28 February 2010 & 7 March 2010


My Friends,

"Go against the current"
On Ash Wednesday, Pope Benedict spoke to those gathered with him at the Vatican to observe the beginning of Lent, about the formulas that are options for the imposition of ashes on our foreheads. In part, he said this:

"That the 40 days of preparation for Easter be a favorable time and grace we can understand precisely in the call that the austere rite of the imposition of ashes addresses to us and which is expressed, in the liturgy, with two formulae: "Repent and believe in the Gospel," and "Remember man that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return."

"The first call is to conversion, a word that must be taken in its extraordinary seriousness, discovering the amazing novelty it contains. The call to conversion, in fact, uncovers and denounces the easy superficiality that very often characterizes our way of living. To be converted means to change direction along the way of life -- not for a slight adjustment, but a true and total change of direction. Conversion is to go against the current, where the "current" is a superficial lifestyle, inconsistent and illusory, which often draws us, controls us and makes us slaves of evil, or in any case prisoners of moral mediocrity. With conversion, instead, one aims to the lofty measure of Christian life; we are entrusted to the living and personal Gospel, which is Christ Jesus. His person is the final goal and the profound meaning of conversion; he is the way which we are called to follow in life, allowing ourselves to be illumined by his light and sustained by his strength that moves our steps. In this way conversion manifests its most splendid and fascinating face: It is not a simple moral decision to rectify our conduct of life, but it is a decision of faith, which involves us wholly in profound communion with the living and concrete person of Jesus.

"Repent and believe in the Gospel" is not only at the beginning of the Christian life, but accompanies all its steps, [this call] remains, renewing itself, and spreads, branching out in all its expressions. Every day is a favorable moment of grace, because each day invites us to give ourselves to Jesus, to have confidence in him, to remain in him, to share his style of life, to learn from him true love, to follow him in daily fulfilling of the will of the Father, the only great law of life -- every day, even when difficulties and toil, exhaustion and falls are not lacking, even when we are tempted to abandon the following of Christ and to shut ourselves in ourselves, in our egoism, without realizing the need we have to open to the love of God in Christ, to live the same logic of justice and love."

The Pope concluded with the prayerful wish: "Good Lent to all!" So may it be for each of us that these forty days of this "great season of grace" prepare us to celebrate the Easter Mystery with minds and hearts renewed.

The "Sacred Triduum" begins on Thursday, 1 April 2010, with the "Mass of the Lord's Supper" at 5:00 p.m.. It continues on Good Friday, 2 April 2010, with the "Liturgy of the Passion of the Lord" at 12 noon. It culminates on Holy Saturday night, 3 April 2010, with the "Easter Vigil" at 7:00 p.m. and concludes with the "Easter Sunday Masses", on 4 April 2010, at 7:30 and 10:30 in the morning.

Anniversary Day
Already one year has passed since our celebration, on 28 February 2009, of the Consecration of the new Fixed Altar of Sacrifice by Bishop Terry Steib, former Auxiliary Bishop of St. Louis and now Bishop of Memphis in Tennessee. Those who participated still speak of the extraordinary moment it was.

On this anniversary, some words from the program book for the ceremony are worth recalling. "The turning point of the Consecration of the Altar is the anointing with the Oil of Holy Chrism. Chrism takes its name from Christ. It is the belief of the Church that, just as Christ is really present in the Eucharist, the Holy Spirit is really present in the Chrism. For the Anointing of the Altar the Chrism is poured from a flask onto the center of the mensa, or table, with the prayer: 'May this Altar be the place where the great mysteries of our redemption are accomplished; a place where Your people offer their gifts, unfold their good intentions, pour out their prayers, and ever echo the meaning of their faith and devotion. And so we now anoint this Altar. May God in His power make it holy, a visible sign of the mystery of Christ, who offered Himself for the life of the world."

No ordinary table is the Altar! In another of the consecration prayers this is made crystal clear. The prayer declares unequivocally: "Here heaven is wedded to earth!" That is food for thought!
Now we look forward to the celebration, on Saturday, 20 November 2010, at 5:00 p.m. of the 150th anniversary of the dedication of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist Church. Archbishop Robert Carlson, the 10th Bishop/9th Archbishop of St. Louis will preside. The church has been in daily, uninterrupted use since its dedication, on 4 November 1860 by Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick, the 2nd Bishop/1st Archbishop of St. Louis.

New Words, A Deeper Meaning, The Same Mass
Many of you are aware of the fact that, for several years, the bishops of all English speaking countries have each been working on a common English translation for the Roman Missal. The Missal contains all of the prayers used at Mass. In the year 2000, Pope John Paul the Great published a revision, in Latin, of the Missal. In the years since, translations into the various languages have been in process. This project for the English language was completed in 2009.
It will take time for the preparation of revised books for Mass, and more importantly to prepare ourselves for the effective and helpful introduction of the revisions so that they enrich our prayer. As part of this preparation, the Bishops of the United States have introduced a website with comprehensive and detailed information about all facets of this revision. They title on the website home page is: "New Words, A Deeper Meaning, The Same Mass".

We will not likely see the introduction of the revisions before Advent of 2011 at the very earliest. It seems more likely that Lent of 2011 is the realistic date. In coming months, all arch/dioceses will be offering aids to prepare well for this revision. Meantime you might find it helpful and informative to visit the United States Bishops website to whet your appetite! The address is: www.usccb.org/romanmissal.

Spruced Up
Soon the Chestnut Street side of the main plaza of the church will be spruced up and better looking than ever. Thanks to the Partnership for Downtown St. Louis, and Landscape Supervisor Kelly Yaeger, four large planters have been made available to us and will be positioned in the area at the foot of the steps from the plaza.

Thanks to the Partnership for making this possible. Thanks, as well, to our own Laura Griffin, Angie Heavener Rothleubbers, and John McGuire for coordinating this project. Once the planters are in position, Laura and Angie have tend to them, along with the other flowers and plantings on the plaza and walkways of the parish campus.

In Brief
On Saturday, March 13, at the 5 o'clock Mass, Tom and Jen Duffy will present their third-born daughter Mary Grace Duffy for Baptism. Tom's uncle, Jesuit Father Tom Cummings will celebrate the Mass and Baptism. Thanks be to God for Mary Grace, proof positive, in flesh and blood, that love creates life!

We keep in our prayer Dolores Carr, Marcella Garger, and Charles & Mary Kielty, and all of our sick and homebound, together with their care-givers and loved-ones.
God give to all of them grace and peace!

Some time ago all public entities which use "wireless microphones", and we are among them, received notification from the Federal Communications Commission that soon the "frequency band" on which these operate will no longer be available to us and reserved for "emergency responder wireless systems" to put them on a single operative frequency in times of major disaster or tragedy. Thanks go to our own Bill Clifford and John McGuire for making the necessary replacement of wireless units. Replacement is the only solution. We are blessed by this generosity. While I was with Archbishop Dolan in January, the pastor of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, met with him to inform him that the replacement cost for wireless microphones in the Cathedral, because of this new mandate, will be in excess of $200,000.

Faithfully,
Monsignor Delaney