Grassroots Liturgist

Have you noticed how easy it is to fall into the trap of repeating parts of the Mass that you have recited for years or decades, without really thinking about them, or what those words really mean? Each and every Sunday, we recite the Creed.   So often that we can just whittle off the words without thinking.   I was once at a celebration of Holy Mass where the priest was leading the Creed, but lost his way.   It all ground to a very embarrassing halt because we were all on autopilot.   So let’s have a look at what we are doing here. We say, “I believe…”, yet we are saying it together.   This is the local Church – part of the global, universal Church – standing as one, proclaiming what it is that unites us and brings us together to celebrate Holy Mass. But even those very words, “I believe”, are more powerful and have greater implications than we may imagine.   When a parent says to their child, “I believe in you,” are they saying that their child mere...

Do you ever mentally switch off during the Homily? Perhaps my favourite Resurrection appearance is when two of Jesus’ disciples were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus. (Luke 24:13-35)   They were both deeply disconsolate and confused: they had followed Jesus, seen the power of God in his words and deeds, and had hoped that he was the one who would redeem Israel.   But then, they witnessed his crucifixion and death – all their hopes and dreams were dashed and the very foundation of their understanding of the world was taken from under their feet.   To make matters worse, Jesus’ body was now missing from the tomb and there were rumours that was alive. Then Jesus walked with them, though they didn’t recognise him.   As they walked, he went through the Old Testament, explaining to them all that was relevant to him as the promised Messiah.   He clearly had their full attention, because later they commented, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked wi...

Languages and translation are more complex than we might imagine. We all know how the English of Shakespeare, who was writing over 400 years ago, is so very different to the English that we use today.   Go back another 200 years to the second half of the 14 th Century, and the vast majority of us simply wouldn’t understand Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English. When abroad, have you ever seen signs that have been translated into English for the tourists, but done so poorly and maybe with unintended comical results? Or try this: type an English sentence into an app to get a Spanish translation; then take that translation and translate it into German; and then take that translation and translate it back into English.   The likelihood is that you will not have the same sentence as you started with, and it may have turned out to be very different. One more anecdote…modern Mexicans have a saying: “The donkey talking about ears.”   It’s a cultural i...

Have you ever been to the supermarket and spent time looking for something, only to realise that what you are looking for has now been moved to a different aisle?   You may be be at least a little frustrated and wonder to yourself, “Why change?   Everything was fine as it was!”   It’s even more frustrating to know that the reason that things were changed was most likely not for your benefit, but to bring other produce to our attention and, therefore, to increase their profits. In the Church, most of us have experienced at least one change in the celebration of Holy Mass.   The most recent was the New Translation of the Missal, when we were suddenly confronted with different wordings for the Gloria, Creed, Eucharistic Prayers, etc.   And, in December, we will have another change, with the introduction of the New Lectionary.   Some familiar phrases from the Gospels, Psalms and other books of the Bible may, overnight, sound a little different.   And we...

It's wonderful, and not a little rewarding, to see that the posts on this little blog are getting lots of regular views, and from several countries around the world. Please do consider following by clicking on the three horizontal lines at the top left of the home screen and then clicking on "Follow".  This will mean that you be notified of all new posts - I think - and it will help with getting the blog more widely known. Thank you for your interest and for the role that you play in your own parishes, schools, etc.