We are seeking Higher Love this Advent. It is written on the wall behind the altar and has supportive words high up in our Narthex. They are representative of the scriptures that guide us this Advent season:
Climb. Seek. Listen. Behold.
We have incorporated more secular music into our weekend Eucharistic liturgies and this reflects a philosophy of mine, namely that some secular statements, including music, can convey the essence of our scriptural and religious ones – hence the same profound spiritual messages of our time.
The theme Higher Love comes primarily from the mountain images of the Advent scriptures. Steve Winwood wrote and recorded the song, and thus there is a popular familiarity with it. We thank Steve for his creativity and sharing his spirituality with us and so many others.
Since we have started the Mass of Rock and incorporated more popular music in our Liturgies, a very few of you have wondered why we don’t sing exclusively “religious music” in church. My philosophy is that there should be no distinction between the secular world and the spiritual world, or between religious music and popular music. My contention is that we live in ONE world and this world is both physical/secular and spiritual. In other words, the spiritual and sacred can be expressed in many ways in the ONE world in which we live.
I also hope that you will all recognize that the familiarity that many of us have with popular music can lead us in prayer and look at many of the classic scriptural and church messages in a new way. My belief is that this great big, beautiful world of ours is filled with images of a great big loving God, and many of those images can be found in popular music. I also believe that with our abilities to sing along and relate to these many musical images, our prayer will deepen, and in a world hungering for the Higher Love that is God’s for us, as well as ours for each other, that prayer will be more spiritual.
Consider that through the centuries some of the greatest spiritual writers have used physical elements to advance the spiritual. For example, Francis Thompson’s famous poem The Hound of Heaven. In it a hound exemplifies a persistent God. There are countless others. Perhaps, most importantly, are the everyday elements of seed, vineyard, farm, vine, branch, banquet, etc…that Jesus himself used to help us experience the kingdom of God.
I hope our broad musical selection enhances your spiritual journey. Remember, it all starts with the scriptures. It starts with God.
Pat Brennan
This past week was the fifth anniversary of the death and funeral rites for our beloved second pastor, Fr. Pat Brennan. I hope that as time goes on you come to an even deeper appreciation of his brilliance and creativity as a preacher and evangelist. Let’s always hold Pat near and dear to our hearts.
Med Laz
Perhaps you saw Fr. Med here this past week as he celebrated Jan Dobb’s funeral on Thursday. Med is recovering well from his very extensive heart surgery. His energy is coming back and he is continuing his many ventures in Haiti and beyond.
Immaculate Conception
December 8 is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. In years such as this one, when the date falls on a Sunday, the Sunday liturgy always takes precedence, so we will celebrate the Immaculate Conception during both of our Monday Masses at 9:00am and 7:00pm. Some of you may not know that we celebrate Mass Monday-Friday at 9:00am and at 7:00pm EVERY Monday evening with the Sacrament of Reconciliation offered in the Reconciliation Room in the back of church EVERY Monday evening from 6-6:45.
Join us Monday to celebrate a beautiful feast that helps us to see that Mary was chosen as a precious vessel of Jesus, playing a significant role in salvation history, right from the moment of her conception.
John the Baptist
We are once again introduced to the radical and focused John the Baptist in this weekend’s Gospel. His message is passionate and urgent. He challenges those he was speaking to, and all of us, to prepare for a kingdom that is coming soon. He uses kingdom and Christ interchangeably. He ritualized his message with the pouring of, and immersion in, water. The water was the Jordan River but that river is a symbol for all life – yours and mine.
This is such a significant ritual and he is angered by the religious authorities of the time who are more curious about what he was doing than genuinely opening their hearts to the challenges of his message.
Perhaps we sometimes are merely curious about the rituals of our church and not letting them touch our hearts. We might take them for granted sometimes and not heed the depth of their meaning.
John the Baptist is calling us to a Higher Love. Let’s really heed his message. Think about it…pray about it… reflect about it. There must be Higher Love, the Higher Love of our God.
Eucharistic Catechesis
Perhaps you have noticed that recently I have taken a brief moment for some catechesis during each Mass that I have the honor of presiding at. People seem to hunger for more explanations of the very rich and sometimes sophisticated rituals during the celebration of the Eucharist. Believe me, I have tried to meet people’s needs for more information by special “Teaching Masses” and other presentations. I hope this meets some needs and I will do this throughout the entire year to come.