Month: December 2016

[Part I · Part II · Part III · Part IV]

“These Sacred Mysteries”
Part IV: The Mystery of Christ in You, Your Hope of Glory

The sacred mysteries, which are the mysteries of Christ, are for us and for our salvation, so much does God love us. Even in the words of the consecration, the fact that the mystery of redemption in Christ is a result of God’s love for us, is evident when the priest says: “Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is my Body, which will be given up for you.” The sacred mysteries which we celebrate are given to disciples, those who have believed and who have been baptized into the mystery of the life of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. The mystery of Christ is a gift of God’s grace and is nothing that we could ever earn. It is the gift beyond all others. But it is a gift in which we participate, because of our baptism and all of our sacramental life. The Lord of Glory died on the cross, rose on the third day, ascended into heaven, and now is enthroned at the right hand of the Father. This same Lord of Glory, Jesus Christ, has invited us to share in his divine life and makes that life real through his sacraments. Christ is present, and God’s plan of salvation is being realized in our life in Christ. In him, we live and move and have our being. But we unite ourselves to him as well by embracing our joys and our sorrows, our weeping and our rejoicing, and ultimately our life and our death in the light of Christ and his suffering, death, resurrection, and glorification. Christian life is ultimately life transformed and transfigured, and always lived in union with the life of Christ himself. Let us prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.

(to be continued next week)

Source: Rev. Kurt Belsole, OSB, Saint Vincent Archabbey, Latrobe, PA
www.liftupyourhearts.church

[Part I · Part II · Part III · Part IV]

“These Sacred Mysteries”
Part III: The Mystery of Christ, Hidden and Revealed

The mystery of Christ, however, is not a mystery which is unknown as happens in the case of a mystery novel. Rather, it is a mystery whose content has been revealed to us through Christ himself. In the first chapter of the letter of Saint Paul to the Colossians, we read that the mystery that was hidden from ages and generations in the past is now revealed to God’s holy ones. God willed to make known to them the glory which the mystery brings, the mystery of Christ in them. For the Christian, the mystery of Christ is the plan of salvation that God had in mind from before the beginning of time and which he has made known to us. Knowing that our first parents would sin, God in his wisdom, which is beyond all understanding, planned to send his Son as the Redeemer of the world. Consequently, the “mystery” of Christ involves the revelation to us of that mystery, how the very Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity, would take human nature upon himself, suffer and die for our salvation, and rise again on the third day. For this reason, the Church, throughout the liturgical year celebrates the mysteries of Christ which call us out of darkness into the very light of life of God.

(to be continued next week)

Source: Rev. Kurt Belsole, OSB, Saint Vincent Archabbey, Latrobe, PA
www.liftupyourhearts.church

[Part I · Part II · Part III · Part IV]

“These Sacred Mysteries”
Part II: The Mystery of Christ in the Liturgy of the Church

The sacred mysteries can perhaps be best understood as the life of Christ, and the prayers from the Roman Missal that provide us with the prayers with which we pray at each Mass can help us to recognize that. In Advent, we pray that we may press forward all the more eagerly to the worthy celebration of the mystery of Christ’s Nativity. Then on Christmas day, we pray that our offerings may be worthy of the mysteries of the Nativity so that, just as Christ was born a man and also shone forth as God, so our earthly gifts may confer on us what is divine. On the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord, we ask that the Lord go before us with heavenly light that we may perceive with clear sight and revere with true affection the mystery in which he willed us to participate. On Ash Wednesday, we pray that we may be worthy to come with minds made pure to celebrate the Paschal Mystery of Christ in his passion, death, and resurrection. Then during the octave of Easter, we ask the Lord that we may always find delight in the paschal mysteries, so that the renewal constantly at work within us may be the cause of our unending joy. Finally, the first Preface given for Sundays in Ordinary Time praises God because through his Paschal Mystery, Christ accomplished the marvelous deed, by which he has freed us from the yoke of sin and death, summoning us to the glory of being now called a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, to proclaim everywhere his mighty works, for he has called us out of darkness into his own wonderful light. For Christians, therefore, the mysteries are the powerful events of the Incarnation, Passion and Death, and Resurrection of Christ which we celebrate throughout the Church year.

(to be continued next week)

Source: Rev. Kurt Belsole, OSB, Saint Vincent Archabbey, Latrobe, PA
www.liftupyourhearts.church

[Part I · Part II · Part III · Part IV]

“These Sacred Mysteries”
Part I: The Question

Now and then during Mass, we hear the celebrant referring to the “mysteries” or the “sacred mysteries.” Towards the beginning of Mass, at the start of the Penitential Act we hear “the sacred mysteries” referred to, then after the consecration, we hear the priest say: “The mystery of faith.” Then in hundreds of other places in the prayers of the Mass in the course of the year, we hear about the mysteries and sacred mysteries.

So, when the priest begins the Penitential Act by saying: “Brethren (brothers and sisters), let us acknowledge our sins, and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.” What does that mean? What are these mysteries? Again, after the consecration he says: “The mystery of faith.” What does that mean? We often, perhaps most of the time, think of a mystery as something that is not known or understood, or a work of fiction, or a mystery novel. But that is not what “mystery” means in the Mass. So what are the sacred mysteries?

(to be continued next week)

Source: Rev. Kurt Belsole, OSB, Saint Vincent Archabbey, Latrobe, PA
www.liftupyourhearts.church