Many of us have been going to Mass since we were infants, others among us may have come to it later in life; however, it was often something we did without thinking about its many and various parts and the way they fitted together. Sometimes we may not have had a strong sense of what parts were more important than other parts. We may not have realised that some parts go right back to the beginnings of our faith, and other parts are later additions put in to draw out the deeper meaning of what we are doing.
In this series of short articles in the Parish Newsletter, I would like to draw out more explicitly the meaning of the various parts of the Mass and the way they gel with each other, and also to highlight those elements which are the most central and significant. We will also look at some of the history of the various parts of the Mass.
Taking an overall view, it is useful to see that there are four major sections to the celebration of Mass. At the core are the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. These make up the greater part of the Mass. In addition to those there are Introductory and Concluding rites. These rites came in later and for fairly practical reasons. In the earliest times, Mass was celebrated in the homes of Christians and involved quite small groups of people, so there was little need for the detailed organisation of the liturgy. But once the number of Christians increased, there needed to be some way of getting people in and out of much larger church spaces, along with noticeable ways of getting the liturgy underway and bringing it to a conclusion. So, forms of introduction and conclusion were established. Gradually the kind of introductory and concluding rites that we now have came into being. These rites do not have the same density of meaning as do the two major parts of the liturgy; they do have a significant part to play in preparing us for the central parts of the Mass.
We will begin to look at the Introductory rites in next week’s article.
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David Rush says:
Very interesting. Look forward to the articles to follow.