Daily Retreat 05/10/09
2009 May 10 SUN:FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
Acts 9: 26-31/ Ps 21(22): 26-27. 28. 30. 31-32 (26a)/ 1 Jn 3: 18-24/ Jn 15: 1-8
From today’s readings: “The Church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria was at peace.... Let the coming generation be told of the LORD that they may proclaim to a people yet to be born the justice He has shown.... Children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in deed and truth.... I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in Me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without Me you can do nothing.”
The Offertory of the Mass
In the middle ages, farmers would often bring to Mass at the offertory the literal fruits of their labors, setting baskets of grain and produce at the foot of the altar for distribution to the poor and other needs of the Church. Over time, this simple custom evolved into the regular Sunday collection, the invitation to present a tithe of our weekly monetary labors in a basket to be set at the foot of the altar, still for distribution to the poor and other needs of the Church. As I’ve noticed in my years of priestly service, the offertory is not everyone’s favorite part of the Mass - in fact, many people choose to participate very little, if at all, at that moment in the liturgy.
Now, just in case you’re worried that I’m working up to an appeal for more money at Mass collections, I want to put such anxieties to rest right away. Nonetheless, I have to admit that I am indeed making an appeal to you for greater offertory contributions, because, you see, our Lord Himself asks us to offer more!
He asks you and me to come to His house weekly, on His day, and offer Him our joys and hopes, our successes and honors, our dreams and plans, our deeds of kindness and our words of consolation, our penetrating minds and our loving hearts, our able bodies, and our immortal souls! In other words, Jesus asks us to bring Him the very best fruits of our lives - and this is why the offertory is a central part of the Mass, so that we can intentionally present all such fruits at the foot of the Lord’s altar in union with His own sacrificial offering of His whole Body, for our good, and the good of all His Church!
Well, He certainly asks for a lot, but even when we do offer God all the very best fruits of our lives, the good Lord is not satisfied! Because He also asks you and me to come to His house weekly, on His day, and tender and surrender to Him, just as much, our grief and anguish, our failures and disgraces, our fears and worries, our sinful deeds and thoughtless words, our feeble minds and our selfish hearts, our pain-racked bodies, and our lost souls. In other words, Jesus also asks us to bring Him the very poorest fruits of our lives - and this is why the offertory is a central part of the Mass, so that we can contritely lay all such fruits at the foot of the Lord’s cross, because when sprinkled with the Blood of Christ, and re-grafted onto the Vine that is divine, even such poor fruits are taken up as part of the Lord’s acceptable sacrifice!
So now let us go to the house of the Lord, on His day that He has made, and approach His altar with praise and thanksgiving, ready now to participate fully at the offertory, ready now to offer Him more than before - ready now to offer Him our best fruits, and also even the poorest fruits of our lives, determined to remain in Him, and let His words remain in us, to submit to His pruning, to keep His commandments, and do what pleases Him, to love one another in deed and in truth, and thus to bear much fruit for and from the holy sacrifice of the Mass!
Acts 9: 26-31/ Ps 21(22): 26-27. 28. 30. 31-32 (26a)/ 1 Jn 3: 18-24/ Jn 15: 1-8
From today’s readings: “The Church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria was at peace.... Let the coming generation be told of the LORD that they may proclaim to a people yet to be born the justice He has shown.... Children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in deed and truth.... I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in Me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without Me you can do nothing.”
The Offertory of the Mass
In the middle ages, farmers would often bring to Mass at the offertory the literal fruits of their labors, setting baskets of grain and produce at the foot of the altar for distribution to the poor and other needs of the Church. Over time, this simple custom evolved into the regular Sunday collection, the invitation to present a tithe of our weekly monetary labors in a basket to be set at the foot of the altar, still for distribution to the poor and other needs of the Church. As I’ve noticed in my years of priestly service, the offertory is not everyone’s favorite part of the Mass - in fact, many people choose to participate very little, if at all, at that moment in the liturgy.
Now, just in case you’re worried that I’m working up to an appeal for more money at Mass collections, I want to put such anxieties to rest right away. Nonetheless, I have to admit that I am indeed making an appeal to you for greater offertory contributions, because, you see, our Lord Himself asks us to offer more!
He asks you and me to come to His house weekly, on His day, and offer Him our joys and hopes, our successes and honors, our dreams and plans, our deeds of kindness and our words of consolation, our penetrating minds and our loving hearts, our able bodies, and our immortal souls! In other words, Jesus asks us to bring Him the very best fruits of our lives - and this is why the offertory is a central part of the Mass, so that we can intentionally present all such fruits at the foot of the Lord’s altar in union with His own sacrificial offering of His whole Body, for our good, and the good of all His Church!
Well, He certainly asks for a lot, but even when we do offer God all the very best fruits of our lives, the good Lord is not satisfied! Because He also asks you and me to come to His house weekly, on His day, and tender and surrender to Him, just as much, our grief and anguish, our failures and disgraces, our fears and worries, our sinful deeds and thoughtless words, our feeble minds and our selfish hearts, our pain-racked bodies, and our lost souls. In other words, Jesus also asks us to bring Him the very poorest fruits of our lives - and this is why the offertory is a central part of the Mass, so that we can contritely lay all such fruits at the foot of the Lord’s cross, because when sprinkled with the Blood of Christ, and re-grafted onto the Vine that is divine, even such poor fruits are taken up as part of the Lord’s acceptable sacrifice!
So now let us go to the house of the Lord, on His day that He has made, and approach His altar with praise and thanksgiving, ready now to participate fully at the offertory, ready now to offer Him more than before - ready now to offer Him our best fruits, and also even the poorest fruits of our lives, determined to remain in Him, and let His words remain in us, to submit to His pruning, to keep His commandments, and do what pleases Him, to love one another in deed and in truth, and thus to bear much fruit for and from the holy sacrifice of the Mass!
posted by FrPitstick | 5/07/2009
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