Prayer, All Saints Day

How shining and splendid are your gifts, O Lord
which you give us for our eternal well-being.

Your glory shines radiantly in your saints, O God
In the honour and noble victory of the martyrs.

The white-robed company follow you,
bright with their abundant faith;
They scorned the wicked words
of those with this world’s power.

For you they sustained fierce beatings,
chains, and torments,
they were drained by cruel punishments.

They bore their holy witness to you
who were grounded deep
within their hearts;
they were sustained
by patience and constancy.

Endowed with your everlasting grace,
may we rejoice forever
with the martyrs in our bright fatherland.

O Christ, in your goodness,
grant to us the gracious heavenly realms
of eternal life.

Amen.

Let Us Long For Those Who Are Longing For Us

Let us make haste to our brethren who are awaiting us

Why should our praise and glorification, or even the celebration of this feast day mean anything to the saints? What do they care about earthly honours when their heavenly Father honours them by fulfilling the faithful promise of the Son? What does our commendation mean to them? The saints have no need of honour from us; neither does our devotion add the slightest thing to what is theirs. Clearly, if we venerate their memory, it serves us, not them. But I tell you, when I think of them, I feel myself inflamed by a tremendous yearning.

Calling the saints to mind inspires, or rather arouses in us, above all else, a longing to enjoy their company, so desirable in itself. We long to share in the citizenship of heaven, to dwell with the spirits of the blessed, to join the assembly of patriarchs, the ranks of the prophets, the council of apostles, the great host of martyrs, the noble company of confessors and the choir of virgins. In short, we long to be united in happiness with all the saints. But our dispositions change. The Church of all the first followers of Christ awaits us, but we do nothing about it. The saints want us to be with them, and we are indifferent. The souls of the just await us, and we ignore them.

Come, brothers, let us at length spur ourselves on. We must rise again with Christ, we must seek the world which is above and set our mind on the things of heaven. Let us long for those who are longing for us, hasten to those who are waiting for us, and ask those who look for our coming to intercede for us. We should not only want to be with the saints, we should also hope to possess their happiness. While we desire to be in their company, we must also earnestly seek to share in their glory. Do not imagine that there is anything harmful in such an ambition as this; there is no danger in setting our hearts on such glory.

When we commemorate the saints we are inflamed with another yearning: that Christ our life may also appear to us as he appeared to them and that we may one day share in his glory. Until then we see him, not as he is, but as he became for our sake. He is our head, crowned, not with glory, but with the thorns of our sins. As members of that head, crowned with thorns, we should be ashamed to live in luxury; his purple robes are a mockery rather than an honour. When Christ comes again, his death shall no longer be proclaimed, and we shall know that we also have died, and that our life is hidden with him. The glorious head of the Church will appear and his glorified members will shine in splendour with him, when he forms this lowly body anew into such glory as belongs to himself, its head.

Therefore, we should aim at attaining this glory with a wholehearted and prudent desire. That we may rightly hope and strive for such blessedness, we must above all seek the prayers of the saints. Thus, what is beyond our own powers to obtain will be granted through their intercession.


~ Saint Bernard

Eavesdropping....

The Gifts And The Call Of God Are Irrevocable (Romans 11:29)

“God delivered all to disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all.” (Romans 11:32)

If you’ve ever hoped for something with all your heart, then you can understand how Paul felt when he was writing his letter to the Romans. He longed for his fellow Jews to accept Jesus as their Messiah. He even stated his hope that the mercy God has shown the Gentiles—the mercy of their own conversions to Christ—will prompt more Jews to embrace Jesus as well. All have been disobedient, Paul says: first the Gentiles by not believing in the one true God; then the Jewish people for not believing in God’s Son, Jesus. And so all now stand in need of God’s mercy.

What was true back then is just as true today. No matter where we find ourselves in life—no matter what stage our faith is at, no matter if we are in comfortable or dire circumstances— we all stand in need of God’s mercy.

Understanding this truth can be life-changing. Imagine how liberating it is to know that we don’t have to be perfect! All our efforts to win other people’s approval, all our attempts at convincing ourselves that we are “good enough”—they can never match the glory of knowing that Almighty God has chosen us, called us, cleansed us, and empowered us to live as a new creation. Yes, we are sinners. Yes, we are disobedient. But we have a Father in heaven who accepts us as we are and who is constantly pouring his grace upon us, transforming our hearts and reforming our minds. This is the mercy of God—a mercy that never fails!

