Grassroots Liturgist

“I believe in one, holy , catholic and apostolic Church.”   The Church is holy because God is holy, and because the Church is the Body of Christ with Jesus as the head.   And the Church and her sacraments help to make us holy.   This does not mean that all members of the Church are sin free – we are, all of us, sinners.   But there is a universal call to holiness; we are called to strive for sainthood, to be like God.   That is what we were created to be, and God took human flesh in Jesus that we might, like him, be holy. "The Son of God became man so that man might become God." (St Athanasius) Holiness does not diminish us, it enhances us.   There can a temptation to see holiness as negative, as merely being the absence of sin, maybe a bit worthy or dull.   But Jesus said that he came that we may have life, and have it abundantly (Jn 10:10).   When you meet a truly holy person there is a transparent radiance of joy, of goodness, and a res...

To be honest, this post has been churning in my head for twelve months.   The title has gone from “What does the Football World Cup teach us…” to “What does the [rugby] Six Nations...” to “What does the Cricket World Cup….” All of these sporting events are festivals; a celebration of their sports.   Assiduous preparations are made, invitations are sent out (though these invitations require credit card numbers) and the whole thing is eagerly anticipated.   Some of the greatest stars of their realm are assembled from all over the world and a wondrous drama unfolds. But what has often struck me most is the crowd.   For them, the drama doesn’t start when the match starts.   They have all been eagerly anticipating this moment for days or weeks, the excitement building up as the day draws near.   They will know everything there is to know about their team and its players, eagerly feeding their hunger for more knowledge through news outlets and social media; ...

I have been very quiet lately for several reasons, one of which being that I have taken on the role of chaplain at a secondary school, specifically with responsibility for liturgy.  It is a lovely school and the pupils are generally very acquiescent indeed.  But there is still the issue of whole-school liturgies - especially whole-school Masses - when there are relatively few baptised Catholics and very few of those are regular Mass attenders. The Eucharist is the source and summit of Christian life (Lumen Gentium No 11).  But this rather assumes that those who join together to celebrate the Mass are, on some level, consciously on a spiritual journey and have a desire to grow ever-closer to Christ.  Clearly, this is not the case with compulsory, all-school Masses.  But like any good teacher when planning a lesson, the school liturgist has to try and meet the pupils where they are and somehow make sure that there is 'something for everyone'.  In a genera...