One of the greatest treasures in the Novus Ordo has been the expansion of Scriptural readings which we now enjoy. And beginning with the 7/22/18 Sacred Liturgy we have launched into a focus on the Bread of Life discourse which begins with an introductory Gospel from Mark 6 and then proceeds through the whole of Chapter 6 in John. Here is our opportunity to reflect on the Mysterium Fidei which is re-presented at every Holy Mass and culminates in the reception of the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ. This is our corporate act of worship which is offered by our Eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit, to the Glory of the Father. As sons and daughters, we too participate in Christ's priesthood, offering our bodies, our blessings, and our crosses to God. Through our priests, acting In Persona Christi, especially in the words of consecration, Jesus gifts us with Himself in the Eucharist. And so I thought that a thread could be started through which we could share with one another the insights which the Holy Spirit grants us concerning so wonderful a Gift. I encourage everyone to be attentive, realizing that the whole of the readings during this 6 week period is an opportunity to delve deeply into so marvelous a Mystery. And to those of you who attend the TLM, I encourage you to go to the USCCB website to also ponder these readings and join the discussion. Let us deepen our love for our Eucharistic Lord! The Gospel from 7/22: The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat. So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place. People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
Thanks Mario for the insight. Not to get ahead of this weeks reading, but John 6 is one of my favorite parts of scripture. Jesus foretells his Eucharistic love, reiterating over again the essence of eating his body and blood or you will not have life in you. Yet, like many mysteries still pending in scripture, many do not understand and they start their own church protestant churches. Then came one of the saddest statements in scripture, because they refused to understand.... (John 6:67) "After this many of his disciples went back; and walked no more with him". Yet in the next verse we have our answer in Peter: [68] Then Jesus said to the twelve: Will you also go away? [69] And Simon Peter answered him: Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. [70] And we have believed and have known, that thou art the Christ, the Son of God.
Mario, could you please explain what you meant by 'the expansion of Scriptural readings which we now enjoy.' Is that different from the TLM? I am not very familiar with the TLM. I thought the readings were the same, except maybe the TLM readings were from the Douay Rheims translation(?) and not the New American Bible translation. It would be interesting to learn how the readings are different in both forms of the Mass. Thank you for initiating this discussion. When the liturgy was tweaked several years ago for a closer adherence to original language I really like this refined passage of the Eucharistic prayer: Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall, so that they may become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. It helps me picture rays of grace descending in that moment upon the gifts in a very beautiful way, softly and imperceptibly to our eyes like dewfall.
Waiting, I like your imagery about the rays of grace. I also find it fascinating that the translators created a new word to image the meaning: dewfall! In the TLM, readings were simply two, a gospel and usually an epistle. The Lectionary for the NO has expanded Sunday readings to include an OT reading (except during the Easter Season), an epistle, and a Gospel. In addition, there is a 3-year cycle which expands exposure to the Scriptures even more. For instance, this coming Sunday, the TLM has: 9th Sunday after Pentecost - Epistle ICor 10:6-13; Gospel Luke 19 41-47 While the NO has: Year B: 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time - 2Kgs 4:42-44; Eph 4:1-6; Jn 6:1-15 Safe in the Barque of Peter!
May I ask if there is something similar in the TLM to the responsorial psalms that the Novos Ordo Mass has?
I have only been at one TLM since the advent of the new Mass. At that Mass, everything was in Latin, including the Scripture readings. Is that the norm for the TLM or at some Masses are the Scripture readings in English?
Waiting, The answer is no. The TLM had was is called a Gradual/Alleluia sequence which the NO replaced with the Responsorial Psalm. I remember this through the Missal I still have in my possession. Perhaps one of our members listening in who attends the TLM will be able to better share the beauty and significance of the Gradual/Alleluia sequence. Safe in the Refuge of the Immaculate Heart!
There is a not so obvious gem within this passage, I believe. The Gospels often speak of the crowds seeking out Jesus because of the healings and miracles He performed. But here and in other places the accent is on Jesus teaching. Consider Mark 2: 2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. So even in the above passage of Mark which leads into the multiplication of loaves, there might be seen a sort of "Liturgy of the Word." And what follows after? Safe in the Barque of Peter!
