Now that we have reflected on our preparations for Mass, both before arriving at the church and after, we are ready to actually enter the Mass itself.  The Mass is divided into five sections, the first of which is called the Introductory Rites.  The first element of the Introductory Rites listed by the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) is The Entrance.  Here is what the document says:

When the people are gathered, and as the Priest enters with the Deacon and ministers, the Entrance Chant begins. Its purpose is to open the celebration, foster the unity of those who have been gathered, introduce their thoughts to the mystery of the liturgical time or festivity, and accompany the procession of the Priest and ministers. (GIRM, §47)

Most parishes choose to use an Entrance Hymn that the congregation can join in singing, though some places will sing a chant.  For our weekday masses, we simply recite the Entrance Antiphon that is designated for that day.

Notice how this beginning of the Mass is described as an opportunity to foster unity and prepare our thoughts for the mystery we are about to celebrate.  Unity is fostered when we all join in the singing of the Entrance Hymn together.  Some, because they don’t like to sing, or claim that they can’t sing, choose to exempt themselves from this part of the Mass, preferring to just stand in silence.  Might I suggest that you at least open the hymnal and follow along with the words, at a very minimum listening to them and uniting your heart with them in prayer?  Doing so helps to foster unity as we all do the same thing.  Plus, paying attention to those words can actually benefit us as the words help to prepare our hearts for what we are about to celebrate.

In this regard, I still have vivid memories of masses that I would celebrate for the Catholic high school where I was a Chaplain several years ago.  I would process in, usually singing, then I would look up during the hymn, only to see the vast majority of the students not singing, not even having their hymnals open.  Furthermore, their facial expressions said: “I do not want to be here.”  On one occasion, I had some of those students saying something about not getting anything out of Mass, and I brought up my observation from the Entrance Hymn.  I said to them, somewhat out of frustration, but with utter sincerity: “If you don’t put anything into Mass, how can you expect to get anything out of Mass?”  To be honest, I do not know how many people actually sing during the Entrance Hymn here at the Cathedral.  I try not to look lest I get frustrated and start Mass in a bad mood!  I say that with a little sarcasm, but not totally.  I do, however, urge us all to consider how it is we participate during the Entrance Procession of the Mass, seeing it for what it is – a time to foster unity among ourselves and prepare to enter into the greatest prayer of the Mass.

Up to this point, I have been providing some reflections and suggestions of how I think about approaching the preparation for and praying of Mass, but I realize I do not possess the definitive answer on these.  Many of you have been preparing for and praying at Mass longer than I’ve been alive!  So, I offer an open invite for you to share with me anything that you have found useful in your experience with preparing for and praying at Mass.  I will be happy to share those as I work through this series.  Just send me an e-mail so that I can remember them.  If you just tell me after Mass, I’m afraid I might forget!

Feast Day: August 7^th | Patronage: Popes, Martyrs | Iconography: Arrayed in Gold Vestments, Wearing Papal Tiara, Holding a Book, Staff, or Processional Crucifix

From a letter of St. Cyprian about the martyrdom of St. Sixtus [Epist. 80: CSEL 3, 839-840]. St. Cyrian would be martyred several months later in the same persecution.

Dear brother, the reason why I could not write to you immediately was that all the clergy were embroiled in the heat of the conflict. They could not possibly leave, all of them having prepared themselves for divine and heavenly glory. But now the messengers have come back, those whom I sent to the City to find out and report the truth of whatever decrees had been made about us – for people have been imagining all sorts of different possibilities. Here, then, is the truth:

Valerian [the Emperor of Rome at this time] sent a rescript to the Senate, saying that bishops, presbyters, and deacons should all receive immediate punishment; that senators, knights, and other men of importance should lose their rank and their property, and if they still persisted in being Christians, they should lose their heads; and that matrons should be deprived of their property and be sent into exile. Members of Caesar’s own household, whether they had confessed their faith before or were only confessing it now, should be deprived of their property, bound in chains, and sent as slaves to his estates.

To this command, Valerian attached a copy of the letters which he had sent to the governors of the various provinces about us; and we daily await the arrival of these letters, bracing ourselves, each according to the strength of his faith, for the suffering that is to be endured, and looking forward to the help and mercy of the Lord and the crown of eternal life.

You should know, however, that Sixtus was martyred in the cemetery on the sixth of August, and four deacons with him [St. Lawrence the famous jokester and deacon would outlive his fellow deacons for four more days, and whom we will get to know next week…] Moreover, the prefects in the City are daily pushing forward this persecution, and anyone who is presented to them is martyred and all his property confiscated by the state.

I beg you to make these things known to the rest of our colleagues, so that through their encouragement the whole brotherhood may be strengthened and made ready for the spiritual conflict – so that each one of us may think less of death and more of immortality – so that everyone, dedicated to the Lord with full faith and total courage, may rejoice in this confession and not fear it, for they know that the soldiers of God and Christ are not destroyed, but crowned.

