Archive | August, 2011

And With Your Spirit: the words 1.0

14 Aug

A woman who had made the transition from the old way to the new way of celebrating Mass back in the late 1960s and early 1970s doesn’t mind the change from “And also with you” to “And with your spirit.” She says, “I like it. It makes it more special.”

It makes it more special, because this is not the way we usually greet each other when we see each other in the morning or when we meet each other during the day. When we are at Mass, though, we are doing something special, and something special is taking place.

It makes it more special, because this new English translation is closer to the actual Latin words that are in the Missal: Et cum spiritu tuo. Even better, it makes it more special because it brings us closer to the translations that many of the other people in the world already use, including those who speak Spanish (Y con tu espíritu), French (Et avec votre espirit), Italian (É con il tuo spirito) and German (Und mit deinem Geiste). When I get back to the Holy Land, I am going to check to see if the Arabic translation of the people’s response has some form of the word “spirit” in it.

It makes it more special, because this translation touches something deep in our Catholic memory. In the presence of anyone who has worshipped at Catholic Mass for longer than forty years say, “Dominus vobiscum,” and they will respond, “Et cum spiritu tuo.” They remember attending Mass when everything was spoken in Latin. And they remember that, when it was first permitted to translate the Mass into English, this response was translated, “And with your spirit,” just like they will say it again now. This “newer” translation is actually an “older” translation. Keeping in touch with our tradition is a big thing for Catholics.

This is how it will sound if the dialogue is chanted: And with your spirit.

Tags: , , , ,

And With Your Spirit: the chant

13 Aug

There are five times in the Mass when the people will respond to the priest or the deacon, “And with your spirit” – (1) as we begin the Mass, (2) as we are about to hear the Gospel, (3) as we enter into the Eucharistic Prayer with the Preface, (4) as we prepare to leave, and (5) at the Sign of Peace. The response of the people used to be, “And also with you.” This change in the English translation of the prayers and responses of the Mass might be the most difficult one, because it comes up so often and will catch the people off guard, at least until they get used to it. If these dialogues between the priest and the people are spoken, the people might remember their new response at the beginning of the Mass, but would probably slip back into the old response, as Mass continues. But if these dialogues are chanted, the people are more likely to be reminded what their response is. Listen to the chant: Sign of the Cross and the Greeting. 

 

Tags: , , , ,

Puppy Under the Table

11 Aug

The readings for Mass on Sunday, August 14, 2011 can be found here: 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Please help God help me. Read the Scriptures for this weekend. Suggest to me a thought from your mind, an emotion from your heart or an example from your life, so that I can speak to the people of St. Andrew something that might connect with their minds, hearts and lives. 

This is what I am thinking thus far … When we buried Kimberly at much too young an age, we noticed something about those who arrived to grieve. They came from all walks of life, from all kinds of places and for all kinds of reasons. Their languages, their skin tones, their ethnic backgrounds, their jobs, their interests and causes were all so different, one from another. Many of them did not know each other. Some had to explain to Kim’s parents how they knew her. One flew in that afternoon, sat on the sidelines at the funeral home for several hours, and when the visitation ended, left directly for the airport to fly back home to Colorado that night. Kim’s father said it best, “Kim collected friends. The only thing that anybody had to do to be her friend was to want to be her friend, and that was it. You were her friend.”

According to Isaiah, all who join themselves to the Lord will be acceptable to him. The apostle Paul worked for the salvation of his own people and for the salvation of those who were not his own. Distracted and convinced by the thought of someone sneaking table food to a puppy under the table, Jesus reached out his healing hand to the outsider (and underdog) who cried out, “Have pity on me. Help me. Please, Lord.” That was enough for her to be his friend.   

Now click on “comments” below, and tell me what stirs in you when read Isaiah, Psalms, Romans and Matthew.

Tags: , ,

Between Heaven and Mirth

11 Aug

When I am away from Milford and mention that I am from Milford, I hear, “There’s a Jesuit retreat house there.” I quickly add, “Yes, it’s within the boundaries of my parish, but I claim no responsibility for the Jesuits.”

Often a visitor to the parish, seeing “A.M.D.G.” in stone right under “St. Andrew” over the doors of our church, and knowing that “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam” is the motto of the Jesuits, asks me, “Are you a Jesuit”? I return, “No, I’m a real priest.”

The Jesuits are known and respected in our city, not only for the retreat house, but also because of St. Xavier parish, St. X. High School and Xavier University.

Somehow I stumbled on “My Life with the Saints” written by Father James Martin, S.J. It was so down to earth and uplifting, and got me believing, as Father Martin suggested, that maybe I was attracted and drawn to know and become devoted to St. Andrew, because Andrew had been praying for me long before I paid any attention to him. Fascinating!

Then comes along Father Jim’s “The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life.” I devoured it. It is so practical and applicable to everyone’s life, yes, even to mine as a diocesan priest. The book begs me to recommend it to anyone who is looking to grow in their relationship with God or their enjoyment of life.

I just left Amazon.com, where I pre-ordered his “Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life,” which won’t be released until October. I want to be among the first to read it.

Yesterday Father Martin, bravely and in good humor, sat across the desk from the host of the Colbert Nation, explaining God’s job and defending God’s approval rating. That’s brave – and that’s using a pulpit to reach many who might not usually sit near a pulpit.

Tags:

In Perpetuity Is A Long Time

7 Aug

“The purchase of this ticket and attendance at this concert will mean that you grant permission for your image to be visually recorded and broadcast in all media now known and to be invented, including the world wide web throughout the world in perpetuity.”

Celtic Woman, a  group of three Irish women singers and a fiddler, is taping a live concert at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, Georgia, during the first week of September.

