more exams

This morning I am not sure if it is study or prayer I need. I have an exam this afternoon and another on Friday. There is still some reading I have to do for the exam and some key points that I need to grasp.

I have decided to to both - and since you (the readers of blog) can't study for me ( or sit the exams) how about you pray for me.

I will continue to do the same for you.

GPS and God

I'm not sure if I have mentioned it here before, but when I was in Italy last month, with a friend, I rented a car. We picked it up from Termini (train station) in Rome. Our plan was, over three days, to enjoy Tuscany and Umbria.

I have never driven in Italy before. They drive on the wrong side of the road. The way the Italians drive is also proof that they believe in God. I hired the car only because it had GPS. The woman at the rental counter assured me that the GPS voice was in English. She added that this little box would be happy to tell me where to go.

As we drove away from Termini it was the job of my passenger to operate the navigation system. We got it working only after a couple of hours of confusion (including one particularly difficult half hour when we drove through the same motor-way toll three times).

Within a few hours the GPS was talking to us (in English) and giving us clear directions exactly when we needed them. In the three days we managed to enjoy several small Italian towns: Assisi, Gubbio, San Gimignano, Siena and Florence among other wonderful towns and roads.

There is much to write about in each of these places, but this story is about the GPS.

For the first day we obediently followed every direction of the GPS lady. But it didn't take too long for us to realise that if we accidentally, or even deliberately misunderstood, ignored or disobeyed her instruction, she would (after a few moments of apparent confusion) re-route us. This meant that if we drove a few miles down the wrong road, she would note that the quickest route to our destination was not to return to the point of deviation, but to move ahead by a new route.

We realised that it was impossible for us to ever be lost! Our lady in the little box knew how to find us, and was very enthusiastic about leading us from wherever we were to wherever we wanted to go.

That is the theological point.

With God, we are never lost. The people we love are never lost. In every moment God knows where we are. It is true that (as with the GPS) I might be in a place that I did not want to be. I could end up in a destination that promised all kinds of beauty and pleasure, but did not deliver at all. But the moment I decide that I want to get back on the road, God will lead me.

To be honest it does get a bit tiresome playing at disobeying the GPS. It is fun for a while to be re-found and re-directed, but in the end I want to be on the road to where I am going.

The voice of God speaking to us through the scripture and Tradition of the Church offers us clear direction. If we follow the voice we are saved a lot of hassle and dead ends. We find that we are less tired. We feel as though we are living more intentionally. We can be more confident about reaching our destinations on time.

When we hear and live by the leadings of God, Life has a purpose.

meet one of my teachers

I thought you might be interested in meeting one of my teachers here. Dr. Denis McNamara is a lay man who has written and lectured widely on the history and theology of ecclesiastical architecture, and had served on the Art and Architecture Commission of the Archdiocese of Chicago. He is currently Assistant Director and faculty member at the Liturgical Institute of the University of St. Mary of the Lake / Mundelein Seminary, and serves as a liturgical design consultant.

It is inspiring to hear Denis talk about the purpose (as opposed to simply the function) of a Church building. The function of the Church building is to provide a gathering space for people who seek to worship. The functions of the building are to keep the rain out and provide enough warmth with some heating and some windows. That is simply the function, although in the last fifty years many Churches have been designed with these practical functions as their entire brief.

Much more important than these practical functions of the Church building, is the purpose of the Church building. The purpose of a Church is to serve as a sign that directs the worshipper to the reality of God. The Church will do this by pointing us beyond the limited realities of earthly existence to the beauty of the fulness of eternal life offered us by God.

You will get a sense of this beauty if you listen to some of Denis' brief interviews on youtube. His introduction the life of the Jewish Temple is a good start. Denis develops the theme of the Temple architecture in his reflections on the San Chapelle in Paris and Chartres Cathedral about an hour from Paris.

In recent months Denis has received awards for his book Catholic Church Architecture and the Spirit of the Liturgy

It is especially satisfying to know that the restored Our Lady of Victories Church meets the central requirements of not only function but also (and more importantly) the purpose of good Church architecture.

the weekend again

It is the end of the second week of the six week programme. The time is passing quickly. Tomorrow it is my turn to celebrate Mass for the community: I will offer this Mass for the parishes of St Therese of Lisieux, Chatham Islands, Our Lady of Victories Sockburn, for those whose prayer intentions we carried on the OLV pilgrimage, and for all those who visit this blog.

