The Arrangement of the Sunday Readings

"Christ's word gathers the people of God as one 
and increases and sustains them. This applies above all 
to the Liturgy of the Word in the celebration of the Mass."

- from the Introduction to the Lectionary

Prior to Vatican II, the two readings that were heard on Sundays followed an annual cycle. As part of the renewal of the liturgy, the Council decided that "The treasures of the Bible are to be opened up more lavishly, so that richer fare may be provided for the faithful at the table of God's word." Thus, we went to three readings at each Sunday liturgy, and a three-year rotation of readings. During "Year A," we hear predominantly from the Gospel of Matthew; during "Year B," we hear predominantly from Mark; and during "Year C," we hear predominantly Luke. The Gospel of John is largely used during the festive seasons (Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter), plus several Sundays during August in Year B (because Mark's gospel is relatively short). Note that we are currently in Year B, which is why we heard a lot of John's Gospel in recent weeks.
        Perhaps the more interesting part is how the First and Second Readings and Responsorial Psalm are chosen. During Ordinary Time (which is over half of the liturgical year), the First Reading has been chosen to correspond to the Gospel passage. Thus, to get an insight into the significance of the Gospel on any Ordinary Sunday, read it together with the First Reading.
        The Responsorial Psalm is intended to foster meditation on the Word of God and is chosen as a response to the First Reading. Since the First Reading is harmonized with the Gospel, the Responsorial Psalm is thus also related to the Gospel in some way.
        The Second Reading during Ordinary Sundays is a series of sequential readings from the letters of Paul and James and the letter to the Hebrews.
        During the festive seasons, all of the readings are selected so that they bring out the particular character of the season. 

       For further information, go to http://catholic-resources.org/Lectionary/.

The Eucharistic Prayer — What is it that we are praying for?

The Eucharistic Prayer is that long prayer that the priest says after the bread, wine, and gifts for the Church and poor are brought to the altar. For many, this prayer is so familiar that we may have lost track of what it is that we are praying for. Here is a brief review of the main parts of the Eucharistic Prayer: 

• Preface — after an opening dialog between priest and assembly (“The Lord be with you...”), the prayer praises God and offers the Church’s thanks for God’s saving work. 
• Holy, Holy, Holy — after the Preface we sing a biblical song* about the holiness of God.
• Naming the works of God — the priest continues singing God's praises in the first part of the Eucharistic Prayer.
  
• Epiclesis over bread and wine — an epiclesis is an invocation of the Holy Spirit to come upon someone or something. There is an epiclesis in every Sacrament. In the Eucharist, it happens twice. The first one comes at this point, before the consecration. The priest calls on the Holy Spirit to come upon the bread and wine so that they become Christ’s Body and Blood.  
• Consecration — next, the priest recites the account of the Last Supper. The technical term for this part of the prayer is "the Institution Narrative" because it retells the biblical narrative of Christ instituting the Eucharist.
• Memorial Acclamation — after consecrating the bread and wine, the priest invites us to proclaim the central mystery of our faith, which is how the death and resurrection of Jesus has provided for our salvation.
  
• Anamnesis — after the Memorial Acclamation, the priest recalls the mystery of Christ’s passion, saving death, resurrection, and ascension. The name of this part of the prayer may seem odd, but if you think of the word amnesia meaning the loss of memory, then its opposite would be anamnesia, meaning to retain memory.
• Offertory — then, the memorial sacrifice of Jesus’ Body and Blood is offered to the Father. That's right: technically speaking, the offertory comes after the Consecration! We recognize the great gift of Christ's Body and Blood and we offer it back to the Father because there can be no greater gift that we can give to the One who made us and holds our lives in loving hands.
• Epiclesis over the assembly — the priest’s second invocation of the Holy Spirit is upon the assembly, so that we may be united in faith and love and be the one Body of Christ at work in the world. 
• Intercessions — toward the end of the prayer, we offer prayers for the whole Church of God, living and dead, and ask that we be united with them in one communion of love, service, and praise.
• Doxology — the celebrant then sings a song of glory and praise to God ("Through him, with him, in him…"). Again, the name for this may seem odd, but ask any Protestant and they can tell you what a doxology is! Literally, the word means "words of worship."
  
• Great Amen — the prayer concludes with a hearty “Amen” sung by everyone in the assembly as we make the prayers of the priest our own by this acclamation of faith.

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*A significant portion of the Eucharistic Prayer — as well as most of the prayers of the Mass — are based on biblical texts. For an annotated version of the Order of Mass, download http://www.usccb.org/romanmissal/WhiteBookAnnotated.pdf.

Singing the Mass, part 3 — Communion Procession

One of the more awkward times to be singing at Mass is in the Communion Procession. One can open the book and begin singing, but when it comes time to join the procession in the aisle, one has to generally put the book away — and (usually) stop singing — because we need both hands to receive the Body and Blood of Christ. Ceasing to sing would not seem desirable, however. As we noted in previous posts, by singing we are raising our voices in communion, and that would be an important thing to do as we are processing to receive Holy Communion!
       The answer to that dilemma is relatively easy, but one that the average person in the pews can't do much about. The answer is to use Communion Songs that have an easy-to-sing and easy-to-learn refrain. After hearing the refrain couple times, the assembly can continue singing the refrains, while a cantor or the choir can interject the verses. Music from the Taizé community — such as the song "Eat this Bread" — is good in this regard. Another possibility is for each parish to have a limited repertoire of Communion Songs, so that most parishioners can (over time) learn to sing them from memory.

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*In fact, that is exactly what the Roman Missal has in mind by designating a simple "Communion Antiphon" for Sundays and the major feasts.