Today in prayer, ask your heavenly Father to open your eyes to his mercy and love. Let yourself stand in awe of every gift God has ever given you. It’s true that you can never repay God for all that he has done for you. But that’s okay, because he’s not asking you to pay him back. All he wants is for you to turn to him with love and gratitude, and to share the good news of his mercy with everyone you can.


“Father, I want to join my prayer with that of St. Catherine of Siena, who once cried out: ‘Oh, Divine Mercy! … On every side to which I turn my thought, I find nothing but mercy!’ ”

We Must All Undergo A Change Of Heart

We must re-educate our minds towards peace

Men must not be content simply to support the efforts of others in the work for peace; they must also scrutinise their own attitudes. Statesmen, responsible as they are for the common good of their own nation and at the same time for the well-being of the whole world, are very much dependent on the opinions and convictions of the general public. Their efforts to secure peace are of no avail as long as men are divided or set against each other by feelings of hostility, contempt and distrust, by racial hatred or by inflexible ideologies. There is then a very great and urgent need to re-educate men and to provide fresh inspiration in the field of public opinion.

Those engaged in education, especially among young people, and those who influence public opinion, should consider it a very serious responsibility to work for the re-education of mankind to a new attitude toward peace. We must all undergo a change of heart. We must look out on the whole world and see the tasks that we can all do together to promote the well-being of the family of man. We must not be misled by a false sense of hope. Unless antagonism and hatred are abandoned, unless binding and honest agreements are concluded, safeguarding universal peace in the future, mankind, already in grave peril, may well face in spite of its marvellous advance in knowledge that day of disaster when it knows no other peace than the awful peace of death.

In saying this, however, the Church of Christ, living as it does in the midst of these anxious times, continues unwaveringly in hope. Time and again, in season and out of season, it seeks to proclaim to our age the message of the Apostle: Now is the hour of God’s favour, the hour for a change of heart; now is the day of salvation.

To build peace, the causes of human discord which feed the fires of war must first be eliminated, and among these especially the violations of justice. Many of these causes are due to gross economic inequality and delay in providing necessary remedies. Others arise from a spirit of domination and from a contempt for others, and, among more fundamental causes, from human envy, distrust, pride and other forms of selfishness. Since man cannot bear so many violations of due order, the result is that, even where war does not rage, the world is constantly plagued by human conflict and acts of violence.

The same evils are also found in relations between nations. It is therefore absolutely necessary that international institutions should co-operate more effectively, more resolutely and with greater coordination of effort, in order to overcome or prevent these evils, and to check unbridled acts of violence. There must also be constant encouragement for the creation of organisations designed to promote peace.


~From the Second Vatican Council's pastoral constitution
"Gaudium et spes" on the Church in the modern world.

Accept Nothing Less Than Jesus!

Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez

Today while the world celebrates Halloween, and the Roman Catholic Church observes the 31st Sunday in OT, the Society of Jesus (SJ) remembers a Spanish Jesuit lay brother St. Alphonsus Rodríguez (July 25, 1532 – October 31, 1617). Rodriguez entered the Society of Jesus at the age of 40. He was the son of a wool merchant who had been reduced to poverty when Alfonso was still young, leaving the business to Alfonso when he was only 23. At the age of 26 Alphonsus married Mary Suarez, a woman of his own station, and at 31 found himself a widower with one surviving child, the other two having died previously. From that time he began a life of prayer and mortification, and separated from the world around him. On the death of his third child his thoughts turned to a life in some religious order.

Previous associations had brought him into contact with the first Jesuits who had come to Spain, Blessed Peter Faber among others, but it was apparently impossible to carry out his purpose of entering the Society as he was without education, having only had an incomplete year at a new college begun at Alcalá by Francis Villanueva. At the age of 39 he attempted to make up this deficiency by following the course at the College of Barcelona, but without success. His austerities had also undermined his health. After considerable delay he was finally admitted into the Society of Jesus as a lay brother on 31 January 1571.

