St. John the Baptist - Malvern

This morning I had planned to go eagle watching and picked a parish in eagle territory.  Unfortunately, I woke up with a headache and not feeling well.  No way I was going to make an 8 am Mass hours away like that.

A 9 am Mass about an hour away was just the ticket!  I headed to St. John the Baptist in Malvern.

This is another tiny church but it was filled to capacity!

The organ and space for the choir was in the back.  Music was supplied by an organ and a cantor.
Music:
Opening:  Praise to the Lord
Offertory:  Open My Eyes
Communion:  See Us Lord, About Your Altar
Closing: Church of God, Elect and Glorious

Deacon gave the homily.
In all God's creation, what is most important?  We heard in Genesis the Creation Story.  Man is given dominion over all.  Most important thing is that God created us in His own image and likeness.  We possess a dignity above all.  The human person must be respected above all else.  People are treated like they are used cars.  Back in the day you worked at a place for your lifetime.  When times got tough, the employer didn't lay everyone off.  You were a family.  There was a give and take relationship.  That attitude doesn't prevail today. In the First Reading, God knows you in the womb.  Can you imagine Him speaking to you like that?  We believe ourselves to be insignificant.  We think we are the little people.  God only talks to great prophets.  In the Gospel, John says to pay attention to Jesus and not to him.  Jesus said John was the greatest.  We can relate to John.  We should consider ourselves significant.  John knew he had a role to play.  We are significant to God.  There are two things that make us unique from every other person.  Our DNA and our fingerprints.  We are unique in the heart of God.  We have a significant role to those around us.  Life is unfair and full of suffering.  How you deal with it is significant.  How you handle joy.  How you handle failure and success.  Your Faith is significant.  You may never know how your Faith has built up the Faith of others (uh...oh).  Jesus is talking about us in the Gospel.  What is important is what is everlasting.  We are important to God and to others.

Father used Eucharistic Prayer III and there were no bells.  There was hand holding at the Our Father.  A liturgy of announcements and!  we sang Happy Birthday to all the people having birthdays.

Pictures:

Link:
St. John the Baptist