1. What is 'church sick' you ask? It is the same as homesick. I miss our church, the mission my husband was pastor of for 12 years. We, poor and miniscule Romanian Byzantine Catholics, worshiped at the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic proto-cathedral. A new priest replaced my husband on Palm Sunday 2014, and two Sundays ago was the first time we went back to visit. The icon screen was a breath of fresh air for me.
2. Now, we have only one mission. We are blessed to have Divine Liturgy at a Roman-rite Catholic chapel; we also have four life-size portable icons to 'simulate' a proper icon screen. it is beautiful, and Jesus is there; it is still not the same.
3. Last Sunday, we visited a Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic parish three hours away and witnessed the consecration of the icon screen and altar. As a visiting priest, my husband got to witness the ritual close-up. In almost 3 years as a deacon and 12 years as a priest, he had never seen it. It was beautiful, and I again felt comfortable. These are my people. (the photo below doesn't show the visiting priests or the bishop- and the 4 darling altar boys aren't there because I am not going to publish minors that aren't family on this blog- there were big boys of 4, 5 and 7 years old serving plus a 2 year old in a matching vestment sitting in the front with his mother)
4. Too sad? here's a kitten...
5. Not a cat person and my 'church-sickness' is still depressing/confusing you? Here's a dog...look at those eyes!
6. If you read one blog post this week: read this one titled: "Why I am not going to take my own life." It is a story of a woman's battle with brain cancer and her faith in Christ and His Church.
7. Some may have noticed that I am doing a little series on books for the mega-link up 31 days from the Nester. Click on this blog post, write a comment answering "What book/books are you reading now?" and be in the running to win A Mother's Rule of Life from Sophia Institute Press. (Comment on yesterday's post for the giveaway)
i totally get being church sick. i've gotten that way about a couple places where i've worshipped, all before becoming a pastor's wife. i do miss people from our various parishes but usually it's been time to go when we've left.
ReplyDeleteYes!!! A thousand times yes! Church sickness has plagued me since my husband and I moved from DC this past May. I knew that being a priest's wife would mean moving, and a lack of choice, but knowing is not the same as experiencing. Losing the Anglo-Catholic spirituality that I had at my old church was like a death. You're in my prayers, priest's wife!
ReplyDeleteI understand the church-sickness, particularly in terms of the desire for a beautiful sanctuary. My parish is a mission located in the basement of a Roman parish. We used to only have the large portable icons, but shortly before I joined the parish we built an iconostasis and a sanctuary in one of the classrooms. While having such a sanctuary is much better than only the portable icons, we still long for when we can have a full temple of our own (which hopefully will not be too much longer).
ReplyDeletePraying for you....the proto-Cathedral looks familiar to me, I've been there, I went after Palm Sunday 2014 :( though
ReplyDeleteI grew up with a small Romanian catholic parish in our neighborhood! We often went there for morning mass because the sweet priest was ordained in both rites and celebrated the Latin rite for us. I was fascinated by the beauty and tranquility of the nave and the screen.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post! I, too, am somewhat familiar with church-sickness, since I (an Eastern Catholic) go to college in a town where there are only Roman Rite churches. I often find myself intensely missing the beauty of the icons and iconostasis in my home church.
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a little icon corner in your home....maybe you could start a Byzantine prayer group at the local Roman church (?)
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