Distinct novitiates had not as yet been established in Spain, and Alfonso began his term of probation at Valencia or Gandia -- this point is a subject of dispute—and after six months was sent to the recently-founded college at Majorca. In 1579, he was appointed as the doorkeeper of the College. As doorkeeper his duty was to receive visitors and take messages for the professors and students. On his way to the door he would repeatedly say, “I am coming Lord!” and greeted everyone with same warm smile that he would have reserved for the Lord. Legend has it that Our Lord and His Blessed Mother did appear to Alphonsus when he opened the door one day. Alfonso remained in the humble position of porter for 46 years, exercising a marvelous influence on the sanctification not only of the members of the household, but upon a great number of people who came to the porter's lodge for advice and direction. Among the distinguished Jesuits who came under his influence was St. Peter Clavier, who lived with him for some time at Majorca, and who followed his advice in asking for the missions of South America.

The bodily mortifications which he imposed on himself were extreme, the scruples and mental agitation to which he was subject were of frequent occurrence, his obedience absolute, and his absorption in spiritual things, even when engaged on most distracting employments, continual. It has often been said that he was the author of the well-known "Little Office of the Immaculate Conception", and the claim is made by Alegambe, Southwell, and even by the Fathers de Backer in their Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus. From 1615 due to illness he was confined to his bed and could rise only occasionally. Finally on October 31, 1617 with the name of Jesus on his lips, he left for that heavenly abode.

Alphonsus left behind a considerable number of manuscripts, some of which have been published as Obras Espirituales del B. Alonso Rodriguez (Barcelona, 1885, 3 vols., octavo, complete edition, 8 vols. in quarto).

He was declared venerable in 1626. In 1633, he was chosen by the Council General of Majorca as one of the special patrons of the city and island.

In 1760, Pope Clement XIII decreed that "the virtues of the Venerable Alonso were proved to be of a heroic degree"; He was beatified by Pope Leo XII on June 12, 1825, and canonized by Pope Leo XIII on September 6, 1887. His remains are enshrined at Majorca.


Alphonsus’s confrère Gerard Manley Hopkins has captured the spirit of this saint’s life perhaps better than anyone, in the following poem:

St. Alphonsus Rodriguez
From the poem of Gerard Manley Hopkins 1918
Laybrother of the Society of Jesus

Honour is flashed off exploit, so we say;
And those strokes once that gashed flesh or galled shield
Should tongue that time now, trumpet now that field,
And, on the fighter, forge his glorious day.
On Christ they do and on the martyr may;
But be the war within, the brand we wield
Unseen, the heroic breast not outward-steeled,
Earth hears no hurtle then from fiercest fray.

Yet God (that hews mountain and continent,
Earth, all, out; who, with trickling increment,
Veins violets and tall trees makes more and more)
Could crowd career with conquest while there went
Those years and years by of world without event
That in Majorca Alfonso watched the door.

Prayer through the intercession of Bl John Paul II

Peace Is The Fruit Of Love

The promotion of peace

Peace is not the mere absence of war or the simple maintenance of a balance of power between forces, nor can it be imposed at the dictate of absolute power. It is called, rightly and properly, a work of justice. It is the product of order, the order implanted in human society by its divine founder, to be realised in practice as men hunger and thirst for ever more perfect justice.

The common good of the human race is subject to the eternal law as its primary principle, but its requirements in practice keep changing with the passage of time. The result is that peace is never established finally and for ever; the building up of peace has to go on all the time. Again, the human will is weak and wounded by sin; the search for peace therefore demands from each individual constant control of the passions, and from legitimate authority untiring vigilance.

Even this is not enough. Peace here on earth cannot be maintained unless the good of the human person is safeguarded, and men are willing to trust each other and share their riches of spirit and talent. If peace is to be established it is absolutely necessary to have a firm determination to respect other persons and peoples and their dignity, and to be zealous in the practice of brotherhood. Peace is therefore the fruit also of love; love goes beyond what justice can achieve. Peace on earth, born of love for one’s neighbour, is the sign and the effect of the peace of Christ that flows from God the Father. In his own person the incarnate Son, the Prince of Peace, reconciled all men to God through his death on the cross. In his human nature he destroyed hatred and restored unity to all mankind in one people and one body. Raised on high by the resurrection, he sent the Spirit of love into the hearts of men.

All Christians are thus urgently summoned to live the truth in love, and to join all true peacemakers in prayer and work for peace. Moved by the same spirit, we cannot but praise those who renounce violence in defence of rights, and have recourse to means of defence otherwise available to the less powerful as well, provided that this can be done without injury to the rights and obligations of others or of the community.


