Category Archives: Columnists

Year of the Eucharist invites harmony and solidarity

Posted on by
Reply

By Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz, D.D.
Later this month on the Feast of Christ the King, the Diocese of Jackson will begin a Year of the Eucharist that is more than timely as we continue steadily to welcome back to Mass our Catholic faithful to take up their rightful place as members of the Body of Christ. We are not quite back to pre-pandemic numbers and vigor, but we have made significant strides. For active Catholics the sacrifice of the Mass is always the cornerstone for our faith in the crucified and risen Lord, and also at times the fertile ground for controversy in the modern era.

The first document of the Second Vatican council to be passed and presented to the Catholic world was Sacrosanctum Concilium by the near unanimous vote of 2174 to 4. This was Dec. 4, 1963, and in this document on the Sacred Liturgy that had priority of place among the eventual 16 documents of the Council, we read that the Council Fathers desired to “impart an ever increasing vigor to the Christian life of the faithful and to foster whatever can promote union among all who believe in Christ.”

Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz

It’s not surprising that they and we look to the celebration of the Eucharist, the sacrifice of the Mass, to strengthen the bonds of unity that should always be a labor of love among the children of God, perhaps especially in our generation. Furthermore, the council fathers stated that “the liturgy, through which the work of our redemption is accomplished, most of all in the divine sacrifice of the Eucharist, is the outstanding means whereby the faithful may express in their lives, and manifest to others, the mystery of Christ and the real nature of the true church.”

One of the well-known quotes of the Vatican Council came from this document. “The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows.”

This power of God’s undying love first flowed in the water and blood from the broken body and pierced side of Jesus on the Cross. These were the headwaters of the sacramental life of the church, specifically Baptism and the Eucharist, that have become a mighty river flowing through time.

The one priesthood of Jesus Christ begun on the Cross, is given birth at every baptism, and made manifest in the gathering of the People of God at Mass in Word and in Sacrament. Through Baptism and Holy Orders, the two forms of the priesthood, laity and ordained, become one as the Body of Christ gathering around the tables of Word and Sacrament, the Body and Blood of the Lord. The eyes of faith give us the privilege of seeing and celebrating this unbreakable bond between heaven and earth, the most exalted unity that is possible in this world. We become one with the ascended Lord Jesus to give praise to God the Father, in order to better fulfill our mission of salvation, and to build up God’s Kingdom on Earth, a kingdom of life, justice and peace. Indeed, this is the font from which our power flows.

Is this upcoming “Year of the Eucharist” a good fit with the recently proclaimed world-wide process of the Synod on Synodality? We respond with an unqualified yes, knowing that the theme for the Synod is “Communion, Participation and Mission,” which is solidly Eucharistic in purpose and process. As in the Liturgy, we want the voices of our Catholic faithful to be raised in dialogue throughout the Synod process.

The following quotations from Sacrosanctum Concilium illuminate a clear path for us for the Synod to sow the seeds that will provide an abundant harvest. “Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that fully conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy. Such participation by the Christian people as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a redeemed people (1 Pet. 2:9; cf. 2:4-5), is their right and duty by reason of their baptism.” Likewise, we pray to approach the Synod as disciples of the Lord through fully conscious and active participation as a redeemed people seeking that unity for which Jesus ardently prays, allowing the Holy Spirit to bless and surprise us.

Finally, let us allow the dialogue and silence that are essential for our liturgical prayer as stated in the final quote from Sacrosanctum Concilium, resonate in our hearts and minds as we approach the Synod on Synodality.

“To promote active participation, the people should be encouraged to take part by means of acclamations, responses, psalmody, antiphons, and songs, as well as by actions, gestures, and bodily attitudes. And at the proper times all should observe a reverent silence.”

Through voices raised in dialogue, attitudes shaped by prayer, and silence cultivated out of respect for one another, we will experience a deeper sense of communion, participation and mission. Perhaps, we will achieve a harmony and solidarity under the guidance of the Holy Spirit at the level of 2174 to 4.

Año de la Eucaristía invita a solidaridad y harmonía

Posted on by
Reply

Por Obispo Joseph R. Kopacz, D.D.
A finales de este mes, en la Fiesta de Cristo Rey, la Diócesis de Jackson comenzará un Año de la Eucaristía que viene muy oportuno cuando estamos dando la bienvenida a la Misa de nuevo a nuestros fieles católicos, para que ocupen el lugar que les corresponde como miembros del Cuerpo de Cristo. No hemos vuelto del todo ni a los números ni a la fuerza previos a la pandemia, pero hemos logrado avances significativos. Para los católicos activos, el sacrificio de la Misa es siempre la piedra angular de nuestra fe en el Señor crucificado y resucitado y a veces, también el terreno fértil para la controversia en la era moderna.

El primer documento del Concilio Vaticano II que se presentó y aprobó al mundo católico fue Sacrosanctum Concilium por votación casi unánime de 2174 a 4. Esto fue el 4 de diciembre de 1963, y en este documento sobre la Sagrada Liturgia que tenía prioridad de un lugar entre los eventuales 16 documentos del Concilio, leemos que los Padres conciliares deseaban “impartir un vigor cada vez mayor a la vida cristiana de los fieles y fomentar todo lo que pueda promover la unión entre todos los que creen en Cristo.”

