August 6, 2010

• …happy are those who are called to His supper!

  

  And so, for the grant finale! I hope that you have enjoyed my series on the Mass; as always, any questions about the Mass or Catholicism are always welcome here or via message. Happy Feast of the Transfiguration!

   

  Pater Noster

  The priest then invites us to pray the prayer that Christ taught us, the one prayer that all Christians throughout the world hold in common, one part of every Christian’s Catholic heritage that has not been done away with. This is the prayer written on the hearts of every child of the Most High…

  Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name;
  thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
  Give us this day our daily bread;
  and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us;
  and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

  The celebrant prays: “Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”

  We respond: “For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and forever.” (Rev. 11:15 anyone?)

   

  Here we have gone from the Last Supper to the Garden of Gethsemane, when we pray like Christ that God’s will, not our own, be done. And just as it was in the Garden, though it was then as a betrayal, we are given some hope and encouragement as we then have a moment to be angels for one another.

  The Sign of Peace

  The celebrant says, “Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your apostles: I leave you peace, my peace I give you. Look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church, and grant us the peace and unity of your kingdom where you live for ever and ever.”

  “Amen!”

  “The Peace of the Lord be with you always.”

  “And also with you.”

  “Let us offer each other a sign of peace.”

  And so we do, following again the teaching of Christ when He teaches us: “Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” (Matt. 5:23-24) We recall that reconciliation which we sought near the beginning of the Mass with the Penitential Rite; now we express that reality with a handshake, a hug, a kiss; whatever is culturally and relationship appropriate. The only time of year when the Sign of Peace does not take place is on Good Friday, to remember that Christ was betrayed by the kiss of peace. At all other celebrations of the Mass (since technically there is no Mass on Good Friday), the sign of peace is a sign of joy, that though we will soon recall and participate in the Passion and Death of Our Lord, we already know that He will not be taken from us; He in fact has come to be with us even more closely than ever before!

  Agnus Dei

  “Then I saw standing in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and the elders, a Lamb that seemed to have been slain. He had seven horns and seven eyes; these are the (seven) spirits of God sent out into the whole world.” (Rev. 5:6)

  “After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb.” (Rev. 7:9-10)

  This for me is the most solemn part of the Mass, especially if the following words are sung to a particularly moving arrangement:

  “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us…Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us…Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace…”

  While the congregation proclaims this, generally while kneeling, the celebrant is breaking up the Host. I remember during the third week of my silent retreat, while we were being encouraged to contemplate for several days the passion and death of Christ, I was at Mass and because the Host is very thin and dry, it makes a cracking sound when it is broken. It was all I could do to not weep when I heard that noise during Mass and imagined the huge nails going into His hands and feet, cracking through ligaments and bones…

  Not long ago we sat with Him at table, we prayed with Him in the Garden, we came offering a sign of peace (though unlike Judas, ours is hopefully genuine!). Now we stand at the foot of the Cross, beholding the Lamb that was slain, seeing the wounds that will heal us; the priest holds up the broken Host above the chalice that contains His Precious Blood, saying, 

  “This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to his supper.”

  Unlike those brave few who followed Him all the way to Golgotha, we have been consoled in knowing already that He is risen; thus we can truly understand the words of the angel in Revelations 19:9 that say, “Blessed are those who have been called to the wedding feast of the Lamb!” Yes, for “These words are true; they come from God.” (same verse) Still, we are humbled, for though Christ died once and for all, He has never ceased to make of Himself an offering (remember the two-fold aspect of sacrifices). For “we proclaim Christ crucified” (1 Cor. 1:23), hence the tradition of the crucifix and not merely an empty cross. We do not crucify Him anew; we recall His constant self-offering for our constant sinning, His labor until He comes again to finish what He started. Who are we to receive such a gift? Well, we may as well say it, all of us , in the words of that centurion with the amazing faith that surprised even Christ. The congregation says together:

  “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.” (Matt. 8:8, Luke 7:6-7)

  Unlike the centurion, however, Christ will enter into the very temple of our bodies and not merely heal us, but remain to dwell within us always.

  Remember, too, that the Mass is the fulfillment of the Passover that was celebrated for centuries by our Jewish ancestors, and by many today. Like them, we have been given a Lamb to offer as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole household–the Church. Like them we have unleavened bread, we have wine and, like them, we must eat the Lamb.

  “Consummatum Est.” 

  In John 19:30 Christ, just before He dies, says, “It is finished.” It makes sense, then, that many non-Catholics would see the Eucharist as not being a participation in the passion and death of Christ, as though He were continuing to offer Himself, but as a reenactment, a memorial, or something otherwise symbolic, though nothing “actual” as we Catholics believe. His passion and death was all wrapped up on the Cross, as He states in the quoted verse. 

  But John in Revelations (the evangelist’s other book!) he is always talking about the “Wedding Feast” of the Lamb. Even his Gospel begins Christ’s public ministry with a wedding feast at Cana, and after that St. John the Baptist is talking about Christ as the Bridegroom (3:29). Clearly, St. John the Evangelist was trying to tell us something.

  We read about the creation of Adam in Genesis and how his bride, Eve, was taken from His side. St. John Chrysostom, writing in the 4th century, writes similarly about the creation of the Church, with the sacraments of Baptism (water) and Eucharist (blood) coming from His side. Is not the Church “flesh of His flesh,” His Mystical Body, brought into His life through Baptism and nourished by His Body and Blood? As St. John Chrysostom continues, “Do you understand, then, how Christ has united his bride to himself and what food he gives us all to eat? By one and the same food we are both brought into being and are nourished. As a woman nourishes her child with her own blood and milk, so does Christ unceasingly nourish us with his own Blood those to whom he himself has given life.”

