Holy Thursday at Mater Ecclesiae - Charity & Love

It's terrible camera phone footage but I wanted to capture the scenes from Holy Thursday at Mater Ecclesiae Tridentine parish. Mater Ecclesiae is the first canonically established Church owned and staffed by a Roman Catholic Diocese, that has been granted exclusive use of the Roman Missal Typical Edition of 1962.



One of the moments, not captured on film but on my heart, was from the Rector, Father Pasley. From the altar, he spoke of how important this Extraordinary Form of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was and how we need it more today than ever. 

I am paraphrasing his words...so meaningful for me to hear him say.  +Solemnity+ +vestiture+ and +sacred music+ AND charity all are important to our faith.  They are not opposites, not exclusive of one another. Not an either/or but a both/and.

The beauty was almost overwhelming. I was frequently spilling tears. My heart and mind were lifted to God in a way that left me "spent" afterwards. A young deacon, soon to be ordained, who had grown up in this parish gave the sermon and related it to the antiphon, Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.

Where charity and love are, there is God. 

He related that in Jesus washing the feet of His apostles, Jesus was reaching out in loving charity to those closest to Him, those He lived with. From this, we are to learn that we must be successful in loving and serving our family, those we love...first. (Mark 10:45) If we fail at that, how can we move on to loving, serving and converting others? Only when we perfect that care, love and service to those closest to us are we capable of effectively reaching out to others.

We will learn from and build on that success. Others will see it and be led to trust us, be open to us...

So simple, yet so illuminating. I always remind the children how important their sibling relationships are...that God gave them to each other. Part of why we homeschool is to honor that and create stronger relationships between each other and with God.  And these words spoken when my heart was so receptive took hold of me. Love and serve my husband, my children, my family...first...to be effective. From that example, my children may be led to love each other better and, if God wills, their future families will benefit from that love and charity that begins at home. 

May we all be so good at that caritas et amor, that God is with us and becomes present to those we meet.