Obispo Joseph R. Kopacz

No es de extrañar que ellos y nosotros contemplemos la celebración de la Eucaristía, el sacrificio de la Misa, para fortalecer los lazos de unidad que siempre deben ser una obra de amor entre los hijos de Dios, quizás especialmente en nuestra generación.Los padres conciliares afirmaron además que “…la liturgia, a través de la cual se realiza la obra de nuestra redención, sobre todo en el sacrificio divino de la Eucaristía, es el medio sobresaliente por el cual los fieles pueden expresarse en su vida y manifestarse a los demás, el misterio de Cristo y la verdadera naturaleza de la iglesia verdadera.”

Una de las citas más conocidas del Concilio Vaticano proviene de este documento. “La liturgia es la cumbre hacia la que se dirige la actividad de la Iglesia; al mismo tiempo, es la fuente de la que fluye todo su poder.”

Este poder del amor eterno de Dios fluyó primero en el agua y la sangre del cuerpo quebrantado y el costado traspasado de Jesús en la Cruz. Estas fueron las cabeceras de la vida sacramental de la iglesia, específicamente el Bautismo y la Eucaristía, que se han convertido en un caudaloso río que fluye a través del tiempo.

El único sacerdocio de Jesucristo iniciado en la Cruz nace en cada bautismo y se manifiesta en la reunión del Pueblo de Dios en la Misa, la Palabra y el Sacramento. A través del Bautismo y el Orden Sagrado, las dos formas del sacerdocio, laicos y ordenados, se vuelven uno como el Cuerpo de Cristo reunido alrededor de las mesas de la Palabra y el Sacramento, el Cuerpo y la Sangre del Señor. Los ojos de la fe nos dan el privilegio de ver y celebrar este vínculo inquebrantable entre el cielo y la tierra, la unidad más exaltada que es posible en este mundo. Nos convertimos en uno con el Señor Jesús ascendido para alabar a Dios Padre, a fin de cumplir mejor nuestra misión de salvación y construcción del Reino de Dios en la Tierra, un reino de vida, justicia y paz. De hecho, esta es la fuente de la que fluye nuestro poder.

¿Cuán bien encaja este próximo “año de la Eucaristía” con el proceso mundial recientemente proclamado del Sínodo sobre la sinodalidad? Respondemos con un rotundo sí, sabiendo que el tema del Sínodo es “Comunión, Participación y Misión,” que es sólidamente eucarístico en propósito y proceso. Como en la liturgia, queremos que las voces de nuestros fieles católicos se eleven en diálogo durante todo el proceso del Sínodo.

Las siguientes citas de Sacrosanctum Concilium nos iluminan un camino claro para que en el Sínodo sembremos las semillas que proporcionarán una abundante cosecha. “La Madre Iglesia desea fervientemente que todos los fieles sean conducidos a esa activa participación, plenamente consciente en las celebraciones litúrgicas y que exige la naturaleza misma de la liturgia. Tal participación del pueblo cristiano como “familia escogida, real sacerdocio, nación santa, pueblo redimido (1 Pedro. 2: 9; cf.2: 4-5), es su derecho y deber por razón de su bautismo”. Asimismo, rezamos para acercarnos al Sínodo como discípulos del Señor a través de la participación plena consciente y activa como pueblo redimido que busca esa unidad por la que Jesús reza con ardor, dejando que el Espíritu Santo nos bendiga y nos sorprenda.

Finalmente, dejemos que el diálogo y el silencio, que son esenciales para nuestra oración litúrgica como se indica en la cita final de Sacrosanctum Concilium, resuenen en nuestros corazones y mentes a medida que nos acercamos al Sínodo sobre la Sinodalidad.

“Para promover la participación activa, se debe alentar a la gente a participar mediante aclamaciones, respuestas, salmodias, antífonas y cánticos, así como con acciones, gestos y actitudes corporales. Y también, en el momento oportuno, todos deben guardar un silencio reverente.”

A través de las voces que se elevan en el diálogo, las actitudes moldeadas por la oración y el silencio cultivado por el respeto mutuo, experimentaremos un sentido más profundo de comunión, participación y misión. Quizás logremos armonía y solidaridad bajo la guía del Espíritu Santo en el nivel de 2174 a 4.

Called by Name

Posted on by
Reply

While this is officially “Vocations Awareness Week,” here in the Diocese of Jackson we are dedicated to the fact that all of us should be open to the will of God in our lives, and rooted in prayer and relationship with the Lord, we seek to live out whatever the call ends up being. We are vocationally aware every day.

Father Nick Adam
Father Nick Adam

            Kathleen McMullin is a shining example of that. I remind you that Kathleen entered the community of the Franciscan Sisters of the Martyr St. George (Alton, Illinois) in early September. The call to consecrated life and the dedication to living out the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience is a call to live like Christ in a radical way.

