Because Monday, October 18, is the Feast of St. Luke, I headed to St. Luke the Evangelist in Richmond Heights. I attended the 10 am Mass on Sunday, October 17. As I had hoped, the parish was celebrating its patronal feast! (Happy Feast of St. Luke!). Apparently, St. Luke was martyred, so red was the color of the Feast!
St. Luke is a Gothic church and is how I imagine the churches to look like in the England and Normandy, France. St. Luke resembles St. Michael's, St. James and Sts. Mary and Joseph in design.
The choir was awesome today! They were in the choir loft and sometimes were accompanied by the organ and sometimes were a capella.
Music:
Prelude: Might have been the antiphon for the Feast of St. Luke. I'm not sure. It was awesome.
Entrance Hymn: A Hymn to St. Luke (apparently the choir went to Ireland and had a hymn commissioned. I'm impressed!) The tune is Lauda Anima
Kyrie: Missa De Angelis
Gloria: by Peter Jones
Alleluia: Festival Alleluia
Offertory Anthem: O Lord, Increase My Faith
Sanctus & Acclamations: Heritage Mass
Lamb of God: Holy Cross Mass
Communion: Magnificat and The King of Love My Shepherd Is
Recessional Hymn: Go To The World
Father ( I think he was a Monsignor...there was purply piping on his cassock) used the Full Penitential Rite, Eucharistic Prayer III and gave us all an extra blessing at the end. There were also bells at the Consecration.
The homily started off with Father referring to an interview Maya Angelou gave a few years ago. In the interview, she was asked about vulgarity in rap music and in the context of art. Ms. Angelou was strongly against the use of such things because words have Power. Words have the power to build up or tear done; to divide or unite; to encourage or discourage. Father then referenced the Gettysburg Address. St. Luke knew the power of words. Why was he compelled to write the Gospel? He knew how powerful God's Word was; God's Words are life itself. Luke was not an eyewitness to the events in Jesus' life. Imagine the retelling and how powerful it was. Luke knew that Christ was New Life. Only Luke has the full story of the Annunciation. His words paint an image of Mary. Luke's Gospel is also known as the Gospel of Mercy. Luke constantly tells of Jesus in prayer, with the sick, the lowly, the sinner and forgiving. Luke also wrote the Acts of the Apostles. He writes of sacrifice (that's why his symbol is an ox/calf). We need to make a commitment to be those faithful, to be that disciple and follow Luke's example, living and practicing our Faith. Luke had self-respect which translated into Luke focusing on doing God's Will. When we are caught up in self, we loose our authentic self and we begin to lose God's Grace. We need to pray to be open to God's Word; God's Unconditional Love. (Swears the homily was good at Mass...)
The parishoners at St. Luke's were very friendly and I had some nice conversations. It was a very nice Mass over all. :)
Pictures: (there was an awesome rose window, with the ox in the center but, yours truly didn't get a decent picture of it. Rose windows are hard to do well. Really any window with lots of little pieces seem to give me issues. If you'd like to see the blurry, I can share it though.)
View From the Back Pew!
Paintings Outside the Main Entrance
Left: Last Supper (??)
Right: (??)
Symbol of St. Luke
Left: On the Cantor's Ambo
Right: On the Main Ambo
VIII: Jesus Comforts the Women
Baptistry Window
Holy Spirit, Water, Butterflies, Cocoons
Symbols of Baptism
Windows above High Altar
Windows in the Nave: (sorry about the funky angles. I was trying to avoid the hanging lanterns) Also, all of the windows have plaques detailing what the windows are about. If you'd like more info about the windows, let me know and I can share.
Temple
Left: Psalm 122:1 - Let Us Go to God's House
Right: Matthew 12:6 - Greater Than the Temple is Here
Redemption
Left: Amos 3:2 - You Only Have I Known
Right: 1 Corinthians 15:4 Crucified For Our Sins
Promise
Left: Joshua 6:16 - The Lord Has Given You the City
Right: Hebrews 12:22 - The Heavenly Jerusalem
Kingship
Left: 1 Chronicles 17:13 - He Will Be To Me a Son
Right: 2 Samuel 5:2 - He Shall Rule My People Israel
Exodus
Left: Exodus 12:4 - Partake of the Lamb
Right: 2 Timothy 1:10 - Who Destroys Death and Gives Life
Eternal Life
Left: Daniel 10:7 - I, Daniel, Saw the Vision
Right: John 1:29 - Behold the Lamb of God
Covenant
Left: Deuteronomy 6:4 - Hear O Israel
Right: John 1:17 - The Fullness of the Law is Love
Call
Left: Genesis 22:17 - From You Shall Come a Great Nation
Right: Deuteronomy 7:6 & 1 Peter 2:9 - A Royal People, My Own People
Atonement
Left: Isaiah 8:13 - It is Yahweh Men Must Seek
Right: Hosea 2:19 - I Will Betroth You to Me
Joseph Altar and Shrine: St. Luke has Marian Windows and St. Joseph Windows. My plurk friends requested St. Joseph. I will add Mary ASAP. Each of these windows is loaded with symbolism. If you'd like more info, give a shout.
Left: St. Joseph, Patron of a Happy Death
Right: Fulfillment of New Life in Eternity
Left: St. Joseph, Protector of the Family of God
Right: St. Joseph, Father of the Holy Family
Left: Joseph, from Genesis. A Foreshadowing
Right: Symbols of St. Joseph, God's Fulfillment of Protection
Left: St. Joseph, Father, Fulfiller of Role of Husband
Right: St. Joseph the Worker
Altar of St. Joseph
Left (my favorite!): Mary is a Prism. Mary will give birth to God.
Right: Mary is the new Eve
Website of St. Luke the Evangelist
Pictures from Rome of the West
Interestingly, the reredos in this church look like a scaled down version of the reredos in Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis: http://bit.ly/bp1BRu
ReplyDeleteThat choir is almost always AWESOME!!!
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