Candlemas: Presentation of Jesus in the Temple

The Presentation in the Temple: Simeon (holding Jesus) and Anna (on the right); Mary with the two turtle doves and Joseph. (I've been unable to locate the source of the image.)

Wednesday of this week, February 2, is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple. On the pre-Conciliar liturgical calendar it was the Feast of the Presentation that ended the Christmas season and in the Archdiocese of Boston this date was, years ago, often the date of ordination to the priesthood.  (Ad multos annos to those celebrating anniversaries!)

Luke is the gospel source for this event in the life of the Holy Family.

When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord just as it is written in the law of the Lord... and to offer the sacrifice of "a pair of turtledoves..." Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Messiah of the Lord. He came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying: "Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel." ...There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer. And coming forward at that very time, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.

This feast is sometimes called Candlemas Day because on this day there may be a blessing of candles and a procession. There's a tie between the candles and the phrase, a light for revelation to the Gentiles in Simeon's canticle in Luke's gospel.

While there's a significant amount of art based on the theme of this day's feast, Anna is sometimes absent where Simeon is prominently featured. The image above includes Mary and Joseph and both Simeon, the holy man, and Anna, the prophet. Here's a quilted image of Anna where she seems ready to run from the temple to invite others to Come, Listen and Rejoice for salvation has come for all!

Anna the Prophetess by Larkin Jean Van Horn

And don't miss Phil's fine post on Candlemas, St. Brigid Day and Groundhog Day - over at Blue Eyed Ennis!

 
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Monday Morning Offering - 130

Image: George Mendoza


Good morning, good God!

So many beautiful faces at yesterday's Faith Festival,  Lord!
Most were familiar, some were new
and a few were surprises -
"So glad you came, you're back, you're here!"

As we sang the Lord's Prayer I looked around
and found your face, Lord,
refracted, as through a prism:
each facet revealing some aspect of your beauty,
no two faces alike, each one unique
yet one with all the others...

I sat across the table from a child whose face beamed
with fascination over everything we said and did
and prayed and sang...

Her small face had room for so many expressions
and she offered them freely to all who looked her way,
smiling and laughing and then suddenly focused
on someone or something that caught her eye...

And I watched her mother watching her
and her father watching her older sister,
parents reflecting the inquiring delight on their daughters faces,
their eyes taking in the wonder of their children
learning to pray in the company of the people of God...

And that was just the table where I sat, Lord!
Yet another 150 faces 'round the hall shone
with some glimmer of your glory
and in every face I met your eyes and you met mine...

With the generous grace of your Spirit
you helped me see so clearly, Lord,
what is always before me, always around me:
the reign of your presence visiting in the families,
the lives, the hearts of the people of my parish...

I offer you my praise and thanks, Lord,
for the gift of such a vision
as beautiful as it was simple,
as simple as it was extraordinary...

I doubt a day goes by without such visions falling freely from your hand
as snowflakes, each of a kind, kissing my cheek
and blanketing the path of my week's walk from day to day...

Open my eyes more often, Lord, to your face
in the faces of all I meet and know...

Open my heart to see in those around me
how present you are in every moment of every day...

For moments graced with a glimpse of the divine
caught in the eyes, the smiles, the tears of others,
make me truly grateful, Lord...

Open my arms to welcome you in all whose paths cross mine
and if in any way I can make their journey safer, more peaceful,
help me make the time to do just that...

And so I pray this morning, Lord,
and all this day into the coming night
and every day this week...

(Click here for an archive of Monday Morning Offerings)


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What does it mean to be "blessed?"

Image: Will Humes

Homily for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Scriptures for today's liturgy

Audio for homily

First, a few questions...

What makes you happy?

What is there about you that’s deserving of honor?

What is there about your life that others might highly esteem?

The Greek word (makarioi) translated here as “blessed”
translates just as well as
“happy,” or “deserving of honor” or “highly esteemed.”

But Jesus' categories of "blessed" or "happy" are very unusual.

Are we happy when we grieve and mourn?
Do we feel blessed when we’re insulted?
Do we esteem the meek?
Are they happy who hunger and thirst for justice?
Is it a blessing to be falsely accused? an honor to be persecuted?

