The Roman Missal arrived just yesterday. Still in its packaging, it was begging for me to do something. What I decided to do was to let the school children open it
Today, at Mass with the 6th, 7th and 8th graders of our school, I volunteered the two students with a date of birth or a date of baptism closest to November 27 to open the package. For me the suspense was building, as I told them, “I haven’t seen it yet myself. The pages are going to be crisp. The binding and cover will be unblemished, no fingerprints or marks. The colored ribbons will be bright and ironed. The words will be fresh. The music is going to want to sing itself right off the page.” 
Standing on the sanctuary steps with their religion teachers and their music teacher, and with the music director and the deacon of St. Andrew parish, Kyle and Claire removed the outside plastic wrap. Inside the box they found the Missal covered with another coat of clear wrap. “Should we open it?” they asked. “Of course! It’s so big. Is it heavy?”
The edges of the pages were gold. As they held it, they let me open it up to look inside. The book opened to the feast of the Annunciation. A full size picture was in color. The first letter of paragraphs of the prayers were capitalized and decorated. We found the feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and put a ribbon at that place. St. Andrew, on November 30, got the red ribbon, being an Apostle.
The Church has given us a great big gift. Today at St. Andrew-St. Elizabeth Ann Seton we received the gift and opened it. Kyle took it into the sanctuary and opened it up on the altar. We are ready for Kyle’s birthday. I mean, we are getting ourselves ready – and are getting anxious – for the First Sunday of Advent to arrive.
The new English translation of the Roman Missal, Third Edition has arrived and is in our custody. We love it!
With Open Doors 
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