Saint E and the Holy Trinity

HERS:

Being the wild and crazy person that I am, I decided to mix things up a bit and start with the “body” part of Body and Soul this week. I’m not embarrassed to say that it was the better part of the evening in my estimation. We went to the new trendy area in Rockville, MD called Pike & Rose, named as such because it is bordered by Rockville PIKE and MontROSE Road. Clever huh? Pike & Rose is an area in Rockville with vertical housing, hotels, shopping and restaurants. Yeah, our area needed another one of these. Anyway, we had a 6:30 reservation at Del Frisco’s Grille which is kind of a steakhouse, kind of an all American fare restaurant, kind of a trendy and modern hangout... Lou nailed it when he said it was a restaurant lacking an identity.  I wonder if the place may have had some issues recently because the manager visited our table on three separate occasions. Hey buddy, pull up a seat and join us, ok?

I partook in a trendy version of beef stroganoff, but as I told the manager, there was only one person on the planet who made the best beef stroganoff, and that was my mom. When he asked how our meals were, I suggested more mushrooms and onions in the recipe. Hey, he asked! Lou had a ribeye steak that I sampled and found to be quite delicious. He lovingly brought home a small piece in a doggie bag for Bella. She had some for breakfast this morning. I digress. We shared a piece of coconut cream pie that was so glammed up that it didn’t really even taste like coconut cream pie. It was surrounded by so many shavings of white chocolate that I wondered what was going on!

Overall, the meal was delicious and the company was exquisite. We were intrigued by the drink coaster shown below and would love some feedback from you if you dare! So on to the first part of the evening.

St. Elizabeth Catholic Church – affectionately called St. E’s by the parish is located in Rockville, MD.  We attended the 5pm mass.  The parish was founded in 1964 and the first mass was celebrated in 1966. So… the church is as old, um, I mean as young as me 😊 Another newer church build after Vatican II. The outside of the church was rather nondescript and the inside was the same. We are not sure of the name of the priest who gave mass, but overall this mass experience was not very memorable. My favorite part of the mass, oddly enough the only unstructured part of the mass, the homily, was just ok. This was Holy Trinity Sunday and the priest began the homily with an effort to explain the Holy Trinity. Interesting. How do we explain one of the greatest mysteries of the church? For those of you who are not Catholic, we believe that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all one.

If I go back to my early Catholic school instruction, it was explained the best. Just take a look at a shamrock. A shamrock has three leaves, but they all make up the whole shamrock. The shamrock is a shamrock because of its leaves, and vice versa.  This teaching was of course at St. Patrick’s Grade School in Erie, PA. Coincidence that the teachers of St. Patrick’s would use a shamrock in their explanation? I certainly think not!  I was hopeful that our priest was going to use this same analogy. Nope. This was not the case.  His explanation left me confused…. Something about the Father blessing the Son and the Son blessing the Father and then be brought up the Holy Spirit, but it was unremarkable. Gee, where was the manager when I need him… “Exuse me, is everything about this mass to your liking? Is there anything else I can get for you?” Yes please, a better explanation of the Holy Trinity please. There was one thing he said that I liked. He said that when the Holy Spirit touches your life, the things that you once felt you needed you could now live without. That to me denoted growth and change in a significant way. It’s interesting he said this because I spent the entire morning cleaning out my closet and I found many items that I once felt I needed that I now realize I can live without. Maybe that is what this faith journey is all about… a sort of “closet cleaning” of the soul as you find out what you need in your life and what you can do without.

As mass was drawing to a close we could hear thunder rumbling in the distance, and all I could think of was getting to the car without getting wet. But before the final blessing, we had to listen to announcements and then a new Seminarian introduced himself to the crowd and told us that he would be spending the summer at this parish before his ordination as a Catholic Priest. I felt bad that he had no introduction and basically had to introduce himself to the congregation. He is one of 76 seminarians in the archdiocese who will become Catholic priests.

So this week, my favorite part of the mass was the Communion song. Hail Mary, Gentle Woman. May is the month of Mary in the Catholic Church and this song embodies what Mary is all about. She is the mother of all mothers. I couldn’t help but think of my own Mom when I sang the song. Yes, I sang. Again, I do like singing the songs I grew up with. Speaking of singing, we also belted out verses one and four of America the Beautiful at the end of mass. I was not even concerned that we mixed church and state.

HIS:

What do you want people to say about you when you die?  Is it that you were accomplished in business or your chosen career?  Is it that you were successful in sports?  Is it that you made people laugh or that you were remembered for helping others?  I found myself contemplating these questions this week as I attended the funeral of a colleague from work.  This journey of the Roamin’ Catholics has caused me to be somewhat circumspect and more thoughtful in my daily life.  Not thoughtful in the sense of saying please and thank you but thoughtful in the sense of contemplating more on everyday life.  The older I get (and the more funerals I attend), I am fully grasping just how short life is and how important it is to live it to its fullest.  Jim’s (my work colleague) brother mused about whether Jim had made his final putt (he collapsed on the golf course.)  He used this as a metaphor for the way Jim lived his life, right into the center of the cup!  Jim did everything with enthusiasm and vigor.  His wife commented to me at the wake that the Jim we saw during the day was the same Jim she saw when he first woke up!  That is truly genuine.  I think we all need a little “Jim” in us.

Some minor coincidences to point out this week.  As you will recall, we attended St. Peter’s in Olney last week.  Jim’s funeral was there yesterday and a seminarian who assisted in mass yesterday evening was a parishioner there when he was growing up.  Interesting confluence of facts.

This week the Roamin’ Catholics attended St. Elizabeth’s parish in Rockville, MD.  St. E’s website describes the church’s founding as occurring “during” the Second Vatican Council, so technically, this is not a post Vatican Council style church but it really is.  As you will see by the photos this was designed in the modern style.  Founded in 1964, the first mass to be celebrated in the building was in 1966.  The population of the parish seems to be vibrant and growing.  Doubling in size between 1992 and 2016.  That was not entirely evident at the evening mass as the somewhat small sanctuary appeared somewhat empty.  Could be that people were traveling for Memorial Day Weekend.

This week is Trinity Sunday.  The time in the church when we celebrate the Holy Trinity.  The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.  We are taught from early on in our faith that these three are one.  Mary and I were contemplating on exactly what that means.  Even though we are taught this from the beginning of our faith formation, this is truly a tough one to comprehend.  I read that if we do not believe the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit are ONE, then that makes us a heretic.  Well I don’t want to be a heretic…..This same article went on to say that no one fully understands this mystery.  It further notes, If you try to explain the Trinity, you will lose your mind.  But if you deny it, you will lose your soul.  Deep words indeed!

Also happening this week, Mary and I attended the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in DC.  Very interesting.  Mary and I tend to be a bit more centrists in our political views, perhaps even a bit libertarian.  Being in attendance at this event, in this room with 1000 or so what appear to be conservative Catholics, it made us both question if we all followed the same religion.  The room gave two standing ovations to Paul Ryan for his pro-life stance but didn’t see the hypocrisy in his failure to act to pass legislation relating to the poor or the “dreamers.”  Mary and I are in agreement that if the life of an unborn baby is important, THEN ALL LIVES ARE IMPORTANT!  

Dinner this week was disappointing and one that was not worth the price tag.  We dined at Del Frisco in the Pike and Rose development in Rockville.  The restaurant wanted to be several things but came up short in all them.  It seemed like they wanted to be a casual restaurant but came with a pricey menu.  They wanted to be a fancy restaurant (with their glass enclosed wine storage) but came up short with their knotty pine tables and no table cloths.  The decibel level of the crowd in the restaurant was elevated, partly due to all the hard surfaces in the joint. The Manager, Kevin, stopped by 3 or 4 times to check on how things were.  A little obsessive.  It seemed as if he got paid for every time he checked on someone.  That said, Mary gave some suggestions on how they could improve on her dish and he didn’t seem interested in what she had to say.  I did enjoy a lovely red blend though.  Aside from the dinner company, it was the high point of the evening.  Needless to say, we will not be returning anytime soon.

Please remember our veterans and a departed loved one this weekend.  Happy Memorial Day!

And as always... Soulfie Time!