The Mass is comprised of two major and distinct, though related
parts, namely Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Eucharist.
One centers around the Bible, and other, around the bread and
wine. However, both form one single act of worship. They are not
independent of each other. What is proclaimed in the Liturgy of
the Word is celebrated in the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Christ
is present in both parts; first in His word, then in His Eucharistic
action.
Christ said that man does not live by bread alone, but by every
word that issues from the mouth of God. This word is our food
before the Eucharistic bread: we receive Christ in the Sacred
readings before receiving Him in Holy Communion.
Introductory Rites.
Before we start the Liturgy of the Word, the Mass also involves some Introductory Rites. The major introductory rites can be summarized as following:
The Entrance Song and Greeting
When the congregation has finished singing the entrance hymn
or song, the priest makes the sign of the Cross and greets the
Faithful. He makes the sign of the Cross! This clearly
signifies that the Sacrifice of the Mass is the continuation of
the Sacrifice of the Cross. The sign of the Cross, the means used
to bring about degrading death, became the instrument which helped
to bring about glorious eternal life. The cross, used to crucify
the worst of criminals, became the sign which gave Christians
the courage to gladly give up their lives for their Lord and Savior.
Through the Cross, despair turned into hope! Satan knew the power
of the Cross. He shouted to Jesus: "Get down from the cross!"
The sign of the Cross represents the Holy Trinity. The priest
makes the sign of the Cross, saying "In the Name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". As He did at the
Sacrifice of the Cross, now at the Sacrifice of the Mass Our Lord
Jesus is offering Himself through His priest to the Father.
The sign of the Cross represents our Baptism, which initiates
us into the family of God, the Holy Trinity. It is a reminder
that we were not only washed by the Blood of the Lamb, we were
baptized into His Family by His death. When our Lord died for
us, we were "washed in His Blood, Baptized into His death
and given life in Him." The sign of the Cross is the oldest
gesture of our Faith.
As the celebrant greets the people: "The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy
Spirit be with you all," our response is: "And also
with you." With these words, we, the Body of Christ, unite
ourselves with one another, we the Faithful and our priest, one
in our professed belief in Jesus Christ.
The Penitential Rite
At this point in the Mass, the priest invites us to examine our consciences and to express sorrow for our sins. The sinner remains dead in sin unless God, through His infinite goodness and mercy, restores him to life in Him. The one offering, the Sacrifice should be holy; therefore, as we are in communion with the priest as he offers the Sacrifice, we are asking the Lord to cleanse us of our sins that we might be worthy to offer this Sacrifice in company with the celebrant. We ask our Lord at this time to pardon us of any sin, we may have unintentionally forgotten to confess, praying that our soul be spotlessly clean as we welcome our Lord in His Eucharist - His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity to be one with us.
The Kyrie and Opening Prayer
Several prayers and exaltations follow where we cry out to the Lord for His Mercy and express praise and thanksgiving to the "Glory to God in the Highest". This is followed by the Opening Prayer before we start the Liturgy of the Word. (Bob and Penny Lord, "This is My Body, This is My Blood, Miracles of the Eucharist, Book II", Journeys of Faith, 1-800-633-2484)
Liturgy of the Word
The first major part of the Mass is the Liturgy of the Word.
The purpose of the readings and the homily is to proclaim the
word of God, which has power to change our lives. We are not simply
to listen, but to respond to what is being proclaimed. The living
word is no less powerful today than in the past, for God is the
same yesterday, today, and forever. Hence, no other reading, no
matter how beautiful it may be or how eloquently delivered, can
accomplish such a change in us as can the word of God. The purpose
of the Liturgy of the Word is not information, but transformation;
not merely to tell what God has done in the past, but what he
continues to do today; not merely to instruct, but to lead to
worship.
The Liturgy of the Word is a celebration of what God has done
for us, so that we can respond to that word by sacrifice in the
second part of the Mass. Worship is not something we do for God;
rather it is our response to what he has done for us. But to respond
properly we must know what God has done for us, and we must recall
it to mind frequently. This is one of the functions of the Liturgy
of the Word. By arousing our faith, love, and devotion, we are
able to participate more fervently in the liturgical celebration.
