Posts

How we can receive more from the Mass - 19

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 only fitting response to this is

How we can receive more from the Mass - 18 (Universal Prayer/Prayer of the Faithful)

If we stop to think about it, there is a wonderful, organic flow to the celebration of Holy Mass that is in harmony with the needs of our fallen human nature. We gather in song, a sign and celebration of our unity as members of the Church.   We then acknowledge to ourselves, to each other and to God, our failings and our need of him.   Then, liberated by his loving mercy, we may truly and joyously sing his praise in the Gloria.   Having done so, we are more able to open our ears, our minds and our hearts to listen to and absorb, to assimilate his life-giving Word to us; that his Word may written on our hearts, and not remain mere external instruction.   And, fed and nourished by his Word, we can confidently state our shared faith in the words of the Creed. Then, having expressed our baptismal faith, we exercise our baptismal priesthood – yes, all the baptised share in Christ’s priestly ministry – by offering up to God our intentions and petitions for the Church and for the world.  

How we can receive more from the Mass - 17 (Creed - catholic and apostolic)

“I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.”   Have you noticed that the word catholic in the Creed does not have a capital letter?   Have you wondered why not? It’s because ‘catholic’ is being used as an adjective, not a proper noun.   From the early to mid-2 nd Century, when the Church was still in its infancy, the Church Fathers described the church as catholic in the sense of ‘throughout the whole’ or ‘universal.’   So, the Church and the Good News that it teaches is not for a select few from certain countries or demographics, but for every single person in the world.   Our Lord said, “I will build my church” – not ‘churches’ (Mt 16:18).   His vision is that all are in communion in one faith; that we are united in faith with fellow believers that we will never meet.   The next mark of the Church articulates one way in which we are to be united – apostolic .   The birthday of the Church is Pentecost, the day when, filled with the Holy Spirit, the apostles s

How we can receive more from the Mass - 16 (Creed - the Church is holy)

“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 resilience that enables them to