LITURGY OF THE WORD
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Liturgy of the Word.”
I also have a subtitle. It’s two questions, “What Makes a Good Meal for You? What Makes a Good Mass for You?”
BACKGROUND FOR THIS TOPIC
Some of us are saying some words about the Mass in preparation for the upcoming changes in the Mass - that start at the end of next month, the First Sunday in Advent, November 27th.
Today we are to say something about the Gloria and the Liturgy of the Word.
The key word I heard at different meetings was the challenge to make this an opportunity to re-look, re-think, re-consider what we see the Mass to be.
I missed the last 2 Sundays. I was on vacation. So let me make some big statements about the Mass first and then bring in the Gloria - but mainly the Liturgy of the Word.
CHANGES IN THE MASS
Any of us here who were brought up with the Mass before 1965 saw dramatic changes in the liturgy when that happened. The upcoming ones are tiny in comparison.
Back then we saw the tables turned - in fact the word “table” was not used. The word “altar” was used. Priests and people now faced each other.
In came English - or whatever was the local language of the locals.
In came the sign of peace.
In came the word “homily”.
In came priests meeting and greeting people after Mass.
Those changes caused upset and uproar, welcome and challenge. They took time getting used to.
If you’re as old as me, what was the biggest change for you?
If you were around and conscious before 1965 what made for a good Mass for you? Has that changed?
What makes a good Mass for you now?
It’s now almost 50 years later. The changes coming in this Advent are more verbal than attitude and behavioral.
For example, the changes in the Gloria are some words and we should be used to in a year or so. My sister Mary told me she went to a 3 evening program at her church and one comment she told me over the phone was that a musician said, “They should had musicians on the translation committee - to make the music easier and more flowing.” Maybe they had musicians on the committee or they were consulted. I don’t know or what have you.
ONE BIG CHANGE: SCRIPTURES & HOMILY
The Vatican II document on the Liturgy gave the challenge to open up the treasures of the Scripture to the faithful.
I dare say that happened. The church came up with better translations of the scriptures. We have the 2 year cycle for weekday Masses and the 3 year cycle for Sundays - Year A, B, C.
I am very grateful for that. Before we had the same readings for Sunday every year - and the comment was that made sermons for some priests the same every year. We can no longer say that Catholics are unaware of the Bible - many attending workshops and classes on the Bible.
I have not done a study of homilies - called “sermons” before 1965.
I once had a part time job in our province archives and I began noticing boxes and boxes of old sermons - many of which were from the last quarter of the 1800’s. Being nosey, I read a lot of them - with an eye for finding out what priests preached about back then. My surprise was: many of them were very much the same. Did guys use each other’s sermons? Secondly, they didn’t have too many gems when it came to examples. That was my reading. That was my observation.
I think by having the 3 year and 2 year cycle, Catholic preachers changed a bit.
Are sermons better? Not everyone is a Fulton Sheen, but are today’s sermons better than the sermons back then.
I would think whatever the answer is, people would say, I know the scriptures better - because we hear variety and they are in English and people do read the Missallette.
BACK TO THE SUB-TITLE OF MY HOMILY
The sub-title of my homily is a question, “What Makes a Good Mass for You? What Makes a Good Mass for You?”
The gift that the last 50 years or so that was given to me was the awareness that the Mass is a Meal. It is the Last Supper made present for us this day.
I heard before 1960 that the Mass was the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It put us on Calvary - under the cross - where Jesus saved us by his death on the cross.
After 1955 I began hearing that the Mass is more than that: it begins in the Upper Room - where Jesus celebrated a great Last Meal with his disciples. It continues with Good Friday. It leads us to Easter Sunday.
Let me go back to the shift I heard: from Good Friday to Holy Thursday, from being under the cross to being at the Table.
I began hearing the word Meal - Meal - Meal.
That gave me a lot of food for thought - and helped formulate my life as a priest in saying Mass.
There’s a difference between being at an execution - than being at a Passover Meal.
The word “Meal” became significant for me.
What makes a good Meal for you? What makes a good Mass for you?
Is it the food or is it the words that are shared around the table?
What makes a good Mass for you? Is it the readings and the homily or is it receiving communion?
I would assume that the answer to these questions would be twofold: “It all depends!” and “Both”.
Is a good meal when people are sharing their day and their life or is it the salmon or the meatloaf?
One of my beefs is the invasion of the cell phone into the family table?
Is a good meal when people sit around afterwards - continuing a conversation - laughing - relaxing - being in communion with each other.
Is a good meal when the topic of conversation is a great topic of conversation?
When I took my 4 years of courses on the Bible in the seminary and in lots of courses and readings afterwards, I heard over and over again that much of the scriptures evolved around meals.
Early Christians would gather for meals together and stories of Jesus would resound. As in the story in today’s gospel, people would have talked about the time Jesus turned the tables on the Pharisees who are always trying to trip and trick Jesus. Someone would mention how he took the Roman coin that someone handed him and asked him if was lawful to pay takes to Caesar or not? And he asked, “Whose image is this and what’s written on this coin?” They replied, “Caesar’s.” At that Jesus said, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”
It doesn’t say if he gave the coin back.
Well, we were taught that these stories and events were all talked about at table - and different people thought, “We better write this stuff down.”
We also heard that this was true of a lot of the Old Testament - stories that were voiced and developed around the camp fire and food.
What I get out of that loud and clear is that a good meal has good conversation and good food together.
What I get out of that loud and clear is that a good Mass has good readings and a good homily.
We’re not sitting around a camp fire or in a small dining room - so it would seem rather difficult to get your comments at Mass - though some priests do that.
I’m sure in some places that would work and in some parishes that would drive a lot of folks crazy as they look at their watches.
What I love to hear is folks who tell me that they were talking something over at dinner what I brought up at Mass.
What I hear on the regular basis is the reality that folks want to hear more about something in one of the readings.
It’s difficult for the preacher to preach on all 3 readings.
The first reading and the gospel are often somewhat connected.
In the past 10 years I’ve been moving more into something in the first reading or the second reading - knowing that I want the word to nourish and feed me.
CONCLUSION
What I just mainly talked about was the so called, “Liturgy of the Word.”
I didn’t say much about the Gloria. When someone hits a home run or scores a great touchdown, we sometimes see the player send a signal up to the heavens. I see him saying by gesture: “Give God the glory.” I see the Gloria at Mass - a longer way of saying and doing just that: “Giving God the Glory.”
In weeks to come we’ll talk about other parts of the Mass. Amen.
