This week's Mass-paper/Newsletter
PARISH CATECHISM - II. COLOURS IN CHURCH. On most great festivals the colour is WHITE and/or GOLD. Days like Christmas day and most day and most days in the weeks following. Also, of course, Easter and the 50 days until Pentecost. Other feasts of our Lord, such as Maundy Thursday, the Sacred Heart or the Transfiguratio. And feasts of Mary his mother. Also on festivals of many siants (except for martyrs.) RED for the Holy Spirit (who came to the first disciples like flames or fire at Pentecost), and for martyrs (who shed their blood for Christ) and Palm Sunday as we celebrate the greatest of all martyrs, Jesus himself. PURPLE for times of sorrow such as Lent and funerals, or preparation such as Advent. GREEN for ‘ordinary time’ – days when there is no special day or season. PARISH CATECHISM - I. KNOW THE GREAT FESTIVALS a) Christmas Day On this day our Lord was born. Think: The Royal Humane Society offers a medal for the saving of life; for life is the most wonderful thing in the world: and there are those who have even laid down their lives to go to the rescue of others. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ did when people were drifting in the wrong direction – in error and sin and mistaken aim; they were losing life. For to find God is life; our Lord came to be the way and the truth, and therefore the life. He did not stay in some happy land far away. Love could not: even we, being evil, know how to go to the help of one another. But ‘for us men anf for our salvation He came down from Heaven and was made man.’ Christmas is the Festival of the Knowledge of God. The Incarnation is the denial of religious indifferentism or ‘Agnosticism’ (so popular in the mainstream media.) b) Easter Day. On Good Friday the Lord was destroyed. The Cross shows what sin can do – and what love can bear. Good Friday, though a hiliday, is a Fast, not a Festival. Give God part of it. It is the Day of the Love of God. On the third day, Easter Day, Jesus rose from the dead; for death could not hold the Lord of Life any more than night can put out the sun. People had always thought that death was the end of life; now they saw that life was the end of death. The dead live. That was so important that Christians, instead of keeping the Sabbath (Saturday), have ever since then kept Sunday holy; every Sunday is in memory of Christ’s Resurrection. Easter is the Festival of the Life of humans – in Christ. Boundless love – in solidarity with those killed in the Jewish Synagogue in Pittsburg. ‘Cold-blooded, fanatical, baseless, relentless hatred can be uprooted from its core only by saturating our world with pure, undiscriminating, uninhibited, unyielding love and acts of kindness. Today more than ever, we need to spread love and unity; positivity and light. We must continue to walk to our synagogues proudly. And, even as we grieve and mourn, we must increase exponentially our acts of goodness and kindness.’ COLOURS IN CHURCH. When we coem to church we notice that the colour of the pulpit, chalice veil, tabernacle is changed from time to time. So also the vestments – the clothes worn by the priest during services. It’s a sort of visual aid. It reminds us about the time of the church’s year, or sort of special days we are keeping. (See the ‘clock of the church year next to the Tabernacle’)Here is a simple guide. On most great festivals the colour is WHITE and/or GOLD. Days like Christmas day and most day and most days in the weeks following. Also, of course, Easter and the 50 days until Pentecost. Other feasts of our Lord, such as Maundy Thursday, the Sacred Heart or the Transfiguratio. And feasts of Mary his mother. Also on festivals of many siants (except for martyrs.) RED for the Holy Spirit (who came to the first disciples like flames or fire at Pentecost), and for martyrs (who shed their blood for Christ) and Palm Sunday as we celebrate the greatest of all martyrs, Jesus himself. PURPLE for times of sorrow such as Lent and funerals, or preparation such as Advent. GREEN for ‘ordinary time’ – days when there is no special day or season. In our weekly calendar ‘Feria’ means an ordinary day when there is no special feast or a saint to commemorate. ‘Memoria’ means commemoration. On these days we commemorate a Saint. ‘Feast’ is when we celebrate e major saint like an apostle. ‘Solemnity’ has the highest rank, when we celebrate the feasts of Our Lord or Our Lady.
Spiritual Toolbox: Saint Benedict’s Rule 2. Saint Benedict wrote his Rule in a time of uncertainty and turmoil. The founder of the Benedictine religious community was born into a world of turbulence and violence. The fall of Rome in 410 CE, seventy years before his birth, had shocked the civilised world. The sixth century was an age characterized by danger, mass injustice, dislocation of population, and the apparent collapse of almost all high culture. It was into this chaos that Benedict brought the promise of an ordered, Christ centered life! ‘It is all about love. It points to Christ. Ultimately the whole meaning and purpose of the Rule is simply, “Prefer nothing to the love of Christ.”’ We often read from the Rule in our week-day mass. At first, seemingly, we feel a hidden resistance to Benedict’s message. It sounds so distant! We live in a world known its rugged individualism, independence, competitiveness, and focus on goals. Words like stability, obedience, rule, vows, ordinary, monastery, monastic life may be less comfortable to us than words like self-expression or self-development. When you read the Rule, try to lsit any words or concepts that you think might have a negative connotation in our modern age. Does it imply a loss of individuality, independence, or my freedom? Then, as you continue, keep an open mind to discover the Benedictine interpretation of these words. Remember that Benedict is advocating that we set aside our individual agendas for the sake of nurturing and strengthening our relationship. Can we do it?
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DURING THIS WEEK:
Monday 4 February – CoE Memoria S Gilbert of Sempringham, religious 8.00 am Morning Prayer 12.00 pm Midday Prayer (optional) 18.00 pm Evening Prayer + MASS Tuesday 5 February – Memoria Saint Agatha, Virgin, Martyr 8.00 am Morning Prayer 12.00 pm Midday Prayer (optional) 18.00 pm Evening Prayer + MASS Wednesday 6 February – Memoria Saints Paul Mikin and Companions 8.00 am Morning Prayer 12.00 pm MASS + Lunch Club 17.30 pm Youth Club via Music 18.00 pm Evening Prayer Thursday 7 February – Memoria Blessed Pius IX, Pope 8.00 am Morning Prayer 12.00 pm Midday Prayer (optional) 18.30 pm Evening Prayer + MASS 19.00 pm Healing Silence with Jesus (Eucharistic adoration) Friday 1 February– Memoria St Jerome Emiliani, S Josephine Bakhita 8.00 am Morning Prayer 12.00 pm Midday Prayer (optional) 18.00 pm Evening Prayer + MASS
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