Liturgy Corner Volume II:
LCB1: The 'Private' Prayers of the Priest, Part I
LCB2: The 'Private' Prayers of the Priest, Part II
LCB3: The Act of Contrition
LCB4: Preparation for Eucharist
LCB5: The Regulation of the Sacred Liturgy
LCB6: The Sign of Peace
LCB7: Hospitality
LCB8: Confirmation
LCB9: Worship of the Eucharist
LCB10: Receiving Communion
LCB11: Prophecy during the Mass
LCB12: The Celebration of the Christian Mystery
LITURGY CORNER #1 The 'Private' Prayers of
the Priest, Part I
There are several prayers in the Mass which are prayed
by the priest privately--the rubrics say: "inaudibly."
After I mentioned them in a homily, some folks mentioned that
that was a very helpful aid in their understanding of what is
happening at those points in the Liturgy and how they should approach
it, so I have decided to devote the next two Liturgy Corner articles
to those prayers.
The 'private' prayers of the priest are intended to help
the priest prepare his heart for what is about to happen at that
point in the Mass. But they also serve as a guide for the kind
of attitude that's appropriate for all of the people at those
special moments, so our reflecting on them and, in a sense, all
of our making those prayers our own, help each of us to deepen
that full, active, and conscious participation that is Jesus'
desires.
The first of these prayers occurs immediately before the
priest (or deacon) proclaims the Gospel. This is a significant
moment, a moment in which the priest will proclaim the very Word
of God Himself, and so to prepare for this, he prays: "Almighty
God, cleanse my heart and my lips that I may worthily proclaim
Your Gospel." This calls to mind our constant need for the
cleansing power of the Spirit to truly prepare our hearts to receive
His Word. This idea of the cleansing power of the Spirit, especially
through the Word of God itself, is then highlighted by the prayer
that the priest prays immediately after the proclamation of the
Gospel: "May the words of the Gospel wipe away our sins."
As he prays this, he kisses the Book as a way of concretely demonstrating
his submission to the Gospel of the Lord and his love for it.
The next three private prayers all concern the preparation
of the gifts. As the priest pours a little water into the chalice
filled with wine, he prays: "By the mystery of this water
and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ, Who humbled
Himself to share in our humanity." This prayer he prays
not only on his behalf, but on the behalf of the entire people
of God present at that Mass. Then, calling to mind our constant
need for the forgiving mercy of God to be realized in our lives,
after he has offered the bread and wine to God, he prays: "Lord
God, we ask you to receive us and be pleased with the sacrifice
we offer you with humble and contrite hearts." Then he washes
his hands, a rich symbol of the cleansing power of the mercy and
forgiveness of God. While he is washing his hands, he prays:
"Lord, wash away my iniquity; cleans me from my sin."
This extra repentance and washing helps him to prepare for the
most holy moment of this holy Liturgy, the Consecration itself.
The rest of the priest's private prayers will be covered
next month. Let us take these prayers and meditate on them, that
each of us would understand, and therefore be able to receive,
just a little more deeply, the wealth of the gift that Jesus gives
to us in this Holy Sacrifice of the Mass!
LITURGY CORNER #2
THE PRIVATE PRAYERS OF THE PRIEST, PART 2
This article is a continuation of the last article I
wrote about some of the 'private' prayers that the priest prays
as he celebrates Mass. There are two special prayers that are
either prayed aloud or prayed silently, depending on if an offertory
song is being sung. They are known as the Prayers Over the Gifts.
They are ancient blessings, with roots in even more ancient Jewish
blessings, thanking God for what He has given us. The first is
the prayer over the bread:
"Blessed are You, Lord, God of all creation.
Through Your goodness we have this bread to offer,
which earth has given and human hands have made.
It will become for us the Bread of Life."
A similar blessing is prayed over the wine:
"Blessed are You, Lord, God of all creation.
Through Your goodness we have this wine to offer,
fruit of the vine and work of human hands.
It will become our spiritual drink."
These prayers express our thanksgiving to God not only for what
He has done, but for what He is about to do in the consecration,
changing the bread into the Bread of Life and the wine into our
spiritual drink.
The next 'private' prayer the priest prays occurs during
the Fraction--in which the priest breaks the Host and drops a
small piece of his Host into the Chalice. As he does this he
prays silently: "May this mingling of the body and blood
of our Lord Jesus Christ bring eternal life to us who receive
it." There immediately follows the prayer that the priest
prays to actually prepare his own heart to receive Jesus in Communion.
