The blog header depicts an important and yet mis-understood New Testament scene, Jesus flogging the money-changers out of the temple. I selected it because the faith that gives us consolation can also make us very uncomfortable. Both Divine Mercy and Divine Justice meet in Jesus. Priests are ministers of reconciliation, but never at the cost of truth. In or out of season, we must be courageous in preaching and living out the Gospel of Life. The title of my blog is a play on words, not Flogger Priest but Blogger Priest.
After the Gloria hymn, the priest says to the congregation, “Let us pray.” Too often the celebrant, myself included, speeds immediately to the opening prayer itself. Ideally, he places his hands together and pauses. It is during this time that everyone should maintain sacred silence and call to mind all the needs and intentions we bring to the celebration. Indeed, the name of the opening prayer signifies how the priest “collects” the entire gathered community with all their personal intentions into his prayer that is prescribed by the Church. Congregants should reflect and compose these intentions either before coming to Mass or during a quiet time of preparation before the liturgy begins. Just as the priest can apply the fruits of the Mass that come to him for others; those in the pews should remember their needs and those for whom they have promised to pray. The Mass is our most effective prayer and should not be neglected in its power to bring grace and healing. The Mass is not just the sacerdotal work of the priest but belongs to all who join themselves to his prayer and offering of Jesus to the Father. Our worship has rubrics but it should not be done in a robotic or mindless manner. While too many people miss Mass, many more in the pews fail to “collect” their thoughts and to appreciate what they are doing. If not announced at Mass, parish bulletins usually publish the various priest-intentions for Masses on Sunday and during the week. However, the worshipper is not obliged to restrict his prayers to the public intention of the priests. Various fruits or spiritual benefits come to all who conscientiously participate at Mass. Later in the liturgy, particularly in the bidding prayers and the Eucharistic prayer there will again be opportunities to recall our secret petitions and the general intentions for the Church, for the living and for the dead.
We can mentally bring almost anything to the Mass. When a Catholic tells others that he will pray for them, this applies not just to bedtime prayer but to our dialogue with God at Mass. Like all prayer, it should come from the heart. If the love of God brings us to worship him, then it is this same love that spills over in our prayers for family, friends and yes, even enemies. We pray for the sick and for those who have died. We pray to discern our vocation. We pray for employment so as to keep a home and provide for loved ones. We pray for the Church in general or maybe the local priest in particular. (This may in part be the antidote to so much calumny in the modern Church.) The list goes on and on. Given that there is no limit to the graces available in the Eucharist, a family might even write out a private list to recall when going to Mass. This does not mean that we can go to Mass once and be done with prayer. While the graces of the Mass are infinite, our capacity to receive grace is limited by our disposition for divine help. Just like eating— we need to eat a little each day— not eat a month’s worth of food at one sitting.
The opening prayers vary from Sunday to Sunday, although there are special prayers for saints, special occasions, particular liturgies as in weddings and funerals, and daily seasonal prayers as during Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter. The Collect regularly gives us the theme of the liturgy. The priest extends his hands and prays. After the priest has spoken the prayer, the people respond, “Amen.” They have joined their prayers as one. They have affirmed the prayer of the Church.
Disposition is crucially important if we are to avail ourselves of the riches that come from the liturgy. Each part is linked to the rest as a whole: Introit or Entrance Son, Sign of the Cross, Greeting, Confiteor, Kyrie, Gloria and Collect. All together the introductory rites have prepared us for the Word of God.
The Gloria uses five words in sequence as synonyms for each other: “We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you,” and then a fifth closely aligned word, “we give you thanks for your great glory.” Certainly there is a matter here of emphasis that comes with repetition. But there are also nuances of meaning that expand upon our response to God’s majesty.
We “praise” God for just being God. Even if we were given nothing in return, it is the posture of the creature to praise the Creator. Men and women as the stewards of creation do this in a conscious and active manner. The lesser acknowledges the greater.
As in the psalms, all of creation just by its existence “blesses” God who is the source of all blessings. Something of the divine spark that breathes life into things and gives them order and purpose is reflected back. “Bless the LORD, my soul; all my being, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, my soul” (Psalm 103:1-2). This form of blessing and praise is spontaneous, akin to a necessary reflex. We see this in Psalm 148. God is blessed or praised “in the heights,” by “all his angels,” by “sun and moon,” by “shining stars,” by “highest heavens,” by “waters above the heavens,” by “sea monsters,” by “lightning and hail, snow and thick clouds,” by “storm wind,” by “mountains and hills,” by “fruit trees and cedars,” by “animals wild and tame,” by “creatures that crawl and birds that fly,” by “kings and all peoples,” by “young men and women too,” and by “old and young alike.”
