Historically, as an autumn festival celebrated in Germany, especially around October, Oktoberfest is an event of beer drinking. Recently, I joined the Seelos Brauhaus homebrew Club. Fr. Seelos, a German Redemptorist, and a Catholic priest, believed in this Trinitarian communion and endeavored to bring everyone to Christ to form communion and share among ourselves as brothers.
Through the Eucharistic meal, he celebrated the mystery of Triune communion that transforms our minds and spirits to hear the words of the Lord that he is the true vine. We are his branches and abiding in him, and he in us, will give us life (John 15:5). These words flow from the heart of the Lord who seeks to introduce us as Brauhaus and everyone into the enduring love and communion of the Trinity that must be established among us and be shared through our social interactions and bonds in the world around us.
Fr. Seelos followed the Lord in his death due to his undying love to bring the sick into communion with him. Thus, the Oktoberfest is an opportunity to celebrate and be reminded of the Trinitarian life, fellowship, and the openness for social bonds that form the inevitable part of our lives and faith.
Seelos Brauhaus club is a club of men at St. Angela parish, which seeks to bring Good News and good brews into their lives and the lives of other brothers. The mission of Brauhaus connects the Seelos Brauhaus well with the German celebration, the Oktoberfest, in the sense that in the greater New Orleans that is a Catholic place, the call to spread the Good News well brewed at the pulpit of ‘yat’ Catholicism draws us into a greater reality than the fest itself. Trinity is a mysterious reality we ponder and live in our daily lives. A ‘yat’ has a sense of hospitality and social dynamics that create cultural appreciation, belonging, and a bond.
As a significant club dedicated to achieving social bonds of fraternity that can ideally be modeled and expressed in the Trinity, Seelos Brauhaus reveal the social dynamics of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They have love, social bonds, one substance, anda perfect sense of collaboration in redeeming us. Such perfect union must be what Seelos Brauhaus seeks and invests in to bring forth a hearty and smooth beer as I tasted it.
About Oktoberfest, Seelos Brauhaus brew beer, a beer of good taste, and when consumed, it draws us to the ‘chicken dance,’ a lovely dance that originates from a love context of a German wedding celebration and a genuinely hearty and smooth dance in all its rhythm and movements. This dance, I would say, possesses a social bonding power. It’s a language of the Trinity in the sense that the question of whether God can dance is answered when we think of St. Augustine’s saying that God has no hands, legs, or a body to dance, but he chooses to use us to achieve this goal for his glory and our fulfillment. Thus, Oktoberfest embodies a powerful technique of bringing us closer to this great mystery of communion.
From a theological sense, communion happens when human subjects interact animated by dynamics of love, joy, and fellowship and realize that these values are brought about in a Christian heart by the unique presence of God, who lives in a social bond of Triune love. Love for brewing and brotherhood linked to the process of beer fermentation in oak barrels reveals our loving faith that seeks to express itself through action and social bonding, giving testimony to our communion as a church family of St. Angela fermented in Trinitarian communion and eager to engage one another in faith and charity. The Church is communion, and with this fest of yearly celebration, we deepen our connection with one another and orient ourselves to be a parish community animated by the Trinitarian spirit.
- Fr. Lawrence M. Muuna
