One Ordinary Sunday: A Meditation on the Mystery of the Mass

by Paula Huston

Overview

Award-winning writer Paula Huston offers a rich spiritual reflection on the origin and meaning of the Catholic Mass. 
 
For Catholics, the Mass is the "source and summit of the Christian life," as the documents of the Church put it. Yet many Catholics might confess to not understand in any depth what goes on in a typical celebration of the Eucharist. In One Ordinary Sunday Paula Huston guides us through a Mass at her home parish in a rural California town. Huston's personal and spiritual reflections offer fresh and often unexpected insights into the profound mystery at the heart of the Catholic faith.

A natural storyteller, Huston deftly illuminates what might seem either mysterious to those unfamiliar with the Mass or overly familiar to those who have lost an appreciation of its mystery. In the Mass "we are healed and restored and spiritually fed," she writes. "We are unified and made whole as a people and as a Church. We get a little taste of heaven."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798400801099
Publisher:	Liturgical Press
Publication date:	05/19/2024
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	771,053
Product dimensions:	5.43(w) x 8.43(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

National Endowment of the Arts Fellow Paula Huston is a longtime oblate of New Camaldoli Hermitage. The author of two novels and seven works of spiritual nonfiction, she lives with her husband Mike on four acres eighty miles south of Big Sur, where they grow olives, keep bees, and raise vegetables. She spends her days in the garden, the kitchen, and her writing studio, endlessly inspired by two devoted dogs and four fascinating grandchildren. She is a contributor to Give Us This Day, published by Liturgical Press.

Table of Contents

Contents

Preface   xiii
Introduction   xix

Part I: The Story

Prologue   3
Gathering   13
   The Opening Processional, the Sign of the Cross, the Greeting
Preparing   27
   The Confiteor, the Kyrie, the Gloria, the Collect
Remembering   37
   The First Reading
Responding   47
   The Responsorial Psalm
Reconnecting   57
   The Second Reading   
Resurrecting   67
   The Alleluia, the Gospel Reading
Listening   79
   The Homily
Declaring   89
   The Profession of Faith
Interceding   101
   The Universal Prayer, or Prayer of the Faithful

Part II: The Sacrament

Prologue   113
Offering   121
   The Preparation of the Altar, the Presentation of the Gifts, the Blessing of the
   Bread and Wine, the Prayer over the Offerings
Praising   133
   The Sursum Corda, the Preface, the Sanctus
Kneeling   143
   The Eucharistic Prayer, the Epiclesis, the Institution Narrative and
   Consecration, the Mystery of Faith, the Memorial Acclamation
Assenting   153
   The Intercessions, the Doxology, the Great Amen
Praying   167  
   The Lord’s Prayer, the Passing of the Peace
Communing   179
   The Co-Mingling; the Agnus Dei; Lord, I Am Not Worthy; Holy Communion
Going Forth   193
   The Prayer after Communion, the Final Blessing and Sending Forth, the Recessional
Epilogue   201
Appendix I: OCIA Study Guide for
   One Ordinary Sunday   209
Appendix II: Book Group Study Guide for
   One Ordinary Sunday   221
Appendix III: Individual Study Guide for
   One Ordinary Sunday   227
Acknowledgments   231
Notes   233
Bibliography   241
Index   247

Editorial Reviews

"It would be hard to imagine an easier and more attractive introduction to the Eucharist. We find ourselves suddenly in the midst of it with Paula Huston and her family, with all the questions and problems and, yes, awe about what is going on. But the big words are there—transubstantiation, epiclesis, anamnesis—and before we know it we are doing theology. Highly recommended."
Jerome Kodell, OSB, Subiaco Abbey
 

From the Publisher