~ From the Second Vatican Council's pastoral constitution,
"Gaudium et spes" on the Church in the modern world

Go Forth...Go..You Are Free

Monks set-free doves from a balcony at the end of the interreligious talks on October 27, 2011 at San Francisco basilica in Assisi. Pope Benedict XVI led during the day the 25th Interreligious talks, a 'journey of reflection, dialogue and prayer for peace and justice in the world' held in St. Francis of Assisi's birthplace, with four leading atheist intellectuals taking part for the first time.

Pope's Address at the Meeting for Peace in Assisi

Pope Benedict XVI prays in front of the cript of Saint Francis at the end of the meeting.



DAY OF REFLECTION, DIALOGUE AND PRAYER
FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE IN THE WORLD
"PILGRIMS OF TRUTH, PILGRIMS OF PEACE"

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
AT THE MEETING FOR PEACE IN ASSISI

Assisi, Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels
Thursday, 27 October 2011

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Distinguished Heads and Representatives of Churches, Ecclesial Communities and World Religions,
Dear Friends,

Twenty-five years have passed since Blessed Pope John Paul II first invited representatives of the world’s religions to Assisi to pray for peace. What has happened in the meantime? What is the state of play with regard to peace today? At that time the great threat to world peace came from the division of the earth into two mutually opposed blocs. A conspicuous symbol of this division was the Berlin Wall which traced the border between two worlds right through the heart of the city. In 1989, three years after Assisi, the wall came down, without bloodshed. Suddenly the vast arsenals that stood behind the wall were no longer significant. They had lost their terror. The peoples’ will to freedom was stronger than the arsenals of violence. The question as to the causes of this dramatic change is complex and cannot be answered with simple formulae. But in addition to economic and political factors, the deepest reason for the event is a spiritual one: behind material might there were no longer any spiritual convictions. The will to freedom was ultimately stronger than the fear of violence, which now lacked any spiritual veneer. For this victory of freedom, which was also, above all, a victory of peace, we give thanks. What is more, this was not merely, nor even primarily, about the freedom to believe, although it did include this. To that extent we may in some way link all this to our prayer for peace.

But what happened next? Unfortunately, we cannot say that freedom and peace have characterized the situation ever since. Even if there is no threat of a great war hanging over us at present, nevertheless the world is unfortunately full of discord. It is not only that sporadic wars are continually being fought – violence as such is potentially ever present and it is a characteristic feature of our world. Freedom is a great good. But the world of freedom has proved to be largely directionless, and not a few have misinterpreted freedom as somehow including freedom for violence. Discord has taken on new and frightening guises, and the struggle for freedom must engage us all in a new way.

Let us try to identify the new faces of violence and discord more closely. It seems to me that, in broad strokes, we may distinguish two types of the new forms of violence, which are the very antithesis of each other in terms of their motivation and manifest a number of differences in detail. Firstly there is terrorism, for which in place of a great war there are targeted attacks intended to strike the opponent destructively at key points, with no regard for the lives of innocent human beings, who are cruelly killed or wounded in the process. In the eyes of the perpetrators, the overriding goal of damage to the enemy justifies any form of cruelty. Everything that had been commonly recognized and sanctioned in international law as the limit of violence is overruled. We know that terrorism is often religiously motivated and that the specifically religious character of the attacks is proposed as a justification for the reckless cruelty that considers itself entitled to discard the rules of morality for the sake of the intended “good”. In this case, religion does not serve peace, but is used as justification for violence.

