[Music]
We Begin our journey through the mass
with the introductory rights the time
that we are gathered in and prepared for
what is about to happen and right off
the bat we are posed with an interesting
question when does the mass officially
begin does it start when the priest
makes the sign of the cross or when the
servers and Priests begin their
procession up the center aisle or maybe
when the caner greets the people and the
song begins officially there isn't a
single moment when the mass is said to
begin but the Orthodox Theologian
Alexander schmon suggests something
interesting the entrance procession
concludes when the priest reaches his
chair but it begins all the way back at
our homes when we leave behind our
private lives our personal Endeavors and
begin to make our way to the church in
this act of journeying each from our
private places to create one communal
space We Begin the act of worship this
act of preparing ourselves to celebrate
the sacred
mystery because of this and because our
act of worship is inherently communal
not private greeting people before Mass
sharing our lives even laughing are not
just nice things to do they are the
first things we do in preparation some
Churches have large vestibules for this
very
purpose our individual procession
continue as we walk into the Gathering
space and sign ourselves with holy water
this act done as we enter the church
reminds us of our baptism symbolic of
how we eternally entered the church and
calls to mind the responsibilities that
we have as baptized
Christians when we approach our Pew we
make a sign of reverence either
genuflecting or bowing and are seated
now this can be a bit confusing for some
and you will see a lot of different
gestures the basic principle is this we
are simply acknowledging that there is
something important before us that
deserves our reverence if there is a
tabernacle present either behind the
altar or in a prominent place up front
we genuflect toward it because Christ is
present in sacramental form if the
Tabernacle is in the side Chapel or not
visible we bow to the altar as this is
where the sacrifice will take place at
some point the congregation will be
called to worship and the entrance chant
will begin there is a lot of variety
allowed in this act both in song choice
and use of choir and there's even the
concession for there to be no singing at
all if this is the case a priest or
caner may recite the entrance anapon
found in the missile silence at this
point of the mass especially for a
Sunday liturgy is not
recommended after the hym has begun the
procession to the altar begins usually
from the back of the church the
procession can include servers carrying
a cross incense or candles the lectors
and deacons carrying the book of the
Gospel El and additional members of the
congregation with specific roles on the
altar but only the principal celebrant
is required when they approach the altar
all the servers either bow or genuflect
the book of The Gospel is placed on the
Altar and the celebrant can celebrant
and deacons all reverence the altar by
kissing it drawing the attention of the
whole congregation to the centerpiece of
the Liturgy the altar where the
sacrifice will take place once at his
chair and the hymn complete the priest
makes the sign of the cross saying in
the name of the father and of the son
and of the Holy Spirit and then greets
the congregation with a formal greeting
either something elaborate like the
grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ
the love of God and the community of the
Holy Spirit be with you all or simply
the Lord be with you to which the people
respond and with your spirit less than a
minute into the Liturgy we have already
made a few profound statements in
placing the book of the gospels in a
prominent place reverencing the altar
greeting the people with peace and the
people greeting the minister back we
have started our worship by giving
reverence to the four places where
Christ is truly present the word
Eucharist congregation and presider
symbolically our actions immediately
draw attention to what's important
additionally in starting with a dialogue
we have shown that there are different
roles within the Liturgy that it's not
entirely the work of the priest but
about the full conscious and active
participation of all present there are
certain words and gestures in fact that
are reserved exclusively to the
congregation after some brief
introductory remarks explaining the
Feast of the day or special features of
the worship such as a baptism or wedding
the priest leads the congregation in
calling to mind their sins and Begins
the penitential act there are three
forms that can be used the first is the
confidor the prayer that begins I
confess to almighty God the second form
which is rarely used it begins have
mercy on us oh Lord and the third is the
Greek prayer the kir Le song translated
in English Lord have mercy Christ have
mercy Lord have mercy if a deacon is
present he is usually the one to lead
this but it can also be led by the
celebrant or a caner especially if it's
To Be Sung regardless of which option is
chosen the prayer always includes the
kir Le song at the end the reason for
this is because while we are calling to
mind our sins our focus is less on our
sins themselves and more on the mercy of
God this right is not a mini confession
and there is no Absolution what we are
doing is starting our worship by
reminding ourselves of the Abundant
mercy of God that allows us to enter
into the mystery having been moved by
this abundant mercy and reminded of
God's wonderful Glory we move
immediately into a jubilant hymn of
praise to our God the Gloria a hym
dating all the way back to the fourth
Century it is one of the oldest and most
celebratory aspects of our mass and it
should not be omitted or recited doing
so would be akin to eating birthday cake
after simply saying the Happy Birthday
song or skipping it entirely it just
wouldn't make sense finally the
introductory rights come to a close with
the collect the first of the
presidential prayers While most will
simply understand it as a simple prayer
read by the presider it actually has
four components to it there is the call
to prayer by the presider when he says
let us pray this is followed by a period
of Silence in which the congregation
offers their own prayers and petitions
to God only then does the presider offer
the spoken prayer and the congregation
responds with its Asen thing amen when
looking at it this way and allowing for
adequate time for personal prayer it
changes the shape of the prayer itself
rather than the presider simply praying
on behalf of the people what we see is
that the collect is primarily a silent
prayer of the congregation gathered and
actualized by the presider we in the
congregation are not just listeners to
the prayers of the presider he is
attending to the prayers of the
congregation and offering them to God
finally after the prayers concluded the
whole congregation sits and awaits the
reading of the word through these
formulaic rituals our singing our
greeting one another in our prayers what
we find is that we have not simply gone
through the motions of a ritual we have
in fact prepared ourselves for worship
we have made relationships with those
around us recognize the presence
presence of Christ in our midst
reflected on our lives and giv glory to
God for a wonderful opportunity before
us no longer scattered and broken no
longer distracted or hindered we are
ready to receive the gift that God is
about to offer us the gift of his word
[Music]