Marvels of Mass

This weekend at the 9am mass on Sunday, we celebrate the First Scrutiny with the elect.  Who are the elect?  These are the people who are preparing to enter our community at the Easter Vigil.  Some have been baptized already and are the Candidates; those who are not baptized are the Catechumens.  After the Rite of Election on the first Sunday of Lent, they are all now called the elect (technically, the catechumens are just ‘the elect’; the candidates remain as ‘candidates’ – but for our sake, we refer to all of them as ‘the elect’).

 

This Sunday, as always on the 2nd Sunday of Lent, we have the Gospel reading of the Transfiguration.

 

You may have noticed some changes today or on Ash Wednesday when you came to mass.  The environment is definitely different.  All of the gold that can be removed has been; all the greenery is gone.  We have gone back to using a simple wooden cross and wooden candle sticks.  Taking it all down a notch.  Just getting simpler and down to the basics.  We’re using a different form of the penitential rite that recalls very directly our sinfulness and our need for mercy. So why do we have all these changes?

This is the last Sunday in Ordinary Time.  This Wednesday begins Lent on Ash Wednesday. Today will be the last time to sing the Gloria and the Alleluia until the Easter Triduum.

 

We continue hearing from Luke’s Sermon on the Plain where he delves a little further into the ideas of the Beatitudes that we heard last week.  The overriding themes of love and service to all come out in this Gospel passage, just as last week.  It’s not just enough to love, but you have to show action, too. 

 

Our song at the preparation of the altar and gifts is “The Servant Song”.  Reflect for a moment on the first verse and how it may apply in your own life:

 

There’s a lot going on this weekend at our celebrations of the Mass! 

 

First off, we hear in today’s Gospel, Luke’s version of the Beatitudes in what is called the Sermon on the Plain. Matthew’s longer version is often referred to as the Sermon on the Mount as is the one most people often think of when referring to the Beatitudes. 

 

It is also World Marriage Day, so there is a blessing of marriages during Mass.  Let’s pray to strengthen all marriages this week in our daily prayers. 

 

Today in our first reading we hear from Isaiah.  It begins with the praise of the angels in Chapter 6, Verse 3. 

 

 

 

We are now settling down into Ordinary Time for a few weeks between the Christmas season and Lent.  We start to hear of Christ’s public ministry which began last week with the first miracle at the wedding at Cana of changing water into wine.  Over the next weeks, we’ll start to hear more about who Jesus is, he’ll gather his apostles, and we’ll hear the Sermon on the Mount.  We’ll learn how we are to live.

 

This weekend we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord.  The Gospel tells us of Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. After the baptism, “a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.’” (Luke 3:22)

 

Our opening song, “When Jesus Comes to Be Baptized”, speaks of this baptism.  The tune is one we know to the words of an Advent song – “On Jordan’s Bank”.  The tune is called Winchester New.

 

In many liturgical scholars’ thoughts, this feast of the Epiphany of the Lord should begin perhaps its own liturgical season, separate from Christmas and encompassing the next three Sundays.  The word ‘Epiphany’ is often referred to as a manifestation, or an experience of striking and sudden realization; its actual etymology comes from Greek and means ‘to appear’.   This weekend, with the Three Kings, we have the first of these ‘epiphanies’.