Today has been a crazy day in Piqua.
The main event was four--count 'em, four funerals!
Three were funeral Masses; one was a simple burial at the cemetery. Thank God for our retired priest, who took two of the Masses, and the vicar for handling the burial. I had the evening funeral, with the burial tomorrow.
In addition to this, I was supposed to write at least one homily today; Wednesday mornings, I set time aside for that. As it was, I got either a phone call or a visit, at home, about every half hour. Too many things on my mind to focus on the homily, so...we'll see.
This afternoon, I handled a variety of little projects, running back and forth between the parishes. Had a few things to do, in view of tomorrow, before the funeral Mass this evening.
Funeral Mass went well, but after that, we still had to transfer the Blessed Sacrament to the chapel; so a small party of parishioners stayed, and joined me in a low-key procession. The rubrics say nothing about any ritual for this, but...what am I supposed to do, stop people from joining me? So I used the humeral veil, and had two servers carry candles. Then I ran around the church and gathered up the remaining candlesticks, which will be cleaned up tomorrow morning, for tomorrow evening.
I'd have been happy to come home at that point, but I needed to stop in on the Knights of Columbus, so visited with them briefly. They and the Knights of St. John will be participating in Mass tomorrow night; in addition, they always organize adorers for the night watch, so I wanted to thank them for that.
9 comments:
Why trasfer?
Brother:
The tabernacle is supposed to be empty for the Mass of the Lord's Supper.
Father, I have never heard of that. In every parish I have lived in there was quite a big deal made of emptying the tabernacle after the Holy Thursday mass.
Could there be different practices?
Father, are there no deacons assigned to your parish that could handle the funerals?
Jim:
I'm sure there are different practices, but the Missal is clear: the tabernacle is empty for Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper. It can be removed at any time before; I figure, after the prior Mass makes sense, since the church is not open for prayer after that last Mass on Wednesday night (that's what our chapel is for).
Anonymous:
In this archdiocese, deacons aren't assigned, they are associated with the parishes they are from.
No, I have no deacons.
We always have the tabernacle empty BEFORE the Mass of the Lord's Supper, as the sacramentary directs. Some one asked "Could there be different practices?" Unfortunately, there have been all kinds of unauthorized practices, from lack of knowledge, or a "I'll do it my way" mentality and who knows what else.
I guess I'm lucky. In my tiny parish we have four deacons to assist our one priest. (Our pastor is in his mid-seventies and his occasional "weekend assistant" is a retired monsignor that is even older than our pastor.) The deacons run the CCD program, the RCIA program, pre-cana, as well as handling most of the funerals, baptisms and weddings. They even get to preach about once a month.
I don't know how long the seminary is for prospective deacons, but I sure hope you get a deacon to help you soon, Father. It sounds like you could use one or two.
St. Catherine of Siena
It seems to me that the Catholic faith is nothing more than a set of rules and regulations, based on hypocrisy and blasphemy against the Bible. I live in Martin Fox's area and I have seen the activities that take place at so-called parish picnics and festivals. Beer stands and gambling booths.. Does it not say in 1 Timothy 6:10, "the love of money is the root of all evil."? It is also written in Proverbs 23:33 that "Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perverse thoughts." Why do I see all of the local drunks coming out to play at these "church" sponsored functions? People wonder why organized religion is a joke to some people. Hypocrisy is not a good ideal to base a church around.
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