MONDAY DIARY: IN THE SILENT HOURS OF THE NIGHT BLESS THE LORD

When I went to bed last night, saints were peeking in through my bedroom windows. It was kind of cool actually. I could make out their faces and it seemed odd that they so blatantly looked into my room where I lay in bed doing a little reading. They are always there of course, but last night was one of those rare times that they showed themselves so brilliantly.

My room overlooks the church and my bed allows me to see the stained glass windows. Last night the church was lit up like Vegas as we were having out forty hours of devotion; Our Lord is exposed on our altar all day and all night until Tuesday at 7PM when we have our closing ceremonies. During this time the light in the church back lights the windows exposing the pictures of saints that normally remain dark and hidden at night. So I look out and see Saint Augustine, Saint Maria Goretti, and a number of their friends on this side of the church.

Once in a while Fr. Pfeiffer or I would wander over to the church to see how things were going during exposition and to pray for a little while. I tried to go during the transition times from one hour to the next allowing those who needed to leave to go but being there until the persons who showed up for the next hour to come. It turned out to be completely unnecessary.

I do enjoy sneaking over to the church at night when it is still and dark; Just a couple of “ghost lights” on and a glow from the candles. But last night I went over to the lit church just before 11PM to do my Night Prayer and Office of Readings. There were a number of people praying or coming and going. Everything was quiet except the roar of the air handlers. We had put one of my chiming clocks in the church to help people keep track of time but the clock that makes a ruckus in the house is almost not heard in the vast cavern of a church.

All is still save for the candles burn away as they stand in honor of the presence of our Lord. After my prayers I rest one elbow on the pew back and rest my chin and try just talking and listening to God. Occasionally my mind wanders and I shake myself back to paying attention to Him. This is not just a problem between me and Jesus, I experience it with just about anybody. My mind wanders and I think, “Hey! Pay attention to this person in front of you!” So, gently I come back – although much of the time the things that I am trying not to think about because I am supposed to be about the business of praying ARE the very things I should be praying about.

During my homily promoting our Eucharistic Devotions I used the phrase in reference to the Blessed Sacrament as Jesus; Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. An older gentleman (as he put it) lodged a complaint about this. “Jesus said, ‘this is my body,’ why do we have to add anything?” My homily had been in part about how some people do not know what the Eucharist truly is anymore. I explained that this understanding is at the heart of the Church, the heart of Vatican II, the basis of our belief and many Catholics have lost this understanding and we must reclaim it so I constantly reiterate it. “It just sounds too EWTN,” he replied.

So, my mind wanders to him last night. I shake my head and try to come back to where I was supposed to be in my schedule of prayerful things I had to talk about. Then it caught me that this is what I should be praying about. And here is the glory of celebrating 40 hours, coming back to our roots, our reason for being in common union, the source and summit of our lives, the basis for being Catholic, the heart of our community and the center of our covenant – what better thing to pray about than that we as a community come to understand this better, grow in unity, and strive for sainthood through the Jesus present to us in His Eucharistic form.

OF CATHOLIC CHURCHES AND BAKERIES

“Why doesn’t Johnny understand what the Eucharist is anymore?” I was going through our parish hymnal under the category, “Communion”. What follows is the first line of each song going page by page.

You satisfy the hungry heart with gift of finest wheat

Let us break bread together on our knees

Come and be filled here at this table

In the breaking of this bread

Behold, behold the Lamb of God (chorus)

Bread for the world:

Seed, scattered and sown, wheat gathered and grown, bread, broken and shared

This body will be given for you.

One bread, one body

I received the living God

To be your bread now, be your wine now, Lord come and change us.

Jesus, the Bread of Life

All you who are thirsty, come the water!

Bread of life, hope for the world

One bread, one body, one Lord of all.

Taste and see, O taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

See this bread: take and eat

When we eat this bread

Shepherd of souls refresh and bless Your chosen pilgrim flock.

If you were not versed in theology and Scripture within the Catholic tradition what might you deduce that the Catholic Church believes about the Eucharist from our own hymnals? Some early Protestant reformers made community music rehearsals mandatory because they knew how important this art form is. We are basically singing our theology, a clever way to remember it. What will we most likely remember from these songs if we are not savvy in Church teaching? That we are eating bread.

In contrast, here is a list of first lines from the eucharistic section of an old Catholic hymnal.

Dear Jesus I have longed for you since I was very small

Dearest Lord, I love Thee

Oh Lamb of God! O sun-white fleece!

God-head here in hiding whom I do adore

Jesus, food of the angels

Jesus, Jesus come to me

Soul of Christ, be my sanctification; Body of Christ, be my salvation

Jesus, my Lord, my God, my all!

Hail, true Body of the Savior

O Saving Victim

Soul of my Savior, sanctify my breast! Body of Christ, be Thou my saving guest!

Down in adoration falling

The contrast is amazing is it not? And that was without getting into the Latin hymns.

Is it wrong to use words such as Bread and Wine when referring to the Body and Blood of Christ? Absolutely not. They are used so in Scripture. Is it wrong to use the words bread and wine exclusively so that people become confused? Absolutely.

If you were giving people directions to your house you would be very exact. “You will want to take the Cleveland Road exit. Not the exit to Cleveland, but the Cleveland Road exit.” We are explicit so that those we love do not become lost.

Today many people are lost about the true meaning of the Eucharist. Perhaps we are in a time when using perfectly good words are not good enough. Now is time to be very explicit in our terminology and in the music we choose to sing when referring to the Blessed Sacrament so that others may find the path to truth.

SUNDAY VIDEO ON TAP IV - & OTHER VARIOUS AND SUNDRY

This seems appropriate considering that confirmation with Bishop Gries is just two weeks away here at Saint Clare:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8UOgnL0Knc&mode=related&search=

And a couple of news bites sent out via the Diocese of Cleveland Weekly E-Newsletter:

Some insight into the drama that is "the discovery of the Body of Jesus." (Remind me to get excited later.)

If you have been following the Federal case against former employees of the Diocese of Cleveland, you know that those accused are now pointing fingers at our former bishop. This has not made it in the paper so I thought you might like to see the response from Bishop Emeritus Anthony M. Pilla.

PRAYER REQUEST: Apparently MTV will be doing some sort of story on the Sisters of Life in New York this Monday. One of our parishioners, Bridget, who was accepted into the order about six months ago, has been selected to be interviewed and has asked for prayers. That is her elbow at the right of the picture in a Time Magazine article.