He has a choice of either one of these two options: "Lord
Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, by the will of the Father
and the work of the Holy Spirit Your death brought life to the
world. By Your holy Body and Blood free me from all my sins,
and from every evil. Keep me faithful to Your teaching, and never
let me be parted from You." This prayer capsulizes in a
wonderful way something of Jesus' plan for us and the effect that
receiving Communion should have. The other option is: "Lord
Jesus Christ, with faith in Your love and mercy I eat Your Body
and drink Your Blood. Let it not bring me condemnation, but health
in mind and body." Then, as the priest actually receives,
he prays silently: "May the Body of Christ bring me to everlasting
life." "May the Blood of Christ bring me to everlasting
life." Then after he receives, as he cleanses the vessels,
he prays: "Lord, may I receive these gifts in purity of heart.
May they bring me healing and strength, now and for ever."
Amen, may it be so! May this Blessed Sacrament have this effect
in the life of every priest and follower of Jesus!
LITURGY CORNER #3: THE ACT OF CONTRITION
As we celebrate this season of Advent, one of the gifts
that Jesus invites us to receive is the gift of His forgiveness
in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I'd like to take a moment
to reflect on a part of that sacrament, the Act of Contrition,
(in its more traditional form), because the more we understand
this prayer, the more we can understand and cooperate with the
mind of the Church concerning this wonderful Sacrament.
O MY GOD, note that the prayer in its very beginning makes
a crucial statement about relationship: this is not just any god,
or somebody else's god, this is my God, the God Who loves me,
the God with whom I am in relationship.
I AM HEARTILY SORRY THAT I HAVE OFFENDED YOU, our repentance
comes from the heart, but note, this refers to the fact that this
is a profound act of our will, i.e. we make a solid, concrete
choice to turn from evil and seek forgiveness. Our repentance
should never be reduced to a mere feeling.
BECAUSE I DREAD THE LOSS OF HEAVEN AND THE PAINS OF HELL,
this is what the Church refers to as 'imperfect contrition'--contrition
based on punishment. It is not as noble as the statement on perfect
contrition that follows, but sometimes it can be helpful, even
for long-time followers of Jesus, to remember that there are dire
consequences for mortal sin.
BUT MOST OF ALL BECAUSE I HAVE OFFENDED YOU MY GOD, WHO ARE
ALL GOOD AND DESERVING OF ALL MY LOVE, here the motivation
of perfect contrition is spelled out: because of Who God is, He
deserves the best from us, all our love.
I FIRMLY RESOLVE, WITH THE HELP OF YOUR GRACE, this refers
to a component of repentance that is necessary for a valid absolution
to be received: the concrete choice to change. This was traditionally
referred to as a ' firm purpose of amendment.' But lest we fall
into the fallacy of thinking that we can do this ourselves, the
Act specifies that we know we are only capable of doing it "with
the help of Your grace."
TO SIN NO MORE AND TO AVOID THE NEAR OCCASION OF SIN, here
the object of the firm purpose of amendment is specified--we chose,
through a concrete act of our will, to turn away from sin, to
turn back to the Light, to once again walk on the path that is
the Way and the Truth. We are not simply sorry, we choose to
cooperate with His grace. And this means, not only that we will
avoid choosing evil, we even choose to stay away from proximity
to evil, lest we be tempted and fall.
AMEN. We had our personal affirmation to this ancient
prayer, making it our own. We, by our solemn "so be it"
promise before God to yield to His grace and live in obedience
to His Truth.
LITURGY CORNER #4
"For whenever you eat this bread and drink this
cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." (I
Corinthians, 11:26)
This verse from Corinthians is part of a section in which
St. Paul is dealing with the importance of worthily receiving
the Body and Blood of Jesus in the Eucharist. It is good for
us to remind ourselves of the importance of being prepared in
heart and mind when we receive this greatest of sacramental graces.
He points out how important it is to receive it in a worthy manner,
by highlighting the alternative: (I Corinthians, 11:27) "Therefore,
whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy
manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of
the Lord."
But St. Paul, in his great love for the Corinthians, also
points out to them what they must do in order to prevent this
from happening: (I Corinthians, 11:28) "A man ought to examine
himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup".
If we examine our consciences and make sure that our hearts are
pure and clean before the Lord, then we can freely receive His
Body and Blood and it will be a blessing to us. If, on the other
hand, we examine our consciences and discover that there is serious
sin in our hearts, then we should not receive the Body and Blood
of Jesus until we have had that sin forgiven through the sacrament
of reconciliation.
