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Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi

Back in December of 2008 Monsignor Lamonde asked me to write a series of articles that explain the many parts of Holy Mass. His hope and prayer was – and is – that these meager efforts have and will increase our Faith in God through a better understanding of what is happening at Holy Mass, our role within it, and encourage us to be better Christians in our daily lives after we participate in Holy Mass each week.

January of 2009 began the series and since that time we have covered most of the parts of Holy Mass. We began with a brief discussion about The Church, the source of her authority (Jesus), and the most recent Church documents that tell us how to celebrate Holy Mass. Following that, we discussed “The Liturgy of the Word” and “The Liturgy of the Eucharist.” These two major parts of the Mass, and their sub-parts have been the heart of the series. We have completed our discussion of “The Liturgy of the Word” and are almost through our discussion about The Liturgy of the Eucharist.” Our last discussion was about the Mystery of Faith.

At this point in the liturgy, we have gathered in prayer, heard the Word of God proclaimed in the Liturgy of the Word, given our offerings to God at the beginning of the Liturgy of the Eucharist. We are on our knees in adoration before God who is about to come upon the altar. The priest, acting in persona Christi, prays the words of consecration (institution) and we join the priest in proclaiming the Mystery of Faith. Those ten words connect Jesus’ past, present, and future with ours.

We continue our discussion about the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with the Memorial (Anamnesis) and Offering. The Greek word Anamnesis summarizes the last words Jesus spoke over the bread and wine, “Do this in memory of me.” and literally means memorial. Praying the Mystery of Faith leads us to anticipate what the priest says and does next in the Mass. We are still on our knees adoring the Lord who is present in the form of bread and wine. The priest says; “In memory of his death and resurrection, we offer you, Father, this life-giving bread, this saving cup. We thank you for counting us worth to stand in your presence and serve you.”

Once again the priest, acting in persona Christi, addresses the Father on our behalf. He, acting as another Christ (alter Christus), leads us to the Father with our precious gift – the gift of ourselves – the gift of Jesus himself – in the form of bread and wine. The Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus is made present on the altar of sacrifice by Jesus himself through his priest. All of this is “in memory of his death and resurrection” for our salvation and participation in eternal life.

The “memory” has a divine purpose; it draws us deeper into the sacrifice and is intended to strengthen our participation. We are called to be present in the upper room, in the garden of Gethsemane, at the pillar, on the way to Calvary, and at the foot of the Cross. We are called to go beyond just recalling a past event but to actually be present there and participate.

We learn more about our participation next time when we discuss the petitions within the Eucharistic prayer and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. May you have a wonderful and Holy Lenten season preparing for Holy Week and Easter. Please remember to pray for our priests during this Year for Priests.