Ss. Peter and Paul, Naperville as a Pilgrimage Church for the Holy Year of Mercy

In keeping with Pope Francis’ wish to extend to the faithful a plenary indulgence during the Holy Year of Mercy, Bishop Conlon of the Joliet Diocese has named several parishes as diocesan pilgrimage churches for the Holy Year.  By visiting one of these Churches and fulfilling the other prescribed conditions, the faithful may receive a plenary indulgence.  Bishop Conlon has named Ss. Peter and Paul in Naperville as one of the Pilgrimage Churches.

What is an indulgence?

Our sins have consequences.  One of the consequences of sin is God’s just punishment of sin (Is. 13:11). This punishment for serious (mortal) sins includes eternal separation from God, what we know as Hell (Daniel 12:2).  Our sins may also carry with them consequences that are not eternal; we call these temporal punishments (cf. Gen. 3:16). 

Going to the sacrament of Confession brings about, through God’s mercy, the forgiveness of our sins, as well as the eternal consequence of sins (John 20:21-23; Matthew 16:18-19).  However, even after a sin is forgiven in Confession, temporal consequences may remain (cf. 2 Sam. 12:7-12; Numbers 14:13-23; 20:12; 27:12-14).  Before we are to enter into the presence of God in Heaven, these temporal consequences must be remitted as well (Revelation 21:27).  But consider: if Christ gave the ministers of His Church the authority to forgive the eternal consequences of sin, how much more would the Church have the ability to remit the temporal consequences of sin as well!

To help understand this, picture your soul as a block of wood.  Each sin is like hammering a nail into the block.  Serious sins drive large, damaging nails into the wood.  The sacrament of Confession is like removing the nails with a pliers.  However, there are remaining effects: there are holes in the block of wood.  Before we enter into Heaven, God wishes to repair all the damage done by sin; he wishes to fill in the holes.

With God’s grace and in His mercy, the temporal punishment due to sin can be remitted in this life through the voluntary penances we take on, or the involuntary penances we patiently endure.  For those dying in a state of grace, if there still remains temporal punishment due to sin, there is a final state of purification known as Purgatory (2 Maccabees 12:39-46; 1 Corinthians 3:11-15).  Another means of remitting the temporal punishment due to sin is through an indulgence. 

Through an indulgence, by the ministry of the Church God the temporal punishment due to sins, the guilt of which has been absolved through the Sacrament of Confession.  The Christian faithful must be rightly disposed and observe prescribed conditions to gain this remission through the assistance of the Church.  An indulgence may be partial or plenary.  While a partial indulgence remits some of the temporal punishment due to sin, a plenary indulgence frees a person from all of the temporal punishment due to sin.  A plenary indulgence may be gained only once a day.  Indulgences are applicable either to oneself or to the dead.

How can one obtain a plenary indulgence during the Holy Year of Mercy?

The Holy Father attached the Holy Year indulgence to several actions.  Among them are included: 

• Visiting one of the Diocesan Pilgrimage churches, which includes Ss. Peter and Paul in Naperville
• Or by personally performing one or more of the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy. 

In addition to one of these acts, the individual receiving the indulgence must also: 

• Have the intention of acquiring the indulgence
• Go to sacramental Confession
• Receive Holy Communion,
• Make a profession of faith, praying for the Holy Father and for the intentions that he bears in his heart for the good of the Church and of the entire world 

Liturgically Speaking: Bringing More to Mass

“How can I get more out of Mass?”  It’s not an uncommon question.  But perhaps it’s the wrong question.  First, by faithfully attending Mass, we receive the flesh and blood of the Savior, the substantial indwelling of our God, the forgiveness of venial sins, grace to avoid mortal sins, a participation in the sacrifice of Calvary, the opening of the Word of God in the Scriptures, and fellowship with other believers.  Given all of that, it seems odd to ask “How can I get more out of Mass?”  Second, this kind of attitude turns us into consumers and the Mass into just another product for our consumption.  That’s not the right kind of attitude with which to approach our Lord at Mass.

