Messages from the Mass
-
-
Read MoreLOST AND FOUND
Welcome to “Lost and Found Sunday”! Just in case being in church makes us proudly consider ourselves especially religious, today’s Gospel suggests that we’d be wiser to admit that we’re sometimes lost. Then we’ll eventually be happily counted among Jesus’ “found,” because today Jesus focuses on a lost sheep, lost coin, lost son. Jesus does so because the Pharisees and scribes, proudly considering themselves especially religious, “began to complain” that Jesus “welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So Jesus warns them—and us—to stop judging others.
Marvel instead that God’s amazing grace has found us! Indeed, we should become Jesus’ friends lovingly trying to find others. So Exodus asks, if God “relented in punishment” and pardoned us, shouldn’t we forgive fellow sinners graciously? Even Paul admits his “arrogance” as “foremost among sinners.” We too, happy at being “mercifully treated,” should share with everyone else Jesus’ unfailing patience.
-
Read MoreAlthough New Year’s Day has been fixed firmly on January 1 for several hundred years, Labor Day has the feel of a great dividing line between leisure and routine. The pace of life has since picked up, and new schedules and commitments crowd us. In the background is God’s call to consider the third commandment, still life giving and binding, to make holy the Lord’s Day by worship and rest. Jews see the Sabbath, Saturday, not so much as a day of worship, but as a day of rest, a day of renewing friendship with God by delighting in the beauty of creation and the joy of family and friends. It is a day for contemplating the wonder of God’s creation, but not disturbing it.
For Christians in the first three centuries, the Lord’s Day, Sunday, was not for rest, but worship. It was a regular work day. People met before dawn, and after Eucharist hurried off to daily routines. Today we come to Mass, but many hurry off to essential work, not a day of rest. The Lord’s Day is not the Sabbath, but we can enhance Sunday’s ability to transform us if we consider embracing some Sabbath values: having a family meal, going for a walk in a beautiful place, making room in our lives to open ourselves more fully to holiness of life in Christ.
-
-
God's Presence
A Prayer to the SpiritRealize above all that you are in God's presence ... empty yourself completely and sit waiting, content with the grace of God, like a chick who tastes nothing and eats nothing but what its mother gives it. - St. Romuald
A Prayer to the Holy SpiritSpirit of Jesus, poured out in flames of fire upon your disciples on the day of Pentecost, we pray to you.
Set afire the hearts of your faithful so that they will announce in all the languages of the world the wonders of the salvation of God.
Holy Spirit, who sent Christ Jesus
to carry the Good News to the poor,
We pray to you: Help us to contiinue your work
by serving the poor, our brothers and sisters
The Gifts of the Holy SpiritWisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Knowledge,
Fortitude, Piety, Fear of the Lord
Walk With Us LordWalk with us, Lord,
Along the road of resurrection!
Explain for us, so slow to believe,
the things that Scripture says of you.
Break the bread of the Eucharist with us
whenever we share our lives
with our brothers and sisters.
Stay with us
each time night approaches
and the daylight fades in our hearts!
Come to us, Spirit of HolinessHoly Spirit,
You banish fear from our hearts;
You bear witness in us that we are children of God;
We pray to you;
Remove from our hearts the spirit of slaves;
Place in us the spirit of adopted children to make us cry out, "A bba, Father!"
Jesus Gives Us the Gift of Himself
When we go to Mass, we are doing what Jesus commanded his followers to do. It is a command to love and to be loved by God. Jesus offers himself to us in the Word of God that we hear, and in his Real Presence, offered to us in the Blessed Sacrament at Communion.
People Need Our Prayers
When we go to Mass, we speak to God through out singing, our communal responses and prayer, and our personal prayers from the depths of our hearts. During the Mass, we have the opportunity to ask God for what we need, promise that we will do what He wants us to do, and thank Him for the many blessings He has bestowed upon us.
The Gift of GraceYou are What You Eat
The gift of grace increases as the struggles increase. - St. Rose of Lima
The effect of receiving the body and blood of Christ is to change us into what we receive. - Pope Saint Leo the Great
CharityCharity is that with which no one is lost, and without which no one is saved.- St. Robert Bellarmine
Holy Spirit, Guide Us Today.Holy Spirit, you who pointed out the way for your disciples to announce the Gospel, we pray to you: "As in the time of the apostles, guide today's messengers of the Good News."
God Asks Us to Make One Day Holy.God asks us to set aside one day to refocus physically, mentally, and spiritually. We live in a secular world. Going to Mass helps us to see everything from a different perspective. We begin to see in the depths of our being that God is in charge. We can let go of our own agenda because we know that God will inspire us, guide us and strengthen us for the week ahead.
What the Mass Tells Us.When we listen to the readings, the homily, and the prayers at Mass, God speaks to us in a special way. We should come away from each Mass with at least one inspiration that will impact our lives in some way. We just have to pay attention and be open to what the Lord is trying to tell us.
Praying During Mass.We can pray for other people anytime, but when we pray for others during Mass, we pray in a special way. It doesn't matter if the other people are separated from us by distance or by death. The Mass brings us together in the Body of Christ, and we become the communion of saints. It is part of the cosmic dimension of the Mass that unites heaven and earth by reaching across time and space.