Episode 2000: The Mass: Introduction

The Fulton J. Sheen Sunday Missal, arranged and edited by Fr Philip Caraman SJ and Fr James Walsh SJ, is a liturgical book designed to assist Catholics in their participation in the Sunday Mass. The missal is named after Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, a prominent American Catholic bishop known for his preaching and television programs in the mid-20th century.
Published by Hawthorn Books Inc., the missal contains the order of the Mass, prayers, readings, and other liturgical texts specific to Sundays and feast days throughout the liturgical year. The arrangement and editing by Philip Caraman SJ and James Walsh SJ incorporate insights and guidance from the Jesuit tradition.
I received this wonderful missal as a gift and what makes it even more wonderful are two things:
First, it was published in the year of my birth 1961.
Second, I already had a book titled “This is the Mass” which has pictures of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen celebrating the Mass. This book was published in 1958.
The Missal and the Book go together like hand and glove. I feel so extremely fortunate to have them and what a Treasure.
I have provided so many of my episodes on the Mass but
I must say that from the very first memory I had of the Mass I have always felt united in it. It captured me and it was truly my very first love. It was my love with Christ.
As Padre Pio said:
"The earth could exist more easily without the sun than without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass."
I wanted to share with you ten parts that I found in the beginning of the Fulton Sheen Missal that are short in of themselves but so powerful and so this episode is my introduction, but I will wait to publish the ten episodes until after Easter but before Pentecost.
The Missal is uniquely arranged in that you do not have to flip around as much as with the Traditional Mass Missals. I am still learning it, but I must say I love it.