Mass Of The 19th Sunday Ordinary Time B + Consecration Of The Altar
HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE 19TH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME B + CONSECRATION OF THE ALTAR
St. Christopher’s Church, Panania
In the realm of music, a ‘counterpoint’ is created when someone adds a different melody on top of or underneath another melody, so that the two work together, in harmony, interdependently. It comes from the Latin punctus contra punctum, point against point, and we see it in the great works of Church polyphony, in the duets, trios, quartets and more in opera, and in the singing of Pacific Islanders such as we are blessed to have today. A very common trope within counterpoint is the use of ‘imitation’, where the counter-melody mimics the original melody. A simple example of this might be singing ‘Row, Row, Row Your Boat’ as a round, with each person starting at different points.
What is interesting about musical imitation is that, although it is possible for the different voices to sing perfectly the same words and melody, this is not necessary: in fact, the music is often the more beautiful where there are the subtle differences between the different voices. The counterpoint can introduce a different but harmonious note, key or melody, while still largely imitating and certainly complementing the main melody so the music retains its structure and depth.
This notion of imitative counterpoint offers us a way into our readings this morning and, indeed, into the Christian life. When St. Paul tells us today to imitate God (Eph 4:30-5:2), our first thought might well be one: how could I? When Jesus says, as he does in the Gospels, to be perfect like God (Mt 5:48; cf. Lev 19:2; Lk 6:36), our natural reaction is: impossible! God is infinite, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving, all-holy; I am limited, ignorant, weak, half-hearted, sinful. But here our discussion of counterpoint might help. If we imagine God as the principal melody, three persons singing in such perfect unison we are unsure whether it is one or three, then each of us may craft the melody of our own life in imitation of that. Though we may not all start on the same note as God or as each other, we need not fear: St. Paul himself acknowledges that we are not perfect, indeed we are mere children, but try, he says, to ‘imitate God as children of his that he loves’.
Yet as Jesus reminds us in today’s Gospel, none of us has seen the Father (Jn 6:41-51): so how are we even to begin imitating Him? How are we to know His melody? The answer is Jesus. He is the Word spoken by the Father from all eternity and in time as Jesus Christ; He is the timeless love-song of the Trinity sung in space as God’s love-song for humanity. Anyone who eats His Flesh, who receives His Word, who chants His Song, will sing forever. And so Jesus is himself the music and its conductor. None of us imitates Him perfectly, but we try and then trust Him to fit our feeble attempts into a greater harmony, an even more beautiful music. And we have the Church as our choir and music teacher: all of us together, trying to shed bitterness, grudges and hate, and instead be kind, tender, forgiving, loving…
Which brings be to the altar we are to consecrate… An altar is a structure upon which sacrifices and offerings to God are placed, in almost all the great religions. Sometimes they were at sacred places in nature; more often they have been enclosed in holy shrines. Usually they are of stone or wood, temporary or fixed. Some are very primitive, others highly decorated. In the Old Testament the altar is the place for offering sacrificial animals, incense and other offerings, for marking places and events, and for interceding and atoning (Gen 8:20; 12:7; 13:4,18; 22:9; 26:25; 33:20; 35:1,3,7; 17:15; Ex 20:22-26; 24:4-6; 27:1-7; chs 29 & 30; etc.). Much of this seems rather strange and primitive to us today, from cults long before Christianity. And, indeed, many Christian communities have now dispensed with altars.
So why do we still have altars in Catholic churches and why do we take them so seriously, bowing and genuflecting before them, incensing them, offering upon them and, today, consecrating them solemnly? Well, one reason we take altars seriously is that Jesus did. Luke’s Gospel opens with Zechariah the priest serving before the altar in the Temple and there receiving the annunciation of the angel that his wife would conceive John the Baptist (Lk 1:5-23). Jesus is in turn brought there by Mary and Joseph to be presented at his birth and adolescent (Lk 2:22-38, 41-50). Jesus prays, preaches, debates, heals and prophesies in the Temple. He teaches about making worthy sacrifices at the altar, honouring promises made there, and keeping the surrounding precinct holy (Mt 5:23-24; 21:12-17; 23:19-20).
