New Roman Missal: Liturgy of the Eucharist

People using a prayer aid:
our reality the next few months

Finishing our series on the New Roman Missal, we turn our attention to the prayers surrounding our reception of Jesus in the Eucharist.  Even though I knew the change was happening, the degree of change in the Eucharistic Prayer really caught my attention.  Below we'll take a look at a few of the different prayers prayed by the priest and the assembly.

Hosts ≠ wafer

We've been praying the revised Holy, Holy, Holy for a few months now in song.  There's only one minor change.  Instead of being a "God of power and might," we now pray that God is a "God of hosts."  Ask any second grader preparing for First Communion and they'll tell you host means wafer, but that's not the cast.  Here, hosts means a multitude of angelic beings.

As with many of the changes, "hosts" is a direct allusion from Scripture, this time Isaiah 6:3:

One [angel] cried out to the other:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!
All the earth is filled with his glory!”

Sounds familiar?  Here, the prophet Isaiah is having a vision of God sitting on a thrown on high surrounded by angels (whose name literally means messenger).  Having dwelt with God, the angels should know a thing or two about God, so their proclamation that God is holy should be taken seriously.  And just before this prayer, the priest invites us to join the heavenly choirs of angels in praising God.  When we do this, we're uniting our voices not only to their voices, but the voices of countless generations of Jews and Christians who have acclaimed the holiness of God through multiple millennia.  Our prayer and worship of God becomes united to the prayer and worship of all those saints and angels.  What a truly awesome experience!

Chalice not cup
The best summary I've found of change from cup to chalice is found in the Life Teen video for Parents, the same one I posted previously.  Below is that video linked up to the time where he talks the shift (the explanation is less than one minute).



As an aside, the change from cup to chalice reminds me of the fictional Indiana Jones scene where Dr. Jones is picking the Holy Grail, believed to be the true cup of Christ (he chose poorly, he chose wisely).  Even though the vessel the poor man chose looks more ornate than the vessel Dr. Jones picked, Indy's choice does look like the chalices we use at ST. MARK.

Is many less than all?
One of the more controversial changes was the decision to translation the Latin word pro multis from "all," as in the previous translation, to "many."  Does this mean Jesus didn't die for less than all, because many is less than all?  No.


The official US Conference of Catholic Bishop's website provides a very helpful FAQs about this translation.  Below is an excerpt from the FAQs:

Does this mean that Christ did not die for everyone? 

We believe Jesus died for all

No. It is a dogmatic teaching of the Church that Christ died on the Cross for all men and women (cf. John 11:52; 2 Corinthians 5:14-15; Titus 2:11; 1 John 2:2). The expression “for many,” while remaining open to the inclusion of each human person, is reflective also of the fact that this salvation is not brought about in some mechanistic way, without one’s own willing or participation; rather, the believer is invited to accept in faith the gift that is being offered and to receive the supernatural life that is given to those who participate in this mystery, living it out in their lives as well so as to be numbered among the “many” to whom the text refers. 

What is the significance of “for many” in this context and in the context of the Gospel? 

With these words, Jesus identifies his mission to bring salvation through his Passion and Death, his offering of himself for others. In a particular way he identifies himself with the Suffering Servant of the Prophet Isaiah, who suffers to “take away the sins of many” (Is 53:12).

Again, this shift focuses on harmony with our biblical texts.  Matthew 26: 26-28 says (emphasis added):

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, “Take and eat; this is my body.”  Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.

Enter under my roof
Like many of the revisions, when we pray "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my souls will be healed," we're alluding to Scripture.  If you're unfamiliar with the story of the centurion, there's a brief recap below:

When he entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” He said to him, “I will come and cure him.” The centurion said in reply, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.” -- Matthew 8:5-8, 10

Swap servant for soul and we quote Scripture directly.  When we pray this prayer, we're placing ourselves in the shoes of the centurion who showed great faith.  And we're hearing from Jesus about how great our faith is "as you have believed, let it be done for you" (Matthew 8:13).

