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August 17, 2025 Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time bulletin - Liturgy (continued)

Dear People of God,

Continued Liturgy Series from August 10…
The first Christians broke bread understanding that Jesus became present when they did so in the context of some kind of liturgy. I say “some kind” because they did not have everything figured out right away. It took time for them to have a more defined liturgy as we would understand it. It is very significant that they meet to “break bread” and that they do this on the first day of the week. In the ancient Jewish context, this means that they were meeting on Saturday night. Sunday is the first day of the week and the days begin with sundown in the Jewish religion. Thus it was Saturday night.

It appears that the first Christians met at this time for the Mass, or the breaking of the bread, as they were calling it. In Latin, that term is “fractio panis” meaning “the fraction of the bread.” It seems that the literal breaking of the bread was a very early and significant part of the Mass. To this day, every Mass has a part in which the celebrant breaks the host. He may do so over the chalice or over the paten, but at every Mass he does it. This is something that is probably one of the oldest aspects of the Mass and in the time of the Apostles was probably very literal in that they may have only had one piece of bread that they broke into as many pieces as needed for the congregation. We started using smaller hosts for individual reception of Communion at a later date.

We see the theme of meeting on the first day of the week in other places in the New Testament also.

To be continued...

May Our Lord bless you all of your days,
Rev. Samuel Moses Brown

Querido Pueblo de Dios:

Continúa la serie litúrgica del 10 de agosto…
Los primeros cristianos partían el pan entendiendo que Jesús se hacía presente cuando lo hacían en el contexto de algún tipo de liturgia. Digo “algún tipo” porque no tenían todo resuelto de inmediato. Les tomó tiempo tener una liturgia más definida como la entenderíamos hoy. Es muy significativo que se reúnan para “partir el pan” y que lo hagan el primer día de la semana. En el contexto judío antiguo, esto significa que se reunían el sábado por la noche. El domingo es el primer día de la semana y los días comienzan con el atardecer en la religión judía. Por lo tanto, era el sábado por la noche.

Parece que los primeros cristianos se reunieron en este momento para la Misa, o la fracción del pan, como la estaban llamando. En latín, ese término es "fractio panis" que significa "la fracción del pan". Parece que la literal ruptura del pan fue una parte muy temprana y significativa de la Misa. Hasta el día de hoy, cada Misa tiene una parte en la que el celebrante rompe la hostia. Puede hacerlo sobre el cáliz o sobre la patena, pero en cada Misa lo hace. Esto es algo que probablemente es uno de los aspectos más antiguos de la Misa y en la época de los Apóstoles probablemente fue muy literal en el sentido de que podían tener solo un trozo de pan que rompían en tantas piezas como necesitaba la congregación. Comenzamos a usar hostias más pequeñas para la recepción individual de la Comunión en una fecha posterior.

Vemos el tema de reunirse en el primer día de la semana en otros lugares del Nuevo Testamento también.

Continuará…

Que Nuestro Señor los bendiga todos sus días,
Rev. Samuel Moses Brown

August 10, 2025 Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time bulletin - Liturgy (continued)

Dear People of God,

continued Liturgy Series from August 3…
Another element about Christian liturgy that seems to have been present from the beginning is the primacy of the Eucharist. Christians celebrated the Eucharist very often and had a specific understanding of the nature of the Eucharist. We see this view in different places in the New Testament. The first place I want to review is Acts 20:7-12 which is reproduced below from the English Standard Version of the Bible.

On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted. (Acts 20:7-12 ESV)

We first notice that the meeting is called the “breaking of the bread.” Many people think of that as a general term to mean the sharing of food. While that might often be the case, there does seem to be a specific meaning in the ancient Christian context. The first Christians broke bread understanding that Jesus became present when they did so in the context of some kind of liturgy.
To be continued...

May Our Lord bless you all of your days,
Rev. Samuel Moses Brown

Querido Pueblo de Dios:

continúa la serie litúrgica del 3 de agosto…
Otro elemento de la liturgia cristiana que parece haber estado presente desde el principio es la primacía de la Eucaristía. Los cristianos celebraban la Eucaristía muy a menudo y tenían una comprensión específica de la naturaleza de la Eucaristía. Vemos esta visión en diferentes lugares del Nuevo Testamento. El primer lugar que quiero revisar es Hechos 20:7-12, que se reproduce a continuación de la versión estándar en inglés de la Biblia.

