Music or the Eucharist?

So what's more important at church?

Father's most entertaining sermon?

The beautiful art and stained glass (or lack thereof)?

The really cool programs that "engage" our youth?

Songs we can sing, or even like to listen to?

Or is it the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist?

A no-brainer right?

It would be simply amazing if all Catholics, laity and clergy alike, understood the real reason why we worship the way we do.

Certainly aesthetics play a big, big part in how we worship. But, to dwell on what might seem the negative aspects (Father's long homily, the "style" of music, the way people dress to go to Mass, etc.) to the exclusion of recognizing the greatest miracle that happens at EVERY Eucharistic liturgy is to deny the why and Who.

This has become especially clear to me as, much to my previous yet unwarranted chagrin, I was moving from a traditionally-styled church with an equally-styled "traditional" liturgy (where doing things "by the book" and in Latin were the way) to something decidedly more "contemporary." If I had judged a book by it's cover, in this case, I might have run away, holding my very sad but close-minded head in sorrow, from a very holy parish with a very holy man at its helm.

So what if the pastor doesn't wear a cassock, or a Roman collar outside of the liturgy? Here, my new parish provides Eucharistic adoration 24/7...24/7! So what if the music comes from the major Catholic publishers with a more "in-style" style? This new parish of mine sings the ordinaries in Latin during Lent...in Latin during Lent! So what if they offer a "teen Mass" with a band at the last Mass on Sunday evening? Here, this surprisingly wonderful parish utilizes both a cantor AND a psalmist as to not put the focus on one person as well as keeping the music from becoming a performance...cantor AND psalmist!

This tremendously active parish also runs the second-largest food bank in the state, supports a parochial school, has CCD sessions on three separate days to accommodate everyone, and has a benefactor, so dedicated, that many of the stained glass windows have been installed in this relatively new church building.

Best of all, however, is the fact that, despite the entirety of what mere humans have projected into the parochial community, Jesus...JESUS...comes to this bit of Heaven on earth at every Eucharistic feast and can be found in the Blessed Sacrament chapel at all times, waiting to be worshipped and adored.

UPDATE (11/8/12):  Well, the honeymoon is now over at this parish I'm at.  It is true that there are many wonderful things about my parish.  And, while it is the compete Truth that the Eucharist is the ultimate goal of parish life, it must be said that liturgy must be done according to the rubrics to enable people to worship properly and without obstacle.  While I can get over poor homilies or banal music at Mass or even that the priest wears birkenstocks and street clothes, the fact that the pastor does not wear clerical garb at all outside of Mass and prefers not to be called "Father" but rather by his first name only only give rise to confusion and conflict.  His refusal to be identified as a priest outside of Mass is just a subtle sign of bigger problems...oh, like non-submission to church authority, rubrics or the magisterium, the blurring of Catholic teachings, the summary dismissal of concerns of the faithful who have a right to and request authentic liturgy, and quite possibly the big H...heresy.  This is a priest who has been told by a staff member he is no longer allowed to teach RCIA because his opinions (which do not jive with the Church) confuse the candidates, this is a pastor who continually refuses to say certain words that were changed with the new translation because HE believes them to be heretical (though 2000 years of church history and a bunch of well-renowned theologians beg to differ), this is a leader who allows all sorts of ugly and illicit practices creep into our liturgy because he believes he is being ecumenical and shepherding, this is a member of the clergy who never speaks of sin and I question whether he even believes that there is a hell and that we can go there by our own choosing if we turn away from God.  Beware of namby-pamby, weak shepherds...they may just lead the sheep to the wolves.

Trifecta

I recently read a qutote, which I believe came from Dante's Comedy...it goes something like this: "In Your Will, O Lord, is my peace." It has become my mantra of late. With all the craziness of a two week escrow during Holy Week (of all weeks), I would have expected things to be chaotic and unrestful. But, it is in the recognition that it is His Will that we were able to sell the house for a fair price, or even at all in this sluggish market, and so, I am exceedingly peaceful.

The other powerful force guiding and grounding me is prayer. Constant prayer. The kind of prayer that has me in a continual conversation with my ultimate Beloved. I've been seeking the Lord while He may be found, calling to him while He is still near, thanking Him for His tender mercy, and pleading for answers to that age old question, "What exactly would you have me do with my life, dear Lord?" Not that He's been totally specific with the "what," mind you, but at least I now know the "where."

Rounding out that perfect trifecta which gives me solitude in a nebulous and noisy life is the ability to take afternoon naps. You may scoff but I would suggest that one should not underestimate the fortitude that comes from curling up in rays of sunshine streaming through a window and catching some most needed zzzz's. The short episode of sleep does much to lift the fog and make everything which seemed insurmountable, actually quite achievable.

Peace, prayer and naps...my version of the best antedote to a hectic life.

Hope is...

A man clinging to his rooftop being rescued after his house was swept nine miles out to sea.

A father clinging to his newborn son, grateful that he and his young family were able to heed the tsunami warning and get to higher ground.

The polite resignation of the Japanse people that though the center has run out of supplies, more is on the way.

A brother who has hit rock bottom, formerly finding solace in the bottom of a bottle, now healing in a rehab center, finding comfort in prayer and sobriety.

Less than stellar job offers and tightening finances which point to another plan, not of our making but of His.

Positive feedback of a potential sale...though they love the house but not the colors of the walls, they say it's only paint, after all.

Jesus on the cross and the empty tomb.

Awesomely terrifying...

Amazing, stupefying, hair-raising, devastating, horrifying.

Water wreaking havoc of epic proportions. Moving plates liquefying what was assumed to be solid.

Worst fears realized for many people, even deeply affecting some who live thousands of miles away from ground zero.

Forces of nature serving reminders that we are small and physically powerless against the sheer brutality this earth can unleash.

Images bored into my humbled head that will never, NEVER be forgotten.

Water saves, water kills.

I am on my knees...