From all over….
First at our local parish, which is St. Peter’s. Opening and closing hymns were the hymn in honor of St. Peter – “O Sing the Great Apostle” I think. Is that it?
Homily pulled from all the readings, pointing to the fact that this is not the past we are talking about, that St. Peter and Paul are not figures to admire from afar, but men whose love of Christ and willingness to spread that Good News is a call to us – all of us – today to do the same.
Boyz were good. I really do think we are past the worst. Well past. Joseph is always very good – wants his own missalette/hymn book, tries to follow along with varying degrees of interest, depending on his mood. I do think we have his first grade teacher to thank for that. Michael draws on the bulletin, pays attention sometimes, studies the floor sometimes, but has finally internalized the concept of “church voice.” Thank goodness.
Parents of young children, take heart!
Before we left, I caught some of EWTN’s Mass, with Bishop Baker presiding. I’m sure his homily will be posted on the diocesan website soon, but from my recollection, it was a good call to deeper discipleship during this Year of St. Paul. He hit particularly strongly on divisions within the Church – echoing the Pope’s repeated call to American Catholics on that score. He also told a good story about being interviewed by a student from the local Catholic high school about the Year of St. Paul. He said all Catholics were being encouraged to read all the Letters of St. Paul. “Oh, I’ve already done that, Bishop.” In fact, this young lady was taking the season (it was Lent) to memorize a Scripture verse a day. Well, good, said the Bishop, let’s hope more of your fellow Catholics will do as you’re doing.
“Well, yes,” said the young lady, “but I’m a Methodist.”
Finally, to Rome.
You can find images and commentary on this morning’s Mass at NLM and Fr. Z’s. It was a morning rich in symbolism – of reaching back to the past, recognizing and celebrating that the past is truly not the past, and hope for the future.
When Benedict’s homily and the Patriarch’s remarks are translated…will post.
After the proclamation of the Gospel, Benedict XVI introduced the address by Bartholomew I, which emphasised the profound unity and friendship that binds Constantinople (“the new Rome”) and the “old Rome”. He affirmed that theological dialogue “continues forward, beyond the considerable difficulties that remain and the well-known problems”, and expressed his hope that soon, “as soon as possible”, full unity may be reached. The visit of the delegation from the patriarchate to Rome for the feast of the holy apostles – which has become a tradition – is itself an expression of this desire, and of a form of unity already present. This year, Bartholomew I himself wanted to be present in order to repay the pope’s visit to Constantinople last November, but above all to inaugurate together the Pauline Year, at the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Saint Paul. Bartholomew I said that for them as well, this is “the Year of the apostle Paul”, in which the Church of the East has planned pilgrimages to Rome and to the places of the apostle’s activity in Turkey (Ephesus, Miletus, etc.) and to Greece, Rhodes, and Crete.
In his homily, the pontiff emphasised above all the value of Rome, as the place of the martyrdom of the two apostles: “Through their martyrdom, they became brothers; together they were the founders of the new Christian Rome”. And he added: “The blood of the martyrs does not call for vengeance, but rather reconciles. It does not present itself as an accusation, but as ‘luce aurea’ . . . as the power of love that overcomes hatred and violence, thus founding a new city, a new community. Because of their martyrdom, they – Peter and Paul – are now part of Rome: through martyrdom, Peter as well became a Roman citizen forever. Through martyrdom, through their faith and love, the two apostles show where real hope lies, and are the founders of a new kind of city that must be formed continually anew in the midst of the old human city, which remains under threat from the opposing forces of sin and human egoism”.
Benedict XVI asked “why” Peter and Paul came to Rome. “[For Paul,] going to Rome was part of the universality of his mission to all peoples. The road to Rome . . . was an integral part of his task of bringing in the Gospel to all the gentiles – of founding the catholic, universal, Church. Going to Rome was for him an expression of the catholicity of his mission. Rome must make the faith visible to all the world, it must be the place of encounter in the one faith”.
