Lift Up Your Hearts

Reflections on the Sacred Liturgy for Parish Use

Day: July 20, 2017

Bulletin Insert: Pentecost Sunday

July 20, 2017 /

Pentecost Sunday

Pentecost Sunday concludes the Easter Season, and on that day, the Church celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Church. It is the celebration of the Father’s sending of the Holy Spirit, and not of the Holy Spirit himself. Just as the Church does not have a feast of God the Father or God the Son, neither does she have a feast of God the Holy Spirit. The feast of Pentecost needs to be seen in light of the Paschal Mystery of Christ.

So, on Pentecost, we hear in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles about what happened on Pentecost day itself and how the Spirit descended upon the disciples and how they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Another reading from the first letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians speaks of there being different gifts, but the same Spirit and of how all were baptized into one body and how all were given to drink of one Spirit. Another reading speaks of the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Then, the gospel, which in all three cycles is from the gospel of John, speaks of various dimensions of the sending of the Holy Spirit.

Finally, the preface for the Mass of Pentecost speaks of how it is right to give thanks to God for bringing the Paschal mystery to completion, for bestowing the Holy Spirit, and for uniting his adopted children with the Only Begotten Son.

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

Bulletin Insert: Easter Season

July 20, 2017 /

The Easter Season

The Easter season begins on Easter Sunday and continues to Pentecost Sunday. During these fifty days, Christians celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord with joy and exultation as one great Sunday.

The first eight days of the Easter season are celebrated as the Octave of Easter. This octave, in many ways, treats every day of the octave as Easter Sunday itself. At Mass, the priest prays in Preface I of Easter, in reference to the resurrection of Christ, that it is our duty at all times to acclaim the Lord but especially on this day when Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. Likewise in the First Eucharistic Prayer, which is the Roman Canon, the priest speaks of how the Church is celebrating the most sacred day of the Resurrection of our Lord in the flesh. Finally, the dismissal at the end of Mass concludes with a double Alleluia every day of the octave. At this time, the deacon or priest dismisses the assembly with the usual words, but after the dismissal adds alleluia, alleluia as a sign of the great joy of the Church as she celebrates the Resurrection of the Lord.

Finally, from the solemnity of the Ascension until Pentecost, almost all of the collects at the beginning of Mass pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church. Then at Pentecost itself, as the Church celebrates the sending of the Holy Spirit, the priest prays that the gifts of the Holy Spirit may be poured out upon the whole world so that the hearts of believers may be filled with the divine grace that was at work at the first proclamation of the Gospel.

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

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