As you might imagine it is a bit of a challenge to celebrate the Mass, and to lead Morning and Evening prayer for a community whose sole reason for existence is to focus on the celebration of the Liturgy. I have been well prepared by our Sunday celebrations of the Mass at OLV.

Time for bed

John

Liturgy - an Archbishop's challenge

This year the Liturgical Institute celebrates its tenth anniversary. There are several events planned through the year. Next Thursday the day is given to a presentation of the Institutions catechesis for the introduction of the Revised Missal and Revised Order of the Mass.

Tonight was the occasion of the annual Hillenbrand lecture. Monsignor Reynold Hillebrand was a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, rector of this Mundelein seminary, and a significant figure in the development of the Liturgical Movement in the US Church in the years before and after the Second Vatican Council.

Tonight's lecture was presented by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver and was titled: "Glorify God by your life:evangelization and the renewal of the liturgy."

Archbishop Chaput is an intelligent and engaging speaker. You might like to read the full text of his address. It is a challenging read, but spending some time understanding what he says and reflecting on it will lead you to a deeper appreciation of the movement of the restoration of the Liturgy that we are undertaking at Our Lady of Victories.

The Archbishop begins by quoting one of the most significant minds in the Liturgical Movement of last century, Fr. Romano Guardini. Soon after the promulgation of the Vatican II document on the liturgy, "Sacrosanctum Concilium", Guardini wrote to a gathering of liturgists. He concluded his letter by saying:

“Is not the liturgical act, and with it all that goes under the name ‘liturgy,’ so bound up with the historical background—antique or medieval or baroque— that it would be more honest to give it up altogether? Would it not be better to admit that man in this industrial and scientific age, with its new sociological structure, is no longer capable of the liturgical act?”ⁱ

The Archbishop reflects on this:

"Guardini believed that the spirit of the modern world wasundermining the beliefs that made this liturgical consciousness possible. His insight here is that our faith and worship don’t take place in a vacuum. We’re always to some extent products of our culture. Our frameworks of meaning, our perceptions of reality, are shaped by the culture in which we live – whether we like it or not.

He continues on the reasons that he thinks Guardini was accurate in his comment:

"...We’re surrounded in our daily lives by monuments to our power over nature and necessity. The trophies of our autonomy and self-sufficiency are everywhere -- buildings, machines, medicines, inventions. Everything seems to point to our capacity to provide for our every need through our own know-how and technology.

"Again the question becomes: What does this do to the central premise of our worship -- that we are creatures dependent upon our Creator, and that we owe thanksgiving to God for every good gift, beginning with the gift of life?

Archbishop Chaput then makes four points that he considers to be the steps we need to take to ensure that we are able to celebrate liturgy:

1. We need to recover the intrinsic and inseparable connection between liturgy and evangelization.

2. The liturgy is a participation in the liturgy of heaven, in which we worship in Spirit and truth with the worldwide Church and the communion of saints.

3. We need to strive to recover and live with the same vibrant liturgical and evangelical spirituality as the early Christians.

4. The liturgy is a school of sacrificial love. The law of our prayer should be the law of our life. Lex orandi, lex vivendi. We are to become the sacrifice we celebrate.

If If you are ready for a challenge - and some robust liturgical reflection, turn to the full text of the Archbishop's talk.

friendship, in Prayer with the Church

The first thing our Liturgical Institute community does together every day is pray. At 8.30 every morning we gather in the chapel for Morning Prayer of the Church. This prayer is known to many of you as the Office, or the Liturgy of the Hours, or the Breviary. At 6.30 each evening we gather again, this time for Evening Prayer of the Church. Throughout the day the Prayer of the Church continues as we in our own time each pray the psalms and reading of Mid-Morning, Midday and Mid Afternoon prayer. Last thing at night, Night Prayer of the Church is prayed - after "Holy Hour" there are always people visiting the chapel for this prayer before bed.

The purpose of the Prayer of the Church every day, is to extend the grace of the daily Mass throughout the hours of the day. When one lives in this rhythm, the beauty of the pattern becomes visible, audible and tangible. The simplicity and beauty of the chant that carries the prayers, is the ultimate in relaxation in the midst of daily busyness and anxiety.

