I Would Die For You. Did Prince Really Mean It?
HIS VIEW:
Two songs come to mind as I write this week’s installment of
Roamin Catholics. All You Need is Love and I Would Die 4 U.
These are the main themes for the readings and homily from the Saturday evening
mass at St Bartholomew’s in Potomac, MD. First a little background on
this week’s patron saint and then more detail on the song tie-ins.
Once again this week, there wasnt a lot of information about
the history of the parish on their website, so I will provide some insight into
who was St Bartholomew. St Bart (can I call you Bart? I feel like I
know you) was one of Jesus’ original apostles. Given the fact that he was
an original disciple of the Son of Man, it would stand to reason that he lived
in the first century AD. He was martyred in Armenia and was either
skinned alive or beheaded. YIKES! He is venerated in several
religious traditions such as the Assyrian Church of the East, Maronite, Eastern
Orthodox, Oriental Orthodoxy, Anglican, Lutheran, Islam as well as the Roman
Catholic faith. How’s that for a man of the people? St. Bartholomew
is credited with many miracles involving the weight of objects. Two noted
miracles occurred in Italy. The first one involved a celebration of his
feast day in Lipari, Italy. As the town’s people processed with a solid
gold and silver statue of St. Bartholomew, it became increasingly heavy.
This lead the townspeople carrying the statue to set it down. Several
times, they lifted it again and continued the procession through town only to
have to set it down again due to the increasing weight. As the men of
town made their way down a hill with the statue, it became so heavy they could not
go any further and had to set it down. Within seconds, further down the
hill, walls collapsed. Had the procession continued on its route, many
towns people would certainly have been crushed by the collapsing wall. A
second miracle involving weight occurred during WW II. The Fascist regime
needed cash to finance its activities. An order was given to take the
silver from St. Bartholomew’s statue and melt it down to raise funds. It
was thought that it must surely weigh enough to bring a hefty pay off (see what
I did there? Hefty – large, heavy, powerful. I brought in the
“heavy” theme. I digress. Back to our story.) When it was
weighed, it was found to weigh only a few grams. The statue was returned
to its place in the Cathedral in Lipari. In reality, the statue weighs
several kilograms. That’s some heavy stuff. 😉
Love, love, love. All you need is love - bum, ta da da
da….Sorry Lennon and McCartney. Two of our readings this week discuss
love. Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God,
from the second reading implores us to love, as to love is to know God.
God is love. The gospel reading continues the lessons of the ten
commandments, specifically – love one another as I love you. If you just
take a moment to let that sink in and really digest what that means, it is so
beautiful and powerful. Jesus loved us so much, he gave his life for our
sins. Who would any of us die for? This is the tie in to the second
song, I Will Die for You! Oh great, now that’s an earworm that will
be stuck in my head for the rest of the day. Thanks a lot Prince.
Monsignor Ensler, this weeks celebrant/homilist, addressed this notion of, who
would we die for? He cited a half dozen examples of selflessness from the
Las Vegas massacre last October of people putting themselves in harms way to
save or help others. Who would you die for? He also shared a story
of a couple that he married shortly after he was ordained over 40 years
ago. Not long after the couple married, the husband needed an operation.
During the procedure, something went horribly wrong and the husband was left
with brain damage. As a result, he was left able to function at the level
of a child. His bride made the choice to become his caregiver. She
honored her vows of, in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, to
love honor and cherish until death do us part. She has cared for her
husband for the past 40 years. Imagine what she has given up to honor the
commitment she made to him and to God. That is true love. Who would
we do that for? The Monsignor opined, these are all great acts, but the
greatest of all is what Jesus did for us. He died for our sins. Who
would you die for? This week’s themes of loving and sacrificing where
very thought provoking and I think that’s exactly what should happen from the
readings and homily, so two thumbs!
Two side notes on this week’s mass experience. The
second collection was for extra help. This sounded a little funny
when it was mentioned but who couldn’t use a little extra help? Secondly,
we were sitting near the organist and had a good view of what it takes to play
the organ. All I can say is WOW. The coordination it takes to
manage three rows of keys and three rows of foot pedals. The organist managed
all this effortlessly. Very impressive!
After feeding our souls, dinner was at a long time local
institution, Old Anglers Inn (OAI). OAI’s origins date back to before the
civil war with the current ownership going back 60 plus years. The
building seems like it could go back to the days of the civil war. After
checking in with the hostess, we were led to our table which involved going up
an iron spiral staircase. Can you say ADA compatible? Apparently
the proprietors of OAI cant either. I haven’t experienced anything like
this before except maybe climbing the dome of St Paul’s cathedral in
London. Two big differences here, one, St Paul’s isn’t a restaurant and
that building dates back to the late 17th century! Mary and I
were disappointed with our experience. The service was slow and our
server, while civil, seemed bothered. The restaurant was somewhat noisy
and I could barely hear what he was saying. He was a low talker.
Both our appetizer and entrees took a while to come out. The appetizer
was cold (on purpose) so Im not sure what the delay was on delivery.
Ironically enough, the entrees were cold as well (not on purpose.) Mary
had monk fish and I had the five hour short ribs.
