Discussion Question 2.1 - How do we celebrate life?
What is your favorite moment of being in a group setting (family or social) and having someone “lift the cup” in a real celebration of life?
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March 1st, 2007 @ 9:32 pm
We have our Baptisms right after the homily during Mass and it is a wonderfully special moment. Before the baby is baptized the parents together walk down both sides of the center aisle with the infant and those on the end of the pew can make the sign of the cross on the baby’s forehead as the congregation chants “Blessed are you, holy are you…”. After the Baptism our priest “lifts” the baby up high for all to see and asks us to welcome our newest member into our community and we all applaud. It is a very happy moment for all.
Stephen, your ‘lift the cup moment’ brought back to me the special joy we all experience when we have a Baptism and helped me to identify it as a ‘lift the cup moment’.
February 28th, 2007 @ 9:28 pm
My favorite “lift the cup moment” of late is when there is a baptism celebrated during mass in our church. In recent years our diocese has encouraged parishes to move away from private baptismal ceremonies and to incorporate them into the Sunday Mass. So it ends up being pretty often that we get to share in the joy of that moment in our parish.
The ritual itself with the baptismal gown and anointing is nice. But the moment that always “gets me” the most, and often moves me to tears, is when the priest takes the newly baptized child from the parents and walks them through the congregation announcing their entrance into the community. Most often it is an infant of a few months of age. The most remarkable thing about this is that not once in the twenty or thirty baptisms that I have witnessed over the past few years, has the child seemed upset or cried as they were paraded through the congregation. And when the priest gets close to you with the newly baptized child, you can easily see by the look of comfort and piece in their eyes, that God is close by.
I shall never tire of sharing this moment with young families and new members of the community.
February 28th, 2007 @ 8:26 am
Diane and Bruce - same here on the listening thing. The only refocusing method I’ve come up with so far is when I’m drifting away from the conversation, mostly because I disagree or I’m bored, I try to look at the person and ask myself, “How can I love this person?” When I remember to do this, it seems to work for me.
February 27th, 2007 @ 9:41 am
Bruce…I can so identify with what you said about listening. I am learning this myself and finding that it does take quite an effort for me to devote myself, as you described, to the speaker. It means completely emptying myself of all the replies, opinions, and experiences that I want to blurt out.
Thanks for reminding me of this…I will be more intentional about this after reading your reflection. It seems to me that the willingness to invest myself in others in this way is crucial if I we want to experience the ‘lifting of the cup’ as Henri describes it.
Peace,
Diane
February 27th, 2007 @ 7:24 am
We recently began a small group ministry in our church. The ministry filled a large hole in our church. Now members can join a community of up to twelve people to read the Word, to serve, to pray to and worship the Lord and to care for and be cared for by each other. I have found the experience humbling and liberating in much the way Nouwen talked about in this reading assignment. As an example, I have had to very carefully listen to ten other people, one of whom is my wife. Listening is not easy for me. I am still learning to concentrate completely on the speaker devoting myself to their words and emotions. Caring, in this way, is humbling but also liberating because we know that God is in charge of curing.
February 26th, 2007 @ 8:23 pm
For me, the greatest moment is when our family and/or friends are gathered around our dining table for a “home Eucharist”. That lifting of the cup is a wonderful time of Praise to our awesome God and of thanksgiving for each other and our sharing in this Eucharistic meal with each other. That is a tremendous blessing to all who are there.
February 26th, 2007 @ 5:43 pm
Wow. It’s hard to top that Ed! What a beautiful memory that must be for you and your wife.
Lifting the cup…..that’s a hard one for me because I struggle so with community. But, I do have some special memories of being together with people I love around the dinner table. (Most of these are after marriage and children as my times around the dinner table as a child were pretty much a nightmare.)
Since I recently lost my mom to cancer an occasion celebrated with her in Florida most readily comes to mind: My husband, youngest daughter and I were visiting her for Easter. My mom was a wonderful hostess and loved having people over for holidays. On this occasion, the table was full of the very dear friends she had made since retiring to Florida. I remember feeling so good about her being surrrounded by so many lovely people and that she was in ‘good hands’. I was happy for her and thankful that I didn’t have to worry about her b/c she was in a community of people (all in their retirement years) who really looked out for each other and cared for one another. I’m not sure if a cup was ever actually physically ‘lifted’ but certainly that spirit was there. As I recount this I can still ‘taste’ it. Interesting that I also was with her during her last Easter. My brother, sister and I were all there to be with her then as she was in the last stage of her battle with lymphoma. She died on April 7th, 2005 shortly after that last Easter together.
Blessings
Diane
February 26th, 2007 @ 8:37 am
My wife and I are pastors and when we got married, our first act after getting married, was to slip on our clergy robes and offer communion for all who had come to our wedding. It was the highest/deepest “thanks” we could offer. It was especially meaningful to me in that this was also the first time I offered communion to my parents.