The final petition of the Lord’s Prayer asks the Father to “deliver us from evil.”  It is interesting how the next line that the celebrant prays is: “Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil.”  The work of the evil one is to try to divide us from the Lord and from one another, and so it is indeed fitting that we are praying to be delivered from evil at this point of the Mass.  We have just prayed together to our Father, asking Him to give us our daily bread, to forgive us our trespasses, to not allow us to be led into temptation, and to deliver us from evil.  In just a few moments, we will be receiving Holy Communion, a word which signifies union with the Lord and one another, strengthened by the Sacrament of Unity, the Eucharist.

On the night after the Last Supper, when Jesus was praying to the Father, He stressed His deepest desire for unity in His Church: 

“I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory which you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

(Jn 17:20–23)

The Church often refers to this passage when reflecting on the divisions that exist within Christianity, with the various denominations believing a worshipping in a variety of ways.  And while in a general sense we can say that this division has the fingerprints of the evil one, I think for the purposes of our reflection, we want to consider how we within the Church are divided through the influence of the evil one and our own weaknesses.  In my article three weeks ago, I referenced Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus says that “a house divided against itself will not stand.” (Mt. 12:25)  Unfortunately, when I typed out that line a few weeks ago I forgot a very important word – NOT.  Thanks to the careful attention of one of the readers of the column, I was made aware of my mistake, for which I apologize.  Back to the point – it would be helpful for us at this point of the Mass to pray with earnestness to the Lord to deliver us from the evils within ourselves and among the members of our congregation that seek to keep us divided.

In particular, I think it can be good to be attentive to anything within us that may be causing us distress (which we also pray to be kept free from in this prayer) as it relates to our experience at this Mass.  Perhaps you notice somebody who you do not think is dressed all that appropriately.  We can stew on the thought of how disrespectful they are being, and we can find ourselves getting agitated as the Mass goes on.  There may be cause for concern, and I am not doing to poke that hornet’s nest now, but notice how quickly we can allow something that offends us to be turned into something not from God.  We start making judgments about the other person, thinking what we would tell them if we had the chance, or what we are going to tell the pastor so that he can tell them.  We get caught in that cycle and our hearts are far from the unity Christ desires for us.  Other examples abound, such as somebody who is always a half sentence behind or ahead in the prayers, somebody whose singing is not the best, the homily we heard that we did not agree with, the unacceptable temperature of the church, etc.  It might even be a situation not present at Mass, but which is weighing heavily on us as we try to pray at Mass.

Let us be mindful of those things and ask the Lord for His grace to deliver us from the evil of judgment and lack of charity that we sometimes are stuck in during Mass.  This is not to dismiss the need for conversion that might be present in ourselves or in others, but it does mean asking the Lord to free us from any of the shackles that are clearly not from the Lord so that we can better realize His desire for us to all be one.

My challenge for this week is a brief one: spend some time thinking about someone that really gets under your skin.  Instead of gossiping about them to family, friends, or co-workers, talk about them to the Lord.  Tell Him what bothers you about them, pray for their conversion, but just as importantly, pray for your conversion, that you might not be handcuffed by the division in your heart that exists toward them.  Then bring that person to prayer by once again praying the Lord’s Prayer.

Father Alford     

 Feast Day: March 3^rd 

I recently came across an article that included several pictures of saints when they were kids. It had the famous pictures of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, curly hair and impish grin smiling back at us, and the shepherd children of Fatima, Jacinta scowling at the camera with her hand on hip. You will find it well worth your while to check out the other less famous but just as delightful photos at https://www.churchpop.com/photos-12-saints-children/ (or hit the qr code).

But I would like to focus on one particular photo this week, of St. Katherine Drexel at the age of 7. It was probably taken in the summer of 1866, with Catherine’s older sister, Elizabeth, being a few years older than her and her younger (half) sister Louise being only 3. Catherine (her birth name, it would change to Katherine when she took her religious name), was the second girl of her parents Francis and Hannah, but her mother would pass away just 5 weeks after she was born. Her father remarried Emma Bouvier, a Catholic, in 1860, and they lived a pious, if privileged life. Kittie, as she was called, enjoyed the best schools and countless trips around America and Europe and was widely thought to be the prettiest of the girls, each of them set to inherit the millions that their father, a Philadelphia banker, had amassed (equivalent to hundreds of millions of dollars today, the fortune begun when Catherine’s grandfather had entered into a partnership with John Pierpoint [J.P.] Morgan). 

