January 22nd, 2023

Third Sunday of Ordinary Time

by Fr. Boniface Endorf, O.P.

Dear St. Joseph Parish Family,

This upcoming Saturday, the 28th, is the feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest theologians in Church history and a Dominican saint. His theology is the basis of our Dominican training and much of what you hear in our homilies is rooted in St. Thomas’s thought. The school of theology based on St. Thomas’s writings is called Thomism; if you’d like to learn more about St. Thomas’s theology, check out these short videos from the Thomistic Institute at https://aquinas101.thomisticinstitute.org.

Also, the Thomistic Institute runs lecture series at many universities in America and Europe, but we have the only parish chapter here at St. Joseph’s. We had three talks last Fall, and we will have three more this June. Our plan is to continue to bring in great professors trained in Thomism to give three Fall and three Spring talks each year. Stay tuned for details as June approaches.

Mass Tidbit:

We have now progressed to the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the second part of the Mass. The Roman Missal (the large book on the altar that is used to celebrate Mass) introduces the Liturgy of the Eucharist: “At the Last Supper Christ instituted the Paschal Sacrifice and banquet, by which the Sacrifice of the Cross is continuously made present in the Church whenever the Priest, representing Christ the Lord, carries out what the Lord himself did and handed over to his disciples to be done in his memory.” At the Last Supper, Christ took the bread and chalice, gave thanks, broke the bread, and gave it to His disciples. Thus the Liturgy of the Eucharist follows the same order:

1.      The Preparation of the Gifts, when bread and wine are brought to the altar.

2.    The Eucharistic Prayer, where thanks is given to God for salvation and the offerings become the Body and Blood of Christ.

3.    The fraction (breaking of the bread) and the Communion Rite.

We’ll go through these in the months ahead as we walk through the Liturgy of the Eucharist together.

God Bless,
Fr. Boniface