Every once in a while something goes “haywire” with the bells in our bell tower.  Even if two of the three bells are still working, it just doesn’t sound right.  Not too long ago the bells failed to ring all together and their sound was missed by many. So, as is my habit when things break around the Church, I called Greg and Denny Werner.  This time Denny took a camera with him.

I didn’t realize that our bells had names.  We have St. John the Baptist, St. Joseph & St. Anthony and Bishop Marion Forst.  I don’t know who named them or why they were named the way they are, but we have bells with names.

This little bit of information conjured up a vague memory buried deep in my brain.  I remember that one of my professors in seminary said something about this… I even think it was within the context of a class.  A class on Liturgy… yes, it’s all coming back to me now.  Well, some of its coming back.

The Catholic Church has a long history of naming bells in church steeples.  Dr. Bayer said a lot on the subject, but most of it was never absorbed into my brain. One thing did strike a chord with me though.  He said that the names given are not merely to remember someone or something as we would name a monument or a memorial.  It’s much more like naming a dog… Dug, for instance.  He said each bell is named in a similar manner that spirits have names.  Each bell has its own unique voice with which to proclaim the glory of God just as each of us, in our unique way of being, are called to proclaim the glory of God with our lives.

Not that we create a living soul within an inanimate object just by naming it.  Only that each bell has a unique voice just as each human has a unique character.   

Each has something to contribute that no one else can.  Each gives glory to God as no other is capable of doing.

So, if the sound of a bell is missed when it doesn’t sound, how much more are we as individuals missed when we fail to give glory to God with our lives.