Is It Time For a Creation Celebration Feast-feast?
SMOS Care For Creation Team
~ I would like to leave you with a thought: Why don’t we actually feast during feast days? This is both a rhetorical question and a question-question.
I have to be honest with you. Feasts and fasts made no sense to me when I entered the Catholic Tradition a few years ago. At various masses, Father would mention it was the feast of the Immaculate this or that, and everyone said, Amen. And that was that. Feast? What?! It felt like Father was proclaiming, “Today is Catholic Pancake Day”. Everyone looked up politely, said “Oh, isn’t that nice”, then went on eating donuts and bagels, while others disinterestedly drank coffee in the corner. Just about all of those “feasts” don’t even involve food!
As I understand it, at the height of Christendom, the typical Catholic community celebrated anywhere from 150 to over 200 feasts and fasts throughout the year. These were not simple acknowledgements of a Saint’s existence tacked onto some ancient and irrelevant Church calendar or another mandatory mass in the middle of the week. Many took on the flair of our Feast of St. Margaret. Some were even more festive, and many still linger on today in primarily secular form: Halloween, St. Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day. Others became seasonal events like Christmas and Mardi Gras.
Catholic feasts and fasts have influenced the lifestyles and economic life of whole communities, even countries, for nearly two millennia. And today, tens of millions travel to far-off places like Malta to watch people climb greasy 65 ft poles in celebration of St. Julian or St. Joseph; jeer baby-jumping men dressed as devils in celebration of Corpus Christi in Castrillo de Murcia, Spain; or join millions in the Círio de Nazaré pilgrimage on any one of Our Mother’s October feasts in Belém, Brazil. These celebrations draw communities into the gospel story, create a shared heritage, and honor specific places and their unique cultures. Even more, what a people celebrate together reveals what (or who) they worship. Feasts and fasts are incredible liturgical opportunities to participate in Jesus’ life and the life of Jesus’ body. And, they have been incredible ways to evangelize and influence culture.
The customs and traditions of feasts and fasts develop organically. This past April, over 200 parishioners and more than a dozen non-parishioners passing by volunteered and participated in the Creation Celebration. Bikes were everywhere. The sidewalks in every direction were active. I feel like we are on the cusp of a feast-Feast. The Holy Spirit will have to continue to be our guide and inspiration for that. If you are so inspired and are willing to take the lead, please share any ideas that would make the celebration more festive. Maybe families living in the same area gather to walk/bike to Mass together. Maybe the Spring workday and Creation Celebration will officially become one event. I would love to see a stronger pilgrimage along Flora, music, and food! Maybe a more ceremonial entrance into Mass. We will continue the annual Creation Celebration. And maybe in a few years, it will be legitimate to call it The Creation Celebration Feast of St. Kateri Tekakwitha.
It would be wonderful if all the feasts and fasts were more festive! Maybe Father John’s synodality will help bring them to life.
During the Summer months, this column will be highlighting the good work and parishioners involved in one of our various Social Justice Ministries. Each week, we will feature an article from a different ministry, written by one if its members, as a reflection on the calling to Catholic Social Teaching at St. Margaret of Scotland.
