If you’ve ever been to a Catholic Mass,
you know that it is formal, largely scripted, and can be a bit long.
We’re all for the movement of the spirit,
but we’re not begin on the priest making it up as he goes along.
What you might not know, even if you’re Catholic, is that everything we do at mass, and nearly
every word, finds its origins in scripture. Where does the mass come from and how will knowing this
deepen our prayer? This is Catholicism in Focus. —
As with all Catholic prayers, the mass begins with the sign of the cross,
praying in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This
Trinitarian formula is given to the disciples in Matthew 28 as a part of how they are to baptize.
The sign of the cross is loosely connected to statements in the books of Ezekiel and Revelation,
but it’s more just a nice old tradition to remind us of what Jesus has done for us.
If the principle celebrant is a priest, he greets the people with “The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all,” a direct
quote of St. Paul from 2 Corinthians 13:13, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ,” from Ephesians 1:2, or simply “The Lord be with you” from Ruth 2:4.
If the celebrant is a bishop, he uses Jesus’ greeting from John 20:21, “peace be with you.”
In response, the people say “and with your spirit,” which comes from 2 Timothy 4:22,
Philippians 4:23, and Galatians 6:18. The formality of this greeting reminds
the faithful that the priest has a special vocation and what he
is about to celebrate is no ordinary meal, but a deep spiritual sacrifice.
The penitential act follows, of which there are three options,
all of which fulfills the command in James 5:16 to “confess your sins to one another and
pray for one another,” and which can be seen in practice in Nehemiah 9:2.
The Gloria follows, quoting directly from Luke 2:14: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth
peace to those on whom his favor rests.” The hymn makes further allusions to Revelation 17:12 and
19:6, the letters of St. John, Romans 8, Luke 4, and Psalm 83, and a few others.
It’s really just a mashup of the Bible’s greatest hits.
From there, a prayer is said, called a collect. The words vary from mass to mass
and rarely not come directly from scripture but are often crafted using Biblical images.
What does come directly from scripture, and where scripture takes center stage in
the liturgy, is what comes next, the actual reading of scripture,
something early Christians can be seen doing in the Acts of the Apostles,
Jesus did at the beginning of Luke, and the Hebrews practiced regularly in the Old Testament.
Unlike some other churches, though, we do not read but a single verse or passage, we have four. A
reading from the Old Testament, psalms, the New Testament, and finally the Gospels themselves.
Next time you hear that Catholics don’t read or care about scripture, remind them of this.
Of course, it not just that scripture is read that’s significant, but that the
responses and gestures throughout have scriptural origins. After each reading,
the congregation responds “blessed be God forever” and “praise to you Lord
Jesus Christ,” references to the psalms and the book of revelation.
After a homily, a time for the priest to explain the readings just proclaimed,
the congregation says the creed, or profession of faith. These words all
came from centuries after the Bible, but fulfill 1 Peter’s command that we “Always
be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.”
Petitions are then brought before God, to which the faithful respond in some
form of “Lord hear our prayer.” Petitions of this nature can be found in Exodus 10,
Jeremiah 42, Acts 8, and throughout the Gospels.
At which point we reach the end of the first half of the liturgy, the Liturgy of the Word,
and transition to the Liturgy of the Eucharist. And we’re just getting started.
The structure of this portion of the mass is based off of Jesus’ actions regarding
the Last Supper in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and the feeding of the 5000
in John. “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it,
and giving it to his disciples.” Take, bless, break, and distribute.
This begins with the preparation of the gifts where offerings from the
congregation are brought to the altar. This is like the boy who offered loaves
and fish in the feeding miracles, and the many instances in the Old Testament
when people brought their sacrifices to the priest to be offered to God.
The priest, receiving these offerings, says “Blessed are you, Lord, God of all
creation,” calling to mind the words of 1 Chronicles 29:10, Psalm 83:53, and Romans 5,
“for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you: fruit of the earth,” James 5:7
“and work of human hands,” Ecclesiastes 3:13, “it will become for us the bread of life.” (John 6:35)
The people, in their part, respond “Blessed be God forever,” closely matching Psalm 68:36,
and then the priest invites them to pray that the sacrifice may
be acceptable to God, an allusion to Hebrew 12:28.
The priest then offers a silent prayer of humility before the sacrifice that it may
be received by God, just as Azariah does in Daniel 3:39-40, before washing his hands,
as was prescribed by Moses in Leviticus 30:18-21.
A little dialogue follows “The Lord be with you; And with your spirit; Lift up your hearts,”
followed by Lamentations 3:41: We lift them up to the Lord,” which leads to another triumphant hymn,
the Sanctus, which quotes directly from Isaiah 6:3, Matthew 21:19, and Psalm 118.
At this point, the sacrifice is ready to be offered, a practice with deep scriptural roots.
In Genesis 14, Melchizedek, the King and priest of Salem,
offered bread and wine to God as a blessing on Abram.
In Exodus, the people celebrating a passover meal
just before fleeing Egypt in which they ate unleavened bread and drank wine,
and an unblemished lambed is killed for the safety and cleansing of the people.
Of course, the Last supper itself plays an important role here, as the priest takes
on the role of Jesus at the altar, recreating his actions and speaking his words: “Take this,
all of you, and eat of it, for this is my Body, which will be given up for you.”
After the institution narrative is complete and the sacrifice offered,
the congregation together with the priest says what is called a memorial acclamation,
a simple phrase connecting the sacrifice to Jesus’ death and resurrection,
and ultimately his saving help. Each of these options speak directly of the
mystery of Christ in the Gospels, but do not quote directly from any source.
The priest continues praying after this, offering more petitions for the Church, its leaders,
the people gathered, and the dead, calling upon the saints to be with us in our time of need.
Again, none of this comes directly from scripture but acts as a continuation of
our call to pray and rely on God for all our needs, deeply biblical in nature.
The section ends triumphantly with the great Amen, a common biblical prayer,
before leading into the Our Father, a prayer directly from Jesus’ mouth in Matthew 6 and
Luke 11, followed by the embolism by the priest, asking for deliverance and affirming
our hope with the words from Titus 2:13, and the doxology by the people, “for the kingdom,
the power and the glory are yours now and for ever,” a line, interesting enough,
appeared in some early manuscripts of the Bible but was ultimately deemed inauthentic.
The priest then moves to the 3rd stage of Jesus’ fourfold actions in the eucharist,
breaking the bread, while the people sing or chant the words of the Lamb of God, a song inspired by
the Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation, before the priest says the actual words of John
the Baptist, “behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” from John 1:29.
Together with the people, the whole congregation responds by quoting Matthew 8:8, “Lord, I am not
worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”
The actual quote says servant, not soul, as the centurion is speaking of his sick slave,
but it’s probably best to personalize it for the moment.
At which point, the sacrifice has been offered and the people made ready to receive,
leaving just the distribution. Like the feeding miracles in which the disciples
were called upon to reach the overwhelming mass of people, so, too, extraordinary ministers of
communion can be used when the minister himself is not able to reach everyone.
Once everyone has received and the leftover hosts placed in the tabernacle, a reference, naturally,
to the tabernacle of the Lord found throughout the Old Testament as the dwelling place of God,
the priest concludes with a prayer, offers a final blessing, and dismisses the people.
For some, a merciful end to a boring liturgy, for others, an inspirational
exhortation to evangelize the nations as Jesus commanded in Matthew 28. To each their own.
Beginning, in a way, just how we started, with Jesus’ words and the sign of the cross,
bookending what is a liturgy entirely devoted to proclaiming and living the Word of God. We
do not just speak or study scripture, we follow its instructions in our gestures,
postures, and rituals, giving meaning to everything we do. There is nothing
in the liturgy that is of human origin, nothing for its own sake. Our purpose for
gathering is to offer praise and sacrifice to God for all that he has done for us,
and we think there is no better way to do that than ordered our entire liturgy around the words
of the Bible. The Catholics don’t care about the Bible? Clearly you’ve never been to mass.