Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, April 26, 2001
The Southern Cross, Page 5
Everyday Graces
Spiritual renewal in a busy day
F or the past several mornings,
after he is dressed and ready
to run out the door when the
car pool arrives, Charlie
stands at our window and
watches birds. Last week
end, we hung a flower bas
ket over our deck, and
Charlie has observed birds
building a nest under the blos
soms in the basket. Since Mary
then, he’s been reporting on
the nest’s progress.
Passing Charlie, as I dash to the
boys’ room to wake up Jimmy for
the third time, I slow down just
long enough to hear Charlie an
nounce: “Their mother’s taken a
leaf from that bush over there, and
she’s flying it over to the basket.”
I’m listening, but not well. I’m
thinking about what else I must
accomplish before it’s time to leave
the house. Regardless of how early
I wake up, I never have enough
time to avoid the morning rush.
Once, Charlie called me over to
bird watch with him, and although
I paused to look in the direction he
was pointing, I couldn’t discern the
birds and their activities quickly
enough to suit me. Rather
than admit I hadn’t
seen what he pointed
out, however, I
quickly pretended
to, so I could get
back to my chores.
Bird watching takes
more time than I have
at 7 a.m. On a weekday
Hood Hart at that hour, the clock
dictates my every
move. I know exactly how many
minutes I need to accomplish
everything I must. That’s assuming
everything goes smoothly. If Anna
can’t find her socks, then I’m auto
matically behind. Bird watching in
my morning rush is out of the ques
tion. Even Charlie has only a few
minutes to enjoy the birds. At the
tap of a car horn, he hurries out to
his ride, off to start his busy day.
Maybe I’m rationalizing, but I
think there’s something healthy
about not having too much time to
devote to bird watching or doing
whatever strikes my fancy at any
hour of the day. While we should
n’t be swallowed up by stress and
busyness to the extent we are con
stantly frazzled, most of us also
wouldn’t thrive in an atmosphere of
extended leisure.
Part of the pleasure of stopping to
enjoy nature results from the break
in our routine. If we regularly have
too much time to appreciate every
thing around us, even that apprecia
tion can become dull. Most of us
strive for balance, not just by tak
ing vacations, but by interspersing
some reflective time within our
busy day.
In my experience, quiet time be
comes much more meaningful
when it’s earned after I’ve contri
buted a good portion of hard work.'
Too much leisure to feed the soul
can lead to a gluttony as numbing
to the spirit as too much busyness.
In living out the Gospel, we are
expected to do more than reflect
and contemplate. We are expected
to serve. And, heaven knows, serv
ing others is usually a lot of work.
In whatever capacity of service we
are called, we are bound by this
Christian duty.
Tempting as it may be to isolate
ourselves from routines and
responsibilities in order to become
spiritually renewed, duty to others
doesn’t always allow that opportu
nity. But spiritual renewal is a
function of grace, and while possi
ble in the form of a retreat, it can
also be discovered in the context of
a busy day.
For my son, spiritual renewal
comes from bird watching in the
minutes before he heads off to mid
dle school. For me, it happens later,
when I’m driving my other chil
dren to school, and I pass a farm
house with an old bam, rusty and
run down, yet surrounded by a field
of lavender wildflowers. I’ve seen
wildflowers before on the roadside,
decorating the median of an inter
state, but the wildflowers I see on
the drive to school are made more
beautiful by their striking contrast
to the old bam. Indeed, it is within
this rural scene that I sense the
secret to the sweetness of life.
Life’s sweetness is found in the
contrast of work and play, of duty
and delight—juxtaposed like an old
bam in a field of purple flowers.
Mary Hood Hart lives with her
husband and four children in
Sunset Beach, N.C.
q
invoba
Questions & Answers
uestion: I have noticed some people making
the sign of the cross when the priest gives the
Nation after the Penitential Rite. Others do not
do so. What is the correct action?
—Nan Gillespie
Macon
A nswer: The use of the sign of the cross when
the priest says “May almighty God have
mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to
everlasting life,” was ended when the current
Roman Missal was issued in 1970. At that time, all
rubrics or directions contained in the previous
missal but not incorporated into the new missal
were declared inoperative.
The prior missal called for participants in the
Mass to sign themselves many times. With the
revision, those charged by the pope with implem-
nting the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy re
sponded to its call for greater simplicity, with the
understanding that too many repetitions of the
same symbol would weaken the effect of that sym
bol. There were over twenty signs of the cross
made during the celebration of Mass in accordance
with the old rubrics.
The participants in the Mass now sign them
selves only twice: at the beginning of the Mass
(“In the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit”) and while receiving the presider’s
final blessing. We often also see people signing
themselves as the priest or deacon does before the
Gospel reading, but their doing so is not indicated
in the missal.
The signing you asked about and the one at the
time of the gospel are no longer a required aspect
of the people’s participation in the liturgy but they
can be seen as an additional and individual act of
piety. When we add actions like this we must
remember that the liturgy is meant to be a uniting
experience and when we add our own personal
gestures, we may at the same time separate our
selves from the general liturgical action of the
worshiping community.
—DKC
Editor’s Note: Submit questions to The Sou
thern Cross, 601 E. Liberty St., Savannah,
GA 31401 (e-mail: DCIark5735 @aol.com). If
your question is used, you will receive a sou
venir from the diocesan sesquicentennial.
Please include address.
601 E. Liberty St.
Savannah, GA 31401-5196
Support for editorial
Dear Editor:
Thank you for your very compelling article a-
gainst the death penalty and the execution of
Timothy McVeigh and for courageously standing
up for life in the midst of a lot of lay Catholic
opposition to Gospel and catechetical teaching
on this matter.
—Mary Zipter
Augusta
***
Dear Editor:
Please accept my thanks, my good wishes, and
my support for the clear and courageous position
Letters
that you have taken on the death penalty in your
editorial entitled “Killed in our name” (April
19).
I read in the morning paper today of the father
of one of the Oklahoma City victims who, citing
his Catholic faith, has taken the same position.
The feelings of the Church (and the pope)
seem clearly against us killing anybody.
—Dick Brotherton
Augusta
***
Dear Editor:
Thank you for consistently good editions. I
like to see the important liturgical seasons high
FAX: (912) 238-2339
E-mail: DCIark5735@aol.com
lighted on the front page; the life-cycle of the
church, the Body of Christ. “Killed in our name”
was an excellent piece. I reject capital punish
ment for all the reasons mentioned by the Holy
Father, and the bishops mentioned in your arti
cle. Just because a person feels a need for
revenge or retaliation on Timothy McVeigh does
not make it right, or even a rational decision.
Life in prison gives the convicted brother or sis
ter time to repent and “get right with God.” God
bless you and your ministry.
—David Conner
Albany