When we “adore” or offer adoration to almighty God we are literally praising God on the level of worship. Catholics also use the word adoration for devotion to Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. This is a testimony to his divinity as divine worship is restricted to God. Such praise offered directly to anything less would constitute false worship and the sin of idolatry. We may offer special devotion to Mary and veneration to the saints but true worship is always directed to God. Indeed, the proper object for all Christian prayer is almighty God, even when we beseech intercessory prayer from one another and the saints in glory. We are asking them to pray with and for us to almighty God. The highest or most important prayer of adoration or worship is the Mass. Giving “glory” to God is literally to join the angels in what is the eternal operation of heaven, glorifying God. There is nothing lacking in God that we can give him. Giving glory really reflects a movement in the creature. All eyes in paradise share the beatific vision in seeing God. The creatures of heaven, angels and men, find themselves in glorifying God. It is at the heart for which we are made. As the old catechism relates, God made us so that we might know him, love him and serve him in this world and give glory to him forever in the next. Our spiritual penetration of the Trinity will allow us as finite creatures to enter ever deeper and deeper into the divine mystery. We will know God and share in divine love but such glorification of God can never exhaust who he is. Rather, beginning now, we are the ones transformed and graced by such worship, first at the Mass and later at the heavenly banquet table.
We also give “thanks” to God, yes for his glory but also for how this glory has been expressed or realized in his revelation and many gifts to us. God gives us life and those things necessary for sustaining and enriching life. He also gives us his Son, Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Indeed, this is why the word Thanksgiving or Eucharist becomes a sacred name for this holy sacrament. The whole Church around the world and throughout all human history joins with the hosts of heaven in giving thanks to God. The Gloria concludes almost as if it were a creed. We profess both the divine unity (the natural revelation and faith that God is one) and the supernatural understanding of God as a Trinity of persons.
The hymn of the angels on the night of the first Christmas becomes our own. The incarnation realizes God coming down from heaven so as to enter the family of men. Similarly the Mass will allow this same Christ to be present in bread and wine as our saving food. Nothing and no one could force God’s hand. The Word becomes flesh purely because God so loved us that he sends his beloved Son, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity. He would lay down his life and then take it up again. Nothing would ever be the same.
Back in the Christmas of 1985 the song “Kyrie” by the rock band Mr. Mister was all over the radio waves. Religious people were surprised to hear the Greek words that are sometimes chanted at Mass: Kyrie Eleison or Lord, have mercy. While I cannot speak for what was in the mind of the composer, one should take note that the image of wind to which it refers is often associated with the mysterious movement of the Holy Spirit. After a cry for divine mercy, the song begins: “The wind blows hard against this mountainside, across the sea into my soul. It reaches into where I cannot hide, setting my feet upon the road. My heart is old, it holds my memories. My body burns a gem-like flame. Somewhere between the soul and soft machine is where I find myself again.” We are composites of body and spirit. While we live in the present, each of us is haunted by the past. Our memories are a part of us. We are pilgrims in this world, seeking to find ourselves and meaning. Nothing is hidden from God. His providence mysteriously guides our footsteps. Crying out Kyrie Eleison over and over, the singer is saying Lord, have mercy “down the road that I must travel— through the darkness of the night.” This would not make a bad prayer. Next, the singer reflects upon the dreams of youth and wonders about the path he has taken. How many times have we regretted some wrong choices or just different turns and thought about how our lives could have been very different? Ultimately we are all pilgrims and as Christians we are called to take up our crosses so as to follow Jesus. As fishers of men we are commissioned to take others with us into the boat of the Church, companions for the journey. This too is referenced in the song: “Kyrie Eleison where I’m going, will you follow? Will you follow? Kyrie Eleison on a highway in the night. . . . Kyrie Eleison on a highway in the light. Kyrie Eleison down the road that I must travel.”
While we may live in a society that distorts virtue and vice, the Church has seen the emergence of the Divine Mercy devotion. We admit we are sinners and that we desperately need forgiveness and healing. This mercy is linked to reconciliation with others, a truth proposed in Mark 11:25 prior to prayer and worship. It is also the admonition of the Lord’s prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” This is the meaningful backdrop to the Confiteor as well. The Kyrie at Mass will often include tropes or insertions to focus where we need assistance: healing the contrite, calling sinners and intercession. Note that in the New Testament the forgiveness of sin and the liberation of the possessed is often associated with physical healings— the lame walk— the blind see— the deaf hear— the mute speak— the lepers are cleansed. There is an intimate connection between the body and the soul. Indeed, the justified and glorified dead in Christ will be restored body and soul. We will not be disembodied ghosts forever. Our bodies will not remain corpses or dust. We will be made brand new and imperishable. The identity of each of us as a complete composite must be reassembled and healed. I have often thought that should we find ourselves facing eminent death, the cry we should make is precisely Kyrie Eleison or Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. If this prayer should come from the heart and in true faith, we are assured that it will be heard. The Mass celebrates both a saving death and resurrection. The Mass is the incursion of eternity into our immediate time and space. Thus it makes sense that we chant Lord, have mercy as we enter into the great mystery.
The Kyrie switches from “Lord, have mercy” to “Christ, have mercy” and back again to “Lord, have mercy.” Our worship is directed to the Father, but it is Jesus, the second Person of the Trinity, that makes possible our approach to God. We struggle with our sins and our tendency to sin or concupiscence. St. Paul speaks of this in Romans 7:19: “For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.” We begin our worship as realists who know we are undeserving. We are culpable for the passion and death of Jesus— the terrible price of our sins. But we seek to take the Lord up on his offer of mercy. As with the disciples, the devil has sought to claim us but Jesus snatches us from his hand. “Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31-32). Jesus vocalizes this prayer from the Cross: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
Toward the end of the penitential act there is what we might call a conditional or subjunctive “absolution” prayer. It is the remnant of a two-part oration from the former version of the Roman rite. The Mass prayer (the Indulgentiam) was thought redundant and overly resembling the formula from confession: “May the Almighty and merciful God grant us + pardon, absolution, and remission of our sins.” Particularly given the use of the vernacular, its omission helps to avoid confusion with the sacrament of penance. The Misereatur is now said once by the priest: “May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.”
The penitential rite can be replaced by a sprinkling rite, especially during the Easter season. We are reminded of our baptism when we became adopted sons and daughters of the Father, members of the Church, gifted with sanctifying grace and forgiven of sin. What we were can be restored by the gift of the Lord’s mercy. We are all Zacchaeus up a tree, and only Jesus can get us down (Luke 19:1-10).
The admonition found in Scripture and echoed in the mission of the Church is “repent and believe.” We must make room for saving faith by contrition, penance and amendment of life. We acknowledge at the very beginning of the liturgy that Jesus’ fundamental mission which he shares with the Church is the forgiveness of sins. We admit that we are unworthy of divine mercy and yet we implore it as a gift that the Lord has promised to grant. Left to ourselves, we cannot save ourselves. The elect must be washed in the blood of the unblemished Lamb. We must be one with Jesus who as man can offer an oblation and as a divine person can make it efficacious. This posture is vital for those who desire to render pleasing worship to God. Jesus is the All Holy One with whom we must be joined or grafted. We admit from the start that we have fallen short and yet in Christ we can know absolution, transformation and unity with our great High Priest.
Priest and people say this prayer together and yet for each it is deeply personal. “I confess to Almighty God . . . .” We confess our dependence upon God. We are honest about our sinfulness. This prayer runs against the grain of an arrogant world where too many rebel and literally shout in their dissent, “No one, not even God, can tell me what to do!” Our confession is not of particular sins as in the sacrament of penance but rather of a sinful or spiritually wounded condition. Our approach to God is viewed through the immaculate prism of Mary’s Magnificat as “the handmaid of the Lord.” We can only truly please and worship the Lord if we (like her) are free of grievous sin. She spoke her “fiat” for the whole human race; now we must speak for ourselves. Genuine humility will allow nothing of narcissism or hubris. Literally we are asking the Lord to dispose us to grace. The Confiteor is a surrender of the self to God and to the truth that God already knows about each and every one of us. It is also a corporate admission of fault and dependence before the believing community. As in the parable of the king who discovers someone improperly dressed for his banquet and has him thrown out, the Confiteor is an effort to put on the wedding garment of the Lamb— to put on Christ— so as to be properly prepared for the bounty that comes from the liturgy. One commenter has compared it to taking off one’s dirty shoes so as not to spoil the clean carpet of a neighbor’s home. We want to leave our sins at the steps outside the doors to God’s house. But we must be careful. My corrective is that we do not want to be Sunday saints and weekday sinners. It is more pressing that we should go out different from how we come in. Maybe a better analogy would be to see the liturgy as a carwash? Made clean by grace we are to shine as brand new; praising God with the saints at Mass and reflecting Christ on the highways of the world outside the church.
We cry out “through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault or “mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.” The revised or dare I say “corrected” translation has us repeat these words three times. Why? It respects human nature and the fact that notwithstanding our best intentions, we endure a constant struggle with concupiscence and sin. We return to the confessional again and again, despite making the resolution to avoid sin and to change our lives. It acknowledges that we are a work in progress. The Mass itself is a re-presentation to which we return again and again even though the oblation is accomplished in time once and for all on Calvary. We repeatedly return so that the work that Christ has started in us will be accomplished.