Thus, the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist
complement each other.
The priest, in his Homily, will preach to the Faithful, using
the Readings and the Gospel as his base; the Lord, through His
priest, once again speaking to His people. The priest will enjoin
the congregation to accept the Readings and the Gospel as the
Word of God, the Word Who is God - to accept with the head and
act through the heart - to allow the words to come to life, to
burn in their hearts, to set them afire.
The Liturgy of the Word is then completed with our Profession
of Faith and General Intercessions (Prayer of the Faithful)
Liturgy of the Eucharist
The second major part of the Mass, Liturgy of the Eucharist, begins with the preparation of the gifts and ends before the concluding rite. It is the heart of the entire liturgical celebration. The word "Eucharist" means "thanksgiving." Hence, in the second part, we thank God for the whole work of reconciliation and salvation.
Preparation Of The Gifts (Offertory)
In order that we may receive the graces of redemption, there
must be in ourselves a death to sin which was brought about on
the cross. We begin this death to sin by offering ourselves in
union with Christ. We can offer ourselves, for example, in the
following words: "Heavenly Father, in union with your beloved
Son, Jesus Christ, I offer you my intellect, my will, my body,
soul, and spirit; my talents, my work, my aspirations, my struggles,
crosses, sorrows, joys, sacrifices, prayers, everything, especially
________________ ." St. Paul said: "Whatever you eat,
whatever you drink, whatever you do at all, do it for the glory
of God" (1 Cor. 10:31). Hence, our whole life can and should
be a continuous offering which glorifies God, ever increases our
union with him, and draws blessings upon ourselves and the world.
Since we do not have time to formulate our offering during the
liturgy, we should get into the habit of doing so even before
we come to church.
The offering of ourselves is made symbolically by the presentation
of the bread and wine from the congregation. The presentation
of the gifts and the accompanying prayers of the priest, however,
is not the offering of the Mass. It is but the initial stage preparing
the material for the sacrifice, and the symbolic expression of
uniting ourselves with the sacrifice of Christ. The offering (sacrifice)
takes place in the Eucharistic Prayer, at the consecration, when
Christ becomes present on our altars as Victim and Priest.
(The Eucharist is the sacrifice of the Church alone, insofar as
only those who believe may share in it. Thus, the Church alone
in her living members is united to Christ in His Eucharistic sacrifice.
On the other hand, however, the Eucharist is the sacrifice of
the whole human race, insofar as Christ died for all and wants
all to be saved and to receive the graces of His death and resurrection.
Hence, as we offer ourselves in the Eucharistic sacrifice, let
us pray for our loved ones and all people, that all may lead lives
of obedience to the heavenly Father's will.)
After the gifts have been prepared the priest says: "Pray,
brethren, that our sacrifice may be acceptable to God, the almighty
Father." But our response, "May the Lord accept the
sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of His name,
for our good, and the good of all his Church," cannot be
meaningful unless we have really offered ourselves. And the Lord
Himself gives us the condition for the acceptance of our gifts:
"If you are bringing your offering to the altar and there
remember that your brother has something against you, leave your
offering there before the altar, go and be reconciled with your
brother first, and then come back and present your offering"
(Mt. 5:23-24).
Eucharistic Prayer
"The Eucharistic prayer, a prayer of thanksgiving and
sanctification, is the center and high point of the entire celebration.
In an introductory dialogue the priest invites the people to lift
their hearts to God in prayer and thanks; he unites them with
Himself in the prayer he addresses in their name to the Father
through Jesus Christ. The meaning of the prayer is that the whole
congregation joins Christ in acknowledging the works of God and
in offering the sacrifice".