  You see, Christ did not finish something with His death on the Cross (except, perhaps, Death itself!) but began something; I think the Latin translation of John 19:30 relates this far better by offering, “Consummatum est”–”It is consummated”–instead. In Jewish tradition, as continues in Catholicism, a man and a woman are not married until “the two become one flesh,” if you know what I mean. So sure, the wedding may be over, but the marriage has just begun. Likewise upon the Cross, when Jesus says, “It is finished,” He is saying that the two, Man and God, Christ and His Bride, have become one. The marriage has begun, and each time we come to Mass and partake in the Eucharist, we are celebrating that momentous occasion, renewing as a whole Church our vows and our covenant in Christ’s blood. And then, when all is reconciled and everything has been prepared, each person walks up one-by-one to the Bridegroom who is presented to them with the simple, declarative statement:

  “The Body/Blood of Christ.”

  Imagine, if you will, you who approach our Eucharistic Lord. What you see is a minister holding before you what appears to be a small piece of bread, but you know it or at least accept it to be more than that; the very living Body of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, broken for you, the eating of which will bring you eternal life. What you hear is “The Body/Blood of Christ,” but what you know is being said is, “Do you accept me as your personal Lord and Savior? As I am? Will you do for me as I have done for you? Will you join with me and serve me, will you be faithful to me? Do you believe what I have taught regarding this bread, what so many of my first disciples could not accept, but St. Peter and my closest friends did?”

  And thus the Catholic, by grace and faith, says, “Amen,” which means, “So be it; this I believe.” Do you see also, with this understanding, why only Catholics and those in communion are permitted to receive the Eucharist? Otherwise a person who does not hold these beliefs would stand before the Eucharistic Lord, be presented with what the Church believes, and would receive the Eucharist with lies in their heart; those not in communion with the Church do not say with their “Amen,” whether by word or by action (consuming the Host), “So be it; this I believe.” We do not exclude because we hate; we protect you from making a mistake!

  We hear in Galatians 3:28 that “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Truly in the Eucharist we see this reality lived out, for all people, regardless of gender, age, race, nationality, rich or poor, all are reduced to beggars coming to receive their daily bread. The Eucharist, especially when we all come forward to receive, is the moment when the marriage between Christ and the Church is consummated anew, for when we eat and drink that which sustains us, does it not become one with our flesh? And this “bread” that we eat, this “blood” that we drink, these are truly the Flesh and Blood of Christ; thus in this Sacrament the two become one flesh; Bridegroom and Bride are one. Yes, the Church is made up of men and women, male and female, but because we receive the Eucharist as a Church, united in our belief and our confession, this difference vanishes in the brilliant light of the union of Heaven and Earth. 

  Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept Him…

  There is normally a song or at least prolonged silence during and after communion. Once all who will receive have received and the vessels (paten and chalice) have been purified, the priest offers a short prayer before inviting everyone to stand.

  “The Lord be with you.”

  “And also with you.”

  Here the presider may offer a special blessing, but generally it is: “May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” We all make the Sign of the Cross while he says this, answering with “Amen!” We have ended where we began, in His name. Then:

  “Go in peace, to love and serve the Lord.”

  “Thanks be to God!”

  Finally, after we have made peace with our brothers and sisters, after we have gone to the Apostolic School of the Heart (Liturgy of the Word), after we have confessed our faith (the Creed) and brought our petitions to the mercy of God the Father (intercessory prayers), after we have brought a fitting sacrifice and offering to God in the Eucharist, after we have renewed our covenant and union with each other and with God through Christ, we find ourselves in a similar place as were the followers of Christ gathered in Galilee when Jesus Christ, here represented by His minister, the priest, says, “Go out to all nations…” Truly, as Christ says in John 17:18 “As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.”

  The word “Mass” comes from the same Latin word that our word “mission” comes from. The Mass is an opportunity for each follower of Christ to immerse their whole being in an experience of salvation history, of the Church of the Apostles, the Church that “devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles…” (Acts 2:42-43)

   

  Really, then, on Sunday it is not a matter of coming to Church and then going home. I encourage all my Catholic brothers and sisters–really, all Christians–to realize that when you come to your parish to celebrate the Eucharist, you are coming home from the vineyard. Here is where you come to be with your family, for who is your mother? Who are your brothers? As Christ said in Matthew 12:49-50 ”Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.” With God as Our Father, our Bread-Winner with Christ as our Bread, where we live not by bread alone but by the very Word of God that becomes our Bread, the Church is truly our home from where we are sent back into the world to live out faithfully all that we have been taught by the apostles, in the hope that more and more will desire to become a member of the family, that Christ’s great desire may be fulfilled in us, “that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.” (John 17:21…actually, read all of John 17 from the perspective of the Eucharist; it makes a lot of sense!) 

  So this FINALLY wraps up my epic series on the Catholic Mass (again, the Latin Rite; there are many ways by which the Church celebrates the Eucharist!). I hope that it has proven helpful, and please do feel free to always ask questions about the Mass, about any of the thoughts I have offered, or really anything Catholic in general. God bless all of you, and may all Christians indeed be one Church again one day!

   

  • 11:21 pm
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