Mystagogy

Do you like to travel? I love to travel and do you know what I like best? Looking at the pictures! The pictures of the places and the people help me to remember the trip and point out how the journey amazed me, challenged me and changed me.

Our newly initiated members are spending the Easter season reflecting on their faith journey, in particular, on the celebrations of Holy Week and the experience of the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist. They are remembering the images, the words, and the symbols they experienced. This process of reflection, officially called mystagogy, is a way of helping them to deepen their understanding of their experience. In the ancient Church, it was a way of teaching not only the newly initiated, but the whole community about the mysteries of faith.

Mystagogy isn’t only for the newly initiated. It is a powerful tool for everyone that can help one understand one’s faith in new ways. Take some time in the days ahead to remember the liturgies of Holy Week, Easter, or a Sunday Mass and discuss as a family. Here are a few questions to get you started: What did you see? What did you hear? What word or phrase captured your attention? What do you remember most? What touched you? What did it mean to you? What symbol stood out for you? If that symbol could have spoken, what might it have said? How did the liturgy challenge or affirm your perspective? How did it deepen your faith?

Mystagogy shows us how the liturgy teaches, reinforcing a key concept of the Second Vatican Council.

“Although the liturgy is above all things the worship of the divine majesty, it likewise contains rich instruction for the faithful.” Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy 33

For example, I remember when a visitor to our parish engaged in mystagogy without knowing it. He noticed that we prayed (in the General Intercessions) for those on death row. He was a lawyer who was all too familiar with criminal punishment. He was deeply moved by the prayer. It spoke to him about the abundance of God’s love and motivated him to seek a deeper understanding of our beliefs on capital punishment. His perspective about who Catholics are and what we believe was challenged and changed.

The liturgy teaches us a lot about our faith, but it requires that we come to Mass with eyes and ears wide open, with attentiveness and presence, ready to be amazed, challenged and changed.

I would like to invite you to share your experiences of the liturgies of Holy Week, of Easter or of a recent Sunday Mass by emailing me at kkuczka@sta.org. These comments will then be published in next weekend’s blog. I too will share my experiences of the liturgies of northern Italy. Sharing our experiences can help us to learn from one another and can lead us to a deeper faith in the Risen Lord, which is what mystagogy and Easter is all about.

Holy Week Amidst Covid-19

Despite the coronavirus, Holy Week has come. While each Holy Week is unique, this one will be far different from any we’ve known before. We will not be gathering as a community for the Triduum at the church. Instead, most of us will watch these sacred liturgies from the comforts of our own homes, surrounded by our immediate families. This experience echoes that of our ancestors who, before churches were erected, gathered in homes to hear God’s Word and to celebrate the sacred meal. In a sense, we have been forced to return to a time that was fittingly called “The Domestic Church.”

Families who watch this year’s Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday liturgies will not see the elaborate ceremonies common to the Triduum. Vatican directives have simplified these celebrations, stripping them of much of their decorated splendor. Many of the rituals such as the washing of the feet have been omitted. The rites of initiation and most of their accompanying symbols will be absent. Even so, the symbols and rituals that normally hold pride of place during the Triduum can still be performed by families at home. Here are a few ideas.

Holy Thursday – Mass of the Lord’s Supper

On this night, the Church commemorates the institution of the Holy Eucharist and the Lord’s command to be charitable. At home, families can imitate the intimacy that Jesus shared with his disciples at supper by breaking bread together. You can wash each other’s feet as a sign of love, as Jesus did.

Good Friday – Stations of the Cross

To contemplate the passion of Jesus families can pray the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday. Many and various stations written around particular themes can be found online. Since this devotion traces the steps of Jesus on the road to his crucifixion and is usually prayed by moving from place to place, you are encouraged to make the stations a spiritual pilgrimage by walking as you pray.

Good Friday -- Celebration of the Passion of the Lord

The high points in this liturgy consist of the proclamation of the passion according to John, the extended intercessions and the veneration of the cross. Families can read John’s Gospel together at home: John 18:1-19:42. You can discuss how the passion according to John differs from the other gospel writers. You can talk about the love that is revealed by the death of Jesus. You can pray for your needs and for the needs of others by speaking the prayers aloud or by writing them down on a piece of paper and placing them in a bowl or basket near a lighted candle. You can take a cross or crucifix and venerate it with a touch or a kiss.

Holy Saturday-The Easter Vigil

This night is the high point of the liturgical year! It typically begins after nightfall with a blazing fire. The Vatican has omitted the fire this year, but in the home families can light candles as a reminder that Jesus is the light of the world. This is a night for remembering the presence of God throughout salvation history, which is why Scripture passages such as the story of creation, the sacrifice of Isaac and the exodus are proclaimed. In reflecting on these texts, you could discuss or even create a timeline portraying the experiences when you most felt God’s presence.

This is a night to celebrate baptism, and though baptisms will not take place at this year’s Easter Vigil, there are other ways families can honor the first sacrament. Gather mementos from each person’s baptism: a baptismal certificate, baptismal clothing, the baptismal candle, pictures, and/or religious articles. Tell the story of your children’s baptisms. Connect with your godparents via skype or facetime. Renew your baptismal promises. Discuss what it means to be part of a faith community. Share what it means to be a child of God. Give thanks for the gift of water and for the gift of baptism. Bless one another with water!

This Holy Week, we all have an opportunity to create new rituals and new traditions. Our faith, after all, isn’t confined to the church. It begins at home and is meant to be lived in the world.

St. Thomas Aquinas will be live streaming the events of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. See the website or t