Of course there are here those three more user-friendly categories:
Blessed are the merciful, the clean of heart, the peacemakers…

But I wonder…
At a birth, or graduation, or wedding,
when we think of our children’s futures and hope they’ll be
“happy and blessed, highly honored and esteemed…”
do we find ourselves praying they’ll be merciful?
wishing they’ll be clean of heart?
hoping they might become peacemakers?

In a world of “What you see is what you get…”
and “You get what you pay for…”
and “The more you make the more you can get…”
the Lord’s categories for happiness can sound
strange, odd, mistaken -- certainly, paradoxical.

Here, as he so often does, Jesus turns upside down
our assumptions and expectations:
he turns them inside out and asks us to look again, and again,
at what we take for granted
and to reevaluate our hopes and our dreams for happiness.

St. Paul is doing the same turn-around of expectations
in the second lesson today:
God chose the foolish to shame the wise.
God chose the weak to shame the strong.
God chose the lowly and despised, those who count for nothing,
to reduce to nothing those who are something.

The scriptures today pose some hard questions for us.
- In all the world’s craziness,
do we seek - and where do we find - what’s truly wise?
- In all our weaknesses,
do we look for - and were do we find - strength that endures?
- In all the choices we make,
what do we value as honorable, as something worthy of our love?

There are many “hot button” issues in the Church,
questions that are argued and debated again and again.
But at the root of all these is one that comes before all the others
and that’s the question I began with,
What makes us happy?
What is truly honorable and deserving of our esteem?
What are the real blessings in life?

The Lord answers those questions in today’s gospel
and invites us to take an honest inventory of ourselves.

In a nutshell, these scriptures ask us to look at life
through the eyes of God and to see what the Lord sees
- and to live accordingly.

If we don’t listen, we’ll be ignorant of how God sees.
If we don’t look, we’ll fail to see what the Lord sees.
If we don’t align our hearts with God’s, we won’t see at all.

We’re about to approach the Lord’s Table
where only those who see with eyes of faith
will see in the bread we offer, the Body of Christ…
will see in the cup we share, the Blood of Christ…
will see in the Crucified, the One who is most blessed,
most worthy of our honor and esteem.

Although he was falsely accused, he was merciful to all;
although he was insulted and defiled, he remained clean of heart;
and although he was unjustly persecuted he made peace
between heaven and earth, between God and us.

And at the Supper of this table he offers us here
the sacrifice he offered once on the Cross.

Blessed then are we who see with eyes of faith
and find in the simple meal of this table
the presence of the One in whom we are all blessed.

 
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Haiku

I saw it online
I just couldn't resist it
More snow this weekend



 
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Catholic blogs

Eric Sammons has updated his list of 200 top Catholic bloggers - rated according to the number of their Google reader subscriptions.

You might recall that I wrote on Eric's first listing back on this blog's third anniversary.  I'm pleased to see that my page has moved a little higher up the list and it's an honor to share the same rank (132) as Deacon Greg over at the Bench.

Thanks to all my subscribers!

Not yet a subscriber here?  Just click on the link after my signature below and welcome aboard!


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Praying in between the seasons

Image: Walden Pond in the Snow by Binarydreams

The Concord Journal, our local weekly, invites leaders of the faith communities in town to rotate authorship of a column titled, Voices of Faith.  It's my turn this week and I've quilted together some pieces old and new for this mid-winter invitation to prayer.  It may be warm and sunny where you are but in these parts last night's storm has provided the perfect context for these words, for folks who are snowed in - again!

Praying in between the seasons

Beginning in November there’s a good deal of forward, sometimes frenzied movement that energizes and drives us through the holy days and holidays we celebrate in our respective traditions. All that takes its toll on us and may be the reason this season after the turn of the year finds us sluggish and slack even when the sun peeks a smile through the gray haze of winter’s skies.

How about you? Do these long weeks weigh on your spirit? Does the weather chill your will as well as your limbs? Do winter’s short days shadow your heart’s desires?

Will you pray with me?

