Censings

At a parish I used to attend, I was thurifer every Sunday for about a year. As Sunday Mass ended and I conclude my thurifer duties, I censed Our Lady of Guadalupe in the back of the Church because I honor Mary. I honor Her because She gave us Jesus.  I also honor Her because She can inspire the Ecumenical Catholic Communion to do great things…if we let Her. Our Lady of Guadalupe, according to a priest in Mexico City , Father Miguel Sanchez, writing in 1648, appeared at Tepayac Hill, an area near Mexico City , on December 09, 1531, to Juan Diego, an indigenous Mexican, as an “apparition,” that is a supernatural vision, similar to Her appearances at Lourdes ( France ), Fatíma ( Portugal ), and Walsingham ( England ). Juan Diego saw an image of an adolescent female surrounded by light. Speaking to him in his Nahuatl language, She asked him to build a Church there in Her honor. Recognizing Her as the Blessed Virgin Mary, Juan Diego reported his vision to the local bishop, Juan de...

At Sunday Mass when we sing or say the Nicene Creed, we “acknowledge one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins. But the Church pays only lip service to this idea. While we read Bible passages about forgiveness, hear confessions, and pronounce absolution, Churches seldom oppose punishment per se in the secular world.   The United States , a supposedly “Christian” country, has yet to read, mark, and inwardly digest the concept of forgiveness. Instead, we have a punishment mentality. Most punishment occurs where someone who has a power relationship over another, whether by contract, law, custom, or brute force, imposes negative consequences on the person in a lesser power position that displeases the person in the greater power position. Examples include: pay your credit card bill late, and you’ll get a late fee. Drive your car too fast, and you’ll pay a fine if the police catch you. Children who disobey their parents get punished, sometimes in brutal ways. Students who disobey scho...

At a home for the elderly, residents with dementia gathered for their weekly rhythm exercises. The therapist directed each member to bang out numbers and shake maracas to the tune of Yankee Doodle. Some who seemed otherwise  non compis mentis  could nonetheless tap on cue. Alzheimer's researchers report that patients unable to speak can sing childhood melodies. Why? Since Acts 2:46 tell us, “Song is the singing of the heart’s joy,” should not the Gospel of Jesus be sung at Mass? The gospels themselves are replete with songs.  Luke contains the “Song of Mary,” the “Magnificat”’ the Song of Zechariah, the “Benedictus”; the angels sing, “Glory to God in the Highest”;  later, we find the Song of Simeon, the “Nunc Dimmitis.”  John’s Gospel begins with a hymn-like prologue recounting the Incarnation. Although in the Western Rite the Gospel is customarily sung at Solemn celebrations of the Eucharist, in most parishes, the gospel is rarely sung. ...