From Feb 3, 2008
For the last three weeks we have been preparing for
our
We
first recalled the great insights around what it means to be
catholic that
is, universal; collegiality; ecumenism;
interfaith dialogue, evangelization; justice and peace; the universal call to
holiness; and collaboration of ministry. We have since then looked specifically
at the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy and what it upholds as values; thus
far: the paschal mystery and full, conscious, active participation.
Let us look a little more into
participation, since it is the value mentioned more than any other—more than
seventeen (17) times, in fact.
Intimate participation is not some distant dream;
it is a current reality, for full, conscious, active participation, by the way,
is already in our North American bones. I have seen it firsthand. So have you.
Go to any sports’ event and you will witness participation writ large.
John Savant in a provocative article in Commonweal in 2003 “attributes
engagement in sports to its ritualized violence and encounter with risk and
chance. Games’ outcomes are not known beforehand. Odds-on favorites are often
defeated—even the most professional athletes make mistakes, and sometimes
through grit, determination and luck underdogs prevail. All of this brings an
element of suspense and drama to sport [John Savant, “The Saving Grace of
Sport,” Commonweal 130 (September,
26, 2003): 12-14].
No doubt some of you are saying to
yourselves: “Yes, that’s true of sport, but what about our Sunday celebration
of the Eucharist? It offers no surprises. We know that sin and death are
trounced; that Jesus reigns victorious o’er the grave; that God is still God;
that standing at the Father’s right hand in the power of the Holy Spirit Christ
Jesus still labors in love on our behalf. The drama is drained and the suspense
suspended.” Not so, say others. The
paschal mystery is still the greatest drama of all, if we but take advantage of
making the connection between the mysteries we celebrate and our continual,
life and death struggle to follow Jesus with all our heart, with all our mind,
with all our strength. And in that struggle,
we do not know for certain how our
drama unfolds or ends; for we still have free will and can choose death instead
of life—life to the full.
Full, conscious,
active participation in every aspect of the Eucharist can transform us so that
we can transform the world. Here’s just
one example. Every
Collect (Opening Prayer) has the power to engage; for each Collect begins with
a time of silence. In that profound
silence we are afforded—in the words of Mark Searle—”a precious opportunity to
lower [ourselves] gently into the depths of the Spirit” [Mark Searle, Barbara
Searle and Anne Y. Koester, ed., Called
to Participate: Theological, Ritual, and Social Perspectives (Collegeville:
Liturgical Press, 2006), 16]. There in that silence, “the Spirit intercedes
with sighs too deep for words,” naming our joys and hoes, our grief and anxiety
before the Lord who has the power to set us free. (See Romans 8:26).
That’s
transforming participation.
It should be further noted that our
participation is both hierarchical and communal. Norms Drawn from the
Hierarchic and Communal Nature of the Liturgy from the Constitution on the
Sacred Liturgy states in numbers 26 and 28:
Liturgical services are not
private functions but are celebrations of the Church, which is the “sacrament
of unity,” namely, the holy people united and ordered under their bishops.
Therefore, liturgical services pertain to the whole body of the Church; they
manifest it and have effects upon it, but they concern the individual members
of the Church in different ways, according to their differing rank, office and
actual participation.
In liturgical celebrations
each person, minister or layperson, who has an office to perform, should do all
of but only those parts which pertain to that office by the nature of the rite
and the principles of liturgy.
Fr James Field, almost thirty years ago reminded
us: “This does not mean that we, who are one in Christ Jesus, are for
liturgical purposes to be divided into groups according to the relative merits
of our states in life, but rather that the members of the assembly each have
their own role to fulfill. Application
of this simple principle means that no member of the community will usurp the
role proper to another (”Participation and Ministry” Assembly 6 (September 1979):70. We are one Body; we share one
faith, on Baptism so that we may be of service to one another and the world.
That’s a great value. Amen? Amen!
J–Glenn Murray, SJ