A non-Catholic friend asked me how the Scriptures at Mass are selected. Who started this and when was the present system adopted?

Vatican II’s 1963 “Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy” called for a wider selection of biblical texts to be used at Mass. The current Lectionary (book of those readings) was prepared by an international committee of experts and went into use in 1970. 

Q. For six years, I was the sole caregiver of my mom and my aunt. They died eight weeks apart. I miss them so much; they were my best friends, and we did everything together. I still grieve their deaths, especially during the holidays. I cry often, but I offer all my loneliness, sadness, and Masses for the holy souls in purgatory. When will my pain and loneliness ease? I am very active in my local parish.

Q. I am feeling very guilty. I was driving my car and accidentally hit a man with my side mirror. I never saw him, and I don’t know if he stepped in front of me or not. The only reason I know he was hit was my side mirror flipped in, and I heard the snap. I immediately pulled over and asked the man if he was OK. 

Q. If people are excommunicated from the Catholic Church, is there any way they can become un-excommunicated? I am wondering because my aunt was excommunicated from the Church back in the ’70s because she got divorced after she learned her husband was a high priest in a satanic church. I was shocked when I found out years ago that is why she started going to another church.

Why can’t we sing the Our Father at Mass? When I asked our parish organist, the response was that our parish was told not to do this.

Where is heaven? Will my husband who died two years ago know me and still love me? If we have hurt people, will they have forgiven us by the time we get to heaven? What if there’s nothing beyond a person’s casket and grave?

Heaven is more a state of being than a place such as Boston, St. Louis, Phoenix, or Los AngelesÑa place that you can find on a map. Christians understand heaven as being with God for all eternity.