Art/ Heritage

ON WE GO! : The use of Processional Banners in the Church

On we go to Jerusalem, the city of the house of God. Pilgrim people we seek the Lord, the Lord of the house of rock!

As the entrance hymn echoes the air, the processional cross bearer, the thurifier, the altar servers, the ministers of the Word, the extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, the co – celebrants and the main celebrant march forth onto the altar at every high Mass. Symbolically this serves to remind us that the Church (read people) is a pilgrim Church on a journey to an eternal destination, here symbolized by the altar.

Processions as such are not just restricted to the Eucharist but form an integral part of the Catholic faith and liturgy. The origins of this expression of faith can be traced to Pope Liberius (352 – 366 AD) who encouraged this form of community manifestations in Rome. In Mumbai (then Bombay) these walks of faith earned Bandra the appellation of ‘the land of processions.’ This was magnificently witnessed during the first Diocesan Eucharistic Congress in 1912 wherein more than 20,000 people treaded the streets of Bandra. (Ref: Fernandes, Braz, Bandra, Its religious and secular History, 1927)

Popular till the 1900’s and dubbed ‘ladainhas’ (litanies), processions were organized to mark any and every special event. This included liturgical feast like Corpus Christi, Candelmas, Thanksgiving Sunday, Palm Sunday, 40 hours Eucharistic devotion, Passo services, Parish feast days etc. They were also organized for certain purposes such as to intercede for rain, to drive away storms, pestilence, famine, wars etc. Many occupational guilds and confraternities, sodalities, leagues, societies, religious orders, educational institutes also organized processions on the feast day of their patron saint.

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Faith

What’s in a name – Solemnity of the Nativity of John the Baptist – Luke 1: 57-66. 80

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” This quote is a frequently referenced part of William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, in which Juliet seems to argue that it does not matter that Romeo is from her rival’s house of Montague, that is, that he is named “Montague.” The reference is often used to imply that the names of things do not affect what they really are.

But that argument would not work for God, for He chose names for His anointed ones or changed their names, because He wanted to indicate a new phase in their lives. Abram, was named Abraham, Jacob was renamed Israel and Simon was called Peter. But God not only changed names, He also gave names. His only begotten Son was to be called ‘Emmanuel’, meaning ‘God is with us’.

Before the angel of God conveyed to Mary the message of the birth of Jesus and His name, He had made another ‘annunciation’, perhaps a less spoken one. The Annunciation so synonymous with Mary in the New Testament, was preceded by the one made to Zechariah in the temple.

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Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus- Matthew 11: 25- 30

The feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus goes back to the 11th century and presents the love of God symbolized by the heart of Jesus. This feast was first celebrated liturgically in France in 1670 as a consequence of the revelations to St Mary Margaret Alacoque.

In 1856, Pope Pius IX established the feast and added an octave which was later dropped during the 1955 liturgical reforms of the Church. Since 2002, this feast has also been celebrated as a day of prayer for the sanctification of priests, and in 2009 the ‘year of the priesthood’ began.

The heart is traditionally accepted as the seat of love. In celebrating Jesus’ Sacred Heart, we are celebrating the great love that Jesus had; a love that He received from His Father and for which He gave thanks for. It is this love that Jesus shares with us and willing walks to the cross out of love for us.

When we look at heart of Jesus we see that it is a heart of thanksgiving. The opening lines of today’s gospel reflect that gratitude for God, for He has revealed Jesus to the simple of heart. However, wise and intelligent people like the Pharisees, are shut out from such a revelation; not because God chose to, but more because they chose to rather rely on their learning.

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Discovering the Lord of the prayer.
Thursday – 11th week in Ordinary time- Matthew 6: 7-15

Rattling the Lord’s Prayer has become second nature to most of us. Jesus gave us this prayer in the context of how we ought not to pray, and rattling it was certainly not on His mind. Empty phrases do not please Our God and so Jesus gave us this simple prayer of dependence before Our God. Our rediscovery of this prayer may help us to understand the gift given to us in this precious prayer.

This prayer of Jesus emanated from His heart; yet in more ways than one it was revolutionary. Addressing God as ‘Abba’ Father, was unheard of. The name of Yahweh itself was never uttered in the Old Testament. In giving us the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus brings in a dimension of intimacy and trust between the believer and God. God is no longer that distant vengeful God, but a loving Father.

The prayer has a strong communitarian dimension. It may be said by a disciple or by a community of disciples but it is always said keeping the petitions of all in mind. The prayer begins with the word ‘our’ and this word is scattered all through the prayer. This fifty eight word prayer has the words ‘our’ and ‘us’, seven times and at least each time in every petition.

Pope Benedict XVI, commenting on the Lord’s Prayer said, “The Christian does not say “My Father” but “Our Father”, even in the secrecy of a closed room, because he knows that in every place, on every occasion, he is a member of one and the same body.”

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I have often come across Christians who justify their absenteeism from Church and religious disciplines with a classic excuse. Their justification is that they don’t want to associate with ‘certain hypocrites’ that they see in Church whom they abhor. This is most certainly an excuse for not exercising one’s Christian disciplines and if I may add, a silly one.

To such ‘excuse wielding, absentee Christians’ whose non participation they ‘justify’ by what they consider hypocritical behaviour, Jesus gives a perfect reply. His solution is not to absent oneself from Christian duties but to do exactly the opposite of what they see in others and disapprove.

The Jews at the time of Jesus were ‘self-righteous’ not righteous and it is their self-righteous actions that Jesus does not want us to imitate. Jesus exposes the behaviour of the Jewish leaders not merely for our information, but for our transformation. These disciplines of transformation are seen in three works which have now become expressions of Christian discipline, especially during the season of Lent.

Interestingly, the three disciplines of almsgiving, prayer and fasting are not limited to the Lenten season, but are given as a daily expression of our faith. Jesus does not give these to us as an option; but as a way of life for a Christian. The words are not ‘if’ you fast, or pray or give alms but WHEN you fast, WHEN you pray, WHEN you give alms. Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are daily and necessary works of piety for every Christian.

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