The Power of Symbol
The Confederate battle flag that first flew atop South Carolina’s Capitol dome in 1961 and was later moved to the grounds of the Statehouse is now part of the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum. Just over a week ago, it was taken down after state legislators voted to remove it. From the intense debate over the Confederate flag, we can learn a lot about symbols. Number one, symbols are powerful. Though it has been 150 years since the end of the Civil War, which gave rise to the Confederate battle flag, the controversy surrounding that flag is as strong and as passionate as ever. Second, symbols have many meanings. Some see the Confederate battle flag as a symbol of the South. Others see it as a sign of racism. Third, the meaning a symbol conveys typically depends on our experience with that symbol. For some whites, whose ancestors fought in the Civil War, the Confederate battle flag represents heritage and pride. But for most blacks, the flag represents slavery and oppression.
In a similar way, we can attribute the same characteristics to our liturgical symbols. Our liturgical symbols too are powerful. Emotions are stirred by the healing touch of hands during the anointing of the sick. Tears of joy flow when water is poured over an infant during baptism. Liturgical symbols too have multiple meanings. The cross, for example, is primarily seen by some people as a symbol of suffering and pain. But others view the cross as a sign of resurrection and hope. The meaning of our liturgical symbols also typically depends on our experience with that symbol. If we have primarily experienced water as cleansing and life-giving, then we will see the water of baptism in the same way. If we have primarily experienced water as death-inducing, then we will likely view baptism in that way.
Liturgical symbols are signs of the sacred. They point beyond their ordinary nature to the divine. Liturgical symbols help us to see and to hear and to touch, even if only momentarily, the mystery of God.
The Grace of Simplicity
This year commemorates the centennial anniversary of the birth of Thomas Merton who was born on January 31, 1915. The Trappist monk, who lived at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, authored many books including his famous autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain. Not long after Merton entered the Kentucky Abbey, 21 of his fellow Trappist monks left Gethsemani and came to rural Georgia to establish the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers. That was in 1944.
Now in its 71st year, the monastery in Conyers has encountered many changes over the past seven decades. Most recently, the monastery has expanded its offerings with a new visitor center, gift shop and a green cemetery. But for the 30 monks who live there, life inside the monastery walls has remained the same.
The monks follow the rule of St. Benedict, who directed followers to pray and to work for their living “by their own hands.” The monks pray seven times a day, beginning at 4:00am and they work in various trades, from baking fudge and fruitcakes to making stained glass and growing bonsai plants.
In honor of the Year of Consecrated Life, I visited the monastery to talk about monastic life with Brother Michael Lautieri.
When did you enter the Monastic life?
19 years ago. I came in at 52, and actually there are several of us now that entered in our 40s and 50s. I had two good careers. I was a teacher in a public school for 15 years, and a travel agent for 20 years. I say that now I’m traveling within and it’s much more exciting.
Is it difficult to get up so early every day for prayer?
Yes. When my alarm goes off, the first words out of my mouth are ‘O God, come to my assistance.’ Once I’m out of bed, I’m fine. It’s meant to be a discipline and to show community support because your brothers expect you to be there.
What does the Year of Consecrated Life mean to you?
I’m very glad this year has been dedicated to consecrated life. It’s good publicity. I hope people—even older people—would pursue monastic life. If you are called, it’s a beautiful life. It’s not a very stressful life. It’s a healthy life. We’re very conscious of what we eat and drink … we’re vegetarians. In living this life, you find that you need very little to be happy—all you need is shelter, food and good companionship. That’s all you really need.
For more information on the Monastery of the Holy Spirit, visit www.trappist.net.
St. Thomas Mission Trip 2015
As I write this, it is early Friday morning in Whitesville, West Virginia, and day seven of the St. Thomas Aquinas mission trip. The morning fog rolls off the tips of the Appalachian Mountains that surround this small mining town in the southern part of the state. The decline in the coal industry has left Whitesville, a coal-mining town, with a dwindling population and a high rate of unemployment. Many of those who have remained in Whitesville live in extreme poverty.
For more than 20 years, a group of St. Thomas parishioners has come here during the summer in order to repair homes and to build relationships with homeowners. With guidance from the adults on the trip, the teens fix floors and roofs, build decks and ramps and get to know people who live a very different lifestyle from their own. At the end of the week, the teens were asked to talk about the most meaningful part of the trip. Here is a glimpse of their responses:
To see these people and how they live … some of them haven’t been out of their house in years. The conditions they live in are very bad … they’re living on a day to day basis, just trying to survive. We take so much for granted. Our crappiest day would be considered their best day. ... It’s not really what we’re doing for them, but rather that we’re here and that they have another person, someone else with whom they can share their love and their faith and it’s just so powerful to see that.
Evan Wangenheim, rising senior, Cambridge High School.
It’s meaningful that they allow us to work on their houses. Their trust in us is inspiring.
Savanna Milam, rising junior, Roswell High School.
The most meaningful thing that I learned this week is what a difference one person can make in just one week. Jason Howard, rising sophomore, Cambridge High School .
I will always remember seeing the smile on our homeowner Nancy’s face when we finished the roof. It was incredible to see her happiness.
Rafael Piscopo, college freshman.
It’s been meaningful to see the change in the person after you work on their house … it’s amazing ... for example, Miss Hawkins, when we first got there, she wouldn’t talk to us, she would just peek out the window. That was a couple days ago. Now she has opened up and she’s always out there with us, talking to us.
Meghan Nettuno, rising freshman, home-schooled.
I got to meet a lot of new people. This kid, Jake, who is six years old … he never really went outside his little yard. For the first time, we took him outside to watch the train go by … we squashed some little coins on the railroad track. We gave him one to see the look on his face and he was ecstatic. We always talk about service in the church. This is an excellent opportunity to go out and DO what we’ve been talking about.
Donovan Giardina, rising senior, Sequoyah High School.
Laudato si' and Green Liturgy
Pope Francis is calling for a revolution to combat climate change and save the environment from destruction. His recent encyclical, called
Laudato Si,
which means “Praise Be To You,” is taken from the “Canticle of the Sun,” a song written by Francis of Assisi, the patron Saint of the environment. In the encyclical, the Pope presses for a change in “lifestyle, production and consumption” in order to ensure the survival of the earth. Pope Francis is calling all of us to be attentive to, to respect and to care for all creation.
If we look closely and listen attentively, we will see and hear how the liturgy helps us to attend, to respect, and to care for creation. For the liturgy and the cosmos are deeply intertwined.
The entire liturgical calendar is governed by the cosmos. The full moon of spring determines the date of Easter, from which the entire year is planned. In fact, the mother of all liturgies, the Easter Vigil, begins outside--under the stars with the blessing of one of earth’s primal elements: fire.
During the liturgy, we profess our faith in the God who created heaven and earth. We proclaim in song that heaven and earth are “full of God’s glory.” We are sprinkled with water. We eat bread, “fruit of the earth.” We drink wine, “fruit of the vine.”
The liturgy not only uses elements of our good earth, it teaches us how to be good stewards of the earth’s gifts. Water is blessed, bread and wine are blessed and incensed, oil is sanctified, the altar and the ambo, which are made of material from the earth, are dedicated and consecrated.
The symbols and the rituals of the liturgy tell us that God’s presence permeates the environment, that all of creation reveals the divine, that not the smallest component of our planet is to be taken for granted, and that all creation is holy and is to be treated as sacred. If we do this, we will heed the call of Pope Francis, to look broadly, to live simply and to care deeply.
Silver Rose Relay
Throughout the month of June in the United States, gardeners, florists and rose lovers celebrate National Rose Month. The rose is the state flower of Georgia and the national floral emblem of the United States as declared by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 who said:
Americans have always loved the flowers with which God decorates our land. More often than any other flower, we hold the rose dear as the symbol of life and love and devotion of beauty and eternity. For the love of man and woman, for the love of mankind and god, for the love of country, Americans who would speak the language of the heart do so with a rose.
The rose also has a special place in the heart of the people of Mexico and the Americas because of the role it played in the story of the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Blessed Juan Diego in 1531. Castilian roses miraculously appeared atop a barren, frost-covered hill in December. Those roses helped to prove the identity of Our Lady of Guadalupe as the Mother of God.
To deepen devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, a program called “The Silver Rose Run” was initiated by the youth organization of the Knights of Columbus in 1960. Similar to an Olympic Torch Relay, which creates awareness and enthusiasm before the Olympic Games, the annual Silver Rose Relay is designed to create awareness and enthusiasm before the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12. The relay, which crosses North America, is also meant to highlight Our Lady of Guadalupe as the patroness of the Americas and to foster intercontinental unity. The roses are made from silver because silver is one of Mexico’s precious metals.
This year’s Silver Rose Relay began in April in Canada. Six roses have been traveling via six separate routes throughout Canada and North America. One of those roses will travel through Georgia next week with a stop at St. Thomas Aquinas. That rose will be placed in front of an icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe next Sunday during the 10:30am and 2:30pm Masses before it moves on to the next location. The relay will end on December 12 in Mexico.