June, 2008 – The Mass as a Celebration of Life, Death, and
Resurrection
June, 2008 – The Mass as a Celebration of Life, Death, and
Resurrection
The Mass is a
spiritual addiction of the elderly is a comment I heard recently by a young
person. The comment made me realize how
little many Catholics know about the Mass. I think an understanding of the
history of the Mass would be helpful.
There are two
traditions that can help us to correct this disbelief by understanding how the
Mass as a table gathering has evolved.
The first tradition was centered on the Mass as a gathering of the
faithful in small groups. All were
welcome to the table. Those that were
carrying woundedness through sin or human frailty were welcome. Change of
conversion to Christ occurred within the celebration itself. When you see Christ, the meal seen in the
gospel, you see people as they were and the acceptance that surrounded them and
His acceptance led to change. The focus
was more on the people changing.
As time moved
on, this led to the second tradition which we are more familiar with. The focus
of the Mass was on the sacrifice of Christ where Christ was sent by the Father
to atone for our sins. This form of atonement stressed the Lord’s passion and
death, where Christ was seen as making atonement for our sins to please an
angry God. This notion was counter to
John’s gospel message (John 3: 16) that God sent his only son to give us
eternal life. Many of the Resurrection
stories were centered on the meal motif.
As Christ experienced the resurrection so can we too experience the
resurrection in the same manner. What happened to Christ can happen to us. The
focus is on the joy and happiness of the Lord’s resurrection that we celebrate
in the Mass. In the second tradition,
the focus was on the repentance of sin, the change that occurred in a person
before they would go to receive communion.
Whereas in the first tradition, people were accepted as they were. And
in that acceptance, the conversion took place.
The Church today is trying to recapture that earlier tradition.
So for the
divorced community, Christ’s Resurrection gives strength and hope in the Mass
which is a celebration of life, death and resurrection. A strong reason why the divorced should have
a strong devotion to the Mass and search for those liturgies that show them
hope and joy. Life does not end in
death, but rather life begins in death.
Father
Vince
Fr. Vince O'Brien, S.J. is the
Chaplain for SDC. He can be
contacted at: Manresa Hall, 261
City Line Avenue, Merion Station, PA 19066 or (610) 660-1406.