Church's Year, The

The Church’s Year, by Father Leonard Goffine. This classic work (first published in 1880) carries the recommendations of many 19th-century bishops. Fr. Goffine provides the Introit, Collect, Epistle, Gospel, and other prayers for every Sunday and Holy Day (and many other days as well, such as the all the weekdays of Lent, as well as all the feast days of the saints, together with extensive commentaries on the Scripture readings and catechisms on all the liturgical seasons and all the doctrines touched upon in the readings or in the theme for that day, and much, much more. The final 40 pages of this 791-page book provide a complete explanation of the Mass and all its parts; show in parallel columns how the 37 ceremonial parts of the Mass parallel Our Lord’s Passion, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, and pouring out on Pentecost the gift of the Holy Spirit; furnish a multi-page “Manner of Following the Mass at Home” (pages of prayers that unite one to whatever true Mass is taking place elsewhere when one cannot get to Mass – invaluable in this day when many, like the Catholic recusants during the English Reformation, have no true and legal Mass they can get to); a “Pilgrimage to the Holy Land” (with map), and more! “Every member of my family has his or her own copy, and our family uses them on Sundays, holy days, and sometimes other days as well for our family worship. If every family did the same, the remnant Church would be mighty in our day! Indispensable and life-changing!” (Gerry Matatics) Hardcover. $38.