Kathleen is discerning a call that in many ways provides her with more temporal challenges than the call to diocesan priesthood. As a diocesan priest, I can own things. If I want to go to the store, or to get some take-out, I can, and I can drive my own car there to boot. For Kathleen and vowed religious, everything they have is shared in common.

At the Benedictine monastery where I attended seminary it was always funny to see the monks fully habited driving back onto campus in random “community” vehicles that had to be “checked out” from their superior. This call to radical poverty is a path to freedom, however, and it gives Kathleen and her brothers and sisters the power to witness to a materialistic world that there is more to life than what we own. She has discerned that her call is to be in that community because she is confident in God’s love for her and she knows that no matter what happens, God will bring forth greater fulfillment in her life than anything else the world has to offer. She trusts that God has asked her to live and discern in that community for a reason, and I am so excited to see what the Lord has in store for her.

            Kathleen is in her late-20s, and she has been “vocationally aware,” for a very long time. She stayed open to God’s will while she graduated from high school, and college, and was trained as an occupational therapist, and finally she received the “go ahead” from the Lord to go deeper, to take a leap, and to trust him more fully. She was, and is, supported by a community of believers who inspire her and who are inspired by her. The fact that she remained open to this call and she was eventually able to respond to the Lord in such a beautiful way is a testament to the “Vocation Awareness” that is present in our diocese.

The greatest way we can remain “aware” is to pray for more vocations, and to pray for specific people in our community who we know are either thinking about priesthood or religious life or would make excellent priests and religious. Thank you for remaining vigilant and for continuing to beg the Lord of the harvest to send out more laborers into the field.

                                                                                       – Father Nick Adam

If you are interested in learning more about religious orders or vocations to the priesthood and religious life, please email Father Nick Adam at nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.

Kathleen McMullin is pictured on the far left on a visit earlier in 2021 to the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George community in Alton, Illinois. McMullin entered the community in early September this year.

Beware of your inner circles

Posted on by
Reply

IN EXILE
By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI

No man is an island. John Donne wrote those words four centuries ago and they are as true now as they were then, except we don’t believe them anymore.

Today more and more of us are beginning to define our nuclear families and our carefully chosen circle of friends precisely as a self-sufficient island and are becoming increasing selective as to who is allowed on our island, into our circle of friends, and into the circle of those we deem worthy of respect. We define and protect our idiosyncratic islands by a particular ideology, view of politics, view of morality, view of gender, and view of religion. Anyone who doesn’t share our view is unwelcome and not worthy of our time and respect.

Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI

Moreover, contemporary media plays into this. Beyond the hundreds of mainstream television channels we have to choose from, each with its own agenda, we have social media wherein each of us can find the exact ideology, politics, and moral and religious perspective that fosters, protects and isolates our island and makes our little nuclear clique, one of self-sufficiency, exclusivity and intolerance. Today we all have the tools to plumb the media until we find exactly the “truth” we like. We have come a long way from the old days of a Walter Cronkite delivering a truth we all could trust.

The effects of this are everywhere, not least in the increasingly bitter polarization we are experiencing vis-a-vis virtually every political, moral, economic, and religious issue in our world. We find ourselves today on separate islands, not open to listen, respect, or dialogue with anyone not of our own kind. Anyone who disagrees with me is not worthy of my time, my ear, and my respect; this seems to be the popular attitude today.

We see some of this in certain strident forms of Cancel Culture and we see much of it in the increasing hard, inward-turned face of nationalism in so many countries today. What’s foreign is unwelcome, pure and simple. We will not deal with anything that challenges our ethos.

What’s wrong with that? Almost everything. Irrespective of whether we are looking at this from a biblical and Christian perspective or whether we are looking at it from the point of view of human health and maturity, this is just wrong.

Biblically, it’s clear. God breaks into our lives in important ways, mainly through “the stranger,” through what’s foreign, through what’s other, and through what sabotages our thinking and blows apart our calculated expectations.

Revelation normally comes to us in the surprise, namely, in a form that turns our thinking upside down. Take for example the incarnation itself. For centuries people looked forward to the coming of a messiah, a god in human flesh, who would overpower and humiliate all their enemies and offer them, those faithfully praying for this, honor and glory. They prayed for and anticipated a superman, and what did they get? A helpless baby lying in the straw. Revelation works like that. This is why St. Paul tells us to always welcome a stranger because it could in fact be an angel in disguise.

All of us, I am sure, at some point in our lives have personally had that experience of meeting an angel in disguise inside a stranger whom we perhaps welcomed only with some reluctance and fear. I know in my own life, there have been times when I didn’t want to welcome a certain person or situation into my life.

I live in a religious community where you do not get to choose who you will live with. You are assigned your “immediate family” and (but for a few exceptions when there is clinical dysfunction) like-mindedness is not a criterion as to who is assigned to live with each other in our religious houses. Not infrequently, I have had to live in community with someone who I would not, by choice, have taken for a friend, a colleague, a neighbor, or a member of my family. To my surprise, it has often been the person whom I would have least chosen to live with who has been a vehicle of grace and transformation in my life.

