Finding balance

Ascension balloons

In 1968, Father Phil celebrated an evening liturgy on Ascension Thursday in a small chapel located on the property where he served as a retreat master for a center operated by his religious community. The group of approximately thirty high schoolers sat in a circle on the floor encircling the tiny altar. A liturgical folk group, the first in its region served three parish communities on a Sunday morning in addition to their own high school. Father Phil asked them to provide music for the liturgy and they willingly accepted his invitation. Lots of young people welcomed any reason to gather, pray and sing and enjoy one another's company with Father Phil who led great discussions after liturgies and served pizza and pop to boot. 

After proclaiming Luke's account of Jesus' blessing, parting and assumed into heavenly skies, Father Phil left the chapel for a moment and returned holding a large stack of primary colored helium balloons. Saying nothing, he stepped into the middle of the circle of students and released the balloons. All heads ascended, watching balloons rising to the top of the cathedral ceiling. 

"And that's just what happened," Father Phil said. 

Father Phil surveyed the musicians. "Would the folk group like to sing a song about this?" he asked. The leader picked up his guitar and struck the strings of his guitar with his pick in a jazzy 4/4 tempo. The folk group followed the leader for an enthusiastic round of Jimmy Webb's Grammy award winning song "Up, Up and Away" by The Fifth Dimension. 

True story. I was a member of that folk group and present at that liturgy. Guilty as charged. 

The fact that I found a easily found an image of "Hallelujah, Jesus balloons" through a generic search engine indicates that similar events still occur at some liturgies all these years later. 

More Ascension balloons

Throughout most of the United States, the church transfers and celebrates the solemnity of the Ascension on a Sunday. In the ecclesial provinces of Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, and Omaha, Ascension Thursday occurs on the sixth week of Easter (May 9, 2013) of. My own diocese of Fall River falls under the metropolitan of Boston. We still commemorate Ascension on a Thursday. 

This year, I decided to celebrate Ascension Thursday Mass with my 93-year-old dad in his residence, a Catholic nursing home that provides daily liturgies in a very lovely chapel. The facility is very fortunate to have two really fine chaplains, a priest and a religious sister who provide some of the best pastoral care I've ever seen in my 40+ tenure as an ecclesial minister. 

All of Deacon Morency's stoles rest on the pew that the chaplains reserve for him. He dons the stole of the liturgical day and season for daily Mass and leads the residents in the recitation of the Rosary before the liturgy begins. His walker remains to the left of his pew. He remains seated throughout the liturgy.

Profoundly deaf for many years, Dad depends on his memory to recite the prayers and uses the prayer cards available to the residents who can still see. However, he misses a lot of the excellent homilies and the announcements because he cannot hear. So when one of the chaplains distributed the balloons and handed him one, my dad looked at me with a furrowed brow and asked and asked in a loud, clear voice "What's this for? We're not at a party: we're in church! Is it someone's birthday?" I motioned that the balloon symbolized his prayer 'ascending' to heaven in the Universal Prayer. He nodded that he understood and quietly held his balloon until he was told to release it when the prayers ended. He turned to me and said, "Now?" I nodded as I assisted another resident release her balloon in the pew in front of me. Dad released his balloon with the other residents. All eyes ascended toward the ceiling as we watched the balloons lift up, up and away. 

"And that's just what happened," said the presider.  

Dejavu. ( I did not break into a chorus of Jim Webb's song.) 

Pastoral practices for 'special' liturgies

In a May 6 post of PrayTell, Donna Eschenauer addressed sound liturgical principles through the lens of the celebration of First Communion and re-creating the liturgy for children by manipulating the celebration of eucharistic initiation with 'special' elements to highlight the sacramental occasion. Similarly, Michael Joncas' PrayTell  post on March 11 examined Article 37 of Sacrosanctum Concilium, which states:

37. Even in the liturgy, the Church has no wish to impose a rigid uniformity in matters which do not implicate the faith or the good of the whole community; rather does she respect and foster the genius and talents of the various races and peoples. Anything in these peoples’ way of life which is not indissolubly bound up with superstition and error she studies with sympathy and, if possible, preserves intact. Sometimes in fact she admits such things into the liturgy itself, so long as they harmonize with its true and authentic spirit.

Liturgical balance in pastoral practice 

How does the church within specific cultural contexts make adaptations that honor the true and authentic spirit of the liturgy? How far do we bend in our cultural adaptations? When do our 'balloons" of pastoral, liturgical practice exceed #37's intent to honor the cultural norms of races and peoples within liturgical pastoral practice? 

