Sunday

Posted on by Fr. Peter
I am blogging today from and undisclosed location. Yesterday was a busy day. Busier than usual but a good day. Regular Liturgy in the morning with the usual crowd. The Easter people have all returned to their usual no church attendance. I guess we will see them at Christmas.
St. Thomas Sunday, and I will post my homily when I get back to the office.
Yesterday afternoon I was privilege to be the celebrant at the Annual Kirking of the Tartans. A very traditional Scottish service with the blessing of the Plaid. This service daters back to when wearing of the Tartan was prohibited by law. The faithful would bring a small piece of their cloth to the Kirk, or Church, and the clergy would bless it. I spoke about faithfulness and why we do what we do when we re-enact this service. Faithful to our ancestors and faithful to the past and the ability to learn lessons from the past to avoid the pit falls of the future. I will try and post my homily latter on.
Here is the blessing: Bless, O Lord, these simple woven cloths, whose colors, warp and woof, bear the burden and honor, the history of the land of our ancestors, a people of your calling, a nation of your creation. may we sustain the glory of our ancestors by wearing the kilt with honest pride and genuine humility honoring a people known as Scots. In Christ’s name. Amen.

New Direction

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Several months ago I posted about changing the name of this blog. Well I don’t think I will change the name but maybe the direction.
One of the first spiritual works that I read was the Way of the Pilgrim. If you have not read this book I would suggested that you pick up a copy and give it a read. Nice little book about a pilgrim in Russia and how he is trying to find his way spiritually. The opening line of the book tells the whole story I think.
By the grace of God I am a Christian man, by my actions a great sinner, and by calling a homeless wanderer of the humblest birth who roams from place to place. My worldly goods are a knapsack with some dried bread in it on my back, and in my breast pocket a Bible. And that is all.

Prayer is big and I think I will focus on prayer and spirituality with this blog. I will continue to post about the happenings in my life, if that is of any interest to people, but I think that this is a direction I need to go in. We become very spiritual people during Lent but now that is over we tend to go back to where we were before. Let’s take this journey together.

Silence

Posted on by Fr. Peter
It is kind of funny to me that most of the blogs I read went silent during Holy Week. I on the other hand, go silent after Holy Week. I wanted to post some reflections of Holy Week and Easter but I was pooped after all was said and done. I took Monday off and went home to see my family. Spent Sunday afternoon at my brother’s house then home to rest. Back out here on Monday afternoon for more rest.
Tuesday was a bad day. It began as any other day and I had a meeting at the local hospital. Each local community in Massachusetts has formed an Emergency Planning Committee and I serve on the one in Dudley. Harrington Hospital in Southbridge is forming a regional committee and the fire chief asked me to attend the meeting. Okay so the meeting ended and off I went to the former Fort Devens to pick up some stuff for the Fire Department. On our return a call came in for a car accident. Nothing big, we get a lot of those in our town. But then the call came back that someone was trapped in the car. Not a good situation. I got my stuff together and headed out the door. Upon arrival the place was going crazy. Fire Fighters all over the place and four people were hurt. One was still trapped in the car and not doing well. The EMT’s were performing CPR on him while the rest of the guys cut the roof off. We called for the helicopter to come to transport him to the Trauma Center in Worcester. He did not make it. The doctor pronounced him dead in the ambulance.
Next I got a call to go to the location of the ambulance and I anointed an 18 yo who had died in the accident. I have not done this much, and it is always a blessing to be with someone who has passed on. Each time I anoint someone I get a flash back to the Airport in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina when I anointed 64 people who were dying.
So now I have some messed up fire fighters. Although we get a lot of accidents few few turn into fatals, and most of our guys are young. One of the fire fighters had just been talking to the deceased just a few hours before the accident.
We practice something called Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM). Not a new science but one that came into it’s own after 9/11. The basic set up is the guys are allowed to talk about what they saw, felt, heard, smelled, etc. The idea is that if they talk about it now, it wont haunt them latter. Well it does work but the nightmares continue. But it is a good thing and I called in some help as I was part of the scene and needed this myself.
All is well now, and the community is dealing with this as best they can. Moral of the story is this. Kids need to learn to slow down. I think I am supporting not giving them permission to drive until they graduate from high school or maybe until 21. This was a stupid senseless accident that did not need to happen. If they had just slowed down, who knows…

Blogger’s Choice Awards

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Well the nominations are out and your humble host has been nominated. So if you think this blog is worthy of being awarded something go here and select best religion blog and look around for little old me and vote. Thanks.

Liturgical Roundup

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Yesterday seems like a blur to me. Three services and many changes in the church for each one concluding with the evening service. Good Friday is a very solemn day in the church. We remember the Crucifixion the taking down, and the burial in the tomb of Jesus. We actually begin this the night before, as I mentioned in a previous post. Yesterday afternoon at 3pm was the service of the taking down from the cross. In this service we actually remove the corpus from the cross, wrap it in a clean linen cloth, and place it on the altar. Towards the end of the service we make a procession with the Epitaphios. This is an image of the taking down from the cross. The one here in the village is hand painted and placed on a board so one can move it around. The Epitaphios is carried by the priest in procession and then placed in the flower decorated Sepulchre. The ladies of the parish come in the morning to decorate the sepulchre for the service. After the service has ended, the Sepulchre is moved to the center of the solea and is left there for the faithful to come and venerate during the day.
The evening service is matins, but we ad the funeral procession. During the service we remove the Epitaphios from the tomb and carry it outside around the church. Four men carry followed by the congregation. Although it was called, all in attendance came outside for the procession. We make four stops to pray for, the parishioners, the clergy, the country, and for the dead. The Epitaphios is then raised in front of the door and the faithful walk under back into the church. The priest then takes it and places in the altar where it will remain for 40 days. Very moving service and one that takes much planning and coordination.
A few more confessions after the Liturgy and then we take all the decorations down for Saturday. This morning we celebrate the Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil the Great. It is odd to sing about the evening while the sun is up but go figure… As is the custom in this parish, many faithful will come to Communion this morning as they will not be able to attend the liturgy tonight.
I am still working on the Easter Homily, and I think I will write this one out and post it latter on. Blessings to all for Easter and my the Risen Christ bless you and keep you!

Confession

Posted on by Fr. Peter
I just heard another round of confessions. Although not physically taxing they sure are emotional and spiritual things. I always get exhausted hearing confessions. There is so much hurt in the world and I am happy that I can be part of bringing some healing to people and their souls.

Blessed Be God!

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