As sinners we readily discern how we fall short in being Christ’s disciples in our thoughts, words and deeds. While confession is good for the soul, many conceal secret selves where thoughts are tainted and hearts are corrupted. We are each to some degree Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll concealing the darkness of Mister Hyde, coveting what does not belong to us, hating what we should love— all the time fearful of any exposure of the truth. We are ashamed or at least we should be. If there should be no remorse or sorrow or contrition then we would assuredly become what Dr. Scott Peck calls “the people of the lie.” As for the sin of the lips, we live in a time of dire dysfunction in communication. Calumny and mockery poisons discourse in the public forum, in Church dialogue and in family communion. We seem to posit everyone as the enemy and the curse displaces the blessing. This needs to change and there is no better place to start than at Mass. We are called to love those who are hard to love, including those who hate us. When it comes to our deeds, we live in an age when every commandment is broken, often without concern. Indeed, some celebrate the deadly sins. Meanwhile, many who claim a high ground to Catholic discipleship either dissent quietly on matters of faith and morals or are culpable for failing to do the things we should do. Such is the hypocrisy of those arguing for human rights and dignity while pandering to the exploitation of women, deriding unwanted immigrants as drug-dealing mongrels and rapists, promoting capital punishment as if it were a personal vendetta, and enabling the abortion of millions of children. If we are to be like Jesus, we must not ignore the rights and needs of the poor, the forgotten and the oppressed. Good or bad, the penitential rite demands that we face the truth about our sinfulness and brokenness.
We invoke our brothers and sisters, as well as the Blessed Mother, because we know that none of us come to the Lord alone. This truth is so from the very beginning as most of us first come to be disciples as babies in the arms of our parents and godparents at the baptismal font, the womb of the Church. The Mass is a command performance where we come together as sinners hoping to become saints. We are called to avoid evil and to do good. But we have all been found wanting. Especially today given Western materialism, we are the rich man who goes away sad because his possessions are many (Matthew 5:23-26). The focus is not upon particular sins but our general sinfulness and how we will always need Jesus as the Divine Mercy. Christ must be our abiding treasure. Our Lord would have us love as he loves, beginning with God and then with ourselves and finally with others in the human family.
The catalyst that facilitated the violation of the Capitol was not simply the agitation of a few gathered at one minor rally; rather, it was a disordered and chaotic reaction from a small contingent representative of millions of voters suffering angry disbelief at the election results. Yes, this shock went to the top of the ticket, motivating charges of election fraud. Instead of transparency throughout, and a lack of graciousness from the winners, President Trump and all who supported him were maligned as fools and racists. Instead, there should have been caution in speech and action without partisan rancor. Trump lost the election with more votes than had Obama when he won. Our nation was still deeply divided and the President’s supporters remained energized by the populism of a leader that gave voice to millions of Americans who thought they were not being heard, or worse, villainized by critics on the left. Indeed, even many moderate and conservative Republicans felt their party had been hijacked, creating tension between the executive and legislative branches. After the loss it was evident that both parties were being manipulated by opportunists.
Just look at the debates where ideas were shunted aside and every calumny and name-calling was employed to destroy the other side. While President Trump was an expert at such combative jargon, both sides were reduced to this style of debate that attacks persons to the detriment of ideas and policies. During the Obama and Trump and now the Biden administrations, instead of working with each other as fellow Americans, those in opposition are caricatured as dishonest, abusive and traitors. Today, business is done by presidential edict and not through congressional deliberation and consensus. The real danger to American democracy is not to be found in a crowd of crazies and drunks that trespassed upon the Capitol, but by an atmosphere of perpetual partisanship where voices are not heard and little to nothing of substance gets done. President Biden may have won the election with 81,268,924 million votes; but we cannot reunite a nation while smearing the 74,216,154 million that voted for President Trump. January 6 will be remembered as reprehensible but not as a genuine threat to American democracy; our country is too resilient to be taken down by such foolishness. But, having said this, there are far more dangerous problems that professional politicians either ignore or reinterpret for their own benefit. No one in his or her right mind would compare what happened to D-Day or 9-11, or so I thought. Let us stop being silly and get serious. We need statesmen that govern and not politicians who are engaged in perpetual campaigning. We need sober dialogue, a respect for persons and a renewed regard for the truth. We need to get control over national debt, resolve the pandemic, devise a sustainable policy about immigration, ensure the security of our nation and our allies from military aggression and terrorism, and put America back to work. We also have to face the hard truth that government cannot solve every problem by throwing money at it.
It is joked that we have the best politicians “that money can buy” but the joke is on us and it is not funny. We need men and women with personal integrity and corporate responsibility to govern wisely.
As with most Christian prayer, the Mass really begins with the priest and people making the sign of the cross. Indeed, congregants have likely already blessed themselves with holy water in the saving sign by invoking the Trinity and recalling their baptism at the entry to the church. At the end of Mass they do the same by remembering their commission as prescribed in Matthew 28:18-20 where Jesus says: “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Two essential truths of Christianity are invoked— the Cross by which we are redeemed and the chief revelation given to us of God as one but also as a Trinity of persons. The signing in the cross serves as a dedication. We are saved by the Cross and we belong to Christ. All that we are about to do (this saving work and collaboration between the priest and people) belongs and is directed to the Lord.
The celebrant greets the faithful with the words, “The Lord be with you.” The congregants respond, “And with your spirit.” Priest and people alike are welcomed into an encounter with the Lord. Jesus Christ will lead us in the perfect worship of the Father. We acknowledge the God we cannot see and yet invite him into our souls. This signifies something of our corporate faith and that we need to be in right relationship with each other and in a state of grace before our heavenly Father. At this point the celebrant may speak to the congregation in his own words regarding the specificity of the given liturgy.
A prescribed antiphon (Introit) may be said or sung at the beginning of Mass. If the priest recites it then it is moved to after the sign of the cross and greeting. On Sundays a religious hymn is frequently substituted to accompany an Entrance Procession. There is an antiphon for Holy Communion that can similarly be replaced by a sung hymn. Although not in the Roman Missal, an antiphon might be chanted during the Offertory; but usually it is either omitted or replaced with a hymn. While not strictly mandated by the rubrics, solemn Masses as on Holy Days and Sundays, most often in practice conclude with a recessional hymn.
After the Last Supper the Scriptures tell us that the apostles go singing to the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:30). That which was celebrated in Passover celebration is now to be realized in time. The time of their redemption is at hand. They joyfully sing hymns of thanksgiving. What do they sing? No doubt they chant the great “Hallel” psalms of praise (113-118). The Lord would bring light from the darkness. Our Lord would endure betrayal by Judas and his arrest by the high priest’s guard. He enters into his prophesied passion and death. The Mass begins.
The hymn can induce an atmosphere conducive to worship, unifying in song the congregated people of faith. Too often the lyrics of religious songs stray from the parameters of sacred music. I often thought this was the case with much of the folk song (but not all) that we regularly sang in the days immediately after the transition to Mass in the vernacular. All secular songs and many religious compositions work better on the radio and around the campfire than in the church. The old Mass faced a similar dilemma, albeit when classical pieces became so elaborate that they overwhelmed the worship itself. Pope Pius X favored a restoration of simplified Gregorian chant over the polyphony and orchestration that would be more at home in a concert hall. Somewhat in contradiction, I read Pope Benedict XVI lamented that the works of Mozart, Bach and others fell from use in the liturgy given that the compositions so powerfully raised hearts and minds to God and represented the highest expressions of human genius and creativity to honor almighty God in music. Nevertheless, liturgical music should find its home in the Mass, not as a disjointed entertainment but as an integrated prayer. Appropriate liturgical song reflects its particular placement and functionality in the liturgy as well as the theme (in the readings) or season in the liturgical calendar.
When the processional reaches the altar, the priest and servers bow. Given that the tabernacle may be situated behind the main altar, they might genuflect instead. There are many genuflections during Mass, directed to either the altar or tabernacle. Sometimes it is wondered why some priests only bow. Most of the time this deviation from the norm simply has to do with aging ministers with bad knees and aching backs. But the clergy do what they can, trusting that both God and the Church understand accommodations for age and fragility. (A traveling female friend tells me of a priest who is pushed in a wheelchair to a small table in front of the main altar of his church. Two men assist him at Mass by raising his arms and manipulating his frail hands. The parish is poor and lacks professional musicians but as soon as he begins to sing with his weak and wavering voice he is immediately accompanied by the congregation. My friend shares with a congregant after Mass, “It is too bad you do not have a healthy priest.” The parishioner sharply responds, “What do you mean? We have our priest and the Mass, what more could we want?” The solidarity with the old sick priest and the underlying truth of what she says brings me to tears. At a time when the liturgy wars in the Church fight over accidentals, here is a community that knows what it is really all about.) Returning to the procession, if there is a deacon he may carry the Book of the Gospels, placing it on the altar. At the time for the Gospel he will process with it from the Altar to the Ambo, visually illustrating the link between the table of the Eucharist and the table of the Word. The priest (and the deacon) venerate the altar with a kiss. The altar is symbolic of Christ. A server places the processional cross in its holder, facing the people. Today it is mandated that there is a crucifix on the altar facing the priest. Incense may be offered toward the altar. If so it will later be used at the Ambo prior to the proclamation of the Gospel. Later it will be offered over the gifts upon the altar and may include an incensing of the priest, other ministers and the assembled worshippers. The meaning is always the same. We desire our prayers to rise like the smoke of the incense to almighty God (see Psalm 141:2).
The Mass is primarily the work of Christ on Calvary and by extension the work of the Church in its sacramental re-presentation. The word “liturgy” literally means work of the people. Our Lord reveals his infinite and sacrificial love for us. We are called forth to enter into this love and to offer ourselves with Christ as an oblation or gift to our heavenly Father. We obey the commandments about keeping the Sabbath and worshipping the one true God. We keep the most fundamental precept of the Church. Everything that the Church is, flows from the Eucharist. It is said that where ever we find Peter, we find the true Church. It could also be said, that where ever we find the Eucharist, we also find the Church. The narrative of the Last Supper given by St. Paul is the manner by which he celebrates the Eucharist. The Mass finds it roots in the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross and the Lord’s Supper which intimately signifies or makes this mystery present for all generations in remembrance of him. It is a meal and a sacrifice. Jesus is made present in the mystical body of God’s people, in the ordained priest at the altar, in the Word proclaimed and in the Eucharist that is shared.
Our appreciation of the redemptive work of Christ is found within Christian anthropology in terms of the Creator to the creature dynamic. Catholicism would speak less of wrath and more about the honor of God and divine justice. Jesus makes satisfaction for the infinite dishonor shown to almighty God by our sin. It is a debt in justice that we owe but could not pay as finite creatures. God so loves us that he sends his only Son as a member of the human family. As one of us he could render the propitiation or oblation that is demanded. As a divine Person he could do so with infinite satisfaction, something we could not do. It goes back to the biblical maxim that only God can forgive sins. We cannot save ourselves. Only God can save us. He does so from our side of the equation. It is as if our names are upon the nails of the Cross. As a mortal man he is vulnerable to the passion and crucifixion. As God he could surrender his life for each and every one of us and then take it up again in the resurrection. He did not have to do this. No one and nothing could compel him. He does so freely. Jesus dies for the accumulative sins of all humanity throughout all time. The Mass allows us to be present at the saving mystery and to offer ourselves as grafted to him as an acceptable sacrifice to the Father. His act of love conquers suffering, sin and death.
The recent statement (2021) and document being prepared by the USCCB on the Eucharist is part of a three year program to emphasize the meaning of the great sacrament for Catholics. The whole business of dissenting politicians and Eucharistic reception is entirely a side-note on the periphery of this initiative. We should all be properly disposed to receive Holy Communion. What must be a major concern is that the sacrament that feeds and heals the soul of one in a state of grace can literally bring down judgment and conviction to the soul of another in mortal sin or lacking sufficient supernatural faith.
I will state something that is at the heart of the current debate about Eucharistic reception: You cannot credibly say AMEN to the invisible but REAL presence of Christ in the host while saying NO to the invisible but REAL presence of one made in his image hidden in the womb. The mystery of the incarnation makes every child a reflection of the Christ Child. While on the archdiocesan priest council I asked, how would we respond to one presenting himself for Holy Communion who was a known Nazi favorable to Jewish genocide or a powerful white supremacist enabling black lynching? Are the unborn in the womb any less human and persons of incommensurate value? No answer was forthcoming except a vote that I would decidedly lose. Afterwards, I was censured for my bluntness on this matter by the now discredited Cardinal McCarrick. Nevertheless, this is a truth that I will repeat again and again. This teaching is intimately connected to the proclamation of the Good News or what Pope John Paul II calls the Gospel of Life.
We are hearing a cry of timidity today not to weaponize the Eucharist. But did we not once regard the pilgrim church as the Church Militant, campaigning not only against men but powers and principalities? The Eucharist has always been regarded as the most effective weapon in our arsenal. Indeed, it may be all that really stands between us and the legions that oppose the sanctity of life and devalue the dignity of persons. The fuse is lit. Instead of passivity and accommodation, we need a taste of the ancient faith that is courageous and sure of itself. All true people of faith must bravely proclaim and commit themselves to the Gospel of Life, no matter what the cost. The battle with modernity is real but we opt for the path of nonviolence even if it should demand that we mix our blood with Christ’s. The Eucharist signifies unity with the Lord and one another in the great peace of Christ. “A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). It is this Lord that comes to us in Holy Communion. It is this Lord that cannot be reconciled with those who would promote or enable the killing of children in the womb— those who would steal the gift of life; slaughter the innocent; and destroy or usurp what God has made.
Jesus means what he says about the Eucharist:
John 6:52-58: The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food [meat] indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he who eats me will live because of me. This is that bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”
John 6:60: Many of his disciples, when they had heard it, said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”
John 6:66-69: After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him. Jesus said to the twelve, “Will you also go away?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
The Jews murmur (John 6:41) and abandon Jesus just as certain so-called Christians reject the Eucharist today. Do they even believe that Jesus is God, given that God can do all things? Jesus does not compromise or explain away his teaching in any manner. He insists upon a literal understanding of the real presence in the Eucharist. There is no misunderstanding. Jesus allows the murmuring Jews among his disciples to abandon him. Peter responds correctly. Like his many successors, Peter steers the Church toward the truth of Christ. Jesus is God and whatever God says is true, no matter how fantastic and deep a mystery.
A PRAYER BEFORE MASS
Any of a number of prayers might be offered before the start of Mass. Unfortunately, many either do not pray prior to Mass or just come without spiritual preparation after Mass has already begun.
A Prayer before Mass by St. Thomas Aquinas – Almighty and everlasting God, behold I come to the Sacrament of Thine only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: I come as one infirm to the physician of life, as one unclean to the fountain of mercy, as one blind to the light of everlasting brightness, as one poor and needy to the Lord of heaven and earth. Therefore, I implore the abundance of Thy measureless bounty that Thou wouldst vouchsafe to heal my infirmity, wash my uncleanness, enlighten my blindness, enrich my poverty and clothe my nakedness, that I may receive the Bread of Angels, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, with such reverence and humility, with such sorrow and devotion, with such purity and faith, with such purpose and intention as may be profitable to my soul’s salvation. Grant unto me, I pray, the grace of receiving not only the Sacrament of our Lord’s Body and Blood, but also the grace and power of the Sacrament. O most gracious God, grant me so to receive the Body of Thine only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, which He took from the Virgin Mary, as to merit to be incorporated into His mystical Body, and to be numbered amongst His members. O most loving Father, give me grace to behold forever Thy Beloved Son with His face at last unveiled, whom I now purpose to receive under the sacramental veil here below. Amen.
The celebration of the Lord’s Supper or the Mass is by divine command from Christ. Our Lord tells the apostles, “Do this in memory of me.” The priesthood and the Eucharist remains to this day a marker for the presence of the Church. Any Christian affiliation that lacks these elements may be an ecclesial community but is not a “church” in the true or full sense. The Eucharist is the re-presentation of Calvary and the one form of worship that truly honors God and is received by the Father. It makes possible the remission of sins. It allows us to offer ourselves with Christ. It makes the risen Christ accessible as a real and saving food— his body and blood— present in his humanity, body and soul as well as in his divinity. The one-time offering is repeated so that we can take advantage of the great mystery for the good of souls around the world and throughout the centuries. Participation at Mass signifies fidelity to the commandments in keeping the Lord’s Day as well as obedience towards the precepts of the Church. Such laws are given us, not to threaten our people with hell but because Mother Church desperately desires her children to be in a state of grace and to be fed with the saving food of the sacrament. Every Mass brings us to the paschal mystery: the passion, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ. The early Christians found themselves expelled from the synagogues. They would gather on the eighth day or Sunday or the Lord’s Day to celebrate the ritual given by Christ. The Scriptures were read, including the letters or testimonials of the apostles. The oral tradition would eventually be composed and we would have the various Gospels to share. The Church was ministering and worshipping before the canon of the New Testament came into existence. The first Christians took fellowship with one another, were formed in the truth and broke bread together. While the sacrament in the weekly agape feast was joined to a regular meal; in time it would be separated out. The emphasis would become entirely fixed on the Eucharist and the bread of life and the chalice of salvation.
Usually omitted on weekdays, a distinctive feature of the Mass on Sundays and other holy days is the Profession of Faith or the Creed. All stand to profess the central truths of the Catholic faith. These elements of faith did not come easy for the Church. The formulations came with intense theological reflection, the refutation of heresy and the consensus of bishops at councils. They invoked the protection of the Holy Spirit and trusted that God would protect the Church he had instituted from doctrinal error.
There is no secrecy about the revelations of God although we are fortunate to be living after the death of the last apostle, the end to public revelation and at a time when the saints have had centuries to ponder the truths of God. Revelation has ended but there is growth or organic development in our appreciation for the tenets of belief. This is in part due to exploration of the past but also because of dialogue with the world and/or modernity. Catholic truths are timeless but they are never stagnant. Ours is a living faith, not a dead one.
We say “I believe” and join not only our fellow congregants but all those at Mass around the world, East and West, and throughout two millennia of history. At Christmas the bow becomes a bended knee at the words that recall the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit upon Mary and the moment of the incarnation when God becomes man. He comes to make a home with us so that one day we might have a home with him in heaven. The All Holy one makes himself a helpless child and thirty-three years later he would fully realize this vulnerability on the cross so that sins might be forgiven. The Mass is a sacramental re-presentation of this mystery. The altar is both manger and cross. The Christ Child is placed into a feedbox for animals. The altar is our source of spiritual food for men and women— the REAL presence of the risen Christ. We receive his body and blood in Holy Communion. The risen Christ miraculously offers himself to the Father as an acceptable sacrifice. He makes himself into the rations from heaven for a pilgrim people. It is upon the altar that we will have the clean or unbloody re-presentation of the oblation of Calvary. The saving work of Christ cannot be restricted to any time or place. It breaks through the boundaries of a temporal world and touches in the sacraments all who would believe in the family of God.
When an effort is made to explain why Catholic priests do not marry, it is often simply asserted that celibacy is a traditional discipline in the Western Church. Quickly it is added that married priests are permitted in the Eastern rites as long as they get married prior to ordination. The bishops of the East and West do not marry.
Many questioners as well as disgruntled clergy question the discipline or contend that it is both arbitrary and unnecessary or that it sours the ministry of clergy and inadvertently it attracts large numbers of homosexuals into the ranks so as to disguise their disorientation. Despite such bias or qualifying criticism, it would be a serious mistake to minimize or to forsake the positive value of priestly celibacy.
Lest anyone fall for the sob-stories, celibacy is not inflicted or demanded of anyone. No man is forced into the priesthood. Indeed, most practicing Catholics will likely pursue marriage and families as lay persons. The demand of celibacy should not be seen as a capricious add-on to priesthood but rather as a distinctive and important element of the sacerdotal calling. God will not give a calling to the one without the gift and grace of the other. The exception in favor of marriage for a few (as with the Episcopalian clergy into the Anglican Ordinariate) should not be evaluated as preferable for the entire priesthood. While celibacy is indeed a discipline associated with priesthood, it needs to be interpreted as something more— integral to the life and work of priests. The early Church discerned this fact and soon after the institution of the Church there was a move away from married to celibate clergy. Indeed, many married priests upon ordination were urged to live lives of perpetual continence.
A man contemplating a vocation to priesthood must discern whether he has the accompanying charism of celibacy. Experience has shown us that God does not magically prevent men unworthy of Holy Orders from being ordained. That is why there is the tragedy of men having to be laicized or attempting marriage and being excommunicated by the Church. The scandal with active homosexual and pederast clergy is even more scandalous. Throughout the process of formation there should be a deep and abiding respect for the truth and diligent avoidance of manipulation or compulsion. Assessments for worthiness must be taken seriously no matter how severe the vocational shortage. Deception or a lack of transparency should be avoided at all costs.
The Roman Catholic Church does not require celibacy of anyone. However, if a person desires to enter religious life or priesthood, then he is asked to discern first if he has received the gift of celibacy. This is because celibacy frees that person to fully live his vocation. If a man chooses one then he must also freely choose the other. The discipline is not imposed as an inflicting ailment; rather celibacy is a promise for a special single-hearted manner of selfless loving. It should not be judged as negative or as repressive but rather as positive and liberating. One truly becomes an eschatological sign of Christ’s kingdom breaking into the world. It is the polar opposite of the rich man going away sad because his possessions are many. It is an apostle embracing poverty so as to be rich in the kingdom and free to follow Christ in serving the People of God.
Secondary to the question would be matters of overall availability and the expenses that would accompany a shift or metamorphosis to married clergy. More perilously a change in the discipline in favor of optional celibacy or a prejudice in favor of married clergy would signify a transition in the priestly character and identity. No one is saying that a married clergy could not serve well; but it would not be the same. It is sufficient that deacons and Church volunteers might be married. The counsel and guidance of a priest is informed and quantified by his association with others and with his listening as an instrument for the forgiveness of sins. He may not be married but he knows well the good and the bad that challenges his couples and their children. Indeed, his celibacy gives him a valuable distance and discretion in his counsel and determinations on the behalf of his flock. The priest as “another Christ” should be a spiritual father to his people and a spouse only to the Church, herself.
Does celibacy deny certain important joys to priests? Most admittedly so, but there is also happiness and satisfaction to be found in celibate love— a priest may not have his own family but he is, in a sense, an important member of his many parish families. A good priest is not miserable about what he is missing. Every vocation has its consolations and challenges. No one will escape the Cross and the priest is ideally one who does not try. He hears and immediately answers the summons from Christ to take up his cross and to follow the Lord.
Matthew 19:9-12 – “I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.” His disciples said to him, “If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” He answered, “Not all can accept this word, but only those to whom that is granted. Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”
Matthew 19:29 – And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life.
Mark 10:29-30 – Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.
1 Corinthians 7:1,7 – Now in regard to the matters about which you wrote: “It is a good thing for a man not to touch a woman,” . . . Indeed, I wish everyone to be as I am, but each has a particular gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.
1 Corinthians 7:32-34 – I should like you to be free of anxieties. An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But a married man is anxious about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and he is divided.
This is the home of the AWALT PAPERS, the posting of various pieces of wisdom salvaged from the writings, teachings and sermons of the late Msgr. William J. Awalt.
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