THE BETTER TO EAT YOU WITH MY DEAR

It was dangerous for me to think about kissing. While enjoyable in my dating years, if I thought about it too much, it seemed kind of bizarre to me (sometimes I think too much.) Why is it that pressing this part of the body together – this thing we eat and talk with – be so natural and pleasurable? I think Grandma Piat (not my real grandmother – but a next-door-neighbor who fulfilled the role from time to time) gave me a clue when she looked at a new grandchild. She said, “You are so cute I could just gobble you up!” Maybe that it what it is. We obviously cannot consume the other person but we can do the next best thing. (Stick with me.)

Think of a baby and how the baby gets to know the world around him. He is always sticking the new thing he finds in his mouth. Steve Jobs who is late of our company said of his products that he wanted to make them so good that people would want to lick them.

Okay – ewe – but he makes a point. When we really love something, don’t we have an instinct to make it a part of ourselves? We can own it, put our mark on it, but one of the most primitive yet satisfying ways of accomplishing this is to eat it. When I see futuristic shows about how one might be able to eat a whole meal by swallowing a pill I think, “Keep me in these dark ages where I have to see a savory steak, smell it, get its grease on my fingers (I’m a sloppy eater), chew and taste it, and feel the satisfaction of swallowing it. You have your pill and your Star Trek ride across the universe.”

Eating is so very satisfying. Done moderately well it is also good for us. “You become what you eat,” we are told. So then is it not interesting that we have a God that invites us to eat of His Body and Blood?

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CCXXXI

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND: “The New Atheists like to snark that we Christians might as well be worshiping a Flying Spaghetti Monster, and they have a good reason for saying that: Because they are insufferable. And, sad to say, insecure. Why else would Oxford- or Cambridge-educated, highly paid writers spend thousands of cumulative pages preening about how intelligent and well-informed they are, compared to Mexican landscapers with Guadalupe tattoos or elderly Russian ladies lighting candles in front of icons?” from John Zmirak’s "The Bad Catholic's Guide to the Seven Deadly Sins"

QUOTE II: “Do ever feel like you are a pair of brown shoes in a tuxedo world?”

IN OTHER NEWS:

M sent this in and it made me laugh so I thought I would share it if you have not seen it already: " The results of a computerized survey indicate the perfect priest preaches exactly fifteen minutes. He condemns sins but never upsets anyone. He works from 8:00 AM until midnight and is also a janitor. He makes $50 a week, wears good clothes, buys good books, drives a good car, and gives about $50 weekly to the poor. He is 28 years old and has preached 30 years. He has a burning desire to work with teenagers and spends all of his time with senior citizens.

The perfect priest smiles all the time with a straight face because he has a sense of humor that keeps him seriously dedicated to his work. He makes 15 calls daily on parish families, shut-ins and the

hospitalized, and is always in his office when needed.

If your priest does not measure up, simply send this letter to six other churches that are tired of their priest, too. Then bundle up your priest and send him to the church on the top of the list. In one
week, you will receive 1,643 priests and one of them will be perfect.  Have faith in this procedure.

One parish broke the chain and got its old priest back in less than three weeks."

P sent this in. Steve Jobs who died this past week could have been included in this video also.



News from the Diocese of Cleveland Enewsletter: You may have read about the the latest scandal of church closings in the Diocese in the Plain Dealer. Here is the Diocesan version of the story.

From the same source: "Sunday, September 25th was not only the Indians' final home game at Progressive Field for the 2011 season, it also marked the final celebration of Sunday Mass inside the ballpark for 2011." Read more here.

Ellen Finan sent this in: "Attention! The 31st Annual G.K. Chesterton Conference will be Aug. 2-4, 2012, at the Silver Legacy Hotel (and Casino) in Reno, Nevada. It will be the 100th anniversary of Chesterton’s novel, Manalive. To celebrate, we will be showing the world premiere of the movie, “Manalive”, directed by Joey Odendahl and starring Mark Shea and Kevin O’Brien. Featured speakers are Dale Ahlquist and Joseph Pearce And also: Mark Shea and Kevin O’Brien. And Joey Odendahl himself. We will also have Jason Jones, the producer of the movie “Bella”.

