Snup's View From the Back Pew: Immaculate Conception

Gaudete!
No rose vestments. :(

This morning I headed out to 9 am Mass at Immaculate Conception in Union. It's a nice little church. There's a choir loft in the back. About 2 feet off the ground.

Music was accompanied by an organ and choir.
Opening: Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus
Offertory: Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming
Communion: Hold Me in Life
Communion Meditation: Lord, Savior Come to Me (?)
Closing: Come Now Almighty King
Mass Setting: Debruyn

The mini-homily was about how it was Gaudete Sunday and time for modified rejoicing. We need to prepare for His coming.

The parish has Children's Liturgy of the Word. There was a blessing and music. Only 2 kids went and there were at least 20 kids in the pews...

The homily. Father was really nice after Mass and I enjoyed speaking with him. The homily was, for me, a little snarkfest. It started off well and then...
Today is a rose day. The Penitential Season of Advent is halfway over so it is time for modified rejoicing. St. John's my favorite. This year is Cycle B, so the Gospel comes from St. Mark. But St. Mark is only 16 Chapters long so it is not enough for 52 weeks. So we use St. John. (I didn't think St. John was a filler kind of Gospel....) Either St. John or St. Mark will be read from this summer and it will be the great Bread of Life discourse (Father who it was but there were a lot of sweet young children at Mass. who scream at a pitch that made it hard to hear Father :) ) So people my vintage and older will know that in the old Mass, there is the Proim (I think that is what he said...the kids...I swears it.) It's the first 18 verses of the Gospel of St. John. (Oh the last Gospel. Of course it has a special name. It's the Latin Mass. Everything has a name. In Latin.) In the 12th/13th century there were the Albergensians (I think the people the Dominicans were founded to combat.) This is a heresy that says the physical is bad. Suicide is good. Homosexuality is good (oh dear. what an example ripe to be taken out of context.) Mary is bad. Kids are bad. These people had a hard time with God becoming human. This heresy spread through Europe. To combat this heresy, priests (on their own..see priests have always ad libbed the Mass :P ) started reciting the verses from John that talk about how the Word was made Flesh. Christ was not Jesus' last name. (I have whiplash from the abrupt topic change...). It was not Joseph Christ (I just giggled at this). Mary did not become Mary Christ. Christ is the Greek version of the Hebrew word for Messiah. A Messiah is someone who has been chosen and commissioned by God for a great mission. John (the Baptist) is not the Christ. It is job to prepare the way. We are heralds for the Lord; to prepare the world for His second coming. Historians thought that Jesus, the Son of God, would have much more of an impact. Jesus has made some impact. Wars aren't as bad as they used to be since Christ came. (Uhhh...). There's no raping, pillaging, and slavery, mass murder (*blink* *blink* *blink*). In Christian countries. (*blink* *blink* Seriously. Please send Father a 20th century history book. Wars aren't as bad as they used to be. I'm flabbergasted.) Father mentioned the Romans and how bad they were (Uhm Uhm. I got nothing. nothing that doesn't require its own blog post of snarkness.) I grew up in South City. It's a good German place with 2-3 bars on every corner. An AA member moved there and thought he'd died and gone to heaven. (Where is this going?) The AA member was in World War II (well that explains the drinking) There were villages destroyed. Civilians were killed and mamed. (Thought you said war wasn't so bad anymore....) The guy was losing his Faith so he went into a bombed out church and found a statue of the Crucified Christ. With no hands. That was intentional by the artist. Christ doesn't have hands. We are Christ's hands. His feet. His voice. He left us in charge. We are the ones that have to make a difference. Catholics are better because we serve the Lord (somebody drank the kool-aid...). We are arms and legs and voice of the Lord. We build hospitals, we build schools (that are becoming unaffordable or nonexistent...) We build orphanages. We do good. We can do more.

Father used Eucharistic Prayer III and there were bells.

Pictures:

Immaculate Conception - Union

View from the Back Pew

Angel, Mary and Adam and Eve getting tossed from the Garden

Mary and the Advent Wreath

St. Michael the Archangel

St. Louis XIV

Primary Patron of the Archdiocese

St. Vincent de Paul

Patron of the Archdiocese

St. Rose Philipine Duschense

Patron of the Archdiocese

Station VIII

The windows represent the titles of Our Lady in the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mother:
(There's a plaque in the back of church that lists them. Otherwise I'd be unable to)