God of gray days lighten and lift my heart… keep and hold me close by your side… let nothing part me from your presence… With the fire of your Spirit, warm and still the shivers of my soul... With the light that hides behind the clouds, clear my mind and brighten my spirit… Lift me from my weariness and set my steps again along the path of your love… Open my eyes to the beauty around me, even in the drifts and piles of snow stalling my travels… As I walk through these winter weeks keep me mindful of others making their own way through this season of grays: help me know their hearts' burdens and nudge me to give, graciously, any help I might offer…

In between the anticipation of “the holidays” and the longed-for first kiss of spring comes this season we find so hard to weather. This is so, perhaps, because throughout our lives so many “in between” times visit and unsettle us.

So much of life is in between: in between yesterday and tomorrow… in between the old and the new… in between expectation and fulfillment… in between planting and harvest… in between disappointment and hope… in between sadness and joy… in between tears and laughter… in between what’s been left undone and what’s yet to be discovered… in between what we can’t let go and what we scarcely dare to dream…

Will you pray with me?

I offer you this moment, Lord, this “in between” time of the year, the only real time I have to offer… Help me “keep it in today” and give me serenity to accept the things I cannot change, to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference… Give me patience with the past, Lord and hope for the future… Help me trust that you have never abandoned me, that you will never forget me, that you are always with me as you at this moment between all that has been and all that is yet be… I offer you this one day between yesterday and tomorrow… Today you come to meet me, challenge me, forgive me, comfort and strengthen me… Help me rejoice and be glad in this day whatever it may bring… This is the day you have made, Lord, and this day will never come again - help me live it to the full…

As inches become feet of snow and dropping temperatures nip the soul from nose to toes, let’s be mindful of one another living in this season between the time of winter’s chill and spring’s first blush.

Will you pray with me, in between these seasons?

 
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Word for the Weekend

Image: Marble Collegiate Chapel

Here comes the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time! The scriptures and commentary on them for this weekend can be found here. Bringing children to Mass with you? Check this site for hints on helping young ones prepare to hear the Word of the Lord.

The gospel of the day offers us Matthew's account of the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes: Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God...

The first lesson of the day, from Zephaniah, gives us a hint of what's to come in the gospel: Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth... seek justice, seek humility; perhaps you may be sheltered...

The second lesson, continuing a series of readings from 1 Corinthians, fits nicely and thematically with the other two texts and their "turn-around" of what might be expected: God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something...

These are texts that deserve our rereading and pondering, in spite of their familiarity - especially the Beatitudes.  We do ourselves a disservice when we dismiss a familiar passage with an "Oh-I-know-this-one" attitude.

Take the time to click on this link and spend some time with these holy words that you might be more ready and open to receive them when they are proclaimed at Mass this weekend.


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On the question of Purgatory

Illustration by Elizabeth Wang*

In parish life the question of purgatory comes up with some frequency.  I'm often asked, "Does the Church still teach about purgatory - and if so, what?"

As a matter of fact, it was just yesterday at lunch with two parishioners that the conversation turned to purgatory.

And just this morning I read this helpful post by John Martens over at the America's blog on scripture and preaching, The Good Word.

Marten's comments reflect on Benedict XVI's remarks at his general audience on January 12 at which he spoke on St. Catherine.

I found this material helpful and hope that you will, too.

The image above is by Elizabeth Wang whose site, Radiant Light, includes sixteen great contemporary images of purgatory - please take a look!

*Illustration by Elizabeth Wang, T-00042A-OL When we pray at Mass we are united with Christ in Glory and with the gathering of His saints and the souls of Purgatory, © Radiant Light 2003-2001, www.radiantlight.org.uk 

 
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In Liverpool: Confirmation and First Communion

A decision has been made in the Archdiocese of Liverpool to restore the original order of the sacraments of initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist) for children. (In the photo above, a pastor administers Confirmation to a young boy who will receive First Communion at the same Mass.)

Changes in the way we celebrate Sacraments

In recent years in the Archdiocese of Liverpool, most Catholics have been baptised as babies, made their First Communion around age seven and been confirmed as teenagers.

These three sacraments make up the process of belonging to the Church (called Christian Initiation). The sacraments weren’t always in that order, and adults preparing for initiation have always received them in the original order: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist (Communion).

From September 2012 in this Archdiocese, children who have been baptised will follow that same order. Those aged eight by the first of September 2012 will be invited to receive Confirmation and First Communion in the days between Ascension Sunday and the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) in 2013, and the same pattern will be followed each year after that.

