Greetings from Salt Lake City, Utah

Greetings!

I am updating this blog from Salt Lake City, Utah at the home of the Church Music Association of America's Colloquium 2012.  This 22nd Colloquium put on by the CMAA is an opportunity for church musicians to get together, learn about conducting techniques, vocal development, improve their skills as organists, etc...

This year the Colloquium is taking place at the beautiful Cathedral here in Salt Lake City.

Pray for all the participants of the Colloquium, so that they may grow as musicians and seek to fill the world with the sounds of sacred music.

God bless,
MJM

Ever Thought of Joining the Choir?

Ever thought of joining the choir?

This Summer is the perfect time to do so!

Come to three rehearsals and sing at our exciting 25th Anniversary Mass!

Rehearsals:  June 20th, July 10th and July 11th at 7:00pm.
Anniversary Mass:  July 14th at 6:30pm.

This is a great way to try the choir out and see if you find it to be a fun and spiritually uplifting experience.

Can you only make 2 out of 3 rehearsals? Contact me today to discuss this, but it should work if you're willing to do a little bit of practice at home.  mmeloche@stjoanofarcpowell.org

Summer Stewardship

As we officially enter summer, it is natural to assume that most are out and about either enjoying the weather, relaxing at home, or on some long planned vacation. However, summertime can sometimes mask loneliness. Some of the elderly may have lost most of their friends and others may wish they were relaxing on some beach or hiking up some picturesque mountain trail, but they aren’t. Perhaps our job is to help these folks the best we can, which may simply mean an occasional visit. In our modern age of social media, we can easily get disconnected from others and wrapped up in ourselves. All we need to do to remind ourselves of this is to peruse some internet blogs or television shows to see how self absorbed many have become. We are called to be different. This summer let’s try to reach out to those who need some basic human contact.

A Season for Weddings

Each Summer many couples get married, and that is also the case here at St. Joan of Arc in Powell.  Each year our Deacons, Associate Pastor and our Pastor Fr. Raymond Larussa marry many men and women who make a commitment to be together for the rest of their lives.

A wonderful part of my job as an ecclesiastical musician is sitting down with couples to choose music for their Nuptial Mass or service.  Each couple will often have something different in mind, and will differ slightly from one another.  Yet all of the couples are coming together to celebrate the love of God, their love for one another and to be joined in this wonderful Sacrament.

Pray for the couples to be married at St. Joan's this year, those who have been married at St. Joan's in the past, and all married couples.  May their love for one another grow and their love of God be strengthened all the days of their lives.

Summer & Ordinary Time

Now that school is out, we are Ordinary Time (in the Church calendar,) and summer is upon us, some may put their faith on the back burner. However, it should be the time that like our gardens and crops in the field, our faith should germinate and grow. All of the lessons we learned in the Christmas and Easter Season should be visible for all to see in summer. On peaceful summer nights and the occasional rainy day, we should find the time to ponder where we are in our relationship to Christ and His Church. There probably isn't a better time to peruse your Bible, or the saints of the day (just google Catholic feast day) and read about the countless men and women who went before us, often under demanding circumstances to show us the way. In turn we can take those lessons and pass them on to others in overt and subtle ways, whether they be in our homes, at the baseball diamond or soccer field, or even on vacation. You will indeed realize that what you have done in helping others to grow is not ordinary at all.

This Sunday's Communion Hymn

       The Communion hymn sung at Masses this weekend asks two questions in the first verse.  The first of these questions is one we should constantly ask ourselves:  How can I love God as I ought?   Our God has given us so much – our lives, our loved ones, this wonderful country and world we inhabit.  How on earth can we love our God enough to let Him know we appreciate these gifts?

       Thankfully the hymn writer gives us a possible answer in the second verse:  by singing hymns of fervent praise with pure hearts like those of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Obviously without the stain of original sin and with a pure heart, Mary is able to love God fully.  Attachment to sin keeps us from loving our God as we ought to.  Therefore let us always strive, though it may be difficult with our human weaknesses, to love God with a heart that is pure and detached from sin like Mary’s.

       The final verse of the hymn reminds us of the nature of Holy Mass as being celebrated both here on earth and in heaven – sometimes we forget that the Mass is both physical and metaphysical.  We have been given a wondrous gift in the holy sacrifice of the Mass and in the Holy Eucharist.  Let us rejoice this weekend as we celebrate Corpus et Sanguis Christi – the great Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ.

Confessions are offered at St. Joan of Arc each Saturday at 4:00pm and by appointment.  There is no better way to prepare to celebrate Holy Mass than going to confession and attending Mass in a state of grace.

For Greater Glory

Part of our duties in Stewardship is supporting those who have done much for the Catholic faith. The movie, "For Greater Glory" has just been released with an all star cast that includes, Peter O'Toole,. Andy Garcia, Eva Longoria, Eduardo Verastegui and Karyme Lozano. The movie relates a horrible situation in 1920s Mexico when the government tried to outlaw the Church in a country that was 99% Catholic. An amred rebellion broke out among the peasants and the government finally backed down, but not after thousands of the faithful were killed. It is a reminder that the Church has and always will be attacked somewhere on the earth. It is our job to not only defend the truth, but to support those who tell the story of the brave faithful wherever they may be. Here is our chance to support a Hollywood film that actually stands for heroic values.