G.M. sent this interesting video in about a man painting a portrait of Jesus on stage.


JC sent this in about saving Catholic Education.

I've not posted an interesting game recently. Here is one called The Stupid Test. It is both annoying and addicting. WARNING: Addiction level MODERATE

MONDAY DIARY

Another week without cartoons!  Things are just too busy around here.

I readily admit that I am not a very social person. It takes an awful lot of energy for me to be with a large group of people. Interestingly enough I find most of my priest friends to fit into the same category.

Before I was a priest I used to have a little (not too much - but a little) anxiety about going to another parish for Mass. “How do they do things at this other parish and will I stick out like a sore thumb?” I would wonder. One time a remember going to a parish at which you were supposed to take a pair of tongs and put your unconsecrated host in bowl to be brought at the presentation of the gifts. I did not realize this and then worried that if I went to Communion would that mean somebody else couldn’t. Or going to another diocese where people stand and kneel at different times, or coming across a priest that has a stern policy about only receiving in the hand (or on the tongue – I always seem to be doing the very thing the locals are working against no matter how hard I try.) One time while in Switzerland I actually walked out of Mass to confirm that it was indeed a Catholic things seemed so strange to me. And the ultimate fear was in a parish where Father is walking about asking questions and my entire prayer becomes, “Please don’t come by me, please don’t come by me!” (Locals might notice I don’t to any of these things because I so loathed them as a lay person.)

Well, things have not changed much. Priests are asked to go to different parishes now and then to help out. Once again I am faced with the distress of “how do they do it here?” I envy guys that just go and do it and don’t sweat it in the least. I do. I want to know how we go in, where I am to be, how do you do Communion here, how you get out, etc. I hate to have to be thinking these things out while trying t pray the Mass.

Sometimes I purposefully ignore the “way we do it here”s. For example, if I am told that they leave out part of the required part of a Mass in a particular place I will simply say, “Well, today we are going to do it.” Other times it is not so easy. In wondering how to distribute Communion to the Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion I’ll be told, “Distribute to the people on your right first, and then the left . . .” Now, I am a little dyslexic (dyslexics untie!) and so start to sweat it out at Communion, “hand with index finger and thumb extended forms an “L” and that is your left.”

Even typing this I feel ridiculous. “Why the anxiety?” Part of it is not wanting to be a distraction – wanting the focus on the Mass and on Jesus, not on me – part of it is not wanting to look like an idiot. Interestingly the only part that does not bother me is preaching and doing the Eucharistic prayer. I always feel at home there.

How about you?

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: THE SOCIETY AGAINST ACCRETIONS

Go ahead. Ask me how long our “Great Amen” lasts at Mass.

Thanks for asking. I’ll tell you. “For ever and ever. For ever. Alleluia. For ever and ever. Amen.”

If you happen to sing this particular Mass setting at your parish you understand what I meant by that.

It is interesting that everything old is new again. One of the things that Vatican II did was get rid of accretion into the Mass that evolved over the years. One of these accretions is the sequence. (There is controversy as to whether these were purposeful additions or something that just happened. I’m inclined to think the latter.) You may remember these from Easter and Pentecost when they are still required. (There are a couple more that are optional.) It seems odd to us that they are there (or at least to me.) After the Epistle everything comes to a screeching halt while we sing or recite this long poem before going into the Gospel verse.

There is not a lot of agreement on exactly how these song-poems made it into the Mass. There used to be quite a lot of them. My favorite theory goes like this: Especially in large churches where there was going to be a long Gospel procession there was need to lengthen the Alleluia. If it is to be a long procession you need a long Alleluia. So imagine writing notes for AaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaLeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeLuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. You would not be able to run over the copy machine to make copies of the music so that everybody could read it. (We may be talking as early as the ninth century.) One theory suggests that words of praise were added to the music in order to help the choir remember all the many notes. Thus the sequence was born and ends up as a slightly odd and seemingly clunky (IMHO) intruder to the Mass. That being said most of the have been done away with today. But as we are ever repeating ourselves for both good and bad, things continue to sneak back in such as “For ever and ever. For ever. Alleluia. For ever and ever. Amen.” When a simple Amen would do.

