February 5, 2006

Dear friends in life and in ministry,

Well it's here at last, the weekend football fans both look forward to and dread. It's Super Bowl Sunday - the apex and last game of the football season. I guess I'm routing for the Steelers. During the playoffs they were very exciting to watch. But most of the teams I back seem to lose it on Super Bowl Sunday. Regardless, the commercials are the real show anyway.

If you read my column this week you'll see that this was a preaching weekend for me. I'm attaching my homily should you care to read it.

Hope your week is blessed.

Ray

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Jan 29 Bulletin

Lifting Pain to Purpose

February 5, 2006

Homily Helpers Share Scriptural Insights

One of the great privileges and challenges of ministry is the preparation and preaching of a homily. Before proclaiming the Gospel, the priest prays with me that “the Lord be in my heart and on my lips that I might worthily proclaim His holy Gospel.” Typically I depend on several published resources to provide background to the scriptures so that the message of God’s Word will be “in my heart.” Then I check various homiletic resources to see how other preachers “lips” have proclaimed the Gospel I am being sent to “proclaim.”

This week, I tried something different. Following my Wednesday morning Communion service, I invited parishioners to meet with me for lunch to discuss the readings and help me write my homily. Barb Perry, Rita Dwyer and Mary Carol Wall took me up on the offer. After a prayer in which I asked God to implant a message that would touch the heart of someone most needing to hear “Good News”, we read the scriptures from Job and Mark that you heard proclaimed at Mass this week. We then each recalled times when our own lives mirrored the anguish of Job before praying together the Responsorial Psalm. Then we read Mark’s Gospel and found that when Jesus felt overwhelmed by the pressures of his ministry of healing, casting out demons and preaching the gospel, he took time to find a quiet place to pray. This short alone time with God refreshed his spirit so he could resume his work with peace and enthusiasm.

Today’s homily is the result of this time of study and sharing with these very special ladies. I pray that they and others will assist me in two weeks when I again assume preaching duties at St. Mary’s. If you’d like to share your wisdom and experience of God at work, we will meet at noon on Wednesday, February 15 in the Rectory dining room. Please bring a brown bag lunch. I’ll supply coffee and tea.

Who Administers the Cup?
Last weekend an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist told me that she did not wish to administer the sacred host. When I inquired why, she told me that a priest who appears regularly on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) said that “the deacon should distribute the sacred host - not the cup. And anyone who says differently is lying to you.”

For anyone who needs reassurance that the liturgical norms call for the deacon to administer the cup of precious blood, I include the following from the General Instructions of the Roman Missal, the definitive church document on the roles and rubrics of the Mass:

137. After the priest's communion, the deacon receives under both kinds and then assists the priest in giving communion to the people. But if communion is given under both kinds, the deacon ministers the chalice to the communicants and is the last to drink from it. G.I.R.M. Chapter IV, Part I b: Function of the Deacon

Hopefully, this will put the question to rest.

Have a good week. Serve one another well!

Deacon Ray Defendorf

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