St. Francis Borgia - Washington

Hello!

My presence was requested this weekend at St. Francis Borgia in Washington MO, because it is the Feast of St. Francis Borgia (10/10) and Mass was going to be extra special.  Unfortunately, I picked the wrong Mass to go to.  Apparently the patronal feast was celebrated at the 9 am Family Mass, not the 11 am slacker Mass ( ;p ), which would be the one I went to.  Except for intentions, nothing was mentioned about the Feast either.

St. Francis Borgia is an older church.  The stained glass windows date from 1905 with the church building being much older.  At one time, the grade school was next to the Church and the high school was behind the Church and across the street.  The high school has been moved to somewhere they can have a football field and the grade school moved into the high school.  The grade school became Jesuit Hall and is a meeting space and such.  I'm guessing that is how they are providing handicapped access to the church as the church appears to be built into the bluff.  There are lots of stairs in the front.

I'm sorry to disappoint my commenter who wants me to hear organs; he's going to be disappointed yet again.  They have a beautiful organ at St. Francis Borgia.  The Mass I went to was accompanied by a piano in the front.
The Music:
Opening:  River of Glory
Offertory:  All My Days
Communion:  One Bread, One Body
Closing:  All the Ends of the Earth
I did not recognize the Mass Setting.

On a happy note, the Church has a new member!  Xavier was baptized during the Mass!  YAY!!!!!  Is that not a cool name?

Father's homily was rather generic in that it could have been used for any Sunday or occasion.  Father asked us to take a look at our busy weekends.  On Sunday 100s (I think Father means millions..there are nearly a billion Catholics in the world.  I hope more than 100s go to Mass....there were over 200 people at the 11 am Mass...).  We come to Mass to give praise and thanksgiving.  The primary reason we go to Mass is to give ourselves to God with the perfect sacrifice of Jesus.  Additionally, God will not be outdone in generosity.  We are nourished by the Scriptures.  We were blessed 40 years ago when the Mass was went to the venacular, which for us is English (I'm glad you clarified that for me.  I thought my venacular language was Swedish.)  We no longer had to read the missal.  (Has Father ever *looked* at the people...they are all following along in the missalette!  If that's the case, why do we have missalettes?)  Sometimes it is too much to take in at Mass.  Sometimes a phrase will strike you at a particular time.  You know what it means in a more deeper way.  The Holy Spirit turns on a light bulb ( I hope the Holy Spirit is using an environmentally friendly light bulb...).  We are nourished by Communion.  It is a mystery as Jesus' great love for us.  He wants to be close to us as food (can he come as pizza next time?)  We are nourished by each other.  We need each other.  We need Church.  Being along isn't good.  When Mass is over we should feel two things (relief?).  Exultation/refreshed and exhaustion (rats!).  If we really put ourselves into it we will be empty of self.  (My eyes are exhausted from rolling).  We all help each other with Faith.

During the baptism, Father explained what he was doing before each step.  Every Baptism is a little Easter.  What was odd, was that he didn't have the parents and godparents make the Baptismal Promises, instead, he had everyone recite the Nicene Creed and called it good.  

Father used Eucharistic Prayer II and there were no bells.  They had an odd set-up for Communion.  Two EMHC came to the middle of the church in the center aisle to give Communion while the priests were at the Communion rail.  I guess the theory behind this was that the front half of the church went the priests and the back half of the went to the EMHC.  The only problem was that good Catholics don't sit in the front, so the priests were finished at least 5 minutes before the others.  Instead of coming to the middle of the Church, they just went back to the altar.

St. Francis Borgia seems like a very active parish.

Pictures:

St. Francis Borgia

Above the Doorway

The plaque is a dedication plaque.

It's in Latin.

If you like (ask in comments) I'll get the writing off a bigger image

so you can translate ;)

Our Lady of Perpetual Help

View From the Back Pew.

The painting makes me sing:

He's got the whole world

In His Hands....

St. Francis Borgia

St. Francis of Assisi

(St. Francis Borgia was founded by Jesuits and then was in the care of the Franciscans.)

The Eighth Station:

Jesus Comforts the Women

Mary and the Infant Jesus

Baptismal Fountain

Was not used for today's Baptism.

Organ

The pipes are bluer...

Mary, Queen of Heaven

Mary being presented in the Temple?

Jesus with children

The Holy Family

Jesus is carrying a cross in this window too

but if you don't look closely 

it looks like a 2x4 and a squaring tool

not as creepy.

(More windows will be posted...eventually)

Link:
Website of St. Francis Borgia
Pictures from Rome of the West

Shrine of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne

On Friday, October 8, 2010, I visited the Shrine of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, located on the grounds of Sacred Heart Academy in St. Charles MO.

Sacred Heart of Jesus

The Sacred Heart is on the building too

St. Peter

The Work of Justice is Peace.

