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Holy hours, holy places, holy people

Funeral, Sacrament-based, Holy Day, Holiday, Special Occasion - Sample homilies to be adapted for your use

THERE'S NEVER a good time for the world as we know it to fall apart. There’s no convenient time to host a pandemic. Yet people of faith were uniquely distressed to be barred from our churches and bereft of familiar rituals during the high holy days of Passover, Holy Week, and Ramadan. Losing the weekly gathering is deprivation enough. Not participating in these annual sacred events was a deeper cut across an already open wound. “What makes this night different from other nights?” This is the ritual question that begins each Jewish celebration of Passover. The question recognizes that the texture of time changes. Some nights are indeed different from others because of why we gather, what we commemorate, how we behave, and who gathers to celebrate these events. One hour feels distinct from another because of what it means for us. Time has many meanings. “Monday” is different from “Saturday” for many students and working folk. An afternoon in mid-September is a far cry from Christmas Eve or Thanksgiving Day. To lose access to our assemblies, sanctuaries, and liturgies in this season, above all seasons, was especially acute. For religious-minded people, the idea that there’s such a thing as holy days or holy hours seems quite natural. Identifying certain objects as sacred, viewing certain places or people as consecrated or ordained for holy purposes, is a customary part of the spiritual landscape for believers. At the heart of the matter is a word precious in the realm of religion: mystery. Not mystery in the sense of a detective novel, in which a crime needs to be solved and the identity of an anonymous actor uncovered. In the realm of religion, we already assume the identity of the Actor: God Most High! Mystery in religion is not about the unknown, but the unknowable. To the finite mind, the Infinite is a mystery we may pierce in rare moments but never fully possess. That is, until the time when “Christ is all in all,” as Saint Paul says. People of faith seek and want a relationship with the Divine Mystery. But how do we maintain this relationship when the tried-and-true avenues of the religious quest are denied us: gathering, sacrament, ritual, priest? People of faith seek and want a relationship with the Divine Mystery. But how do we maintain this relationship when the tried-and-true avenues of the religious quest are denied us: gathering, sacrament, ritual, priest? Alas: the texture of time does change—and we may feel we missed the moment, that our holy moments are dribbling away, beyond our grasp. It’s good to remember that at the heart of the spiritual enterprise is this journey into Divine Mystery. It’s a journey we can take wherever we are, since God is happily omnipresent, not confined to the Tabernacle or a Holy of Holies. Isaiah, in his list of spiritual gifts, describes the last one as “awe in the divine Presence.” (Familiarly translated as “fear of the Lord.”) Religion is best perceived as the quest for awe in God’s Presence. Our hearts need to find something beyond ourselves worthy of reverence; Some-ONE before whom we can bow down. Otherwise, our own mighty and militant egos will rule over us. And the ego is a tyrant resolved to tear us, and our most vital relationships, to shreds. Too often, as we divide times, places, and people into sacred and secular categories, we imagine that God is similarly restricted. Take note: the Holy One transcends all attempts to be quarantined! God chooses to be revealed in the sacred stories of Scripture—and in the personal stories of our families, friends, and communities. God is manifest in water, oil, bread, wine, touch, and incense in our rituals—and God is found in bathing a child, lotioning an elder’s fragile skin, sharing a family meal, smelling the first flowers of spring, or finding new ways to touch friends with words, photos, and YouTube videos flashed across the internet. God chooses to be made known through our holy, catholic, and apostolic church in the actions of our priests—and God is at work whenever you or I use our love as a force for healing and hope, right where we are. The holiest hour is now. The holiest place is here. The holiest people are those who do the will of the One who sends us.

Authors Alice Camille

Special occasion pandemic covid-19

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Homily stories

11 Jun 2023 - Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi), Cycle A

Last year I suffered one of the worst burdens of my life: I developed COVID-related vertigo. As soon as I got sick with cold and flu-like symptoms, but before I tested positive, my ears also started to hurt. I’ve never had ear problems before and I wasn’t aware of it being a symptom of COVID. I later learned from an ear, nose, and throat specialist that while it’s not common, there is now research that COVID can infect the inner ear, causing vertigo, tinnitus, and hearing loss. For me, the vertigo started about a week after the other symptoms. If you haven’t ever experienced vertigo before, let me tell you, it’s terrifying. Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying he had been driven many times to his knees when he had nowhere else to go. I can relate—physically and spiritually. For me, lying down made the spinning worse, but standing up while dizzy is obviously dangerous, so I knelt a lot and held on to the wall. I can’t say this experience taught me about surrender because I really didn’t have a choice—control was thoroughly taken from me. Talk about humbling. While down there in such a state, I naturally held on to Jesus too. I clung to his steady yoke, so he could pull me through.

Authors Jennifer Tomshack

vertigo covid-19

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Word of the Week

17 November 2024

Presider’s Chair

\'pri-sīd-ərs 'cher\

Also known as the presidential chair, the seat in a parish church from which the celebrant leads the assembly during Mass. Its meaning derives from the chair, or cathedra in Latin, from which the diocesan bishop presides (from Latin meaning “to protect” or literally “to sit before”). The chair is a liturgical symbol of authority and pastoral leadership.

Pronunciation Read more

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