Patron Saint of Lost Causes
I attended the St. Jude Shrine in Baltimore this morning. I may have found a church home here-- it certainly felt like home. The congregation was multi-ethnic; I heard Spanish, English, Italian and I think Lithuanian prior to and after mass. There were certainly hopeless causes in the congregation and it was surreal to see them sitting calmly next to well dressed church members without raised eyebrows seen in other churches. They were treated with respect-- I think I recognized one of them as a pan-handler down by the harbor. There would be no other place this could be more expected than a shrine to Jude Thaddeus, almost lost in history himself due to his unfortunate sharing of the name "Judas". A couple of songs hit a chord during mass, and I thought I'd share:
Deep within I plant my law
not on stone, but in your heart
Follow Me
I will bring you back
you will be my own and I will be your God
-----Deep Within
DMinor, if you are reading this, suggest Deep Within to John George-- it's lovely.
God who in your holy gospel wills that all shall truly live
Make us sense our share of failures
Our tranquility forgive
Teach us courage as we struggle in all liberating strife
lift the smallness of our vision by your own abundent life
------God Whose Purpose is to Kindle
They sang the Our Father in a way I had never heard. There was no choir, but this smallish congregation swelled the rafters with music and prayers (unusual for Catholics, I assure you!). The sermon made sense in the context of both scripture and everyday life. I've been missing mass for 3 weeks running due to both selfish and practical reasons, but I'll be back next week. It may have been the stress of the week putting a tear in my eye during Deep Within, or it may have been that I had been missing the peace only found in the pauses between prayers during mass.
posted by Rambling Speech at 5:39 PM
5 Comments:
Bravo! I'm jealous of you, really. I've just never found a sense of "home" at the churches I've attended here in Tampa; my last real church home was in Valdosta (and I'm still a member of that church, technically) and I really miss any sense of having a proper church family. I'd go to church more if I found a church that felt more like home--and I find that peace you talk about a little more often, too.
I think it's cool you can go to church on a Monday morning.
I have several friends searching for a church in their new home, so I'm glad you seem to have found one.
Unrelated--did you get the Valentine socks I sent u?
Actually I wrote the post after church on Sunday, but I couldn't steal an internet connection until Monday evening. I didn't even think to back date it!
Yes I got your socks! How could I forget to thank you! I wore them on Valentine's day and I hung up your card-- very cool card. Thank you thank you thank you!!!! I need to call you....
HI,
I found your blog by our interests. I am a Catholic Christian who is also a speech therapist. I will bookmark your site.
I love being Catholic. I was raised Church of Christ, but never felt God. I find my parish Immaculate Conception in Denton is very communicable. BTW, I am an SLP as well! ;)
Post a Comment
<< Home