El primer día de la semana, cuando nos reunimos para partir el pan, Pablo habló con ellos, con la intención de partir al día siguiente, y prolongó su discurso hasta la medianoche. Había muchas lámparas en el aposento alto donde estábamos reunidos. Un joven llamado Eutico, sentado a la ventana, se sumió en un profundo sueño mientras Pablo seguía hablando. Vencido por el sueño, cayó del tercer piso y fue levantado muerto. Pero Pablo bajó, se inclinó sobre él y, tomándolo en sus brazos, le dijo: «No os alarméis, porque su vida está en él». Después de subir Pablo, partir el pan y comer, conversó con ellos largo rato hasta el amanecer, y así partió. Se llevaron vivo al joven, y se consolaron bastante. (Hechos 20:7-12 ESV)

Primero notamos que la reunión se llama "fracción del pan". Mucha gente piensa que es un término general para referirse a compartir la comida. Si bien a menudo puede ser así, parece tener un significado específico en el contexto cristiano antiguo. Los primeros cristianos partían el pan entendiendo que Jesús se hacía presente al hacerlo en el contexto de algún tipo de liturgia.
Continuará...

Que Nuestro Señor los bendiga todos sus días,
Reverendo Samuel Moses Brown

August 3, 2025 Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time bulletin - Liturgy (continued)

Dear People of God,

Continued Series from July 27th…
There is a need for a lectionary and it was developed to make sure that the clergy did not only use Scripture passages that they liked. Rather, we are supposed to get a well rounded view of the Bible throughout the years by reading from a variety of places in Sacred Scripture. This way it is not the choice of any one person what is read at Mass, rather it is the choice of the Church as a whole. A liturgical principle that we should all keep in mind is that the things of liturgy are not supposed to be the ideas or choices of any one person. Instead, the components of the liturgy should be the Church expressing herself as a corporate whole and making informed liturgical choices that are truly helpful to Christian spirituality.

The liturgy is not about the personal expression of the cleric who is officiating at the liturgy. The liturgy is about Christ acting through the Church and the individual member of the clergy to authentically express the Truth which is, above all else, a person: Jesus Christ. This is why it is so crucial for clergy and laity alike to read the liturgical documents and to have a grounded understanding of them. In particular, we should also have a firm understanding of the documents of Vatican II and what they say about liturgy. So often people have claimed in the past that Vatican II did or said something that was not really firmly grounded in the documents of that Council. When we read those documents, we gain a stronger understanding of the nature of the liturgy and our shared worship of our God.
To be continued...

May Our Lord bless you all of your days,
Rev. Samuel Moses Brown

Querido Pueblo de Dios,

Continuado desde el 27 de julio...
Hay una necesidad de un leccionario y se desarrolló para asegurarse de que el clero no utilizara solo los pasajes de las Escrituras que les gustaban. Más bien, se supone que debemos obtener una visión completa de la Biblia a lo largo de los años leyendo de una variedad de lugares en las Sagradas Escriturass. De esta manera, no es la elección de una sola persona lo que se lee en la Misa, sino la elección de la Iglesia en su conjunto. Un principio litúrgico que todos debemos tener en cuenta es que las cosas de la liturgia no deben ser las ideas o elecciones de una sola persona. En cambio, los componentes de la liturgia deben ser la Iglesia expresándose a sí misma como un todo corporativo y tomando decisiones litúrgicas informadas que sean realmente útiles para la espiritualidad cristiana.

La liturgia no se trata de la expresión personal del clérigo que oficia la liturgia. La liturgia se trata de Cristo actuando a través de la Iglesia y del miembro individual del clero para expresar auténticamente la Verdad que es, sobre todo, una persona: Jesucristo. Es por esto que es tan crucial que tanto el clero como laicado lean los documentos litúrgicos y tengan una comprensión sólida de los mismos. En particular, también deberíamos tener un firme entendimiento de los documentos del Concilio Vaticano II y de lo que dicen sobre la liturgia. A menudo, en el pasado, las personas han afirmado que el Concilio Vaticano II hizo o dijo algo que realmente no estaba firmemente arraigado en los documentos de ese Consejo. Cuando leemos esos documentos, obtenemos una comprensión más fuerte de la naturaleza de la liturgia y de nuestra adoración compartida a nuestro Dios.
Continuará...

Que nuestro Señor los bendiga todos sus días,
Rev. Samuel Moses Brown

July 27, 2025 Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time bulletin - Liturgy (continued)

Dear People of God,

Continued from July 20th… Early Christians seem to have adopted the notion that there should be some official way of doing things in the first few centuries of Christian history. However, we do not have much in the way of texts from this time period that record official liturgy as such. Instead, we see widespread evidence they had a definite understanding of how liturgy would go without having an authoritative source for that liturgy.

A good example of this is the lectionary. All historical Churches have a lectionary, meaning Catholics, Orthodox, and Coptic Christians all have a system of readings that are done every week on an official cycle that has been mandated by the authority of their Church. In our case, we have a three year cycle of reading which is framed by the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. We are currently in year C which is the year of Luke. We believe that in the first few centuries, Christians read from the Bible as they wanted without much system or direction. The priest or bishop of the Church would decide what was read based on what he thought was best. We can only imagine how this would actually take shape. Before too long, the cleric in charge of the Church would have the readings to be about what he wanted to talk about or for some specific social context of their Church. We can see that operative in the world today in some evangelical non-denominational churches wherein they may spend a significant amount of their time in Romans and Galatians. Many people in such churches gravitate toward those two parts of the Bible because they seem to support their understanding of Chirstian doctrine. This also allows people effectively to ignore parts of the Bible they do not like. To be continued...

May Our Lord bless you all of your days,
Rev. Samuel Moses Brown

Querido Pueblo de Dios,

Continuado desde el 20 de julio... Los primeros cristianos parecen haber adoptado la noción de que debería haber alguna forma oficial de hacer las cosas en los primeros siglos de la historia cristiana. Sin embargo, no tenemos muchos textos de este período que registren la liturgia oficial como tal. En cambio, vemos una evidencia generalizada de que tenían una comprensión clara de cómo debería llevarse a cabo la liturgia sin tener una fuente autoritaria para esa liturgia.

Un buen ejemplo de esto es el leccionario. Todas las iglesias históricas tienen un leccionario, lo que significa que los católicos, ortodoxos y cristianos coptos tienen un sistema de lecturas que se realizan cada semana en un ciclo oficial que ha sido mandado por la autoridad de su iglesia. En nuestro caso, tenemos un ciclo de lectura de tres años que está enmarcado por los Evangelios de Mateo, Marcos y Lucas. Actualmente estamos en el año C, que es el año de Lucas. Creemos que en los primeros siglos, los cristianos leían de la Biblia como querían, sin mucho sistema ni dirección. El sacerdote o obispo de la Iglesia decidiría qué se leía en función de lo que consideraba mejor. Solo podemos imaginar cómo se desarrollaría esto en realidad. Antes de mucho tiempo, el clérigo a cargo de la Iglesia tendría las lecturas sobre lo que quería hablar o para algún contexto social específico de su Iglesia. Podemos ver que esto opera en el mundo actual en algunas iglesias evangélicas no denominacionales, donde pueden pasar una cantidad significativa de su tiempo en Romanos y Gálatas. Muchas personas en tales iglesias gravitan hacia esas dos partes de la Biblia porque parecen respaldar su comprensión de la doctrina cristiana. Esto también permite a las personas ignorar efectivamente las partes de la Biblia que no les gustan. Continuará...

Que nuestro Señor los bendiga todos los días,
Rev. Samuel Moses Brown

July 20, 2025 Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time bulletin - Liturgy

July 13, 2025 Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time bulletin - Ordinary Time

July 6, 2025 Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time bulletin - St. John Cassian, Desert Father

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June 1, 2025 Ascension of the Lord bulletin - Eight Deadly Thoughts - Sloth

May 25, 2025 6th Sunday of Easter bulletin - Eight Deadly Thoughts - Anger

May 18, 2025 5th Sunday of Easter bulletin - Eight Deadly Thoughts - Anger

May 11, 2025 4th Sunday of Easter bulletin - The Blessing of Mothers

May 4, 2025 3rd Sunday of Easter bulletin - Acknowledgments for our Holy Week liturgies

