Catechesis

Quinquagesima Sunday 2021

Duccio di Buoninsegna, Jesus open eyes of man born blind

Quinquagesima Sunday will be celebrated in a traditional Latin High Mass at St. Stanislaus Church, New Haven, Sunday, February 14, at 2:00 pm. The celebrant will be the Father Jan Pikulski.

The third of the Sundays preparing us for the fast of Lent, Quinquagesima, on the fiftieth day before Easter, signals that Ash Wednesday is close at hand. The great Benedictine abbot, Dom Prosper Guéranger, speaks of Quinquagesima as a “time of Abraham” because of Abraham’s “docility and devotedness in following the call of his God.”

In the Gospel of St. Luke on this day, our Lord prepares His apostles for His coming sufferings, that is, His sacred Passion in Jerusalem. The blind man represents the sinners who break their relationship with God, rejecting the offer of the promises of the Kingdom because of fallen man’s own selfishness in pride. The cry of the blind man is our cry, too: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”. This prayer moved the heart of Jesus who stopped, called him, and healed him. This personal encounter prompted our Lord to ask the blind man to name the desire of his heart: “What do you want me to do for you?” the Lord asks him. “Master, let me receive my sight,” the blind man answers. “Go your way, your faith has saved you.”

Quinquagesima Sunday invites us to ask for the grace that the blind man had been given: sufficient awareness to beg for the Lord’s mercy in hearing our prayers for forgiveness of sins so that we may live in perfect freedom. Are we as Catholics prepared to be docile and devoted, like Abraham, like the blind man, before the promptings of the Holy Trinity?

Music for the service performed by members of the Schola Cantorum of the St. Gregory Society, will include the Gregorian chant ‘Missa Orbis factor’ (Vatican edition XI), the chant proper for the Mass (Esto mihi), the antiphon “Ave Regina coelorum” and the responsory, “Media vita.”

Catechesis

Solemn Mass for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany

The Third Sunday after the Epiphany will be observed in a celebration of High Mass at St. Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street, New Haven, this Sunday, January 24, at 2:00 pm. Father Richard G. Cipolla, Pastor emeritus of St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk, will be the celebrant, Father Robert L. Turner, pastor of St Ambrose Parish, North Branford, will be the deacon, and members of the Schola Cantorum of the St. Gregory Society will sing the Gregorian chants for the service.

The texts of the liturgy for this day testify to our Lord’s universal royalty and divinity. The two miracles recounted in the Gospel have the same meaning. The first was worked on behalf of a Jewish leper whom Jesus commanded to make known his cure to the priests “for a testimony unto them”; the second was on behalf of a Roman centurion who bore witness, by his words of humility and trust, of his faith in Christ. All nations, then, are called to enter into the Kingdom to share in the heavenly feast at which the divinity of Christ will be the food of their souls.

As children in the kingdom of Heaven, let us renew our faith in Christ’s divinity, and let us give testimony to it by living by the rule of Christian charity, that great commandment which is emphasized by St. Paul in today’s Epistle. “Charity” says, St. Augustine, “is the effect of faith in Jesus Christ.”

Music for the sacred Liturgy to be sung by the Schola Cantorum of the Saint Gregory Society will include the Missa “Orbis factor” (Vatican edition XI) chant ordinary, the Gregorian proper for the Epiphany: “Adorate Deum omnes angeli,” the antiphons “Alma Redemptoris Mater” and “Tribus miraculis,” the hymn “O sola magnarum urbium,” and organ music.

News

The Feast of the Holy Family, 2021

The Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph will be observed in a celebration of Solemn Mass at St. Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street, New Haven, this Sunday, January 10, at 2:00 pm. The Reverend Richard G. Cipolla, pastor emeritus of St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk, will be the celebrant, The Reverend Robert L. Turner, pastor of St. Ambrose Parish, North Branford, will be the deacon and members of the Schola Cantorum of the St. Gregory Society will sing the Gregorian chants for the service.

Pope Leo XIII the Feast of the Holy Family for Canada in 1893, and Pope Benedict XV established this Feast on the Sunday after the Epiphany on the universal calendar. In their lowly dwelling at Nazareth, by practicing the domestic virtues of charity, obedience, mutual help and regard, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph hallowed family life. There, too, they constantly found joy and peace in recollection and prayer in common.

May we as well, during this joyful season of Christmastide, meditate on the Holy Family as the model of virtue for all Christian households.

Music for the liturgy to be sung by the Schola Cantorum of the Saint Gregory Society will include the Missa de Marialis (Vatican edition IX/X) chant ordinary, the Gregorian proper for the Holy Family: “Exsultet gaudio” the Christmas chants “Resonet in laudibus”, “Corde natus ex parentis”, and “Puer natus in Bethlehem”, and organ music.