Soap Box Time

Soap Box Time

   Ok!!! Soap Box Time...... First, I will just except the idea that there is a good reason to move the Immaculate Conception from the 8th to the 9th due to Advent. That is not the point of this but the point is that they also change the idea of it being a Holy Day of Obligation to just a Holy Day. This then makes me think “Ok... so then why not just leave it to the 8th because people will just attend mass that day anyway and not on the 9th, since it has been removed as an “Obligation” anyway?”. Alright I am getting ahead of myself here. Let me explain this in three parts. 

    First, lets look at moving the date. I have researched this and what it seems to come down to is that “ Sunday in Advent in the Ordinary Form trumps Solemnities”. So, what does that mean? Well, First a headache to anyone who reads, reads, reads and reads again all different websites including that of the Vatican and reading Vatican Documents on it. For some countries it is the same day and others move it. I will do more research and get back to you all on this. It comes down to Roman Rite, Latin Rite and what feats, solemnities and sundays trump what. It sounds like a flow chart will be used to do this one. 

      Second, the idea of Obligation or Not. When the day transferred to Monday the Obligation does not transfer as well but has to be ordered by the Bishops to do so. Yet, if it is on a Monday it is a Holy Day of Obligation. This can be confusing because sometimes other Holy Days happen to fall on a Saturday or a Monday and they are not considered obligations because of mass on Sunday. It is again another form of a flow chart that needs to be made to know what is Obligation and what is Not. 

      Third and to me the most important, is about Obligation itself. My church had a 7:30pm mass tonight and I was so thankful for that because many did not. You see, for me, Obligation or Not, I needed to be at mass today. It doesn’t matter to me if it is Obligation. I want to be there. I wish I could be there everyday. I know I am in the minority of the minority of Catholics who felt the need to be there today even though it was not an Obligation. What I mean by minority of the minority is that, it is the minority of Catholics that attended weekly masses and from that there is a minority that goes even on Obligation days. What got me on the “soap box” was just that idea. Just because majority of the minority will not go to the mass because it is no longer an “obligation” should not cause Parishes to only offer the regular daily masses on this day.  Those who have to be in work in the morning would miss these options because most daily masses are after people are at work or in their commute time to work. This action causes those to not be able to attend. It is not fair to me that we are excluded from this. I was lucky that my parish didn’t put me in that category. As it is I wish there was a mass each night that I could attend. Just because majority of people may not attend should not stop a parish from hosting mass for a Solemnity that is not an obligation. Nor do I think a Parish should not hold a mass at night for people who can not make daily morning mass either. Even if parishes got together in an area and said “Ok, this month we will host this mass at night or this week on this night we can do it, your parish does it next month... etc..”  Parishes are there to serve all those who come. Not just the majority of the parishioners. 

     I think that we are at a time in the Church where we need to unite every chance we can get in prayer and what is the best prayer we have? Yes, The Mass... The most Holy Mass. The more people that can come before the Alter of our Lord and receive Him both  in the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist , we can only grow closer to the Trinity, Church and our Faith. 

Until tomorrow, God Bless, and may we grow each day closer to the Trinity. 

Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent
Lectionary: 182

Reading 1

IS 40:1-11

Comfort, give comfort to my people,

says your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her

that her service is at an end,

her guilt is expiated;

Indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD

double for all her sins.

A voice cries out:

In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!

Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!

Every valley shall be filled in,

every mountain and hill shall be made low;

The rugged land shall be made a plain,

the rough country, a broad valley.

Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,

and all people shall see it together;

for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

A voice says, “Cry out!”

I answer, “What shall I cry out?”

“All flesh is grass,

and all their glory like the flower of the field.

The grass withers, the flower wilts,

when the breath of the LORD blows upon it.

So then, the people is the grass.

Though the grass withers and the flower wilts,

the word of our God stands forever.”

Go up onto a high mountain,

Zion, herald of glad tidings;

Cry out at the top of your voice,

Jerusalem, herald of good news!

Fear not to cry out

and say to the cities of Judah:

Here is your God!

Here comes with power

the Lord GOD,

who rules by his strong arm;

Here is his reward with him,

his recompense before him.

Like a shepherd he feeds his flock;

in his arms he gathers the lambs,

Carrying them in his bosom,

and leading the ewes with care.

Responsorial Psalm

PS 96:1-2, 3 AND 10AC, 11-12, 13

R. (see Isaiah 40:10ab) The Lord our God comes with power.

Sing to the LORD a new song;

sing to the LORD, all you lands.

Sing to the LORD; bless his name;

announce his salvation, day after day.

R. The Lord our God comes with power.

Tell his glory among the nations;

among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.

Say among the nations: The LORD is king;

he governs the peoples with equity.

R. The Lord our God comes with power.

Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;

let the sea and what fills it resound;

let the plains be joyful and all that is in them!

Then let all the trees of the forest rejoice.

R. The Lord our God comes with power.

They shall exult before the LORD, for he comes;

for he comes to rule the earth.

He shall rule the world with justice

and the peoples with his constancy.

R. The Lord our God comes with power.

Gospel

MT 18:12-14

Jesus said to his disciples:

“What is your opinion? 

If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray,

will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills

and go in search of the stray? 

And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it

than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. 

In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father

that one of these little ones be lost.”