Rehearsal outline:

Scrutiny

RCIA 150-156, 164-170, 171-177

6:30 Before everyone arrives

• Turn on lights and put out microphones.
  
• Put the lectionary on the ambo.
  
• Put the presider’s script or ritual book on his chair.
  
• Put the catechumenate director’s script on her chair or pew.
  
• Place name tags in the pews where you want the elect and their godparents to sit.
  
• If necessary, mark the spots where the elect will stand with a piece of masking tape.
  

7:00 Welcome the participants: the presider, the director of the catechumenate, the godparents, and perhaps the musician. (The elect are not present.) Ask the presider, godparents, and catechumenate director to sit in their places. Lead a brief prayer.

7:10 Remind the godparents of these essential points; be lighthearted, but still convey the importance of the information:

• Point out to the godparents that the scrutinies have two goals
  • Uncover and heal all weakness in the elect
    
  • Strengthen all that is strong and good in the elect (see RCIA 141)
    
• There are three scrutinies, and all three are required, because one builds upon the next.
  
• Godparents need to pick up the elect from home or meet them in front of the church before Mass.
  
• Everyone needs to be in their seats 15 minutes before Mass starts.
  
• From the minute they walk into the church, until the minute the elect are dismissed, the godparents need to be in physical contact with the elect. A hand on an arm or shoulder at all times.
  
• It is the godparents’ responsibility to know the details of the rite. They need to project an air of confidence and always reassure the elect that things are under control.
  
• Point out to them that Mass will begin as usual and will be “normal” up through the homily. After the homily ends, they need to be ready.
  

Read the rest of this entry »

The adaptation of the scrutiny rites for child catechumens is confusing (RCIA 291). Instead of clearly labeling the rites as scrutinies, they are called “Penitential Rites (Scutinies).” And even though the title is plural, only one text is given with an instruction to write your own for a second, using the given text as a model. Nothing is said about a third scrutiny. There are nine readings listed as options for the liturgy of the word and, although the traditional Johannine gospels are listed among them, there is no requirement that they be used and no emphasis in the rite on the progressive nature of these three traditional scrutiny gospels.

Most parishes that have child catechumens simply include the children in the regular scrutinies with the adults. If the liturgy is celebrated well, it is as meaningful for the children as it is for the adults.

• Choreographing the Scrutinies
• Don’t catechize in Lent
• What are the proper prayers for the scrutinies?
• 9 Ways to Treat the Elect Like Royalty
• Reckless Love: A Scrutiny Homily
• “God Glasses” for the Man Born Blind - A Scrutiny Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent

We all know that we always use the readings from the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Sundays of Lent, Year A, for the scrutinies, right? But do you know what Mass prayers to use? They are not the Mass prayers from those Sundays. Instead, whenever the scrutinies are celebrated, we use the Mass prayers for “Christian Initiation: The Scrutinies” (see RCIA 146). You’ll find those in the back of the sacramentary in the section titled “Ritual Masses.”

• Choreographing the Scrutinies
• Don’t catechize in Lent
• 9 Ways to Treat the Elect Like Royalty
• Reckless Love: A Scrutiny Homily
• “God Glasses” for the Man Born Blind - A Scrutiny Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent

The stories of the man born blind, the woman at the well and the raising of Lazarus from the dead are a set of readings that must always be proclaimed whenever we celebrate the Scrutinies. Why then are today’s readings so important for those who are preparing for initiation? Why are they so important for us who are already baptized?

These readings teach us about our baptismal promises. The story of the Samaritan woman at the well is not so much about the woman believing in Christ but about the woman fulfilling her role in proclaiming the Gospel. She reminds us that our baptism commits us to a life of evangelization. Likewise, the story of Lazarus is not so much about Jesus raising him from the dead but about having faith in Christ even when it looks like death has won. This story reminds us that we are committed to a life of faith and trust. And the story of the man born blind is not so much about the man being healed, but about seeing as God sees. Today’s Gospel reminds us that we are committed to a life that reveals God’s vision, to a life of constant conversion. This is what I mean by conversion.

If we are sincere about asking God to “open our eyes,” to see as God sees, then we must also be willing to change the way we live our lives so that our lives reflect God’s point to view, and not ours.

Here’s an example of how life changes once you’re given a new perspective. How many of you wear glasses or contact lenses? Then you might know what I am talking about. When I was in the 6th grade, I got my first pair of glasses. When I stepped out of the doctor’s office into the parking lot, the first thing I saw was this tree. Now, I had never in my life seen a tree like that. Before I got the glasses, I thought trees were just blobs of green and brown and red and orange. Theoretically, I knew what a tree looked like. I could see leaves and bark and such. But after I saw them through my new glasses, I realized that a tree was more than just leaves and bark. The leaves had lines, and edges, and curves. There were birds in the trees that I could see. There were cracks and grooves in the bark that I had missed before.

Finally being able to see the detail, the intricacies of nature, and its true beauty is like how God sees each of us. In the first reading, God told Samuel that God doesn’t see as humans see. We can only see part of the picture, what’s on the outside of a person. But God sees deeper, into the heart of that person. God sees the fullness of that person’s potential. God sees that person’s intricate and detailed beauty.

Jesus tells the blind man “you have seen the Son of Man, you have seen the Christ; the one speaking with you is he.” What if each of us could put on some glasses—“God glasses”—that allow us to see that intricate and detailed beauty of each person? Imagine how differently we would act if we remembered Jesus’ words (“you have seen Christ, he is speaking with you now”).

How differently we would act if each time we encountered our co-workers, we saw Christ. How differently we would treat our parents, our children, our spouse, and our classmates, our friends, our enemies. How differently we would treat the people who sit around us in church, the people we see here every week but to whom we never talk, the people who don’t speak our language, the people who don’t look, act, or think the way we do. How differently we would treat the beggar, the homeless, the people we label as failure, as sinner, the people we label as conservative, liberal, gay, straight, too old, too young, too dark, too light, too smart, too dumb, too much of something that doesn’t fit our point of view. Imagine if each time we encounter each other, each time we speak with one another, we “see” Christ, we “hear” Jesus. How different our world would be.

Our Elect are with us here today. In three weeks they will step into that water there in the font. They will be clothed in white and given the light of the Easter Candle. They will be anointed with oil as priest, prophet and king in Christ. And they will stand with us at this table to give thanks and break bread and drink wine, becoming with us what they eat, the Body and Blood of Christ.

Dear Elect, in a moment you will stand in our midst along with your godparents. We will pray for you that God’s light may heal the dark places of your lives and strengthen each of you. Your baptism will change you. It will change your identity. It will change the way you “see” the world, and thus, it will change the way you act within the world. For this is the duty of the baptized: to be imitators of Christ and to see as God sees.

We, the faithful, stand with each of you, not to judge you, not to test you, nor to evaluate you. No, we stand with you to give you the courage and strength that you will need to face those dark places. We will ask God to help you see those moments of failure and weakness as God sees them—not as reasons to condemn you, but as opportunities to love you with an even greater love. Seeing you as God sees you, we give thanks, for you are a sign to us that God is still making all things new.

There’s one thing about getting my glasses for the first time that I will never forget. When I saw that tree and I saw how beautiful it was, all I could do was be amazed and give praise for the awesome wonder of God’s creation. When we see as God sees, all we can do is stand and praise God for showing us a glimpse of heaven.

Have you ever been in love with someone you weren’t supposed to love? Someone your parents or your friends disapproved of?

In the first two paragraphs of today’s Gospel, Jesus does some astounding things.

• He goes to Samaria.
• He walks up to a well where a woman is drawing water.
• He sends off his disciples so he is alone with the woman.
• He speaks to her.
• He does this at noon, when anyone walking by can see.

All of these are very large barriers for a Jewish man to cross in Jesus’ day. His friends clearly disapproved. What does Jesus want so badly that he is willing to engage in such risky behavior?

This story really begins with the wedding at Cana when Jesus reveals himself as the Bridegroom. The Bridegroom is in search of a Bride and he has discovered that the House of Israel only seemed interested in a marriage of convenience. So Jesus stepped out. He went to the part of town he shouldn’t have. He asked out the girl with the reputation. He went to Samaria, across the border, to a place self-respecting Jews did not go.

The very nature of the God is an incessant craving for intimacy. The reason for creation is so God could have an “other” to love. The reason the Son became flesh is so God could feel how we feel, love how we love, want what we want. That God could love us like that seems almost reckless. If God had parents, surely they would not approve.

That reckless love, that intimacy with Jesus, is what Pope John Paul II said catechists are to help people find. If you’ve ever loved someone, you know intimacy is a two way street. You cannot have intimacy all by yourself. Someone has to desire you, to want to be intimate back, to share their life with you. No matter how much we desire Jesus, he desires us more. No matter how much the woman at the well needed Jesus, he needed her more.

In this story, Jesus was reckless in his love. He was willing to cross over physical and social boundaries to get what he needed. He was willing to put up with the questioning and suspicion of his closest disciples to teach them not have such a small love, not to limit their love only to places and people where they feel safe.

The disciples didn’t love the Samaritans. The Samaritans were foreigners who had strange customs and strange foods. They had odd rituals, and weird devotional practices. The disciples were willing to follow Jesus into Samaria, but they didn’t really cross over the boundary. They are like some Americans who go to foreign countries for vacation and get upset when they can’t get eggs and bacon for breakfast. When the disciples went to town to buy food, they probably went to the first century version of McDonalds. It didn’t occur to them to tell people about Jesus while they were there. Who throws pearls before swine after all?

The Woman at the Well, on the other hand, couldn’t wait. She rushed off so fast, she left her water jar, left everything. She ran, totally committed to the love she had discovered. She ran to town to announce the good news. This was the same town the disciples had just returned from. The woman went into the town and returned to the well with hearts to woo. The disciples returned with lunch.

We have Samaritan Women among us today. The Elect are here, asking the same kinds of questions the woman at the well asked. In a moment, we will pray for them that their love remains true, that their commitment is total. We will pray God strengthens all that God loves in them and that they will be healed from all that hinders their love for God.

We can be sure they do love God with a passionate, reckless love that perhaps some people in their lives may not approve of. Their catechists and this community have succeeded in matchmaking them with Jesus, bringing them to that love and intimacy Pope John Paul talked about.

Likewise, we can be sure that Jesus loves them. He loves them, needs them, desires them, wants them as much as he needed the Samaritan woman. He is crossing over their Samarias, sitting at their wells, courting them in broad daylight, not caring who knows that he is crazy in love with them. This Easter Vigil, when the Elect step up to the well of living water, they will become the Bride. Their desire, their need, their thirst for intimacy will be so fully quenched, they will never thirst again.

And we who will be witnesses at this new Cana, at the Easter Vigil’s wedding banquet, we will remember when our own love of Christ was newly in bloom and our own desire was met with overwhelming desire. On that night of overflowing water, we will remember how our baptism quenched all our thirsts. On that night, we will renew our vows, our promise, our total commitment to the love of Christ.

It is a reckless, head over heals kind of love affair we have. It is a love that crosses boundaries and seeks intimacy in places we might not have expected, in places we might not have gone, in people who are not like us, who at first might have seemed foreign and unsafe.

When we read this love story of the Woman at the Well, we hear it differently at different times in our lives. When we are new to love or when we are feeling unlovable, we might imagine ourselves to be the woman, a person thirsting for intimacy, a person parched by the day to day struggles of trying to make sense of life. When we are bored or burnt out or not vibrantly in touch with our faith, we might think we are the disciples, good hearted folks who are a bit clueless and need a little reminding of what it means to be a Catholic and a Christian.

But today, in this place, as we are about to pray for the Elect in our midst, we, the baptized, are like Christ at Cana, at the Wedding Banquet, to whom the Mother of God says, “They have no wine.” In Christ, we can turn water into wine, loneliness and isolation into intimacy and communion. With Christ, we can cross the boundaries of places we might otherwise be afraid to go. Through Christ, we can sit at the well of those who are not like us in so many ways, but are like us in the one way that matters. We all thirst for that deep intimacy that only the Bridegroom can give.

The boundary breaking, intimate, deep-as-a-well love Jesus showed the woman freed her. The love welled up in her to the point she couldn’t contain it. She had to share it. She herself became a well, a fountain overflowing with Christ’s love. She became like Jesus, crossing boundaries, finding those searching for love and telling them to come and see.

When we were plunged into the waters of life, we also became like Jesus, seeking intimacy with all the world, especially in the places that might seem risky and out of bounds—in our enemies, in those who are foreign to us, in those who would persecute us.

We when eat and drink at this wedding banquet every Sunday, we become what we eat. We become the love of Christ for the world.

Do we believe that? Can we imagine it? If so, let’s leave our little water jars and our small love behind and go out to love with astounding, reckless abandon.

When you are planning for the scrutinies, be sure to move the Elect out into the midst of the assembly. The goal is to strive for both visibility and intimacy.

• If you only have one candidate for initiation this year, the action of the scrutiny should take place where it is most visible—usually at the head of the center aisle. The Elect would face the assembly.
• If you have two candidates, place the second about half way down the center aisle.
• If you have three, place the third in a side aisle, and so on.
• When it is time for the rite, the godparents move the Elect into their designated places.
• It is very important for the godparents to keep a hand on the Elect throughout the entire rite.
• When it is time for the laying on of hands, the presider would walk solemnly to each candidate and press his hands on top of each head.
• You might adapt the rite to have the director of the catechumenate follow behind and do the same.
• Similarly, each godparent might lay hands on his or her candidate as well.
• Note, the laying on of hands is a gesture of exorcism, not absolution.

Do not rehearse with the Elect. It is up to the god- parents to guide the Elect.

The key to a reverent and dignified celebration is rehearsal. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.

BUT, do not rehearse with the Elect. It is up to the godparents to be well prepared and know how to guide the Elect through the rite. Their care for the Elect in the rite is symbolic of their commitment as godparents.