Blogger Priest

Due to familiarity, we become so used to the Bidding Prayers at the Liturgy that we tend to mouth the responses with little reflection. It is not the volume of many voices that makes the prayer heard. It is not the number of those saying the responses that makes the prayer effective. At the Liturgy, we come together to be a sign to all that we are one body in Christ. “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.” All of us, because of God’s grace, are one with each other and one with Christ. A common response is “Lord, hear our prayer.” We are not so much addressing here Jesus Christ as Lord (although he is such by virtue of his divinity) but God the Father. Christ is praying with us as head of his body, the Church. Our prayer is offered in the name of Jesus Christ. This does not mean that we are name-droppers, but that we are conscious that Christ is still our intercessor and priest. There is a structure to the Church’s General Intercessions. We should pray for Christ’s Vicar on earth, our Holy Father. We should pray for civil authorities so as to “render to Caesar what is Caesar’s.” We should pray for universal needs, for victims of tragedies, those in war, those in poverty, etc. The greatest poverty is not to know God. We pray for the needs of missionaries and for those who cannot gather to pray in freedom as we do. So we should be conscious of the universal Church as much as we are of little parochial gatherings. Christ gives many examples in the Gospel of perseverance in prayer. There is no mathematical goal or a celestial number-counter scoring how many times we say, “Lord, hear our prayer.” Repetition is not a wakeup call for a deity who is oblivious to our petitions. Rather, he allows that perseverance and repetitive call to form us, the petitioners. We become in that praying what we ought to be— God’s children, asking our heavenly Father for our needs. This develops what we ought to be, members of Christ’s body praying with each other and for each other in union with Jesus Christ, our head. We ask him to take us with him in that Prayer of the Faithful to the throne of the Father, so that the Father will sees in us what he sees in his only begotten Son, dutiful and trusting children in whom he is well pleased.

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Have you ever noticed that Catholics are more inclined to think about the Holy Spirit at Confirmation, Pentecost or some novena than we are at Mass? Besides being the tag-on whenever the Big “Three” are mentioned in the Sign of the Cross or the ending of a prayer, we should be aware of the big role that the Holy Spirit plays in the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The Holy Spirit is invoked before the words of consecration when the priest’s hands are extended over the bread and wine. The Holy Spirit is called on specially to change the bread and wine into sacramental-physical presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The Holy Spirit hovered over the waters at the time of creation to bring order into creation. The Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary as the incarnate God took up residence in her womb. The Holy Spirit was there to launch the Church on the first Pentecost when he used the image of fiery tongues. We pray at Mass that we may be one in Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit. Instead of trying on our own to be pure, respectful and united to one another— do we invite the transforming presence of the Holy Spirit? Without the Holy Spirit and its indwelling, there will be no unity in family, society and with strangers. Another prayer during the Eucharist in the Canon is that those who receive the body and blood of Christ may be filled with the Holy Spirit. The corporeal presence of Christ in his physical reality remains in us after communion for about fifteen minutes. This is why we should spend a few moments in quiet thanksgiving after each reception instead of rushing out the door or immediately going about our socializing or business. But, although the sacramental-physical (substantial) presence of Christ is no longer with us, the presence of the Holy Spirit (sanctifying grace) remains with us until we unfortunately reject him by serious sin. That means that we carry God in us as we leave the liturgy. St. Paul asks us, “Don’t you know that you are temples of God?” If we are, then so are others. This, with all due respect, makes the Eucharist a very functional sacrament that is to increase the presence of the Holy Spirit in us. When we eat the body and blood of Christ, we are filled with the Holy Spirit. Whenever we have a moment, we should turn inward (to this presence) for strength, guidance and help as we go about our normal lives. This brief reflection on his presence is the basis of the command of Scripture to pray always, sharing our joy, surprises, inspiration and work with God himself. “Come Holy Spirit, make us more aware of your presence.”