The families of these children will be invited to explore and celebrate Reconciliation with them during Advent each year, while teenagers and their families will be invited to explore and celebrate Reconciliation during Lent each year.

The bishops will preside at some of the celebrations of Confirmation and Communion (with priests delegated to confirm at the other celebrations) and at some of the celebrations of Reconciliation with teenagers and their families.

At the same time the way children are prepared for these sacraments will change. Instead of teachers, catechists and priests teaching children and parents about the sacraments, they will help the parents to hand on their own faith to their children, fulfilling the privileges and responsibilities expressed in the Rite of Baptism. New resources will help parents to prepare their own children for these sacraments with the support of the local church community.

You can read more about the change in Liverpool here and you'll find a helpful article dispelling some commonly held myths about Confirmation here.

Here in the Archdiocese of Boston the norm for administering Confirmation to those baptized as infants remains in the high school years.  But just a bit to the north, in the Diocese of Portland, Maine, the original order of the sacraments has been restored for younger children.

 
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Pope's message for World Communications Day

Image: CBAA

I posted this afternoon on the pope's message for World Communications Day before having an opportunity to read the text.  Below are just a few snips from Benedict's message.  I encourage you to read the complete text.

The new technologies are not only changing the way we communicate, but communication itself, so much so that it could be said that we are living through a period of vast cultural transformation. This means of spreading information and knowledge is giving birth to a new way of learning and thinking, with unprecedented opportunities for establishing relationships and building fellowship.

 ...

The new technologies allow people to meet each other beyond the confines of space and of their own culture, creating in this way an entirely new world of potential friendships. This is a great opportunity, but it also requires greater attention to and awareness of possible risks. Who is my “neighbor” in this new world?

...

I would like then to invite Christians, confidently and with an informed and responsible creativity, to join the network of relationships which the digital era has made possible. This is not simply to satisfy the desire to be present, but because this network is an integral part of human life. The web is contributing to the development of new and more complex intellectual and spiritual horizons, new forms of shared awareness. In this field too we are called to proclaim our faith that Christ is God, the Savior of humanity and of history, the one in whom all things find their fulfillment (cf. Ephesians 1:10). The proclamation of the Gospel requires a communication which is at once respectful and sensitive, which stimulates the heart and moves the conscience; one which reflects the example of the risen Jesus when he joined the disciples on the way to Emmaus (cf. Luke 24:13-35). By his approach to them, his dialogue with them, his way of gently drawing forth what was in their heart, they were led gradually to an understanding of the mystery.

...

And here's a recap of related posts from 2009 and 2010.

 
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Message for World Communications Day 2011

Image source: DigistreamSaas

The Vatican sometimes operates off an unusual calendar.

For instance...

Each year on September 29, the Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, the Vatican releases the theme for World Communications Day for the following year.

World Communications Day is celebrated on the Solemnity of the Ascension which will, in 2011, be celebrated in most of the world on Sunday, June 5 but in some places on Thursday, June 2.

The pope's message for World Communications Day is released each year on January 24, the feast of St. Francis de Sales, the patron saint of journalists.

You'll find the message for the 45th World Communications Day here.


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Monday Morning Offering - 129

Image: George Mendoza


Good morning, good God!

What I’d like to offer you this morning, Lord, is -
the rest of January!

And when I say I’d like to “offer” it to you
what I really mean is,
“You can have it back...”

But that would only bring me to February -
and I’m pretty sure you can keep February, too...

So, what I’d really like, Lord,
is to jump from here to March,
to the thaw of things cold frozen:
to the promise of warm, moist earth,
the caress of spring's first day,
to trees greening and jonquils blooming…

So, I'd like to trade you the rest of January
and all of February - for March 1...

I know you’re not surprised, Lord.
You know I'd rather skate the hard times
skirt the rough patches, skip the dark days
and sleep or wish them all away...

But I know that's not your way, Lord...

So what I need to offer you this morning
is my prayer for a heart and mind
willing to face, to take on
the rest of January - and February, too...

I pray for a soul strong to brave and walk
the cold, gray haze of winter:
a soul to seek and find the peace of your presence
and the help of others
to lead and guide me to spring...

Give me the wisdom, the strength, the will I need, Lord,
to make it from here
to where I want to go,
to where I want to be,
to where you call me...

