Reflections on the Mass: The Responsorial Psalm

The next Scripture reading in the Liturgy of the Word is the Responsorial Psalm. We remain seated as a lector reads or a cantor sings the psalm response. Then we recite or sing in return. Usually the psalm relates in some way to the First Reading, so we should be watching for shared themes or another kind of connection. Sometimes, for instance, the First Reading calls us to praise, and the Psalm allows us to express that praise in word or song.

There are usually three or four verses in the responsorial psalm, and we recite or sing the response in between them. We should speak or sing out fully, for we are praying to God in the words that God has given us. In fact, the psalms are ideal for both liturgical and private prayer. They express nearly every human emotion, and they allow us to approach God in and through those emotions, bringing Him our joy and sorrow, our fear and pain, our love and excitement, and most of all, our worship.

Reflections on the Mass: The First Reading

At the close of the Collect, the priest and congregation sit as the Liturgy of the Word begins. On Sundays and solemnities, there are four readings, for weekday Masses three. The First Reading is usually taken from the Old Testament although it can also be taken from the Book of Acts during the Easter season or from the epistles for daily Mass. The Lectionary deliberately matches the First Reading to the Gospel in some way, at least on Sundays and solemnities, either presenting a foreshadowing or a shared theme.

If at all possible, we should read the Scriptures for Mass beforehand. This way, we will be more attentive as we listen and more likely to hear God speaking to us in His Word. After all, the more we put in, the more we will get out. God wants to interact with us through Scripture, but our hearts need to be open and ready to listen.

In fact, we sit for the First Reading (as well as the Psalm and Second Reading) to indicate that we are in a position of listening and learning. Remember that when the Scriptures are read at Mass, God is teaching us in a special way, both as a church and individually. We should give Him our utmost attention.

At the end of the reading, the lector declares, “The word of the Lord,” for that is exactly what we have just heard: God's Word proclaimed to us. We respond with our firm and joyous agreement: “Thanks be to God!”

Reflections on the Mass: The Collect

After the Gloria, the priest says, “Let us pray,” and then pauses briefly. We should not let this moment pass us by. This is an opportunity for us to gather all of our prayers together and present them to God, offering them to Him as part of the sacrifice of the Mass. We cannot consciously think of everything in this short pause, of course, but we should at least envision ourselves lifting up our prayers and our hearts to God.

The priest then prays the Collect, or opening prayer. The Collect is written for the liturgical season, solemnity, feast, or saint's day, and we hear a different Collect every Sunday. This little prayer goes by quickly, and we can miss it if we aren't paying close attention. That's why it's important to read and reflect on the Collect outside of Mass. These are beautiful little prayers that capture the spirit of the liturgy and have a lot of depth to them. They are actually something we can return to all week in our personal prayer.

Reflections on the Mass: The Gloria, Part 3

As we end the Gloria, we stretch our minds and hearts up to God, Trinity in unity, unity in Trinity, worshiping Him, one God in three Persons.

For You alone are the Holy One, You alone are the Lord, You alone are the Most High,

With these words, we proclaim the one God we worship. We focus on His transcendence. Our minds cannot grasp the immensity of God. Yet we can try, and we do, adoring Him in His holiness and in His authority, declaring in these few words His omnipotence and omniscience.

Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father.

Now we proclaim the mystery of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We marvel at this mystery, embracing with wonder and awe what we do not understand. We have been carried to the pinnacle of our faith as we reflect on and declare Who God is.

Amen.

We end the Gloria with a firm Amen, giving our assent to everything we have just recited or sung. We believe, and we rejoice.

Reflections on the Mass: The Gloria, Part 2

In the second part of the Gloria, we proclaim the truths of our Lord Jesus Christ. We lift up our faith into worship, marveling in awe at Who Jesus is and what He has done for us.

Lord Jesus Christ, Only Begotten Son,

This is Who Jesus is, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. He is God incarnate, fully human and fully divine, one divine Person with two natures, in full unity without mixture. This is the truth of our faith. We proclaim it here in awe and wonder.

Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father,

Jesus is God. He is our Lord, fully divine, equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit. Yet He is also the Son of the Father. This is a mystery that our human minds cannot completely comprehend, yet we believe it because God has revealed it.

When Jesus came among us as God-incarnate, He became the Lamb of God. This is how John the Baptist identified Him, and no Jew of Jesus' day would have mistaken the significance. A lamb was a sacrifice. It indicated the people's desire to acknowledge and atone for their sins, to be right with God, to worship Him in the way He desired to be worshiped. But the blood of an animal would never actually atone for sin or fix the damaged relationship between God and humanity. That required something more, Someone more.

