About Synthesis

Most lay Catholics go to Mass just for the sake of fulfilling their Sunday Obligation and the Obligation on Holy Days (e.g. Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, and the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception). On the other hand, some priests just give out stories on their sermons just for the sake that they have something to say in the Homily even if this means sacrificing the substantial reason why we celebrate a feast or why a specific passage from Sacred Scriptures was selected for a said Sunday or a said feast, not to mention not explaining it well.

That is how I see it. I also have to admit that I devote most of the time ranting and criticizing things that seems to be off-the-cuff as far as what I know about the Church's teachings are concerned. Though this might seem to be necessary, taking the higher road should always be the first option; and this is how I attempt to change my approach on things pertaining to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

So what is the higher road?

As I see it, it is feeding the clergy and the faithful with as much accuracy on Scriptural passages as possible, of course with a sting of how to refute misinterpretations by non-Catholics and the sweetness of how to properly reflect the passages of the day.

This is the reason why I would like to create "Synthesis".

Synthesis was originally intended as an audio-only show on YouTube, but due to the situation in the Visayas and Mindanao regions (the aftermath of the earthquake in Bohol, the war in Zamboanga, and the devastation of Supertyphoon Haiyan/Yolanda) it seems that it is much proper if I should start where I really started: blogging. Besides, making it as an audio show has a threat that people may only hear the voice behind it, but never listen to the message. It is never, and will never be, created as a substitute to the Mass, but rather, a supplement of it.

I would be posting the reflections every Saturday night so that priests may still have a time to review their sermons and so that the faithful may have an "advanced reading" on the the readings of the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, while also featuring the propers of the Extraordinary.

Finally, this blog is all about how to really live out the message of the Gospel within the tenets of the Church, specifically as a response to the Year of Faith. As much as possible, I shall make this little niche of scribbles be a manifestation of Pope Emeritus Benedict's call for the "sense of the sacred" and the "hermeneutic of continuity" , as well as Pope Francis's suggestion of simplifying Divine Revelation in Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium without sacrificing the truths that we know and we continue to understand.

Just a few reminders:

-Go to Mass every Sunday and every Holy Day of Obligation. If it is convenient for you, go to Mass every day!

-Listen to the Homily, even if you have read the insights here.

-Receive Jesus at Holy Communion, or if you feel you are in the state of mortal sin, GO TO CONFESSION FIRST!

And finally…

-Live out what was taught to you! (VERY IMPORTANT POINT!)

For a free access to the Extraordinary Form propers, I would be basing on the ones posted at http://missale.heliohost.org/ for your convenience.

So sit back and allow yourself to read what I would have to say in my effort to make every reflection more meaningful--one Mass at a time. 

In Christum Dominum Nostrum, 

--IJR