"The genius and talents of the people" can sometimes turn into a let's-make-it-up-as-we-go-along ideology that evokes confusion and even a more than a little frustration among the people of God within a worship community. Some additional practices have nothing to do with the cultural norms and traditions of peoples, races or spirituality of particular communities. Although well intentioned, some of the practices just leave worshipping communities puzzled and confused. Liturgical leaders whose persuasion veers both to the polemic left and right of the theological spectrum might do well to adopt health care's principle, "First do no harm."

Donna Eschenauer's short post on the PrayTell blog cites some of the things that re-invent the proverbial liturgical wheel within the area of First Communion. I've seen all of the things she mentions and more. I add several other practices that I've experience over the years in other liturgical celebrations. 

1. Replacing the ancient Christian greeting "The Lord be with you" for The Lord is with you." When a bishop or one of his representatives shows up in the parishes whose ordained leaders use this alternative greeting, the correct greeting suddenly re-appears within the liturgical language of that worship event. And yes, the community notices that their greeting isn't the same when they visit other parishes. 

2. Substituting a scripture reading at a Sunday celebration for a poem, a reading from a religious constitution or commentary on an article. A dashboard indicator that someone does not understand that God speaks to us directly in the here and now through scripture. Is that a failure on the part of the Church to make that clear or is it just obstinacy on the part of liturgical planners that their agenda overrides the Word of God? 

3. Inserting seven candles at the celebration of First Penance. In a conversation with a sacramental theologian and several colleagues, someone said," I went to celebrate my nephew's First Penance and there were seven candles in the sanctuary. They just stayed lit throughout the whole rite; no one explained why they were there. The Rite of Penance doesn't mention anything about seven candles. Why were they there? Apparently it's a custom in that parish but no one seems to know why. Nobody can figure out when the custom started but one of the catechist's said, 'We've always done it that way as long as I can remember.' Any clues?" 

I put on my Nancy Drew hat and cleared up The Mystery of the Seven Candles at the Rite of Penance. 

Many years ago, a very respected priest taught in a seminary. He showed the seminarians a gimmicky little homily to better illustrate First Penance with young children.

"Light seven candles. During the homily, ask the children to volunteer to hold a letter in front of one of the candles. The seven large cards each have a letter that spells P E N A N C E."

"'What does sin mean?'" the priest instructed his seminarians. "They are the 'no no's' in our lives. When we remove the 'no no's' from the word 'penance,' what do the letters spell?"

P E N A N C E = P E A C E

"When we take away the 'no no's' in our lives through the sacrament of penance, we have peace. The candles are snuffed out when the n's are removed, " he concluded. 

Years passed. The practice became almost obsolete. But the candles remained as part of the rite. They have absolutely nothing to do with the celebration of the sacrament of penance. But candles add ambiance and look really nice. So a parish kept the candles as part of their practice. That's how customs begin.

4. The Unity Candle at weddings. The giving of a rose to parents. The interlocking of two families becoming one as two candles are snuffed out and one large center candle is lit. A romantic song as lovers stargaze while the unity candle flickers and families weep with joy (or not). Where is that found in the Rite of Marriage? How did practice begin? Why do we think that this superfluous, non-essential element speaks more clearly than the sacrament in front of us - a man and a woman consenting before God to join together in marriage? Anyone?

Finding balance

Where do we find the balance between what is true and authentic worship, the praise of God and theology and pastoral practice that confuses and even disturbs worship communities? We've come to a crucial axis in the time of the Church, the betwixt and between of what began at Vatican II and continues to unfold -- the liturgy as the whole public worship exercised by the Body of Christ under the direction of the servant leadership of priests on behalf of the Gospel and service to the world. Rigid formality does not speak to people's hearts. However, we sometimes can go to the other extreme and add unnecessary 'stuff' in our attempts to engage people within liturgical worship. 

The Council left it to us to discern what is true and authentic liturgy. The challenge to find a balanced approach of robust liturgical celebration lies ahead of us. How do we discern and determine those things which so concern the “faith and good of the entire community” to not only maintain the Church's liturgical worship but continue to mine the fields of gold at our disposal within sacred symbol and sign given to us within sacramental worship? Where do we locate true and authentic worship, the praise and worship of God through the tables of word and feast, led with robust presidential leadership and full, active and conscious participation of the people of God? 

Your stories, thoughts and comments are welcome. Please feel free to share them on this blog.