At the 10am Mass on September 28, 2014, I attempted to chant the Gospel. The main purpose was to "test run" how it would go with the Auxiliary Bishop present later at the 12pm Mass.
Boy, I'm sure glad that I did it at the 10am instead of at the 12pm!
With the way I was trained, it was mono-tone with a drop in note at the very end of a significant paragraph. I've done it before twice without being nervous, but this time it was evident that I was nervous. And I'm not sure why.
Part of me thinks that the people are not used to it. Another part of me thinks that it was because it was a packed church that was standing room with a seating capacity of 750+ parishioners or so. Perhaps it was simply the fact that it was a long Gospel, and I do better with shorter Gospels. In any event, it was a lesson in humility.
The first time I saw it done was by an African-American deacon at the Vatican on TV. That left an impression on me, and at the time I was a teenager.
I also want to see if I can chant or intone other parts of the liturgy proper to the deacon like at a Good Friday service or the Easter Vigil.
The first time I did it, which you can see HERE, I was fine. The second time, which I did in the Byzantine rite when I visited Father Anthony's parish (as seen HERE), I was for the most part fine, too.
I had a mixed reaction from the parishioners. Some told me that I was nervous while others told me to continue. Well, I am new after all. It's truly a learning process.
A very WARM WELCOME to you, esp. if you love the Giants and/or are a 49er Faithful!!
For me, it all started with Darryl Strawberry, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and Head Coach Bill Walsh in the 80s. And the teams are STILL at it!!
Strawberry is now an ordained Protestant minister, and Montana is a parishioner at our Bay Area Catholic parishes.
And here's special shout out to my Dad who was the first 49er Faithful and to my Papa Hardie for helping me with some of my sports facts. Thanks for helping my homily go from sports to God. I think about 1,500+ people heard this over a total of 3 Masses.
BTW, I was semi-joking about the Raiders in my sermon, and I'm sure things will look up soon, so keep your heads up, Raiders fans and hang tough!
Let's go Giants!!!
CLICK HERE FOR DEACON DENNIS'S SHORT HOMILY/SERMON:
Version #3 (12pm Mass)
Legendary SF 49er Quarterback Joe Montana Wearing SF Giants Outfit
Version #2 (8am Mass)
(This homily was a lot slower than the 12pm homily.)
Version #1 (Sat. 5pm Mass)
* * *
HOMILY #13: Moral Relativism v. the Greatest Commandment
(Alternative Title: SF Giants & the Joy of the Moral Life)
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 25, 2014 @ 5pm Mass
October 26, 2014 @ 8am & 12pm Masses
San Francisco Bay Area sports teams are some of the finest
teams in the country.Two teams with
great records right now are the Giants and the Niners.(Sorry, Raiders fans, maybe next homily
cycle!)[wink]
I recently taught some kids how to play baseball.I noticed that those who really had fun
were those who understood some basic rules of the game.They needed to know how to do a base
hit.They learned how to do a sacrifice
hit to bring a team member on 3rd base to home plate.The
rules did not exist to restrain their
freedom-- but to make players free
[emphasize].
Without these basic rules, there would be chaos.What if 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick or
Joe Montana all of sudden started throwing the football to the referees instead
of to the wide receiver or what if Pablo Sandoval started throwing the ball to
the pitcher?What if these athletes
started screaming, “What does it matter?!It’s all the same.//Seven yards versus 1 yard…One base or two
bases…It’s all relative. Besides it’s only one game.The coach will understand.”
No, of course not, that is silly.No real sports fan would say that this type
of relativism works in a game; otherwise, it wouldn’t be real football or
baseball.
I’ve exaggerated this real life example to make one
simple point: If we don’t like being a relativist in sports or in other areas
of our lives; then, all the more we should not be moral relativists in keeping
God’s Commandments.In today’s
Gospel, we hear Jesus telling us the greatest Commandment in the law, which is
to love God with all our whole heart, soul, and mind, and our neighbor as
ourselves.Our Lord Jesus Christ in John
14 said to us, “If you love me, you will keep my Commandments.”Thus, it is in our keeping
His Commandments that we practically show our love for God.