For his part, the pope continued, Peter is the one who opened the doors of the pagans to the Christian faith (see the episode with the centurion Cornelius, Acts 10). “Peter”, the pope explained, “. . . left the leadership of the Christian-Jewish Church to James the Less, in order to dedicate himself to his true mission: to his ministry for the unity of the one Church of God formed from Jews and pagans. St Paul’s desire to go to Rome emphasises – as we have seen – among the characteristics of the Church, above all the word ‘catholic’. St Peter’s journey to Rome, as representative of the peoples of the world, falls above all under the word ‘one’: his task was that of creating the unity of the catholica, of the Church made up of Jews and pagans, of the Church of all peoples. And this is the permanent mission of Peter: to make it so that the Church never be identified with a single nation, with a single culture or a single state. That it always be the Church of all. That it unite humanity beyond all boundaries, and, in the midst of the divisions of this world, make present the peace of God, the reconciling power of his love”.
The unity of the Church, guaranteed by the ministry of Peter and of his successors, is not an end in itself, but a necessity for the world, which is always divided: “Thanks to the uniformity of technology, thanks to the worldwide network of information, thanks also to the connection of common interests, there now exist in the world today new ways of unity, which are however leading to an explosion of new disagreements, and giving a new impetus to old ones. In the midst of this external unity, based on material things, we need interior unity all the more, which comes from the peace of God – the unity of all those who through Jesus Christ have become brothers and sisters. This is the permanent mission of Peter, and also the particular task entrusted to the Church of Rome”.
The last part of the homily was dedicated to the 40 archbishops who received the pallium from him today, a collar made of lamb’s wool, embroidered with five crosses (a symbol of the five wounds of Christ). Among the archbishops – from all over the world – there were also some from Asian dioceses: Archbishop Fouad Twal, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem; John Hung Shan-Chuan of Taipei (Taiwan); John Lee Hiong Fun-Yityaw, of Kota Kinabalu (Malaysia); Archbishop Paolo Pezzi, from Moscow. The archbishop of Patna, William D’Souza, will instead receive the pallium in his see.
“When we take the pallium upon our shoulders”, the pope explained, “this gesture reminds us of the Shepherd who takes upon his shoulders the lost sheep, which on its own was not able to find the way home, and brings it back to the fold”. But Jesus Christ “also wants men who will ‘carry’ together with Him” lost humanity.
I actually think this morning’s liturgy gives us a good opportunity to consider what liturgy is for Catholics and the Orthodox – the Apostolic Churches. I am not going to distract us from the question at hand – what did you see and hear – for this, because I hope to do something longer later. But simply consider this.
As I have written many times before, it is perhaps time to seriously and honestly consider the messages many of us have absorbed about liturgy over the years. I think many of us think of the Mass essentially as a prayer meeting in which the content of what happens there is provided by us, what we bring – our sensibilities and our needs.
This is, naturally enough, a reaction against the popular perception of years past in which the nature of the congregation’s participation in the Mass had perhaps been obscured. Please – this is not the place to rehash those discussions – later! – but as obviously rich as the celebration of the Mass before the Council could be, the Liturgical Movement happened because many concluded that the laity could perhaps be encouraged to connect more consciously with the the presence of Christ in the liturgy, both by increased catechesis and reforming the liturgy itself.
In the past decades, however, what has happened is that for many, that ancient understanding of liturgy has been lost. And that ancient understanding is that the Mass is, among many other things, an entity that (for lack of a better phrase) “holds” the Faith. It is the place and time in which we encounter Christ in his fullness, which includes how He lives and reigns through His Church.
Which is why, I would add, that one of the primary means of evangelization for Catholicism has always been through the liturgy. Concern with the celebration of the liturgy and its symbolism is not “aesthetics” – although, like anything else, it can be misdirected in that fashion, and the point can be lost in obsessions about details – but such is the case with any of us and our interests. But the fundamental spirit is a concern that the fullness of this faith – the faith that we know through Christ and His Church – is expressed clearly, richly and evocatively. In a way that expresses what this Real Presence is and means, part of which involves mystery.
And so today, just one point.
So a bunch of archbishops are given some stoles. So what? Why the fuss? Why not just hand them to them after lunch?
Because this is the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, whose ministries are continued in the ministries of these men.
Because the pallia are woven in part from the wool of lambs and embroidered with crosses.
Because the night before this Mass, this is what happens:
On the evening before St. Peter’s Day, the pope places them overnight in an alcove below the high altar in St. Peter’s Basilica. This niche lies directly above the tomb of St. Peter himself, and so the pallia are thought to become contact relics, blessed by the apostle whom Jesus commanded to “tend his sheep” and “feed his lambs,” and offering a share in his authority. Reception of the pallium is thus a sign of a bond to the see of Peter and of participation in the pope’s universal solicitude as vicar of Christ, the Good Shepherd.
And then at Mass, the deacons bring the pallia up from the confessio and they are placed upon the shoulders of the Metropolitan Archbishops.
From Peter’s bones, broken for Christ…lamb’s wool…crosses..to their own shoulders. Shepherds.
Every human act that seeks to touch and be touched by God runs a risk of derailment. A casual prayer meeting runs the risk of solipsism, of a narrowness of vision. Ritual runs the risk of distancing and distracting us in those very acts that are supposed to bring us closest to Christ and, because we are His Body, to each other. An Archbishop, taken up by the moment, might be tempted to absorb it all as “honor” rather than a call to deeper, more sacrifical service.
But so all of us our tempted to fall short in our own calling.
It also might be tempting for some to consider the simple fisherman, St. Peter, upon whose bones this great edifice and elaborate ceremony takes place, and devalue the latter as somehow a betrayal of the former. But is it? Our Church is one that recognizes and celebrates the rich totality of God’s ways in the world. Our saints have worn the rich robes and have challenged those in the robes. Our saints have been concerned with detail and minutiae, our saints have knelt on stone floors, simple and grateful in the presence of God. Our saints have fished – in all kinds of ways. WIth hand woven nets, with embraces of leprous bodies, with rough words and fine Latin phrases.
There is no cause. There is only Christ, who comes to us as we are, in a world at once simple, complex, rich in its poverty, plain and obscure. As members of his body we listen, we correct each other, we balance each other, we are willing to learn, expand our vision and admit our mistakes.
But most of all, we are willing to follow, love and suffer, living and working in all the diversity of human experience and ways of knowing and being.
Sts. Peter and Paul..orate pro nobis.
So – back to the matter at hand. What did you see and hear? Was the Year of St. Paul mentioned?
(And for more on the pallium see here and here.)
I went to mass in Sun City, AZ. It was edifying for me because the priest must be in his 80’s or 90’s and has difficulty walking but he did not miss a beat. Arthritis I think.
His sermon was about Peter and Paul and to look to them for example. Also look to the pope(s) for example. He informed us that today starts the Pauline Year and something we could do is read all the epistles of St. Paul this year and reflect on them.
The music was not that great. It is a very small church, limited resources, but they tried. The only song I knew was America the Beautiful which I guess we sang because the 4th is around the corner.
I went to the Vigil Mass last night. A reliquary was displayed next to the altar and at the beginning of the homily we found out that it contained relics of St. Peter and St. Paul.
Homily was from the readings, mostly the Gospel, and dealt with the unchanging nature of truth and the infallibility of the Pope and what a gift it is. I noticed a specific emphasis on “you”, when reading Jesus’ words to Peter.
The homily by our Deacon for St. Peter and St. Paul when speaking on the papacy went on to mention the 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae and he listed everything Pope Paul VI predicted which has all sadly come true. Quite a good homily overall.
Saturday Vigil Mass
Fr. noted that a lot of people who usually go to the 9 a.m. Sunday Mass were present and wondered aloud what was going on that he wasn’t aware of. He said that perhaps they just knew that there were two sets of readings for the weekend and they wanted to hear both! One of our deacons was present and he read the gospel. The psalm was sung beautifully.
I just don’t remember for sure if Fr. mentioned the Pauline year or not. I think that perhaps he did, but I was already aware of it so it may have just passed over me. He did talk about what a significant feast day it was as the readings took precedence over the Sunday readings. He said that martyr meant witness. He mentioned that Christ asked Peter three times if he loved him and related this to St. Peter denying him three times. He talked about the four major basilicas of Rome — that St. Peter’s is built over the tomb of St. Peter and that St. Paul’s Outside the Walls is built where tradition says that St. Paul died. He talked about the importance of the relics of the saints and noted military chaplains took an altar stone with them to use when they said Mass. At the end of Mass he offered a prayer for all who will be traveling to World Youth Day in Australia, especially a young man from our parish. I do hope I have recalled correctly and have not misquoted anything.
On Sunday morning I was able to watch/listen to most of the EWTN Mass with Bishop Baker. As I recall, when he was moved to Birmingham from Charleston there was discussion about the size of the two dioceses and the significance of Birmingham because of the location of EWTN. I thought to myself this morning that it was such a smart decision as millions can benefit from hearing him now. What a blessing to those who are unable to go to Mass — literally as he gave an apostolic blessing to those present and those watching the live broadcast at home.
Oh, we had no incense, but as usual, we had BELLS!
Amy, which publisher does your parish use for hymnals?
I winced a bit when our homilist stated matter of factly that Jesus’ words to Peter as the Rock in Matthew 16:18 marked the birth of the Church. My wife reminded me in the car that he may have lapsed into his school-boy theology on that point, overlooking the pneumatic episodes of the post-Resurrection account, or even John 19:30 for that matter.
As luck would have it, I happen to be reading “Jean Gerson and the Last Medieval Reformation.” It reminded me of how the Church has wrestled with the question of Petrine ministry [and Pauline, for that matter.] Bishops and theologians of the 1400’s were genuinely perplexed about the precise nature and powers of the papal office. One can hardly blame them, in the midst of the Great Schism. The various men claiming papal legitimacy were generally a credit to neither their predecessors nor their successors.
Gerson himself was cautious about the Matthean text of today’s liturgy. He argued, not without merit, that if Matthew 16:13-19 is a statement about Church governance, one cannot arbitrarily overlook 18:15-18, where the power of the keys is a charism of responsibility for the entire Church. [I will be gently silent on the historical/Christological considerations of Matthew's Gospel that underpin any consideration of the text.] I did find it curious that in the first reading Herod, to curry favor, killed James and not Peter.
My reaction to this rare Sunday observance of Peter and Paul is this: Revelation elucidates its secrets to impoverished believers, and we do well to approach the mystery of Apostolic witness and succession with open minds and hearts.
5 p.m. mass in the Colleges’ chapel (yay, they’ve made it year round, so now mass on campus is no longer under threat!).
Year of St. Paul was the conclusion to a fine sermon by Fr. William Coffas on Peter and Paul building and extending the young Church, and us following them. He gave some suggestions for the year, ranging from as little as listening more closely to the 2nd readings at mass to formal study groups.
The recessional? “How Great Thou Art” to a harmonica accompaniment. I am not joking.
Louisiana here. This was our first time attending Mass at the parish just down the road from our new home… We were pretty impressed by the homily.
Fr. preached about the differences between Sts. Peter and Paul, but said that they shared two very important qualities: 1) They had a passion to preach the Gospel, and 2) They were both very aware of their individual faults and sins and threw themselves upon God’s mercy to deliver them. He mentioned the church of St. Peter-in-Chains in Rome, linking it to this morning’s Gospel. Both Sts. Peter and Paul had their individual chains, he said, but they were delivered from those chains because they trusted in God’s mercy and grace and always strove to serve him more and more. And through their work, countless people came to know the Gospel. In this year of St. Paul, Fr. said, we ought to make an extra effort to be conscious of our own faults, repent of those sins, and live our lives as witnesses to the Gospel.
St. Martin of Tours, Louisville KY
Great mass. The sermon was taken from the readings, and concentrated on the fact that we are members of One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic church. The role of our apostolic origins and teh apostolic succession. The fact that although the liturgical expressions of our faith are mutable, the faith is not.
Also mention that this is a special day for us, as it is the observance of the Founding of the Catholic Church in Louisville, the 200th aniversary of our Archdiocese, (it’s the second oldest established for the US, (by virtue of being isted before Boston in the documents) and the first inland diocese in the US. So, tieing that into the continuity of the Faith, handed on by the apostles, was good.
People responses in Latin. Sursam Corda, Preface (sung) and Roman Canon in Latin, ordinary form. Hymns good, from the adoremus hymnal, the closing hymn recounting, (as did the homily) the methods of martydom of Ss Peter and Paul.
In a small country church, the Mexican priest presides over the English Mass in his thick accent. He talks of how Peter received the keys from Jesus. He shares how Paul was the great Apostle to the Gentiles, and he makes me think how we should all share the Gospel.
I can’t help but think how I am participating in the Mass worldwide. I have seen the pictures from Rome, and feel like I am involved.
As I watch, the small children in the pews ahead. The bigness of the Church is felt. I am in worship with the whole world even Amy Welborn and the entire Catholic blogsphere.
Mass today was not too different from what it usually is, except for the readings and the prayers of the day. The hymns didn’t seem to have any specific connection to Saints Peter & Paul, and I don’t remember any mention of the Year of St. Paul. The mass was celebrated by a retired priest who helps out at our parish. He performed the sprinkling rite and his homily was short and it was more like an overview of the feast (“today is a special feast day, they were martys, this is what being a martyr means, etc…”) rather than a deep, expansive sermon. But I’ll always cut Father about a million miles of slack because even though he’s elderly, forgetful and in delicate health he’s helped out at the parish for years. That church would suffer without his help.
After mass I wondered why the hymns didn’t seem to have to do with the feast. I do think the music group at that mass is capable and talented. I guess it just didn’t occur to them to make that connection and I think it’s a real shame because I know they’re very generous with their music ministry. I guess they don’t realize it could function better , I think, if it drew a closer and clearer connection to the liturgy of the day. (And I know that chant propers would be best blah, blah, blah, but realistically in the context of a parish where that’s not possible then at least having hymns that express the theme of the day/season would be a good thing.)
I can’t really blame them (the music ministry) because nowadays it’s not a connection that’s obvious to a lot of people and personally, I think the leadership at that church doesn’t exactly encourage anyone to make those connections. So it’s funny to come here and read Amy’s thoughts about the liturgy being a vessel for the faith and a means of fully expressing that faith because I think this aspect of today’s mass illustrated that point. It was a lost opportunity.
Sunday afternoon our family attended a Mass honoring the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, celebrated by Bishop David Zubik in Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of St. Paul (which has a special connection to the saint, obviously
.
The initiation of the Year of St. Paul was a focus for the Mass and the bishop’s homily, which was wonderful, as always. He focused on the apostle’s life and sacrifice, and related the story of the arrest and captivity of a Vietnamese bishop, who had an inspiring devotion to to the Eucharist during the decade he spent in prison. (Deacon Greg Kandra shared the same story in his homily here:
http://deacbench.blogspot.com/2008/06/homily-for-june-29-2008-feast-of-saint.html
Bishop Zubik also encouraged Eucharistic adoration in the parishes in his homily. He’s a gifted homilist who truly knows how to connect with people of all ages. It’s great to have him back in the ‘Burgh (sorry Green Bay!) The Mass was concelebrated by many diocesan priests. Beautiful choir. Music ranged from Bach and Mendelssohn to Haugen!
Everyone also received a simple brochure which explained, in plain language, the Indulgence granted for the Year of St. Paul. It also listed diocesan churches with St. Paul as their patron. We were also given a holy card with a prayer to St. Paul, illustrated by an image of the saint from a church in one of the local steel towns (nice touch).
Finally, everyone received the bishop’s new pastoral letter, The Church Alive, which summarizes his conviction that God is calling us to be excited about our faith and serious about spreading it, as St. Paul did (came with a study guide and questions for discussion).
All in all, a wonderful way to start the Year of St. Paul. I have no idea what happened in our regular parish, but I’m glad I didn’t miss this.
St. Vincent Ferrer, New York, NY
Liturgy was beautiful – sang “Faith of our Fathers”, “Lift High the Cross”, etc. The red vestments on the Dominican Friars were amazing. The year of St. Paul was definitely mentioned. The homily focused on St. Peter and St. Paul, the apostolic nature of Christianity and Christianity as a faith of the Word, not just the book.
Later that evening, the same church hosted a kick-off event for the year of St. Paul. Fr. Peter John Cameron, O.P. (Editor in Chief of Magnificat) gave a talk about “How St. Paul prayed the Our Father.” Then there was a short sacred music concert. Very nice.
Very good homily at my parish. Father managed to fit in the patronage of Sts. Peter & Paul of Rome. Relay the Holy Father’s announcement of the Pauline Year and talk about Patriarch Batholomew’s visit to Rome, with extensive quotes from the Holy Father’s address.
A lot of ground for a not overly long homily.
Weirton West Virginia, St Joseph the Worker parish.
Our pastor not only announced the Pauline Year, but has asked that EVERY PARISHIONER who can read, to read every letter of St Paul one chapter a day – I think he said 88 chapters in all – beginning with Romans! Nice! He said that he will be talking about them during his homilies during the coming year and announcing the activities St Paul’s parish, also in Weirton, will be doing such as their St Paul Pilgrimage to Greece, Turkey, Rome etc. (I do have a hard time thinking Modern Cruise Ship = Pilgramage, but you gotta get there somehow, I guess!)
Fr Borgmeyer also quoted Pope Paul VI on St Paul, and how we have to be personally converted by the Gospel, by Christ, Himself the Word of God, so we can join in that ministry of unifying fellow Christians and evangelizing those who do not know Christ as St Paul did.
All in all quite impressive for a little steel mill town!
There was also a letter from Bishop Bransfield on the Pauline year in each bulletin.
To contribute to the substance of this thread:
I asked about your hymnals because the books we currently use (GIA’s Catholic Community Hymnal and WLP’s Seasonal Missalette) have no Peter-&-Paul-specific stuff; my wife had to pick some more generic hymns. Fortunately, both sources had “Faith of our Fathers,” which is eminently appropriate for this day; we opened with that, and went on to “O God, our Help in Ages Past,” “I Received the Living God,” and “Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones.” I sang the Vesper hymn “O Roma felix” at the end of communion at the first Mass this morning.
Monsignor made a casual mention of the Pauline year, but nothing obvious if you didn’t already know about it. His homily, though, was good; he mentioned Flannery O’Connor’s habit of making the unlikliest person in her stories to be the channel of God’s grace, pointing out that hers was a divine method, inasmuch as God likes to do the same (witness today’s saints). Therefore, none of us should count ourselves out of God’s plan; we, like Sts. Peter and Paul, should be ready and receptive for whatever work God entrusts to us.
The Pauline Year was indeed mentioned at our parish in Silicon Valley. There was an icon of Paul up on the altar during the Mass. The parish handed out bookmarks commemorating the Year afterwards, and showed a film on the life of St. Paul which I wasn’t able to attend. And somehow my family ended up with a whole slew of bookmarks…
There was an article in the diocesan newspaper stating that the noon Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark would be especially for the inauguration of the Year of St. Paul so my husband and I decided to go and we were not disapppointed. Certainly the Mass is the Mass (the highest form of worship) regardless of the externals — the architecture, music, homily,etc. But when all those things combine to lift people’s minds and hearts to God it is the essence of worship. It was an extraordinarily beautiful Mass in an exquisite setting . The music was appropriate for the solemnity and not too difficult for the congregation to sing. The processional and postlude were played on the organ. The Cathedral Choir sang Palestrina’s Tu Es Petrus during the preparation of the gifts and How Lovely Are the Messengers by Mendelssohn after Communion. The homily about St. Paul was outstanding emphasizing his message that Christ is all and his call to seek transformation in Christ as he himself did, Saul becoming Paul after his encounter with Christ. And it was announced that one of the ways a plenary indulgence could be gained was to take part in a religious function in honor of St. Paul on the opening day of the Pauline year in any place of worship and under the usual conditions. I am very grateful for the opportunity to attend this Mass and realize that being there has made me decide to spend time this year studying St. Paul’s epistles.
We had a really good homily from our pastor, about how the missions and martyrdoms of St. Peter and St. Paul are really topical to us today. He also talked about how the Church is holy, but plenty of stuff done in the Church isn’t, and we have to get off the stick and both talk about it and do something about it. Oh, and he quoted B16.
Peter’s Pence was briefly mentioned, too.
One of those interesting silences both during and afterwards — not disagreeing, not awed, but definitely filled with people thinking hard.