Let me not hesitate a moment
when a glimmer of your light shines upon my path,
when even a faint touch of your hand graces my own...

Help me take it a day at a time, Lord,
a week at a time,
a season at a time…

Open my eyes and ears and heart:
to those I meet along the way
and to those who need the help
that I can offer...

So, I’ll take the rest of January, Lord,
and February, too, and pray you’ll accept
this offering of a heart in need of your grace,
longing to move on,
and yearning for spring…

Amen.

 
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March for Life 2011

Today will see the national March for Life in Washington, DC.

From my parish weekly Prayers of the Faithful:

- For respect and reverence for life
in all its shapes and forms,
and for the wisdom and will
to conserve the gifts of creation,
let us pray to the Lord...

- For children waiting to be born
and for the mothers who carry them,
and for children waiting to be adopted
and for the families who will receive them,
let us pray to the Lord...

 
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Catholics Come Home - in Boston

In the Archdiocese of Boston today is "Evangelization Sunday" and all parishes were asked to play a video of a homily given by our Archbishop, Cardinal Sean O'Malley (see above - I regret that Vimeo loads so slowly).

His talk invites those who are already active church-goers to prepare for the program Catholics Come Home which will commence this Lent in March.

Pastors were asked to introduce the video after the proclamation of the gospel and to offer some closing comments after it was played.  I introduced the video with a reference to our opening song this weekend, "We Are Called" and a tie-in to sharing the light promised in Isaiah today and the gospel's invitation to become fishers of men and women for the Lord.  I noted that just as Zebedee was a partner with his two sons, all Christians are called to share in this "family business" of casting our nets to bring in a catch of brothers and sisters for Christ's reign over our hearts.

After the video, I spoke words to this effect:

Have I ever told you how happy I am not to be the Archbishop of Boston?  I don't envy the Cardinal's position any day of the week and certainly not this morning - his is a difficult job and he has many critics.  This video isn't perfect and I'm sure we would have a great discussion critiquing it but I'm going to ask you to put aside your criticism for the moment and focus on the message the Cardinal shared with us and the need for us to reach out to Catholics who aren't part of our parish and its prayer and life.

I've read that one segment of Catholics have stopped coming to Mass because they are angry with the Church - over the sex abuse crisis or other issues.  Another segment of Catholics who aren't with us have left because they disagree strongly on one more more teachings of the Church.  (And it's likely that every week there are among our most faithful worshipers some who are both angry and in disagreement with the Church - and who remain faithful to our parish prayer and life.)

But even if you add together those who are angry and have left and those who dissent and have left, their numbers do not add up to the largest group who are not with us:  those who are neither angry nor in doctrinal disagreement but for whom church life has simply fallen off their radar screen.

We all know people in all three groups.  I hope the television and radio ads will be effective but I'm convinced that the most important part of this effort will be the conversations all of you have with family members, friends, colleagues and neighbors as part of the Catholics Come Home campaign.  I'm not asking you to preach on street corners but I will be asking you in the weeks ahead to spend some time thinking about why YOU are here every week... why YOU worship and participate in parish life... what difference the parish and its prayer makes in YOUR week, your days, your heart, your life... and to think of simple, casual ways to share that with others.

It's not unusual for pastors to receive audio and video materials for use at Mass.  In 37 years as a priest, this is the first one I've used.  And I'm sharing this with you because I believe the need in this area is so great and I believe that Catholics Come Home can make a difference in peoples' lives and in the life of our parish.

In a few moments we'll singing, "Lord, You Have Come to the Seashore."  It follows well on today's gospel passage and I ask you to sing it while envisioning the Lord coming to each of us (as he came to Peter, Andrew, James and John), coming to the shores of our lives and inviting us to follow him and to take our part in the "family business," fishing for our brothers and sisters and calling them to come home to the family table, the Altar at the heart of our prayer and our life.

 
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At once they left their nets and followed him

Image: FishersOfMenMinistries

I don't remember now when or where I found this poem but I do recall immediately printing it out.  I've kept it on my desk at home where I regularly come across it and find myself caught in it's bare bones net of honest preaching - again and again.

This Sunday's gospel provides the perfect moment for sharing it here: Roland Flint's poem, Follow.