We're all searching for healing in life.  Others hurt us and we hurt others.  Words, actions, inactions, thoughts, social systems, our complacency: we are a world in need of a savior, in need of a healer.  Jesus is that healer.  When we say "roof" we're not talking about the roof of our mouth.  Instead, we're praying that because of our unworthiness, because of our sinfulness, we feel unworthy to have Jesus enter into the house that is our heart, our soul.  May Jesus continue to heal us as individuals and as community!

photo credit: michael_swan; Bruce Guenter

Five Family Advent Ideas

Yesterday we learned about Advent in two minutes.  So how do we practice preparation in our family?  Here are five ways your family can prepare for Christmas this Advent.

Decorate

My wife and I started a tradition last year of decorating our house on the third Sunday of Advent.  Why the third Sunday?  Because it's Gaudete Sunday!  It's a Sunday of Joy and we mark that time as a Church by using rose (pink) colored vestments at mass and light the rose (pink) colored candle.  Decorate with various greens, religious icons or drawings or pictures, lights, a creche (see below) and of course all the usual Christmas decorations.

Use an Advent Calendar

There are many Advent calendars to choose from online.  Here's one for a family (PDF) and one for children (PDF).  For you parents, here's one you can do online, which I do every year.  It includes a short quote or video clip and an action to do each day. On the First Sunday of Advent, it featured an excellent video clip from Lord of the Rings -- so you know it must be good.

Or, make your own calendar.  On the days from today to Christmas, write a different action you or your family can do in preparation for the coming of Christ. For example, write a Christmas card to a relatives, clean the house for guests, or make Christmas presents instead of buying them.

Make a Creche
At the manger scene, you can gather each night for prayer. Tell your kids to place one piece of straw in the cradle for good deeds they or their family did that day. The more good deeds, the softer the cradle becomes for Jesus. My family has a tradition of placing baby Jesus in the cradle when we come back from Christmas Mass on Christmas Eve.  Use that or create your own tradition.

Use an Advent Wreath
Light candles corresponding to the candles lit at Mass on Sundays and pray around the wreath every day.  Need your wreath blessed?  Try this family Advent wreath blessing from Loyola Press or this blessing from our own US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Donate
Gather some clothes, toys, and other items to donate to a local charity. Try donating a favorite toy or favorite article of clothing. It may be difficult, but giving up our favorite items can foster a deeper love for others and remind us that others deserve the best we have to offer.

How does your family prepare for Advent?  What's your favorite family tradition?  What do you hope your children pass on to their children?  Share your ideas, leave a comment.

Advent in 2 Minutes

Advent has been overshadowed this year by our new Roman Missal.  Want to know what this season is all about?  Watch this short video.



More to come on Advent in the next few days, including ways to celebrate in your home.

What ways do you celebrate Advent?  Or do you struggle with how to introduce Advent in your home?

New Roman Missal: New Creed? (no, just a different translation)

in one God...

Another big change in the revised translation (coming to a parish new you in 6 days!) is the Nicene Creed, the statement of belief that we Catholics say together at Mass.  It's more than just a statement of belief, but a prayer of identity, for when we recite the Creed we say together "this is what I believe," and our beliefs help form us into a local and universal community.

Open this PDF to view our new translation of this ancient statement of belief and prayer, the Nicene Creed, with the changes in bold.  Read through it a couple of times and become a little more familiar with the text.  Keep the PDF open as we look at three phrases or words that are different in the new Roman Missal

All things visible and invisible
With the translation, we say we believe in a God who is a maker of "all things visible and invisible."  The visible is easy to understand.  Look outside and you can see the beauty of creation all around us.  But what about the invisible?  Our belief that God is the maker of "all things invisible" is not an expression of belief in object permanence, that things exist even when we can't see them.  Instead, there are somethings that are invisible by nature: love, virtue, truth, etc.  God created all those invisible things too.

There are also things that become invisible after time, namely people.  This belief helps unite us with our brothers and sisters in faith who have gone before us in faith who are "invisible" to the eyes, but approachable in our faith when we ask for their prayers.

Consubstantial
My spell checker tells me consubstantial is not a word, so why are we is it part of what we believe?  What does it mean?

