The Perfect Excuse

My lack of posting is due to my being down the Cape, for a few days.  While there, I visited the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.  This sign was on their property.  What do you think?

I think it's the perfect excuse.

Adoration

The Crypt

Benediction

A pungent yet sweet smelling

waft of incense.  The worshipers

chant response.  Words loving

God rise up to heaven.

The monstrance sparkles in

the candle light.  A lone

voice intones Tantum ergo

sacramentum veneremur cernui.

The priest with a voice clear

and deep is singing Benediction.

The altar server tenderly

holds the priest's humeral veil.

Worshipers respond

to the everlasting Father

honor, blessings, glory,

endless praise and adoration.

A pungent yet sweet smelling

waft of incense.  Worshipers 

chant response.  Words loving

God rise up to heaven.

h/t The Preacher Poets 2009, p. 93.

Lectoring Teaches Self-knowledge

Being a "lector" has taught me 10 things I didn't know about myself.  

• I have an accent.  In reading "harden not your hearts," a person from New Jersey told me that I have a Boston accent.  Imagine.  New Jersey?
• I need to use a microphone.  My voice is low and soft.  Elderly can't hear me, even if I shout.  The pitch of my voice is too low, for them.  
• Too many people come late.  I think some people think the Mass time means leave your house at that time.  It scares me to announce what Sunday this is, and then when I go to read the First Reading--WHOA!  Where did all the people come from? 
• Check out the Prayers of the Faithful with the names in the bulletin.  Sometimes mistakes have been made.  
• Occasionally, I'm drafted to be an altar server, too.  Pay attention.
• Breath control.  Silence is powerful, knowing when to use it is even more so.
• When I make a mistake, it's a blessing.  I need to be humble.
• Dealing with doubt.  Like mistakes, God is keeping me humble.  I have to look at it as a grace.
• Being close to the "action", is a great privilege.  My prayer is more intense.
• I've become closer to St. Dominic, the founder of the Order of Preachers.  Praying for his intercession before reading is a great focusing tool.                                                                                                                                    St. Dominic open hearts and minds to hear and accept the Words, I proclaim.  

All Perceptions are Misperceptions

My friend and I were sitting next to each other, on the bus.  We were catching up on each other’s “doings.”  She mentioned that she had been to a funeral Mass, at my parish.  (My friend is a fallen away Catholic)  She proceeded to tell me how bleak, boring, and particularly tedious the Mass celebrant was.  She said the priest obviously never even made an effort to learn anything about the deceased.  ….yada…yada…yada

Instinctively, I rushed to his defense.  Of course he knew of the deceased.  Maybe not personally, but I’m sure he was told. 

I couldn’t convince my friend.  I just flamed her tirade.  Once, she was hurt by the church…not really, but that’s how she perceived it.  You see, she was in a situation where she turned to the church for help.  And what she was told, was not what she wanted to hear.  Ever since then, the church can’t do anything right.

So I sat beside her and listened to her berate my priest, my confessor, my spiritual father, my spiritual director, my pastor, the one whom I constantly pray for—and prays for me.

I felt like punching her in the mouth.

Instead, I prayed for her.

Early in my Lay Dominican formation, I was impressed by St. Catherine of Siena’s The Dialogue.  The Dialogue is the perfect book to read and reflect upon.  It’s applicable to our times, as well as it were to St. Catherine’s.  St. Catherine was adamant in defense of priests.  Then, as today, priests didn’t always behave as they should.  Scandals have been around since Abel and Cain.  

...it is my will that the sins of the clergy should not lessen your reverence for them,...Because the reverence you pay to them is not actually paid to them but to me, in virtue of the blood I have entrusted to their ministry...

   ...And just as the reverence is done to me, so also is the irreverence...

   For this reason no one has excuse to say, 'I am doing no harm, nor am I rebelling against holy Church.  I am simply acting against the sins of evil pastors.'  Such persons are deluded, blinded as they are by their own selfishness.  They see well enough, but they pretend not to see so as to blunt the prickling of conscience. ...  For I have said and I say it again: No one is to touch my christs.  It is my right to punish them, and no one else's.

