During the past couple of years, as we have been journeying through this time of Eucharistic Revival, it is not uncommon to see pictures on the Internet, in magazines, and on social media of a priest elevating the Sacred Host or Chalice at the Consecration during Mass. These are indeed inspiring pictures, especially as you see the eyes of the priest gazing in loving adoration at the Word become flesh in the Eucharist. In that regard, one of my favorite pictures from the Eucharistic Congress is a picture that was taken as Bishop Paprocki elevated the Host during the Consecration at the Mass.
Although always inspiring, there are times when I see a picture of that sacred moment of the Mass when I become a little distracted, and that is when I notice a priest wearing a watch on his wrist! This is not meant to be a criticism on any of those priests, but it is something on which I have often reflected. When we enter into the Mass, we step outside of time, to some extent. Personally, I find having a watch on distracts me from being aware of entering this aspect of this mystery. Of course, time does not physically stop, but through our participation in the Sacred Mysteries, we are brought into a mystery that transcends time. This is brought to our attention in the Eucharistic Prayer immediately after the sacred species are consecrated in what is known as the anamnesis. This is a Greek word which basically means “remembrance” and it comes from Jesus’s command at the Last Supper: “do this is memory (anemnesin) of me.” (Lk 22:19)
What we are remembering is not just the Last Supper, but the entire Paschal Mystery, which includes His Passion, Resurrection and Ascension. The anamnesis is the fifth element of the Eucharistic Prayer as described in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal:
The anamnesis, by which the Church, fulfilling the command that she received from Christ the Lord through the Apostles, celebrates the memorial of Christ, recalling especially his blessed Passion, glorious Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven.
(GIRM, 80e)
This remembrance is more than just remembering something in the past, but it is our being brought into the very events themselves, stepping outside of space and time to some extent. This is the same way that the Jewish people understood their yearly participation in the Passover. It was not just a remembering a past event, but a calling to mind their actual participation in that saving mystery through their observance of the Passover.
This is not the easiest concept to grasp, but it is absolutely necessary to our appreciating the power of the celebration of each and every Mass. For the Jewish people, the Passover happens once a year and it is observed with great attention and solemnity. The Church celebrates the New Passover every day and perhaps because of how familiar we are with it, we can become a little lax in the attention we give to our participating in this great mystery. If we took some time to prayerfully ponder the remarkable gift of entering into the very mystery of the Lord’s Passion, Resurrection and Ascension at each Mass, how much more fruit will we draw from our experience of going to Mass!
So, the next time you are at Mass, you might want to think about taking your watch off and to avoid looking at any clock. Although we know that time continues to advance around us, we also believe that for those brief moments, we are being drawn into a mystery outside of space and time, something we should not want to rush through, for this is a foretaste of what we shall experience in Heaven.
Father Alford