The post-Enlightenment critique of religion has repeatedly maintained that religion is a cause of violence and in this way it has fuelled hostility towards religions. The fact that, in the case we are considering here, religion really does motivate violence should be profoundly disturbing to us as religious persons. In a way that is more subtle but no less cruel, we also see religion as the cause of violence when force is used by the defenders of one religion against others. The religious delegates who were assembled in Assisi in 1986 wanted to say, and we now repeat it emphatically and firmly: this is not the true nature of religion. It is the antithesis of religion and contributes to its destruction. In response, an objection is raised: how do you know what the true nature of religion is? Does your assertion not derive from the fact that your religion has become a spent force? Others in their turn will object: is there such a thing as a common nature of religion that finds expression in all religions and is therefore applicable to them all? We must ask ourselves these questions, if we wish to argue realistically and credibly against religiously motivated violence. Herein lies a fundamental task for interreligious dialogue – an exercise which is to receive renewed emphasis through this meeting. As a Christian I want to say at this point: yes, it is true, in the course of history, force has also been used in the name of the Christian faith. We acknowledge it with great shame. But it is utterly clear that this was an abuse of the Christian faith, one that evidently contradicts its true nature. The God in whom we Christians believe is the Creator and Father of all, and from him all people are brothers and sisters and form one single family. For us the Cross of Christ is the sign of the God who put “suffering-with” (compassion) and “loving-with” in place of force. His name is “God of love and peace” (2 Cor 13:11). It is the task of all who bear responsibility for the Christian faith to purify the religion of Christians again and again from its very heart, so that it truly serves as an instrument of God’s peace in the world, despite the fallibility of humans.

If one basic type of violence today is religiously motivated and thus confronts religions with the question as to their true nature and obliges all of us to undergo purification, a second complex type of violence is motivated in precisely the opposite way: as a result of God’s absence, his denial and the loss of humanity which goes hand in hand with it. The enemies of religion – as we said earlier – see in religion one of the principal sources of violence in the history of humanity and thus they demand that it disappear. But the denial of God has led to much cruelty and to a degree of violence that knows no bounds, which only becomes possible when man no longer recognizes any criterion or any judge above himself, now having only himself to take as a criterion. The horrors of the concentration camps reveal with utter clarity the consequences of God’s absence.

Yet I do not intend to speak further here about state-imposed atheism, but rather about the decline of man, which is accompanied by a change in the spiritual climate that occurs imperceptibly and hence is all the more dangerous. The worship of mammon, possessions and power is proving to be a counter-religion, in which it is no longer man who counts but only personal advantage. The desire for happiness degenerates, for example, into an unbridled, inhuman craving, such as appears in the different forms of drug dependency. There are the powerful who trade in drugs and then the many who are seduced and destroyed by them, physically and spiritually. Force comes to be taken for granted and in parts of the world it threatens to destroy our young people. Because force is taken for granted, peace is destroyed and man destroys himself in this peace vacuum.

The absence of God leads to the decline of man and of humanity. But where is God? Do we know him, and can we show him anew to humanity, in order to build true peace? Let us first briefly summarize our considerations thus far. I said that there is a way of understanding and using religion so that it becomes a source of violence, while the rightly lived relationship of man to God is a force for peace. In this context I referred to the need for dialogue and I spoke of the constant need for purification of lived religion. On the other hand I said that the denial of God corrupts man, robs him of his criteria and leads him to violence.

In addition to the two phenomena of religion and anti-religion, a further basic orientation is found in the growing world of agnosticism: people to whom the gift of faith has not been given, but who are nevertheless on the lookout for truth, searching for God. Such people do not simply assert: “There is no God”. They suffer from his absence and yet are inwardly making their way towards him, inasmuch as they seek truth and goodness. They are “pilgrims of truth, pilgrims of peace”. They ask questions of both sides. They take away from militant atheists the false certainty by which these claim to know that there is no God and they invite them to leave polemics aside and to become seekers who do not give up hope in the existence of truth and in the possibility and necessity of living by it. But they also challenge the followers of religions not to consider God as their own property, as if he belonged to them, in such a way that they feel vindicated in using force against others. These people are seeking the truth, they are seeking the true God, whose image is frequently concealed in the religions because of the ways in which they are often practised. Their inability to find God is partly the responsibility of believers with a limited or even falsified image of God. So all their struggling and questioning is in part an appeal to believers to purify their faith, so that God, the true God, becomes accessible. Therefore I have consciously invited delegates of this third group to our meeting in Assisi, which does not simply bring together representatives of religious institutions. Rather it is a case of being together on a journey towards truth, a case of taking a decisive stand for human dignity and a case of common engagement for peace against every form of destructive force. Finally I would like to assure you that the Catholic Church will not let up in her fight against violence, in her commitment for peace in the world. We are animated by the common desire to be “pilgrims of truth, pilgrims of peace”.

