SEPTEMBER 2005 (part 4 0f 4)

Q. - Why is Church so boring?

Q. - Why do we go to Church to "celebrate"? Sometimes I think Church sucks!!!

(both of these questions ^^^ will be answered together)

A. - Well – look at the things that do interest you and figure out why they’re not boring. Whether it’s a new video game or a certain sports team, or even a favorite musical artist…..why can you spend so many hours with these things and enjoy every bit?

It boils down to two things…..a knowledge and understanding of it and a love for it.

When you follow your favorite sports team, you know all about the sport and the team itself. All the players, stats, and rules of the game. Who’s good, who’s not, who should be traded…..

And you enjoy the hours you spend watching, discussing and learning more precisely because you love the game so. The more you learn and understand it, the more you love it…….and the more you love it, the more you interested in delving into it more. It’s an upward spiral.

Now – why isn’t that the case with church?

Most likely – you don’t know much about it. Not really. Seriously.

Oh, maybe you’ve heard the surface truths – Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead – but the man on the street who isn’t even Christian knows that much. Or you may be aware that you’re “obligated” to attend Mass on Sunday and that there are some readings, some preaching and then Communion…….but you don’t really know and understand the incredible truths of our Faith. Or the tremendous gift of the Mass.

And, really, that’s our fault. If you don’t know it, it means we’ve failed to teach it to you. You have to know something in order to love it. In order to have an interest.

It’s hard to say when a solid comprehension of the liturgy (let alone the Faith itself) slipped away. It seems more pronounced in the last 30 years or so.

Maybe it started when the liturgy was changed following Vatican II (which was a prudent thing to do).

It seems that while most people couldn’t tell you verbatim what the latin meant, they could tell you why things were done or said the way they were. Now with the new order of the mass (simple and elegant as it is) we usually can tell you what the words are but we (ironically) don’t know the reasons they’re said or the meaning of any number of things that go on.

Maybe we didn’t teach you well enough about the celebration of Mass because we weren’t sure ourselves why things were done as they are now.

But the liturgy of the Mass is so rich and FULL of meaning. It’s literally packed with deeper truths. Everything you see, hear, smell, taste and touch has a purpose. From the colors around you, to the readings….. from the prayers, to the different gestures and postures of both priest and faithful.

Did you know that our liturgy, though renewed from time to time, is as ancient as the Church itself?

In fact, parts were changed in the last century in order to make more visible its ancient roots and simplicity.

Since we are latin rite Catholics, our rite for Mass stems from both the Jewish prayers and liturgies as well as the Roman civil ceremonies. Obviously one can see why there would be a Jewish connection but some wonder at the Roman customs that were integrated (besides the latin language itself). But it makes sense that wherever the Church was it would use the culture and symbolism of the area to make itself clearer to the people.

In fact, a Jewish woman (later a convert) came to a Catholic Mass once and she remarked that she had “just walked out of a Jewish service.” She said she was “shocked that we had taken all the Jewish prayers!” She was right, of course…..we had.

Among them being the prayers of blessing over the gifts of bread and wine at the offertory. They stem from the Jewish blessings offered before eating bread or drinking grape wine. In Hebrew the blessing over the bread goes like this:

ברוך אתה ה׳ אלהינו מלך העולם המוציא לחם מן הארץ

Transliteration: Barukh atah Adonai, Elohaynu, melech ha-olam ha-motzi lechem min ha-aretz. Translation: Blessed are you, Lord, our God, king of the universe who brings forth bread from the earth.

And for the grape wine:

ברוך אתה ה׳ אלהינו מלך העולם בורא פרי הגפן

Transliteration: Barukh atah Adonai, Elohaynu, melech ha-olam, borei p’riy ha-gafen. Translation: Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the vine. To which both are given a response blessing God forever.

You can hear the similarities with what the priest says when he raises each individually and proclaims: Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation. Through your goodness, we have this bread to offer, which earth has given and human hands have made. It will become for us the bread of life. Or again with the wine: Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation. Through your goodness we have this wine to offer, fruit of the vine and work of human hands. It will become our spiritual drink. To which we respond to both: Blessed be God forever.

As for the Roman civil ceremonies, did you know that when a Roman judge would leave the court, he would place a richly bound and decorated book (the code of civil law) on his cushioned seat? It was a sign that he would return and that the law was still in effect until he did, because the book embodied the imperial authority of the judge himself.

We regarded (and still do) the Gospels to embody and symbolize in a special way the presence of Christ, so the colored cloth we place the Book of Gospels on which drops over the front of the lectern is the last remaining sign of that cushion that was the judge’s seat.

In other words, Christ will return and His law is in effect till He does.

The early Christians felt that if a mere book of civil law was going to be treated that way then surely the Word of God was deserving of such as well (which, just as the Roman book of civil law, was also decorated and held high in procession with candles – like you still see done in some parishes). So the people understood the symbolism.

That is where we have our problem. So many of us no longer understand to any real extent anything about the liturgy. And so we’re bored. We want to liven things up, change things around, because we don’t see what we already have.

Sure, some books and videos could be recommended (as well, perhaps, as a parish wide catechesis on it) but if you learn nothing more than one thing it should be this:

Mass isn’t something we “do” or “get through”. It is rightly said that it is the “doorway” or “portal” to heaven.

Why?

Because heaven is the eternal, divine liturgy of communion and feast with Christ and all the angels and saints. We partake at Mass in that same liturgy in heaven. The thin veil that separates us from them and time from eternity is lifted. We step across the threshold into what is eternal.

How is that?

Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was done once, for all. But since He is God and God is eternal, then His sacrifice is eternal. When we say that the sacrifice on our altar is the same as that of Calvary, Christ isn’t being slain again. He is making present, through His priest, his original and eternal sacrifice in an unbloody fashion. When we participate at Mass we are standing at Calvary and, paradoxically, standing in heaven with the Risen Lord.

It is a mystery. And yet true.

And, on top of this, we receive this same Lord, who has done all these things, in communion.

If you can remember what you’re truly witnessing, what you’re actually present at and privileged to partake in, then maybe that will help to keep you engaged at mass and not so “bored”.

Recommended reading:

Expressions of the Catholic Faith (Kevin Orlin Johnson)

The “how-to” Book of the Mass (Michael DuBruiel)

The Incredible Catholic Mass (Fr. Martin von Cochem)

The Spirit of the Liturgy (Cardinal Ratzinger – now Pope Benedict)

The Mass of the Roman Rite (Rev. Joseph A. Jungmann, S.J.)

Catechism of the Catholic Church (#’s 1135-1209 and 1322-1419)