24. Liturgical Year & Sunday School

24. Lineamenta on The Liturgical Year and Sunday School

THE LITURGICAL YEAR AND SUNDAY SCHOOL

The Holy Mother Church unfolds the whole mystery of Christ throughout the course of the year and celebrates His saving work by recalling it on certain days in a church calendar called the Liturgical Year. She keeps memory of the Lord from His incarnation and birth until his resurrection and ascension, the day of Pentecost, and the expectation of His hope-full return (Sacrosanctum Concilium [SC], 102). Every week, on the day which the Church calls the Lord’s Day, it keeps the memory of the Lord’s resurrection that she also celebrates once in the year in the most solemn feast of Easter. The unfolding of the Paschal Mystery of the Lord every Sunday in a week is made in a three-year cycle of A, B and C in the Liturgical Calendar in order to have a spread of the reading of most of the books of the Bible or Sacred Scriptures. The weekdays have a two-year cycle of I and II to allow the faithful to meditate on most of the text of the Sacred Scriptures so that by hearing the word of God and taking part in the Eucharist through the week they “may call to mind the passion, the resurrection, and the glorification of the Lord Jesus, and may thank God who ‘has begotten us again, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto a living hope’ (1 Peter 1:3)” (SC, 106). The Church mandates that “The Lord’s Day, on which the paschal mystery is celebrated, is by apostolic tradition to be observed in the universal Church as the primary holiday of obligation” (Canon 1246). On these days and other holidays of obligation, “the faithful are obliged to assist at Mass. They are also to abstain from such work or business that would inhibit the worship to be given to God, the joy proper to the Lord’s Day” (Canon 1247). This is to allow the faithful to immerse into the depth of the salvific action of Christ through the liturgical celebrations spread out through different Seasons: Advent and Christmas Season, Lent and Holy Week and Easter Season and the Sundays of the Ordinary Year. Of great importance to the local Church of our Diocese of San Carlos is the celebration of the fiesta that for the parishes and the basic ecclesial communities represents an added occasion to honor the patron saint and to thank God on this occasion. Arguably, the most popular one are the fiesta celebrations in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Lord Jesus and after her follows the celebration of other saints like St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Isidore, St. Joseph, the apostles and other saints. The different celebrations through the Liturgical Year is an opportune time for the Total Catechesis Program in parishes and basic ecclesial communities to teach the faithful, from the children to the adults, the doctrines of our faith. Catechesis can be family-based, community-based (in basic ecclesial communities), school-based and parish-based. Community-based and parish-based catechesis can be in form of a “Sunday School” that uses the class-room method or it can be an evangelization program that uses the existing mass media in order to reach out to most of the faithful in our diocese. The catechesis that goes with the fiesta and other celebrations can be done in a form of a novena or any other format appropriate for the local church and its cultural environment. What ever program and activities of evangelization done in relation to the celebrations throughout the Liturgical Year should lead to a deeper understanding of God and His saving actions, of Christian truths and values and of the meaning of the feasts in the context of our present social reality.

Questions for small group discussions:
1. How should we spend and/or celebrate our Sundays, Feast Days and Holy Days of obligation?
2. Are fiestas and other celebrations in our parish and basic ecclesial communities throughout the Liturgical Year an occasion for catechesis and Christian formation? Why?
3. How can we make our novenas and other devotional activities in our parish and basic ecclesial communities meaningful and evangelizing?
4. What can we do so that our celebrations throughout the Liturgical Year can deepen the spirituality and commitment of our lay faithful in our parish and basic ecclesial communities?

