Living H
one day at a time
Hope Love has come…. Rejoice!
The Prefaces of the Mass are often overlooked. It used to be, I’m sad to say, that I hardly even heard them as I waited to sing the Sanctus. The words, “and so we sing with all the angels and saints the hymn of your glory,” would trigger my awareness, and my straying attention would return to the Mass. These lovely prayers, however, quietly offer us a window into eternity.
L
et me share with you what I mean. The prefaces for the Seasons of Advent and Christmas tell us in different ways that human nature was transformed when, in the birth of Christ, Eternity stepped into time:
“When he comes again in glory and majesty and all is at last made manifest we who watch for that day may inherit the great promise in which now we dare to hope” (Advent Preface I). “Already we rejoice at the mystery of his Nativity, so that he may find us watchful in prayer and exultant in his praise” (Advent Preface II). “For through him the holy exchange that restores our life has shown forth today in splendor: