Friday in the Seventh Week of Easter, May 17, 2024

John 21, 15-19

After Jesus had revealed himself to his disciples and eaten breakfast with them, he said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He then said to Simon Peter a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”

“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”  The Lord is speaking to St. Peter during one of his appearances after his Resurrection from the dead.  They have just eaten a breakfast of the fish the Apostles have miraculously caught at the Lord’s direction.  The Lord Jesus asks Peter, Do you, Peter, love me more than the other Apostles do?  St. John, in recounting this episode in Greek, tells us that the Lord used a particular word that meant loving with a deep, lofty love.  Peter, for his part, is said to have replied using a word that did mean “I love you”, but in a more familiar way.  The Fathers help us to understand this.  St. Bede tells us that Peter, after his terrible denials of the Lord during his Passion, has now learned humility.  He does not want to claim that he loves Jesus more than the other Apostles do, because he knows he cannot know how much they love him, and he knows how much his love still needs to grow.  This is a very different Peter from the one who, multiple times at the Last Supper, asserted that he would die rather than deny his Master.  Jesus tries him three times, and Peter, formerly so impulsive and effusive, remains in his humility.  He is hurt by the Lord’s trying him a third time, but this comes from the guilt he still feels for his denials.  The Lord is pleased by his responses, by his hard-won humility.  The English translation here has the Lord saying to him, “Feed my lambs . . . Feed my sheep.”  The Greek tense, though, has the sense of “keep feeding my lambs, keep feeding my sheep.”  The “lambs” can be understood as “the little ones” in the Faith, those just beginning in the way of Jesus and for whom special care must be taken; the “sheep” are the Apostles and disciples who have known the Lord for the three years of his public ministry and whose faith is firmer and whose understanding is on a higher level. 

“When you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”  The Fathers understood this statement of the Lord to refer to Peter’s eventual martyrdom.  Peter accepts this quietly in his humility, knowing full well that the Lord means that he will be crucified.  Again, we note how much changed he is from the exuberant and outspoken fisherman of not long before, the one who protested so vigorously when the Lord spoke for the first time of his own coming Passion.  The phrase “where you do not want to go” can be understood to mean that Peter would feel he had so much more work to do that he wanted to continue living awhile on the earth.  It could also refer to his expressed reluctance to die in the same manner as that by which his Lord was killed.  Apocryphal works also tell us that Peter’s followers in Rome tried to smuggle him out of Rome before he could be arrested, and that though at first he wanted to stay, he was persuaded to go, but then turned back upon seeing the Lord in a vision.

“Follow me.”  Again, the sense of the Greek word is, “Keep on following me.”  The understanding of the sense of the Greek imperative mood is important because it helps us see that the Lord did not see Peter’s denials as a cause for a permanent break in his following.  Peter had acted out of weakness in his denials, not out of the malice that motivated Judas.  We may take comfort from this for ourselves, that we may truly learn the humility necessary to love and obey the Lord Jesus, and that the sins we commit out of weakness do not permanently prevent us from continuing as his followers.

The thirty-seventh article in our continuing series on the Holy Mass: The Books Used at Mass

In the first century or two of the Christian era, the Eucharistic Prayer was kept in the memory and recited from it.  We have this on the testimony of St. Justin.  But the readings from the Scriptures could only have been done through the use of a book.  Until the mid-300’s, books were written in scrolls.  Afterwards, the codex, which could contain more text and was easier to use, replaced the scroll.  The first Church books were these copies of books of the Scriptures (in scroll form) or of large parts of the Bible (the codex), with notations in the margins for what passages were to be read on which day.  After Christianity became legal in the Roman Empire, we begin to see books for Mass containing only the readings.  The book containing the non-Gospel readings was known as the Book of the Epistles, while that which contained the Gospel readings was known as the Book of the Gospels.  There were also books containing the psalms to be sung at Mass.  at this time too we have our earliest surviving sacramentaries, which contained the Roman Canon as well as the other prayers necessary for Mass.

The Roman Missal is divided into various sections for ease of use.  The front part of the book contains the prayers for each particular Mass, going from Advent through the Christmas season through Lent, Easter, and the time after Pentecost, which is now called “ordinary time”.  Following this section come the prefaces for the Eucharistic Prayers, some for Sundays in ordinary time, some for Sundays in Advent, some for various feast days.  After this are the unchanging prayers for the Mass.  Then come the prayers for the various feast days of the saints.  Various appendices fill out the rest of the book.

Next: The Prayers Said by the Priest Before and After Mass

 Thursday in the Seventh Week of Easter, May 17, 2024

John 17, 20-26

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying: “I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.”

Today’s Gospel Reading is taken from the Lord’s prayer to his Father during the Last Supper, hours before he is arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.

“I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.”  The Lord shows concern for those who would believe in him after his Resurrection throughout St. John’s Gospel.  The signs that he performs of which St. John writes are meant for us today as well as for the people of the time, and John, knowing this, gives very precise details so that we can almost see them ourselves.  And then, after he has risen, he appears to St. Thomas and says to him, “Blessed are they that have not seen and have believed” (John 20, 29).

“So that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.”  When a ruler in this world exhorts his people to unity it is so that he can rule them more effectively.  When Jesus prays for unity for his followers it is so that they may be saved.  The unity that makes us one in Christ that comes through baptism enables us to assist one another on a spiritual level.  1 Corinthians 12, 4–6: “Now there are diversities of graces, but the same Spirit. And there are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but the same God, who works all in all.”

That the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. Father, they are your gift to me.  The Holy Church, which is the members of Christ’s Body bound together in him, is the great sign that the Father sent his Son into the world.  “I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”  The Lord Jesus wishes that we remain in such union with him that wherever we go he goes with us, and that where he goes, we go with him.  Thus, if we are in the deepest prison for his sake, he is there.  And dwelling in heaven, we will be there with him.  The son speaks of the glory that he received from the Father from all eternity in begetting him and desires that those who belong to him may see it and so share in it.

“Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me.”  The world, that is, those who pursue pleasure, power, fame, wealth, and the like, do not believe in God and deny his existence.  Jesus, who has rejected all these things, knows the Father, and those who belong to him believe that he was sent by the Father from heaven — that he is divine.  “I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.”  The Son makes known to those who belong to him that God is Father.  God was not known as the Father in the Old Testament.  God is the Creator but not Father.  He becomes our “Father” through baptism, which makes us members of his Son, and in that way we become his adopted children.  This adoption grants us the love of God as his adopted children and not merely as his creatures.  

This love of the Father for his adopted children is deeply personal and can be increased in the sense that our greater conformity with his only-begotten Son, through good works and prayer, enlarges our capacity for experiencing his love.

The thirty-sixth article in our continuing series on the Holy Mass: The Priest’s Chalice

A ritual cup has been used at Mass to hold the wine, offered to God, which is changed by the priest into the Blood of our Savior Jesus Christ, since the very first Mass, as is clear from the Lord’s words to his Apostles, “This is the chalice, the new covenant in my Blood, which shall be shed for you” (Luke 22, 20).  The chalice is mentioned in the earliest descriptions of the Mass in the writings of St. Justin and Tertullian.  It, along with the paten, on which the host is laid, are essential for the Sacrifice of the Mass.

Canon Law specifies that the chalice be made of a precious metal such as silver or gold, and of no breakable material like crystal of pottery.  The lip of the chalice must be fashioned in such a way as to facilitate drinking and avoid spillage.  The chalice, because it is a sacred vessel, must be kept in a secure place when not in use at Mass.  It may not be used for any other function than at Mass.  if it is damaged in some way that makes it useless for Mass, it is to be buried underground.

While most parishes have a chalice for general use, most priests own their own, either as a gift or as having been purchased by the priest.  A chalice presented as a gift often has some memorial attached to it.  It was common not long ago for mothers of priests to have their wedding ring attached to a chalice the parents gave to their newly ordained son.  The bottom of the paten (which is purchased with the chalice) might be engraved to indicate a dedication.  A chalice that is given as a gift reminds the priest at Mass, as he uses it, of those who gave it to him.  

The chalice is “clothed” with its own “vestment” as the priest is, at Mass.  first, a long linen strip, usually folded, is laid over the chalice’s mouth so that it hangs down on both side of it.  This is the purificator, which the priest uses to wipe out the chalice after he has drunk the Precious Blood.  It also protects the lip of the chalice from the paten, containing the host, which is laid on it.  The pall, which is a square of stiffened linen, is laid over the paten.  This covering is used to prevent foreign objects from falling into the chalice during Mass.  Over this is placed the chalice veil, of the same color as the priest’s chasuble.  On top of this is placed a burse, which is formed by two stiffened pieces of linen fastened on three sides.  The verse is used to house the corporal, which is spread over the altar like a small tablecloth and on which the chalice and paten are set.

