Snup's View From the Back Pew: March 2011

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Church of the Annunziata - Ladue

There was snow on the ground. I overslept. No St. Joseph. Did you know that Friday was the Feast of the Annunciation? Did we all have a cheeseburger? To celebrate Mary's fiat (apparently Mary's fiat doesn't refer to her cute Italian sports car...), I headed out to Annunziata in Ladue.

Annunziata is celebrating 60 years. It is a classic modern church in the shape of a cross. The parishoners were better dressed than at the majority of parishes I have been to.

Music was accompanied by an organ and a piano. It is the only parish I have been at where the parishoners stared at me for singing.
Gathering: From the Depths We Cry to Thee
Offertory: Behold the Lamb
Communion: Only a Shadow (really? really? This was old and cheesy when I was in grade school. it is now stuck in my head....groan)
Closing: Jesus Remember Me

Father started Mass off with a mini homily about Lent being the springtime of Faith. Father used Eucharistic Prayer II with lots of dramatic-like pauses (there were bells) and there was some ad-libbing of the adding extra words kind.

The homily started off with Father taking us grocery shopping and not buying the best ingredients. God chooses the not so good, the Isrealites, then loves them (and us) with all His Heart and forgives them (and us) when we turn away and become hard-hearted over and over again. This is the lesson of the first reading. If you were to video record God, where would you point the camera? Where is God? What did Jesus' face look like when He told the woman at the well He was the One. God's here and loves us all. Jesus calls the woman (and us) to look at the reality of life. When you confront issues, Jesus is there with His Divine Mercy. Jesus always loves us and forgives us. This is the living water. Father then transitioned to asking if we had fasted during Lent. Have I been other centered instead of self-centered? Have I been attentive to the needs of my family? Really I spent most of the homily trying to determine which not so good food I was. I'm thinking I'm a rotten apple. With a worm ;)

Pictures:
(The stained glass had a clear panel on the inside that caught all the reflections from the lights)

Hail Mary

Mary

View from the Back Pew

Station VIII

St. Louis

Bread and Fishes

On floor in front of Communion Rail

Symbols of the Four Gospel Writers

St. Vincent de Paul

Blessed Teresa

St. Louis and his Mother

St. Rose Phillippine Duchesne

The Resurrection

Jonah and the Whale

Daniel, Ezekial, Abraham & Isaac, King David, Moses

Presentation of Jesus at the Temple

Baptism of Jesus

Epiphany and Nativity

Last Supper

Jesus is Crowned with Thorns

Jesus gives Peter the Keys

Four Evangelists, Pentecost

Peter's Barque, Sts. Peter & Paul

Crucifixion of Jesus

St. Michael defeating Lucifer

The Garden of Eden

Adam and Eve being tossed out with Mary being foreshadowed

Annunciation

Links:
Website of Church of the Annunziata
Pictures from Rome of the West

Sunday, March 20, 2011

St. Joseph - Imperial

The visiting of parishes named after St. Joseph continues. Today (3/20) I attended the 11:30 am Mass at St. Joseph in Imperial and it turned out to be the LifeTeen Mass. I'm not sure what LifeTeen is, but I can tell you that the LifeTeen Mass was lacking teenagers. There were baby boomers rockin' out again and the LifeTeen minister (she had a t-shirt!) waved her hands in the air like it was a concert instead of oh I don't know, a Mass, you know, that sacrifice thing, Jesus etc. But that's okay...cause the teenagers that were there were dressed like it was a concert. Wait scratch that. One was barefoot. You'd have to be incredibly stupid to go to a concert barefoot.

The current church was built in 1998 and is a semi-circle. The earlier church used to be in the center of Kimmiswick or Imperial. I found 4 windows from the old church incorporated into the new church which I thought was awesome. The pews in the main nave were cushioned, while the extra pews in the back were not. That's an incentive for getting to Mass early if I ever saw one.

The priest was not the regular pastor but a Redemptorist priest. He just appeared on the altar. There may have been a solemn procession but the teenagers in the back were so loud, it wasn't very solemn...

