In this series, I will attempt to answer a question posed by a friend on Facebook, as to whether the Holy Mass has any roots or connections with the Bible. I posed the same question to my Catholic friends and the answers received to say the least, were startling. It occurred to me that many of us would not even put Holy Mass and The Bible in the same sentence, except for “He took bread…He took the cup…” Let us set a few things straight: 1. I acknowledge all the sources used in this research, very many at that. 2. Holy mass has 2 two equal parts. Equal in importance. The first leads us to the second; the second completes the first. The first part is called Liturgy of the Word. Everything in this part centers around the Word of God: Processing with the Word, Proclamation, Preaching or commenting on the Word, reflecting on the Word, being moved to proclaim our allegiance to the Word by reciting the creed and offering our petitions to the Word. The second part is Liturgy of the Eucharist. Fired by the Word of God we now move to His table to be fed by Christ’s body and blood. NOTE: One needs to take an active part in each of the two parts of Mass. 3. Holy Mass is essentially one long prayer addressed to the Father by the Son in the Spirit together with the community gathered. 4. For those new to the Catholic faith, Mass may also be referred to as: The Lord’s Supper; The Holy Eucharist; The Sacrifice; Holy Communion; Celebration of the Paschal Mystery of Christ; The blessed Sacrament; Breaking of Bread…you may hear more 5. A Sacrament is a visible sign that brings invisible graces…please keep in mind this simplified definition of a sacrament because with it you will begin to appreciate what you SEE, HEAR, TOUCH, TASTE and SMELL at Holy Mass as having or transmitting what is invisible to the bodily senses: GRACE/ Life of God Himself 6. Open your BIBLE Now lets us look at the Holy Mass through the biblical lenses: Every Mass begins the same way. We make the sign of the Cross and say: 1. “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The Sing of the Cross started with the apostles who signed the newly ‘sealed’ the newly baptized by tracing this sign on their fore head: Ephesians 1:13/ Revelation 7:3 The words we pray as we make this sign of the Cross come direct from the lips of Jesus. Indeed were among the very last of his words to the apostles: Matthew 28:19….word for mission but also teaching about the ONE GOD in three persons. Various reasons are given as to why we touch the fore head, the chest and shoulders. The head is the seat of mind, we think, and so we are dedicating our entire mind to whatever we are beginning to do, worship at Mass. The chest is the seat of love, symbolized by the heart; we thus do this we all our love. The shoulders are a sign of strength; we thus pledge to put in all our effort, energy and strength. Jesus would ask, “Which is the greatest commandment?” Mark 12: 29-30 2. Next, the Priest or Bishop greets us and we respond with words that come directly from the bible: (a) The Lord be with you….2 Tim 4:22 He may also use other forms of greetings as (b) The Grace of Our Lord, the Love of God the father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit….2Cor 13:13; or simply (c) The Grace and peace of Christ….Eph 1:2 In Scripture, these greetings are a pledge of divine presence, protection and help..Exodus 3:12; Luke 1:28. Mass continues this way-as a dialogue between the faithful and God, mediated by the priest. (later on we will see the necessity of a priest). We carry on this conversation almost entirely in the language of the bible. To be continued
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 20:13:36 +0000
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