© Copyright 2011 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Yes.. I'm Gettin' There

Pope Benedict XVI (R) along with his personal secretary Msgr Georg Gänswein (L) on their way to Santa Maria degli Angeli's basilica (St Mary of the Angels) in Assisi for the opening of the interreligious talk on October 27, 2011. A day that marked the 25th Interreligious meet, a 'journey of reflection, dialogue and prayer for peace and justice in the world' held in St. Francis of Assisi's birthplace, with four leading atheist intellectuals taking part for the first time.

Pope Benedict XVI with 'Pilgrims of truth, pilgrims of peace' in Assisi

From L-R: Julia Kristeva, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Norvan Zakarian, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Ecumenical Patriarch of Orthodox Church Bartolomeo I, Pope Benedict XVI, Rabbi David Rosen, Wande Abimbola, Acharya Shri Shrivatsa Goswami, Ja Seung, the head of South Korea's Buddhist Jogye Order and Kyai Haji Hasyim Muzadi attends at Santa Maria degli Angeli Basilica (St Mary of the Angels Basilica) in Assisi October 27, 2011. Pope Benedict XVI attends interreligious meeting "prayer for peace" in the Italian pilgrimage town of Assisi. ~Reuters Pictures






The Pope met with approximately 300 religious leaders to mark the 25th anniversary of the Assisi interfaith gathering. ~Getty Images


(L-R) Archbishop Norvan Zakarian, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Ecumenical Patriarch of Orthodox Church Bartholomew I, Pope Benedict XVI, Rabbi David Rosen, Wande Abimbola and Acharya Shri Shrivatsa Goswami. ~Getty Images



Above, the Monks set-free doves from a balcony at the end of the interreligious talks. ~Getty Images

Whatever I Give To Man, I Do It Out Of My Great Providence

How good and how delightful is your spirit, Lord, in all men!

The eternal Father, indescribably kind and tender, turned his eye to this soul and spoke to her thus:

‘O dearest daughter, I have determined to show my mercy and loving kindness to the world, and I choose to provide for mankind all that is good. But man, ignorant, turns into a death-giving thing what I gave in order to give him life. Not only ignorant, but cruel: cruel to himself. But still I go on providing. For this reason I want you to know: whatever I give to man, I do it out of my great providence.’

‘So it was that when, by my providence, I created man, I looked into myself and fell in love with the beauty of the creature I had made – for it had pleased me, in my providence, to create man in my own image and likeness.’

‘Moreover, I gave man memory, to be able to remember the good things I had done for him and to be able to share in my own power, the power of the eternal Father.’

‘Moreover, I gave man intellect, so that, seeing the wisdom of my Son, he could recognise and understand my own will; for I am the giver of all graces and I give them with a burning fatherly love.’

‘Moreover, I gave man the desire to love, sharing in the tenderness of the Holy Spirit, so that he might love the things that his intellect had understood and seen.’

‘But my kind providence did all this solely that man might be able to understand me and enjoy me, rejoicing in my vision for all eternity. And as I have told you elsewhere, the disobedience of your first parent Adam closed heaven to you – and from that disobedience came all evil through the whole world.’

‘To relieve man of the death that his own disobedience had brought, I tenderly and providently gave you my only-begotten Son to heal you and bring satisfaction for your needs. I gave him the task of being supremely obedient, to free the human race of the poison that your first parent’s disobedience had spread throughout the world. Falling in love, as it were, with his task, and truly obedient, he hurried to a shameful death on the most holy Cross. By his most holy death he gave you life: not human life this time, but with the strength of his divinity.’

~St Catherine of Siena's Dialogue on Divine Providence

New Roman Missal (Changes in the Priest's / People's Part)

CHANGES IN THE PRIEST'S PARTS

•Introductory Rite

•Liturgy of The Word

•Preparation of The Gifts
(with Commentary)

•Eucharistic Prayer I
(with Commentary)

•Eucharistic Prayer II
(with Commentary)

•Eucharistic Prayer III
(with Commentary)

•Eucharistic Prayer IV
(with Commentary)

•Communion Rite

•Dismissal


New Roman Missal (CHANGES IN THE PEOPLE'S PART)

New Roman Missal (Changes in the Priest's Parts) - Dismissal

Changes in the Priest's Parts - Dismissal
PART OF MASS	PRESENT TEXT	NEW TEXT
Dismissal	Go in the peace of Christ. Or: The Mass is ended, go in peace. Or: Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.	Go forth, the Mass is ended. Or: Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord. Or: Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life. Or: Go in peace.

