Also in September a 12 week series on the Book of James will be offered: cost of materials $25.oo, scholarships possible upon request.

For additional information or to register, please contact Kathy at the parish office.

The cost is $15.00 per child and includes a t-shirt.

Registration can be done at the parish office during business hours: Monday-Thursday, 8:30 to 5, and Friday, 8:30 to noon.

It provides an opportunity for busy people to deepen their relationship with God and grow in spiritual freedom. The retreat sets apart time in the midst of everyday life to help participants discern more clearly God’s movement in their lives.

The retreat focuses on the life, teachings, death and resurrection of Jesus through a prayerful encounter with scripture.

If you feel God calling you to this kind of spiritual journey, register before July 4th. You need time to prepare for this prayer experience and to be evaluated as to readiness for this commitment.

For more information, contact: Sister Marie Ballmann, OSB at 913-360-6166; marie@mountosb.org or visit: http://www.mountosb.org/ministries/retreat-in-daily-life

In order to be registered and prepared for this sacrament, you are asked to please contact Kathy Powers at the parish office as soon as possible, 232-2847.

Most of you are familiar with the Sacramentary, the big red book the presider uses at the altar. The Sacramentary is the official book of prayers (Collects that are used from the beginning to the end of Mass, including the Preface, the Eucharistic Prayer) chants, and rubrics (instructions).

In the early Church most prayers were memorized and handed down orally. Eventually, scribes collected these prayers and recorded them. After the invention of the Gutenberg press in 1470 these recorded books of prayers were universally published.

This book, called the Sacramentary has had several revisions throughout the centuries. The most recent revision came as a result of Vatican II published in 1969, and revised in 1975. The New Roman Missal, approved on April 30, 2010, and to be implemented the First Sunday of Advent, 2011, is a more current translation from Latin to English. This current translation will be much closer to the original texts than previous translations, thus will include the use of words and phrases that are new to us. The most obvious change in the New Roman Missal is the response to the works, “The Lord be with you.” The new response, closer to the original Latin prayers is “And with your spirit.”

There are other important, although less obvious text changes that we must become familiar with as we learn more about the new Missal. I will talk about these in future articles.

What is the Roman Missal? The Roman Missal is the source of all liturgical prayers. Often called the Sacramentary (the big red book) it contains all prayers that are used within the Mass.

The primary purpose of the New Roman Missal is intended to be more literal renderings of the original Latin texts so that the meaning contained in them is accurately expressed in English. Some of the changes are quite evident. Although you will be seeing and hearing more of the changes in future articles, the most obvious change is this: Priest: The Lord be with you. Congregation: And with your spirit (instead of, and also with you). This change does reflect the original Latin text.

Yes it is a major change in our way of thinking and praying, and it will require some effort from all of us. For the church, liturgy is work. The word liturgy means, the work of the people. Our participation in the liturgy, whether spoken, sung, gesture, posture, or silence is always work. All this work is meant to foster our relationship with Jesus Christ. The translation of the new Roman Missal, the changes made throughout the liturgy are going to be work for each of us, but all this work will lead us primarily towards one goal; to give glory and praise to God.

So, please be patient, be positive, and be prayerful.