LET YOUR HEARTS BREAK!

by Fr. Julius

Dearly beloved parishioner,

Our 40 days of Lent have begun with our public act of penance symbolized by the imposition of ashes on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday. This journey is one we make with Jesus as he goes through his temptation in the wilderness, his passion and death, so that we might rejoice with him in his resurrection at Easter.

The prophet Joel invites us to rend our hearts, not our garments. Put differently, "break your hearts." We are admonished to let our hearts break because of our sin, but let them also trust that God is merciful and willing to forgive. Lent helps us realize that the time to be reconciled to the Lord is NOW, not tomorrow. As the psalmist puts it, "if today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts." We must not continue to postpone or procrastinate on our repentance. Through the Church, God gives us this opportunity to return to him with all our hearts.

I pray this Lenten season would help us see our mortality and our need to depend on God. I pray it would help us prioritize the most important relationship, which is relationship with Jesus, and to set our hearts to doing all we can to please him.

Please be reminded of the following:

1. LATIN ORDINARY FOR LENT
While permitting the use of the vernacular in the liturgy the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium, urges that steps be taken so that the faithful may be able to sing together in Latin those parts of Mass that pertain to them (Art. 54). The U.S. Bishops, in accord with the conciliar directive write, “each worshipping community in the United States, including all age groups and all ethnic groups, should, at a minimum, learn Kyrie XVI, Sanctus XVIII, and Agnus Dei XVIII, all of which are typically included in congregational worship aids (Sing to the Lord, 74-75).

In order to encourage our parishioners to learn the Ordinary as our bishops have proposed, and in the spirit of Lent, which calls us into the desert to walk with the Lord in his temptation and his fast, I have requested that we sing the Ordinary of the Mass (Kyrie, Sanctus and Agnus Dei) during our weekend liturgies in Latin. Whereas I do not presume the superiority of Latin over the English Language or any language at all,
I recognize that it is the official language of the Roman Church to which we belong. And it would be beneficial for Catholics of all ages to be familiar with this language with which many saints and our ancestors in the faith prayed. My hope is that this would not only deepen the penitential nature of our liturgy but also afford our community here at Little Flower the opportunity to pray with the universal Church in a common language.

2. CHANGE OF COMMUNION WINE
You would notice that different colors of wine are used for the Eucharist at various parishes. The reason is, because there is no doctrine or guidelines from the Vatican, or even the national episcopal conferences regarding what color of wine to use for the Eucharist, this is left to the choice of the pastor or priest celebrant.

Whereas the Church is specific about the validity of the eucharistic species, especially the kind of bread or wine to be used at Mass, there is no such specificity concerning the color of wine to be used. Our parish has for some time used the amber or white colored wine.

Although the origin of the use of white wine in the Eucharist is not certain, it is thought that the amber wine was introduced or became popular in the Western Church during the post-Tridentine era. J.A. Jungmann was of the opinion that “when the use of the purificator (that is, the white linen used by the priest or the minister to wipe the chalice after drinking from it) became general, that is since the sixteenth century, white wine has become commonly preferred because it leaves fewer traces in the linen” (The Mass of the Roman Rite, 1959). Peter Elliot agrees with this view. According to him, the amber or white wine has been favored in the Western Rites because of this convenience of washing altar linens (Ceremonies of the Modern Roman Rite, second edition, 2004).

We will be making a switch from the amber colored wine used for our Eucharist to a red colored wine. This is because the red wine best symbolizes the Blood of Christ. And for our particular situation, the red wine is more visible in our pewter chalices than the white wine, and would help reduce the chances for some accidental spillage that has happened a few times. This change would happen once we have exhausted our present supply of the amber colored wine.

I have checked with the ladies who help to wash the linens if this switch would be problematic for them and they tell me the difficulty with washing the linens is not from the wine stains but from the lipsticks worn by parishioners. I do not know the various kinds of lipsticks, and would not pretend to have the authority to ask our parishioners not to wear lipsticks to Mass. However, I would appeal that if you must wear lipsticks, please be mindful to wear it light so they do not constitute a problem for cleaning the linens. Also bear in mind that it is your fellow parishioners who volunteer to do this service to the parish, and you would not want to make their labor of love any more difficult. Thank you for your understanding.

May Jesus bless you, and may Our Lady protect you!

Fr. Julius