23. Social Services & People's Organizations

23. Lineamenta on Social Services and People’s Organizations

SOCIAL SERVICES AND PEOPLE’S ORGANIZATIONS

God has a fatherly concern for all of us and willed that we constitute into one family (Gaudium et Spes [GS], 24). Jesus Christ signified this call to be one as a certain likeness to the Trinitarian Union when he prayed, “May they all be one as you Father are in me and I am in you” (John 17:21). True to this social nature we are called to “treat one another in the spirit of brotherhood” (GS, 24). This implies that we are interdependent to one another (GS, 25) and shall, therefore, take into account the “needs and legitimate aspirations of other groups, and even of the general welfare of the entire human family” (GS, 26). The progress of the human person and the advance of society itself hinge on the interdependence of human beings on one another, so evident in the ties that bind like the family and the social groupings that facilitate personal growth and development. Social services revolve around these reciprocal but essential ties which give rise to a variety of organizations, movements, associations, institutions and foundations. In spite of the services of these associations and institutions that alleviate human condition, to a great extent the qualitative life and development of the people and society are mainly affected by the environment, social and personal conditions which certainly “are often diverted from doing good and spurred toward evil by the social circumstances in which they live and are immersed from their birth” (GS, 25). Inevitably this stark reality of our present society, marked by selfishness and violence, graft and corruption and poverty and exploitation, comes into collision with Christian values derived from the Gospel of our Lord and calls us to rethink our world-view, to change our character and strategies of life and to have a missionary activity with special concern for the different sectors of our society. The Second Plenary Council of the Philippines (PCP II) in 1991 underscores the following concerns: “Taking a closer look at the particularities of our society, we see there are a few sectors in it that call for special attention from us as a Church: Tribal Filipinos, children and youth, women, peasants, the urban poor, fisher folk, and the disabled.” (PCP II, 375). In the Decrees of that same Council it stated that the Church “should develop a comprehensive theology of stewardship” (PCP II Decrees, article 31). It points out that social action apostolate, which is focused on the task of social transformation, “must become a vital involvement of the Church at all levels” (PCP II Decrees, article 22 #2 ) and “must set up special programs to address such crucial issues as peace and economy, agrarian and industrialization concerns, the exploitation of women and minors, migrant and overseas workers, children and youth, and intensify the organization of the grassroots people” (PCP II Decrees, article 23 #1). Specifically, the Church in our times is asked to look into the social concerns and issues of the different sectors and to build a network of alliances and involvement with grassroots organizations or people’s organizations. In her active involvement in social services and her solidarity with people’s organizations, she becomes the Church of the poor and recognizes the power of the poor to evangelize (Enrique Dussel, “The Ebb and Flow of the Gospel” in Concilium, October 1986, pp. 96-97). Accompanying the poor in their struggle for qualitative life where there is justice, peace, truth and freedom, she is becoming prophetically missionary and hope-bearingly evangelizing where the evangelizing locus par excellence is the “Church of the Poor” (Ibid., pp. 97-98). In the Church, people’s organizations find the compassionate guidance of a mother and our social services will have an evangelizing character and our evangelization will carry a liberating social concern.

Questions for small group discussion:

How can we reach out to grassroots associations and people’s organizations in our parishes and basic ecclesial communities?
How can grassroots associations of farmers, fishermen, hacienda workers and other groups and organizations of common people establish a dialogue and working relations with our parish priest and parish lay leaders?
How can we make our social services liberating and done according to the eyes of the poor?

