Censings

FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT – YEAR C November 29, 2015 Saint Cecilia Catholic Community Rev.Dcn. David Justin Lynch Jeremiah 33:14-16 Psalm 25:4-5;8-10;14 I Thessalonians 3:12-4:2 Luke 21:25-28;34-36 + In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, AMEN.        Happy New Year! No, I am not bestowing on you an early wish for a happy two thousand sixteen. I’m wishing you a happy Church New Year. Today is the First Sunday in Advent. The word “Advent” comes from the Latin verb  “advenire,” which means "to come toward, to draw near, to approach." During Advent, we remember and celebrate God's drawing near to us in Jesus Christ. The beginning of another Church year commences with our anticipation of the coming of Jesus as we prepare to celebrate His incarnation.  Beginning the Church year with the First Sunday in Advent is countercultural. It is out of sync with every other time structure in our lives: the academic semester, the fis­cal year, the

FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING – YEAR B November 22, 2015 Saint Cecilia Catholic Community Palm Springs, CA Rev. Dcn. David Justin Lynch II Chronicles 5:1-2;11-14 Psalm 150 Colossians 3:12-17  John 18:33b-37 +In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, AMEN.        When we think of kings, we think of sovereign rulers, someone in charge of a country who rules autocratically by decree. Living in a country where there is a king gives some people a high degree of security. We who live in a constitutional democracy have trouble with the concept of a king. Kings have a bad reputation among Americans: this country was born out of rejection of a monarchy, to escape an oppressive King of England. Hereditary rulers with absolute power are an anathema to us.  We’re accustomed to elected officials who return to private life. In the rest of the world, monarchies have constitutionally limited powers in most of the countries where they still exist, with kings and

THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR B November 15, 2015 Saint Cecilia Catholic Community Rev. Dcn. David Justin Lynch Daniel 12:1-3 Psalm 16:5;5-11 Hebrews 10:11-14;18 Mark 13:24-32 + In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, AMEN.        Today’s Gospel reading is a bit scary. It’s what’s called an apocalypse, what the dictionary describes is a destruction of the world on a truly catastrophic scale.  Imagine the wind and water of Hurricane Katrina in two thousand five, plus an earthquake like the one in San Francisco during the nineteen eighty nine World Series, plus the fire of the nine-eleven attacks of two thousand one, all occurring at the same time, in the same place, with only a small and lucky percentage of the population surviving.  And just a few days ago, the people of France experienced an unfortunate foretaste of mass disaster, which I am sure they perceived as apocalyptic.        The Bible as we know it has two major ex

THIRTY SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR B November 08, 2015 Saint Cecilia Catholic Community Rev. Dcn. David Justin Lynch 1 Kings 17:10-16 Psalm 146:7-10 Hebrews 9:24-28 Mark 12:38-44 + In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, AMEN.        Today’s readings are about generosity and trusting God. Western  Christianity,  both  Catholic  and  Protestant,  share  a  two thousand year history in liberating humanity from the oppression of poverty which remains a work  in  progress.  Churches try to make a dent in the problem by participating in social services programs to feed hungry people and house homeless people. Some even provide cash assistance.  This is something churches are expected to do, and with the rise of conservatism in this country that has resulted in cutbacks to social programs to take care of the least among us, those are important ministries. Saint Cecilia’s will, from time to time, assist with those ministries, with both pers

ALL SAINTS DAY November 01, 2015 Saint Cecilia Catholic Community Rev. Dcn. David Justin Lynch Revelations 7:2-4, 9-14 Psalm 24:1-6 1 John 1:1-3 Matthew 5:1-12A        +In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, AMEN. If you ask many people who were not raised in some variation of the Catholic tradition, what All Saints Day is, you’d likely be asked, “What’s that?” The short answer is, today is the day we honor those whose lives are significant, but no longer with us. Today we celebrate a prayerful bond between the Church Militant, those of us here on earth, and the Church Triumphant, those who’ve left us and gone on to the next world. Showing honor to ancestors is part of many religions and cultures throughout the ages, including ancient Egypt, the Roman Empire, Africans, Asians, and Muslims, to name just a few. From that, we can conclude an ongoing relationship with the departed is not just a Catholic thing, but part of the primordial spi