ROAMIN'
CATHOLIC
By Charles A. Coulombe
ARTICLES
LETTERS
NEWS
Contents © 1998
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
Where's the Blessed Sacrament?
The steeple of Blessed Sacrament Church at 6657 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood is, save a few skyscrapers, the tallest landmark in that part of the city. The Jesuit church is a massive barocco (as the unique hispanicized architecture favored by that order is called) edifice, which dominates its surroundings. The interior has been preserved in all its beauty, from the gorgeous high altar down to the beautiful stations of the cross. Blessed Sacrament would not seem out of place in Europe; more than that, it would hold its own.Blessed Sacrament was my family's first parish in Los Angeles, when we came out west in 1966. There I started school, was a Boy Scout, took part in pancake breakfasts, carnivals, and May processions, and received my First Communion.
I attended my first Sunday Mass at Blessed Sacrament in at least two decades on February 1, the fourth Sunday in ordinary time. I attended the 11:00 a.m. Mass; there are in addition three Spanish Masses (9:00 a.m., and 1:00 and 7:00 p.m.). There are also 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Masses in English (the latter of which is still billed as a "folk Mass").
At Blessed Sacrament confessions in Spanish and English are held for 20 minutes before each Mass. Going to confession, I found the priest who absolved me an excellent confessor.
I was surprised at how many people I recognized by sight among the congregation, a few decades older, but still in attendance. Many of them were talking rather loudly, and a man kneeling in front of me begged those around him to be quiet so that he could pray.
While the Blessed Sacrament was reserved on a side altar, I could not tell if it is also so kept on the high altar where a Blessed Sacrament lamp also burned. While the Blessed Sacrament lamps were all lit, the lector and lectoress bowed to the congregation when passing the tabernacle. Nor was the celebrant much help in determining the reserved species' whereabouts; he bowed in the direction of the tabernacle when processing in, which ordinarily would mean that the Sacrament was not there. But he also bowed, rather than genuflected, to the Host and Chalice after the consecration.
The celebrant, Fr. James Rude, S.J., processed in with the sanctuary party to the accompaniment of "Joyful, joyful we adore thee," sung by an excellent choir. The acolytes and lector folk having taken their places, Fr. Rude launched into a mini-sermon on the importance of joy. Father would stop the action of the Mass from time to time to share insights.
I did not recognize the music, but the choir did a very good job in delivering it. The readings were competently executed, and then Father delivered his principal sermon. It began with a meditation on the difficulties of faithfulness to the Gospel, but nevertheless assured us that there were many faithful there in the parish. We were reminded of the need to be forgiving; the evils of capital punishment were dwelt on at some length as an example of the refusal to forgive. Fr. Rude noted that we as Catholics must reach out to the marginalized and disempowered.
As noted earlier, Father bowed to the Elements after the consecration. At the Our Father there was a great deal of hand-holding, though it was not universal. At the Communion, about seven Eucharistic ministers descended upon the congregation.
Communion dispensed, the Mass drew rapidly to a close. After Father and the sanctuary party departed, the choir concluded the recessional hymn, and were rewarded with applause. I stepped out, and went to the coffee and doughnut stand set up in front of the school, and ordered the coffee and glazed doughnut I always used to as a teenager. I made a circuit of the schoolyard, and remembered past episodes. If you are a Catholic, you truly can't go home again.