22. Ministry of Servers

22. Lineamenta on the Ministry of Servers

THE MINISTRY OF SERVERS AND CHILDREN MINISTRY

Christ, the “way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) to the youth in search for meaning and value in life, has a compassionate heart for the children. In one endearing moment, “he took a little child, set him in the midst of them, and putting his arms around him said to them, “Whoever welcomes a child such as this in my name, welcomes me” (Mark 9:36-37). To “set him in the midst” is to place the child in a significant place reserved for the Torah or Law which is an obvious gesture how Jesus considered the children as important and the Kingdom of God that has already dawned through Him belong to them and to the disciples who would be child-like. It represents a fundamental shift of standpoint and perspective that Christian discipleship means that we have to be passionately concerned for the dignity and rights of children and to have a resolute commitment to a society in which children no longer have to live out an insignificant role but find their place in the midst of it with an active contribution to our life of faith. “In the family, parents have the task of training their children from childhood to recognize God’s love for all men…Children must also be educated to transcend the family circle, and to open their minds to ecclesiastical and temporal communities. They should be so involved in the local community of the parish that they will acquire a consciousness of being living and active members of the people of God” (Apostolicam Actuositatem [AA], 30) “Children also have their own apostolic work to do. In their own way, they can be true living witnesses to Christ among their companions” (AA, 12). In this light, the Church does not only have Cultural and Sports Program, Sunday School and Catechesis for children, she also recognizes the gifts and talents of children and so encourages them to be members of children’s choir and as altar servers.
Altar servers or acolytes are those who accompany the priest or the deacon in order to help them during Eucharistic celebrations. Formerly it is a “minor order” reserved for one who is in the preparatory stage for priestly ordination. In 1972 Pope Paul VI restored it also as a lay ministry. At present altar servers are those children or adolescents who help the priest or deacon at the service of the altar and they carry the cross, candles, books, incense, wine and water, and give the celebrant anything needed. The altar servers are not instituted acolytes but de facto act as such in most ways. Parish priests must be aware of the positive contribution acolytes and servers render to the liturgy and divine worship so, every parish and basic ecclesial community should have a group of well-formed altar servers. Proven in their integrity and commitment, the parish priest shall form them comprehensively in order to have a correct understanding of the Eucharist and the sacraments.
The presence of children round the altar is very significant for their invaluable services, for representing the whole community and for making every celebration meaningful and festive. Altar servers should wear liturgical attire for esthetic, festive and sacred reason. Parents should inspire their children to be acolytes or altar servers not only to consider its educative factor in the faith for them and for the community, it also nurtures priestly vocations. A good number of priests had been altar servers in their youth which simply probes that the ministry of altar servers is a good source for priestly vocation. Altar servers and their parents should bear in mind the meaning of this ministry of altar servers. Since the Eucharist is the “re-presentation” of the sacrifice of Christ, so they themselves must become a sacrifice to the Lord, exhibiting dedication and concern for their fellowmen and genuine love and deep appreciation of the Eucharist.

Questions for small group discussions

1. How should the altar servers be formed in the parish? How can we have a common curriculum for their formation in our diocese?
2. Do we allow girls to join the ministry of servers and be altar girls? If yes, why; if not, why not?
3. What programs and activities, which should be organized in the whole diocese, so we can continuously encourage children and adolescents to be altar servers, have a proper formation and promote priestly and religious vocation?

21. LECOM & Bible Apostolate

21. Lineamenta on LECOM and Bible Apostolate

LAY LECTORS AND COMMENTATORS’ MINISTRY AND BIBLE APOSTOLATE

God reveals himself and his love, goodness and mercy in the Word-made-Flesh, Jesus Christ who is the primordial revelation of God the Father. God’s self-communication through Him is unfolded through creation and events enshrined in the Holy Scriptures wherein the Word of God becomes history to reveal Him who wills that we should have “life of fullness” (John 10:10). When we read and reflect on the Holy Scriptures or the Bible, we proclaim the word of God. “When the Scriptures are read in the church, God himself is speaking to his people, and Christ, present in his own word, is proclaiming the Gospel. The readings must therefore be listened to by all with reverence; they make up a principal element of the liturgy” (General Instruction of the Roman Missal [GIRM], 1975, #9). The preaching of the word of God by those involved in the Ministry of Lectors and Commentators and the Bible Apostolate has a very essential place in the life of the Church and the faith of the people. “The preaching of the word is necessary for the sacramental ministry. For the sacraments are sacraments of faith and faith has its origin and sustenance in the word.” (Presbyterorum Ordinis [PO], 1965, #4). The nourishing, sustaining and holy word of God entrusted to them to be proclaimed to the people requires the Lay Lectors, Commentators and Preachers the personal integrity and transparency needed for their prophetic task. They must be “truly qualified and carefully prepared in order that the faithful will develop as warm and lively love for Scripture from listening to the reading of the sacred texts” (GIRM #66). It is not only a sense of duty to immerse into and to pray the scriptures but also to be one with God through His word to be nourished and be deepened in our spiritual life.
In this Ministry of the Word, Lay Lectors have a place of prominence since their main task is the proclamation of the Word of God to the community. This Ministry of Lectors has been for centuries a “minor order” reserved for the clerics as a preparatory stage for priestly ordination but in 1972, Pope Paul VI converted this into two kinds of lectors: 1) Lector as a minor order reserved for clerics as a preparatory stage for the priesthood and 2) Lay Lectors who are laypersons deputed on temporary basis to answer the pastoral needs of the parish. Most of our Lectors and Commentators in our parishes, who are lay people deputed and installed temporarily as Ministers of the Word in the Diocese of San Carlos, fall under this category. Since they are deputed on temporary basis, the status of the Lay Lectors depends on the discretion of the Parish Priest and they have to renew their commitment yearly. Lay Lectors have three major tasks: 1) the proclamation of the Word of God in the liturgical Assembly; 2) the instruction of children and adults in the faith (catechesis) and 3) the preaching of the message of salvation to those who have not yet received it. The Lay Lector follows the norms and guidelines for the proper fulfillment of his task like: (i) to proclaim the word of God from the Lectionary, (ii) to maintain eye contact with the assembly, (iii) to avoid unnecessary gestures, (iv) to know when to pause, (v) to have proper attire, posture, pronunciation and diction, and (vi) to be committed to the Lay Lector’s tasks and follow their assigned portion since the readings are assigned to the different readers and at different dates.
The Ministers of the Word has a well defined set of requirements like: a) he or she must be an exemplary Catholic, b) adequately literate, c) has completed the Lay Lectors and Commentators Seminar established for his or her proper training and formation, e) has a firm will to render faithful service to God and the Christian people. The Ministry of Lay Lectors, Commentators and Preachers of the Word of God is a commitment to keep. St. Paul has this message for them: “preach the Word, in season and out of season…So be prudent, do not mind your labor, give yourself to your work as an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:2, 5).

