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so just recently I've been reading
Cardinal Sarah's a wonderful book called
the power of silence and it's a book
that's about a lot of things it's a very
spiritually alert text and covers a lot
of ground but he's especially good I
think in regard to silence and the
liturgy now we shouldn't be too
surprised by this because Cardinal saw a
course runs the Vatican Congregation
dealing with sacraments and the liturgy
but as I was reading him I met I found
myself often nodding
you know vigorously in agreement see I
came of age in the period right after
vatican ii and a watchword of that time
was full conscious and active
participation now that's a great phrase
coming up out of the vatican to
documents and prior to the vatican ii
documents out of the liturgical movement
of the 20th century the idea was it's a
darn good idea is the lady or not at
masses as spectators in a theatre they
are there fully and consciously and
actively engaged in the mass so that's a
wonderful theme vatican ii hits it and
it was certainly emphasized after the
council here's the problem though and i
can witness this from direct experience
it often came to mean that the lady had
to be constantly stimulated into sound
and action during the mass as though the
liturgist of the time had to be shaking
the lady by the shoulders every minute
to be standing and sitting and kneeling
and clapping and singing and jumping it
i mean the enemy came to be seen as
silence because silence was almost
tantamount to boredom if there's silence
in the liturgy we've lost the people
they've simply turned into spectators
they're not paying attention so we have
to stimulate them all the time well the
problem here is carnal star points out
is silence can be a very full conscious
an active way to be involved in the mass
that silence can signal not boredom or
inattention but a very deep and profound
attention think of the way you're
attending to a friend as the friend
speaks and you listened in silence
cetera
so there's the problem that the full
conscious active turned into frenetic
activity
now here's another experience in mind
both as now 31 years as a priest a
couple years of Bishop is I think a lot
of our people especially our young
people have lost sight of what the mass
really is that all this frenetic ISM has
led again such as a young to think of
the mass as a sort of religiously themed
Jamboree so if we've come together to
sing and well there's a communal element
in the mass of course but see what is
the mass in its essence and this is what
Sarah's book really is kind of triggered
me to think about what is the mass in
its essence in his essence the mass is
the act by which Christ head and members
so Christ in union with the members of
his mystical body turn to the father in
right praise and by this Rite praise the
whole mystical body becomes rightly
ordered so it's an active praise on the
part of the totus Christos to use a
gustin's phrase the whole Christ now see
with that in mind think about a couple
of things the first part of the mass of
the time the priest enters the sanctuary
there's a kind of call and response as
going on now not between you know Robert
Barron not happening this particular
individual but the priest acting in
Persona Christi capitis we say in the
person of Christ the head say Christ the
head of his church is being personified
by the priest so when the priest says
the Lord be with you or the bishop says
peace be with you and the people respond
and with your spirit the spirit in
question there is if you would that the
spirit of his ordination the Christ
dwelling within the celebrant of the
mass so the call and response begins it
continues through the the readings so in
the readings Christ the word is speaking
to his people speaking to the members of
his body they hear the first reading and
they respond with the responsorial Psalm
think here of the Song of Songs so at
the great biblical text the two lovers
calling out to each other that's what's
happening here as the as Christ speaks
people speak back
the gospel is proclaimed so now Christ
very directly speaking to his people
they respond praise to You Lord Jesus
Christ
mind you they're not saying hey what a
wonderful reading you gave Robert Barron
they're saying praise be to You Lord
Jesus Christ because they felt addressed
by Christ the head the priest they're
operating in Persona Christi capitis so
the first part of the mass is this call
in response we're by the mystical body
head and members come together as one
now there's a moment and it's a very
it's a it's a seemingly insignificant
moment but i think is actually a hinge
of the whole mass when the priest says
after the preparation of the gifts pray
brothers sisters that my sacrifice and
yours might be acceptable to God the
Father Almighty now head and members
having come together through this
call-and-response
are now together turning in praise to
the Father may my sacrifice and yours
full conscious active yes indeed mine
and yours be acceptable to God the
Father Almighty the call response then
intensifies you know the Lord be with
you and with your spirit
lift up your hearts we lift them up the
Lord let us give thanks
then that's the preface to the
Eucharistic prayer now priest again
operating in Persona Christi joined
through call in response to the members
of the mystical body addresses the
father right
and then of course that's where the
great sacrifice of Christ is reiterated
re presented made sacramentally present
once again and the people fully
consciously and actively join the
sacrifices of their lives to that great
sacrifice so there's the mass it's not
just a religiously themed Jamboree where
we get together we and we listen to you
know stories about Jesus and we sing
songs that we feel good about our
community know together head and members
have turned toward the father in rightly
ordered praise now bring it back now at
the beginning silence silence the
silence play a role in this whole
process absolutely there's plenty of
sound in the liturgy I don't quarrel
with that both music and spoken word
plenty of sound call and response at
sound but see it every stage think of
the gathering of the mystical body think
of the intense listening to the word
proclaimed think of the silence of
offering so as the gifts are brought
forward
I bring spiritually my life to the altar
think of all these moves as accompanied
by a deep and attentive silence which
actually intensifies the full and
conscious and active participation of
the lady anyway a few thoughts that were
kind of prompted by Carlos Aras book I
think well worth reading by anyone
interested in in the mass and what the
liturgy is
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