I have to recount an experience I had one Mass during the doxology.
The doxology is where the priest lifts up the Body and Blood of Christ, and the deacon in silence assists the priest to elevate the Sacred Chalice. The priest then intercedes for the people to the Father where He is glorified, "Through him, and with him, and in him, O God, almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, for ever and ever."
It must have been some time in November where on the early morning before I was to assist at Mass, I pricked my middle finger looking for, of all things, a safety pin in the bathroom. It hurt.
Then, a couple hours later, I accidentally pricked my thumb. That hurt, too.
These hurts, however, were very small. In both instances, I turned it into an act of penance and offered these up as a very small Cross to make reparation for my sins.
I didn't put band-aids on them because the bleeding stopped after I washed the wounds.
So at that particular Mass, I had gone up to Father to receive the Chalice for the doxology. The elements had just been consecrated.
I lifted up the Chalice in the usual manner and remained silent as is proper to the deacon, and while the priest was praying the "Through him, and with him, and in him" prayer -- the doxology -- I saw that my thumb was naturally joined with my middle finger.
Here, with my thumb and middle finger joined, I saw residue of my own blood in my fingernails.
It reminded me of my early morning pricks and touched my heart. I thought of how very insignificantly little my little pricks were that morning compared to the sufferings and wounds of Jesus, whose Precious Blood I was holding, and I also thought about the Four Iraqi Boy Martyrs who were martyred for the Faith recently. When asked to renounce their Faith, they said no and "We love Jesus."
For those of you who like music and poetry, you may
be familiar with a poem that was written in 1865 called “The Hand That Rocks
the Cradle is the Hand That Rules the World.”It is credited to William Ross Wallace. In that poem, Wallace repeats over and over in
the refrain: (quote) “The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the
world.” (end quote)
The same person that gives birth to and raises a
child exerts an incredible authority and influence in that person’s life and
therefore the affairs of the world.Mothers
and even those with motherly roles carry a certain moral authority that no
other person can really ever exercise.
We put pictures and images of our mothers around our
houses or in our wallets or on Facebook or other social media.We are proud of our mothers and we honor –
not worship – mothers.
Let us take a second example also from human wisdom,
but this time let us take the image of human courtship.We as a society look down on men who simply
impregnate a woman and then leave her and abandon her without taking
responsibility.The idea of using another
person’s body and then discarding it does not sit well for reasonable people
and does not respect the dignity of the woman.
I use these two examples about mothers and women to
make this one simple point: Authentic following of Christ means having a
profound devotion to and love for the Mother of Christ.
For the past 2,000 years of Christianity, the Mother
of Jesus has always – ALWAYS – been honored as an essential component of what it means to be Christian.The first Christians honored her, and so we
too should honor her.
As we enter the final and Fourth Week of Advent,
dear brothers and sisters, today’s Gospel reminds how to prepare for the birth
of Jesus by looking at the hand that rocks cradle of Jesus, savior of the world.The past few weeks of spiritual preparation
for Christmas we looked at the figures like John the Baptist and
Elizabeth.Today, we focus on Mary.
There are three lines for the Gospel to help us
develop a true devotion to the Mother of Jesus.The Gospel today focuses on what is called the Annunciation from Luke
Chapter One.Here, we see the beginnings
of what we call the “Hail Mary” or the Angelic Salutation Prayer: “Hail, full
of grace.The Lord is with you.”The Second Vatican Council said here that
Mary “was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role” (LG 56).In order for Mary to give her free assent of
her faith to the announcement of her vocation, it was necessary that she be
wholly carried by God’s grace (Cf. Catechism
490).The Bible shows that Mary is full
of God’s grace.(Ke-chari-tomene in the Greek. And Gratia Plena in Latin.“Llena
eres de gratia” in Spanish.Or “napupuno
ka ng grasya” in Tagalog. Actually, the Greek Ke-chari-tomene shows something unique by “having been graced”
already.)This is the first point: Mary
is full of grace or she is one who is “having been graced”.
The second is when Mary asks how she would conceive a
baby in her womb and the angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.”During the Nicene Creed, we publicly profess
to the world, “and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and
became man”.The liturgy calls for us to
bow during this line honor the Incarnation of Jesus in Mary’s womb.
And that leads to the third and last line for our
reflection of the Annunciation.Having
been graced already, ke-chari-tomene,
having been preserved from sin, she gives her “yes” to God.“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.May it be done to me according to your
world”.All the world hinged on this
moment.Mary’s “yes” – her consent – is
the dawn, the beginning, of salvation history.Mary is like the gentle dawn in the morning, not the morning sun itself
(that’s Jesus), but she is the first rays of the sun on a silent morning.Meditate on this the next time you watch a
sunrise.When she gives her “yes”, she
is the New Eve.The first Eve, like the
first Adam, disobeyed God.The first
Adam and Eve, our first parents, gave their “no” to God.But the Second Adam, Jesus, and the Second
Eve, Mary, would reverse the first and original sin through their loving and
free “yes”, a “yes” that is “full of grace”.(Ke-chari-tomene!)
And for Mary to give her most complete and free and
perfect consent, she is “full of grace”.And when one is “full of grace” there is no ounce of sin in her “yes”.It is a perfect “yes” that represents you and
me and all humanity.
I know someone who, when he proposed to his now-wife
to marry him, wanted the best “yes” from her—a “yes” unstained by any ulterior
motives – the most perfect “yes” that a newly engaged woman can give.
So having been herself immaculately conceived by God,
and redeemed from the first moment of her conception, Mary gives what is called
in the “obedience of faith” that we see in the Second Reading from Paul’s
Letter to the Romans.Faith is an act of
loving obedience where one’s will is united to the will of the Father.
Mary’s “yes” in Latin is called her “Fiat”.And at that moment Mary gives her “yes”, her
consent to GodAccording to the
tradition, it is at this moment that she becomes pregnant with Jesus.God is incarnate in the womb of the NEW Ark
of the Covenant.According to the
Fathers of the Church, the new ark is Mary.
In the first reading, we see the beginnings of the
Old Ark of the Covenant.Before the
Temple was built in Jerusalem, King David wanted to build a resting place for
the Covenant.And just as the Old Ark carried
the presence of God, Mary now is the new ark that carries the new and
everlasting covenant in her womb.
And in a few moments, when we receive the Holy
Eucharist, which is the True and Real Presence of Jesus, we too will carry
Jesus within us, in the womb of our souls.Mary, the Church, you and me, are all images and an icon of the ark to
carry God within us.
Now there are some practical ways to develop a true
devotion to Mary. The first is liturgical.The liturgy is the official prayer of the Church.Whenever there is a Holy Day of Obligation
set for the Mother of Jesus, keep in mind that these holy days carry the same
weight as a Sunday Mass, and there are a few of these throughout the year on a
non-Sunday (like the Assumption or Immaculate Conception or Mother of God on
Jan. 1).Let’s celebrate these days as a
community and not neglect these.
The second is the holy rosary.(Hold up rosary.)The Rosary is a Bible-based prayer.The rosary is a Bible-based prayer.The rosary takes the scenes from Jesus’s life
and turns it into prayer.The Hail Mary,
the words of which are taken from the Bible, as we saw in today’s Gospel, are
used, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you.”
The great saints of the Church are those that had a
strong loving devotion to the Mother of Jesus.Pope St. John Paul the Great devoted his entire papacy to her.Also, look at John the Beloved Disciple, the
Apostle loved the most by Jesus … is the one that took care of his mother.(pause)Let us be like the Beloved Disciple whom Jesus loved most.
The third devotion is called devotion to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary.The Heart of
Mary is also in the Bible.It is a heart
that was pierced by a sword.Mary
pondered these things in her Heart.One
way to live the Bible is to pray the rosary which is based on the Bible.This can be done, for example, on the drive
to work in the car using your fingers, or throughout the day.This can also be done by a practice called
the “First Five Saturdays.”This is
where one attends Mass, goes to Confession, and meditates on the mysteries of
the rosary for five straight Saturdays.I will personally myself show you how to pray the rosary if you need
help praying this.Give it a try if you
haven’t done this yet.It will work
wonders in your life!
And the final way is called consecration to Jesus
through Mary.All true devotion to Mary
leads to Jesus.
As we come to the close of our preparations for the
birth of Jesus, let us take time to look not at the cradle yet, but that hand
that cradled Jesus ever-so lovingly in her arms.
Mary, I am all yours, my queen and my mother, and
all that I have is yours.Lead us and
the whole world to your Baby Son.We,
too, like you, give our “yes” to God.O
God, may your will be done to us, according to your word.
My first-born son served Benediction & Holy Mass for the first time (and with me as the assisting deacon) on Wednesday, December 17, 2014, at St. Catherine's parish in Vallejo, California.
This was part of my family being one of the sponsors of the nine-day novena of 7pm Masses in preparation for the birth of Our Infant King.*
As a father, I cannot help but glow with pride for my son-- heck, any parent would. My wife was happy, too, and was critically part of the preparation process.
I think only now do I get a sense of what my parents must have felt when they saw me as an altar server in my youth.
* * *
That night, my thoughts and emotions varied from rehearsal to the recessional hymn:
During the Benediction, I was so excited having my son with me that my voice cracked when I chanted/intoned the prayers for Benediction. My altar boy son was kneeling on my left, and I kind of saw his role as one of gaining his first experience serving with me as I led Benediction.
At times, I had to discreetly motion him to move or whisper to him to stay kneeling at certain parts. John Paul didn't incense or ring the bell for his first time as an altar boy for Benediction but rather to simply be a presence before the Real Presence.
Before and after Mass, people made remarks of how cute he was in the vestments and were taking pictures. I knew that, in a certain sense, he was representing young kids his age who might one day be interested in being altar servers.
I myself was delighted and am grateful to Auntie Agnes Lobo, wife of Deacon Pete Lobo, for making arrangements to borrow the size eight cassock and surplice from the neighboring St. Vincent's parish.
* * *
During Mass, he and I interacted more during the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
When Father Jess Soriano handed my son the somewhat-large and fragile flagellum (which contained unconsecrated wine) during the Offertory, I had an intense, nail-biting and wide-eye moment in the few seconds before John Paul walked over and handed the the flagellum to me where I was stationed by the altar.
From the people as gifts, to the hands of the priest, to the altar server, to the deacon for preparation, and then to the priest, and eventually consecrated and offered to God the Father through Christ in the Spirit, and then back to the people to feed their souls, the unconsecrated wine that is the fruit of the earth and work of human hands -- through the words and actions of the priest at consecration -- becomes the adorable Sacrament of Love which is the real and true Blood of Jesus Christ. If we do not eat His flesh or drink His blood, then we have no life in Him.
So um, yes, this was the MOST intense three-seconds of the Mass for me!
I was relieved that he didn't drop the delicate container. There is a story of St. Dominic Savio who, one day while helping as an altar boy during Mass, tripped over his cassock and dropped the vessels used for Mass. I think this was one part of Dominic Savio that I didn't want to emulate.
Later, when the other two altar servers were preoccupied with putting other vessels away, John Paul helped me put away the water cruet after the purification of the vessels. Perhaps my remembering both the wine and water roles that John Paul played is most significant, since the deacon's ordinary role is to administer the Chalice of the Lord's Precious Blood.
* * *
Thank you, God, for this gift. It confirms my life's choices as an altar boy myself from 1987-1997 (ages 12-22) and more importantly as a practicing Catholic since my pre-teen years. It validates my family's life choices hitherto.
I have to take a step back from this beautiful day and all that happened. I have to wonder out loud if the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council realized that, when they restored the permanent diaconate and opened it to married men, they would see the fruit of a father-son transformation into servants.
A few months ago, when John Paul told us that he wanted to be an altar boy during dinner, he remarked, "We will serve together as father and son." So on that rainy evening, we were servants. We were servants at the source and summit of the Christan life, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, a re-presentation of Calvary, Calvary made present today and throughout time until the end of time in a un-bloody manner.
Without the Eucharist, the Church simply would not exist and Jesus' death on the Cross and Resurrection would be forgotten by the world.
So that night, united to the First Mass which was the Last Supper of the Lord, my first-born son John Paul and and I were together "servant-servant of the High Servant" who Himself came to serve and not to be served.
[PHOTOS HERE]
_________________________
*According to the interim parochial administrator, Fr. Vincent, St.
Catherine's currently is the only parish in the diocese that does not
have altar servers. The issue of using youth altar servers has formally
been on the agenda for consideration over the past year but has been
tabled with all the transitions at the parish taking place. So as a
parent, I was happy to see the parish use servers for the nine-day Misa
de Aguinaldo.
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