Suzy B Software 2/Suzy B Software CD-ROM 2 (1994).iso/christin/e_cathol/four.txt

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5 (of 5) AVATAR Mar. 23, 1987 at 18:23 Eastern (15323 characters)


                                LESSON FOUR
                     THE DIVINE LITURGY, EAST AND WEST
                                LESSON FOUR
          THE NATURE OF THE DIVINE LITURGY IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

         I'm  sure  all of you listening are aware (if you  are  not,   you
*ought*  to be, at least from your days in catechism class!)  that in every
Catholic Divine Liturgy, whether you call it "Mass," "Liturgy," or whatever
other  name,  there are three essential parts without which it is *NOT*   a
"Mass."   These three are called,  in technical terms,  the OFFERTORY,  the
CONSECRATION,  and COMMUNION.    It is,  as you have all been told so  many
times  before,   the "Unbloody Sacrifice of Christ"  performed in  mystery,
taken out of time and space,  for all mankind to share,  of whatever  time,
whatever place, whatever age, whatever clime.

         It is more than that,  though.   It is, on quite another level,  a
presentation of the *entire life of Christ*,  visibly represented in living
symbol.   You have all been taught that we were redeemed by Christ's  Death
on the Cross.   And, in a certain sense, it is quite true.   It is true, so
far as it goes.  But in another sense, it is inaccurate, because it doesn't
contain *all* the meaning of "redemption."  For the *full* truth is that we
were  redeemed By *CHRIST*,  not by death,  or by anything else.   It is  a
"WHO"  who redeemed us,  not a "WHAT."   And in *that*   sense of the term,
Christ redeemed us, not *only* by His Death on the cross, but by His entire
life!   By  His Birth,  His childhood years,   His years  of  teaching  and
ministering, His times of prayer and contemplation in the desert, His times
of temptation,  by His Resurrection and His Ascension,  and,  yes,  by  His
Second Coming-yet-to-be.   Should we forget or omit any portion of His life
from  our  awareness,   our awareness of the enormity of His Gift  will  be
distorted  as  well,   and will go without the recognition,  gratitude  and
adoration due it.  And we shall be the poorer for having deprived ourselves
of  it.   And it is for this reason that the Church,  under the inspiration
and  guidance  of  the Holy Spirit,  presents to our  awareness  in  living
cymbol,  sound and movement,  the entire life of Christ for our edification
(in the classic sense of the term,  from the Latin "Aedificare,"  "to build
up,  construct,  as to construct an building, hence: an edifice."  The term
actually has connotations of CITY-building as well.  One of the Latin terms
for  "city"   is  "Aedis."  One wonders if that had any  influence  of  St.
Augustine's choice of titles for his "City of God.") and sanctification.

         Over the years there has been a deep controvebsy over the value of
an iconostasis.[1]   Many of our  parishes  have removed  them "because the
people cannot see the priest."  Either the entire point has been missed, or
it has been ignored. The iconostasis is  the symbol zof faith;  it tells us
that what  we are witnessing here is witnessed with the eyes of faith,  not
the eyes of the body.  It is  a tangible link  to the  Covenant made by God
with mankind on Mount Sinai, in that it shadows the veil of the  Temple  of
Solomon,  in which that veil was "rent from top to bottom"  at the Death of
Our  Lord.   The  associations are deep,   plentiful and  vital  -  for  in
forgetting  the  origins of our faith,   the origins of our doctrines,  the
origins  of our traditions we lie in deep danger of losing the faith  which
invigorates  them as well.   Traditions,  as I have so often told you,  are
often the solutions to problems long forgotten because they worked so well.
To rid ourselves of solutions without need is to run the risk of having the
original problems back in our laps before we know what has happened.  To my
own  mind,   much  of  the division of the Church  in  current  society  is
attributable  to that careless and hapless tossing-away of traditions  that
overtook  so  many  following the Second Vatican Council  in  the  name  of
"reform."

         Over  and  above this,  however,  the Iconostasis has  a  definite
practical  role to play in the celebration of our liturgies.   Without  it,
the  processions lose much of their meaning,  significance and (at least as
important  as anything else)  their impact.   What is meant to have  solemn
significance  becomes  little  more than  random  gesture  and  meaningless
movement on the part of the celebrant.

         The Divine Liturgy begins with the Rite of Preparation on the side
altar.    It is here that the priest prepares the sacred gifts which are to
be consecrated and changed into the Body and Blood of Christ - the *living*
Body  and Blood of the *Risen and Ascended*  Christ.   The cymbolism of the
side altar is to remind us of Bethlehem, which was a place apart from where
Our  Lord's mother and foster father lived,  to represent Bethelehem.    As
Bethlehem was far from Nazareth, the home of Jesus,  the Proskomedia (Altar
of Preparation)  table is also separated from the main altar.  But as proof
that it was *intended* to signify the place where Christ was born, there is
also one part of the ritual taken at the Proskomedia table which  instructs
the  priest to place the asterisk (A golden implement which raises  a  veil
over the paten which contains the hosts,  and has an "asteriskos", a  star,
dangling  from its center)  over the bread while he recites a prayer  which
says, in part: "And the star came, and stood over the place where the Child
was."  And, as Christ spent thirty years in Nazareth, "growing in grace and
strength and beauty for God and men," so the gifts remain for a time on the
side altar, while we, the People of Christ, begin also to prepare ourselves
for the Coming of the Kingdom of God;  to prepare to grow,  ourselves,  "in
grace and strength and beauty before God and men."

         Listen closely to the prayers of the Great Litany,  the Litany  of
Peace,  and to the petitions it contains: "For Peace from on high; for this
holy  Church,   and for those who enter it;  for our deliverance  from  all
affliction, wrath, and need," and so on.

         The  Prayer  of the First Antiphon asks that the Lord  "look  down
upon  us and upon this holy house,  and grant unto us,  and unto those  who
pray with us, the riches of Thy mercies and compassions."   In other worse,
increase  in  grace and strength.   Immediately after this,  in  the  Small
Litany,   we  have  constantly-repeated  prayers  for  the  mercy  and  the
protection  of  God - "through thy grace."   The Hymn  of  the  Incarnation
follows  immediately,  and its intent is most certainly clear enough!    "O
Only-Begotten Son and Word of God..."

         The  Prayer of the Second Antiphon needs no explanation other than
its  repetition:  "O  Lord  our God,   save  Thy  people  and  bless  Thine
inheritance;  guard all those who fill Thy Church,  sanctify those who love
the beauty of Thy house; reward them with honor by Thy divine power, and do
not  forsake us,  who hope in Thee."   And following it,  the Small  Litany
*again*  makes its appearance.  The *same* petitions are made that we might
grow  in grace.    And the Third Antiphon (on Sundays the  Beatitudes)  are
recited  to show us what those who have received this increase in grace are
expected  to  accomplish  and achieve.   "Blessed are the poor  in  spirit,
blessed are the meek, blessed are they who mourn,  blessed are the clean of
heart,   blessed  are  the  peacemakers,   blessed  are  those  who  suffer
persecution for justice's sake, blessed are you when men reproach you,  and
persecute you, and speaking falsely, say all manner of evil against you for
My sake.  Rejoice and exult, for your reward is great in heaven."   And the
Prayer  of the Third Antiphon:  "O Thou who has given us  Grace  for  these
common and united prayers,  who didst promise to grant the petitions of two
or three gathered together in Thy Name: do Thou even now fulfill the wishes
of Thy servants,  as much as it is good,  supplying us in this present time
with the knowledge of Thy truth,  and in that which is to come, granting us
everlasting  life."   Again and again and again,  the petition for  "grace"
occurs.

                   The Little Entrance and Proper Prayers

         Here  the priest takes the Gospel Book in his hands,  and proceeds
in  procession  around  the  altar,  where he finally  calls  the  public's
attention to it,  having kissed it and held it up for the veneration of the
people, by saying, "Wisdom! Arise!"  This is the Word of God, spoken by the
True Word of God, the Word of which St. John speaks in the first chapter of
his Gospel,  and as such it is only fitting that we should venerate it.  In
this book is contained the record of the Plan of God, the roads by which we
may attain our eternal destiny,  and the strength and wisdom of God to keep
us on the right path.  That path is Christ, who called Himself the Way, the
Truth, and the Life.

         This  entrance celebrates in ritual,  the entrance of Christ  into
His  public  ministry.   As Christ began to teach His Chosen People at  His
Baptism  in the River Jordan,  which was His entrance into public ministry,
so  also,  here at the Divine Liturgy,  He begins to teach *us*,   His  New
Chosen People,  with His Own Words,  contained in the Book of Life.   Until
now  we  have  been  growing in grace;  Now,  we will grow  in  wisdom  and
knowledge before God and men.   And God Himself will teach us.   The Wisdom
and Knowledge in which we will grow is the Wisdom of God Himself.

         The Troparia and the Kontakia (hymns and songs  proper  [changing,
depending  on the dates and circumstances of the occasion]  to the  day  or
season)  follow,   short preparations for the hearing of the Gord of God  -
bringing  to mind the strong exhortation of St.  Paul that "faith comes  by
*hearing*,"   which  is why the Church places such a heavy emphasis on  the
public reading aloud of the Scriptures,  in addition to its exhortations to
become privately familiar with the contents of the Bible.   Then,  the high
point  of  the  first part of the Liturgy,   the Liturgy of the  Word,  the
readings  of the Epistle,  the writings of the Apostles,  and finally,  the
very  words of Christ Himself,  remembered and written down for our benefit
by a loving follower.  Today it is customary to follow the Gospel with some
sort  of  explanatory  sermon or homily,  to apply the Gospel  as  read  to
modern-day life and circumstance, and this, too, is instruction from divine
benevolence,   for the priest has frequently been called "another  Christ,"
and  it  is beyond any doubt in Catholic doctrine that,  when offering  the
Holy Sacrifice,  the priest does, indeed,  take the visible place of Christ
at the service.

