Lectio the Liturgy

God is calling us to great things in this day in time! We just need to be ready to move from me to we.

What to do with more palm branches? Use them like they are intended to be used! Let’s wear them out before Palm Sunday next year.

When a non-Catholic attends their first mass there are things they expect and things that catches them by surprise. The first time I attended a Mass, I was expecting incense and Latin, instead there was this prayer in the middle of the Lord’s prayer.

It’s a good one.

Sometimes it feels like when you’re a convert to the Catholic Faith, you are bilingual.

When this mix of Catholics & Protestants pray, there’s often a tension in the air when they get to that part - the one about “For Thine is the Kingdom…”

Thanks for praying with me,

The words right, just, duty, and salvation just go right past sometimes, but these words pack a punch when they’re all in the prayer of the Preface at Mass.

We hear it at every mass, but have you ever thought about what it means when we pray through Him, with Him, and in Him?

During the season of Lent this year, I thought it would be a good time to look at some prayers of the Mass that are rarely used or are prayed frequently and yet they have much to teach us if we would spend time meditating on them.

I’m going to begin with the Collect for the Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Ordinary time does not mean that nothing is going on, Ordinary Time just means that it’s not Lent, Easter, Advent, or Christmas. It is a time of spiritual growth.

Between 2018 and 2032, we will pray this mass only five times, however this Collect is worthy of remembering.

What if we really would find peace in the way God rules the world? How would that change the Church?

It’s a thought that needs to come to fruition. We should bring the good news of the justice of God to the world like it’s our job - because it is.

Thanks for praying with me,

LectioTheLiturgy.com

The Collect this week contains within it a challenge. We pray that our words AND our deeds are always pleasing to God.

The Christian life is not always an either/or. Actually, it’s mostly a both/and and this is one of them.

It is true, St. Francis never said to use words when necessary. He didn’t live that, either. He used words a lot. He even preached to the birds.

Thanks for praying with me,

As I meditated on this prayer, I asked God what would be a good example to use. He told me, "washing windows."

The more I thought about God’s suggestion to see this prayer as washing windows, the more I know that He is right.

A clean window (that’s us) lets in more light and warmth (that’s God), while it also lets others see Him shine when they look through us.

Thanks for praying with me,