Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION
	Christian liturgy has always contained an opportunity to make a choice for sharing. From the beginning, Christians pooled their resources, especially for the care of widows and orphans, at the weekly Eucharist. Over the years, the collection became detached from the liturgy and baskets or plates would be passed through the community while the Mass was going on at the altar, or contributions would be collected at the doors. In Milan’s Ambrosian Rite, these gifts have always brought to the altar by lay people in procession. In German countries, the ancient custom was for the entire assembly to process with their gifts—first the men, then the women, then the priests and deacons—to offer their gifts at the altar. The old ceremony of canonization included a curious vestige of this procession: people would present the pope with two loaves of bread, two barrels of wine and water, five candles, and three cages containing pigeons or turtledoves!
—James Field