Past Reflections

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March 15, 2009 - Introduction

by Father Edward L. Beck, C.P.

Dear Parishioner of The Sunday Mass,

Thank you for checking out this new website and for your many calls and letters responding to the changes in The Sunday Mass.  I so appreciate your dedicated involvement.  It is obvious that you feel ownership of the Mass, with many of you having watched it for decades.  We certainly feel that you are our PARISHIONERS, and we want to respond to your needs and requests.  I will use this space each week for a weekly reflection, but I thought it might be important for this first one to be a bit informative and practical about the new direction of the Sunday Mass.  So, here goes:

Let me begin by telling you about our change in the music format for The Sunday Mass.  For many years we had choirs come from all over New York City and beyond to help us worship at the Mass.  This required a lot of coordination as well as chartering buses to bring the choir to our chapel.  To continue this practice seemed to work against our goal of creating a PARISH environment on the air.  If we have DIFFERENT singers and musicians each week we never get to know them or to feel any sense of connection with them.  Also, there is no way to control the quality of the music (though we have been blessed through the years with only the best).  So, we have decided that LESS IS MORE!  And we have been very pleased, as have many of you, with our new choir under the direction of Aaron Diehl.  We can depend on consistently fine quality music each week that helps us to pray.  You may have also noticed that we have a wonderful blend of traditional music, Gospel music, and contemporary music to meet to tastes of the wide array of our viewing audience.  Our singers PRAY their music and give glory to God through their voices.   We thank them for sharing their talents with our viewing audience and us.

Many of you have also commented on the high quality of our lectors.  Indeed we are blessed here as well.  Our lectors do not simply read the Word of God.  They PROCLAIM it, as we are called to in a liturgical setting.  As the Introduction to this issue of The Prayer Guide suggests, the proclamation and internalization of the Word of God is a primary element of the celebration of The Sunday Mass.  Our lectors help us to HEAR the Word better.  May we continue to do our part in internalizing what we hear.

And, of course, you have come to know the Presiders of The Sunday Mass because you are now seeing the same priests every week.  You now know that you can depend on an inspirational homily to help reflect upon the readings.  Even though all of our Presiders are busy with other ministries they make time to prepare and to be with us to celebrate The Sunday Mass.  We are blessed indeed.

And, of course, one of the most exciting things we have to tell you about is this NEW WEBSITE!. You can see the many innovations that have occurred, including the capacity to view archived episodes of The Sunday Mass, or just the homilies if you are in need of additional spiritual sustenance.  You can also learn a lot more about what we do and who we are. Please come visit us often and become part of our family here!

And finally, let me thank you for your continued financial support of The Sunday Mass through your donations for The Prayer Guide and the monies you send to help offset our mounting production costs.  We know that in these tough economic times that it requires great sacrifice for you to assist us financially.  We are most grateful for your continued generosity.  May God bless and keep you always.  Until next week,

In God’s Love,

Father Edward L. Beck, C.P.
Executive Producer and Host of The Sunday Mass