Do we go to Church because it is the New Year?

This is really just a reminder....the 1st day of January is a holy day of obligation to honor our Blessed Mother, Mary Most Holy. Mary is the Patroness of the Americas and it is on January 1st that we celebrate and honor her as such. For us, the Church, she was the one, true Ark of the Covenant. With her yes to God and His will for her, she bore our Salvation to fruition.

I think about how she must have worried about raising Jesus and that responsibility she had. Did she worry that she had done an adequate job as a mother to God the Son. Can you imagine the panic when she realized the child she bore for God was left in Jerusalem. I lost my little girl in the mall once and my first, flash thought was, 'I have to tell her father, please help me find her.' Of course I did, but that feeling of panic was overwhelming.

Another reason Mary is so important to us is because she was given to us, as Church, from the Cross. When Jesus designated John as the son to care for Mary He was saying, followers this is your Mother now, take care of her. She became the giver and caretaker of the Church. It would be Mary who would intervene for us to the Father. You know how that is, whenever you did something wrong as a child, who did you go to first...mom, she could break the news to dad and help soften the blow.

Mary is such an incredible role model for women. Mary was perfect mother and wife and a wonderful example to young girls on living a chaste life of virtue. We have so much to be thankful for when it comes to the gifts given to us as Church. As we welcome in the New Year and ponder all those resolutions, let's remember all we have to be thankful for and to offer a prayer of thanksgiving to God the Father for all He has bestowed on us.

Happy New Year and many blessings for you and yours!

Heaven has been graced with a saint and this one needs no declaration.

As most of you know by now, my husband's mother died this past Sunday, the Feast of the Holy Family. I would be remiss if I did not give a place in my musings and thoughts to this incredible Catholic woman. Gloria, or Memaw, as she was so lovingly known was a gracious lady, and a true Catholic, not only by nature but by faith.

Actually the words do not do her the justice she so deserves. Gloria taught me what it means to be a woman of faith when being a wife and a mother. This is not to take from what my own mother has shown me or taught me, but Gloria impacted my life at a time I was wanting to learn and I was open to listening to the lessons she had to share. She taught me about giving in a marriage that was not always going to seem fair, she showed me a loving patience when giving so unselfishly to children. As Marie told Debra (from an episode of Everybody loves Raymond) "we are mothering". Gloria was mothering. Gloria was the Catholic wife and mother. I found that I wanted to be like she had become. She was gracious, loving and giving. She was a lady and I wanted to be just like her. I miss her terribly. I am not the only one.

Years ago we noticed a change in her behavior and found she was diagnosed with the beginning stages of Alzheimer's disease. The family made loving, yet difficult decisions with regard to her care and she has been in a wonderful facility in Memphis for several years. We began to miss her many years ago, but her spirit remained with us whenever we visited. Several years ago I wrote a paper arguing that the brain is not the mind. I wrote this paper with Gloria in mind. Gloria was so much more than the physical body we watched deteriorate, her spirit, that soul gifted by God was still alive and full of life. Her 'self' was inside that shell and she still loved and was loved by those who cared for her. I remember her daughter saying once that now since her children were grown she could travel and enjoy her mother, she would not be able to. It seemed so unfair. A friend, a mom was lost to us.

There are so many memories I could share. I will always remember that glorious smile and the fact that she loved to sing. She loved music. It is with sadness that I realize there will be no music.... I know she will be singing up in heaven and enjoying the beautiful music of the angels. Gloria sat only after everyone else sat. She served others , she was our 'Martha', always tending to the needs of those around her. She was happy doing it, she loved caring for her family. I miss her terribly.

This is when we must realize we are not of this world, we are God's. Gloria was always one of God's. She can now be with Him where she was meant to be. I hope that Heaven is all she hoped it would be and more, I pray she is praying for us for I know we have been graced with a saint. Saint Gloria Jeanette, pray for us!

What does this birth mean?

"...and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us..."


Next to the Resurrection, the miracle of the Incarnation is one the great mysteries of our faith. When Elizabeth spoke those words to Mary, "who am I that the Mother of our Lord should come to me", any one of us could have spoken those words. God has come to us, each one of us, to show us the way to new life. He came to show us that as human beings, which Christ was fully, we too can live a holy life. I always thought that was some sort of rhetoric cliche when I heard that God humbled himself to become a man. The reason for that was because I didn't know what those words meant, what the impact those words had on me as a creature of God.