April 27, 2025 2nd Sunday of Easter bulletin - The 8 Deadly Thoughts (continued)

April 20, 2025 Easter Sunday bulletin - Easter Sunday Message

April 13, 2025 Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord bulletin - Lenten Series VI

April 6, 2025 Fifth Sunday of Lent bulletin - The Eight Deadly thoughts - Lenten Series V

March 23, 2025 Third Sunday of Lent bulletin - The Eight Deadly Thoughts - Lenten Series III - FOOD

March 16, 2025 Second Sunday of Lent bulletin - The Eight Deadly Thoughts - Lenten Series II

March 9, 2025 First Sunday of Lent bulletin - The Eight Deadly Thoughts - Lenten Series I

March 2, 2025 Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time bulletin - Lenten Repentance - Fish Fry

February 23, 2025 Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time bulletin - Lenten Penances

February 16, 2025 Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time bulletin - Marriage Week

February 2, 2025 Feast of the Presentation of the Lord bulletin - Church architectural terms

January 26, 2025 Third Sunday of Ordinary Time bulletin - Jesus’ Baptism - Acknowledgements

January 19, 2025 Second Sunday of Ordinary Time bulletin - Gospel of Luke - St. Patrick’s Gala?

January 12, 2025 The Baptism of the Lord bulletin - New Year’s Resolutions?

January 5, 2025 The Epiphany of the Lord bulletin - Christmas season end? - Jubilee

December 29, 2024 Feast of the Holy Family bulletin - Purple: Royalty + Penance

December 22, 2024 Fourth Sunday of Advent bulletin - Christian Peace

December 15, 2024 Third Sunday of Advent bulletin - Advent Joy + Preparation

December 8, 2024 Second Sunday of Advent bulletin - Advent - Loving Rescue

December 1, 2024 First Sunday of Advent bulletin - New Liturgical Year C - Advent Practices

November 24, 2024 Christ the King bulletin - Give Thanks to God

November 17, 2024 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time bulletin - Prayer + Sacrifice

November 10, 2024 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time bulletin - Penitential Rite

November 3, 2024 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time bulletin - Eucharistic Prayers (cont.)

October 27, 2024 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time bulletin - Eucharistic Prayers

October 20, 2024 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time bulletin - Do you believe? & Eucharistic Prayers

October 13, 2024 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time bulletin - All Saints’ Day & All Souls’ Day coming

October 6, 2024 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time bulletin - Prepare!

September 29, 2024 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time bulletin - Receiving Holy Communion

September 22, 2024 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time bulletin - Humility & Helping Hand

September 15, 2024 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time bulletin - Penitential Rite

September 8, 2024 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time bulletin - Renew our faith

September 1, 2024 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time bulletin - Kneeling during Mass

Special Feature in the bulletin for August 25, 2024 - Why Do We Venerate Relics?

August 18, 2024 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time Bulletin - Sunday is special

August 11, 2024 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time Bulletin - Holy Eucharist => Eternal Life

August 4, 2024 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Signs and Miracles

July 21, 2024 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time Bulletin - Ordinary Time

July 14, 2024 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time Bulletin - Seek God’s presence

July 7, 2024 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time Bulletin - Embrace Jesus

June 30, 2024 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time Bulletin - Jesus heals

June 23, 2024 Bulletin 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time Bulletin - Stewardship

June16, 2024 Bulletin - Father’s Day - Special Message: The Head of the Family

May 26, 2024 Trinity Sunday Bulletin - The Mystery of the Trinity

May 19, 2024 Pentecost Bulletin - Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful
Del Pastor: Domingo de Pentecostés

May 12, 2024 Seventh Sunday of Easter - Ascension Bulletin - Follow Him to Eternity

May 5, 2024 Sixth Sunday of Easter Bulletin - Our Relationship with God

April 28, 2024 Fifth Sunday of Easter Bulletin - We are the branches

April 21, 2024 Fourth Sunday of Easter Bulletin - Jesus is Our Shepherd

April 14, 2024 Third Sunday of Easter Bulletin - Resurrection: nice idea or truth?

April 7, 2024 Second Sunday of Easter - Divine Mercy Sunday - Bulletin - Several titles - 2nd Sunday of Easter

Pastor’s Desk