For some reason, in society, when
people talk about the moral law and the Commandments, some like the idea of
moral relativism.But we must be on
guard against moral relativism, which will prevent us from loving God and keeping
His Commandments.
Moral relativism says that morality
just comes from culture or whatever we make of it.Here, human beings decide what is right or
wrong.We say, “It doesn’t matter.All human actions are equal.Or I can pick and choose which commandments
or Church teachings fit me.It’s
relative.”
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said that
relativism
is like letting oneself be "tossed here and there, carried about by every
wind of doctrine.”
He said that we, however, have a
different goal: the Son of God, the true
God and true man. He is the measure of true humanism. … we must guide the flock
of Christ to this faith. And it is this faith - only faith - that creates unity
and is fulfilled in love.
The
opposite of moral relativism is seen in today’s Gospel.The love of God and neighbor is the opposite
of the “love of one’s ego”.Jesus shows that
God’s law makes us happy in this life and in the life to come.
Jesus
summarizes the law as love of God & love of neighbor.How can we practically keep God’s
Commandments, which are not intended to restrict our freedom, but to make us
truly free, for freedom isn’t doing whatever we want to do whenever we
want to do it, but true freedom is “being able to choose and do the good we’re
supposed to do.”
Here are
some concrete ways we can show God we love Him and thus, keep the first and greatest
of all the commandments mentioned in today’s Gospel. Commandments One, Two and Three have to do
with loving God specifically, and Commandments Four through Ten have to do with
loving our neighbor.I will just focus
on these three Commandments to love God today.
The First
Commandment is this:I am the Lord your
God.You shall not have other gods
besides me.One way to keep this is through
prayer, faith, and by putting God first in every area of our lives.Do we give God the first moments of our day
in prayer when we wake up in the morning?Do we make time for spiritual reading each day to nurture our personal
relationship with God?
The Second
Commandment: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.Why is it that most of the time God’s holy
name is mentioned in public or in Hollywood movies it is used as a cuss word? We
can strive to bless His Most Holy Name more.And if we ever hear God’s Name being used in vain, we ourselves can add
an aspiration, or make it into a prayer, such as “Jesus Christ, have mercy!” or
“Blessed be God.”We can offer prayers
of love and adoration of the Most Holy Name of Jesus in reparation for all the
times we hear God’s name being used in vain, especially in casual conversation.Going to Adoration, too.
The Third
Commandment: Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.We can joyfully follow the moral law of love
of God when we make it a priority to go to Sunday Mass, especially as a family,
and to avoid unnecessary work on that day, so that we can truly make time to
reflect on God’s goodness to us and thank Him for all of His blessings.
In the
Commandments, God does not command the impossible.On the contrary, we are commanded to
love.The Ten Commandments are not the "Ten Suggestions".They show us very specific and concrete
ways to love God and each other.Just
as parents give their children rules to follow to help guide and protect them
from harm, Our Heavenly Father gives us the Commandments to follow to help
guide us and protect us from harm, so that we will be happy with Him in this
life and in the next.The Commandments
will make us happy, even if they are sometimes difficult to live—(That is why
He gave us the 7 Sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist, and
Reconciliation, to help us keep the 10 Commandments).Like the rules of sports and life, God’s
commands make us happy and truly free.If
we wish to love God and keep His Commandments; then, let us, entrust ourselves
to Our Blessed Mama Mary, who will help lead us to her Son.Like the Psalmist, we, too, will say, “I love
you, Lord my strength.”
May the
Holy Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation help us to love God and neighbor and fight the moral relativism
of our society!And whether or not we
are Giants or Niners fans, let us remember that just as a 49er fan is called a
49er Faithful, let us Christians be all the more not just 49er Faithful but “Christian
Faithful” in love with God’s commandments.
Let us
live the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ: “You shall love the Lord your God with
all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind and with all your
strength.And you shall love your
neighbor as yourself.”
__________
APA citation of this site:
Purificacion, Dennis. "Homily #13: SF Giants & the Joy of the Moral Life (Moral Relativism v. the Greatest Commandment)," blogged at www.MarysDeacon.blogspot.com on October 27, 2014 (Vallejo, CA: St. Catherine's Catholic Church, October 25-26, 2014).
