April 30, 2023

Fourth Sunday of Easter

by Fr. Boniface Endorf, O.P

Dear St. Joseph Parish Family,

Over the next few weeks, St. Joseph’s, along with other parishes across the Dominican Province of St. Joseph, will conduct the Annual Friars Formation Appeal. This appeal is critical in supporting the formation expenses of the next generation of Dominican friars. God has continued to bless our province of Dominican Friars with many vocations: dozens of friars will be sent out into ministry over the next decade. Those friars will be the ones to serve at St. Joseph’s in the future. I ask you to prayerfully consider responding with a gift to the extent that you are able. You should receive an envelope in the mail with more information. This appeal will help ensure that the future Dominicans at St. Joseph’s will be well-formed and trained so that our parish will have the best priests and brothers possible serving here.

Mass Tidbit:

At this point, we are now entering the Eucharistic Prayer. This part of the mass is where the sacrament takes place: when Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross is represented liturgically and the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ. The Eucharistic Prayer is when the sacrament of the Mass takes place. It begins with the Preface, which starts with a dialogue.

The priest says, or chants,: “The Lord be with you” and the people respond: “And with your spirit.” This is the same dialogue as at the beginning of the Mass and right before the priest proclaims the Gospel. The priest is praying that God be with the people and the people pray that the graces of the priest’s ordination will be active during his work in the Mass. The priest then says: “Lift up your hearts” and the people respond: “We lift them up to the Lord.” We are about to enter the holiest part of the Mass and so it’s especially important to lift up our hearts to God to receive the graces He wants to give us at this point. Finally, the priest says: “Let us give thanks to the Lord our God” and the people respond: “It is right and just.” We give thanks to God for the great gifts He’s about to give us in the Eucharist: His taking our nature to Himself and sacrificing Himself to save us. We are about to receive the graces of that gift, which makes our salvation possible.

Next week we’ll cover the rest of the Preface.

God Bless,
Fr. Boniface