(Easter Wednesday, April 8, 2015)
At mass, the Liturgy of the Eucharist: presenting the gifts, the specific actions of the priest being ready for something dramatic to occur, the Eucharistic Prayer “Lift up your hearts!” (Col 3:1-2) the moment we should want our heart to unite with God, the moment our reverence in the Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy!) should have us bowing down moreso, to the words of Institution and Consecration with our memorial of Jesus Christ giving of Himself as the Lamb- His body, His blood, concludes with
The Great Amen.
“We sign . . . we affirm all the priest has said.”
This afternoon during mass, our priest surprisingly and tenderly allowed us to witness the Gift of the Holy Spirit – counsel. After most us present said “Amen”, he looked up and basically asked us where is your Amen? and encouraged, exhorted us all to repeat this great response. What a humbling and blessed opportunity. It is truly not something we would normally expect to occur. Praise be to God for this grace and mercy to be awakened and give more of ourselves, our Amen, our “yes”.
– – –
We hear it said in the Gospel, “Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37 NRSVCE).
“I ask you, instead, to be revolutionaries, to swim against the tide;
yes, I am asking you to rebel against this culture that sees everything as temporary and that ultimately believes that you are incapable of responsibility, that you are incapable of true love.
I have confidence in you and I pray for you.
Have the courage ‘to swim against the tide.’
Have the courage to be happy.” (Pope Francis)
Amen!