Apostles and Disciples All apostles are disciples, not all disciples are apostles. When Catholics talk about the Apostles, we are referring to the twelve men Jesus choose, called by name. The word APOSTLES means “one who is sent forth”. Sent not as a simple messenger but as an agent or delegate on a mission. We could call them ambassadors of Christ, but Apostles of Christ makes their role and person most clear. Disciples are more like students. If we follow Christ, trying to learn from his life how to live our life, then we are Disciples of Christ. This Sunday the church celebrates the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles. These two Apostles of Christ founded the See of Rome. The SEE of Rome is the CHURCH of ROME head quarters or central office of the church through out the world. We worship and serve in the Church of Chicago, which is not a SEE. A SEE is a SEE because it is founded by an APOSTLE and is formally referred to as an APOSTOLIC SEE. We celebrate St. Peter as the first Pope, the leader of the disciples, those who believe in and follow Christ. He is buried in the Holy See of Rome on Vatican Hill beneath the St. Peter’s Basilica, hence the name of the basilica. St. Paul is buried in the See of Rome outside the old walls of the Rome, beneath a church building named the Basilica of St. Paul Outside of the Walls. Between these two APOSTLES, we have great imagery and history of disciples working together and disciples reaching out to form new disciples. We work together to build what the Lord founded. The fruit of our labor is found when those we serve become servants of the Lord. The more the merrier, because as the Lord said, “The harvest is ripe, but the laborers are few.” Baptism 1 The Baptism of the Lord. Catch the Spirit! As we arrive at the end of the Christmas season, the church calls our attention to BAPTISM by the HOLY SPIRIT. God the Father sends God the Son and now God the Holy Spirit descends upon the newly baptized Jesus. Now by the powers of heaven and earth all are invited to RECEIVE the BODY of CHRIST. We have baptism, we have reconciliation, we have confirmation, and we have communion all wondrously and ponderously unfolding right before our eyes. Catch the Spirit! This is why it is so odd when a person gets baptized and then we never hear from or see the person. 1

Jesus gets baptized and confirmed and then Jesus goes to work. His work becomes the work of the church. This feast day celebrates all He did and all we do in the name of the FATHER and of the SON and of the HOLY SPIRIT. The focus is not on Christmas ending; it is on the work beginning. All birthdays are a reminder of when life begins. Christmas, Jesus’ season of birth, ends with an incredible lifetime of work beginning. Going back, we celebrated a season of preparation, ADVENT. Which led us to a season of change, CHRISTMAS. And as the old folks say, “I don’t believe He brought me this far to leave me!” This is all coming and going. All things coming from the Father will hopefully, through the work of the church, be going back to the Father. Now it all depends on those who catch the Spirit of the Baptism of the Lord or in other words, those who receive the sacrament of Baptism. (I believe in one baptism…) The good news is there is always work to be done. The better news is some people have been baptized to do the work. The great news is that some bodies get it now and forever more. BAPTISM PAGE #2 The waters of Baptism are old. They roll all the way back to the Beginning when God stepped out on space and created water. The catholic theology of Baptism takes one back to the place where I, my Fathers, Grand Fathers, Great, Great Grandfathers, all those who have gone before us in faith, first believed. In church we call that the Economy of Salvation or Divine Economics. God manages His house through the waters of Baptism. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew scriptures, the Spirit of God breathed on the waters of Creation making them the wellspring of all holiness. BAPTISM! Then there is Noah and the Ark, water saving creation from the water flooding the earth and nurturing a new beginning. Sounds like BAPTISM to me! Then there is the parting of the Red Sea waters so God’s people can CROSS OVER from slavery to freedom. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM by way of WATER! Then in Joshua 4:23 we are told how God, down by the Jordan river side, allowed the People of God into their own land, GOD’S COUNTRY!!! By God and water, they inherited new land and new life! All this action of God begins to show us how God uses water to change something old 2

into something new in ORDER to allow us to live according to God. Just as we cannot live without water, we cannot live with God without His Holy Water.

BAPTISM PAGE #3 Baptism is so important, so foundational, and so fundamental that we can and should spend a lifetime exploring and unpacking the sacrament. The signs of its importance are stimulating. It is the first Sacrament we receive. It is ordinarily celebrated on the holiest night of the year, the Easter Vigil and the most important Sunday, Easter Sunday. Parents and Grandparents are eager to get the baby baptized! Baptism changes each of us, one by one, into this power filled group called God’s family. Jesus, Son of God becomes Son of Man. We, daughters and sons of men, through baptism, become daughters and sons of God. Jesus is baptized. He comes out of the dry land without water and is baptized. After that refreshing day, he begins his public ministry, he goes to work. He himself begins the work of the church. In this movement, Jesus answers the age old questioned remarkably phrased in the old Negro Spiritual, “Tell Me How Did You Feel When You Come Out the Wilderness?” He answers, I feel good! I feel like going on. I don’t feel no ways tired! I feel better, so much better! And with that feeling, like fire shut up in the bones, like something has got a hold on me and won’t leave me alone, I stand in the need of prayer and when the Sprit says move, I move. I go to work for the Master. I am on the battlefield of the Lord. I am in the vineyard of the Lord. I was blind, but now I see, because after Baptism, I walk by faith, not by sight. I promise that I will serve Him till I die and He promises me that in Our Father’s house, there are many mansions. It could all be a bunch of clichés for preaching or lyrics for songs, but by testimony of the example of Jesus, it is well with my soul, “When peace like a river attendeth my way and when sorrows like sea billows roll; 
 Whatever my lot, baptism, is deep well water, deep living water, deep in my soul. God the Father makes a way out on no way for us to be in His family. God the Holy Spirit marks us with an indelible mark as claimed by God and God the Son, by his own baptism, makes us, by our baptism, the most blessed and most powerful force in all of God’s creation. Something to think about the next time we touch the Holy Water and the Holy Water touches us.

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The Office of Bishop As the Pope is the successor of Christ, bishops are the successors of the Apostles, pastors of souls. In order to teach and care for souls, the Holy Spirit CONSECRATES a bishop for each soul. A bishop is SENT to continue the work that God was pleased to begin through Christ Jesus. An amazing way to grasp the depth of this power and responsibility is to consider a titular bishop. A titular bishop is not in charge of a diocese so he is free to assist a bishop of a large diocese. Nonetheless, the titular bishop is responsible for the souls of an entitled place, usually a historic land that no longer exists, but the souls of the faithful do and so they too have a bishop of their own. We most often know the pastor of the parish. The very best pastors of parishes will make sure that we well know the pastor of the local church. We belong to the whole church not simply a parish or congregation. This in fact is what makes us catholic; we belong to the church without walls, beyond space and time, on earth and in heaven. When the prayers OF THE CHURCH go up, they are lifted by intention and intercession of the bishop, into the hands of the Lord to Our Heavenly Father. The blessings come down the same way. Yes I can pray to and work for Jesus individually and on my own, but Christ organized us to pray and work as a church, making the Office of Bishop necessary. Christ did this thinking about each and every soul that makes whole the Body of Christ. This is why the BISHOP of the LOCAL CHURCH is prayed for in every Mass that is celebrated in the area entrusted to him and more intentionally, by every soul that is entrusted to him. As an Archbishop one has some administrative responsibilities to neighboring dioceses. As a Cardinal one has some administrative responsibilities to the church in the world. As a bishop one has responsibility for souls entrusted to him. In discussion of church, we often ask which office is higher in rank? We might do better to more frequently ask which office is supposed to help my soul? 4

WHAT A BLESSING! What are you doing, what are we doing when we bless someone or something? We are preparing someone or something to be used by God for Christ’s sake. To say “ God bless you” one has to believe in God and hope that the recipient of the blessing is willing to surrender all to the Lord. The blessing is a faith filled and hopeful statement, wish, desire that God is going to be involved, in fact, leading a follower of Christ in action. “May God bless you in a difficult or challenging moment” is a hope that God will see you through the challenge. “May God bless you on your birthday” is a wish that God will protect your life and being. May God bless this food” is a prayer that hopes the food feeds the soul as well as the stomach. A blessing connects what we are doing or what is happening with what God is doing. The blessing recognizes that God who sits high and looks low is always able to make the difference. The blessing calls for DIVINE INTERVENTION. Blessing a sick person is not just hoping the person gets well; it is hoping the God is with the person. It is hoping that a vow has been made and the person is able to see what the end shall be! The blessing believes that everything is going to be all right, by God! Liturgically, blessings are formal, performed by ordained ministers and used to reserve or make a person or an object a sign of God’s action on behalf of His people. A blessed table, aka an altar, is only used for the Lord’s Supper. A blessed pulpit, aka an ambo, is used for the proclamation of God’s Word. Blessed water, aka holy water, makes the water and then the recipient cleansed for use by God, baptized! People living in poverty tell us that the blessing is not being rich; people in hospitals tell us that the blessing is not being healthy. The blessing is BEING REMEMBERED and BEING ABLED to be made WORTHY to be used by God. Only a church member can see a poor and sick person as a blessing.

Cardinals The Pope is the head of the church on earth. The Bishop is assigned to a certain area and heads that local church. Some Bishops or Archbishops are Cardinals. As a Cardinal, he does not have more or super power in his diocese, but he does have responsibility for the whole church throughout the world, as does the Pope. The Cardinal’s throughout the world make up the College of Cardinals. When the need arises, after death, the College of Cardinals convenes to elect the Pope. Once 5

the Pope is elected, the order is restored and the Pope is back in charge of the mission of the Church throughout the world, including the Cardinals. Cardinals, assigned throughout the world, assist the Pope with addressing the issues of the world. In a sense, they bring the Pope’s perspective to the ground where they are stationed as Bishop and take the issues from the ground where they are stationed to the Pope. The Pope’s primary responsibility is to govern the whole church. He assigns Bishops to assist with that awesome task. The Bishop has the primary responsibility to govern the local church to which he is named. As a Cardinal, one has the task of assisting the Pope to be more like Jesus. As a Bishop, who happens to also be a Cardinal, one has the task of leading us to be more like Jesus. The Role of the Choir That’s actually a misleading starting place. The focus should be on the role of music, or even better, the role of signing. Why, because as St. Augustine alerted “he who sings prays twice!” It’s in the singing. Some of our prayer needs expression that words alone cannot express. We use to hear or talk about a low Mass verses a high Mass. The difference is in the singing, the more singing of the prayers, the “higher” the Mass. The greater the praise! The more perfect the unity and the one voice of the church speaking, I mean SINGING PRAYER to God! The celebrant sets the tone. The celebrant calls the assembly to worship and calls for the particular prayer at the appropriate time during the liturgy. Clearly this is done best with singing. The choir takes it higher. The choir helps us most of all with the parts of the Mass, those prayers that are sung to accompany the liturgical action. It’s tough to be a good choir because people like to be entertained. All choirs struggle to make it clear that there is a profound difference between putting on a concert and assisting the congregation with praying together. It’s tough to be a good congregation because we have to assist one another with the discipline of following the cross and looking to the altar, especially when some ONE is singing our favorite song. It’s easy to get one person to sing a good song. It takes our all to sing to the Lord. 6

THE COLLECTS Watch us as we arrive for prayer. We are early. We are late. We are settling down. We are moving. We are greeting. We are thinking. We are distracting. We just came to praise the Lord, but we also just came from someone or somewhere or something. Something has to pull us together, gather our thoughts, gather our words, gather our attention, gather us into one voice, one church, speaking to one God. THE COLLECT. The instruction to pray is given three times in the Mass. After a great song of joy that gets us in the Spirit we sign ourselves with the cross, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And the whole church says the first “AMEN” of the week. We manage our sins, expiation, and as a forgiven people, we give Him the glory and give Him the praise. Now we can stop moving. Now we can pray. It takes time and effort to stop, to get ready and to pray. Don’t forget to stand still and know that God is near and listening in the silence, waiting for us to do what we claimed we came to do, to pray. THEN THE COLLECT SEALS THE DEAL! Through the mystery of the church, the collect brings all the prayers and all the people all over the world together in the twinkling of an eye. This gathering of prayers happens again as we bring our gifts to the altar. The focus this time, that our gifts will be acceptable. That what we give to God best express what we believe, hope and trust. The words of our mouth and the meditation of our hearts are made acceptable because they are not just words, but prayers, prayers of the church people gathered. We pray that the Father will receive our intentions as we await the blessings, the food that comes down. Or as the old folks say, “when the prayers go up, the blessings come down.” This liturgical flow is accomplished by these collects. The final collect elegantly prepares us for the blessing and the dismissal of a people who have been taught, fed, encouraged and supported for the sole purpose of being sent out whole and holy. Let us pray, a moment not to miss in the house of the Lord.

