Light on the liturgy : a discussion outline, part I


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Light an the Liturgy

a

Discussion Outline

Part I

By

RICHARD L. ROONEY, S. J.

THE QUEEN’S WORK
3742 West Pine BlvcL, St Louis* Mo*



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Nihil obstat:

Peter Brooks, S. J.

Praep. Prov . Missourianae

Edward G* Murray

Imprimatur:

Censor Librorum

William Cardinal O’Connell .

Archiepiscopus Bostoniensis

Bostoniensis, die 7 Januarii 1944

First printing, March 1944

Any financial profit made by
the Central Office of the Sodality

will be used for the advancement

of the Sodality Movement and the
cause of Catholic Action

Copyright 1944

THE QUEEN’S WORK, Inc.



LIGHT ON THE LITURGY

Whither Away?

Before you begin the present outline, it may help you to see
just where you should arrive at its ending.

It is as natural a thing for man to worship God by prayer
and vow and sacrifice as it is for him to breathe (Discussion I)

.

Since this is so, then he must worship God. Because of his
nature this worship must be both external and social. (Dis-
cussion II)

Finding out from Discussions III and IV that men are not
only many but in a sense one, we decide that there should be
for them one liturgy (Discussion V) and one sacrifice (Dis-
cussion VI).

That one sacrifice is the sacrifice of Calvary and is prolonged
in the Mass, in which the whole Christ is both priest and victim
(Discussion VII).

Turning then to the liturgy of the Mass, we proceed from
the priest's entrance into the sanctuary to the offertory prayer.

In other words we embrace the prayer part or the nonsacrificial
part of the Mass. (Discussions VIII through XI) We end
Part I of our outline with the transition from the speech-part to
the action-part of the Mass by a consideration of the Credo
(Discussion XII).

The remainder of the great action of the Mass will be taken
up in Part II of this outline, which will be published early in
1944.

DISCUSSION I

WE WORSHIP GOD
L Ah, Worship!

The Ordinary human beings among us, when we come in
contact with some excellence in another—the physical strength
and skill of a fullback, the beauty of a movie star, the cleverness
of a scholar, the persuasive personality of a salesman, actor, or

orator—instinctively recognize that excellence, and by force of
sheer admiration we exclaim, “What a mind! . . .What a person!
. . . What heroism! . . . How terribly clever!” In other words
we “worship” the person who possesses that excellence. If you

— 3 —



do not agree with this, then get out your Webster dictionary
and find the definition of worship: 1 ) to have and to express
excessive or ardent admiration* 2) an act or series of acts
(internal alone or externalized as well) by which a person
acknowledges the excellence, worth, or superior position of

another.

Discussion

1 . Pull that second definition apart in order to be sure

that you understand its every word. (Note that
we are not yet talking about divine worship.)

2. Who are the actors taking part in the little drama
depicted by the word worship? What role do they
play?

3. Can a nonthinking being worship?
4. Can a human being worship an inanimate thing?

(As a matter of fact human beings do do this: v.g.,
the sacred cow of India.

)

5. What powers must the worshiper possess? What
qualities must the worshiped have?

6. Considering the word as we have so far defined it,
can we apply it to a man's tipping his hat to a
woman? a soldier's saluting his officer? a uni-
versity's granting a degree? a nation’s decorating

a hero?

7. To what kind of worship do we ordinarily restrict
the word in present usage?

8. Pause here, take the general definition given above,
and see if you in this group can change it so that
it fits the idea of worship of God.

2. And So Divine Worship

Using the notions of worship in the wider sense that we have
just discovered, we see how we can now fashion a definition
of the worship of God.

We have first of all a person—rather three persons—pos-
sessing the infinite excellence of divine nature. These same
divine three have the superior position of being man's first
cause, supreme master and Lord, and last end. From Him, his
creator, man comes. On Him man is utterly dependent. Toward
Him he is traveling as to the aim and goal, the only full giver
of the happiness which he seeks in all he does.

— 4 —



In the second place there is man himself. He has a mind,
with which on the one hand he can see and recognize God’s
infinite perfection and on the other hand his own dependence on
Him. With this same mind he also sees and recognizes the
wonderfulness that is his because of this very dependence,

because of the make-up that God has given him, because of
his destiny.

This sight of God and himself and the recognition of the
interrelationship between himself and God fill man’s mind.
That mind in turn presents this truth to his will as good.
Allured by the sight and the good contained therein, that same
will orders the man to such an act or series of acts as will
acknowledge God’s greatness and his own dependent littleness:
acts of respect, deference, honor, and homage.

In a word man worships God. Divine worship then may be
defined as: An act or group of acts suitable for a man to make
acknowledgment (fitting in some degree at least) of the infinite
worth and excellence and absolute Lordship of God .

Discussion

1. Now who are the two characters in the dramatic
action of worship?

2. What excellence does God have?
3. In what way is He superior to us? How greatly

superior?

4. How can man’s mind see and know God’s superi-
ority and wonderfulness, since he has never seen
God?

5. Let everyone in the group memorize the above
definition of divine worship.

6. What acts would you say are fitted and suitable
to make acknowledgement of God’s marvelous
goodness, beauty, and power? You should find that
these acts can be reduced to two main kinds. What
are they? Define each kind.

a. Prayer

As it is used here, the word prayer is not to be restricted to
the narrow sense of mere petition to God for something we
need or something proper for us. Here we consider the word
in the wider sense of simply directing our minds and hearts to
God, of contacting Him.

— 5 —



Discussion

1. What is prayer?
2. How many kinds of prayer are there?
3. Private prayer is divided into two main branches.

What are they?
4. Which of the two is common to both private and

public prayer?

5. What four elements should there be in any real
prayer?

Analysis and experience will show that such direction and
contact can and should take four forms,

a. Adoration and praise These are a formal and explicit
acknowledgment of God's wonderfulness of mind and will and
nature and of the utter dependence of our own mind and will
and nature on His. They spring from an attitude of soul born
of the conviction of God's infinite perfection, supremacy, ere-
atorship, and Fatherhood. Almost involuntarily we cry out:
“Dear God, I think you're wonderful/'

b. Thanksgiving . Gratitude is the least return we can make
to our divine benefactor and Father for the lavish outpouring
of His gifts on the world, on our own individual selves, and on
others. That gratefulness should be expressed in prayer. The
latter should contain not merely “Give me . . /' but “Thanks a
million'' as well. (How is thanksgiving an act of worship?
What is its source especially?

)

c. Reparation . The sight of God's awful holiness and infinite
goodness to us on the one hand and our own sinfulness on the
other forces us to our knees and wrings from our hearts a cry
of deep contrition. We tell our wonderfully loving Father that
we are sorry for our stupid and selfish ingratitude and rebellion.
We ask His pardon. We promise to make amends for the
future. Prayer should be an expression of our profound regret,

our sincere apology, our renewal of allegiance.

Whence comes a desire for making reparation?
Why is it fitting? How does it fit into our notion of
worship?

d. Petition . The realization of our utter helplessness of our-
selves, the knowledge from bitter experience of our weakness,
the thought of the many obstacles and difficulties lying ahead—
between where we are now and our final goal—might frighten
and discourage us did we not know the love and goodness and

— 6 —



power of Our Father. The realization of these however and the
knowledge that He is most willing to aid us send us to Him
again to ask with confidence for all that we need to live as He
would have us live: for strength against our feebleness, for
courage against our cowardice, for the grace to come at last
to His eternal embrace.

Why is petition worship? Why is petitionary prayer
only one-quarter worshipful? Why do most people
think of prayer in terms of such petitions? What is
the prime aim of prayer, to get or to give? Give
reasons for your answers.

b. Sacrifice

Discussion

Let each of the group here give his ideas of what
sacrifice is, its place in the scheme of worship, etc.

Since this topic will be taken up more fully later on, it will
suffice here to give but a definition. From the definition how-
ever it will be seen how sacrifice embraces all the elements of
worship. In fact it is man s most perfect external expression of
his internal attitude of worship, of his adoration and praise, of
his thanksgiving, reparation, and petition.

Sacrifice is . . . an act

whereby some material object

is offered to God
and destroyed

or altered in some way
in token

of God s supreme ownership
of it and of all things,

particularly of man himself,
for whom
this material thing

is here and now substituted
and for whom
it stands as a symbol.

— 7 —



DISCUSSION II

Three Musts of Divine Worship

Discussion

1. Recall the definition of divine worship. Can each
of you here give that definition and explain its
meaning?

2. Remember that we are still looking at man simply
as man and not as a Hindu, a Presbyterian, or a
Catholic. With that thought in mind, how would
you answer the question: Is it necessary for a man
and for men to worship God?

Let the secretary of this group take down the
answers and the reasons given for them. Now con-
tinue with the text of the outline.

L Man Must Worship God

Although there is no set time or specific manner set down
by God for the worship of Himself, if we look at man from a
merely natural standpoint, there is a very definite moral obliga-

tion by which he is bound to worship God somehow, some-
where, sometime.

The reality of such an obligation can be seen and known from
a simple consideration of God on the one hand and of man
and his nature on the other.

The basis of this first must is man's creaturehood and his
rationality.

a. Man a Thinking Creature
Looking first at man, we find that he is a finite being and

hence created. He is made up of a fleshly temporal and passing
body and an immortal spiritual soul. He has not in himself the
power either to put himself into existence or to continue in
existence once he is placed there. He hasn't even the power
of himself alone so much as to breathe. Rather for all this he
requires another. He is completely physically dependent on this
other, whom we call God, for his existence and for his every
action.

Likewise he is morally dependent on God, for He it was who
gave him a mind to know truth wherever he finds it and a will
to follow that truth as the good. These gifts mean that he is
bound freely to follow God's law once he sees and recognizes it.

— 8 —



Man then is of his very nature and essence shot through and
through with an absolute and utter dependence on the God who
created him, who sustains him, who acts with him in all he does,
and who directs his distinctly human actions by law. By nature
then man is God's servant. Every cell in his body, every beat
of his pulse, every thought in his mind, every emotion he

experiences, every will-choice he makes— all silently shout aloud
to himself and to any other thinking person who will use his
reason this fact of man's utter dependence.

Discussion

1. Do you believe the facts given above? Have you
gone further and worked out for yourself the truth
of these facts? Could you prove them beyond the
shadow of a doubt to anyone?

2. Is what is said true of every man, Mohammedan as
well as Catholic? Is the acceptance of them a

matter of faith or of reason?

3. What do you mean by dependence? physical de-
pendence? moral dependence?

4. Recalling your definition of divine worship, do you
see thus far how it is at least fitting that a man
should worship God? Why?

b. God His Creator

Turning to God, we find that He is the absolutely perfect
being. He is possessed of every possible excellence in the high-
est possible way. Looked at in regard to man, we find Him to
be man’s creator, the giver of every gift that man has from
his nature and being as a whole right down to his last heartbeat.
God has fashioned man in such a way that He is not merely his
alpha, his first fountain source, but also his omega, his last end,
and all the rest of the alphabet in between. Man's mind is
fashioned in such a way that he hungers for truth, for all
truth, which he will find only in God. His heart hungers for
good, not merely for this good sausage and that good reputa-
tion but the highest good which alone will make him supremely
and utterly happy; in short he hungers for God. God is finally
man's supreme master and Lord. His is the universe and every-
thing in it. To Him belong the island universes of the stars, the
white sands of the beach, man’s thoughts and choices and
dreams.

— 9 —



Discussion

Ask yourselves the same questions about this sec-
tion that you did about the preceding one.

c. The Conclusion

A man then, looking in and down at himself and up and out
at God, comes to the conclusion that by his very nature and by
God’s nature he is simply bound to worship God. If he fails to
do that, then he is either insane or a devil. From his double
glance he sees the absolute rightness, fitness, and goodness, the
duty that is his freely and willingly to acknowledge God’s great
goodness and power and love and to submit himself voluntarily
to God’s infinitely superior position. He knows too that to refuse
such acknowledgment and submission is to fly in the face of
all truth, to perform an act which is not only sinful but stupid
and mad as well. Such acknowledgment and such acceptance
of God’s superiority is nothing more or less than an act of
worship—interior at least. The normal, sane, thinking man sees
that divine worship is a must for him, and he gives that worship
gladly.

Discussion

1. How does this conclusion follow from a and b
above?

2. Would you say that the worship of God is an
irresistible urge and drive of man’s nature?

3. Is the failure to worship God an unnatural sin?
4. Even though a man sees the fitness, the “mustness”

of this worship, can he refuse to give it?

2 Man Must Worship God Externally

Discussion

Granted that we have shown conclusively the need
of worship, of interior worship at least, worship of
some kind, you can discuss the following questions.

1. Why isn’t this interior worship enough? Why
need it be externalized?

2. Do I not satisfy my obligation to worship God if
I make to Him this needed acknowledgment of His
supremacy and superiority in the silent chamber of
my own soul?

— 10 —



There are many people who are quite willing to admit the
“mustness” of interior worship. They refuse however to see
the need to externalize it, to show that acknowledgment and
submission in body as well as in souk

That there is need to render to God external worship by
bodily as well as soul acts can be arrived at once again from a

simple consideration of the way that man is made and the way
that he acts.

a. Man, One and Twain

Man is a two-in-one combination, as it were. He has within
him two main elements, body and soul; these are so interfused
and intertangled as to make up one whole, one person. Although
body and soul are distinct '( i.e., one is not the other ) , they are
not separated. They do not live side by side under the same
roof as might two boarders. Rather are they intertwined, inter-
meshed in man in such a way that they make up one entity,
one unity, one person. Now this one person is wholly dependent
upon God in both of his main parts and in every bit of each
of the parts. Hence body as well as soul depends on Him.
Hence the whole person, body as well as soul, should enter into
the worship of God.

b. Actions Fitting Nature

Restating the matter briefly, we would say that any act should
suit the nature of the agent performing that act. For example
it ill befits a man to bark like a dog, while it is quite in keeping
with the dog’s own nature to emit noises covered by the term
bark. Man is not merely spiritual but material as well. Hence
his actions ought to be suitable to the dual nature that is his:
His acts must partake of both elements within him.

c. Bodily Dependence Acknowledged Bodily

Further since man is dependent on God in body as well as
in spirit, he should acknowledge the former as well as the
latter—and that in the medium of the body itself. Strange
indeed is the worship which would have the soul kneel in silent
worship, as it were, the while the body stands coldly by,
impatient for the worship to be over so that that same body may
get back to the “more important things’’ of life.

d

.

Interaction

It is an experienced fact that there are a most intimate inter-
connection and interaction between man’s body and his soul.

— 11 —



An ache in the head creates a resonance in the soul. A crabbed
disposition soon draws a portrait of itself in the lines of a
person’s face.

2

.

Psychologically Speaking

Again it is natural for a man to want to give exterior expres-
sion to his thoughts and feelings. So true is this that experi-
ments show that we instinctively and immediately start to
externalize an idea at its mere presence in our minds—and even
before we are conscious of our doing it. By what reasoning
then can we say that this tendency should be stifled in religious
matters?

Finally it is a fact backed by the findings of modern psy-
chology that a man’s emotions, feelings, and thoughts are
strengthened by the external expression of them. Ordinarily
they will die if they are not expressed. Express your love for

another in words and acts of endearment, and that love will
grow. Deny that love the slightest external expression, and you
will wake up and find that you do not love that other after all.
What is true of love (and of anger and hate and fear) is like-
wise true of respect, reverence, and love of the divinity. Excep-
tional enough to be nonexistent is the man who will continue
to give interior worship to God the while he rigidly refuses to
fold his hands, bow his head or bend his knee, or give any
external expression to that worship.

From all of the above then we conclude that man must wor-
ship his God not merely in the spiritual sanctuary of his soul;
he must also make a worshipful temple of his body.

Discussion

1 . Do you know people who think that exterior wor-
ship is quite unnecessary? How could you persuade
them that they are wrong?

2. Go through the various ideas given above. Do
you understand them? Can you give them con-
vincingly to yourself? to others?

3. Try it right here and now with the group. Which
of the ideas appeals to you most forcefully?
(A poll on this question will be interesting.)

4. Give instances of the dual, i.e., the body-spirit,
nature of man’s actions. Give other instances of

body-soul interaction.

•— 12



5. From your own and others’ experience prove the
truth of the fact that you pray better if your
physical surroundings and bodily posture are in
tune with you interiorly than you do when this
harmony is absent: v.g., prayer in church or at
a prize fight; prayer on your knees rather than

while you are running to catch a bus. Why is this
so? Your soul is unchanged. What constitutes the
difference?

3 Man Must Worship God Socially

The musts of man’s worship have been drawn so far from
the very make-up and nature of man himself. Because he is a
rational, thinking creature, he must worship God somehow by
prayer and sacrifice. Because he is a body-soul unity, his
worship must be not merely internal but external as well. The
third must, that of social worship, rises from the same source:
man’s nature.

Discussion

1. What would you answer if you were asked:
“What do you mean when you say that man is a
social animal?”

2. What is sociability? Is it something natural to man
or something that has grown from convention?

3. How does this sociability point to the need of
social worship on man’s part?

4* Man a Sociable Fellow

Although men are individuals, persons, and hence dwellers
in a sort of “awesome isolation,’’ nevertheless they are social
beings. Shut up in themselves so that they can never completely
share their thoughts, feelings, experiences, they nevertheless

constantly strive toward just that sharing. The hermit, the
recluse, the asocial person, is looked upon by his fellow men
as queer and abnormal.

Looking at man’s composition, at his body, at his God-given
powers of sex, at his ability to communicate his thoughts to
others, at his dependence on others for love and approval and
the very necessities of life, we rightly conclude that he is by
nature a social animal.

13 —



Discussion

1. Are we using the word social here in a restricted
sense of parties, dancing, etc? What then do we
mean here by the word social?

2. How can you show that social living is natural to
man and not merely an outgrowth of convention?

3. What is the first social unit of man's life?
4 . Is civil life an outgrowth of this same natural drive?

Is the Sodality such an outgrowth? the CYO? vari-
ous business concerns? How do these differ from
civil and family life?

5* In Religion Too

Since it is man's nature to want to live in company with his
fellows (hence family life), to work shoulder to shoulder with
and for them {v.g., various business concerns and different pro-
fessions), to join with them in armies and navies, to play with
them (solitaire is not in it with bridge for enjoyment), then
by what right do we conclude that religion is a purely private
affair? Is it not much more in accord with truth and with man’s
nature to state that as he must live, work, fight, play with his
fellows so he must pray and worship with them too? This is
the simple demand of his very nature.

Discussion

Let one of the group be the devil s advocate for

purely private worship. Let him advance all the rea-
sons he can against social or public worship. Then let
the others see how well they can uphold their stand
that human beings, since they are human, must wor-
ship socially as well as privately,

N.B . Recall again that all through this discussion
we are thinking in terms of merely natural religion,
r.e., as though God had never revealed anything to us.

Addendum

From what has been learned so far, it is easy to see that
every advance that one makes in the knowledge of man and of
God makes for a true appreciation of the glory of worship.
Such advance will make a man's worship-life more vital, more
meaningful, and more perfect. For a fuller knowledge of man

— 14 —



we suggest readings in psychology, v.g., “The Psychology of
Character/’ by Rudolf Allers (Sheed and Ward); for a deeper
appreciation of God we offer “The Architect of the Universe/’
which is Volume I in Rev, Walter Farrell’s splendid book “A
Companion to the Summa” (Sheed and Ward),

6* Summary

Looking at human beings quite apart from any special revela-
tion of God, we take divine worship to be: An act or series of
acts suitable and fitting (in some way at least) for a man to
make acknowledgment of the infinite worth and excellence and
absolute Lordship of God. And we see that:

1. It involves a relationship between God and man,

2. a relationship

which must be acknowledged exteriorly,
which must be acknowledged socially .

3. The two main ways to make this acknowledgment
are prayer and sacrifice .

Putting the thing tersely:

God . . . infinitely perfect in Himself, is man’s creator,
hence his superior, and is therefore worshiped by:

Man . . . His creaturehood is the first basis of worship.
His rationality is the second basis and determines

his way of worshiping —by prayer and sacrifice.
The oneness of his person plus his duality and his

animality call for the externalizing of this
worship.

His sociability is the basis of exterior social worship.

DISCUSSION III

MEN SOMEHOW ONE—FROM ADAM
L Known From Reason

We have arrived at all that has gone before from the com-
bined use of our powers of observation and of reason. A further
use of these same powers will bring us to yet another truth.
We will find that men are not merely social but are in a way
one. In other words we arrive at the conclusion that there
exists among men a certain solidarity, a coherence and a one-
ness of nature, relations, interests.

— 15



Discussion

1. How do we arrive at man's sociability? solidarity?
2. What is meant by the word solidarity?

3. When we talk about men here, are we talking
about a man, every man, or all men—the human
race?

4. Why would you say that there should be a greater
solidarity existing within a family circle than in a

crowd at a ball game?

5. List certain signs of solidarity evident in a family,

a neighborhood, a city, a nation, a religious body.

a. Variety

A look about the earth shows us men of various nations,
cultures, backgrounds, colors, creeds, ideas, ideals, pursuits, and
environments.

b. Unity
Despite these superficial differences however there is in all

men an underlying sameness, a consistency and agreement

—

at least in most of the major relationships. (V.g., though they
may differ in their idea of Him, all sane men admit the existence
of a God or of a supreme power.

)
More than that there is a

oneness, an identity of human nature in all men. Different,
individual, separate, and personal as they are, we still call men
men whether we are talking about the midget Tom Thumb or
about the rest of us scaling up to the Norwegian giant. The
Mongolian idiot and the supergenius have this in common:
They are both men—each in greater or lesser degree a rational
animal, possessor of a body and a soul, having the ability at
least to think, make judgments, form abstract ideas, react to
suprasensible motives. All men have the urge to live in company
with their fellows. All men are seeking happiness under one
guise or another.

This being true then, we can say that men satisfy the notion
of solidarity.

Project

From your observation of the other members of this
group list their differences; their identities. Give at

least three factors which point to solidarity among
these people because of the identities and despite the

— 16 —



differences. Can you with reason alone arrive at even
further conclusions along this line?

2* In the Light of Revelation

Although this oneness of nature and community and coher-
ence of interests might give solid ground for reason to conclude

that somehow, somewhere, sometime the human race—which
means all men—had a common ancestor and that hence all men
possess the solidarity of one vast family, it remains for revela-

tion to state that fact and to put it beyond the shadow of doubt.

Project

Where do we find the proof for the physical or
family solidarity of man? Before going on to the dis-
cussion of this point on this text, can you draw up a
list of truths which God has revealed and which point
to this fact? Compare your ideas with the following.

God Himself has testified that:
1. He created Adam (and Eve

) (cf. Gen. 2, vii ff.; 2, xxii)

.

2. Adam was the physical father of the human race.
3. Adam was custodian and guardian of certain gifts which

God had intended to be passed on to that race
a. supernatural— grace-life, a sharing in His own divine life.
b. preternatural—infused knowledge:

strength of will,

freedom from unlawful desires,
freedom from sickness,
immortality of the body.

Project

Appoint someone at this time to give at the next
meeting a clear explanation of the difference between
these sets of gifts and an explanation of each of them.

4. Adam sinned grievously.
5. And as a result he

a. lost both sets of gifts for himself

b. and for his children, the human race, who now share
in his sin as they would once have shared in his hap-
piness had he remained faithful to God.

c. Sin jarred his and our whole being into disharmony. It
introduced the seeds of discord, suffering, feud, war,
labor, and death into the human family.

-17 —



6. He promised to Adam and his children a redeemer.
We see from revelation then a greater solidarity among all

men than reason could ever make known to us, a solidarity not
merely of nature, relations, interests, etc., but one which results
from:

1 . A common ancestry and parentage. All men can trace to
Adam as to a fountainhead their physical ancestry. (The
common progenitor of their souls is God Himself.)

2. A common betrayal in their first father.
3. A common misery resulting from this and a common loss

of great gifts.

4. A common destiny (face-to-face vision of God), which
is beyond any one of them without . . .

5. a common redeemer, who was promised and who would
buy back for father and children the common way of
working out their destiny.

3* The Solidarity of Oneness

All of this brings us back to the fundamentally Christian
idea that, as Karl Adam says, "mankind must not be regarded
as a mass of homogeneous beings successively emerging and
passing away, nor merely as a sum of men bound together by
unity of generation, as being descendants of one original parent
. . . but as one single man. . . . This one man is not the indi-
vidual man, but the whole man, the totality of the innumerable
expressions of that humanity which is reproduced in countless
individuals. This one man includes all men who were thousands
of years ago and all who shall be thousands of years hence.
And the guilt and destiny of every single man are not merely
his own guilt and his own destiny; they concern the whole of
humanity in proportion to the importance which providence has
assigned him in the organism of humanity."

