Marvels of Mass

We begin our liturgy this week with the song “Table of Plenty”.  This text is a wonderful gathering together of all who have come to the church today to pray – “God will provide for all that we need, here at the table of plenty…come and sit at my [God’s] table where saints and sinners are friends.  I [God] wait to welcome the lost and lonely to share the cup of my love.”  Just spend a moment and meditate on that text.  God is welcoming all of us, in any stage of life, to come to His table – the sinners, the saints, the lost, the lonely and later on in the text, the poor and the sorrowful. 

We continue reading the Gospel of Mark in our Sunday liturgies as we near the end of the liturgical year with the Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe on November 25th.  We hear yet another story from Jesus today as He’s observing what’s happening in the treasury at the temple.  A poor widow goes in and offers all that she has monetarily, putting all her trust and faith in God to provide what she needs.  Once again, a great example of how we should live our lives in stewardship.

We gather together this weekend as a community of faithful to worship our God.  This worship is communal in its very nature.  As Catholics we believe that we MUST come together in order to worship our God – coming together as one people, one body of Christ to give Him glory and praise.  We are coming together as one people to celebrate the Sacrament of the Eucharist through which we become the living Body of Christ in the world today.  This reality is what we sing about nearly each and every week in our gathering song in some form or other.  “Gather Your People” is the gathering song this w

The opening song for this weekend’s liturgies is “There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy” – foreshadowing what we’re going to hear about in the Gospel: God’s great mercy to a blind man who constantly calls out to Jesus, is rebuked to be silent by those around him, and yet he continues to trust in God’s loving mercy to hear him in his distress.  He, in fact, throws off his cloak (knowing he’s going to be healed, he’ll be able to find it later) and ‘springs’ up.  That’s how much faith he had in what was going to happen.

In this weekend’s Gospel we hear once again how we need to give to others what we have been given – it fits right in with our parish stewardship drive! As our opening song invites us: “Gather us in, the lost and forsaken…the rich and the haughty…the proud and the strong; give us the courage to enter the song…nourish us well, and teach us to fashion lives that are holy and hearts that are true.” (Gather Us In, M. Haugen) Hopefully through gathering together as a community of faith, we will be open to hearing the Spirit’s call in our lives to service of others.

In this weekend’s Gospel we hear once again how we need to give to others what we have been given – it fits right in with our parish stewardship drive! As our opening song invites us: “Gather us in, the lost and forsaken…the rich and the haughty…the proud and the strong; give us the courage to enter the song…nourish us well, and teach us to fashion lives that are holy and hearts that are true.” (Gather Us In, M. Haugen) Hopefully through gathering together as a community of faith, we will be open to hearing the Spirit’s call in our lives to service of others.

I would like to take this column this week to talk about some of the stewardship options that are available surrounding the liturgies and the church building.  As everyone is prayerfully considering their response to God’s gracious gifts that He has freely given each of us, I would like to make you aware of some needs and opportunities here at Prince of Peace.  Each of these ministries are open to all in the Church with the exception being a lector/reader and Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion – you must have received the Sacrament of Confirmation in order to perform these ministries.

“If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” (Mark 9:35) This is one of several parts of today’s Gospel that could be focused on.  This is the one that I chose to base some of the music upon.  The servant of all.  That’s a tall order to fill. The Prayer of St.

Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” (Mark 8:34)  These are the words of today’s Gospel message for us to ponder throughout this week.  Our opening song drives this point home: “Take up your cross, the Savior said, if you would my disciple be; deny yourself, the world forsake, and humbly follow after me” (Take Up Your Cross).  It is likewise echoed in our song at the presentation of the gifts (Only This I Want): “Only this I want: but to know the Lord, and to bear his cross, so to wear the crown he wore.”  During Communion, our second song ta