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One of the most difficult forms of prayer is the Prayer of Praise. Petition comes easier because we know (or think we know) what we need. Thanksgiving is a little easier because we can easily realize all that we have been given. Sorrow stems from our knowledge of ourselves and of our actions. Praise, as I said, is more difficult; and yet, our Liturgy revolves around the praise of God. The angels have no difficulty because they “see” the glory of God. They are not bored or tired of “looking,” because God is infinite in all his beauty, wisdom and glory. Sometimes we think (in a silly way) we will be bored after a while in heaven. That is because we do not know God (directly). Like scientists here, the more they see and find, the more they proceed with inquiry. They are as humans hampered by distractions, fatigue or other human conditions. But this is not so in heaven. These conditions do not interfere with our praise of God. Our praise starts here on earth. We know by FAITH. We are limited by how we know in our human condition; nevertheless, we should praise God even in this life. Our Lord implies that there is beauty and wonder beyond our present condition when he says that “eye has not seen, and ear has not heard…what God has prepared for those who love him.” We cannot imagine what God has prepared for us in the life to come. Our Lord praised God the Father at the Last Supper even in his moment of human anxiety or distress at what it would cost him. We should be mindful of this as we hear the words of consecration. He gave praise and thanks to the Father before giving us that gift of the Holy Eucharist. Praise can occur, not only in times of exaltation, but also in dire moments. One word used, and that we take for granted, is “Alleluia.” This is a Hebrew word heard most prominently during the Easter season as we hail Christ who overcomes death and sin for us. We use it before the Gospel (usually singing it) because Christ is about to speak to us in his living Word. We say it at the conclusion of the Liturgy during Easter time, because we praise God for what he has done for us, namely, re-presenting his death and resurrection in the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The key to this word of praise is “el,” the Hebrew word for God. Angels have those letters in their names: Raphael, Michael and Gabriel. Even the Jewish airline is called “El Al.” In the composition of the word, “Alleluia,” you see the Hebrew letters, “el,” because we are praising God. Give emphasis and attention to the Alleluia the next time we sing it at Mass.

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What was said about the significance of the bread at the Offertory can be said of the wine that is changed into the sacramental-physical presence of the glorified Christ. No whether one receives the host or from the cup, one receives the whole and entire Christ. The sign value of the separate consecrations of the bread and wine is that we are proclaiming the death of Christ. Such was shown in his last moments by the separation of blood and body on the Cross— the sign of death. We need our drink as we need our bread for sustenance. So the Lord tells us to drink his blood as an indication of its life-sustaining value. As ordinary liquid is to our human life, the wine turned into precious blood sustains our spiritual life. Why did our Lord use those apparently indelicate words: “eat, drink, body and blood” in connection with the Eucharist? The words, “body and blood,” make it abundantly clear the kind of presence in the Eucharist. It is not the presence as hailed in God’s proclaimed Word, the Scriptures. Nor is it the same as in us when we are in a state of grace. Rather, it is the real substantial, living and glorified Christ. The only place his “physical” body is present is at the right hand of the Father and in the Eucharist. This is why we call it THE REAL PRESENCE. Not that the other presences are not real, but this is the presence par excellence. We respond to that spiritual reality by saying, “When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your Death, O Lord, until you come again.” He does not die again, but his real presence is actualized and presented to us in the Eucharist. Of course, Christ cannot suffer again, but the Mass makes present the death and resurrection of Christ. His dispositions at Mass are the same as they are on Calvary; he is obedient to his Father’s will and offers praise and thanks to the Father. The Eucharist is not only a divine presence, but a divine activity. He who is present is above and beyond time; he makes his death-resurrection present to us. The sign, bread and wine, changed into the body and blood of Christ under the appearance or accidents of bread and wine, does what they signify. Life, nourishment, strength and healing come to us from the Eucharist on our way to our Father’s house. Indeed, it is Christ under the appearance of bread and wine that helps us on that journey.

