A Great Lenten Focus

From a sermon by Saint Peter Chrysologus, bishop

Prayer knocks, fasting obtains, mercy receives

There are three things, my brethren, by which faith stands firm, devotion remains constant, and virtue endures. They are prayer, fasting and mercy. Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy receives. Prayer, mercy and fasting: these three are one, and they give life to each other.

Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them; they cannot be separated. If you have only one of them or not all together, you have nothing. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others you open God’s ear to yourself.

When you fast, see the fasting of others. If you want God to know that you are hungry, know that another is hungry. If you hope for mercy, show mercy. If you look for kindness, show kindness. If you want to receive, give. If you ask for yourself what you deny to others, your asking is a mockery.

Let this be the pattern for all men when they practice mercy: show mercy to others in the same way, with the same generosity, with the same promptness, as you want others to show mercy to you.

Therefore, let prayer, mercy and fasting be one single plea to God on our behalf, one speech in our defense, a threefold united prayer in our favor.

Let us use fasting to make up for what we have lost by despising others. Let us offer our souls in sacrifice by means of fasting. There is nothing more pleasing that we can offer to God, as the psalmist said in prophecy: A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; God does not despise a bruised and humbled heart.

Offer your soul to God, make him an oblation of your fasting, so that your soul may be a pure offering, a holy sacrifice, a living victim, remaining your own and at the same time made over to God. Whoever fails to give this to God will not be excused, for if you are to give him yourself you are never without the means of giving.

To make these acceptable, mercy must be added. Fasting bears no fruit unless it is watered by mercy. Fasting dries up when mercy dries up. Mercy is to fasting as rain is to the earth. However much you may cultivate your heart, clear the soil of your nature, root out vices, sow virtues, if you do not release the springs of mercy, your fasting will bear no fruit.

When you fast, if your mercy is thin your harvest will be thin; when you fast, what you pour out in mercy overflows into your barn. Therefore, do not lose by saving, but gather in by scattering. Give to the poor, and you give to yourself. You will not be allowed to keep what you have refused to give to others.

The Revisions of the Mass (part 2)

The Introductory Rites & The Penitential Act

This week we will begin the explanation of the different responses we, as the laity of the Church, will give in the Mass. (We will not focus on the different prayers of the priest.  There are actually far more changes for them than there are for us.)

The Introductory Rites

The priest has 3 different forms he can use in the Introductory Rite:

1) The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you.

2) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3) The Lord be with you.  

We respond to any one of these forms with the word, “And with your spirit.”

       Explanation

• ·         At the ordination of every priest the Holy Spirit descends upon him to give him the spirit to serve in persona Christi. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us in paragraph 1551, “The sacrament of Holy Orders communicates a “sacred power” which is none other than that of Christ.” This means our priests stand visibly in the place of Christ, who is not visible to us as man, here on earth.  When they speak, especially in the sacraments, they are the voice of Christ.

• ·         When we say, “And with your spirit” we are calling on the Holy Spirit who was given to the priest at his ordination to work through him, bringing Christ to us.

Scripture Connection

• ·         St. Paul taught that It is in the spirit, or we might say heart, in which the Holy Spirit resides in us. (1 Corinthians 14:15).  We are calling on the Holy Spirit to work through the priest.

• ·         St. Paul used similar words.

o   When saying good-bye to the people of Galatia he said, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen” (Galatians 6:18).

o   To his friend and disciple Timothy, he said, “The Lord be with your spirit” (2 Timothy 4:22).

Penitential Act (Confiteor)

This is the general confession we make at the beginning of Mass.

The change will be as follows with changes in red:

 “I confess to Almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do,…”

The addition of the word “great” is to help us to realize that every sin is an offense to the good God who wants to love us and receive our love in return.  When we sin, we hurt and disappoint God.  We want to sharpen the awareness of sin in our lives so that we can experience God’s transforming love in our lives.

During the next phrase, we strike our breast (chest) three times at the word ‘fault’.

“…through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault;

Therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.

      Explanation

• ·         We say the word ‘fault’ three times as we strike our breasts so that we may humbly realize the rejection of the love of the Holy Trinity when we sin.

• ·         This helps us to have real sorrow and contrition for our sins and for hurting God, who gives us nothing but love.

• ·         This prayer prepares us to three times ask for God’s mercy. (Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.)

Penitential Act Form B

The priest will say, “Have mercy on us, O Lord.”

We respond, “For we have sinned against you.”

Priest: “Show us, O Lord, your mercy.

We respond: “And grant us your salvation.

       Explanation

• ·         This is a less used form, but has the change.

• ·         The words in red are the exact Latin translation.

• ·         We are acknowledging that not only has our sin possibly hurt someone else, it has hurt God and we are in need of His healing.

      Scripture Connection

• ·         “As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you!” (Psalm 41:4).

We will cover the Gloria next week, which has several changes, all of which are beautiful and rich.  

As always, feel free to leave a comment or ask a question and we will do our best to get back to you. 

God’s blessings!