The Prayer of the Church is the Prayer of the Church because it is Prayer WITH the Church. Other devotions and private prayer are good and necessary. But the Prayer of the Church is never a private prayer. Even when I pray this prayer in my room at Mundelein, or when the sister prays in her convent cell, we are together praying the Liturgy of the Church. The prayer of the Church is not prayed by me today because I feel like doing this, but rather because it is my work - I do it because I do not do it for myself. As a priest this is my prayer WITH the Church and FOR the parish and church every day.

Every day around the world more and more lay people are discovering the beauty of this prayer and choosing to make this the pattern of their daily prayer.

There are many websites which make it easy to pray the Prayer of the Church throughout the day. Some of these are downloadable onto smart-phones. You might like to look at Universalis. There are also many small and relatively inexpensive prayer books that contain the psalms, readings and other prayers of the four-week cycle.

Well all of that by way of introduction ...

...to the beauty of the Office of Readings. Somedays these readings seem a little obscure and don't really speak clearly to me. But I know that is more to do with me than the readings. Some days I am more open than other days.

I found today's readings on the beauty of friendship especially powerful.

Often people will choose the Genesis "It is not good for man to be alone..." reading for their wedding as a text about marriage. Well, yes, but not only. Much more, this is a reality of the human condition. Human people need friendship. To reduce friendship to a marriage relationship, or to limit true friendship to the sexual relationship, is a failure to appreciate the beauty and the breadth of the gift of human friendship.

In the introduction to the day's Office we read:

Let us accept friendship. Let us accept it as a true and passionate gift of God. Let us accept it in others without reading anything else into it – “repressed” or not. Let us rejoice if it is given to us, be glad if it is given to others. Jonathan loved David not because of what he could get out of him, but because he was David: let us celebrate this motiveless love of the Other, an echo of the pure love of Heaven. We ought to love everyone like that: but one should at least start somewhere.

The full text of the introduction is available at this link.

Comments 2

A few of you noted after yesterday's blog that I had inadvertently removed the comments button. It is back now. AND when you use this 'post a comment' tag, your comment will not appear on the blog for all to see, but only be read by me.

Note you need to copy the code word and check 'anonymous' to easily send the comment. But make sure you add your name to the comment so that I know who is sending it, and if you send your email I can reply.

You may receive a reply saying that your comment has been "rejected". This simply means that I have read your comment and am not publishing it for everyone to see - so don't take offence!

John

Comments

Thank you to all who have been keeping me in the loop by sending emails and by posting comments on this blog.

Someone commented that they find it too intimidating to post a comment here since it is open to the world to see. So I have changed the settings for comments to "hidden". This means that only I can see the comments you add here.

The heart of the matter

It is Sunday. They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I am especially aware on Sunday's of people gathering for Mass at Our Lady of Victories. Every Sunday I offer Mass for the people of OLV and for the parishioners of Chatham Islands.

Today two groups began a week's retreat alongside our Liturgical Institute programme. As the Church in the United States (as the Church in NZ) prepares for the introduction of the Revised Order of the Mass, one retreat is being offered for Church musicians, and another for priests. So tonight for evening prayer the numbers in the chapel were greatly increased.

I have spent the past week intensively reading and studying liturgy. The group of forty students I am with discuss liturgy at every opportunity. I have just come from "holy hour" where the discussion was liturgy. Today is Sunday where every parish celebrates the Mass. Pope Benedict believes that if we get our celebration of the Mass right, everything else will fall into place.

I find this very encouraging. Often in our dioceses and parishes we try to focus on organisation and restructuring, on social outreach and catechesis, on sacramental preparation. All of these things are good and necessary. But, when we look back on forty years of doing this, we have to ask, did we really get our primary focus right?

In the brief week here I have been reassured that our focus of the last two years at OLV on the Sunday celebration of the Mass, is right on the mark. When you think about it, even from a purely practical point of view, the weekend Mass is the only place we see every active parishioner. We would be foolish not to pour our energy and resources into ensuring that when people do come each week, they experience the reality of God.

In the Catholic Church the sacraments are the heart of the matter. Without these most easily available divine encounters, we would perish.

a distraction!

In these days I have been spending a fair bit of time at the computer writing essays or taking notes from the reading.

Every now and then I look for a distraction and I found a great one today. Someone sent me the link. Have a look at:

Kseniya Simonova's Amazing Sand Drawing

Make sure you click the 'four arrows' box at the bottom right of the youtube screen to watch the full screen.

