Pastoral Letter on Liturgy
* How are the people invited into the Eucharistic prayer
with authentic full, conscious, active participation?
* Is one plate and one cup (and flagon if necessary) used
to show the sharing of "one bread, one cup?"
* Are the vessels used for Mass worthy of use for
Eucharist? (If the gold is worn the vessels should be
replated.) The chalice needs to bear the weight of the
mystery of the Blood of Christ – wine goblets used for
dinner perhaps do not hold up as worthy vessels for the
Mass.
The Eucharist is par excellence the "sacrament of unity," for it joins us to Christ and one another in a real and mystical way so that we are one Body in the Lord. We are one body because alive with a single spirit, the principle of bodily life. The Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of Love, and such love is the fruit of the Eucharist. Selfishness and division are dispelled by the power of the flesh and blood we receive; unity and peace is sown among all who come together in the forgiveness of the Lord. Just as so many grains were once scattered upon the hills and then gathered together to form a single bread, so we who were divided have been brought together to form a single body and unified offering. Thus the presence and reality of the community gathered around the table is reflected in the Body of Christ on the table. And it is that same Body which brings about the Christian community – in all of her diversity of age, race, culture and background – a community which witnesses, by the presence of each member to one another, the breadth of the Church in all times and places. "Such is the sacrifice of Christians" to be re-formed in the newness of our spirit "for many to be but a single body in Christ. And this sacrifice, the Church never ceases to reproduce in the Sacrament of the altar" (St. Augustine, The City of God, 10, 6).
The "Amen" is that by which our Christian identity is affirmed and by which Christians may recognize one another, a sort of condensed expression of the entire "Credo" which, as an effective engagement of the believer toward God, defines the Christian. To say "Amen" means to say "Yes, all that we are expressing and witnessing here is truly so, and may it always be so in our lives." Said with genuineness, it is to enter into communion with the Blessed Trinity and the entire Church. "Amen" derives from the same root as does the word "to believe," expressing stability, reliability and faithfulness. Like the Profession of Faith, its pronunciation both expresses something and realizes what is expressed by the very fact that it expresses it – for it affirms, while also demonstrating and confirming, my belief in being united with the Lord and with others in him; and it affirms, while concretely exemplifying, entrusting myself to God. "Amen," sincerely uttered, means that I confidently place myself on a ground that sustains me, on a ground which is other than myself and wholly surpasses my ability to make human calculations. It is an assent of faith and a sign of faith's certitude. Making visible the inner dispositions of belief and commitment, this word is a seal of the unity of the Church who is one body and one spirit, a visible and invisible communion in the Word of God made flesh. There is no authentic communion without the acceptance of faith that the "Amen" expresses. Nor is there a truthful "Amen" outside of communion. For the "I" in the "I believe" signifies in the first place the "I" of the Church: personal faith is a communion with the faith contained in the entire Body. The individual
"Amen" thus derives from the life of the Church and enters by its very nature into the chorus of the Church's "Great Amen." Praise be to God and his holy Church that we can proclaim this "yes!" The God of "steadfast love and faithfulness" is the "God of the Amen" (Is 65:16). But the "Amen" of God is Jesus Christ himself, "for in him every one of God's promises is a "yes" (2 Cor 1:20). Jesus is the definitive "Amen" of the Father's love for us (CCC 1065). Our own "Amen," therefore, stands entirely upon the fidelity and love of God; it flows with awe and gratitude from the "Divine Amen" of the Resurrected Christ who is the fountain of all life. It is this word which prepares us for the most sacred and intimate moment of sacramental union with God's "Amen", whose grace will always increase the fullness, in intensity and breadth, of our own "Amen."
Are we at times too casual or comfortable in our approach to the celebration? Do we give preparation of the Liturgy adequate attention with allocation of time, resources and attention to the details of music, environment and proclamation?
·Is the altar free of clutter – that all be focused on
the bread and wine made Body and Blood of Christ?
·Is incense used (on occasion) to add solemnity to the
preparation of the gifts?