THE CREED After we hear from God, the Liturgy of the Word, the next thing that comes out of our mouth is very important. “I believe…!” The Creed, a concise declaration of what we believe, a public declaration of the faith, follows what God said. God said it. I believe it! This is not an accident. It is very good liturgical design.

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First giving honor to God, the Creed begins with what we believe about God, the Father almighty. The creator of heaven and earth, the beginning of everything and all things. The things that we see and most definitely, the invisible! Because the best is yet to come! Speaking of God requires us to speak of God the Son who just spoke to our hearts. The Creed expresses our belief in the unity of the Father and the Son being so substantial that the two are consubstantial. They are of the same “stuff”, of the same substance. They are one! The Creed sings, “ I never shall forget what He’s done for me!” It tells the story of the sweet, sweet, Spirit, Mary, Christmas, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Ascension Thursday and Revelation in just four sentences. Talk about the twinkling of an eye! The Creed then literally moves us to the Holy Spirit so the Holy Spirit can move us. The Mother of all processions takes us back to where we first believed. Back through the prophets, back to creation. Then the Creed brings us back home. It takes us to Church! It tells the world that because we are baptized we forgive sins and we look forward, not backward. Again, I believe the best is yet to come! The only way to end the creed is to ask can I get an AMEN? If given, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, the church, the believer and the sister or brother has all just been reunited. That is a great response to the Word of God, I do believe.

Cross or Crucifix The cross is simple T shape to remind us that Jesus was crucified. The instrument of crucifixion was a cross. In other words, Jesus was hung from a cross to die. It is an important reminder because of the distinction between being killed and dying on your own. The cross reminds us of the human action, the human sin involved as well as the act of God. Even though we crucified or killed him, he died for us and he was raised from the dead for us. In this small symbol we begin to understand the dynamic action between us and God and hopefully surrender to the power that is God. We are always dying, God is always living, so in order to live a life that is more about living every day to the fullest instead of a life that is more about dying a little each 8

day, we join the living God at the cross between life and death. Now the cross is not the end, but rather miraculously the beginning of new life in Christ Jesus. “At the CROSS where I first SAW the light and the BURDEN of my heart was ROLLED (past tense, yesterday!) away. It was there by faith, I received my sight and now I am happy ALL the days.” We sing this just like we wear our faith, to remember! The cross reminds us to join Jesus in life and death so we can join Jesus in his Resurrection. When does a cross become a crucifix? As soon as a sinner, a Roman soldier from 2000 years ago or a jeweler “fixes” a corpus, a body, on it. Hopefully our story will be the same as Jesus’. Enemies put you on a cross, friends take you off, but both make you call on Our Father who art in heaven.

THE DEACON We kind of know that there are two classes of deacons. Transitional deacons, men who are preparing to be ordained priest and permanent deacons, men who are ordained deacon for life. Both are ordained, both are clerics in the church. All deacons do not become priests, but all priests are deacons. But what is a deacon? He is not simply what he does, but who he is. Just like a catholic is not a role, he or she is a catholic person every day. So what is a deacon? In a nutshell, a deacon is an ordained servant. He is an assistant to the bishop. He is responsible for the proclamation of the Gospel, the preparation of the altar and the gifts of the people. It might help to realize that he is not assisting the priest, an assistant priest, a partial priest nor a grown up altar server. The bishop ordains deacons to assist the bishop as he serves the needs of the people of God. The bishop cannot be everywhere at one time and so, just like in the bible when the people complained because widows were being neglected, the apostles laid hands on a few good men with good reputations and appointed them to take care of the people. Remember all priests are deacons so priests continue to assist in this manner even after being ordained priest. In the Mass, we witness the deacon carry in the Book of the Gospels so we will know that he has been charged with proclaiming God’s marvelous deeds as recorded in the gospels. He is an ordained servant of the Word of God. We also witness him take the gifts of the people to the altar and prepare them for the sacrifice of the Lord. He calls for the peace of Christ to be shared and finally for us to go in the peace of Christ till we, the church, meet again. Seemingly small steps 9

and few words, but a whole lot of punch! He is an ordained servant of the people and of the Lord. The ordained part means the church, through the Office of the Bishop, has called down the Holy Spirit upon him and asked God to entrust to him the People of God. Let the deacon say, “AMEN!”

Diocese and Archdiocese Jesus is the head of the church. He sits at the right hand of our Father who art in heaven. From his rightful place he reigns forever. This Ascension requires all of us to be his representatives on earth. The Pope is the head of the church on earth. He reigns from Rome as long as he lives. Being responsible for the church throughout the world, he sends the disciples of Jesus to every land and every nation. Each one is the Bishop of the land he his sent to and called to serve. The land he is sent to is called a diocese. The bishop of the diocese has the ordinary responsibility to govern the church on the land where he serves. Church law gives him the full authority to govern that diocese. By the command of Jesus, the church grows. As the populations of Catholics grow or an area becomes more significant it could make sense to create a new diocese to more effectively govern the area. In such a situation, the Pope may be or has been wise to name a particular diocese an archdiocese. This gives the bishop of that land the title Archbishop and some responsibility to assist the bishop of dioceses surrounding his archdiocese. Outside of his diocese, he would have limited authority, but great influence. All of this organization is to help govern the church and keep as all near the Lord so that he, Jesus, the head of the church is well represented and available at any time in all spaces. Easter Season??? The forty days of Lent gave us a time of preparation. As Lent ended on the evening of Holy Thursday, we were given three days of prayer with the Lord as He rose from the dead. Now we have the seven weeks of Easter, fifty days of Easter, the Easter Season to get with the program! Easter ends after the celebration of Pentecost. How important is Easter? It’s HUGE!

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All other Sunday’s are rooted in and remind us of Easter. Easter is the greatest feast on the Christian calendar. All Catholics who have made their first communion are required to receive communion during the Easter season. Of course, we are obligated to go to Mass weekly on Sunday and should receive communion frequently, but our EASTER DUTY is the law that reads: Can. 920 §1. After being initiated into the Most Holy Eucharist, each of the faithful is obliged to receive holy communion at least once a year. This law dates back to a time when most Catholics rarely had the opportunity to receive communion, however, it sends a powerful message today, as many Catholics don’t PRACTICE their faith. During the Easter Season, the Liturgy of the Word calls forward the New Testament! The first readings are from the ACTS of the APOSTLES and the Gospel readings highlight the RESURRECTED LORD. The Easter Season gives us precious memories and precious days to relate to the Precious Lord. There is Jesus, the baby born into the world at Christmas, and there is the teacher and friend we have in Jesus, who “walks with me and talks with me and tells me I am His own” and there is the RISEN CHRIST! The Easter season urges us to come and go to church so our relationship with the Lord is one where we recognize and accept Him as Jesus, our Lord and our God, our Savior and the Christ! Easter is huge in the church because Christ is risen. Alleluia!

THE ENTRANCE PROCESSION 1 Something is stopping, because something is starting. Recall stories from the bible where Jesus is coming to town and people, in anticipation of His coming, began to gather to “be in that number when the saints go marching in.” We, just like they did, have to stop doing what we are doing in order to welcome the Lord and start doing what He is doing. The entrance procession signals and starts what the Lord is coming to do. A song is appropriate because it moves us from where we were to where we ought to be. It helps us stop thinking, worrying, planning, etc. and start tuning in to the Lord. A song of praise is most appropriate for an entrance procession, first song giving honor and praise to God. The cross before us, the world behind us as we prepare to focus on the Passion of the Christ. The priest celebrant in the procession reminds us that we are in God’s house and we have come to follow the Lord. We have come to be led, not by man 11

but by God. This is sacred and uplifting and makes you want to process with a mind, heart and eyes stayed on Jesus. Everything else stops for us so that we can devote ourselves to spend time, quality time, and undivided time because it is God’s time. Watch the priest go to the altar, bow before it, kiss it and know that Christ is signaling our goal, showing us the way, making a way out of no way and silently screaming and cheering for us to the altar and get communion! After all, that is what we came for, to be in communion, to be in that number with the Lord. Mass is all about what the Lord is doing. Don’t miss a moment of being in His presence. It all starts by acknowledging that He and He alone is worthy for us to agree to stand up for and gather around. A song of joy speaks of a grateful heart. I’m so glad to be here! I wouldn’t miss this for the world! Let me get out of my door and into the door of the church so I can get a good seat and a good view and be in the right place at the right time. The entrance procession is how we start to get in line with God. THE ENTRANCE PROCESSION #2 While attending a Mass recently I was distracted by one of the priests who decided to dance a two-step during the procession. I thought, “Look at Fr. X hot dogging” Later, while talking to a woman who was at the same Mass she commented on how great the Mass was, she was especially thrilled by Father X’s dancing down the aisle. I thought, “THERE IS THE PROBLEM!!!” The focus of the Mass is the Lord. Most importantly, the focus is the Lord at the Last Supper. Of greatest importance is the Lord sacrificing His life and offering His life, His way of life, His Body and Blood to whom so ever will come to Mass. The focus of the Mass is the EUCHARIST. If we walk away full of and thinking of anything other than what the Lord has done for us; how our hearts were burning as He walked with us (road to Emmaus); and the joy that we shared as we tarried there at the altar, we walked away unfocused an undisciplined, meaning unlearned. In other words, we walk away not learning as much as we could have if we were paying better attention to the Lord. Worse of all, we didn’t fully appreciate the gift of the Eucharist. The processions during Mass are not parades. A parade is a showing, a display. It dresses up and marches and dances and floats down the road screaming and waving, look at me! At the end of the parade, it is over and maybe hot dogs are served. A procession is a showing, a display. It dresses up and it could march and dance and float down the road screaming and waving, but it cannot say look at me! A procession doesn’t end something, it begins something. It begins the Mass. It begins the offertory. It begins the praise. It begins the worship. In the case of the Mass and the bible it begins the Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem so He can get us to the altar. 12

So priests, deacons, choirs, lectors, Eucharistic ministers, altar servers or brides can dance into church, as long as they are telling us to look at the Lord and are getting us to the altar. There is nothing wrong with a good hot dog after Mass. It just can’t compare to or be confused with good communion. EPHIPHANY! It is the church’s festival to celebrate the first manifestation of Jesus to the Gentiles. Notice how the scripture readings in the Christmas season give us details of Jesus’ heritage. How they define the role of His mother and father. How the family practices the faith, follows the old traditions and rituals passed on from GENERATION to GENERATION. It is all to document how Jesus is FULLY HUMAN. He goes way back! He is FULLY CONNECTED to all that happened from the beginning. He is past. God comes to earth and takes on the flesh of a baby Jewish boy and at the same time takes on the flesh of all the people born before him. He is past and present. Once you go back and fetch it then you bring it forward. Epiphany celebrates Jesus going forward. Now he, God, is revealed to people of even more cultures and lands. Notice the wise men are usually depicted as different in skin tone and dress to show they represent other cultures. Now, GOING FORWARD, Christ Jesus, who is FULLY HUMAN, unites heaven and earth, all peoples, all lands, all time to the Almighty. EPIPHANY! Christ makes us one people, serving one God. He is past, present and future. Now God is revealed in ALL TIME and in ALL PLACES. Now there is an EPIPHANY! Christmas ties us to the beginning, creation. Easter unites us forever and ever. The celebration of EPIPHANY reminds us to remember that through the life of the Christ and throughout the days of the year, we are “climbing Jacob’s ladder higher and higher” striving to be with God now and forever more. Put the emphasis on the “WE.” All of us with Christ. “When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.” Our songs, our rituals and celebrations are deep and old and new and alive! Take care with them and allow God to take care of us.

