For those who have eyes to see and ears to hear

Bamberg can be a holy place. Everywhere you look, especially in the old city, you see churches. On a hot afternoon, they are a cool place to rest and contemplate the beauty of all that is inside, the handiwork of the craftsmen who created these churches for the Glory of God.

And the feeling of tradition and time never leaves you. Bamberg is celebrating 1000 years as a bishopric this year. 1000 years exactly on November 1st. Saints Henry and Kunigund founded the city, and it is possible to walk into the little chapel where they worshipped. In that space, you feel both the passage of time and a curious sense of timelessness.




In addition to the churches, there are altars and saints everywhere, to mark places where someone was healed, or felt called to raise an altar. As protection on the various houses. It only takes raising your eyes a little from the road before you, and they are there, reminding you to look up further still.

They remind us also of the sign under which we are called to walk. Today it was particularly evocative, because it is the feast of Corpus Christi - Fronleichnam, in German. The High Feast of the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. To celebrate, the entire city is decorated with birch trees and flowers. They place speakers all along the route which the procession takes, so it is possible to hear the mass, which begins at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 11:00.

Each parish brings the figure of its patron saint and carries it in the procession, which leads from the Cathedral down to Maximillian Square, and back up to the Cathedral.



The figures are carried very carefully on the backs and shoulders of men, grateful for the high honor. In most cases, they are carrying on a family tradition that goes back generations.


Benches are placed all around the Cathedral square for the mass, which includes a celebration of the Eucharist at 8:00 a.m. The mass itself, which is sung in both Latin and German and includes Bible readings, hymns, and various Prayers of the People, continues throughout the procession. The singing is led by cantors and by the Cathedral Choir, which only recently returned from a visit to Rome, where they sang for the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI.




Here they are, returning to the Cathedral Square.


Here is the crowd of those gathered for the mass. Many also walked in the procession and returned to the top of the hill with it.



I enjoyed seeing the men and women dressed in traditional dresses -- Dirndl. I did see a man in Lederhosen, but he was right next to me, with his adorable, blond-haired, 2-year-old daughter right next to me in a pink dirndl. I thought it would be too obvious to take their picture.















Another high honor is to carry the candles ... they have reproductions of the hands and feet of Jesus, as a reminder of his suffering for our sins.




Traditional guilds and fraternities also take part in the procession.



This is part of the Alemannia fraternity, one of the oldest in Germany. Their motto: Gott, Freiheit, Vaterland (God, freedom, fatherland) is on the flag.

The bishop addressing the crowd at the end of the service. Right after he spoke, we sang the Te Deum. It was glorious.

This video is very short, just 22 seconds. It is just to give a little sense of the crowds, and of the church bells tolling. Of course, the sound of the wind was much stronger than that of the bells and the trumpets. Watch the two men in the foreground ... two friends coming together at the end of the mass. They greet one another with "Grüß Gott", the traditional southern German greeting. It means "greet God", and perhaps originally meant to greet God should we see him first. I don't know. But for me, it is also an acknowledgement of the piece of God that is in each one of us, the eternal soul that yearns to return to God and be united with Him. A bit like the Namaste in yoga class, which acknowledges the light in each of us. But that is just my own personal take, certainly not how others understand it!

The service today was a celebration and a reminder of Christ's suffering for us. It was also a call to see the suffering around us each day. It is rather easy to be a Christian in the U.S. or here in Germany. Especially here, to glory in the beauty of the churches, and the quaint little streets and old houses. But still we must not forget the high cost paid for us, and the sacrifice we in turn owe.

And there are those who are in a more real sense surrounded by suffering, and able to be ministers to a suffering world, or at least bring report of it back to us, so we do not forget. Texas in Africa is in the Congo now, where she'll be for ten weeks.

But we don't need to go to Africa to see suffering. It is in front of us always, if we will only be open enough to seeing and hearing. Suffering and joy, beauty and pain, the wonderful mix of humanity.

Namaste ... the Peace of the Lord be with you today.