I have come to understand that God so wants me to be like Him. At our Baptism, the invisible reality of the signs of the water, the Chrism oil, the white garment, the candle, it all points to our being made in God's image. As we look upon the Christ child in our manger scenes, think about the invisible reality of this visible child and the consequences this will mean for us as human beings. We are called to make intelligent choices, we are called to rise above the animalistic behavior that is instinctual and look out for our well-being and those around us. When we approach Jesus in the Sacrament of the Altar, let us worship and adore, then let us remember, He became like us to remove our sin, He became like us to show us...

...'Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing, O Come Let Us Adore Him, Christ the Lord'

are we there yet?

How many times have we heard that question or asked it ourselves? I wonder if Mary asked it of Joseph after many days on the road to Bethlehem, riding on a donkey, very pregnant and anxious to boot. As we have heard in the readings Mary has been visited by an angel and has visited with Elizabeth. The misconceptions as to the child's father has been cleared up and now Joseph and Mary have set out on the road to Bethlehem. Much has happened to these two in a short time, their stress scale would be through the roof. Maybe though not so much....

They were such devoted people, to the Lord and to each other. Think of the words Mary uttered to the angel, Gabriel, "...be it done unto me according to thy word." What incredible words of trust. I wish I could be so trusting. I question everything and I am so controlling. This is something I pray about often, to trust in the Lord's plan for me and to let go and let God. I know that sounds so cliche but there is something to that. I am forever giving advice to people to take it to the chapel and let God handle it, I could be more accommodating of my own advice. There are times when I do Know God is leading me in a direction that I can follow and He gives me the means to be in control. He knows me so well.

This last week of Advent as we continue to get ourselves ready for the joyful hope of the coming of the Lord, I pray that we all can be more trusting in what the Lord has in store for us and to say that 'yes' to Him more often. I hope you all have a blessed and exciting week as you get ready to welcome Jesus into your hearts and homes.

why throw in a pink?

...as we wait in joyful hope...

The time is drawing near. We are waiting joyfully for the coming of Christ. As John the Baptist put it to the people, our salvation is at hand, repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand, make straight your path. I love this time of year. It is really getting exciting. Everyday the house becomes more festive, the music gets a little louder, the smells of cakes and cookies baking fill the air.

This weekend we light the pink candle in the Advent wreath. The pink candle is truly a rose color that represents the joy of our salvation. It is the penitential joy we feel as we truly wait in joyful hope. We've been preparing and getting ready, now as we perform works of mercy and kindnesses for others we take joy and delight in the happiness we bring to others. As we cleanse our souls from sinfulness we feel the joy of the burdens lifted from our hearts and celebrate the coming of Christ into our lives.

Rejoice in the spirit of Christmas, the gift of Christ to one another. But don't forget to let Christ come into you. Accept the gift God meant for you, the joy of salvation brought by the birth of His only Son, Jesus Christ.

What do the candles mean again?

It is the second Sunday of Advent and today we here about a simple man with a simple message, 'prepare the way of the Lord". The country of Israel is a political mess, look who's in charge, Herod, a tyrant if ever there was one, Caesar, well...we won't go there, Pilate a Governor, who knew his hands were tied as far as his political power of being in 'charge' was concerned. The people were starving for some SPIRITUAL direction. Can we relate? In many ways we can.

Our secular government has thrown God to the wayside and our Church is fighting tooth and nail to protect all human beings' rights from birth to the disabled to natural death. Our Church is in the business of saving souls, it's not about the feeling good of this world that will pass away. When will we get this through our heads? Only God knows and He is doing His best through the prophets He has given us of this day. I suppose that is what we use this Advent season for, to listen to the prophets of our time to remind us of the preparation we need to get ourselves ready.

I read that this second Sunday of Advent is a week of Faith. We need to have the faith of Mary and Joseph. They were visited by an angel to tell them something absolutely incredible. Mary would have a child of God, Himself no less, and was to accept this. Joseph was to go with the flow and accept this child as his and love Mary, no matter what. Now that is faith, could we do as well? Talk about your reality show and fodder for gossip. But what incredible news they had and yes they accepted this with such faith. We could be so blessed. As a matter of fact we are blessed. We are given the opportunity to receive Jesus in the Sacrament of the Eucharist everyday. It is our faith that opens this opportunity up for us. We believe that Jesus is truly present to us in the Sacrament. We prepare by going to confession, giving of ourselves to others, and carrying on Jesus' mission of loving others.

