From the Friars: Beautiful Liturgy

One of the main purposes of a Shrine is to offer a beautiful liturgy. I remember the most beautiful liturgies I ever attended were in Ghana (Africa) during a mission trip with a Catholic organization called LifeTeen. The liturgies were beautiful, not because of the exterior adornments with which the church itself was presented, rather, due to the depth of Love that the Ghana people had for God and for each another. Sunday Masses lasted three hours. The faithful brought their offerings to the altar dancing. The offerings were often eggs, vegetables or other produce, you know—’The fruit of the earth and the work of human hands’. In Ghana I finally learned how to “celebrate” Mass! I learned that a beautiful Mass depends just as much on what one does outside of the Liturgy in preparation than what one does inside the Church in celebration.

Part of our mission trip was to build two mud houses for families in need of a home. What surprised me most was that each family knew the needs of the other and were willing to make the sacrifices necessary to help, always seeing the other person’s suffering or joy as their own. This was the first time in my own life that I became visibly conscious and aware of a people who truly knew God. For them, love of God was inseparable from love of neighbor and they took that to radical measures to live out the Gospel due to their material poverty. I had grown up with everything I ever needed and it was not until seeing the people of Ghana that I finally became aware or how poor I truly was. They knew God and they knew one another.

The secret to celebrating a beautiful liturgy relies in radically living out the New Testament of Jesus Christ. “In the New Testament the word ‘liturgy’ refers not only to divine worship but also to the proclamation of the Gospel and to active charity. In all of these situations it is a question of the service of God and neighbor” (CCC 1070). My fervent prayer this Lenten season is that we embrace the Cross of radical outreach in service to those most in need in our immediate Shrine family and community. The generosity, and response of all of you has always been overwhelmingly striking to me. It is beautiful!

May Our Lady of the Holy Rosary continue to inspire us to be courageous in heeding Jesus’ admonition to celebrate a beautiful liturgy inside and outside the Church.

–Fr. Francis