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The Gloria! The year starts with Advent and the GLORIA is omitted from our bank of prayers. Did you miss it? It returns to the liturgy for Christmas. It is an ancient hymn of PRAISE. It begins with the words of the angel to the shepherds who were keeping the night watch: GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST and ON EARTH PEACE TO PEOPLE OF GOOD WILL. Heaven and Earth are united in this quick praise song. The angels lead this song and all those of GOOD WILL join in the chorus. Giving God the glory! Notice that in this prayer we don’t ask for a thing other than mercy and that HE receive our prayer. WE JUST GIVE HIM THE GLORY! “YOU ALONE… “ It is all about God, as PRAISE ought to be. Note that we sing this prayer at the beginning of our time of assembly and prayer. Right after confessing our sins, trusting in His mercy and grasping His grace, we break out into a song of HIS GLORY! Praise is a form of worship that humbles us so we always acknowledge that God is God alone. We start our liturgy by FIRST GIVING HONOR TO GOD! The GLORIA testifies that only God can heal the divisions amongst and between us. Make the connection between praising God and finding peace on earth. That is a little foretaste of heaven right at the beginning of our prayer! Make sure you sing this one out loud! You definitely want to be in this number!

Halloween, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day From the perspective of the church, we understand Halloween or All Hallows’ Eve or All Saints’ Eve in connection with All Saints Day. Just as we anticipate Sunday Mass on Saturday evening, we anticipate All Saints’ Day on the evening before November 1st. In other words we start to pray in thanksgiving for all the saints, living and deceased, known and unknown. It’s important to know that there are saints. People whose lives are marked with the holiness we all are called to strive for in life.

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Canonization is the process that allows the church to recognize someone as a saint. We don’t make saints, they already exist by God. The question is do we recognize them? All Saints’ Day is on the calendar to remind us to celebrate all the saints, those recognized or canonized, as well as those unrecognized. It is a Solemnity and a Holy Day of Obligation to remind us how important it is to celebrate holiness. Saints are those who have achieved the beatific vision to see things as God sees things. They exist and work with the Lord from heaven above. After thanking God for holiness, our prayers and attention is called to assist All Souls. On this day we acknowledge what we acknowledge at every Catholic funeral when we sing “Somebody Prayed for Me”. It is our hope that our church will pray for each of us as we go to meet our Maker. All Souls’ Day organizes us so that in the course of the year we are certain to pray for all the souls that have gone before us. In praying for the saints and the souls we are praying for holiness and just a closer walk with the Lord. We are praying that heaven and earth are connected. We are praying now forever and ever. It’s just another day’s journey and another day’s prayer that connects us as church so we can call on Jesus to help somebody so that our living and our dying shall not be in vain. The Head of the Church It’s not the Pope, it’s not the priest, oh it is Jesus! Jesus is the founder and head of the church. This is the church of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the original pastor but not a pastor emeritus because he did not retire. Without Jesus it is not a church. It is a headless body. It is always good to remember that Jesus founded one church. This is what makes the church catholic. The lower case “c” in catholic defines catholic as universal. This is the UNIVERSAL CHURCH. The church of all space and time. Jesus is the head of the universal church. Catholic with an upper case “C” defines Catholic as the proper name of for the Roman Catholic Church, which Catholics understand to be one in the same with the universal church. She is one in union with the Pope, who is the leader of the church’s members. Who does in word and deed follow and depend upon Jesus, the head of the Catholic Church. 15

The LOCAL CHURCH is the way in which dioceses organize the Catholic Church. The local church is not the one on the corner; it is the one, the area, governed by the bishop assigned by the Pope. Jesus is the head of the local church. The parish is the way the local church is organized so that Catholics can fit into and be served from church buildings all over the land. You can start a new parish, but you cannot start a new church. Jesus already did that and by God there is only one church. Jesus is the head of the parish. Other denominations exist because of political splits. This reality simply calls us to pray for the unity of the one church. HOLY DAYS of OBLIGATION First giving honor to God on the first day of the week. The law intends for the WHOLE CHURCH to gather and celebrate the Lord’s Supper, Eucharist. A day of what we do to be united with Christ and our sisters and brothers in Christ. Holy Days of obligations are days on which Catholics are to refrain from work or activities that take away from our time to honor Our Father who art in heaven. A day of what we don’t do to avoid division of God’s time and family. More poignant than refraining from the mundane and the bad, the Third Commandment, “remember to keep holy, the Lord’s Day” commands / obliges the faithful to keep AT LEAST one day a week HOLY. Interact with the holy; do holy things; speak holy words; make the holy present. It takes work and words, faith and focus, to keep it simply holy. As Easter is the HOLIEST DAY of the year for obvious reasons, so Sunday is the holiest day of the week. Each week, every Sunday is in relationship to the GREAT GETTING UP MORNING of Easter and our rising with Christ in the Resurrection. Additional days throughout the year, SOLEMNITIES, call us to take time and pause, bow and kneel to acknowledge the MYSTERIES of FAITH that remind us that our GOD is an AWESOME GOD! As the old folks say, “FARE THEE WELL” because each HOLY DAY of OBLIGATION is packed with more than enough revelation from God. Truly, it takes more than a day to receive all your blessings. The law just tries to organize us so that at least one day a week we get the HOLY GHOST. HOLY DAYS of OBLIGATION First giving honor to God on the first day of the week. The law intends for the WHOLE CHURCH to gather and celebrate the Lord’s Supper, Eucharist. A day of what we do to be united with Christ and our sisters and brothers in Christ. 16

Holy Days of obligations are days on which Catholics are to refrain from work or activities that take away from our time to honor Our Father who art in heaven. A day of what we don’t do to avoid division of God’s time and family. More poignant than refraining from the mundane and the bad, the Third Commandment, “remember to keep holy, the Lord’s Day” commands / obliges the faithful to keep AT LEAST one day a week HOLY. Interact with the holy; do holy things; speak holy words; make the holy present. It takes work and words, faith and focus, to keep it simply holy. As Easter is the HOLIEST DAY of the year for obvious reasons, so Sunday is the holiest day of the week. Each week, every Sunday is in relationship to the GREAT GETTING UP MORNING of Easter and our rising with Christ in the Resurrection. Additional days throughout the year, SOLEMNITIES, call us to take time and pause, bow and kneel to acknowledge the MYSTERIES of FAITH that remind us that our GOD is an AWESOME GOD! As the old folks say, “FARE THEE WELL” because each HOLY DAY of OBLIGATION is packed with more than enough revelation from God. Truly, it takes more than a day to receive all your blessings. The law just tries to organize us so that at least one day a week we get the HOLY GHOST. HOLY WEEK/EASTER??? “My soul looks back and wonders how I got over.” The Easter Vigil is THE MOST important night for the church. It is the ultimate night of revival! Basically it is a night of preparation for Easter Sunday and for the whole next year of the church’s mission. It takes TIME. Beginning with the week we take to get ready for the Resurrection. Coming out the wilderness, the forty days of Lent, the church narrows her focus so that it, we, acutely keep our eyes stayed on Jesus. Remembering the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ on Palm Sunday we start to get ready for all things and people anew. We start to receive everything we shall, not will, but shall need to do what the Lord wants done. We receive everything we need to baptize and bury, and bring to prayer everything that happens from the womb to the tomb. This is why people stand up in church and wave their hand when the spirit hits them. We have a hope and a prayer! On Tuesday of Holy Week we received the Oil of the Sick, the Oil of Catechumens, and the holy Chrism, the Holy Oils. These come from the Bishop, the leader of the local church. Jesus is the head. These oils are blessed by our Bishop at a Chrism Mass at the 17

cathedral, the Mother church and brought back to each parish. So the ONE CHURCH, lots of parishes, but ONE CHURCH, can bless those and that which needs to be blessed with Holy Oil. So the Lord can use people and things, anybody and anything. On Holy Thursday we receive again the gifts of Holy Orders, priesthood, and HOLY EUCHARIST as we celebrate the Mass of the Last Supper with the Lord, one more time. On Good Friday, the perfect wake before a funeral, we receive the UNIVERSAL PRAYER, our mission to go tell it on the mountain, to let freedom ring from every mountain, to go in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, thanks be to God, focus and to do what the church is supposed to do. At the Vigil on Saturday night, we receive NEW FIRE / LIGHT, NEW WATER and NEW MEMBERS / WORKERS. Now we have everything we need to do what Jesus commands.

Incense One has to chuckle when a Catholic complains that the use of incense bothers him or her. In ancient times incense was used to drive demons away! For us, the use of incense is biblical and liturgical. The Lord instructed Moses on how to use incense to mark and keep space sacred. In liturgy incense is used to symbolize the act of purification and sanctification. We incense people and things that we want to make and keep holy by our prayers. The smoke, as the psalmist reminds us, is a sign of the prayer rising up so the blessings can come down. The smell and smoke cloud in the room brings to mind the upper room, a city called heaven, and all things that take us to higher ground. It brings to mind solemnity and mystery of communing with God almighty. At Mass, incense may be used during the entrance procession, at the Gospel procession and acclamation, at the offertory to incense our gifts, to incense the altar, the priest and the people. Some of our most power filled moments are marked with smells and bells. Using incense at the elevation of the Eucharist, bread changed into the Body of Christ is a stunning moment. Make sure that you always have the coffin incensed at a funeral. It is a wonderful way to send one back to God with prayers of the faithful. Very classy. Very respectful. Very good religion. Very good liturgy.

