A BULLETIN MINI SERIES:

EXPRESSING REVERENCE IN OUR CELEBRATION OF THE EUCHARIST

MEANING OF WORSHIP

Worship is the reverence and honor we offer God for being Who He is and for what He has done for us. When we worship God, we use gestures, actions and words to express our love and devotion. This is especially true when we gather to celebrate the Eucharist, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is our greatest public worship.

The word Eucharist means THANKSGIVING and when we gather as a Christian community to celebrate the Mass, we use words and actions to express our gratitude to God for His goodness in redeeming us from sin. It is during the Mass that we not only recall the Paschal Mystery (the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord) but in reality make it present again. God's redeeming loves moves us to give Him thanks and praise --- worship.

RITUAL vs ROUTINE

During the Mass we follow certain rituals (gestures, actions, and words) which express this reverence and gratitude. These rituals are symbols that have a deeper meaning. Through them, we act out our beliefs, values, and deepest concerns. When we celebrate the Eucharist, our actions and words, whether communal or personal, express this reverence and respect we have for God and His saving activity. There is, however, the possibility that because we perform these rituals over and over, they can lose their meaning and become routine.

Routines are gestures or actions that we perform for specific, practical reasons, but which generally do not express our beliefs or concerns. We all have routines that we follow such as when we get ready for work or school. We usually do the same thing over and over again without thinking about it. These activities do NOT have any deep symbolic meaning outside of helping us leave our homes on time.

Because we essentially do the same thing in Church each week during Mass, there is always the possibility that our rituals can become so familiar that they become routine. Actions, gestures, and words which ought to express our faith become mere habits --- activities which we take for granted, and we can end up performing them routinely and without thinking. We need to examine our behavior during Mass to discover if our actions and words are true ritual or merely routine. What are they for you?

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