Readings for Aug. 31-Sept. 1, Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Lyn Zahorik | For On Mission
A memorable song in Fiddler on the Roof is “Tradition.” The musical revolves around the role of tradition in forming our lives.
My parents’ house was the destination for every extended family holiday. Each relative would bring their specialty for the meal. My mom made stollen (a German Christmas bread). It was so good that samples were cut off long before the main meal was served.
My Aunt Millie’s specialty was lime Jello and shredded carrot salad. I would encircle that glob on my plate with hot food hoping the Jello would melt away before I had to eat it.
My sister-in-law, Karyl, learned from my now deceased mom how to make stollen and I continue to anticipate it at every holiday. Karyl is teaching her granddaughter to make stollen so this family tradition will continue.
As for Aunt Millie’s lime Jello, that recipe blessedly went with her to her grave.
Some religious traditions continue because they have substance, such as a parish having the blessing of food on Holy Saturday. Others, based more on how the tradition was carried out rather than what was its substance, fade away.
In my home parish, a Good Friday tradition involved saying a particular prayer in church 33 times between 12 noon and 3 p.m. The hitch was each prayer was said on a new visit to church. So, for three hours, ritual calisthenics would take place as one would say the prayer, get up, step outside the church door and then enter to repeat the process again and again.
By the time I was in high school, the tradition was gone.
In our Gospel this Sunday, Jesus reminds us one should never let tradition, and the related action associated with it, to become more important than being engaged in the actual event from which the tradition emerged.
Jesus set a defining tradition at the Last Supper. He blessed bread and wine, giving it to those gathered around the table.
However, Jesus gave this ritual substance when he said it wasn’t bread and wine he was sharing. Rather it was his essence, his body, blood, soul and divinity — blessed and broken for every generation to come.
Through the years, the traditional manner in which we receive Holy Communion has undergone changes.
In the United States, our bishops have determined, “Holy Communion is to be received standing, unless an individual member of the faithful wishes to receive Communion while kneeling. … a bow is the act of reverence made … and Holy Communion may be received either in the hand or on the tongue, and the decision should be that of the individual receiving” (General Instruction no. 160).
Keeping in accordance with the General Instruction, each of us receives Holy Communion in the manner that best unites us in this holy moment to Jesus. These are traditional gestures serving as outward signs of or reverence for the Holy Eucharist. However, the essence of the tradition is revealed in our “Amen.”
Yes Lord, with my full mind, body and soul, I receive you, body, blood, soul and divinity into my being. Amen. Tradition … tradition!
Zahorik is director for spiritual engagement at St. Mary Parish, Omro, and St. Mary Parish, Winneconne.
The readings for Sunday, Sept. 1, can be found at Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time | USCCB.
