Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Bible Study 12-01-08- Mass cont'd

So this is the second installment of notes on the Spirit of the Mass. Please bear with the way my notes seem to be a little disorganized, for I hope that everything will come together in the end.


Here we go.


1) Layout of the Liturgy of the Word

a) Introductory Rites

i) Entrance procession and song

(1) Based on Genesis, from least to most important, the first to last, the last being the emphasis of God’s will.

ii) Sign of the Cross and greeting

iii) Penitential Rite

iv) Glory to God

v) Opening Prayer

b) Liturgy of the Word

i) 1st reading

ii) Responsorial Hymn

iii) 2nd reading

iv) Alleluia/Gospel Acclamation

v) Gospel

vi) Holily

vii) Profession of Faith

viii) General intercessions

2) Background history to the introductory rites.

a) Tabernacle- “tent”

i) Basically a tent to house the Ark

ii) God was really present in Ark, as He is present in the Eucharist

iii) Once David’s son, Solomon, builds the temple, a permanent tabernacle is built

(1) This is why we hold the Eucharist in a tabernacle.

b) Design of the temple

i) 2 truths shown by the temple

(1) Sin divides us from God

(2) God is willing to come down and meet with us on His good graces.

ii) Layout of the temple

(1) See Crappy graphic below






(2) Analysis of layout

(a) Gentiles

(i) Non-Jewish.

(ii) Romans enforced the temple limits to Gentiles with the death penalty for transgressions beyond 1st courtyard.

(b) Women

(i) Jewish women and boys under 11 and under

(c) Israelites

(i) Men 12 and older

(ii) Age 12 signifies the coming of manhood

1. Jesus found at 12

2. Samuel is 12 when he hears God.

(d) Holy Place

(i) Men brought and killed own animal at top of stairs.

(ii) Levites (equivalent of deacons) helped in slaughter by bringing animal over stairs to priests to be burned, etc.

(e) Holy of Holies

(i) Only high priest on Yom Kippur (once yearly) was to see the Ark to sprinkle blood on it and then leave.

3) Introductory rites

a) Penitential rite

i) Public admission of sin

ii) This is for all of God’s people, even clerics.

(1) Hearkens back to Peter “Depart from me, Lord, For I am a sinner”

iii) Three things about the Penitential rite

(1) This cannot and will not replace reconciliation

(a) Serious sin has been confessed, this is an admission, not a cleansing.

(2) Reminds us of attraction to sin

(a) Even with God’s grace, we can fall into sin

(b) James 5:16 is a reflection of this.

(3) Sins of Omission=as deadly as Sins of Commission

(a) James 4:17

(b) “…for what I have done and what I have failed to do…”

iv) Three ways to do Penitential rite

(1) Confetior

(2) Kyrie (pretty much dead)

(3) Tropht Kyrie (rarely done)

b) After Penitential, then it is the Gloria

i) From penance to glorifying God.

ii) “Glory to God… people on earth”- from the Shepherds.

(1) Goes from Father, to Son, to Holy Spirit

4) Meaning of “AMEN”

a) Saying “Amen” means that you have said publicly, to God, that you believe in what you just said.

b) Why “Amen” is so serious

i) 1 Cor 11:23

(1) The very act of the Eucharist is a proclamation of faith

ii) 1 Cor 11:27

(1) Those that eat and drink unworthily will answer for it in body and blood

iii) How can one be guilty of profaning the Lord is the Eucharist is just a symbol?

iv) The previous set of verses explains why we can’t have communion in other churches.

(1) “Discern the body”= Body of Christ=Body of Church

(2) We cannot accept Communion in any other church except our own, since the splintered Christian sects are not in communion with us.

v) When Paul calls Christians that are alive as “dead”, it is because those Christians have abused the Eucharist.

vi) You cannot be antagonistic towards God (state of sin) and accept the Eucharist

5) Cycles of the Mass

a) The Mass as an event and all the Masses in a cycle reflect Creation and God’s plan.

i) See graphic below for emphasis on this.



ii) Microtrends

(1) Day- Every 3hrs, someone, somewhere is praying on the hour

(2) Week- Sunday

(3) Month-*lost this part*

6) How we got the cycle of readings

a) Back in the day, the Temple was only for sacrificing.

b) The Synagogue, however, was a place for the more devout people that couldn’t sacrifice at the temple. They came to worship, praise, etc.

c) Their readings at the synagogue went like this

i) Prophet/Writing

ii) Psalms

iii) Torah

d) Our cycle of readings largely reflect all of this.

7) Acts 2:42-47 describes the early church

a) 4 things mentioned and how they are today

i) Apostles Teaching---Doctrine/Creed

ii) Communal Life---Morality/Creed

iii) Breaking of Bread---Sacraments

iv) Prayers---Prayers

b) i through iv constitute the 4 parts of the Catechism

c) “Every day they meet…”= continued into Daily Mass.

d) At this time in history, the Jewish and Christian religions still melted together

i) Still went to temple and sacrificed but also practice in the Christian faith.

e) “Give us this day, our daily bread”

i) Hearkens back to Exodus 16, the story of manna.

(1) We must have absolute trust in God.

ii) Eucharist was the foundation of all days and especially Sundays.

No comments: