Gwen Farber - Church Visit #2

Church name: St. James Parish

Church address: 820 N. Arlington Heights Road, Arlington Heights, IL 60004

Date attended: Friday, April 8, 2016 

Describe the worship service you attended. How was it similar to or different from your regular context?

I attended a weekday morning mass, which was already unlike my regular context--that is, attending a church service not on Sunday. It was quite a short service, only about 35-40 minutes long. The priest opened with a prayer and we sang a hymn together (Jesus Christ is Risen Today). There was a short homily based on the reading from Acts that was read, and the Eucharist was presented before we sang a closing hymn and we passed the peace to one another. The homily actually surprised me a bit--the priest spoke about the apostles' desire to share the good news to all the nations, and how we as the Church must go back to our roots and spread the gospel to other people, which is pretty similar to the evangelizing emphasis that I experience in my own context. 

What aspects of Roman Catholic theology did you notice expressed in the service?

The Lord's Prayer and many Hail Mary prayers were spoken throughout the service. The Eucharist meant solely for those who are a part of the confessing Catholic church (who are under the grace of God) was presented toward the end of the service. Beautiful stained glass windows and intricate wooden stations of the cross surrounded the room. There were large statue icons off to the right of the altar of Mary and Joseph (who was holding the baby Jesus). There were also candles on either side of the front of the church to be lit for those who are praying for the dead. A slight smell of incense was present, and the priest wore long robes of white. The people around me would kneel at significant times during the service and often when they entered the room. 

What aspects of Scripture or theology did the worship service illuminate for you that you had not perceived as clearly in your regular context?

I've attended a few very high-church services this semester, and I am always in awe of the reverence that I feel when I enter one of these beautiful rooms and engage in the liturgy and tradition that has been passed down for centuries. In my regular context, there is time for silence, but there is very little place for the traditions of the earlier church fathers. When I am in such a different context, I think more about the history of Christianity--I see the colors and smell the incense and feel the silence in a different way than I do at home. The homily that I mentioned earlier--although it had a similar theological vein to what I'm used to--meant more to me in this context because I wasn't expecting it. It reminded me that the Catholic Church also has a desire to love God and serve Jesus, just not in a way that I'm used to doing.