Greetings!

This Special Edition is the first in a series of booklets focusing on the Sacramental signs of our Church. First is the Holy Mass, concentrating on the Holy Eucharist. The other six sacraments will be treated in like manner. It is hoped that this small attempt at explaining the sacraments will enable our readers to understand better what it is we are doing in our ritual actions.

This little booklet cannot pretend to be an exhaustive treatment of the ancient liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. For such an undertaking we would have to devote many more than thirty small pages. I hope to at least give you a "taste" of the depth of our liturgy, a minor explanation of what we do, and a small comparison to how it was in some instances. Mostly I hope that it will change, in some small way, the manner in which you attend Sunday Mass and the way you assist the priest in his prayers as well.

We each have a role to play in the Sacred Rites. If any of us fail in this role, the liturgy is made poorer. When the congregation acts bored, dead, uninterested, distracted... when singing is sparse, when responses are weak... the liturgy will suffer equally as if the priest were behaving likewise or if the choir were to be performing off-key. Our role is to PARTICIPATE with our whole heart: Listening, singing, answering, praying, internalizing and being an active member of this liturgically beautiful manner of prayer, our communal prayer liturgically lived out!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many priests and laity that worked hard in the Seminary to give me a good education. Special thanks go to the Vincentian Order for having produced such a great saint as the recently deceased Father Newman Eberhardt, CM. He was a beloved priest, a son of St. Vincent de Paul, and a model of virtue, self-control, obedience and dedication. I cannot say enough of the stature of that priest for me personally and for all the priests who went through St. John's Seminary in which he taught for more than half a century. I only ask that, since he is in heaven, that he look down with our Blessed Mother, smiling upon us and pleading with her Son Jesus, Our Intercessor to the Father. I also want to thank Father Charles Miller, CM., who taught us the

Liturgy. He is in these pages through the filter of my memory. I also want to acknowledge Mr. Gregory Pesely, one of my professors at St. John's Seminary College who taught me Catholic Philosophy and inspired me to strive forward and receive my degree in philosophy. Mr. Pesely is now a writer for PRAYER IN THE HOME PRESS, INC. and is writing our series commenting on the Catechism of the Catholic Church. And finally, a great part of the schema and research data comes from a book called THE MASS, by Fr. Josef A. Jungmann, S.J. (Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN). It was an invaluable source in our Seminary studies, and if you are so inclined, I would suggest it to you for further reading.

I want you to know that this subject is vast, complicated and beautiful. We have come a long way from that UPPER ROOM in Jerusalem, yet the essence is the same. I hope that this simple tour will be as meaningful and renewing for you as it was for me.