Pastor's Points: Of Pumpkins, Lights, Words and Incense

Pastor's Points: Of Pumpkins, Lights, Words and Incense

It’s October. That means pumpkins and mums are on sale. I have a ritual each October where I go and look for the best pumpkins I can find…perhaps four or five and some nice big mums to go with them. I then take those items home and arrange them on the steps of the rectory and then arrange them again and then arrange them again until it is just right. I love to create a nice fall display outside the house.

Fall is a great time of the year. The leaves are changing. The cooler air settles in and our sweater collection is employed once again after a period of hibernation. October sets the stage for November as the trees get barer and the weather gets colder.  

There are rituals to what we do around this time of year as we bring out the boxes of decorations, so that our cornucopias and jack-o'-lanterns and the orange candles on our mantels create an atmosphere for the season. We will employ some of the same types of rituals in December as our Christmas decorations come out and our neighborhoods are lit up as we celebrate the season.

Ritual is an important part of life. We all have a morning ritual that gets us ready for the day. Ritual is central to the life of the Church. Catholics like to know what is coming next. And so, we celebrate our liturgies in a manner that has a form and words that give meaning and richness to what is being done. Ritual helps express what is in our soul, our beliefs, our longings, the prayer of our heart. There is an axiom in the Church “Lex orandi, lex credendi,” translated it means that “the law of prayer is the law of belief.” The Church prays what She believes. For example, in the Rite of Marriage, the presiding minister questions the couple before they exchange their vows and asks them:

• Have you come here to enter into Marriage without coercion, freely and wholeheartedly?
• Are you prepared, as you follow the path of Marriage, to love and honor each other for as long as you  both shall live?
• Are you prepared to accept children lovingly from God and bring them up according to the law of Christ and his Church?

The ritual of marriage expresses our belief in the theology of marriage: couples must enter into it freely; they must pledge to love and honor each other, and they must be open to having children if they are of childbearing age.

What we do in our rituals as a Church is important.  Whether it is lighting the Advent Wreath, being marked with ashes or being sprinkled with holy water, these things are part of our Catholic ethos. They help us to mark and celebrate the passing of the liturgical year and special feasts  in the same way putting out pumpkins and hanging the Christmas lights help us to mark and celebrate the special times of the year.

Take notice of the rituals we pray at Mass on Sundays and Holy Days. Listen to the words, smell in the incense, notice the colors. Ritual orders our life as a Catholic people and helps us to express the prayer of our heart and our soul.