Maybe that’s why
service was so slow. We had to wait five hours for my entré to be
prepared. The server offered desert as compensation for the entrees being
cold.
Have you ever had one of those dining experiences that you finish
an ask yourself, can I get that back? Both financially as well as
calorically. I think that is what happened here. Well, this week
was one thumbs up and one down. The mass experience was definitely a
positive and the dining experience a somewhat negative. Definitely
a thumbs up for this year long journey Mary and I are taking as Roamin’ Catholics.
HER VIEW:
Wow! Wow! Wow! This was a good one, and I hope I can do it justice.
St. Bartholomew's was the place this week, the day was Saturday and the time was 5 pm. The church was established in 1959, and I know this because it was engraved on the front of the building. As was the case last week, there is no church history on their website. This was a rather simple churc
So a little about St. Bart, the man. St. Bartholomew was one of Jesus' twelve disciples. You know, I'm not sure that I knew this, but ok, I do now, and so do you. As a result of yesterday's mass, I have Prince's song, "I Would Die For You" swirling in my head. More about why later, but speaking of death, I never really thought about it until the priest mentioned it yesterday, but after Jesus' death, his disciples carried on his mission and as a result, they were killed in horrible ways. I read that St. Bartholomew was probably killed in one of three ways: either by being kidnapped, beaten unconscious and thrown into the sea to drown, by being crucified upside down, or by being skinned alive and beheaded. All horrible ways to go, wouldn't you say? All for carrying on and preaching the Word of God? Wow, now that is strong faith!
I would die for you...
Mass was said by Monsignor John Enzler, and Lou later informed me that he is also head of Catholic Charities. I really had to actively listen to Msgr. Enzler because there was something about the way he spoke and read that forced me to really pay attention. He said the beginning of every sentence very fast with words almost running together and would end every sentence in a more regular way. I've never heard anyone speak this way so it was very memorable.
Ok, enough about that, let's move on to this week's readings. This is the Cliff Notes version:
- The gift of the Holy Spirit comes to Cornelius and his household, and they are baptized.
- A song of praise.
- God is love.
- Love one another.
Next up, the show-stopper homily. This homily caused tears to well up in my eyes. I stayed focused on Msgr. Enzler and his message, because I knew if I turned and looked over at Lou, the waterworks would have begun.
Msgr. Enzler began his homily by referencing the gospel... "No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one's life for one's friends." He then went on to talk about the mass shooting in Vegas, referencing the names of six people who ran into the hysteria when everyone else was running away from it. Each person mentioned had risked his or her own life to save the life of another. He asked the congregation if they were in a similar situation would we do the same. He was very forthcoming and said he would like to believe he would, but he really wasn't sure.
Queue the music... I would die for you.
Next, was the story of a friend of his who had a routine appendectomy and suddenly stopped breathing during the procedure. Fast forward... the man made it through the surgery, but was never the same. He was now like a five year old child who needed constant care. He was young and married and his wife had a choice. She could move on with her life, or she could care for him for the rest of their lives. In essence if she chose the latter, she would be giving up her life for her husband. Her life would not be what she dreamed for it to be. They would not have children, and the man she married was no longer the man she married. Gone were her visions of the man with whom she could dream, talk and spar. Msgr. Enzler said that although he wouldn't like it, he couldn't blame her if she chose to walk away. Who could? She ended up staying with him and they have been together for more than 40 years.
Queue the music... I would die for you.
Msgr. Enzler then went on to say, yes, both of these stories are an example of laying down one's life for one's friends, but they were nothing compared to what God did for us.
He loved us so much that He gave us His only Son to die for our sins. I have a tough time wrapping my head around this. Yes, I've heard this gospel over and over again for the past 50+ years, but wow, I am blown away by this. Giving your life for another? Sometimes I don't even want to give Lou the last slice of pizza...
Would you die for your friends? Would you die for your faith? These are both very heady questions. In theory it may be easy to say, yes, I would do that, but what if you were really put to the test? Wow. That becomes a whole other situation... and one I hope I never will experience.
Last time... I would die for you. Did Prince really mean it?
Next, we headed to OAI (Old Angler's Inn), a staple in Potomac, MD since 1860. If you do the math, you will note that this restaurant is 99 years older than St. Bart's Church! We were both first timers to this establishment and although the food was delicious, the service left much to be desired. The slow service gave us plenty of time to discuss that homily! Most notably, Lou told me that if we were ever in a mass shooting situation, his plan is to push me to the floor and lay on top of me. Oddly enough, he said this would be a very selfish thing to do. When I asked why he said it is always more difficult for the survivor... I would have to deal with life without him. That's when I really started thinking... if you didn't lay down your life for a friend if the time ever came, imagine the survivor's guilt you would feel. But what about the woman who stayed with her husband even though he was no longer the man she married? I'd like to think I could handle that, but if I'm honest with myself, I really don't know. Yeah, some light dinner conversation for us! By the way, my dinner carried on with the religious theme of the evening... I had the Monk fish (ba bump bump - that's all for me folks, please remember to tip your servers!)and Lou had the 5-hour braised ribs.
All in all, it was a great evening. And if you're a regular, you know the ending... our Soulfie!
Comments
Post a Comment