You take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

Jesus came to truly atone for sins, to reestablish the covenant intimacy between God and humanity through a new covenant. He died on the cross to do it. Now we beg for His mercy, and we are blessed, for He longs to pour it out upon us.

You take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer.

We repeat, marveling once again, that Jesus came to save us from our sins. He has taken away our sins, nailing them to the cross. But are we willing to give them up? We beg Jesus to receive our prayer for His grace so that we can immerse ourselves in His mercy and let go of our sins with true repentance.

You are seated at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us.

The cross was not the end for Jesus. He died, yes, but He rose again and ascended into Heaven where He is seated at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us always. He opened the gates of Heaven so that we can join Him there. And what is more, we can begin living eternal life now by His grace, especially in Holy Mass as we receive Him, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Eucharist.

Reflections on the Mass: The Gloria, Part 1

After the Penitential Rite, we sing the Gloria, at least on Sundays (except during Advent and Lent) and solemnities. The Gloria is a beautiful hymn of praise that allows us to express our awe and wonder before the Holy Trinity as we join the angels and saints in worship.

Glory to God in the highest,

We begin this hymn by echoing the angels who sang over the hills of Bethlehem on the night of Jesus' birth. We give glory to God, meaning that we recognize and proclaim His great glory, basking in it with great joy and striving to immerse ourselves in all the gifts of love He provides for us. We adore God because He is omniscient and omnipotent. We praise His great love. We honor His perfect authority and His immense holiness. We cannot grasp His nature, but we can proclaim His glory.

And on earth peace to people of good will.

We also join the angels in praying for peace to people of good will. Peace here is more than an absence of war or violence. Rather it is the state of being rightly ordered according to God's will. In this kind of peace, there is a completeness. Everything is as it should be: whole and holy.

We praise You, we bless You, we adore You, we glorify You,

We cannot proclaim God's greatness enough. We cannot worship Him enough. We almost stammer as we try. Yet we continue to sing, knowing that God blesses our efforts, weak as they are.

We give You thanks for Your great glory.

As we recite or sing these words, we should sincerely thank God for Who He is and what He has done for us. We can never thank Him enough. We can never even come close. We should be especially mindful of how God's great glory has touched our lives and has transformed us, and we might think, too, of the encounter that we are about to have with our Lord Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, in the Eucharist. He conceals His glory so that we can receive Him under the appearance of bread and wine, but He is really present, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. He truly enters into us in His glory.

Lord God, heavenly King, O God, almighty Father.

We then break out into a recital of some of God's many titles. He is our Lord and our God, the King of Heaven. He is so far beyond us that we cannot even imagine. Yet at the same time, He is our almighty Father Who loves us more than we can imagine. He is transcendent and imminent, reigning on high yet stooping down to us in love.

Reflections on the Mass: The Penitential Rite, Part 2

Last week, we discussed the Penitential Rite at the beginning of Mass, but there are a few more points to make about this important opportunity to humble ourselves before God and ask Him for His mercy and forgiveness.

First, as we pray the Confiteor, we acknowledge that we have committed sins “through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault.” As we speak these words, we strike our breasts three times, one for each repetition of “fault.” This emphasizes our accusation of ourselves and indicates our desire to do penance for our sins.

While the gesture is symbolic, the desire should be real. Our sins leave a sort of “spiritual muck” on us even when God forgives them. Our mortifications and penances help wash the muck away, and they allow us to show God that we are truly and deeply sorry for the ways in which we have offended Him and that we are eager to make things right.

Sometimes the priest will choose to omit the Confiteor. In that case, he may extend the Kyrie with three short prayers between the petitions. The first is “You were sent to heal the contrite of heart.” This reminds us that Jesus has come, was sent by the Father, to heal those who are truly contrite, who are sorry for their sins and desire to avoid sin in the future. Contrition is a requirement for forgiveness, for if we are not really sorry, we will not even be able to accept the mercy God holds out to us. We will block the channels of mercy on our end.

The second prayer is “You came to call sinners.” Jesus has come to call sinners, and we are all sinners. Notice how He seeks us out. He calls us to Him. He wants us to repent and ask for His mercy.

The third prayer is “You are seated at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us.” Jesus prays to the Father for us. Isn't that amazing? He is our Mediator. He unites us to the Father. He asks the Father for mercy for us.

In the Penitential Rite, then, as brief as it may be, we are called to true repentance for our sins and a reliance on God's great mercy and love.