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About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 1987)
Page 2 • Faith Today Faith Today • Page 3 The call to assemble By Father Alfred McBride, O.Praem. NC News Service A cricket field in Australia...a park in Dublin...an airport hangar in France...a cathedral in India: Those are spaces that still ring with the memories of Pope John Paul II celebrating Eucharists with multitudes of people. When the pope travels his celebrations of the Eucharist are more than just filler between major speeches. Yes, his speech to the United Nations counts for a lot. But in his own mind, the true goal of his 1979 pastoral visit to New York was that of a priest, offering Mass with and for his people at Yankee Stadium. The pope assembles the faithful for the liturgy of word and sacra ment in the Mass. Catholicism is a community- minded faith. The very word for church traces itself back to the Hebrew term for "called communi ty ■ ” “The spires, domes and bell towers of parish churches serve as physical reminders and settings of this dialogue bet ween an inviting God and a responding people.... ‘Come to the Welcome Table.’ That is the divine assembly call.” Jesus did not assemble in dividualists to do their own thing. He gathered together 12 individuals and formed them into a communi ty. He called the apostles; he worked with them until they became what we now call the apostolic college, a community of apostles. What was their first task after Pentecost? To call people to Christ, to form them into community and to assemble them for the "breaking of the bread." Still, such an "assembling” of community for worship may sound too official, even officious. The language could give the impression that God is delivering office memos or imperial edicts. Why does the Lord assemble us? What is his tone of voice? A clue may be noted in the com munion hymn often sung at parish Eucharists: “Where charity and love prevail, there God is ever found. Brought together by Christ’s love, by love are we thus bound.” God assembled the Hebrews at Sinai because he loved them and wanted to experience a pact of af fection. Jesus invited his apostles to the Upper Room because he loved them. “I call you friends, not slaves.” Love still invites people to the joy of community. Assembling for the Eucharist is a response to the divine love that beckons one to worship. The spires, domes and bell towers of parish churches serve as physical reminders and set tings of this dialogue between an inviting God and a responding people. What results, however, is more than a pleasant fellowship ex perience. Nor is God merely in terested in crowds or mass appeal. God’s ultimate purpose for assembl ing us at Mass is to offer us, in a sacramental experience, the purest love available. That is the saving love of Jesus Christ, won by his cross and resurrection and mysteriously made available to us by our personal and communal participation in eucharistic worship. But why community? Perhaps no other regular act of the church bet ter fulfills the words of Jesus: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the * midst of them." God told Adam, “It is not good for man to be alone.” Others are needed to bring fullness to human experience. At worship, the sharing of faith by the assembled believers, the kindness and affection experienced, the sense of a shared goal and destiny create an environment that other experiences cannot match over the long haul. And the affec tionate call to Eucharist can be the beginning of a new phase of loving concern for others. John Paul II carries this meaning of the Mass, whether it is in the simplicity of an Iowa farm church or the grandeur of St. Peter’s Basilica. He invites people to come, to bring the gifts of every culture to the altar of God whether it is a lei in Hawaii or a cluster of fresh roses in Canterbury, a soccer ball in Italy or an ebony saint’s statue in Africa. “Come to the Welcome Table.” That is the divine assembly call. (Father McBride is a consultant to the papal visit office of the U.S. Catholic Conference.) Company for the journey FOOD... By Father John Castelot NC News Service •> O n his way back from Greece to Jerusalem, St. Paul stopped at Troas. Luke tells us what hap pened there: “On the first day of the week when we gathered for the breakisg of the bread, Paul preached to them. Because he intended to leave the next day, he kept on speaking until midnight” (Acts 20:7). * An unfortunate accident momen tarily interrupted his extended homily. There were many lamps in the room and they made it very stuffy. A young man who was per ched on a windowsill fell asleep and tumbled out the window. * Luckily he was quickly revived and was able to share the Eucharist with them. And then Paul went Qn talking until dawn. HU next stop on the homeward pilgrimage was Miletus, not far from Ephesus, where he had spertt three years. He sent word to the leaders of that community, calling them to Miletus where he delivered a touching farewell address. “After this discourse, Paul knelt down with them all and prayed. They began to weep without restraint, * throwing their arms around him and kissing him for they were deeply distressed to hear that they would never see his face again” (Acts 20:17-18, 36-38). The call to assemble in com- * munity seems to have been a regular feature of the apostolic journeys. Along the pilgrimage „ route, the people assembled. It was natural enough; if Paul or others wanted to communicate with the people of one of the churches in • person, the best procedure was to call them to worship and address them within that context. However there was another almost sacramental significance to these calls to worship. They were visible signs, sharp reminders that » they were a “called” people, that they owed their very existence as Christians to God’s gracious call to accept his saving love in Christ ' Jesus. This notion of “call” permeates Paul’s letters. An excellent example is the ,. beginning of the first letter to the Corinthians: •“Paul, called by God’s will...to you who have been consecrated in * Christ Jesus and called to be a holy people...” (1:1-2). •“God is faithful and it was he »who called you to fellowship with his son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1:9). •And later, “Brothers, you are among those called” (1:26). This calling of people together signified their oneness with God’s people of old. The Old Testament prophet Hosea, speaking in the name of the Lord, reminisced about the great pilgrimage of the exodus: “When Israel was a child I loved him; out of Egypt I called my son” (Hosea 11:1). All throughout the long pilgrimage through the desert to the Promised Land, the people responded to Moses’ repeated calls to gather together at the Tent of Meeting, as it was known. This was a constant reminder that they were not journeying alone. The God who had called them out of Egypt was journeying with them and wanted them to be always conscious of his presence and active concern. All of this is