Letters to My Barber #4

If I follow you rightly, you understood my description of the Introductory Rites as a gathering of the faithful into a community ready to listen to God's word and celebrate the Eucharist. But how do all the various rituals contribute to that? Good question. Let's see if we can tie them together.

The Introductory Rites are a little bit like an RPO concert. The audience has taken their seats and their is a low buzz of conversation throughout the hall, while on stage the musicians tune their instruments in a jangle of unrelated sounds. Then the conductor comes forward and greets the musicians and the audience, and things are ready to begin. Sometime they will play the national anthem or an opening piece that sets the tone for the evening. That's sort of what happens at Mass. The gathering doesn't take place all at once. People have been coming in here and there, getting settled and exchanging greeting for a while. Now they have to pulled together into one body, one community instead of scattered little groups or individuals. That's what happens with the Entrance Song, what we used to call the Introit. It's the signal for the beginning of serious business. Sometimes we recite the Entrance song found in the missal; sometimes we sing a hymn appropriate for the feast day or season. The hymn usually works better because in singing, the many becomes one. What better symbol of community that many voices raised together in harmony.

During the song the priest and misters process to the altar. The priest has a double role here. As presider or leader of the community he represents and speaks to us, our "mouthpiece" whose prayers and petitions to God we ratify with our "Amen". As priest he represents Christ, the head of our mystical body and our link with God our Father. He comes forward and greets the congregation.

The Penitential Rite: How does this fit in with the theme of gathering? The idea of confessing one's sins before celebrating Eucharist goes way back to the earliest Christians. Besides helping us clean up our act before celebrating Eucharist, this ritual reminds us that we need salvation. It's something like the insight of Alcoholics Anonymous: the first step to recovery is facing the reality of a problem which we cannot handle by ourselves. Here it is a recognition of our own inadequacy and our need for God's grace.

Gloria: On Sundays, except in Lent and Advent, having acknowledged our need for God's forgiving grace, the gathered people of God erupt in a joyful hymn of worship, praise and entreaty, recognizing God-Father, Son and Holy Spirit-for what He is: King, Father, Redeemer, to whom we owe everything we are and have, and we ask His continued mercy on us.

Finally, the priest-presider, speaking in our collective name, closed the Introductory Rites with the prayer that unites our individual prayers with those of the whole church and also focuses on the main theme of the Mass for the day.

Peace, John Dealy.