By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS
POPE Francis will be saying his masses (he will have three during his Philippine five-day visit) in English but in Rizal Park, he will start his homily with “Sumasampalataya ako.”
The missalette that will be used in the Rizal Park mass will be eight pages and will contain, for the first time, the Eucharistic Prayer. The text will be in red and blue.
The song, “Tell the World of His Love,” which was sang during the 10th World Youth Day visit of Pope John Paul II in January 1995 will again be sung during the Rizal Park mass.
These pieces of information were shared by Fr. Domie G. Guzman uring the mass at Southmall in Las Piñas yesterday.
Fr. Domie, who belongs to the Society of St. Paul’s (SSP), has been given the challenging and inspiring task of printing the three million missalettes to be used in the Rizal Park mass.
The Society of St. Paul is an international religious congregation of priests and brothers whose particular call and ministry is to bring the message of Jesus Christ to peoples through the communication media. It publishes weekly the four-page missalette, Sambuhay, available by subscription.
Fr. Domie said sometime in September, he was asked by his seminary classmate, Fr. Geni, who is with the Liturgical Commission of the Catholic Bishops Conference, to take charge of producing the missalette for the Rizal Park mass at 3:30 p.m. of January 18, Sunday, where some seven million people are expected.
Fr. Geni said three million missalettes would do. People could just share it – an act or gesture that the Pope has been asking Catholics to do.
A missalette is a shortened missal, a liturgical book containing all instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the year.
Fr. Domie said he asked for an official order from Archbishop Socrates Villegas which came in November.
Everything in the missalette had to be approved by Vatican. He got the Vatican- approved text during the Christmas holidays when almost everybody was on vacation.
The artist worked on the layout first week of January.
Fr. Domie said the eight-page Missalette “ will be in red and blue. The red color is what we call the rubrics which indicate what the Pope is going to do.Parang instructive. Main text is in blue. People’s response will be in bold letters.
He said “This is the first time that we will be including in the missalette what we call the Eucharistic prayer. “
He said the first reading is in Tagalog, the second in English. The Gospel is in English.
“The Prayers for the Faithful will be in Kapampangan, Ilokano, Bicolano, Waray with English translations,”Fr. Domie said.
It will be an awesome event. Fr. Domie said all the bishops will be there on stage. Some 7,000 priests will also be there with more than 10,000 ministers who will be administering the Holy Communion.
Twenty tents will be set up in Rizal Park where the consecrated Host will be reposed. The missalettes will be available for free at the tents.
The three million copies of missalette, which will all be ready by January 16, cost almost P2 million to produce at 66 centavos per copy. So don’t be surprised to see some credits at the last page.
