Pastoral

In the course of this year, each parish and cluster should look at ways of responding to the Pope’s call to “contemplate, praise and adore in a special way this ineffable sacrament” (64). A document prepared by the Congregation for Divine Worship, The Year of the Eucharist: Suggestions and Proposals, has been published by Veritas (65).

In that effort of Eucharistic renewal, our model is the Blessed Virgin Mary. “She is the attentive Virgin, who receives the word of God with faith” (66); she responded with all her heart and life in her ‘pilgrimage of faith’ (67). Her faith “was for her the cause of blessedness and certainty in the fulfilment of the promise” (68):

If the Eucharist is a mystery of faith which so greatly transcends our understanding as to call for sheer abandonment to the word of God, then there can be no one like Mary to act as our support and guide in acquiring this disposition (69)

Particularly during the Marian month of May, which is also the month of First Communions, the relationship between Mary and the Eucharist, and the relationship between the Rosary and the Mass should be reflected upon. In his Apostolic Letter on the Rosary, Pope John Paul quoted Blessed Bartolo Longo, a great apostle of the Rosary:

Just as two friends, frequently in each other’s company, tend to develop similar habits, so too, by holding familiar converse with Jesus and the Blessed Virgin, by meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary and by living the same life in Holy Communion, we can become, to the extent of our lowliness, similar to them and can learn from these supreme models a life of humility, poverty, hiddenness, patience and perfection (70).

The months of May and October would be particularly suitable for the use, especially on Saturdays, of the Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary (71). These fine texts should be used more often.

We intend to provide some help at diocesan level so that we may celebrate our Sunday Masses more reverently, more conscious of and more faithful to the riches of the liturgy. I hope we may all become more aware of the Spirit who prays in our hearts and of Christ who unites our prayer to his in the worship of his Father who dwells in unapproachable light. Whatever we do this year should not be merely about externals but about the deep truth. The Holy Father asks, “that every initiative be marked by a profound interiority”(72).

The Pope speaks about spending time with Jesus, “to lie close to his breast like the Beloved Disciple and to feel the infinite love present in his heart… How often, dear brothers and sisters, have I experienced this, and drawn from it strength, consolation and support”(73).

It would be particularly appropriate, and I believe most fruitful, if parishes encouraged Eucharistic Adoration, whether regularly or on particular occasions during the year. Our meaning and our purpose our mission and our hope is present in the Mass. Christ is permanently present in our Churches, a reminder and fulfilment of his promise to be with us always on the journey of life, as he was with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Eucharistic Adoration is a powerful means of fostering the ‘contemplative outlook’ (74) that is needed in a world which lives so much on the surface.

We should also look generously at how we might respond to the Holy Father’s call to respond “with fraternal solicitude to one of the many forms of poverty present in our world”.

The Holy Father does not ask ‘for anything extraordinary’, but “if the only result of this Year were the revival in every Christian community of the celebration of Sunday Mass and an increase in Eucharistic worship outside Mass, this Year of grace would be abundantly successful”. But, that is not an invitation to set our sights low; he goes on, “it is good to aim high, and not to be content with mediocrity, since we know we can always count on God’s help” (75).

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A Dhia, a charthanacht gan teorainn

agus a thrócaire gan miosúr,

is é do ghrá a bheir duitse teacht go dtí mé,

agus is é mo dhóchas a bheir domsa thú a ghlacadh.

Tugaim mo chorp duit mar theampall,

mo chroí duit mar altóir,

agus m’anam duit mar phixus

Ó a Thiarna, a Uain neamhchiontaigh,

a Fhuasclóir na trócaire,

a Linbh uasail, a Íosa,

clúdaigh mé le’d fhallaing;

tabhair lóistín dom i d’ Chroí,

slog mé i d’ ríocth,

leigheas mé le d’chumhracht agus carthanacht;

athbheoaigh mé le d’ bhás;

folaigh mé i d’ loitibh;

glan mé le do chuid fola;

táthaigh mé le d’ ghrá

agus déan mé go hiomlán taitneamhach

de réir do NaomhChroí a Thiarna (76).

O God, you are love without limit

and mercy without measure.

Your love led you to come to me

and my hope led me to receive you.

I give you my body to be your temple,

my heart to be your altar,

my soul to be your ciborium,

Lord, sinless Lamb,

merciful Redeemer,

noble infant Jesus,

cover me with your cloak,

give me lodging in your heart,

engulf me in your kingdom,

heal me with your fragrance and love,

give me new life by your death,

hide me within your wounds,

cleanse me in your blood,

bind me with your love,

and make me fully pleasing, Lord,

according to your Sacred Heart.