         The Hymn of the Trisagion ("Thrice-holy," in Greek) precedes these
events,   however,  and  is,   in addition to being a short  expression  of
adoration,   a   petition for the grace to understand what is about  to  be
taught us in the lessons which are shortly to come.  "...Who didst make man
to  Thine  own image and likeness,  and who didst adorn him  with  all  the
favors  of  Thy grace;  Who givest to him who asks for it BOTH  WISDOM  AND
UNDERSTANDING,   and  dost  not  despise the  sinner,   but  hast  ordained
repentance unto salvation;  O  Thou Who hast granted to us,  Thy humble and
unworthy servants; to stand at this time before the glory of Thy holy table
and to offer Thee due worship and honor: Do Thou, O Lord,  receive from the
mouths of us sinners,  the Hymn of the Trisagion;  and look down upon us in
Thy goodness.   And the Prayer Before the Gospel itself:  "O Lord and Lover
of  mankind,   make  shine  in our hearts the  pure  light  of  Thy  divine
knowledge,   and  open the eyes of our minds to the  understanding  of  Thy
Gospel's  teaching.   Instill in us the fear of Thy  blessed  commandments,
that,  trampling upon all carnal desires,   we may enter upon a life of the
spirit, choosing and doing all that is Thy good pleasure,  for Thou art the
light of our souls and of our bodies,  O Christ God, and we render glory to
Thee,  together with Thine eternal Father,  and Thy all-holy,  all-good and
life-giving Spirit, now and always and forevermore. Amen."

         Then  follow  the final prayers of the first part of the  liturgy,
the  Liturgy  of  the Word,  and the dismissal  of  the  catechumens.(Those
preparing for baptism.) In the early days of the Church, only the baptized,
the "initiate"  were permitted to witness the Liturgy  of the Sacrifice and
to  partake of the Body and Blood of Christ.    And  it  is doubtless  this
practice  which gave rise among the pagan  Romans  to  the charges that the
Christians were practicing cannibalism and devouring the flesh of infants -
a charge frequently made against them.    The second portion of the Liturgy
is sometimes called the Liturgy of the Faithful,  as well as the Liturgy of
the  Sacrifice,   because only  the  faithful,   those  already  joined  in
membership,  were permitted to  be  present at the "mysteries," as they are
sometimes called, even today.

         And  once again,  this portion of the Liturgy is prepared for  and
begun  with a Litany which once more implores the Lord to shower His  grace
down  upon  uc.    These petitions will come with a predictable  and  ever-
increasing  regularity  throughout  the rest of the Liturgy.    As  it  was
necessary  to  prepare ourselves for the coming of the Word of God  in  the
Scripture  readings,  so now it is even more vitally important  to  prepare
ourselves for the Coming of the Incarnate Word of God,  the ONLY True  Word
of God, in the Sacrifice of Calvary and in Holy Communion.

         I'll  close this lecture with the same prayer that the Church uses
in  the  Liturgy for the benefit of her catechumens.   And I pray that  the
same might be made to apply to all of you here tonight:

         "O  Lord,  our God,  Who dwellest on high,  and yet beholdest  the
humble;   Who  didst  send forth as the salvation of  mankind  Thine  Only-
Begotten Son,  Our Lord and God, Jesus Christ: look down upon Thy servants,
the catechumens who have bowed their heads unto Thee,  and make them in due
time worthy of the waters of regeneration, of the remission of sins, and of
dhe robe of immortality.   Unite them to Thy Holy,  Catholic and  Apostolic
Church,  and number them among Thy chosen flock.  That they, too,  with us,
may  glorify  Thy most worthy and magnificent name,  Father,  Son and  Holy
Spirit, always, now and forevermore. Amen."

Next:   The  Liturgy of the Faithful as the Re-Presentation of the Life  of
Christ in symbol.

                                 * * * * *

         [1] An "Iconostasis" is an "Icon-Stand" - a wooden partition which
separates the nave fbom the sanctuary and simultaneously serves as a holder
for  a  number if "icons,"  religious catechetical art which served in  the
early days of an illiterate public to portray visually the doctrines of the
Church.    There are still remnants of this custom in the West as well,  in
the presence of the "Rood Screen" (Rood=Cross) in several European Churches
and in Westerminster Abbey.