Daily Mass Readings, January 26, 2003

usccb ^

[JMJ333]

I didn't realize this was the case. I do know that the oldest catholic sect, the church of Antioch, is in Northern Iraq, and have been under assault for the last 40+ years by militant muslims. Do you remember the nun who was beheaded late last year over there? I feel extreme pity for the many innocent Iraqi citizens, who are under the yoke of such a tyrannical government. They are unable to stand up against them. My prayers go up for them.

[afraidfortherepublic]

How many years in advance does the Catholic church set the liturgical calendar and pick the Mass readings? It was just chilling that the reading from Jonah was picked for yesterday -- one day in advance of the UN report and 2 days in advance of the State of the Union speech. I can't remember -- is it a 10 year calendar? 3 years? 12 years?

[afraidfortherepublic]

Yesterday's second reading is a show stopper too.

[Desdemona]

How many years in advance does the Catholic church set the liturgical calendar and pick the Mass readings?

The Lectionary is on a three-year cycle using the gospels as a basis. Year A is Matthew, B is Mark (the current one) and C is Luke with exceptions for the Holy Days and special feasts. I'm not sure when the readings themselves were set, how long ago.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Go Here to learn more about Nineveh, or just put Nineveh into your search engines and you will turn up many interesting facts. It appears that ancient Nineveh is now the site (or near the site) of modern day Mosul, sometimes spelled Mossul. It is located in the heart of the Kurdish area but is the home of a number of Christian Assyrians. A Christian community has flourished there for 1000s of years and the people still speak Aramaic -- the language of Jesus, although it is fast declining and may soon be extinct.

[afraidfortherepublic]

The Lectionary is on a three-year cycle using the gospels as a basis...

Thank you. Yes, I think I've heard that.

Years ago, however, it used to be longer which is why I was suggesting a longer period. The Catholic Daily Missel (the one with the 10 book mark ribbons in it) that everyone used to use pre-Vatican II was good for at least 10 years. Then they told us not to buy them any more (around 1968) because they were going to make so many changes and the churches would provide us with the readings until everything settled. We've never gone back to owning our own missels and carrying them to church on Sunday.

I wonder what would happen if they decided to require personal missels again? Would the people welcome it, or would they quit and no longer participate?