- Mass was only a 20 minute walk down the street from our house.
- We walked in the church and it was buzzing with chatter and laughter and greetings: a sure sign of a strong community.
- The Deacon and Priest both danced their way down the aisle to the entrance hymn.
- The Gospel choir started and the piano, saxophone, and drums rocked the whole building.
- The priest had hair longer than mine, in a style that looked like it hadn’t quite changed since he was an 80’s rock-band wannabe.
- At the beginning of the mass, Fr. Paul introduced himself and everyone who would be any sort of minister during the mass, and explained the 2 parts of a Catholic mass: liturgy of the word and liturgy of the Eucharist.
- He then genuinely invited the entire congregation to participate as much as they felt comfortable, Catholic or not.
- The “Commentator” announced the readings, giving the page number they could be found on in the missal, and gave a one-sentence synopsis.
- Each reading was read with a clarity and passion that made it hard to lose focus.
- The Responsorial Psalm was a ten-minute long song by the fantastic Gospel Choir.
- Before the Gospel was read, Fr. Paul prefaced it with a note on the translation and word chice; he reminded us to keep in mind that the word “hate” as it appeared in the Gospel was probably not the word Jesus used when he says in Luke’s Gospel, “"If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”
- During the Homily, Fr. Paul reads the corresponding passage from the Gospel of Matthew to help us further understand Jesus’ intention in saying this; he explained Jesus does not call us to “hate” all the people in our life, but rather to put Him first so that all other relationships may fall into place.
- Also during the homily, Fr. Paul read from an LA Times article that discussed human trafficking from Thailand to the LA area, and linked this social justice issue very concretely to the words of the second reading.
- The sign of peace was like a 15 minute intermission in the mass, when the priest went around to everyone in the church. He even added to the prayers of the faithful after finding out news about the passing of a parishioner’s mother after the sign of peace was over.
- Did I mention the Gospel Choir? I have never felt so alive!
- During the Liturgy of the Eucharist, about 50 kids (ages 1-17) joined Fr. Paul on the altar. (Even one Verbum Dei student was there!)
- After communion, the choir sang a fantastic hymn…”Here’s the deal, Jesus is real.” They had everyone on their feet singing and clapping and praising.
- At the end, Fr. Paul invited everyone who was new to the church to stand, and then the people around us patted us on the back, shook our hands, and asked us, very sincerely, to come back.
- We were the only white people in the church, minus 3 Jesuit novices and the priest. However, I have never felt so welcomed at a mass.
- We left the church, two full hours after mass started, singing and dancing our way home down the street.
- We were clearly mistaken for USC students when someone asked us after if we were walking all the way back to USC. Ha!
In other news this weekend, the girls in Casa Celina Ramos in San Diego came to stay with us for two nights. Trying to organize and mobilize 6 girls in addition to our 5 made me grateful for two things: a car (Seriously! They don’t have one in San Diego and it sounds like they are practically paralyzed because of their location in the city) and a co-ed house. They are great girls, but very I’m grateful for our house dynamic!!
No comments:
Post a Comment