Devotion for today: when you’re down and troubled, turn to Psalm 42

Mosaic illustration from Psalm 42, at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis.

PSALM 42

As a deer longs for a stream of cool water,
    so I long for you, O God. I thirst for you, the living God.
    When can I go and worship in your presence?
 Day and night I cry,
    and tears are my only food;
all the time my enemies ask me,
    “Where is your God?”

My heart breaks when I remember the past,
    when I went with the crowds to the house of God
    and led them as they walked along,
    a happy crowd, singing and shouting praise to God. Why am I so sad?
    Why am I so troubled?

I will put my hope in God,
    and once again I will praise him,
    my savior and my God.

Here in exile my heart is breaking,
    and so I turn my thoughts to him.
He has sent waves of sorrow over my soul;
    chaos roars at me like a flood,
    like waterfalls thundering down to the Jordan
    from Mount Hermon and Mount Mizar. May the Lord show his constant love during the day,
    so that I may have a song at night,
    a prayer to the God of my life.

To God, my defender, I say,
    “Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go on suffering
    from the cruelty of my enemies?” I am crushed by their insults,
    as they keep on asking me,
    “Where is your God?”

Why am I so sad?
    Why am I so troubled?

I will put my hope in God,
    and once again I will praise him,
    my savior and my God.

Devotion for today: Interceding for ourselves and others…

We are looking today at the final stage of the Eucharistic prayer: the intercessions. It is a lovely thought that the Church, in her infinite wisdom, asks us to pause and remember all those for whom we need to pray: the living, the deceased, the Holy Father, our local Bishop, and  all of us who will soon be receiving the sacred body and blood of Christ. As with all things Catholic, the intercessions remind us that life is not about us. The Mass is not only about us – it is about us in union and communion with others. We must not forget to pray for the deceased, or for the living. It is important to unite ourselves with the intentions of the Pope so that the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church may thrive even in a hostile society, and our local Bishop is our link to the rest of the Church. It is he who will provide the guidance and decision making which all the priests of our diocese must follow. It just makes sense to pray for him. Take time as you pray the end of the Eucharistic prayer to place your beloved family and friends in here, and also ask God to keep your eyes and heart ever open to the awareness that your faith is not only personal, but united to millions of people around the world. We all share One Faith, one baptism, and we all confess one Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen!

Scripture for reflection: 1 Corinthians 10:17: Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”

Fr. William Saunders tells us (Straight Answers II, Cathedral Foundation Press, 2003): … since the beginning of the fourth century, the Eucharistic Prayer has included several petitions: “We pray for….” Here, the saints are invoked, especially the Blessed Mother, St. Joseph, and the apostles and martyrs. As a sign of unity throughout the Church, the intentions of the Holy Father and the local Bishop are remembered. Lastly, the living and deceased members of the Church are also remembered.

Fr. Edward McNamara tells us: The priest proffers the Eucharistic Prayer not in his own name but as representative of Christ and the Church. This formula therefore expresses a deeper theological reality in which the priest and the assembly manifest their belonging to the Universal Church through hierarchical communion with pope and bishop. The pope is the representative of this unity at the universal level; the bishop is this principle of unity at the local level. Communion with both pope and bishop are necessary if our Eucharist is to be authentically Catholic. Regarding mentioning the saints, each Eucharistic Prayer has its own characteristics and these must be respected. Before Pope John XXIII added St. Joseph, the Roman Canon traditionally listed 24 saints (12 apostles and 12 martyrs) in two separate groups. This list may now be shortened to seven by omitting the saints following St. Andrew in the first group and after St. Barnabas in the second. 

The full list is: 

First: Peter and Paul, Andrew, (James, John, Thomas, James, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon and Jude [apostles], Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, [5 Popes] Cyprian [bishop of Carthage], Lawrence [deacon], Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian [5 laymen]). 

Second: John the Baptist, Stephen [deacon protomartyr], Matthias, Barnabas [apostles], (Ignatius [bishop of Antioch], Alexander [Pope], Marcellinus [priest], Peter [exorcist], Felicity, Perpetua [2 married laywomen of Carthage], Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia [4 virgins], Anastasia [laywoman of Sirmium]. 

These lists thus represent the whole Church united in offering the most holy sacrifice of the altar insofar as Christians from all strands have been deemed worthy of martyrdom, the ultimate sacrifice for Christ. In this way the use of the full list, at least occasionally, can be very useful, among other messages, in illustrating the universal call to holiness. (Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university. http://www.ewtn.com/library/liturgy/zlitur258.htm)

Eucharistic Prayer VI Intercessions: Look, O Lord, upon the Sacrifice which you yourself have provided for your Church, and grant in your loving kindness to all who partake of this one Bread and one Chalice that, gathered into one body by the Holy Spirit, they may truly become a living sacrifice in Christ to the praise of your glory.

