Monday, May 28, 2007

A Cure for the Ordinary Time Blahs

As it is well known, the Octave for Pentecost does not exist in the new calendar. This is unfortunate, as octaves point out the eternal orientation of the works of God. But let us not belabor the point too much.

Instead, I'd like to pass along a wonderful suggestion from Fr. Thomas Kocik, which he gave in a thread from this past week. It is this: For the ferial days of this week, priests might consider saying the votive Mass of the Holy Spirit. This could have been done today (sorry....I meant to post this yesterday...), it can be done tomorrow, and it can be done Wednesday. From a quick glance at the liturgical calendar it might even be possible on Saturday, but I don't have the right materials in front of me to determine that.

I have often experienced the desire to stay with a particular mystery of the faith for awhile, to converse with it. It's a grace, then, that Christmas has twelve days, and that Easter has many weeks. But for the same reason, it's also a shame that, in the new calendar, some feasts have been given short shrift. I'm thinking mainly of Ascension and Pentecost. Well, in any case, if use is made of the votive Mass of the Holy Spirit, we might be able to stay with Pentecost for a little while longer.

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