On April 18, 2010, I attended the 11 am Mass at St. Barnabas the Apostle in O'Fallon, MO.
When I walked into Mass, the Rosary was being recited and there was a line for Confession. I noticed a chalice veil and a handful of women with their heads veiled. I also saw a female altar server in cassock and surplice.
The music was accompanied by an organ.
Opening: Sing to the Mountains
Offertory: Let Hymns of Joy to Grief Succeed
Communion: Alleluia! Alleluia! Give Thanks to the Risen Lord
Closing: Alleluia! Alleluia! Let the Holy Anthem Rise
Father used the full Penitential Rite. This was the first Sunday Mass I have been to in a really long long time that the Responsorial Psalm was not sung or chanted.
The homily was about following Christ. Father kept repeating two phrases:
1. Are you as good as you want to be?
2. What does God want you to do today?
God may want you to do something that requires changing your behavior in some way. What does it mean to be a follower of Christ? Father also brought in Confirmation, and how, in Confirmation, you receive the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. These gifts make us strong enough to follow Christ.
The intentions were forgiveness orientated.
Father used Eucharistic Prayer III and there were bells at the Consecration. The memorial acclamation was different. It was the one that starts with "Keep in mind..." which I haven't heard in a very long time.
Over all the parish was more reverent than other parishes and the majority of people were appropriately dressed. It's interesting that during Communion, some elderly men started having a conversation about the 20 inning baseball game and people kept turning around to shoot them disapproving looks. One of the ushers even got up to attempt to halt the conversation.
Pictures:
St. Barnabas the Apostle
Front View
He's holding the Gospel of Matthew
In the Vestibule
View From the Back Pew!
The Tabernacle is in front of the guy with the white shirt on the left.
It's an upside down boat. Seriously.
Why?
The Holy Family
I like this.
It actually looks like they are a family instead of 3 strangers,
standing near each other.
The Eighth Station:
Jesus Meets the Women
Mary
Vine and Branches Window
St. Jude on the left
St. Michael the Archangel on right.
Each window had a little plaque to tell you what the window
represented. Because without it, I was clueless.
Adoration and Veneration
The sacrificial aardvark.
Or the Paschal Mystery if you read the plaque.
Links:
St. Barnabas the Apostle Website
The early Church was imagined as being like a ship - the wisdom of the Bishop, who acts as the captain, steers the ship of the church towards heaven. From the Apostolic Constitutions, dating from the 300s A.D.:
ReplyDelete"When you call an assembly of the Church as one that is the commander of a great ship, appoint the assemblies to be made with all possible skill, charging the deacons as mariners to prepare places for the brethren as for passengers, with all due care and decency. And first, let the building be long, with its head to the east, with its vestries on both sides at the east end, and so it will be like a ship. In the middle let the bishop's throne be placed, and on each side of him let the presbytery sit down; and let the deacons stand near at hand, in close and small girt garments, for they are like the mariners and managers of the ship: with regard to these, let the laity sit on the other side, with all quietness and good order."
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