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Ludolf Bakhuizen: "Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee." Wikimedia Commons
April 2, 2020
Catholic San Francisco
The "Mass in the Time of Pandemic" can be celebrated on any day "except solemnities; the Sundays of Advent, Lent and Easter (season); days within the Octave of Easter; the commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls' Day); Ash Wednesday; and the days of Holy Week." The new Mass was announced April 1 by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments.
Offertory prayer: "Accept, O Lord, the gifts we offer in this time of peril. May they become for us, by your power, a source of healing and peace. Through Christ our Lord."
One suggested Gospel reading: Mark 4:35-41, the story of the disciples in the boat on the stormy Sea of Galilee; it is the same reading Pope Francis used March 27 for his special prayer service and blessing "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world), begging God to end the pandemic.
Optional first reading: Lamentations 3:17-26, which includes the lines: "I will call this to mind, as my reason to have hope: The favors of the Lord are not exhausted, his mercies are not spent; they are renewed each morning, so great is his faithfulness. My portion is the Lord, says my soul, therefore will I hope in him."
A passage from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans also could be used: "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him?"
The new Mass ends with the "prayer over the people," which says: "O God, protector of all who hope in you, bless your people, keep them safe, defend them, prepare them, that, free from sin and safe from the enemy, they may persevere always in your love. Through Christ our Lord."