Become what you believe        

Have you ever seen the movie, "The Music Man?"  It's a story about a hustler who goes from town to town selling people on the idea that their town can have a wonderful band to play all their favorite music and that he has a special way to make this happen without all the hard work of learning scales, etc. For the most part, the people of the town are pretty excited about this, all except the Marian the librarian who doesn't trust Harold.  Meanwhile a group of traveling salesmen are rather upset about Harold Hill because he has made a "bad name" for traveling salesmen all along the way and they try to find a way to get rid of him.

In true movie fashion, Harold falls in love with Marian and instead of running he stays and is forced to produce.  With some trepidation, Harold gathers the kids in the school gym and passes out uniforms and instruments.  He then has the kids start to play. Of course they are cacophonous. So he tells them that they have the gift within themselves and they just have to believe.  And as they gain confidence something miraculous happens, they start to sound like a real band and go marching down the street with Harold and Marian at the lead.

Now this story sound pretty far fetched but you know, the idea that Harold Hill promoted is not that far off the mark.  A Japanese educator named Dr Sinichi Suzuki (no relation to the motorcycle people) developed a method to teach children how to play music before they learn how to read notes.  It is so successful that this method is used all over the world and has produced some pretty good musicians.

The Pentecost story is about a group of demoralized individuals who have seen their dreams of being major players in a new kingdom created by Jesus.  Following a triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, Jesus is killed and they are scared witless.  Three days later Jesus appears in their midst and they freak out.  They just didn't understand what he had been telling them for the past three years and he had to patiently explain it to them all over.  Finally, he tells them that he is going away but that he will send the Holy Spirit to them.  To the disciples, it sounds like they were getting a consolation prize, no gold ring for this group.  Soon afterwards they were gathered trying to figure out what to do next when there was a great rush of wind and tongues of flame like fire rested on them and something happened.  All their doubts and fears seemed to melt away.  Rather than hiding from the world they went out boldly to proclaim Christ to the nations, undoing what happened at the Tower of Babel, for each heard in their own native language the Good News.

Of course, this great rush of the Spirit in their lives motivated them to act but didn't give them all the answers.  That they had to work out for themselves and so they spent the rest of their lives balancing between the rush of the Holy Spirit in their lives and struggling through the mundane stuff too.

In many ways you and I are very much like the people of the little town River City Iowa, going along with their everyday lives, pretty content with things.  Yes we believe in God, we come to church and things seem OK.  There are three types of Christians who inhabit our modern world.  The first is the "Intellectual" Christian who reads the Bible, can quote chapter and verse, can argue the fine points of everything but seems stuck right there.  The second kind of Christian is the kind who is quite content to sit in the pew and just listen to the preacher and the choir "do their thing" while they focus on their personal piety, there and at home.  They have their private relationship with God and that's all that matters.  Finally, there is the Pentecost Christian who knows his or her faith, has developed a personal relationship with God but who also is motivated by this faith, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to do something about it, to challenge themselves to live out the gospel message and to challenge others.  Pentecost Christians are not embarrassed about their faith but are proud to show God's love through their Christ like lives of service to others.

The message of Pentecost is that when we truly believe in the message and allow God's Holy Spirit into our lives we can and will make a difference in the world.  G K Chesterton once wrote "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried."

Well that's all well and good, what can I do

1. We each need to become believers.  Not just intellectual believers, not people of personal piety alone, but true believers who go out and make a difference whether it be to your next door neighbor, in the neighborhood where you live or in any other arena.  Extend ourselves to the widow who has no one to visit her or the old man who is left alone.  Take a chance and sign up for the "McGruff" program and become a safe haven for children who walk down your street every day.  Be considerate in traffic or in the grocery store, you don't need to be the first one in line. 
2. We need to let go of our personal fears, our reticence to even extend our hand to the person next to us.  Have you ever been in an elevator filled with people and no one says a word?  Try complimenting someone on how they look or just make a comment about how nice a day it is, something that takes you out of your comfort zone.
3. Find some way that people will know that you are a believer.  In the early church it was noted by the pagans "see how they love one another."  Let the world know that we are Christians by our love

Our prayer today should be the same ancient prayer that has been around for centuries.  "Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful.  Enkindle in us the power of your love.  Send forth your Spirit and we will be recreated and you will renew the face of the earth."

Positive Change Can Happen  

Did you ever wonder why, when we try to proclaim the word of God as we do in our everyday life, by the way we live, by when we come together to celebrate the Eucharist on a Sunday, why we don't have the same effect? Why when we preach the word don't people get all excited? Why isn't there a fever pitch of joy?  

It does happen sometimes that the world is transformed, situations of hatred and violence are transformed, the word really does have the powerful effects that God intends. The difference, I think, happens because of what Jesus says in the gospel, where he tells us right at the very beginning, "If you love me you will keep my commandments and then I will ask God and God will give you the Spirit -- the Spirit that will be present in you and through you." If you keep my commandments!  

Now, Jesus wasn't talking about moral precepts that we usually think of right away when we think of the commandments. No, what he was talking about is what he says a little bit further on in that conversation with his disciples, where he tells them, "This is my commandment: Love one another as I have loved you." Then he goes on to say, "Greater love than this no one has than to lay down your life for another."  

If when we carry out that commandment, when we are ready to give ourselves totally, as Jesus did; when we love others and not just those who love us, of course, as Jesus teaches us, we must love even our enemies and we must do good to those who hurt us, we must return good for evil; when we have that kind of love without limit, ready to lay down our lives -- then the Spirit will be with us and that Spirit will transform whatever situation we confront. That Spirit will challenge the world, change the world, transform it into the reign of God.  