After our acclamation of the mystery of faith -"Christ has
died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again," - we offer
to the Father "this life-giving bread, this saving cup...
this holy and living sacrifice." In union with Christ and
through Him, we offer ourselves to the Father, so that we could
become more perfectly united with Him and with each other and
that, eventually, God may be all in all. Then we pray for the
Church and its members, living and deceased. The Eucharistic prayer
concludes with the doxology, to which the people respond with
a solemn. Amen.
Consecration
The Eucharistic Prayer is centered in the consecration, transubstantiation,
changing of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.
Let us look into some of its deeper meaning.
With the consecration, Christ is sacramentally present upon our
altars with His infinite merits, with His dispositions of love
and obedience with which He died, so that we may join our dispositions
to His, to form the offering of the whole Christ, the Mystical
Christ, the whole Church, as Christ offers Himself with His Church.
Thus, as we join ourselves with Him we have a most powerful means
of working out our salvation and of asking help for ourselves
and for that of the whole world.
The essence of Christianity is to live out the paschal mystery
of Christ in our lives; that is, as Christ died, resurrected and
ascended into glory, so that we, too, would offer ourselves to
God, die to sin and self, resurrect to a new life and, eventually,
to live in eternal glory with Him.
Since Christ takes unto Himself all our personal offerings, everything
about us becomes transformed: our work becomes his work; our crosses,
His crosses; our suffering, His suffering; our joys, His joys;
our pardons, His pardons; our prayer, His prayer; our love, His
love; our life, His life. Our whole life can acquire a divine
value, because he takes our offering and makes it his own; our
life and actions become the life and actions of Christ.
Furthermore, our whole life and its activities can acquire a redemptive
value. Everything we do, no matter how insignificant, when offered
to the Father in union with Christ, helps towards our redemption.
In other words, we become "more and more redeemed" -
depending upon how much and what we have offered of ourselves
- "passing over" more and more from the "old self
to the new," from the natural to the supernatural, from self
to God.
Holy Communion
"Since the Eucharistic celebration is the paschal meal,
in accord with His command, the body and blood of the Lord should
be received as spiritual food by the faithful who are properly
disposed". Since receiving Holy Communion is a sharing in
the sacrifice and is its highest form of participation, we should
not lightly refrain from receiving Holy Communion.
We have offered a gift of ourselves to the heavenly Father; in
Holy Communion God gives us a gift of Himself through Jesus Christ.
We have offered his sacrifice for our salvation; in Holy Communion
we share in that sacrifice. We have offered our love and obedience
to the Father; in Holy Communion we receive Christ in order to
help us to persevere in carrying out our self-offering. In the
Mass the Church offers and is being offered; in Holy Communion
a greater union with Christ and with all the members of his Body
is effected.
"In this union with Christ we are not alone, for Communion
is not merely the union of the individual soul and Christ; it
unites Christ to all the members of the Mystical Body and in an
extended way through prayer to all humanity".
Concluding Rite (The Mass is ended - go in peace!)
It does not end when we are dismissed by a priest, it must
continue in our daily life. We have offered ourselves to God and
we now must live out that offering. After having received the
Lord's blessing, and even more so after having received Him in
Holy Communion, Christ comes to us, into our life and world, to
help us live out our offering and to help bring Him to the world
and the world to Him.
Christ tells us "Go! live the Mass! live out the offering
of yourself!" We have offered Him our eyes, therefore we
must be careful at what we look, for our eyes are consecrated
to God. We have offered Him our ears, tongue, legs, arms, our
whole body, therefore we must be careful how we use them, for
they belong to God. We have offered Him our soul with its faculties,
therefore we must orient our soul towards the Lord. We have surrendered
ourselves to the will of God, therefore we must learn how to accept
life with all its demands, hardships, and joys, for the glory
of God. Our whole life must be so lived and every action must
be so performed that we can offer them to God.
Indeed, the Mass makes a difference in our life because it becomes
a life in union with Christ! Indeed, it makes a difference because
"it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me!"
(Rev. Maynard Kolodziej, "Understanding the Mass", Catholic
Book Publishing Co., NJ, 1998)