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LECTOR??? What do you call a man or woman who stands up in a Catholic church and lends his or her voice to God? A LECTOR. GOD SPEAKS to His people when Sacred Scriptures are proclaimed in church. That is the liturgical ACTION that takes place when the doors of the church are open and the people of God gather in the name of the Lord in order to hear the WORD OF THE LORD. A LECTOR proclaims, not reads, the first reading assigned by the church. The first reading is from the Old Testament, also known as the HEBREW SCRIPTURES for most of the liturgical year, to reveal to us what God has spoken from the beginning and to prepare us to receive the GOSPEL later. During the high season of Easter the church assigns first readings from the ACTS of the APOSTLES, from the New Testament to emphasize the importance of ACTING in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Hearing better leads to doing better! As the first reading is followed by a psalm in response to the first reading, so a PSALMIST follows the LECTOR. Often the same person, wearing a different hat, but liturgy works best when the roles and persons are distinct. The PSALMIST leads us in speaking back or responding to what God just said to us in church. Then a LECTOR returns us to the hear God speak in the second reading, better known as a reading from the NEW TESTAMENT, also known as the CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. The book used by the LECTOR is called a LECTIONARY. A LECTIONARY is not a bible, but a liturgical book that organizes readings from the bible for use during Mass. By this design, in the first few minutes of Mass, we HEAR from GOD, before we speak. We hear the story of how we got over, how God delivered us from the beginning of humanity and time. We hear God promise to be with us to the end of time. Most importantly we hear God’s invitation to be with Him now and forever. This is one RSVP one does well to pay strict attention to and respond in a timely manner.

LENT The bible tells us that after Jesus was baptized the Spirit led Him into the desert for forty days. During those days he prayed, abstained from temptation and fasted. This was a time of preparation for what was to come, the Resurrection. During our season of Lent we do what we are called to all year long, FOLLOW THE LORD. 19

The Spirit leads us during the season of Lent. The church takes forty days to intensely get ready for Easter. Like the Lord, we hunker down in prayer, we eat less and we avoid temptation by giving up something and using our resources and monies to improve our sense of being disciplined disciples. In other words, instead of doing whatever we want to do, an abuse of freedom, and we practice doing what the Lord does and do what the Lord wants done. We make sure that we can sing the lyric “before I be a slave, I’ll be buried in my grave and go home to my God and be free.” LENT IS ABOUT PREPARING TO BE FREED TO SERVE THE LORD. EASTER FREES US FROM SIN, BUT ONE HAS TO BE READIED! What’s with the ashes? Lent begins with ASH WEDNESDAY. It falls on a Wednesday to get the forty days in before Easter, not counting Sundays, because it doesn’t make sense to have a funeral on the day of the Resurrection. Duh! The day is marked as a special beginning with a sign of the cross made from ashes on the forehead. Ashes come from palm branches that take us back to PALM SUNDAY before we begin LENT. PALM SUNDAY is the day Jesus rode into town to face, fight and conquer sin and death. “Before I be a slave…” So we start LENT by remembering the goal - GET TO THE HOLY! GET TO THE LAST SUPPER! GET TO CALVARY! GET OFF THE CROSS! GET TO FREEDOM! GET BACK TO GOD! The ashes reveal to the public all the people who get it. “I am a sinner and so therefore I need Jesus.” A gold cross on a chain around a neck can mean many things, but ashes, dirt that you see every time you look in the mirror and every time you see the same sign of dirt mirrored on your sister and brother, I get it. God’s got this and God’s got me! All I have to do is follow the Lord. The Offertory The Liturgy of the Word is the liturgy of God speaking to and instructing His people. The Lord gives us His time for one single reason, to tell us to get to the altar! The very first step, the first response to the Liturgy of the Word is the Offertory. It begins with the PREPARATION of the gifts. Get it? First the Lord PREPARES His people with THE WORD of GOD, then His people PREPARE the gifts and the altar that the Lord will use to give us our daily bread. In this exchange we, the church, are beginning to work with the Lord. We are beginning to do what the Lord wants done. He leads, we follow and everything is coming together on one accord. It’s magnificent! It is all in the preparation! What gifts do we bring to this magnanimous moment? Jewels? Antiques? Stocks and bonds? Fine art? Money? It doesn’t matter because of the gift. It matters because of the giver. What we give is a symbol of who we are.

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As a group, in harmony with the Lord, we bring the basic elements that reflect our daily bread. What we need to survive. We bring bread and wine, simple gifts that symbolize our dependence on Jesus. Simple gifts that express our gratitude for all that God has done, is doing and promise to do. The gifts come from the back of the church in order to say we the people assembled bring our gifts to the altar, to the Lord. Symbolically, we put it all in His hands. And we trust and look forward to the next time we come to the altar. Then we will bring our very selves, our own body to the altar and God will bring himself. It is pure and authentic. Now the gift and the giver are one in the same. We walk right up to God and he places himself in our hands. Trust. We receive the Body of Christ. We receive the Blood of Christ. In that exchange we are the bread and wine. When we take the gift giver and eat of it and drink of it we become the Body of Christ. I am not the same! We are not the same! The church is not the same! The world is not the same! Everything has changed! This great exchange is the whole reason we came to church. As we go forward, we have the Word of God and the Body of Christ. We are a walking, talking, working church. AMEN!

ORDINARY TIME After all the high church of Easter and the litany of solemnities, we are back to ORDINARY TIME in our liturgical year. The liturgical year begins with Advent, moves to Christmas, then to ORIDINARY TIME, then to Lent, then to Easter and continues with ORDINRAY TIME. The mistake is to think of ORDINARY TIME as ordinary. It is not. It is still God’s time. Times set aside to worship and adore the Almighty. Time to gather in His house, gather in His name and worship Him. If God is in it, there is nothing ordinary about it. ORDINARY in this context refers to ordinal, as opposed to cardinal. A Cardinal Number is a number that says how many of something there are, such as how many members we have in the parish. An ordinal number tells the position of something in or on a list. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th. 13th 14th, etc. This is how we get to the 14th Sunday in ORDINARY TIME. We are counting the months of Sundays and allowing the Lord to ORDER our steps, week by week. It can get confusing because we fail to count the weekdays in ORDINARY TIME. A particular Sunday may be a solemnity, but that following Monday is a Monday in the 11th, 12th, 13th, … etc. in ORDINARY TIME. Most likely we pick the count up on a SUNDAY because that is the day we are at the church. People who go to church everyday count the weekdays of ORDINARY TIME better than those of us who only come on Sunday. 21

For Catholics, ORDINARY TIME begins on the MONDAY after the first Sunday after January 6th, but traditionally we still have to celebrate the Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord, on Sundays, so we don’t mark a Sunday in ORDINARY TIME until the following SUNDAY, which is then the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. ORDINARY TIME concludes 33 or 34 weeks later, when ADVENT begins again. “Well, He may not come when you want Him, but He’s always right on time!” Is a pop saying that reminds us that it is all God’s time and God’s order. We keep up the best we can! Profession of faith The reason to belong to a church is to become more God like. At the center of our faith is the all-important and inclusive clarity of what do we believe about God. Without this clarity our future is questionable. The Creed or Profession of Faith is a quick and easy study of what we believe as Catholics. Without this agreement, we cannot actually belong to this Body of Christ we call the church. Our creed puts God first. The declaration “I believe in one God” begins to order our steps. The creed moves us to declare what we believe about the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, the Church, Baptism, Reconciliation and the future. The declaration about God is perfectly simple. We believe in one God, a very important statement in a world of confusion, distraction and temptation. The declaration about the Father is simple, yet broad and all-inclusive. He’s got it all in His hands! He’s been faithful to me! The declaration of our belief in and of the Son of God reminds one and all of who He is, what He’s done for me and what He promises to do. He’s been faithful to the Father and creates the way for me to be faithful, even in the times of storm. The declaration regarding the Holy Spirit reflects a trust and belief that God causes all things to work for the good of those who love the Lord. This mystery that changes and saves the world, is not one that we simply read, it's one that makes live worth living. Whether one is trying to get into heaven, stay our of hell, do the right thing, make the right choice, survive the illness, get through the day, get to tomorrow or makes sense out of life, it takes faith.

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Keeping the faith unites us to all God has done in the past; sharing the faith unites to all that God is doing for the future. That’s a pretty compelling reason to get out of bed and start the weekday working with God.

TWO SOURCES of REVELATION Some people only have one source of revelation, Catholics know God in two ways. We know God through sacred scripture and we know God through sacred tradition. How did this come to be? It is God who chose to reveal himself in the person of Jesus Christ and in the action of Jesus Christ. An important part of our faith is the passing on of the faith. God gave it to us, so that we would pass on the GOOD NEWS of who God is and whom God loves. Just as God’s love is everlasting, so must God’s love be passed on and received forever and ever, from generation to generation. Amen. God is fully revealed in Christ the Lord, even though our human minds and hearts cannot fully receive all of God and God’s gifts until that great getting up morning. Nonetheless, God is already fully here. Christ commanded the apostles to preach the Gospel, the story of who God is. The Gospel was promised by the prophets who came and prepared the way of the Lord before he appeared. All of the walking and talking with the Lord and preaching and teaching like the Lord is what we come to call the bible. All of this SACRED SCRIPTURE tells us the story of who God is and how our souls look back and wonder how we got over, by the grace of God. The bible is kept in order and alive by the passing on and over and over again, what God said, what God has given, what God commands and becomes the practicing of the faith. This living transmission of this old and Good News, keeps God’s Word real in the world. Practicing what Jesus did and passed on in the way of the Lord is called SACRED TRADITION. And so we come to know God by what He said, what He did and what He continues to do. When we act in the name of Jesus all should know what we mean when we say, “No it’s not I, but the Christ who lives in me!” That’s God revealing himself. Just as He did yesterday, just as He will tomorrow.

ARTICLE 1 
 SACRAMENTALS 1667 "Holy Mother Church has, moreover, instituted sacramentals. These are 23

sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession of the Church. By them men are disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various occasions in life are rendered holy.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church Ashes, holy water, palms. Crucifixes, rosaries, holy cards, lit candles, and all things, persons and places blessed to praise God and pray for His gifts are sacramentals. It is important to know the difference between sacramentals and sacraments. Sacamentals prepare us to receive God’s grace and to cooperate with it. Sacraments confer grace. Sacramentals always include a prayer, usually a sign or action such as laying on of hands or counting beads or making the sign of the cross or sprinkling with another sacramental, holy water or preparing the body, casket and grave with incense. Again, sacramentals prepare us as we hope to next receive God’s grace. Sacramentals help us to call on God’s blessing. They help us to be a blessing in the service of the Lord. They are small, often pocket sized, blessed objects that remind us what a mighty God we serve and prompt us to actually serve God almighty. Sacramentals give us words and deeds to actually do something in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. One might think there is nothing more powerful than a little old lady quietly sitting in church with her head bowed and her hands clutching rosary beads. Watch her more closely and you will see a strong sister in Christ Jesus, who just came to church to praise the Lord, serve the Lord, receive the Lord and then go and do the work of the Lord. The sacramentals help her be in the right place at the right time. The sacraments empower her to do the right thing.

SACRAMENTS #2 Christ instituted the sacraments of the new law. There are seven: Baptism, Confirmation (or Chrismation), the Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony. The seven sacraments touch all the stages and all the important moments of Christian life:1 they give birth and increase, healing and mission to the Christian's life of faith. There is thus a certain resemblance between the stages of natural life and the stages of the spiritual life. 24

The Catechism of the Catholic Church Sacraments are the real power of the Catholic Church. Jesus institutes, gives the church sacraments so we, the faithful believers and followers, can do what Jesus would do. So we can act in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Sacraments confer grace. Where mercy is God not punishing us even though we have sinned, grace is God blessing us even though we have sinned. Through the sacraments of the church we are abundantly blessed with grace by a God who looks beyond our fault and sees our need. Sacraments strengthen us so that with the help of God we can do things that without God we would not be able to do, understand, imagine, nor overcome. Through the sacraments of the church, we are able to experience a foretaste of glory divine, a little bit of heaven on earth and a way out of no way. In each of the seven sacraments, we stand in the need of prayer, stretch out our arms, lift up our heads and hands and surrender to God. We put it all in His hands and in the same ritual gesture we stand with our heart, mind, body and soul open to receive that mercy, that blessing. Sacraments make the power of God real and available. It’s not magic, it is the Sacred Being made present so that our living shall not be in vain, our troubles don’t last and our eyes see the Glory of God. What a witness! Sacraments are the reason it makes sense to come to church and turn to God in the moment of sorrow and in the hour of joy. It is for the sacraments that we end each Mass prayer by saying “Thanks be to God!” SACRAMENTS #2 [Verson 2] Christ instituted the sacraments of the new law. There are seven: Baptism, Confirmation (or Chrismation) [Eastern Rite and Protestant term] , the Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony. The seven sacraments touch all the stages and all the important moments of Christian life: 1 [no footnote listed... Simply state the source] they give birth and increase, healing and mission to the Christian's life of faith. There is thus a certain resemblance between the stages of natural life and the stages of the spiritual life. The Catechism of the Catholic Church [not sure why this is here?] Sacraments are the real power of the Catholic Church. Jesus institutes, gives the church sacraments so we, the faithful believers and followers, can do what Jesus would do. So we can act in the name of the Father and of the Son and of 25

the Holy Spirit. Sacraments confer grace. Where mercy is God not punishing us even though we have sinned, grace is God blessing us even though we have sinned. Through the sacraments of the church we are abundantly blessed with grace by a God who looks beyond our fault and sees our need. Sacraments strengthen us so that with the help of God we can do things that without God we would not be able to do, understand, imagine, nor overcome. Through the sacraments of the church [Church] , we are able to experience a foretaste of glory divine, a little bit of heaven on earth and a way out of no way. In each of the seven sacraments, we stand in the need of prayer, stretch out our arms, lift up our heads and hands and surrender to God. We put it all in His hands and in the same ritual gesture we stand with our heart, mind, body and soul open to receive that mercy, that blessing. Sacraments make the power of God real and available. It’s not magic, it is the Sacred Being made present so that our living shall not be in vain, our troubles don’t last and our eyes see the Glory of God. What a witness! Sacraments are the reason it makes sense to come to church and turn to God in the moment of sorrow and in the hour of joy. It is for the sacraments that we end each Mass prayer by saying “Thanks be to God!”

SILENCE of the CHURCH A good liturgy has moments of silence built into it for good reason. Daily, we need time to stand still and let God be God and let God move! Silence and stillness are important if we hope to give our self away to be used by God. It really is fairly simple. We stop so God can start. Lay down everything, forget about yourself and concentrate on HIM. That’s the reason for silence in the church. Before prayer - The General Instructions of the Roman Missal advise us to get to church early so we can settle down and be silent and prepare for what is about to happen. During Mass we are called to silence several times. First at the Penitential Rite when we stop to recall our sins, a hush should come over the church as each and all confess. God forgives quietly. He has no need for our sins to be splattered and gossiped. He just wants us to be free from sin so we can be glad and free to be in the service of the Lord.

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Next when the celebrant says, “Let us pray” we should bow our heads and PRAY! After a suitable amount of time, the celebrant CONCLUDES the prayer with the prescribed COLLECT. After the WORD of GOD, the Liturgy of the Word, it just makes sense to ponder all these things in our hearts, just like Mary, the Mother of God. It is so rich, so full, so much, it takes a little quiet time to squiggle, squirm, settle and find rest with the Lord is telling me and calling me to do. Truly the Lord speaks to my heart and the depth of my soul. Perhaps the most GOLDEN SILENCE is observed after COMMUNION. This is not a time to get ready to leave; it is a time to get START LIVING with Christ Jesus. Everything has changed. My thoughts after COMMUNION ought to be the holiest moments of my day or week as I take the Lord with me! This requires my mind, my body and my soul saying YES LORD!!! A little bit of silence in liturgy is there to make sure we digest as much of what GOD is giving as we can. The less distracted we are, the more we receive, the more we have to give! Mission accomplished! SINGING The why, when, where and how of Singing at Mass Why? Because the bible says it. The Apostle Paul instructs us to gather as believers who are watching and waiting for the Lord and sing psalms, hymns and spiritual canticles. Why? To keep the faith and the focus of what we are doing. Nothing is worse than having a great solo performed during church. Why? Why, because it is a solo. It is done for or by one person, alone. In church, WE sing to the LORD! A soloist or a choir or all arrangements in between can help us sing or they can entertain us. We do not come to church be entertained, we come to be gathered in Jesus name. When? When the bible and church talk about singing, they are talking about praying. Some prayers are better expressed in song. They are talking about the parts of the Mass that are designed to be sung, that beg to be sung, which are flat if recited. Like the GLORIA and the HALLELUJAH and the AMENS of the MASS! Where? We tend to focus on the songs that accompany the processions, entrance, offertory, communion and recessional. However, preference of singing should be given to the parts of the Mass where we are not in motion, but rather where we are standing in the need of prayer and crying out to God with one voice and one heart. The “LET US PRAY” and the “I BELIEVE” parts. The parts where the whole church, not just the parish or those in the building, but the whole church is responding, speaking, asking and telling God something. Those are the important parts of the Mass, second only to the times when God is telling us something. Yep! Sometimes even the readings ought to be sung! 27

How? Together. That’s the reason why WE sing. Because we are together in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We agree, AMEN! We are on one accord. AMEN! We are one. AMEN! We are experiencing the same thing at the same time and in the same spirit. AMEN! In church you never walk alone, so lift every voice and sing, because we are climbing Jacob’s ladder, marching to Zion and making heaven our home. Everything that speaks to the heart and comes from the heart is a song.

Solemnity Last week we celebrated the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, this week we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) and next week we celebrate the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles. Thank God He gave us a church, thank the church for giving us an order of prayer! When you look at the liturgical year, you see that it is filled with lots of days we might call just another day journey and then there are high and holy days! We call them solemnities, feasts and memorials. Depending on the status of the day, the Mass is celebrated in a particular way. While every day is a day of thanks giving, there are some days that call us to thank God with more passion. The highest in rank of those days are SOLEMNITIES. These days mark and recall the most important mysteries of the faith and for the most part directly connect us to the person of Jesus, even once removed or with one degree of separation. Next in line are FEAST DAYS. On these days we honor a mystery or title of the Lord, Mary or saints of particular importance in the history of salvation. Then there are MEMORIALS. When celebrating a memorial, we are most often calling to mind a SAINT. All saints have a feast day, usually the day she or he dies. Holy days of obligation are another category all together. Nonetheless, these SPECIAL CELEBRATIONS keep us in that number when the saints go marching in! They call us to pray with an acute sense of reverence and undivided attention. And on a side note, they teach us a bit of church history along the way.

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THE BODY OF CHRIST A mysterious moment happens as we realize the tomb where Jesus’ body was laid to rest is found empty. “Where is the body?” Is a most important question for the church. A glorious moment occurs when the church realizes that we have become the Body of Christ. A powerful thing happens when we believe in the God of an Immaculate Conception and a Virgin Birth and by the same Holy Spirit makes us ONE BODY in CHRIST JESUS. The same force that is the very unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Three in One God, unites us and makes us one, in the name of Jesus! As we receive communion, which is receiving God, what we do next, what we do WITH GOD is what we call church. It is in that context and with that content that we are the BODY of CHRIST. The wristband that raises the question “WWJD?” raises a question to which we already know the answer. The real question is WITBOCTD? What is the Body of Christ to do? The answer is as the Lord commands. AMEN. When we do the work of the Lord, which starts anew every Sunday (in case you are thinking of skipping Mass) we are the Body of Christ. The most powerful thing the Lord says every Sunday is “DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME”. That’s when every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Head of the church and every choir should break out in leading us in HE’S SO REAL! That’s what I call RISING FROM THE DEAD!

The Entrance Procession #3

While I am on this pilgrim journey, I want Jesus to walk with me. That is the theology behind or beneath a Catholic entrance procession. The entrance procession recalls Jesus entrance into Jerusalem. Jesus coming forward to carry us to the altar and carry us home. The entrance procession symbolizes our pilgrim journey, how we are putting the world behind us and the cross before us, marching to Zion, that beautiful city of God. The order of the procession is important. If incense is to be used, it precedes the cross to symbolize that are prayers go up first. Then the blessing that is the Lord comes down and leads us and we follow. 29

We should always have a cross bearer. Any one who is a follower of Jesus can be a cross bearer. The cross bearer helps us to follow the cross! The procession behind the cross proclaims I want to be a follower of Christ. It means something and it sets up our hope to make it to the altar. The altar servers follow the cross with lighted candles. They help us to walk in the light and to let our little light shine because Jesus is the light of the world. It makes no sense to carry or follow a candle that is not lit. That is a terrible sign. Then the ministers who have a role in the liturgy follow. They remind us that we are in the service of the Lord. However, since we all have a role, we could all join in the procession. Especially if one is running late, don’t wait until it’s over, get in line in order to get into the church! Just don’t jump in front of the cross or behind the celebrant. Know what the Lord is doing and let the Lord use you. The deacon the Book of the Gospels. Can a reader carry the Book of the Gospels? Yes, but it not the norm. Can the lectionary be carried in procession? Please don’t. Can other items be in the procession? Yes, but they don’t have to! Mainly the procession helps us honor Jesus and follow him to the altar. Any one that helps that goal is practicing good religion. Anything that distracts from that goal is bad liturgy.

THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER

For most of the beginning of Mass our voice is silent. We break our silence to say “amen” to let God know that we hear him, we agree, we intend to be obedient to Him. Even the responsorial psalm is a kind of an “amen”. The first time we really stand and use our full voice is to give glory to God, to sing the Gloria. Then at the Universal Prayer we really open up our mouths and our hearts to speak, to respond to God.

