Celebrating Mass for the first time

Last Saturday we celebrated the Roman Rite with the revised translation for the first time. I had been practicing a little bit for a couple of weeks, but right before Mass I felt my heart racing. During Mass since then I have felt like I did when I was newly ordained. Hopefully this will restore in me a renewed sense of awe and reverence for the Mass. How does this feel to all of you in the pews? As a priest, I sometimes forget what it is like to attend mass for the people. So, what is your experience of the Mass over the last couple of days.

Funeral

Yesterday, Tuesday November 22, I concelebrated the funeral Mass of Mother Mary of the Angels. The sisters had to rearrange their chapel so that they could maintain their cloister, and welcome the 50 people who came to the funeral. Fr. Edmond Kline, their chaplain, gave a great sermon. At the end of the Mass the people had to leave so that we could carry her body outside and to the burial plot. Only priests are allowed into the cloister, so we had the privilege of carrying the casket through the gate and to the place of burial. It had rained the night before, so the ground was very wet. With every step we took we became a little bit taller as we collected mud on the bottom of our shoes. Mother is the first sister to have died, and her plot is the first on their property. There is no grass, there is no fence. It was bare earth with a hole in the ground. After the prayers we lowered the casket into the ground with ropes, and then we had to leave quickly. We were in the cloister as an exception to the rule, for this special occasion. We left the sisters there next to the grave of their mother. She had taken a vow of poverty many years before, so death took her body, but she had already given everything away a long time ago. She began to draw close to Jesus a long time ago, and death allowed her to realize the union for she has longed. For me, this experience is a reminder to get rid of those things that hold me back from Jesus. I pray for her soul, and when she enters heaven I ask her to pray for me.

Dedication of a Church

Today we remember the Dedication of St. Peter and St. Paul Churches in Rome. The first St. Peter's was built in the 4th century under the reign of Constantine. St. Paul's was also built in the same era. St. Peter's was replaced with the current church. It took 100 years to build and was dedicated on this day in 1625. St. Pauls had a devastating fire in 1823, and it had to be rebuilt and dedicated. The history of these buildings should remind us of the importance of the work of God's grace in our souls and in the Church. The amazing thing is that Our Lord passed the faith onto the apostles and today we strive to receive the faith, to live the faith, and to pass it on. The gift of mercy that Jesus entrusts to the Church must always be something alive and active. Jesus gives us the Church, his body, as the place in which we are nourished, and also as the place in which we are to be active in bringing others to the knowledge of Jesus.

What is a priest?

To live in the midst of the world without wishing its pleasures; To be a member of each family, yet belonging to none; To share all suffering; to penetrate all secrets; To heal all wounds; to go from men to God and offer Him their prayers; To return from God to men to bring pardon and hope; To have a heart of fire for Charity, and a heart of bronze for Chastity To teach and to pardon, console and bless always. My God, what a life; and it is yours, O priest of Jesus Christ. —Lacordaire

Where are you going?

Last night I was called to the Carmelite Cloister to anoint their Mother Superior. I had the privilege to enter the cloister and give her all that the Church can offer to the dying. All the sisters were kneeling around the bed praying for her. I am not sure if she passed away. Please pray for her, and I would say, ask for her prayers. One of the titles of the Blessed Mother is "Gate of Heaven." Truly the Carmelite Cloister is a gate of heaven and all those sisters stand ready at the gate with their lamp burning. This was a wake up call to me to turn my eyes towards my final end, and to embrace that the only purpose of a priest is to help others to get ready for the "Gate of Heaven."

The problem

Today is All Souls Day, I receive confirmation every day of the distance between Jesus' command to love as he loved and my own attempts to love which are so mixed with selfishness. Once in a while I experience the great freedom and power of loving as Jesus did, of forgetting about myself, of doing only what the Father wants. But this is the exception to the rule. These moments are so rewarding and joyful that you would think that I would repeat them, cling to them, desire to only to do the Father's will. I am reminded of Chesterton's definition of insanity. "To crawl inside a box, paint stars on the inside and call it the universe." So life is cramped and depressing and like a chain when I fail to forget about myself, when I can see no farther than my reaction to the world and not see the world itself.