Last Sunday, my wife and I attended an evening mass at St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton parish in Omaha. It's a youth group mass catering (mostly) to teenagers and their families, but due to our having missed the vigil on Saturday night (a childhood friend's wedding), we needed to find a Sunday night mass to fulfill our Sabbath obligation. A quick search on archomaha.org and we were on our way...
Look, I'm not a music aficionado. I listen to talk radio. So when the eight member/four piece Christian rock band fired up for the first time, I felt unmoved. Neither did the architecture of St. Elizabeth inspire me. The church was built like many others in the late 70s and early 80s. If you're a Catholic who appreciates the grand old cathedrals and basilicas which dazzle the senses with classic, skyward-pointing architecture, you know what I'm talking about.
Still, it was the mass, and I'm always desirous of the scripture readings and, especially, our Lord in the Eucharist. I also enjoyed seeing my old boss at OPD, Deacon Marty Crowley. And the young and energetic Fr. Jeff Lorig's homily was superb.
Fast-forward to the end of mass. The recessional song -the final selection played as the priest, deacon and acolytes depart the sanctuary- was a piece by a guy named Charlie Peacock. Until Sunday, I'd never heard of the man. Here's an excerpt of his song:
Thus, I learned a valuable lesson last weekend from a church which didn't "look" like God's House (at least to my skewed perspective) and from a band playing their hearts out whom, in doing so, captured mine.
I thank the Lord for the little nudges of love we're blessed with from time to time. They often come from the least predictable of sources.
Look, I'm not a music aficionado. I listen to talk radio. So when the eight member/four piece Christian rock band fired up for the first time, I felt unmoved. Neither did the architecture of St. Elizabeth inspire me. The church was built like many others in the late 70s and early 80s. If you're a Catholic who appreciates the grand old cathedrals and basilicas which dazzle the senses with classic, skyward-pointing architecture, you know what I'm talking about.
Still, it was the mass, and I'm always desirous of the scripture readings and, especially, our Lord in the Eucharist. I also enjoyed seeing my old boss at OPD, Deacon Marty Crowley. And the young and energetic Fr. Jeff Lorig's homily was superb.
Fast-forward to the end of mass. The recessional song -the final selection played as the priest, deacon and acolytes depart the sanctuary- was a piece by a guy named Charlie Peacock. Until Sunday, I'd never heard of the man. Here's an excerpt of his song:
I keep trying to find a lifeThat song resonated deep within me and provoked me to attend daily mass the following day, Monday, and confess a sin I had been sitting on awhile (I was thinking God might forget about it?).
On my own, apart from you
I am the king of excuses
I've got one for every selfish thing I do
Whats going on inside of me?
I despise my own behavior
This only serves to confirm my suspicions
That Im still a man in need of a Savior
(chorus)
I wanna be in the light
As you are in the light
I wanna shine like the stars in the heavens
Oh, Lord be my light and be my salvation
Cause all I want is to be in the light
All I want is to be in the light
The disease of self runs through my blood
It's a cancer fatal to my soul
Every attempt on my behalf has failed
To bring this sickness under control
(chorus, etc.)
Thus, I learned a valuable lesson last weekend from a church which didn't "look" like God's House (at least to my skewed perspective) and from a band playing their hearts out whom, in doing so, captured mine.
I thank the Lord for the little nudges of love we're blessed with from time to time. They often come from the least predictable of sources.
2 comments:
I REALLY like the DC Talk version of that song.
Lovely.
We were blessed to have Fr. Lorig at our parish for a time. We miss him!
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