Next: The Books Used at Mass

 Wednesday in the Seventh Week of Easter, May 15, 2024

John 17, 11-19

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying: “Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”

Today’s Gospel Reading is taken from the Lord’s prayer at the Last Supper following his long discourse to his Apostles.

“Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one.”  The sentence is short but the meaning is long.  Jesus speaks of his name as the Father’s possession which he gave to him.   This name is “the Son”.  From all eternity the Father begot the Son so that, as the Son himself says, “All things are delivered to me by my Father” (Luke 10, 22).  That is, all that the Son is, he received from the Father, most especially his Sonship.  Through the Son’s words, “in your name that you have given me” we see how the Son treasures his being the Son of the Father.  It is, literally, everything to him.  The Son now prays to the Father that he, the Father, keep the Apostles in this name, that is, to give the Apostles — and, by extension, all the baptized — a share in the Sonship of Jesus Christ.  This sharing is through adoption, for we began life as his creatures.  He asks the Father to do this “so that they may be one just as we are one.”  The unity he prays for goes far beyond our common ideas of what unity is.  This unity far exceeds any mutual agreement on purposes or actions or identity.  This unity, conferred by Almighty God, makes us members of one another in so profound a way that the unity of the members of a human body can only be a crude model of it.  

“When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction.”  This great gift of unity is given us, but it can be refused, as Judas refused it.  But to refuse it means to be lost forever.  “In order that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”  Not that Judas was fated by the Scriptures to betray Jesus, but that they were fulfilled when he chose to do so.

“The world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.”  If we belong to Christ, we cannot belong to “the world”: we cannot live for ourselves and for self-indulgence.  In doing so we make other things our gods.  But our thoughts are of heaven and our sole purpose is serving God on earth so as to be happy with him in heaven.  The world “hates” us in that by rejecting self indulgence those who promote it insult us, work against us, and even persecute us.  They see the very existence of a Christian as a threat to their power.  But we are protected by the power of Jesus Christ.

“I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One.”  That is, for all that we have become the adopted children of God we remain human and continue to live out our mortal lives on the earth.  As such, we stand in danger of the temptations of the devil, but the power of God limits what he can do to us to us, so that we only fall to him if we choose to fall, as Judas did.

“They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.”  1 Peter 2, 11: “I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, to refrain yourselves from carnal desires which war against the soul.”  Hebrews 13, 14: “We have not here a lasting city: but we seek one that is to come.”

“Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”  The word of God is the truth in which we are consecrated.  This word is his will, which we commit to carry out when we are baptized, and which we are able to carry out because of the graces we receive in that sacrament.  His will is for us to “bear fruit”, bringing all those in the world to him through our prayers, our good example, and our words.

The thirty-fifth article in our continuing series on the Holy Mass: The Sanctuary

St. John describes the heavenly sanctuary in chapters four and five of the Book of Revelation: the throne, upon which God the Father sat, signifying the Holy Spirit), and an altar.  This arrangement was given to Moses as the plan for the sanctuary of the tent (later, the Temple) in which God would be worshipped.  The ark of the covenant was set in it and an altar, with a seven candle menorah.  The sons of Levi who were not direct descendants of Aaron acted as attendants in the sanctuary but were not permitted in the holiest place where the ark was kept: only the direct descendent of Aaron, the high priest, was allowed there.  And this became the model for the sanctuary in Catholic churches.  The ark of the covenant, in which was kept a jar of manna, as well as Aaron’s staff and the stone tablets of the Law is replaced by the tabernacle which contains the Body of Christ.  As in the Temple, where a lamp burned continually before the ark, so a lamp burns continually before the tabernacle in a Catholic church.  Then there is the altar and candles surrounding the altar.

Everything in the sanctuary of a Catholic church has meaning.  The sanctuary is raised above the floor of the nave (the place of the congregation) on a platform reach by three steps.  This is the hill of Golgotha, on which Jesus died.  The altar is the Cross on which the Lord gave up his life for us.  The tabernacle is the tomb in which his Body was laid.  Thus, when the priest, the alter Christus enters the sanctuary and kisses the altar, we see the deeper reality of Christ climbing Golgotha and kissing his Cross before he is crucified on it.  Later, at the altar, his Cross he offers himself up to his Father through the hands of the man who shares in his Priesthood.  And afterwards, we all come forward to receive a share in his Body from himself.