But their family would also give tremendous amounts of money to the poor, Emma being widely known around Philadelphia as “lady bountiful”, taking her girls out on walks around the city to find those who were too timid to come asking for help. Francis was of the same mind – helping his wife distribute food, clothing, and rent-assistance to all who needed it – and would leave a tenth of his fortune to charities upon his death in 1885, with the rest of it going to provide for his daughters and their children, and reverting to charitable institutions if they did not use it. He would pray for 30 minutes every evening, leaving an indelible mark of prayerfulness and godliness on his daughters.

But those were the remote influences on Catherine’s vocation. It was one of those family-trips, this time out west, that was the occasion for an utterly unexpected call from God. It was one year before her father would die, and the 20-something year old Catherine was moved by the plight of the Native Americans she saw there. All those moments aiding the poor around Philadelphia, and the poverty of so many different minorities she had seen in their travels all came back to her mind. The Lord was calling her to do something for them. After the death of her father, Catherine and her sisters gave a large donation to the St. Francis Mission of South Dakota’s Rosebud Reservation, but the nagging thought that she should do more for them remained in her heart. Again, the extraordinary prosperity of her family ended up opening another door on the path God had in mind for her: the girls went on a trip to Europe in 1887 and met with Pope St. Leo XIII, author of the magnificent encyclical, Rerum Novarum, in which he lambasted the conditions in factories of the industrial revolution, calling Christians everywhere to uphold the dignity of their workers and grant a wage sufficient for their families. 

Now, our wealthy Catherine approaches him, and asks the wizened Pope to send missionaries to these suffering poor in America. Presumably she could finance the entire operation, and possibly it was this idea that she proposed to the Holy Father, but instead he looked at her and said “Why not, my child, yourself become a missionary?” Why not, indeed!? Katherine tried to entertain the idea, but wrote in her journal “I do not know how I could bear the privations of poverty of the religious life. I have never been deprived of luxuries.” It was not necessarily a selfish thought, but a practical one. Could she commit to such a hard life, living it with joy, despite having never experienced anything of the sort? Could she give up not just the fortune, but all the comforts that she had always had to follow this call? Would she?

– Fr. Dominic will return to Katherine’s story, her discernment to come, and the glories accomplished through her, next week. In the meantime, perhaps all of us would find it a powerful prayer to look back on a picture of ourselves as a child of 7, recalling the graces that God has given to us in the years since. Think of the ways you have followed His plan, but also ways that you haven’t followed Him fully. Consider how much love God had for you as a kid, and has for you now, and has given to you every single year between then and now. God has never been annoyed with you, no matter where on life’s journey you were at. He only ever showers us with love and affection, though always calls us to more faithfully follow after Him. 

When opening our bulletin each week, I think it is safe to say that most people first focus on the page that begins with the Rector’s Column.  I say that not in a prideful way, as I am certain people skip right over that page as well, perhaps maybe pausing to look at the Mass intentions for the week, before looking at the rest of the bulletin.  The page to the left, which lists the clergy, staff, and service times at the Cathedral, is often passed over, as this page will remain the same week in and week out, so why even give it a look?  This week, though, there is a significant change that I want to make sure does not go unnoticed.  A name that has been a part of the bulletins for more than three decades is sadly missing.  Bill Vogt, the who had the official title of “Office and Plant Manager” passed away on Saturday, February 17.  That title hardly does justice to all that Bill has done over the years here at the Cathedral.  He was the institutional knowledge of this place, having worked under three bishops, five rectors, and many other clergy and staff who have been a part of this place he loved.  Bill was the thread that maintained continuity over all of those years.  Anytime there was a question about where something was, he would pause and say: “Let me think about it”, and before long, he would have an answer.