Therefore, Lord, remember now all for whom we offer this sacrifice, especially your servant N>our Pope, N> our Bishop, and the whole Order of Bishops, all the clergy, those who take part in this offering, those gathered here before you, your entire people, and all who seek you with a sincere heart.

Remember also those who have died in the peace of your Christ and all the dead, whose faith you alone have know.

To all of us, your children, grant, O merciful Father, that we may enter into a heavenly inheritance with the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and with your Apostles and Saints in your kingdom. There, with the whole of creation, freed from the corruption of sin and death, may we glorify you though Christ our Lord, through whom you bestow on the whole world all that is good.

Devotion for today: We remember, we celebrate, we believe

We have just finished our study of the Consecration. What follows this is a series of prayers to God the Father telling Him that we are fully aware of what has just transpired before our very eyes: that we now are in full celebration of the sacrifice just offered to God:  the living and true sacrifice Jesus made on the Cross, the gift of Himself given freely for all, and the hope we find in His resurrection for an eternal life in heaven. We remind God, and ourselves in doing so, that sacrifices have been offered to Him since the Old Testament, with Abel who gave the best he had, Abraham, who gave the only son he had,  and Melchizedeck , who gave his  bread and wine as a foreshadowing  of what was to come. In Eucharistic Prayer 1 we ask God to be “pleased to look upon these offerings with a serene and kindly countenance …” Don’t you love those words? I hope when I face God He looks at me with a serene and kindly countenance. I remember when my children were young and they had to tell me something that was a “no no” they would say, “Mommy, please don’t change your face!” We all know the bliss of a serene and kindly countenance, and the fear of the scowl. God accepted Abel’s sacrifice and we ask that He accept ours. He rejected Cain’s, because it was not given with a sincere and loving heart. May we be able to say of ourselves that we have truly entered into the mysteries of the Mass so completely, that the prayers we now offer are expressions of our love and faith in God. Many of us zone out at this time. Don’t. Listen; join your heart into the prayer, and pray. The priest no longer uses the pronoun “I” as he did in the consecration, while operating “In persona Christi” but now uses “we” as this prayer is ours.

Fr. William Saunders tells us: The anamnesis is the remembrance. The whole Mass in a sense constitutes an anamnesis, a remembrance of the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord. This remembering is not just of the past, but a remembering of what happens now and of the living mystery of the Mass. The faithful also remember that the Lord will come again in glory. Here specifically the priest recalls the Lord’s mandate to remember Him, what He did, and His glorious return.

Pope Benedict XVI tells us: Thus we see how the Eucharist had its origin, what its true source is. The words of institution alone are not sufficient; the death alone is not sufficient; and even both together are still insufficient but have to be complemented by the Resurrection, in which God accepts this death and makes it the door into a new life. From out of this whole matrix – that he transforms his death, that irrational event, into an affirmation, into an act of love and of adoration – emerges his acceptance by God and the possibility of his being able to share himself in this way. On the Cross, Christ saw love through to the end. For all the differences there may be between the accounts in the various Gospels, there is one point in common: Jesus died praying, and in the abyss of death, he upheld the First Commandment and held onto the presence of God. Out of such a death springs this sacrament, the Eucharist.

Eucharistic Prayer I: Therefore, O Lord, as we celebrate the memorial of the blessed Passion, the Resurrection from the dead, and the glorious Ascension into heaven of Christ, your Son, our Lord, we, your servants and your holy people, offer to your glorious majesty from the gifts that you have given us, this pure victim, this holy victim, this spotless victim, the holy Bread of eternal life and the Chalice of everlasting salvation. Be pleased to look upon these offerings with a serene and kindly countenance, and to accept them, as once your were pleased to accept the gifts of your servant Abel the just, the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith, and offering of your high priest Melchizedek, a holy sacrifice, a spotless victim. In humble prayer we ask you, almighty God: command that these gifts be borne by the hands of your holy Angel to your altar on high, in the sight of your divine majesty, so that all of us, who through this participation at the altar receive the most holy Body and Blood of your son, may be filled with every grace and heavenly blessing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T8hNidQqR0 (this is so wonderful because it is taped at an International Mass in Taiwan, reminding us that all Catholics of all nations are united in the Eucharist)