Tag: Christ

beautiful eucharist

Published on by Dawn Marie6 Comments

“Encountering Jesus in the Eucharist should be like touching Heaven, and that should change the way we live here on earth!”

Matthew Kelly

The Catholic bishops of the United States have launched a eucharistic revival over the next three years. Pope Francis has made a singular contribution to that effort with the release of his powerful and theologically rich apostolic letter on the liturgical formation of the People of God, “Desiderio Desideravi” (“I have earnestly desired”).

He tells us that his aim is to “invite the whole Church to rediscover, to safeguard, and to live the truth and power of the Christian celebration” as a means to more fully appreciating “the beauty of the Christian celebration and its necessary consequences for the life of the Church.”
 This too must be the aim of our eucharistic revival. A central principle in that rediscovery is that in the ritual passed on to us from those disciples at the Last Supper, we encounter the crucified and risen Lord and are invited to participate in the Paschal Mystery by sharing in his work of saving the world. This engaging encounter by which the risen Lord invites us to share in his saving work is the core of our eucharistic faith, for, as the Holy Father observes: “The Christian faith is either an encounter with Him alive or it does not exist.” 

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hey, mama!

Published on by Dawn Marie6 Comments

Mary’s role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it. “This union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ’s virginal conception up to his death”; it is made manifest above all at the hour of his Passion:

Thus the Blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the cross. There she stood, in keeping with the divine plan, enduring with her only begotten Son the intensity of his suffering, joining herself with his sacrifice in her mother’s heart, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this victim, born of her: to be given, by the same Christ Jesus dying on the cross, as a mother to his disciple, with these words: “Woman, behold your son.”

After her Son’s Ascension, Mary “aided the beginnings of the Church by her prayers.” In her association with the apostles and several women, “we also see Mary by her prayers imploring the gift of the Spirit, who had already overshadowed her in the Annunciation.”

964-965 Catechism of the Catholic Church

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twenty-second week

Published on by Dawn Marie2 Comments

Our Catholic Mass has a melodic rhythm to it. An Order. A Beauty. This week’s Prayers have been particularly moving to me and have stirred my heart to wondrous examinations. I have been grateful to recite them, to lift them up, to enfold them into my Spirit. May you too find a little nugget of peace for yourself as you read them & may all that we’ve gathered in our hearts remain with us, even as we move into a new series of prayers during the Twenty-Third Week…

Every Mass there is The Order of Mass. When the people are gathered, the Priest approaches the altar with the ministers while the Entrance Antiphon is sung or recited.

The Twenty-Second week in Ordinary Time Entrance Antiphon: Have Mercy on me, O Lord, for I cry to you all the day long. O Lord, you are good and forgiving, full of mercy to all who call to you.

And all pray in silence with the Priest for a while. Then the Priest, with hands extended, says the Collect prayer.

The Twenty-Second week in Ordinary Time Collect: God of might, giver of every good gift, put into our hearts the love of your name, so that, by deepening our sense of reverence, you may nurture in us what is good and, by your watchful care, keep safe what you have nurtured. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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