Moreover, this has been true for my life in general. I have often found myself graced by the most unlikely, unexpected, initially unwelcome sources. Admittedly, this has not always been without pain. What’s foreign, what’s other, can be upsetting and painful for a long time before grace and revelation are recognized, but it’s what carries grace.

That is our challenge always, though particularly today when so many of us are retreating to our own islands, imagining this as maturity, and then rationalizing it by a false faith, a false nationalism, and a false idea of what constitutes maturity. This is both wrong and dangerous. Engaging with what is other enlarges us. God is in the stranger, and so we are cutting ourselves off from a major avenue of grace whenever we will not let the foreign into our lives.

(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher and award-winning author. He can be contacted through his website www.ronrolheiser.com.)

Joy and encouraging vocations

Posted on by
Reply

GUEST COLUMN
By Sister Constance Veit, l.s.p.

I do a lot of outreach to the young on behalf of my religious congregation, so I try to be aware of trends in vocations work and the common traits of emerging generations.

Recently I took some time to review the latest Study on Religious Vocations, co-sponsored by the National Religious Vocation Conference and the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, hoping that it would give me an “aha moment” on how to interest young women in our community of Little Sisters of the Poor.

I was struck by a section of the report entitled Intergenerational Living. According to the 2020 NRVC/CARA study, a mere 13 percent of perpetually professed members of religious communities are younger than 60, while the same proportion are at least 90 years of age.

Sister Constance Veit, LSP

These are pretty sobering statistics!

I was consoled to read the following testimony from a young religious: “It is beautiful to have all different generations and ethnicities in one community, in one house, if we allow ourselves to see that beauty.”

What a hope-filled attitude on the part of a young religious! It really inspired me to stop bemoaning the aging of our religious communities and start seeing the beauty.

So, as we observe National Vocations Awareness Week, I would like to address a message of hope to my fellow women and men religious who, like me, are not so young anymore!

May you too take heart in realizing that young people seeking religious life are not as deterred by the older demographics of most of our communities as we thought. They don’t seem to mind that many of us are older – but they do hope that we will live simply, in solidarity with the poor, and that we will live and pray together in a spirit of joy.

So how do we connect with the young? Let’s take a few cues from Pope Francis!

We might begin by striving to become young again. The pope has suggested that we seek to renew our youthfulness at every stage of life.

“As we mature, grow older and structure our lives,” he wrote, “we should never lose that enthusiasm and openness to an ever greater reality.”

In Christus Vivit, our Holy Father encouraged us to let ourselves be loved by God, for he loves us just as we are.

A young friend and former FOCUS missionary told me that this is the essential message we need to communicate to young people. They need to know that they are loved as they are, even though God wants to give them more.

God “values and respects you,” we might say to them, borrowing from the pope’s words “but he also keeps offering you more: more of his friendship, more fervor in prayer, more hunger for his word, more longing to receive Christ in the Eucharist, more desire to live his Gospel, more inner strength, more peace and spiritual joy.”

This joy is something about which the pope very often speaks, and it is something that speaks deeply to young people in their vocational discernment.

It is something they see in the quality of a gaze or a smile, in the serenity with which a consecrated person embraces trials or suffering, and in the generous gift of self to the poor day after day.

Pope Francis insisted on joy in a recent speech to Discalced Carmelites, “It is ugly to see consecrated men and women with a long face. It is ugly, it is ugly. Joy must come from within: that joy that is peace, an expression of friendship.”

God forbid that any of us become ugly as we grow older!

In Christus Vivit, the exhortation he wrote following the Synod on young people in the life of the church, Pope Francis reminded us that Christ is alive and he wants us to be fully alive.

“When you feel you are growing old out of sorrow, resentment or fear,” he wrote, “he will always be there to restore your strength and your hope.”

So, let’s ask Jesus, “himself eternally young,” to give us hearts that are ever young and capable of loving, ready to welcome the new generations who knock on our doors just as Elizabeth welcomed the Virgin Mary into her home in the Visitation.

Let’s witness to these young women and men the JOY that fills our hearts, and is eager to fill theirs as well, if only they give themselves to Him!

(Sister Constance Veit is director of communications for the Little Sisters of the Poor.)

The author (lower left) enjoying community time in San Francisco. Next to her is Sr. Cecilia Mary Sartorius, who recently left us for the Father’s House. Sr. Cecilia served as a superior for many years and in many locations, influencing younger Little Sisters with her joyful spirit.

Beatitude

Posted on by

From the hermitage
By sister alies therese
In a couple of weeks, Advent will offer us a joyous opportunity to enter more deeply into a new evaluation of our broken, busted, banished, bold and brought together lives in beatitude. Beatitude, however, will be hidden if we bang into barriers set to disrupt us; barriers we keep in place to protect ourselves, or so we blindly imagine.

G.K. Chesterton wrote somewhere in What’s Wrong With the World? that: We’re all in the same boat … we’re all seasick. I dare say Advent is a bit like taking a new look at the boat (my life, the church, and/or our world), and perhaps consume some Dramamine for the seasickness in the form of prayer, almsgiving and fasting. We shall also be looking for the beatitude of the coming of Jesus, though you may also discover Him asleep in your boat.

