The New Mass Translation

As Fr. Wise pointed out yesterday, there were things we heard and said at Mass yesterday that we heard and said for the last time....or at least until we get used to the new Mass translation.  We have a CD by Dr. Edward Sri about the new translation and it is wonderful.  Here is a link to his website and an article on some of the wording changes and the reasoning behind them.  I hope that you will find it enlightening.
Here is the link:  The New Mass Translations: "For all or Many" and "The Supper of the Lamb"

November 27

Class is cancelled.  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Weekend!  We will pick back up the following Sunday with DVD 5 in the Catholicism Series.

As we study Mary....

You might want to ponder this little interchange that I have copied and pasted from John Zmirak's Crisis Magazine, Church section.  You can click on this to see the whole article.  It is a little earthy, but worth a few minutes.  The sections copied from below are the end of the article.  It is interesting to see how he got there....the title of the article is The Devil Never Wore Diapers.  I found the perspective on sex especially interesting.  Now I know that you will go have a look at it! :-)

Q. So why is it important that Mary remained a virgin, instead of having subsequent children with Joseph?

You’d have to ask God why He did things that way, but I’ll toss out a hint why it’s fitting: Because God’s union with Mary was a marriage and not some (Zeus-like) one night stand, it was sacramental and indissoluble. Mary wasn’t simply some useful, dispensable vessel, but a “type” of redeemed mankind, united again with its creator. Her single-minded devotion to Him, and to her Son, is the model for every Christian life. The fact that she could have told the angel “No” marks Christianity radically off from pagan accounts of gods consorting with human women. It also connects to the Church’s insistence that man’s will is free and God’s grace can be resisted. Adam and Eve were free not to fall, and Mary was free not to help pick us up again. Ironically, while Jesus would be tempted, He could not have sinned; the Virgin Mary could have. She simply didn’t. In one way, that’s more impressive.

Q. And that is why Catholics and Orthodox make so much out of Mary?

That, and the fact that she keeps appearing to us and giving us messages from heaven. Which also makes a strong impression.

Surely this might engender some thoughts or comments????

November 20

We will continue with the first half of episode 4 in the Catholicism Series by Fr. Barron.  For those of you reading along in the book we will be covering Our Blessed Mother for the next two weeks.  This week we will cover through the Immaculate Conception on the DVD, but the chapter headings in the book do not exactly match the DVD, so I would recommend that we go ahead and read the whole chapter.

November 13! Time is going fast enough already!

We are all set to complete the third DVD of Catholicism by Fr. Barron.  Mark Anderson has agreed to facilitate the discussion and Mary & Paul Ray have volunteered to bring the snacks.  I happen to know that Paul likes good coffee, so be sure to come.  We are covering:   The Provident Creator, The Problem of Evil and The Trinity.  Three topics sure to stimulate some discussion!  Read along ahead of time in the book if you can and come with plenty of thoughts to share.

Description of the Eucharist.....

Please read this carefully.  I will share with you in a later post where  this came from. I would like for you all to read it and give it your  best shot to identify it, or at least give some clue as to where and/or  when it might have been written. SLG "No one may share the Eucharist with us unless he believes that  what we teach is true, unless he is washed in the regenerating waters  of baptism for the remission of his sins, and unless he lives in  accordance with the principles given us by Christ. We do not consume the eucharistic bread and wine as if it were  ordinary food and drink, for we have been taught that as Jesus Christ  our Savior became a man of flesh and blood by the power of the  Word of God, so also the food that our flesh and blood assimilates  for its nourishment becomes the flesh and blood of the incarnate  Jesus by the power of his own words contained in the prayer of  thanksgiving. The apostles, in their recollections, which are called gospels,  handed down to us what Jesus commanded them to do.  They tell us that he took bread, gave thanks and said: Do this  in memory of me. This is my body. In the same way he took the cup,  he gave thanks and said: This is my blood. The Lord gave this  command to them alone. Ever since then we have constantly  reminded one another of these things. The rich among us help the  poor and we are always united. For all that we receive we praise  the Creator of the universe through his Son Jesus Christ and through  the Holy Spirit. On Sunday we have a common assembly of all our members,  whether they live in the city or the outlying districts. The recollections  of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as  there is time.   When the reader has finished, the president of the  assembly speaks to us; he urges everyone to imitate the  examples of virtue we have heard in the readings. Then we  all stand up together and pray. On the conclusion of our prayer, bread and wine and  water are brought forward. The president offers prayers and  gives thanks to the best of his ability, and the people give  assent by saying, “Amen”. The eucharist is distributed, everyone present communicates, and the deacons take it to those who  are absent. The wealthy, if they wish, may make a contribution, and  they themselves decide the amount. The collection is placed in  the custody of the president, who uses it to help the orphans and  widows and all who for any reason are in distress, whether  because they are sick, in prison, or away from home. In a  word, he takes care of all who are in need. We hold our common assembly on Sunday because it is the first day of the week, the day on which God put darkness and  chaos to flight and created the world, and because on that  same day our savior Jesus Christ rose from the dead. For  he was crucified on Friday and on Sunday he appeared to his  apostles and disciples and taught them the things that we  have passed on for your consideration."

The wonder of God's creation!

This is a truly wonderful link.  Click on this and spend about two minutes in a murmuration.
We see this in a greatly reduced version with the birds on the phone and electric wires around the downtown area, but nothing to match this!  Made all the better by the fact that this was filmed in Ireland!  Enjoy!

Fr Barron on the Eucharist...a must listen!

This is a link to Fr. Barron's Word on Fire web site where his sermons are housed.  They can be listened to by simply scrolling down the list and clicking on them to listen.  They are about 15 minutes each.  They are all, of course, wonderful but numbers 290-294 are on John 6 and The Eucharist.  They go along very nicely with the lessons Fr. Wise has just finished up on the history of the Mass.  If you do not have an hour or so to do them all then make a pledge to do just one a day.  Bookmark this link and return to it often.

Looking ahead to November 13

We will be completing Chapter in the book and DVD series Catholicism.  This will cover The Provident Creator, The Problem of Evil, and The Trinity, so be thinking of these weighty topics during the week.  Have a look at the book and come with some ideas to discuss.  We have been having some very interesting comments and discussion after each DVD viewing so far.  We were blessed and pleased to have Fr. Wise as a participant today!  So please do consider coming and try to bring a friend!  The more the merrier!

A Spiritual Battle

Please have a look at:  A Spiritual Battle-How to Win the Culture War by Peter Kreeft.  This is the text from a talk that he gave on last weekend at a conference in Roswell, GA.  There is a link to the actual talk so if you have an hour or so you could listen to it.

November 6

We will begin the third DVD of the Catholicism series this week.  By way of introduction to this material ponder, if you will, how Fr. Barron might find 3 or 4 ways in which to agree with atheists!  We will be covering the mystery of God, arguments for the existence of God and naming God.  (pages 61-75 for those of you who are following along in the book.)