The Presider’s Page for Sundays. Suggested introduction to the Mass; prayers of the Faithful. Also, Resources for Weekdays and Sundays (the Readings plus homily ideas).
Everyone who believes God’s word is called to pass on the Good News. Like many who have gone before us, including the prophet Isaiah and the apostles Peter and Paul, we may not feel up to the task. But God helps us every day.
• Today, the last Sunday before Lent, is celebrated as Temperance Sunday in Ireland.
We gather as people loved by God, people called to pass on the love we have received. The love God has put into the world will never fail, but will last as long as humanity lasts. We praise God for the gifts lavished on us. (Today is the first day of Catholic Schools Week in Ireland.)
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity continues until this Monday. With Christians all over the world, we ask God to give us the unity for which Christ prayed.
Fr. Anthony Ruff writes in his praytellblog.com about the change of rules concerning the washing of feet on Holy Thursday.
The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments now says that female feet may be washed!
Anthony asks ‘is too much being made about a rather insignificant matter?’
We could add why has it taken Rome so long to catch up with what has been common practice in most parishes for many years.
There are echoes of the Christmas season in today’s liturgy, particularly in the Gospel story of the wedding feast of Cana, in which God’s glory becomes visible in Jesus, as it did at his Epiphany and Baptism.
Today we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of the Lord: it’s the last day of the Christmas season.
The baptism of Jesus marked the end of his quiet years in Nazareth and the start of his public ministry.
We gather to celebrate the first Sunday of 2016, with thankfulness for the year just gone. We ask God for continuing care and protection as face this New Year, not knowing what it will bring.
Today is part of the continuing Christmas celebration. In today’s Mass, we honour the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. As during this week we say goodbye to 2015, we entrust our families to their patronage, and pray for God’s help in the New Year.
In the dark of Christmas night, Christians proclaim the new light that has shone on the world: Jesus Christ is born! With the angels, we worship God who saves us — for through the life, death and resurrection of this child Jesus, salvation is ours.
Christians celebrate today an amazing mystery — God is born in time. The eternal God shares our nature, he has pitched his tent in the midst of humanity. With joy in our hearts, we contemplate the mystery of the Word made flesh.
Advent draws to a close this week, so we have just a couple of days left to prepare for the birth of Christ. On this Sunday, we’re invited to follow Mary’s example of concern for others.
Traditionally, today is called Gaudete Sunday, which means ‘a day for rejoicing.’ The reason for celebration is that the day of the Lord’s coming is nearer.
Fr. P. John Mannion critically evaluates the ‘new missal’.
” The fact of the matter is that the Roman Congregation responsible for the current translation, completely ignored the directives of Vatican Two, and gave us instead the Mass we were using since Pope Paul VI laced with Tridentine insertions plus prayers rehashed in a supposedly “sacred language” and translated from the Latin according to Rome’s directive “in a most exact manner” thus giving us a translation that is ungrammatical and laced with pious, phoney verbiage.”
It’s just one week since the season of Advent began. Our time of waiting continues. We try to prepare a way for the Lord, encountering John the Baptist, his messenger, during this Sunday’s liturgy.
Advent begins today. During these days, we look forward, waiting in hope. We watch for the end times, when Christ will come in glory, Christ who was born for us just a little over 2,000 years ago.
Stan Mellett shares some thoughts on the importance of having a pastoral approach to funeral rites “when the increasingly normal experience is a funeral for one who has long since lost touch with the church, had ceased to practice the faith and been in an irregular marital situation,”
“People who have little contact with church – uneasy with ceremony and ritual – anxious and uneasy about protocol, any effort to accommodate and accompany them through the Wake, funeral Mass and burial/cremation is a service not to be underestimated; an important pastoral opportunity not to be missed.”
We celebrate the feast of Christ the King today, acclaiming Jesus as our king, the one who died for us and rose triumphant. We offer praise and worship — and ask for the grace to live as worthy citizens of his kingdom of justice, truth, love and peace.
Fr. Anthony Ruff OSB reports on the meeting of the U.S. bishops at Baltimore.
He raises the possibility of some movement on the ongoing problems with the current “translation” of the Roman Missal with the election of a new chair to the U.S. bishops liturgy committee.
“it is noteworthy that the bishop who spoke most negatively about the new translation, Archbishop Wilton Gregory, was a candidate to be chair of the USCCB liturgy committee. He was elected. His term will begin in 2016.”
” Archbishop Wilton Gregory, also a former USCCB liturgy committee chair, rose to echo Trautman’s concerns. Before printing up more books with the current translation, we ought to look at the problems with the translation. There should be a review of the problems with the new Missal.”
Isn’t it time the Irish bishops addressed the problem realistically and had a real discussion about it?
Rocco Palmo reports that Pope Francis today, Sunday 15 November, visited Rome’s Evangelical Lutheran church for an ecumenical dialogue.
Speaking of her marriage to a Catholic, a woman member of the Lutheran congregation addressed “the hurt we’ve felt together due to [their] difference of faith” and asked about their ability “to finally participate together in Communion.”
In response Francis said “I ask myself and don’t know how to respond – what you’re asking me, I ask myself the question. To share the Lord’s banquet: is it the goal of the path or is it the viaticum [etym. “to accompany you on the journey”] for walking together?”
As we move into the darker times of the year, the readings at Mass remind us more and more of the end of time, and the glory awaiting believers. We trust that God stays with us always.
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