Tiber River Cafe-Liturgy of the Word

Hello, and welcome to the Tiber River Café.  My name is Dean Humphreys, and today’s topic is the Liturgy of the Word, the first part of the Catholic Mass.                     

One of the ways to think about the Catholic Mass is that it is basically a meal, a ritual dinner.  We come together as a faith community, as the family of God, to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ our Savior.  We gather for the meal that Jesus promised us in the Gospel.  The meal is our spiritual food which is both the Word of God and the Eucharist.  And at the Mass, like any meal-time gathering of friends and family, we first sit and talk, then we move to the dining room table, we say grace and give thanks, we pass the food to everyone present, then we eat and drink, and finally we leave to go home. 

This is the same basic structure of the Mass.  Catholics come together weekly at our local parish church as a faith community.  We talk to God with our prayers and petitions.  We then listen to God talk to us, we listen to God’s word proclaimed to us in the Bible readings.  We then come to the table, which is the altar, to share the bread and wine, which is the Eucharist, the body and blood of Jesus. And then we are sent home, commissioned to go forth and to lead a Christian life and to spread the Gospel message.  This is the basic foundation of the Catholic Mass.

Now when we first enter the church we dip our fingers in the holy water and make the sign of the cross (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).  This is a ritual that reminds us of our Baptism, and at every Mass we renew our Baptismal promises, we try to seek God and to avoid sin.  By crossing ourselves with the waters of Baptism we are also moving into the frame of mind for worship, we are reminding ourselves that we are leaving the outside world and that we are quieting ourselves as we come into a place of sacredness. 

The first part of the Mass is called the Introductory Rite. We stand as the priest and other ministers enter the church.  The priest welcomes us and brings the people together as the family of God.  In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18 verse 20, Jesus tells his disciples. “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”  The priest then proclaims the Lord’s presence in the community of believers, by saying, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”, and we sign ourselves; we make the sign of the cross, an outward sign of being a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ.  The priest then welcomes us to Mass by saying, “The Lord be with you”, or “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all”, and we answer just like the ancient Christians would have answered, “And with your spirit.” 

We then acknowledge our sins before we hear the Word of God, we say we are sorry to God, and ask God for forgiveness, so that we will be better able to fully participate in the Mass.  We call this the Penitential Act.  We ask for God’s mercy and we are thankful for God’s never-ending forgiveness.  We say, “I confess to almighty God, and you my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.” Then the priest forgives us, in the name of God the Father, of our sins by saying “May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.”  And we say, “Amen”, we are saying thank you.

We then pray the ancient prayer Kyrie Eleison, which is Greek and means, “Lord, have mercy”.  And we say, “Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.”  The Kyrie is the acclamation which offers praise and glory to God, and we ask for God’s mercy.  And then we recite or sing the Gloria, which starts “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will . . .” The Gloria is the same song the angels sung on Christmas night when Jesus was born.  The priest then offers a final concluding prayer to end the Introductory Rite. 

Next we sit as we listen to God’s word proclaimed to us by a lay member of our community.  God is speaking directly to us in his Word, which is the Bible.  The scripture readings are gathered from throughout the Bible, from both the Old Testament which are the ancient Hebrew Scriptures, and the New Testament.  The Old Testament readings relate to the Gospel readings, the Old Testament readings reveal the continuity between the Israelite people and Jesus who comes to fulfill the ancient texts.  We then read or sing from the Book of Psalms, which is called the Responsorial, the readings from the Psalms also reflect the themes of the Gospel readings.  Catholics read from the Old Testament in order to better understand and appreciate the New Testament.   The Old Testament readings help prepare us for the message of Jesus, the New Testament speaks directly of Jesus, and finally Jesus speaks directly to us in the Gospels.

Then we listen to the second reading which is taken from the New Testament, either from one of St. Paul’s letters to the early Christian communities or from another apostolic writing.  These readings from the early Christian communities help to motivate and encourage us in our modern lives.  We then stand for the Gospel Alleluia, the ancient Hebrew “praise God!” which heralds the Gospel reading.  After standing we make a small cross on our foreheads reminding us to keep God’s word in our mind; a cross on our lips to remind us to proclaim the Gospel message; and a cross over our heart, to remind us to live the Gospel message every day in our lives.   

And finally we listen to the words and teachings of Jesus in the Gospel, from either Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John.  The Gospel is always proclaimed to us by either the priest or deacon.  We stand because we believe Jesus is truly present in his Word, just like Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist which is his body and blood, so we stand out of reverence, to be completely attentive to God’s spoken word to us.  The Gospel reading is the high point of the Liturgy of the Word as Jesus is truly present to the community. 

We then sit to hear the homily, when the priest or deacon will take the Word of God that we just heard proclaimed and brings the Word to our everyday life.  The homily provides a living commentary to help explain the Scriptures, to help transform our Christian lives.  The Word of God is broken open for us to show us how the readings can and should connect with our daily lives as Christians.

After the homily, we stand again to recite the Nicene Creed, the ancient profession of our faith.  The Creed is what we believe as Catholics, a statement of what we believe as a people of faith.  The Nicene Creed proclaims our belief in the mystery of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; that there are three divine persons in one God.  We believe that each person of the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is fully divine.

As the Liturgy of the Word comes to an end, the priest will offer General Intercessions, which are the prayers of the faithful.  We pray as a community for our brothers and sisters around the world.  We pray for our Church, we pray for our nation and our leaders, we pray for friends, family and loved ones.  We pray for ourselves.  And after each intercession, after each prayer, we ask God to hear us, “Lord, hear our prayer.”

So you can perhaps see that throughout the Mass we have a conversation with our Heavenly Father.  We talk to God with our prayers in the first part of the Liturgy of the Word; and God then talks to us in the second part of the Liturgy of the Word, God responds to us in the scripture readings.  The community of believers actively participate in this dialogue of the Mass.  And just like any other discussion we have moments of silence to reflect on the conversation.  We have moments of silence when we meditate on our prayers and on God’s Word.  We silently contemplate about how our prayers and God’s Word can and will affect our lives, our community, and our world.

In the Book of Acts, chapter 2 verse 42, we read how the early Church came together, how they devoted themselves to the Apostle’s instructions and the communal life, to the breaking of the bread which is the Eucharist, and to the prayers.  And 2000 years later we continue this tradition when we gather each Sunday at Mass.   I find it very comforting and reassuring that the same readings are proclaimed throughout the universal Church, that we are a family, brothers and sisters, sitting at the one table.  And it’s amazing to consider that, with 24 time zones encircling the globe; that at each and every moment of every day, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, that there is a Catholic Mass being celebrated somewhere in the world.  In Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 5 verse 17, we are instructed to “Pray without ceasing.”  The Mass is truly a constant and universal prayer, a prayer without ceasing.

So there you have it, a rather simple overview of the first part of the Catholic Mass, the Liturgy of the Word.  This is our conversation with God, we talk to God with our prayers, and God talks to us through his Word.  Something to think about next Sunday at Mass.

I encourage you to check out my blog site, tiberrivercafé.wordpress.com, where I have put together a listing of Bible references for each part of the Mass, as well as complete transcripts for all my videos.  I hope you will see how Biblically saturated the Mass and our Catholic faith really is.

Well, thanks again for stopping by the Tiber River Café, where there is always plenty of room at the banquet table.  I hope to see you next time.  Peace be with you.