Location: Basilica of Saint Francis
Xavier (Dyersville, IA) – 7 a.m. Sunday Mass
Saint Paul Catholic Church (Worthington, IA) – 9 a.m. Sunday Mass
Date: Sunday May 4th, 2014
(3rd Sunday of Easter, Year A)
READINGS:
1st Reading: Acts 2:14, 22-33
Resp. Psalm: Ps. 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11
2nd Reading: 1 Peter 1:17-21
Gospel: Luke 24:13-35
FOCUS: At every Mass we attend, the
Lord opens the scriptures for us and breaks the bread.
FUNCTION: Actively participate in the
celebration of the Mass – body, mind, and soul.
Sometimes
when I go to youth events here or elsewhere, the leader will ask the
participants to think about their week and talk about a “God moment” they had. That question invites the youth to think
about their week from the perspective of faith – how did they experience God
during the past week? How was God moving
and active in their life? How did they
hear God speak to them, or how did they feel God inspire them?
Those
types of questions are just as good for adults as they are for youth. All of us need to be thinking about our “God
moments.” There’s a movie out now called
“God’s Not Dead” (I confess I haven’t seen it yet, but would like to, and have
heard good things from other Catholics who have seen the movie); the movie points
to a fundamental truth – God’s not dead; He’s still living and active in the
world, but we need to have eyes of faith in order to see Him; and I think we
also need more of a “sacramental imagination.”
And by that I mean we need to be willing to see deeper realities behind
apparently ordinary events; too often we just take things at face value without
reflecting on them.
Consider
the “God moment” that the disciples on the road to Emmaus had on the original
Easter Sunday; they start off downcast – they knew about Jesus’ death on
Friday, and must have thought that His death was the end of the story. But then they hear the astonishing report
about the empty tomb and the appearance of the angels who reported that Jesus
was alive. It must have been hard to
take in, and understandably so; it would be for us, too, if we were in their
shoes.
The
“God moment” happens for those two disciples as they invite this man (whom they
don’t recognize as Jesus) to stay with them and He then breaks bread, and they
recognize Him as the Lord, and He vanishes from their sight. It was only later that they realized that,
while
they were on the road to Emmaus, they had been walking and talking with Jesus,
the risen Savior of the world; in thinking back on the conversation, they said
to themselves, “Were not our hearts
burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to
us?”
That’s
the goal of being Catholic – to have hearts on fire because we’ve heard the
word of God and have experienced the Real Presence of the risen Lord. Jesus wants to make Himself known to us at
every Mass in the Word of God, and in the breaking of the bread. That phrase, “the breaking of the bread,” was the way the early Church used to
talk about the Christian liturgy we know now as the Mass. Think about this description of the early
Christian liturgy that was written by the defender of the faith, St. Justin,
around the middle of the 2nd century:
“On the day we call the day of the sun, all
who dwell in the city or country gather in the same place. The memoirs of the apostles and the writings
of the prophets are read, as much as time permits. When the reader has finished, he who presides
over those gathered admonishes and challenges them to imitate these beautiful
things. Then we all rise together and
offer prayers for ourselves . . .and for all others, wherever they may be, so
that we may be found righteous by our life and actions, and faithful to the
commandments, so as to obtain eternal salvation. When the prayers are concluded we exchange
the kiss.
Then someone brings bread and a cup
of water and wine mixed together to him who presides over the brethren. He takes them and offers praise and glory to
the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
and for a considerable time he gives thanks (in Greek: eucharistian) that we
have been judged worthy of these gifts.
When he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all present give
voice to an acclamation by saying: 'Amen.'
When he who presides has given thanks and the people have responded,
those whom we call deacons give to those present the "eucharisted"
bread, wine and water and take them to those who are absent.”
Doesn’t
that sound almost exactly like a description of the Mass? But we need a “sacramental imagination” in
order to understand that the bread and wine we offer is different from the
“bread” and “wine” that we receive – it’s been changed by the power of the Holy
Spirit into the very Body and Blood of Christ.
We call this mystery “transubstantiation” – a complete change in
substance from that of bread and wine to the substance of Christ Himself. Jesus started with giving His disciples His
Body and Blood at the Last Supper, and ever since, He’s often revealed Himself
to His disciples in the breaking of the bread.
Sometimes,
though, it can become too routine; the goal is to look at the Mass with eyes of
faith – how does God want to speak to YOU through this Mass? How does God want to inspire YOU? Sunday Mass can be your “God moment,” but
only if you let it. One thing we could
all work on is our active participation in the celebration of the Mass. Active Participation involves more than just
saying the responses or singing the hymns – that’s a pretty basic level of
participation.
What
we really mean by “participation” is celebrating the Mass with your body, mind,
and soul. We can experience God in and
through the Mass when we open our ears to really listen to His word being
proclaimed in the readings; and we can experience His grace when approach Holy
Communion with faith that what we receive is the real and true Body and Blood
of Christ. We’re only going to get more
out of the Mass when we’re willing to give more to the Mass.
Anyone
can go to an amusement park, but you don’t have any fun until you get on the
rides; in the same way, anyone can come to Mass, but you won’t have an
experience of God until you truly start investing yourself in worship. God gives Himself to those who are interested
in receiving; He reveals Himself to those who are looking for Him; He is known
by those who are seeking His friendship.
Every
time we come to Mass, we have a choice – will we invest ourselves, or not? Will we be active participants, or passive
observers? My recommendation is this:
start coming to Mass with your body, mind, and soul and be prepared to worship
– be prepared to hear God speak to you through His word; be prepared to
encounter Him working through the people sitting around you; be prepared to
receive the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
And
then when we come to Mass, we, too, will be able to recognize Him in the
breaking of the bread.
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