Questions for small group discussions

1. How should our Ministry as Lay Lectors, Commentators and Preachers be in our parishes and basic ecclesial communities?
2. How can we have a good, meaningful and effective Bible Apostolate in our parishes and basic ecclesial communities?
3. How can we systematize and have a common formation program and curriculum for the training of our Lay Lectors, Commentators and Preachers in our diocese?

20. Liturgical Music & Art

20. Lineamenta on Liturgical Music and Art

THE MINISTRY OF MUSIC AND DIOCESAN CULTURAL PROGRAM


Sacred music and art and other cultural expressions of faith and worship are addressed to God the Father who created us in his image and likeness and every creature with its purpose, beauty and goodness (Genesis 1:1-27). They play an important part in our worship and ecclesial gatherings for the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful (Vatican II: Sacrosanctum Concilium [SC], chapter VI & VII). Greater than that of any other art, sacred music has an “immeasurable value” since it “increases in holiness to the degree that it is intimately linked with liturgical action, winningly expresses prayerfulness, promotes solidarity, and enriches sacred rites with heightened solemnity” (SC, 112). “Liturgical action is given a more noble form when sacred rites are solemnized in song, with the assistance of sacred ministers and the active participation of the people” (SC, 113). Hence, sacred music has to be preserved and fostered with great care (SC, 114), has to be taught in seminaries and formation houses of religious congregations (SC, 115) and fostered among the lay faithful (SC, 118). Local or indigenous religious music can also be adapted into our Church liturgy (SC, 119 & 120). Composers and singers of sacred music “must be given a genuine liturgical training” (SC, 115) and the local Church is encourage to “found higher institutes of sacred music whenever this can be done” (Ibid.)
Sacred art, as the highest achievement and considered the noblest expression of human genius, is sought for use in divine worship and it “should be truly worthy, becoming, and beautiful, signs and symbols of heavenly realities” (SC, 122). The art should be sacred and with noble beauty; and the local church should exclude art works which are repugnant to Christian faith, morals and piety and lack artistic worth (SC, 124). Sacred furnishings and vestments should worthily and beautifully serve the dignity of worship but the church also “welcomed those changes in materials, style, or ornamentation which the progress of the technical arts has brought with the passage of time” (SC, 122).
The primary role of sacred music, sacred art and sacred furnishings is to support the liturgical rite and enacts the paschal mystery of Christ and the pattern that this mystery lays out for our lives. The cantor or song leader and the choir should bear in mind that their role is not to entertain, nor to keep the faithful “interested” when the rite seems dry but to help the people to surrender to the Paschal Mystery as it unfolds within the rite. The cantor and the choir members require personal skills and qualities beyond the ability to sing well. They should have quality of personal presence which is paying attention to others, listening well and communicating easily. They should be poised in front of a group and have a certain level of technical skill that allows them to take personal responsibility for the music ministry. They should be transparent, open to critique and coaching and open to learn new ways of doing this ministry well. Moreover, beyond improving their vocal and gestural skills, they need to deepen their spirituality so that they may prayerfully sing and perform their ministry that unfolds the story of God’s salvific activity for all.
Thomas Day offered the following advice to improve music ministry in the Church: (Thomas Day, Why Catholics Can’t Sing [N.Y.: Crossroad, 1990], pp. 169-170):
1. The pastor or parish priest should have a constructive involvement and gives congregational singing a significant boost.
2. Let the assembly hear its own voice, not the voice of an ego behind a microphone.
3. Put a reasonably good musician in charge of the music.
4. Occasionally, sing unaccompanied music supported only by a choir. Parishes with limited resources can produce some rugged yet impressive sounds with plain unaccompanied singing of plain music.
5. Maybe once a week, maybe once a month, let the music reach its full potential; let the entire assembly sense that it is doing its best to pray in song.
6. Hymn and songs are useful, but they can die from overuse. Catholicism’s real musical destiny is in the singing of the actual texts of the liturgy.
7. Avoid “contemporary” songs that sound palpitatingly romantic.
8. Encourage music as an art.
9. Good congregational singing begins with a sense of beloved familiarity.
If we are to encounter the Paschal Mystery of Christ to its depths through the sacred music and art, it is to immerse into it and let the workings of God unfold marvelously that you need not look any further than your chosen liturgical ministry and your daily life to find the way of salvation.

