Epiphany - Cast Recording

In nomine patri

et fili spiritu sancte

Amen

PRIEST

I want to welcome all of you back.

I hope that Christmas was a time of great joy for you and your families.

Today is the Feast of the Epiphany,

The celebration of the arrival of the three wise men

To pay homage to the baby Jesus.

I want you to imagine what that journey must have been like:

A journey resting entirely on faith,

That they would know where they were going once they arrived.

Imagine what a joy it must have been for them

To have finally reached their destination.

Seniors, you’re coming to an end of four years at St. Cecelia’s--

You’ve lived together, studied together

And most importantly, prayed together:

Strength for the journey.

We begin in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Let us take a moment now to call to mind those times

When we’ve fallen from God’s grace.

I confess…

PRIEST & STUDENTS

.to almighty God,

And to you my brothers and sisters,

that I’ve sinned through my own fault

In my thoughts and in my words

in what I’ve done and what I have failed to do.

And I ask the blessing of a virgin,

all the angels and saints and you, my brothers and sisters

PETER

to pray for me,

to the Lord our God.

STUDENTS

Yes, pray for him, to the Lord your God!

MALE STUDENT #1

One of these boys just ain’t like the others!

FEMALE STUDENT #1

Loves his female singers.

FEMALE STUDENT #2

Loves to cook.

MALE STUDENT #1

Looks around in gym--

FEMALE STUDENT #1

It pleases him.

STUDENTS

Thoughts enslave him;

somebody save him!

MALE STUDENT #1

'cause he knows that he is taking chances

MALE STUDENT #2

and he knows that his romance is doomed.

FEMALE STUDENT #1

He sacrificed his soul to feed his vice--

STUDENTS

heaven severed, hell is forever!

Dig down deep and save your soul!

Grave mistakes will take their toll!

Every sin is entered in--

Heaven comes with discipline

PETER

but it doesn’t all make sense

what I feel is real

STUDENTS

No more dodging;

God is watching.

His eye is on the lowly sparrow,

The road is long, the path is narrow!

FEMALE STUDENT #2

And your mother, God how she will suffer

MALE STUDENT #1

Will your father break to bear the shame?

FEMALE STUDENT AND MALE STUDENT

Yes, you were a force in their divorce.

STUDENTS

Trust the shepard;

God make an effort!

MALE STUDENT #1

Will you drag that poor boy down there with you?

FEMALE STUDENT #2

He’s unsure and you can change his mind.

MALE STUDENT #1

If you love him so, you’ll let him go.

STUDENTS

Life is choices;

live by our voices!

Dig down deep and save your soul!

Grave mistakes will take their toll!

Every sin is entered in--

Heaven comes with discipline

PETER

but it doesn’t all make sense

if the love is strong.

STUDENTS

No more dodging;

God is watching.

His eye is on the lowly sparrow,

The road is long, the path is narrow!

CLAIRE

Our first reading today

is the story of how

despite the best efforts

of a single mother,

a child can still go

horribly, horribly wrong.

PETER

Mom!

CLAIRE

For his eighth birthday,

Peter asked for an EZ-Bake Oven;

his father asked for a divorce.

To me the link between those two events

was as strong as Peter’s attraction

to my makeup table.

We sent him to Catholic boarding school

thinking it might help

but when he met his roommate Jason,

the two of them locked eyes and I said to myself,

«Claire, you wanted grandchildren,

instead you’re gonna get ambiguous

Christmas cards from South Beach.»

FEMALE STUDENT

Please join us in singing

our offertory hymm, #279, «A Bender Among Us».

There’s a bender among us

he must be exposed.

He’ll kidnap our children

then take off their clothes.

A bender among us

there’s pink in our flock--

a boy without conscience

who’s led by his--

CLAIRE

Cockamaimy!

Pure cockamaimy

that this isn’t a choice.

Don’t do this to me Peter.

PRIEST

The peace of the Lord be with you always

STUDENTS

and also with you.

PRIEST

Let us offer each other

a sign of Christ’s peace.

This is the lamb of God

who takes away the sin of the world;

happy are those who are called to this table.

PETER

Lord, I am not worthy to receive you,

but only say the word and I shall be.

STUDENTS

Lord, he is not worthy to receive you.

PETER

Father?

PRIEST

Not at a funeral, Peter.

PETER

I’d like to start with just a…

if we could take a moment…

if maybe we were silent…

or we had spoken.

Mom, what is it?

Ivy?

Nadia?

Matt?

Is it I, Lord?

Is it I?

STUDENTS

Timothy, Romans, Corinthians, Leviticus

Timothy, Romans, Corinthians, Leviticus

Timothy, Romans, Corinthians, Leviticus

FEMALE STUDENTS

Forgive the sinner;

hate the sin!

Created in his image--

abomination, abomination,

STUDENTS

abomination, abomination!

STUDENTS

Bear

the cross

the shame

the cross

bear the cross, bear the cross, bear the cross!

PRIEST

Let us go forth in peace, to love, and serve the Lord.

STUDENTS

Thanks be to God.