Let's take a look at Mickey's second Maneline article for better understanding:

"Consubstantial" is an entirely new English word – based on the Latin word "consubstantialem." When the Nicene Creed first appeared in Greek, it used the Greek "homoousion" which literally meant that the Son is constituted from the same divine "stuff" or substance as the Father.  In the Latin translation homoousion became consubstantialem, which could be translated "one in substance with" the Father.  Indeed, as many older Catholics will recall, those were precisely the words in the first provisional English text of the Roman Missal.  But in the 1975 translation "one in substance" was changed to "one in being."  In the new translation the "divine sameness" of Father and Son is conveyed by the word "consubstantial."  

Incarnate
Think Christmas.  Now think 9 months before Christmas (the Annunciation, March 25).  That's the Incarnation.

With our previous translation, we could have possibly misinterpreted our faith, which is not a good thing.  Instead of saying that Jesus was fully God and fully man in Mary's womb when the Holy Spirit acted, we could have understood "by the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary" to mean that Jesus wasn't God until birth.  We believe otherwise, that from Jesus' conception, He is divine and man.

Fun video on new Creed translation
A group of youth from St. Mark in Fallston, MD created this YouTube video to help introduce the new translation of the Creed to their community.  Check it out, a minute or so into the video, for a run through of the Creed.


image credit: SweetCapture

Matthew 25: 31-46

Matthew 25: 31-46

The following is used by permission from our friends over at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Mill Valley, CA.

In today’s Gospel we hear Jesus describing the Final Judgment, the Second Coming of Christ where (at some unknown point in the future) “Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end”. As Christians we look forward to this day, not because we want to escape the world around us out of fear; this is not a faithful Christian perspective. We look forward to Christ’s second coming because Jesus coming again makes present what we are working toward: the Transformation of the World so that Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

Every day we are called to transform the world around us, to till the soil of the New Creation, so that God’s presence may continue to take root in the world. How do we do this? Sometimes this means living a life of humble heroic virtue, sometimes this means speaking to others about our Faith with confidence and invitation, but this must always include having a relationship with the poor.

Jesus has placed the poor in our lives as a sign of His presence among us. He has placed usin the lives of the poor so that we might meet their needs knowing that whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.

We do not ‘do service’ or help others because we want to be ‘nice’ or because it makes us feel good. We serve others and advocate for justice because we see the face of Jesus in every person, and believe that every human being is made in the image and likeness of God and has inherent dignity. When we see other people as our brothers and sisters, instead of as ‘others’, we cannot help but be in relationship with them.

This is our path to holiness, to transform the world and our hearts.

New Roman Missal: And With Your Spirit

Rejoining Catholics Worldwide in Saying "Spirit"

Yep, pretty official looking

"The Lord be with you."

"And with your spirit"

With the implementation of the New Roman Missal, the first change everyone will notice is the re-translation of the Latin "et cum spiritu tuo."  The previous translation, "And also with you" will be replaced with "And with your spirit," which aligns the English-speaking Catholics with Catholics across the globe.  In Italian, this phrase is translated "E con il tuo spirito," in French "Et avec votre esprit," in Spanish "Y con tu espíritu," and in German "Und mit deinem Geiste."

Scriptural Influences
The greeting between the priest and the assembly is not foreign to our faith, but an exchange the springs forth from Scripture.  Let's take a look:
"The Lord be with you." The priest's greeting to us is plucked almost word for word from the Gospel of Luke:

And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.” -- Luke 1:28

Mary is hearing from the angel of God for the first time.  Another translation of the verse implores Mary to "rejoice" in hearing the greeting.  We too should rejoice when we gather and are greeted because we know that we enjoy God's favor as we gather to receive the Word of God in the Scripture and the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist.  And like Mary, we have a choice to work with God to bring about the Kingdom here on Earth.

"And with your spirit."  Again, we find a very strong link to Scripture:

The Lord be with your spirit.  Grace be with you. -- 2 Timothy 4:22

At the end of his letter to Timothy, Paul asks the Lord to be with Timothy's spirit.  When we reply to the priest, we are asking the same.  The entire greeting expresses a desire for God's presence to be with us as we enter into prayer together either at the beginning of mass, or at other new moments during mass.