Questions for small group discussion:

How would you want your music ministry be in your parish?
How should our sacred art and furnishings be in our churches and places of worship?
How can we coordinate and systematize the music ministry and the different cultural activities in our diocese?

19. Lay Ministers

19. Lineamenta on Lay Ministers

Lay Ministers and Worship at the GKK Chapels

The Church, founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ, is a community of disciples who are firmly believing, sincerely worshipping, generously serving, prophetically witnessing and joyfully radiating the gospel. As a community, God calls the faithful to participate in His life not merely as individuals but also as people who acknowledge Him in truth and serve Him in holiness. To nurture and promote constant growth of this Community, our Lord instituted a variety of ministries by virtue of our baptism like the ordained ministry of bishops, priests and deacons and the call of the lay faithful to certain ministries according to their proper roles in the Christian community. Through these ministries the parish is made into a “dynamic Eucharistic and evangelizing community of communities” where parish priests have new and effective shepherding and do not monopolize the activities of the parish to allow more lay participation so that every one may have a part in the growth of the Christian community (PCP II, 600). In this way the lay faithful will feel they are part of the development of the Parish family where all their ministries and community life are oriented to the person of Jesus Christ and their love and service are centered on God and not on the “inclination and personal preferences of the incumbent pastors” (PCP II, 601). In many of our GKK or Basic Ecclesial Communities in the Diocese of San Carlos, we have Lay Ministers of the Word and Lay Ministers of the Eucharist. The Second Plenary Council of the Philippines underscores the value of these two ministries: “We look forward with confidence to the time when our Lay Ministers of the Word and of the Eucharist will help lead the thorough-going renewal of Christian life in all our parishes. Such renewal will bring parishioners to renewed and renewing celebrations of God’s Word and God’s Love in a worshipping as well as caring community centered on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh who continues to dwell among us.” (PCP II, 607)
The Lay Ministers of the Word and the Eucharist are co-workers of the Parish and the Christian community in pursuing renewal and renewed evangelization and worship with new ways, new fervor and new expressions but always in line with the program of the parish and in coordination with the parish priest. If formed by a wholesome and comprehensive common Diocesan Curriculum for Lay Ministers’ Education and Training and following a common Diocesan Manual for Lay Ministers, the Lay Ministers of the Word and of the Eucharist have a vital role in nourishing and renewing the GKK or BEC. The Lay Ministers of the Word or Lectors, who are given the great task of expressing the inexpressible mystery of God’s unfathomable love and mercy, can proclaim the word of God to the people who hunger for God’s sanctifying message. The Lay Ministers of the Eucharist, who are given the improbable task to share the Body of Christ to the faithful, can manifest God’s ongoing work of sanctification to all who have been made in the divine image. Men and women who are appointed to these ministries have taken into themselves the responsibility to internalize the Gospel of our Lord Jesus in their own lives to be role models to the people so that evangelizing through their example, God’s Kingdom will reign up to the grass roots level of our communities where faith-life and worship will be more intense and vibrant.