Usually during Advent, I need to clear out my excuses, and I have many, part of my seasickness. Whatever they are and in whatever form they appear … they need to go, or the promised beatitude might be obscured. I found this anonymous little excuse from a driver on his insurance claim: the pedestrian had no idea which direction to go, so I ran over him. Oh my, quite an excuse. Made me think of all the ways I just push on when I clearly might have stopped and waited until the pedestrian (be that people, ideas, prayer or issues) found their place. No need to run right over in the pursuit of beatitude. Unlikely to emerge. Excuses need to go so I can wait in peace … not in fear. Then I will know what to do. We know what Jesus said when He arose in the boat … where is your faith? Be not afraid. No need for excuses. And the sea was calmed. What beatitude Jesus bestows in Himself.

Sister alies therese

The Catechism offers us this little definition of beatitude: “Happiness or blessedness, especially the eternal happiness of heaven, which is described as the vision of God, or entering into God’s rest by those whom God makes ‘partakers of the divine nature.’” (CCC 1024, 1721)

Do reread this a couple of times because therein lies the very good news of the arrival of Jesus, Divine Beatitude. I am always reminded when I find these immense realities a bit overwhelming that Jesus was gracious enough, thoughtful enough, and wise enough to come as a little Child … a small baby, a little fella who would need to be fed and watered, comforted and rocked, enjoyed and played with, taught and accompanied on His journey of self-discovery and vocation. Who is afraid of a little child? The beatitude of humility.

Jesus’ ministry takes the time to convince us that our final beatitude will be to see God face-to-face. Really? That sounds a bit overpowering. Fortunately, Jesus will make that transformative experience a blessing beyond all blessings. No barriers, no excuses, nothing to separate us from God. Nothing. Forever. First, however we must learn the ways of beatitude and be ready to pray and act as if we belong. That’s what we are doing here until we move on. Thus, it is no secret that Matthew or Luke’s teachings from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount are referred to as ‘The Beatitudes’ … the happinesses … the blessings … the promises, the actions and attitudes of the Christian life. (CCC 1716) When we explore our weaknesses and discover our gifts we are beginning to walk in the way of beatitude. When we discover our selfishness and the tiny Child … we are beginning a deeper journey into the humility of God. Remember though that ‘crash and burn’ is not the way to get there as our driver pointed out: When I could not avoid the collision, I stepped on the gas and crashed into the other car. Excuses must go even ones as simple as this: Sally won’t be in school a week from Friday. We must attend her funeral. Who knew?

Thus, in this season of plenty let us not only be thankful for all things, but really be thankful for all things. That challenge of gratitude will lead us to an attitude of receptivity, opening our hearts to the beatitude to come, filling us with what we need to make truthful and healthy decisions.

“The beatitude we are promised confronts us with decisive moral choices. It invites us to purify our hearts of bad instincts and to seek the love of God above all else. It teaches that true happiness is not found in riches or well-being, in human fame or power, or in any human achievement — however beneficial it may be — such as science, technology, and art or indeed in any creature, but in God alone, the source of every good and of all love.” (CCC 1723)

(Sister alies therese is a canonically vowed hermit with days formed around prayer and writing.)

Ars Celebrandi: Getting more out of Mass

Posted on by
Reply

GUEST COLUMN
By James Tomek, Ph.D
Celebrating the Mass as an art was the subject of a recent workshop, led by Father Dennis Gill for Priests, Deacons and Lay Ecclesial Ministers of our diocese. Ars Celebrandi, the title of Father Dennis’s book, is also a church activity promoting the study of Liturgy (our official public worship used here interchangeably with the Mass) as an art. A general lack of respect at Mass, along with a general “not getting” of what happens at Mass has inspired Father Dennis to become an expert in Sacred Liturgy.

Active participation at Mass, a major aim, happens when we all feel united with Jesus, offering himself and us to God. Viewing Mass as an art can help us see that participating at Mass requires skills. As a literature person, when I see Ars Poetica, it is usually a poem or essay about what a certain art should be – its essence. Art can be defined as a “doing” of things that makes them beautiful and memorable. We will now talk about Father Dennis’s view of major essences at Mass, followed by how they fit into the Order of the Mass.

Father Gill encourages us to study the General Instructions of the Roman Missal (GIRM). What is happening “inside” us? Mystagogia describes this “inside” – a leading into the mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus. How do we render this “prayer” concrete in real life? (orandi vivendi)

The Sacrament of Holy Orders confers on priests the official authority to speak in the person of Jesus Christ at Mass. Theological realities? Where is Jesus in all this? Liturgy puts us in the presence of Jesus, who is raised from the dead by the Father and Holy Spirit. We are all “priests” by our Baptism. When the ordained priest says, “the Lord be with you” we lay people, as a part of this priesthood, answer “and with your Spirit.”

