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Contents © 2004
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

ROAMIN' CATHOLIC
November 2004

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GOOD SHEPHERD, MIRA MESA

Good Shepherd church sits at the corner of Gold Coast and Camino Ruiz in Mira Mesa. Thousands of people drive past this corner every day and see a life-sized statue of Christ the Good Shepherd holding a lamb at his bosom. Silently he beckons all passers by to join his flock.

The brick, stucco, and tile-roofed structure, completed in 1987, has an octagonal design that blends with the architecture of secular buildings in Mira Mesa. A short prow-like steeple and cross identify this as a church.

The floor of the nave slopes down to the altar, surrounded on three sides by cushioned pews; all of which creates the ambience of liturgical theatre.

Behind the altar, against a blue stage curtain, hangs a replica of the San Damiano crucifix which spoke to Saint Francis. On a pedestal to the left of the altar stands an exquisite painted statue of the Blessed Mother. The etched-glass Stations of the Cross resemble the line illustrations found in the Good News Bible.

Located in a separate chapel, the Blessed Sacrament resides in an octagonal bronze basin resting on a pillar. The tabernacle is topped with bronze horns which surround a crystal sculpture that looks like a part of Superman's Fortress of Solitude.

I attended Mass on Saturday, October 2nd, vigil of the twenty-seventh Sunday in ordinary time. The celebrant was associate pastor, Father Richard Huston. A Filipina wearing a modest purple dress led the singing while a young man provided instrumental support, alternating between organ and piano. The church's nearly 1200-person seating capacity was packed with a multi-ethnic congregation.

The gathering hymn introduced the theme developed in the readings: "We walk by faith, and not by sight / No gracious words we hear / Of him who spoke as none e'er spoke / But we believe him near." During the singing, an altar boy serving as crucifer led the entrance procession, followed by a boy and girl as candle bearers, a woman in full-length skirt and jacket holding aloft the gold-covered Gospel book, and Father Huston vested in a green chasuble embroidered with a Chi-Rho monogram and grape clusters.

Father Huston led us in a trope Kyrie; then the Cantor led a responsorial setting of the Gloria in 6 / 8 time with a strongly syncopated rhythm.

The woman who had carried the Gospel, speaking with a moderate Filipino accent, took the first reading, from Habakkuk. This contained the phrase often repeated in the New Testament: "The just shall live by faith." The Cantor then sang verses from Psalm 95 with the response, "If today you hear God's voice, harden not your hearts." An elderly gentleman in a charcoal suit, with a heavy Filipino accent, took the second reading, from 2nd Timothy, in which Saint Paul exhorts, "Guard the deposit of faith." Then Father Huston read the Gospel, Luke 17:5-10. Here Jesus declares, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."

In his homily Father did not go into an interpretation of the Gospel text, but rather spoke on the topic of faith. He stressed that faith is a supernatural gift of God which we must struggle to increase by the grace of the Holy Spirit. If we neglect this struggle our sinful nature will assert itself and cause us to weaken in faith and finally lose faith altogether. But if we grow in our faith through the teaching of the Church we will overcome Satan and be united with Christ in eternal glory.

Father Huston solemnly chanted the entire Eucharistic Prayer, beginning with the opening dialogue and the proper preface. The congregation joined in the Sanctus, and Father continued intoning Eucharistic Prayer II through the consecration, until we sang the acclamation, "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again." After this he recited the remainder of the prayer.

During the Agnus Dei five extraordinary Eucharistic ministers -- four women and one man -- arranged themselves around the altar. Individual stemless ciboriums, like bronze soup bowls, lay on the altar. Then short-haired woman wearing a floral dress and pectoral cross entered from the Blessed Sacrament chapel carrying a ciborium the size and shape of a soup tureen. She proceeded to grab fistfuls of Christ from the large vessel and fill each of the smaller ones as if it were popcorn. I saw one Host fall onto the altar.

During communion the congregation sang, "All are gathered and all are fed, here at the table of God. All are one in the cup and the bread, here at the table of God."

After the final blessing the people went forth to the strains of a traditional Zimbabwean folksong, with organ accompaniment: "If you believe and I believe / and we together pray / The Holy Spirit must come down / and set God's people free."

And God's people loudly applauded.

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