Second Sunday of Easter, Year A. 2011.
(Fr Angelo will be celebrating the 6pm Saturday and the 8am Sunday masses this weekend. I will be celebrating the 10am Tiaro mass and several Baptisms and two weddings). So it’s a wonderful, busy week of celebrations.
This weekend, there are a lot of things happening in the Easter season, in the church and in the wider secular community.. These things all find a place in our prayers and thoughts..
This Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday, where we recall the absolute mercy and love that Jesus has for all humanity. This same Sunday is the day the Pope will declare the late Pope John Paul II “blessed” - the first formal step towards canonisation. In addition, it’s the labour day long weekend, where we give thanks for all workers and pray that their dignity and conditions will be respected and humane and dignified.
Also,
Over the next few weeks I will be preaching about the new Missal for the celebration of Mass in the Catholic church. Particularly the new English translation that is soon to come into effect, and its connections to our faith and practice…
As you probably know, usually the homily is to be taken from the readings of the day or, as the Vatican II documents and subsequent liturgical documents also stress, homilies can also be based on the prayers and texts of the mass for that day. This is most fitting at this time when the translation of those texts is about to change.
Second Sunday of Easter
In the readings this weekend we see the scene of the encounter between the Risen Christ and Thomas: (Jesus) “breathed on them and said: Receive the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit in the life of the church is absolutely vital. Without the Holy Spirit falling upon the church and falling upon us, everything we do would be ineffective. The gift of the Holy Spirit “falls upon us like the dewfall” (which is a phrase that captures the image of the manna falling from heaven and lightly coating the ground in order to give nourishment to the people of Israel when they were journeying through the desert, with Moses leading them. In the coming weeks we are going to be introduced to the new ROMAN MISSAL. this is a new and authorised translation of the mass. If you look at the Eucharistic prayers of both the new mass and, in fact, the present mass too, you can see that each Eucharistic Prayer always features the invocation (or ‘calling down’) of the Holy Spirit on the gifts and on the gathered Church (this is called by the Greek word: epiclesis). Have a look at Eucharistic Prayer II and notice the role of the Holy Spirit in the Eucharistic Prayer. In the new translation, this role of the Spirit is highlighted. (Notice the new image of the dewfall as I mentioned before).
Newsletter: An outline of the structure of the Eucharistic Prayer (GIRM 79).
Paragraph 79 of the New Instruction on the Roman Missal says the following, relating to the structure of the Eucharistic Prayers:
The chief elements making up the Eucharistic Prayer may be distinguished
in this way:
a. Thanksgiving (expressed especially in the Preface): in which the priest, in
the name of the entire holy people, glorifies God the Father and gives thanks
for the whole work of salvation or for some special aspect of it that
corresponds to the day, festivity, or season.
b. Acclamation: in which the whole congregation, joining with the heavenly
powers, sings the Sanctus (also known as the “holy, Holy”). This acclamation, which is part of the Eucharistic Prayer itself, is sung or said by all the people with the priest.
c. Epiclesis (a Greek word for “calling down from on high”) : in which, by means of particular invocations, the Church implores
the power of the Holy Spirit that the gifts offered by human hands be
consecrated, that is, become Christ’s Body and Blood, and that the spotless
Victim to be received in Communion be for the salvation of those who will
partake of it.
d. Institution narrative and consecration: in which, by means of words and
actions of Christ, the Sacrifice is carried out which Christ himself instituted
at the Last Supper, when he offered his Body and Blood under the species
of bread and wine, gave them to his Apostles to eat and drink, and left them
the command to perpetuate this same mystery.
e. “Anamnesis” (A Greek word for “Remembering”): in which the Church, fulfilling the command that she received
from Christ the Lord through the Apostles, keeps the memorial of Christ,
recalling especially his blessed Passion, glorious Resurrection, and Ascension
into heaven.
f. Offering: by which, in this very memorial, the Church - and in particular
the Church here and now gathered - offers in the Holy Spirit the
spotless Victim to the Father. The Church’s intention, however, is that
the faithful not only offer this spotless Victim but also learn to offer
themselves,71 and so day by day to be consummated, through Christ the
Mediator, into unity with God and with each other, so that at last God may be all in all.72
g. Intercessions: by which expression is given to the fact that the Eucharist is
celebrated in communion with the entire Church, of heaven as well as of
earth, and that the offering is made for her and for all her members, living
and dead, who have been called to participate in the redemption and the
salvation purchased by Christ’s Body and Blood.
h. Final doxology (a Greek word meaning “giving glory and praise”) : by which the glorification of God is expressed and which is
confirmed and concluded by the people’s acclamation: Amen.
In the end, the new translation of the Mass texts keeps faithful to this ancient structure and re-translates the texts from the original latin prototype edition faithfully and literally… so that no matter what language we are celebrating mass in… throughout the world, we will all be joined with one voice praising, thanking, remembering and offering ourselves to the perfect offering of Christ in the Eucharist. For the greater glory of God and the coming of his Kingdom..
