I am continuing to think about the Second Vatican Council and changes we (some of us elders) have lived through in the Mass since that time. Before the Council, I think it was easy to enter the church through a side door, slip into a pew for Mass, and slip out again without ever talking to or even acknowledging another person. It could be a solitary experience. It wasn’t all bad; a person could get lost in personal prayer and introspection and could leave having satisfied a need for quiet and meditation. It was like praying privately in a room full of people. The person was present at Mass but not praying the Mass.
The documents of Vatican II told us that the Mass was our public, communal prayer, something we do together as the Body of Christ. At the time, there were people who didn’t like the “New Mass,” because it was interfering with their private prayer. They were expected to listen and respond because now the words were English. They were expected to shake hands with people. They were even supposed to sing! New church buildings were built, and people were facing other people, not just the altar. All these “newfangled practices” were distracting them from their prayer.
There are still times for silence and private prayer during the Mass, but we don’t want to lose sight of the community aspect of our worship. We can be stronger together than we are alone. We learn from one another and support each other. We even anticipate the heavenly banquet we will share together in the next life.
The church is “a house of prayer for all peoples.” We are male and female, extroverts and introverts, liberal and conservative, people of many colors from different races, rich and poor, and we fit other diverse categories in attributes and beliefs. But we are the family of God. We come together to worship as a community, the One People of God.
“In the restoration and promotion of the sacred liturgy, this full and active participation by all the people is the aim to be considered before all else; for it is the primary and indispensable source from which the faithful are to derive the true Christian spirit.” Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, #14.
Consider: How am I doing at full and active participation in the liturgy?
