From the Associate Pastor
“When the Sacred Scriptures are read in the Church, God himself speaks to his people, and Christ, present in his word, proclaims the Gospel” (GIRM, no. 29).
These words from the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) set before us a profound truth that we need to ponder and make our own. The words of Sacred Scripture are unlike any other texts we will ever hear, for they not only give us information, they are the vehicle God uses to reveal himself to us, the means by which we come to know the depth of God’s love for us, and the responsibilities entailed by being Christ’s followers, members of his Body. What is more, this Word of God proclaimed in the liturgy possesses a special sacramental power to bring about in us what it proclaims. The Word of God proclaimed at Mass is ‘efficacious’ that is, it not only tells us of God and God’s will for us, it also helps us to put that will of God into practice in our own lives.
How, then, do we respond to this wonderful gift of God’s Word? We respond in word and song, in posture and gesture, in silent meditation, and, most important of all, by listening attentively to that Word as it is proclaimed. Following each reading we express our gratitude for this gift with the words “Thanks be to God” or, in the case of the Gospel, “Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ,” and it is appropriate that a brief period of silence be observed to allow for personal reflection. Following the first reading, we sing the Responsorial Psalm, a meditation on God’s word through the inspired words of one of the psalms from the psalter, the Bible’s prayer book.
What, then, must we do to properly receive the Word of God proclaimed at Mass? The General Instruction tells us that “the readings from the Word of God are to be listened to reverently by everyone” (no. 29), and it provides that those who read the Scriptures at Mass must be “truly suited to carrying out this function and carefully prepared, so that by their hearing the readings from the sacred texts the faithful may conceive in their hearts a sweet and living affection for Sacred Scripture” (no. 101).
The key word in all of this is listening. We are called to listen attentively as the reader, deacon or priest proclaims God’s Word. Unless one is unable to hear, one should not be reading along with a text from a missal or missalette. Rather, taking our cue from the General Instruction itself, we should listen as we would if Christ himself were standing at the ambo, for in fact it is God who speaks when the Scriptures are proclaimed. Carefully following along with the printed word can cause us to miss the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit, the message that the Spirit may have for us in one of the passages because we are anxious to “keep up,” to move along with the reader.
Perhaps the best way to understand the readings at Mass and our response to them is offered by Pope Saint John Paul II in his Instruction Dies Domini. He encourages “those who take part in the Eucharist—priest, ministers and faithful… to prepare the Sunday liturgy, reflecting beforehand upon the word of God which will be proclaimed” and adds that if we do not, “it is difficult for the liturgical proclamation of the word of God alone to produce the fruit we might expect” (no. 40). In this way we will till the soil, preparing our souls to receive the seeds to be planted by the Word of God so that seed may bear fruit.
The Word of God, then calls for our listening and our response in silent reflection, as well as in word and song. Most important of all, the Word of God, which is living and active, calls each of us individually and all of us together for a response that moves beyond the liturgy itself and affects our daily lives, leading us to engage fully in the task of making Christ known to the world by all that we do and say.
Peace and all good, Fr. Sam Nasada, OFM, Associate Pastor
- Based upon Roman Missal Formational Materials provided by the Secretariat for the Liturgy of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “2010.
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