No mention of the Anno Paolino here in Northeastern Washington State accept during the announcements that I deliver after mass. I’m excited for the year, but disappointed in my diocese’s lack of promotion. Our parish has special Bible studies and gatherings planned.
6 pm Vigil Mass, St. Michael’s BW,Germany
With the exception of the altar servers and the celebrant, I was the only attendee under 40 and maybe under 50 and there were also very few men. Very different from Sunday AM.
The priest is the chaplain for the college ministry and having been to some of those Masses, I was was preparing myself to “offer it up” – but it was one of the most “say the black, do the red” Masses I have been to since I came to Germany. The nicene creed won’t be said here until the second coming, I am firmly convinced, but the traditional “replacement songs” for the Gloria, Agnus Dei, Santuc etc. actually matched the prayers being substituted for, the text of the Eucharistic prayer went unadjusted and the Our Father was said in two pieces. In the end, the celebrant couldn’t help himself and we were instructed to “go and bring peace” instead of “go(ing) in peace” but it was really balm for my soul. (I needed that – and God is good.)
Re: Peter and Paul – The entrance hymn did involve an invocation of the saints generally. The homily addressed the feast day directly. No mention of the Pauline year. Two very different men, the fisher and the highly educated tent-maker. Two men who argued bitterly but for whom Christ was everything sharing the same feast day.
Peter, the impulsive, emotional and weak one, the first to acknowledge Jesus as Lord and yet one who denied him. The unsteady one that Jesus sets as the foundation of his Church.
Paul, the more intellectual of the two, the persecutor, closed minded “engstirnig” and (wait for it) a fundamentalist who becomes a driving force in opening the Church to the non-Jewish world.
The two represent the necessary tension in the Church between the traditional and that which is open to the world.
We heard that Peter and Paul were really good leaders, like George Washington and John Quincy Adams, and that God is calling us to be leaders. And then somehow, we might be called to lay down our lives for Christ. Presumably because people didn’t like out leadership styles, or something. Nothing about the year of St. Paul. Except, in defense, in our bulletin.
Morning Mass at the parish of St. Edith Stein in Brockton. Fr. Smith’s homily began by noting that when questioned about the scriptural basis for the sacrament of penance, today’s Gospel, with it’s concession of the power to loose and bind is one of the ones brought forward. Father’s homily went on to note how both St. Peter and St. Paul had the worst moments of their life, their greatest sins, recorded for all posterity. Not so that we could think, “Well, I’m not so bad in comparison” but rather to show how, with God’s grace, someone who could kill believers because of their faith in Christ and someone who could deny even knowing Jesus to save his skin could become the princes of the Apostles and go on to give their lives gladly in witness to the faith. Father ended noting that there are statues of Sts. Peter and Paul at the entrance to the church, and that while we can sometimes feel embarrassed to enter God’s house as unworthy, or with the taunt of “hypocrite” ringing in our memory, the statues of these saints are there to remind us of the mercy of God who can transform us as he transformed them.
Evening at the Anglican Use congregation for Evensong and Benediction. Homily at this liturgy focused on the martyrdom of the Apostles and the surrounding martyrdom of the Church in Rome under Nero which might have appeared to be the end of the Church, but which proved to be, in Tertullian’s well-known phrase “the seed of Christians”.
Our university parish priest used an unfortunate analogy to illustrate the alliance of Peter and Paul despite their
differences: we were greeted with a click of the Power Point remote to a picture of Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama on stage in Unity, N.H. I still haven’t come down
from the ceiling.
Father contrasted St. Peter and St. Paul. Peter, a fisherman who probably had little education and was not a high status individual. Paul, a Pharisee and Roman citizen who more than likely was an educated man. Peter who knew Jesus and walked with him during his time on earth. Paul who never knew Jesus on earth, yet who had a life changing encounter with him on the road to Damascus.
Both men, very different who had their disagreements. But two men united in love of Jesus and his Church.
At St Teresa in Belleville Illinois, we had 4 musical pieces for Peter and Paul:
Entrance Hymn: By All Your Saints Still Striving with the special verse for Peter and Paul
Presentation of the Gifts: Non Nobis, Domine
[for the ultimate victory of these brave martyr saints]
Post Communion hymn: Go Out to the Whole World, Proclaim the Good News. At the dismissal, father repeated those exact words.