Follow

Now here is this man mending his nets
after a long day, his fingers
nicked, here and there, by ropes and hooks,
pain like tomorrow in the small of his back,
his feet blue with his name, stinking of baits,
his mind on a pint and supper - nothing else -
a man who describes the settled shape
of his life every time his hands
make and snug a perfect knot.

I want to understand, if only for the story,
how a man like this,
a man like my father in harvest,
like Bunk MacVane in the stench of lobstering,
or a teamster, a steelworker,
how an ordinary working stiff,
even a high tempered one,
could just be called away.

It's only in one account
he first brings in a netful -
in all the others, he just calls,
they return the look or stare and then
they "straightaway" leave their nets to follow.
That's all there is.  You have to figure
what was in that call, that look.

(And I wouldn't try it on a tired working man
unless I was God's son -
he'd kick your ass right off the pier.)

If they had been vagrants,
poets or minstrels, I'd understand that,
men who would follow a different dog.
But how does a man whose movement,
day after day after day,
absolutely trusts the shape it fills
put everything down and walk away?

I'd pass up all the fancy stunting
with Lazarus and the lepers
to see that one.

-Roland Flint


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Come after me and I will make you fishers...

Calling of St. Peter and St. Andrew by James Tissot

Just realized I haven't posted on the scriptures for this coming Sunday!

We'll be celebrating the Eucharist on the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time.  The scriptures for the day and commentary on them can be found here. The gospel echoes Isaiah's prophetic text and includes the call of Peter, Andrew, James and John. In the second scripture Paul gets to the heart of divisions among the Corinthians and calls all to unity in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As you read and pray over these scriptures, ask yourself which one (or more) you might choose to preach on were you the homilist for the day.  In the archdiocese of Boston, all parishes are being asked to play a video homily delivered by our Archbishop, Cardinal Sean O'Malley.  His homily will invite the Church of Boston to participation in Catholics Come Home, a program scheduled to begin at the beginning of March in Lent.

Bringing young ones to Mass this weekend?  Check this site for hints on helping children prepare to hear the Word of the Lord.


 
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Simple settings for the new Glory to God

Image: TheGlorySite

As you know, beginning with the First Sunday of Advent 2011 in the US, we will begin using the new Roman Missal which includes some new translations of English texts we've been using for some time. (You can read more about this at the USCCB page on the new Missal.)

Below are three simple, a cappella musical settings for the new text of the Glory to God.   (H/T to NLM for the links.)  Other composers are writing settings for choir/cantor and assembly but these arrangements give us the new translation and offer settings simple enough for use on ordinary Sundays and without a choir's support.

If you have the time and the interest, listen to all three and let us know in the combox which one you like the best and find most singable and prayerful. (After we've had some replies, I'll give you my own pick.)

For the purpose of this post, let's try to focus on just these three compositions and your response to them as text and tunes for our prayer together at the Lord's Table.



ENGLISH CHANT MASS • Richard Rice • GLORIA from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.



Free Glory To God using the new ICEL translation (Roman Missal) from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.



Adam Bartlett Gloria from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.

 
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Letters from the USCCB to Congress

WASHINGTON(January 18, 2011)—In a letter to Congress, Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), outlined the “principles and priorities that will guide the public policy efforts” of the Bishops’ Conference during the new legislature. The letter was mailed to all members of Congress on January 14.

Archbishop Dolan said he “hopes that this newly elected Congress will advance the common good and defend the life and dignity of all, especially vulnerable and poor persons whose needs are critical in this time of difficult economic and policy choices.”
...

From renewed opposition to public funding of abortion and support for pregnant women to carry out their pregnancies, to health care for all, and the serious human consequences and significant moral dimensions of the economic challenges our nation faces, the bishops’ priorities touch on a wide variety of issues.
...

Since Archbishop Dolan sent his letter, the bishop chairs whose committees’ work is impacted by health care reform have articulated their concerns as Congress revisits the issue.

“Rather than joining efforts to support or oppose the repeal of the recently enacted health care law, we will continue to devote our efforts to correcting serious moral problems in the current law, so health care reform can truly be life-affirming for all,” wrote Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Coadjutor Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, and Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton, California in a January 18 letter to the House of Representatives. The bishops chair the USCCB Committees on Pro-Life Activities, Migration, and Domestic Justice and Human Development, respectively.

