This weekend at St. Peter we have a bake sale hosted by Family Life down in Kolbe Hall. Stop by and see what wonderful treats that they have available.
I want to take a few lines to encourage your use of Scrip. What a simple way for the parish to earn funds that help support both the parish and the Pacelli school system. If you have not tried using Scrip or it has been awhile, stop at the table after Mass at St. Peter parish. Or at the Pacelli main office mark down on the form St. Peter so the parish can get the credit.
At St. Casimir parish, please note the Mass on Monday (9/25) at 9 am. A nice simple daily Mass that is a great way to start the week and not too early either. Going forward I am looking at a Monday Mass once a month. Dates will depend on my calendar and getting home to see family.
On September 27th I will be heading to Broomtree Retreat center for the 8 day Ignatian retreat as explained earlier in the bulletin. Prayers for a safe trip are appreciated. I am grateful for the priests in the area who are able to fill in to allow this to happen.
We have come to the last installment of the article we have been using to reflect more deeply on the Mass through the help of Denis McNamara’s article “In the Form of a Sacrificial Meal” (Catechetical Review April 2023).
“A feature of the Mass that is easy to overlook is the double consecration in the Eucharistic Prayer–first the bread and then the wine. Since bread signifies the body and wine signifies the blood, the separation of Body and Blood in two separate consecrations signifies death. Although it does not seem violent to the average person in the pew, here is the ritual sacrifice of Christ’s body, which is an immolation, where the blood is drained from the body as in ancient animal sacrifices. Accordingly, the Memorial Acclamation occurs immediately after the two consecrations, in which people cry out: ‘we proclaim your death, O Lord…’
At the end of the Eucharistic Prayer, a separate rite follows called the Fraction. Here the host is broken in two, becoming a mimesis or imitation, ‘of the violent death of Christ’. While the people sing the Agnus Dei, or ‘Lamb of God,’ itself a vivid reminder of Christ as Sacrificial victim, the priest then breaks a small piece of the host and places it in the chalice. This small action, traditionally known as the commingling, signifies the Resurrection, presenting the rejoining of Body with Blood. The prayer said at the same time makes the purpose clear: ‘May this mingling of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ bring eternal life to us who receive it.’ Following the ancient pattern of sacrifice, the priest asks that this resurrected life of Christ, available now in the Eucharist, be a bearer of resurrected life for those who eat the victim’s flesh, both for himself and the people of the New Israel, Christ’s mystical Body, the Church. For this reason, the Church insists upon conscious and active participation in the rite of the Mass. To be included in the sacrificial action most fully, and therefore most transformatively, worshippers must join their intentions with those of the priest and offer ‘the Immaculate Victim, not only through the hands of the priest, but also with him,’ and in so doing ‘offer themselves.’”
This portion of the article has a lot for us to consider. It also challenges us to look again at some of the “small actions” of the Mass that have so much in them. Have you thought of these actions and how you are to enter them by your own offering?