What’s Different About Lent?

For many of us, Lent is the season we remember from our childhood as the season when we give up something, or the season of Friday Fish Fry.  I remember that my elementary school served grilled cheese and tomato soup for our Friday Lenten lunch.  One thing was certain, Lent was different from those other seasons.

A few things occur during Lent.  The catechumens enter the final stages of preparation for full membership into our faith.  This is a big step for them.  It is a time when they make the decision to become full members of the Catholic Church.  They take this step in front of the St. Michael community so that we may support them and celebrate with them.  Lent is also a time when we prepare ourselves to celebrate the paschal mystery.  It’s also a season that we concentrate on our core beliefs – those things that are really important to us.  It’s the time when we are told to turn away from sin and return to God.  This is a season of cleansing.

It is tradition for some parishes to remove the water from the Baptismal Font during Lent.  Some churches even incorporate sand and cactus plants to give the sense of the desert.  However, in the readings on the First Sunday of Lent this year, we hear of the flood waters that destroyed all on earth and cleansed it in preparation for its new beginning.  The presence of the baptismal water is also a constant reminder of our unity with every baptized person. As we dip into the waters and bless ourselves we not only remember our own baptism, but are in union with each other.  These simple waters connect us to our heritage in the faith – not only those cleansing waters of the great flood, but those waters of the River Jordan in which Jesus was baptized.  It is also appropriate for infant baptisms to wait until the Easter season to turn our focus to the catechumens’ preparation for initiation.  This has been a tradition at St. Michael Church for years with the exception of emergency baptism, of course.

During Lent, we do give up couple of liturgical things.  We stop singing “Alleluia” until Easter.  The “Glory to God” is omitted from the Mass except for a couple big feasts.  The décor is sparse.  Musically, all preludes and postludes will be omitted for the season.  Since Lent is also a season of repentance and returning to God, we’ll sing the “Kyrie” (the Penitential Rite) bringing more emphasis to that part of the Mass.  When the “Glory to God” “Alleluia” and décor do return to our liturgies, they bring with them the celebration of the Resurrection at the great Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday.

So, there are a few very simple things that are different about this season of Lent.

Enjoy the season!

Christopher Orf

Director of Music and Liturgy

St. Michael Church

Why Ashes on Ash Wednesday?

 According to the New Catholic Encyclopedia, ashes are symbolic of mortality, mourning and penance.

The Christian use of ashes as a sign of penance seems to have been taken from Jewish tradition. Originally, ashes were signs of private penance, but then became part of the ritual for public penance.

As early as the 300’s, at the start of Lent, local churches had a ritual for the beginning of public penance.

Pope Urban II (1088-1099) recommended the custom that all churches receive ashes.

“Ashes were put on the heads of men and the sign of the cross traced with ashes on the foreheads of women, presumably because their heads were covered.”

“In the 11th century there appeared a special prayer for the blessing of ashes. And the 12th century gave rise to the rule that the ashes used on Ash Wednesday are to be made from the palm branches of the previous year.”

January 1 is the Feast of Mary, Mother of God. This is the oldest title of Mary, dating back to the Council of Ephesus in AD 431. The title was designed to safeguard the full divinity of Christ against the Nestorians, who wanted to call Mary only the mother of the Christ. A more recent title for Mary is Mother of the Church. Between them, these two titles indicate the importance that Mary has for Catholics: she is the mother of our Savior and our spiritual mother, birthing us into the Body of Christ by her birth of the Head, Jesus. It is her relation to Jesus and the Church that makes Mary of significance in Catholic theology.

Four aspects of Mary’s life have been made official dogmas of the Church. Besides Mother of God, they are her Perpetual Virginity, her Immaculate Conception, and her Assumption into heaven. Many people often mistake the dogma of the Immaculate Conception as referencing the conception of Jesus, but it actually refers to the conception of Mary, preserved from the taint of original sin, in the womb of her mother Anne.

These dogmas are required belief for Catholics, but it does not mean that they are the only aspects of Mary’s life that are authoritatively taught. Titles of Mary such as Coredemptrix, Mediatrix and Advocate have a long history in the teaching of the Church’s ordinary Magesterium.

Catholics do not worship Mary; she is not God. The Church distinguishes between latria, the adoration and worship due to God alone, and dulia, the respect, veneration and love we offer to the saints. Mary, as the person most closely associated with Christ and given the highest honor and sanctity by God, is given the highest honor, or hyperdulia.

Advent 2007, the first Simbang Gabi at Saint Michael Church

SIMBANG GABI (seem-BAHNG gah-BEE) is one of the longest and most popular among the Filipino traditions in the country. It is when Catholic churches across the nation start to open their doors shortly before the break of dawn to welcome the faithful to the Simbang Gabi mass.

