Missing the Mark!

 Or maybe The Mark is Missing!

However one decides to state it, as Ash Wednesday, the start of our Lenten Season approaches this year, we are still in the midst of dealing with the pandemic. And, of course, that means things like social distancing, masking and being to the extent humanly possible somehow touchless.

Ash Wednesday, therefore, presents something of a challenge this year.

Traditionally on this day ashes made from the previous year's dried palm branches are blessed. After the blessing of those ashes, the faithful come forward in procession to have their foreheads marked with a smudge of ashes in the form of a cross. Then, all through the remainder of that day, in workplaces, schools, markets, places of business and up and down the streets those marked with the ashes are clearly visible.

The Mark of the Ashes is there for all to see.

Only this is the year of the continuing pandemic.

And how apply those ashes to that forehead and shape that cross while maintaining that touchless thing?

Well, there are solutions.

One possibility - the masked ministers of the ashes can use either a Qtip or cotton ball to apply the ashes to the forehead in form of a cross. That way the Mark is maintained.

The drawback to that possibility is that a fresh Tip or cotton ball must be used for each penitent and that would mean, in most parish settings, a whole lot of Qtips or cotton balls and someone alongside each minister to present fresh equipment while receiving the used. Not very practical unless dealing with a very small number and even with seating and attendance limitations these days, most churches will still be welcoming significant numbers.

The second solution - and the one that has actually emerged from the Vatican does away with the Mark!

Ashes would still be individually administered but in a pandemic appropriate touchless manner.

Sprinkle some ashes on the head of each penitent!

Grasp a pinch of those ashes with your fingers and sprinkle them over the recipient's head.

Actually, if someone is bald, they would still be marked - sort of.

And as to the rest - well, you will still received those ashes; they will still be there but just not totally visible - unless, perhaps, you are among us sliver-haired elders.

But this year for very, very many the Mark of the Ashes will be missing.

But the ashes will still be there.

And words, familiar words - Remember, you are dust and to dust you shall return - will still be spoken before those ashes are distributed.

And Ash Wednesday will still be Ash Wednesday.

And Lent will begin.

And so many will be walking around on that Ash Wednesday with those Marks missing from the foreheads.

Which just may be a good thing.

Because? Well, because we will know that we have those ashes right up there, on top, so very near to that "grey matter" that is also up there. And I suspect that especially this year those ashes, while not visible, will be crying out to be noticed the way that they really should be noticed.

They should be trying to get inside that grey matter up there to speak to us and to remind us that this time called Lent is not about some show and demonstration and "look at what I am doing!"

Those hidden ashes up there should be speaking to us deep within and calling us to remember that this time, this Sacred Time, is all about getting closer to being what God knows that we can be and doing what God knows we should be doing.

Those ashes so near our Centers of Thought may ask us to examine our words, our actions and our attitudes in regard to a whole lot of things and issues and, yes, people. Those ashes just may raise the question in our minds - Is this what God wants of me? Really?

Those ashes might start a process going deep within, where real transformation begins.

Those ashes, silent and hardly visible, might move us on the way to the inner change necessary to bring about some much needed exterior change. This year's Missing Mark just may lead us to a Lent that is truly On the Mark!

And wouldn't it be wonderful if, instead of Marked foreheads on Ash Wednesday we emerged more as Marked Christians on Easter Sunday?

Why not?

Meantime, 

Keep Praying

 . . . and Stay Safe! 

Welcome to the Family, Mason!

 Yes, indeed! Welcome to the Family!

(And, perhaps, here a word of explanation is in order. Mason is a young lad being baptized this weekend. He is not an infant anymore and so he is rather aware of what is happening. He is all of - what? Five? Anyhow, he has a little bit of life behind him and he is not a baby being baptized. He has an awareness. And so to him I address this message. Perhaps someone will even print this and give it to him when he is a bit older and able to understand better.)

So here goes - Welcome to the Family, Mason!

No, not your human family. You entered that a couple of years ago. That was the easy family to break into.

I am speaking of a whole different kind of Family now, Mason. When that water flows across your head and you feel the oil smeared there as well, when you are holding that candle (assuming that your dad lets you hold the candle) when all of that happens, you will have entered the Family of which I speak, an incredible, amazing  Family, not always perfect but definitely stunning.

It is a Family not bound together by natural blood but by a whole different sort of Blood, Blood shed by One who loved us, loves you, so deeply that He was willing to give His own life so that you, all of us, could live forever. His is the Blood that binds us together and makes us this unique Family.

And I have a strong suspicion that your grandma, who passed into this forever life not too long ago, well, when she arrived, I suspect that one of the first things she did was tap that One who so loves us on the shoulder and she pointed to you and said to Him something like, "Get that boy into the Family!"

Grandmas are like that - always looking after and always loving even across that barrier we call "death."

And so here you come into the Family.

Get to know some of your ancestors in this Family. We have some truly remarkable folk on our Family  Tree.

We go back, way back to include among those whose heirs we are names like Abraham and Isaac and Joseph and Moses. These are names to you now but when you grow a bit older, get to know their stories. You will be impressed.

And you really must come to know a lady from a place called Nazareth. Mary is her name. Mother, housewife, simple, quiet woman who with a single word changed the whole course of human history.

And her husband, Joseph, not a single word of his is recorded in any book, not even the Bible, and yet he holds a place of highest honor in our Family, your Family.

And guys like Peter and Andrew and James and John and Matthew, oh yes, Matthew, get to know his story. It is an important one.

And don't forget Paul (aka Saul.) He wanted to wipe our Family out forever and he was set about doing just that when something happened and he totally changed course, becoming one of the strongest voices for our Family.

And lest I sound like I am throwing a spotlight on the male members of our Family, let me also set before you some of our amazing women - like the Theresa - Theresa of Avila, a woman way ahead of her time, and Thesese of Liseaux,  died too young but live a richly beautiful life, and Theresa of Calcutta, who spent  herself for the folk no one else would give the time of day for. We are blessed in our Family with women who have done and continue to do some remarkable things. Our Family has strong women!

And yes, we do have all kinds in our Family - rich and poor, strong and weak, important and very ordinary, old and young, married and single and widowed as well. We come from every century and every corner of this earth. In this Family you have relatives almost everywhere and from every era in history.

And Mason, I heard that one day not so long ago, you heard your grandma saying something about praying and you said to her something like, "I've got to find out more about that praying thing."

Well, praying, you will learn, is about having conversations with your Family, this Family, even and especially with the One who gave His Life for us, with His mother (and ours) Mary and with any of the others as you get to know them. Even if they have been gone from life on this earth for years and even centuries, they are still Family and we are bound together and they will listen because they care and they can listen because they truly live!

You will have an incredible Family now, Mason!

Welcome!

Oh, and one more thing. 

Take a minute to talk to your grandma and thank her for pointing you out and telling the One who loves us, "Get him into our Family!"

That is what praying is.

And YES!

 

Meantime, 

Keep Praying

 . . . and Stay Safe! 

It's Time

 Just read a post of Facebook from someone I know. It said simply, "Taking down the tree" and was followed by one of those emojis depicting a face flooded with tears.

Sad moment.

Almost immediately there came a second post, one from still another whom I have come to know over the years. This one showed a photograph of a fireplace, flames blazing, garland and a Christmas tree festively decked with ornaments and lights. And again the declaration that the time had come to put away Christmas, this one adding that the time had provided a bright spot in an otherwise bleak period in our lives.

Sad moment.

Nevertheless, it is time.

Another Christmas Season has become history and now it is time to enter in earnest into the New Year.

For Catholics we are entering a brief period know to us as Ordinary Time. We will get a hefty dose of this Ordinary Time through summer and autumn. This period which we have now is just a sampling, spanning only five and a half weeks.

For most Christians this period is known at the Time after Epiphany.

All basically the same animal.

The days have begun to grow noticeably longer and we may even be noting the days until that shadowy figure of Punxsutawney Phil puts in his annual appearance.

Somewhere along the way there will still be a Super Bowl although this year with empty seats and also, as is annually predictable, absent the Detroit Lions.

And as mid-January arrives, we are reminded that Valentine's Day is right around the corner and St. Patrick's Day follows closely on its heals.

And I just know that most any day now packages of Peas Egg Coloring and those Peeps will be arriving on store shelves.

It's all part of the predictable of this span of Ordinary Time.

Still, it is time to put away the trappings of Christmas and move into that commonplace of Ordinary Time. It is time to get back into some ordinary and predictable and steady and stable. We have been living through so much uncertainty and unpredictability and even chaos and fear.

The past several months have been anything but ordinary. And looking ahead, for several months yet we will not have too much ordinary.

But then, the question we need to face if we have not as yet might well be: what exactly is "ordinary?" What do we mean by ordinary? What do we expect to find, to experience in this "ordinary?"

Perhaps we respond by suggesting that ordinary means getting back to the way things were before . . . 

But do we really want to go totally back to the way things were before our lives were upended by this pandemic?

Perhaps we need to do a close examination of what has changed over these months for us.

What happens if, when reflecting back over the pandemic months, we look not at what was lost but rather at what may have been gained? What are the blessings we can find in these months?

Seriously? Would you really and honestly say that there were none for you? No blessings at all? No treasures discovered? No awarenesses reawakened? Nothing that you would want to hold onto when times return to "normal?" 

What might the New Normal, the New Ordinary look like for you after what we have been living through these past months?

This Ordinary Time that we enter into now is characterized by the color green. And green is the color of the grass and the leaves and the pines and, well, so many growing things.

And that says volumes about what Ordinary Time should embody - growth.

All of our lifetime is meant to be a time of constant growth and discovery, all of our lifetime. And that includes that Pandemic Time.

What might your New Ordinary look like?

Meantime, 

Keep Praying

 . . . and Stay Safe! 

Time for More "OH's!"

 We have entered those days again - seven days of "OH's!"

These are the days from December 17 to December 23, the days immediately preceding Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and the whole Christmas Season.

These are days, in a sense, specially marked since back sometime in the seventh century which means that their place in our observance of Christmas long predate Santa Claus and his role in Christmas and also the Christmas tree and definitely that phenomenon called Black Friday (followed now by Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday and now some number called Green Monday.

These are the days that try to remind us that Christmas was not always the way we seem to know it today.

As the observance of Christmas began to emerge in the course of our history, it did not involve gifts or cards or decorations. It was a simple, mostly liturgical, recalling of the Incarnation, the fact that God had taken on flesh and blood, become one with us.

As mentioned already, somewhere in the seventh century, in monasteries, there emerged the "OH's!"

Each of the days from December 17th leading up to Christmas Eve began telling the story from both the Gospel of Matthew and that of Luke, the only two Gospels that tell the story of the Incarnation. In these Gospel reading we begin by hearing Matthew's genealogy of Jesus, a very telling read as this listing includes some sharp and significant surprises. Matthew includes women in the listing and while it would be obvious that any true genealogy would include women, back in the day when this Gospel was written, only the male ancestors really mattered. 

But Matthew includes women and among them Jesus had a Gentile ancestor! Yep! Mixed breed!

And there was also a prostitute and an ancestor who slept with her own father-in-law. Not exactly reputable folk but remember, Jesus told us Himself that he had come to heal the broken. Savior is all about coming for those who need saving!

Those Gospel readings then move on to the stories about the coming of John the Baptist and the angel's visit to Mary and the visit of Mary to Elizabeth and so on, right on up to Christmas Eve when we remember that incredible, history-changing night.

In addition to those stories the days from December 17th to 23rd include the "OH's!"

They are now part of the official prayer of the Church, sometimes called the Divine Office or the Breviary.

In evening prayer each of those days we pray an "OH!" As we move to the great prayer of Mary, the Magnificat, we surround that prayer with an "OH!"

Each of the seven "OH's!" is a plea for Jesus to come to us, an invitation and longing from us declaring to Him that we truly need and want Him in our lives. Each invokes Him by one of the Scriptural titles for Him.

And even if, up until now, you think that you have never heard of these "OH's!" truth is you know them very well.

Ever hear of the hymn, Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel?

Yes indeed! Each verse of that very familiar song is one of the "OH's!"

That familiar, traditional Christmas song included on many a Christmas album is, in fact, that traditional custom emerging from the monasteries in the seventh century! The melody is not the ancient Gregorian chant but the words and the longing and the prayer are still the same.

So, in these final days before Christmas, find yourself a copy of that song, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

Stream it; put that CD in your machine, ask Siri or Alexa to locate it for you. Whatever twenty-first century means you have at your disposal, take some time to listen, to reflect on and to pray that song.

Join all those ancestors down through the ages in that great prayer of longing and invitation.

O Come,O Come, Emmanuel!

Meantime, 

Keep Praying

 . . . and Stay Safe! 

O, Tannenbaum, O, Tannenbaum!

Oh! Just go ahead!

And actually most of you already have and even without my permission.

As if you even really needed my permission or cared about it.

But just in case, you have my permission especially this year and so, go ahead.

Put up that Christmas Tree!

And as I say that, I will also speak a word of truth. As I write this, my tree is still not up but it is a simple, made by my parents, ceramic, lighted tree, probably four pieces. It will likely take all of about five minutes to set up, longer if I count the struggle to get at that outlet to plug in a timer. But this tree goes up tomorrow. That is my plan.

And I am reading more and more, including in some Catholic publications, words of encouragement to go ahead a put out those signs of Christmas this year, especially this year. In a year like 2020 we need a little Christmas.

No!

We need a whole lot of Christmas!

This year may not look much like Christmases of our past. There likely will not be those large gatherings, office parties, crowds of revelers singing Carols in the streets. The malls, so I am hearing, are mere echos of their former selves. Even family gatherings may not look like those of our Christmases Past.

In so many ways life has been changed and we have been changed and our customs and traditions are being affected. Why, it is likely that this year you may even need a ticket to take part in a Christmas Mass!

So, in this most unusual of times, I say feel free! Go ahead! Put up that Christmas Tree.

And those who have known me over the years can testify as to how radical that might sound coming from me.

See, as a liturgist I have tended over the years to be something of a purist, a rigorous purist. I would be the one to declare that it is Advent and that should be a time of waiting and so let's not rush the season. In parishes where I served, Christmas decorations did not appear in any shape or form until after the last Mass of Advent. The hours of Christmas Eve were spent hauling in sizable Christmas trees and multitudes of poinsettia plants, and stringing lights and so on and so on.

Christmas did not arrive until the last minutes of Advent.

In fact I can still recall a Christmas Eve many years ago. My whole family was coming to the rectory for Christmas Eve dinner. I could not risk heading out any distance on a Michigan winter's night as I was presiding at a Vigil Mass and later at the Midnight Mass.I had  to be home or very, very near. And so, in between the two Masses, we would have our dinner and share our gifts and enjoy a bit of Christmas.

Family arrived shortly before the scheduled Vigil Mass and as they arrived, bearing gifts to place under the tree for exchanging later, one by one they stared at the tree.

"Your tree has no lights on it yet!"

"Your tree is not decorated!"

And they were, of course, absolutely correct.

The lights and the ornaments were still in boxes scattered on the floor around the tree.

And so I informed and instructed them, "While I am at Mass, the first Mass of Christmas, you can spend your time decorating the tree and the house!"

Christmas would arrive when Christmas actually arrived.

That is the sort of liturgical purist I was.