There is also a pulpit from which the word of God is proclaimed.  Traditionally, the readings were read from the altar and the priest would preach from a pulpit outside the sanctuary.  Over time, the pulpit was included within the sanctuary but at its edge, away from the altar.  Until recent times, only the clergy and the servers were allowed within the sanctuary, but now lay people are allowed to read the Old and New Testament and so enter the sanctuary.

I ask for your prayers as today marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of my ordination to the Priesthood.

 Tuesday in the Seventh Week of Easter, May 14, 2024

The Feast of St. Matthias

Acts 1,15-17; 20-26

Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers and sisters (there was a group of about one hundred and twenty persons in the one place). He said, “My brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand through the mouth of David, concerning Judas, who was the guide for those who arrested Jesus. Judas was numbered among us and was allotted a share in this ministry. For it is written in the Book of Psalms: “Let his encampment become desolate, and may no one dwell in it.” and: “May another take his office.”  Therefore, it is necessary that one of the men who accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus came and went among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which he was taken up from us, become with us a witness to his resurrection.” So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this apostolic ministry from which Judas turned away to go to his own place.” Then they gave lots to them, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was counted with the Eleven Apostles.

From the words of St. Peter we see the Church’s concern for procedure and order, which flow from the example of the Lord Jesus, ascended into heaven, and through the grace of the Holy Spirit, “For God is not the God of dissension, but of peace” (1 Corinthians 14, 33).  We notice that it is Peter, on whom the Lord Jesus said that he would build his church, who speaks.  There is not an open discussion or a dispute.  Now, Peter decided that the place of Judas should be filled.  He could have decided not to fill it but leave it empty.  He chose that it be filled following his discernment of the Lord’s will.  He then seeks nominations for the post, not insisting on his own candidate for possibly human motives, but asking for those most qualified.  The qualifications are strict, and only two men are named.  With Peter presiding, prayers are offered and lots are cast.  This, again, to show that the decision is not made for profit or anything else — as was indeed true at this time for the naming of the Jewish high priest.  The lot falls on Matthias, and he is accepted as one of the Twelve.  (Joseph Barsabbas became a missionary and the Church celebrates his feast day on July 20).

The procedure and order in the Church demonstrates the desire of the Lord for her to be a bright lamp shining in the chaotic murk of this world.  Her leadership, her doctrines, her worship is all traceable back to the time of the Apostles.  Her teachings are clear and unchanging even as languages flourish, fail, and are replaced, and the meanings of words change.  These things remain constant even when some of her clergy and laity sin and twist  the words of the Scriptures to their liking.  The exception, as the saying goes, proves the rule.

We can surmise that St. Matthias was, like several of the Apostles, a follower of St. John the Baptist who went to follow Jesus.  Not at first call to be an Apostle, he nevertheless clung to the words of the Lord even when many of his disciples left him because they could not accept them.  He would have been present when the Holy Spirit came upon the one hundred and twenty persons in the house the Apostles were using for their headquarters in Jerusalem.  He is said to have preached mainly in Israel.  Other traditions placing him in Ethiopia seem to confuse him with St. Matthew.  St. Hippolytus (d. 235) says that he was stoned and beheaded in Jerusalem.  

The thirty-fourth article in our continuing series on the Holy Mass: The Orientation of the Priest at the Altar

For nearly two thousand years the priest offered the Sacrifice of the Mass facing East with the people so that he appeared as the head of a long procession.  When speaking to the people during the Mass, the priest would turn around to do so and then return to the work at the altar.  This arrangement reflected the dynamic of the Mass in which the priest, the choir or server, and the people each had their part in the worship of God: the priest said the prayers written in the Missal to which the choir or server replied.  The people in the congregation were free to pray quietly in their own way in union with the priest at whose hands the Sacrifice was being offered.  

Various reasons for both priest and congregation facing East together were given, such as to face the direction of Jerusalem, outside of which Christ was crucified, and where the Lord was thought to come when he returned to judge the living and the dead.  It was also true that this followed the custom of the Jews and the Gentiles of both priests and people “facing” God (or the gods) together.  That is, when the priest was visible and not within the Temple praying while the people stood outside (cf. Luke 1, 21-22 where Zechariah “comes out” of the Temple to the people).

Since the 1960’s, the custom has taken hold so that the priest faces the people across the altar at Holy Mass.  This has come about through the admonition of the Second Vatican Council that the altar be situated so that the priest could walk around it, instead of the altar standing against a wall — so that the priest could incense the altar from all sides.  With the altar moved, priests began to offer the Mass facing the people. This allowed the people to see what the priest was doing at Mass, and so seems to fulfill the Council’s desire for the increase of fuller participation in the Mass by the laity.  At the same time, it changes the appearance of the Mass from a priest offering a Sacrifice for a congregation to an MC engaging with an audience.  Both the priest and the congregation must work hard st Mass to focus on their particular work, which in fact remains the same.

