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Active Participation in The Liturgy
Sermon of Sunday July 5, 1998
St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church
You heard me talk about it before, but since then we have
new members who have not heard it and for those who have, a
review has never hurt anyone: Repetutio Mater Studiorum
(Repetition is the mother of studies).
What am I talking about? Active participation at Mass.
What does it mean? First - it means the interior
participation of all the powers of the soul in the mystery
of Christ's Sacrificial Love. That means, that your mind and
heart are awake, alert and engaged. Secondly - Participation
involves exterior action; saying things and doing things. We
are talking about bodily gestures and sacred signs we use
during the course of the Mass, that is, the relationship
between soul and body in liturgical prayer.
I feel this is important for it seems that modern man has
lost this sense of the unity of body and soul, of the
interior man and the exterior man. A famous theologian of
this century states that the agent acting in the
liturgy, the one who prays and offers, is not the soul or
the interior spirit, but man. It's the whole man which
carries out the liturgical activity. The soul in so far as
it gives life to the body. The interior spirit, to be sure,
but only in so far as it manifests itself to the body.
We have a hard time getting this right. Either we act as
if the body is everything (which is one of the great
temptations of our day) or we act as though there is a great
divorce between body and soul and the body is of no account
at all. Remember the ultimate goal for us as Catholics is
not the immortal soul, but the resurrection of the body! So
the problem of the relation between body and soul remains.
Modern man boasts of the power of his intellect,
desperately searching for the sensual pleasure of the body
and forgets his soul altogether.
It is a rare thing when a person succeeds in integrating
the mind, soul and body into that unity of what the human
person is called to be; a man fully alive. This
problem shows itself in the liturgy. The solution according
to our theologian is liturgical formation.
Filled as we are with the negative spirit of the age,
we must learn once again to live our religion as men fully
alive. That is, we must lean to pray with out body also. The
way we carry ourselves, our gestures, our actions - these
things must become spontaneously religious in themselves. We
must learn to express our interior, exteriorly...we must
become capable once again of living a world of symbols.
How do we do this? Holy Mother Church offers us the key
in her sacred signs and gestures. Starting from the very
beginning of the Mass and going all the way to the end.
- Dipping the hand in Holy Water - a sign of
repentance of your sins, for protection against the evil
one, reminds you of your baptism.
- Sign of the Cross - do it deliberately, not
hurriedly, do it with reverence. The deepest mysteries
of our faith are contained here. In this liturgy, there
are many occasions when we must make the Sign of the
Cross:
- with Holy Water before Mass begins
- at the beginning of Mass itself
- at the Gospel
- at the rite of Baptism, confirmation, anointing
of the sick
- in the Divine Office, at the Bebeductys
and Magnificat
- Genuflecting before the Blessed Sacrament and bowing
before the altar. When you enter Church and go into the
pew, you genuflect, this is a greeting, a salute, if the
Blessed Sacrament is present, a bow if it is not.
- Standing - a sign of respect, reverence before God:
we stand as the priest enters at the beginning, at the
Gospel. During the Divine Office for the Benedictus
and the Magnificat (they are Gospel canticles)
- Beating the breast - this is done at the confiteor
during the words mea culpa (3 times). This is a
sign of repentance, of humility, like the parable of the
Pharisee and the Publican in the Gospel parable, we need
to take this gesture more seriously.
- Sitting - this posture of sitting is proper to the
Bishop, who teaches and to the head of the community who
presides. This is why the Bishop or the Abbot has a
chair, a Cathedra. The word Cathedral strictly
speaking, means the place where the Bishop's chair is.
- Folding hands - at the Gospel we stand and make the
Sign of the Cross; but what do we do with our hands? We
fold them. There are two basic ways of doing this: with
fingers interlocked, or with fingers straight, palm to
palm. When it says the hands folded, we understand it in
this way: palms extended and joined together in front of
the breast, with the right thumb over the left in the
form of a Cross.
- Kneeling - after the Gospel and homily, after the
preparation of the gifts, the great prayer called
The Canon begins. During this time we kneel. The
meaning of this gesture of kneeling is manifold:
- humble submission before the majesty of God
- penance and a spirit of repentance
- adoration and reverence in prayer
- Walking up to Communion - after the Canon the
Great Doxology, it is time for Communion. How do we
get from your pew to the Sanctuary (Communion Rail)? You
have to walk. Now it is not as self evident as it seems.
How to walk with dignity, to process? Walking is not
hurrying along at a kind of run, or shuffling along at a
snail's pace, but a composed and firm forward movement.
Don't look all around you this way and that.
Concentration on what you are about to do, or whom you
are about to receive.
- Receiving Communion - once you arrive at the
Communion Rail, kneel with dignity, hands crossed over
the breast. It is true that the more ancient way of
receiving Communion was in the hand. However, the
ancient way of receiving Communion in the hand gradually
changed, as a response to the occasions of abuse. By the
Middle Ages the custom had changed, and Communion on the
tongue was the rule. Here again we have to be taught.
Some people barely open their mouths, and it is
difficult for the priest to place the Host on their
tongue. Some open their mouth too wide and stick out the
tongue too far and there is the danger that the Host
will fall off. Let us avoid both extremes.
Now I have said nothing new. I have told you nothing you
don't know already. This has been just a reminder, that the
sacred signs and gestures of the Mass have great power to
open us up to the Holiness of God.
(This is a summary of an article from the May/June,
1998 Adoremus Bulletin written by Fr. Cassian
Folsom, O.S.B.)
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