The experience of many Catholics at Mass reminds me of my Italian cousin Stefano’s first time to an NFL football game. Coming from Italy, Stefano knew football very well—but his football was soccer!
So when he first visited the USA and our family took him to a Chicago Bears football game, he did not grasp all that was happening on the field. When the Bears sacked the opposing team’s quarterback, my family stood up and cheered. And Stefano did the same. But when we sat back down, he asked me, “Why is everyone happy? Did the Bears score?”
Sometimes we Catholics experience the Mass like my cousin Stefano experienced his first Bears game. We go through the motions, but we’re not quite sure of all that is happening. We stand up. We sit down. We kneel. We say, “Lord have mercy…Holy, Holy, Holy…Thanks be to God.” Many of us have heard these words since childhood. We know them by heart, simply out of routine. So ingrained in us are these prayers that if someone in the middle of the night were to whisper to us, “The Lord be with you,” we probably would roll over in our sleep and instinctively respond, “And also with you.”
But do we really understand the meaning of all that we are saying and doing in the liturgy.
The revised English translation of the Mass offers a unique occasion for Catholics to reflect on the meaning of the Mass. Many of those familiar words for the Mass parts are changing. We now need to get used to new responses and new musical settings. It is my hope that this period of transition will not be merely mechanical—simply about training people to say new responses—but catechetical and spiritual.
As we are taken out of our routine, we have a wonderful opportunity to ponder anew what we say and do in the liturgy and rediscover the splendor of the liturgy, so that we might grow deeper in our communion with Jesus every time we go to Mass.
Dr. Edward Sri is Professor of Scripture and
Theology at the Augustine Institute and the author of the best-selling
book, "A Biblical Walk Through the Mass: Understanding What We Say And
Do In the Liturgy" (Ascension Press).