Father Perrone's
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May 11
To set the record straight, you all
know by now that a thirtieth anniversary bash has been planned for me
June 1st. You probably also know that such a thing couldn’t happen
without my permission. But the story is a little bit more complex than
one might think. At first, I resisted the idea entirely. I said outright
that I did not want a celebration. This had been in response to a
proposal made to me by the Shrine Committee. Although I was touched by
their sincerity and whatever other noble motives, I didn’t want a fuss
made over me. Just then, from another angle, came information that other
parishioners wanted to do something for my anniversary and that I
shouldn’t refuse them since this was fun for them to do and would be
enjoyable for the whole parish. So, yielding to such persuasive
argumentation, I gave in, taking solace in the thought that it would be
a fine thing, even if my anniversary were the occasion for it. Plans
then got underway when the good Shrine people who had proposed the idea
in the first place approached me again. ‘Say, how come when we asked you
said No, but now you’re saying OK?’ (These, revered readers, are not
their literal words, the original expostulations having been lost to
memory.) Failing to provide an adequate reason for this reversal, I
acquiesced to their plan to hold a small-sized gathering of folks who
had been active in the Shrine Committee for many years, even before my
coming to Grotto. Thus it is now that we are having two celebrations–not
just one–whereas your pastor, reluctant of honors, would have had none
at all. Such is the whirligig of parish life. I just want everyone to
know the history behind this double celebration so that those not part
of the Shrine celebration won’t feel slighted. Know that you are all
dear and important to me and that I am truly humbled by these displays
of loyalty. Kindly consider yourselves, each and all, cherished sheep of
the flock for whom your shepherd has special solicitude. Thanks to all
of you who have been so insistent on showing your appreciation for what
is, in actuality, my own cause of gratitude: the gift of the priesthood.
Today we have a number of things going on. Today is Pentecost Sunday,
the day the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles, gathered about our
Blessed Mother, and launched the infant Church, sending the message of
Christ with His saving sacraments to all the world. Our 9:30 Mass today
is a ‘solemn high’ Mass with the music of Mozart (his Credo Mass), laced
with movements culled from various Pentecost cantatas composed by J. S.
Bach. The noon Mass features the May Crowning Ceremony and the First
Communion of our children. Throw Mothers Day into the mix and we have a
whopping day of celebrating.
Next Sunday will be Trinity Sunday. You can see the logic here in that
once the Holy Spirit had been manifest on Pentecost, the Church was made
the more aware that God is indeed a Trinity of Persons. On that day, May
18, the 9:30 Mass will also be a solemn high Mass with the welcome
ministrations of a freshly ordained deacon. Charles White will have been
ordained deacon the day before and will exercise his diaconal function
for the first time in a Latin solemn high Mass, an opportunity and a
privilege unknown even to your pastor. Deacon Charles White will preach
this Mass and the noon Mass as well when our Grotto Schola will provide
the added ornamentation of their singing.
You might think this enough liturgical information for a day, and indeed
it would be. Yet there’s more. I want to preannounce that, not next
Sunday! but the Sunday after, namely on May 25, for the feast of Corpus
Christi, the 9:30 a.m. Mass will be in Latin alright but in the new
rite, while the noon Mass will be the Latin Tridentine Mass. The
Procession with the Blessed Sacrament will follow the noon Mass and the
traditional four outdoor altar stations will be observed. It would be a
wonderful thing to have everybody there for the Eucharistic procession,
even if they had to return for it, having attended an earlier Mass. The
open display of our faith in the Corpus Christi Procession, something so
rare in our time, is exactly what’s needed to invoke the divine blessing
upon us with treble force. Do come and join.
Since I’ve already transgressed the limitations of due discretion with
regard to informational overload, I will append here the word that on
Tuesday, May 27th, after the 7:00 evening Mass, I will be giving a
presentation on the Tridentine Mass and how better to participate in it.
This talk, sponsored by our Saint Ann’s Sodality, is the time to ask me
all those questions you may have been storing up deep within but have
hitherto been afraid to ask. I’ll do my best to share all I know about
this wonderful gift of the ‘extraordinary rite’ which has been restored
to the Church after a long liturgical dormancy.
Fr. Perrone