RBWords - Volume 22 - Number 10: October 2009
Something to Think About
All Saints Day and All Souls Day were brought home to me as I finished a month long road trip by preaching a “novena in honor of Saint Jude Thaddeus” at a parish in Metairie, LA (a suburb of New Orleans – and yes, most of the city is still a long way from recovery.)
Novenas are a traditional form of Catholic devotional piety that feature nine days of prayer for the intercession of a particular important Catholic figure. A visit to Wikipedia online will give one a good background to the practice. The novena I preached was directed to Saint Jude Thaddeus, one of the twelve apostles, who has earned the nickname: Patron Saint of Hopeless Cases. The size of the large crowd that gathered from all over the Metairie area was testimony to the popularity of the devotion. Conversations and confessions showed that the concerns people brought with them were heavy ones and an almost desperate tone was not unusual.
The power of traditional Catholic piety displayed itself very strongly in this experience. The words of the various prayers were traditional, but it was clear to me that the people very much appreciated that traditional tone and sentiment. For the preacher, it is a “workout” since there are two services a day for nine days with an overall “theme” to the experience. I had preached a couple of novenas before, so I was familiar with the effort! One has to be respectful of the faith of the people and of the traditional and personal theology of the saints as friends and companions in faith. Novenas can be “made” privately or at public devotions. They are not magical events with “guaranteed results” but they can be powerful occasions of faith and prayer. IT’S SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
It Has Been Said
For Christians, Hallowe’en is fulfilled in the gift of the birth of Jesus far more than in the death of Jesus. What a magnificent mystery of the Word Made Flesh! Christ, the power that created the universe, relinquished all power to come to us as one of us, mortal, human, walking the short road from the womb to the tomb. Often we stumble along, not knowing where we’re going, but understanding that the journey is worth it because Jesus took it for us, shared it with us. Because the immortal God become mortal, we all share in the immortality as well as the mortality. And how can we begin to understand our immortality until we accept our mortality?
From PENGUINS AND GOLDEN CALVES by Madeleine L’Engle