Active Participation in The Liturgy

Sunday July 5, 1998

St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church

You heard me talk about it before, but since then we have new members who have not heard it and for those who have, a review has never hurt anyone: Repetutio Mater Studiorum (Repetition is the mother of studies).

 What am I talking about? Active participation at Mass. What does it mean? First - it means the interior participation of all the powers of the soul in the mystery of Christ's Sacrificial Love. That means, that your mind and heart are awake, alert and engaged. Secondly - Participation involves exterior action; saying things and doing things. We are talking about bodily gestures and sacred signs we use during the course of the Mass, that is, the relationship between soul and body in liturgical prayer.

 I feel this is important for it seems that modern man has lost this sense of the unity of body and soul, of the interior man and the exterior man. A famous theologian of this century states that the agent acting in the liturgy, the one who prays and offers, is not the soul or the interior spirit, but man. It's the whole man which carries out the liturgical activity. The soul in so far as it gives life to the body. The interior spirit, to be sure, but only in so far as it manifests itself to the body.

 We have a hard time getting this right. Either we act as if the body is everything (which is one of the great temptations of our day) or we act as though there is a great divorce between body and soul and the body is of no account at all. Remember the ultimate goal for us as Catholics is not the immortal soul, but the resurrection of the body! So the problem of the relation between body and soul remains.

 Modern man boasts of the power of his intellect, desperately searching for the sensual pleasure of the body and forgets his soul altogether.

 It is a rare thing when a person succeeds in integrating the mind, soul and body into that unity of what the human person is called to be; a man fully alive. This problem shows itself in the liturgy. The solution according to our theologian is liturgical formation.

Filled as we are with the negative spirit of the age, we must learn once again to live our religion as men fully alive. That is, we must lean to pray with out body also. The way we carry ourselves, our gestures, our actions - these things must become spontaneously religious in themselves. We must learn to express our interior, exteriorly...we must become capable once again of living a world of symbols.

 How do we do this? Holy Mother Church offers us the key in her sacred signs and gestures. Starting from the very beginning of the Mass and going all the way to the end.

1. Dipping the hand in Holy Water - a sign of repentance of your sins, for protection against the evil one, reminds you of your baptism.
2. Sign of the Cross - do it deliberately, not hurriedly, do it with reverence. The deepest mysteries of our faith are contained here. In this liturgy, there are many occasions when we must make the Sign of the Cross:
1. with Holy Water before Mass begins
2. at the beginning of Mass itself
3. at the Gospel
4. at the rite of Baptism, confirmation, anointing of the sick
5. in the Divine Office, at the Bebeductys and Magnificat
3. Genuflecting before the Blessed Sacrament and bowing before the altar. When you enter Church and go into the pew, you genuflect, this is a greeting, a salute, if the Blessed Sacrament is present, a bow if it is not.
4. Standing - a sign of respect, reverence before God: we stand as the priest enters at the beginning, at the Gospel. During the Divine Office for the Benedictus and the Magnificat (they are Gospel canticles)
5. Beating the breast - this is done at the confiteor during the words mea culpa (3 times). This is a sign of repentance, of humility, like the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican in the Gospel parable, we need to take this gesture more seriously.
6. Sitting - this posture of sitting is proper to the Bishop, who teaches and to the head of the community who presides. This is why the Bishop or the Abbot has a chair, a Cathedra. The word Cathedral strictly speaking, means the place where the Bishop's chair is.
7. Folding hands - at the Gospel we stand and make the Sign of the Cross; but what do we do with our hands? We fold them. There are two basic ways of doing this: with fingers interlocked, or with fingers straight, palm to palm. When it says the hands folded, we understand it in this way: palms extended and joined together in front of the breast, with the right thumb over the left in the form of a Cross.
8. Kneeling - after the Gospel and homily, after the preparation of the gifts, the great prayer called The Canon begins. During this time we kneel. The meaning of this gesture of kneeling is manifold:
1. humble submission before the majesty of God
2. penance and a spirit of repentance
3. adoration and reverence in prayer
9. Walking up to Communion - after the Canon the Great Doxology, it is time for Communion. How do we get from your pew to the Sanctuary (Communion Rail)? You have to walk. Now it is not as self evident as it seems. How to walk with dignity, to process? Walking is not hurrying along at a kind of run, or shuffling along at a snail's pace, but a composed and firm forward movement. Don't look all around you this way and that. Concentration on what you are about to do, or whom you are about to receive.
10. Receiving Communion - once you arrive at the Communion Rail, kneel with dignity, hands crossed over the breast. It is true that the more ancient way of receiving Communion was in the hand. However, the ancient way of receiving Communion in the hand gradually changed, as a response to the occasions of abuse. By the Middle Ages the custom had changed, and Communion on the tongue was the rule. Here again we have to be taught. Some people barely open their mouths, and it is difficult for the priest to place the Host on their tongue. Some open their mouth too wide and stick out the tongue too far and there is the danger that the Host will fall off. Let us avoid both extremes.

 Now I have said nothing new. I have told you nothing you don't know already. This has been just a reminder, that the sacred signs and gestures of the Mass have great power to open us up to the Holiness of God.

(This is a summary of an article from the May/June, 1998 Adoremus Bulletin written by Fr. Cassian Folsom, O.S.B.)