TGIF

This afternoon the "Thank God it's Friday" call was all over the Liturgical Institute. The week has been full and challenging. The exam this morning was tougher than any of us expected. Monday morning will tell just how prepared I was when the results arrive.

I recall one of our teachers in seminary quoting St Paul at exam time: 'the sufferings of this time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed.' (Romans 8:18). I'm a person of faith so I do know this. However in the midst of what (albeit irrationally) feels like a great anxiety, it is easy to lose touch with this reality.

I realised after the exam that, even though the chapel tower clock chimes only a hundred yards from the exam room, I heard it chime only once during the exam. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, the clock chiming the passing of every fifteen minutes, can be heard all over the campus. This ring has been a regular reminder of the reality of God present since I arrived at Mundelein. How easy it is to loose touch with what brings the greatest peace, in the midst of anxiety.

Last night a few of us went out for a meal. It was good to have a change of environment with a beer and good company.

Saturday is a little more relaxed - although we have a paper due Monday and that will take a bit of work.

Please keep me in your prayer. I pray every day for every reader of this blog - I know there are at least three of you!

(I tried to upload this last night but the Internet was down. My plan is to upload a new note each morning NZ time)

busyness

Well, I thought a few moments ago that I just do not have time to write the blog tonight. I have an exam tomorrow morning - seems a bit tough after only the first week, but the faculty keep the pressure on. The frustration for me is that I really enjoy the reading and study on all aspects of Liturgy - but I have to keep focussed and not be distracted by other interesting and helpful articles and books.

A few of us formed a study group and I have just come from that now - a round-table discussion of the sources and methods for liturgical study. I came back to my room aware of all that I do not know tonight and need to know for tomorrow.

Whenever I feel pressured by such demands, it is very easy for me to let go of some things that are really important - essential even. It takes a bit before I let go of meal times. It is easier to spend less time in prayer because of the demands of a full day. Exercise can be put aside. It is also easy to decide to work instead of spending time with friends.

So I have made a point today, even with an exam tomorrow, to keep all the important things in place. I have gone to all the community prayer times in the chapel. I am still eating. This afternoon I walked around the lake, letting go of the temptation to prepare a stunning presentation for the study group and settling for input that was just good. And now, I have decided that I will go to "holy hour" tonight. (note again the inverted commas - this kind of holy hour is with good company, drink and nibbles.)

Keeping this routine going may mean that I don't do as well in the exam as I might with more study time, but other things are important too. It would be a tragedy to finish the study with good grades and no friends.

The temperature is warmer every day. I hear NZ weather is not the best...

what is at the centre?

The University of St Mary of the Lake must be the most beautiful university campus in the world. It was built in the 1920's on 800 acres of woodland and lake just north of Chicago. All the university buildings (with some later additions) are built in a uniform style, making the total picture of the campus very pleasing.

Even on a brief visit, there is no mistaking what the core of the campus is. The chapel is prominent and central. All other buildings surround this heart of the university.

The bells of the clock tower chime the passing of every fifteen minutes through both day and night. Our communal prayer three times a day in the chapel begins with the ring of the hours. At the last chime of the hour we stand to pray. This makes every other chime of the day a reminder of the chapel prayer, and a call to prayer in the new moment.

Then, three times a day the Angelus rings across the acres, just to keep us at prayer in case we had forgotten. God again breaks into time. The Angelus prayer of the Incarnation holds us to this life-giving reality.

Today I went for a walk around the lake (forty-five minutes) and as I stopped to get a picture of the chapel in the distance across the lake I heard the chimes ring across the water. There is no place to hide from the reminder.

I fear that over these days, in the midst of activity and distractions, I may become immune to the chime. I pray this does not happen in my six weeks here. I need to keep hearing it. As I hear the ring I remember that here, a long way from home and friends and family, I am not alone. In these moments a deep sense of the reality of Jesus with me grows. In truth I can never be alone. I have the ultimate company.

A lot falls into perspective for me in these moments of remembering. If Jesus is really with me, why do I ever fear? Why do I ever worry? Why do I ever feel alone? How can I ever give in to anxiety?

The God of miracles is carrying me at every tick of the clock.

Thank God for the chimes that remind me.

rhythm of life

Today was the second full day of lectures. A full day - four hours of lectures with the rest of the day taken up with reading and prayer.

Life at the university centers on prayer. We begin the day in the chapel with Morning Prayer of the Church. Later in the afternoon we celebrate Mass and early evening we pray the Evening Prayer of the Church. There is a very real sense in which the real work of the classroom learning takes place in the chapel.

