On April 1 over 300 people from all over Lexington attended the BUILD Rally at MQHR. We were reminded about the necessity of working for the needs of our people through the power of the people. We reflected on some of Dr. Martin Luther King’s quotes from the Letter from the Birmingham jail. Such as: “But the judgement of God is upon the church as never before. If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of missions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.”

Continuing our series of various types of prayers, let’s focus on the special prayers unique to our upcoming celebration of Holy Week. This week holds not only our most visual symbols of worship(palms, cross, footwashing, candles, etc…) but also feast of deep prayer. The Triduum (three days) includes prolonged periods of prayer both prescribed and for personal devotional time. The prayers for this week reflect some of the hallmarks of our faith: praying for the world, adoring Christ, and encountering our history in word and action.

The Season of Lent is not only a season of penance, austerity, and sacrifice. It is a very special season of preparation for those who will be coming into the church at Easter. At any point during the year, those who have considered becoming Catholic have entered into Christian Initiation (formerly Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults and now called Order of CIA) which has several different phases beginning with Inquiry. We have over 30 people who will be baptized this Easter (what a tremendous blessing) many of whom are children (in the eyes of the church anyone eight and older is considered an adult).

Continuing our series of various types of prayers, this is our second article breaking down the Eucharistic Prayer. We left off at the first acclamation of the Sanctus (Holy, Holy...). In response to this proclamation of God’s holiness, we adjust our posture by kneeling and prepare for the most sacred moments of the Mass. The priest then offers more words of thanksgiving concerning the nature of God as holy and as creator. Which then leads into the epiclesis. This is when the priest extends his hands over the offerings of bread and wine and implores the Holy Spirit to make them holy. At Mary Queen this moment is accompanied by bell ringing (if we have enough servers).

The Season of Lent is not only a season of penance, austerity, and sacrifice. It is a very special season of preparation for those who will be coming into the church at Easter. At any point during the year, those who have considered becoming Catholic have entered into Christian Initiation (formerly Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults and now called Order of CIA) which has several different phases beginning with Inquiry. We have over 30 people who will be baptized this Easter (what a tremendous blessing) many of whom are children (in the eyes of the church anyone eight and older is considered an adult). ++ El Tiempo de Cuaresma no es solo un tiempo de penitencia, austeridad y sacrificio. Es un tiempo de preparación muy especial para quienes se acercarán a la iglesia en Pascua. En cualquier momento del año, quienes han considerado convertirse al catolicismo han entrado en la Iniciación Cristiana (anteriormente Rito de Iniciación Cristiana para Adultos y ahora llamado Orden de la CIA), que consta de varias fases, comenzando con la Indagación. Tenemos más de 30 personas que se bautizarán esta Pascua (¡qué gran bendición!), muchas de las cuales son niños (para la Iglesia, cualquier persona de ocho años o más se considera adulta).

To prepare for the Nehemiah Action, where we will ask our city officials for specific ways to make Lexington a better place for us all, all Justice Ministry Network Members will gather at MQ for the Rally, April 1, 7 PM. Here we will get the latest updates on what we will ask at the Nehemiah Action and the officials that we will be asking. Then, to win the necessary help for our neighbors we need LOTS of people at the May 6 Nehemiah Action at Central Bank Center. Plan to attend! We will carpool from MQ at 6. Action starts at 7. Mark your calendars, more information will be coming.

The most important sequence of events in our Masses lead to the consecration of the Eucharist. These prayers which transform common bread and wine into the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ are called the Eucharistic Prayer. Though the term is familiar, all of the various components can make this one of the more confusing parts of the Mass to understand. We will take a couple of weeks to break it down. In one missal I have for use at Masses, we have twenty seven pages dedicated to the order of the Mass fifteen of which are dedicated to the Eucharistic Prayer. ++ La secuencia más importante de eventos en nuestras Misas conduce a la consagración de la Eucaristía. Estas oraciones que transforman el pan y el vino común en el cuerpo y la sangre de nuestro Señor Jesucristo se llaman Plegaria Eucarística. Aunque el término es familiar, todos los diversos componentes pueden hacer que esta sea una de las partes más confusas de entender de la Misa. Nos tomará un par de semanas para analizarlo. En un misal que tengo para usar en las Misas, tenemos veintisiete páginas dedicadas al orden de la Misa, quince de las cuales están dedicadas a la Plegaria Eucarística.

