Holy Trinity - St. Ann

Happy Trinity!

For the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, I attended the 10:30 am Mass at Holy Trinity in St. Ann.  Holy Trinity was formed 8 years ago from the merge of 3-4 parishes and is located at what was once called St. Gregory the Great.  The church building was built in 1959 and is in the shape of a Tau (basically a t without the top part.)   Although modern, there were many statues and icons.

The parish is ethnically diverse.  Unfortunately, the church was only 20-30% (~100 people) full.

The choir and musicians didn't use the choir loft but rather sat in the right arm of the Tau.  There was a tambourine and drums.

Music:
Opening:  How Great is Our God
Gloria:  Mass of a Joyful Heart
Offertory:  Sacred Silence
Communion:  Amazing Grace
Closing:  Mighty to Save
The Our Father was chanted.

At this Mass, there was Children's Liturgy of Crafts Word.  The children were blessed and sent out to make purple crosses.  The children returned during the Preface.

Homily:
The Trinity is the reawakening of God in us.  We are Trinitarians (why, for some reason, did I think of Star Trek when he said this?) God is so merciful that He can't be contained in one person.  God is a family of persons (wonders if there are fights over what to watch on tv) Jesus brings us to the Father.  Father then said his homily would focus on the Father, who doesn't get His own feast day.  (Uhm...I thought everyday was kind of God's feast day...) Father then quoted Scott Hahn.  It's all about the relationship with the Father, Abba in Hebrew, which means Daddy.  The Father's relationship with us is like how a father holds his daughter in his arms.  When we do His Will we win.  He's more than the Creator or Proto-Creator; Father has plans for us.  By uniting with Jesus, we become sons and daughters of God by the action of the Holy Spirit.  Mass is offered to God the Father; the Prayer of Jesus on the Cross.

Father used Eucharistic Prayer III and there were no bells.

There was hand-holding and upraised hands at the Our Father.  I'm hoping I didn't create problem when one nice lady kept trying to grab me to hold my hand and I stepped away.  I'm not really into the hand-holding thing.  I'm never into the arm raising thing.

Pictures:

St. Anne and Mary

Statue is dedicated to a former pastor.

View from the Back Pew!

Close-Up of Altar

(Sorry it is blurry)

Close-Up of St. Gregory the Great

(Above the Altar)

Holy Trinity Icon

On a table in the main aisle

The Eighth Station:  Jesus Meets the Holy Women

Mary

St. Teresa

Jesus and Apostles

(I'm not sure what story this refers to)

Jesus with children

Jesus teaching.

Sermon on the Mount maybe?

St. John baptizes Jesus

(In the old baptistry)

St. Louis (?)

(In the baptistry)

Note:  I merged 2 images to get the entire window.

Jesus and a Soldier (left)

Jesus calls two Apostles (right)

Fleeing to Egypt (left)

Jesus is found in the Temple (right)

St. Gregory the Great

Plaque to commemorate the forming of the parish.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. William, St. Kevin, St. Gregory the Great

Shrine to the patrons of the former parishes. 

I have to say, this is the nicest tribute/memorial for merged parishes I have seen.

Links:
Holy Trinity Website

AND! Congratulations to the 8 men ordained on May 29 for the St. Louis Archdiocese!

St. Meinrad Archabbey, Monte Cassino Shrine

In Part 1, we looked at the Archabbey itself.  In Part 2, we looked at the windows.  In this part, we will look at the Shrine to Our Lady of Monte Cassino.

In May and October (months traditionally dedicated to Our Lady), there are processions from the Archabbey to the Shrine.  The intercession of Our Lady of Monte Cassino is responsible for saving the town of St. Meinrad from a smallpox epidemic.

The chapel is on top of a hill, off the beaten path.

The Shrine of Our Lady of Monte Cassino

Up Close of the Bell

The brick underneath reads 1870.

Ambo outside

Altar

Rosaries on the Altar

Painting on the Ceiling

Our Lady of Monte Cassino

For more awesome pictures of the inside, see Mark's post over at Rome of the West.  See Jake too!

Holy Spirit - Maryland Heights

Happy Pentecost!

For Pentecost, I attended the 10:30 am Mass at Holy Spirit in Maryland Heights.  Holy Spirit was founded in 2004 with the merger of St. Blaise and St. Lawrence the Martyr.

The current building was built in 2007.  It's in the classic cross shape, but the pews are fanned around the altar.  I really liked the set-up.  I just wish there were stained glass windows or at least colored glass, as the windows were all clear, making the Church very bright (which is okay) and very hot.  I also would have liked to have seen more decorations and perhaps more of the Holy Spirit.