This is also the situation in parish life. A lot happens in the life of a parishioner and of a priest. It is easy for the demands of the day to fill every moment. I can slip into automatic pilot when the alarm goes off in the morning and late that night I crash into bed exhausted. Prayer makes us stop. Prayer is the ultimate relaxation. The common aids to relaxation (tv or time with friends) can be helpful, but even better is to be still. In the stillness we become aware of how we REALLY are. The heart of our faith reminds us that God comes to meet us in this reality, whatever this reality is.

It is now just before 11pm I have just come from the chapel - a brief visit after what is known here as "Holy Hour" - the inverted commas are important - we finish each day together with drink and conversation. The company is good. THere is an abundance of story telling and laughter.

The days here begin early: this morning I was at the desk at 5.30. But the reading is good and the classes are especially nourishing. To have this time to focus on the Church tradition of celebration of the sacraments is a real gift.

Now, I'm off to bed.

Now in Chicago - & young priests everywhere

The past two days have been a time of pretty major transition. On Saturday I travelled from Rome to Chicago. Sunday morning the Liturgical Institute programme began with gathering of the students and orientation. Today (Monday) was the first day of classes.

The programme of study is full for the next six weeks. It was clear on the first day that this group are here to work hard, and to enjoy each other's company. A strong sense of community is present already.

It is significant that I moved from the St Peter's square gatherings with the pope to close the Year of the Priest, to this place, and the tenth summer programme of the Liturgical Institute. The majority of the students are priests. THere are also a number of lay people with families who work in the field of liturgy in dioceses and parishes. At drinks on the first night there were a number of their children to ensure a healthy and balanced atmosphere.

THe connection with the Rome gathering for me (among other connections) is the age of the clergy. I mentioned in an earlier blog that at the St Peter's gatherings (now I know to be over fifteen thousand priests), I was in the older half of the priests. The same is true here. I'm a bit surprised by this since all the talk is of the majority of priests being elderly. The reality is that the Catholic Church around the world is filled with young, enthusiastic and committed priests.

I hope you feel as encouraged and hopeful about this as I do!

Time for some more reading before tomorrow's class.

Homily of Pope Benedict at Mass for closing of Year of the Priest

The homily of the pope delivered this morning at Mass for the Feast of the Sacred Heart, to close the Year of the Priest is available by tapping on this text.

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the joy of priesthood

It is impossible to communicate to someone who was not present, the joy among priests at this morning's gathering of priests with the pope. It was an extraordinary gathering of more than ten thousand extraordinarily ordinary men.

Soon after 8am I joined the queue's of priests waiting to pass through security into the Paul VI auditorium for vesting. Then for an more than an hour we waited and prepared for this Mass for the Feast of the Sacred Heart to close the Year of the Priest.

The time of waiting was a time of conversation and prayer. Everyone was waiting to meet everyone else. Unlike last night, this morning I was surrounded by priests who did not speak English, but still there was a strong fraternity and clear common purpose and goal in life.

The diversity of priests was most visible. I suspect I was in the older half. There were priests in cassocks and priests in Jeans. Priests with beards and priests with earrings. Priests showing the effects of years in missionary fields and priests fresh faced and young. As we vested the alb covered much of the initial difference, but a word or two of conversation with those around revealed that this group was as representative of the human population as any group in any society...

...with one notable exception: once the Mass began we were all focussed on one action. Clearly for all of us who filled the square this morning, the Mass is the most important thing.

In the moments before Mass there was conversation, photos and phone calls. Once the Mass started there was something of ultimate importance happening. In the midst of our diversity we were united.

Tomorrow I leave Rome and head to Chicago. On Sunday morning the six week liturgy programme begins at Mundelein University. You can see details of the course here. Please keep me in your prayer as I move to this new phase of my sabbatical weeks.

an evening with pope and priests

It is just after midnight and I have spent the evening with several thousand priests from around the world. St Peter's square was packed from 8.30 for almost three hours of reflection and prayer with Pope Benedict.

I had thought that I would not be in Rome for these days, but my flights to Chicago were altered and tickets to the events for the closing of the Year of the Priest fell into my lap. I have no doubt that God wanted me to be here.

The atmosphere as priests gathered tonight was warm and friendly. There was an excited anticipation around the event. We knew we were united even before we met each other. I was sitting between a missionary from Africa who is celebrating his golden jubilee of ordination this year and a young priest from the mid-west USA, ordained three years ago.