What makes an altar holy is precisely the liturgical act of dedication, and then the acts of divine service which take place upon it thereafter. In our ritual today the altar is treated as if it were a pagan becoming a Christian. As I mentioned in the introduction, the altar will be baptised, evangelised, confirmed, dressed, lit and communicated. After all this is done, it will be obvious it is more than a mere table on which to put things, like a display cabinet in a religious museum. No: the altar is a place to do things, sacred things: to praise, to bless and to preach, to sacrifice, intercede and thank, to sing, bow and genuflect, to honour, consecrate and commune. We would be surprised if we found the sort of reverent silence and holy noise of a Church in a supermarket; likewise we do not expect shopping trolleys and checkout noises around the altar! Not because we are against supermarkets, any more than Jesus was. The reason is, rather, that upon the altar or before it the most extraordinary things occur: babies are made into children of God; souls made faithful hearers of God’s word; bread and wine made into Christ’s body and blood; couples made into spouses; singles into religious and priests; sinners made saints; the sick made well or ready for eternal life. These are altogether exceptional events, wholly removed from our normal, everyday existence, and they naturally require that special place which is an altar.
This morning, as we witness these rites of initiation for the altar, we recall our own. As natural material is consecrated as a supernatural altar, so we too are to become altars dedicated to divine worship, praise, intercession, self-sacrifice and the rest, living tables of Christ’s word and sacraments. We too are called to join St Christopher and St. Patrick and all those “raised to the altar”. Following Paul’s advice in our epistle, let us leave before our altar all bitterness, grudges and hate, and receive from that altar the sacrament of tenderness, forgiveness and love… Let us unite our minds and hearts, and senses and voices, in our acts of divine service, that the rest of our lives may be liturgies too, sung in imitative counterpoint with the angels in heaven!
WORD OF THANKS AFTER MASS
St. Christopher’s Church, Panania
My congratulations to you all on this day of celebration. Fr Maurice is blessed with two parishes that offer an extraordinary range of ministries: Acolytes, Altar Servers, Readers, Extraordinary Communion Ministers, Communion to the sick, Sacramental team, Catechists, RCIA, Little church, Parish Youth, Healthy Seniors, Legion of Mary, Social Committee, Music Ministry, Hospitality and Welcomers, Wardens and Counters, Flowers, Pious Goods stall, Cleaners and Altar Linen, Parish Councillors, Parish Finance people, Property Maintenance, St Vincent de Paul, Liverpool Night Patrol, Bulletin, PPC Facebook Page, Divine Mercy devotions, Couples for Christ, St Christopher’s Primary School, De La Salle College, Parents and Citizens, Samoan Community… you name it!
Truly, this is a vibrant parish! There are many causes for celebration – but not for complacency. While the figures on Panania-Revesby Heights seem a little elastic, and your practising rate, thank God, is high by Australian standards or Sydney standards, it is still clear that several thousand are missing from Mass each Sunday. We ache for them to be with us and we must ask ourselves, again and again, how we can best reach out to the unconverted and the diverted, and make this the sort of place they will want to be on Sunday.
Nonetheless, I want to thank Fr Maurice, Fr Feleki, the retired Fathers Stephen and Michael, and all the lay leaders and participants in the life of this parish for your love for the Lord and His Church and for your generosity to both through good times and bad. Thank you for the welcome I have received here, the beautiful Masses with your children and with you all, the meetings and inspiration I have received here. God bless everyone one of you! May you one day be raised to the altar yourselves!
INTRODUCTION TO MASS FOR 19TH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME B + CONSECRATION OF THE ALTAR
St. Christopher’s Church, Panania
Welcome to St Christopher’s for this morning the Solemn Mass for the 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time and the Consecration of the New Altar. This week I have conducted my canonical visitation of the Parishes of Panania and Revesby Heights, and so been treated to several Masses, visits to the churches, schools, nursing home and some parishioners’ homes, and met with the clergy, Pastoral Councillors and lay leaders of your remarkable range of ministries. I thank Fr Maurice and all of you for the very warm welcome I have received and commend you on so much good that is happening here in Panania-Revesby Heights.
Welcome to you all, parishioners of both parishes and members of the Samoan community, today. The consecration of an altar is one of the most ancient and beautiful ceremonies of our Church, but one most Catholics never get to see. Like the initiation of a new Christian, you will witness the ‘Baptism’ of the altar with holy water, its being preached to from the ambo, its ‘Confirmation’ with the sacred Chrism, its being dressed in white and given a candle likely the new initiated, and the celebration of its ‘First Holy Communion’. So it is a chance to reflect on our own journey of faith as Christians. Conscious of our failures to live the life of the altar of God, we repent of our sins…