Diocese adds to Advent with special services and programs

By BOB MAKIN
STAFF WRITER

Advent, the start of the church calendar year and a time of preparation for the Christmas season, will be celebrated with two special programs sponsored by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Metuchen.

As the Advent season begins Sunday, the diocese will kick off its Year of Prayer for Vocations from 1 to 5 p.m. at St. Augustine of Canterbury Church in the Kendall Park section of South Brunswick and 4 p.m. at St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church in North Plainfield.

The schedule of 100 prayer services will continue through next November in 100 of the diocese's 109 churches. The prayers will ask God for more priests, other clergy and lay people. At the center of services will be two monstrances -- large, ornate holders of the Eucharist blessed by Pope Benedict XVI on July 4.

On the following Sunday, the diocese will team with Sts. Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Church, South River, for a joint Advent program on religious icons. "Icons: Windows To Prayer" will be 3 p.m. Dec. 9 at the Saints Peter and Paul, 76 Whitehead Ave.

The celebration of Advent is symbolized by a wreath surrounding four candles lit each week until the Sunday before Christmas. Adding to the simple beauty of the season will be the two sun-like monstrances of Prayer for Vocations and the ornate paintings of the icon seminar, clergy said.

"The monstrances are ornate, beautiful pieces of art, but more importantly, they're worthy pieces of art to display the Eucharistic presence, the body of Christ," said the Rev. Randy Vashon, the diocese's director of vocations. "We never want to underestimate or do something that isn't our best. But we have to be cautious because we don't want them to draw away from the presence of the Lord. We don't want to be so caught up in the beauty of the instrument that we forget what they're holding."

While the diocese could use more priests and other religious in its churches, it is not facing a critical shortage of vocations like other dioceses, Vashon said. But if vocations don't increase within the next 15 years, he said, the diocese will face a crisis. The diocese serves more than 600,000 Roman Catholics in Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset and Warren counties.

By praying for vocations and celebrating the Eucharist with the monstrances at a year's worth of services, Vashon said he is confident that God will answer the prayers.

"The Lord Jesus Christ commands us to pray for laborers," Vashon said. "He said, 'The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for His harvest.' Never underestimate the power of prayer. Many would say God knows what we need, so why not just send them? Somebody once told me, 'God knows I need salt on my eggs too, but I have to participate.' We have to participate. That's very important."

"Windows To Prayer"

For Russian Orthodox, it's not only important to pray but also to pray using icons, said Rev. David Garretson, rector of Sts. Peter and Paul.

The joint Advent program at the South River church will be a free introduction to the world of iconography presented by Dr. Peter C. Bouteneff, assistant professor of dogmatic theology at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in Tuckahoe, N.Y.

Bouteneff will discuss:

-The origin, history and creation of icons

-The differences between icons and other forms of religious paintings

-How to pray with icons.

The program will include a prayer service that will use many icons painted on the church's walls and in its iconostasis, an area dedicated to icons.

"An icon is virtually a window to heaven that makes God present," Garretson said. "Just as He is present in scriptures and makes His salvation and love present through His word, an icon makes the same God and the same story of salvation present through paint and lines."

Russian Orthodox fast during Advent, just as they do, along with Catholics, during Lent.

The season is a time of renewing and deepening faith, Garretson said. The icons program is timed during Advent to teach how they can be used to draw closer to God, he said.

"The Orthodox have an understanding that when you walk into a church, you're leaving the planet Earth for a little while and getting a taste of the kingdom of God," Garretson said. "The icons are not just artistic beauty but a preview of how paradise will be, surrounded by Christ, the saints and salvation."

One of the church's most notable icons is a Nativity scene, realistically depicted in a cave, which were used as stables in Palestine at the time of Christ's birth. The image is combined with the devil's tempting of Joseph before the birth.

The difference between an icon and a religious painting, such as DaVinci's "The Last Supper," is that icons must be painted according to long-established rules, Garretson said. The artist also must be trained in iconography, and the work must be blessed by a bishop, he said.

The art then is ready to use as "a window to prayer," Garretson said.

"You'd pray with it in the same way you'd pray after reading scriptures," he said. "You stand before the icon and contemplate what is being depicted, whether it is Christ, one of the saints of the church or an event in the history of salvation, such as the icon of Christmas or the resurrection at Easter."

Garretson said he is excited that the diocese is co-sponsoring the event and offering a window not only to prayer but to an important part of Russian orthodoxy. He said he hopes that a variety of denominations and faiths come to learn about icons and their use.

Garretson also hopes that the program will dispel misunderstandings about iconography as idol worship.

"Knowledge is never an enemy of faith," he said. "It is a clear teaching of the Orthodox church that in no way, shape or form are we to worship the icon. We say in our tradition that the honor shown to the icon is passed onto who is represented in the icon.

"With idols, God specifically is talking in the Old Testament of graven images," Garretson added. "Idols are images of false gods. The golden calf is an idol that the people of Israel created during Moses' time on Mt. Sinai. During Babylonian captivity, the people of Israel were compelled to worship a golden idol. But the same God who commands us not to worship false idols is the same God who commanded the nation of Israel to fashion fans of angels over the mercy seat, where they held the Ark of the Covenant."

Many Russian Orthodox believers use icons in their homes, often in each room where they might pray, Garretson said. For those inspired to use icons in their home, the bookstore of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary will have some for sale at the event, along with books and CDs.

The school's choir will provide music for the program, which will be followed by refreshments.