Society of St Gregory :: SSG :: Preparing the Liturgy for Sundays and Feastdays

The Most Holy Trinity to the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

An overview

As the Church re-enters Ordinary Time, there is something about the recent liturgical directives for England and Wales that lifts what has often become weariness in sustaining Easter joy.

The Sunday sequence of Easter, culminating in Ascension Sunday and Pentecost, follows through to embrace the Mystery of the Trinity (18th May) and now the Sunday celebration of the Body and Blood of Christ (25th May). Together with the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on Friday 30th May (and, with it, the challenge of recognising the value of Solemnities during the week, which equate to the dignity of a Sunday celebration), we are given the privilege and the indulgence of fusing the sometimes estranged disciplines of liturgy and devotion.

The Scriptures of this Trinity Sunday speak of intercession and encouragement to others in their life of faith (Exodus and 2 Corinthians), and the ultimate intercessor, Christ himself, who came not to condemn but to save (John 3). The Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, this year, points towards the bread of heaven: manna from heaven in Deuteronomy, and Jesus the living bread from heaven in St John’s Gospel. The words of Psalm 78 resound in the Divine Office for this celebration: mere men ate the bread of angels.

As the Sundays of Ordinary Time, following St Matthew’s Gospel, re-establish a pattern, the next four Sundays present us with the house built on rock (9th Sunday), the teaching of ‘mercy, not sacrifice’ (10th), discipleship (11th) and the assurance that all is in God’s care (12th). Of particular note is the 11th Sunday, which highlights the purpose of St Matthew’s Gospel – to speak particularly to the Jewish Christian community, the chosen people now shown by Jesus that they have been ‘chosen’ for a new calling, but still before the Gentile communities and the Samaritan towns.

On Tuesday 24th June, another weekday Solemnity, the Birth of St John the Baptist, is followed by the Sunday celebration this year (by virtue of coincidence of dates only) of Saints Peter and Paul. Taken together with the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (14/15 August) all three celebrations afford the possibility of celebrating both a Vigil Mass (with given readings) and Mass During the Day (with another set of readings). It is probably easier to achieve this on the Monday/Tuesday of St John the Baptist. Perhaps the richer celebration of two separate Masses of SS Peter and Paul is more difficult across a weekend, with printed sheets that might give only one, or the pastoral implications of two quite different celebrations given by two different sets of texts. But it is worth looking ahead to the fact that the Gospel of Matthew 16 (Caesarea Philippi) occurs again as part of the Year A cycle on 24 August, and before that in the weekday cycle on 7 August: reinforcement or repetition? [The 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time is not celebrated this year, as it is replaced by SS Peter and Paul.]

Returning to St Matthew’s Gospel, the 14th Sunday (which is also the Church’s Day for Life) exhorts people to humility. The 15th and 16th Sundays address the fulfilment of God’s purpose through the image of Jesus’ stories of agricultural growth, as an image of the Word of God being sown and reaping a rich harvest. The 17th Sunday speaks of the discernment which places every hope on true treasure in life, whilst the 18th Sunday (the feeding of at least 5000) reflects the abundant giving of God.

It is worth noting that as well as the inspiring texts of the Old Testament which mirror, Sunday by Sunday, the Gospel reading, the Second Reading throughout the period from the 9th Sunday to the 24th Sunday in Year A is taken exclusively from St Paul’s Letter to the Romans. This is significant, as Pope Benedict has declared that from SS Peter and Paul 2008 through to the same celebration in 2009 the Church will keep a ‘Year of St Paul’. To this end, the Liturgy Office of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales is producing a simple-format, downloadable double-sided sheet of A4 on each of St Paul’s letters, to help people enter into the spirit of the year.

6 August marks the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. This falls on a Wednesday and is not a Solemnity, but Feasts of the Lord have a special place in the Church’s life (where they fall on Sundays, they replace a Sunday of Ordinary Time). In Year A, the Transfiguration reflects the glory of God seen in the humanity of Jesus, but with a particular angle. In St Matthew’s Gospel, after the event that leaves the disciples so fearful, we are told that ‘Jesus came up and touched them and said *ldquo;Stand up… do not be afraid“‘.

That theme links with the Gospel of the 19th Sunday – where Jesus walks on the water. The 20th Sunday gives another example of St Matthew’s aims in his Gospel – the appeal of the Canaanite woman who is met with the words, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel’, meaning the Jewish people and, again, not the Gentiles. The Gospel from the Day Mass for Saints Peter and Paul recurs on the 21st Sunday, and the following week brings the first prediction of Christ’s knowledge of his Passion and Death. (Perhaps even the apostle Peter would be amused to reflect on Paul’s words in the Second Reading for this Sunday: how impossible to penetrate [God’s] motives or understand his methods! The 23rd Sunday’s Gospel expresses Matthew’s legal tone as a member of the Jewish community: fraternal correction.

The occurrence of Saints Peter and Paul on a Sunday this year is a timely reminder to all parishes and communities that where their principal patron occurs on a Sunday in Ordinary Time, the liturgical celebration of that saint or dedication overrides entirely the prayers, readings, music and liturgical colour of that Sunday &ndqsh; but only in Ordinary Time!