A CORPUS CHRISTI STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL?
Yes folks, simultaneously this weekend, we have the yearly Liturgy of the Feast of Corpus Christi as well as the annual Strawberry Festival. What do these celebrations have to do with each other, other than they’re here at St Isidore? That’s a good question! As your new assistant pastor, I can, with less worry, dabble in these questions and question what we’re doing. Whereas Fr. Ron, as pastor, has a more immediate concern for the financial well being of the parish as well as the spiritual. They may not be as disparate as they appear. Note: one is a FESTival and the other is called a FEAST, as in “a church fest and a church feast,” sounds similar to me! Don’t we use the word “celebrate” as a verb for the way we engage in the Mass, the Eucharist, the Sacred Liturgy? The Mass is a celebration and the festival is to be fun? Can’t both the two of them be a celebration in their own unique way? Some happiness and joy are possible for us in each one. The annual Sunday feast of the Body and Blood of Christ is itself a focus on the major part of the Mass, called the Liturgy of the Eucharist, wherein we may receive Communion.
So yes, on the downer side, I mention that among us some do not see or experience the Eucharistic Liturgy, the Mass, to be celebratory enjoyment. There are various reasons for this phenomenon. We tend toward more physical and immediate pleasures. I have been assigned in the past thirty years to several parishes which have festivals, (e.g. this is ‘not my first rodeo’) and know for some to have fun, others have to work at festivals, yet that too can be fun. So it thus seems there are people who’d rather partake of the Festival than in the Feast this weekend, as it’s more “fun.” The Mass has many official names, one is “the Sacred Liturgy.” The word, Liturgy, is rooted in the Greek words for “public” and “work” or “works.” There is the reality that Liturgy is the work of Worship that we need to exert ourselves. Yet don’t we need to exert ourselves at least a bit to enjoy a festival or carnival? A liturgical Feast and a Strawberry Festival, the same weekend at the same place, St. Isidore Church. So share your experience with others who may not find both to be blessed enjoyments like you do!
See you at both,
Fr. Matt