As I looked around I noted that perhaps as many as half the priests present were younger than me. You might get a sense of this from the photos.

Several times since he has become pope, Pope Benedict has used question and answer form in some gatherings. Tonight several priests asked questions on behalf of all priests. The pope's responses were unscripted and from the heart. As I looked around there were many priests moved to tears at the beauty and depth of his encouragement to us. The priests were also very enthusiastic in their encouragement of the pope and he also was clearly moved by our affection and support.

The translations of the question / responses will be available in the next couple of days and I will put a link to these on this blog.

The highlight of the evening was our time of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The tens of thousands of priests and people in the square knelt on the uneven paving. The choir sang as the Sacrament was exposed, then, silence. For ten minutes there was not a sound or a movement. Here, without activity or conversation, on our knees, we were priests.

Later this morning I will go back to the square for Mass with the pope to close the Year of the Priest.

Conclusion of Year of the Priest

On Friday morning (11 June) I hope to celebrate Mass with the pope and several thousand other priests to conclude the Year of the Priest. Later on Friday (Saturday morning NZ time I will upload a reflection - hopefully with some photos - to this blog.

Revised Order of the Mass: a gift for Advent 2010

The Revised Order of the Mass in English will be implemented in New Zealand on the first Sunday of Advent this year. These months of anticipation and preparation reveal the fruit of many years of consultation and research.

Four years ago the New Zealand bishops launched the “Worshipping Under Southern Skies” catechesis. Over the next few months in our own diocese there will be further opportunities for people with priests to grow in appreciation of the beauty and gift of the Mass.

It is important that we prepare by becoming familiar with the revised texts. The United States Bishops’ Conference has a helpful website that gives an outline of the changes.

http://www.usccb.org/romanmissal

Many New Zealand Catholics remember the changes in the Mass of the late 1960’s. Now, after forty years of practice and reflection, we see that the Mass texts we have in English are not as beautiful or robust as those of many other languages.

Of course there may be a superficial appeal in texts that articulate simply where and how we are today as worshipping Catholics. However the role of liturgical language is to communicate the beauty and availability of the life that God has created us for.

In our personal prayer we communicate to God where and how we are today. In the Mass God reveals to us where we can be tomorrow. In sound liturgical texts we are enticed into the fullness of human life, lived in divine harmony.

Good liturgical language and ritual will educate us.

This will mean that when we read some of the revised texts, we may be unclear about exactly what is meant. This is good! In this moment of uncertainty we do not trash a text. Instead we become curious about what is being communicated and why. We learn more about the life that God has created us for. In the people’s responses of the Mass, we together express our desire for this divine life.

We are familiar with the power of ‘teaching texts’ in the scriptures. Some simple translations of the Bible seek only to convey a general sense of the story. This might be useful for someone who has little or no knowledge of God or of the life of faith. But as our faith deepens we outgrow these simple primers. We need accuracy in translation that we might read and hear words that lead us to encounter the true Word. As adults in faith we need to know the fullness of all that Jesus the Word is saying to us.

When we read a passage that is accurately translated, there will be words and turns of phrase that are unfamiliar or even strange. We will meet language that is not in everyday use. This is because the life of God is not yet lived everyday in our world.

Then we read the text again. We ask God to shed light on the phrase we seek to understand. Gradually we become aware that the text is enticing us into deeper relationship with God. The text is strong enough to carry us into the life we most deeply desire.

Many of those who have called for a recovery of the sense and sound of the sacred in the Mass are young Catholics. The young know that they can find friends and informal chat in any bar or café. From the Church they seek something different; something bigger and better. People of faith come to church to seek the sacred; to encounter God. What some Catholics might label ‘old-fashioned’, a growing number of people of faith welcome as true nourishment for faith.

If you take the time to reflect on the texts of the Revised Order of the Mass (website above), I invite you to do this in a mindset of prayer and openness to God. There is little to be gained from an academic critique of the texts.

I have found it helpful to consider the revisions as a gift from one I love. This is not a fantasy I indulge in, but an openness to truth: in the revised texts the translators have sought to communicate the richness and depth of liturgical language that sustained people of faith for over 1500 years.

While it is inevitable that there are some words and phrases that we will struggle with, it is more important that the prayers and rituals of the Mass carry us confidently on the pathway to holiness.

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