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Contents © 2003
by Jim Holman.
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ST. IGNATIUS, SAN FRANCISCO

Thou Shalt Not Profile

On Sunday September 7, I attended St. Ignatius' Church in San Francisco. Adjacent to the University of San Francisco, the church maintains much of its traditional splendor with its stone columns, side altars, centrally-located tabernacle with a baldachino, and a marble altar rail.

Only a grand piano located to the right behind the altar table accompanied the choir, which sang on risers on the same side of the altar. The liturgical team gathered to the "Gathering Song" -- "Healing River of the Spirit." Three altar girls, each in an alb sans cincture, processed in, side by side: the outer pair with candles, the middle girl bearing the crucifix, followed by seven extraordinary ministers, who were trailed by a lectoress and a green-clad Father James Blaettler.

Skipping the Confiteor, then breezing through a tropeless Kyrie, the Jesuit Blaettler invited the children to come forward; they were led out of the building for the duration of the Liturgy of the Word.

Following the recession of the young, an ascending, light-hearted piano sequence with simple tonal harmonies led us into a Gloria with bouncy verses and refrain -- "Gloria in excelsis deo. Gloria, Gloria. Gloria in excelsis deo, et in terra terra pax."

For the readings, a woman read a passage from Isaiah that spoke of God's vengeance. The responsorial psalm, composed by Marty Haugen, prayed, "Lord come and save us," and the second reading (James 2:1-5) condemned the "respect of persons."

The Alleluia began with a tension-building piano sequence, followed by a cantor-led refrain. The priest, raising the lectionary above his head, marched from behind the altar table to the pulpit to read the passage from the Gospel of Mark where Jesus cures a deaf-mute man by putting His finger in the man's ear and touching his tongue with spittle.

Father Blaettler began his sermon by explaining that the manner in which Jesus healed was used by other healers of His time, and even by later healers. For example, the Roman Emperor Vespasian healed using spittle, said Blaettler, and Napoleon claimed to heal when he visited a hospital in Jaffa. In the rite of initiation, continued Blaettler, the eyes of the catechumen are touched and we then "pray to the deity they may be opened to the Word of God." The old baptismal rite required the touching of the ears specifically for anointing, so those baptized may "experience God as Church."

Father summed up the second reading by saying it condemned "profiling -- the judging of others by their economic, racial, religious, or other status." Blaettler reminded us how we often "deafen ourselves" and "dumb down our faith." He then disparaged those who were concerned about the visit of the Dalai Lama, who had spoken at an inter-faith service at the University of San Francisco the previous week. Father praised the Dalai Lama for his simplicity, holiness, and plain speaking -- just like we read about in the Gospels. The Lama, he told us, "mesmerized" by eloquently speaking about compassion and how most of us learned compassion first and foremost from our mothers. Responding to those who were concerned about the Dalai Lama's visit, Father said, "one can claim that Christ is the way, but sometimes we understand that very narrowly." Father continued that Jesus' universal call to salvation was not a call for abstractions, like rejecting a belief in reincarnation -- though, Father reminded us, Catholic-Christians do not believe in reincarnation. We need to be patient to dialogue and "to see integrity as a challenging assumption" -- which, according to the priest, is what James recommends.

Blaettler noted that in the particular gentile region where Jesus was preaching -- Sidon -- devout Jews referred to the inhabitants as "the dogs," "those outcasts," "those not to be listened to." Those cured there, though, received the Word of Jesus. Proclaiming the deity, they recognized the salvific mission of God in this person, Jesus. Jesus came to save both Jew and gentile. Therefore, Father concluded, "we should be against social discrimination."

Father thought the reading from Isaiah appropriate, it being the week of September 11; he spoke of "the frightened hearts, hearts still beating, hearts still grieving, dumbfounded by this event." He encouraged us to "seek to be opened" by listening to personal stories related to the terrorist attacks. In order to "enhance human harmony," we must shift ourselves away from a narrow interpretation of the words of Isaiah" ("Be strong, fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you." Isaiah 35:4)." Father thought we should interpret these words "locally" rather than "nationally." Father called us to see in the liturgy "a Christ who is indeed always beyond our words."

We stood to recite the Nicene Creed.

During the Prayer of the Faithful, We prayed for Pope John Paul II, world leaders, the victims of the terrorist attacks, and for a greater awareness of the voiceless in society.

At the offertory or "preparation rite," as the music handout called it, the choir sang in harmony the negro spiritual, "Balm in Gilead." Father then invited the children around the altar for the second Eucharistic Prayer.

The memorial acclamation was from the "Saint Louis Jesuits Mass." Father chanted the minor elevation, and we then sang one of the standard "Amens." We held hands and chanted the Our Father and sang the Lamb of God from Marty Haugen's "Mass of Creation." During communion, the choir sang, "Bread of Life" and then "The Bread that we share," whose refrain ends, "We become for each other the bread, the cup, the presence of Christ revealed".

After recessing to "The Servant Song," we broke into the usual applause.

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