See you in 2064 A.D. for the 100th Anniversary of St. Catherine's Parish!
My kids submitted something for the parish time capsule. This is what they wrote on their own, with nine-year old John Paul taking the lead:
AMDG
A Letter to Children of 2064
October 12, 2014
Dear Children of 2064,
I’m John Paul.My brother, Emmanuel Jeremiah, and my sister,
Mariana Mahal, helped me make this letter.I’m going to tell you about St. Catherine of Siena Church.
St. Catherine of Siena is a
Catholic Church.We’re celebrating 50
years of its foundation.We are
grateful, joyful, and hopeful.We are
grateful for our church, St. Catherine’s.We are joyful that Jesus is with us.We get to pray there a lot from 7 am until after the 7 pm Mass.We are hopeful for people to do good.People should stay there for the whole Mass,
from the beginning, to the middle, until the end of Mass, so they will know
more about Jesus Christ.
St. Catherine’s Church is
holy.It is Jesus’ church and
house.It is a big church that can hold
a lot of people.
St. Catherine’s Church is named
after St. Catherine of Siena, our patron saint.St. Catherine of Siena was a Third Order Dominican.She became a saint because she was kind, very
holy, pure, chaste, shared and loved.
St. Catherine’s Church is in
Vallejo, California, in the United States.It has a school that teaches kids, who are not homeschooled.Inside the church, there is a tabernacle with
Jesus’ body and blood in it.There is a
baptismal font to the right of the altar and a choir to the left of the
altar.There are pictures of popes, like
St. John the 23rd and St. John Paul II.Outside, there is a big parking lot with
people’s cars, including the priest’s car.
People go to St. Catherine’s to
greet Jesus, pray to Jesus, to sacrifice, to offer Jesus.People can also donate food and money
there.That way they can use some of
that money to pay for things in the church, like light bulb replacements, and
candles, and for the poor.
All kinds of people go to St.
Catherine’s Church.We go there.There are priests and deacons.Sometimes, there are bishops.We see our friends sometimes. Everybody
should go to a Catholic Church.There is
Mass at 8 am, 10 am, 12 pm, 5 pm, and at 7 pm on Sundays.People should pray to God there at St.
Catherine’s, so they can get graces.Oh
and we live right across the church.
Love,
John
Paul,
Emmanuel
Jeremiah, Mariana Mahal, and
Faith
Marie
Purificacion
Deacon Juan Moreno holds the Letter to the Children of 2064.
On Sept. 28, 2014, I was asked to assist His Excellency, Bishop Myron Cotta, who is the Auxiliary Bishop of Sacramento.
This photo was taken by professional photographer Jong Arcega of http://www.jongarcega.com/ as you can see at the bottom right-hand corner of the picture.
Photo credit: Jong Arcega
Photo courtesy of John Atilano
Photo courtesy of John Atilano
Relic of parish patroness, St. Catherine of Siena
(Her relic is also encased in the altar.)
Purificacion Family with Pastor Emeritus Fr. Jess Soriano
Purificacion Family with His Excellency, Bishop Myron Cotta, Auxiliary Bishop of Sacramento
Sis. Agnes Lobo, wife of Deacon Pete Lobo, holds Faith Marie (background is Sis. Letty Castillo).
L to R: Deacon Pete Lobo holding Faith Marie & Sis. Chris Bolko during the practice session the evening before Mass.
"We Will Serve as Father & Son": Deacon's Son's 1st Day of Training as an Altar Boy
Today was a big day for my son, John Paul. A transitional deacon who will be ordained to the priesthood next week gave him his first training day as an altar boy.
The idea came from my son himself. I plan to post pictures later and say more, too.
The main comment here is what he said when I found out that the soon-to-be priest was interested in training him in both the Ordinary Form and the Extraordinary Form as well as with Benediction.
During dinner, I said that it would be awesome if John Paul learned Benediction since permanent deacons can do Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament. My son said -- and my heart is deeply moved as I blog this -- that we would together "serve as father and son".