And I prayed for my parish priests, and all priests.  They are alter Christi; in their indelible "likeness" to Christ, they are a sign of the constant love God has for us.

The U.S. has a new Basilica

Congratulations to St. John the Baptist Church in Ohio, being chosen as a minor basilica.  It is the oldest church in northeastern Ohio since 1823.

The title basilica was bestowed on June 19, 2012. The elevation liturgy will be celebrated November 25, 2012.

How did this happen?


"Four years ago, our Bishop, the Most Reverend George V. Murry, SJ,  asked each parish in the Diocese of Youngstown to think outside the box in regards to its viability to the community, city, county and diocese.  The question of applying for basilica status had been on the
table several times. Once we examined the criteria for being elevated to a minor basilica, we realized we met each condition, and with Bishop Murry’s approval and blessing, we made application through the Diocese of Youngstown, The United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops and the Holy See.   The original application was in Latin and had to be translated into English.  A document containing six pages of questions became a testament to our parish of over fifty plus pages.  We had a local historian offer some insight into our past, we hired (through the generosity of a parishioner) a professional photographer to thoroughly document our beautiful church building both inside and out, and we spent months finishing the basilica application.  The process took three years to gain approval.


The Honorary title of “Minor Basilica” is granted by the Holy See (Vatican) to certain churches
outside Rome because of their historical and architectural value as well as their contributions to the community.  Basilicas are expected to be centers of worship that are recognized
through the diocese.  They are to promote the teaching of the Holy See and the Holy Father,
to provide liturgical formation, to be exemplary centers of worship, especially in regards to
sacred music, and to make ample provisions for the celebration of Sacraments and various
approved devotions.


Bestowing the title “Basilica” on a church establishes a particular bond with the Holy Father.
Therefore, Basilicas have the responsibility to promote the study of the documents of the
Holy Father and the Holy See, especially those concerning the Sacred Liturgy.
Also, certain days in the liturgical year are to be celebrated with added solemnity.  The feast
of the Chair of Saint Peter (February 22), the Solemnity of the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint
Paul (June 29) and the anniversary of the election or installation of the Pope


Considered the pope’s church, the title Basilica carries with it both privileges and obligations.
Among the many primary privileges are the right to display, both inside and outside, the coat
of arms of the pope who designated the church as a basilica, and the display of the Basilica’s
own coat of arms, bearing the marks of the principal arms of the Lateran Basilica in Rome,
the Cathedral Church of the Pope. In addition, two additional symbols rooted in the papal court, the tintinnabulum and the ombrellino are proper to the church for use and display. The tintinnabulum is a bell which had the practical function of alerting the people to the approach of the Holy Father during papal processions through the streets of Rome.  The ombrellino is an elaborate umbrella which
would protect the Holy Father from inclement weather.  The panels of the ombrellino are
made of alternating red and yellow silk fabric (the papal colors).  It is always displayed half-way
open to signify that the church is ready to welcome the Holy Father!  These two symbols are
to be displayed in the sanctuary on a permanent basis."

h/t http://www.stjohncanton.com/

Brother Tonto explains

The Lost Tomato

This morning's Gospel was the one about the lost sheep.  Matthew 18: 1-5, 10, 12-14

Hold that thought.

I was harvesting the tomatoes you see in the above picture, just before noon, today.  They're all over the place, rotting on the vine.  There's big boys, plums, and cherry.  I don't know what to do with them all.

They cherry tomatoes are particularly abundant.  It was hot.  I could feel the sun burning my neck, shoulders and back.  I felt buggy and sticky with perspiration.  One particularly, well formed, deep red, tomato, fell just as I touched it.  It tumbled to the ground, partially covered by all the vines, and leaves.

I thought of this morning's Gospel about going after the lost sheep and forgetting about the 99 others.  I looked at that the lost tomato.  Then I looked at my full basket of tomatoes.

I thought some more.

I'm not Jesus.

To hell, with that one tomato.  I've got more than 99.