Our primary aim at Mass is to prepare to be worthy to receive “Holy Communion,” which I take as not just the Sacred Host, but a sum of receiving the Body of Christ in Communion with all the faithful. The Eucharist, meaning thanksgiving, is a beautiful word to summarize Mass and this Holy Communion.

“Worship” comes from “worth-ship” where we give God the respect for his worth to us. Gestures and postures help. For example, we stand when we say prayers. This attention is authentic participation. Liturgy is life and life is Liturgy. If we have participated well, we can put what we rehearsed at Mass into real life – the meaning of Ite, Missa Est at the end. We are sent. Mass is not a pep rally, but a worship – a rehearsal of our Christian eternal life.

Music highlights the spiritual value. Here, Father Dennis focuses more on the musicality of the dialogs. He prefers the singing of the dialogs, like the “Let us give thanks to the Lord” and the “Holy, holy, holy.” There should be a music feel or a rhythm where even silences are important so that we have time to let the mystery soak into our hearts. Furniture also provides meaning. The Altar is the centerpiece where the Sacrifice takes place. It is Christ. The Ambo, or lectern, is where the Word of God is read and spoken. The Chair is the permanent sign of where Jesus speaks.

Every part of the Order of the Mass – the Entrance, Liturgy of the Word, the Liturgy of the Eucharist and Concluding Rites – is about the offering of Jesus Christ and us to God. What will we do with our Holy Communion? How will we be worthy of it depends on how we will put it in practice in our Christian lives.

With the Entrance rites, we should focus on establishing communion with others, so to be worthy of the Sacrament. With the procession, the priest, as Jesus, leads us to the altar. The kiss at the altar symbolizes the communion of Jesus and his sacrifice (sometimes intensified by an incensing). The Collect prayer points to the scriptures and the offerings of the people that are about to happen.

In the Liturgy of the Word, lectors recite the story of Christ’s redemption and salvation. The Homily becomes a liturgical rite where the scriptures are broken open. With the Universal Prayer, or intercessions, we pray for the general needs of the church. These petitions should be associated with the scripture readings and can form a base of offerings that we will put in practice in everyday life. This prayer slides into the Offertory and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

The third part of Mass is the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The “Eucharist” in this part of Mass refers to the “meal” celebration. The gifts are prepared as the altar is dressed with the corporal, missal and vessels. The bread and wine are raised slightly and then set to the side for the sacrifice coming.

PEARL – Father Dennis Gill speaks on the art of Mass at the yearly continuing education gathering of the priests, deacons and LEM’s of the diocese on Oct. 19. (Photos by Rhonda Bowden)


The Eucharistic Prayer that follows is Jesus starting our conversation with God. It is a prayer of thanksgiving and sanctification. The introduction to the preface calls us to lift our hearts and minds to God. The Preface leads to the “Holy, holy, holy,” and emphasizes our thankfulness. The main body of the Eucharistic Prayer follows (Father Dennis recommends using Prayer I or III for Sundays). From this prayer, Father stresses the Epiclesis, where the Holy Spirit is called on to bless the proceedings, the Institution Narrative, where the bread and wine are consecrated, and the Anamnesis, where we remember what Christ has done for us.

The last part of the Liturgy of the Eucharist is the Communion Rite. The Lord’s Prayer is where we dare say with Jesus “Our Father” asking God to forgive us and give us the grace to forgive others. The sign of peace goes back to when Jesus tells us that, before receiving communion, we need to reconcile any differences with our neighbor. The Breaking of the Bread (fraction) is the huge Sacramental sign where Sacred Bread is broken and shared with the community. The Lamb of God prayer is recited simultaneously. With the Concluding Rites, the priest, preferably from the chair, dismisses us and sends us on our way to live what we have just rehearsed. We need to reflect on the liturgy regularly.

Father Dennis concludes, saying that with every celebration of the Liturgy, there is a hint of the Ascension with Jesus Christ where we are all raised to the Father.

(James Tomek is a retired language and literature professor at Delta State University who is currently a Lay Ecclesial Minister at Sacred Heart in Rosedale and also active in RCIA at Our Lady of Victories in Cleveland.)

Cuidado con tus círculos interiores

Posted on by
Reply

Por Ron Rolheiser

Ningún hombre es una isla. John Donne escribió esas palabras hace cuatro siglos y son tan verdaderas ahora como lo eran entonces, excepto que ya no las creemos.

Hoy en día, más de nosotros estamos comenzando a definir nuestra familia nuclear y nuestro círculo de amigos cuidadosamente elegido, precisamente como una isla autosuficiente y nos volvemos cada vez más selectivos en cuanto a quién está autorizado en nuestra isla, en nuestro círculo de amigos y de aquellos que consideramos dignos de respeto.

Nosotros definimos y protegemos nuestras islas idiosincrásicas por una ideología particular, una visión de la política, una visión de la moralidad, una visión del género y una visión de la religión. Cualquiera que no comparta nuestra opinión no es bienvenido y no es digno de nuestro tiempo y respeto.

Padre Ron Rolheiser, OMI

Los medios contemporáneos, además, juegan con esto. Más allá de los cientos de canales de televisión tradicionales que tenemos para elegir, cada uno con su propia agenda, tenemos redes sociales en las que cada uno de nosotros puede encontrar la ideología, política y perspectiva moral y religiosa exactas que fomenta, protege y aísla nuestra isla y hace nuestra pequeña camarilla nuclear, una de autosuficiencia, exclusividad e intolerancia.

Hoy todos tenemos las herramientas para sondear los medios hasta que encontremos exactamente la “verdad” que nos gusta. Hemos recorrido un largo camino desde los viejos tiempos de un Walter Cronkite entregando una verdad en la que todos podíamos confiar.

Los efectos de esto están en todas partes, sobre todo en la polarización cada vez más amarga que estamos experimentando frente a prácticamente todos los problemas políticos, morales, económicos y religiosos de nuestro mundo.

Hoy nos encontramos en islas separadas, sin estar abiertos a escuchar, respetar o dialogar con nadie que no sea de nuestra clase. Cualquiera que no esté de acuerdo conmigo no es digno de mi tiempo, mi oído y mi respeto; esta parece ser la actitud popular hoy en día.

Vemos algo de esto en ciertas formas estridentes de la cultura de cancelación y vemos mucho de ello en el rostro cada vez más duro y vuelto hacia adentro del nacionalismo en tantos países hoy en día. Lo que es extranjero no es bienvenido, puro y simple. No nos ocuparemos de nada que desafíe nuestra ética.

¿Qué está mal con eso? Casi todo. Independientemente de si lo estamos viendo desde una perspectiva bíblica y cristiana o si lo estamos viendo desde el punto de vista de la salud y madurez humana, esto es incorrecto simplemente.

Bíblicamente, está claro. Dios irrumpe en nuestras vidas de maneras importantes, principalmente a través de “el extraño”, a través de lo que es extraño, a través de lo que es otro y a través de lo que sabotea nuestro pensamiento y destruye nuestras expectativas calculadas. La revelación normalmente nos llega por sorpresa, es decir, en una forma que cambia nuestro pensamiento al revés.

Tomemos, por ejemplo, la encarnación misma. Durante siglos, la gente esperaba la llegada de un mesías, un dios en carne humana, que dominaría y humillaría a todos sus enemigos y les ofrecería, a los que oraban fielmente por esto, honor y gloria. Oraron por un superhombre y lo anticiparon, y ¿qué obtuvieron? Un bebé indefenso tendido en la paja. La revelación funciona así. Por eso San Pablo nos dice que siempre acojamos a un extraño porque, de hecho, podría ser un ángel disfrazado.

Estoy seguro de que todos nosotros, en algún momento de nuestras vidas, hemos tenido personalmente la experiencia de encontrarnos con un ángel disfrazado dentro de un extraño al que quizás sólo recibimos con cierta desgana y miedo.

 Yo sé que en mi propia vida, ha habido momentos en los que no quise dar la bienvenida a una determinada persona o situación en mi vida. Vivo en una comunidad religiosa donde no puedes elegir con quién vivirás. A usted se le asigna su “familia inmediata” y (salvo algunas excepciones cuando hay una disfunción clínica) una mentalidad similar no es un criterio en cuanto a quién está asignado a vivir juntos en nuestras casas religiosas. No pocas veces he tenido que vivir en una comunidad con alguien a quien, por elección propia, no habría tomado por un amigo, un colega, un vecino o un miembro de mi familia.

 Para mi sorpresa, a menudo ha sido esta, la persona con la que menos hubiera elegido vivir la que ha sido un vehículo de gracia y transformación en mi vida. Además, esto ha sido cierto para mi vida en general. A menudo me he encontrado agraciado por las fuentes más improbables, inesperadas e inicialmente no deseadas. Es cierto que esto no siempre ha sido sin dolor. Lo que es extraño, lo que es otro, puede ser perturbador y doloroso durante mucho tiempo antes de que se reconozcan la gracia y la revelación, pero es lo que lleva la gracia.

Ese es nuestro desafío siempre, aunque particularmente hoy en día, cuando muchos de nosotros nos retiramos a nuestras propias islas, imaginando esto como madurez y luego racionalizándolo con una fe falsa, un nacionalismo y una idea falsos de lo que constituye la madurez. Esto es incorrecto y peligroso.

Comprometerse con lo otro nos agranda. Dios está en el extraño, por lo que nos estamos apartando de una importante avenida de gracia cada vez que no permitimos que lo extranjero entre en nuestras vidas.

(El padre oblato Ron Rolheiser es un teólogo, maestro y autor galardonado. Puede ser contactado a través de su sitio web www.ronrolheiser.com.

Ahora en Facebook www.facebook.com/ronrolheiser)

Called by Name

Posted on by
Reply

In mid-October, I spent a couple of eventful days at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. On Wednesday, Oct. 13 Ryan Stoer and Tristan Stovall were instituted to the order of acolyte. Acolyte institution is the final step before ordination to Holy Orders as a deacon. Men who are instituted to this order are given the opportunity to serve the Mass and even purify the vessels following Mass. Prior to acolyte institution candidates for the priesthood are instituted as lectors. Ryan and Tristan have been joy-filled witnesses to the formation process from the beginning of their time in the seminary. Please keep them and their families in your prayers.

