Para kay Diane na ikakasal na at iiwan na ako. hahahaha :))

Ang Pag-iisang Dibdib bilang Pagsasabuhay kay Kristo

Hinihimok ni San Pablo sa kanyang sulat sa mga taga-Efeso ang mga mag-asawa na mahalin ang kanilang asawa gaya ng pagmamahal ni Kristo sa kanyang Simbahan. Isa sa mga taguri ng Simbahan ang pagiging esposa o asawa ni Hesukristo at walang ibang sakramento ang sumasagisag ng kasal ni Kristo at ng Simbahan kungdi ang sakramento ng pag-iisang dibdib. Walang ibang sakramento na kung saan ang dalawang Kristiyano ay itinatalaga ang kanilang sarili na ialay ang kanilang kabuoan alang-alang sa pag-ibig sa isa’t isa. Ito ang diwa ng kasal. Ito ang ginawa ni Kristo sa krus para sa kanyang minamahal na Simbahan. Sa kasal, ang lalaki at babae ay nagtitipan at nangangakong gagawin ang parehong pag-aalay na ito hanggang sa huling sandali ng kanilang buhay.

Sa sakramento ng kasal, ang gumaganap sa sakramento ay ang mga ikakasal at hindi ang pari. Sa pagdiriwang ng kasal, ang mga ikakasal ay hindi lang mga taong simpleng gumagawa ng isang kasunduan o kontrata. Tatayo sila sa harap ng Diyos at sa harap ng Sambayanang Kristiyano bilang mga binyagang Kristiyano na kinumpil upang maging kawangis ni Kristo at magtitipang gagawin ang ginawa ni Kristo na pag-aalay ng sarili para sa isa’t isa, magtitipang maging isa sa hirap at ginhawa, sa dusa at ligaya. Ang Sambayanang Kristiyano, sa katauhan ng mga ninong at ninang, mga bisita at pari, ay tatanggapin ang mga nagtitipan, mananalangin para sa katatagan at katapatan ng mga kinakasal, at gagabay at tutulong sa mga ito sa buhay mag-asawa.

Nakapaloob ang kasal sa Misa dahil ang Misa ang rurok at bukal ng mabubuting gawa ng Kristiyano. Sa Misa inaalala at ginaganap natin ang pag-aalay ni Kristo ng kanyang sarili para sa kaligtasan ng lahat. Sa pakiki-isa natin kay Kristo sa Eukaristiya, hinihimok tayong ialay din ang ating sarili para sa ating kapwa at dahil sa ating tinatanggap na Katawan at Dugo ni Kristo sa Misa, pinatatatag tayo upang magawa natin ang hamong ito. Ganitong pag-aalay ang hinihingi sa buhay mag-asawa at ang Eukaristiya ang magpapaalala at magbibigay-lakas para dito.

Ang Kasal ay isang sakramento, isang pakikipagtagpo sa Diyos kung kaya’t ang buhay mag-asawa ay pakikipagtagpo sa Diyos, pagsasabuhay sa Diyos at pakikiisa sa buhay ng Diyos. Sa pag-ibig ng mag-asawa at sa kanilang pag-aalay ng kanilang sarili sa isa’t isa, sinasalamin nila ang katotohanang sila ay mga nilikhang wangis ng Diyos na pag-ibig at mga kaisa ni Hesukristo.

Ang pagdiriwang ng pag-iisang dibdib na ito ay ang itinakdang pagdiriwang ng Pulong ng mga Obispo ng Pilipinas. Pinili ang mga pagbasa ayon sa tema ng pag-ibig at pagsasabuhay ng pag-ibig ng Diyos sa buhay mag-asawa. Sa halip na sagutan, ipahahayag ng ikakasal ang kanilang tipan nang buo. Dapat makibahagi ng buo, aktibo at may pagmamalay ang lahat ng natitipon para sa kasal na ito.

Nawa’y maging magandang simula ang pagdiriwang na ito para sa isang mahaba, malalim at maka-Diyos na pagsasama bilang mag-asawa. Kaisa ng Sambayanang Kristiyano, nananalangin ako na kayo ay pagpalain ng Diyos ng pag-ibig.

Kay Kristo,

Jeffrey Velasco
Tagapag-ugnay sa Pagsamba

Totoo na ito: Thesis Proposal for the Degree of Master of Arts in Liturgy

Thesis: The Classical Roman Form of the Eucharist and the Reform of Vatican II

Premise and Objectives

The Eucharistic celebration that we have as the Ordinary form today is misconceived to be merely a product of the second Vatican Council, an invention concocted by a small group of people including Pope Paul VI of happy memory. This misconception has been fueled by those who (rabidly) support the Tridentine Mass. It is even shocking to Christian sensibility that people resorted to namecalling and false accusation in attacking the reform, referring the Paul VI mass as the Mass of the devil and falsely identifying the late Archbishop Annibale Bugnini of being a mason. Were these so-called Traditionalist correct? Was the post-Vatican II Mass really just an invention of Bugnini et. Al.? Is the Tridentine Mass the Mass of the Church since its beginning?

