Snup's View From the Back Pew: St. Edward

Evening!
My parents came to visit me this weekend. Originally, I thought I was going to miss Mass but then the wheel fell off their van (while I was driving...luckily at a stop sign.) I was able to go to Mass before the garage opened...

I attended the 9 am Mass at St. Edward which is just outside of downtown Little Rock. I was unable to stay for the entire Mass. Mass started 5 minutes late and at 9:45 the Offertory was just beginning.

Music:
Music was provided by a choir and a very loud organ in the choir loft.
Opening: From Ashes to the Living Font
Offertory:O Breathe on Me, Breath of God
Communion:??
Closing:??

The audio was not very good. I had a hard time understanding what was being said while in the back pew.

Homily:
There were 2 really...in one big homily....
We have this image of Martha busy in the kitchen and Mary sitting by Jesus. Today, Martha gets a chance to show she has been paying attention (cause there's a test). In the depth of her grief, she shows a great act of Faith that matches St. Peter and St. Thomas. Lazarus is Faith in Action and the fruition of faith. Death is a one way street which is why Lazarus was bound. Lazarus' response is do what the Master says. He is an example of people when Faith is willing. They take risks (like skydiving!) and have confidence in God. Do you believe in Me? Do you trust Me? In the 2nd Reading, St. Paul said to trust is to live and he talks about the dangers of the flesh (a homily about sex??? ooo). He doesn't mean the body (j/k). It comes from a Greek word that refers to orientation toward the world. The perspective to turn in self...the self is the center of all values. Worship of one's self (selfies!). When we belong to Christ, He is the center our life is oriented to. Jesus says to us "Do you trust me?" "How much do you trust Me?" And then the homily became a chat about parish finances... Our support of the parish is a matter of trust in God and in the Church (I trust God with my money...not so sure about the *Church*). We say we trust but then we put our needs first. We don't want to do without. We want to hold onto our resources. How much should we return to God? Apparently last week the Bishop gave a talkin' to about money and mentioned the Bible says we should give about 10% or our income (pre or post tax?). 4% should go to the parish. 1% should go to the Appeal. How much income is 4%? About 1.6 hours if you work full time (pulls out phone...starts crunching numbers...feels incredible guilt...coughs up money won at horse races....ah well...my friend didn't need any chocolate bunnies). We have to trust. Everything depends on God (please send chocolate bunnies...) Prayerfully consider what God has given you. Consider how you use those resources. Use what you have to serve Me. (Honestly, Father Bill at the CNC at UMSL had the best approach. Instead of using scary things like numbers, he was more like surely you can go without McDonald's once or twice to give money to the parish..)

Then there were the Scrutinies. I thought Scrutinies were more for adult converts...like say age 13 and older. The three catechumens all looked to be under 13. One looked about 10...

And then I left....

I suppose it didn't really count as attending Mass...

Pictures: