A brief history of the Mass (reason #3 "why to go to mass")

I've enjoyed sharing with you some "reasons why we should go to mass" and I would like to share with you my favorite reason today.

My Father and my niece.

I can remember growing up and listening to my father telling wonderful and enthralling stories... even if I had heard them seven or eight times before.   I love a good story!  I love listening to a story and I love telling a good story!  Many people tell me that I'm like my father in that I can tell a good story (telling jokes... well that's another matter).


So here is one of my favorite stories:


A few thousand years ago (and still to this day) the Hebrew people (the Jews) had a few very important religious occasions that they would celebrate with a ritual meal.


It is kind of difficult for us to fully appreciate what their ritual meals were/are like because in the 21st century United States we don't have many rituals to our meals.  We live in a "fast food" era and when we do have a holiday meal there might only be a little bit of "ritual" to it.

The Thanksgiving meal might be the best example for us (in the USA).  We always have turkey and your family might then have the same side dishes every year.  Someone might lead a prayer before hand and the meal will probably end with pumpkin pie and the watching of football.  I love Thanksgiving...


The Hebrew ritual meal was also (what we might call) a "prayer service."  Their meal had a few steps to it.

1. They gathered as a community/family/loved ones
2. An elder would lead the ritual meal
3. They sang a religious hymn (or more than one)
4. They read from Scripture
5. There was a time to reflect on the passages from Scripture
6. Then they would eat the meal
7. At different times during the meal they would offer various items of food to God, bless them, and then share them with each other.
8. They would conclude the meal with some prayers and some more hymns.

I think we all know that Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew.  So he often would celebrate these "ritual meals" with his friends and family.  The Last Supper was one of these "ritual meals."

The actual room where the Last Supper took place

He gathered in the upper room with his Apostles, celebrated the ritual meal but he made two small changes to the ritual and the prayers.

At one point during the meal the bread is offered to God, blessed, broken, and shared.  This is part of the ritual that was always celebrated.

At the end of the meal the cup of wine is offered to God, blessed, and shared.  This is also part of the ritual of that meal.  These two things were always done.

But Jesus changed these two small actions in a big way!

I'll let St. Paul explain this further:

The Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and after he had given thanks, broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.
In the same way he also took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood.  Do this... in remembrance of me."(1 Corinthians 11:23-25)

Jesus changed the prayers at the time of the blessing and sharing of the bread and the wine.  The wine was blessed and shared at the end of the meal.


There is something really important to notice and consider in what Jesus said.  He said "Do this in remembrance of me."


What did he mean when he said the words "this?"


The "this" is the whole ritual meal.  Jesus was commanding his apostles to celebrate that ritual meal and when they did they were supposed to do it in "remembrance of [Jesus]."


We often don't realize that Jesus was telling them to celebrate a meal together... to pray with a ritual meal.  That meal required that a community of people (friends, family, and those who you lived with) to gather to celebrate.  The ritual meal was never celebrated by yourself of with just a few people.  It was a community thing.


That is reason #3 why we need to gather as a community for mass. But I'm getting ahead of myself with this story.


The apostles understood what Jesus told them to do. 


So the apostles immediately celebrated this ritual meal as a community of disciples.  They even celebrated this meal with Jesus immediately after he had risen from the dead.


The apostles and disciples taught others to celebrate this meal just as Jesus did.


But, very soon after Jesus ascended to the Father, there was a problem.  In the town of Corinth the Christians would gather to eat this ritual meal and the rich people would eat too much, drink too much, and get drunk.  The poor people would end up going home hungry because no one had given them anything to eat.  They were not celebrating the meal with respect and charity towards the poor.


So St. Paul wrote them a letter (his First letter to the Corinthians) and he scolded them for this.  He also offered a solution to the problem.  He said, "eat at home." (1 Cor. 11:33)  In other words he told them to separate the meal from the ritual.  He told them to keep the ritual and eat the meal at home.  This is what the changes looked like.

