Blog of Deacon Stephen O'Riordan

Monday, November 28, 2011

All’s well that ends well


All’s well that ends well and so with “Go forth, the Mass is ended” we concluded our first liturgical weekend using the New Revised Roman Missal, now referred to as – the Roman Missal.

We at Our Lady of the Rosary, of course, had done some planning; handouts, write-ups in the church bulletin, a homily at all masses one Sunday putting the whole thing into context, and some slow rolling out of the singing parts of the liturgy beforehand.

We had the lector lead from the lectern (which we will continue) supporting the assembly with the mic. This went very well and they all did a fine job.  They all had one common moment of quizzical looks and indecision at the Lamb of God, when they could not decide to be on their knees or at the mic!

There were some charming personal moments.  One public when I said the dismal before the final blessing (no change there in the rite, so it was just a brain freeze) but Fr had a funny comeback and it did lighten the moment showing we all are imperfect and so very human.  The other private was when Fr Louie after the dismal, took a peek in the Missal, to see if I got it right, I did (I had double checked at the previous mass to be sure) and he gave me a very sweet smile. 
 
All of us, clergy and laity, as one people of God, praying together for the first time with new words, did a good job.  There was slight varying in comfort level from mass to mass, but always our praying and responding was done with good hearts that never varied.

So a quick thumbs up to us all this first week of Advent.  I for one listened more intently then I have of late and I heard just how beautiful and meaningful our prayers are. I again thought of the words as our words, the prayers as our prayers.  

As a final note, I especially was moved by the new Institution Narrative which somehow (new words or new mindset?) made that last supper closer and more concrete (more present) for me. 

As the " first" new revised opening prayer said - “May we run to the Lord”. This is my prayer for us this Advent. May we not only wait in joyful expectation for the Lord, but may we run to Him on his return.

Peace and grace

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