Liturgical Lexicon

Have you ever come across a word or phrase in liturgical books or conversation that was new to you? Did you ever wonder why we call the lectern an ambo? What does the phrase ex opere operato mean?

The National Association of Pastoral Musicians has a "Liturgical Decoder" online. While it isn't exhaustive, it is a useful first resource when we come across a word or phrase that is foreign to us or when we want to learn the origin of a particular word. The answers are clear and succinct and the information is reliable.

While you are on the NPM website, check out some of their other excellent resources.

Memo from the Bishop's Office

Bishop Morlino has issued a memorandum regarding the liturgy and influenza. Click here to read the memo or visit the Office of Worship web page.

Resources for Commemorating September 11th

This Friday marks the eighth anniversary of the attacks of September 11th, "a dark day in the history of humanity, a terrible affront to human dignity" (Pope John Paul II, September 12, 2001 Audience), which he said left him (and all of the world) "heartbroken." Many parishes have Masses, Vespers, or some other liturgical prayer that day while others will commemorate the event at the Saturday evening and Sunday Masses.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has had a page with prayers, intercessions and homily resources posted for several years. Even if you have referred to this in the past, it's worth another look. There are prayers for peace, for our nation, for our troops and for our leaders. This Friday also may be a good day to look once again at Pope Benedict XVI's prayer that he offered at Ground Zero when he visited New York last year.

Two days after the attacks, Pope John Paul II welcomed a new American ambassador to the Holy See. In his remarks, the Holy Father said:

I pray that this inhuman act will awaken in the hearts of all the world’s peoples a firm resolve to reject the ways of violence, to combat everything that sows hatred and division within the human family, and to work for the dawn of a new era of international cooperation inspired by the highest ideals of solidarity, justice and peace.

Sometime this week most of us will recall where we were and what we were doing as these horrific attacks took place and their impact began to sink into our hearts. It might be a better exercise to consider --both personally and as a nation--where we have been since September 11th and what we are doing to "work for the dawn of a new era...inspired by the highest ideals of solidarity, justice and peace."

Lectionary-based Music Resource

The National Association of Pastoral Musicians (NPM) has two wonderful resources to help musicians plan music which flows from the Sunday readings. They are definitely worth a look!

The NPM Music Planning Calendar includes suggestions of Psalms and hymns appropriate for each Sunday and holy day of obligation in the Church year. Each suggestion notes the hymnal(s) or other publication(s) in which the music is found.

The stated purpose of the Choral Anthem Project is

to list repertory suggestions for parish choir directors, independent of publishing industry interests, so that those responsible for selecting and preparing choral anthems may have a rich store of selections of high quality choral music related to the Sunday scriptures from which to choose.

Once again, each Sunday and holy day of obligation of the Church year is listed, although some days have few or no suggestions. Most of the music suggested is accessible to the average Catholic parish choir and embraces a wide-range of repertoire from historic music to compositions of today.

Both of these resources are one tool to help musicians plan. They should not be the sole resource for planning in your parish, nor should you feel bound to do something from these lists. Such lists are an excellent place to turn for ideas and I often find that when consulting them, new ideas pop into my mind.

The rest of NPM's website has a great deal of information for pastors, liturgists and musicians. There are catechetical resources, materials for liturgy preparation, and guidelines regarding professional concerns. It's a good place to bookmark and visit now and then.

New (free) resource: Prayers of the Faithful

The Liturgy of the Word concludes with the Creed and the Prayers of the Faithful. Having heard God's word proclaimed in the readings and broken open in the homily, we profess our faith and intercede for those in need. In short, we ask God to do again today what he has done throughout all of history. In a particular way, it gives us a chance to look more specifically at the needs of our world through the lens of the day's Scripture.

It has been my experience (both as writer and pray-er of petitions) that this is a difficult task. We often go to the default of "For our Holy Father, our Bishops, and all Bishops..." regardless of the Scripture, feast or season. We need to ask ourselves, "what do we need to pray for in light of today's Mass?" Of course, we follow the prescriptions of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (nos. 69-71) which directs us to pray...