Simbang Gabi or Mass at Dawn is a nine-day novena to the Blessed Mother. The novena begins December 16 as early as 4 in the morning and culminates with the “Misa de Gallo” on Christmas Eve to welcome the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. In some churches, the panuluyan is reenacted showing the effort of Joseph and Mary to find a suitable birthplace.

ORIGIN

Simbang Gabi traces its roots in Mexico when, in 1587, the Pope granted the petition of Fray Diego de Soria, prior of the convent of San Agustin Acolman, to hold Christmas mass outdoors because the Church could not accommodate the huge number of people attending the evening mass.

During the old times, the pre-dawn mass is announced by the ringing of the church bells. In some rural areas, an hour before the start of Simbang Gabi, a brass band plays Christmas music all over the town. It is also believed that parish priests would go far knocking on doors to wake and gather the faithful to attend the misa de gallo. Farmers as well as fishermen wake up early to hear the Gospel before going to their work and ask for the grace of good harvest.

SIMBANG GABI NOW AND THEN

The changing of times does not break the preservation of celebrating Simbang Gabi although it is celebrated in new ways. Still, the tradition of Simbang Gabi continues. Part of it are the colorful lights and lanterns that fill every streets. Beautiful parols are hung in every window. Songs of the season are played everywhere to warm the hearts. Families, friends and even individuals find its way going to the nearest church to attend the nine-day novena. Shortly after the misa de gallo, families gather in their homes to celebrate Noche Buena and feasted on various delicacies like queso de bola, bibingka, puto bungbong, or a drink of salabat or hot chocolate.

SIGNIFICANCE

Simbang Gabi has become one of the most popular traditions in the country. But it is not just a tradition that is celebrated because we need to do so. It is a significant moment not only because it strengthens relationships among family members but also because it is the time where our faith is intensified. This is the time where we mostly feel the presence of the Lord because it is the spiritual preparation for Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ. It does not matter if one has the stamina to complete the novena or not, what really matters is what is inside the heart. The blessing does not depend on the number of mass attended, but what is important is the disposition of the person who receives the Lord’s blessing.

(Source: The Official Homepage of the Archdiocese of Manila, Philippines)

Below is the schedule of this year’s Simbang Gabi Western cluster of the Diocese of Joliet.  Saint MIchael Church will hold the final night of the masses this year.  

Every Mass is a celebration in HEALING.  In faith, we receive the Great Physician into our bodies and souls knowing that we will be nourished and healed physically, emotionally and spiritually.  Our Catholic Tradition also invites us to experience God’s presence in a unique way in the Healing Mass.  The service begins with the celebration of the Eucharist.  Then, we are invited to be prayed over individually by the laying of hands and anointing with blessed oil.  There are also opportunities to experience the powerful presence of Christ’s healing love through the Eucharistic procession and the Divine Mercy prayer.  Some people might receive the gift of “rest in the Spirit.”  During his public life, healing was a main aspect of Jesus’ ministry, as it is today, through His Church.  Saint Michael Parish invites you to join in a healing Mass on Saturday, October 4, 2008 at 7:00 PM.  

Is any one among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him
sing praise. Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church,
and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;
and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and
if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.   (James 5: 13-15)

As a parishioner enters Saint Michael Church, he/she is welcomed by a big marbled baptismal font.  Parishioners that enter the Church all soak their fingers into the font and mark themselves with the sign of their identity – the faith into which they are baptized – in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  The ritual of marking oneself with holy water from the font reaffirms the common bond of the people that worship.  The baptismal font then is a place of unity.

It is interesting and certainly inspiring to see a whole family, or a group of friends, approach the baptismal font together.  Such a holy action transcends the many other visible signs of unity like uniforms and name tags, because as we are blessed by the water from the font, we again acknowledge that all of us are brothers and sisters in the Lord, and members of the one family of Christ. 

next time you enter the worship space, we invite you to take time to appreciate this very beautiful ritual and perhaps even say a short personal prayer like, “My Lord, My Father, I belong to you.  As I make this sign of the cross, keep me united with your family, and help me to remain in your love!”

Every day, and especially every Sunday, we celebrate the gift of the eucharist that Jesus left the Church through the apostles.  This very rich celebration is the source and summit of our Christian life.

St. Michael is an archangel! While not closest to the throne of God (the seraphims and cherubims are!), our beloved St. Michael is considered one of the “big kahunas”!

St. Michael becomes the highest of angels because of his humility and it is that humility that destroyed and defeated Lucifer, who was the highest of the angels before its fall.  It is because of Michael’s virtue of humility that he is called “one who is like God”.

St. Michael is the patron saint of artists, police officers, soldiers, radiologists and the sick.

Other important archangels include St. Gabriel (“God is my strength”) and St. Raphael (“God is my health”).

We celebrate the Feast of Archangels including St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael at weekend Masses on September 27^th / 28^th.