Monday, October 25, 2010

Saint Peter's - October 24, 2010 - Eric

What's Happening:
What is the role of the clergy? I heard a priest friend tell me once that the role of the priest is to comfort the afflicted, and to afflict the comfortable. It makes a nice little phrase, but does it really work?

It is easy to see how to apply 'comforting the afflicted', but what exactly is 'afflicting the comfortable'? We get comfortable with our own thoughts, opinions, and activities, and many of us would stay there because it is what we are used to. Afflicting the comfortable is to make us consider what we think, what we talk about, and what we do. When we are confronted with a Homily message we don't really care for, we are forced to rethink, discuss, and share our thoughts and feelings ... and possibly even change our behaviors.

If part of the role of the clergy is to make people think, and to generate discussion, then Father Cook, you did a masterful job on Sunday at Saint Peter's.

The subject was about the new Catholic Missal, and people have opinions. Unfortunately, I haven't yet seen the changes for myself. I personally think it will end up being much ado about nothing, but it's great to talk about it. I can't tell you how proud I was to be part of a group that was so loving and respectful, even in disagreement.

Lord please continue to bless us with clergy who make us think about you and talk about your church.

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Karen, Me, Jen, Ron, Patrick, Joe, Mark, Kat, Kali, and Brianne. Taken outside the 11Worth Cafe. Not pictured, Frank.

Location and Architecture:
Saint Peter's Parish, 709 South 28th Street (27th and Leavenworth Streets), Omaha. The 9:30am Mass at Saint Peter's is a high Mass with plenty of Latin. The design of the church befits the high Mass and it's majesty. The church is large and the ceiling so high that even the choir loft looks small. The stained glass is amazing, and the design is balanced such that no one feature of the church overwhelms any other, so it's quite peaceful and harmonious.

I just want to make sure that I get it out that the choir was amazing.

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We had an short amount of time to take pictures this week, so there are only a few, sorry. You can see all of my pictures of Saint Peter's Parish here, with plenty of bonus pictures from the 11Worth Cafe.

Gospel:
"...for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted. "Luke 18:14

Hey! Everybody raise your hand who would rather be humbled than to be praised. I think that question will result in a whole lot of people sitting on their hands every time. We see in the full text of the Gospel (Luke 18:9-14) that one person is approaches God and tells Him all about his bad self. The other man is in awe/fear of God and begs for mercy.

What is exalting yourself? What is humbling yourself?

We witness people exalting themselves all the time. People want to tell you how great they are, how they have it altogether, and if you'd just listen to them, they have all the answers. Exalting yourself sounds a lot like advertising. Much of it is to convince others (and yourself) of your own goodness.

Humbling yourself is the realization of the truth. The truth is we are not capable of getting to Heaven on our own. Even more so, we really we cannot appreciate anything good, nor really even survive without God, He is the source of all. We are sinners, but we are loved sinners (thanks Joe).

Our challenge is not to be discouraged by our sinful ways, but to have the bravery to admit our sins, and yet despite this acknowledgement still approach God and ask for mercy.

Lord, please teach me to humbly come before you and ask for mercy, and by your example of mercy to me, teach me to be merciful to your other children. Amen.

Prayers:
Please pray for:
Tom who is being deployed to Afghanistan, and his wife and two daughters.
Amy and Shannon for protection on their missions.
Frank who is looking for meaningful employment.
Kevin as he prepares for his final year of seminary and the priesthood.
Marcus as he has been accepted into seminary and will be discerning the priesthood.
Frank and Lindsay for blessings on their engagement.
My friend M., who is pregnant, please pray for her and her baby.
My mother Judy to have her back healed.

Next:
Sunday, October 31 @ 9:30am at Mass: Saint Cecilia's Cathedral, 701 North 40th Street, Omaha.

Peace, Eric

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