This is the first Mass in a while where there was no choir.  The music was accompanied by a piano.
Music:
Opening:  Come Holy Spirit Come by David Kauffman
Gloria:  Sing Glory to God
Offertory: piano piece
Memorial Acclamation:  We Remember How You Loved Us
Communion:  Send Us Your Spirit
Closing:  One Spirit, One Church (The verses were Come Holy Ghost with the refrain about being a pilgrim Church)

Father blessed the water, using the long blessing from the Rite of Baptism, before using it to bless everyone.  The Pentecost Sequence was omitted.

Father started the homily by connecting to last week's Gospel and how Jesus said "Let's have a meeting" (will there be powerpoint?  what about doughnuts?) and to wait for the Spirit.  We have our own upper room where we go to be reminded of and in the presence of God.  The Church is our upper room.  There are many things/powers that tug and pull us away from the Lord.  Then Father brought up an article from the Washington Post's religion section about Lost.  I got lost right about here and thought about how a mural of the Holy Spirit or maybe the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Meetings are opportunities for the Spirit to work in us (I've been in some of those meetings....) Jesus offers us peace, peace is the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The intentions were broken into groups of 4 with a sung response.  There was piano playing in the background.

Father used Eucharistic Prayer III and there were no bells at the Consecration.  Lots of hand raising at the Our Father.

After Communion Father had the women leading the ACTS Retreat come forth and receive their commission (Are we in the military?) and Father invited us to salute  raise our hands and bless them.

Holy Spirit seems like a very active, suburban parish.

Pictures:

Parish Logo outside in the entry way.

Banner found in the Nave

View From the Back Pew

Shrine of St. Fern

St. Mary and St. Joseph

The Eighth Station:  Jesus Meets the Women

Tongue of Fire Window

Lilies

Shell

The Holy Spoon?

I have no idea

Holy Spirit Quilt

From what used to St. Blaise:

Lamp

I liked the colors on the side.

St. Blaise

He was a bishop, that's why there is a miter.

Two candles are used to bless throats on his feast day.

Links:
Holy Spirit Website

St. Meinrad Archabbey, Part 2

In Part 1, I had pictures of the Church at the St. Meinrad Archabbey posted.  In Part 2, I will focus on the windows.  And you get to play along as well!  I can't id all of the saints in the windows, so you can help me out!

According to the brochure, the windows were made in Munich, Germany and were installed in 1908.  The windows on the sides of the nave feature the Beatitudes.  The top portion depicts a Benedictine saint displaying that virtue with the bottom part depicting the corresponding scene from the Old Testament.  Then there are some words at the bottom, which are the full Beatitudes in Latin with the corresponding verse.

First the Rose Windows!

The Center is a hand with 3 fingers to represent the Trinity.

Going clockwise from the top:

St. Matthew, St. Mark. St. Luke, St. John

Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah

Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega

Window above Main Doors:

Jesus, the Good Shepherd

For the following images, I've uploaded the full size images to flickr.  If you'd like to see them bigger, click on the picture and it will take you to flickr. 

Windows from the Nave:

Blessed Are They That Suffer;

Persecuted for Justice Sake

Top:  St. Gregory the VII

Bottom:  Daniel in the Lion's Den

Blessed Are the Peacemakers

Top: ??  Has a coronet on.

Bottom:  Abraham takes Isaac to be sacrificed.

Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

Top:  St. Peter (???)

Bottom:  Job 1:12 and Job 42:10-16

Blessed Are the Clean of Heart

Top: St. Going to Heaven...maybe St. Benedict

Bottom: Joseph meets Pharaoh

Genesis 42:41-42

Close Up of the Above Window

I like the rainbow around Jesus

Crucifixion of Jesus

Bottom: Adam and Eve being tossed out Garden of Eden

Blessed are the Merciful

Pope crashes the Last Supper

Bottom: Tobais 1:2

(St. Raphael!)

Blessed are the Meek

St. Barbus (??)

Bottom: Numbers 12:1-13

Blessed Are They That Mourn
St. H...(??)
Bottom: Lamentations and Jeremiah I-4



Blessed Are Those That Hunger and Thirst for Justice
3 Bishops
Bottom: Maccabees (??)

Windows found elsewhere:

St. Alphanaus (??, sp????)

Jesus is in a boat on the bottom.

St. Lawrence (left) standing on a grill.

St. Stephen (right) holding rocks.  

St. Bruno, St. ??, St. Francis, St. Dominic

St. Francisca Roma (?) and St. Bishop

St. Explorer (??) and St. Henry II of the Holy Roman Empire?

It's a Pope.

;

St. Francis de Sales, St. Alphonsis Ligori, St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Vincent de Paul

St. Meinrad

St. Wolgang and St. B (??)