The Mass as we know it has a long history and a long process of evolution. The Liturgy of the Church of Rome has a colorful history. And it has a cycle – a cycle of celebration, accumulation of rites and then a reform, then going back to the celebration. The Tridentine Rite of the Mass is one of the products of this cycle. Those who made it wanted to return to the tradition of the Fathers, just like the earlier Gregorian reform, and this is the same goal of the Vatican II reformers. But the situation then was different from that of the Second Vatican Council. Theirs was to support the Counter-Reformation and defend the Tradition of the Church, whereas the Second Vatican Council wanted to reach out to the faithful of the modern world. And what was needed to return to the tradition of the Fathers such as old manuscripts, codices, missals, ordines and documents, is more available during the past century than during their time. Progress in archeology, finding important treasures of liturgical history, these things happened only in the last 200 years. The reformers of Trent did not have access to what we have today. The Post-Vatican II Mass, contrary to Traditionalist views, is more similar to the Classical Roman Liturgy. It can be considered as the fulfillment of the Trent reformers’ desire to have the Mass they were reforming as celebrated by the Fathers of the Roman Church.

How was the classical roman form of the Mass celebrated? How did the reformers go back to this? To what extent did they return to this? How did this reformed liturgy manifest the other reforms of the Second Vatican Council in areas such as theology and ecclesiology?

In this thesis, I will show how the reform of Vatican II was able to achieve going back to the Classical Roman Liturgy and how this form of the celebration affects the faith of each Christian and how we are as a Christian community, and that what was achieved in the reform of the liturgy, that is going back to the liturgical tradition of the Fathers also helped us go back somehow to how the Church was in the time of the Fathers.

Sidenote (I dont know where to put this). During the time of the Fathers, and even before that – Christians did not separate the profane from the divine. Their life here on earth, their bodies, their worship experience, was of this world and yet transfigured into the sacred. They did not fall in awe of the mystery – they lived in this mystery. The Mystery of God for them is something they can touch for their baptism made them a new creation, sharing in the life of Christ. We find it difficult today because we are so convoluted, that is why there are people who find the mystery something we can only see from the other side of the communion rail, something we shouldn’t touch nor eat because we are dirty. The early Christians had none of that. They knew that communion in Christ’s body meant that they actually commune with other people. They are not individualistic and merely going to church to see the host without actually communicating with each other in the church. God is manifest for them, not only in the sacrament but in their fellow Church members.

Bibliography

1. Ordo Romanus Primus
2. Sacramentarium Gelasianum Vetus
3. Sacramentarium Gregorianum
4. History of the Liturgy
5. Mass (Jungmann)
6. The Celebration of the Eucharist (Mazza)
7. Reform of the Liturgy (Bugnini)
8. Introduzione alla Storia della Liturgia Occidentale (Cattaneo)
9. Medieval Liturgy (Vogel)
10. Mass of the Roman Rite (Jungmann)
11. Handbook for Liturgical Studies (ed. Chupungco)
12. Anamnesis
13. L'Eglise en Priere (ed. Martimort)
14. Springtime in the Liturgy (Deiss)
15. MR 1975
16. MR 2000

Outline:

I. Introduction
II. The Classical Roman Form of the Eucharistic Celebration
A. Order of the Mass
B. Participation of the People of God
C. Ecclesiology Produced
III. Reform of the Second Vatican Council
A. Order of the Mass
B. Particiaption of the People of God
C. Ecclesiology on Vatican II
IV. Comparison of the Trent Reform and the Vatican II Reform
V. Implications
VI. Pastoral Notes

Memo for Advent

3 December 2007

To: All lay and ordained liturgical ministries

Re: Advent Liturgical Celebrations

“Advent has a twofold character: as a season to prepare for Christmas when Christ's first coming to us is remembered; as a season when that remembrance directs the mind and heart to await Christ's Second Coming at the end of time. Advent is thus a period for devout and joyful expectation” (General Norms for the Liturgical Year and Calendar, 39)

Advent is the season to prepare for the Second Coming of the Lord by preparing to remember and celebrate his first coming. It is a special season with its own character and thus we should celebrate it according to its nature.

FLOW OF THE CELEBRATION

• 5 minutes before the start of the Mass: reminder to participate/behave
• At the immediate start of the Mass: the common recitation of the Vision-Mission
• The commentator will greet the people and ask the people to stand and recite the Vision Mission projected on the screen
• The visual aid ministry must flash the VM statement.
• Start of the celebration: after the VM recitation, commentator says “Today we are /celebrate… as we begin our celebration” which is the signal for the start of the Entrance Rite.
• Entrance + Greeting + Introduction by the Presider (as usual)
• Lighting of the Advent Wreath:
• The presider says the words that explain the lighting.
• The family lights the candle after the presider has finished speaking.
• The choir leads the people in singing the first verse of “Pasko ng Paglaya” while the family does the lighting.
• Penitential Rite (as usual)
• No Gloria (except on 8 December for Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception)
• Opening Prayer to End of Mass (as usual)

Music

Since Advent is a special season, songs commonly used for Ordinary Time should not be sung at the entrance and for communion. Again, a reminder to sing the liturgy not just to sing in the liturgy.

Environment

The bluish shade of violet is used for the Season of Advent. Christmas decorations should not be set up yet until before the eve of Christmas (24 December).