Saturday, December 25, 2010
Windows at St. Mark
Last year for Midnight Mass on Christmas, I went to St. Mark. A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go back to St. Mark during the day and took pictures of the windows.
Along the bottom:
Along the top:
Nativity at St. Francis de Sales
What's better than one Midnight Mass? Why two of course!
On the way home from St. Ann, I noticed that the lights were on at St. Francis de Sales. I popped in for the end of Mass, but in time to venerate the relic of theCrib Stable they have.
On the way home from St. Ann, I noticed that the lights were on at St. Francis de Sales. I popped in for the end of Mass, but in time to venerate the relic of the
The relic is on the pillow in the front.
St. Ann - Normandy
Merry Christmas!
I had the best intentions to go to all 4 Christmas Masses. I only made it to the Midnight Mass because of the weather and such.
For Midnight Mass (at Midnight!) I went to visit my favorite priest (Fr. B!) at St. Ann in Normandy.
The choir sang carols for about 15 minutes before the start of Mass. For the Mass the music was accompanied by an organ.
Music:
Opening: O Come All Ye Faithful
Presentation of Gifts: O Little Town of Bethlehem
Communion: Silent Night
Meditation: Mary, Did You Know? (It's Christmas. I'll practice charity...)
Closing: Joy to the World
Mass Setting: Mass of Creation
Gloria: One with the refrain of Angels We Have Heard on High
Fr. B sang the Christmas Proclamation, the Opening Prayer and first part of the Eucharistic Prayer (III). I have to say, Fr. B is one of the best priests at singing.
Mass started with the Christmas Proclamation and then the Baby Jesus was carried to the crib and the Nativity was venerated. There was incense! Bells at the Consecration.
The Gospel Question: Are you a Good Receiver?
Homily:
It is a season of giving. But at the heart of the feast, it is a season of receiving. It is essential to our Salvation. We are not good at receiving. It makes us uncomfortable. When we get a compliment, we tend to deflect it. We don't want to be indebted. We have a hard time receiving God's Love. Receiving love makes us vulnerable. It is why Jesus came as a baby. The last Words of Jesus were "Father into Your Hands I commend My Spirit" Jesus asked God to receive what He had to offer. Jesus was comfortable with receiving. We need to see God in our everyday encounters. Will you let God tell you He loves you?
Pictures:
Links:
Website of St. Ann
Pictures from Rome of the West (Scroll towards the bottom)
I had the best intentions to go to all 4 Christmas Masses. I only made it to the Midnight Mass because of the weather and such.
For Midnight Mass (at Midnight!) I went to visit my favorite priest (Fr. B!) at St. Ann in Normandy.
The choir sang carols for about 15 minutes before the start of Mass. For the Mass the music was accompanied by an organ.
Music:
Opening: O Come All Ye Faithful
Presentation of Gifts: O Little Town of Bethlehem
Communion: Silent Night
Meditation: Mary, Did You Know? (It's Christmas. I'll practice charity...)
Closing: Joy to the World
Mass Setting: Mass of Creation
Gloria: One with the refrain of Angels We Have Heard on High
Fr. B sang the Christmas Proclamation, the Opening Prayer and first part of the Eucharistic Prayer (III). I have to say, Fr. B is one of the best priests at singing.
Mass started with the Christmas Proclamation and then the Baby Jesus was carried to the crib and the Nativity was venerated. There was incense! Bells at the Consecration.
The Gospel Question: Are you a Good Receiver?
Homily:
It is a season of giving. But at the heart of the feast, it is a season of receiving. It is essential to our Salvation. We are not good at receiving. It makes us uncomfortable. When we get a compliment, we tend to deflect it. We don't want to be indebted. We have a hard time receiving God's Love. Receiving love makes us vulnerable. It is why Jesus came as a baby. The last Words of Jesus were "Father into Your Hands I commend My Spirit" Jesus asked God to receive what He had to offer. Jesus was comfortable with receiving. We need to see God in our everyday encounters. Will you let God tell you He loves you?
Pictures:
View From the Back Pew!
Along the Left Side of the Church
Mary and Joseph
Nativity
VIII: Jesus Meets the Holy Women
Links:
Website of St. Ann
Pictures from Rome of the West (Scroll towards the bottom)
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Little Flower - Richmond Heights
Hello! I was entertaining an out-of-town guest so after much discussion, a consensus was reached to attend the 9:15 am Mass at Little Flower. One tiny detail: it's a traditional Latin Mass. This would be the third old Mass I've attended. I'm getting a little better at following along, but if I stop paying attention I get lost really quick. My Latin however, is horrid.
Little Flower is a Church in the round, with the altar in the center. It was interesting that nearly everybody chose to sit in the pews that made Mass ad orientem (priest faces liturgical East). There were hardly any windows. The windows were small stained glass circles at the top. There were lots of statues as well.