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The Universal Prayer is huge and vast. We focus to cry out in a loud voice that covers everything, every need in our universe. We pray with and for each and all of us, throughout the world. It’s big! First we are asked to pray for the Church. That she may be what she is supposed to be and do what she is supposed to do forever and ever. Second we are asked to pray for the world. That she is governed and respected as a creation of God. We are asked to pray that she conduct herself appropriately and lovingly so that human dignity grows and that our cups overflow with love. Then it is in that context, that order that we are mindful of those who are misfortunate, left behind, forgotten and needing to be pulled back from being out of sight, out of mind, out of touch and out of reach. Each one, reach one! Reach out and touch somebody’s hand! Reconnect! Reconcile, so no child, senior, sister or brother is left behind. Then we speak to God about who and what is right in front of us, right here in prayer with us and right in our heart. While these petitions should be sober and succinct, most importantly, they should be OUR PRAYER. They should be distinct from my personal and private prayer. They should raise something to God that concern and benefits the entire community so that the entire voice of the Body of Christ can cry out “hear our prayer!” HOLY TRINITY In our faith we understand that GOD IS! That’s about all we really know. The greatest mystery of all times is the center mystery of the Christian faith. We cannot KNOW this ONE fully; we have to take this one on GOOD FAITH. God and only God can reveal, can make himself known as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. God is. God exist. God does. In the INCARNATION, Christmas, God reveals Himself as God the Son. God the Son teaches about God the FATHER, Our FATHER who art in heaven, and invites us into HIS relationship with HIS FATHER. When the battle is over and Jesus, God the Son, wears a crown, and mounts his throne to shouts of joy, ASCENSION, the SON asks the FATHER to send us another advocate, GOD the HOLY SPIRIT, PENTECOST. The HOLY SPIRIT proceeds from the FATHER and the SON. 31

There is the ONE GOD. There is the most perfect TRINITY, the most perfect undivided UNITY. CONSUBTANTIAL, meaning the THREE PERSONS of GOD are of the same substance, are one. All good things come from God. God the Father sends them to us. Just like he sent His only begotten Son and sent His Holy Spirit. Just like He sends His church. Just like He sends His new daughters and sons, or baptized daughters and sons, the ones he made anew. God the Father creates, recreates and sends. God the Son redeems, takes us back to the place where we first received God and God the Holy Spirit empowers and enables us to renews the face of the earth, in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It is mind blowing to realize that it takes ALL of GOD to get us together to do the right thing. That’s not ordinary unity, that’s Holy Jesus, Mary and Joseph holy! The Holy Trinity leads to the Holy Family, which leads to Holy Mother Church, which leads to you and I serving God. Talk about ACTING in GOOD FAITH!

Come Sunday The Lord opens the doors of the church. The Lord gathers the Body of Christ. The Lord invites his friends to celebrate His Resurrection. The Lord gives us communion. We become new creatures in Christ Jesus, and then the Lord sends us on a mission. “I don’t know what you came to do...” or didn’t come to do, but when Jesus rose on Sunday, HE MADE every day a day of thanksgiving and every Sunday a “little Easter” and a little taste of heaven. Recently a friend of the church joked that her husband, also a friend of the church, goes to St. Mattress on Sunday. In other words, according to the definition of Sunday made by God, he is either to tired or to lazy to make it to heaven. The stakes are high come Sunday! The celebration of Sunday is about the Lord. Whether we realize it or not, our very being longs to be a part of what God is doing with and for His people. Especially the part of us that is sick and tired and broken and lost and wanting and needy and whiney and hurt and little and so on and so on. Doing something other than being present, mind, body and soul, not just in body, to respond to and receive the Lord is either looking for the right thing in the wrong place or being blind.

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The conversation with the Lord is going to be interesting if He gets to say I showed up and got up for you and we respond with what we thought seemed like a good reason to waste a Sunday. Truth be told, most likely we didn’t think about it, Sunday, God, self or much of anything. Sunday is a great feast or a great waste.

The Baptism of the Lord If Jesus was born without sin, why did he have to get baptized? First it is important to note that he didn’t have to, he wanted to. It is also important to understand that in doing so, getting baptized, Jesus changed and troubled the water! He changed baptism! As John said, baptism was for repentance. To be washed clean was refreshing. Jesus came along and said to John baptize me “..it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Now after Jesus, just like everything else, after Jesus everything has changed. Baptism now does more than cleanse one from sin, it unites all who are baptized with the Lord. Now baptism is about perfect submission to the will of God. It is about becoming and being a member of God’s family. It is about joining the church, the group of believers who have decided to follow Jesus. It is about doing what the Lord would do so that “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Right after Jesus got baptized he went to work for the church. He began his public ministry. It is for this reason that our sins are forgiven, so that we can do what Jesus would do, forget about our selves, concentrate on Him, worship Him and follow the leader, follow the Lord. Today is good day to reconcile that we come to church so the Lord can work on us so we can work with the Lord. Don’t want no trouble at the river? Get to work!

SUMMER BIBLE SCHOOL 1 33

Catholics have two sources of revelation. God speaks to us in two ways. Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture. Where does Sacred Scripture come from? Sacred Scripture clearly comes from God. God communicates with us, humans. We receive the Word of God. The first bible was not a book. When God began speaking, there were no books, no letters, no typewriters, no printing presses; just ears, hearts and minds that wanted to know God. God spoke. Man heard God. Man shared what God said. The first bible is God speaking; the bible is God speaking to his people. When we share what we have seen and heard from God, we share the Good News, we share the bible. This is called the Oral tradition. For thousands of years the bible was no more and no less than God communicating and people sharing the Word of God. We passed on the stories from generation to generation. Even though we have a book that collects the old stories, this practice of speaking the Word of God remains one of our most powerful and lasting acts as Christian people. The books of the bible are just that, books of the bible. Bound together for our convenience and access. The books do not contain God, they just allow us to read what we are designed to hear. As God continues to speak, hopefully we continue to hear and thus we have the living Word. Obviously no book or even electronic word-processed document could ever contain God. This is God Almighty. He is not finished speaking, which is Good News. As long as God speaks, we live. That is a promise of biblical proportion.

SUMMER BIBLE SCHOOL The Books of the Bible God speaks, humans hear, humans pass on the stories of encountering God (ORAL TRADITION). Next, as we evolved, we began to communicate using symbols that could be scratched or painted on to walls and materials. The Egyptians refine these scratches to a system of writing known as hieroglyphics. Don’t forget the story, Moses, who thought he was a privileged Egyptian, goes to the burning bush, God speaks to him and he writes down what God said. The larger point is that as writing things down became the manner in which the human society intended to preserve important works for communication, God’s Word was at the top of the list of important things to know and keep. The collection 34

of written books of scripture, God’s word, approved and accepted is called the CANON of SACRED SCRIPTURE. The church has always been a major player in the art and care of documenting our history with God for accuracy, study and future generations. Eventually, Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg invents a machine that becomes the printing press and “voila!” the bible becomes the number one best seller of all times and known as a book. The Old Testament was recorded in Hebrew and Aramaic, spoken languages, then translated into Greek, the language of scholars. The Greek translation of the Old Testament is called the Septuagint. The New Testament was written in Greek. As the church grew, the whole composition was translated into Latin. The Latin translation is called the Vulgate. Now the bible is published in more than 2000 languages. Thank God, each of them and all of us have to go back and make sure we are careful to choose a translation that is an accurate record of what GOD SAID, the authentic bible and the bottom line. We go back to the basics. We go back to the bible. SUMMER BIBLE SCHOOL The Books of the Bible 2 God speaks, humans hear, humans pass on the stories of encountering God (ORAL TRADITION). Next, as we evolved, we began to communicate using symbols that could be scratched or painted on to walls and materials. The Egyptians refine these scratches to a system of writing known as hieroglyphics. Don’t forget the story, Moses, who thought he was a privileged Egyptian, goes to the burning bush, God speaks to him and he writes down what God said. The larger point is that as writing things down became the manner in which the human society intended to preserve important works for communication, God’s Word was at the top of the list of important things to know and keep. The collection of written books of scripture, God’s word, approved and accepted is called the CANON of SACRED SCRIPTURE. The church has always been a major player in the art and care of documenting our history with God for accuracy, study and future generations. Eventually, Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg invents a machine that becomes the printing press and “voila!” the bible becomes the number one best seller of all times and known as a book.

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The Old Testament was recorded in Hebrew and Aramaic, spoken languages, then translated into Greek, the language of scholars. The Greek translation of the Old Testament is called the Septuagint. The New Testament was written in Greek. As the church grew, the whole composition was translated into Latin. The Latin translation is called the Vulgate. Now the bible is published in more than 2000 languages. Thank God, each of them and all of us have to go back and make sure we are careful to choose a translation that is an accurate record of what GOD SAID, the authentic bible and the bottom line. We go back to the basics. We go back to the bible. SUMMER BIBLE SCHOOL The Books of the Bible 3 The Catholic bible is divided into two parts. The Old Testament or Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament also called Christian Scriptures. Both are God’s Word. Together they tell the story of the history of our salvation. As we receive God’s Word in that same history, we hear and recall the story differently, not by God, but by human ears and hearts. Our records differ as Jews, Catholics and Protestants. The Jewish people share with us the Old Testament. It is very much the story of the Jewish people hearing, loving and coming to know God. The first Christians and early Christians, share with us the New Testament. It is very much the story of the universe of peoples who hear, love and come to know God through the person of Jesus. They and we are catholic with the lower case “c” which by definition means “universal”. Through time, history and understanding God differently, that universe of people gets further divided into Catholics and Protestants. The Catholic bible includes more Old Testament books than the Jewish bible and the Protestant bible. The Catholic bible includes 46 books in the Old Testament, the Protestant bible includes 39, and the Jewish bible includes 24. In the end, literally and figuratively, it all comes down to us as gift from God. What we accept forms what we know and more importantly what we believe. The division amongst us is a testimony that God is not through with us yet. The bible, the story of God and His people is clearly a living bible. Our hope is to see what the end shall be. 36

SUMMER BIBLE SCHOOL 4 The Old Testament The first 5 books of the Catholic bible are called the Pentateuch. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They give us the story of our beginning with God and the laws given to us by our Creator. The next 16 books are called Historical Books. Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther (ours is the long version), 1 Maccabees, and 2 Maccabees. These books give us the history of the people God choose to reveal himself to the world. The next 7 books are the Wisdom Books. Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Wisdom of Solomon and Sirach, most often called Ecclesiasticus or Ecclesiastes. The Wisdom books deal with our questions about God, self, life, death, good and evil. Things we can’t quite wrap our brain around, but nonetheless speak to our heart. The next 18 books are from the Prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch (includes the letter of Jeremiah), Ezekiel, Daniel (ours is longer with14 chapters) Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. In our human history there is a time when we began to “smell ourselves” as the old folks would say. The prophets were people who reminded us to be careful about forgetting God and urged us to remember God. This canon, all these books are a part of the Catholic bible. They are connected to all the books of the New Testament in order to give us the powerful story of who we are and whose we are. SUMMER BIBLE SCHOOL 5 The Old Testament The first 5 books of the Catholic bible are called the Pentateuch. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They give us the story of our beginning with God and the laws given to us by our Creator. The next 16 books are called Historical Books. Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 37

Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther (ours is the long version), 1 Maccabees, and 2 Maccabees. These books give us the history of the people God choose to reveal himself to the world. The next 7 books are the Wisdom Books. Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Wisdom of Solomon and Sirach, most often called Ecclesiasticus or Ecclesiastes. The Wisdom books deal with our questions about God, self, life, death, good and evil. Things we can’t quite wrap our brain around, but nonetheless speak to our heart. The next 18 books are from the Prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch (includes the letter of Jeremiah), Ezekiel, Daniel (ours is longer with14 chapters) Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. In our human history there is a time when we began to “smell ourselves” as the old folks would say. The prophets were people who reminded us to be careful about forgetting God and urged us to remember God. This canon, all these books are a part of the Catholic bible. They are connected to all the books of the New Testament in order to give us the powerful story of who we are and whose we are. SUMMER BIBLE SCHOOL 6 The New Testament, Part Two There are twenty-seven books in the Catholic New Testament. After the four gospels, which are written as if the writer had an actual encounter with the historical person Jesus, we are given books that chronicle the growth of the church. The fifth book of the New Testament is Acts of the Apostles. It does exactly as its name implies, records and tell us what the Apostles, the men chosen by Jesus, did in the name of Jesus after the Lord returned to the Father. Following the Acts of the Apostles, we are given the fourteen Pauline Epistles, letter that St. Paul wrote to certain people or particular areas where the church was growing. Each is named for the intended recipient. The letters have the same format and are clearly written to small groups of believers, not everyone in the town. Scripture scholarship allows us to distinguish between letters written by Paul and letters written by students attributing credit to their teacher, Paul. These letters tend to begin with Paul or the persons writing with Paul or in his name praising and thanking God for the recipients. The letters actually written by St Paul are written before the Gospels were written, even though they follow the Gospels in the bible. 38