 

Visit the USCCB site for the complete text of the press release, Dolan's letter and the letter of bishop chairs of the several committees whose work relates to health care reform.

 
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A Cold Beauty

Image: Hiren and Pankaj

Saturday morning, with two friends, I drove to a funeral in a town deep in the suburbs.

Route 109 was lined with woods still dressed in the finery of last Wednesday's storm: the day's brightness refulgent in limbs shrouded with icy lace.

Before the storm, these same branches gave bare, silent testimony to fall's toll on their shady fullness.  Now, a blizzard's blustery magic had blessed them with a wintry wrap and in it all,  I found a cold beauty.

A cold beauty...

In the silence my passengers shared with me, I wondered about beauty being cold...  

Beauty comes with warmth, with heat: it melts the heart and warms desires...

But here was beauty born of colliding fronts of highs and lows, wind and cold: a great storm flash freezing its unexpected grace on every exposed branch and twig...

The car was warm but our hearts were chilled by loss.  We processed down 109's aisle towards the church.  I prayed along the way to find the beauty in winter's soul - and faith's warmth in mine.  I prayed for the grace to to see that even from ice and snow comes a light and heat, a cold beauty, to melt and thaw grief's hold upon the heart...

A blizzard's blustery magic had blessed the woods with a wintry wrap and in it all,  I found a cold beauty...

Every shower and dew, bless the Lord; 

praise and exalt him above all forever.

All you winds, bless the Lord; 

praise and exalt him above all forever.

Fire and heat, bless the Lord; 

praise and exalt him above all forever.

Cold and chill, bless the Lord; 

praise and exalt him above all forever.

Dew and rain, bless the Lord; 

praise and exalt him above all forever.

Frost and chill, bless the Lord; 

praise and exalt him above all forever.

Ice and snow, bless the Lord; 

praise and exalt him above all forever.

- Daniel 3:64-70

 
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Monday Morning Offering - 128

Coffee in the Morning by George Mendoza

(This past week saw the death of a colleague in ministry.  David was a pastoral leader in the archdiocese, once a member of our parish staff, and a faithful reader of this page.  Please keep David, and the family and Church he left behind, in your prayer...)

Good morning, gracious God...

There comes again this season of grays,

charcoaled in the landscape of our days,

etched in hearts chilled by long nights…

I come to you this morning, Lord,

with unanswered questions:

questions with no quick or easy answers;

questions that weigh on my soul

and scatter my thoughts;

questions that cloud and haunt my heart

like gray skies in January

holding back the sun I know is there…

I offer you my confusion, Lord,

and pray you’ll draw me more deeply

into the mystery of your wisdom:

help me come to be at peace

with things I do not understand…

God of gray days, 
lift and lighten my heart:

keep and hold me close by your side

and let nothing part me from your presence…

With the fire of your Spirit,

warm and still the shivers of my confusion…

With the light that hides behind the clouds,

clear my mind and brighten my spirit…

As I walk through the week ahead,

keep me mindful of others 
making their way through this season of grays:
help me know their hearts' burdens
and gently offer to help carry them...

Be with me, Lord, 
in my questions, my confusion and my grieving:
be with me, Lord, I pray...

Amen.

 
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Look - there's Jesus, the Lamb of God!

John the Baptist Sees Jesus from Afar by James Tissot

Homily for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Scriptures for today's liturgy)

Audio for homily

Picture John, standing waist-deep in the Jordan,
preaching and baptizing,
and suddenly he spots another preacher, on the shore,
and recognizing Jesus he tells the crowd,
Look! There he is! There is the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world!

I suppose that when I’m asked, “What does a priest do?”
I might well answer,
“I do what John the Baptist did.
I spend my life telling people where Jesus is.”

Where Jesus is…

Well, of course, Jesus is everywhere - in the power of his Spirit.

Jesus is within me, beside me,
behind me, before me, above and below me
and yet -
it’s often easy to miss him, or ignore him, or lose track of him,
or fail to find him
- even though he’s everywhere.

So much of what I do is meant to help people see where Jesus is,
especially when it might seem that he has forgotten us,
or is too busy for us -- or that he’s disappeared…

In a real sense, I spend my life as a priest helping others see
someone who’s everywhere,
someone who’s within them and all around them -- all the time.

