God meets us where we are

With the introduction of the New Roman Missal over six months ago there have been changes to the words we use in Mass. Today, when we celebrate the Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ, is may be interesting to know that one of the changes is to the prayer the priest or deacon says as he purifies the vessels after communion.  The new wording is:

What has passed our lips as food, O Lord,
may we posses in purity of heart,
that what has been given to us in time
may be our healing for eternity.

This prayer begins with the corporal reality of the Eucharist and then brings me to the greater transcendent reality. God meets us where we are, living in the world with bodies that need nourishment. He gives us food that feeds us in the present and helps prepare us for heaven.

Happy Birthday Church!

As we celebrate Pentecost today, there is an option in Mass of a blessing. It goes like this:

May God, the Father of lights, who was pleased to enlighten the disciples' minds by the outpouring of the Spirit, the Paraclete, grant you gladness by his blessing and make you always abound with the gifts of the same Spirit

Amen

May the wondrous flame that appeared above the disciples, powerfully cleanse your hearts from every evil and pervade them with its purifying light.

Amen.

And may God, who has been pleased to unite many tongues in the profession of one faith, give you perseverance in that same faith and, by believing, may you journey from hope to clear vision.

Amen.

Preparing for Christmas

The worship space is being prepared for Christmas.

 

 There's some extra task in preparing

 the Social Level for worship.

Music books need to be set out.

This year we also need to set out sheets with the words for

 the New Roman Missal to assit the assembly in worship.

Prepared for Advent

This morning the church was busy as we prepared for Advent.

The missals were replaced for the new liturgical year.

 It was a blur of action.

Pew Cards were also distributed to help us follow

along with the changes for the New Roman Missal.

End of an Era

This morning was the last Mass in our church using the Sacramentary.

Tomorrow we begin to use the New Roman Missal.

For more information on the

New Roman Missal, click here.

In just 2 weeks...

In just two weeks we'll be using the New Roman Missal for Mass

 

To help us learn the changes, there

will be a "cheat sheet" in the pews.

 

So we will soon Welcome the New Roman Missal.

Fr Vogel's book about the Mass

Upon being ordained a transition deacon, then Deacon Vogel spent 53 Wednesdays sending an email to friends and family doing catechesis so they would understand what was happening at the Mass for his ordination. Not everyone he was mailing was Catholic nor even Christian, but they were people he wanted at his ordination and he hoped they would at least understand this better. Because the changes in the New Roman Missal were already forthcoming, he incorporated some of that into his messages as well.

At the end of the year he self published the book primarily for himself. Upon hearing that he wrote this, Fr. Vogel seemed surprised by the reaction of people who want to buy it. So he is making copies of this available in the Parish Office for $12.95 a copy. We hope to arrange a book signing party for this as well. He is donating the proceeds from this to the parish's forthcoming Source and Summit campaign to update our worship space.

In 40 Days...

In 40 days we implement

the New Roman Missal

We've been talking about the New Roman Missal at

our Masses, we've had articles in the bulletin and

 there have been Monday classes about it as well.

But on Sunday, November 27th Advent begins

and our current Sacramentary is history.

We're excited for the change!

Singing the New Roman Missal

With the new translation of texts in the Roman Missal, some of the music must adapt. On Thursday some parishioners gathered to practise singing the new music. If you missed it, you can come Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. in the church.

Welcoming the New Roman Missal

David Batter, Director of Music & Liturgy, introduces the Gloria we will be singing as we Welcome the New Roman Missal.

You are invited to learn the music at 7 p.m. either Thursday or Tuesday the 4th in the church. You don't need to register, everyone is welcome.

Singing the New Roman Missal

In Advent some of the words during Mass will change with the arrival of the New Roman Missal. The change in words also means a change in music. Thursday the group of musicians gathered to get a preview and sing some of the music together. Here is a sneak look at that:

A course on the biblical background to the texts of the Mass, using the New Roman Missal translations will begin soon.

Practically every part of the Mass finds inspiration from Scripture. It makes sense, then, that the better we understand the biblical background to the texts of the Mass, the better we will be able to appreciate and enter into all that we say at Mass.

Anticipating our welcoming of the new English translation of the Mass, we will offer a five-week scriptural tour through the prayers, hymns, and rituals of the Mass.

The method of study will include home preparation of reading and answering questions in the workbook. Video instruction and small group discussion will take place at the sessions.

The course will take place on Mondays, September 19 through October 17 at the Steinhausen Center. Morning (9:00-10:30 am) and evening (7:00-8:00 pm) will be offered.

Session Date Lesson

Sept 19 Introduction to the Study
Sept 26 Introductory Rites
Oct 3 The Liturgy of the Word
Oct 10 The Liturgy of the Eucharist: Preparation of the Gifts and Eucharistic Prayer
Oct 17 The Liturgy of the Eucharist: Communion Rite and Concluding Rites

You can register here