The next section of the New Testament organizes the last seven letters or epistles. These books are called the Catholic letters. This is not because they come from the Roman Catholic Church, but rather because they are universal, (catholic means universal) speaking to whoever has ears to hear them, not a certain person or to a particular place. These letters seem to be written to second and third generations of Christians who are too young to have known the historical person Jesus. They are names after the writer. The final book of the New Testament is the Book of Revelation. SUMMER BIBLE SCHOOL 7 The New Testament Part Two A. REVELATION The final book of the New Testament is the Book of Revelation. It is perhaps the best example of why the bible, in order to be effectively understood, has to be studied, not simply read. It’s lessons are only clear when put into the original context of to whom it is speaking and what the persons or world was experiencing at that time. Revelation was written under duress. Its author, who calls himself John, had been exiled to a penal colony in the 90’s. Not the 1990’s or 1890’s, the first 90’s! Imagine the severity and you begin to get the harshness of the Book of Revelation. The young and excited church was being brutally attacked and fiercely persecuted by the Roman ruler of the time. The Book of Revelation’s main point is to KEEP THE FAITH, NO MATTER COME WHAT MAY. WHEN THE BATTLE IS OVER, I SHALL WEAR A CROWN. The book talks about the end where good or more accurately God triumphs over evil. In that light it is a book of hope for those who hold onto God’s unchanging hand. The Book of Revelation is an outstanding example of apocalyptic literature, which was very popular for a time in the history of the world. Apocalyptic literature was full of symbols, signs, numbers, codes and allegory, not only to make a point, but to make the point dramatically. The goal was to be a blockbuster, not for entertainment but rather to teach the faith. In the face of fear, fear God or life without God more than you fear satan, so you don’t make the wrong choices out of fear. This sort of story telling (again because it predates writing) was very popular during the time of Jesus. The historical person Jesus is born and dies at a time when stories have to be really good and powerful in order to be passed on. It is why Jesus himself had to be a great storyteller. The bible is the GOOD BOOK precisely because it tells the great story of how God creates and saves His people. 39

Easter: A fifty day festival Lent concludes the Easter Triduum begins at Mass on the evening of Holy Thursday. The Triduum, three days of farewell, sacrifice and hoping in the Resurrection conclude at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday. Come Sunday, the Easter feast of fifty days begins. The joy comes in the morning! Easter is the feast of feasts and the solemnity of solemnities. This season marks the highpoint of the liturgical year. Everything that is done in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit by the church, is rooted in the celebration of Easter. Every Sunday in the year is a memorial of the great and high Sunday of Easter. The scripture readings assigned to the season of Easter draw us into the story of Jesus with images of the apostles scurrying to carry on the mission with signs still unfolding before their very eyes. In this regard, the season of Easter is very much a season of preparation. Throughout the fifty days of Easter Jesus and the Holy Spirit are preparing the church to do the work the Father was pleased to begin by creating a world and then sending His Son to free His people and His Holy Spirit to empower His people into service. The Ascension of Jesus, forty days after the Resurrection at Easter leaves the church to carry on in the name of Jesus. Pentecost, fifty days after Easter, marks the power of the Holy Spirit falling down on the church, confirming that she is now Body of Christ formed to do what the Father sent the Son to do at Christmas. The Easter Season brings it all home. All the acts of God and all the gifts of God come home for Easter. Creation, forgiveness, salvation, empowerment, grace and mercy, are all good things that bring each and all into right relationship with God, forever and ever. This is why the church shouts “ALLELUIA” in a loud voice during the Easter Season. Ecumenism Ecumenism is the movement to promote Christian unity. Jesus founded one, holy, catholic and apostolic church. Catholic with an upper case “C” is used for the proper noun naming the Catholic Church. In the creed catholic is spelled with the lower case “c” to mean ecumenical, universal, or all over the land. Ecumenism is needed because despite the will of God, we the people get divided up when individuals and groups don’t hear God saying and doing the same thing to each and all of us. When divisions rise to a level that compromises the unity of the church, an ecumenical council can be a gathering that clarifies and corrects who we are and 40

what we are teaching in the name of Jesus. The last ecumenical council convened was the Second Vatican Council that opened in 1962 and closed in 1965. Ecumenism reminds us that Jesus founded one church. All the Christian churches on the blocks we pass on our way to our parish are filled with sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus. When we invite or visit their houses of worship for prayer, a concert or any reason, we are visiting sisters and brothers, but we are not one church. We need ecumenism. We don’t receive or share communion because our beliefs are not quite the same. Jesus has more work to do before we will be one again. It always takes an act of God to make us one. This is true in marriage, after death and even in church. The only way any one becomes two or more is by God. Enculturation When we take something from the culture and mix it into the liturgy, the act is called enculturation. This is no easy trick! One has to know and protect the liturgical action, what Christ is doing and know what the cultural action is doing. It is not always possible to enculturate Catholic liturgy. It is never easy to do so. One popular action that shows a pretty good example of enculturation is joining hands for the Our Father. The Lord’s Prayer belongs to the Lord. Jesus invites us to adopt His prayer so we can speak to the Father just as the Son does. The black church has a marvelous sense of “unbreaking the circle.” This theological idea understands that as we sin we break away from the bond we have with God the Father. Jesus “unbreaks” the circle and makes us one and makes us whole again. The circle shows our unity in Christ Jesus. When we pray the Our Father and symbolize the “unbreaking” of the circle by all joining hands, the culture and the church are doing and meaning the same thing. Now in a strange twist of events, when we attempt to join hands in order to make or “unbreak” the circle, connect all of us, and we don’t manage to make a circle, we have contradicted our selves and the prayer. When we try to make the circle, if you find yourself on the lose end, you have to move to make the connection. Otherwise the answer to the question, “Will the circle be unbroken?” is “Not by me.” That is not what Jesus is doing, saying or praying. E 41

EPHIPNANY (102 Rewrite) EPHIPHANY! It is the church’s festival to celebrate the first manifestation of Jesus to the Gentiles. Notice how the scripture readings in the Christmas season give us details of Jesus’ heritage. How they define the role of His mother and father. How the family practices the faith, follows the old traditions and rituals passed on from GENERATION to GENERATION. It is all to document how Jesus is FULLY HUMAN. He goes way back! He is FULLY CONNECTED to all that happened from the beginning. He is past. God comes to earth and takes on the flesh of a baby Jewish boy and at the same time takes on the flesh of all the people born before him. He is past and present. Once you go back and fetch it then you bring it forward. Sankofa, as they say in the Adinkra tribe and a hermeneutical circle as they say in scripture study. Epiphany celebrates Jesus going forward. Now he is God revealed to people of even more cultures and lands. Notice the wise men are usually depicted as different in skin tone and dress to show they represent other cultures. Now, GOING FORWARD, Christ Jesus, who is already FULLY DIVINE is FULLY HUMAN uniting heaven and earth, all peoples, all lands, all time to the Almighty. EPIPHANY! Christ makes us one people, serving one God. Through Him and with Him and in him, we are past, present and future, hopefully. Now God is revealed in ALL TIME and in ALL PLACES. Now there is an EPIPHANY! Now liturgically Christmas ties us to the beginning, creation and Easter unites us forever and ever. There is no end! The celebration of EPIPHANY reminds us to remember that through the life of the Christ and throughout the days of the year, we are “climbing Jacob’s ladder higher and higher” striving to be with God now and forever more. Put the emphasis on the “WE.” All of us with Christ. As the people enslaved sang, walk together children and don’t you get weary. There’s a great camp meeting in the promise land! “When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.” Our songs, our rituals and celebrations are deep and old and new and alive! Take care with them and allow God to take care of us. Body Language: Bowing and Genuflecting Genuflection is the more profound gesture. Genuflecting is kneeling, but only on one knee to acknowledge God’s presence. To genuflect one brings the right knee completely to the floor as an outward sign of adoration. We humbly adore you O mighty God. We see you, and so we genuflect.

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Therefore one would always and only genuflect when attempting to say, “I adore you O Mighty God.” We would not adore any human or any symbol, only the real thing, only God. We genuflect when entering into and existing the holy ground where the Lord is present. We genuflect towards the tabernacle when it is filled with the Blessed Sacrament as a sign of adoration of the real presence of the Lord. If it is empty we keep right on walking. The Celebrant genuflects after elevating the consecrated host for the prayers to see and then again before inviting the prayers to communion. It’s to say God is already here. It’s all adoration of the precious Lamb, the Body and Blood of Christ, the only one worthy of such a deep and humbling movement by a lesser and human being. Bowing is different. Bowing communicates respect, reverence and gratitude. We are glad to be in the service of the Lord, so we bow. We bow our heads at the very mention of the matchless name “JESUS”. We bow because we are grateful to be in this place, in this moment of prayer. We bow because we are listening and speaking to God. We bow to the altar, to the cross, to any symbol that calls to mind what He’s done for me. So we bow as a sign of respect when we recognize the symbols of the Lord. We genuflect when we recognize the Lord. Holy Oils One of the most impressive liturgies of the year is the Chrism Mass. At this Mass, the Bishop, the leader of the local church, blesses oils that will be used all over the Archdiocese for baptism, confirmation, ordination, consecration and the anointing of those who are suffering. These blessed and now Holy Oils are sent from the Cathedral so the work of the church can be done in unity anywhere. The use of oils for consecration, blessing, healing and unification is biblically based. We are rich with both cultural and theological connections that teach us about the ability to change something or someone by application of Holy Oils. There are three oils that are blessed to assist us in church. Sacred Chrism, the Oil of the Sick and the Oil of the Catechumens. The Oil of the Catechumens is used to strengthen and mark us as we leave behind our old ways and embrace the way of Christ. Reception of this oil is to aid us and repel any evil that seeks to stop us from being fully committed to life in Christ Jesus. The Oil of the Sick is used for the sacrament of Anointing. It is all about healing, good health and fighting the good fight. It is also about putting our trust in Jesus no matter what come what may. Through this Holy Anointing we are better able to say I will trust and work for the Lord as long as I have breath. 43

Holy Chrism is oil mixed with perfume. How sweet it is! It gives us the power to do what Jesus would do. It marks and reserves people and thing for exclusive use by the Lord. It is applied to hands of priests, heads of bishops and altars and walls of churches. Once touched with this oil, they are only to be used for God’s sake. Holy Oils are stored in a special case in the church. The case is called an ambry. This is so that at anytime we can see and know that our help is near and available. Truly a balm in Gilead that is always near those who need help to keep the faith and work for the Lord. Holy Week Just as the Eucharist is the high point of liturgy, Holy Week is the high point of the year. Holy Week considers what the church will need to make it for another year. Beginning with Palm Sunday, Holy Week tells us that it, all the activity of the church, the mission of the church, requires an act of God. We cannot do this work without God and only what we do for Christ will last and therefore matters. The work is predicated on the Passion of the Lord. This is our foundation. The Chrism Mass is celebrated on Holy Thursday during the day or for pastoral reasons on a different day in Holy Week. At this Mass, oils are blessed and made holy by the Bishop at the Cathedral. These Holy Oils are then given to parishes, missions, hospitals, etc. in order to strengthen people so we can live out our baptism, fight our battles, be encouraged and sealed with the Holy Spirit no matter come what may. We have, keep and strengthen the faith that will see us through in good times, hard times, bad times at any time and in all times. On Holy Thursday we are given the Eucharist at the Last Supper. So that we can truly have Sunday and church at least once a week. We are given the priesthood for the same reason. The Head of the Church, Jesus takes Good Friday all by himself. We do nothing. We don’t know anything to do. The Lord is crucified. All we can do is pray for everybody. Come Sunday, starting at the end of Saturday, we are given new fire, Holy Light, new water, Holy Water and new life, Holy People freshly baptized. We now have everything we need to do the work of the Lord: God, faith, preparation, instruction, mission, order, leaders, provisions and sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus.

