Living the Mass
A few crumbs (well actually they are more than that) from the book whose title this post is taken by Fr. Desplanques. The book was written in 1951 as a response to Pope Pius XI call to Catholic Action and attempts to provide material for lay people to meditate upon at Mass. The quotations from the Fathers could be interpreted as advocating the kind of lay involvement one finds in the Novus Ordo but simply recall the earlier reference to layfolk participating through the priest.
Even the tiniest of altar boys ... represents all Christendom, those Christians present in the church, and those who are not. He speaks and loves for all his brothers and sisters in Christ,
for all bishops under the Pope. He is the great Church in miniature. Of all Christians present ... he is the foremost, the most representative ... the nearest to Christ because he is the most closely united with the priest, and the most closely uniting, since he is the connecting link
between the priest and the faithful. With the priest , a branch of on the vine which is Christ,
the foundation on Apostles and prophets, Super aedificat ... ipso summo angulari lapide Christo Jesu. However small he may be, here is a great Christian standing securely on the Rock of Peter. Could he not be made to understand? This hare-brained youngster - in default of a biretta ... could not his sill head be weighted down by these grave thoughts: "They are all depending on me! ... I am representing the Church. This is a serious matter ... and my reason for being here is to offer with the priest, in the name of the Church, the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
The sacristans, all those working around the church, and the devout assistants, would do well also to think about this ... and inject into this Mass, which threatens to be cold and solitary ...
a little serene gravity ... a spark of radiant and fraternal enthusiasm. In every deed, they should be the leaders in generosity and in love ... for all those people who have fallen away ... who are no longer there, in their places, on Sunday ... who are distracted ... bored, waiting for the Mass to come to an end.
Truly I am responsible for souls. And I am going to negotiate their salvation. The eternal life or death of a whole multitude depends on my vote today, that is to say, on my heart, on my offering, on my immolation. The Amen which I am going to say with the entire Church is going to weigh in the balance of the Redemption of mankind. Soon, at the altar, through the hands of the priest, I am going to take the Host and the Chalice of Salvation, for France, for Germany, for Italy, for China and Japan ... for my own neighbourhood, for the dance hall, for the nearby theatre, for my own household.
For years, alas! I did not know it. I went to Mass for myself, to avoid committing a sin ...
or just to receive consolation ... dessert ... to receive the small host of the layman, persuaded that the large host was not for me. Other people gave me little concern ... present or absent ... Japanese or German. I gave no thought to even those close to me. I assisted at the Holy Sacrifice ... in the pews ... among those to whom the priest's back is turned, among those who give a dime to the usher for a seat. I assisted ... as one assists at a play, a moving picture, without having the right to say anything, to do anything.
But now that I am learning ... that all the children of the Church are priests, that at Baptism
they receive the unction which makes them participate in the priesthood. The host which they must offer to God is wholly spiritual, it is themselves (St Ambrose); that all Christians are priests because they are members of the one priest, Jesus Christ (St Augustine); that by our baptism, the royal and sacerdotal dignity is communicated to us all. Rejoice in this elevation as an honour which you share with all the body of the Church (St Leo); that the entire Christian people should participate in the burdens of the mystical priesthood, in the satisfaction and sacrifice ... in almost the same manner as priests (Pope Pius XI).
Even the tiniest of altar boys ... represents all Christendom, those Christians present in the church, and those who are not. He speaks and loves for all his brothers and sisters in Christ,
for all bishops under the Pope. He is the great Church in miniature. Of all Christians present ... he is the foremost, the most representative ... the nearest to Christ because he is the most closely united with the priest, and the most closely uniting, since he is the connecting link
between the priest and the faithful. With the priest , a branch of on the vine which is Christ,
the foundation on Apostles and prophets, Super aedificat ... ipso summo angulari lapide Christo Jesu. However small he may be, here is a great Christian standing securely on the Rock of Peter. Could he not be made to understand? This hare-brained youngster - in default of a biretta ... could not his sill head be weighted down by these grave thoughts: "They are all depending on me! ... I am representing the Church. This is a serious matter ... and my reason for being here is to offer with the priest, in the name of the Church, the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
The sacristans, all those working around the church, and the devout assistants, would do well also to think about this ... and inject into this Mass, which threatens to be cold and solitary ...
a little serene gravity ... a spark of radiant and fraternal enthusiasm. In every deed, they should be the leaders in generosity and in love ... for all those people who have fallen away ... who are no longer there, in their places, on Sunday ... who are distracted ... bored, waiting for the Mass to come to an end.
Truly I am responsible for souls. And I am going to negotiate their salvation. The eternal life or death of a whole multitude depends on my vote today, that is to say, on my heart, on my offering, on my immolation. The Amen which I am going to say with the entire Church is going to weigh in the balance of the Redemption of mankind. Soon, at the altar, through the hands of the priest, I am going to take the Host and the Chalice of Salvation, for France, for Germany, for Italy, for China and Japan ... for my own neighbourhood, for the dance hall, for the nearby theatre, for my own household.
For years, alas! I did not know it. I went to Mass for myself, to avoid committing a sin ...
or just to receive consolation ... dessert ... to receive the small host of the layman, persuaded that the large host was not for me. Other people gave me little concern ... present or absent ... Japanese or German. I gave no thought to even those close to me. I assisted at the Holy Sacrifice ... in the pews ... among those to whom the priest's back is turned, among those who give a dime to the usher for a seat. I assisted ... as one assists at a play, a moving picture, without having the right to say anything, to do anything.
But now that I am learning ... that all the children of the Church are priests, that at Baptism
they receive the unction which makes them participate in the priesthood. The host which they must offer to God is wholly spiritual, it is themselves (St Ambrose); that all Christians are priests because they are members of the one priest, Jesus Christ (St Augustine); that by our baptism, the royal and sacerdotal dignity is communicated to us all. Rejoice in this elevation as an honour which you share with all the body of the Church (St Leo); that the entire Christian people should participate in the burdens of the mystical priesthood, in the satisfaction and sacrifice ... in almost the same manner as priests (Pope Pius XI).
posted by Lactantius at
11:39 pm
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