I think as one opens himself to God, various parts of the liturgy - the privileged meeting place of the faithful with God - begin to open up like a blossom revealing all its color, life, & fruitfulness. Every action of the Mass is carefully considered & full of meaning, though exactly what that is may not be immediately apparent. It takes a bit of pondering.
{As an aside, I would add this is why no new psuedo-rituals should be added to the Mass, even if they seem pious. New & often barely considered themes & messages can be introduced that compete, detract, or clash with the idea of worship as the Latin Church understands it. New things can only be introduced only after great pondering & only when it harmonizes with the apostolic faith to the ends of the glory of God & sanctification of the people. Be very careful...}
Of late, I have made a habit of pondering the Collect & post-Communion prayers at Mass. The Collect prayer, now basely called the “opening” prayer” is the one that the priest reads at the end of the introductory rites before everyone sits for the readings. With all the various readings, psalms, & antiphons that occur during any day’s Mass, it seems to be the Collect that gives them all a common theme. It generally pleads to God for what we hope to receive from the Mass, how we hope to be changed. Yesterday’s Collect for the 5th Sunday of Easter from the Ordinary Form was this:
“God our Father, look upon us with love. You redeem us & make us your children in Christ. Give us true freedom & bring us to the inheritance you promised…”The first part of the prayer may seem redundant – God always loves us with the greatest possible love. He cannot love us any more than he already does. We pray this to remind ourselves of this gift & empty ourselves to receive it. This emptying is the work of the Spirit.
Passing over the second part, the words freedom & inheritance stuck with me. What is true freedom? What is false freedom, & how can we know one from the other? The world is full of false freedoms - things that promise much, but leave us more bound & weighed down than before. Taking it in a slightly different direction, what keeps us from being free to be the reflected image of God, from being transparent enough to allow the light of the Christ Jesus to radiate to those around us? Father spoke of this image of light in his homily. What keeps us from being the Light of the World?
I suppose there are many reasons, but I concluded that it is mostly our own problems that keep us from being involved in other people’s problems. This is certainly a form of self-absorption, of the prominence of the Me over the Other. Ultimately, this is an aspect of pride. There are many other kinds, but I think that dwelling on one’s own problems is the prominent one these days. But this is a very, very small & dark box in which to lock one’s self. There is no room to grow in this cell, only despair, really. It can be very difficult to cultivate enough faith to burst it open. Yet, the glory of God is so much greater, & the power of the Spirit of God – if even given the tiniest opening - can work great miracles.
God himself is our inheritance. But as long as we cling to our own misery & self-pity as to a life-preserver, we cannot claim it. God never coerces; he only invites. But as long as we are willing to accept less, his hands are tied. What a dreadful power we have over God! The power to destroy ourselves! Yet, his invitations are incredibly persistent, eventually just short of irresistible.
Fortunately, it is not completely up to us to spring ourselves from this self-made prison. God regularly sends people our way that need our help more than we need to wallow in self-pity. The more we open ourselves to others - who participate in the Other that is God himself - the more our own problems shrink & recede in comparison. We have to get busy; even if we don’t want to, we just have to begin. That is the crack that the Spirit needs to begin his work. We also have a host of people on the same journey & even those who have completed the journey to help pull down those prison gates & help remind us of who we really – sons of God & citizens of heaven, & what are really made to inherit – eternal joy in God.
New beginnings, both at home & abroad. Congratulations to Fathers David, Christian, & Johnathan Orr on their new assignments. It's a little sad to say goodbye to familiar places & to leave old friends, but we are always called to new places to make new friends.
Westminster Cathedral is an amazing & enchanting place, alive with the history of the Church in England. It's choirs are simply the finest in the world. But it is really the massive Byzantine crucifix over the sanctuary that really focuses one's attention amongst the music & mosaics: Christ & him crucified. May God bless the new archbishop, & all our priests, & increase their tribes.
