March 14 – The Fourth Sunday of Lent
Have you noticed? It began on Ash Wednesday. A change in the conclusion of some of the prayers at Mass. I bet you didn’t even notice…it’s so small. I even wondered why the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments made a big deal of it, and why they didn’t catch it before we started using the third translation of the Roman Missal which is a more accurate translation of the Latin, on the First Sunday of Advent 2011. So what’s the change? It is in the concluding doxology of the Collects in the Roman Missal and other liturgical books. Most of the prayers conclude with “Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.” Specifically, the Congregation points out that the current translation is incorrect. There is no mention of “one” in the Latin, and that “one” was added when the texts were published in English, after the Second Vatican Council. So, now we conclude with “Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.” If you ask me, they must have run out of things to do in Rome!
This coming Friday, March 19th is the Feast of St. Joseph. Pope Francis declared this a year in honor of St. Joseph. At all the Masses the weekend of March 20 & 21, we will recite the Prayer of Consecration to St. Joseph, and you will receive a holy card of St. Joseph as you leave Mass courtesy of Beidelman-Kunsch Funeral Home.
Most depictions of St. Joseph show him holding the child Jesus, but sometimes he is depicted holding a church like the statue of him on the wall in our church. This is because St. Joseph is the patron saint of the Universal Church. Pope Francis in proclaiming the Year of Saint Joseph wrote: “Saint Joseph was a father in varied ways; beloved, tender and loving, obedient, accepting, creatively courageous, working, and ‘in the shadows’.” Pope Francis concluded his letter with a short prayer to Saint Joseph as a synthesis of his teachings. This prayer will be on the back of the holy card you receive.
In the bulletin today and on our website, you will find a list of what you can do to receive a Plenary Indulgence during the Year of Saint Joseph.
Have a blessed week and Lent!
Father Don