{"id":2664,"date":"2008-05-09T21:30:00","date_gmt":"2008-05-09T21:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/05\/high-schoolers-facing-east\/"},"modified":"2008-05-09T21:30:00","modified_gmt":"2008-05-09T21:30:00","slug":"high-schoolers-facing-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/05\/high-schoolers-facing-east.html","title":{"rendered":"High Schoolers Facing East"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Six high school boys stayed after Thursday\u2019s daily Mass at St Joseph\u2019s Catholic School:<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cFather, why didn\u2019t you celebrate Mass facing East today?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019m doing so on two days of the week, and on the other two the usual way. Do you like the Mass when I celebrate facing East?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cIt feels more holy. It\u2019s older right? But you\u2019re not really facing East here.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s something called \u2018liturgical East.\u2019 It\u2019s when the priest faces what used to be the East \u2019cause all the churches were built to face the rising sun, which was a symbol of the resurrection and also because Jesus would return to Jerusalem, which was in the East.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cLike Muslims facing Mecca.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cSort of, but I\u2019m not going to start wearing a turban\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cYou could wear your biretta more often.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cShall I?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cI like Mass when you face East because it feels like you are offering the Mass for us more.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cI just like stuff that\u2019s more traditional.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cI think it feels more, well, manly. Do you know what I mean. Is that dumb?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s interesting. No, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s dumb, but I have to think about why it might be true.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s good because I was thinking more about God and not you, and when you elevated the host it was like Jesus floating there. It was more mysterious. It was cool.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cWould you like me to continue saying Mass facing with you to the Lord?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cYes please.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t feel slighted because I have turned my back to you? You sure I haven\u2019t hurt your feelings?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Laughter all around. \u201cYou\u2019re not that good looking anyway Father.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cOK, why don\u2019t you all go to lunch now?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Six high school boys stayed after Thursday\u2019s daily Mass at St Joseph\u2019s Catholic School: \u201cFather, why didn\u2019t you celebrate Mass facing East today?\u201d \u201cI\u2019m doing so on two days of the week, and on the other two the usual way. Do you like the Mass when I celebrate facing East?\u201d \u201cYes.\u201d \u201cWhy?\u201d \u201cIt feels more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nHigh Schoolers Facing East<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Six high school boys stayed after Thursday's daily Mass at St Joseph's Catholic School:"Father, why didn't you celebrate Mass facing East today?""I'm\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/05\/high-schoolers-facing-east.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"High Schoolers Facing East\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Six high school boys stayed after Thursday's daily Mass at St Joseph's Catholic School:"Father, why didn't you celebrate Mass facing East today?""I'm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/05\/high-schoolers-facing-east.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-05-09T21:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/05\/high-schoolers-facing-east.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/05\/high-schoolers-facing-east.html\",\"name\":\"High Schoolers Facing East\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-05-09T21:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2008-05-09T21:30:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad\"},\"description\":\"Six high school boys stayed after Thursday's daily Mass at St Joseph's Catholic School:\\\"Father, why didn't you celebrate Mass facing East today?\\\"\\\"I'm\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/05\/high-schoolers-facing-east.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/05\/high-schoolers-facing-east.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/05\/high-schoolers-facing-east.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"High Schoolers Facing East\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/\",\"name\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad\",\"name\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/dwightlongenecker.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/author\/frdwight\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"High Schoolers Facing East","description":"Six high school boys stayed after Thursday's daily Mass at St Joseph's Catholic School:\"Father, why didn't you celebrate Mass facing East today?\"\"I'm","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/05\/high-schoolers-facing-east.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"High Schoolers Facing East","og_description":"Six high school boys stayed after Thursday's daily Mass at St Joseph's Catholic School:\"Father, why didn't you celebrate Mass facing East today?\"\"I'm","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/05\/high-schoolers-facing-east.html","og_site_name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","article_published_time":"2008-05-09T21:30:00+00:00","author":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/05\/high-schoolers-facing-east.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/05\/high-schoolers-facing-east.html","name":"High Schoolers Facing East","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-05-09T21:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2008-05-09T21:30:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad"},"description":"Six high school boys stayed after Thursday's daily Mass at St Joseph's Catholic School:\"Father, why didn't you celebrate Mass facing East today?\"\"I'm","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/05\/high-schoolers-facing-east.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/05\/high-schoolers-facing-east.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/05\/high-schoolers-facing-east.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"High Schoolers Facing East"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/","name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad","name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g","caption":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/dwightlongenecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/author\/frdwight"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/557"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2664\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}