Apostles as an account of the early Church’s apostolic activity. This has been read in the liturgy during paschal time since the 4th century. In addition to inspiring and guiding the lives of the first Christians, Acts has also encouraged those who have at every period of the Church’s history believed in the ideal of the apostolic life as reflected in the early Christian community.
Feast Days of Saints
April 7 St. John Baptist De La Salle
April 11 St. Stanislaus
April 13 World Day of Prayer for Vocations
April 25 St. Mark, the Evangelist
April 29 St. Catherine of Siena*
· *Catherine was born in Siena, Italy on March 25, 1347, the youngest of 25
· children. She began having mystical experiences at the age of six. She resisted her parents’ plans for her to marry, and devoted herself to prayer and fasting. At sixteen, she became a Dominican tertiary and had increasing visions of Christ, Mary and the Saints. She ministered to the sick, especially those with leprosy and advanced cancer. In 1375, she received the stigmata - wounds like the crucified Christ.
· She urged Pope Gregory to return the papacy from Avignon to Rome, and worked unceasingly to end the schism that began at Gregory’s death in 1378.
· She died on April 29, 1380 after suffering a paralytic stroke 8 days earlier.
· Catherine was canonized in 1461 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1970, one of the two first women to be so honored.
ANSWER:
A.
False
This is the priest’s prayer. The people may never join in with the “Through Him,
with Him,
in Him…” prayer. (Inaestimable Donum #4)
Q: What is the extra bit of music that was added before the Gospel on Easter Sunday Mass?
A: This is called a Sequence. Sequences originally grew, musically, out of Alleluias, by means of inserting extra words or phrases within an original text. Later, they were independent of the alleluias and many were written in rhyme. They were very popular during the Middle Ages, and eventually the church developed about 5000 sequences, but most were abolished by the Council of Trent.
Today the Sequence is written in both prose and poetic forms and is optional except on Easter Sunday and Pentecost. It is sung after the second reading and before the Gospel acclamation, and although it was developed by cantors and choirs, today it can be sung by all.
The Easter sequence is a hymn of praise (Hail Paschal Victim). At Pentecost, the final day of Easter, it is a hymn of praise to the Spirit (Come Holy Spirit, Come).
It is a hymn of praise on Trinity Sunday (Te Deum Laudeamus – Holy God, we praise Thy Name) and Thomas Aquinas wrote the Sequence often used on Corpus Christi, (Lauda, Sion, or Zion Praise).
A sequence can be used as a hymn for devotional prayer such as the Stations of the Cross, (At the Cross, the Mother Standing - or her station keeping). Although that is not the Eucharistic Liturgy, this can be used as a hymn for the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, Sept. 15.
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or Eucharist (Sacrament),
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Questions will be answered in next
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Featured
book of the month
THE FUTURE OF EUCHARIST – HOW A NEW SELF-AWARENESS AMONG CATHOLICS IS CHANGING THE WAY THEY BELIEVE AND WORSHIP
By Bernard Cooke
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A look at the fundamental shift in attitudes affecting the celebration of the Eucharistic today, which arises from a new perception of human sin and of the Eucharist as a personal encounter with Christ.
This distinguished theologian states these new understandings will change the way all Catholics think and worship in future years.
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