The sin referred to here, of course, is the sin that is described
as serious or grave sin, also known as mortal sin. The absolution
that the priest prays for the people at the beginning of the Mass
forgives the venial sin in our lives: "May almighty God have
mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting
life." But the absolution necessary for mortal sin to be
forgiven is only found in the sacrament of reconciliation itself.
The Church affirms the need for us to approach the Eucharist
with a clean heart and not to approach it with serious sin in
our hearts: "A person who is conscious of grave sin is not
to celebrate Mass or to receive the Body of the Lord without prior
sacramental confession...." (Canon 916, The Code of Canon
Law.) Let us always approach Jesus in this Sacrament with
pure hearts, that the full blessing of the sacrament may be ours,
since His presence there "increases union with Christ, nourishes
the spiritual life more abundantly, strengthens the soul in virtue
and gives the communicant a stronger pledge of eternal happiness."
(Sacred Congregation for Rites, Instruction on the Worship
of the Eucharistic Mystery, #37.)
Let us always, with great gratitude to Jesus for the wonder
of this gift of His life to us, receive Him in purity of heart,
that, unworthy though we are, we may receive the fullness of His
grace for us.
LITURGY CORNER #5
"TURN FROM SIN AND BELIEVE THE GOSPEL"
With these words we received the ashes that symbolically
began our Lent--a retreat--a time of prayer, reflection, and repentance
that prepares our hearts and minds to more deeply enter into the
mystery of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
As I was praying about how we might more fruitfully approach
this great season of grace, I believe that Jesus gave me a plan
that you might choose to use. If He has shown you something else,
or if you had something else in mind for your observance of Lent,
obviously you are perfectly free to do what you feel would result
in the most fruitful use of your time during this Holy Season.
The important thing is for us to realize that Jesus is offering
us a wonderful opportunity to draw closer to Him, but our ability
to do that is really dependent on our choosing to use well the
grace of this time. One of the thoughts that came to me as I
was praying about this is that often we somewhat automatically
go about our lives and we don't take the time necessary to reflect,
in a more systematic way, about how our relationship with Jesus
is going. I believe that Jesus wants to use this Lent as an opportunity
for us to do just that: to prayerfully reflect on three of the
major components of our life with Him, and then to take the fruits
of those reflections and plead with Him for the grace to change
in any ways that He might have indicated. The three components
are: the state of our surrender to the Lordship of Jesus, the
state of our life in the power of the Holy Spirit, and the state
of our life in the Church. (By this, I don't mean to suggest
that the first two are somehow different from our life in the
Church; actually, they are specific aspects of the heart of what
it means to live in the heart of the Church!)
Lent contains six weeks, from Ash Wednesday to the Wednesday
before Holy Thursday. This gives us an opportunity to spend two
weeks praying and reflecting on each of those three areas. What
I would suggest is that you spend ten minutes every day in prayer.
During the first two weeks, focus on your surrender to Jesus;
during the second two weeks, focus on your life in the power of
the Spirit; during the third two weeks, focus on your life in
the heart of the Church. In each of those two week cycles, spend
the first week focusing on allowing Jesus to reveal what He may
want to change, or enhance, or develop in you concerning that
particular area, then take the second of the two weeks and spend
those ten minutes in prayer everyday pleading with Him for the
grace to incorporate the changes He has suggested.
The character of the prayer of the two weeks is somewhat
different. During the first week of each of the three cycles,
a good focus would be to spend much of the ten minutes in a posture
of prayerful quiet, allowing Jesus to speak to us. He may do
that through Scripture, through prophecy, through gently bringing
specific thoughts to our minds, etc. As we begin each of those
times of prayer, it would help to simply quiet our hearts and
minds and begin by pleading with Him to speak to us. Jesus has
made some wonderful promises to us about leading us to the point
where we can hear His voice. This is a practical opportunity
to do that. If at first we don't seem to 'get' anything, we can
gently remind ourselves that growing in our ability to hear that
"still, small voice" is a process that takes time and
if we keep it up, we shall eventually hear the voice of the One
we love. In the meantime, the time is not wasted, because it
is still time we have spent with Him.
