First a reflection, and then an experience!
The reflection comes from the interesting way the liturgy itself interprets the Scriptures for us. The Gospel was the parable of the talents: the master entrusting enormous sums of money to his stewards, according to each one's ability, with two of the servants taking initiative and earning income on the investment, and a third who simple restored the original sum intact. This last is judged unfaithful, and serves as a warning.
The first reading illustrates the kind of behavior the Gospel demonstrates as what God is looking for, only in the first reading (Proverbs on a "worthy wife"), it is a woman running a household who is the model. Now the actual text of Proverbs is definitely from a male point of view, and the Gospel, too, depicts a man's world. It is the Church who adds the feminine angle, not by giving the reading from Proverbs alone, but by setting it alongside that specific Gospel text, giving those verses of Proverbs a meaning they do not otherwise have. This is one of the marvelous things about the Church and biblical interpretation, using the Bible to interpret the Bible.
Now the experience. Tell me: has this ever happened to you?
As we entered the Church and went to our "choir" pews, there was a young man standing in the front pew. He kept standing through the entire liturgy (no small feat), but shortly before Communion, he adjusted his suit (a kind of fitted style) and his scarf (red, rolled at the neck) and picked up a book ("Left Behind"). He held the book flat against his chest and turned toward the center aisle and just stood in that position throughout the Communion procession. Then he turned to the front again as the Mass concluded, but before the dismissal, he opened a lollipop and put it in his mouth, took his book to his chest again, and walked quickly toward the back.
Obviously, a man with a mission. And a very well-planned mission, too. By standing throughout the Mass, he guaranteed that all eyes would be on him. My own eyes, frankly, were on him, because I was so afraid that in my habit I would be a target for some extreme behavior. Anyway, have other congregations been subjected to similar activity? I am just wondering if it was a Lone Ranger on Crusade, or if there is some kind of activist group doing this.
3 comments:
If he's reading Left Behind, maybe he's just an ardent evangelical trying to convert those heathen Catholics!
Sr. Anne,
How nice to catch up with your writings. - I chose to respond to this one, remembering our young friend from last Sudnay, who caused quite a bit of distracted prayer in the community; everyone to whom I spoke seemed to have a different take on Our Sunday Visitor. Some chose to focus on his rather middle-eastern characteristics satchel which was slung over his neck, and were naturally concerned that we had a bomber in our midst. Some focused on his his constant circular movements as he stood throughout the liturgy, as if he had some form of autism. I was informed that he continued to stump for his cause after Mass, showing his book from the sidewalk, to all who emerged from the church. During the course of the liturgy I heard other stories of our visitor's former travels to Mt. Carmel, at those times he carried, waved and chewed on "rainbow" flags during the Mass. After hearing about this, I (your choir director) was simply annoyed, because we work so hard to create beauty, and to offer this as our prayer. Then again, I remember my first years at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, back in the late 1980's, while working as an apprentice to William Ferris, the neighborhood was still freeing itself from its not too distant skid row heritage. Troubled souls seemed to gravitate to Mt. Carmel back in those days with much greater frequency.
In thinking about this topic, I find myself pondering today's Gospel message: how must we appropriately respond to those among us who are troubled and sick?
Paul
Oh, Paul, I am the last person in the world to know what to do face to face with people. It sounds like an escape, but the best thing I can think of is to pray for them, but not "generically." With this man, I was praying over how tenderly God loves him and desires his whole good, and asking God to meet his deepest need. Come to think of it, that's the best way I can think of to pray for anybody (myself included!).
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