1. They gathered as a community/family/loved ones
2. An elder would lead the ritual meal
3. They sang a religious hymn (or more than one)
4. They read from Scripture
5. There was a time to reflect on the passages from Scripture
6. Then they would eat the meal
7. At different times during the meal they would offer [bread and wine] to God, bless them, and then share them with each other.
8. They would conclude the meal with some prayers and some more hymns.

So St. Paul told them to keep doing everything the same... just remove the meal from the ritual.  He told them to keep the ritual but eat at home.  You might notice by now how this is identical to our mass. 

• They gathered as a community/family/loved ones
• We still gather as a community of Christians.
• An elder would lead the ritual meal
• The greek word for "elder" is presbyter... which we call "priest"
• They sang a religious hymn (or more than one)
• We still sing at different parts of mass.
• They read from Scripture
• The first part of every mass has three or four passages of scriptures that are read.
• There was a time to reflect on the passages from Scripture
• We do the same.  We call this the homily (some call it the sermon).
• Then they would eat the meal
• We eat after mass... I love going out for pancakes after mass!
• At different times during the meal they would offer [bread and wine] to God, bless them, and then share them with each other.
• We do the same things and we use the words that Jesus spoke.
• We consecrate the bread and wine and share it.
• They would conclude the meal with some prayers and some more hymns.

• We do it exactly the same.

So, the third reason "why go to mass" is because Jesus told us to!

He said, "Do this in remembrance of me!" 

So we continue to celebrate the mass because he told us to.

Sorry... no homily today

Hello all,


I just thought that I would point out the obvious... I did not have a homily to post this weekend.


It was a busy week and I was not preaching this weekend so I was not able to get one done.


My apologies.  But, I'm already working on this coming weekend's homily so stay tuned.


I will also be continuing my "Mass is boring, why do I need to go?" series. (I've already done the first two of five reasons)


I will also be beginning a new series that is based on a whole bunch of questions that I've been asked by the 9th graders from our parish. (St. Paul Church in Kensington CT)


They've got some wonderful questions and I hope to address them in the coming weeks.

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to email me and ask away!
There are very few things in this world that I love as much as answering questions, seriously.


frpetercft@gmail.com

My Mother was right (reason #2 "why do I need to go to mass")

The idea to write this series of blog posts came out of a few talks that I gave to the parents of children who are preparing for their sacraments of reconciliation and First Holy Communion.


One of the things that I was blunt about with them was that about 70% of the children in our religious education program do not attend mass weekly because their parents do not bring them to mass.


In these talks I was honest with the parents and I told them that it is wonderful that they bring their children to religious education on a weekly basis and that they want their children to receive the sacraments of reconciliation and First Holy Communion but...


Well, I shared with them a story:

My room wasn't this bad... but you get the idea.

Every Saturday morning, when I was a child, there was the same conversation.  My mother would tell me to clean my room and I would say, "I will."


My mother, knowing that I probably would not clean my room, responded with the phrase, "actions speak louder than words!"


I hated to hear that phrase.  I knew that she was right.  I preferred words to actions... I was good with words... I like words... but I did not want to clean my room.


I also reminded the parents that those of us who have made the transition from adolescents to adulthood have probably experienced the moment when we realized that we are turning into our parents.


It happens to all of us.  The truth is (and I told the parents this) that children will not listen to a word that their parents tell them... but they will imitate their parents.


If you are a parent know this: your child will not listen to a word that you say but they will turn into you.

They won't do what you tell them to do... but they will do what you do!

If you go to mass, then they will too.  If you don't then they won't.  


So, my #2 reason for going to mass is that if you are responsible for the faith and formation of your children (all parents are) then bringing them to religious education classes is not enough.  Telling your child that their faith "is important" is not enough.  Having your child prepare for their sacraments of reconciliation and First Holy Communion is not enough... all of it is not enough if you don not bring them to mass weekly.


Actions speak louder than words.

Homily: Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time Cycle B: 2012

I wonder at times... I have this sneaky suspicion that things are not always as they seem.

What I mean by this is that if you listen to people... I mean really listen then you might hear something interesting.  Listen to what people say when they are talking about God.  I think it can be very educational.  


God is hard to describe.  We've got 2000 years of Christian history and billions of pages of theology on the topic of God but yet God is still hard to describe.


It is true, Jesus, made the question of, "Who is God," much easier to understand but still I learn a lot when I listen to people talk about God.

So here is my sneaky suspicion.  I think that when people talk about "who they think God is" they are often talking about themselves.
I do think that George Bernard Shaw was somewhat correct when he said, "God created man in His image and likeness and then man returned the favor."


Listen to others as they talk about God and you just might hear them describing themselves.


So who is God?


Jesus is the definitive answer to this profound question and I think is very important that we pay attention to this Gospel reading. (Mark 2:1-12)  One man was healed, some were astounded, and some were offended.  God does not always fit what we would want Him to be.


The single most challenging aspect of God is his reckless mercy.  When we want mercy God's recklessness is healing and comforting.  When other people desire his mercy God's recklessness can be very offensive.


In this Gospel Jesus offers mercy before he offers healing.  It seems as if mercy, the forgiveness of sins, is the greatest need that the paralyzed man has.  The miracle of the physical healing is a way that Jesus demonstrates that He does have the authority to forgive sin... and that he wants to!


God has tried to show us that He wants to be merciful and forgiving.  In our first reading (Isaiah43:18-19, 21-22, 24b-25) we hear that God will do something new.  The new thing that God desires to do is be merciful.  This isn't new for God but rather it is new for us.  For so long we've "made God in our image and likeness" rather than the other way around that for God to be merciful is incredibly new for us.


God doesn't change.  God didn't one day decide to stop being vengeful and suddenly begin to be merciful.  St. Paul tells us in the second reading (2 Cor. 1:18-22) that God is not a God of "yes" and then "no." God is consistent in His "yes" toward us.  God is always merciful.  God does not change it is us who need to change.  Mercy is new for us because we aren't always comfortable with a recklessly merciful God.

The men who brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus were hoping for a miracle.  They were hoping that Jesus would heal him.  They received that miracle but Jesus' first priority was mercy.  Jesus wanted that man to know God's mercy more than anything else.  Jesus wanted everyone to know that He is merciful.  He worked this miracle to prove it!


I wonder... if you were to describe God would you put "mercy" at the top of the list?  If you were to describe yourself where would mercy be?


All to often we celebrate justice and retribution.  We cheered, as a nation, when our worst enemy was killed this past spring.  We often feel like justice is done when some criminal is sentenced to the death penalty.  Personally, I often struggle to simply forgive the person who cut me off in traffic.  I can promise you the horn in my car works well.


God wants to give us a new and reckless gift of mercy but He also asks that we show that same mercy to everyone else.

The mass is so boring! Why do I need to go?

It's easy to feel close to God here.

I get this question all of the time, "Why do I have to go to mass?  It is so boring?"  Another version that I like is, "I find God and I feel close to him when I'm out in the woods and amongst Gods creation... why do I have to worship God in Church why can't I worship Him when I feel close to him on a hike [or fishing]?"

Me... in the workshop using a hand plane.

I've got to be honest... I agree with the feelings behind this question.  I love spending time amongst God's creation.  For me I feel very close to God when I'm in the workshop woodworking.  That is a very spiritual experience for me.  I get it.  It is easy to worship God when we feel close to him.  A church building surrounded by people that you may not know on a Sunday morning might not be the moment when you feel closest to God.


So I'd like to share a few... well maybe five reasons why I think it is important to go to mass.  


I'll explain these five reasons over the next few days.

1. No one has a party by themselves
2. My mother's advice
3. I'd like to tell you a story
4. An encounter with the true presence of Christ
5. A response to love (the best reason)

Reason #1
I love going to parties.  I enjoy seeing friends and family and having a good time with other people... I am an extrovert after all

This make my point... and it makes me laugh.

A party is really not a party if you are the only one there.  The experience of being a Christian is not just about "you and God."  Worshiping God is kind of like having a party by yourself.  There are just some things that need lots of people to be complete.  Worshiping God is incomplete without other people.  Christians have always believe this.  


Lately in our world we have emphasized the importance of the individual person.  This is not a bad thing but it can be taken too far.  If we make the individual the "center of the universe" then we miss out on a lot of what life can offer.  No one can play a board game by themselves.... I don't think.  Tennis (or ping pong if you are me) can't be enjoyed by yourself.  There are many other activities that need two.  The old saying is, "it takes two to tango."

It takes two to tango!

I think there is wisdom in this.  If we think that worship can be done well by ourself without anyone else then I think we are missing something.


A party need others and worship needs a Christian community.


I chatted with my cousin a few years ago after he decided to stop going to church.


He said to me, "I don't go to church because it is full of hypocrites."


My response was, "You are absolutely correct!  That's the whole point!"


I really wanted to say, "Don't worry... you will fit right in."


But I controlled my tongue and kept that last comment to myself.

Makes sense to me!

We need each other.  I need to worship with other sinners like me... because I am a sinner.  I need your support and your witness of faith to encourage me in my faith.


Never, in the history of Christianity, has there been the idea that Jesus and his Gospel was just about "Me and God."

What Jesus said and did was about drawing us into a community that St. Paul called "The Body of Christ, The Church."


That is why we need to worship together... we need each other and we are a community.


No one can "do" community by themselves and no one can really worship Christ by them self.


Worship is like a party... you can't do it by yourself.


Stay tuned for more posts explaining #2 through #5!

Homily: sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year B 2012

This past summer I had the opportunity to work as a chaplain intern at Johns Hopkins Hospital (Bayview Medical Center) for about three months.  It was a wonderful and memorable experience.  I can specifically recall one patient who was suffering from a very serious illness.  When I began to visit her on a regular basis she was in incredible pain and all possibilities for her recovery had just about disappeared.


The most memorable thing about my visits to her was the amount of pain and emotional anguish that she was suffering.  She used to cry and beg God for relief and healing.  She would say over and over again, "Why, why is God punishing me like this?  I've lived a good life.  I don't want to die!  Why is God punishing me?"


To be honest, this bothered me.  I was not angry at her but I was so hurt that someone would feel as if God was making them suffer or that God used pain and suffering to punish people.  The more that I thought and prayed about this experience the more that I realized that many Christians seem to think that God does this.


I was very young at the time but I can remember when many preachers and other Christians spoke of the newly discovered epidemic of HIV and AIDS, in the early 1980's, as a way for God to punish the wickedness of certain people.  Just recently the tragic tsunami in Japan was referred to as "divine punishment" by some.  It seems that there is not a single natural disaster, tragedy, or calamity where someone doesn't claim that God is passing out punishment.


I think if we look at the first reading from Leviticus (13:1-2, 44-46) we can see this same idea being the central theme.  Notice that the person who is found to have the symptoms of leprosy was immediately sent to the priest.  They were not sent to look for some type of medical care.  It was the role of the priest to determine what is "clean" and "unclean."  


In our world today these words are very much associated with things like dirt, bacteria, germs, and dust.  But at the time of Leviticus being "clean" meant that someone was righteous or holy.  It meant that someone was able to worship God and was "right" before God.  The idea of being "unclean" had almost nothing to do with being dirty but rather with being "unholy."


Someone with leprosy went to the priest because it was thought that that disease was a curse by God.  If someone was a leper then the ancient Hebrews often thought that they were being cursed by God.  So it was the job of the priest to confirm this and declare them "clean" or "unclean" "cursed" or "un-cursed."


There are two other points in the reading that are worth noting.
First, the leper had to wear torn clothes, keep his head uncovered, cover his beard,  and yell out, "unclean, unclean."  At that time wearing torn clothes, not covering your head, and covering your beard was a sign of mourning the death of someone.  For the leper they were mourning their own death!