 Monday in the Seventh Week of Easter, May 13, 2024

John 16, 29-33

The disciples said to Jesus, “Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech. Now we realize that you know everything and that you do not need to have anyone question you. Because of this we believe that you came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you believe now? Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.”

The Gospel reading again comes from Jesus’s sermon during the Last Supper.

 “Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech.”  Sometimes when we do not understand what another person is telling us, we assume it is because the other person is not speaking clearly.  We should also wonder, though, if it is not a matter of our own expectations and biases getting in the way of our comprehension.  The Lord Jesus had always spoken clearly.  Even in his parables he spoke clearly and made the dilemmas posed in them clear.  The crowds and disciples did not always accept the implications of a given parable, but they understood on one level or another what he was saying to them.  If there was a problem with how the Lord talked, in the eyes of the disciples, it was that he spoke too clearly.  We remember how the Lord condemned the Pharisees on one particular occasion, and a lawyer urged him to speak more moderately: “And one of the lawyers answering, said to him: ‘Master, in saying these things, you reproach us also.’ But he said: ‘Woe to you lawyers also.’ ”  Knowing ourselves all too well, we are also aware that when someone tells us what we do not want to hear, we go into denial, or try to reword what was said, or try to forget it.  We should never underestimate our willingness to excuse ourselves, either for what we have done or for what we are about to do.

“The hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone.”  We “scatter” to our own “homes” because of fear or guilt.  By “homes” we ought to understand mental states in which we feel safe.  Essentially, it means pretending.  Times arise in which we ought to “depart”, as when we find ourselves in an occasion of sin, but those who “scatter” do so in panic rather than in measured consideration, and arrive at their destination disheveled and in disarray.  They give up every good they possess in order to arrive at a very temporary feeling of safety.  We do this when we fail to defend the Faith or to confess that we are Christians, and when we back down from challenges to what the Lord taught.  The Lord is “alone” then, but not himself vulnerable or in actual danger, but in that his followers had failed him and themselves.  “I have told you this so that you might have peace in me.”  It is only in relying on the Lord, clinging to his friendship and his teachings, that we can have peace.  Through our sanctification we become more and more at peace, and eager to live our Faith and speak of our Lord.

“In the world you will have trouble, but take courage.”  That is, the world will seek to trouble those who believe in Jesus, but they need not be troubled by the words of others or their invitations to join in their sin, as well as by internal temptations such as to covet, to lie, to lust, or to lose our patience.  These do but knock on the doors of our soul.  But there is no rule that we have to open a door just because someone or something knocks on it.  “I have conquered the world.”  These words thrill us to hear them: our Lord has conquered the world.  By this he means that he has overcome all temptations and all the enticements our mortal life could offer.  Even that which was perfectly lawful for him as a Jew, such as marriage, he had scorned because it was not part of his Father’s plan for him.  We too can conquer the world, not by amassing power and arms, but by rejecting all that is in any way contrary to God’s plan for us, even things we can otherwise legitimately have.  We must pray for grace that we might do this, and grow in the virtues, for when we have conquered the world we are awarded a triumphal entrance into heaven.

The thirty-third article in our continuing series on the Holy Mass: The Priest’s Vestments

In ancient times, priests, whether Jewish or pagan, wore distinctive ceremonial clothing when administering their duties.  The clothing of the Jewish priest was given in some detail in the Law of Moses.  Catholic priests too wore distinctive clothing at Mass in the early Church.  St. John may provide us with a clue as to its appearance when he wrote of his vision of Christ, the High Priest in Revelation 1, 13, where he saw him “clothed with a long robe and with a golden girdle round his breast.”  This would correspond with the alb which the priest wears, a white linen long-sleeved garment that covers his neck and goes down to his feet.  This, in turn, is covered by a chasuble (from the Latin word for “little house”) which acts as an apron, although it soon became stylized with embroidery.  The chasuble is of one of several colors, according to the feast day or liturgical season (as covered yesterday).  Beneath the alb, the priest wears an amice, a square of white linen worn around the neck to protect the collar of the alb from staining.  Over the alb and beneath the chasuble the priest wears a stole around his neck.  The stole is a long, band of cloth, usually of linen and stiffened, which indicated in Ancient Greece that a man was credentialed to speak publicly.  For us, it indicates that the wearer is permitted by the bishop to proclaim the Gospel at Mass and to preach.  A deacon wears his stole diagonally across his body so that it hangs on one shoulder.  The priest wears his straight up and down, or he may cross it across his breast.  Over this and holding everything under the chasuble together, is a cincture, a belt made from cotton or linen thread that is tied.

Each piece of the priest’s vestments signifies a virtue which the priest must possess and make progress in.  The amice, the first vestment the priest puts on, signifies fortitude against the devil’s temptations.  The prayer which the priest prays when he puts this on reference Ephesians 6, 17 and “the helmet of salvation”.  The alb signifies baptismal purity.  The cincture signifies the purity of heart which the priest must have in order to offer the .sacrifice of the Mass with his full attention.  The stole signifies the priestly authority to preach and to offer the Mass,  the chasuble, which covers all the vestments, signifies charity, which covers all the virtues.  Until 1970, when it’s use was banned without explanation, the maniple, a band of linen or silk, was worn on the left arm.  Originally it was used as a napkin or towel for the priest to wipe his face with but over the years it became an embroidered vestment without a practical use.  It signified the weeping and sorrow that a priest should feel, recollecting his sins as he performs the ceremonies of the Mass.

Next: The Orientation of the Priest at the Altar

 The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, Sunday, May 12, 2024

Mark 16, 15–2

Jesus said to his disciples: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”  So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

For forty days, as St. John informs us, the Lord Jesus appeared to the Apostles and taught them, preparing them to go out to the world to preach the Gospel for the conversion of the human race.  We see how like a tender parent he does this: not living among them as he had before, but only coming to them at certain times so that they became accustomed to living on their own and living and working with each other without his being physically present.  And then, rather than simply cutting off his appearances without warning, he leaves them in a most dramatic display of his power, ascending into heaven and disappearing into the depths of the sky.  Still, through grace he did remain with them as he had promised, and they saw his hand in all that they did: “The Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.”

The great question about the Ascension is why did Jesus leave us?  Of course, he did not abandon us.  He is present among us most especially in the Most Blessed Sacrament.  Yet he is not visibly present.  The Lord ascended into heaven not to go away from us, but to draw us closer to him.  If he remains here, then we would not see him there.  Throughout the Gospels, the Lord draws on the Apostles.  He leads them.  He does not wander, but he leads them very purposefully.  He does the same with us now.  And the way to him, the way through which he leads us, is his own life, for he is “the way, the truth, and the life”.  We imitate his life and follow in his footsteps in lives of prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and preaching.

We celebrate this day as a day of the Lord’s glory revealed on earth, and as a day on which he bids us follow him.

The thirty-second article in our continuing series on the Holy Mass: The Liturgical Colors

The outer vestment the priest wears at Mass as well as the veil of his chalice are variously colored throughout the Church year.  The color signifies the solemnity of feast that is celebrated or, on days when this is not done, the current liturgical season.  This custom developed after the end of the Roman persecutions when the Faith could be practiced openly and publicly.  By the seventh century, at the latest, the colors warn on a particular day were standardized.  

White or gold is worn on Solemnities such as Christmas and Easter as well as during the seasons that follow them.  White is also worn for the feast days of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of saints who were virgins or confessors.  Red is worn for Pentecost, signifying the flames of the Holy Spirit which stood over the heads of the Apostles when he came to them.  Red is also worn to signify the blood shed by the holy martyrs. Green is worn during the season of Ordinary Time, which occurs between the Epiphany and Ash Wednesday and between Pentecost and the First Sunday of Advent.  This color signifies the hope in which we live, awaiting the Lord’s return in glory.  Violet is worn during the days of Advent and Lent.  Originally a color associated with royalty, it is worn during these penitential seasons as a reminder that the Lord Jesus was clothed in a violet garment at the time of his Passion and mocked by the soldiers.  Rose vestments are worn on two Sundays of the year: on the third Sunday of Advent and on the Fourth Sunday of Lent.  It gives us pause during the rigors of our penances to recall the glory of the Lord which will soon be revealed at Christmas and Easter.  Black is worn on All Souls’ Day and at funeral Masses.  Purple may be substituted for it.  Both colors remind us of the brevity of this life and the urgent need to convert to Jesus.  White may also be substituted as a reminder of the resurrection to come.

Next: The Priest’s Vestments