Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION
	Every week, some treasures from our tradition are shared here. Where does all this history come from? The history of God’s people of prayer is always coming to light, mostly because scholars have dedicated their lives to research. They translate and ponder prayers and songs; explore the places used for worship; look at the vessels, books, and vestments; and read works from legal documents to letters and diaries. In the 1930s, Hitler’s rush to arm Germany closed seminaries as priests and seminarians alike were drafted into service.
	One professor, Father Josef Jungman, forced from his classroom, spent the war years in an Austrian library. His careful work disclosed much of what we know of the history of the Mass. His great work, The Mass of the Roman Rite, describes the evolution of Eucharistic celebration and inspired generations of scholars to explore a tradition surprisingly rich and varied. It was said of him that he had a command of the past that cast new light on the present, and opened up a clear direction to the future. His contributions to the Second Vatican Council helped shape the way that we worship today. At the end of his life, in 1975, his studies completed, he told a friend that he was waiting patiently for the Lord’s knock at the door to take him to the heavenly banquet.
—James Field