Step 2 - The last two days I provided a backdrop for many reasons why we NEED to go to church on Sundays and that the church is a house of prayer and that it is God's HOUSE, that is, where Jesus remains in the Eucharist reserved in the Tabernacle in the sanctuary.
Let us proceed to what we do at each Mass. After blessing ourselves with Holy Water, we normally look for space to sit in a pew. As we find a place that is comfortable to us for prayer, we normally approach the pew and then what? Ahhh, yes, we genuflect before our Lord Jesus Christ who is present in the sanctuary, or in some exceptional cases where Jesus is reserved in a side chapel or other area, we turn in that direction and genuflect, dropping our right knee until it hits the floor to show honor and due respect to the Master of the Universe and Savior of the World; either that or a profound bow as we would before a king, but since Jesus is truly the one and only King, we want to honor Him most properly. (If we set up a video in church and later watched everyone as they came into church, we would see how sloppy and irreverent most people are....maybe a pastor should do this once to make his point clear) Inside the church is not the time or place to chat. A quick, quiet whisper is okay, but let’s not forget that reverence and awe should be filling our minds. Once we get in our pew, it’s time to pray in silence for a few minutes before Mass begins, bringing before the Lord a contrite and open heart to His Will for us, our thanksgivings for the week, and requests for help to overcome vices, sin, and temptation in our life.
Mass then begins, typically, with a hymn, a hymn that matches closely to the reading for the day. We don't sing "Jesus has risen today" during Advent, Christmas or Lent, for example. Yes, some designated liturgist or musical director has carefully chosen and prepared the music for Sunday's Mass, and if you are blessed with a choir, then the entire choir has been practicing on the hymns of the day to elevate the mind and soul to a more perfect union with God during Mass for everyone. As the processional hymn is complete, the presiding priest takes his place at his presiding chair in the sanctuary and officially begins the Mass, with the sign of the cross saying "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". On occasion you may hear the priest say something like, "Let us begin our celebration by the sign of our Salvation: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit", as everyone signs themselves with the sign of the cross over their body. Quickly, in this regard, the theologian Tertullian (c A.D. 160-225) described the common practice of believers who marked themselves with the sign of the cross throughout the day: "In all travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting on our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting the candles, in lying down, in sitting down, whatever employment occupies us, we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross". (Tertullian, De Corona, no. 30). St. John Chrysostom (A.D. 347-407) exhorted God's people to turn constantly to the power of Christ found in the sign of the cross: "Never leave your house without making the sign of the cross. It will be to you a staff, a weapon, an impregnable fortress. Neither man nor demon will dare attack you, seeing you with such powerful armor. Let this sign teach you that you are a soldier, ready to combat against the demons, and ready to fight for the crown of justice. Are you ignorant of what the cross has done? It has vanquished Satan, and destroyed sin, emptied hell, dethroned Satan, and restored the universe. Would you then doubt its power?" (See Edward Sri, A biblical walk through the Mass, p 18). The cross, that is, Jesus who died on the cross, is the sign of our salvation, he alone has power over sin, Satan, and death. The sign of the cross lets everybody know that everything we will do in the next hour will be in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Where else do we have such a powerful sign? When else do we come together as a sign of our oneness to praise God and to offer Him our life? Actively participating at Mass gives us our human and Christian identity and dignity. Mass also sets the standard for everything else that we will do in the week ahead, so that all that we do, we do in His name; it gives us direction and purpose, we are inspired by the Holy Spirit, we walk with Jesus, who we entrust our lives, because He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, we are obliged to go out and spread the Good News of Jesus to all we meet even as we are learning more each day about our Lord.
See, Mass is truly inspiring, and we are just getting started. Next time we will look into the official greeting at Mass.
Fr. Kyle