SAFE?

Many people see Church as a safe place to be. Just think of the word “sanctuary.” If you are in danger you run to a church and claim sanctuary and supposedly are afforded a certain amount of protection as long as you remain there. But church and the realm of faith is anything but safe. One need only look at the statues and stained glass windows in his local parish (if he is fortunate enough that it is thusly equipped) to see people who were stoned, beheaded, set on fire, and whose leader Himself was crucified.

If you think things are much different today you are mistaken. Martyrs are still made throughout the world. But of course one might be inclined to think, “those things happen over there though, not here.” Wrong again. I’ll grant you that we do not have martyrs in the United States. But things are not all roses. That is because the Church is involved in the world of thoughts and ideas and it is one of the very few institutions that does not put its Okay stamp on modern culture and go along with the tide of popular opinion.

What is at stake? Men and women in the medical field who want to live out their Catholic faith run the risk of losing their jobs because they refuse to perform procedures or administer drugs that the government wants to mandate ridding us of our conscience clauses. Institutions come closer every year to being in direct conflict with new government regulations in hiring and in practices that go against Catholic teaching such as supplying medical coverage for abortions (just one example.) As same sex marriages are made legal the Church runs the risk of having to recognize such marriages or face sanctions. If you do not believe this take a look at what Archbishop Broglio is facing as archbishop of the military.

Faith is not safe. If you are safe it is only because such things have not yet directly affected your life. All of this prompted Francis Cardinal George to comment, “"I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square".

WORDS OF LOST MEANING

A while ago I was reading an article about six words that we should stop using.  I only remember one and I think it was because after being made aware of it I was starting hear it everywhere.  The word was “myriad.”  The article made the assertion that nobody used that world anymore.

This got me thinking; there are a number of words and phrases that I would like to take out of our Catholic lexicon.  Words that should be banned from use (IMHO) in the Catholic conversations either because they are confusing, over used, have lost their meaning, or are just plain unhelpful.  So Fr. Pf. and I sat down and came up with our own personal list of words and phrases I will call:

“WORDS OF LOST MEANING”

Here are the first two:  “Conservative” and “Liberal.”

One would think that if these two words were put together one could cover the entire spectrum of Catholic theology and practice.  Hardly.  The area of Catholic expression that these label tend to be rather narrow.  In fact, the words have come to mean almost exactly the same thing; it is only the details that change.

A definition might go something like this, “A narrow and limited expression of the fullness of the Catholic faith with a tendency toward (insert.)”

In the end they are two shades of the same thing.  What does one mean when one is labeled “conservative?”  Sometimes it means someone who is attracted to the traditions of the Church.  Sometimes it simply means that one is orthodox.  Simply accepting the teaching of the Church on a topic such as a male priesthood might label some as conservative.  It might also mean someone who only accepts earlier expressions of the faith.  It can mean everything and nothing.

And what does liberal mean?  If we were going to use the word in way that is helpful it would mean someone who is open to the full expression of the Church as opposed to a conservative who might have a bent away from innovation.  But usually it is a person who likes just as thin a slice of the pie as those labeled conservative but with a different set of chess pieces.  Unfortunately, the title has become used by those who step off of the Catholic playing field altogether, perhaps mixing it with terms such as “progressive” and “innovative” and “contemporary” (or as a more recently coined word puts it – contemprovent.)  The idea is that the individual knows better than the rest of the Church or its 2000 year history and is “where God is at” and waits for everyone else to catch up.

My vote is to toss both of these terms out.  Get rid of them.  They have been too misused in abused.  In place of these I recommend words such as orthodox or unorthodox.  Those might be augmented by terms such as traditional or contemporary but those terms are starting to get an unfair shake too.

