The Journey Begins...

The Year of the Faith has finally begun, and I praise God for giving me and all us this blessed opportunity of being present and alive during this historic moment in the history of the Church. Celebrating 50 years of the Second Vatican Council isn't a small feat, Catholicism has seen many ups and downs during all these years, but the Faith is still alive and strong.

Through prayer and contemplation I have been inspired to document, and maintain a  spiritual journal during this Year of Faith. So from today, till the end of the year, I am going write a post each day, sharing my spiritual explorations and endeavors.

So let us begin...

Verses That Struck Me

In today's readings the verses that struck me the most were:

First Reading : Are you so foolish? Having begun with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?- Gal 3:3
No! I don't want to end up with flesh. What about you?

Gospel : if you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! - Luke 11:13
 "... to those who ask him" To those who ask him! Why didn't I ask?

A Peep Into Vatican II 

Today morning I attended the mass at my parish. The mass was in Gujarati, my mother tongue as well as the local language. And it is all thanks to the Second Vatican Council that we have masses celebrated in the vernacular. The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, was a document released by the Second Vatican Council  on December 4, 1963. The paragraph 54 of this document reads

“In Masses which are celebrated with the people, a suitable place may be allotted to their mother tongue. This is to apply in the first place, to the readings and to the Common Prayer. But also as local conditions may warrant, to those parts which pertain to the people. Nevertheless steps should be taken so that the faithful may also be able to say or to sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them.”

Though we may here have totally done away with the Latin parts, we should all be thankful to the Second Vatican Council for giving us the Eucharistic Celebration, in languages in which we may participate to the fullest.

See See See (Catechism of the Catholic Church)

Catholic Fun Trivia

Cheers

"From man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world." - St Arnold of Metz, The patron Saint of Brewers.

And One More Thing...

WHEN DID JESUS CRY? - Answer in next post!