New Roman Missal (Changes in the Priest's Parts) - Communion Rite

Changes in the Priest's Parts - Communion Rite
PART OF MASS	PRESENT TEXT	NEW TEXT
Introduction to the Lord's Prayer	Let us pray with confidence to the Father in the words our Savior gave us. Or: Jesus taught us to call God our Father, and so we have the courage to say: Or: Let us ask our Father to forgive our sins and to bring us to forgive those who sin against us. Or: Let us pray for the coming of the kingdom as Jesus taught us.	At the Savior’s command and formed by divine teaching, we dare to say:
Embolism	Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, andgrant us peace in our day. In your mercykeep us free from sin and protect usfrom all anxiety as we wait in joyfulhope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.	Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days, that, by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessedhope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Prayer for Peace	Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your apostles: I leave you peace, my peace I give you. Look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church, and grant us the peace and unity of your kingdom, where you live for ever and ever.	Lord Jesus Christ, who said to your Apostles, Peace I leave you, my peace I give you, look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church, and graciously grant her peace and unity in accordance with your will. Who live and reign for ever and ever.
Private Preparation of the Priest	Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, by the will of the Father and the work of the Holy Spirit your deathbrought life to the world. By your holy body and blood free me from all my sins, and from every evil. Keep me faithful to your teaching, and never let me be parted from you. Or: Lord Jesus Christ, with faith in your love and mercy I eat your body and drink your blood. Let it not bring me condemnation, but health in mind and body.	Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who by the will of the Father and the work of the Holy Spirit, through your death gave life to the world; free me by this your most holy Body and Bloodfrom all my sins and from every evil; keep me always faithful to your commandments, and never let me be parted from you. Or: May the receiving of your Body and Blood, Lord Jesus Christ, not bring me to judgment and condemnation, but through your loving mercy be for me protection in mind and body, and a healing remedy.
Ecce Agnus Dei	This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to his supper.	Behold the Lamb of God, behold himwho takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supperof the Lamb.
Priest's Communion	May the body of Christ bring me to everlasting life. May the blood of Christ bring me to everlasting life.	May the Body of Christ keep me safe for eternal life. May the Blood of Christ keep me safe for eternal life.
Prayer at the Cleansing of the Vessels	Lord, may I receive these gifts in purity of heart. May they bring me healing and strength, now and for ever.	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.