Recessional: Two Noble Saints
Gorgeous red, red, red vestments with the same red colored piece of cloth covering the lower part of the altar.
Homily started by grounding Peter and Paul’s deaths in reality. Father talked about the Scavi and how Peter’s tomb was found (re-found) in the 20th century. How St Peter’s was the 2nd church to be built there and how a plumb line was dropped from the top of the dome and it went down through the layers to the box containing bones wrapped in purple linen. We got the story of Peter’s death and how the obelisk in St Peter’s Square was part of the arena where Peter died and he that he probably looked at not long before he died.
Then on to St Paul and why he wasn’t crucified and why he was executed out the walls of the city. Also how what has been found there is beneath a glass part of the floor so that people can see.
From then it was about Paul’s letters, the year of St Paul and how we should sign up for the study group reading those letters.
Pretty good show for P & P, I think.
St. Paul Church, Nantou, Shenzhen
I am not sure if anyone talked about the Pauline Year at Mass, but we had our annual Mass and supper in honor of St. Paul, the patron of our parish. Three of the four Shenzhen priests concelebrated the Mass, with the fourth at the parish by the end of Mass. Following Mass we gathered around the statue of St. Paul for several hymns and special Pauline prayers.
While I was not sure that the Pauline Year was talked about during Mass, I am pretty sure it was discussed in the hand-out we received about St. Paul. There were pictures of the Pope in the hand-out and what looks like some sort of guide to the Pauline Year, as far as I can tell with my very limited reading ability.
Of course, it is one of those things—I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that it was talked about, even at great length, or that is wasn’t discussed at all. Even after being at this parish for more than a year and a half, I couldn’t even wager which it would be. I know where many people’s hearts lie, but whether the public words are there to match them all of the time is still a different matter here.
The Pauline Year was announced, with the promise of studies to come in the parish.
I can’t remember much about the homily on Sts. Peter and Paul. I got stuck when the pastor made the same comment I’ve heard too often before: Peter was really dense. We have homilies aimed at fifth graders, with all the nuance.
The pastor wore red, but all the altar cloths were Ordinary-time-green. Guess it was too much work….
At the Lutheran parish where I work, there was a much better sermon, comparing the ordinary work of the church with the twin ministries of Sts. Peter and Paul. All the liturgical cloths were red.
Cincinnati vocations director Fr. Kyle Schnippel was our guest priest-celebrant yesterday, which means yours truly had an opportunity to worship through unclenched teeth. He is a reverent, faithful celebrant and gives meaty, thoughtful homilies, and also chants frequently in the vernacular.
http://richleonardi.blogspot.com/2008/06/padre-and-paul.html
Louisville is NOT the “second oldest” (arch)diocese in the United States. It was established April 8, 1808, the very same date that the dioceses of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia were established. (The original seat of the diocese was Bardstown but was moved to Louisville a number of years later. Louisville became an archdiocese in 1937.)
Just enjoying the shout-out for Methodists on EWTN . . . woo-hoo, Methodists! (Would you believe Peter & Paul were mentioned by me in the sermon?)
Music was not especially Pauline or Petrine:
Entrance: Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones
Offertory: Faith of Our Fathers
Communion: Father, We Thank Thee Who Hast Planted
Recessional: Holy God, We Praise Thy Name
Also, we chant the psalm a capella, pretty standard, it is very prayerful I think.
At 7 am Mass, no musician accompanies, so yours truly chants the Introit and Communion antiphons from the sacramentary.
At 9 am Mass, we did have incense–handled expertly by a seminarian staying this summer–and a large group of servers. I chanted part of the Roman Canon.
My homily, about the Apostles and how we share the Mystery of Faith with them in the Eucharist, can be found by clicking on my name below. We’ve been mentioning the “Year of St. Paul” for several weeks from the pulpit–at least, I know two of the three priests have, I am not certain about the third.
It was mentioned, but there was more emphasis on a bottle drive for the local crisis pregnancy center — that is, they were giving everyone a bottle at the end of the service to fill up with money and bring back the next Sunday.