Important Update on the Revised Roman Missal, 3rd Edition

The Roman Missal, Third Edition, the ritual text containing prayers and instructions for the celebration of the Mass, is now being prepared for publication.  The Roman Missal will be implemented in the United States of America on the First Sunday of Advent, November 27, 2011.  The ritual editions should start arriving in parishes around October 1, 2011.   Pope John Paul II announced a revised version of the Missale Romanum during the Jubilee Year 2000. Among other things, the revised edition of the Missale Romanum contains prayers for the observances of recently canonized saints, additional prefaces for the Eucharistic Prayers, additional Votive Masses and Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions, and some updated and revised rubrics (instructions) for the celebration of the Mass. The English translation of the Roman Missal will also include updated translations of existing prayers, including some of the well-known responses and acclamations of the people.

Source:  United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.  "Now Is the Time to Prepare for the Roman Missal.  Third Edition."  Accessed February 15, 2011.  http://www.usccb.org/romanmissal/.

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The Meaning of the Paschal Candle

“May the light of Christ, rising in glory, dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds.” Each year at Easter vigils, these words pierce the darkness as Christians gather around the lighting of a large candle. This candle is the paschal candle, sometimes called the Easter candle or Christ candle; its name comes from pasach, the Hebrew word for Passover. Congregations may have different Easter celebrations and very different-looking paschal candles, but the meaning and symbols are universal.

After a period of darkness beginning on Good Friday, congregations first light this candle during their earliest Easter celebrations, signaling Christ’s banishment of death and darkness. This tall white candle represents Christ’s steadfast presence in our midst, and its flickering flame dances with light and warmth, illuminating our shadowed world. We continue lighting the paschal candle each Sunday throughout the Easter season, with most congregations continuing to light it until Ascension Day.

We also light this special candle for baptisms, signifying the Holy Spirit and fire that John the Baptist promised to those baptized in Christ. From this flame, a member of the congregation lights another candle, which is given to the newly baptized along with these words: “Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Just as we light the paschal candle at the beginning of life, so too, we light it at the end of life.  Its presence at the head of a casket or beside an urn reminds us again that Christ triumphed over darkness and death and that even in death, there is brilliant life.

Source:  Candlecarving.info.  "Meaning of the Paschal Candle."  Accessed on February 7, 2011.  http://www.candlecarving.info/Meaning.php.

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A brief history of the chasuble...

Called in Latin casula planeta or pænula, and in early Gallic sources amphibalus, the principal and most conspicuous Mass vestment, covering all the rest. Nearly all ecclesiologists are now agreed that liturgical costume was simply an adaptation of the secular attire commonly worn throughout the Roman Empire in the early Christian centuries. The priest in discharging his sacred functions at the altar was dressed as in civil life, but the custom probably grew up of reserving for this purpose garments that were newer and cleaner than those used in his daily avocations, and out of this gradually developed the conception of a special liturgical attire. In any case the chasuble in particular seems to have been identical with the ordinary outer garment of the lower orders. It consisted of a square or circular piece of cloth in the centre of which a hole was made; through this the head was passed. With the arms hanging down, this rude garment covered the whole figure. It was like a little house (casula). This derivation is curiously illustrated in the prophetic utterance of Druidicalorigin preserved in Muirchu's "Life of St. Patrick", almost the oldest allusion to the chasuble and crosier which we possess.  
        Of the chasuble as now in common usage in the Western Church two principal types appear, which may for convenience be called the Roman and the French. The Roman is about 46 inches deep at the back and 30 inches wide. It is ornamented with orphreys forming a pillar behind and a tall cross in front, while the aperture for the neck is long and tapers downwards. The French type, also common in Germany and in a more debased form in Spain, is less ample and often artificially stiffened. It has across on the back and a pillar in front. In medieval chasubles these orphrey crosses often assume a Yform, and the crosses themselves seem really to have originated less from any symbolical purpose than from sartorial reasons connected with the cut and adjustment.
        Like the other sacred vestments the chasuble, before use, requires to be blessed by a priest who has faculties for that purpose. When assumed in vesting for Mass, the act is accompanied with a prayer which speaks of the chasuble as the "yoke of Christ". But another symbolism is indicated by the form attached to the bestowal of the chasuble in the ordination services: "Receive", says the bishop, "the priestly vestment, by which is signified charity."

Source:  Catholic Encyclopedia.  "Chasuble." Accessed January 31, 2011.  http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03639a.htm