During the second of the two weeks, the focus shifts more
to intercession, as we plead with Jesus to bring about in us whatever
changes He may have revealed during that first week. If we have
not received anything specific about that, then it will still
do us much good to simply use those ten minutes pleading with
Jesus to enhance and deepen our life with Him in that aspect we
are considering, i.e. during the first cycle to plead with Him
for the grace to more deeply surrender, during the second cycle
to plead with Him for more of the life and power of the Holy Spirit,
during the third cycle to plead with Him to bring us more deeply
into the heart of His Church.
There are some concrete things we may want to reflect on
during the specific weeks. On surrender to the Lordship of Jesus:
what aspects of our life do we still feel are not yet under His
Lordship--where are we only yielding partial control to Him?
On the life in the Spirit: perhaps using I Corinthians 11-14 as
a guide, how are we growing in our release and use of the charismatic
gifts, as St. Paul insists should be normative for our life, especially
the higher gifts? On our life in the Church: how are we growing
in our appreciation and use of the sacraments, especially Eucharist
and Confession; how are we drawing closer to Mary and the saints;
how are we growing in our obedience to the Holy Father and all
the teachings of the Church in faith and morals? I would offer
these thoughts as a possible basis for some of your reflection.
The most important thing is that we take full advantage of
the grace of this season, allowing Jesus to do in our hearts what
He most desires to do: to transform our hearts and minds, that
all the People of Christ the King would be as He desires them
to be: fully surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus in the power
of the Spirit in the heart of the Church.
LITURGY CORNER # 6
"MAY THE PEACE OF THE LORD BE WITH YOU ALWAYS!"
At this point in the Liturgy the presider imparts the
peace of the Lord Jesus to the members of the community gathered
in worship. They in turn are then invited to share the peace
of the Lord Jesus with each other. In many parishes, this rite
of peace has become an informal "hi how are ya?" kind
of time. But, in line with the Vatican Council's imperative that
each of the various rites of the Mass should be more fully explained
so that their meanings may be clear to the people, a better explanation
is necessary in terms of what the sign of peace is all about.
The more deeply we understand the Mass, the more deeply we can
fully enter into what the Lord Jesus is doing at that point in
the Mass.
What, then, is the purpose of the sign of peace? Primarily,
at least as the rite is presently celebrated in the Church, it
is intended as a preparation for what follows: the reception of
the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus. The idea being that experiencing
the peace of Christ better opens our hearts and prepares our spirits
to receive the Bread of Heaven. The more focused we are on the
Lord Jesus, the more we are disposed for the reception of all
of the tremendous graces of the Eucharist. The sign of peace,
by which we convey to each other the peace of Jesus, is intended
to do that. It is not simply a greeting. The peace of the Lord
Jesus, which rests on His People, is seen in the New Testament
as much more of a tangible reality than a simple customary greeting.
This is particularly well-illustrated by Jesus' words in
St. Luke: "Whatever house you enter, first say, peace be
to this house! And if a son of peace is there, your peace shall
rest upon him; but if not, it shall return to you," (St.
Luke, 10:5-6, RSV). This passage from St. Luke portrays the peace
of the Lord as a tangible reality, capable of going forth from
you and returning to you. Along those lines, some of the saints
believed that each Christian was accompanied by an angel of peace,
who carried out that function of bestowing the peace of the Lord
Jesus when the sons and daughters of God call down that peace
on house or friend--a nice image. So the reality is, when we
choose, at that point in the Mass, to wish each other the peace
of Christ, Jesus actually uses us, concretely, to convey His peace
to one another. Obviously, the more we are conscious of this,
the more deeply we can enter into it. At that point we should
see ourselves as ministers of His grace, blessing His people with
peace that they may be more deeply prepared to receive the wondrous
gift of the Eucharist. Let us continue to pray that the Lord
Jesus would enlighten us to all of the treasures of the Mass,
so that, fully cooperating with His grace moment by moment, we
would engage in that full, conscious, and active participation
in the Mass that is His will for us.
LITURGY CORNER #7
"LET EACH GUEST BE RECEIVED AS CHRIST."
This quotation from St. Benedict was the hallmark of
his theology of hospitality. It was his instruction on how any
guest should be treated when they came to his monasteries. But
the history of hospitality among the people of God long precedes
St. Benedict. It was considered one of the sacred responsibilities
of the Jewish people and even of many of their neighbors. The
idea of welcoming one another, imparting support and friendship
was clearly important to Jesus as well, so important that He goes
so far as to say that whoever welcomes one of His brethren welcomes
Him, (St. Matthew 10:40, etc.)