Having recently switched to the TLM, I was very surprised at the amount of scripture, so I very much disagree with Mario's assessment of the amount of scripture. In fact, I hear more scripture every Sunday now in the TLM than I did in the novus ordo, and I was a lector and cantor for 8 years. Example, this is what happened last Sunday, the 9th Sunday after Pentecost: Introit: Psalm 53:6-7 "Behold God is my helper and the Lord is the protector of my soul: turn back the evils upon mine enemies, and cut them off in Thy truth, O Lord my protector. Save me O God by Thy Name, and deliver me in Thy strength" Epistle: 1 Cor 10:6-13 Gradual: Psalm 8:2 "O Lord our Lord, how admirable is Thy Name in the whole earth! For Thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens." Alleluia: Psalm 58:2 "Deliver me from mine enemies O my God: and defend me from them that rise up against me." Gospel: Luke 19:41-47 Offertory: Psalm 18:9-12 "The justices of the Lord are right, rejoicing hearts, and His judgments sweeter than honey and the honeycomb: for Thy servant keepeth them. Communion: John 6:57 He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood abide the in Me and I in him, saith the Lord." In addition, every high Mass begins with the Asperges (Psalm 50 in the Douay Rheims) "Thou shalt sprinkle me O Lord with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed; Thou shalt wash me, and I shall become whiter than snow...." etc After the sign of the cross, the priest begins Judica Me, which is Psalm 42 "Judge me O God and distinguish my cause from the nation..." etc During the washing of hands, the priest says Psalm 25:6-12 "I will wash my hands among the innocent and I will compass Thine altar O Lord...." etc. Finally, at the end of every Mass is the reading from the beginning of the Gospel of St John "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God..." etc To answer a question posited above, the readings are in Latin, but at every Mass two things happen: there are missals freely available to use in the pews with the English translations in addition to paper handouts in the vestibule, AND as the priest is about to begin the sermon he repeats the readings in English.
Thank you for your detailed description. It does seem so holy. What a tremendous gift we have in the scriptures that are available to us and are proclaimed every day throughout the whole world in our Holy Masses. Praise God for this.
Of note; for centuries, every Christian community would hear Scripture read weekly in this manner, maybe not even in the vernacular but in Latin, Aramaic, Old Church Slavonic, Coptic... And their Christological differences aside, these churches stayed fairly monolithic and did not dissolve into sects, or implode. So simply studying the Scriptures a lot, or committing Scripture to memory as an individual is not a sure fire way of retaining unity and keeping division or heresy at bay. Just observing.
Gracia stated: ...committing Scripture to memory as an individual is not a sure fire way of retaining unity. You are correct: our personal prayer life and lived life is best understood as an extension of our corporate liturgical life. Unfortunately, most Catholics only understand superficially the truth from today's second reading from Eph 2: [Bear] with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Nor do most recall Jesus the Shepherd teaching us last Sunday and tie it in with the Jesus who feeds us in the Gospel of John this Sunday. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, "Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted." Even Justin Martyr, in his First Apology from the second century, emphasizes this unity of teaching and feeding and even the fruit thereof. In so doing he describes a Sacred Liturgy very similar to our own: And we afterwards continually remind each other of these things. And the wealthy among us help the needy; and we always keep together; and for all things wherewith we are supplied, we bless the Maker of all through His Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Ghost. And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succors the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need. Also: And this food is called among us Eucharistia [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. Safe in the Barque of Peter!
Justin Martyr laid out the requirements for reception of Holy Communion. Art beautiful in their clarity and simplicity! ...no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. Safe in the Barque of Peter!
Gospel for 8/5/18: Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Jn 6:24-35) When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. And when they found him across the sea they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?" Jesus answered them and said, "Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal." So they said to him, "What can we do to accomplish the works of God?" Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent." So they said to him, "What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat." So Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." So they said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst."
Mario, this seems to be the same today. The baptized have in large part decided that the bread that Jesus gives us in Eucharist is not as flavorable as the pleasures of the flesh and the foods of the restaurants. "It is boring" they say. "I get nothing from it"! I assume most of us felt this way sometime in our life, maybe as a child or in our teens. But it is different today. It is adults and the elderly who have now in large numbers stopped going to church to receive the bread of life. I my world, the biggest reason seams to be the lack of holy priests explaining the faith and unfolding the mysteries that Jesus spoke of. In my church, Jesus is rarely spoken of in a homily for decades. It has all the fluffy stuff, but not the deeper mysteries that Jesus laid out like the bread of life. I believe this is the norm in most parishes around the world in the past 50 years. The world and all the things it affords them is right in front of us daily in TV, entertainment, socialization etc... so why would they spend their time with a few holly rollers who search for something they can't find? The church clergy have failed its people in large part. Parent's fall in line with Father Nice and Father Funny, but even after a while they got old and "they left and followed him no more" (John 6:67).
Jesus answered them and said, "Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. You are correct, Fatima. This is the key point in this portion of the discourse: many Catholics have their focus on those things which ultimately fail to satisfy, the bells and whistles which entertain or tantalize on a superficial level. When Catholics have been sacramentalized without being evangelized they fail to perceive the enormity of the precious gift offered to them. John introduces once again three key words in this section that he will expand on in the coming verses: come, see, and believe. If Catholics are not introduced to these fundamentals, they will neither understand or treasure the Eucharist. These three words were actually introduced originally in Chapter 1. 37 The two disciples [of John the Baptist] heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned, and saw them following, and said to them, "What do you seek?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" 39 He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where he was staying; and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two who heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41 He first found his brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ). Notice that Andrew responded to the invitation of Jesus to come and see. Andrew came, saw, and believed as testified by his excited words to Peter: "We have found the Messiah!" Now in John 6, Jesus extends a similar invitation to those intent only on the loaves: v.35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst." Too often as you have noted those who have preached have mentioned only fluff and have failed to plainly tell their flock that only Jesus satisfies! Safe in the Flames of the Sacred Heart!
