The Year of Luke

This weekend, we begin a new liturgical year. That means we will be hearing proclamations from the third of a three-year cycle of Scripture readings, also known as cycle C.  During this year, the gospel proclaimed is from the evangelist Luke. Luke is the only gospel writer who was not a Jew.  He was believed to be Greek and was writing primarily to a community of Gentiles. 

Perhaps because of his Gentile origin, and because he was well-traveled, Luke portrays a broadminded openness to all kinds of people.  He champions the downtrodden and those on the fringes of society. In Luke’s gospel it is the poor and insignificant, e.g., Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph, and the lowly shepherds who are chosen to receive God’s favor. The first time Luke’s Jesus teaches in public, he acknowledges those who are at the heart of his mission and preaching:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  Luke 4:14-19

In this passage, Jesus also announces a Jubilee year, a time of grace, forgiveness and freedom.  It is no coincidence that Pope Francis has declared this year as a Jubilee Year of Mercy, which begins December 8.  The Jubilee Year of Mercy coincides with the unfolding of Luke’s gospel, which is also known as the “Gospel of Mercy.”  Luke emphasizes the mercy of God with parables such as the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son, and with stories of Jesus eating with sinners and rejects.  At every turn, Jesus was breaking bread with someone from the wrong side of town. This is one reason Luke’s gospel is known as the gospel of meals.  As Jim Dunning in Echoing God’s Word, says:  This gospel is like one, long progressive dinner. (Quoting Robert Karris) “Jesus is either going to a meal, at a meal, or coming from a meal.” The climax of all the meal stories in Luke is the appearance of the resurrected Jesus to the disciples on the road to Emmaus.  The disciples, who fail to recognize Jesus, eventually have their eyes opened in the “breaking of the bread.” 

As we feast on Luke’s gospel this coming year, may we discover anew the God who prefers to dine with the broken and bruised, who keeps vigil until the lost have been found and who walks with us, step by step and hand in hand on our life’s journey.

Thanksgiving

We are a people blessed with abundance.  Most of us have sufficient food, plentiful clothes, and warm and safe homes. It is all too easy to take all of the blessings we enjoy for granted.  Thanksgiving bids us pause to stop and take stock of our abundance and to give thanks to the Creator from whom all blessings flow.

In his encyclical, Laudato Si’, Pope Francis urges us to adopt an attitude of attentiveness, an attitude of mindful presence that takes nothing for granted.  One way to maintain this attitude, says the Pope, is to pray both before AND after we eat, not just on Thanksgiving Day, but at each meal:

“One expression of this attitude is when we stop and give thanks to God before and after meals.  I ask all believers to return to this beautiful and meaningful custom.  That moment of blessing, however brief, reminds us of our dependence on God for life; it strengthens our feeling of gratitude for the gifts of creation; it acknowledges those who by their labors provide us with these goods; and it reaffirms our solidarity with those in greatest need.” Ladauto Si’ #227.

Here is a prayer that can be used before and after any meal, any day of the year.

Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation

       through your goodness we enjoy the fruits of the earth

             and we are grateful,

               for bread broken amidst family and friends,

               for food that nourishes and sustains,

               for drink that quenches our thirst,

            May we be ever mindful of what we often take for granted ,

                your bounty that transcends our scarcity,

                your self-giving that outshines our selfishness,

                your faithfulness that trumps our fear.

            We are witnesses to your grace and mercy. 

            In tales told and lives lived, may we be ever willing and ready to share your blessings with others

            as generously as you have shared yourself with us,

                lavishly,

                lovingly,

                unconditionally.

            AMEN

Happy Thanksgiving!

How Many Verses???

When rehearsing songs for a liturgy, it is not uncommon for musicians to ask, “How many verses are we doing?” The short answer is, “It depends.” Longer answers to this question are given in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal.  Here are several examples:

Music during the gathering:

When the people are gathered, and as the Priest enters with the Deacon and ministers, the Entrance Chant begins. Its purpose is to open the celebration, foster the unity of those who have been gathered, introduce their thoughts to the mystery of the liturgical time or festivity, and accompany the procession of the Priest and ministers. GIRM#47

Music during the procession with and preparation of the bread and wine:

The procession bringing the gifts is accompanied by the Offertory Chant which continues at least until the gifts have been placed on the altar. Singing may always accompany the rite at the Offertory, even when there is no procession with the gifts. GIRM#74

Music during communion:

While the Priest is receiving the Sacrament, the Communion Chant is begun, its purpose being to express the spiritual union of the communicants by means of the unity of their voices, to show gladness of heart, and to bring out more clearly the “communitarian” character of the procession to receive the Eucharist. The singing is prolonged for as long as the Sacrament is being administered to the faithful. GIRM#86

As we can see, singing during the liturgy serves several purposes: to accompany the ritual actions taking place, to unite the members of the assembly and to help them to pray.  So the length of a song will depend on the length of a particular procession.  The number of verses sung will depend on how many verses it takes to adequately gather the praying community. In this way, music serves the liturgy, not the other way around.  The liturgical action is primary.  Music sustains the flow of the prayers and the rituals of the liturgy.  Done well, this creates a liturgy that is a seamless garment of praise.

Funeral Planning

November is the month when we the Church remember and honor our dead.  One of the Church’s Corporal Works of Mercy is to bury the dead.  At some point in our lives, we will be involved in planning a funeral liturgy either for a loved one or perhaps for ourselves. The Funeral Rites offer ritual prayers that encourage the Body of Christ to be present and to accompany the dead as they transition from this world. There are rites for use After Death, in the Presence of the Body, during the Transfer of the Body to the Church, the funeral Vigil, Morning and Evening Prayer for the Dead, the Funeral Liturgy, and the Rite of Committal.  These rites are also designed to comfort the family and friends from the time of the death of their loved one to the burial. The familiar rituals of the liturgies help to create order at a time when life is in disorder.

Taking the time to plan a well-designed funeral liturgy is of utmost importance. The readings, songs, prayers, and rites that are chosen should not only reflect the life of the deceased, but should also be an expression of our Christian hope in eternal life. 

Because the Church honors the body as the temple of the Holy Spirit, the Church prefers that the body, rather than the cremains, be present for the funeral liturgy. It is the body that we have known and loved so having the body present can also bring a sense of closure that can aid the grief process more so than the presence of the cremains.

The primary symbols of the funeral liturgy echo the symbols of the baptismal liturgy.  These symbols, the Paschal Candle, the sprinkling with holy water, the placing of the pall, and the procession into the church remind us that the foundation of our faith began at baptism. But the most powerful symbol is the human community journeying with the deceased thereby practicing a work of mercy by assuring the family of God’s eternal presence.

All Saints

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. Keeping memory of holy men and women is a tradition that began early on in the life of the Church. In the first centuries, during the persecution of Christians, those who died for their faith were venerated because of their witness to Christ.  Early Christians honored these martyrs not on the day of their birth, but on the day of their death because that day was believed to be their true birth into eternal life.  Local communities celebrated Eucharist at the tombs, praying both for and to the dead as martyrs were believed to possess great intercessory power. 

The age of martyrdom ended when Christianity became an official religion, but the cult of saints continued.  Persons who were venerated as saints soon included Confessors, those who were persecuted for their faith but not killed, ascetics, virgins, and bishops.  Eventually, that list was expanded to include priests, those in religious life, and laypersons. All of the saints had one thing in common:  their witness to Christ.  They embodied the dying and rising of Jesus by the way they lived.  They allowed the grace of God to triumph in their lives, and were models of Christian living.

Throughout the year, like the early Christians did, we remember individual saints by honoring them on the day of their death. But on this day, the Solemnity of All Saints, we pray in union with the communion of saints, all men and women, living and dead, on earth and in heaven.  This day tells us that God’s grace is embodied and witnessed through many varied personalities and different walks of life.  All Saints reminds us that we are already counted among the blessed, that we too are called to holiness, to model God’s extraordinary grace by the way we live our everyday, ordinary lives.