Discussion

1 . State from memory the six truths mentioned above
as revealed by God.

2. What do you mean by creation? What is the dif-
erence between direct and indirect creation?

3. How was Adam created, directly or indirectly?
How was Eve created? How are we created in
body? in soul?

-18 —



4. What was the nature of Adam’s sin?,
5. If only Eve had sinned, what would have been the

result to our first parents? to us?

6. What was the result of Adam’s sin to him? to us?
7. What new ideas does revelation add to those

notions of man’s solidarity that we know from
reason alone?

8. From this notion of solidarity what practical con-
clusions can you draw with regard to your own
lives at home? at work? at worship? socially?

9. What light does this notion cast on such subjects
as war? racism? international law? the poor? the
colored? the Jew?

10.

Why is the need for social worship strengthened
by the addition of this realization of our solidarity?

DISCUSSION IV

MEN SOMEHOW ONE—IN CHRIST

Project

Recall the definition and notions of solidarity given
in the last discussion. Recall briefly the high lights of

our solidarity in Adam. Show how Adam’s sin struck
at this solidarity; use as illustrations the glaring in-

stances of disruption among men (v.g., murders) and
nations {v.g., anti-Semitism, exaggerated nationalism )

.

L The Promised Redeemer

Great as is the solidarity, the oneness, of men by reason of a
common physical nature sprung originally from the loins of
Adam and from the womb of Eve, God has revealed however
an even stricter and higher oneness. It is effected by Jesus
Christ, #the Word of God become man, the fulfillment of God’s
promise of a redeemer.

By His redemptive life and death Our Lord and Savior: ,
1. Paid the debt of Adam’s sin, wiping it out in the whole

race.

2. Gave to all men a common way of arriving again at our
supernatural destiny, making possible for us contact with
God through His own sacred humanity.

— 19 —



3. Won for us all grace, by which we can bring back unity
and harmony within ourselves,

4. Gave us all further grace and instruction by which we
can live, each of us, with other men, all of them, in peace

and concord,

5. Gave us finally a common way of salvation, common
means to achieve it, a common bread of union (His own
body and blood) in order to make us more and more one
with Him and with each other.

Discussion

1. What five points show our solidarity in Christ?

2. How is it true that we now have a greater solidarity
than we have by nature alone? than we would have
had had Adam not sinned?

2, One in Him

But this was not enough. Christ would carry through to
perfection the idea of all men’s being but one “person.” The
Word would become not merely a man Himself; He would
become man. He would not merely redeem men as one man
might buy back another out of slavery. He would not merely
teach men the way to heaven. Rather, Christ would be that
way. He would redeem men by uniting them with Himself and
with each other by sharing with them His vitality as the vine
shares its life-giving juices with the branches, as the soul gives

life and vigor to the individual cells of the body it animates.
He would sweep all men up into a oneness with Himself that
would make of Him and them one “person,” divine of head,
divinized of members. Redemption and contact with God was
to be achieved for all men by the vitalizing union of each of
them with the saving and sanctifying humanity of the man-God
Christ Jesus.

Through sanctifying grace there is effected with Jesus Christ
a oneing which leaves each individual just as he is, a very
human person, and yet elevates him to such a share in Christ’s
life through this grace that he is now “another Christ.” Now
things at one with a common third thing are also oned with
each other. Hence by reason of men’s oneness with Christ they
are also united to all others who are at one with Him. Our
natural solidarity is now lifted to a supernatural plane.

20 —



Discussion

1. How did Christ go about redeeming men?
2. How is He the way to the Father?
3. How can we say that out of many persons one

“person” is made? How is this oneness effected?
4. What does this union with Christ do to man’s

natural solidarity?

3 No Longer Sight, but Vision
As a result of all that has gone before, the following vision

breaks on our faith-lighted view. We now see all human beings,
all the children of Adam and Eve, making up in a greater or
lesser degree one vast person. That person is “the whole
Christ.” He is made up of:

1. Jesus Christ (the head) the man-God, who took flesh
from Mary, which flesh He gave up on the cross of Calvary
nearly twenty centuries ago; the same Jesus who lives
today in heaven and on our altars and comes to us
physically in Holy Communion;

and

2. We (the members), each John, Jane, and Joseph of us,
who have been united with Him and with each other
through baptism, faith, and grace.

The whole Christ then is that “person” made up of the
union of these two, that person and we persons who make up
His “body,” as St. Paul puts it.

For our present discussions (despite the differences among
theologians on the matter) this “body,” of which Christ is
the head and we the members, is the Catholic Church. And
the Catholic Church is the projection of Jesus Christ out of
Palestine and into the whole wide world, the prolongation of
Him unto the end of time, still incarnate in her and in her
Members, as it were, as truly—though in a quite different man-
ner—as was the Word in those hands and feet and head and
heart which Our Lady gave Him.
Why all this here?
Simply because it is essential to an understanding of what

follows. Just as Christ Himself worshiped God externally and
internally by prayer and sacrifice, so He wishes to prolong this
one worship, this same prayer and sacrifice, in and through us
as members of that social unity which is His body upon earth.

— 21 —



Discussion

1. To whom do we refer when we speak of Christ? of
the whole Christ?

2. What is the Mystical Body of Christ? Who is its
head? Who are its members?

3. Why do we speak of this matter here?
4. What effect does all this have on our idea of

Christian worship?

4> The Whole Christ and Worship

From what immediately precedes we find that, there is a new
“person” on earth. This new “person” is composed of Christ, the
head, and all those human beings who are united to Him by
grace, baptism, and faith, who are His members. It is the work
of this body, these members, aided by Christ's grace, to carry
on the mission that He came on earth to do and which He did
not finish alone while He was here.

Project

Pause here and determine: 1 ) what that work was;

2) what part of it is done and cannot be redone;

3) what part of it—if any—we can still carry on.
Leaving aside other phases of Our Lord's life, we come to

this conclusion: that we are to let Him carry on in us His work
of worship, His prayer and sacrifice.

Project

Recall the definitions of prayer and sacrifice. Dele-
gate someone to go through the New Testament and
find there examples of Christ's prayer and sacrifice to
the Father.

Since the nature of the whole Christ is such that it is made
up of members, cells, who are individual human persons, then
it is obvious that this prolongation of Christ's worship should

be the work of His body as a whole ( thus the requisite of social
worship, which must be external since it is social, is met) and of
each individual in that body as an individual (thus private
prayer is kept in the Mystical Body).

1. To conclude this meeting, recall
a. What worship is . . .

-— 22 —



b. Its kinds . . . social and private.

c. Its types . . . prayer and sacrifice.

2. From what you know of the Church, how are all
these phases of worship given expression in the

Mystical Body?

DISCUSSION V
AND NOW THE LITURGY

All that has preceded gives us a background for a better

understanding of the meaning of the term and of the nature of

the liturgy.

Project

Before going on to what follows, let each member
of the group give his idea of the significance of the

word liturgy. What does the liturgy comprise? Of
what elements is it made up? If the secretary would
jot these ideas down, they might make interesting
reading when this present discussion is over.

L The Meaning of Liturgy

The word liturgy is of foreign and ancient origin. It is used
chiefly by Catholics—and not too widely even among them.
Among those who do use it, it has various connotations in varied
circumstances. At first sight and sound of it then you are liable
to shy away from it.

This should not be however. Quite simply Father Ellard
gives its meaning as “Christ and all Christians at prayer.”
Liturgy is nothing more or less than the word which best
describes the prayer of that “person” about whom you learned
and talked in the preceding discussion.

The liturgy then is the Mystical Body at prayer' (we are
using the word prayer in its widest sense). It is Christ con-
tinuing on earth in His Mystical Body—precisely as a body

—

the worship He once gave to His Father in and through His
own physical, Mary-given body.

It is the public official worship of God by the Mystical Body
as a body, the worship by which is carried out the Christ-given
mission to glorify the Triune God and to save and sanctify
souls.

— 23



Discussion

1. Why does the word liturgy frighten people?
2. What do we mean by worship?
3. Are there two kinds of worship in general? If so,

would you expect to find them in this new “person”
on earth, which is the Mystical Body?

4. What do we mean when we say, “of the Mystical
Body as such”?

5. Does liturgical prayer differ from private devotion?
How?

6. When a member of the Mystical Body prays at
home or alone in Church, is Christ praying in him?
Is his prayer liturgical? Why or why not?

7. If he assists at Mass, is his prayer liturgical? Why
or why not?

2 Origins of the Liturgy

A look at the ancestry of the word liturgy will cast further
light on it. Originally it comes from the Greek leitourgia, a
word used to describe a public work, i.e., public service per-
formed by a citizen acting in behalf of the state and for the
good of the state.

In the Old Testament it was used to describe the Temple
services conducted by the priests for and in the name of the
people, whose ministers the priests were.

Characteristics of a liturgical act today then are the following.

1 . It must be a public act.

2. It must be performed in the name and on behalf, of the
whole Christian people .

3. It must be performed by a minister duly authorized by the
Church to carry out the divine worship which she as a
visible society, as a supernatural “person” pays to Al-
mighty God.

3* Elements of the Liturgy

Although in the early Christian centuries the term was con-
fined to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the liturgy of the Church
now embraces the following.

1. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is its core, its

— 24 —



heart, the sun whence all the other parts draw their life
and light.

2. The Divine Office, which flows from the Mass, centers
about it, and by its prayers, chants, and ceremonies car-
ries the Mass into all the other hours of the day.

3. The Sacraments

,

which are channels, conduits, high-
tension wires through which the grace won on the cross
and prolonged into our day and country comes in contact
with our own individual souls.

4. The Sacramentals

,

which acquire their value from their
being linked with the prayer of the Church and especially
with the Mass,

5. The Liturgical Year, in the celebration of which we have
the year-round setting proper for the sacrifice.

6. Various processions, blessings, etc.

Discussion

1. Review the definition of the liturgy.

2. What elements go into that liturgy? Name them
from memory.

3. Discuss—contributing as much as you know right
up to this point—each of those various elements.

4. Can you in all honesty see how they are all con-
nected with the Mass?

5. Where would you go to learn about the rites and
ceremonies used in the administering of the sacra-

ments?

6. Name six sacramentals. What do they do? How
do they differ from sacraments?

DISCUSSION VI

OUR ONE SACRIFICE
Although the liturgy takes in the whole beautiful field of the

Mystical Body at worship, we will limit the term for the time
being to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. With that great action
we will be concerned in the following discussions.

In order to understand it aright we must:
1. Clarify our notions with regard to sacrifice in general.

2. View the unique sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

— 25 —



3. See the connection between that action and that of the
Mass—how they are one and the same sacrifice.

1* The Notion of Sacrifice

Project

Without looking back at the definition given in
Discussion I, work out together your idea of the ele-
ments which constitute a sacrifice. When you have
done this, compare the results with Jsrhat follows.

It will help much for the clarification of this idea if we recall:
1 )

the notion of worship in general, namely that it is an act or
series of acts by which men acknowledge God’s superiority and
supreme Lordship over themselves, their being, their lives, and
over everything else in the world; 2) that this recognition must
be externalized by them individually and socially as a dictate
of their own nature.

The highest and best form of this externalization is sacrifice.
Basically it is an act of worship by which man makes open and
public acknowledgment of God’s superiority and of his own
dependence on Him—especially for his life—by giving Him
himself under the form of some visible gift. Any visible and
sensible gift will do; but since the element of thanksgiving for

life is a major part of sacrifice, the usual objects offered are

foodstuffs, which serve to sustain life: grain, flour, wine,
grapes, etc.

Sacrifice may be defined then, as it is by Father Ellard, as
“the public rendering to God through the hands of a priest of
some visible gift that symbolizes a giving of one’s self to Him.”

Discussion

1 . What is the basic notion of sacrifice in general?

2. Why have men ordinarily offered in sacrifice such
things as sustain life?

3. Memorize Father Ellard’s definition. Having
memorized it, tear it apart, showing what is meant
by the words public, priest, visible gift, symbolizes.