Sometimes it happens. One example is what happened several years ago in the Roman Catholic diocese of Memphis.  An extraordinary thing happened in that diocese. They closed all their city schools, but the bishop thought about it and decided it was a wrong decision. So he told the Dr Mary McDonald the Superintendent, "We've got to reopen those schools! That's our responsibility." Dr. McDonald told the story of how the schools reopened, and she made one point that I thought was powerful. She said, "You know most of those schools that we have now reopened, there aren't any Catholic kids in the schools." She said, "We don't have these schools because the children are Catholic. We have them because we are Catholic!"  

What a powerful statement! We're here to serve, to love, to give of ourselves! Not just to serve ourselves but to serve others, especially the poor and those who are neglected in our society, who don't have an opportunity for the best education. That's why we're doing it! That's love, the kind of love that Jesus is talking about where you don't think of yourself, you give yourself!  

What happened in Memphis? It's a powerful story. People started to come and say, "We want to help!" She said they had teachers from all over the country contacting them, saying, "We want to teach in those schools. We want to give of ourselves." And the money has come. Huge donations. Because the Spirit of God is present when we teach that way. Through our lives, through our actions we demonstrate that we are not here to serve ourselves, we are here to serve others. When people understand that and see that in us, that will change their hearts. That will be the challenge to the world that rejects the reign of God and that will transform our world into the reign of God.  

Rather than worrying about the end of the world we should be concerned about the ends to which we are called by virtue of the Holy Spirit coming among us.  It's both simple and difficult, Love one another as I have loved you, unconditionally.  Through the spirit we can and will change the world.  

Explanation of the Component of the Mass (Part 1)  

Introduction, Gathering Rite and Procession

"Liturgy" is the participation of the people of God in the work of God. Through the liturgy Christ, our Redeemer and High Priest, continues the work of our redemption in, with, and through the Church. (CCC no. 1069) Since the Mass, the Church's highest form of prayer, is a gathering of the community, it stands to reason that ceremonies/rituals have developed over the years to set our Sunday gatherings apart from other kinds of assemblies.

In the earliest days of the Church, when the Eucharist was celebrated in homes as part of a meal, there was no special ceremony to mark the beginning of Mass. But after the persecution of the Church ended, when Christians began to build churches for worship, it was the custom for the community to gather in the church before Mass to pray and prepare themselves. The signal for Mass to begin was the entrance of the ministers.

The celebration begins by singing the entrance hymn that reflects the theme of the day, as the priest and other ministers process to the altar. Everybody stands.  

The "altar" is by its very nature a table of the paschal banquet. It is a symbol of Christ as well as of the whole Christian Community. The veneration of the altar at the beginning of the celebration is an act of greeting, which recalls that the common table is holy and sacred to the action of the assembly. It is the place from which prayer ascends like incense before God.  CACINA also recognizes the presence of the Lord in the community gathered to celebrate and the ministers bow in reverence to them to acknowledge  Christ's admonition that "Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am in their midst."

The Sign of the Cross and the Greeting

We begin the Mass with the sign of the Cross - the oldest gesture of our faith - and a greeting. In this way we go back to the earliest traditions of the Eucharist.

The sign of the cross, a traditional prelude to prayer, is a form of self-blessing with strong baptismal overtones. Every Christian has been baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Community at worship is first and foremost a baptismal community.

Priest: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

All: Amen.

Priest: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

All: And also with you.

The Penitential Rite

Recalling our faults and sins, in preparation for the unity of the Eucharist, is an ancient tradition in the Church. We recall our common need for salvation and God's merciful compassion.

Priest: My brothers and sisters, to prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries, let us call to mind our sins. (or similar)

A pause for silent reflection.  

Priest & All: I confess to almighty God, and to you my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through my own fault (all strike their breast) in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do; and I ask blessed Mary, ever Virgin, all the angels and saints, and you my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.

Priest: May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.

All: Amen.

CACINA also extends a general absolution in its preparatory rites in addition to the opportunity to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation individually.

Priest:  God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of His Son, has reconciled the world to Himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins.  By the ministry of reconciliation  

The Kyrie

The triple invocation which concludes our penitential rite is one of the oldest known prayers of the Mass. In Greek, the Church's first official language, "Lord, have mercy" is "Kyrie eleison" - and even throughout all the centuries when Latin became the Church's language, the "Kyrie" was prayed in Greek, as a sign of our unity with the past.  It was part of a litany sung as a processional hymn.  Elements of it can be found in the Eastern Rite masses of St John Chrysostom, St Basil and St James.

Priest: Lord, have mercy.

All: Lord, have mercy.

Priest: Christ, have mercy.

All: Christ, have mercy.

Priest: Lord, have mercy.

All: Lord, have mercy.

The Gloria

This joyful prayer - The Gloria - is really a song of praise, a "canticle". The earliest Christians copied the Jewish practice of singing canticles based on Scripture during their liturgy. Examples of these canticles "The Magnificat" and "The Canticle of Zechariah" are two canticles still used in the Morning and Evening prayer of the Church.

In this tradition, early Christian Communities created their own songs of praise. The Gloria - in the very same words we use today - is found in Christian prayerbooks as early as the year 380!! At first, it was sung only on special feasts, but later it was included in every Sunday celebration.

The Gloria is now sung.

Priest & All: Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth. Lord God, heavenly king, almighty God and Father, we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory. Lord Jesus Christ, only son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world: have mercy on us; you are seated at the right hand of the Father: receive our prayer. For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

The Opening Prayer - The Collect

The following prayer, which concludes the introductory rites, has been given the name "Collect" from the Latin word "collecta", which means "to gather up". Even in the early days of the Church, it was a tradition for the leader of the assembly to gather up the needs of the people and offer them to God in prayer.

Priest: Let us pray: (The priest says the opening prayer)

All: Amen

In the next issue we will look at the Liturgy of the Word and its place in our weekly worship. 

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