Snup's View From the Back Pew

St. Sabina - Florissant

For Holy Saturday, I attended the Easter Vigil at St. Sabina in Florissant. It's a very modern church and very plain. I had a hard time finding the door. I couldn't find an image of St. Sabina.

There were over 15 people baptized or confirmed!

The music was accompanied by a piano and a violin.
Sprinkling Rite: Rain Down
Offertory: Jesus Christ Rose Today (choir only)
Mass Setting: Mass of Creation
Agnus Dei: Behold the Lamb of God. It was a song. They started singing it at the right spot, then stopped and then started it up again.
Communion: Out of Darkness
Closing: Jesus Christ is Risen Today

For some reason, only readings 1, 3, 5 and 7 were used. The first responsorial psalm was Send out Your Spirit. The fifth responsorial psalm was Come to the Water, based on Isaiah 55. The responsorial psalm was supposed to be based on Isaiah 12. Seventh psalm was the song version of Psalm 118. The Alleluia was skipped. That's right. Skipped.

The homily started off with the Easter letter from the Archbishop. Using the New Roman Missal is quite a challenge (there's a snark here just waiting to happen...) The red says the homily should not be omitted, even if it is brief (and this is the red that gets followed....) Jesus calls us to spread the Good News. We can become messengers. We believe in the Resurrection. We are saved. We can rejoice and exult.

Father used Eucharistic Prayer 1 and there were no bells.

Pictures:

The lamest Easter Fire ever.

Alcohol on sand.

Inside.

I have a mixing bowl bigger than that.

View From Back Pew

Font

Stations

Main Window

Link:
Website of St. Sabina

St. Ambrose

Hello Again!

Because of my schedule, I attended Good Friday Service at St. Ambrose on the Hill. As usual, I got lost. I found Missouri Bakery Co. They have the best cookies.

As I was taking pictures, one of the older men came up to me and asked what I was doing. I was like, taking pictures for my blog. He then cuts me off and tells me that this is the Holiest Day of the Year for us. (uhm, solemn, yes. Holiest, uhm...I thought that was Easter...). Furthermore, this is not a tourist venue and it is inappropriate and rude and he didn't like it. Uh. Ok. I'm more stunned by this little tirade. Given that he had words with me in the nave, thereby creating a scene he accused me of creating, I was not amused. Why is it that it is always those of the Vatican 2 generation that give me grief? It's always the older middle age people that question me. Well. I had contemplated joining St. Ambrose since it was my Oma's parish and I'm Italian. Perhaps not.

I will say the altar boys didn't look like ragamuffins :). They had cassocks on that were the right length, pressed and they all had shiny black shoes. It was rather refreshing.

St. Ambrose is a lovely church. It is very Catholic. And very Italian.

As it was Good Friday, there was a solemn entrance. Father sang the opening prayer and the prayers between the intentions.

There were nuns! And the sisters did the readings.

Music was accompanied by a piano.
Adoration of Cross: Behold the Wood; Were You There
Communion: Ubi Caritas

Father's homily started off with talking about last June when he was in Rome and had to come home because his Grandmother was dying. It became time for family to look inside. What is really important? Time to reconsider and to regroup and where our priorities lie. Today is no different. We commemorate the death of Christ, a loved one. It is a good time to think about what is important. Barabas. Son of the Father. The people cry out and grasp for something that seems to fulfill them. Cry out for real fulfillment. That fulfillment is being crucified. We chase after the wrong thing. We let the real son of the Father die. Beauty of day is that the real son of the Father dies for us. The ones who handed him over, for our sins. Where do our priorities lie? Do they lie with the world or the one who loves us and died for us.

Pictures:

View From the Back Pew

Two Cardinal Coat of Arms on the Wall.

Not sure who.

I suspect one is Cardinal Glennon...

St. Ambrose

St. Dominic

I've never seen him with a Church

St. Rosalia

St. Fara

This was in the vestibule.

It was in Italian.

It's pretty awesome.

Station VIII

These were on the arches.

Different Beati I think

I don't know what Mites means

The Holy Family

St. Anne

Jesus and Children

St. Anthony

St. Margaret Mary Aloque

St. Francis?

Behold the Wood Of the Cross

On Which Our Salvation Hung

Links:
Website of St. Ambrose
Pictures (and here) from Rome of the West

St. Andrew

Hello! And so begins what Colbert calls the Catholic Bender.

For Holy Thursday, I attended the Mass of the Last Supper at St. Andrew in Lemay. I have family members that belong to this church. It is a lovely Church.

The music was accompanied by a choir and organ, down in the front of the Church instead of the loft.
Music:
Opening: Table of Plenty
Gloria: Heritage Mass
Feet Washing: Jesu, Jesu; The Lord Jesus
Offertory: We Remember
Mass Setting: Latin!
Communion: Panis Angelicus (excuse me while I have a moment of cognitive dissonance)
Procession: Pange Lingua Gloriosi/Tantum Ergo

Father's homily started off discussing how the liturgy is so well known to Catholics. We know we will hear the story of the washing of the feet by Jesus. We know we will see the washing of the feet of the parishoners. We are uncomfortable to have Jesus wash our feet. Easy to get people to wash feet. It is not so easy to get volunteers to get their feet washed. You would not believe how hard it is to get people to do it. (well...it is optional). We are uncomfortable with it. It is not about Jesus washing our feet. It is about Jesus washing us with care and love. Thursday and Friday are just 2 pieces of the story. The complete story is that Jesus has risen. The feet that Jesus washes today are put in service for him tomorrow. Jesus commissioned them. Jesus showed us how to do it. We must give ourselves in love, sacrificial to each us. The Eucharist relates us in love to the Lord and to others. Love is expressed through the Eucharist. May it fill us with a deep desire to serve others. Jesus came for all sinners, sick, old, young, immigrant, the outsider, to wash our feet. Can we do the same? Are we willing to serve like him.

Speaking of the feet washing, they had men, women and children.

And onto liturgical innovation. You know it is an innovation when the choir does one thing and the Deacon stops them. At the offertory, they had a procession of the oils. The Deacon explained what the three oils were and what they were used for.

Eucharistic Prayer 1 was used. Instead of a bell, they used a clacker.

Pictures: