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Demystifying the Daily Mysteries

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For the last few days (the last nine days, in fact!), I’ve been praying a Novena. This has meant that I’ve been praying the rosary every day. As you may know, the Catholic Church has assigned to each day of the week a different set of “mysteries”:

Monday: Joyful Mysteries
Tuesday: Sorrowful Mysteries
Wednesday: Glorious Mysteries
Thursday: Luminous Mysteries
Friday: Sorrowful Mysteries
Saturday: Joyful Mysteries
Sunday: Glorious Mysteries

These mysteries are the events in the life of Jesus and His mother, such as the Resurrection and when Jesus turned water into wine. Catholics are invited to meditate upon these mysteries as they pray the rosary. Previously, whenever I went to pray a rosary, I always had to do a google search to check which mysteries were assigned to that day. However, after nine days of praying the rosary, I’ve come up with a little mnemonic to work it out:

Jesus Saves, God Loves Sinners, Jehovah God

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Sunday Lectionary: Going up?

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In addition to being the Seventh Sunday in Easter, this Sunday is also Ascension Sunday. This has been an insanely busy week – sorry I didn’t get this posted earlier.

Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord: 20th May, 2012

This Sunday we hear a glorious mystery! The Second Glorious Mystery to be precise! Yes, this Sunday we celebrate Jesus’ Ascension into Heaven.

In recent weeks, life among the Apostles had been, to put it mildly, a bit rocky (and not “rocky” in the good, “Peter” kind of way). In fact, things had been pretty awful. The Master had been betrayed, beaten and then killed on a cross. Dark times.

But then, something happened… He rose from the dead! For several weeks He had been appearing to His disciples! Life was good again! But then…what?…He left?

Huh? Things were finally starting to look up! Why did He leave? Did the Lord abandon His Church?

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Clinging to anger

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I was talking with someone recently about forgiveness and how, when we hold a grudge, we do damage to ourselves. I had a Scripture verse at the back of my head but I couldn’t remember where it was in the Bible. Today I found it:

“Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight. The vengeful will suffer the LORD’s vengeance, for he remembers their sins in detail. Forgive your neighbor’s injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.

Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the LORD? Could anyone refuse mercy to another like himself, can he seek pardon for his own sins? If one who is but flesh cherishes wrath, who will forgive his sins?

Remember your last days, set enmity aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin! Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor; remember the Most High’s covenant, and overlook faults” – Sirach 27:30-28:7

We cling to anger and hold it tight. We nourish it so that it can grow even greater. What are we thinking?!

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you” – L. Smede

Sunday Lectionary: It’s all you need

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Sixth Sunday of Easter: 13th May, 2012

The Readings this week start to wrap up our Easter Season prior to the Feasts of Ascension and Pentecost.

In the First Reading we read about that great moment in Church History when the first Gentiles received baptism and entered the Church. In our Second Reading, we conclude our study of St. John’s First Epistle by hearing about the love of God. Finally, in the Gospel, Jesus unpacks His teaching concerning His metaphor of “the vine and the branches”  which we heard last week.

As we come to the Eucharistic table this week let us come with thankful hearts. God’s love is so great that He came to redeem us, call us His friends, pour His Spirit into our hearts and make us members of His family.

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Sunday Lectionary: Remain In Me

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Continuing my attempts to produce these Lectionary Notes in under four hours…

Fifth Sunday of Easter: 6th May, 2012

The Readings this week focus around life in Christ.

We begin with an account of St. Paul’s failed attempts in Jerusalem to commune with Christ’s Body, the Church. Strangely enough, it turns out that people tend to be a bit stand-offish if you’ve previously tried to kill them! In our Gospel Reading, Jesus teaches his disciples using the metaphor of the vine, showing us that union with Him is essential if we are to live. He gives us a warning too, that if we do not produce fruit, we will be cut off from Him and deprived of His Divine life. St. John restates this sentiment in the Second Reading, exhorting his readers to “love not in word…but in deed”. 

Let us come to Mass this week thirsty for the grace of Christ which is communicated through His Church. Let us drink deeply, returning to the world refreshed, ready to share the life of Christ and to bear fruit which will last.

Through Him, and with Him, and in Him…

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I believe and profess

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Today I got to take another of my friends to the Byzantine Liturgy for the first time. As I’ve said before, I think that every Western Catholic should visit an Eastern Rite parish at least once, in order to gain an understanding of the variety within Catholicism.

One of the most obvious differences between the Byzantine Liturgy and a typical Western Mass is that, in the Byzantine Liturgy, almost everything is sung. I find it interesting, therefore, that one of the parts of the liturgy most commented upon by visitors is one of the few parts of the service which isn’t sung. The part I’m referring to is the prayer which is said by the congregation prior to communion:

O Lord, I believe and profess that you are truly Christ, the Son of the living God, who came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first. Accept me as a partaker of your mystical supper, O Son of God; for I will not reveal your mystery to your enemies, nor will I give you a kiss as did Judas, but like the thief I confess to you: Remember me, O Lord, when you shall come into your kingdom. Remember me, O Master, when you shall come into your kingdom. Remember me, O Holy One, when you shall come into your kingdom. May the partaking of your Holy Mysteries, O Lord, be not for my judgment or condemnation, but for the healing of soul and body.

O Lord, I also believe and profess that this, which I am about to receive, is truly your most precious Body and your life-giving Blood, which, I pray, make me worthy to receive for the remission of all my sins and for life everlasting. Amen.

I really do love this prayer. It’s so well designed to prepare us to receive the Eucharist. We put our faith in Lord. We trust in His great mercy. We acknowledge the seriousness of what we are about about to partake: the body, blood, soul a divinity of Jesus Christ.

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