Toss them out!

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CCXXX

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND: “Emotions have no IQ.” Speaker unknown

QUOTE II: “Love enters and leaves when it wishes but loyalty stays forever.” Speaker unknown

IN OTHER NEWS:

It’s been a long spell since Adam Alers got together but our local Chesterton community is getting together and if you are interested you might want to participate. (Click on the Chesterton picture to the right.) Dale Ahlquist is coming to the Mayfield Sand Ridge Club to speak as a benefit event to support the Lyceum on November 12th from 7:30 to 10PM. For more information call the Lyceum at (216) 707-1121.

This was sent to us through the diocese:  "I want to let you know about my new website designed specifically for men struggling with pornography. On this site, one can learn about the addictiveness of porn, and how porn affects men, women, children and teens. It also discusses the recovery process and how Catholic spirituality is a crucial part of the process. Log on to www.IntegrityRestored.com and let me know what you think of it. Please also share this information with your friends, family, colleagues and the people you serve. Thank you!"

Fr. D sent this video in along with this to ponder:  "It makes me wonder about the emotional reaction of all the folks Jesus healed in the Gospels - you know, the blind, the deaf, the paralytic, etc. It makes me wonder how many of them shed tears of joy upon being healed. Of course, the deepest kind of healing is always spiritual healing, but since grace builds on nature, this clip helped me understand why physical healings were such an important part of Jesus' ministry - they got people's attention. Such miracles opened people up to the possibility of spiritual conversion."

News from the Diocese of Cleveland Enewsletter: "At the request of Most Reverend Richard Lennon, pastors have been asked to review Cardinal Daniel DiNardo's Respect Life Statement pertaining to October as "Respect Life Month." Bishop Lennon asked his pastors to communicate this statement." Read the statement here.

From the same source:  "Did you know, the Diocese of Cleveland web site now features a multimedia player from Catholic News Service (CNS)? It's located right under the rotation of five news stories on the diocesan web site home page." See here.

Any opinions on the updated Blogger page layout?

MONDAY DIARY: OBLIGATION TO BEAUTY

There just isn’t enough time for cartoons today (which I usually do on Sunday afternoons but I met with my family and then had a Chesterton meeting in the evening.)
I have mixed reactions about dogs in rectories though I am partial to Sebastian. When I am on vacation I probably wonder about him more than anything else. One of the best things about him for me is that he is a lot like a prayer. He makes me stop a couple of times during the day and get away from work. Usually, unless we happen to run into some of his friends, I say my daily rosary as we walk about. How often I get my batteries recharged by God’s beauty because I had to get up and walk the dog before things started cooking at the rectory; the local park covered in morning mist or the first fluffy snowfalls where nobody has yet walked. You can face an awful lot after a morning like that.

Sometimes it affords time to think about a homily, time that so often gets interrupted in the rectory by a phone call or some such thing. Something that seems like such a big problem before a walk vanishes after praying and contemplating while airing out the dog.

At night, just before Night Prayer and going to bed, we take one last turn around the property, sometimes in the company of Fr. P and we talk about the day, or with other priests who happen to be here for the evening, or alone. It is then that we can spot lights left on in the buildings, pick up the last of the trash left over from the school day, and maybe play with Sebastian on the playground under cover of darkness (he likes the slides.) There has been a number of beautiful moons that I would have otherwise missed, deer that I would have never seen, some graffiti artists that would not have been chased away, and some recollection of priesthood that might have been edged out by reading if it were not for the dog.

All these beautiful things happen to me because an animal has to rid himself of dinner. God’s ways are mysterious.

All this could be missed I suppose. It is not all easy. Sometimes the snow is deep, sometimes the rain heavy and icy, sometimes time is cruched, but it is what you make of it. All things when entrusted to God can bring about some beauty.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: LET US BUILD THE CITY OF GOD

Let’s say that you are going to design a Catholic Church; where might you begin? Of course there are initial considerations: location, local architecture, the shape of the property, etc. But when it starts with the actual consideration of the building where might you start? The altar? The roof line? A floor layout?

If I were going to start, I would start on the ground outside which I think is often neglected. A Catholic church is not designed only for Sunday Mass. So much more goes on and too often a church is first designed for Sunday Mass and then everything else is figured out. A church building should (IMHO) be designed for the Easter Vigil. If that is done, everything else practically falls into place.

What is the first thing that takes place at the Easter Vigil? The blessing of the fire. In the design of your church where does this take place? Are you able to have a good fire going for the congregation to see or do you have to have a small fire burning in a hibachi that only a few people can gather around and enjoy? St. Sebastian has a small but serviceable plaza on front of the church building with a flower garden in the middle which is of course flowerless at the Easter Vigil. It is there that the Boy Scouts are able to get a decent fire going. Another parish has a round cement pad in the grass in front of the church that is used once a year, everyone gathering around though it might be wet and possibly snowy.

Then, if you are able to have the whole congregation join you out for the blessing of the fire, the next problem is getting them all inside for the singing of the Exultet. If you have two small doors squeezing you into the church it is going to take forever until the third “Christ our Light” is sung. We have three sets of doors in front without many steps to negotiate and they serve pretty well though even with that it takes a spell for everyone to get in.

In Europe the entrance doors to the church are sometimes set in a set of much larger doors so that on great occasion such as this or when there are processions, the front of the church can be opened to let large numbers of people move in and out on just such occasions.

That being said, front doors to churches are often unimpressive but there is a tradition wherein the front doors of the church were labeled “Porta Coeli” or the doors to heaven (the Mass being the closest thing on earth to heaven” and at times the door would be decorated in much the same way as the reredos of the high altar. The altar brought us to heaven, the doors brought us to the altar.

So there is where I would start.

RANT - COUNTER RANT: FAITH SEEKING DESTRUCTION

Religion causes violence. At least extremism in religion causes violence. So says an author to a letter to the editor in a recently. It was in response to the decision not to have any type of overtly religious overtones to the 9/11 remembrance. You may recall the brouhaha over the metal “cross” also. He reminded us that the atrocities in Nazi Germany during World War II were largely committed by baptized men.

I take umbrage.

He makes a direct correlation between the faith a person says he has and what he ends up doing. (I drank milk today, it must be a direct cause of my being baptized.) In some cases this correlation may be correct. It is not always the case however. When I am short with someone on the phone, it is not because I am a baptized practicing Christian; it is because at the moment I have fallen short of being a Christian.

While it may be true that extremism in certain faiths may lead to deadly deeds, one has only to look at Christ to see what extreme Christianity really looks like. It is a laying down of one’s life, it is absolute non-violence, it is the radical choosing of the good of the other. When a person uses the name of Christ and outlines God’s mission as one that causes death or fear or pain, it is exactly in those moments that people are NOT practicing radical Christianity. There may be the façade of such but it is only a veneer.

It is true that Christianity is a powerful tool and can be manipulated by strong leaders to make uncritical people act in direct contrast to what Christianity is supposed to stand for. But more importantly it is a powerful tool for combating that very thing also. It may also be true that some faiths and distorted faiths may lead to evil deeds in the extreme. But not having a faith is definitely no guarantee that there will be no evil either. In fact, I would argue, it is far riskier.

FEELING GROOVY

A sure sign that a friendship is taking off or that you are in love is that you don’t mind wasting time together.  Who cares if you are just sitting and talking?  For that matter, who cares if you are just riding along together in the car in silence?  You are together and that is all that matters.  It makes you happy and in essence you are saying, “With this limited time I have on earth, I am willing and/or desirous to waste it with you just being in your presence.  We don’t have to accomplish anything, earn money, or come to any great revelations, it is simply enough to be with each other.”

It is not much different with God.  Waste time with God.  It is not always about completing a set of prayers or pushing through a topic that you need to understand as good as those things can be.  Did you ever just consider wasting time with God? Stop by a parish and make a holy hour, or do 10 minutes in your house imagining Jesus in the chair across from you, go for a walk and take Jesus along.

