Blessed with Catholic abundance

Sunday’s Gospel is of Jesus transforming a few fish into a feast of abundance. When were you last in the midst of incomprehensible abundance? For me it was the Mass I just attended. Our Roman Catholic Mass is filled with abundance. At the Last Supper, the Twelve Apostles reclined with Jesus at table. Some 2,000 years later, reclining is perhaps the one posture we have not assimilated into our liturgy. However, we sign ourselves with the cross, genuflect, fold our hands, kneel, process, stand, sit, bow, strike our breast, extend a handshake and receive the host.

We have a multitude of days of purpose: 33 weeks of Ordinary Time, the time of Advent and Christmas, Lent and Easter, and the varied feasts of Christ and the saints. Each of these occasions has its own particular set of prayers in the Roman Missal. The missal also contains 50-plus prefaces that can be used throughout the church year, presenting us with a particular memory of the great things God has done for us. We have four common eucharistic prayers used throughout the year, and, in addition, nine others that are used during a time of reconciliation or for various needs.

Outside of the Sunday liturgies, we have Mass texts used during the week for various saints and special occasions. One may wonder how many holy men and women make up what we call our recognized canonized saints? We are unsure, one source may put the number of saints canonized by popes since the first papal canonization at 921, while another source put the number at 10,000! Safe to say God has blessed us with many holy ones to model our lives after.

The liturgy provides us with an abundance of words from sacred Scripture that provide us with a first reading, a second reading and a Gospel for each Sunday, not only for one year, but a three-year cycle. Of note is that the most beloved word in the New Testament is Jesus. Depending on what translation you use, his name appears almost 1,000 times!

When we attend Mass, we experience many holy symbols: the altar, cross, tabernacle, water, wine, bread, candles, bells, the Book of the Gospels, holy oil, the Sacramentary and Lectionary, incense, the sanctuary lamp, statuary, six liturgical colors, the priestly vestments, palms, ashes and of course the stained glass windows which contain within them another myriad of religious symbols and pictures.

Our Catholic faith has also produced an abundance of music. There probably are as many hymns or songs as there are stars in the sky. We have Latin plain chant, traditional hymns, contemporary songs and praise music. There are hymns for particular seasons (Christmas and Easter), for celebrations of Mary, Joseph and the saints and occasions such as funerals, weddings and baptism.

This weekend, when you listen to the story of Jesus giving in great abundance, realize that likewise, our Catholic tradition is blessed by Jesus’ abundance, “in good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, poured into our lap” (Lk 6:38).

One last note on Catholic abundance. If you think it only applies to our liturgy, then you have never attended a parish potluck dinner!

Zahorik is pastoral associate at Most Blessed Sacrament Parish, Oshkosh.

Related Posts:

The post Blessed with Catholic abundance appeared first on The Compass – Official Newspaper of the Diocese of Green Bay.

Feed: