A Message from the Pastor…………………….
We’re now in Ordinary Time, though you wouldn’t know it by our Sundays. With the Feast of Pentecost, the great liturgical seasons are over and the next day is Ordinary Time. Of course no time is truly ordinary; that’s why other traditions call this mostly Summer and fall time “Kingdomtide”. We get a slice of the Gospel each week as Jesus explains the new Kingdom of God and calls others into it. This goes all the way to December, so prepare for an intense course on Gospel living.
The reason I say you wouldn’t know it on Sundays is that during this Ordinary time, we have two special Feasts—the Trinity, and Corpus Christi. Both have long standing in the church and bring out essential elements of our faith for our full attention. After these come the Sundays in Ordinary Time.
The Archdiocesan planning effort called “All Things New” is moving into gear now. Our group met week before last, as I said, and there’s another this week. There are no results or provisional plans yet, so in case you hear anything from someone, that’s just speculation. Some of the plans will be opened to priests in August to begin to be disseminated to the people, with a year of feedback and adjustments to follow.
And back to Corpus Christi—the Archdiocese here has chosen this feast, next Sunday, to return to the practice of sharing from a common cup at Communion time. This follows the direction of Jesus to “Take and eat, Take and drink.” At Mass this is never forced to be done, and the full presence of Jesus is present even if only one species, i.e. the bread or the wine— the Body or Blood—is taken. I feel that a number of people will not be ready to return to this yet, and that is your choice. Know that the sharing from the cup has always been judged to be a safe practice, given the alcohol in the wine and the metal surface with is wiped and rotated. Pray about this, and know that your participation in the Mass and Communion is full whatever you do.
Fr. Sebastian