4. Does the notion of reparation for sin enter into the
idea of sacrifice as such? Give reasons for your
answer.

— 26 —



Enter Reparation

Not only does sacrifice give God adoration, thanksgiving for
gifts received, earnest petitions for further favors; it is also an

act of reparation for sin where consciousness of sin is present.

From that hour when sin first entered into the world through
Adam, men have known themselves to be sinners, offenders
against the good God, who made them and provides for their
wants.

Looking at Gods awful sanctity and holiness and seeing
their own sinfulness, they have cried out in agony of heart for
mercy. They have recognized His superiority and supremacy
and have known their own rebellion and proud littleness. In
their saner moments they have turned to God and have acknowl-
edged their offense of Him and have asked Him for forgiveness.

This they have done in their two ways of worshiping Him:
by prayer but above all by sacrifice.

Sacrifice is essentially a gift of love, a giving of oneself—
under one sort of symbol or other—to God in rivalry of His
love and in search of His pardon. It is above all a love-gift of
apology or atonement.

From time immemorial the following elements have entered
into the notion of sacrifice.

1 . a man acting for himself or for a group of his fellow men
who have appointed him to act as their minister and go-
between with God,

2. offering some material object or other—a lamb ... a cow
. . . doves . .

.
grain . . . etc. —to God

3. at an altar,

4. and by destroying or altering that thing, acknowledging
God’s supremacy, His supreme ownership of that thing
and of all things, of man himself especially.

5. This material object stands as a symbol or substitute for
the one for whom it is offered.

Discussion

1. Why did sacrifice take on the nature of an atone-
ment?

2. Why is sacrifice better than prayer to express this
idea?

— 27 —



3. Which is more important in sacrifice, the pain, loss,
sorrow at the thing given up or the love behind the
gift?

4. What five elements enter into sacrifice for sin?
2,

This Notion Verified on Calvary

a. Sin in Adam

God did not want men to be merely men* He wanted them to
share in His own divine life: to know Him as He knew Himself,
to love Him as He loved Himself—both of which acts are above
man's nature as man and are proper only to the divinity* To
take away man's powerlessness, He lifted him by sanctifying or
godlike-making grace—a gift by which man, though a creature,
was enabled to perform these acts which are essentially divine.
This gift was given to Adam, entrusted to him for the whole
race* He was to hand it on to his children, even as he was to
give them physical and natural life.

But Adam sinned, sinned mortally, sinned not merely for
himself but for man, for all men in him. Thus he lost this grace-
gift both for himself and for all other men. He lost it in such
a complete way that no mere human being could ever get it
back, no matter how wondrous his atonement might be*

b. Life in Christ

Yet God wanted man to have that gift again, that grace-life,
that share in His own divine life* With divine ingenuity then
He bridged the abyss between humanity and divinity. In the
person of the Word, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity,
He stepped down and, taking on Himself human nature, lifted
man and all men back to the level from which they had fallen.

As all men because of their solidarity in Him sinned in Adam,
so all men by solidarity with Him were to be saved in Christ.

Discussion

1* What was God's original plan for men?
2. How did He work out His design at first?
3. Who received God's grace-gift? For whom?
4. How did Adam's sin affect God's plan?
5. What did He do to alter it?
6. Why was Christ needed to redeem men?

— 28 —



7. What happened because of men’s solidarity in
Adam? in Christ?

8. Before going on with the text, from what you
know: 1) of the notion of sacrifice, and 2) of
Christ’s death on the cross, show how Christ’s
death had the five elements of sacrifice given above.

c. Christ Sacrifice

This salvation, this revelation, this restoration of divine life,

this redemption, this rebuying of grace-life were effected by
Christ on Calvary.

There on that Good Friday afternoon He offered to the
Father the perfect, in fact the unique sacrifice.

He was a priest—a man set aside, ordained by God to offer
propiation to God for men.

He was also a victim— His sacred humanity it was in which
were contained all men, in whose place He stood when
He offered Himself to God.

At the altar—of the cross—
that divine victim was altered, no—slain . . . for He willingly

let His life be taken from Him, offering Himself to the
fulfillment of the eternal decrees of the Godhead.

to acknowledge God’s superiority and supremacy over men,
to wipe out the debt of sin owed to God. “He has borne
the iniquity of us all.”

Discussion

1. How did Christ’s death on the cross have in it all
the requisites of a sacrifice?

2. How do you think those same requisites are met by
the Mass?

3.

This Notion Verified in the Mass

Had He so desired, Christ might have offered that one only
and unique sacrifice on Calvary and have done nothing more.
It would have been a single solitary act unrepeated in any
way.

But He didn’t do that. He wanted that sacrifice, unique as it
was, to be renewed until the end of time. Therefore on the
night before He died, He ordained other priests who were to
carry on His priesthood and offer the same sacrifice in a dif-

— 29 —



ferent manner down to the last curtain of the world's history.
In other words He instituted the liturgy of the Mass.

In the Mass the true notion of sacrifice is again verified.

1 . There is the priest Christ, present but acting now through
His human instrument, the ordained priest, minister of
Christ, head and Christ members.

2. There is the same victim Christ Himself, the victim of
Calvary. The same Jesus who was victim on the cross is
rendered present on the altar.

3. There is the same essential offering of adoration, love,
reparation, the same total

%
gift of self to the Father's

pleasure and will. Now however Christ is offered sym-
bolically under the species of bread and wine, which are
changed into Him and under whose appearance He is put
to death mystically, not physically as on Calvary.

4. The cross-altar has now become a table.
5. God's supremacy is again acknowledged and His pardon

again sought . . . and the blood shed on Calvary is brought
in contact with human souls, inserted life-givingly into
them.

N.B . Not only are the Sacrifice of Calvary and of the Mass
both verifications of the notion of sacrifice; they are in truth one
and the same sacrifice offered in different manners.

The Last Supper

( a prevue)

CALVARY
(Consummation

The Mass

(a flashback or

better continuation ...

a re- presentation )

The Last Supper, the sacrifice of Calvary, the Sacrifice of
the Mass are the one unique, perfect sacrifice of Christ . . . with
the same priest and victim, the manner of offering alone being
different in all three.

Discussion

1. What might Christ have done had He so desired?
What did He do?

2. How does He prolong His sacrifice?
— 30 —



3. How is the true notion of sacrifice verified in the
Mass?

4. Is the sacrifice of Calvary the same as the Sacrifice
of the Mass? How does one differ from the other?

5. How are the Last Supper, Calvary, the Mass all
one yet different?

6. How can we talk in terms of “our one sacrifice’'?

DISCUSSION VII

THE WHOLE CHRIST^PRIEST AND VICTIM
L The Priest of Priests

Jesus Christ, the God of creation and the man of Galilee, is
the great high priest of mankind. Humanly divine and divinely
human, He bridges the abyss between God and men caused by
Adam’s sin. Called of God, He was appointed and anointed
for this high priestly office. He fulfilled that office on the day
that His body was given for us and His blood was shed for us
on the altar of Calvary’s cross. Thereupon He climaxed His
life of adoration, praise, thanksgiving, and reparation to the
Father.

On Calvary then the Son of God become man fulfilled His
Father’s will and offered Himself in our stead to God. That
terrific drama was over in a few hours. When Christ’s sacred
head finally sank in death on His breast, mankind was redeemed.
As far as He, the head, was concerned, mankind was saved.
But that was not enough. This redemption was not to be as it
were an automatic thing. Although the price had been paid
for men, that price had to be applied to individual souls. His
redemptive act had to be carried on to the end of time. Christ
would continue to save and sanctify souls. He would carry on
His worship of the Father right down to the world’s final
curtain.

Discussion

1. When the word priest is mentioned, what do you
think of?

2. What is the chief function of a priest, be he a
druid of old or a priest celebrating Mass in a
cathedral?

3. When Protestantism dropped sacrifice (the first
time in the history of man’s religious activity),

— 31 —



why were Protestants forced to drop priests as
well?

4. How would you define the office of the priest?
How would you apply that definition to Christ?

Project

To get an idea of Christ’s fullness of priesthood,
either stop here and as a group read and discuss:

1) St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, and 2) Pope
Pius XI’s Encyclical on the Priesthood, or if this is not
practicable for the group, assign these two docu-
ments to a couple of couplets of members and have
them give a digest of them at the beginnings of future
meetings.

2 Shares His Priesthood

a. With Priests

Christ Our Lord might have carried on His priestly work
directly and alone. Always though it has been God's way to
save and sanctify men through men. So here again on the
night before He died, the generous Jesus appointed, anointed,
and ordained certain of His members to be priests who would
share in His priesthood, to be men who would be His ministers.
His substitutes. His stand-ins, if you will. They and their suc-
cessors^—for they were to have successors, “Do this for a com-
memoration of me"‘—are the visible human instruments which
He, the great and sole high priest, Christ Jesus, uses to carry
on the unseen, invisible work He would effect always in men's
souls. They would work with Him to continue His offering of
Himself to God.

Discussion

1. When did Christ ordain His first priests?
2. How do we know He wanted them to ordain suc-

cessors?

3. What relationship do these priests have to Christ?
to the laity?

4. Did Christ's sharing of His priesthood extend only
to those officially so ordained? Can we say that
in a certain sense He shared it also with the lay
folk?

32 —



5. Is there an essential difference between the way
that duly and officially ordained priests share and
lay Christians share? In what does this difference
consist?

b. With the Laity

Our Lord did not stop the sharing of His priesthood at
those men whom we call priests officially. He extended it
further, to the whole Christian race, to all men engrafted in
Him, incorporated in His body. In them all Christ lives again.
He acts through and with them, and they through and in and
with Him. His being in them and His acting in them is true of
Him as priest. St. Peter taught: “You are a chosen generation,
a kingly priesthood.” St. Chrysostom stated flatly: “You were
made a priest at baptism.”

This sharing in Christ's priesthood is given initially at bap-
tism, widened in confirmation, and bestowed in its fullness—
that is in its power to consecrate and dispense the sacraments
—with holy orders. By reason of the soul-sealing and -signing
effected by these sacraments, Christ can use us all-in varying
degrees obviously—as outlets, human instruments of His priestly
office and functions.

Hence we can say that at Mass it is the whole Christ who
is offering that Holy Sacrifice.

Picture of Whole Christ Priest

Extends His

Priesthood to Those

l.in holy orders (fully)

2.

confirmedClessfullyl/

3.

baptized (partially)

estsv- sacrifice and sacraments

for apostola+e

ized \-fbr worship

Discussion

1. How do you know that Christ shares His priest-
hood with the laity? Does every baptized Christian
share in it? To what extent?

— 33 —



2. Can a person who is merely baptized say Mass?
forgive sins? officially preach the word of God?

3. Which of the priestly powers of Christ does con-
firmation add to baptism? does holy orders add?

4. Since all Christians share in Christ's priesthood,

what should be their attitude at Mass—active or
passive? Why? What is the attitude of the ma-
jority of this group? Why?

3 A Warning _
Because of the fact that many have pushed and are pushing

this teaching of the share in the priesthood of Christ by the
laity to too great limits, let it be clearly known by this present
group that the lay sharing in that same priesthood is something
quite different from that of the official priest. The priest
ordained, signed and sealed with holy orders, he alone shares
in Christ's priesthood effectively

,

i.e„ he alone can consecrate

the body and blood of Christ, forgive sins, dispense the sacra-
ments (as ordinary minister), preach the word of God as a
completely official teacher. It is not necessary for him to have
a congregation behind him when he offers Mass, Alone in the
silence and solitude of a house chapel he can offer the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass perfectly and completely. He offers it
even there however as an official minister of the Mystical
Body. The laity's offering of the Mass in an effective thing:
They offer it on the altar of their own hearts, uniting themselves
in spirit with the priest at the altar; and together with him they
are at one with Christ, priest of priests, the sole priest of the
New Law,

For further study along this line, if you are inter-
ested, you can consult Father Ellard's “Christian Life
and Worship," pp. 50, /f„ and his “Men at Work at
Worship," Chapter V.

4. The Whole Christ Victim

Discussion

1. What is meant by the word victim?
2. Must there always be a victim where there is

sacrifice?

3. What part does the victim play in sacrifice?
4. In ordinary sacrifice what is the relationship of the

priest to the victim?

— 34 —



5. What was unique about the sacrifice on Calvary?
Who was the priest? the victim?

6. Who is the one priest in the Mass? Who is the
victim of the Mass? Are we, the members, in any
way victims too? If so, why?