Perhaps the better question might be, “How can I bring more to Mass?”  Here are a few practical suggestions on how to more fully, totally, and consciously participate in the Mass:

·         Read the readings ahead of time.  If your mind wanders during the Liturgy of the Word, consider reading the Mass readings as early as Monday, or throughout the week.  Read them together as a family after dinner one night, or at least as you’re driving to Mass.  That way, when the readings are being proclaimed, you’ll have some familiarity with them.

·         Read and pray the Eucharistic Prayers.  The Eucharistic Prayers are beautiful, ancient compositions.  Study them.  See what they are saying at each point.  Work them into your personal prayer so that you have a deeper familiarity with those prayers.

·         Get to Mass early.  Now, I know this may be hard for parents of small children.  But we tend to arrive early to things that are important to us.  Very few of us would show up to a job interview late.  Come to Mass five or ten minutes early to quiet you mind and prepare yourself for the Mass.

·         Sing and respond.  This one should be obvious, but I’ve been to many Catholic Churches where no one sang.  The Mass is not a spectator sport.  We cannot expect to sit in the pew mindlessly and derive its full fruits.  Engage your mind, heart, and voice in the actions of the Mass

·         Journal “one point” about each Mass.  I steal this point from speaker and writer Matthew Kelly.  Get a notebook or journal and at each Mass, ask yourself, “How is God trying to make me a better person through this Mass?”  It may be in a reading, a hymn, the homily, or your own quiet prayer, but try to see how God is speaking to you in each Mass, and write it down.  After a year, you’ll have fifty-two ways God was asking you to follow Him through the Mass.

·         Remain after Mass and offer a thanksgiving.  Yes, I know our parking situation is less than ideal.  But we also don’t leave important events early.  I’ve had the opportunity to stand outside of a number of Masses at Ss. Peter and Paul as Mass was ending.  We have three “exoduses” from Mass: one group of people leaves having received communion; another group leaves as the first note of the closing hymn is played; a final group leaves after the priest has processed out and the hymn is finished.  A word of encouragement:  unless it’s an emergency, don’t leave Mass early.  It says something about how we are approaching what’s going on.  Instead of rushing off, kneel down after Mass and offer a brief thanksgiving.

·         Eucharistic Adoration.  We are blessed with a perpetual adoration chapel at our parish.  This is a marvelous way to extend the graces of Sunday Mass throughout the week.  Stop in from time to time, even if for just five minutes.  Consider signing up for a weekly hour.  The Eucharist is so central to our Catholic lives, it makes sense not to leave our devotion to Christ in the Eucharis to Sunday alone. 

·         Continued Learning.  There is so much depth to our Mass, so much to learn.  The more we know about something, the more we can appreciate that thing.  Consider starting with Scott Hahn’s very accessible book, “The Lamb’s Supper.”

Liturgically Speaking: The Communion Rite and The Concluding Rite

After the Eucharistic Prayer and our “Amen,” the Communion Rite begins with the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer.  In early centuries, catechumens learned this prayer only weeks before baptism.  It was well established in the liturgy by the time of St. Augustine in the early fifth century.  It makes sense that we include the prayer which we regard as the most perfect, since it came from the lips of the Savior Himself.  The priest alone prays what is known as the Embolism:  “Deliver us Lord, we pray, from every evil…”  We then conclude with yet another doxology or song of praise: “For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.”

The sign of peace is a sign of sharing in peace, unity, and fellowship before we share in the even more profound communion of the one loaf and one cup.  It echoes the words of the risen Christ in John 20:20: “Peace be with you.”  We know than St. Paul often exhorted Christians to greet one another with the kiss of peace.  Thus it also entered the liturgy.  Originally it was toward the end of the offertory, a sign of peace and love as the gifts were being brought to the altar.  Pope Innocent I (410-417) moved it to its current place in the liturgy.

There is then a breaking of the Eucharistic bread over the paten and a small piece of the host is placed in the chalice.  The priest prays: “May this mingling of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ bring eternal life to us who receive it.”  This is again reminiscent of the Lord who, at the Last Supper, took bread, blessed it, and broke it.  It was also in the breaking of the bread that the disciples recognized Christ on the road to Emmaus.  Early Christians referred to the Eucharist at times simply as “the breaking of the bread.”  The precise origin of the Commingling of a piece of the host in the chalice is unknown.  It is sometimes thought to symbolize the reunification of the body and blood of the risen Lord whose blood was shed on the cross. 

