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July 3, 2011 - 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (pdf - 2,083 KB)

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May 15, 2011 - 4th Sunday of Easter (pdf - 1,393 KB)

Special Bulletin Article
Copyright 2011 by Copyright, J. S. Paluch Co.
July 3, 2011

FEAST OF FAITH

Little Mysteries

Two small rites - or, as one liturgist has called them, “little mysteries” - accompany the preparation of the gifts. The priest or deacon takes a small cruet of water from the server and adds a drop of water to the wine. Then, after the elevation of the chalice (and the incensation, if incense is used), the priest washes his hands. Both of these actions were at first practical, matter-of-fact realities: in the ancient world the wine was usually quite thick, and was generally mixed with water before it was drunk. And in the early church, when the faithful brought forward a great variety of gifts at this time, there was a definite need for the presider to wash his hands!

But now these rites serve a purely symbolic function. The mingling of the water and wine is accompanied by a prayer that speaks of the wonderful exchange of the Mass, the mingling of Christ’s divinity and our humanity. And as the priest washes his hands, he prays words of supplication from Psalm 51, acknowledging his own sinfulness in the presence of the assembly before he dares to approach the altar for this most sacred action.

SHARE THE BURDEN

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). These words of our Savior seem to be in stark contrast to the previous chapter from the same Gospel, when we were told that if we do not take up our crosses, we are not worthy of Christ. Connecting these two messages might help us on our faith journeys. Being a follower of Christ surely means that we must embrace the cross, in its mystery of both suffering and triumph. This is something that we need not do alone, for the burden is often too heavy for us to carry by ourselves. Who, then, do we turn to? We can turn to the Body of Christ - the community of disciples gathered for worship. When we find the burden too heavy, let us remember that we can share that burden with our Christian sisters and brothers, who can help bring us rest.

Special Bulletin Article
Copyright 2011 by John B. Reynolds - john@jrwrites.com
July 3, 2011

ON FALLING ASLEEP, BURDENSOME LIVES, AND EASY YOKES

I used to present a class on Quality Assurance at my workplace. The session - one of many conducted by department representatives throughout the building for new employees - lasted about an hour, and typically, I received good feedback. I may have even received good feedback one day from a young woman who shall go nameless here, but if I did, she was just being kind. I say this because she fell asleep in my class. Yep. Head-on-the-table-fast-asleep. She was sitting in the second row and I saw her fading from the get-go. I didn’t know exactly what to do, though, so I just kept presenting and down she went, sleeping easy until the clock ran out. Fortunately, she didn’t snore.

I hadn’t thought of Sleeping Beauty for years, but her memory came back to me the other day when another work colleague (who will also go nameless here) was looking to count sheep in front of me in similar fashion. But this time I wasn’t presenting to an entire class. This time I was presenting to Sleepy alone, and I wasn’t more than ten minutes into it when he started playing his hand. He was pretty much motionless for one thing. Then his eyelids lids went to half-mast and stayed there for a long, long time. Not really funny, but funny, you know? I’m sure he would have fallen head-on-the-table-fast-asleep, too, but thanks to Michael Simpson, I never gave him the chance.

Michael Simpson has been the contracted facilitator these past several months for an offsite Presentation Skills class I’ve been taking through work. The guy is great. In the initial session, he spoke to us about the characteristics typically shared by good presenters. He said that in general, these talented folks are knowledgeable of their subject, credible, engaging, often humorous. And just as Aristotle said millenniums ago, Michael said that a speaker’s ability to read the audience - and to react accordingly - is key to his or her success. So when I saw my young colleague fading before my eyes the other day, I raised my voice, got out of my chair, and walked around the room while gesturing emphatically toward my presentation materials. My protégé revived.

I am not picking on these un-named individuals because I’ve actually been them a few times over the years. As Steve Goodman once sang it, “I’m weary, though weary is only a case, of being unwound at the wrong time and place.” But look at what Jesus says in today’s Gospel: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” And surely he is speaking in a larger context than me struggling through a business meeting in a warm room with insufficient lighting. We all carry burdens (financial, health, work, relationship) that weigh on us. But if we can be our own speakers in such matters, then Michael Simpson’s - and Aristotle’s - counsel still holds. We need to react when something isn’t right and change our tack. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,” Jesus goes on, “…for my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” You know my burdens, Lord. Take them all.