Our vicar of deacons sent out a link to a blog post I'd like to highlight in this post. It addresses the imperative instruction given to us at the end of mass: "Go!"
The author of the post is Thomas Neal, Ph.D. I am guessing his Ph.D. is in theology, but I couldn't find any biographical data on him at the site. His blog is called "Neal Obstat Theological Opining". I guess "Neal Obstat" is a clever-ish twist on the term "nihil obstat", the literal meaning of which is, "nothing hinders". You may have seen the term at the front of books that have been reviewed by an official church censor and found to contain nothing contrary to the faith or morals.
Here is the heart of his argument:
At the end of Mass, after we’ve listened to the Word of God, entered sacramentally into Christ’s Paschal Mystery, received his broken Body and spilled Blood, and been blessed by the overflowing the power of the Trinity, the Church sends us forth with a few brief words whose significance far exceeds their noble brevity. In Latin, they begin with a single imperative verb: Ite! Go! A small word with an immense charge, catapulting us from the nave into the world as a people entrusted with the mission of the exalted Christ.
[...] And let’s be clear that these [standard dismissal formulas such as "Go in peace"] are not polite announcements that some quaint religious service has concluded. Rather, these words are a detonation, engulfing us in the torrential force of Christ’s solemn command to go forth and make disciples of all nations. We are being ‘caught up’ into the very mission the risen Lord received from the eternal Father.
[... ][via the graces and fruits of the Mass] we are then prepared to be sent back out to make the Kingdom’s fruits present in the world. The mercy we have received becomes mercy given; the peace we have received demands us being the world’s peacemakers; the love that’s been poured into us threatens to take flesh in our homes, workplaces, neighborhoods and encounters with the poor, the lonely and the forgotten.
[...] This is the mad and world-overturning reality of the liturgy as the risen Lord isn’t simply recollected but made radically present in his living action, gathering his disciples to himself, conforming them to his Paschal Mystery and sending them forth anew in the power of the Pentecostal Spirit.
Neal then goes on to complain about priests and deacons who refuse to use the standard dismissal options given in the missal (all of which begin with that imperative verb "Go!"), instead improvising their own, almost always not-as-imperative formula, or clinging to the dismissal from the previous translation, "The mass is ended, go in peace." He insists there is a significant and impactful difference between starting with "Go!" vs. "The".
FWIW, nearly every priest and deacon who dismisses the people from mass at our parish uses the standard formula, "Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life." I am the exception; I almost always use the formula, "Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord." Because of my ministry, I am tethered to my own parish on Sundays, so I rarely experience first-hand what clergy are doing at other parishes, but my observation is that "Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life" is sort of the default consensus.
Beyond the specific formula, though: I found Neal's brief reflection thought-provoking. When I leave church on a Sunday, I usually feel a sort of transition, as I move from public minister to private citizen. That feeling is accentuated by immediately engaging in that most mundane of this-worldly activities: driving home. There is a descending-from-the-mountain aspect to the experience. Neal's post is a salutary reminder that when we leave, we don't (or shouldn't) revert to some previous, lesser mode of existence. Rather than reverting, we should be engaging in a transformational mission.
This might be great liturgical theory, but the reality in my own life and I suspect many others, is that Sunday Mass is usually rather boring, both the music and the homilies.
ReplyDeleteThis is especially true now that my hearing is failing. For about a decade now I have often had trouble hearing the homilies. Not unusual for elderly people, it was a constant complaint when I was on parish council. Eventually the parish attempted to fix the sound system. They removed a lot of the carpeting, replacing it with marble floors that reflected more sound, and installed a new sound system. At first, it solved the problem but then they turned the sound system back to get rid of the louder sound. May have been more satisfying to the pastoral staff but not to us elderly. I definitely get more out of the virtual Masses than the in person Masses these days.
If you sing in the choir, you have the adrenaline rush of performance. Betty as a cantor puts her whole heart and body into singing and comes home energized. Me, I sing my tenor part quietly in the hope that I am getting it right. I come home from choir practice and church more tired than energized. (By the way Covid has been nice in staying away so Betty and I have been able to go to choir practice this fall, of course that will probably end at Thanksgiving).
Then, of course, for me the Hours are the center of my life. I just came in from celebrating Lauds in the brightness and warming sun of what promises to be fine autumn day. I am energized for the day of working on my blogs interspersed with some yard and garage work. It is unlikely my blogs will change the world much. However, the bishop has asked that we spend fifteen minutes of prayer; my Hours blog helps people do that. He asks that with we form a spiritual network to support our missions in the world. My WEAL blog gives people material to do that. He suggested that we use virtual means to advance our missions rather than just complaining about young people spending all their time on their phones. I am probably one of the few people in the diocese doing this sort of thing.
I am still very amazed that my bishop wrote a pastoral letter that affirms everything that I have been doing since the beginning of the pandemic. I know that the Spirit speaks in diverse ways to various people. In this case, the Spirit seems to be speaking in the same way to both the Bishop and myself. I have not yet met any people who are enthusiastic about the letter. Nothing much is being said about it in the parishes.
Over the years I have attended several,Episcopal churches. All offered listening assistive devices - basically a form of headphone or earbuds. As little hearing as I have, I could understand about 90% of the words. I couldn’t understand any words without them. It was all just noise.
DeleteI have been to far more Catholic churches than Episcopal churches and I have never once found one with these small, relatively cheap, devices.
DeleteWhen we joined our parish in the early 1990s, the parish had some sort of a 'closed loop' hearing assistance system, which parishioners could plug into their hearing aids (or perhaps it involved headphones?). I think they may have had to sit in certain areas to access the system. Now, twitch the advance in technology, I think hearing aids are programmed to access a hearing assistance broadcast without any wired devices. There is a particular numerical code or setting they set on their hearing aids. The code is posted unobtrusively near the church entrance.
DeleteThere are some ways of saying that "Go.." that sound a little rude and abrupt. Especially since we're not going quite yet. We still have the exit hymn. And in our parish, the little prayer of thanksgiving after the hymn that they have said for like, a hundred years.
ReplyDeleteOur exiting structure after communion is often not well done.
ReplyDeleteGIRM says "After communion the priest and people may spend some time in silent prayer. If desired, a hymn, psalm, or other song of praise may be sung by the entire congregation.
In the prayer after communion .....
The conclude rite consists a) the priest's greeting and blessing
b) the dismissal ... which sends each member back to doing good works while praising and blessing the Lord."
After the communion ends there is often an awkward pause. For some (including sometimes the celebrant if there is a deacon) it is a time of personal prayer. But it is also the time of the "washing of the cups" which is awkward.
If there is a hymn at this point, it is usually a reflection hymn sung by the choir which seems to fit into the personal meditative character of thanksgiving after communion. But it is not the congregation hymn of the rubrics.
My understanding is that the intention of the hymn was to use something like the Te Deum. When Lauds or Vespers is combined with Mass it is specified that the Gospel Canticle (Zachary or Marian) be sung at this point. We have done this virtually by playing the Magnificat during this time period of the dishwashing when watching Masses from our local parish. It works great. One could envision other great solemn Congregational Hymns: The Beatitudes, the First Chapter of John which used to be the Last Gospel. The ideal would be something that everyone would learn to sing and would not have much variety.
Then the communion prayer and dismissal seem nature endings.
The recessional music could then be any postlude (s) sung by the choir, or instrumental music or complete silence during penitential seasons.
We should disengage hymns from the entrance and exit of the clergy. Singing should accompany of the assembling of the people before Mass and their leaving after Mass. When Lauds and Vespers are combined with Mass, a hymn and the psalms are sung before Mass. I would suggest doing them with pauses between to allow for seating before Mass. I would suggest the choir provide postludes for those who wish to remain in prayer after Mass.
One of the major complaints that our parish council received was that people were coming to church late and leaving early. My response was that we have nothing for them to do before Mass that would encourage them to come early and nothing to do after Mass that would encourage them to stay.
In the church we should have a variety of before and after prayer activities, and in meeting room a variety of events to connect people to various church ministries and activities.
In many places Mass has become an exact one-hour ritual that begins with the entrance of the priest and ends with his exit. We need to get away from that.
I think Neal offers a good reminder. If all church does is give you another obligation to tick off the weekly list, what's the point?
ReplyDelete