We have two things working against us.  One is our great Protestant work ethic.  We always feel that we have to be producing something.  Time with another can mean getting something done.  At the other end is the complete crash and veg-out when we accomplish less than nothing such as when plopping down in front of the television or computer.  In between is a loving and refreshing waste of time with those you love and with God.  At the one end it requires a disengaging of the need for time to always be put good use (you will experience withdrawal) and at the other end it requires energy to sit up, turn off an electronic device that is pumping information into you and kick starting the brain (you will experience a certain exersion.)  But you might (at least eventually) experience a connection to the One Who loves you and wants to waste time with you.

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CCXXIX

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND: “I do not believe that our priest shortage is because God has stopped calling men to the priesthood. Rather, young men have stopped hearing and stopped answering this call.” “Denise” from Catholic-mom.blogspot

QUOTE II: “You are qualified to teach. Remember: God does not call the equipped. He equips the called.” Ibid. h/t to Fr. B

IN OTHER NEWS:

P sent this in from a Christian Comedian:

Isn't nice to hear a comedian that isn't trashing Christianity or the Church or missusing God's name?
For local people P also sent this in: "In the moving and epic documentary series Catholicism, author and theologian Rev. Robert Barron tells the story of Catholicism around the world. Rev. Barron also examines how Christianity has helped shape the nature of this rich and powerful faith. The four-part series will air on Western Reserve PBS (WNEO 45.1/WEAO 49.1) at 10 p.m. on Wednesdays, Oct. 5, 12 and 26 and Nov. 2.

News from the Diocese of Cleveland Enewsletter: The following information pertains to two films "Courageous" and "The Calling" that will soon be available for movie fans to see.

"Courageous" - (In theaters September 30) Four men, one calling: To serve and protect. As law enforcement officers, Adam Mitchell, Nathan Hayes, David Thomson, and Shane Fuller are confident and focused. Yet at the end of the day, they face a challenge that none of them are truly prepared to tackle: fatherhood.

While they consistently give their best on the job, good enough seems to be all they can muster as dads. But they're quickly discovering that their standard is missing the mark.

When tragedy hits home, these men are left wrestling with their hopes, their fears, their faith, and their fathering. Can a newfound urgency help these dads draw closer to God ... and to their children?" For more informaiton look here.

From the same source: "Did you know, a new 'Parish Locator' feature has been added to the home page of the Diocese of Cleveland's web site? Now you can type in any street address in Northeast Ohio to find the closest Catholic parish." For more look here in the right hand column.

MONDAY DIARY: ALL WILL BE FINE. TAKE IT EASY

I was sitting at the table having lunch on Saturday in a moment of solitude before diving back into the rest of a very busy day.  One of the neat things about the room in which we have breakfast and lunch is that it affords a nice view of one of the doors into the church where you can see what is going on inside.  Half way through my warmed over pizza I see a gentleman come out.  I know him.  He has no connection to the community in anyway save for one.  He shows up every once in a while and asks for money, usually on a Sunday, usually having a great story about why he needs the money in the next 15 minutes or the world as we know it will come to an end and therefore I cannot put him in touch with Saint Vincent de Paul.  It will be too late.

 

Gads.

I wait for the doorbell to ring hoping I could finish the pizza first.  “Father,” our secretary said, “there’s a gentleman here to see you.”

“I’ll be right there.”

He greeted me like an old friend.  “Can we talk privately?”  We went into an office and sat down.  Two visits ago I had interrupted his story and said, “Why don’t you just come to the part where you ask for money.”  Of course he was hurt and I felt mean so this time I sat through the whole telling.  It was worth the price of admission and ended with an unprompted promise that I would never, ever see him again.  Probably.  Unless things changed.

During the story I was thinking of my pizza and the twelve things that had to get done today as priorities for the diocese or one group or another that needs to have whatever done today about the same time this guys needs his money or the world will end.  I was at best a tolerant host.

