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| Encountering Christ in the Mass
Patrick Gorman |
Fifth in a series.
Last week’s article discussed the need for everyone in the congregation to participate because that is how we allow the liturgy to do its job of praising God and making us more Christ-like.
This week we’ll address more practical issues regarding participation.
Scratching our heads
I once was asked during an RCIA session, “Why do Catholics scratch their heads before the Gospel?”
At first, I didn’t understand.
Then I realized that this catechumen was asking about our practice of making the Sign of the Cross on our forehead, lips, and heart.
Older people were sometimes taught to pray a short prayer, “God be in my head, on my lips, and in my heart.”
As silly as it sounds, that was a moment of conversion for me.
In many aspects of the liturgy, I was simply going through the motions.
How hard is it to trace three distinct crosses and think about what I am doing? It’s not showy. It doesn’t do any magic. But it reminds me of the importance of the Gospel and my need to learn it, live it, and share it.
This is just one tiny part of the liturgy!
More than singing
We tend to think about participation in terms of music, but participation is only sometimes vocal while other times it may involve our posture (standing, kneeling, sitting, processing).
It involves our gestures (for example, the Sign of the Cross) and our bodily attitudes.
It sometimes involves listening and even silence!
Prior to the liturgical reforms of the 1960s and 1970s, the vocal responses (whether sung or spoken) were usually made on behalf of the people by the servers and the choir.
During the first half of the 20th century, the Church started allowing more participation by the people.
Its greatest form was the “Dialogue Mass,” where the people could make the responses (in Latin) aided by a card or small book of some sort.
In some places the Church allowed vernacular (in our case, English-language) hymns to be sung for Eucharistic Adoration and other devotional liturgies.
The Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (CSL) didn’t say that we were wrong for 1900 years, and now we’ll start over. It wanted to allow the liturgy to speak to people in more modern ways.
The word “participation” is used 16 times in the Constitution, most often preceded by the word “active.” Clearly, this was a primary goal of the Council Fathers.
Ways we participate
So our participation can mean raising our voices in songs or spoken words of praise to God (However, in these COVID-19 days our inability to sing allows us to focus on some of the other ways of participating). It also involves bodily posture.
We sit and listen attentively to the Scripture readings and homily while we stand to offer praise and honor to Christ in the Gospel Acclamation and Gospel.
We kneel to show our humility or reverence in the Eucharistic Prayer. We genuflect towards the tabernacle to offer humble praise to Christ present in the Sacrament.
We make the Sign of the Cross to invoke the Trinity and to immerse ourselves in the instrument of our salvation — the cross.
We process toward the altar at Communion as people on a pilgrimage, not just people forming a line to get something.
Everything means something. Everything gives glory to God, and he, in return, pours out his grace so that we may become more like his Son, Jesus Christ.
In upcoming weeks, think about the ways that you participate in Mass and how that participation can lead you deeper into the Mystery of Faith!
Patrick Gorman is the director of the Office of Worship for the Diocese of Madison.