Grassroots Liturgist

In a recent homily, our parish priest explained why he allows the collection to proceed before he prepares the altar, and then stands as the collection is taken to the sanctuary.   These are his gestures of respect to our own self-giving to God, made through the daily sacrifices we embrace to live in the light of the Gospel, and symbolised in our offerings.   As we reflected last time, true sacrifice is humbly submitting ourselves to God.   Our offering at the collection is necessary for the practical needs of our parish, but its significance is so much more.   It is a symbol of our life, our work, our labours.   And, in recognition that all comes from God, we offer our life and our labours to God in humble sacrifice.   Our financial offering is, in a very real way, an offering of ourselves.   And this is part of the priestly role that, as baptised Christians, we share with Jesus the Christ. “Pray, brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and your...

I suspect that the Offertory deserves and requires much more of our attention. Too often, we can be focussed on singing a hymn.   Or we allow our mind to wander before the ‘important bits’ start.   But we cannot begin to truly understand the Mass without an understanding of offering and sacrifice, and we really need to give our undivided attention to what is happening here.   Maybe, part of the problem is our understanding of the word sacrifice .   In modern usage it has a negative feel, as in giving up something valuable.   It can hold connotations of the brutal, barbaric human sacrifices made by the Incas and other ancient cultures.   Or perhaps the catechesis that we received as children wrongly suggested that the death of Jesus was to appease a God who demands bloody retribution for our sins. But true sacrifice stems from a deep acknowledgement that everything that we are, and everything that we have, comes from our Eternal God.   And the...

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...