17th SUNDAY YR B (Mass Explained: Part I)
Fr. Dwight P. Campbell, S.T.D.
Father McDermott and I just canceling the Mass this weekend and inviting everyone to go and see Country Thunder.
Would God be pleased? I don’t think so.
Would be it a sin to forget about Mass and go to Country Thunder? Yes, a mortal sin.
Why would God be offended if people missed Mass to go see country music singers perform? Well, because Sunday is the Lord’s Day; it is a holy day set apart by God for worship of Him: “God rested on the 7th Day after all the work He had done.”
We are His creatures and have an obligation to worship Him on Sunday – or Saturday evening.
A few days ago I was listening to the Catholic radio station, WSFI (88.5FM), and a man was giving a witness talk about how as a young person he thought the Mass was “boring,” until one day he heard the priest gave a homily in which he explained the Mass.
He said he found the explanation of the Mass fascinating, and has been going to Mass ever since.
In this year following the archdiocesan synod, we are urged to focus on evangelization. Archbishop Listecki has recommended that priests preach on the Mass, as a way to evangelize our people.
This week begins a series of Gospel readings taken from ch. 6 of St. John’s Gospel. In the first part of chapter 6, St. John relates how Jesus fed 5000 on a few loaves and fish; we are told that with just five loaves everyone ate until they were full.
This miracle is symbolic of the Eucharist, in which Jesus Christ feeds us with His own flesh and blood – and fills us superabundantly.
In the second part of ch. 6 of John’s Gospel, which we will read in upcoming weeks, we hear what is called the “Bread of Life” discourse, in which Jesus tells us that He is the “living bread” that came down from heaven, and that we must eat His flesh and drink His blood in order to have eternal life and be raised up on the last day.
I thought that these Gospel readings would provide a good opportunity to preach on the Mass; to explain the Mass.
Apriest told me many years ago, in reference to the Mass: “It all happens here.” What happens? The greatest event on earth – following the Incarnation (when God became man in the Person of Jesus Christ).
Jesus became man to save us from our sins, and the Mass is the re-presentation of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary which won for us our redemption.
Nothing greater on earth happens than the Sacrifice of the Mass – not even Country Thunder.
So I’ll begin today explaining the first parts of the Mass, from the beginning, and I’ll continue with my explanation the next time I preach on Sunday.
Mass is commonly introduced, you may say, with an entrance hymn. But the proper, or official, introduction to the Mass is the entrance antiphon, which is composed specifically for the Mass of the day.
Historically, the entrance antiphon was in Latin and there were musical compositions for it to be sung. With the English translation of the entrance antiphon that we use, we sing a simple chant at our Masses – though recently a number of people have written beautiful musical compositions for the entrance antiphons.
As the entrance antiphon is being sung, the priest at the beginning of Mass kisses the altar. Why does he do this? To honor the relics of martyrs which every altar should contain, and out of reverence for the place on which the sacrifice of Christ’s Body and Blood, under the form of bread and wine, will take place.
The Mass formally begins with the priest leading the people in the Sign of the Cross, which is the sign of our salvation and a profession of faith in the three Persons of the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Next, the priestinvites us to call to mind our sins, and then we pray the prayer that in Latin is called the Confiteor, which means “I confess.” At the very beginning of Mass, to prepare ourselves interiorly to enter into the sacred mysteries, we admit that we are sinners and ask God’s forgiveness for any sins we have committed.
Of course, by praying the Confiteor only venial sins can be forgiven; for mortal sins to be forgiven one must have recourse to the Sacrament of Penance and receive absolution from a priest.
After theConfiteorwe pray the Kyrie, eleison, which is Greek for “Lord, have mercy” – in the very early Church the Mass was in Greek, and this is a remnant even after the Church embraced Latin.
Traditionally, the Kyrie is chanted, as we often do here at Mass.
After the Kyriewe pray, or more often, sing/chant the Gloria, which begins, “Glory to God in the highest.”In this great hymn we extol the greatness of God as King and Father, and of His Son, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world; it ends by praising the three Persons of the Trinity.
We do not say or sing the Gloria during the penitential seasons of Advent Lent.
After the Gloria the priest prays the prayer that in Latin is called the Collect, or Opening Prayer, which often sets the theme for the Mass and its readings.
All of what I have described thus far is known as the introductory rites of the Mass. What follows are the two main parts of the Mass: first, the Liturgy of the Word, in which we hear the word of God proclaimed; then the Liturgy of the Eucharist, in which Christ’s Body and Blood is offered in sacrifice under the form of bread and wine, and Holy Communion is distributed.
For weekday Mass there is usually one reading from the Old or New Testament, then a Psalm, followed by the Gospel.
On Sundays, there are two readings before the Gospel: for most of the liturgical year, the first reading is from the Old Testament and the second reading is from the New Testament, as we heard today.
But during the season of Easter the first reading is taken from the Acts of the Apostles, which tells the history of the early Church after Christ’s Resurrection.
The Gospel contains the very words of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, and this is why we stand to hear the Gospel proclaimed. When the Gospel is introduced we make the sign of the cross on our forehead, our lips and our breast, and should say interiorly: “Lord, may the words of the Gospel be in my mind, on my lips, and in my heart.”
The homily follows: sometimes the priest hits a home run, sometimes a single or a double, and sometimes he may even strike out!
After the homily comes the Profession of Faith, or Creed, as it’s called, because it begins in Latin with “Credo” (“I believe”); here we profess our belief in the One God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Jesus as the God-man born of the Virgin Mary, His suffering, death and resurrection; in the Church as One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic, and in ourfuture resurrection from the death.We bow profoundly at the words, “He (Jesus) was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit . . .”
Then come the intercessions, when petition God for our many needs.
Throughout the entire Mass we strive to be attentive with full mind and heart. This is the authentic meaning of “active participation” at Mass: attentiveness.
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