Church Bulletin Column for the week of March 4th

 

As we continue our Lenten journey together, our Holy Trinity family is finding new ways to adapt our ministry and outreach so that people can continue to participate, as much as possible in parish life. We can be thankful to God that unlike this same period on the liturgical calendar last year, we are not actively being encouraged to stay away from our Parish church, from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, or from a proper Catholic devotional life. Just as I wrote in this space some months ago, we are not yet back to normal, and all you have to do to understand that is look around on any given Sunday or other day. 

We are striving as a community to make things as normal as possible, however. I was heartened a couple of weeks ago when my turn in the rotation came to lead the Stations of the Cross, and I was assisted by Deacon Jim. The women's group from Holy Ghost in Knoxville was sponsoring a silent retreat hosted here at Holy Trinity. Not only did so many ladies come from parishes all over the diocese (I recognized a few of them!), but they added to our own home crowd and the church looked as close to normal as I've seen it in a while. May many others come to devotions and Holy Mass at church in the weeks to come.

Despite the fact that Catholic people in East Tennessee and elsewhere are attempting to return to some semblance of a regular spiritual life (as evidenced by our Parish mission this past week at Holy Trinity, for example), both we and Catholics in other parts of the country remain under restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Families have to keep socially distanced within the church, at least six feet apart. Masks have to be worn in the nave of the church and the clergy must wear masks when distributing Holy Communion. A few bishops around the country have been bold and brave enough to restore the Holy Precept to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation within their dioceses. However, those bishops who have done so have added a number of caveats and exceptions to their decrees. Most dioceses, including the Diocese of Knoxville, have not restored the Sunday obligation largely because of the very restrictions under which we must labor, understanding that these restrictions make it impossible for some people to attend Mass every single week, while others are already homebound or find themselves to be highly at risk, and many are recovering from the disease themselves. 

There is no substitute in the Church's liturgical and spiritual life for the real and physical attendance of an individual or a family at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, or any other act of public devotion or worship. Nothing that the Church can do, or that our Parish could possibly do, will ever change that, and so we continue to encourage anyone who can attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, even if under restriction, to do so for the sake of themselves, their families, and their souls. However, we recognize that some people will not be able to join us each week because of the present situation. As a result, we have responded to the request of Bishop Stika for each Parish in the diocese to make live streamed Sunday Mass available to parishioners. 

Deacon Jim Prosak has very graciously set up a YouTube page for Holy Trinity Parish at https://youtube.com/channel/UCY_BPZLO6JGDlK8ijLrn3hw. If the link seems a bit long to remember, just do a YouTube search for "Holy Trinity Jefferson City" and our page will come right up. As you'll see if you visit our YouTube page, we already have some Masses and the recent parish mission archived there. If any parishioners happen to have a Google Chromecast or Roku device, you can even stream the Mass right on a digital television.

For now, the Sunday 10:00 a.m. Mass has been selected as the regular weekly Mass which will be live streamed. In addition, Holy Days and special events, such as Parish missions, will also be live streamed. In addition to being found on the above mentioned Parish YouTube page, each live stream event can be found on a special page on our Parish website: https://htjctn.org/masses-online 

It is our prayer that most parishioners are able to return to the sacramental life of the Church, and that if you've been away, you'll return and we'll see you soon. Our live stream is another way that we can help bring the prayer of the Church to everyone, and that both those who are able to be with us and those who can't (through no fault of their own) will be blessed by this new ministry to bring our local church even into our digital life.

Note: This is the unedited version my column in the parish bulletin for the week of March 4th. The bulletin is up on the Holy Trinity Parish website.

Parish Bulletin Column On Spiritual Communion 7/5/2020

As we continue our spiritual journey together during what some have termed- not inappropriately - "coronatide," the most frustrating aspect of our shared experience for so many of us has been the limited nature of public worship, the Mass, and the regular availability of the Holy Eucharist. We have been compelled to limit the number of people who can come to Mass, as well as to wear facemasks when we come to Sacred Worship. Entire rows of pews in our nave must be roped off to keep people from sitting in them as we “social distance.”  It has been most difficult for deacons and priests, because bringing Christ to others in tangible ways is a big part of the ministry of Catholic clergy.

If there is one benefit to what our community is going through, it may be that perhaps this experience will help us not to take the frequent reception of Holy Communion for granted. I was reminded by a recent article in Homiletic and Pastoral Review that the practice of "Spiritual Communion," of not receiving the Eucharist physically for a period of time, but inviting Our Eucharistic Lord to dwell in our hearts and change our lives is not only an ancient devotional practice, at one time it was a far more frequent one. 

It was the great Pope St. Pius X who restored and encouraged the practice of very frequent Holy Communion among the laity, even encouraging people to receive the Eucharist daily if they were properly disposed. While the renewal of the Blessed Sacrament in this way has been a great blessing for the Church, in more recent times we have become so accustomed to receiving Holy Communion with such frequency that the regular practice of Spiritual Communion seemed to be non-existent among many Catholics, with the notable exception of those homebound who have not had regular access to the Holy Eucharist. 

Prior to the great reforms of Saint Pius, there were many Catholics who only received Holy Communion a few times a year, and yet were still obligated to come to Mass at least on Sunday under the pain of mortal sin. If someone wasn't receiving the Holy Eucharist, they were encouraged to make a Spiritual Communion, to unite themselves completely to Jesus in the Eucharist through prayer, and to do so in such a way that they longed for the Eucharist, understanding that it is really Our Lord - body, blood, soul, and divinity.

The lengthy period of time which we have recently passed in which we had no regular access to the Mass, but were asked to watch Mass on the internet or television, or listen on the radio, caused many of us to feel as though we were spiritually starving without the Eucharist. In many of these "virtual Mass" situations, the celebrant of the Liturgy will invite those watching to make a Spiritual Communion. There are many very good reasons why someone might not receive Holy Communion on any given Sunday. Perhaps you didn't get a chance to go to Confession before Mass. Perhaps you had to leave the church because of illness, or to tend to a sick child or spouse, or perhaps illness or quarantine is keeping you away from Holy Mass.

The practice of uniting ourselves in perfect prayer with the Eucharist when we cannot receive Our Lord is a way of reminding ourselves how much we long for the Lord Jesus, and how much we hope to be with Him in the heavenly liturgy for all eternity.

Act of Spiritual Communion:

My Jesus, 

I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. 

I love You above all things, 

and I desire to receive You into my soul. 

Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally, 

come at least spiritually into my heart. 

I embrace You as if You were already there 

and unite myself wholly to You. 

Never permit me to be separated from You.

Amen.