Footnotes

• 1 JOHN PAUL II, Orientale Lumen, 16.
• 2 VATICAN II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 10.
• 3 JOHN PAUL II, Mane Nobiscum Domine, Apostolic Letter for the Year of the Eucharist, 29.
• 4 St Augustine, Confessions, 1,1.
• 5 Cf AQUINAS, Summa Theologiae I-II, q.1, a.6c, and ad 3.
• 6 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 366.
• 7 Gaudium et Spes, 19.
• 8 VATICAN II, Dei Verbum, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, 4.
• 9 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 27.
• 10 Sacrosanctum Concilium, 7.
• 11 Gaudium et Spes, 14, 16.
• 12 ST AUGUSTINE, Confessions, 3,6; 12.12; 10.27.
• 13 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2653.
• 14 TURNER, D., Faith Seeking, SCM Press 2002, p. 107.
• 15 Dei Verbum, 26.
• 16 Mane Nobiscum Domine, 19.
• 17 BIANCHI, E., Pregare la Parola [Praying the Word], Gribaudi 1997, p. 41.
• 18 Jesus, cleanse my heart each day and make it spotless
• Jesus, rule my mind by the power of your love.
• Make truly clean my thoughts and the words of my mouth,
• and, dear Lord God, direct my life now and forever.
• 19 O Come Emmanuel, tr. Thomas Helmore.
• 20 Attributed to Lily Tomlin.
• 21 Gaudium et Spes, 24.
• 22 Mane Nobiscum Domine, 22.
• 23 ST AUGUSTINE , Sermon 272.
• 24 Cf. VATICAN II, Presbyterorum Ordinis, Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests, 9.
• 25 JOHN PAUL II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, The Eucharist in its Relationship to the Church, Ch 3.
• 26 VATICAN II, Lumen Gentium, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 1.
• 27 Cf Mt 25:31-46.
• 28 Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation II.
• 29 Gaudium et Spes 39.
• 30 AQUINAS, On the Creed, xii, 20.
• 31 JOHN PAUL II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, On the Eucharist in its Relationship to the Church, 19
• 32 JOHN PAUL II, Catechesi Tradendae, Catechesis in our Time, 67.
• 33 JOHN PAUL II, Message to Congress Participants, in Eucharist for a New World, Irish Institute of Pastoral Liturgy, p.17.
• 34 Mane Nobiscum Domine, 24.
• 35 JOHN PAUL II, Homily in Limerick, 1 October 1979.
• 36 JOHN PAUL II, Mane Nobiscum Domine, 26.
• 37 JOHN PAUL II, Novo Millennio Ineunte, At the Close of the Great Jubilee, 40.
• 38 Cf. Mane Nobiscum Domine, 25.
• 39 JOHN PAUL II, Ut Unum Sint, On Commitment to Ecumenism, 45
• 40 Mane Nobiscum Domine, 28.
• 41 Mane Nobiscum Domine, 28.
• 42 Mane Nobiscum Domine, 28
• 43 Gaudium et Spes, 38.
• 44 VATICAN II, Ad Gentes, On the Church’s Missionary Activity, 1.
• 45 JOHN PAUL II, Redemptoris Missio, The Church’s Missionary Mandate, 2.
• 46 Redemptoris Missio, 2.
• 47 Mane Nobiscum Domine, 24.
• 48 JOHN PAUL II, Message for the World Day of Peace 1991, II.
• 49 JOHN PAUL II, Fides et Ratio, On the Relationship between Faith and Reason, 5.
• 50 Fides et Ratio, 7.
• 51 JOHN PAUL II, Redemptor Hominis, At the Beginning of his Papal Ministry, 10
• 52 JOHN PAUL II, Ecclesia in Europa, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation (2003), 9.
• 53 Ecclesia in Europa, 4.
• 54 Message of the Second Special Assembly for Europe of the Synod of Bishops, 2.
• 55 CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, Instruction on Christian Freedom and Liberation, 60.
• 56 Mane Nobiscum Domine, 16.
• 57 VATICAN II, Gaudium et Spes, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, 45.
• 58 JOHN PAUL II, Vigil at Tor Vergata, World Youth Day 2000.
• 59 Ecclesia in Europa, 76.
• 60 JOHN PAUL II, Evangelium Vitae, The Gospel of Life, 83.
• 61 Ecclesia in Europa, 10.
• 62 Ecclesia in Europa, 66.
• 63 Preface of the Mass of the BVM, Mother of Divine Hope.
• 64 Mane Nobiscum Domine, 29.
• 65 Veritas, 2005.
• 66 PAUL VI, Marialis Cultus, To Honour Mary, 17.
• 67 JOHN PAUL II, Redemptoris Mater, Mother of the Redeemer, 5.
• 88 Marialis Cultus, 17.
• 69 Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 54.
• 70 BARTOLO LONGO, in JOHN PAUL II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, On the Most Holy Rosary, 15.
• 71 Veritas Publications, 1987.
• 72 Mane Nobiscum Domine, 29.
• 73 Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 25.
• 74 Evangelium Vitae, 83.
• 75 Mane Nobiscum Domine, 29.
• 76 Ár bPaidreacha Dúchais, ed. Ó Laoghaire, D, SJ, FÁS, Dublin 1975, p,46