Over one door.

St. Louis

I Am A Soldier of Christ

View from the Center Section

View from the Door

I don't know about you...but the metal poles above the altar

frighten me

Pit and the Pendulum?

Might encourage good behavior though...

Tabernacle

(I think...)

groovey

Window

The others were like this but yellow, red and orange.

St. Rose Philippine Duchesne

A poster of a window, which covers what could be a rose window.

St. Joseph and Mary

Tomb of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne

Mary in a little niche

Stations of the Cross...

Outside on the Trees 

Original Shrine Building

Inside the Original Shrine

Links:
Pictures (and here) from Rome of the West
Information from Sacred Heart Academy, where the Shrine is located

Transitus of St. Francis of Assisi

While browsing through the Calendar section of the St. Louis Review,  I noticed that St. Anthony of Padua was hosting a Transitus of St. Francis of Assisi.  I had never heard of such a thing, so I decided to check it out, especially since I'm contemplating (excuse me, discerning) becoming a Secular Franciscan.

The Transitus of St. Francis of Assisi remember the death of St. Francis and happens the evening before his feast day (10/4).

Apparently, how the Transitus is celebrated varies from community to community.  I'll go through how it was celebrated at St. Anthony of Padua.

The Entrance song was All Creatures of Our God and King, the text of which was written by St. Francis of Assisi.  There was a small choir and the music was accompanied by guitars.  Amazingly, everybody sang!!!  It was really loud and filled up the Church!

Next came the opening prayers.

Then there was a series (4) of readings from The Life of St. Francis of Assisi by Thomas of Celano, A Reflection from the Perspective of St. Clare, and A Reflection from the Perspective of "Brother", Lady Jacoba (The readings are similar to things found in St. Francis and His Friends).  The most important thing I learned about St. Francis of Assisi tonight is that his favorite sweet was almond cookies.  Be sure to have some!!

After a period of silence, Father Wayne gave an awesome reflection about being open to change and how St. Francis of Assisi was all about change.  Father referenced Blessed Newman, who made the change from Anglican to Catholic and who also wrote about change.  It's not easy to change, it is very hard.  Blessed Newman wrote that to change frequently and constantly is the way to perfection.  For St. Francis of Assisi, he had to change and change constantly.  As he preached and such, he changed.  There was one constant in St. Francis' life, and that was the Gospel.  All of his changes were rooted in the Gospels.  Newman said change was the fulfillment of Christian living (I think this was the quote..).  We are all called to change - change based on the Gospels.

After this was a mediation song based on the Prayer of St. Francis that was pretty cool.  There were then Prayers of the Faithful.  Next came the Litany of St. Francis of Assisi (Here's a longer version, we actually prayed the middle part, with all the "titles" of St. Francis).  Then came the Final Blessing.

The Closing Song was Blessed Francis, Holy Father sung to the tune Ode to Joy.  Again, everybody sang!

Then there were cookies (almond ones too!)!  Everyone was really friendly :)

Close-Up of Relic of St. Francis of Assisi

Links:
About the Transitus from my favorite Franciscan, FrCharles!
More information about the Transitus

Blessing of the Animals

In honor of St. Francis of Assisi, the Franciscans at St. Anthony of Padua blessed animals on October 3.

You can see Jake getting blessed here!

I'm so glad the Franciscans take the time to bless the animals.  It makes me happy to be Catholic.  :)

St. Francis of Assisi - Portage des Sioux

October 4 is the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, so I went to St. Francis of Assisi in Portage des Sioux on October 3, 2010 for the 8 am Mass.

I was rather surprised that the parish was not celebrating their patronal feast (you can move it to Sunday for pastoral reasons...), especially given that the parish doesn't have Mass on Mondays.  The Monday Mass is at the mission church, Immaculate Conception in West Alton.

The music was accompanied by an organ and a choir in the choir loft.
Music:
Opening:  All Creatures of Our God and King
Offertory:  We Are the Light of the World
Communion:  Instrumental of Make Me A Channel of Your Peace
Recessional:  You Are Near (with the Yahweh..)
The Gloria was spoken but the Responsorial Psalm was sung.

After the opening hymn, Father went into a mini-homily about St. Francis taking care of all creatures.

The Deacon gave the homily today.  He started off discussing what is Faith.  According to Hebrew 11:1, it is the assurance of things unseen but hoped for.  It is a gift from God that gives us the graces we need.  The Deacon then referenced the First Reading about writing down the vision and how God will take care of it.  In old times, if you wrote something down, it was assured.  How can we increase our Faith?  The Deacon then went on to tell 2 stories, one about a man who when faced with trials, lost his Faith, and a woman who when faced with trials, increased her Faith.  How does Faith grow?  Faith is strengthened like a muscle; by putting it to use.  When was the last time you read a Catholic Book, Catholic Radio, prayed, went to a Retreat, etc?  Our Faith grows each time it is tested (unless it breaks under the strain...)  Perfection comes with Faith when we practice it.  Today was also the 2nd collection for the Diaconate program.  The Deacon spoke a little bit about the diaconate:  how they were *married* clergy and were unpaid for the most part and how important Deacons were to the history of the Church.

Father used Eucharistic Prayer II and there were bells at the Consecration.  During the Liturgy of the Announcements (which was really long) Father mentioned that it is Respect Life Month and there was a Life Chain later in the afternoon.  He also reminded us that October is dedicated to the Mary and Our Lady of the Rosary, so that praying the rosary might be good idea.

After Mass there were doughnuts and everyone was friendly :)

Pictures:
(There are lots more pictures, I'll have them up on flickr in a few days and post the link.)

St. Francis of Assisi

St. Francis of Assisi Preaching to the Animals

View From the Back Pew!

St. Joseph's Altar

On the left: St. Therese of Lisieux

On the right:  St. Agnes

Mary's Altar

On the left: St. Cecilia (?)

On the right: St. John

Guardian Angel

(The feast was 10/2 FYI)

St. Francis of Assisi

The Eighth Station:  Jesus Meets the Women

(That's German)

Barque of Peter

The Holy Family

Is it just me, or is it creepy that Jesus has made a cross....

St. Boniface

(They think....)

St. Francis of Assisi Receives the Stigmata

Note:  On October 10, 2010 at 1 pm, Father David Kemna, FSSP, will celebrate his first Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass (Latin, TLM) at St. Francis of Assisi.  Father informs us they will move the altar back to its original position for the Mass and there will be a choir/schola.  Father David Kemna is the first priestly vocation from the parish in its 211 year history.  Also, there is a plenary indulgence for those that assist at the First Mass of a newly ordained priest ;)

Links:
Information from the Archdiocese
Pictures from Rome of the West

Our Lady of the River - Portage des Sioux

Evening!  There are 4 posts today, so be sure to see them all :)

This morning on my way to Mass, I was advised to seek out Our Lady of the Rivers, which is on the banks of the Mississippi River in Portage des Sioux, MO.  The story goes that the statue was built in thanksgiving to Our Lady of the River for saving the town from a flood in 1951. (I'm still searching to see how covered She was in 1993).

View from the Parking Lot

Detail on the fencing.

Our Lady of the Rivers

(The halo lights up at night!)

Links:
Visitor's Guide
Pictures from Rome of the West

Latitude/Longitude:  38.93863, -90.33858

St. David - Arnold

Hello!

On September 26, 2010, I attended the 10:30 am Mass at St. David in Arnold.

St. David was built in 1964.  It has to be the plainest Catholic Church I have been in.  It gives St. Matthais a run for its money.  There were no Stations of the Cross.  There was a tiny statue of Mary in the front.  I understand in the 1960s, there may not have been funds or the inclination to decorate the Church.  Surely, with all the parish closings/mergings in the last 10 or so years, they couldn't get a bigger statue of Mary from one of the closing parishes?  I'm immensely curious as to why there are no Stations (and yes...they could get those from a closing parish or Archdiocesan storage.)  I thought they were rather required in a Catholic Church.

The music was accompanied by a piano and a choir.  One of the choir members played the saxophone for one song.
Opening:  Let Us Go to the Altar
Gloria:  the one with Sing Glory to God in the Highest
Offertory:  Here I Am
Setting: the one with the Christ going up and down alot.  The Lamb of God was the echo one that is half in Latin.
Communion:  Song of the Body of Christ
Closing:  Lead Me Lord

There was a seminarian in a cassock and surplice :)  He's in Theology 1 at Kenrick!  (Remember to pray for vocations :) )

The pastor had another commitment this morning so the priest was a chaplain from the VA.  His homily was excellent.  It was succinct and a good length.  As Christians, we have a reality of the end times.  We have an eschatological reality, eschatological meaning the end times.  We get what Jesus passes on.  When we die, our Faith and Action will determine what happens to us.  We will face individual judgement and judgement as a group.  We are all moving from this life to eternal life.  There is death and judgement.  Today's Gospel is a story of hope.  Hope we too will be in heave with Abraham, Lazarus, Jesus and all the martyrs and saints.  With hope comes responsibility.  The rich man is not condemned because he is rich, but because he is selfish.  He had no understanding of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.  We need to put Faith into Action.  What do we believe and why?  As Christians we are heading towards the end times.  Father ended his homily with the last lines from the Funeral Rite, In Paradisum (here's a youtube)

Father used Eucharistic Prayer II and there were bells at the Consecration.

Pictures:

St. David

View from the Back Pew!

Tabernacle Close-Up

Baptismal Font 

Mary (the only statue in the church)

Window

Links:
St. David Website