In the fall of 2005 St Anthony's Parish implemented a new an exciting Faith Formation journey. Generations of Living Faith or GoLF, is an intergenerational Whole Community Catechesis reaching out to create a Parish community of life-long learners.
Each session includes a meal (which we provide), prayer, a topic presentation, table discussions, hands on learning activities, instructional break out groups, reflection and topic related materials to take home.
GoLF is for everyone, for all ages and stages in life. All Parish members are invited and guests are welcome. Come grow in Faith.
GoLF meets six times a year from October thru May on Sunday afternoons and Wednesday evenings.
This year we are focusing on Justice.
Our 2009-2010 schedule is as follows:
Topic: Wednesday Sunday
The Dignity of Human Life October 14 October 18
Peace December 9 December 6
Rights & Responsibilities January 13 January 10
Option for the Poor February 24 February 28
Solidarity April 21 April 18
Option for the Poor May 26 May 23
For more information call Mike Borte at 425-277-6205.
GoLF Mass Catechesis
As most of you know, our parish is developing a new way of doing catechesis. Instead of classroom-based instruction, St. Anthony’s will focus on parish-based instruction. Everything we do as a parish can become a means to be catechized in our faith. What more important action is there that we do than the celebration of the Eucharist? The Generations of Living Faith, or GoLF has prayer as its focus for this year. What more important prayer is there than the Eucharist? Each second Sunday of the month, we will take a few minutes at Mass to explore some aspect of the Celebration of the Eucharist. Today is our first Sunday to do that.
We start with the beginning, the Introductory Rites. The Introductory Rites include, the gathering song, the sign of the cross and greeting, the penitential rite, the Gloria and the opening prayer, which is also called the collect, because that prayer is meant to “collect” our many thought, concerns, prayers and intentions into one, unified prayer. The whole purpose of the introductory rites are to unite us who come as individuals into the one body of Christ, ready to hear the Word of God.
We could spend a lot of time on each part of the introductory rites, however today I would like to focus just on the sign of the cross. Since the 2nd century, Christians have made the sign of the cross as part of their prayer. In the fourth century, this action was added to various points of the liturgy. It wasn’t until the middle ages that the sign of the cross was added to the beginning of the Eucharistic celebration.
“The sign of the cross is a form of self-blessing, with strong baptismal overtones: in the rite of Christian initiation a person is signed with the cross, for it is from the victorious cross of Jesus Christ that salvation comes to us. Moreover, every Christian has been baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The community is first and foremost, a baptismal community.” (Mystery of Faith p. 14) Notice that the sign of cross is an action the priest and assembly do together. The Presider and community of believers are all here because of their baptism.
The sign of the cross that we make when we pray at home or anywhere for that matter unites us with both the Eucharist that we celebrate on Sunday and with our common baptism. Even when we pray in private, we never pray alone. As Christians we always pray to the Father, in the Son and with the Holy Spirit and in union with the Church. We express a profound belief by a simple ritual, the sign of the cross. When you make the sign of the cross, you are preparing to celebrate the Eucharist for the next Sunday. The introductory rite in that sense really begins at home.
Liturgy of the Hours
Why do we pray? The Lord knows what we want before we ask, and doesn’t need our praise. St Augustine: The Lord “wants us rather to exercise our desire through our prayers, so that we may be able to receive what he is preparing to give us. His gift is very great indeed, but our capacity is too small and limited to receive it.” He goes onto say that prayer increases out desire for the great things God whishes to give us. Augustine concludes with “When the Apostle tells us: Pray without ceasing, he means this: Desire unceasingly that life of happiness which is nothing if not eternal, and ask it of him who alone is able to give it.”
The quote comes from last Sunday’s Office of Readings, which is part of the Liturgy of the Hours. From Ancient times, the Church has had the custom of celebrating each day the liturgy of the hours. It is the way that the church fulfills the teaching to pray without ceasing. Really there are two purposes for the liturgy of the hours
1. Offer Praise to God the Father
2. Intercede for the salvation of the world.
One of the many accomplishments of Vatican II was to rewrite the liturgical books. November 1, 1970 the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship published the Latin book for the celebration of the liturgy of the hours. This revision was done so that “priests and other members of the Church in today’s circumstance might celebrate it better and more effectively”. The vision was set forth that a broader celebration, that is not just religious and priests, were to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. So what is the Liturgy of the Hours?
It is the official prayer of the Universal Church, to consecrate the various hours of the day night. The prayer includes scripture readings, canticles from the Gospels and other places in the scriptures, but the majority of prayers are made up of the psalms.
Why are the psalms so important to us?
1. Jesus prayed the psalms as a good Jew “In assuming human nature the Divine Word introduced into this earthly exile a hymn which is sung in heaven for all eternity. He unites Himself with the whole human race and with it sings this hymn of praise to God.” When we are chanting the Psalms, or reciting them privately, then ‘through His Spirit in us Christ entreats the Father.”
2. The psalms have been a part of the prayer of the Church for so long, that they have shaped the mind and spirit of the Church. If we want to pray with the mind and soul of the Church, then we are called to pray the psalms.
3. Pope Pius XII “A Catholic father or mother ought to know appreciate the Psalms enough to be able to select one or another from among which will most perfectly suit the needs of the family in any given situation.
Thomas Merton speaks to the importance of not just praying the psalms because the Church says we should nor to do so just because we as individuals think they are important, but to really enter into the meaning of the psalms. Sometimes taking just one Psalm and saying it slowly will do this. Also, recognize in the psalms our own lives, our own experience
Where to Start?
The Bible: Psalms 119-133 which are called the Gradual Psalms, they are shorter and joyful. They reflect the journey to the heavenly Jerusalem, and were often prayed by pilgrims on their way to the earthly Jerusalem before the time of Christ. They are called the Gradual Psalms because they reflect the stages, or degrees of the journey.
Suffering? Ps. 25, 53, 55
Need to repent from sin? Ps. 51
The Magnificat and other resources like it, contain the readings for all the Masses each month and a short version of morning and evening prayer
The Shorter Christian Prayer Book,
The Christian Prayer Book,
The four-volume set of the Liturgy of The Hours. Can all be purchased at any Catholic bookstore like Howell’s in Kent or Kaufer’s in Seattle.
St. Anthony Parish, 314 S 4th St. Renton, WA 98055; 425-255-3132