Questions for small group discussions:
What would you want your lay ministers to be? How should their life and services be characterized?
How should our lay ministers be trained and formed to be effective in fulfilling their ministries?
What can you do as an individual and as a community to make our worship at the GKK or BEC level more alive and meaningful?

18. Eucharist & Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament

18. Lineamenta on the Eucharist

The Holy Eucharist and the Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament

Jesus Christ gathered together his apostles for the last supper and took bread and give thanks to God (Lk 22:19; I Cor 11:24; Mk 14:23; Mt 26:27). This thanksgiving meal is the beginning of the Eucharist, the sacramental meal wherein the gracious gift we respond with gratefulness is the salvific reality placed therein by Christ, which is Christ himself with his being and work. Hence, we say that the Eucharist is the actualizing of the salvific reality Christ, through the words of thanksgiving, uttered over the bread and wine. This supper with his apostles wherein Jesus broke bread and shared the cup with them with his words “This is my body…this is my blood” he has summed up in it his whole messianic being and work, give his followers concentrated expression in a visible and even edible blessing and bequeathed them the sacrament of the Eucharist. From this institution of the Eucharist by the historical Jesus which the Church celebrates by virtue of the authority and the commission which was expressly given to her by him has evolved from the apostolic tradition’s breaking of the bread (I Cor 11:23ff.) to the present post-Vatican II Liturgy of the Eucharist.
Vatican II Constitution of the Church clearly states the meaning of the Eucharist to the people of God: “Taking part in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, which is the fount and apex of the whole Christian life, they offer the divine victim to God, and offer themselves along with It. Thus, both by the act of oblation and through holy Communion, all perform their proper part in this liturgical service, not, indeed, all in the same way but each in that way which is appropriate to himself. Strengthened anew at the holy table by the Body of Christ, they manifest in a practical way that unity of God’s People which is suitably signified and wondrously brought about by this most awesome sacrament.” (Lumen Gentium [LG], 11) PCP II states that the Eucharist, led by the priest who is “the servant-leader of a Eucharistic community”, is the center of every Christian community. “No Christian community is built up which does not grow from and hinge on the celebration of the most holy Eucharist….The center of the assembly over which the priest presides is the Eucharist and every work of the apostolate is directed to it.” (PCP II, 523)
What is vital is not a “mere multiplication of Masses or the rubrical perfection of Eucharistic celebrations” but “that the whole assembly should become a living offering to God joined to the Eucharistic sacrifice” (PCP II, 524). The Plenary Council reminds us that “Priests in the ministry should continue to develop their preaching skills and the art of presiding meaningfully in Eucharistic celebrations” (PCP II, 180) and to all the faithful “to return the Eucharist to its rightful place—at center of our private, ecclesial and societal lives and not at its fringes” (PCP II, 181)
The Eucharist as wellspring of a vibrant Christian community does not only foster the community celebration that keeps us in touch with the dynamic power of Father, Son and Holy Spirit that holds us together, it also helps us to internalize the deeper meaning and relevance of the Eucharist to our lives through Eucharistic devotions. Perpetual Eucharistic adoration, Procession, Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, novenas and prayers to Blessed Sacrament and other Eucharistic renewal movements are growing in popularity and number. These devotions offer avenues for heighten social awareness and concern since our contact with God in prayer and the Eucharist makes us grow in the fervor of witnessing to our faith concretely into a “faithful, creative, persevering and visible commitment.” (PCP II, 199)

Questions for small group discussions:
How should Eucharistic celebrations be done in our parish, Christian communities and groups?
What efforts should be done to make our Eucharistic celebrations relevant to our culture and situation and would heighten the awareness of the people for social concern and responsibility?
Are our Eucharistic devotions helping us to be better Christians and facilitate the transformation of our society?