Year A
Discover the deeper meaning and connections found in this week's readings, through these great commentaries written by our priests.
Explore this week's readings and hear what God is saying to us through His Word.
Find out more about how we can mark this special day in our liturgy.
See our music recommendations for the liturgy.
Famous Last Words
There are people who collect famous last words, the final utterances of what we nowadays call celebrities. Sometimes they are very witty or even rather strange. When a priest, administering the last rites to Voltaire, asked him, “Do you renounce Satan?” he replied, “Now, now, my good man. This is no time to be making enemies!” And, of course, there was George V whose unflattering dying words about Bognor seem to have left something of a cloud over the resort ever since.
The last words of people are memorable precisely because they are so final and the lingering memory of a loved one who has died. Family members feel bound by a person’s dying wishes. So, we might expect the last words of Jesus to have a very special weight and importance, given who he was, and indeed, they do. He said two things of vital and enduring importance for the whole of humanity as he was about to leave this world: to wait for the Holy Spirit and to make disciples of all nations. The first, fulfilled at Pentecost when the Spirit came upon the disciples in power, enabled the second.
Sometimes, doubtless, we question whether the message of salvation in Christ has, indeed, reached the whole world through the preaching of Christian apostles and missionaries empowered by the Holy Spirit down the ages. The evidence is not encouraging as we look around the globe and see the war in Ukraine, the drugs wars, the human trafficking, the plight of refugees and migrants, the exploitation of the poor, and so on. But then, on the other hand, we can take comfort from the generosity of individuals in this country who contributed £30 million in just one day for the recent earthquake appeal and the many who have volunteered to take in Ukrainian refugee families.
The fact is, the Kingdom builds slowly and depends on each one of us to play our part guided by the Spirit, and let us not forget the very last words of Jesus in the Gospel today: “Know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time”.
THEOLOGY: please see CCC para.659-670
COMMENTARY ON THE TEXTS OF ORDINARY FORM MASS (YEAR A)
1. The antiphons, prayers, and readings are closely interwoven. Any one of them, or all of them could be useful for reflection. The unity of their subject may also usefully demonstrate the integral nature of these various parts of the Mass. For example:
a. The Entrance Antiphon is a quote from the First Reading
b. The Gospel Acclamation and Communion Antiphon are quotes from the Gospel
c. The Collect (both of them – which one will you choose?) picks up motifs from the Second Reading, as does the Prayer over the Offering, the Prayer after Communion
d. Both Prefaces reference 1st and 2nd Readings
2. Verticality: note the vocabulary; ascending, looking into the sky, taken up to heaven, lifted up, God goes up, king over all the earth, raises from the dead and sit at God’s right hand in heaven, far above, all things under his feet, mountain, rise up to the heavenly realms, highest heavens (both Prefaces, Second Reading)
3. Ecclesiology: Church as Body of Christ and Christ as Head (see Collect 1 and Second Reading), a present reality with eschatological significance (Entrance Antiphon, Collect 1 and 2, has the time come?, see what hope, promise the saints will inherit, to the end of time, shares in Christ’s divinity (Both Prefaces)
4. The Great Commission: bear witness (1st Reading), make disciples and baptise (Gospel). How does this inform the Final Blessing and Dismissal at every Mass?
OTHER
This is one of the few Solemnities in the OF Roman Missal that has its own Vigil Mass texts. Are they ever used?
See our EXCELLENT Diocesan Ordo for other information.
These hymns have been picked and chosen from different sources:
Alleluia, Sing to Jesus (CFE37, L644, LHON110, TCH112)
At the name of Jesus (CFE59, L762, LHON147, TCH207)
Christ triumphant (CFE113, L763, LHON200)
Hail the day that sees him rise (CFE240, L291, LHON311, TCH87)
Lord, enthroned in heavenly splendour (CFE379, L769, LHON444, TCH121)
Rejoice! the Lord is King (CFE619, L326, LHON591, TCH261)
The Head that once was crowned (CFE696, L290, LHON652, TCH90)
Key
CFE - Celebration Hymnal for Everyone
L – Laudate
LHON – Liturgical Hymns Old and New (Mayhew, 1999)
TCH – The Catholic Hymnbook (Gracewing)
Do you have questions about the liturgy and how we are called to participate in it? Explore how the Church councils, saints, and popes have answered this key question and many more.
Every movement of the Mass is rich in meaning but we can become over-familiar with it. Rediscover the Mass and explore how it relates to the Exodus story, where many of its rituals come from, and how it makes Jesus present to us today.
