We have an incredible future ahead of us at St. Joseph, as I outlined last week, but we have some work to do in order to get there.

When looking for guidance on how to move forward, I turn to scripture. Scripture is not just a bunch of stories, but a guide on how to live this life. When we look to scripture, we see that successful plans for the future must begin with two things. First: faithfulness to God and his will is essential. When King Saul turned away from God, consulted a fortune teller, and offered improper sacrifice to God, God withdrew his favor and called the prophet Samuel to anoint David as the new king. (1 Sm 13:2-14, 1 Chron 10:13-14) Second: we must pray to know and to follow God’s will. Our Lord spent the first 30 years of his life with his family, growing in wisdom and favor before God. (Luke 2:52) Even during his public ministry, he would often withdraw and pray, for example, before he selected the twelve men who would be his apostles. (Luke 6:12-16)

As a parish, then, we must remain faithful to God and we must prayerfully seek God’s will. Our most powerful prayer, as a parish, is the Mass. In the Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Mass, we praise and honor God in prayer, and we allow him to purify our hearts and draw us closer to him. Participation in Mass on Sunday and Holy Days is the most important thing we do as a parish. Because of the central role the Mass plays in uniting us as a parish, we should, especially on the high feast days, strive to have everyone come together. The highest feast days of our Church, the Holy Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday are coming very soon, and because each parish is permitted one liturgy for each day, a few things will be different to encourage unity in our parish.

When we are all together, the priest will face the same direction as the people (“ad orientam”) when he is at the altar. There are lots of reasons for this, and in the future I will try and write about them. First, though, let’s acknowledge that this is a hard change for many people. It might feel like we are losing the openness and vibrancy that Vatican II called for. It might feel like we are losing our ability to know what is happening on the altar. Some might even feel like this is just the first step down a slippery slope where Father forces everyone to have a Latin Mass. Many strong feelings and fears can arise when we see a change like this. Please, set up a time to come talk with me if you are struggling with them. People tell me that when they give it a chance, they still know what’s going on at the altar, especially since it’s said out loud in English. It helps us to recognize that the mystery of God is the focus of Mass, not the priest.

When we are all together, we will use the Communion Rail for the distribution of Holy Communion. At English Mass, you are not required to kneel and you may still receive on the tongue or in the hand. Using the rail, though, gives each of us a moment to become still and quiet ourselves in preparation to receive the most incredible gift possible: God himself in the Eucharist. It’s different, and sometimes it feels messy. I was once skeptical of using a Communion Rail, but the little pause for reflection–that you don’t get when we come up in our beloved lines–won me over.

When we are all together, we will use mostly English and some Latin. The use of English for much of the Mass assists the People of God to actively participate in united their will to God, because they are aware of what is being said. Vatican II emphasized this participation greatly. The Latin language is, though, a part of our heritage as Roman Catholics. Mass parts we know well (e.g., the Holy, Holy, the Our Father) will be in Latin to remind us of our universal heritage.

I encourage you to join us at one of the Holy Week Liturgies and experience this. Liturgy is something that transcends us. It transcends our words. It transcends our actions. It moves us closer to the fire of God’s love. This is why it is important to work to celebrate liturgy well. (Saul lost his kingship because he celebrated liturgy improperly!) There has been a lot of change in the last 60 years to our Roman Catholic Liturgy, but God has made it known to us how we are to worship him. Striving to follow his will as expressed by the Church in our Masses will help us move forward as one parish to a bright future.

Fr. Matt