Our Lady of Hope Blog

My Dear Friends,

As we continue through the Roman Canon (the first Eucharistic prayer), we first must see that the Roman Canon is poetic, one of the great poetic compositions in Western Civilization. Since it is written in Latin, we don’t experience the richness of the poetry so much in the translation of the Canon into English.

My Dear Friends,

We begin with the first Eucharistic prayer, the Roman Canon. At the time of the Reformation, many who left behind the Catholic faith and joined with Martin Luther or John Calvin or Queen Elizabeth, or Ulrich Zwingli did all they could to rid their new liturgies of this venerable Roman Canon that was composed before the reign of Pope St. Gregory the Great and remained unchanged until the reforms of the post Second Vatican Council.

My Dear Friends,

For over 1,500 years the Catholic Church of the Roman Rite used exclusively only one Eucharistic prayer, which is the prayer the priest prays while you are kneeling and the prayer that brings forth the transubstantiation of the bread and wine which will become our Lord’s Body and Blood. It is called the Roman Canon, or Eucharistic Prayer I in our new Mass since 1970. It is a very ancient canon and is closely associated with the city of Rome itself as the Catholic Church was in the early centuries forming itself as the center of the Catholic world.

My Dear Friends,

We have three Marian feast days in the next eight days. Today, September 8th, we celebrate her birthday. Thursday, September 12th, is the Holy Name of Mary. And next Sunday, September 15th, is Our Lady of Sorrows. Three opportunities to honor our Blessed Mother, although liturgically this year, we only celebrate the Holy Name of Mary since her birthday and Our Lady of Sorrows fall on a Sunday.

My Dear Friends,

September 3rd is the feast day of Pope St. Gregory the Great. He reigned as pope from 590 to 604 AD. He was a nobleman destined for a career in civil government in Rome but soon became disillusioned with Rome and entered the Benedictine order. He wasn't to be in the monastery for long, though, as Pope Pelagius II sent him to Constantinople as a papal legate.

My Dear Friends,

This week, August 29th, we celebrate the Passion of St. John the Baptist. He is one of the three birthdays that we celebrate, along with our Blessed Mother and our Lord Himself. But because of his importance, we also celebrate his martyrdom and entrance into heaven. He is the bridge between the Old and New Testaments. He is the precursor of the Lord, preparing the way of the Lord and pointing out to anyone who would listen that Jesus is the Lamb of God. He reminds those who were his own disciples that must decrease so that our Lord may increase.

Last week we celebrated the Solemnity of the Assumption. This week, on the octave day of the Assumption, we celebrate the Queenship of Mary. These are the fourth and fifth Glorious Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary. We rightly honor the Blessed Mother and we with joy call her Queen of Heaven and Earth. As Scott Hahn reminds us in his book, Hail, Holy Queen, and Brant Pitre writes in his book, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary, the title of queen mother goes back to Solomon and was handed down through the line of kings.

My Dear Friends,

This Thursday, August 15th, we will celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, assumed body and soul into Heaven. It is one of our Holy Days of Obligation in the United States.

My Dear Friends,

Today is the feast day of St. John Vianney, also known as the Cure of Ars. He was born in 1786, immediately before the French Revolution, and lived until 1859. He is also the patron saint of parish priests, due to his remarkable career as a pastor in Ars, France. St. John Vianney was also a friend of the early Marists (the Society of Mary) and became a member of the Third Order of Mary.

My Dear Friends,

For the next five weeks our Sunday Gospel readings will be coming from the Gospel of John chapter 6. This is commonly called the Bread of Life Discourse. It begins with the feeding of the multitudes with loaves and fish, a miracle that is recounted in all four gospels. The miracles of the loaves and fish have a Eucharistic understanding. Last week, we finished the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, where over 60,000 Catholics spent four days worshiping, adoring and praising our Lord. It is a response from the bishops of the United States to counteract the studies that show that a majority of Catholics do not truly understand the Church teaching on the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

My Dear Friends,

Last week in our country there was an act of political violence; an attempted assassination upon a man running for president. There have been many presidents who have been assassinated in office; Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy. Three other presidents were victims of an attempted assassination and suffered injury; Theodore Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump.

My Dear Friends,

In the Gospel of Mark today, we hear Jesus tell his disciples to preach the Good News. But we also hear him say to his disciples that “whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.” Jesus was sent by the Father to reconcile the Twelve Tribes of Israel and bring forth the Kingdom of God. He was also sent so that no one may be lost; the Father desires the salvation of all. But we also know that there are some who will not be saved. They will reject the offer from our Lord.

My Dear Friends,

As someone who loves movies and who also loves books, I have come to appreciate the simple fact that the novel is nearly one hundred percent of the time better than the movie. There are, of course, exceptions. For example, I find Francis Ford Coppola ’s movie The Godfather to be far superior to Mario Puzo’s novel. Stephen Spielberg’s movie, Jaws is also superior to Peter Benchley’s novel of the same name. Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest also pales in comparison to Milos Forman’s movie version with Jack Nicholson.