A Note from Father Bill-June 10, 2012
Pace e bene Blessed be God!
Dear Friends:
Here we are at the final celebration of the long Advent/Easter/Post Easter celebra- tions. Last week we focused on the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Holy Trinity. Today we focus on the Holy Eucharist, that mysterious and holy celebration of the Last Supper that Jesus left for us to commemorate His Last Supper with his Apostles. Today, many people have abandoned their worship or have put it in a position of convenience. We worship only if it is convenient for our schedule. So, sporting practice takes precedence over worship. Saturday night events preclude getting up early enough for Mass. Family events are scheduled which exclude time for church. As a result, we worship at our conven- ience, which is no worship at all. It is like finding time to 'do' lunch with a friend whom one hasn't seen for a while. It keeps the contact going but the depth isn't there! We also do not take seriously the words of Jesus: Do this in memory of Me! By recalling the acts of Jesus, we call to mind a whole array of teachings but perhaps the most important and difficult one is the keeping in mind, keeping the presence of God before ourselves. The Eucharist joins us intimately with God. We not only worship God as the awesome Creator and Preserver of the universe, we not only realize that God is the best source of Justice, Goodness and Beauty, but that Jesus becomes part of me, He becomes part of our body and, so, is intimately entwined in our lives. We (He and I) then stand before God justified, purified and redeemed. No tweet can do this, no Face Book communication can do this. Let us keep in mind the beautiful prayer of Samuel as he declared: Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I hope you were able to catch some of the grand celebrations of Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee during the past week. The English know how to do pomp and circumstance. One telling event that impressed me was the procession of millions of people up to the area in front of Buckingham Palace. The area was clear of people but then a line of beautifully dressed guards on horses led this throng of people, maybe 500 thousand (maybe more, maybe less, but a LOT of people!) down the road to the area in front of Buckingham Palace. To me, this was the perfect spectacle of civilized society. It was not a melee, it was not people tram- pling on one another, shooting one another, abusing one another. (One wonders if there were pickpockets there?) This was western civilization at its best. Order, common decency, affec- tion for the culture and one another, recognition that England has a wonderful history, respect for authority: all these qualities do not come out of the air but are part of the western tradition. Tiananmen Square was not like this; the open areas of Syria, Egypt are not like this. We ridi- cule and see western traditional values (Christian ones at that!) but we see what these values can produce and we are impressed.
Here we are at the final celebration of the long Advent/Easter/Post Easter celebra- tions. Last week we focused on the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Holy Trinity. Today we focus on the Holy Eucharist, that mysterious and holy celebration of the Last Supper that Jesus left for us to commemorate His Last Supper with his Apostles. Today, many people have abandoned their worship or have put it in a position of convenience. We worship only if it is convenient for our schedule. So, sporting practice takes precedence over worship. Saturday night events preclude getting up early enough for Mass. Family events are scheduled which exclude time for church. As a result, we worship at our conven- ience, which is no worship at all. It is like finding time to 'do' lunch with a friend whom one hasn't seen for a while. It keeps the contact going but the depth isn't there! We also do not take seriously the words of Jesus: Do this in memory of Me! By recalling the acts of Jesus, we call to mind a whole array of teachings but perhaps the most important and difficult one is the keeping in mind, keeping the presence of God before ourselves. The Eucharist joins us intimately with God. We not only worship God as the awesome Creator and Preserver of the universe, we not only realize that God is the best source of Justice, Goodness and Beauty, but that Jesus becomes part of me, He becomes part of our body and, so, is intimately entwined in our lives. We (He and I) then stand before God justified, purified and redeemed. No tweet can do this, no Face Book communication can do this. Let us keep in mind the beautiful prayer of Samuel as he declared: Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I hope you were able to catch some of the grand celebrations of Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee during the past week. The English know how to do pomp and circumstance. One telling event that impressed me was the procession of millions of people up to the area in front of Buckingham Palace. The area was clear of people but then a line of beautifully dressed guards on horses led this throng of people, maybe 500 thousand (maybe more, maybe less, but a LOT of people!) down the road to the area in front of Buckingham Palace. To me, this was the perfect spectacle of civilized society. It was not a melee, it was not people tram- pling on one another, shooting one another, abusing one another. (One wonders if there were pickpockets there?) This was western civilization at its best. Order, common decency, affec- tion for the culture and one another, recognition that England has a wonderful history, respect for authority: all these qualities do not come out of the air but are part of the western tradition. Tiananmen Square was not like this; the open areas of Syria, Egypt are not like this. We ridi- cule and see western traditional values (Christian ones at that!) but we see what these values can produce and we are impressed.
We all know that the King/Queen of England is the head of the Church of England. We know how difficult, painful and deadly that period was. But I would also like to mention three individuals, three important individuals, who returned to the Roman Catholic Church while still remaining faithful English citizens. These men were three brilliant individuals that saw the Roman Church as the true Church. They are John Henry Cardinal Newman, Augus- tus Welby Pugin and Tony Blair. Since next Sunday we begin the celebration of the era of the Church, I will explain who these men were and why their judgment is important to all of us. Fr. Bill
