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FR. FRANK AND FRIENDS
August 24, 2008 A Family of the Eucharist
My dear parishioners,
THE COLOR GREEN
Many people have commented on the green banners, cross backdrop and altar covering. Almost everyone has been very positive about them, especially in their role as making our large and beautiful church a bit homier. A question is asked however: why are the banners, etc. green?
Well, much as I love Saint Patrick’s Day and the color green there is another explanation: we are now in Ordinary Time in the Liturgical calendar. Ordinary Time takes up 34 weeks in the calendar. It is made up of the Sundays of the years exclusive of Advent, Lent, Easter and Pentecost.
GREEN
The color of Ordinary Time is green. So, not only the banners and decorations, but also the priests’ vestments and altar servers’ cinctures are green. Green in the Liturgy is a color of hope and always contains a hint of the green pastures mentioned in Psalm 23, the Good Shepherd Psalm.
I personally think that “ordinary” is a poor term to describe the season. Is there ever anything “ordinary” in celebrating the Eucharist and encountering the Risen Christ in the Sacrament and in the people who are the Body of Christ? I don’t think so!
PURPLE
The Church Year begins with Advent. That season is one of expectation of the coming of the Lord. The color for Advent is purple. But many feel that purple is a bit too somber for Advent. After all, it is a time of joyful expectation, but also renewal and transformation. You will often see a bluer purple and even blue vestments, especially for Mary’s Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Advent.
WHITE
Next we celebrate the Birth of Christ. The color of decorations and the vestments is white and/or gold. The feeling is festive as we celebrate for three weeks the birth of Jesus and it’s a great party. Poinsettias, crèches, lights, evergreens, carols, etc. decorate the Church and homes. We can’t contain ourselves as we celebrate the greatest of all the events of human history~the Incarnation. Jesus Christ, the second person of the Blessed Trinity became one of us at the moment of the Annunciation when Mary said her “Yes” and became pregnant with Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. Nine months later Jesus was born in Bethlehem. ORDINARY TIME I ~ GREEN
The season between Christmas and Lent is the first phase of Ordinary Time~green. It usually lasts about two months, until we reach Ash Wednesday.
PURPLE
On Ash Wednesday we walk into our Church and it is very somber in purple. The banners behind the altar call us to fast and feast during Lent’s forty days as we make our way to Holy Week and Easter.
HOLY WEEK
On Palm Sunday the color is red. Red reminds us of the Kingship of Jesus as we wave our palms and shout “Hosanna!” On Holy Thursday the color is white because it is the celebration of the institution of the Holy Eucharist and the celebration of the Washing of the Feet. What a glorious day in the Church’s life! Red is the color of Good Friday as we honor our King who reigns from the Cross. On this day all come forward to reverence the Cross of Jesus. Of course, red reminds us of the blood of our Saviour, shed for our redemption.
EASTER SEASON~WHITE
Easter is celebrated for fifty glorious days. The color is white and the party never ends, Jesus is risen from the dead! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!. Flowers galore, the statue of the Risen Christ, everything tells us to rejoice. It doesn’t get better than this!
PENTECOST~RED
On Pentecost Sunday we celebrate with red, the color of passion and life. Trinity Sunday uses white, along with Corpus Christi~the great day of celebration and adoration of the holy sacrament of the Eucharist.
ORDINARY TIME II~GREEN, AGAIN!
After Corpus Christi we return to the beautiful color green to continue celebrating the great and incredible mystery of Jesus becoming one of us, dying and rising for us and sending His Spirit upon us so that we might continue His work of bringing God’s love to all people.
LONG BEFORE FREUD
The Church is a great psychiatrist who has been practicing for two thousand years. The Church is also a great communicator. When you walk into a church on Good Friday you know you are at a wake. When you walk in at Christmas or Easter you know you are at a great party. The Church tries to communicate the mystery with smells (incense), color, sound (beautiful music), dance, ambiance, flowers and banners, etc. She uses every trick in Her bag to tell us that special story of Jesus we are celebrating at that time. The church tries to touch our hearts in the seasons of the year ~ not just our heads.
MY TWO FAVORITE SUNDAYS
Gaudete Sunday and Laetare Sunday occur mid-Advent and Lent respectively. Both words mean “rejoice.” The Church wants to give us a little “break” from the severity of these two seasons so the purple becomes rose or pink colored on these two Sundays. Vain priests and deacons like me love the chance to dress up in these wild vestments twice a year! Remember on your advent wreath the three purple and one rose candle? Well, just like the vestments, etc. of Gaudete Sunday, the pink candle tells us to relax ~ Christmas is coming!
JUST LIKE AT HOME
I like to think of the Church as my home. The best time being at home is when we sit down to a great meal. We eat and drink and tell our story. We celebrate our Family Eucharist. At other times we go to rest or be alone in our room, the den, the living room, the porch, etc. We do the same thing in our home, the domestic Church. We remember our beautiful family with the pictures all around. They are our altars. The holiest of them is the ice box door. Look at all those pictures ~ there’s the history of salvation of your family. We talk to the statues and pictures in Church, we light a candle. We laugh, we cry. We are home and we feel comfortable. It’s our Church. It’s our home and there’s no place like home. In our Church everyone belongs and everyone has a special place because we are all family.
THANK YOU, ANN CRAFT
I offer the Parish’s gratitude and thanks to Ann Craft of Saint Brigid’s Parish, who made the banners in the Church as a gift to our parish. They complete the green banners for Ordinary Time in the Liturgical calendar. Ann first made the two banners on the front wall of the Church. They remind us: “Love one another as I have loved you.” John 15 It took a year and a half to complete the eight wall hanging banners. This gift of love on the part of Ann is overwhelming. She used the words of Saint Paul in I Corinthians 13. His famous hymn to love is one of the most well-known parts of the Bible. It is read at almost every wedding in our Church. Each banner proclaims one of the messages of Saint Paul like “Love is patient.” The saying is interpreted in two different ways on either side of the banners. Each interpretation is profound and theologically rich. They are a meditation and prayer in themselves.
Please be sure to say a little prayer for Ann for this magnificent gift she has made to our dear Parish.
Special thanks must be given to Anna Rose Regan and her team of decorators who make the church come alive again and again at each new seasonal change. Tim Leitch is incredible as he hangs the banners each season to make our church a true home for everyone.
And reigning over all of this is our faithful and loyal verger, Wanda Heavey. Thank you, Wanda !!!
In Jesus’ love,
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