Inside ML

We who do the work of the church live in an odd sort of suspended time. We exist with one foot on this earth and one stepping out to the eschaton. This is as it should be, for although we separate our liturgical life into seasons, our liturgy itself proclaims the one truth, the one paschal mystery that is the reason for every season. Even so, we still must be about the “ordinary” business of pastoral life while being ever mindful of the needs of those we serve in every season. This issue of ML has a blend of resources for this “bridge” time in our liturgical year. Each year, there are those who struggle through the holidays, mourning the loss of a loved one. This year, even as we continue to journey through the aftermath of the events of September 11, 2001, we grieve again as a nation with every life lost in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world, as violence continues to plague us. Susan Walker offers a way to minister to people who need to find ways to cope with grief, especially in the holiday season.

Although that season is upon us, the ongoing work of ministry continues. David Philippart proposes ways to evaluate the efficacy of your worship space, a critical process often overlooked. Bruce Janiga presents the second part in his series on liturgical vesture, with a plan for how parishes or communities can tastefully fill their vesting closets over a period of time. Always providing easily digestible bites of information is Paul Turner with the basics of the new General Instruction of the Roman Missal. Paul Turner also composes the bulletin inserts in ML and this year completes 10 years of inserts, 200 in all. This is a wonderful gift of service, not only to the folks in the pews but also for those of us who at times have to don body armor in addition to the “armor of light” in order to engage in dialogue about ritual change. Thank you, Paul, for being a constant voice of reason over these many years.

We do indeed live in a strange blend of time, but we do so by choice. As we continue to make our way through troubled times in our church and world, it may be that our greatest need is for the grace of wisdom to put right order to our existence, to lead us in the path of truth rather than answers and to teach us to walk in the way that leads to the kingdom of God.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high, / Who ord’rest all things mightily; / To us the path of knowledge show, / And teach us in her ways to go. / Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel / Shall come to thee, O Israel. ML

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