...For the needs of the Church;
...For public authorities and the salvation of the whole world;
...For those burdened by any kind of difficulty;
...For the local community.

Liturgy Training Publications [LTP] has a new resource to assist with this task called, Prayer of the Faithful: Intercessions for Your Faith Community. For each Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation there is an invitation to prayer, intercessions, and closing prayer. This downloadable product is issued in two-month segments so that the prayers can respond to today's issues (and LTP assures that updates will be released in the case of sudden, significant world or national events that need our prayer). As is the case with most LTP titles, this is published both in English and Spanish.

And this is all free!

While you may prefer to discern your own prayers, this certainly provides fodder for your soul as you compose the intercessions for Sunday Mass.

The American Way

The liturgies on the weekend nearest the Fourth of July always seem a bit schizophrenic to me. We have a legitimate desire in our country to want to thank God for the wisdom of the Founding Fathers, the blessing of freedom, and for the brave men and women who fought and died defending this freedom for us and for many throughout the world. There are also countless people who stood their ground amidst religious, racial or class persecution who have played an important role in the building of the United States of America.

At the same time, the readings of the Sunday falling closest to the Fourth are simply part of the Lectionary cycle and are not influenced at all by our important civic festival. For example, this year's Gospel (Mark 6:1-6) recounts Jesus' friends and neighbors rejecting his teaching in his home town.

What's a good liturgist to do?

One of the things that I believe is that the liturgy can't ignore what is going on in the world. In fact, I have a strong belief that in order to change the world the liturgy needs to inform (and be informed) by current events. One example supporting this idea is our three-year Lectionary--each time we hear particular readings our own lives are different (sometimes dramatically so) than when we heard the same readings three years before.

The preaching, music, intercessions, etc. do not need to ignore either the readings or the civic holiday. Somehow, they need to relate, and that is the trick.

When Pope Benedict XVI visited the United States last year, his opening address on the White House lawn was an eloquent expression of freedom and the role it can play in God's divine providence.

From the dawn of the Republic, America’s quest for freedom has been guided by the conviction that the principles governing political and social life are intimately linked to a moral order based on the dominion of God the Creator. The framers of this nation’s founding documents drew upon this conviction when they proclaimed the “self-evident truth” that all men are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights grounded in the laws of nature and of nature’s God. The course of American history demonstrates the difficulties, the struggles, and the great intellectual and moral resolve which were demanded to shape a society which faithfully embodied these noble principles. In that process, which forged the soul of the nation, religious beliefs were a constant inspiration and driving force, as for example in the struggle against slavery and in the civil rights movement. In our time too, particularly in moments of crisis, Americans continue to find their strength in a commitment to this patrimony of shared ideals and aspirations...

...Freedom is not only a gift, but also a summons to personal responsibility. Americans know this from experience – almost every town in this country has its monuments honoring those who sacrificed their lives in defense of freedom, both at home and abroad. The preservation of freedom calls for the cultivation of virtue, self-discipline, sacrifice for the common good and a sense of responsibility towards the less fortunate. It also demands the courage to engage in civic life and to bring one’s deepest beliefs and values to reasoned public debate. In a word, freedom is ever new. It is a challenge held out to each generation, and it must constantly be won over for the cause of good (cf. Spe Salvi, 24). Few have understood this as clearly as the late Pope John Paul II. In reflecting on the spiritual victory of freedom over totalitarianism in his native Poland and in eastern Europe, he reminded us that history shows, time and again, that “in a world without truth, freedom loses its foundation”, and a democracy without values can lose its very soul (cf. Centesimus Annus, 46). Those prophetic words in some sense echo the conviction of President Washington, expressed in his Farewell Address, that religion and morality represent “indispensable supports” of political prosperity.

The Prayer for the Nation in the Sacramentary's Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions truly picks up on the Holy Father's words and can become the prayer of us all:

God our Father,
you guide everything in wisdom and love.
Accept the prayers we offer for our nation;
by the wisdom of our leaders and integrity of our citizens,
may harmony and justice be secured
and may there be lasting prosperity and peace.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ...