Grassroots Liturgist

Following the death of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, on Easter Monday this week, there have been many stories and anecdotes about his life and deep faith cropping up in the news, on the internet, etc.   A repeated theme that I have noticed is how strongly his faith was rooted in his life of prayer, and how important the various sacred liturgies of the Church were in nurturing his faith.   Again we come back to the importance of full, conscious and active participation.   It is so easy for us weak, fallen mortals, to say or read the prayers or the Bible without really absorbing into our innermost being what it is that we are saying or reading. I have often noticed, however, that truly holy men and women naturally, without thought, make reference to the Bible, Psalms, or other prayers and readings when talking about or explaining the Christian faith.   I have seen it often in monks, nuns and other religious.   But also lay people. And one story that I read ...

When I was a boy, my mother wouldn’t allowed me to play with the other children on our street on two days of the year.   I knew that these days were important – after all, they had names: Good Friday and Holy Saturday.   I suspect that this was a cultural hand-me-down from her Irish Catholic heritage.   So often, these cultural traditions are rooted in good theory but, after some time, they become an unquestioned expectation of social norms. As such, I never received an explanation other than, “It’s Good Friday/Holy Saturday,” which, to my young mind, seemed a weak justification for curtailing my play time.   I do wish that she had been able to offer a fuller explanation because now, in the greying years of my life, I believe that she was on to something. It comes down to our attitude to the liturgical manifestations of our Faith. One of the oft-repeated phrases to come out of Vatican II is that we, the laity, should have a full, active and conscious partic...

Time disappears when someone we love is dying.   Day cedes to night without much notice.   Activities we have promised to do we discard instead, like the sweater we doff on a slowly warming afternoon.   Routines we never break cease.   Something else has taken our attention, is sitting in our brain, has bound our legs and lowered our head.   Nothing else is important but this person who gave meaning to our life and whose threatened passing wicks away the confidence that hitherto steadied our days.   Yet no death completely surprises, and each one bestows a deeper understanding of the meaning of life. Holy Week invites the entire Church into the emotional experience of loss, fear, and redemption.   We remember the One who died for us.   We accompany his waning days, attentive to his final words and actions, discovering anew our love for one who is lost – and the joy of one who returns. The risen Christ abides in the hearts of believers born gen...

For some of you reading this reflection, especially if you live in and around the tropics, a little context may be needed.   Our parish is in the north of England.   In winters we have very short daylight hours – sunrise ~8:20am and sunset around 3:50pm.   Conversely, our summer daylight hours are long – sunrise ~4:38am and sunset ~9:40pm.   So the start of our Easter Vigil can vary greatly depending on how late or early Easter falls.   Some of you will have noticed that the Easter Vigil this year starts a little later.   Why is this? Easter is a moveable feast.   If you want the technical bit, it occurs on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. Yes, I also had to read that twice!! That by itself, however, does not tell us why our Easter Vigil starts a little later. The Church teaches very strongly that it should be held ONLY during the hours of darkness: “ The entire celebration of the Easter Vigil takes pla...

  “ But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel .” (Lk 24:21) These are the words of the two disciples making their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus.   Their hearts were bereft and their minds clouded in confusion because of what had happened over the last few days. Let’s try to understand and enter their desolation. Jesus had been preaching and teaching for maybe three years.   But in that time, a great multitude had become his followers – his disciples.   They left their homes, the security of all they knew, to follow him – to sit at his feet and listen to his words. Ask yourself whether there is there anyone that you would do that for? And why it was that they did?   We get an idea from the Gospels… “ And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes .” (Mt 7:28-29 & Mk 1:22) It was no earthly authority that Jesus had – that’s...