Lent ends quietly, Triduum begins

Sleepless in New Bedford

After an attempt to sleep past 2:00 AM this morning (residual workout muscle pain can bust your chops), I gave up and left my sleeping husband and our snoring cat who sleeps at the foot of our bed. I actually felt hungry (a rare event!) and decided to munch on some fresh bread and grapes while I brewed a pot of coffee and took my morning medication. I turned the heat on to burn off the morning chill that still lingers here in Southeastern New England. The promise of warmer days may be evidenced in the flowers that continue to push their way through the topsoil of the earth's spring crust but the cold morning air gives proof to the night's low temperatures. 

Servitude with a smile

While I sipped coffee, I read several proposals from friends who asked me either to offer an opinion on a social service project or as a proposed program or retreat for the Roncalli Center. As I leafed through each one, I prioritized the order that I would respond to the requests. I want to be thoughtful and intentional to all of these projects. Each one is inspired by the Mandatum of tonight's liturgy of Holy Thursday: The Lord's Supper - service in response to Jesus' command to love one another in endless, agapic love and servitude. My heart warmed as I read each one, all different, all creative and full of God's promise to bring hope to those who hunger and thirst for Christ in efforts for the poor, the hungry, the incarcerated, the immigrant, those without clothes, victims of isolation, abuse and betrayal, children who crave life within the musical and theater arts with no one to teach them for lack of funding. "The joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the people of our time, especially of those who are poor or afflicted, are the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the followers of Christ as well." (Guadiem et Spes, 1) My own aches and pains began to dissipate like our coastal fog burns away at sunrise as I pondered all of these inspired proposals. I am comfortable in my warm home with food and drink, a health care plan and a loving community of family and faith that bolsters me throughout my joys and hopes, grief and anguish. Perhaps this is the reason behind my sleepless nights; there's a lot of work to do in the reign of God here and now for people who are not so fortunate.  

Some of these projects will take years to develop. Others can happen tomorrow if I step away from my desk and just get out there and attend to people. I served for 45 years as a pastoral musician, associate and campus minister in several college settings. My level of frustration wasn't in the students or parishioners, whom I loved being and working with, but the endless meetings and administrative tasks that the work seem to require. "Step away from the desk and get out of your office!" I reminded myself again and again. We need to show up at the feast of life to be with people, learning from Jesus who walked from town to town on foot to be with people. In my experience, presence trumps everything when it comes to joyful witness.

For the Christian who takes tonight's celebration of the Lord's Supper to heart, there will always be the 'other' - those people who will need an embrace, an ear to listen, a glass of water to parched sick lips, someone to feed, nurture and bring Christ's joy with a smile, which persuades far more than any written rubric or legal verbage. We can catch some pretty big fish when Jesus asks us to throw out our nets for a catch. The needs exist in hearts everywhere who wait for a word that will rouse them. But we need to show up in our bodies to do that. Servitude requires action; the gesture of bowing low to wash feet without words at tonight's liturgy speaks for itself.  

Taste and see, touch and hear, feel and smell

On most mornings, I eat a bit of yogurt before heading to the gym but this morning, I took real pleasure in the doughy texture of a homemade loaf and savored the sweet juice of fresh organic red grapes of freshly baked bread and produce purchased from a local farmer's market. I felt the bread, chewed it slowly and savored its texture and earthy scent, washing my mouth with the tangy burst of the grapes. Should not the bread that we eat and the wine we drink tonight evoke the same robust tastes that satisfy the palate of our hunger for Christ in our bodiliness? Our senses allow us to taste and see, touch and feel Jesus in the breaking of bread and pouring of wine so we're satisfied and renewed to go and be his body and blood outpoured on behalf of the world. Why are we selling ourselves short when we do liturgy? "The cup of salvation I will take up and I will call upon the name of the Lord." Does your sensory experience of tonight's eucharist resonate with the words of the psalmist? My morning bread and grapes prompted prayer that prompted this tiny blog and will serve me the rest of the day as I meet Christ in the streets, in the gym, in the nursing home, at tonight's celebration of the Lord's Supper. Symbols should speak to the heart and prompt service. Will tonight's liturgical experience be that moment for you? Your assembly? Your parish?   

The Real Deal

My friend Ron Gamache belongs to the poorest parish in the Diocese of Fall River, MA. Recently, Ron created a video of Sacred Heart Church. An enormous urban and very beautiful structure, the parish struggles to meet the building's financial burdens  because of the decline in parishioners who moved to the suburbs. Many parishes understand well what it means to be a small, sustainable community that models what the Church should be like, feel like, act like in well-led pastoral leadership and robust liturgical practice that includes service beyond itself, with particular attention on the poor. However, so many of those parishes will twin with others or simply close because of lack of people in the pews. 

The parish community at Sacred Heart that gathers to pray and worship follows through in service to the poor with one of the most amazing parish food kitchens and consignment shops that operate year round through the assistance of parish volunteers. This parish is the real deal and a model of what it means to bend low in their service to the poor. Watch the inspiring and thoughtfully produced YouTube video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQYdO8Cpe3E&feature=youtu.be If you'd like to purchase a copy of the video, email Ron Gamache at rongamache@comcast.net 

Back to basics

HOLY THURSDAY: THE LORD'S SUPPER

Lent ends quietly at sundown on the evening of Holy Thursday: The Lord’s Supper. We enter the Paschal Triduum together in the glory of the cross of Jesus Christ. We listen to scriptures. We go down on our hands and knees to wash feet with pitchers of water, basin and towels, taking our lead from Jesus, who gives us this mandate to love and serve and a vision of what the church is supposed to look, feel, act and be like. This is our rehearsal for Christian life. We collect money for the poor to support our act with deeds in a real way. Later, we celebrate the eucharist, bread and fruit of the vine as the body and blood of Jesus, the Christ. We continue to pray for those who anticipate full Christian initiation, now only hours away. Cross, Word, Mandatum, Eucharist – all recall the unconditional love of God by what we do in memory of Jesus.

With holy bread and wine consumed, we strip the altar of cloth, candles and any adornment at its base. The tabernacle is empty except for the Christ the paschal victim in the form of holy bread. The presider carries the sacred corpus throughout the church. We join the procession as a symbol of going to Gethsemane, to watch and pray throughout the evening into night. The evening liturgy has no ending. We may return home for a bit of rest after Compline (Night Prayer) and continue to ponder these sacred mysteries that reveal to us who Christ is for us and who we are for Christ.

Please continue to pray for our beloved Elect and candidates who will be initiated into full sacramental life at the Easter Vigil. Deo gratias!