For music there was a small choir and an organ. The music:
Opening Hymn: Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
Mass Setting: Mass XVII
Offertory: Hail Mary
Communion Motet: O Sacrum Cor Jesu
Closing Hymn: Creator of the Stars at Night
Father's homily focused on today's Gospel from Luke. Luke gives some background. John the Baptist's preaching about baptism is not the same as our Baptism. What John the Baptist was doing was more similar to a Penance Service. The message from the Gospel is to make straight the way of the Lord. We need to perfect our lives. We need to renewed with the joy of His Coming. It is the Greatest Gift of all time. The homily was pretty short. I had a difficult time hearing the homily because I managed to sit in front of the heating vents and they kicked on during the homily.
Pictures:
View From A Back Pew!
St. Joan of Arc
Little Flower Chapel
Mary's Chapel
8: Jesus Consoles the Holy Women
St. Dismas
St. Patrick
Links:
Website of Little Flower
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Guadete!
Was today not a Sunday in Advent, it would be the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. To celebrate, I headed to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Because it would have been their patronal feast, the parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe started the festivities at midnight. At midnight there was singing and what sounded like cheers from a pep rally. At 1 am, there was a Mass. After Mass, there was more singing and such in the Church with traditional Mexican food and snacks in the cafeteria. There were more activities after that, but it was 3 am with snow, so I didn't stay longer.
Our Lady of Guadalupe is another church that has the look of a temporary church that has become permanent. There are stained glass windows but given that it was dark, it was hard to make out what they were. I saw the Nativity, the Visitation, the Holy Family, and the Wedding at Cana.
Mass was absolutely packed! It was standing room only and the standing room was packed. What was most interesting was seeing all of the men in church. Lots of young, single men! Some had mohawks and everything. And they sang! Many people brought flowers to place before the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It was so cute?/sweet? to see these tough young Hispanic males bringing bunches of roses to place before Our Lady. Some of them looked rather shy about it.
The other thing I noticed was that even though there were probably 400-500 people at Mass, only 1/4 went up to Communion. It was quite different from other parishes were nearly everyone goes.
As Mass was in Spanish, I can't tell you much about what happened. I know the homily was about Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego. The readings were from the 3rd Sunday in Advent. I think the music was traditional for the culture.
Pictures:
Links:
Website of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Picture from Rome of the West
Was today not a Sunday in Advent, it would be the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. To celebrate, I headed to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Because it would have been their patronal feast, the parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe started the festivities at midnight. At midnight there was singing and what sounded like cheers from a pep rally. At 1 am, there was a Mass. After Mass, there was more singing and such in the Church with traditional Mexican food and snacks in the cafeteria. There were more activities after that, but it was 3 am with snow, so I didn't stay longer.
Our Lady of Guadalupe is another church that has the look of a temporary church that has become permanent. There are stained glass windows but given that it was dark, it was hard to make out what they were. I saw the Nativity, the Visitation, the Holy Family, and the Wedding at Cana.
Mass was absolutely packed! It was standing room only and the standing room was packed. What was most interesting was seeing all of the men in church. Lots of young, single men! Some had mohawks and everything. And they sang! Many people brought flowers to place before the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It was so cute?/sweet? to see these tough young Hispanic males bringing bunches of roses to place before Our Lady. Some of them looked rather shy about it.
The other thing I noticed was that even though there were probably 400-500 people at Mass, only 1/4 went up to Communion. It was quite different from other parishes were nearly everyone goes.
As Mass was in Spanish, I can't tell you much about what happened. I know the homily was about Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego. The readings were from the 3rd Sunday in Advent. I think the music was traditional for the culture.
Pictures:
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Mosaic Outside
View from the Back Pew
Close Up of Altar
Baptismal Font
VIII: The Holy Women
Our Lady of Guadalupe and Flowers
Website of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Picture from Rome of the West
St. Raphael the Archangel
Hello All!
For the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8, I attended the 7 am (ugh!) Mass at St. Raphael the Archangel.
St. Raphael always makes me think of an old Protestant Church in New England. It just seems colonial. I still have a hard time dealing with drapes in the windows of a Catholic Church.
Because of the extreme early-ness, there was no music, but there were bells at the Consecration. Father used Eucharistic Prayer II.
Father gave a brief homily about how the first reading was actually the first prophecy about Mary and Jesus. He gave it a Latin term which I didn't catch. The snake in the first reading refers to Satan. The seed is sin and spiritual death. The reading refers to Mary though.
Pictures:
Links:
Website of St. Raphael the Archangel
Pictures from Rome of the West
For the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8, I attended the 7 am (ugh!) Mass at St. Raphael the Archangel.
St. Raphael always makes me think of an old Protestant Church in New England. It just seems colonial. I still have a hard time dealing with drapes in the windows of a Catholic Church.
Because of the extreme early-ness, there was no music, but there were bells at the Consecration. Father used Eucharistic Prayer II.
Father gave a brief homily about how the first reading was actually the first prophecy about Mary and Jesus. He gave it a Latin term which I didn't catch. The snake in the first reading refers to Satan. The seed is sin and spiritual death. The reading refers to Mary though.
Pictures:
St. Raphael the Archangel
St. Raphael and Tobiah
View from the Back Pew!
Advent Wreath
Station VIII
St. Raphael
Links:
Website of St. Raphael the Archangel
Pictures from Rome of the West
Monday, December 6, 2010
St. Nicholas
As I write this, it is now the Feast of St. Nicholas! I hope you were all good little boys and girls and St. Nicholas put oranges in your shoes and not onions and you got lots of candy!
St. Nicholas is on the northern edge of downtown, next to the Washington area. St. Nicholas is predominately African-American and the statues and such reflect that. There was even a shrine to St. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The music today was provided the Children's Choir.
Opening: Preparing the Way for the Lord
Offertory: The Lord is My Light and My Salvation
Communion: Instrumental
Recessional: This Little Light of Mine
There was an interpretive dance after Communion. It was kind of like jazz and ballet mixed together.
There was a ritual to light the Advent wreath. After the opening prayer, there was a reading and a reflection about heralds. The the Advent Candles were lit and the family received a special blessing.
Homily:
Father's homily started off with asking the children about Advent. In Advent, we are preparing the way for the Lord. Father then asked us all about the highways and interstates. When you build a highway, you want it straight and you want a clear path. So to in this season of Advent. We need to prepare our homes and hearts for Jesus. Clear out the obstacles, which are sin. Father then had a mini-homily for the children. He asked them to pray, "Lord, Help Me to Be Peaceful" The first reading is peaceful. The wolf is a guest of the lamb. There will be peace and harmony. Everyone will be on the same page. What is your priority in life (DISCOURSE ANALYSIS!!!! MY DISSERTATION!!!!)? Is it the right priority (uhhhhh)? How do you prepare for the Christmas season? Everything is so hectic, with no time to pray. Take a step back.
Everyone in church held hands for the Our Father and made a big chain. Father used Eucharistic Prayer II and there were bells at the Consecration.
Also, St. Nicholas is hosting a priest from Poland and Rome, who is in town for 6 weeks to learn English.
Everyone seemed friendly, although there were some people suspicious as to why I was there.
Pictures:
Links:
Website of St. Nicholas
Pictures from Rome of the West
St. Nicholas is on the northern edge of downtown, next to the Washington area. St. Nicholas is predominately African-American and the statues and such reflect that. There was even a shrine to St. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The music today was provided the Children's Choir.
Opening: Preparing the Way for the Lord
Offertory: The Lord is My Light and My Salvation
Communion: Instrumental
Recessional: This Little Light of Mine
There was an interpretive dance after Communion. It was kind of like jazz and ballet mixed together.
There was a ritual to light the Advent wreath. After the opening prayer, there was a reading and a reflection about heralds. The the Advent Candles were lit and the family received a special blessing.
Homily:
Father's homily started off with asking the children about Advent. In Advent, we are preparing the way for the Lord. Father then asked us all about the highways and interstates. When you build a highway, you want it straight and you want a clear path. So to in this season of Advent. We need to prepare our homes and hearts for Jesus. Clear out the obstacles, which are sin. Father then had a mini-homily for the children. He asked them to pray, "Lord, Help Me to Be Peaceful" The first reading is peaceful. The wolf is a guest of the lamb. There will be peace and harmony. Everyone will be on the same page. What is your priority in life (DISCOURSE ANALYSIS!!!! MY DISSERTATION!!!!)? Is it the right priority (uhhhhh)? How do you prepare for the Christmas season? Everything is so hectic, with no time to pray. Take a step back.
Everyone in church held hands for the Our Father and made a big chain. Father used Eucharistic Prayer II and there were bells at the Consecration.
Also, St. Nicholas is hosting a priest from Poland and Rome, who is in town for 6 weeks to learn English.
Everyone seemed friendly, although there were some people suspicious as to why I was there.
Pictures:
Exterior of St. Nicholas
The Nativity is already out!
Back Wall.
I think that is the Kwanzaa thing.
I didn't think Kwanzaa was Catholic.
Uhm. I thought we had you know Christmas.
Jesus
This was on the top of the above picture
Mary
St. Joseph
View From The Back Pew
Advent Wreath
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Shrine
VIII: Jesus with the Holy Women
I'm not sure what Gospel story this matches.
It's Jesus being forgiving I think
Jesus with the children
Jesus with the woman who anointed His Feet
and washed them with her hair.
Jesus raising the girl from the dead.
Jesus with the Samarian woman.
Jesus with Mary and Martha
Jesus with the Rich Man
Jesus Calming the Storm
Sister Thea Bowman
St. Charles Lawanga
St. Monica and Young St. Augustine
St. Martin De Porres
???
Jesus and Mary
King and Queen of Africa
And the whole world
Links:
Website of St. Nicholas
Pictures from Rome of the West
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