And it’s in that very work, my ministry,
that all of you, over and over again, help me find Jesus:

when I, like you, lose sight of him or drift from his side,
I see him in you…

when I, like you, fail to pray and seek him out,
you call me to lead you in prayer and I find him with you…

when I, like you, get lost and don’t know where to turn,
your day-to-day fidelity helps me find the way…

when I, like you, sin,
and forget that Jesus is the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world,
your open honesty humbles me and reminds me
of my need for God’s mercy…

When you come to me with your grief,
you bring me to the Lord who heals my grieving…

When you come to me in your joy,
your joy in God becomes my own…

When you come looking for advice,
you remind me that the greatest counsel of all comes from the Lord.

When you expect me to preach,
you bring me back to the scriptures and prayer
and call me to my own need for God’s Word in my life.

When you ask for the sacraments,
you call me to do what the Lord has asked of my life.

When you ask me to show you where Jesus is
you invite me to search with you and find him again
-- not just in your heart but in mine, too.

When my work, my ministry calls me to tell you,
Look! There is the Lamb of God!
my own attention as well as yours is drawn to Christ.

My calling is to show you where the Lord is
and in answering that call, I find him, too, again and again.

I’m especially mindful of this because next weekend
we’ll have an introduction to a program called Catholics Come Home.
Statistics tell us that in the Archdiocese of Boston
only 17% of Catholics come to Sunday Mass regularly
which means that 83% are regularly absent from our prayer.

That makes of you and me a very select group of Catholic Christians
and we have some work to do.
We need to find ways to help others see where Jesus is
and invite them home to the Lord’s table
and our prayer and life together.

You won’t be asked to take turns
standing on the green in Monument Square, shouting,
Look! There is the Lamb of God!
But all of us will be asked to look at our own faith
and to see in what simple, quiet ways we might share it with others
in the hope that they'll come home to be with us.

As you encourage me in my faith
when you share with me your struggles and joys,
so might we encourage those who have drifted away to come home
in sharing the stories of our own faith journeys.

Here is the altar, the table, we Catholics home
and the Supper we share here is food for those
who seek to know where Jesus is -- and to follow him.

What is it we say every week, just before Communion?
This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world:
happy are those who are called to his Supper...

May the Eucharist we celebrate every Sunday
nourish us for the work of inviting home those whose presence
will increase our joy and help us see, together,
where Jesus is among us.


 
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Before you settle down for Sunday's playoff game...

Image: SJS

"Look!  There's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world..."

So spoke John the Baptist when he saw Jesus coming toward him.  And that's the first line of this Sunday's gospel.

There's still time to read and ponder this weekend's scriptures and a little commentary on them and if you're bringing your own little lambs to Mass with you, you might want some to read some hints for helping them understand the Word they'll hear proclaimed.  All of which can be found at this earlier post.

(Go Pats!)


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Talk about feeling the music!

My guess is that some folks won't watch the entire video - but musicians and music lovers will!

It's the 4th movement of Beethoven's 5th Symphony.

(H/T to CM and PM for sharing the link)



 
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Evening Prayer on a snowy day

Photo by NA

Good evening, good Lord!

So busy are we
about so many trivial things...

Perhaps that's why
you spent this day
blanketing us with snow,
slowing our steps,
hitting our pause button
and grinding the traffic of our business
to a halt...

*      *      *

I needed that, Lord.
I needed to be inconvenienced,
interrupted, slowed down
- stopped -
by the pure, soft beauty
of your presence,
settling gently, flake by flake;
dressing me and my world
in a garment of pure grace...

Let the snow fall on my upturned face,
let me catch its sweetness on my tongue
and taste your presence...

Am I too old, Lord,
for making angels in the snow?
Then send a snowy angel
to make of me
what you would have me be...

Even as the snow chills my limbs
let your touch melt my heart
and draw me inside
to where the fire of your love
burns for me always,
crackling, bright and warm...

Remind me, Lord,
of those who are burdened by this weather
and empty my pockets
to shelter and serve them...

Later, Lord, in the quiet of night
the snow will slow and stop
and by morning our pace will quicken again...

Keep us mindful then of these moments
when the blanket of your presence
stills and warms our hearts
close to you...

Amen.


H/T to NA for the beautiful photo of today's storm.

 
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