It sometimes takes an ordinary event to awaken us to the extraordinary. I think some of us want to think of God acting in a rather grand and obvious way, like the parting of the Red Sea. Yet God, more often than not, acts in the Scriptures in ordinary ways. We see this with Naaman in our first reading, who washes himself in the Jordan River so as to be cleansed of his leprosy. We see this with the ten lepers who are walking to the temple before they are healed along the way. But we also encounter this surprise of the extraordinary whenever we are present at the celebration of the sacraments.
The sacraments are not given to us in extraordinary ways, but they use rather ordinary items: water, bread, wine, oil. It is God’s way of humbling us in His use of these ordinary items to convey that extraordinary grace which is at the heart of each of the sacraments. Through water, we are cleansed of our spiritual leprosy which is sin. Through oil, we are anointed with the grace of healing and strength. And through bread and wine, we are given the spiritual food most necessary for our spiritual health. But this is not the only means whereby we encounter our extraordinary God.
We have seen through the past three weeks some of the various aspects of the Mass: as the spiritual worship of God’s People, as the rest for which our hearts yearn, and as the foretaste of that blessed place where we desire to dwell for all eternity. We have done this so as to understand this occasion at which we gather each Sunday in and out, this event that has probably become rather ordinary to most of us. Our considerations on the Mass are the beginning of our reconsideration of this rather ordinary event towards the extraordinary grace and presence of this moment.
These considerations should lead us towards a greater participation in the Mass, but that begs the question: how am I to participate in the Mass? How am I to enter into this worship, this rest, this foretaste of Heaven as God wants and as the Church has taught for her entire history? Our participation should first of all echo the actions of the Samaritan leper in our Gospel. Each one of us is like that leper, for we have all been cleansed by the blood of Christ from the spiritual leprosy of sin that had disfigured our souls. Each one of us has, like Naaman’s baby skin, been revived to spiritual youth before God. At the very least, we should thank God each and every Mass that He has forgiven us and continues to offer that forgiveness through His sacraments. But we can do more than that.
To participate in the Mass is to do more than to follow the motions of the congregation. It is also more than singing along. Our primary participation is not external but internal, not merely what our bodies our doing but what is happening within our souls. The singing of the Mass is a great part of our participation and offers a more elevated response to God, yet it is not merely in external, physical actions that we are called to enter into as we celebrate the sacred mysteries. Our internal disposition and participation is the key to all the other actions we do whenever we gather before the altar.
We must always be mindful that the Mass is not a spectator sport or a TV show, those things that make no demand of our mind or heart. One of the greatest complaints I hear from Catholics is that they don’t get anything from Mass. This is because we have not done the work we must do on our part. Our faith is like a seed: it can only grow through effort and work. If we do not water it and put it in the best soil, it will not grow to its full stature. We cannot sit back and enjoy the Mass like it’s a talk show; we must make the effort to enter into the mystery before us.
We do this through active listening: paying attention to the words of the Mass. The Church has 2000 years of experience in understanding what it means to worship and to adore God, and that comes to us through the language of the Mass. I fear that our use of our local language has made us lazy in paying attention to what the Church actually says. When we worshipped with the common Western tongue of Latin, we could join in with the prayers of the Church throughout time and space. But even with that great loss, our attention must be on what these words convey to us, why it is that we focus on such words as “sacrifice” and “worship” and “right and just”. Do not merely hear these words, but listen to them and reflect on them in your mind and heart, letting them shape your beliefs and transforming your lives. If need be, I recommend getting a missal to help you better appreciate and contemplate these words and actions as you attend Mass.
We also participate through our active praying: offering up our own prayers in union with the great prayer of the Mass. There is always something or someone to pray for: why not offer all of that up to God through the primary means He has given us? But we cannot focus only on the prayer of petition; we need to enter into the prayer of union, the prayer of the saints. The reason that the saints have flourished throughout the centuries is because of their great love for the Mass. All of the aspects of the Mass we have recently seen are from the saints who have been nourished and strengthened through this one act. It will do the same for us, but only if we let it, only if we try.
The better we pray the Mass, the greater we shall grow as individuals and as a parish. This will require changes out of us, but a change towards the greater and the better. God desires us to be with Him, and so He gives us this awe-inspiring gift of the Mass as the means of this union. Do not reject it! Do not ignore it! Make the effort to plumb the depths of these mysteries so as to be what you were made to be: a child of God, an image of Christ, a temple of the Holy Spirit. Let us not be afraid of change but seek to draw nearer to the Lord who desires not only our healing but our flourishing. Let us join the leper of the Gospel in praising God for our blessings at the Mass but also so that our faith may be increased so that we may also be saved and enter into the glories of eternal life.
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