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ST. JUDE CATHOLIC COMMUNITY PAGE SIX MARCH 5, 2000
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enter into activities to help us accomplish this. Of course, the foremost way is by participating in Liturgical Prayer (the prayer of Christ with His People, the Church) such as daily Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours, and the Sacraments. The second is by reading/listening and taking to heart the Word of God, the Sacred Scriptures. The third one is by spending time with the Eucharistic Presence of Jesus
.Other good ways include meditation, praying the stations of the cross or the rosary, etc.
Whatever we do this Lent, more time must be spent in prayer.
Almsgiving: Sharing with those less fortunate has always been a practice and a sign of being a Christian. In fact, St. James in his Letter states that those who fail
to give alms are phony Christians. St. Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians 6:10 reminds us that those who do not give alms (viz, are misers) will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
To all Catholic Christians, Lent is a time of having a "Desert Experience", even if we never leave our home. It is a time of withdrawing from some daily routines so as to have time to spend re-evaluating our life and the direction in which our life is going. It is a time of dying more to self, to live more fully for Christ. It is a time of replacing our faults and failures with positive approaches to life, so that the devil once removed will not find us empty and move back in making us worse in the last place than in the first. It is also a time to pray for, to make welcome, and to help in anyway we can, all those preparing to join us on Holy Saturday by their Christian Initiation in our Catholic Church. It is also a time to pray for all those children and youth preparing to receive another Sacrament of Initiation by making their First Holy Communion or Confirmation.
Let us all respond to the Challenges the Lord lays before us this Lent by works of Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving.
We conclude our Lenten Observances by making the best confession of our lives, so that we truly can die to self to rise to a new life in Christ.
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STANDING AT MASS
We Begin Standing Next Sunday
Wherever you travel these days, it seems we find different postures being followed by the local Gathered Assemblies at Sunday Mass. However, ever so slowly the rubrics provided in the "Editio Typica" (Official Vatican Latin Edition) of the 1976 Sacramentary are being implemented throughout the world.
All over Italy, including St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Gathered Assemblies are now implementing the rubrics/directives regarding "Standing". People are now standing from the "Pray Brethren" to the "Words of Institution", and from immediately after the "Words of Institution" till the end.
While the rubrics direct that the Gathered Assembly is to stand from the "Orate te, fratres --- Pray Brethren" to the "Epiclesis --- the Calling down of the Holy Spirit", and then kneel for the "Words of Institution", and then stand again from "The Mystery of Faith" Proclamation till all have received Holy Communion, in this country with the permission of the Holy See we will continue for the time being kneeling till the "Our Father". However, from the "Our Father" till all have received the Holy Communion, we will stand as the rubrics imposed by His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, direct in the 1976 Sacramentary.
The purpose behind this practice, is to remind the Gathered Assembly that many though we are, we become one body in Christ and one with each other in Christ. As one body, all doing the same thing, we stand together while singing together the Communion Hymn of praise unto the Lord. Only after all have received, do we then sit together to spend some time in quiet meditation and prayer with the Eucharistic Lord within us.
When one is privileged to attend Mass with His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, in his private chapel at the Vatican, one is overcome with the depth of love that radiates from His Holiness as he often spends up to 15 minutes in quiet, meditative prayer with His Eucharistic Lord, before he concludes his Mass. Yet, we find so many rushing from the church the moment they receive Holy Communion, and forgetting about the presence of their Lord within them. Still others push to finish Mass faster, while they too forget about the presence of Christ within them, so they can go about doing things that are wrongly considered "More Important Than Christ within Them."
Next Sunday, the First Sunday of Lent, March 12th, we will begin standing from the "Our Father" till all have received Holy Communion. Those who cannot stand for health reasons, are allowed to sit as the rubrics in the Sacramentary direct.
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"TOGETHER IN MISSION"
If you have not yet made your 2000 Pledge Commitment to our Sister Parish and helping those less fortunate, please prayerfully consider doing so now or whenever your financial picture changes. We cannot ignore the needs of our poorest sisters and brothers. Rather, we need to stand in most heartfelt, and genuine support, with them.
"Together in Mission" truly does help our poorest parish communities, as we heard on "Announcement Sunday" when members of our Sister Parish reported to us at each Mass. Every penny raised goes to help them meet their needs.
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