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The Southern Cross, Page 8
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Thursday, April 8, 1999
CNS photo from The Crosiers
Finding the theme threaded
through the Mass
All contents copyright©1999 by CNS
By Father Lawrence E. Mick
Catholic News Service
In the liturgical renewal’s early
years, liturgy planners often focused
on a specific “theme” for the day.
Sometimes these themes were drawn
from the Scripture readings of the
day, but often themes were superim
posed on the liturgy to make a par
ticular point.
Thus we had Masses focused on
hope or friendship, peace or racial har
mony, marriage renewal or the joys of
being single. The assembly heard the
theme repeated over and over in the
music, prayers, comments, homily
and announcements.
Many people reacted against this,
especially when a theme was imposed
on the liturgy with little regard for the
liturgy itself.
Various experts insisted that the
fundamental theme of the Mass is al
ways the same: the death and resur
rection of Jesus Christ.
In his 1998 apostolic letter, “The
Day of the Lord,” however, Pope John
Paul II said that “the entire celebra
tion — praying, singing, listening,
and not just the preaching — should
express in some way the theme of the
Sunday liturgy, so that all those tak
ing part may be penetrated more pow
erfully by it.”
This comment comes in the section
of the letter devoted to the Liturgy of
the Word. The pope is speaking of the
Pope John Paul II said that
‘the entire celebration —
linked to the Gospel.
But the second reading during Ordi
nary Time is not chosen for its link to
the other texts. It follows a particular
book of the New Testament from Sun
day to Sunday in a semi-continuous
pattern.
Take a look at the Scripture read
ings for May 30, 1999: the Feast of the
Holy Trinity. All three readings re
flect that mystery.
On this feast, we might expect the
theme simply to be the existence of
plicitly Trinitarian, concludes with
Paul’s blessing: “The grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with all of you.”
We know that God is a Trinity of
persons because God manifested this
to us in the process of our redemption.
But it is God’s love that led him to
reveal himself to us.
Again, take June 27, 1999 — the
13th Sunday in Ordinary Time. This
Sunday’s Gospel recounts Jesus’ mis-
second reading is not chosen to relate
to the other texts. It is from Paul’s
letter to the Romans and speaks of our
baptism into Christ’s death and our
share in his resurrection. Though this
is not closely linked to the other read
ings, sharing in Christ’s life is the
goal of the mission of the Twelve.
Beyond the readings, of course,
we also look for echoes of the theme
in the homily, some prayer texts
and the music chosen for the cel
ebration.
praying, singing, listening, and
not just preaching—should express in some
way the theme of the Sunday liturgy, so that
all those taking part may be penetrated
more powerfully by it.”
theme that flows organically from the
day’s readings and texts, not a theme
imposed on the liturgy.
True, every Mass celebrates the
Lord’s death and resurrection. Also
true, however, the readings and
prayers of each Mass focus attention on
some particular aspect of redemption.
The pope believes people will benefit
more fully from the readings and the
whole liturgy if they are aware of the
underlying theme linking the various
readings and texts of the Mass.
It helps to remember that the Mass
readings generally are linked to one
another.
—On major feasts and during the
seasons of Lent-Easter or Advent-
Christmas, all the readings relate to
the feast or season being celebrated.
—During what is known as Ordi
nary Time in the church’s year, the
first Scripture reading is linked to
the Gospel. The Responsorial Psalm
generally responds to the first read
ing and the Gospel Acclamation is
three persons in one
God. But there is a
focus in the readings
on God’s love and
kindness:
—The Gospel re
minds us that God so
loved the world that
he gave his only Son.
—The first reading speaks only of
the Father, describing God as merci
ful and gracious, rich in kindness and
fidelity.
—The Responsorial Psalm gives
praise to God, exalted above all
creation.
—The second reading, the most ex-
sionary instructions to the Twelve.
Jesus insists that they must love
him more than father, mother, son or
daughter. He then tells the Twelve
that whoever welcomes them wel
comes him, and he quotes the adage
that whoever welcomes a prophet re
ceives a prophet’s reward.
This adage led to the choice of the
first reading, which recounts the re
ward given the Shunemite woman be
cause she had welcomed the prophet
Elisha into her home. The prophet
promises that she will have a child.
The Responsorial Psalm then praises
God, who is faithful to his promises.
Because it is Ordinary Time, the
Not every element of the celebra
tion needs to be focused on one narrow
theme, of course, because the Eucha
rist has many dimensions. It should
be possible, though, to detect a thread
that unifies the whole celebration.
The pope recommends reading the
Sunday texts at home. Reading them
before coming to church makes it
more likely that we will notice that
our liturgy planners have chosen vari
ous items to express the theme they
discovered in the readings for the day.
(Father Mick is a priest of the
Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Ohio, and
a free-lance writer.)
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Some parishes bring a group together during the week “to prepare the Sunday liturgy, reflecting beforehand
upon the word of God which will be proclaimed,” Pope John Paul II observed in his summer 1998 apostolic letter,
“The Day of the Lord”
The objective of such groups — made up of “priest, ministers and faithful” — the pope said, “is that the entire
(Sunday) celebration — praying, singing, listening, and not just the preaching — should express in some way the
theme of the Sunday liturgy so that all those taking part may be penetrated more powerfully by it.”
The pope recalled that Vatican Council II “urged that ‘the table of the word of God be more lavishly prepared for
the faithful, opening to them more abundantly the treasures of the Bible.”’
And he said, “the fact that (Vatican II) made it possible to proclaim the word of God in the language of the
community taking part in the (Sunday) celebration must awaken a new sense of responsibility toward the word,
allowing the distinctive character of the sacred text to shine forth ‘even in the mode of reading or singing.”’
14 David Gibson, Editor, Faith Alive!