Music was supplied by a rock band.
Entrance: None
Responsorial Psalm: 103 (Instead of 33 or 51, 91 or 130)
Gospel Acclamation: Word of God Reigns and Speaks
Offertory: Give Us Clean Hands
Communion: Change Our Hearts and Better is One Day
Recessional: Your Grace is Enough

After Mass started, Father had us all introduce ourselves to our neighbors. Father used Eucharistic Prayer II and there were bells. Oh and Father forgot to name the Pope in the EP and then asked us who our Archbishop was.

Hey did you know today's Gospel was about the Transfiguration? I wouldn't know it from Father's homily. Father started off with a story about his first homily and how he was so nervous he forgot. Then he was so nervous he knocked the ambo over and fell into the front pew on some poor woman. Then it was question and answer time about why we come to Mass. We come to Mass to pray, to honor, to learn, to receive, to roll our eyes at the homily, to make snarky comments. Oh wait. That's me. Father then told another story about falling into a woman. (Uhm. Father might want to curb these stories...) He then wondered why he wasn't falling into women before he was ordained. (oh dear...) When you make the Sign of the Cross, the vertical piece represents the relationship between you and God. The horizontal piece represents the relationship between you and your neighbor. We should listen to God (God needs to get on facebook....) Kids, if you want a Wii, you should listen to your parents. You can't go wrong. If you listen to your parents and things go wrong, it's not your fault but your parents. It's a win-win for you. Father ended his homily by mentioning a prayer from St. John Nepomucene Neumann

Pictures:

St. Joseph - Imperial

St. Joseph

I can't decide if he's stoned or has shifty eyes.

Holy Oils

Station VIII

View From the Back Pew

Altar close up

The Annunciation

The Holy Family

Jesus the Good Shepherd

Jesus and the Samarian women.

I think.

In the Beginning There was the Word...

or Creation

I got nothing.

Ark of the Covenant

(I think...lame rainbow, mud...)

Exodus

Burning Bush, Pillars, Parting the Red Sea

(no frogs though...that would've been cool)

Loaves and Fishes?

Fishers of Men?

Anyone?

Baptism?

Pentecost?

I see the seashell but why is it raining fire.

Eucharist

Crucifixion

Now, before you see the next window, I want you to scroll up and look again at the Jesus windows. Notice the hair. The hands. Got it fixed in your mind?

Jesus!

He's got some zombie hand disease!

His hands are turning to stone!

And he's got rock star hair!

Woot!

(Needless to say, this staring at me all through Mass did not give me the warm fuzzy Jesus is my homey feelings)

Links:
Website of St. Joseph

Sunday, March 13, 2011

St. Joseph - Cottleville

Continuing the quest to go to all the St. Joseph's in the Archdiocese, I headed out to St. Joseph in Cottleville, which is one of the fastest growing areas in the region. I attended the 10:30 am Mass on March 13.

The current church was built in 1999, however the bells are the original bells.

The music was accompanied by a piano.
Opening: Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days
Offertory: Sacred Silence
Communion: Psalm 51: Create in Me, Ashes, Beyond the Days
Closing: Led By the Spirit
Mass Setting: Mass of the Pilgrim Church

Everyone knelt for the Kyrie which was sung and had verses. The 3rd graders were blessed and left which I thought was odd. I could see 2nd graders. I could see all the kids... There was a sign language interpreter for Mass as well.

Father wore very nice classic vestments and was more reverent than the norm. His homily started off with a joke. There are 4 ministers who go off to the middle of nowhere and eventually they tell all their temptations. One of them is a terrible gossip. It is an inconvienent truth that all of us have temptations. Why does God allow us to be tempted. Why doesn't He make it easier for us? Temptations have a purpose. What good comes from temptations? 1. To expose our true selves, our faults, and our personal weaknesses. It gives us a sense of our limits. It gives us a chance to grow in humility. 2. It helps us acknowledge our dependence on God. When we give into temptation, we become slaves to sin. Humility leads to freedom. 3. We are stronger when we resist temptation. When we give in to temptation, we become weaker and then it is easier to give into other temptations. We need to avoid temptation and the near occasions of sin. You can't avoid everything but with God's help you can get stronger. Get Power from God.

Eucharistic Prayer III was used and there were no bells.

Pictures: