Living the Liturgy

It’s a picture I will never forget.  So many times when I went to Grandma’s house, I would find her sitting in the kitchen near the window with prayer-book in hand.   She prayed often and always near that window.  It’s as if she had one eye on the ways of God and one eye on the ways of the world.  Grandma was a faithful Catholic who knew that her devotion to God and her existence in the secular world were as interwoven as her homemade spaghetti and sauce.  She knew that her faith called her to action and that her action motivated deeper faith.

Each time we gather for Eucharist, we too celebrate our devotion to God and our living in the secular world.   We come to Mass from our secular homes, jobs and communities.  We bring our worldly cares and desires and offer all of it at the table of the Lord.  We too are called to action by the word of God and the sacrament of the Eucharist.  In the liturgy, we are filled and fueled for mission, for living Christ-like lives in our homes, jobs and communities.    Two of the dismissals in the New Roman Missal summarize this call to mission:  “Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord,” and “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord with your life.”

These new words seem to capture Grandma’s wisdom, along with the wisdom of our Jewish ancestors in faith who said:  “Never pray in a room without windows.”  Never pray without one eye looking out on the world.  Never pray to escape the world.  Only pray for the grace and the courage to take it in.

AMEN.