This action is accompanied by the singing or recitation of the Angus Dei, or Lamb of God.  This title shows Christ as not just priest, but as victim.  It recalls the Passover lamb sacrificed to free the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt and from death.  It echoes the words of John the Baptist in the Gospel of John: “Behold the Lamb of God” (1:29).  This itself is a reference also to the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 who suffered for the sins of many, the “lamb that is led to the slaughter house like a sheep that is dumb before its shearers.”  Finally, the Lamb of God is a kind of wedding hymn that proclaims the union of Christ and the Church.  In the Book of Revelation, Christ the bridegroom appears as a lamb as though it had been slain.  The Book of Revelation is the wedding feast of the Lamb.   At the Mass, we are the bride. 

Our attitude to this Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world is one of profound humility.  Along with the centurion in the Gospel of Matthew (8:8), we say, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and my soul shall be healed.”  

It is at this moment that each person reborn in the waters of Baptism, approaches the altar to receive Christ, really, truly, and substantially present in Holy Communion.  We receive the whole Christ, body, blood, soul, and divinity under either species of bread or wine. 

After communion, the priest returns to the altar and collects any remaining hosts and clears the altar.  He prays: “What has passed our lips as food, O Lord, may we possess in purity of heart, that what has been given to us in time may be our healing for eternity.”  The priest then prays the Prayer after Communion.  These prayers, again much like the opening Collects, are short and to the point.  They often deal with the effects of fruitful reception of Holy Communion: graces in our soul, an increase in virtue, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the unity of the Body of Christ, and eternal life.

The Concluding Rite is very short and simple.  We are blessed, we are dismissed to go out and serve God, and there is the same reverencing of the altar as in the entrance procession.  The aspect of mission is clear at this point in the Mass.  Having received the body and blood of the Lord, carry into the world the Good News of eternal life in Jesus Christ.  As Pope Benedict XVI said in his first encyclical, “God is Love,”

“Worship” itself, Eucharistic communion, includes the reality both of being loved and of loving others in turn. A Eucharist which does not pass over into the concrete practice of love is intrinsically fragmented (DCE 14).            

Liturgically Speaking: The Eucharistic Prayer, Part III

We continue to follow Eucharistic Prayer III as a model as we look at the different elements of our Eucharistic Prayers.  The words of Eucharist Prayer III will be in bold, while some brief commentary will appear in italics.

After the consecration, the anamnesis, or remembrance, is a recollection of the saving death and resurrection of Christ.  An anamnesis is never a simple memorial, however.  This kind of remembering actually makes present the reality being recalled.  We are not just remembering the Paschal Mystery; we are participating in it:

Therefore, O Lord, as we celebrate the memorial of the saving Passion of your Son, his wondrous Resurrection and Ascension into heaven, and as we look forward to his second coming, we offer you in thanksgiving this holy and living sacrifice. (Notice that, in recalling the Paschal Mystery of Christ, the Church also offers to the Father that same sacrifice of Christ, “this holy and living sacrifice.”)

There can then be discerned a second invocation of the Holy Spirit, an epiclesis in which we ask the Holy Spirit to transform, not bread and wine, but those who will receive them:

Look, we pray, upon the oblation of your Church and, recognizing the sacrificial Victim by whose death you willed to reconcile us to yourself, grant that we, who are nourished by the Body and Blood of your Son and filled with his Holy Spirit, may become one body, one spirit in Christ.  (Notice again the language of sacrifice: oblation, sacrificial Victim.)

Filled with the Holy Spirit, we then offer intercessions for both the living and the dead.  We pray for the leaders of the Church, those present, and all of God’s people, that they may holiness and eternal life.  We also at this time call upon the intercession of the saints in heaven who are present with us, united in the liturgy:

May he make of us an eternal offering to you,

so that we may obtain an inheritance with your elect,

especially with the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God,

with your blessed Apostles and glorious Martyrs and with all the Saints,

on whose constant intercession in your presence we rely for unfailing help.

May this Sacrifice of our reconciliation,

we pray, O Lord, advance the peace and salvation of all the world. Be pleased to confirm in faith and charity your pilgrim Church on earth,

with your servant N. our Pope and N. our Bishop,

the Order of Bishops, all the clergy,

and the entire people you have gained for your own.