We tend to think of Lent as a season of penance, so for this series on Liturgical prayer we will explore our prayers of penance during Mass. We may not be aware of it but we do pray for cleansing at the beginning of each Mass (just after the entrance chant and greeting). There are three options for the penitential acts, and are all structured in different formats. ++ Tendemos a pensar en la Cuaresma como una temporada de penitencia, por lo que para esta serie sobre oración litúrgica exploraremos nuestras oraciones de penitencia durante la Misa. Puede que no seamos conscientes de ello, pero oramos por la limpieza al comienzo de cada Misa (justo después del canto y saludo de entrada). Existen tres opciones para los actos penitenciales, y todas están estructuradas en diferentes formatos.

BUILD Our MQ BUILD Network Meeting is coming up soon - MONDAY, Feb, 24, 7 PM in the church. This is for all Justice Ministry Network Members and anyone else that would like to know more about our issues and what we are working on to make Lexington a City for God. Come and learn more about the 3 issues being worked on:

For our continuing series on liturgical prayers today we discuss the universal prayer. You may not be exactly sure what is meant by this term as the church has been in a habit of changing the title with each iteration of the Missal. This is the prayer in which we offer our petitions after proclaiming the Nicene Creed. Other names we know this by are the General Intercessions and Prayers of the Faithful. ++ Para nuestra serie continua sobre oraciones litúrgicas, hoy analizamos la oración universal. Es posible que no esté exactamente seguro de lo que significa este término, ya que la iglesia tiene la costumbre de cambiar el título con cada iteración del Misal. Ésta es la oración en la que ofrecemos nuestras peticiones después de proclamar el Credo de Nicea. Otros nombres por los que conocemos esto son Intercesiones Generales y Oraciones de los Fieles.

For our continuing series on liturgical prayers we will discuss the orations. These are the three prayers that the priest specifically offers on behalf of the people during the Mass. + Para nuestra serie continua sobre oraciones litúrgicas discutiremos las oraciones. Estas son las tres oraciones que el sacerdote ofrece específicamente en nombre del pueblo durante la Misa.

Our experience of the Mass has multiple modes and means. One of the primary is prayer. In a sense you can look at Mass as an extended form or prayer which opens with the sign of the cross. Within the Eucharistic liturgy though there are several types of prayer. Over the next few weeks we will dig deeper into the various types of liturgical prayer not just at Mass but also including the liturgy of the hours. Nuestra experiencia de la Misa tiene múltiples modos y medios. Una de las oraciones principales. En cierto sentido, la Misa puede verse como una forma extendida de oración que comienza con la señal de la cruz. Dentro de la liturgia eucarística existen varios tipos de oración. Durante las próximas semanas profundizaremos en los diversos tipos de oración litúrgica, no solo en la Misa sino también en la liturgia de las horas.

BUILD is deep into the season of research and I want to give you some updates and then dates coming up. READ MORE HERE BUILD Rally: Tues., April 1, 7 PM, MQHR BUILD Nehemiah Action: Tues., May 6, 6:30, Central Bank Center BUILD Celebration: TH. June 12, 6:30 MQHR All are welcome. Contact Kabby with questions (kakers@cdlex.org.)

When you enter a Catholic church, compared to most other churches, you will often find many unattended and lit candles-a rare sight in this world of insurance regulations. We could intuit that candles are an essential part of our faith. + Cuando ingresa a una iglesia católica, en comparación con la mayoría de las otras iglesias, encontrará muchas velas encendidas y desatendidas, algo poco común en este mundo de regulaciones de seguros. Podríamos intuir que las velas son parte esencial de nuestra fe.

This past week we had a volunteer appreciation dinner to recognize the monumental work that volunteers do to make this parish as strong as it is. Liturgically we frequently focus on the role of the clergy in making Mass happen. We certainly can’t do it without them, but as culture has shifted many of the roles that were fulfilled by the surplus of clergy have now become the role of the laity. This includes the lectors, servers, sacristans, and more. Less than two hundred years ago almost every role would have been fulfilled by clergy. SEE MORE

Event tickets are sold out, but raffle tickets are still available!

When you enter our church during Christmas or Easter the transformation of the space can be overwhelming. The wonderful work that makes this happen is done by our Arts & Environment team, who does much more than decorate for these major celebrations. In addition to decorating, they also serve as stewards of flowers and candles throughout our church space. This can be particularly demanding when there are lots of flowers in the church to keep them fresh and cleaned up.