As Jesus continues to bless Christ the King by sending more
folks to us, we need to be conscious of our responsibilities in
terms of hospitality. To someone who does not know Jesus or who
has fallen away from Him and is tentatively trying to return,
a welcome word, a smile, a friendly greeting, can make all the
difference in the world and even have eternal repercussions.
If they experience being welcome at our Masses, Jesus will use
it to help them experience His welcome as well. As we gather
for Mass, it would be wonderful for us to be warm and welcoming
for folks.
But our hospitality and friendship obviously should not simply
be reserved for those who are new or visitors. The 'household
of faith,' our brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus, should
in particular be the recipients of our greetings and hospitality.
To take some time before Mass begins to greet each other and
make all feel welcome is an important ministry that we can all
participate in. Which of us, when warmly greeted by brothers
and sisters, would not be better able to enter more deeply in
the presence of Jesus at the Mass? Obviously, those who prefer
a moment of quiet prayer before Mass, especially when praying
in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, should have their desire
for quiet respected. However, gathering in His Name also causes
a deeper experience of Jesus' presence, as the Vatican Council
points out in the Constitution on the Liturgy. (#7, cf.
St. Matthew 18:20). We 'gather in His Name' when we celebrate
the Mass, not simply as a collection of people who happen to be
in the same place, but as the Body of Christ, united to each other
in heart and mind. The more we choose to enter into this reality,
expressing our unity and love with each other, the more we become
that Body of Christ as Jesus has always intended.
Let us then take advantage of the opportunity that we have,
as we gather for Mass, to greet one another, expressing our care
for one another, that Jesus Himself may more deeply bless all
of us with His divine Presence!
Liturgy Corner #8
"We believe in...the Lord and Giver of Life...."
With these words, every Sunday and solemnity we proclaim
to our God, to each other, and to ourselves that we believe in
the Holy Spirit, Who has the mission from the Father to be present
in our lives as the "Lord and Giver of Life." But the
wonderful theology of the Creed that we profess will simply remain
wonderful theology unless we choose to live in active cooperation
with the plan of God it reveals.
We first experience the reality of the Lord and Giver of
Life in our Baptism, when the Triune God washes our hearts clean
and configures them with a new character, a permanent 'mark' that
shows us to be His own and opens us to the life of grace. At
our confirmation, we receive a second character, which increases
our access to that life of grace, and, in a very significant way,
publicly professes us to be 'soldiers of Christ', strengthened
by Him to fight the good fight of faith.
For many folks, because that event preceded an actual conscious
surrender to the Lordship of Jesus, an awareness of some of the
reality that was happening at that time may have passed them by.
The good news is that the sacrament still happens and the grace
and the deeper relationship with the Triune God still occurs.
This gift is in us, awaiting the surrender--our conscious cooperation
with grace, that will enable us to cooperate with the deeper life
of grace these sacraments made possible. This gift of grace through
these sacraments of initiation has a wonderful effect on us, as
Pope John Paul points out in his encyclical on the Holy Spirit:
Through the gift of grace, which comes from
the Holy Spirit, man enters a new life, is
brought into the supernatural reality of the
divine life itself and becomes a dwelling
place of the Holy Spirit, a living temple of
God. For through the Holy Spirit, the Father
and the Son come to him and take up their
abode with him." (Dominum et Vivificantem,#58).
This gift of grace in fact enables us to be what we were created
to be. Not, as the world, the flesh, and the devil like to try
to convince us, to be slaves of our passions and helpless victims
to every temptation, but rather to live in the image and likeness
of God. This happens through the power of the Holy Spirit, as
the Pope further points out in his encyclical: "Mans's relationship
with God in the Holy Spirit also enables him to understand himself,
his own humanity, in a new way. Thus that image and likeness
of God which man is from his very beginning is fully realized."
(Ibid. #59). To be alive in the Spirit is our destiny.
Let us wholeheartedly cooperate with this great plan of our loving
Father for us!
LITURGY CORNER # 9
"Happy are those who are called to His supper."
