Taste and See: Judgement and Redemption

The season of Advent began yesterday with the first Sunday of Advent.

The Preface used at Mass yesterday and which will be used for all Masses until 16th December that have no proper Preface.

It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God,
through Christ our Lord.

For he assumed at his first coming
the lowliness of human flesh,
and so fulfilled the design you formed long ago,
and opened for us the way to eternal salvation,
that, when he comes again in glory and majesty
and all is at last made manifest,
we who watch for that day
may inherit the great promise
in which now we dare to hope.

And so, with Angels and Archangels,
with Thrones and Dominions,
and with all the hosts and Powers of heaven,
we sing the hymn of your glory,
as without end we acclaim:

Holy, holy holy…

The season of Advent is about us answering afresh the call of the Lord to journey with him,turning from that which is unworthy, to that which is loving and good and will lead us to the Kingdom.

From what do you wish to turn?

To what do you wish to turn?

Judgement. St Philips Cathedral, Birmingham. (c) 2013, Allen Morris.

Taste and See: Our confident hope

There are two alternative Prefaces provided for use in the Eucharistic Prayer from the feast of the Ascension until Pentecost.

The first, given below, gives a bold assurance of a purpose of the Ascension. It is not about separation from us, though there is something of that, or at least a certain space opened between disciples and Master, into which, by grace, they are able to grow and mature. It is about giving the confidence that, where he has gone, we shall follow.

It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God.

For the Lord Jesus, the King of glory,
conqueror of sin and death,
ascended (today) to the highest heavens,
as the Angels gazed in wonder.

Mediator between God and man,
judge of the world and Lord of hosts,
he ascended, not to distance himself from our lowly state
but that we, his members, might be confident of following
where he, our Head and Founder, has gone before.

Therefore, overcome with paschal joy,
every land, every people exults in your praise
and even the heavenly Powers, with the angelic hosts,
sing together the unending hymn of your glory,
as they acclaim:

Holy, holy, holy…

Preface: Ascension I

The Ascension is not only about the return to heaven of him who came down from heaven. For in his coming to us, the second Person of the Trinity took to himself our human nature, not as temporary disguise or a skin to make himself ‘visible’.  In Jesus God united, irrevocably, with a human person, and in uniting with one person, assumed humanity. God enters into a new and profound communion with all human kind: through Jesus, he is our kin.

The Incarnation is a unique event: from the moment of his conception in the womb of Mary, Jesus alone is fully God and fully Man.

As Jesus, God lived one with us on earth.

As Jesus, humanity lives with God in heaven.

Incarnation, and indeed the sacraments – further gift of God – bridge the separation between heaven and earth.

We are not there yet, but the way is opened for us, and we are enjoined, encouraged, to be ready to join our elder brother.

Give thanks!

The Ascension. Burne Jones, St Philip’s Cathedral, Birmingham. (c) 2013, Allen Morris

Taste and See: Proclaiming our eucharistic faith

The Preface for Corpus Christi reminds of the beauty and power of the Sacrament of the Eucharist and the salvation of which it is foretaste.

It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God,
through Christ our Lord.

For at the Last Supper with his Apostles,
establishing for the ages to come the saving memorial of the Cross,
he offered himself to you as the unblemished Lamb,
the acceptable gift of perfect praise.
Nourishing your faithful by this sacred mystery,
you make them holy, so that the human race,
bounded by one world,
may be enlightened by one faith
and united by one bond of charity.
And so, we approach the table of this wondrous Sacrament,
so that, bathed in the sweetness of your grace,
we may pass over to the heavenly realities here foreshadowed.

Therefore, all creatures of heaven and earth
sing a new song in adoration,
and we, with all the host of Angels,
cry out, and without end we acclaim:
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts . . .

Taste and see? In what do you especially discern the sweetness of the Lord?

Detail of screen to place of eucharistic reservation, Hinsley Hall, Leeds. (c) 2003, Allen Morris.

Taste and See: the Paschal Mystery

The Preface used at Mass on Sunday is proper to Easter Day and its Octave – the week of days that begins the week of weeks that is Easter.

It contains within it four lines that concisely express the Catholic understanding of our Redemption won by Sacrifice.

Preface

The Paschal Mystery

It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation,
at all times to acclaim you, O Lord,
but on this day above all
to laud you yet more gloriously,
when Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.

For he is the true Lamb
who has taken away the sins of the world;
by dying he has destroyed our death,
and by rising, restored our life.

Therefore, overcome with paschal joy,
every land, every people exults in your praise
and even the heavenly Powers, with the angelic hosts,
sing together the unending hymn of your glory,
as they acclaim:

Those lines?

 For he is the true Lamb
who has taken away the sins of the world;
by dying he has destroyed our death,
and by rising, restored our life.

The symbolism of the lamb links the Redemption won by Christ to its prefigurement, its foretaste, in the liberation of Israel in Passover.

The Redemption won by Christ is not for a single people or nation only or for life in this world. It is for all people always. It is freedom from death and dying, not from slavery only.

• From what are you freed and how?
• Who can you free and how?

Photograph of painting of the Agnus Dei by Zurbaran. Image from Wikipedia

Taste and See: Beginning the Eucharistic Prayer in Advent I

The Church provides two Prefaces for use in the Eucharistic Prayer during Advent.

The first is used at all Masses to the 16th December, unless they have their own proper preface (as will always be the case with the feast of Immaculate Conception).

The second is used at all Masses from the 17th to the 24th December, unless they have a proper preface (and in Westminster Diocese no Mass will have its own proper preface, so the 2nd Advent Preface will be heard every day).

It is relatively unusual to hear a Preface so regularly as we hear these. Lent has a different preface for each week; and during the rest of the Year there are a wide selection of Prefaces to be chosen from.

The first Advent preface, heard today for the last time this year, is rather simple, rather matter of fact about things. There is sobriety in the language, but at the same time it speaks of great mysteries of faith – God’s plan, the Incarnation, the Second Coming, Salvation, and the hope that belongs to faith.

The two comings of Christ

It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God,
through Christ our Lord.

For he assumed at his first coming
the lowliness of human flesh,
and so fulfilled the design you formed long ago,
and opened for us the way to eternal salvation,
that, when he comes again in glory and majesty
and all is at last made manifest,
we who watch for that day
may inherit the great promise
in which now we dare to hope.

And so, with Angels and Archangels,
with Thrones and Dominions,
and with all the hosts and Powers of heaven,
we sing the hymn of your glory,
as without end we acclaim:

Holy, holy, holy…

And these great mysteries are for us. There is wonder, indeed. These great mysteries are for us, to win us for life.

• Bring your thanksgiving and other thoughts to God in a time of prayer.

 Photograph is of an icon of the Second Coming in the Domus Galilaeae, a centre of formation for members of the Neo-Catechumenal Way, on the hillside overlooking the Sea of Galilee, in the Holy Land. (c) 2012, Allen Morris.