December 10, 2023 - Pastor Message
November 21, 2024THE MASS EXPLAINED PART 3: THE LITURGY OF THE WORD
THE MASS EXPLAINED
PART 3: THE LITURGY OF THE WORD
“The Word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
Continuing our series on the parts of the Mass, we turn this week to the Liturgy of the Word. Having prepared ourselves to celebrate Mass through our personal, pre-Mass preparation, and having entered fully into Mass through the Introductory Rites, we are then ready for God to feed us with his written Word in the Scriptures. That is not entirely accurate, though. Yes, the Scriptures are written, but we don’t all sit quietly and read the Scripture readings ourselves at Mass. While we may follow along in our hymnals or personal missals, a reader, also called a lector, stands at the ambo and proclaims the readings aloud. This is because God’s Word is alive in our midst, shaping the life of our community, and not just some ink on a page. God’s Word is packed with saving power because it is an expression of himself and his will for us, just as Jesus himself is. In fact, it is Jesus, God’s living Word through whom he made and redeemed the universe, who comes to us in and through the proclamation of the Word at Mass. That is why we treat it with such reverence, especially the Book of the Gospels, but that is getting a bit ahead of ourselves.
The Liturgy of the Word follows a three-year cycle of readings, years A, B, and C, over which time we hear the story of our salvation in the Bible proclaimed. We are currently in year B. The Liturgy of the Word usually begins with a reading from the Old Testament, the story of the first People of God, through whom God prepared the way for salvation in Christ. In response to that promise of salvation, we sing together the Responsorial Psalm. The Psalms are hymns inspired by God, and so, by singing the Psalms, we unite ourselves to God’s Word and thus to God himself. We next hear a reading from the New Testament, typically a letter of St. Paul or one of the other apostles. These readings tell the story of the Church, the newly constituted People of God, in whose company we ourselves are counted. They tell us of the difference Christ makes, or should make, in our lives and inspire us to follow in their footsteps to the kingdom.
Christ is the key to understanding the whole Bible, the defining moment toward which the whole Old Testament builds and from which the whole New Testament flows, and so we treat the proclamation of the Gospel, the story of Jesus Christ, with special reverence. We stand for the Gospel, a gesture of special attention, and greet it with a hymn of praise, called the Gospel Acclamation. It is proclaimed by a deacon or priest, who is conformed to Christ in a special way through the sacrament of Holy Orders. It is then followed by a homily, a reflection by the priest or deacon that helps the people see how God’s Word, which they just heard proclaimed, is alive in their midst, not just in the church at Mass, but in their homes, workplaces, schools, and community. The people then respond to God’s Word with a proclamation of faith, which comes from hearing the Word, and a proclamation of their needs, which they voice to God in the faith they just professed, trusting that, as he fulfilled his promises of old, he will fulfill them now in Christ.
God’s Word is alive; it strikes to the heart. May our hearing of God’s Word at Mass strike our hearts and transform us to be true doers of the Word and not hearers only so that it lives in and through us in our daily lives.
Fr. Marc Stockton
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