With these words, we are reminded that have cause to
rejoice, considering how great the blessing is we are about to
receive: the Eucharistic presence of the Lord Jesus. Our response
is to then acknowledge our unworthiness and express our hope in
His healing power. The English translation above is familiar
to all of us. But the Latin of this phrase as it appears in the
original language of the Roman Missal is actually: "Beati
qui ad cenam Agni vocati sunt." This would more literally
be translated: "Blessed are those called to the supper of
the Lamb." Perhaps the choice of the English translators
to render "beati" as "happy" rather than as
"blessed" was meant to remind us of the basic mystery
of our identity as those made in the image and likeness of God:
our only true happiness consists in living in relationship with
the God Who blesses us. He has made us for Himself, and our hearts
will not rest until they rest in Him, to paraphrase St. Augustine.
The place where we most perfectly come to Him to receive
that blessing and live in the relationship He offers is that supper
of the Lamb itself. The Eucharistic presence of the Lord Jesus
is the ultimate focus of our worship. In the mind of Jesus as
revealed in the Church, the most perfect worship we can offer
is in the context of the Eucharist itself. As Pope Paul VI points
out in his encyclical On the Doctrine and Worship of the Eucharist:
"We entreat you to promote, without stinting
word or work, worship of the Eucharist, toward
which all other forms of devotion must lead and
there come to rest." (Mysterium Fidei,
#64)
The Holy Father is reminding the Bishops of the world of their
responsibility to lead their people, by their lives and their
teaching, to the Eucharist. Pope Paul then goes on to remind
the Bishops of what the People of God may expect when they come
to the Eucharist:
"May the faithful, thanks to your efforts,
come to realize and experience ever more the
truth of these words: 'Those who desire life
find here a place and a source of life. Let
them approach, let them believe, let them be
incorporated so that they may receive life.'"
(Mysterium Fidei, #65)
Here the Lord Jesus most perfectly offers us His life. Let us
respond by making our own the prayer of the Church: "May
our worship of this Sacrament of Your Body and Blood help us to
experience the salvation You won for us and the peace of the Kingdom
where You live with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever
and ever." (Prayer for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi.)
LITURGY CORNER #10
"LORD, WE ARE NOT WORTHY TO RECEIVE YOU..."
Year after year, in place after place, the Christian
faithful repeat the words of that faithful centurion, who was
begging Jesus to heal his servant. But the centurion only asked
for a touch of the healing power of the Lord. We are asking to
receive everything that He offers: His Body and Blood, soul and
divinity.
A question has arisen about the manner in which it is appropriate
for us to receive this great gift, in particular, what is the
appropriate way to receive the Body of the Lord? Many of us were
raised with the practice of the Church being the communicant receiving
the Sacred Host on his or her tongue. For many years, in the
dioceses of the United States, we have had permission as well
to receive the Sacred Host in our hand.
When this option began to be considered by the Magisterium,
the one great concern was to make sure that this was done reverently.
There was no question about the authenticity of this approach
to receiving Communion, since it had been the practice in the
Church for most of the first millennium. In fact, some of the
most beautiful advice on the reception of Communion comes from
the Fathers of the Church, who advised the communicant to 'make
a throne of your hands, cupping one inside the other, to receive
the King of Kings.' This is still the appropriate way to receive
when you are receiving in the hand. It is never appropriate,
for example, for the communicant to 'snatch' the Host from the
Minister of Communion. The communicant wishing to receive Communion
in the hand should make that throne mentioned above, and humbly
allow the Minister of Communion to place the Body of the Lord
in his or her hand.
After the Council, the Vatican left it up to individual conferences
of bishops to request permission for the option of receiving communion
in the hand for their own territories. This was done by the bishops
of the United States. It is therefore fully approved. It is
also one of the liturgical options that is totally up to the discretion
of the communicant, i.e. whether to receive on the tongue or in
the hand. Permission was simply granted without the Church stating
that one way or the other is more holy, or more reverent, or more
appropriate. It is therefore wrong to demean either form of reception
as inappropriate, as if this way or that way were more 'holy'.
The Church would never give permission for a manner of receiving
the Body of the Lord that she felt was in any way not consistent
with the reverence and holiness that the Eucharistic Lord deserves.
She fully approves them both, simply reminding us of the wonder
and the mystery of what we are about to receive: "the Body
and Blood of the Lord, through which the People of God share the
benefits of the Paschal Sacrifice, renew the New Covenant...and
in faith and hope...anticipate the...banquet in the Kingdom of
the Father." (Memoriale Domini, para. 9.)
Liturgy Corner #11
"Make love your aim, and earnestly desire the higher
gifts, especially that you may prophesy!"