Just as there is but one real priest in the world, the man
Christ Jesus, in whose priesthood—by His divine generosity
and ingenuity—we share, so too there is but one victim. Just
as the whole Christ, head and members, Jesus of Nazareth and

John of New York and Sally of San Francisco, are priest and
“priests,” so too the whole Christ, Jesus of Nazareth and Bobby
of Boston and Mark of Minneapolis, is the whole victim.
On Calvary's top Jesus the head offered Himself for all

mankind in the world’s perfect act of adoration, thanksgiving,
reparation, and petition. He would have that sacrifice continued
unto time’s end, and He asks us to effect it in ourselves, making
us covictims with Him as well as copriests.

Strange indeed is the priest who never offers sacrifice.
Stranger still is the Christian who does not offer himself as a
victim with Christ of Calvary and the Mass. He is no real
Christian at all who will not bear about in his body the morti-
fication of Jesus, who will not crucify his “flesh, with the vices
and concupiscences,’’ who will not make up what is wanting to
the passion of Christ, who will not bear the cross of everyday
living and mount thereon to be crucified with Christ to the world.

5 Our Gift
Sacrifice is essentially a matter of gift-giving. At Mass,

Christ gives Himself to the Father. He gives His whole self,
us along with Himself. We have value only in so far as we

Picture of the Whole Christ Victim

— 35 —



are at one with Him. At Mass we give the Father the perfect
gift too, His Incarnate Son. Since He is our unique victim,
the only one really acceptable to the Father, we give ourselves
in and with and through Him.

Project

Work out ways and means by which you can keep
the Mass alive in your daily lives so that you are truly
perpetual victims.

Picture of the Whole Christ at Mass

6 In Transit

From all that has been said so far, one clear strong convic-
tion should be in the mind of each one in this group. It is simply
this: Each of us as a cell in the Mystical Body of Christ, as
a sharer in His priesthood and victimhood, can no longer be
merely passive at Mass. We have the privilege and duty to
take part actively in the Mass and to exercise the wondrous
gifts that Christ has given us.

One reason, as experience teaches, for the lack of this
activity on the part of lay folk in the participation in the Mass
is a lack of understanding of it as a whole and in its parts.
The remainder of this outline, both of this part and the part

that follows, is intended to dispel this darkness. Once light has
been thrown upon the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, you will
understand it. Once you understand it, you will love it. When
you love the Mass intelligently, you will pray, make active
offering, receive Holy Communion during it and live it out in
daily life afterward. In other words you will at last really

— 36



fulfill the command of Christ: "Do this for a commemoration
of me."

Project

1. For the succeeding discussions bring along your

missal and also— for the first few discussions—
your Bible.

2. Delegate one member to be ready to start off the
next discussion with some clear and interesting
notions on the vestments that the priest wears and
on the Christian altar. Father Ellard’s "Christian

Life and Worship," Chapter IX, p. 109, is excel-
lent for this.

DISCUSSION VIII

FROM ALTAR FOOT TO OFFERTORY—

I

Prospect

Having studied and discussed the notions of worship, liturgy,
sacrifice, priesthood and victimhood, the whole Christ, you are
now in a position to turn to a discussion of the Holy Sacrifice
of the Mass in greater detail.

Before going into this however, the following ideas should

be set clearly before you and kept there always as you proceed.

The Mass is made up of words and actions. We, Christ
and His Christians, speak to God; God speaks to us. We act;
God acts.

From the prayers at the foot of the altar to the offertory
prayer we have the speech-part of the Mass. From the offertory
itself to the end of the Mass we have the great action. So the
Mass falls naturally into two main parts, the action-part being
of much greater importance than the prayer part.

Each of these chief divisions falls in turn into two sub-
divisions. From the prayers at the foot of the altar to the col-
lects, we speak to God. From the epistle through the sermon,
God speaks to us. Again at the offertory we go into action,
we give to God up to the "little elevation." From the "Our
Father" down to the blessing, God acts, giving to us. We speak
and are spoken to. We act, we give and are given to.

— 37 —



Discussion

Stop here and make sure that everyone in the group
has these ideas clearly in mind. To ascertain this, let
each one answer aloud the following questions.

1. Of what two main elements is the Mass made up?
2. Who speaks and who is spoken to? Who acts?
3. What are the two main divisions of the Mass?

Where does each start and end?
4. What are the two main subdivisions of each of

these divisions? Where does each of these begin
and end?

(Note: The Catholic Guild for the Blind has put
out a puzzle project named “Arches to Heaven”

—

Build the Mass—which exemplifies these ideas very
graphically. It can be obtained from the guild office at

49 Franklin Street, Boston, Mass. Your use of the
puzzle will be profitable, enlightening, and enjoyable.

)

Speech-Part of the Mass

For the sake of the clarity of what follows, it would be well
for each member to imagine himself in his own parish church.
He is kneeling there, ready to pray and to offer the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass. The altar is ready for the Mass, but the
priest has not yet entered the sanctuary.

Project

At this point the one given the assignment about the
vestments and the altar might give one report on the
results of his findings.

Ancestry

As you await the priest's coming, you might recall certain
facts about this part of the Mass (z.e., from the prayers at the
foot of the altar to the offertory prayer).

It has its roots in the Old Testament. Therein worship was
made up of two main elements. There was the sacrificial action,
which took place only at Jerusalem. Many of the faithful Jews
could not be present there. Lest their religion slip away from
them, this action was supplemented with the nonsacrificial
prayer-service which took place in the synagogues, which were
scattered throughout Palestine and the then-known world. The

— 38 —



principal parts of this latter' service, in which Our Lord Himself
many times took part, were two lessons: a Psalm chanted as an
interlude and an address or instruction and prayer by the
people*

The primitive Christians carried on the main distinction
between sacrificial and nonsacrificial worship. Though the Holy
Sacrifice could be offered everywhere, it was limited as to time
(r.e., at first it was offered only on certain days) and as' to
attendance

(
i.e., only Christians were allowed to be present

at it).

As did the Jews however, so the Christians gathered together
more frequently for prayer and instruction. To these gather-
ings the nonbaptized were invited, especially those who wanted
to become Christians, that they might learn to pray and that
they might be instructed in revealed truth.

Gradually it became customary to have the sacrificial action
(the giving-and-receiving part) follow right after the nonsacri-

ficial or prayer-service rites (the speaking-and-being-spokeii-to

part). It was at the end of these rites that those who were
under instruction for baptism but were not as yet Christians
were dismissed. (The English word Mass comes from the
usage which grew out of the people’s referring to the Holy
Sacrifice in terms of the two dismissals— Latin: missa, missio—
one of which came just before the offertory and the other at the
end of the Mass, even as we have it there today.)

Discussion

1. What is the nature of the opening part of the
Mass? Whence did it get its form?

2. What were the two main types of Jewish worship?
Where were they offered?

3. What were the types of primitive Christian wor-
ship? Were they originally together?

4. In the Holy Sacrifice today do we have both types
still extant? At which of them are we looking now?
Whence comes the word Mass?

(For a full paralleling of our present Mass-be-
ginning and the synagogue service, consult Father
Ellard’s book mentioned above, pp. 156, 157.)

— 39 —



WE TALK TO GOD
L Prayers at the Altar Foot

During your musings the priest who is to celebrate the sacred
mysteries has come to the altar, arranged the chalice and the
missal, and is now at the foot of the altar stairs.
At this point two things are to be noted:

1. Recall once again the purpose of this outline. It aims

to cast such light on the liturgy as will enable those

who have used it to come to a fuller, more intelligent,
more hearty active participation in the liturgy—of the
Mass especially. It looks to practice and not theory, to
action and not mere speculation. Its information is, not
to appease a hungry curiosity, but to fill the mind and
heart with such thoughts and feelings as will enable its
users to unite more intensely with Christ, the priest, and
other Christians actively to pray, offer, and live the great
action.

2. Before analyzing these points in detail, you would do
well to recall regarding these prayers at the foot of the

altar that:

a. They are one of the most recent additions to the
Mass, having become a definitely fixed part of it only
as late as the sixteenth century.

b> They are private and not social in character, for they
are the immediate preparation of the clergy for the

Mass; they are recited at first by the celebrant on his
way to the altar and later on at the foot of the altar.
The privateness of their nature can be seen in the

way that they are recited by the celebrant, the deacon,
and the subdeacon at the solemn high Mass, the real
start of which is the introit, which is chanted by the
choir, who pay no attention to the ministers.

^

Further when the altar boy answers these prayers
at the low Mass, he does not speak for the congrega-
tion—as he does thereafter—but for the deacon and the
subdeacon. ( Since this is true, these prayers are hardly

to be recited by the congregation in a dialogue Mass.

)

c. Although all this is true, these same prayers make an
excellent proximate preparation for the assistance of

us, the laity, at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, since
they excite in us the right dispositions for the Mass

— 40 —



and remove by contrition the one obstacle to the offexM

m - ^ ring of ithe Mass, sin* ; ‘;o cry*** t-dV bun *n\
Discussion

1. What are the aim and purpose of the present out-
line? -A

2. Why do we desire an active participation in the
liturgy? . . « 1

3. How old are the prayers at the foot of the altar?
4. Why do we stress the privateness of their char-

acter?

5. Why should the laity read them from their missals
or recite them with the priest?

The priest begins the Mass with a genuflection, expressing
by this outward gesture his inner feelings of humility and
reverence. We who have been standing since he entered the
sanctuary now kneel, having the same sentiments in our hearts.

Together with the priest we make the sign of the cross. Since
this sign is made so frequently during the Mass, it may be well
to pause for a moment here to consider the significance of that
act. It probably had its origin with Christ Our Lord when,
ascending into heaven, He blessed those who were with Him on
Olivet. All the ancient fathers and ecclesiastical writers testify
to the antiquity of that act. In the beginning of the third century

Tertullian wrote: "At every step, in coming in and going out,
when putting on our garments and our shoes, when walking,
washing, when at table, when lighting a candle, on going to
bed, when sitting down, at every work we perform we Chris-
tians mark the forehead with the sign of the cross" (De Corona
Militis, c.> 3). By making this sign, we show ourselves to be
blood brothers with all Christians who have gone before us
and who will follow us. It is the great sign of our fraternity
in Christ.

Having its place throughout the Christian's life—from the
time it is taught to the still wordless baby, through all private
and public devotions, right down to the last sign of it over the
coffin lowered into the grave—it has special import at the
beginning of the Mass. This is so because: 1) our Mass is a
prolongation, a re-presentation of the great sacrifice offered on
the cross; 2) it is the perfect act of worship of the Son and of
us sons, enspirited by the Holy Spirit and offered to the Father;
3) to pray and offer it aright, we need to do it "In the name,"

— 41 —



that is, by the commission, of the Triune God and with His
grace and power* The sign of the cross is a divine shorthand
symbol summing up the principal mysteries of our faith.

It is essentially a sign of God's love; and coming as it does
at the beginning of and throughout Mass, it reminds us of that
love and strikes the keynote of our own sacrifice, the joyous-
ness and love that ought to ensoul this giving of perfect service
to God through oneness with His Son, By it finally we are
taught another important truth about the liturgy: that in it the

words and actions always harmonize and mutually complement
each other.

Discussion

1, How is the sign of the cross made?
2, How do the words and actions harmonize?
3, Why is its use particularly appropriate for the

Mass, for the beginning of the Mass?

4, What Catholic doctrines are summarized in this
sign?

5, What is the meaning of a genuflection?
The priest then recites the Forty-Second Psalm

,

which we
recite with him.

It is to be remembered as another principle that the liturgy
does not necessarily mean to apply every verse of a Psalm
which it adopts but will often include it in its entirety because
of one appropriate verse.

This principle is seen worked out here in the use of the
“Judge me, O God,” which is chosen above all for its fourth
verse, a verse also used as the antiphon which prefaces and
keynotes it, “I will go in unto the altar of God, unto God who
giveth joy to my youth/'

It is not known definitely when this Psalm entered the Mass.
In the liturgy of Milan in the fourth century this Psalm with
its antiphon (a verse or words of Scripture prefacing a Psalm
used in the liturgy) was sung as the processional hymn by the
newly baptized as they went on Easter morn from the baptistery
to their first assistance at Mass and to receive their first Holy
Communion. Whatever their ages, they were all young, fresh-
born in Christ. Each time we recite it here, we can remember
that this Mass is a renewal of that same newness and youth
of life which we too received at baptism, a renewal of our
spiritual youth and vitality in Him.

— 42 —



Looked at in its original setting, the Forty-Second Psalm
is the plaintive chant of a people in exile far from God's Holy
Mountain and its Tabernacle. The Psalmist admits his own
unworthiness and humbly seeks God's mercy. He gives vent
to the ardent longing in his heart: to be allowed to go back to

Jerusalem and there to pray and offer sacrifice. He longs to be
freed of his enemies' oppressing attacks and asks for light and
truth and strength.

In its setting in the Mass the Psalm with its antiphon acts as
a ferry transporting us from the business and busyness of this
world of exile, from the attacks of our triple enemy, the world,
the flesh, and the devil, into the sanctuary of sacrifice where
we too shall receive truth and light and strength, a renewal of
the vigor of our spiritual youth, a foretaste of the joy that will

be ours when we are arrived at our true homeland, heaven.
By it birth is given to the dispositions which will enable us to
offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass worthily, strong in God's
strength.

Discussion

1. What is another principle of liturgical usage of
Psalms which you have just learned?

2. Why is the Forty-Second Psalm chosen for the
beginning of Mass?

3. When did it enter the Mass?
4. What is the picture that it gives when it is looked

at as something sung by the Psalmist who com-
posed it?

5. What significance does it have when it is used
by us?

Comes now the confiteor or confession. This is the oldest
and most important part of the altar-foot prayers. It grew
through the centuries, from an act of recollection and adoration
said by the early bishops at the foot of the altar to an act of
contrition. In its present form it dates from the thirteenth
century. It is a sacramental which like the sign of the cross
and holy water arouses holy dispositions and gains a remission
of venial sin.

Recalling that words and motions in the liturgy blend and
complement each other, note first the priest's posture. He is
standing on the bottom step. Prefacing his act with the sign of
the cross and the strengthening words, “Our help is in the name

43 —



of the Lord/' z.e., in His person, he bows profoundly and keeps
his eyes downcast to show with every part of his person his
misery, shame, sorrow, and penitential spirit. He thrice strikes
his breast to express the depth and intensity of the regret which
makes him now chastise the heart whence his sins have flowed.
The sentiments which he expresses in words—and we with

him—are those of sorrow and supplication.
Unlike any other act of contrition we moderns have ever been

taught, the confiteor is really a short playlet in two acts.

Act I. The priest and then we stand shamefacedly before
the divine majesty and the whole court of heaven and the other
Mystical Body members assembled about us. They all stand as
accusers, condemning us for our faithlessness to grace and our
sinfulness. Humbly we acknowledge our guilt in the thrice-
repeated "Through my fault," which expresses the real heart-
break within.

Act II. Here there is a reversal. We now go as beggars to
Our Lady and the saints and our present brethren in Him,
beseeching them to plead to the Lord Our God in our behalf.

Discussion

1. How old is the confiteor?
2. Why do we call it the most important part of the

prayers at the foot of the altar?

3. How do the priest's posture and words harmonize?
4. Why does this act of contrition strike us moderns

as something strange?

5. Why is not Christ appealed to in the little drama?
Take note of the following about the confiteor:

1. The priest recites it first and then the ministers, yhile we
accompany them in our hearts. Here we have a mutual
confession of sinfulness and a mutual petition unlike the
personal ones to which we are used.

2. The liturgy is not bound to time or space but passes from
earth to heaven and back again with the ease of one at
home in either sphere. In the confession those members
of the Mystical Body that are still militant pray together
to those in glory for aid for all. We are here taught that
grace comes to the individual, not individually, but chiefly
through the community, the body, to which it is primarily
given.

— 44 —



3. Recall Discussion II above on man's need for social wor-
ship, See how it is satisfied this early in the Mass (and
in the prayers that immediately follow). Keep your eyes
open for its recurrence again and again throughout the
Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

4. Maurice Zundel in his excellent “The Splendour of the
Liturgy" (Sheed and Ward) gives an idea which is
opposite here. He would have us remember when we
hear the priest's confiteor that his priesthood does not

free him from the weakness and proneness to sin which
go with his humanity. He suggests that the confession
be an incentive for us to remove by prayer for him any
faults which we may deplore in him; he remarks wisely
that this is certainly much more efficacious than “neces-
sarily unprofitable criticism." He sums up what he has
said, thus: “It is perhaps the most tragic aspect of man’s
destiny that sinners are called to save sinners, but also

without a doubt its most marvelously redemptive aspect."

Discussion

1. Name another characteristic of the liturgy just
mentioned.

2. Show how the Mystical-Body-minded person ap-
preciates the words and mutuality of the confiteor
more than does one who lacks that mentality.

3. How does grace come to us individuals?
4. Appoint two of the group to be on the lookout in

the future to pick out all the aspects of the social-

ness of the Mass.

5. Can you think of some to whom Zundel's sugges-
tions might be given with profit?

Because Christians are never isolated, separated, alone, both
priest and ministers and people pray after our mutual con-
fessions that God may grant mercy, forgiveness of sin, and life
everlasting. The priest makes the sign of the cross and in a
nonsacramental absolution asks for the pardon, absolution, and
remission of our sins. Then follow three short alternate ejacula-
tions for mercy and help which form the conclusion or epilogue
of this liturgical act of contrition (consult your missals).
The priest then says to the ministers, “Dominus vobiscum."

And they reply, "Et cum spiritu tuo." Opening his hands in a
gesture of prayer, he begins to ascend the altar steps.

— 45 —



Suggestion

It would be a profitable custom if some one of the
Mass prayers was taken as the subject of a mental
prayer with which each of the following discussions
could begin. It would familiarize each of the group
members with the prayer and would also show them
how much depth and beauty is contained in them.
Finally when they used their missals in the future at
Mass, these fuller ideas would cluster round about
those prayers and make their own personal part in the
Mass that much richer.

DISCUSSION IX

FROM ALTAR FOOT TO OFFERTORY—II
A. Prayers at the Altar

L Mental Prayer From the Missal Prayers

2* Ascending to the Altar

The prayers at the foot of the altar being completed, the
priest ascends the altar steps. As he goes, he says, inaudibly
—silence being the language of a soul united with God—a prayer
in which we can all join. It is a prayer which we might well
make our own and say at other times too, before praying, as
we go toward a church or a chapel to make a visit, etc.

“Take away from us, we beseech thee, O Lord, our
iniquities, that we may be worthy to enter with pure
minds into the holy of holies. Through Christ Our
Lord. Amen.” I

3 Arriving at the Altar

Arrived at the altar, the priest venerates the relics of the

saints in it (center), saying there the other prayer, which you
can find in the proper place in your missals. Turn to that place
now and read the prayer.

4> The Liturgical Kiss

While he says the prayer “We beseech thee, O Lord . .
before going to the epistle side, the priest kisses the altar,

wherein are the relics of the saints and martyrs.

— 46 —



Since this kissing action occurs several times throughout the

Mass with a deeper significance than mere reverence for these
relics, it is well to learn its meaning here so that you can refer
to it as you proceed. Knowing its meaning too will enable you
to kiss the altar in spirit*

An understanding of the significance of the liturgical kiss
can be had by your realization of these three facts and their
interrelationship

.

1. Liturgically the most important part of any church is of
course the altar. All else in it is of secondary importance,

even the tabernacle, for reservation was not customary in
a tabernacle until a few centuries ago. The altar is
important because by the chrism wherewith it was con-
secrated it became a representative of Christ, It stands
there in His place. In fact the Roman Pontiflcial says,
4

‘The altar is Christ/'

2. At that altar is the priest. His is a double role. At one
time he takes Christ's place there and almost loses his
identity, as it were, being swallowed up in Him

(
v.g„

“This is my body, , , . This is . , , my blood/' At other
times, as here, he is the official minister of the Church,

acting in her place,

3. The members of that body of which Christ is the head,
the branches of which He is the vine, make up the third
element. They also, being the Church, are the spouse of
Christ, His bride, with whom He would be most closely
united.

Looking in at any Mass then and seeing this action of kissing,
we really see: the bride of Christ (the people) in the person of
the ministering representative (the priest) approach Christ (the
altar) and exchange with Him a bridal kiss of love, a love in
which the bride receives life from the lips of her divine bride-
groom. Parsch sums it up by saying: “Let us remember that
the altar kiss is the bridal kiss between the Church and Christ
and between the soul and Christ. The espousal of my soul with
Christ is renewed in the Mass/'

Discussion

1. What is the most important part of a Church? •
Why?

2. Place in the order of their importance (z.e„ first,

second, third according to a true Catholic sense)

— 47 —



the communion rail ( Holy Communion ) , the taber-
nacle (reservation), and the altar (sacrificial
action ).

3. What double role does the priest play at Mass?
Which of these is he enacting when he kisses the
altar?

4. What is the significance of that kiss?

Project

At this point assign to a member of your group the
interesting task of learning about the incensing of the
altar and the idea of the “station" churches; let him
be ready to explain it at the beginning of the next
meeting* Among other places where he can find this
information well explained is “The Liturgy of the
Mass," by Pius Parsch (B. Herder Book Co.) pp.
76-82.

5.

The Introit

The priest now goes to the missal, which is placed at his
right, the epistle side of the altar. Making the sign of the
cross, in which way all solemn functions are begun, he reads
the introit. (Latin, introit, meaning “he goes in"; introitus,
meaning entrance.) Originally made up of a Psalm and an
antiphon, that is, a verse which was chanted and which served
as a refrain, which was taken from the Psalm and which hit
off its theme, the introit has today been reduced to the following

composition: an antiphon which gives the meaning of the whole
Psalm; the first verse of the Psalm, which stands for the whole
and only accidentally gives its theme; the “Gloria Patlri . . /'

and the antiphon is repeated.

In the high Mass this antiphon is chanted while the ministers
are saying the prayers at the foot of the altar. This procedure

shows two things: 1 ) that those prayers are private preparatory
prayers; 2) that although it was unknown in the first few
centuries of the Church's life, the introit has been from that

time the real beginning of the Mass.

As we find the introit today, it is often on the mystifying side.
This is due to its shortened form. To understand it aright, we
must lengthen it and look behind its present fossilization in
order to see its original use.

— 48 —



In the Mass today we have really a double-headed introit:
the true one, which is but a ghost of its former self and which
varies with different Masses; the other, the prayers which you
have just discussed and which are complete, whole, and
unchanging. It was this latter introit which came in with the
introduction of the private Mass and which has crowded the
real introit into second-place importance.

Going back to the Middle Ages, we find that even then the
real purpose of the introit which we are considering now was
no longer understood. This ignorance resulted from a con-
tinual shortening of the introit on the one hand because of the
dropping of the station processions and of the solemn entrance
into the church and on the other hand from an abuse of the
chant introduced by Gregory I, which resulted—like the operatic
Church music condemned in our own day by Pope Pius X in
his "Motu Proprio”— in a greater consumption of time in the
singing and hence in an abbreviation of the Psalm sung.

Before these innovations or disappearances however, which
began in the fourth or the fifth century, when the Church had
come out of the catacombs and the persecutions, and the great
basilicas had begun to rise, the following ceremonies were
observed.

The Pope or bishop coming to the church where Mass was
to be celebrated made a solemn entrance there. With his min-
isters and the clergy present he marched in solemn procession
from the sacristy (the withdrawing place), which used to be
near the front door, down through the church, and to the altar.
As he proceeded, the choir, standing by the altar and divided
into two sections, chanted a processional hymn. One subchoir
sang the antiphon, and the other repeated it. Then the first
section sang the first verse of the Psalm chosen for its fitting-
ness for the feast, and the second section repeated the antiphon.
So they continued, until the Pope or bishop had arrived at the
altar and had prostrated himself. There he waited until the
Psalm was finished or, if it was too long, until he gave the
signal for the conclusion, which consisted in the singing of the
"Gloria Patri . . ." by the whole choir together. In all prob-
ability in earlier times the people joined trained singers in the

chanting of the antiphon. Such then is the ancestry of the
abbreviated introit which we have today, a shriveled remainder
of the chant for the procession to the celebration of Mass.
The introit gives voice today, as in those earlier days it did

more fully and more musically, to the religious meaning and

— 49



mood of the procession and to the Mass, It serves fittingly to
dispose the heart of a man, to put it in tune with the great action
to follow.

It is only when we view our modern introit against this
colorful and rich background of its original meaning and pur-
pose, unseparated from chant and procession, and with its full
Psalm, and as an accompaniment of the celebrant’s going to the
altar of God that we will fully understand it. Then we see it
as it is described by Zundel:

"Thus the introit greets us at the entrance of the Mass, It
is like a triumphal arch at the head of a Roman road, a porch
through which we approach the mystery, a hand outstretched
to a crying child, a beloved companion in the sorrow of exile.
The liturgy is not a formula. It is one who comes to meet us.’’

Discussion

Why does the priest sign himself with the sign of
the cross when he starts to read the introit?

Why does he cross the missal when he is saying a
requiem Mass?

What does the word introit mean? How is it
composed?

What is the meaning of the word antiphon? What
does it aim to do?

Do you find the introit unintelligible?
Are we different from our brothers of the Middle
Ages in this mystification?

Trace the steps in the process of the compressing
of the introit.

Describe or, better still, act out the original

entrance chant of the entrance procession. What
part should it play in our own offering of the Mass
today?

Project

In order the better to make use of the present-day
introit, why not read the full Psalm in your Bibles
before you go to Mass?

6* The Thrice Tripled Kyrie

Having finished the introit, the celebrating priest goes to the
middle of the altar and says the Kyrie (in a high Mass he

1 .

2 .

3 .

4 .

5 .

6 .

7 .

8 .

— 50 —



remains at the book and recites the Kyrie with the deacon and
the subdeacon while the choir chants it). Greek in source this
prayer came into the Roman Mass around the fourth or the
fifth century, the “Christe eleison” having been introduced by
Gregory I (cric. 600). The precise 3-3 arrangement that we
have today is a later addition; originally the Kyries were

repeated for as long as the celebrant thought them necessary.

This triple triplet of prayers is a cry for mercy welling up
from the deeps of the hearts of both priest and people. Short,
powerful, terse, and hence adapted for the chanting of large
groups, the Kyrie is the cry of souls longing for union with God,
a union effected by instruction and knowledge and directed
toward those wanting to become Catholics and toward an ever-
deepening of grace for those already Catholic. It is the plea

—oft-repeated because of its depth—of souls in need, souls
realizing that need and also realizing their own powerlessness
to remove it by themselves. Dr. Parsch calls it “the Advent time
of every day.” It is a cry from hearts which are still weighted
with the pagan in them and which are surrounded by a pagan
world. It is as urgent as the “Rotate coeli desupev," Drop
down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the
just.”

Discussion

1 . What does the priest do at the end of the introit at
a low Mass? at a high Mass?

2. When did the Kyrie enter the Roman Mass? When
did it become set in its present form? What is
its significance?

3. Why was the Greek retained in the Latin rite?
4. What three languages were used in the inscription

over Christ on His cross? How are they retained
in the Mass today? Give examples of each.

5. Of the four marks of the Church (what are they? ),
of which is this triple language indicative?

7 "Glory to God in the Highest"

The Kyrie being ended, there is a quick reversal of mood.
The plea for mercy is an antiphon, as it were, in which we ask
for redemption. Comes now the joyful response, the exultant
hymn of people who realize that they are redeemed: the Gloria.
This outburst of full hearts (along with the Te Deum) is the

— 51 —



Church’s grandest song of pure, happy praise and adoration
of the Trinity. It is the Church’s morning hymn, which opens
with the words of the angels’ singing over the hills of Bethlehem
the glad tidings of the Savior’s birth. Onward it sweeps from
there in praise of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

In itself of extreme antiquity, the text which we have in the
Mass today dates from the twelfth century; but it is in essential
agreement with the Greek texts of the fourth and the fifth
centuries. When this exultant hymn entered the Mass is not
certain. Since the twelfth century however it has been chanted
throughout the Church in Masses which are joyful in character.

Project

Using your missals, see what you can do to work
out the structure and meaning of the Gloria. See how
it fulfills perfectly the four aims of prayer (what are
they?), especially the first three. If you care to, you
might compare the results of your labors with Parsch,

pp. 102, ff, and Bussard’s “The Sacrifice,” pp. 38, ff.

8. "The Lord Be With You ... and With Thy Spirit”

The Gloria being ended, the priest bows, kisses the altar
(remember, the altar represents Christ our priest, victim, and
altar), turns to the people, opens his arms as though to give
them gifts and to embrace them, brings his arms together in a
gesture of intense prayer, and says, 'Dominus vobiscum.” “The
Lord be with you.” Then the people—either through the choir,
if it be a high Mass, or through the altar boy, or even directly,
if it be a dialogue Mass—reply "Et cum spiritu tuo

”

“And with
thy spirit.”

a. “The Lord Be With You”

Borrowed from ancient Old Testament usage, this greeting
has been baptized by the Church and is used by her to address
her children. By it she not merely wishes and prays but actually
states that the Lord Jesus dwells in and with us. It is a state-
ment of fact which carries with it a challenge for us to live up
yet more to our Christhood.

It is a sign and testimony written into the Mass itself that
the Church desires that priest and people unite and be at one
in spirit and in action. Occurring eight times in the Mass and
often followed by the exhortation

“
Oremus

”

“Let us pray,”

the “Dominus vobiscum” is always related to an action to fol-

— 52 —



low in which the people have a particularly active part. It is

as it were an alert, putting them on guard for special activity.

This is evident in the present use, for the collect, the prayer of

the people, is about to be offered. The peopled reply is a sign
that would say, "we are ready; we are attentive/'

Discussion

1. When does the salutation "Dominus vobiscum
”

come?

2. Is it merely a prayer or a wish?

3. Is it merely a statement of fact or a challenge?

to what?

4. Do you accept it as such at Mass?
5. What does it indicate about lay participation in

the Mass?

6. How many times does it occur in the Mass?
7. What does it usually precede?
8. What is its usual function, r.e., what practical pur-

pose is it supposed to serve?

b. “And With Thy Spirit”

The priest member’s prayer for the lay members of Christ’s
Mystical Body is not to go unheeded. The priest has prayed
(or stated) that the Lord Jesus may bless, favor, shower graces
upon his fellow Mystical Body members; that He may dwell,
act, live, reign, operate in them, giving them light and courage
and strength. The Christianly courteous thing is then done:
The people reply, "Et cum spiritu tuo/' '‘And with thy spirit,”
which means primarily, ‘‘And with you also.” Liturgically it
has a deeper meaning as well, a meaning which is seen from the
fact that it is never addressed to anyone save a priest or a
deacon. This shows that ‘‘thy spirit” here refers to the won-
drous spiritual powers given the priest at ordination through
the operation of the Holy Spirit.

Discussion

1. What do the people reply to the priest’s salutation?
2. Do you always say this in your heart even though

not aloud?

3. What does this reply mean on the face of it?
— 53 —



4. What deeper meaning does the liturgy give these
simple words?

5. Why may not a person in minor orders use the
term “Dominus vobiscum

”

when he is, let us say,
reading litanies for a group?

9* The Prayer (s) or Collect (s)

The priest then turns, goes to the book at the epistle side of
the altar, and, bowing to the crucifix, extends his arms and says
(or chants)

“
Otemus

”

“Let us pray/’ (Keep your eye always
on the mutuality and union of priest and people in this holy
and great sacrifice. At the same time however do not forget
that a congregation is not needed for the validity of the Mass.
We the people are not coconsecrators.

)
Follows then the

“Oratio” (prayer), as it is marked in our missals today, or the
collect, as it was formerly called, the principal liturgical prayer
of the day. This prayer is said not merely in the Mass but also
in the office of the day. Thus it has a double function: to set
the tempo, the mood, of the motif of the day and to link the
Mass and the breviary, which is really an extension—through-
out the rest of the day—of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

It is not necessary to give here an exhaustive treatment of
the prayer or collect. Its origin is practical for us at present

only in that it shows that this prayer (or these prayers; it is
only within comparatively recent centuries that more than one
oration has been added to the original single one) has a dis-
tinctly social or congregational or communal nature.

Although there are various explanations for the origin of the
collect

(
v.g., that it is the collected prayers of all the people),

the best explanation seems to be the following. In ancient days
the Christians would assemble at one church ( called the ecclesia
collecta or assembly-church). Thence they would go in pro-
cession to the church where Mass was to be offered (the “sta-
tion” church). Our collect was the prayer said for the gathered
assembly at the first church. Then the processions were dropped,
and the collect was recited at the beginning of Mass, in the
church where Mass was offered. The important thing to note
is that from the very beginning the collect was a congregational
prayer. As then, so today: As is evidenced by the “oremus”
the plural form of the prayer itself, and the “amen” at its end-
ing, priest and people pray to God together. The priest at the
altar says (or chants) the prayer. The people say it in their
minds and hearts and ratify it at the end with their “amen”

— 54 —



In form most of the collects follow this type. They are made
up of four parts: 1 ) the address, made almost invariably to the
Father; 2) the motive for the petition, usually taken from the

nature of the feast; 3 ) the petition itself, which is ordinarily in
harmony with the thought of the feast; 4) the closing, which
strengthens all that has gone before by the offering of it
“Through Our Lord Jesus Christ . . .” the offering of it through
His mediatorship and in His name.

Discussion

Why does the priest hold his arms extended when
he says this prayer?

Give three reasons for our saying that this prayer

is that of priest and people united.
How does the collect: 1 ) give the motif of the .
feast? 2 ) link the Mass with the Divine Office?
Give a brief history of the collect.
What is the usual form? Consult your missals and
see how this form is followed in various prayers.
What is the most important point to note about
the collect?

Project

For the next week try to make a mental prayer on
the collect of each day.

Delegate one or two of the group members to look
up information on the sequence and be ready to
report on it at the proper place at the next discus-
sion. A good source for such study would be the
Catholic Encyclopedia or Paul Bussard's “The
Sacrifice” (The Leaflet Missal, St. Paul, Minn.),
pp. 70 and 76-82.

DISCUSSION X
FROM ALTAR STEP TO OFFERTORY—III

God Talks to Us

Prayer has been defined as “conversation with God.” Now
conversation presupposes at least two people, both of whom do
the talking. In the parts of the Mass seen so far, we have
contributed our share. We have spoken to God. It is for us
now to remain silent and to listen to what God speaks to us.
It has always struck us as strange that some people, too many

1 .

. 2 .

3.

4.

5.

6 .

1 .

2 .

— 55 —



of them ‘'good Catholics/' will say that God doesn’t answer
their prayers or that praying to Him is like carrying on a one-
way telephone chat. They have at their hand the holy Scrip-
tures, in which time and again God is revealed as speaking to
them, giving them the thoughts and ideas and principles and
ideals that are the best possible answers to what they ask.

Before going on, recall that originally this first part of the

Mass was separated from the sacrifice action and had as its
aim to teach those who needed teaching the truths of our faith
and the way to pray according to those truths. The portions
of the nonsacriflcial part of the Mass which follow serve to give
this instruction.

L The Lesson

The collect being finished, the priest proceeds to the reading
of the first lesson.

The reading of the Scriptures was the most important part
of the prayer-instruction service of the synagogue, which our

speech-part of the Mass parallels. ( For such a scene in Our
Lord’s own life, cf . Luke 4, xvi-xxi. ) In taking over this service,
the Church placed an equal importance on the word of God.
Although formerly the Mass had two, three, five, and even
seven lessons, today it ordinarily has but one. This is usually

a definite passage from the epistles or letters of the Apostles,

usually of Saint Paul (although in some of the Masses the
Apocalypse and the Old Testament are the sources). Each
passage is chosen carefully to fit the occasion and the phase of
the liturgical year in which it is read.

The aim of the lesson (or epistle) is the same today as it
was in the beginning. The Church wishes her children to
advance not only in the grace of God but in His wisdom as
well. To do this, she shows them how to think divine thoughts.
Those thoughts are contained in the sacred Scriptures, which
were written by God and by the men whom He used as His
human pen. The lesson then is to do the work of deepening
faith, of instructing, of advising and correcting and inspiring.
These lessons plus the Gospels contain ample instruction in
such truths as will suffice for the salvation of anyone’s soul.

At the end of the lesson the server says, in the name of the
congregation, “Deo gratias/' “Thanks be to God,” which is the
people’s sincere and heartfelt expression of gratitude to their
divine teacher for the teachings He has given them.

56 —



Discussion

1. Why is the lesson important in source? in content?
in effect?

2. What is the origin of these lessons?
3. Turn to the Masses for the Ember days or for

Good Friday and check on the number of lessons
given there. Why does this show th£ antiquity
of these Masses?

4. Why are the lessons often called the epistles?
5. Who is the Apostle from whose letters most of

the Sunday lessons are drawn?

6. What is the norm of the choice of these epistles?
7. At what effect does the lesson aim?

8. What does the server say at the end of the lesson?
For whom? Why?

2. The Intervening Chants

The priest now reads certain parts of the Scriptures which
like the introit are the source of some mystification to the
ordinary layman (and not a few clerics) of today. In order
that these parts may have meaning for us, we must dip again
into history.

We must recall first of all two facts: 1 ) Christians in those
earlier days were as human as we are. 2) The lessons were
more numerous and longer than they are today. Put these two
facts together, and you find that these intervening chants which
were formerly longer and were sung gave a period of respite
and time for reflection. The lesson and the Gospel were meant
to be listened to and taken to heart. Now listening and learning
are tiresome tasks for poor human nature. To relieve the atten-
tion and to give a chance for refreshment, these chanted parts
were interposed between Gospel and epistle. They served too
to fill in time for the forming of the Gospel procession. Finally
there was in the early Christian soul a love for the Psalms
which is lacking today. These chants served to satisfy that
hunger and thirst.

Discussion

1. Have these verses that you have found in your
missal been hitherto a source of some mystery to
you?

— 57 —



2. Where do you have to go if you would clarify it?
3. What is the prime purpose of these intervening

chants?

4. What secondary reasons for them have been
assigned?

5* Why is it that present-day Christians have not the
love for the Psalms that earlier Christians had?

6* What could be done about it?

3. The Gradual

The first of these chants is called the gradual, a name dating
from the ninth century. It was so called because it was sung
by a chanter standing on the gradus or steps of the pulpit. It
may be considered first of all as an echo of the lesson. Originally
an entire Psalm was sung. Then it was gradually shortened,
the original simple chant with which the people answered the
soloist giving way to the more complicated chant of a trained
choir. The people then sat and listened and reflected the while.
The chanter on the gradus sang the first verse of the Psalm.
Then the choir sang it. Then the chanter sang the second verse
and was echoed by the choir, who repeated the first verse, which
by reason of its repetition was the more important.

Discussion

1. Why is this first chant called the gradual?
2. What was its purpose?
3. Why did it change from the original chanter-

people form to that of trained singers’ singing it?

4. What was the congregation to do in the meantime?

4.

The Alleluia Verse .

If the gradual is a backward-looking chant, the Alleluia-^

meaning “Let us praise the Lord”'—is forward-looking, prepar-
ing the soul for the Gospel.

Made up of two Alleluias, a verse, and another Alleluia, it
was originally sung only at Eastertide (at Eastertide in our
day this anthem has an additional verse and alleluia). It was
later extended to the whole liturgical year and to all Masses
save those of Lent and the requiems. The verse of the Alleluia
anthem is varied in content, sometimes being taken from a

— 58 —



Psalm and sometimes from the Gospel, but always giving the
theme of the entire Mass.

Discussion

1. Is the Alleluia chant forward- or backward-look-

ing?

2. How is it made up?
3. Was it always placed in all the Masses of the

year?

4. What happens to it at Eastertide nowadays? What
happens to the gradual at that time (consult your

missals for this answer)?

Project

Go through a number of Masses in your missals and
examine the graduals and the Alleluia verses. See
how they fit into the season and into the Mass itself.

5* The Tract

When the Alleluia anthem is omitted, its place is taken by
the tract. This appears in the requiem Masses and in Masses
on days of penance. It is called the tract because it is sung
continuously without break or interruption. It is generally made
up of a number of Scripture verses and sometimes of the entire
Psalm. Its contents are in harmony with the motif of the Mass
of the day or season. When it is chanted, there is no repetition
of verses, as in the gradual, but the entire choir chants it

straight through.

Discussion

1. What is meant by the word tract? Why is it
called this?

2. When is it used?
3. Of what is it made up?
4. Consult your missals again for examples of the

tract, v.g., in the Masses for the dead, the first
Sunday of Lent, etc.

Project

At this point let the person or persons who have
been appointed give to the group their findings about

the sequence.

— 59



DISCUSSION XI

FROM ALTAR STEPS TO OFFERTORY—IV

L The Gospel

The chants intervening between the lesson and the Gospel
being recited (or chanted, at a solemn high Mass), the priest
goes to the center of the altar. There he bows low and recites
the prayer, “Cleanse my heart and my lips, O Almighty God,
who didst cleanse the lips of the prophet Isaias with a burning
coal. Vouchsafe of thy gracious mercy so to cleanse me that
I may worthily proclaim thy holy Gospel. Through Christ our
Lord. Amen. Give me thy blessing, O Lord. The Lord be in
my heart and on my lips, that I may worthily and in a becoming
manner announce His holy Gospel. Amen.” (A beautiful
prayer, this, and one which each of us should recite in our
hearts with the priest. For the reference to the prophet Isaias,

cf. Isa ., 4 . ) Then the priest goes to the left side of the altar,
where the missal has been placed. In the meantime the people
have stood in reverence for this reading. The priest says,
"
Dominus vobiscum/' and they reply, “Et cum spiritu tuo." He

signs the book with the sign of the cross; then he makes the
sign of the cross on his forehead that his mind be that of
Christ; on his lips that he may speak the words of Christ’s
truth; over his heart that Christ’s love may ever dwell there
and stream forth to other souls. We the people should once
again make the same signing with the same sentiments. The
priest then reads the Gospel, the “good tidings,’’ to which the
words of St. Paul may be easily applied. “For it is the power of
God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first,
and to the Greek. For the justice of God is revealed therein”
(Rom., 1, xvi~xvii).

;

Discussion

1. Go back over the above.
2. Have one of the members present enact these cere-

monies.

3. Why should lay folk pray the prayer of the priest
before the Gospel?

4. What does the “Dominus vobiscum/' etc., signify
here?

5. Why is the sign of the cross used?
— 60 —



We are now arrived at the high point of the nonsacrificial
part of the Mass. Here in the Gospels we have the most impor-
tant piece of Christian instruction. Here we have the word of
God incarnate captured in the pages of a book—His mind, His
words, His thoughts, His silences. If Christianity is Christ, then
it is but right that we Christians should look upon the Gospels
as of highest moment in all the Scriptures. When the Gospel
is read, we are to listen to it, to take it to mind and heart, to
remember it, to live by it, for it is Christ speaking directly to us.

The solemnity of this reading and its importance in the eyes
of the Church can be seen best in the ceremonies accompanying
it at a solemn high Mass. Therein we have the remnants and
modifications of what originated in the early Church and what
has been done for centuries.

In ancient times the churches had two pulpits. The lesson
was read in one pulpit and the Gospel in the other. The greater
importance of the ‘‘good tidings” can be seen from the fact that
the Gospel pulpit was higher and more ornate than that of the
lessons.

It was into this higher pulpit that the deacon would ascend
to read the Gospel. Going to the altar, he would receive the
Gospel book, kneel for the celebrant's blessing, descend to the
altar foot, and then go in solemn procession to this second
pulpit, preceded by acolytes carrying lighted candles and by a
thurifer carrying a smoking censer.

Arrived in the pulpit, the deacon would sign with the sign
of the cross the book and then himself, even as we have
described above. He would then incense the book, showing yet
further reverence for the word of God in the words of t;he
Gospel book. Having read the Gospel of the day, the subdeacon
would then carry it to the celebrant, who in turn kissed it
reverently.

Today at the conclusion of the Gospel in a low Mass the
people say through their server, ‘‘Praise be to thee, O Christ.”
This is a prayer of gratitude for the goodness of the good
Jesus, who by His word has brought us health and healing and
light and life.

Discussion

1 . Why do we say that the Gospel is the high light of
the ‘‘Mass of the Catechumens”?

2. Why are the Gospels the most important piece of
Christian teaching?

— 61 —



3 . What are we to do while we are hearing the
Gospel read or are reading it ourselves?

4. How do the ceremonies of a solemn high Mass
(remember that the low Mass is still looked on by
the Church as an exception) show the reverence in
which the Church holds the Gospels?

5. If it is at all feasible, why not act out in dumb
show the ceremonies connected with the reading
of the Gospel as they took place in ancient times.

6 . What is the significance of the prayer that we say
at the Gospel’s ending? Are we in truth grateful
for these words of the Word? Do you always say
this prayer at the Gospel’s ending?

2 The Sermon

It has always been God’s way to teach men through men.
It is for this reason that the sermon, which is ordinarily an
explanation or unfolding or application of the Gospel, is also

God speaking to us. The Gospel contains the definite expression
of the main thought of the day or the feast. Since it is for such
import, it ought to be known thoroughly and should become
part of ourselves. The sermon helps to bring this about.

As old as the liturgy itself the place of the sermon is right
here after the lessons and the Gospel; the sermon completes the
lesson and the Gospel. The main aim of the sermon is of course
to explain the word of God (hence the homilies or explanations
of the Gospels which were so prominent in earlier days), to
prepare the people yet further for a fuller participation in the

sacrificial action which is to come. In this part of the Mass we
are taught. Later we do.

Discussion

1 . How can you call the sermon the word of God too?

2. What does the sermon aim to do?

3. Why should it come here in this part of the Mass?
4. What sort of sermons do you prefer?

5. Do you think that enough homilies are preached
today?

— 62 —



DISCUSSION XII

THE CREDO

The ante-Mass, or the nonsacrificial part of it which we have
discussed so far, was once the only part of the Holy Sacrifice
of the Mass which the catechumens (those who were not yet
Christians but who were being instructed for entrance into
the Church) were allowed to attend. After the sermon and
before the sacrificial action they were dismissed; only those
united with Christ and together in His Mystical Body were
allowed to remain, for they alone were fully instructed in the
real meaning and true grandeur of the Mass. They alone could
receive Holy Communion, which was the regular practice in
the early days for everyone attending and offering the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass.

Later because of heresies and also as a fitting exercise of
faith the Credo or Creed was added to the Mass; thus was put
a period to the ante-Mass and as it were a bridgehead between
it and the action proper.

Originally connected with baptism, our Creed is an amplified
version of the profession of faith ( used probably at the Church
of Jerusalem). It became a part of the Roman liturgy under
Pope Benedict VIII. It appears in the Mass of Sundays, on
particularly solemn feasts, and on the feasts of Our Lady, the
angels, the Apostles, the doctors, and St. Mary Magdalen.

It is particularly appropriate that this public profession of

faith ( in the Eastern Church it is recited, a practice much more
helpful and meaningful than our having it chanted by a choir
in our own churches) should come as a sort of grand amen to
the Bible readings and the sermon. When recited by the
catechumens, it was a statement on their part that they believed
in all that they had been taught in the Mass which preceded it.
On the part of the priest and the people today, especially at
the Sunday Mass, it testifies to the reason of their way of life
during the preceding week and acts as a clarion to a fuller life
in accord with its truths in the week ahead. Coming as it does
just before the sacrificial action, which is especially the mystery
of faith in which the principal truths of our religion are brought
in touch with the soul, it acts as a bracer and stimulus for a
faith-full participation in that action.

— 63 —



Discussion

1. Who were the catechumens?
2. Why were they allowed to be present at the early

part of the Mass?

3. Why were they dismissed at the end of that part?
4. With which sacrament was the Creed originally

connected?

5. Why was it brought into the Mass?
6. Give three reasons why it is appropriate that the

Creed should come at this place in the Mass.

7. When is the Creed used?

Project

We suggest that for the rest of the period of time
which you have been accustomed to give to these
instructions you review the high points of the discus-
sion of this Part I of our outline. There may be
obscurities, perplexities, difficulties, gaps which need
attention. This is the time to give attention to them.

Take a poll of the group to see how much these
discussions have helped them in the appreciation of the
Mass, how much they have made that Mass more vital
and effective in their own lives. How many offer Mass
more often? How many offer it more intelligently?
How many find that all of this first part of the Mass
means much more to them now than it ever did before?
How many have begun to glimpse at least the meaning
of those words of the Council of Trent: “No other
work can be performed by the faithful so holy”/?

4

The present format of this book is the result of

necessary war conservations of paper and labor.

e6|gBfe>38

— 64 —