SHAVE AND A HAIR CUT . . .

A young man who served 7:00 morning mass this week stopped me afterwards to ask me if I would pray for his grandfather who had passed away. I suggested that we pray right then and there. Wrapping up the prayer with, “Eternal rest grant onto him O Lord,” and intending to fill in the second half of the phrase for him, he threw me off by confidently giving the reply. What a great kid.

I just got back from a funeral home service. Sometimes there is a very Catholic crowd and the responses are made loudly and proudly, at other times it’s only Jiminy Cricket making chirping noises.

Here are some common call and response phrases that are used in the Church. See how you fare with them. Answers tomorrow.


1. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,
2. Eternal rest grant onto H/H O Lord,
3. Let us bless the Lord,
4. We adore you O Christ and we bless you,
5. Lord open my lips,
6. This is the wood of the Cross on which hung the Savior of the world,
7. You have given them bread from heaven,
8. Rejoice in the Lord for He is good,
9. The Lord is risen!
10. Lord, send forth your Spirit,
11. Praised be Jesus Christ,
12. Dominus vobiscum,

13. Ite, missa est.

IN OTHER NEWS:

With reservations I recommend a book to you. I do not care for science fiction novels but this one kept me interested until the very last page. Maybe because some of it takes place just down the street from me. Here is the beginning of Chapter 5 entitled "Cleveland, Ohio: August 2014 - May 2015;

"In the space of twenty hours, he had moved from a war zone in the Horn of Africa to the suburban campus of John Carroll University, set in the placid peace of a pretty neighborhood of old and well-kept houses, where the children screamed and ran but in play, laughing and robust, not stunned or desperate or starving or terrified."

The book concerns itself with a Jesuit exploration of another planet, as scary and unknown of an adventure as what the first missionaries who arrived in the New World must have faced, bouncing across the unknown ocean on a little piece of wood and sail known as a ship toward God-only-knew-what-to-expect.

The book is from a Catholic perspective, but not everyone in the book is Catholic nor particularly believes in what the Catholic Church teaches. In other words, it resembles life. There are some touchy themes that may make some people uncomfortable (such as homosexuality) which are none-the-less life issues that really exist.

Set amidst all this are occasional little gems of wisdom. When facing death and the question of why would God allow such a thing to happen, Fr. Marc, a Jesuit priest says,

"The Jewish sages tell us that the whole of the Torah, the entirety of the first five books of the Bible, is the name of God. With such a name, they ask, how much more is God? The Fathers of the Church tell us that God is Mystery and unknowable. God Himself, in Scripture, tells us, "My ways are not your ways and My thoughts are not your thoughts. . .

"(To ask, 'Why?') is a very fine kind of human behavior. If we keep demanding that God yield up His answers, perhaps some day we will understand them."

There are some things at which you will wrinkle your nose. If you are looking for pure orthodox theology throughout, don't read this. If you are looking for a good summer read that is a far cry from so much of the crassness that is out there, you might like to give, "The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell a try.