The last verse of the reading is also spiritually significant.  The leper had to dwell apart from the camp.  This was not to avoid spreading the infection but rather it was a sign that the leper was set apart from God since God's presence dwelt in the midst of camp.  To be apart from the camp was to be apart from God. It was another sign that the leper was cursed and punished by God.

I think it is worth asking ourselves if we look at pain, suffering, natural disasters, tragedy, or sickness as God's punishment.  Do you?  I do think that there are many people in our world still today who do.  But... did Jesus look at it this way?


Consider the Gospel reading. (Mark 1:40-45)  A man with leprosy approaches Jesus and says, "If you wish you can make me clean."


The man is basically saying to Jesus, "If you want to you can end my punishment.  If you desire you can lift my curse.  If it is your will, Jesus, you can make me holy again."


The leper is asking Jesus for something spiritual because he believes that Jesus possesses the power of God.  The leprous man wants to know if Jesus is going to curse him too or if Jesus will show him mercy.  For this poor man the encounter with Jesus is much more about mercy than physical health.


When we ask ourselves the question, "Does Jesus consider pain and suffering to be a punishment from God?" all we need to do is look at his reaction to the man.

Jesus was "moved with pity."  I don't think the word pity is the best word for what the is really going on.  Jesus was "angry with compassion."  He was compassionate toward the man with leprosy but he was upset, I believe, at the idea that this man was suffering because of God's curse or punishment.


I don't think Jesus ever considered human suffering as God's punishment or God's curse.  He possessed the power of God and he knew the love of the Father.  The very idea that the Father would punish or curse his beloved children was upsetting to Jesus and he became "compassionately angry."


Jesus said, "I DO WILL IT be made clean."  In other words he said, "I do want you to be holy!  I do want you to be free from your pain.  You are not cursed by God."


Consider, and be honest with yourself, are there people who you are tempted to see as being punished by God?  Are there people that you wish God would punish?  Do you feel that misfortune or pain in this life is somehow a message from God?  Because if you do I think we need to consider and "take to heart" the challenge of St. Paul in the second reading. (1 Cor. 10:31-11:1)  At the end of the passage Paul tells us, "Imitate me, as I imitate Christ."


The challenge here is to imitate Christ!  I don't think it is good enough just to understand and agree with the idea that God does not punish or curse us in this life.  Rather I think the challenge is to consider those who we look at as evil, immoral, unholy, bad, impure, and disliked by God.  The challenge, for us, is to "reach out" to those people just a Jesus reached out to the man with leprosy.


If you want to imitate Christ it is not enough just to agree with what He said.  You have to do what he did.  If you want to imitate Christ you even have to embrace those who are thought to be "unclean" in our world today.

Hello Everyone!

Hello everyone,


I'd like to take this opportunity with my first blog post to introduce myself.


My name is Father Peter C. Tremblay.  I am a Conventual Franciscan Friar.  I am stationed at St. Paul Parish in Kensington CT where I minister as a transitional deacon.  I will be ordained to the priesthood in August of this year.  
If you are wondering why I have the title of "Father" it is because I was told (I had not heard this before) that even transitional deacons in our community traditionally take "Father" as a title. 

St. Paul Parish Kensington, CT

I am looking forward to sharing my thoughts, ideas, opinions (I have a lot of them), and especially my homilies with you here on my blog.


My hope is that this blog can be a record of my efforts and joys as a young man who is just beginning his ministerial career.  I often reflect on the words of the first letter of St. Peter,

"Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope!"

My life and vocation as a Franciscan Friar has been a dream come true.  For me it is an adventure.  I know that that might sound cliche but I can't find any other words to briefly share with you the hope and joy that I find in this way of life.


Pope John Paul II was an inspiration for me and I can echo his words when he was asked by George Weigel (his biographer) how he wanted to be remembered.  John Paul II said, "I would like to be a witness to hope."  


I hope that this blog can be a tool for me to share my life, my hope, and my joy with whomever would care to read it.