Listen graciously to the prayers of this family,

whom you have summoned before you:

in your compassion, O merciful Father, gather to yourself all your children scattered throughout the world.

To our departed brothers and sisters and to all who were pleasing to you

at their passing from this life,

give kind admittance to your kingdom.

There we hope to enjoy for ever the fullness of your glory through Christ our Lord,

through whom you bestow on the world all that is good.

Then, the final doxology, taken largely from Romans 11:36, directs all our praise and honor and that of all of creation to God the Blessed Trinity:  “Through him, and with him, and in him, O God, almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, for ever and ever.”  We respond with our “Amen.”  This Amen sums up the entire Eucharistic Prayer that has been prayed on our behalf.  In our Amen, we unite our hearts, minds, and voices to the praise, thanks, and joy of the whole church of heaven and earth.  The great Amen was said to have “resounded in heaven, as a celestial thunderclap in the Roman basilicas” (St. Jerome).  

Liturgically Speaking: The Eucharistic Prayer, Part II

In our last article, we saw the at main elements of the Eucharistic Prayers include the epiclesis, the institution narrative and consecration, the anamnesis, the oblation, intercessions, and the concluding doxology.  We will follow Eucharistic Prayer III as a model as we look at these different elements.  The words of Eucharist Prayer III will be in bold, while some brief commentary will appear in italics.

You are indeed Holy, O Lord, (Recall that the Eucharistic Prayer follows the Sanctus, in which we acclaim God as “Holy, Holy, Holy.”  The Eucharistic Prayer begins on the same thought of God’s holiness.  Notice also that the Eucharistic Prayer is not addressed to the assembly; the priest is not speaking to us.  It is a prayer addressed to God the Father.)

and all you have created rightly gives you praise, for through your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, by the power and working of the Holy Spirit,

you give life to all things and make them holy, and you never cease to gather a people to yourself, so that from the rising of the sun to its setting

a pure sacrifice may be offered to your name. (This is an allusion to Malachi 1:11, which says, “From the rising of the sun to its setting, my name is great among the nations; Incense offerings are made to my name everywhere, and a pure offering; For my name is great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.”  This is a prophesy that among the nations, or gentiles, there would one day be a pure sacrifice in all places and at all times.  Early Christians saw in the words of Malachi a prophesy of the Eucharist, which is the sacrifice among the nations that would supersede those sacrifices offered in the Temple in Jerusalem which could never take away sin.)

Therefore, O Lord, we humbly implore you:

by the same Spirit graciously make holy

these gifts we have brought to you for consecration,

that they may become the Body and Blood

of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ,

at whose command we celebrate these mysteries. (This is the epiclesis.  The priest calls upon the Holy Spirit to effect the transformation of our gifts of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.)

For on the night he was betrayed

he himself took bread,

and, giving you thanks, he said the blessing,

broke the bread and gave it to his disciples, saying:

TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND EAT OF IT,

FOR THIS IS MY BODY,

WHICH WILL BE GIVEN UP FOR YOU.

In a similar way, when supper was ended,

he took the chalice,

and, giving you thanks, he said the blessing,

and gave the chalice to his disciples, saying:

TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND DRINK FROM IT,

FOR THIS IS THE CHALICE OF MY BLOOD,

THE BLOOD OF THE NEW AND ETERNAL COVENANT,

WHICH WILL BE POURED OUT FOR YOU AND FOR MANY

FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS.

DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME. (This whole section is the Institution Narrative, that is, it recalls the events of the Last Supper at which Christ instituted the Most Holy Eucharist and commanded that it be done perpetually in memory of Him. Christ’s words, “This is my body; this is my blood,” which are presented in all caps above, are traditionally seen in the Western Church as the essential words of consecration through which, by the power of the Holy Spirit, mere bread and wine are transubstantiated into the body and blood of Christ.)

           

The memorial acclamation follows.  The expression mysterium fidei is exclaimed at this point: “The Mystery of Faith!”  Through our response, we bear witness to an encounter with the Risen Lord:  “Save us, Savior of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free.”