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 Liturgical Notes

Worship means to give “expression” to God.  It is our time to express what is in our hearts personally and as a community gathered.  So everything we do ... ritual ... has meaning. Following are some simple notes on the basic parts of the mass.

            Gathering Song and Procession:  As the priest walks in with the Scriptures etc. the focus is for all to think about the direction they are going.  Are they step by step moving closer to God?  Life is journey ... some just sit or go the other direction.  But we who seek Christ ... try to examine our lives and sing the gathering song, preparing our hearts and minds to walk towards Christ, to seek his word and nourishment in Eucharist.

            The Penitential Rite  Even before the opening prayer we first ask for God’s mercy.  It is as if ... we say “If anything is stopping us from receiving the Lord, let us first get rid of those sins or mistakes so that we can truly pray and worship.

            Opening Prayer & Word:  The opening prayer centers us in the prayer of the universal church ... not just us ... but everyone all over the world this day are praying the same prayer.  Then right after we have cleared our conscious, opened our heart to pray ... NOW we are ready to hear God’s word.  The scriptures speak to us God’s word.  They also remind us of our history, our traditions and the WORD refreshes our memory of who Jesus is!  It is like ... Jesus is not with us in the flesh so let us read, remember, and realize he is with us, very near in Spirit.

            Preparation of Gifts   This is when we bring forth gifts of bread and wine.  The bread represents the dreams wishes, talents we offer to God and one another in Christ Jesus.  The wine represents the challenges in our lives, pain sorrow, and areas of healing needed.  It is like Jesus saying give me all of your life the bad and good.  He will take it ... “Come to me all who are heavy burdened and I will give you rest.”   So everyone is presenting their lives before God ... as the bread and wine are coming forward all should be instructed to “throw” their offerings.  When the priest consecrates the bread and wine it ...(what we put up there) becomes the Body & Blood of Christ.  He says in the preparation, “Pray with me my brothers and sister, that these our gifts become the Body and Blood of Christ.”  Then later in communion we receive and share in one another’s offering.  We become ONE in Him. 

Just prior or a preface to the Eucharistic prayer is the Holy.  We sing this because what we are about to do ... is so HOLY.  We are about to become more intimately joined to Christ and in Christ Jesus to one another.  This has huge gifts and responsibilities. 

After the consecration, that is the bread, wine, our gifts ... become the body and blood of Christ ... we sing.  Like it’s done ... and it is done by CHRIST ALONE.  He is our bridge to God the Father.  And so we sing, Christ has died ...etc.   Or when we eat this bread, etc.  This is the memorial acclamation.

The Eucharistic prayer continues where we pray for the church ... it’s like many intercessions for us to be what we have just done ... ONE in Christ.
This part ends with THROUGH HIM, WITH HIM, IN HIM...etc.  It is also called the great Amen, or the doxology.

We recall that Jesus is with us in a special way and so we pray in the words he taught us saying the Our Father. 

Then we have a sign of Peace ... again acknowledging what a gift Eucharist is and that if we truly realize what we receive and what we just did ... we would have peace and be peacemakers. 

We receive communion.  This is the most sacred time, the consecration and here.  It is a time to direct the students to prepare to receive Jesus.  They can meditate on what they are really doing ... i.e. are they really willing to take on the pain and suffering of the person next to them ... to like Christ to help carry each others cross.  Are they open to share their good and to receive from others the strength that is a community of faith.  This and much more they can pray about.

Basically, then we are done.  We have come to celebrate Eucharist and now are sent forth.  Again we end where we began processing out and singing a song that is meant to be melody to stay with us reminding us of our call and the gift of Eucharist shared.

You also have a missal.  You could go over the Eucharistic prayers.  There are four of them.   It’s helpful to have the students read in section noting what insights they have.   I hope the missal will help you in your preparation.  Let me know if you need anything else and I will see that you get it.