Father Nick Adam
Father Nick Adam

The day after that joyous occasion I was surprised by some monumental news in the life of Notre Dame Seminary. The longtime rector of NDS, Father Jim Wehner, had already announced that this would be his 10th and final year leading the community as he would return to serve in his home diocese of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and on Oct. 14 NDS announced that Father Josh Rodrigue would succeed Father Wehner in that post. I was very pleased to hear this news. Father Wehner has been an incredible leader at the seminary, and I believe that Father Rodrigue will be able to keep the momentum going in New Orleans. Father Josh taught me during part of my time in the seminary, and he has been a great support to many men who have been recently ordained to the priesthood.

My time at the seminary was a time of great joy and being back for a couple of days was a great reminder that while this is no longer my home it remains a great one for the men who are seeking to know whether they are called to be priests. In the coming days I plan on visiting the other seminary that serves our priestly candidates, St. Joseph Seminary College in Covington, and I look forward to checking in on our two youngest seminarians, Will Foggo and Grayson Foley. Thank you as always for your support of our vocations department. Our final fundraising total from the Homegrown Harvest Festival was $81,177. All of these funds will go toward the education of our future priests as well as programs and events to help others discern whether they are called to the seminary or religious community to follow God’s call to Holy Orders or religious life.

What ultimately lies at the center of our attention?

Posted on by
Reply

IN EXILE
By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI
In Walker Percy’s 1971 novel, Love Among the Ruins, his central character is a psychiatrist named Tom More. More is a Roman Catholic who is no longer practicing his faith, albeit he still believes. This is how he describes his situation: “I believe in God and the whole business but I love women best, music and science next, whiskey next, God fourth, and my fellowman hardly at all. … Nevertheless, I still believe.”

Ironically, perhaps it was persons like him, sinners who still believed, who were the ones most drawn to Jesus in the Gospels.

Reading More’s list of what he loves and in what order, I’m reminded of a conference I once attended on the theme of Secularity and the Gospel. One of the keynote speakers, a renowned social worker, made a comment to this effect: I work on the streets with the poor and I do it because I’m a Christian. But I can work on the streets for years and never mention Christ’s name because I believe that God is mature enough that he doesn’t demand to be the center of our conscious attention all the time.

Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI

As you can guess, her statement sparked some debate. It should. Does God demand to be the center of our conscious attention all the time? Is it okay habitually to be focused elsewhere? If, affectively, we in fact love a lot of other persons and things before God, is this a betrayal of our faith?

There are no simple answers to these questions because they demand a very delicate balance between the demands of the First Commandment and an overall theology of God. As the First Commandment teaches, God is primary, always. This may never be ignored; but we also know that God is wise and trustworthy. Hence, we may safely deduce that God did not make us one way and then demand that we live in an entirely different way: that is, God did not make us with powerful proclivities that instinctually and habitually focus us on the things of this world and then demand that we give him the center of attention all the time. That would be a bad parent.

Good parents love their children, try to give them sufficient guidance, and then set them free to focus on their own lives. They don’t demand to be the center of their children’s lives; they only ask that their children remain faithful to the family’s ethos and values, even as they still want them to come home regularly and not forget about their family.

This dynamic is a little more complex within a marriage. Spouses with a mature love for each other no longer demand that they be the center of each other’s conscious attention all the time. Most of the time, this is not a problem. The problem arises more when one partner is no longer the affective center for the other, when at the level of emotional attraction and focus someone else has displaced him or her. This can be emotionally painful and yet, within the context of mature love, should not threaten the marriage. Our emotions are like wild animals, roaming where they will, but they are not the real indicator of love and fidelity. I know a man, a writer, who has been lovingly and scrupulously faithful to his wife through more than forty years who, by his own admission, has a crush on a different person every other day. This hasn’t threatened his marriage. Admittedly though, but for a strong spirituality and morality, it could.

The same principles hold true for our relationship with God. First, God gave us a nature that is affectively wild and promiscuous. God expects us to be responsible as to how we act inside that nature; but, given how we are made, the First Commandment may not be interpreted in such a way that we should feel guilty whenever God is not consciously or affectively number one in our lives.

Next, as a good parent, God doesn’t demand to be the center of our conscious attention all the time. God is not upset when our habitual focus is on our own lives, so long as we remain faithful and do not culpably neglect giving God that focus when it is called for.

As well, God is a good spouse who knows that sometimes, given our innate promiscuity, our affections will momentarily be infatuated by a different center. Like a good spouse, what God asks is fidelity.

Finally, more deeply, there is still the question of what ultimately we are infatuated with and longing for when our focus is on other things rather than on God. Even in that, it is God we seek.

There are times when we are called to make God the conscious center of our attention; love and faith demand this. However, there will be times when, affectively and consciously, God will take fourth place in our lives – and God is mature and understanding enough to live with that.

(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher and award-winning author. He can be contacted through his website www.ronrolheiser.com.)