Great Resource about the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite!

just discovered today a great online resource for those who wish to study and know more about the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite: http://www.sanctamissa.org/

The lay-out is superb and I especially like the graphics! They have the Order of Mass, Tutorials for Priest as well as for Servers, Mass Chants, and other resources plus an Online Store that will certainly be helpful for appreciating more this treasure of our Faith.

Memorial of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Recently, interest in the person of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, formerly known as "the living Saint" whose official entry into the Canon of the Saints we pray to be soon, has been renewed due to an article published in Time Magazine which supposedly exposed her trials of faith beneath all the holiness she seemed to exude while she was still alive.

As we celebrate her memory this year, it is good to recall once more her own famous meditation on the Crucified Lord. She was contemplating the Crucified when the dying words of Jesus struck her deep in her heart: "I Thirst." All her life, how she wanted to alleviate this thirst! So she dedicated herself to helping the poor and the suffering, for Jesus himself said: "Whatsoever you do to the least of these my little ones, you did it unto me."

And yet her private letters, now published, reveal to us a new dimension of our beloved Mother Teresa. Not only did she seek to fill the thirst of Jesus, she also experienced the same agonizing thirst! For long years in her life, when people around her saw only the joy of Christ that she radiated in her presence, she suffered with her Bridegroom the dark night deep within. Nevertheless, she was able to shine with God's presence to others--despite the darkness in her own soul--for as she herself acknowledged, it was Jesus shining in her.

Therefore it is indeed consoling, rather than disheartening, to know that she (also!) experienced this thirst for Jesus, which many of us undergo sometime in our life. May the example of Mother Teresa also inspire us to thirst for Jesus, and while we could not see him clearly as yet here on earth, find him disguised in the poorest of the poor whom we are called to serve. Happy Feast!


Memorial of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
September 5

COLLECT

God,
who called blessed Teresa, virgin
to respond to the love of your Son thirsting on the cross
with outstanding charity to the poorest of the poor,
grant us,
we beseech you,
by her intercession,
to minister to Christ in his suffering brothers and sisters.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.


PRAYERS OF THE FAITHFUL

Let us pray to our Father in heaven
as we remember Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
who spent her life in loving service to the needy,
seeking 'to satisfy the thirst of Jesus on the Cross'
crying out in the 'distressing disguise of the poor'.

Father, hear your children.

1. God of the homeless, we pray that your Church may be a home where all the peoples of the earth may find comfort and shelter.

2. God of the downtrodden, we pray that our leaders may work together to promote the dignity of every person, especially of the poor and marginalized.

3. God of the abandoned, we pray for the Missionaries of Charity and for all who work for the helpless and the destitute, that they may find joy and strength in your Son who came to relieve the sick and the suffering.

4. God of the lowly, we pray for all who undergo material and spiritual deprivation that they may learn to cling to you in their need and find consolation in the solidarity of their brothers and sisters.

5. God of the hungry and thirsty, we pray for one another that as we partake of the banquet of your Word and Sacrament we may become Good News for our neighbor, broken bread and wine outpoured for all the needy and lonely of the world.

God and Father of us all,
hear the prayers of your children.
Fill all the hungers of the world
with the love of Christ your Son
present in this bread that we break
and in the bread that we give to the hungry poor.

We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.

Amen.

This page is dedicated to the Missionaries of Charity of the Tahanan ng Kalinis-linisang Puso ni Maria in Tayuman, Manila with whom I did apostolate work during my third and fourth year at San Jose Major Seminary College Department. Their simplicity, compassion and prayer is a true source of strength, courage and inspiration.

Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Chosen Daughter of Israel

It's been some time since I last posted here on my liturgy blog while my Scriptures class blog, Online Old Testament is very active on the other hand. Lately, I have been heavily preoccupied with my teaching. But now, after submitting the boys' grades for the First Quarter, I had the welcome respite of being ased to prepare the liturgy for the High1 Batch Mass.

Here then is the liturgy for our Batch Mass on September 7. Since it is the eve of the celebration of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and we are studying the Old Testament this year, we will be using the Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Chosen Daughter of Israel.

The euchological and scriptural texts have all been taken from the Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

There are two Scriptural readings: the Old Testament Reading is from Genesis 12 (which we are discussing in class at about this time) and the Gospel Reading is from Luke 1. Both share the common theme of faith as a response to God's call, which is also echoed in the euchological texts especially in the Collect and the particular Preface: Our Lady is Daughter of Adam, Child of Abraham, Branch of Jesse.

We are also using the Special Eucharistic Prayer first used during the Swiss Synod and which has been approved for use during Masses for Special Occasions. I first thought of using Eucharistic Prayer IV since it details the history of salvation but decided in favor of the shorter but nonetheless very rich Swiss Synod anaphora.

There are two versions of the text: the original one with the copy heavily illuminated with beautiful woodcuts, the frontispiece and full page illustrations by no less than Albrecht Durer. We have to cut costs as much as we can in the school however so the full-page illustrations had to go in the revised version. The floral offering was also transferred from its former place during the Prayers of the Faithful to a distinct veneration rite after the Prayer After Communion.

Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Chosen Daughter of Israel (Original Version)

Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Chosen Daughter of Israel (Revised Version)