Dearest brother, always fare well in the Lord.

– Fr. Dominic recently had the chance to visit his sister in the convent and at one funny moment she asked if he were available to do Exposition the following morning at “ten of six”. Unfamiliar with monastery jargon, I puzzled over the turn of phrase for a moment to the humor of my sister, “willing to get up that early??” Of course, 5:50 AM is a bit of an ask when one is trying to rest and relax with family … but I had to surrender my desire for a full night’s sleep and agree to the early start. If a Christian’s life is meant to look like Christ, I should expect crucifixion, and getting up before 6 is nothing like what has been asked of many Christians down through the ages.

When I was growing up, I remember getting to Mass early then kneeling down to pray.  To be honest, I do not recall what I prayed about, but I do recall thinking on more than one occasion as I looked around:  “What are those around me praying about?”  I was wondering if there was a certain script that I was supposed to follow or what I should be praying for.  More often than not, I probably just knelt there in silence for the amount of time that seemed right, then I’d sit down, especially if I saw my mom or my siblings sit after doing their prayers before Mass.

When I entered seminary, I became aware of a series of prayers that the Roman Missal provided for the priest as he was preparing for Mass.  I figured that if I was going to become a priest someday, perhaps those prayers would be helpful to start using as I prepared for Mass.  And in fact, I still use many of those prayers as I get ready to celebrate Mass.

But preparing for Mass should be more than just reciting certain prayers, holy as those prayers may be.  As I encouraged in my last article, as we prepare for Mass, it is an opportunity for us to disengage our spiritual autopilot so that we can fully and consciously enter into this greatest of all prayers.  

In a document written by Pope Benedict XVI on the Eucharist, he offers the following reflection about what our prayers before Mass might look like:

In their consideration of the actuosa participatio of the faithful in the liturgy, the Synod Fathers also discussed the personal conditions required for fruitful participation on the part of individuals. One of these is certainly the spirit of constant conversion which must mark the lives of all the faithful. Active participation in the eucharistic liturgy can hardly be expected if one approaches it superficially, without an examination of his or her life. This inner disposition can be fostered, for example, by recollection and silence for at least a few moments before the beginning of the liturgy, by fasting and, when necessary, by sacramental confession. A heart reconciled to God makes genuine participation possible. (Sacramentum caritatis, 55).

Part of our preparation should therefore include an acknowledgement of our need for conversion, calling to mind where we have strayed, asking that our participation in the Mass will heal the wounds of our sins and strengthen us for a more faithful and fruitful living our lives as disciples.  Although there is more that we can and should pray about before Mass, I think this aspect should never be overlooked.  

This time in silence, opening ourselves to conversion, is necessary for one of the very first parts of the Mass that we encounter, the Penitential Rite.  The priest invites us with the following words: “Brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge our sins, as so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.”  The brief pause of silence is hardly enough time for us to do an examination of conscience at that point, but if we have spent some time before Mass acknowledging our sins and our need for conversion, this part becomes more than just a formality that we automatically breeze through.

Feast Day: July 25^th | Patronage: Spain, Compostela, Veterinarians, Equestrians, Furriers, Tanners, Pharmacists, Oyster Fishermen, Woodcarvers | Iconography: Carrying Book as author of Letter of St. James, Wearing Red as a martyr, Adorned with pilgrim-hat, staff, or shell as a pilgrim, Riding white horse into battle against the Moors, Clubbed to death in Jerusalem

Throughout Christian history, there has always been an emphasis on the importance of Christians going on pilgrimage to the places associated with Our Lord. We are a fundamentally historical religion, claiming that God set foot on this planet for a definitive period of years, consecrating those roads of the Holy Land, and with them our entire world. From the beginning of the Church, even as it spread out to the edges of human civilization, there was always a draw for Christians to try and make their way to Bethlehem and Jerusalem, seeing for themselves the places where their Lord and God had set foot.

Of course, it has not always been easy to get to Jerusalem, whether that be simply the arduous nature of travel throughout most of human history, or the wars and persecutions that cut Christian nations off from Israel. For this reason another place of pilgrimage, Rome, sort of symbolically because a stand-in for Jerusalem. In Rome the greatest apostles, Peter and Paul had died and were buried in their respective basilicas, but even more importantly it was in that Eternal City there you would find the magnificent basilicas dedicated to Christ’s birth (St. Mary Major), passion (the Basilica of the Holy Cross), and glorious reign (St. John Lateran). 

But what if you couldn’t make it to Rome? Was there a third option? Yes, as it turns out, there was one other great place of pilgrimage for the Christian world: Santiago de Compostela. This is the spot in North-West Spain where the tomb of St. James the Greater was miraculously discovered in 813 AD. Legend tells of his appearing to rally Christian troops beleaguered by invading Moorish armies around this time and the discovery of his tomb near to that event after a holy hermit had a vision of stars and angels surrounding an otherwise nondescript field. Over the ensuing centuries, ever-grander basilicas would be built (and lost) and rebuilt over the site of this tomb, and then early written accounts of pilgrims who made the trip there would slowly spread out across Europe, attracting more and more Christians to make the trek. 

In 2013 about 200,000 people walked at least 100 kilometers along one of the many routes that now culminate at St. James’ basilica, in 2017, 300,000, and in 2022, the number crested 400,000 for the first time. Here’s the deal, Jerusalem, Rome, Compostela are all just stand-ins for the real pilgrimage that we are all on: towards the heavenly Jerusalem and the New Heavens and New Earth where Christ will remain with us forever.  We’re all on pilgrimage whether we go to Compostela or not! The problemhappens when we forget that and start putting too much stock in our lives here. Here’s a few mental-exercises to ask ourselves if we have the right disposition: On pilgrimage, you carry everything you need on your back. What size pile of things do you, or I, consider essential? Do I treasure the simple and silent moments of my life, or just the exciting highlight-reel? On pilgrimage, you befriend and protect otherwise random strangers because you’re together on the journey towards the same destination. Do you or I really care for those that are alongside of us in our journey towards heaven? Do I pray for those that I’m “on mission” with by name? On pilgrimage, the point is not leisure but conversion; not self-actualization but self-transcendence. Do you or I seek more opportunities for holiness, or pleasure? Do I ask God to show me each day where He is giving me the chance to serve, sacrifice, and surrender?

– Fr. Dominic did the Way of St. James during the summer of 2015 with his mom, dad, and brother. You can see us dwarfed by the basilica in the picture below. And yes, we got to see the world’s largest thurible swung by a team of acolytes and suspended from the ceiling of the basilica.  There also was the memorable occasion when, for the only time in my life, I went to Confession in Spanish. 

In my previous two articles, I wrote about the internal and external ways that we prepare for Mass.  Those reflections were intended to focus on what we do for preparation before we actually go to the church itself for Mass.  But when we actually set foot in the church, what should we do just before Mass begins in order to prepare ourselves well for this greatest of all prayers?

The first thing we often encounter when we enter a Catholic church is receptacle that contains Holy Water.  We know the drill – we dip our fingers in and make the Sign of the Cross.  But how conscious are we of why we perform this almost mechanical action?  The purpose of the Holy Water is to remind us of our Baptism, the most important day of our life.  For it was on that day that we became God’s adopted children, able to call upon Him as our Father.  Our Baptism makes it possible for us to be admitted to share in this great prayer of the Mass.  Will we remember this every time we enter church?  Probably not, but nevertheless, perhaps we can challenge ourselves to it at least the next time we go to church.  Start small and let it grow!

The next action we usually take is when we enter our pew.  If our knees can handle it, we usually genuflect toward the tabernacle.  Not that I spend a lot of time watching people genuflect, but I can’t help but see it from time to time.  Some genuflections are very sincere looking, and others are a bit sloppy.  Now, I realize not everybody has good knees, but my guess is that many of us have knees that are capable of doing a full genuflection.  As a reminder, our practice is to genuflect with the right knee, to where it goes all the way to the ground, pausing ever so briefly, and then rising up again.  For the pause while down on the right knee, a good traditional practice is to use the aspiration that St. Thomas the Apostle used when Jesus invited him to put his finger into the nail marks of His risen body after the Resurrection: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)  This is an exclamation of adoration, which is what the action of making a genuflection is all about.  In place of a genuflection, it is just fine to do a profound bow, bending at the waist toward the tabernacle, making the same internal act of adoration.

There is one final action to consider, and that is the Sign of the Cross, something that applies to blessing ourselves with Holy Water, and which is also sometimes done when genuflecting.  We also make it when we kneel down in our pew, and when we begin Mass.  The Sign of the Cross can be sloppy as well if we don’t pay attention to what we are doing.  Try to be very intentional about making those distinct movements without rushing.  Otherwise, it sort of looks like we are swatting flies away!  The Sign of the Cross is a prayer, even if we do not actually say it out loud, and it’s important that we use all of the words: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.”  Sometimes we cut corners and just say: “Father, Son, Holy Spirit.  Amen.”  Sure, we got all three Persons of the Trinity, but we have truncated it, not explicitly calling to mind we are praying in the name of all three Persons, thus the importance of those beginning words and each ‘and’.

There are three simple gestures that we perform every time we come to Mass.  Our being aware of these actions, and our efforts to be intentional about their significance sets us up well to prepare for Mass.  If we do these actions on autopilot, our brains will just continue with the rest of the Mass in that mode.  Let’s be conscious about disengaging our spiritual autopilot when we walk in and do these three actions so that we can be fully present, fully conscious, and fully active in our participation in the great prayer that is about to follow!