But I am older now and maybe even a bit wiser and I can also read better the signs of the times. And the times in which we are living now are different times and even for so many difficult times.

And so we need to know that, even though we are a people waiting for His coming, we also know that He has come to dwell among us and bring us hope and bring us healing.

He is still and always with us.

So, go ahead. Put up that tree. Turn on those lights. Play that music.

In these darkest of days, celebrate the presence among us of the True Light of the World!

Meantime, 

Keep Praying

 . . . and Stay Safe! 

And Finally --- A Non-Surprise Surprise!

A what?

What is a non-surprise surprise?

Well, this last tale is about a birthday celebration that was not actually planned to be a surprise event. However, it managed to contain elements that actually turned out to be a real surprise.

And, even though a couple of blogs ago I said I would try and protect identities when telling these tales, with this one that sort of protection and that sort of guarantee has to fly out the window. I will not even try and hide the "guilty ones."

I think that this was the birthday in the months following my sabbatical. That sabbatical happened in late summer and autumn and took place in Rome. All those weeks in Italy provided me with a chance to really get immersed in the culture, traditions and culinary delights of Italy. I explored as much as possible and enjoyed as thoroughly as possible.

When I returned to the States, shortly before Christmas, I was equipped with a few words in Italian and a handful of skills in preparing some traditional Italian and especially Roman dishes. And when I say "traditional," I mean close to authentic rather than the Italian one might find in many a restaurant here in the States.

As an act of gratitude to my family, for Christmas that year I prepared and served a traditional Italian meal, from soup to nuts, or maybe better from antipasto to cannoli and we sat in conversation while dining at table for near three hours.

I think they were impressed.

I suspect so because when my birthday rolled around some moths later, I was informed that we would gather at my sister and brother-in-law's home for a special birthday dinner. No surprises were in the offing.

At least until I got there.

That is when Surprise really unfolded.

Nothing was cooking and nothing was cooked.

But there were all sorts of ingredients set out for a full meal, a full, traditional Italian meal, starting off with that Roman delight, spaghetti carbonara.

And it turned out that I was the one cooking!

I was enlisted to prepare and cook my own birthday dinner!

Surprise!

All ingredients necessary were present and now the cook had arrived. Get to work!

And everyone attending clearly knew in advance that this would happen. My uncle even brought carry out packaging, prepared to take some of those tasties home afterward. I guess that was something of a compliment.

And if I am recalling correctly, there was a second surprise as well.

I did not have to bake a birthday cake. One was provided. And at the end of the meal the traditional cake was brought forth, candles and all. It was a professionally prepared, store bought cake.

Sort of!

That was the second surprise. I looked at the cake and looked still again. Did a double take. It had appropriate candles. It was properly inscribed: Happy Birthday. And it had my name  as well.

And that is what caused the double take.

It was rather clear that it had had a different name previously!

The original name had been smudged off and mine set in its place.

It was a used cake!

And I said so - out loud.

I was told that I was not supposed to notice that but I did. My brother-in-law's mom at that time worked at a bakery and every now and then was allowed to take something home for free for various reasons. This item, it seems, had been ordered, baked, decorated but never picked up. So she took it home, gave it to my sister and brother-in-law who recycled it for my birthday.

I had a used cake!

Surprise!

So, while there may have been some failed Surprise Birthday Parties, there have also been some birthday surprises and there continue to be.

For one thing, it is truly a surprise at how quickly time seems to have passed. Just yesterday, or so it seems, we were in Paris celebrating my turning sixty. And seventy-five? Seems like yesterday! And where did all those other years go? Surprise! You are old! Or does it sound better to say You are an elder?

And another surprise?

There is still living to do and stories to write and experiences to have and memories to craft. It ain't over 'til it's over and until then, wonders and adventures remain to be discovered.

Claim them while it is still possible. Time moves so quickly.

Surprise!

Meantime, 

Keep Praying

 . . . and Stay Safe!