summed up in the very word for “church.” The Greek word is “ekklesia” which means assembly, but also a “calling forth.” The church is the assembly of God, called forth by his gracious favor to worship him, to spread the good news of his saving love and to find fellowship and strength for the journey in the company of “those called.” (Father Castelot is a professor of Scripture at St. John’s Seminary, Plymouth, Mich.) Why we celebrate together By Father Mark Link, SJ NC News Service r J esuit Father Walter Ciszek, a Pennsylvania-born priest, was arrested during World War II by the Soviets. Ac cused of being a “Vatican spy,” he spent 23 years in prisons and labor camps in Siberia. He , was forced to work with other Catholic prisoners from dawn to darkness in subzero weather, seven days a week, without ade quate food or rest. How did these Catholic prisoners survive under such htvr- rendous conditions? Father Ciszek reveals the answer in his book, “He Leadeth Me.” They drew strength from the Eucharist. The priest, who died in 1984 at the age of 80, writes: “I have seen priests and . prisoners deprive their bodies of needed sleep in order to get up before the rising bell for a secret Mass. We would be severely • punished if we were discovered saying Mass, and there were always informers. But the Mass jo us was always worth the danger and the sacrifice.” Describing the conditions under which they celebrated Mass, r Father Ciszek says: “We said Mass in drafty storage shacks, or huddl ed in mud and slush in the corner of a building site founda ’’ tion...there were no altars...Yet in these primitive conditions, the Mass brought us closer to God * than anyone might conceivably imagine.” The loyalty of these prisoners to the Mass leads to two important * reasons why people gather to celebrate the Eucharist. First, the Mass is a source of strength on the pilgrimage in this world. Without the Eucharist to sustain us, few if any of us would ever be able to complete the pilgrimage. When Jesus said at the Last Sup per, “Do this in memory of me,” - he wasn’t asking us to do him a favor. He was doing us a favor. He was making it possible for us to survive our pilgrimage in this world, just as the Mass made it possible for the prisoners to survive. A second reason for gathering to celebrate the Eucharist is not for our own sake but for the sake of the entire human family. It is the way we proclaim to them the good news about Jesus Christ. It is the way we proclaim the most im portant message of history: “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.” This is a message that the world needs to hear. It is a message the world wants to hear. It is the message Jesus entrusted us to preach: “Go then to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples...and teach them.” The message Christ entrusted to his church cannot be spoken by a single person. It needs to be spoken by the whole Christian community in every nation on earth. For here on earth we are Christ’s body. We are Christ’s voice. We are Christ’s heart. If Christ is to speak to the modern world, it must be through us, his church. If we are silent, Christ is silent. If one of us is silent, a part of Christ is silent. If a part of Christ is silent, a part of his message goes unheard. (Father Link has written several books on Scripture.) “Through the Eucharist... man shares in the sacrifice of Christ which this celebration actualizes, and he also learns to find himself through a gift of himself, through commu nion with God and with others, his brothers and sisters....The church from the \ beginning expressed and con firmed her identity through the Eucharist” (Pope John Paul II in his 1986 encyclical on the Holy Spirit, “The Lord and Giver of Life”). Think back to an occasion when it seemed particularly im portant, urgent, that a communi ty had assembled for a celebra tion of the Eucharist. •Was it perhaps a funeral, when the surviving family members had great need for the support of the church and its people? •Was it perhaps the time of a baptism, when the parents of a new child had a great desire to celebrate the new life coming in to their family with others? •Was it perhaps an ordinary Sunday liturgy when, for whatever reason — pressured by the events in your life; refreshed by recent experiences; thankful for a turn of events in your life — you were acutely aware of your own desire to be with the church and its people? ...for discussion How much difference does it make that the people of the church assemble as a community to celebrate the Eucharist? Why can Pope John Paul II say that in the Eucharist the church’s identity is expressed and confirmed? What does the Greek word for church mean, according to Father John Castelot? Why did Margaret O’Brien Steinfels change her mind about the lengthy Prayers of the Faithful in her parish communi ty? What is the difference she sees between the tone of these prayers and the tone of some reports heard on the evening news? ...for thought There are occasions when one has a renewed sense that it makes a real difference whether or not the church gathers — assembles — as a community for the liturgy. They can be occa sions when a fuller glimpse is caught of what the church is meant to be as a community. It isn’t so surprising that this might happen when you con sider the words of Pope John Paul II: “The church from the beginning expressed and con firmed her identity through the Eucharist.” By participating in the Mass — through this action — one can begin to grasp the church’s identity more fully; one begins to see, too, what a dif ference its community life makes. This is also an opportunity for self-discovery, as the pope’s words suggest. Again, it makes a difference that one assembles with others. In the Eucharist a person “learns to find himself through a gift of himself, through communion with God and with others, his brothers and sisters,” says Pope John Paul. Think back to an occasion when it became just a bit clearer to you that assembling for the Eucharist, the church’s ordinary activity, was really an extraor dinary thing to do. What difference did it make at that moment that the people worshiped not so much alongside each other, but truly “with” each other? SECOND HELPINGS Gathering Prayers, by Debra Hintz. “Prayer binds us, unites us and makes us one. As we gather in community, prayer gives us a common bond as we turn our attention to God and open ourselves to the presence and guidance of our Lord,” the author writes. These prayers, ar ranged around the liturgical seasons and broad topic areas such as peace and justice, praise or thanksgiving, can be used by any group of parishioners meeting to pursue a common activity — from parish council meetings to liturgy plan ning sessions. Ms. Hintz recom mends using creativity to set up a special environment for prayer; setting the mood for prayer can sometimes be accomplished just by dimming the lights and lighting a single candle, she says. (Twenty-Third Publications. Box 180, Mystic, Conn. 06355. 1986. Single copy, $7.95.)