He left and I went back to my seat at the table noticing that men in tuxes were beginning to show up for the next wedding.  I wish I could be as pleased to see my gentleman beggar as was to see them.  Sebastian was crying.  It was very late for his walk.  And the dishwasher is broken so first I would have to clean dishes.

And despite my angst and put-out-ness – everything got done.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: BAPTIZING DAYS

So last time on Friday Potpourri we looked at how each of the month were dedicated to a certain holy personage or theological idea. Well, as they say, “Vatican II; options for you!” There is another set of things to contemplate on a daily basis. The names of our days (Monday, Tuesday, etc.) come from ancient mythology. For more on that please look here. But for a quick example, Monday ‘s name etymology is “moon day” and was important to the goddess of the moon.

Well, once again the Catholic Church “baptized” the days of the week to give us Christian things to contemplate and dedicate the day to. Here is a traditional listing:


Sunday – the Holy Trinity
Tuesday – the Holy Spirit
Wednesday – Saint Joseph
Thursday – the Holy Eucharist
Friday – the Sacred Passion
Saturday – the Blessed Virgin Mary

Here is how such ideas might come into play in your life. You might have a prayer with one of these concerns that you may not do every day, but on Wednesday you might remember to say a prayer to St. Joseph or stop by the church and light a candle on that day asking for his intercession. Friday might encourage you to fast in commemoration of the Lord’s Passion. In fact, Catholic are STILL obliged to do some sort of penance on Fridays though we may choose something else besides not eating meat outside of lent. (Nobody seems to know this.)

Now these day commemorations are pretty low in the hierarchy of importance. But if it is ordinary time and there is no other feast or memorial to celebrate, you might find, when you go to Mass on Saturday morning, that you will be celebrating a Mass in commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary as we worship our one true God, recalling his greatest follower and striving to be more like her in listening to and following Him.

BEHIND THE SCENES

By no stretch of the imagination did my mother have a temper so when she was upset you knew that it was for a pretty serious reason. One time my sisters and I were going to throw a party at our house for a large number of our extended family. We told our mother not to worry about a thing. We would take care of it all. And then we left for a day trip.

Now, college students (as I was at the time) have a very different idea of what it means to throw a party than an adult. Even an informal party can require much more behind the scenes than meets the eye. A college student can throw a couple of bags of fun-time snacks on the table and cool some beverages in the refrigerator that they picked up on the way home and call it a party. That was our plan. So we came home to an upset mother who took it upon herself to get out bowls a glasses and service, make coffee for those who would want it, make sure that house is cleaned a necessities were stocked, extra chairs brought out, the bedroom were cleaned lest anybody accidently stray to those parts of the house, and, as I found out in detail, “etc., etc., etc. . .” A lot of effort goes into a party looking effortless.

We never did that to her again.

Church affairs are much the same. It is more than someone standing up in the sanctuary for an hour on Sunday. Hours go into a well celebrated Mass, a lot of effort going into it so that it looks effortless. It also takes a lot of people. The same is for something like Eucharistic devotions.

This past week we had our annual 40 hours at St. Sebastian. This year I tried (as well as I am able) to stay completely out of it and let our young parochial vicar take control of the whole thing from soup to nuts. The actual event lasted 40 hours but it took months of planning and work. Hundreds of people were involved. Consider if you will just the effort to have people in church for 40 hours. We tried to have at least 3 people at any given hour. 40 x 3 is a minimum of 120 people. Then there are the people who coordinate the people. The “out time” when you have to start advertising the event for calendars and so that people can plan what hours they wish to dedicate. Music ministries, servers, speakers, lectors must be sought and scheduled, programming planned, worship aids produced, décor to be decided and etc., etc., etc. . .

The kid did pretty well. My role was very slight. “Did you plan a dinner for the closing night speaker? Did you write a check?” But really it was his deal and it went well with a few hundred hours made I would say.

So, whenever you go to a well celebrated Mass or other service at your parish, bear in mind that it required many people and many hours to accomplish what you enjoy for that one hour. It is the tip of an iceberg of a great community effort.