This Advent as we wait in joyful hope let us remember that it is our faith that gives us hope for a better life in Christ, to not give up on our secular society, to continue to pray for the conversion of those that have lost all hope, and to continue to prepare for the coming of the Lord. Get ready!

Have we been experiencing a liturgical drought?

When the moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars. When peace guides the planets and love will steer the stars...


The year was 1969 and it was the Age of Aquarius. Dare I say the Church as well got caught up in the "Kum-ba-ya" of the day. It was on this day forty years ago, November 30, 1969, the 1st Sunday of Advent new liturgical reforms were implemented to the Mass. It was called the Novus Ordo, the 'new order' to the liturgy. The new reforms were implemented for several reasons, to foster an increase in the liturgical participation at the Mass and to try and encourage an ecumenical participation of those that had left the Church. I read a surprisingly spot-on article in the New York Times that addressed this exact issue. I then went and looked at some not too surprising statistics that reflect those changes in our liturgy today.

What caught my attention immediately was the number of years since the reform. For biblical scholars and those theologians attuned to the numbers, the number forty will not be lost. It was forty years the Israelites wandered in the desert and it was forty days Jesus spent in the desert fasting and praying before beginning His ministry. We spend forty days in Lent fasting and praying for our own spiritual conversion as we come out of the darkness of our sinfulness and into the light of Christ as an Easter people. Coincidence, I don't think so. I encourage everyone who reads this post to read some history on how the reform came to pass. It is sad in a way how a Pope of our faith can be taken advantage of and duped in such a way, yet duped he was. It was reported that after the reforms had been implemented he noticed his vestments that were laid out were the wrong color, when he questioned his Master of Ceremonies about this, the MC told him the week long celebration of Pentecost were no longer celebrated with the reform that he had signed and implemented. It was witnessed that when Paul VI heard this he broke down and wept, not realizing the impact and subsequent consequences the reform would incur.

Thankfully, Pope Benedict XVI has a few reforms up his sleeve and has been instrumental in bringing us out of our liturgical darkness and into the light once again. Why did he feel compelled to do this to begin with? The fact that he is a liturgist is a big part of it, whereas Paul VI was not. He recognized that with the loss of the Latin and other liturgical reforms this had done more harm than good and he planned to do something about it. Statistics have shown that before Vatican Council II and the reforms that were implemented 52 percent of all Catholics attended Mass on a weekly basis. Today only 21 percent of all Catholics attend Mass on a weekly basis. Interestingly enough those protestants that the reformers were trying to bring back into the fold, attend a liturgy that is celebrated in the Latin and in the pre-Vatican format, that being with the priest facing the east and leading the people in the act of worship.

With the issue of Pope Benedict's Summorum Pontificate, he has lifted what was seen as a ban on the old Latin Mass. It was never banned to begin with but because of overzealous liturgical reformers the Latin in the Mass was considered outdated and the vernacular was the language of the day. It was felt that with the vernacular people would have a better understanding of the Mass and that this would foster a better and more fuller participation. The Blessed Eucharist was to be made so available to everyone it could be placed on anyone's hand while standing and the priest turned to the people so as to see and be seen. Pope Benedict has said that this immediately closed in a circle that just as immediately closed out God. The Pope has begun implementing receiving Holy Communion on the tongue while kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament, and he has renewed a significant amount of Latin back into the prayers of the Mass.

Our Liturgy is getting ready to take on another reform soon. Recently the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to accept new translations for our Mass. You have heard the phrase "lost in translation". That is exactly what happened with the translation of the Mass after Vatican Council II implemented changes from the Latin to the vernacular. We lost so much of the richness to the prayers and the Scriptural translation. These changes will take some getting used to but the translations will be so much more accurate bringing a fuller meaning to what we are saying and witnessing. I hope as well more of the Latin will be used and the true meaning of liturgical east for priest and congregation alike will be implemented. My biggest hope is that once again we will kneel before our Lord and receive Him on our tongue. I firmly believe that with a more reverent appreciation of our Lord there will be a more reverent appreciation for the Mass and our liturgy in general.

A blog I follow by a very learned priest has as its motto, "Save the Liturgy, Save the World". I am beginning to see the point and find myself repeating that motto often as I attend some poorly celebrated liturgies. For I notice that with a poor liturgy there follows a poor and very lax following in the parish. There are many reasons for this and that will have to be a subject for another time. In the meantime, I encourage Catholics to embrace the changes and to also learn the meaning behind the reasons. It will all be worth it, all for the glory of God.