What it is!
A Catholic Underground evening has 2 parts: Prayer and Performance.
The first part is in the context of Eucharistic Adoration and begins with Vespers (evening prayer). This is the universal prayer of the Church-the same which will be prayed by millions of Catholics the world over in every time zone and in every language. After Vespers, we are led in prayer and simple praise. This provides a window for each person to personally encounter Christ. The beauty of the otherwise darkened room illumined by the “burning bush” (a tower of candles on which the Eucharist is prominently displayed) helps us to enter the mystery of His humble presence. The Eucharistic Holy Hour ends with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, where the presiding Priest or Deacon lifts the Monstrance in which the Host is displayed and blesses us.
Between the first and second part of our evening is an intermission. Coffee, simple food and conversation distract everyone while the room is rearranged. Soon we all settle in and take a seat for the next portion of the evening. The main idea of the second part of our evening, the so-called “performance” part, is to provide entertainment with a message- which is also a showcase for all the exciting ways the “new evangelization” is being realized, especially in art. At the Underground, this primarily involves music, but it could also be visual art, film, poetry, drama, you name it. This is in direct response to the persistent call of the late Pope John Paul II, who urged us to see to it that the Gospel is in dialogue with culture. "The Gospel lives in conversation with culture, and if the CHurch holds back from the culture, the Gospel itself falls silent. Therefore, we must be fearless in crossing the threshold of the communication and information revolution now taking place" - Pope John Paul II
This part of the evening may look different on any CU-NJ evening, depending on what type of Catholic artist we might have that month.
We end our evening together as we began it- with the prayer of the Church. Compline (night prayer) is simple and beautiful. It then concludes with a hymn to Our Lady.
Our Lady of Guadalupe (above right)- From Dec 9 to 12, 1531 in Mexico, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego and left on his tilma (cloak) her image as shown above- a miraculous image that converted 8 milion Aztecs. The image of Our Lady shows a brooch around her neck that shows a Franciscan Cross. The image shows Our Lady standing on a burned-out moon, surrounded by the sun and clothed with the stars of heaven. The Aztecs worshipped a stone serpent that was identified in picture writing as a crescent moon-when they saw this image, they knew she was greater than the serpent. In this image, Mary is standing on the serpent (devil) who is identified by the crescent moon. (Genesis 3:14-15 "she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel") The stars on her mantle shows she is more powerful than the stars of heaven. The turquoise and gold colors of her mantle were reserved for Aztec royalty-thus she was seen as a Queen. On her garment, you can see a black belting.The Aztecs knew she was with child, as their women wore the belting the same way when with child. In 1962, it was discovered by photographing the eyes of Our Lady, there exists images showing 3 people- identified as Juan Diego, the Bishop and his assistant, taken at the moment that the image was first discovered on Juan Diego's tilma. The image is approx 5 ft high. Viewed from a distance, it appears life size, from near, smaller. From up close, you can only see the large weave of the tilma. At the near position, Mary's eyes appear alive and as a normal persons. The picture of Our Lady near the stage at Catholic Underground NJ is from a photograph of the actual tilma in Mexico City. During his visit to Mexico in 1999, Pope John Paul II requested that all the Americas pray to and honor Mary under the title "Our Lady of Guadalupe"
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