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Why did our Lord use bread and wine to give us his presence in the Eucharist? As in all the sacraments, the outward sign indicates what Christ is doing at the moment of reception of the sacrament. Bread is a sign of life. Even the hippies of old used the phrase, “Give me some bread, man” as a way of asking for that which would sustain them and their lifestyle. Bread is not something we get without work. There’s planting, growing, and reaping. In addition, the wheat has to be ground (connected to contrition). Then the ground wheat must be baked in heat (with yeast in some cases so it rises) and then we have bread. One can see that the finished product is the result of human labor. When used at the altar (unleavened bread in the West), we are saying that we offer God all that comprises our life: The sweat of our brow from labor, the joys of our life (as at harvest time) and the grinding of our selfishness in the separation of the wheat from the chaff. Yeast symbolizes many things in Christianity. The Eastern churches use yeast in the sacrament to signify the resurrection. Just as yeast causes the bread to rise, our work is offered up to the Lord. The symbolism of yeast is that our work is raised up by God as apostolic as we heed our Lord, “you are the yeast of the world.” Bread sustains us in our life’s journey; so does Christ sustain us in our way to our Father’s house. If our Lord intended, as he did, when he said, “eat my flesh,” he would have to have given us something that we could consume. The accidents of the consecrated bread allow that consuming. As Creator of all things, Christ could have chosen a precious metal, and changed its substance into his physical presence. We would be able to adore, but not consume it for that most intimate of unions between Christ and ourselves. There is thanksgiving involved. We thank God for the seed, the work, the harvest and then the bread. When bread becomes Christ, Christ gives thanks to the Father for us; hence, the name of the ceremony, “Eucharist,” which word means thanksgiving. But we do not give back to God just what he gave us, namely, wheat. We put the work of our lives into our gift. These are the words of our offering (over the bread): “Blessed (thanks) are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you: fruit of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life.” Today, the collection takes the place of the foodstuffs for the Church and the poor, since we have moved from the barter system to coinage as an indication that we are giving a portion of our lives. Does our offering to the Church and to the poor really represent a goodly portion of our livelihood, as the bread and wine were products of our life and labor in days of old? Are we aware that the bread stands for all the elements of our life— work, joys, sustenance and livelihood? Do we realize that our offering of bread becomes the presence of Christ and that those things for which the bread stands are offered to the Father by Christ along with his offering?

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When the sacrament of baptism is received, a personal relationship is set up between the person newly initiated and God. Often overlooked is the other relationship which is that of the family of faith— a bond between the baptized and with God. For want of a better description, the union between Christ (the head of our family) and the various members baptized or “born again” is referred to as the “mystical” body. We do not know the “how” of this union, only the fact that it exists. There are many members of the body, but one head who is Christ. This union is surely brought to our attention when we gather for the Eucharist. We all have the same last name, Christian. We all eat at the same table— we are family. We all have the same share in the life of Christ within us. This union is brought out clearly in the Prayer of the Faithful after the homily at Mass. We pray then as a family. Some of the petitions may not be on the top of our personal list of concerns, but it is the prayer of all the faithful. There is a structure to the Prayer of the Faithful. We pray for the Church, visible and invisible, for the Church’s teaching authority, the Vicar of Christ, the Pope. We pray for those oppressed by various needs (present and absent). Hence, we pray for victims of floods and earthquakes, the poor, and in short, for all our brothers and sisters in Christ. We pray for the needs of the sick. We pray for the deceased and for the salvation of the whole world. This is our family prayer. At each petition, the gathered faithful respond and pray for all. The response is either recited or sometimes even sung. However, it should never be said just perfunctorily or mumbled by rote. The response should be said in an emphatic way, demonstrating that we are conscious of who we are and of what we are doing in union with Christ, the great intercessor for his body, the Church. We can pray for the local community (parish) with specific intentions about the needs and work of our parish family.

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What’s in a name? The word “Eucharist” means thanksgiving. We all remember at least once a year to give thanks as we eat turkey, watch football, and take a day off. At least, I hope, we are thankful. But that word needs to be unloaded. We should be thankful to God. This thankfulness is not just a mood or disposition but a prayerfulness and fulfillment of a relationship with God. To alter a word in the operatic song, “every day is thanksgiving day for me.” The Scriptures tell us to dedicate ourselves to thankfulness. Does that mean we neglect prayers of asking, sorrow and adoration? No. But we may be neglecting thanksgiving at other times of the year. When we go to Mass, we must realize that Christ is still giving thanks (Eucharist) to God. Christ gives thanks to the Father. Christ can do this because he is also one of us, human. Listen to the words at Consecration: “… he himself took bread, and, giving thanks, he said the blessing…” Then “… he took the chalice, and, giving you thanks, he said the blessing…” When the bread is first offered, the celebrant says, “Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation…” That word, “blessed,” really means “thanks.” Notice the gesture of holding aloft the bread and wine. It is done in thanksgiving for all that God has given us. This bread will be changed into the living, substantial presence of Christ, still giving thanks in the Eucharist. We join our gratitude to his as between consecration and communion; Christ is giving thanks until we join him in a special way in thanksgiving. We thank him, and with him, thank the Father who is so good to us. It may be that on Sundays and weekdays, the faithful say to themselves, “I am going to church,” or “I am going to hear Mass,” or “I am going to celebrate the Liturgy.” All these phrases are good. But, maybe once in awhile, we could say to ourselves, “I am going to give thanks to and with Christ in the Eucharist”? There is no better way to give thanks to God than in this action, which gives us the word, “Eucharist” or “thanksgiving.” As the old prayer used to say, “What shall I give to the Lord for all he has given us? I will take the chalice of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.”

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While I have given some emphasis to the angels, we are also in the company of our beloved dead who are saints. The saints are our kinfolk, those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith. Some are well known, as the ones remembered at Mass and frequently found in religious art and statuary. The majority are members of our family and friends who have gone to the Lord without the notoriety of canonization. They are saints, nonetheless. The saints present to us many ways to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. There are martyrs, doctors of the Church, confessors, virgins, pastors, missionaries, etc. Some churches fill their windows with depictions of the saints and maybe statues, too. This reminds us that we are surrounded by the saints, our circle of friends. They are not far off, long ago, but with us praising God and interceding for us. They bring back to us the whole history of our Church in remembering them. They pray for us. We talk to them. In addition to famous saints, the personal saints of family and friends pray with and for us. Unfortunately, “out of sight is (often) out of mind.” Do we neglect calling upon our personal saints? Do we remember those to whom at death, we said, “I will never forget you”? Who is the saint whose name you bore at baptism? When was the last time you spoke to him or to her? What do you know of your patron, protector and intercessor? Are you conscious in the liturgy that you are not alone but surrounded by a host of witnesses? We join with them in praise and thanks to God. We also remember the souls in purgatory who are assured of heaven but cannot really pray for or help themselves. However, they can pray for us and they appreciate our prayers for them. The Church is full of people trying to live their faith; but, we do not do it alone. Our prayer and praise always includes the unseen members of our family in faith. What a great gift is our faith! We are so very privileged to know these blessings from the Lord!

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We attend the liturgy in a church, not just for our private and personal prayer, but for the prayer of the whole family. The saints and angels also pray with us. How many times do we advert to the presence of the angels at Mass just before the Canons at the “Holy, Holy, Holy,” when we say “with the Angels and all the Saints we declare your glory, as with one voice we acclaim….” We pray also that the angels will take this sacrifice to the altar in heaven. At the funeral Mass we say, “May the angels lead you into paradise.” Many churches have angels on either side of the tabernacle and/or in the stained-glass windows. The angels of God constantly sing God’s praises because they see the face of God. How many turn to the personal guardian angel which we each have? When was the last time you spoke to your guardian angel? They are not just for children, but for all of us. There was a prayer that many of us used to say: “Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom his love commits me here. Ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.” Your angel prays and praises God with you in the liturgy. All of God’s saints and angels are with us in our prayers. As the familiar prayer here says, they guard, protect and guide. They have been given this commission by God to care for us. Are we conscious of praying to them (for intercession and help) and praying with them at Mass? Many years ago, we used to say a prayer at the end of Mass to St. Michael the Archangel. His name means “he who is like to God.” Archbishop Michael Curley was the Ordinary and he regularly referred to his patron saint name in catechesis about the importance of this special messenger from God. As sort of an inside joke, if you look at the archbishop’s chair at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in the sanctuary, you will see the words, “Quis ut Deus,” which means “who is like to God.” We place great confidence in Michael. Michael drove Satan into hell. Is not our world in need of invoking him again to protect the Church (that’s us) from the diabolical time and atmosphere in which we live? We should be saying, “Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.” You are not alone at Mass. In addition to your fellow Catholics, you are with your guardian angels. Sing with them. Rejoice with them. Speak to them. Do this so that you may one day stand with them at the throne of God, just as they stand at your side during your mortal pilgrimage to the home prepared for you in your Father’s house.

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