I am usually the first to get up every morning and I will normally head down to the church around 5 AM to pray.  There were many mornings when, as I was descending the steps, looking out on the parking lot, I would see Bill rolling in to start the day.  When he would prepare dinner for the house, there were times when he wouldn’t leave until close to 7 PM.  To say that Bill was dedicated to this parish would be an understatement, to say the least.  As much as he was dedicated to the operations of the parish, he was especially dedicated to the bishops and priests who have lived here over the years.  When I first came to the Cathedral as Bishop’s Priest Secretary and Master of Ceremonies in 2013, Bill and I quickly became friends.  While I was praying in the church each morning, he would come in with his cart to work on replacing the candles in the votive shrines.  As he walked down the aisle, I would look up at him, and he would give me his familiar two-finger wave.  Over the past year or more, as he has slowed down, he’s not been doing those candles, even though he was still coming in early each morning.  And as I recall now that greeting we would share each morning, even though it’s been a while since it last happened, my heart is heavy.  This is just one of the many memories I will forever cherish about my relationship with Bill.

There is so much that can be said about Bill and all that he meant to me personally and to so many of us, but I am at a loss for words to write much more.  Bill was truly a friend to many and our hearts are broken at our loss.  But as Christians, we always have hope in the Resurrection, for ourselves and for our loved ones who have passed away.  Since I have been reflecting on the Eucharistic Prayer recently in these articles, I would like to conclude with the prayers added to the Third Eucharistic Prayer for Masses for the Dead, words which I always find powerful and comforting.  May they be a source of comfort and hope for us who have known and loved Bill and now commend him to God’s mercy.

Remember your servant William whom you have called from this world to yourself.  Grant that he who was united with your Son in a death like his, may also be one with him in his Resurrection, when from the earth he will raise up in the flesh those who have died, and transform our lowly body after the pattern of his own glorious body.  To our departed brothers and sisters, too, and to all who were pleasing to you at their passing from this life, give kind admittance to your kingdom.  There we hope to enjoy for ever the fullness of your glory, when you will wipe away every tear from our eyes.  For seeing you, our God, as you are, we shall be like you for all the ages and praise you without end, through Christ our Lord, through whom you bestow on the world all that is good.

Father Alford     

Feast Day: February 25^th 

Fr. Dominic Vahling made the happy connection between last week’s St. Kuriakose, who’s name (derived from the Greek word “Kyrie”) means “of the Lord” and the name “Dominic”, which means the same thing (derived from the Latin word “Dominus”). So, I figured we should keep up that “Lordly” theme, and get to know Blessed Domenico Lentini this week.

Domenico was born on November 20^th, 1770, in the Kingdom of Naples Italy, the youngest of five siblings, the son of a cordwainer (I must clarify that in researching his life I discovered that his father, a shoemaker, would not, technically, be called a cobbler. Cobblers “cobbled” things together, as in they only worked with old shoes: repairing, replacing broken bits, reinforcing, etc. Cordwainers, instead, fashioned new shoes out of leather, the term derived from “cordovan”, a leather from Cordoba, Spain. Needless to say, cordwainers don’t take kindly to being called mere cobblers, though hopefully Macario, Domenico’s dad, wouldn’t take too much affront to it.)

In any case, Domenico, along with his older siblings Dominique, Rosa, Nicholas, and Antoinette, grew up with few material comforts other than good shoes. Famines struck Italy throughout the 1760s, stretching and breaking previous political arrangements, all further upended as revolutions swept through America, then France, and Napoleon began his rampage around Europe. Still, this family lived a simple and faithful life as that hectic 18^th century drew to its close. Dominic’s mother, before she died, consecrated the little Dominic to the Lord, a grace that was evident in his childlike piety, though he was also a very ordinary boy, taking delight in climbing trees, often in pursuit of terrified birds (he did repent of the harm caused them later on). At the age of 14 he received the call to be a priest. Perhaps inspired by an uncle who was already a priest, and a classmate who had entered the seminary just before him, the young man discovered a deeper delight than his boyhood shenanigans in studying to be a priest. That said, his path through seminary was also not without hurdles. The cost of the seminary which he started at was far too high for his family to pay, so he actually did much of his formation in his hometown where he received formation from his local priests. His father the shoemaker actually pawned off their home in order to pay for his schooling, a debt that Dominic would repay after his ordination, but also an indication of how much he was willing to help his son follow God’s call.

In 1793, Domenico was ordained deacon in Mormanno, and on the feast of Pentecost, June 8, 1794, was ordained a priest in the Cathedral of Marsiconuovo. He held fast to priestly holiness in the simplest manner: hearing confessions with generosity, offering the Mass with as much devotion as he could muster, teaching his flock theology and philosophy, preaching with integrity and humility (his parishioners especially recall his moving homilies during Lent), living a frugal and charitable life. He was said to have the gift of prophecy – not so much in predicting the future as helping his hurting or fearful parishioners hold fast to God’s healing Love. And so Fr. Dominic Lentini passed 36 years of priestly ministry, receiving the last sacraments three days before he died from that same priest-friend who had preceded him into seminary, Fr. Joseph Ielpo, one of his closest friends through all those years.

– Fr. Dominic can’t help but notice that Fr. Domenico became a saint by simply doing what a priest is supposed to do. Nothing fancy, no spectacular homilies, no amazing foundations or ministries, no surge of conversions or incredible miracles. He just offered the sacraments as best he could and kept the Love of God alive in his, and others’ souls. THIS ISN’T EASY! One cannot passively “do little things with great love”: our love wanes, our desire for God gets distracted, our zeal gets hijacked by worldly things … we must constantly recommit ourselves to loving the first things first, to prioritizing the pearl of great price, to being faithful to our duties (and not our distractions). Bl. Domenico Lentini challenges all of us to persevere in this, and perhaps Lent is a gift insofar as it always invites us back to receiving and giving God’s Love in the simple ways He asks us to.

Having spent a couple of months focusing on the Eucharistic Prayer, the highpoint of the Mass, we now move to the Communion Rite, which begins with the praying of the Lord’s Prayer, also referred to as the Our Father.

As I wrote early on in this series, our goal is to pray the Mass better, avoiding falling into autopilot with both our words and our gestures.  The Lord’s Prayer is one place in the Mass where we can easily fall into this trap, considering how many times we have prayed this prayer in our lives.  As children, we were taught to memorize prayers so that we could get the words right.  From there, we can reflect more deeply on what we are praying, such that the words are an expression of a trusting child to their Father.  But sadly, we sometimes never get past the memorization phase with these prayers and we miss out on the richness of this beautiful prayer that has come to us directly from the Lord Himself.

One of the ways to avoid just reciting the words of the Our Father is to take time outside of Mass to pray the Lord’s Prayer with greater intentionality.  If we get used to praying this prayer, as opposed to just saying the words, we will find that when this part of the Mass arrives, we will more naturally have this moment be an expression of our close union with the Lord as His beloved sons and daughters.  When we pray the Lord’s Prayer at Mass, in addition to our being conscious of being His children by calling Him “Father”, we also have the opportunity to be conscious of being brothers and sisters to those around us, for we call upon Him as our Father.

This awareness of being united with others who have God as Father when praying the Lord’s Prayer has really helped me to pray this prayer better.  More often than not, I tend to think of the Lord’s Prayer in terms of praying for my needs, for His will to be done in my life, for His daily bread to nourish me.  But when I consider that I am not just praying for myself, but for others, it makes the prayer even more powerful.  I sometimes call to mind those who have drifted away from their faith.  For whatever reason, they may no longer come to Mass, they may not even pray.  Since they are not praying for themselves, my prayer to the Father includes praying for their needs and intentions.  I sometimes call to mind people who find themselves in desperate situations, such as one who may be suffering physically or mentally, or a woman who is facing a difficult decision about her pregnancy.  When I pray the Lord’s Prayer, I am asking the Lord to show them His fatherly compassion and encouragement, so as not to feel alone. 

We have no idea the struggles of those who surround us at each Mass.  Perhaps somebody in the next pew was just diagnosed with cancer.  Perhaps somebody across the aisle has just lost a loved one.  Perhaps somebody in the church has just lost a job.  We may never know, but Father knows, and by praying together this beautiful prayer, we are experiencing a profound unity with Him and with one another, which is preparing us well for us to soon receive the Sacrament of Unity in the Eucharist which will only strengthen that bond.

I had a question last Sunday if I would resume my Lenten challenges this year.  I had honestly not thought about it, but as I write this column, I think I have found my first challenge.  I invite you to take time this week outside of Mass to pray the Lord’s Prayer with greater attention.  I would invite you to pray the Lord’s Prayer three times, nice and slow.  The first is for yourself, focusing on your relationship to the Father, asking Him for your daily needs.  The second is for one person who is on your heart.  It might be somebody who is struggling at this point in their life.  It might be somebody who has a birthday that day.  Just trust the Lord to put somebody on your heart, and pray this prayer slowly and intentionally for them.  The third is for our parish.  Again, we are largely clueless as to the many needs of our brothers and sisters in this parish, but as I said, the Lord knows.  So offer this third prayer with trust in the Father’s goodness to our parish family, that He will give us all what we are most in need of that day according to His holy will. Father Alford    

Feast Day: February 18^th

I would like to describe the life and holiness of Fr. Kuriakose Elias Chavara in three things that he loved all his life.

1. Words

As in human language. From a young age in his village school, Kuriakose loved to study language and dialects. Perhaps he was first intrigued by the twists and turns of history that led that Greek name Kyriakos (“of the Lord”) to find its way into Syriac Aramaic, which had become the language of his Christian community in Kerala, India. Probably the Persian missionaries who brought the Eastern Syriac Rite (and Syriac language, descended from the Aramaic spoken by Jesus!) to India in the 400s and 500s brought the story of the early martyr Quriaqos, a boy killed with his mother in Turkey around AD 304 for being Christian who was now little Kuriakose’s patron.

In any case, as his life unfolds, we see this linguistic interest come back again and again. When a priest for well over a decade, in 1846, Fr. Kuriakose founded an institute for the study of Sanskrit. Now it seems clear enough that his early studies under the Hindu teacher, Asan, may have introduced him to this venerable and sacred language of the Hindu religion, the language of its religious vedas, epics, and hymns. But the priest’s interest in studying this old language was not merely historic or linguistic, rather his goal was to teach it to children, to every child in Kerala. He ordered every church under his leadership (as superior of the third order Carmelites) to build a school alongside their church (even just a simple lean-to, a “pallikoodam”) and convinced the bishop to require all churches to do the same. Thus, and on a massive scale, he was the first person in India to dare to educate the so called untouchables, and he was teaching them the highest and holiest language of India.

This not being enough, he snuck into a government facility to see their printing press, memorized its mechanism, then used a banana stem to make a model of it for a carpenter to replicate (!), and spent 6000 Rupees (probably tens of thousands of dollars today) to build it. And so was able to publish books, prayers, poems, and other tracts of his own composition and also provide free books to the children in his schools. He was the first to print prayer books in East Syrian as well as Malayalam, also being one of the first to write significant works in Malayalam. Later, that same press would publish of the first newspapers in India, a Christian publication to teach and unite the various Christian communities.

2. The Mass

Now, he wouldn’t have referred to the Mass as “the Mass”. Our English word “Mass” comes from the Latin phrase said at the conclusion of Mass, “ite missa est.” Originally, this simply, and literally, just means “go, it is the dismissal.” But notice the similarity between “dismissal” and “mission” or “commission.” This is the Church’s way to remind everyone that goes to Mass, that we are – every time – sent by Christ to carry His Love to the world. Only later in the Church’s history did the liturgy come to be called “the Mass”, and the book that contains its prayers “the Missal.”) Fr. Chavara though would have called the Mass “Qurbānā Qandišā”, “Holy Sacrifice” in his Eastern Syriac language.