More on "And with your Spirit" after the jump.

New Roman Missal: What's This All About?

This isn't the exact book, but you get the idea

The First Day of the Rest of Our Catholic Lives
Ok, so a little over the top with the header above, but it's true: the First Sunday of Advent, 2011 will be the first day of the rest of our Catholic lives.  The words we use to pray together as a community will change.  The next few weeks this blog will have a series of blog posts to focus in on preparing us for the weekend of November 27.  Hundreds of resources exist to help parishes, parents, teenagers, and teachers get up to speed about the New Roman Missal and its translation.  It's my goal to highlight some of the best ones our Catholic churches have to offer for adults and children alike.

How Did We Get Here?
From St. Louis University's FAQs on the new Missal, we get the quick answer:

Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II before him have expressed their desire to restore greater mystery, transcendence, and reverence to the celebration of the Mass.

To dig deeper, St. Mark's own Mickey Edwards provides an excellent brief history of the Mass in the 20th century in one short article.  You can read the whole article in our August/September Maneline (PDF warning).  To quote from this article:

In 1982 a second edition of the Roman Missal appeared in Latin, and in 1998 the bishops of English-speaking countries submitted a translation to Rome for approval. But in 1999 the translation principles of Comme le prevoit [nb: published after Vatican II] were set aside by a new Vatican document on translation, Liturgiam authenticam, which rejects the principle of “dynamic equivalence” in favor of “formal equivalence.” Formal equivalence requires that every word in the Latin text be rendered in the translation and it also directs that the vocabulary, syntax, punctuation, and capitalization patterns found in Latin must be reproduced as far as possible in the vernacular translation. Gender-inclusive grammatical forms now commonly used in English are not acceptable.

In 2002 a third edition of the Roman Missal was promulgated in Latin. Guided by the new translation norms in Liturgiam authenticam, the ICEL produced an English translation which was approved by Rome in 2010. This is the translation that we will begin using on November 27th.

Process: How Did This Happen?
LifeTeen has a great video summary of how the translation came into being:


In future, we'll dive into specific parts of the New Roman Missal.  Do you have any questions?  What would you like to see us cover?  Leave us a comment and let us know.

Image Credit: Lawrence OP

"Between Heaven and Mirth": Jesus Probably Loved a Good Joke

Saints can be funny too

Fr. James Martin, SJ, culture editor of the weekly Jesuit magazine America and author of many books, has a new one out called "Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life."  Below is an excerpt from this book, perfect for a Friday in November:

"Accepting that you're not in control is a reason not only for humility — but also for more joy. You can work hard and leave the rest up to God. Pope John XXIII once said that when he woke up in the night, worried about the future of the church, he would relax by asking himself a question. 'Giovanni,' he would say to himself. 'Why are you so worried? Who is in charge of the church — you or the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit! So go back to sleep, Giovanni!' "

You are not God. And if you forget this, God will remind you. So we need to lighten up about life and ministries. Not that our work and family and religious lives are not important. But we're ultimately not the one who brings about results."

Fr. Martin was also recently on the Comedy Central show Colbert Report, answering questions about Between Heaven and Mirth, and showing the world that you can be joyful and humorous while being seriously faithful.  Embedded below (and linked here) is his interview with Stephen Colbert:

Link: Taking Young Children to Mass

Children and mass

"How do we bring our young children to mass?"  This question is on the minds and lips of many first time and veteran parents who risk stares if their young children make even a peep at mass.

Much ink has been spilled by way of pamphlets and brochures to help parents raise their kids in the faith.  A new article on ForYourMarriage.org distills many suggestions and presents them through the eyes of a couple with two young children.  Among the suggestions I found most interesting:

We physically hold our children in our arms during Mass. In fact, we adopted the position that our children’s feet do not touch the ground during Mass until they are three years old. This helps in many ways. The children get a get a better view; as they grow and mature we can talk them through the stories and the actions; and we have a bit more control over their behavior. If an infant or toddler gets squirmy, often switching who is holding them is enough to calm them down. Otherwise we might play a quiet game of “point to the…candles, priest, altar, cross, etc.”

Read the rest of the article for more tips on bringing children to mass or leave a comment to share your own.

Image Credit: Mandy_Jansen

A Good "No-School" Project: Thanksgiving Clothing Drive

Is this your closet?

"I get to sleep in until noon on Monday AND Tuesday!"
It's every student's favorite time of the school year, a four-day weekend.  As a child, my favorite part about long weekends was the shortened week before or after.  But now as an adult, I enjoy working on projects around the house, reading a few more chapters of my latest novel, and catching up with friends.

Pass on one of these these values to your children by planning a special project that will benefit those in need.  In a couple week's time, the annual St. Mark Thanksgiving Clothing Drive (TCD) will be up and running and will need donations from parishioners and others in the area.  Many families have come to rely on the TCD for warm coats and clothes to get through winter.  Here's how you can help:

• Go through your closet and look for warm items to donate.  Make sure the clothes are not raggedy and worn through.
• All sizes, styles, and types of clothes are accepted (but the largest need is for winter clothes).
• Collection begins in the St. Mark Activity Center on Saturday, November 19 (more details forthcoming).

You Clothed Me
Although giving clothes is a good thing in itself, give this project a faith backbone by reading Matthew 25: 31-46 (which, coincidentally, is the Gospel reading the Sunday before Thanksgiving).  Highlight the "clothing the naked" bit, noting that when we give our clothes, we are helping to clothe Christ who is present in the poor.  Jesus truly is "one of the these least brothers."  (Clothing the naked is one of the seven Corporal Works of Mercy, acts that are done to alleviate poverty and suffering in the world.)

Encourage your children (and yourself) to donate one item that you would never want to donate.  When we do that, we loosen the grasp our possessions have on us and open our lives more fully to the presence of Christ in the poor.

What will you donate this year?

Image: photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

No RE Monday, November 7 and Tuesday, November 8

We will not have Religious Education classes Monday, November 7 and Tuesday, November 8 due to the Fairfax County Public School's schedule.  Classes will resume next week.

All Souls' Day: We Pray for and Remember the Dead

We pray for the dead

Prayers
All Souls' Day reminds us that part of the life of the Christian Catholic is to pray for the dead.  We have a mystical link to them through the Body of Christ and we believe that our prayers, somehow, help those in purgatory be with God in heaven.  (More information on purgatory and praying for the dead found here).

At St. Mark, we have a special Mass today at 7:30PM for all who have passed away, especially those who have died within the past year.  Throughout the month of November, our Book of the Dead will be available in the Narthex for you to inscribe the names of your deceased relatives and friends.  We will remember all these individuals during the masses this month.

Remembering
Aside from prayer, take sometime today to talk with your family about a love one who has passed on.  Growing up, I always loved hearing stories of relatives who passed before my birth, to see how the faces and voices of those sharing memories would brighten.  When we share these memories with each other, especially with children, we pass on our family tradition and heritage, and the childhood of grandparents or uncles seems more real.  Stories of how great grandma immigrated here not knowing the language inspire us to keep going even in the most difficult moments.

Give your children that gift today of coming to know someone you loved.  They'll thank you later.

Image: africa / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

All Saints' Day

With Halloween candy on the clearance racks today, we Catholics turn our attention to All Saint's Day (the Solemnity of All Saints).  Today is a wonderful opportunity for us to gather together to celebrate all the saints who have gone before us, both canonized and uncanonized.

Greeting Pilgrims from his balcony, Pope Benedict XVI had this to say to English speakers today:

I am pleased to wish all of you a happy All Saints Day! This wonderful feast, along with tomorrow's commemoration of the faithful departed, speaks to us of the beauty of our faith and of the joy that awaits us in heaven with our loved ones who have fallen asleep in Christ. Let us therefore pray earnestly that we may all be joyfully united one day in the Father's house. God bless you all!

So what is it about the Saints that captures our attention?  Fr. Jim Martin explains how real the attraction of saints can be, and how important they are for our faith:

Happy All Saint's Day!