Posture Matters

These days, football is being defined more by the actions taking place before the game begins. Players continue to kneel or sit in silent protest rather than stand while the United States national anthem is being sung. These changes in posture on the playing field began last season when (then) San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, sat on the bench during the anthem to protest what he believed to be injustices toward African Americans and other minorities. Then, he and teammate Eric Reid began taking a knee during the anthem. Since then, many players in various sports have joined the protests, ignoring criticisms by President Trump, who called for these players to be fired.

No matter where you stand in this debate, there is one thing on which we can all agree—posture speaks volumes. Posture mediates meaning, something the architects of our liturgical rituals figured out long before the game of football as we now know it came to be.

Every posture we take during the Mass expresses meaning. We stand during the opening song as a sign of joy--that we are one body ready to pray. Standing has long been considered a sign of resurrection, so we stand again during the Alleluia to signify that we are ready to receive the hope proclaimed in the Gospel. We also stand during the reception of Holy Communion as a sign that we are united as we approach the table of the Lord.

We kneel during the Eucharistic Prayer as a sign of reverence, however this is a relatively new posture and it is not universal. Many churches in Europe and in other parts of the world maintain the long-established tradition of standing during the Eucharistic Prayer. Kneeling has traditionally been considered a sign of penance. That is why we kneel during penitential services, and during rituals such as the scrutiny rites that express the cry for God’s healing power.

In the Mass, we sit to learn—to allow God’s word to teach us. In other settings such as meditation or contemplation, we sit--often with palms open--to pray. It’s a more passive posture than standing or kneeling, which is why it is often used by nonviolent protestors around the world.

Whether we are sitting, kneeling or standing, posture helps enhance our prayer. Let us pray for the grace to realize the reverence, the joy, the hope and the unity these postures convey.

Children at Mass

Some of my earliest memories are of being in church at Mass. We had no cry room at St. Vitus in New Castle, Pennsylvania, and therefore Mom had no choice but to keep my older brother and me in tow. I don’t remember everything, but I am certain that like typical kids, my brother and I squealed and squirmed and fought with each other during Mass. But Mom didn’t give up and her determination to bring us to Mass had a huge impact. I may not have understood everything that happened during Mass, but those experiences cultivated and nurtured the seeds of my faith in a way that nothing else could.

Liturgy is a family affair. Parents not only have the right to bring their children to church, they have a duty to bring their children to church. In fact, the entire Christian community shares the responsibility to foster the faith of children, which means welcoming their presence at Mass. Kids will be kids. Their tiny bodies are full of energy and sometimes that prevents them from being still. They will wiggle and occasionally wail. The work of the parent is to model the behavior they expect from their children—to participate fully in the liturgy and to engage their children to sing the songs and pray the prayers. The work of the community is to be patient and tolerant, remembering that we too were once children. A smile or a word of encouragement sends a strong message to parents and children. It says, “We welcome you here,” and “We are all part of the family.”

Jesus had a lot to say about children. In the Gospels, we hear how Jesus views the smallest among us:

Whoever welcomes a child such as this for my sake welcomes me . . . Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Mark 9:37, 10:14.

This Sunday, October 1, at the noon Mass and next Saturday, October 7, at the 7:30pm Mass in Spanish, we welcome the children in a special way with youth-led liturgies. Children will serve as greeters, lectors and music leaders. Let us welcome all of our children, as Jesus did, with open arms. They are the future of the Church.

Liturgy and Labor

On Monday, we celebrate Labor Day, a day to honor the contributions of all workers, a day set aside to reflect on and to give thanks for work.  At St. Thomas, we will begin the day with Mass at 9:00.  It’s worth noting that the original meaning of liturgy is work. The word liturgy comes from the Greek word leitourgía, which can be broken down to two words: laos, meaning people, and ergon, meaning work. Liturgy literally means “work of the people.”  In ancient Greece, the word liturgy was used to mean any work that was done in service for the good of the people. So from the beginning, liturgy has been connected to service.

When we participate in the liturgy, we are doing work. We listen to the word of God and work to understand how God is calling us to act. In the midst of our worship, we process to the altar with the gifts of bread and wine--“work of human hands.” In this procession we also bring the gift of ourselves—our hopes and our dreams, our cares and our struggles to the altar. Our lives, along with the bread and wine, are transformed by the work of our praying in the Eucharistic Prayer. In that prayer, we hear action verbs such as offer, give thanks, remember and pray—all of which call us to the work of transforming not just ourselves, but the world. We conclude the liturgy with an admonition such as:  “Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord,” or “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.” We are sent forth to do our work in the world—bringing God’s presence to our families, workplaces and communities.

As we commemorate this Labor Day let us pray that all our work, inside and outside of the liturgy, serves the good of the people.  O Lord, prosper the work of our hands! Amen. 

Eclipse and Liturgy

Millions of people in North America are gathering this weekend ahead of Monday’s total eclipse of the sun. Observers from Lincoln Beach, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina will converge along the path of the total eclipse to see the moon completely cover the sun—a phenomenon that hasn’t happened in the continental United States for nearly 40 years. The total eclipse begins in Lincoln Beach at 10:16 a.m. PDT and will pass through more than a dozen states before ending in Charleston at 2:48 p.m. Parts of the United States and other parts of the world not in the path of a total eclipse will be able to see at least a partial eclipse.

 Wherever there is a cosmic event, there are crowds of people. In fact, it is the movements of both the sun and the moon that have gathered multitudes of believers throughout the ages. The Jewish calendar was calculated by these movements. For Jews, the notion of the day is from sunset to sunset. That’s why the Jewish Sabbath and all Jewish holidays begin at sunset. The oldest major feasts, influenced by the positions of the sun and the moon, were agricultural. Passover and Pentecost, for example, began as festivals that celebrated the harvests of barley and wheat. It was only later that these harvest festivals incorporated the religious commemorations of the Exodus and the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai for which Passover and Pentecost are named.  

Our Christian liturgical calendar is also governed by the cosmos. The full moon of spring determines the date of Easter, and the date of Easter determines how the entire liturgical year is arranged. Christmas, the day on which we celebrate the coming of the Light of the World, takes place around the winter solstice which heralds the beginning of longer days and shorter nights.

As the ancient world believed, the cosmos is where God encounters humankind. Scholars call the cosmos the first bible. Time, nature, the sun and the moon are all symbols that reveal and lead us to God’s very presence.

Hearing the Word

Prior to the Second Vatican Council, most Catholics didn’t read the Bible, nor was reading it encouraged. Church authorities believed allowing Catholics access to the Bible would be dangerous. They were afraid the laity wouldn’t know how to interpret Scripture, or worse, would interpret it incorrectly.   

Vatican II changed that thinking. As the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, (Dei Verbum) says, “Easy access to Sacred Scripture should be provided for all the Christian faithful.” #22

What used to be a one-year cycle that included two readings in the liturgy has now been expanded to a three-year cycle that includes three readings.

“The treasures of the bible are to be opened up more lavishly, so that richer fare may be provided for the faithful at the table of God's word. In this way a more representative portion of the holy scriptures will be read to the people in the course of a prescribed number of years.” Sacrosanctum Concilium #51.

Scripture scholar Margaret Nutting Ralph says we have come a long way, “I think people find Christ’s presence in Eucharist, and we say ‘the table of the Eucharist,’ when we say ‘the table of the Word,’ we are saying you should expect to find Christ present in the Word too. It’s not that Christ comes late to Mass and only arrives at Eucharist.”

Ralph, who has written a dozen books on Scripture, was in Atlanta recently for a workshop hosted by the Archdiocese. She challenged her listeners to delve more deeply into the Scriptures. “Don’t think familiarity with the lectionary is familiarity with the Bible,” said Ralph.

Since the lectionary includes only portions of Scripture, Ralph advises reading the entire book, letter, and Gospel. When we read what comes before and after the portion proclaimed in the liturgy, we can better understand the context. This, Ralph says, helps us to understand the intent of the author, which often reveals a new and deeper understanding of God.

Whether we read and meditate on the Scriptures on our own, study them via a Bible class, or share their meaning for our lives with others, such as in a small faith community, we enhance our experience of hearing the Word proclaimed at the Liturgy. Then Scripture truly becomes for us a living Word, a lamp for our feet and a light for our journey.