We actually know the details of his very first Mass, celebrated at St. Andrew’s Basilica in Arthunkal, during which his intention for that Holy Sacrifice was the realization of a religious institute that he and a few other priests were contemplating establishing. That prayer would grow into his founding a branch of the Carmelite order with a few other priests which he would lead for many years of his later life (and also a female branch as well). His love for the liturgy was also evident in his publishing liturgical texts for families, for priests and religious (the divine office, various blessings, the first liturgical calendar, and orders for the Holy Sacrifice itself), and also in establishing the forty-hours Adoration around his area, retreats for priests, seminaries and formation houses… The common denominator to all these efforts: bring everyone to Christ in the Eucharist.

3. Mangoes

Once again, something that St. Chavara must have loved as a child became a means for him to spread the Gospel. In this case, while he was prior of the Carmelites, he took time to cultivate a certain mango tree and went on to send seedlings to his various monasteries and convents. “Please plant the sapling of this sweet mango, which I name it as ‘Dukran’ (orma = memory) …  this is to make you realize that myself and all men are weak and faltering and don’t have long life even as these mango trees which give sweet fruits.” His flock didn’t keep the name he gave it. As these trees popped up all over Kerala, they just called it “priormavu”, “Prior-Mango”, named after their beloved first prior who gave it to them. Probably his schoolkids learned to love it too because among many other firsts, Fr. Chavara was also the first one to provide lunches to the children in his schools.

– Fr. Dominic, if pressed to think of three childhood loves, would match Fr. Chavara in delighting in the Mass, but would have to probably choose sports and construction-toys as two other lifelong interests, now to just find ways to use that to manifests Christ’s love!

A few years ago, I heard a story of a priest in another diocese who get in some trouble with his bishop because of he was improvising the prayers of the Mass.  There was a lot of pushback from the faithful who felt that the bishop’s treatment of the priest was unfair.  What was the big deal if he was making some adaptations to the Mass?  While I do not pretend to know all of the details of the case, it does bring up an important point, one that I mentioned in last week’s bulletin article.  The prayers of the Mass have been given to us by the Church and all of us – priests and laity, have a responsibility to be faithful to what has been handed down to us.  We are not masters of the liturgy, we are its servants.  It has been passed down to us by Christ Himself through the authority of the Church which He Himself has conferred. 

In that regard, it is important to acknowledge that it is ultimately the responsibility of the bishop of a diocese to ensure that the worship of the Eucharist is observed faithfully, and if there is any abuse of which he is made aware, he has the duty to address it.  The faithful deserve to have the Mass celebrated for them as the Church intends.  And while there may be different elements of the liturgy that may vary, such as music, tone of voice, directionality in prayer, the prayers of the Mass, particularly the Eucharistic Prayer, are to be followed, both as an expression of obedience to the Church and in giving proper glory to God.

 At every celebration of the Mass, the celebrant will mention the names of the Pope and the local bishop.  This is a significant point of the Eucharistic Prayer for both the celebrant and the laity.  For the celebrant, as mentioned above, it is a reminder of the communion he should have with the Church, expressed in a visible way through his relationship with his bishop, on whose behalf he collaborates in ministry in the diocese, and with the Pope, the visible sign of unity of Catholics throughout the world.  It is an opportunity for him to be praying for these two key individuals who are essential to his identity as a priest, as one who is not a lone ranger, but who is united with his brother priests in the diocese and throughout the world.  For the faithful at Mass, the mention of the Pope and local bishop is a similar reminder, that as Catholics, our identity is much broader than the parish to which we belong.  To be sure, we should have a great love and commitment to our local parish, but a parish is never an isolated entity.  It exists in communion with the other parishes of the diocese and throughout the world.  The Pope and the bishops serve as visible reminders of the unity that must always exist.

A key aspect of our being Catholic is having this understanding of being in communion with other Catholics throughout our diocese and throughout our world.  This is an area where I believe we are in need of continual conversion.  Even if we do not always agree with something that Pope or the bishop has said or done, let us not let that be a reason for us to weaken our communion with them, and as a result, with one another.  Jesus says in the Gospel that “a house divided against itself will stand.” (Mt. 12:25)  If we are not praying for unity in the Church on a regular bases, both locally and universally, , now is a time to start.  And there is no better way to do so than when the Pope and local bishop are mentioned in the Eucharistic Prayer at every Mass.  

Father Alford     

Answer:  In the weeks leading up to Ash Wednesday, it is not uncommon to see old, dried palms show up in the Atrium.  These palms are typically from the previous year’s Palm Sunday masses.

Let’s address the first question.  What do we do with old palms?  The answer to this can apply to a whole host of blessed items.  When something is blessed, it is to be used for devotional purposes.  If the item breaks, wears out, or it no longer usable, then the question arises as to how best to dispose of those items?  The tradition response is that these items should either be burned or buried.  An article I read on this topic offers a nice explanation as to why this practice is observed: “The tradition of returning blessed items to the Earth stems from the idea that an object sanctified in God’s name should be returned to God, much like the way a person is buried and returned to the earth.”

So when it comes to palms, what should we do with them?  In the late 1800’s, the Church issues a few different decisions on how to dispose of blessed items.  Among them was a directive on what to do with blessed palms.  It directed that palms are to be burned, and the ashes then used for distribution on Ash Wednesday or returned to the ground.

Here is where the second question comes in.  What do we do with all of those palms that people drop off at the Church?  First of all, we are not asking anybody to drop old, blessed palms off, people just do it, likely for the reason I mentioned above regarding Ash Wednesday.  Now, I hope this does not disappoint or scandalize you, but we do not burn those blessed palms in order to make ashes to be distrusted on Ash Wednesday.  We have a bucket full of ash, from which we extract a small amount each year.  Based on it’s current capacity, I would guess we have ashes for a decade or two!  So, when we get these palms, we usually just burn them in the fire at the Easter Vigil, then those ashes are placed in the ground.

So, if you still have palms, and are wondering what to do with them, I would encourage you to consider burning them outside at your home and then burying the ashes in the ground.  If you bring them to us, we will eventually burn them, but we certainly do not require any of those palms for making ashes for Ash Wednesday.  So if you do not absolutely need to bring them to us, then please take care of them in the way mentioned above.

Feast Day: February 11^th 

So I went deep down a Wikipedia rabbit hole researching “Jones” this week. One of my cousins had her first baby about two weeks ago, the baptism being last Sunday down on Maxwell Airforce Base (she and her husband are in the Airforce), and they named him Jones. I had certainly heard the name before, but almost exclusively as a last-name/surname. So, off I went on a deep-dive into human language, names, and etymology. To save you from a similar investigation: Jones itself originally comes from the Welsh version of “Johnson”, which, as you  may be able to tell without perusing many articles on the subject, is a last-name for somebody who was the son of John. (Many surnames are like this, the father’s name with something added indicating “son-of”, like “Wil-son”, “Fitz-Gerald”, “O-Connor”, or “Rodríg-uez”. Another common way to derive a surname is from occupation [e.g. “Miller”, “Eisenhower”] or location [e.g. “Hamilton”, “Stone”]).

Of course, our rabbit hole now turns to the name “John”, which originally comes from the Hebrew name “Y’hohanan”, a name summarizing the phrase “YHWH is Merciful”. It shows up throughout the Old Testament though it grew greatly in popularity after one of the five Maccabean brothers had that name. Two of the most famous New Testament figures, John the Baptist and John the Apostle, indicate the name’s popularity in Our Lord’s day, and it only grew more widespread as Christian parents chose those saints as patrons for their baby boys. And now you can find versions of this name all over the world: Arabic: يوحنا / Yūḥannā, Chinese: 約翰 / Yuēhàn, Danish: Hans or Johannes, French: Jean, Georgian: იოანე / Ioane, … I think you get the picture!

But … this leads us to that enigmatic name of God, technically called the “tetragrammaton” (Greek meaning “four letters”), the four Hebrew letters: Yod [י], He [ה], Waw [ו], and He [ה], rendered in our Latin alphabet as “YHWH”. This is the name that God gives for Himself while speaking to Moses at the burning bush.

¹³ Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” ¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” ¹⁵ God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

[Exodus 3:13-15]

Whenever you see God referred to as the “Lord” (all capitals) in the Bible, that is an indication that originally the text had this four-letter Divine Name (יהוה / YHWH). To respect and keep holy God’s name, Jews will never articulate it, speaking instead another word such as “Adonai” (Lord) or “Elohim” (God), a practice maintained when one of our bible translations uses “LORD”. (With the same respect, notice that the name “Y’hohanan” itself abridges God’s name to just its first two letters.) As God Himself describes, His name means “He Who is.” Scholars debate endlessly on the topic, but we’re going to trust the LORD on the right interpretation of His name. “H-Y-H” in Ancient Hebrew is the basic infinitive “to be”, and by adding the prefix “Y-”, you make it third-person: “He [Who] is.” 

You might think this has little to do with St. Jonas … and you’d be right. St. Jonas was a little-known monk who became a saint by praying the psalms while making rope for one of St. Pochomius’ monasteries in the Egyptian desert (St. Pochomius an emulator of the famous St. Anthony of the Desert). Sadly, hilariously for me, “Jonas”, derives from the Hebrew name “Jonah” (like the prophet), and probably has no connection to the name “John”. Most scholars think that it simply means “dove”, perhaps linking it to other related words which add a character of flightiness or instability.

Fr. Dominic can only laugh at having followed the wrong trail for so long in investigating today’s saint. Happily, Jonah – both the prophet and the monk – in the end still chose to follow the LORD. Happily for us, we also can always choose Christ no matter which path we’ve gotten ourselves onto thus far.

The first time I travelled outside of the United States was in 2006.  Up to that point, I had only ever attended masses that were celebrated in English.  While in Rome during that trip, I attended Mass one Sunday afternoon in St. Peter’s Basilica that was celebrated in German.  Having taken three years of German, I thought I might be safe, but I soon found out that I struggled to understand pretty much anything, likely because I had not done anything with my German language skills in almost a decade.  Although I found it difficult to understand the words being said, I had absolutely no problem following along with the actions that were taking place.  The flow of the liturgy, and in particular, the actions of the Eucharistic Prayer, were all familiar to me, and there was a great sense of comfort.  Though I was far away from home, listening to words I could not quite understand, I still very much felt at home in the liturgy that I had come to know so well.

I have had many people over the years report similar experiences of attending Mass in an unfamiliar language.  Although it is always nice to understand the words, we know there is more to the Mass than just the words that are spoken.  In the Roman Missal, the book that the presider uses when celebrating Mass, the words that the priest are to say are printed in black, but there are also words in the book that he does not say, and these are printed in red.  These words in red are known as the rubrics.  Speaking of words we might not understand, this is one worth defining.  The entry for ‘rubrics’ the Modern Catholic Dictionary reads as follows:

Originally red titles of law announcements. They are the directive precepts or liturgical provisions found in the Missal, including the Sacramentary and lectionary, and in the ritual, to guide bishops, priests, or deacons in the Eucharistic liturgy, the administration of sacraments and sacramentals, and the preaching of the Word of God. Rubrics are printed in red and are either obligatory or merely directive, as the context makes amply clear. (Etym. Latin rubrica, red earth; title of law written in red; hence law instruction.)

In our formation, priests have been taught the simple, though important liturgical principle: “Do the red and say the black.”  When a priest is faithful to following the rubrics of the Mass, the faithful will be able to follow along much more easily, not so much because they understand what is being said, but because of what is being done.  To be sure, it would be ideal if we understood the words as well, but not understanding the words does not mean that we cannot fully participate in the Mass.  If, therefore, you find yourself in a different country or in a situation where the only Mass available is in a different language, you are not dispensed from attending Mass just because you do not understand the language.  You will always understand the “language” of the actions of the Mass and you will always be able to unite your heart to the sacrifice that is being offered to God on your behalf by the celebrant.

I share this reflection as an invitation to pay closer attention to the actions that accompany the words at Mass, especially during the Eucharistic Prayer.  Perhaps they may seem random, but they are carefully defined and given to us by the Church to be followed faithfully, for they, in addition to the words spoken, are significant to the meaning of the liturgy.  

Father Alford