Changes in the Priest's Parts - Eucharistic Prayer IV

Changes in the Priest's Parts - Eucharistic Prayer IV
PART OF MASS	PRESENT TEXT	NEW TEXT
Preface	Father in heaven, it is right that we should give you thanks and glory: you are the one God, living and true.Through all eternity you live in unapproachable light. Source of lifeand goodness, you have created all things, to fill your creatures with everyblessing and lead all men to the joyful vision of your light. Countless hosts of angels stand before you to do your will; they look upon your splendor and praise you, night and day. United with them, and in the name of every creature under heaven, we too praise your glory as we say:	It is truly right to give you thanks, truly just to give you glory, Father, most holy, for you are the one God living and true, existing before all ages and abiding for all eternity, dwelling in unapproachable light; yet you, who alone are good, the source of life, have made all that is, so that you might fill your creatures with blessings and bring joy to many of them by the glory of your light. And so, in your presence arecountless hosts of Angels, who serve you day and night and, gazing upon the glory of your face, glorify you without ceasing. With them we, too, confess your name in exultation, giving voice to every creature under heaven as weacclaim:
Thanksgiving	Father, we acknowledge your greatness: all your actions show yourwisdom and love. You formed man in your own likeness and set him over the whole world to serve you, his creator,and to rule over all creatures. Even when he disobeyed you and lost your friendship you did not abandon him to the power of death, but helped all men to seek and find you. Again and again you offered a covenant to man, andthrough the prophets taught him tohope for salvation. Father, you so loved the world that in the fullness of time you sent your onlySon to be our Savior. He was conceived through the power of theHoly Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary,a man like us in all things but sin. To the poor he proclaimed the good news of salvation, to prisoners, freedom, and to those in sorrow, joy. In fulfillment of your will he gave himself up to death;but by rising from the dead, he destroyed death and restored life. And that we might live no longer for ourselves but for him, he sent the Holy Spirit from you, Father, as his first gift to those who believe, to complete his work on earth and bring us the fullness of grace.	We give you praise, Father most holy, for you are great, and you have fashioned all your works in wisdom and in love. You formed man in your own image and entrusted the whole world to his care, so that in serving you alone, the Creator, he might have dominion over all creatures. And when through disobedience he had lost your friendship, you did not abandon him to the domain of death. For you came in mercy to the aid of all, so that those who seek might find you. Time andagain you offered them covenants and through the prophets taught them tolook forward to salvation. And you so loved the world, Father most holy, that in the fullness of time you sent your Only Begotten Son to be our Savior. Made incarnate by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, he shared our human nature in all things but sin. To the poor he proclaimed the good news of salvation, to prisoners, freedom, and to the sorrowful of heart, joy. To accomplish your plan, he gave himself up to death, and, rising from the dead, he destroyed death and restored life. And that we might live no longer for ourselves but for him who died and rose again for us, he sent the Holy Spirit from you, Father, as the first fruits for those who believe, so that, bringing to perfection his work in the world, he might sanctify creation to the full.
Epiclesis	Father, may this Holy Spirit sanctify these offerings. Let them become the body and blood of Jesus Christ our Lord as we celebrate the great mystery which he left us as an everlastingcovenant.	Therefore, O Lord, we pray: may this same Holy Spirit graciously sanctifythese offerings, that they may become the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ for the celebration of this great mystery, which he himself left us as aneternal covenant.
Institution Narrative Commentary	He always loved those who were his own in the world. When the time camefor him to be glorified by you, his heavenly Father, he showed the depth of his love. While they were at supper, he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take this, all of you, and eat it: this is my body which will be given up for you. In the same way, he took the cup, filled with wine. He gave you thanks, andgiving the cup to his disciples, said: Take this, all of you, and drink from it: this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. Itwill be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven. Do this in memory of me.	For when the hour had come for him to be glorified by you, Father most holy, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end: and while they were at supper, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take this, all of you, and eat of it: forthis is my Body which will be given up for you. In a similar way, taking the chalicefilled with the fruit of the vine, he gave thanks, 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 andfor many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me.
Anamnesis	Father, we now celebrate thismemorial of our redemption. We recallChrist’s death, his descent among the dead, his resurrection, and his ascension to your right hand; and,looking forward to his coming in glory, we offer you his body and blood, theacceptable sacrifice which brings salvation to the whole world.	Therefore, O Lord, as we nowcelebrate the memorial of our redemption, we remember Christ’s death and his descent to the realm ofthe dead; we proclaim his Resurrection and his Ascension to your right hand; and as we await his coming in glory, we offer you his Body and Blood, the sacrifice acceptable to youwhich brings salvation to the whole world.
Epiclesis	Lord, look upon this sacrifice which you have given to your Church; and by your Holy Spirit, gather all who share this one bread and one cup into the one body of Christ, a living sacrifice ofpraise.	Look, O Lord, upon the Sacrifice whichyou yourself have provided for your Church, and grant in your loving kindness to all who partake of this one Bread and one Chalice that, gathered into one body by the Holy Spirit, they may truly become a living sacrifice in Christ to the praise of your glory.
Intercessions	Lord, remember those for whom weoffer this sacrifice, especially N. our Pope, N., our bishop, and bishops and clergy everywhere. Remember those who take part in this offering, thosehere present and all your people, and all who seek you with a sincere heart. Remember those who have died in the peace of Christ and all the dead whose faith is known to you alone. Father, in your mercy grant also to us, your children, to enter into our heavenly inheritance in the company of theVirgin Mary, the Mother of God, and your apostles and saints. Then, in your kingdom, freed from the corruption of sin and death, we shall sing your glory with every creature through Christ our Lord, through whom you give us everything that is good.	Therefore, Lord, remember now all for whom we make this sacrifice:especially your servant, N. our Pope, N. our Bishop, and the whole Order ofBishops, all the clergy, those who take part in this offering, those gathered here before you, your entire people, and all who seek you with a sincere heart. Remember also those who have died in the peace of your Christ and all the dead, whose faith you alone haveknown. To all of us, your children,grant, O merciful Father, that we mayenter into a heavenly inheritance with the blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and with your Apostles and Saints in your kingdom. There, with the whole of creation, freed from the corruption of sin and death, may we glorify youthrough Christ our Lord, through whomyou bestow on the world all that is good.