Listen to the Word
Commentaries on selected Opening Prayers
of Sundays and Feasts with Sample Homilies
by:
Daniel P. McCarthy
with two sample homilies by:
James G. Leachman
INTRODUCTION
The opening prayer or collect has received little notice in the reform of the liturgy, although the scholarship behind it is as solid as its tradition is broad and profound. This brief prayer beguiles with brevity and apparent simplicity, and we too easily shy away from the rewarding harvest of encountering this prayer in its mature abundance and gleaning the fruit in its proclamation.
The length of an average opening prayer is four short lines, recited in about ten seconds. If we want the assembly to make the prayer its own, then more time and attention must be given to its effective proclamation. I have found that understanding the literary structure of the prayer is helpful, so that as the prayer unfolds the assembly may make the prayer its own in the hearing.
This book offers a thorough revision of the commentaries first presented in The Tablet from March 2006 – September 2007. The translations have been submitted to the review of Rev. Reginald Foster. The book has been augmented with images from the ambo of Santa Sabina, Rome, with explanations.
CONTENTS
Preface
Rt Rev. John Flack
Foreword
Canon Alan Griffiths
Introductory Material
Valuing the Opening Prayer
Literary Genre of an Opening Prayer
Performative Stages of an Opening Prayer
Commentaries
Advent: 4 Commentaries
Christmas: 3 Commentaries
Lent: 6 Commentaries
Triduum: 3 Commentaries
Easter: 8 Commentaries
Ordinary Time: 29 Commentaries
Feasts: 6 Commentaries
Total: 52 Commentaries
Five Sample Homilies: Preaching from the Prayer
Recovering what was lost
Homily on the opening prayer of the Fifth Sunday of Easter
by James G. Leachman OSB
By mutual participation
Homily on the opening prayer of the Sixth Sunday of Easter
by Daniel P. McCarthy OSB
How to Serve Better, Not How Better to be Served
Homily on the Prayer over the Gifts of the Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time
by James G. Leachman OSB
Liturgy – Our Offering
Homily on the Prayer over the Gifts of the Fourth Sunday of Advent
by Daniel P. McCarthy OSB
To Mutual Self-gift through Service
Homily on the Prayer over the Gifts of the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity
by Daniel P. McCarthy OSB
Scriptural Index
Names Index
Bibliography
TARGET AUDIENCE
You will learn:
♣ How to pray with the church
♣ How to preach from the liturgy
♣ How to compose personal prayers
You will understand:
♣ How the prayers were revised
♣ The intentions behind the liturgical renewal
♣ The living Latin language of the prayers
♣ The interpretation of the prayers as taught at the Pontifical Institute of Liturgy
You will discover:
♣ The sources of the prayers
♣ How the liturgy developed in history
♣ How the prayers are constructed
♣ The sources of prayers used ecumenically
You will be prepared:
♣ to better appreciate your own prayer life
♣ to engage more fruitfully in Lectio divina
♣ to use the new translations due c. 2011
♣ to teach Latin from the prayer of the church
You will move beyond:
♣ The building blocks to consider the larger structures of the prayers
You will appreciate:
♣ The difficulty of translating liturgical texts
♣ The living history of liturgical prayer
LECTIO DIVINA: PRAYERFUL READING
Enrich your Lectio divinaor prayerful reading by developing your prayer and seeing the scripture within:
• Lectio: The proclamation of the scriptures
• Meditatio: Silence after each reading, the homily
• Oratio: Prayerful response to the readings in the Psalm and prayers of the assembly
• Contemplatio: Appreciation of the dialogue
PREACHING FROM THE PRAYER
To limit preaching and reflection to the scriptures omits the Church’s response to the scriptures preserved in these short prayers as much as 1,600 years old. Including the prayers in preaching and reflection further inspires our response to the scriptures.
PURCHASING
In the USA, the book is available from:
St. Benedict’s Abbey Development Office
1020 N 2nd St.
Atchison, KS 66002-1499
(913) 360-7906
AUTHORS
Fr Daniel P. McCarthy OSB, is a monk of St Benedict’s Abbey, Atchison, Kansas. Having just completed his doctorate at the Pontifical Institute of Liturgy, he now teaches and writes in Rome. He is the author of two series of weekly commentaries published in The Tablet, one on the collects (2006-2007), the other on the prayers over the gifts (2007-2008). He is co-director of the DREI project and co-editor of the series Liturgiam Aestimare : Appreciating the Liturgy.
Fr James G. Leachman OSB is a monk of St Benedict’s Abbey, Ealing, London, who teaches and writes at the Pontifical Institute of Liturgy, Rome. He is assistant editor of Ecclesia Orans, co-director of the DREI project and co-editor of the series Liturgiam Aestimare : Appreciating the Liturgy. He writes on the Liturgy of the Church of England and the theology of Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. He edited the volume The Liturgical Subject: Subject, Subjectivity and the Human Person in Contemporary Liturgical Discussion and Critique.
Book Reviews
Kevin McGinnell, “Book review”, Anaphora 4 (2010) 71-73.
Paul Turner, “Book review”, Pastoral Liturgy 41:5 (September – October 2010) 18.
Guerric De Bona, “Book review”, American Benedictine Review 61:2 (June 2010) 210-212.
Ashley Beck, “Book review”, New Diaconal Review 2 (May 2009) 48.
The European Society for Catholic Theology, ET Newsletter (13 July 2009).
William C. Graham, Celebration: A Comprehensive Worship Resource 38:8 (August 2009) 5.
Bosco Peters gives this first review of the book.
On the Series in The Tablet:
Tony Doherty, “Take a bow”, Letters to the Editor, The Tablet (3 December 2011) 18.