This past weekend it was announced that we will be having a series on the Mass beginning in late September.  The Mass is the center of our worship, and something we all attend every week as Catholics.  The word worship at its basis means “worth” or “value”.  When one goes to worship, they are stating that is of highest value in their life.  What do we value the most in our lives?  Is it other people? Money?  Objects like cellphones, computers, cars?  Is it an idea?  What do we spend most of our time focused on?  What we spend most of our time and energy on typically is what we directly or indirectly worship or place our value in. 

The Mass is the time where we place our value in God.  It is rich in symbols, meaning, scriptural references, and so much more.  It is where we have our most profound encounter with the Lord in the Real Presence of the Eucharist.  To understand the Mass and its richness allows us to value it more than we already do.

For example, why do we stand at the beginning of Mass for a procession in the Church?  We stand and sing while the priest and other ministers walk up the aisle entering the Church to the front.  But why do we do it?  A scriptural explanation comes from the Old Testament when Moses enters the tent of meeting:

Whenever Moses went out to the tent, the people would all rise and stand at the entrance of their own tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. As Moses entered the tent, the column of cloud would come down and stand at its entrance while the LORD spoke with Moses. On seeing the column of cloud stand at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise and bow down at the entrance of their own tents. The LORD used to speak to Moses face to face as a person speaks to a friend.

(Exodus 33:8-11)

The tent of meeting was the place the people would go meet the Lord.  From this passage, we can see there is something special that happens when Moses goes to the tent.  The action of Israel standing as Moses processes is an action of attentiveness and readiness.  It is a call to be ready to the voice of God.  Standing is also a posture of prayer.  It is a sign in this passage of being ready for the coming of the Lord.  Israel knows that when Moses goes to the tent, God will descend upon them and be in their midst.  At the Mass, when the priest processes into the Church, everyone knows there will be an encounter with God – particularly in the Eucharist.  The priest enters the sanctuary as Moses would enter the tent in preparation to speak with God face-to-face.  We stand in attentiveness for our own glory cloud to descend on us when the priest calls upon the Spirit to, “Come upon these gifts to make them holy so that they may become the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eucharistic Prayer I-IV). And all of this occurs just with the procession.

My hope with the Mass series is that we will be able to walk through the entirety of our worship in this way.  We will be using Bishop Robert Barron’s The Mass series as our guide with myself inserting scriptural reference, additional commentary, and an occasional (mostly) humorous pet peeve of what occurs at Mass.  Below is a link to a trailer to his 6-part series we will be using.  I hope everyone can join us at Farrell Hall on September 25 at 6:30 to begin our procession into understanding the Mass together. If you are interested in attending, please email Rebecca at faithformation@stpaulvicksburg.org.