Eliot Kapitan, director of the Office for Worship and the Catechumenate for the Springfield diocese, said the reflections are a form of mystagogy or deeper study.
"The word mystagogy should not scare us off," Kapitan said, who is a member of the committee charged with developing the reflections. "Mystagogy means 'study of the mystery.' For Catholics, that chief mystery is the Paschal Mystery, our central belief in the dead and risen Jesus Christ the Lord. Reflection in a mystagogical style, then, is a way of letting our liturgical praying speak to our daily lives and then deepen our understanding or what it is we believe."
"I am excited to be part of this committee on mystagogy," he said.
The service is free and is available at the FDLC's website at www.fdlc.org or on the diocesan website at www.dio.org/worship/mystagogy.html. On the diocesan website, users can sign up for a free email subscription.
Kapitan is the author of the reflection for the Third Sunday of Advent, Dec. 16. The collect for that day is:
"O God, who see how your people
faithfully await the feast of the Lord's Nativity,
enable us, we pray,
to attain the joys of so great a salvation
and to celebrate them always
with solemn worship and glad rejoicing.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever."
The reflection is:
"This prayer is in a fifth-sixth century collection of prayers. Thought lost, the collection was rediscovered in the 19th century. This prayer was restored to the missal in the work of Vatican Council II. It recalls our waiting for a birthday celebration that looks beyond to the Three Days of Passion, Death, and Resurrection.
"We are still waiting on this Third Sunday. But for what? This prayer reminds us that we are not awaiting the birth of Christ. That has already happened. We are, however, awaiting the coming feast day — the annual celebration that once again recalls the impact of Jesus Christ, no longer a babe, who is our great salvation.
"With every baby, we see and hope for great things to come. In waiting for the feast day of this One, who is God-with-us, we look to the salvation already won for us. This birth leads to Passion and Death. And to new life. So too for us: birth to death; then death to new life."
The reflection ends with a short prayer:
"You are no longer a babe, O Lord, but our risen Savior. Help shape our lives and deaths to be like yours, that one day we may share the lasting joy of new life with you for ever."
For more information on the reflections or on the new translation of the Roman Missal, contact Kapitan at , or call him at (217) 698-8500, ext. 177.