“You must be seated by 7:15 pm EST” … That makes sense. I’d like to have everyone seated in church fifteen minutes before Mass begins on Sunday, too … “Please be prepared, as this is a TV and DVD filming, that the performance may stop and start at any given time” … Okay, that one is understandable. But hear this one … “You grant permission for your image to be visually recorded and broadcast in all media now known and to be invented … in perpetuity” … That’s a long time.

Knowing that I was in Ireland two years ago for the taping of Celtic Woman’s last DVD, some have asked, “Well, are you going?”

My standard, evasive McAnswer is, “Atlanta is closer than Dublin.”

Tags:

That Sinking Feeling

6 Aug

The readings for Mass on Sunday, August 7, 2011 can be found here: 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Please help God help me. Read the Scriptures for this weekend. Suggest to me a thought from your mind, an emotion from your heart or an example from your life, so that I can speak to the people of St. Andrew something that might connect with their minds, hearts and lives. 

This is what I am thinking thus far … Walking on water and sinking in the sea: it’s like the difference between a period and an exclamation point. When we are walking on water – when things are going well, when we are accomplishing, when all (or at least most) is calm and bright – we believe that Jesus is Lord and Savior. That is a statement that ends in a period. When we get that sinking feeling, when we exclaim, “I can’t do this! Lord, save me!” then we really come to know that Jesus is Lord and Savior for me. It was only when St. Peter was sinking that it sunk in who he was in relation to Jesus. He was not the one who could walk on water.

Now click on “comments” below, and tell me what stirs in you when read Kings, Romans and Matthew.   

Tags: , ,

Not Unless You Tell Them

5 Aug

Shhh! Don’t tell anyone. I’m beginning today to change some of the words of the Mass.We are not to begin using the new translation of the Mass prayers until the beginning of Advent. But the priest has a lot more adjustments to make than the people do. So, I’m starting today. But I am keeping it quiet, literally, keeping it quiet.

There are a number of prayers that the priest prays either “quietly” or “in a low voice” – twelve of them, to be exact. Those are the ones that I am beginning to use today. I have little note cards that I will place on the altar, ambo and credens table. 

Since my first Mass on June 1, 1975, I have used the present translation of the Roman Missal. The Eucharistic prayers are practically memorized, the prayers for each Sunday of the year require only an occasional glance, and the prayers used everyday are now routine and rote.  

I am practicing the new translations of the Eucharistic prayers, so that, when the time comes, I can pray them reverently and not just slavishly read them. The prayers spoken on each feast or Sunday I can take a year to study. The “quiet” and “in a low voice” private prayers I am beginning today.

Even the people who can read lips will not know, unless you tell them! 

Tags: ,

One of the Saddest Sights

4 Aug

“One of the saddest sights for me during my visit to these lands was the wall. As I passed alongside it, I prayed for a future in which the peoples of the Holy Land can live together in peace and harmony without the need for such instruments of security and separation, but rather respecting and trusting one another, and renouncing all forms of violence and aggression.”

“I wish to put on record that I came to visit this country as a friend of the Israelis, just as I am a friend of the Palestinian people.”

“Let it be universally recognized that the State of Israel has the right to exist, and to enjoy peace and security within internationally agreed borders. Let it be likewise acknowledged that the Palestinian people have a right to a sovereign independent homeland, to live with dignity and to travel freely. Let the two-state solution become a reality, not remain a dream.”

Benedict XVI, May 15, 2009: Address at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv during His Departure

Tags: ,

Goetta and Eggs for Lunch

3 Aug

Standing at the graveside I could have sworn I smelled chili. It could have been. It was Price Hill, you know. We were at “new” St. Joseph cemetery, the Irish one, as the locals say, not to be confused with “old” St. Joe’s, which looks much newer than the new one, and in which the Germans are buried.

After honoring our parishioner Mary with the Catholic prayers of committal, I took four of her pink roses, after asking her family, of course, and headed over the hill to find the graves of my parents. It is a curious thing, maybe just in my heart but maybe in many hearts, that I remember dad, as I stand there, but I miss mom. Really miss her. I remember those rattling bottles that dad put up with behind him in the truck for our sake, as he went delivering milk house to house. And I remember that because of that job, which I am embarrassed to admit now embarrassed me when I told others what he did for a living, dad was able to come to everyone of my high school tennis matches. I remember dad. But I miss mom. I miss her patting me on the chest with the back of her hand, as she did until the day she died, whenever I kissed her goodnight or goodbye. There is still a hole in my heart, as I wish that I could hear one more time our exchange, “Hi, momma … Hi, baby!”

After clearing a few weeds away from dad’s music notes and mom’s bingo card, I went to Price Hill chili. Whenever one makes the trip “all the way over to that side of town,” one deserves to have goetta and eggs for lunch.

Tags:

Cannot Wait for Politicians

2 Aug

In late September a group of educators from the schools of the Latin Patriarchate (Roman Catholic Archdiocese) of Jerusalem will come to Cincinnati. The visit, sponsored by H.O.P.E. (Holy Land Outreach to Palestinian Educators), continues the interaction that began when teachers from Catholic schools of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati went to Bethlehem last summer. Twelve teachers from the Holy Land – six from the Palestinian Territories (the West Back), two from Galilee and four from Jordan – will drive to Columbus to attend the Ohio Catholic Education Association conference with the Ohio teachers, where together they will address school personnel from all over the state. In addition, the local teachers and the teachers from the Middle East will spend hours and days together, learning and laughing, sharing meals and skills, and making plans to continue their personal friendships and professional development long distance, when each has returned to his/her own school setting.

At the International Conference on Christians in the Holy Land convened in London by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Roman Catholic Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Archbishop Williams said, “We cannot wait for politicians to sort things out. We have got to make a difference ourselves.”

These teachers are making a difference now, not waiting for others to sort things out.

Tags: , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →