36 ~ Sunday, February 3, 1991 ~ North Shore News

Catholic Mass
a ritual of faith

IN ITS abused form, ritual is a repetitive pattern that
wearies the participant with its dreary familiarity.

Properly integrated into
spiritual practice, however, ritual
can provide access to the deeper
self, allowing us to participate in
both a private and communal af-
firmation of faith.

Orthodoxy, despite people’s
criticism of it as ‘‘conservative,’’
does acknowledge the mystery of
faith through ritual — combined,
of course, with a sound knowl-
edge and application of Scripture.

The internal authority of the
Eucharist, for example, which is
central to the Catholic Holy Mass,
is a rite of mystery.

The Holy Mass itself is a kind
of ritual drama in which, as Soren
Kierkegaard once said, the actors
are the congregation, the
priesthood are the prompters and
the audience is God.

During this holy drama ali the
senses are engaged: there is the
mactating of the communion
wafer, the aroma of incense, the
momentary tinkling of bells and
the human voice humbled in
prayer and raised in song, and the
familiar sight of ritual objects and
distinct patterns of gestures.

Participating in the mass alone
is a gesture that one belongs to a
community of believers.

. Despite the attempt to ra-
tionalize the liturgy of the mass by
translating it into English, the
mass remains for some Catholics
as a rite that speaks to the deeper
levels of the person.

With the new changes to the
Holy Mass since the Second
Vatican Council, there is a double
effect of both the transcendence
of Christ (existing apart from the
material universe} and his im-
manence (indwelling) in the com-
munity of the faithful.

As. participants enter the
church, they enter a different
space and time, separate from the
daily reality. In a codified,
primordial language, along with
stylized gestures, the participants
recite the tenets of the Christian
faith, the paradoxes expressing the
incomprehensible.

The gestures are not incidental.

Says Father Allan Boisclair of
Christ the Redeemer Church in
West Vancouver, ‘‘The physical
stance of the people is important
in terms of the prayer — standing
in the Our Father (Lord’s Prayer),
kneeling in the Consecration in

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humble worship.’’

Kneeling is a sign of servitude,
an acknowledgement of the tran-
scendence of God.

Before receiving communion
there is the Great Amen. This Fa-
ther Boisclair describes as “like an
oath. You almost pour your soul
into your hands — you breathe it.
Tne whole of the congregation is
in communion with this offering
of Jesus to the Father.”’

During the Sign of Peace the
congregation turns away from the
mystery at the altar to the famil-
iar, the other people in their con-
gregation, and exchange a hand-
shake of peace as a sign of unity
and reconciliation.

The Liturgy of the Eucharist
now engages the believer on a dif-
ferent level than the creedal Pro-
fession of Faith in the Liturgy of
the Word. ' enacts the whole
mystery of faith which separates
faith from mere intellectualism.

In accordance with the Dogma
of Transubstantiation which is
based on Christ’s teaching, the
Holy Eucharist refers to the mi-
raculous transformation of the
wine and bread into the body and
blood of Christ, although they
appear unchanged in outward ap-
pearance.

This is not mere symbolism;
Catholics believe that Christ is ac-
tually present in the consecrated
bread and wine.

Father Boisclair explains, ‘‘the
ultimate substance of what the
bread and wine is are changed —
not just the chemical substance.
The truth behind this,’’ he says,
‘is that this is God now... Jesus is
veiled under those forms.”

By eating and drinking the body
and blood of Christ each partici-
pant, in the presence of his
religious community, is personally
integrated into the death and
resurrection of Jesus.

The task of the believer who
makes that gesture, says Lawrence
Cunningham in his book Catholic
Prayer, ‘‘is to affirm the truth of
the liturgy as it is experienced in
gesture and then to translate it in-
to the daily round of life.”

7
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NEWS photo Mike Wakefield

FATHER ALLAN Boisclair of Christ the Redeemer Church in West Vancouver holds the paten ana
the chalice used in the Holy Eucharist, a ritual enacting the mystery of faith.

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