Romano Guardini was a German theologian (of obviously Italian descent), who wrote extensively on the liturgy. He once said, “if someone were to ask me what the liturgical life begins with, I should answer: with learning stillness.” Liturgical life begins with learning stillness. That’s something worth considering. We need silence in order to enter into this mystery, in order to “find” the life offered to us in the liturgy; without silence, we can easily miss this chance, distracted as we would be by “busyness” at Mass, which is often the case when parishes leave little to no space at Mass for silence. The Mass is a Sacred Mystery, and in order to glean abundant life from the Mass, we need space to consider the Mystery. Too often parishes obscure the mystery with so much distracting and superfluous “noise”, never giving people time for stillness. It is in the stillness that we can collect our thoughts and enter into the sanctuary of our hearts and souls, where the deep work of the liturgy takes place. Silence and stillness give us a chance to plunge below the surface, to go deeper than the things that are immediately obvious, to consider that there is far more happening at Mass than eye can see or ear can hear. A typical parish Mass today can be almost too overt; we feel that everything has to be so straightforward and obvious, so much that we have crippled our sense of the mystery and sacredness of the liturgy, which would serve to deepen our understanding of what’s happening. Stillness and silence can right this, by leaving space to “ponder the mystery” without the distraction – and perhaps the security – of “noise”. Stillness lets God in.
Try considering this at the “still” points during Mass. One place this could serve well is after Holy Communion, when the music stops and the priest purifies the vessels. I know for some this is an annoyance and seems to take too long and is, in all honesty, not that interesting to look at. So don’t look at it. Close your eyes. I always tell people that when we stop “watching” the Mass and start listening to the Mass, praying the Mass will come much easier. Listen to the words being spoken, and especially to the quiet voice of God speaking in the depths of your soul. Close your eyes and spend time considering what it means that you’ve just received the God of the Universe into your body, into your soul, under sacramental signs in the Eucharist. The Eucharist is Heaven, and if we are in a state of grace (which we must be) when we receive Him, we are experiencing Heaven on earth. Think about that! Instead of impatiently waiting for the priest to “get on with it” and finish the Mass, use those precious minutes (and it really is only a few minutes) to talk to your Savior, who, from the Mass, has mercifully come to you in the Eucharist. Friends can speak easily with one another, and if Jesus is your friend, this shouldn’t be a problem. If you need something to guide your thoughts, there are a number of beautiful prayers in the back of our pew missal (starting on page 916) to help the conversation with the Lord. If we can learn to be happy with stillness, we will be that much closer to piercing the mystery of what we are really doing at Mass.
I also want to make a correction to something from my January 15th bulletin article. As I was reminding us of the responsibility we all bear to offer penance for our sins and the sins of the world on Fridays, I misrepresented what the law specifically requires. While every Friday is a day of penance, and the Church hopes that Catholics will ordinarily maintain the traditional practice of abstaining from meat every Friday (and not just during Lent), the U.S bishops only require by law that Catholics abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent. Friday is meant every week to be what Lent is every year, but on those Fridays outside of Lent Catholics are free to choose their own penances, provided they are truly sacrificial in nature. Nonetheless, abstaining from meat remains the preferred observance, and I invite all of you to prayerfully consider if this is something you and your family could begin to do as a penance every Friday. As Catholic witness grows less and less vibrant, less and less convicting (and even more and more scandalous) in recent years, this could reinvigorate our desire to be more courageous Christians, to bind ourselves more firmly to one another in the practice of our Faith through offering a common penance on Fridays. The Church hopes “we will continue to abstain from meat [every Friday] by free choice as formerly we did in obedience to Church law”; reclaiming this tradition willingly, with love for the Lord’s suffering we call to mind every Friday, will cause many graces to come down from Heaven, and help to prepare our hearts for the mystery of the Lord’s sacrifice we offer at every Mass.
This weekend, as we arrive on the threshold of major changes in our parish family, let’s be mindful of one another and keep our fellow parishioners in prayer, especially those who are hurting greatly right now; offer your penances for this. As hard as it is, we need to remember to express gratitude to God for all He has done for us and for our parishes to this day and the many blessings and graces He has offered us throughout our lives; gratitude can lighten even the heaviest hurt. Let’s seek opportunities to express compassion and hope with one another as we move into the future together as God’s family. May God bless you in the week ahead, and may Mother Mary lead you more deeply into the Sacred and Merciful Hear of Jesus. I remain,
Affectionately Yours in Christ,
Fr. Hess