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Body Language: KNEEL Once in a church that had no kneelers a bishop asked a pastor, “Why aren’t the people kneeling?” The pastor responded, “Because we have no kneelers.” The bishop asked, “So why aren’t the people kneeling?” Ouch! Kneeling is a profound gesture in liturgy. In the early Church it signified penance, in the Middle Ages, homage, and today, adoration. The act maintains a semblance of all of the above. In kneeling and genuflecting we quietly yet immediately acknowledge the awesomeness of God and of being in His presence. The wise gesture reminds us that we cannot stand toe to toe with God and ought not desire to foolishly try and do so. It is always our privilege to look up to God. The moments of the liturgy that call for kneeling are the moments when the best we can do is kneel still and let God be God and do what only God can do. We practice the faith by “watching and waiting, looking above” hoping to receive and be filled with whatever God is preparing for us. Kneeling is the perfect posture to be “lost in His love” because it is not lying down, it’s not lazy. It’s attentive and requires us to be more aware that God is real and actually present. Kneeling says in this moment I only see God. For good reason, earthly beings don’t live on God’s mountain. But when we find ourselves taken to that holy of holiest place, any act short of adoration misses the moment. Kneeling doesn’t reveal the agility or fragility of the kneeler. It reveals that our eyes are watching God and we actually see Him. It has nothing to do with church furniture. Lent: Preparing to Shout The context of Lent is important. Lent is a season of forty days before Easter. Lent only makes sense in the context of Easter. There is nothing glorious about the discipline of Lent unless it prepares us to shout “HALLELUJAH!” Worship requires a heart, mind, Body and soul that can offer God the highest praise. Lent helps us to get there. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday with us remembering that we are dust and unto dust we shall return. In other words, we are created and we will return to the Creator. In the end, God will want to know if you are who He created or did we change into some ungodly creature? In the beginning God made a choice. In the meantime we make choices. In the end will be the evidence of whether or not our choices, lives, are consistent with what God choose in the beginning. 45

Lent is organized to un-break the circle that is broken when we make choices that are contrary to God. And so we give up some things during Lent in order to be compliant with God. Compliance requires clear communication. And so we pray more during Lent. Contrary to popular belief, prayer is much more than dropping off a load of laundry for God to wash. Prayer is listening to God more than it is talking to God. Lyrics like “I’ll be somewhere listening for my name” and “Over my head I hear music in the air” are great Lenten themed lyrics. We listen in order to hear instruction and then with hope and faith we are able to comply with God. That is the great goal of Lent. Almsgiving, to be increased during Lent, is another form of surrendering to God, surrendering things is symbolically surrendering self, remembering that you are dust and unto dust you shall return, unto God you shall return. Almsgiving is also a practice of trying to help someone else get back to God. After all we were created a people, it seems to reason that if we return as a people, we have done our best. Lent: Halfway The mid-point of Lent is hopefully a turning point. Turning away from the darkness and into the light. Turning away from the fear and towards the hope. In some sense it should be like we were being led and now beginning to walk freely, to follow closely, without requiring a push or a pull. Our minds our made up, our eye is on the prize and we are going all the way. As the young folks would say, “Ride or die!” Or as the old folks would say, “Keep your lamps trimmed and burning.” Lent is a journey, not a destination. It is designed so that we move with the Lord and with that practice, we grow more and more faithful and able to fit into this church that he is forming and commissioning. We become more able to do something with Holy Water besides dab it quickly. The better we practice and grow during Lent, the better we bless! The better we serve! The better we do in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Conveniently, this halfway point is where we can start to see the glass as half full and the impossibility of the glass being empty. We begin to focus more intently on The Great Getting Up Morning of Easter. At this point we know that the Lord is asking for a commitment. We know that we are agreeing to be changed, fixed and readied to go out and tell the world what God did and what God said. At this point, by design, we start to sound like the Lord. This is of great assistance to the Lord as he prepares for what comes next. 46

Lent: Preparing to let go of sin Lent is a time of reconciliation. We are fortunate and unique amongst people who worship the Lord because we have been given the sacrament of Reconciliation. This is far more than obsessing over and counting sins, his, hers or mine. To get to the heart of this beautiful gift and sacrament one has to look beyond the fault and see the need. The Lord needs willing workers, helpful hands and powerful voices and witnesses. In confessing our sins we are confessing that we believe God, the divine, is a healer of the human. Nothing good comes out of looking at people sins. Everything good comes through God working with sinners. The Lord forgives so that the good work can come through. In no way is the sacrament an escape clause or excuse to be irresponsible. In every way this sacrament is to make us accountable and able to assist the Lord as He builds community and offers salvation to the world. The sacrament of Reconciliation is primarily about building and improving our relationship with God and with members of the Body of Christ. Forget about yourself. Our sins do not make you worthy of God’s attention. God is love. Love attracts love. Only your love makes the Lord look at you as a loved one. Nothing we do wrong is bigger than what God does right. Confession and reconciliation take us way over and way pass the sin expressly to get us to the work of the Lord. The goal is always to be made one. We are forgiven so that we can forgive and get back to the business of Our Father who art in heaven. One more time, we are freed so we can love and serve the Lord freely. It is about what we can do in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Beware of shameful sinless church members who have no need for God. Look for the ones who can say ”I may be ashamed of my choices sometimes but I am never ashamed of the Gospel!” They are in the right place at the right time. Jesus can and will work it out. Ordinary Time The Liturgical year begins with Advent, getting ready for the coming of the Lord, and moves us to celebrate His arrival, Christmas. After the Christmas season, we celebrate the work of the Lord, Ordinary Time. It is not like any old ordinary time, because God is good all the time and all the time God is good. Ordinary Time is ordinal time. We start counting our time with the Lord. We start counting our blessings with the Lord. We count the days that he 47

walks with us and talks with us and gets us in order and prepares us instead of us preparing for Him. The color for Ordinary Time is green to symbolize growth. As Advent is for preparing for the Lord, the focus of Ordinary Time is on growing with the Lord. The better we celebrate Ordinary Time, the better we will get the meaning and get to participate in Easter time, the time when we celebrate the death and resurrection of the Lord. The time we are most aware of our salvation. Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter punctuate the special moments in the life of Jesus, what happened to the Lord. Ordinary Time punctuates the life of the church. What happens when the Lord works on us, teaches us, feed us, forgives us and empowers us. Showing up some of the time to watch the Lord is like going to see the show. Showing up all the time is like being in the movie hoping to win an award for best supporting actor. The Seven Sacraments of the Church Lent is a great time to pay attention to one’s sacramental life. How effective is my baptism? Does Eucharist bring my closer to the Lord? How long am I willing to wait to be reconciled with the Lord? How can my marriage reveal and honor the relationship Christ has with his church? Am I anointed or needing anointing? Do I follow orders or Holy Orders? What work does the Lord accomplish when I humbly receive the sacraments of the church? A sacrament is an outward sign that God is real in my soul today. Sacraments show us that God is still on the throne and yet mysteriously moving on the inside of the Christian and the church. The sacraments of the church are given to be life giving and empowering. They help us define the things of heaven as most important in our daily life and free us from wasting our time, talent and treasure, God given things, on the things of the earth or better put, things that will not last in the end. The sacraments help us to grow in holiness. Our formation and education is truly ongoing. We must always keep the faith if we have any hope or prayer to see what the end shall be! The sacraments are not just for me. They assist me with my longing desire to serve the Lord primarily by working with the Lord. Simply put, through the sacraments of the church I am fixed and or changed so that I can be of some earthly good. This alone makes one fit for heaven. Through Him, with Him and in Him, my living shall not be in vain. By the grace of the sacraments I never walk alone. The sacraments unite us in the name of Jesus with people and things that we can take with us now and take with us forever. Amen. 48

Body Language: STAND Lift up your hearts. Lift every voice and sing. Lift up your head O ye gates. Lift up your hands. It takes the whole body to pray because “can’t nobody do you like Jesus”! The church choreographs the movement of the Body of Christ precisely so that when we lift up the name of Jesus we physically and literally act as one in the name of Jesus. When a Catholic stands in the need of prayer it is a sign of respect for and in honor of Christ. We rise with Christ in order to say “AMEN” with our bodies. We stand because God is already here and is worthy of getting up for. We stand to say Here I am Lord. We hear you. We accept your word. We accept that mission that you entrust to us. When we stand we let the Lord get a good look at us in order to see what He has to work with. We stand to be changed. We stand as the Lord enters His holy temple in order to welcome Him into our hearts. We stand at the proclamation of the Gospel to be corrected and empowered so that we truly can do what the Lord commands. We stand to profess our faith and lift our prayers in order to say I truly believe and I am a member of God’s family in good standing. When we stand to bring our gifts to the altar and the gift of our self to the altar, we are not just moving from point A to point B. We are moving after having confessed our sin, after having heard the Word, after having confirmed our faith, after having watched and waited on the Lord. Then and only then can we move our very flesh and blood to receive the very Body and Blood of Christ. We stand together as one with the Lord. These Forty Days of Lent The forty days of Lent are the weekdays that precede the holiest days of the Christian year, The Triduum. Why forty? Two biblical principles give us the count of forty days. The forty years that the Israelites wandered from slavery to freedom and the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness. Christian living requires sometime to be set aside for internal work. Much like a retreat, we take time to stop, not so much to smell the roses, but to take stock, to empty out, to make room for and to check in on our spirituality. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "The seasons and days of penance in the course of the liturgical year (Lent, and each Friday in memory of the death of the Lord) are intense moments of the Church's penitential practice. These times are particularly appropriate for spiritual exercises, penitential liturgies and pilgrimages as signs of penance, voluntary self-denial such as fasting and almsgiving, and fraternal sharing (charitable and missionary works)." (CCC 1438) 49

Who checks the bible? Who checks the Catechism? Who checks in with church teaching? Lent hopes that all the baptized will take time to make sure that we are not just Christian lite, Sunday only Christians or part time workers in the vineyard. Lent reminds us to follow the Lord daily and ask for our bread daily and serve the Lord with all our heart, all our mind and all our soul. The forty days are a check up and tune up so we can run for Jesus 365 days a year and 24 / 7. This forty-day retreat happens just before the moment that we need to be wide awake and ready to celebrate the Passion of the Lord. Often people comment on the difficulty of focusing and finding time for the threeday celebration of the Triduum. Fitness experts tell us that the more frequently you go to the gym and exercise, the more stamina and endurance you build. Well, after forty days of Lent, we should be pretty pumped up and able bodied for HOLY WEEK.

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