We are probably all familiar with that exhortation from
St. Paul to take seriously our responsibility to grow in the release
of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This obviously has particularly
important ramifications for us, as members of a parish that Jesus
has raised up to be specifically charismatic. Often we assume
that Paul is speaking here of people's prayer times or prayer
meetings. However, this verse is from the section in his letter
to the Corinthians (chapters 11-14) where what he, in fact, is
giving his teaching on the Christian assembly--the Liturgy of
the early Church. That is why he speaks of (in chapter 11) the
reality of the Lord Jesus' presence in the Eucharist, and why
he uses the expression "in Church" (in chapter 14.)
This whole section is a guide for the Faithful as they gather
to worship the Lord, receiving His Body and Blood, and worshipping
Him with the gifts and the power of the Holy Spirit. It is a
kind of New Testament guide to the celebration of the Mass! So
Paul is not talking about personal devotional time or even activity
at prayer meetings, he is speaking about what should be happening
when the Christian people assemble around the Altar of the Lord.
Therefore, let us be open to the Lord Jesus using us in prophecy,
that the fullness of the life of the Spirit He has for us would
happen. I realize that this raises some concerns, so I would
suggest the following guidelines:
1. The appropriate time for prophecy is in the post-communion
period. If someone feels that they are receiving a word
from the Lord that Jesus wants delivered at some other period
during the celebration of the Mass, they should bring it to
the
attention of the priest. (This would be a rare occurrence.)
2. It is the priest's responsibility to guide all things in good
order for the sake of the assembly, so if someone believes
he
or she is receiving a prophecy, they should go to the front
and
wait until the priest indicates that they should proceed.
3. Prophecy should generally not be given from the Lectern, since
it is reserved for the solemn proclamation of the Biblical
Word
of God, which plays a unique role in the Mass. However, it
can
be permitted if there is no other mike that is available.
4. Though the primary responsibility for discerning the validity
of
prophecies given at Mass is the priest's, all folks should
feel
free to give input to the priest about their sense of the
'accuracy' of the prophecies that are given.
5. We should all realize that each of us are growing in our
understanding and facility with the gifts of the Spirit and
our
attitude toward each other in this regard should be one of
encouragement and support so that we all receive the help we
need to step out and allow Jesus to use us in this way.
Let us trust the Savior, Who loves each of us and will guide each
of us, individually and as a parish, as we choose to respond to
His Spirit in our lives. Speak Lord, your servants are listening
LITURGY CORNER #12
"Guarding the Deposit of the Faith is the mission which
the Lord entrusted to His Church, and which she fulfills in
every age."
With these words, Pope John Paul II begins the apostolic
constitution Fidei Depositum (the Deposit of the Faith),
which he issued concerning the publication of the Catechism
of the Catholic Church. (Hereafter referred to as the CCC).
The Deposit of the Faith is the Church's term for the content
of God's revelation to us:
"Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up
a single deposit of the Word of God" (Dogmatic
Constitution on Divine Revelation, #10), in which,
as in a mirror, the pilgrim Church contemplates
God, the source of all her riches. (CCC #97).
The CCC is the Spirit's response to our need in this age
to once again have a clear exposition of what the Lord Jesus Christ
wants us to believe and how He wants us to live. The second part
of the CCC is devoted to the Mass and the Sacraments. The Liturgy
Corner articles will be devoted to that section of the CCC. That
section is entitled: "The Celebration of the Christian Mystery."
This 'mystery' is first and foremost the Paschal Mystery: "His
blessed Passion, Resurrection from the dead, and glorious Ascension,
whereby 'dying he destroyed our death, rising he restored our
life.'" (CCC #1067)
As we begin to examine the section on the Liturgy, let us
place it in the proper context, so that we can truly understand
the great significance of the Liturgy for our lives:
For it is in the liturgy, especially in the divine
sacrifice of the Eucharist, that "the work of our
redemption is accomplished," and it is through the
liturgy especially that the faithful are enabled to
express in their lives and manifest to others the
mystery of Christ and the real nature of the true
Church. (CCC #1068).
Since there is nothing more important in our lives than our redemption,
it is easy to conclude that there is, (or should be), nothing
in our lives more important than the Liturgy. It is the place
where we most perfectly encounter the Lord Jesus; it is the place
where we most perfectly receive Him, Whom our hearts long for
and Who alone is our peace. What should our response be to this
greatest of gifts? We should open our hearts and minds to this
great grace and engage ourselves in the "conscious, active,
and fruitful participation" (CCC #1071) which the presence
of our Savior God deserves.