The Liturgy of the Word

Excerpts from the book, A Biblical Walk Through The Mass: Understanding What We Say and Do in the Liturgy written by Edward Sri, S.T.D. and printed by Ascension Press in 2011.

In the Liturgy of the Word we encounter the words of God Himself spoken to each one of us. This does not mean the Scriptures are not human; they were written by human beings, to particular human communities, at a certain moment in human history. But the Scriptures are also inspired by God. In the inspired books of the Bible, God breathed forth his divine words through the human words of the sacred writers. Thus, Scripture is like Jesus Christ Himself, fully human and fully divine.

The idea of having a cycle of readings from Scripture for liturgical worship is rooted in ancient Jewish practice. Similarly, the selections from Scripture read at our Sunday liturgy today are determined by a three-year cycle of readings from the various parts of the Bible. Even the order of these readings has significance, for it reflects the order of God’s redemptive plan. Simply by going to Mass on Sunday, Catholics are taken on a grand tour of the Sacred Scriptures that often highlight the connections between the Old and New Testaments. These readings are not selected from among a pastor’s or congregations favorite parts of the Bible. Rather, priest and people are challenged with more of the totality of the Word of God, covering all major parts of the Bible in a way that is not dependent on people’s preferences or expertise.

The readings from Scripture also correspond to the various seasons and feasts of the Church. Journeying through the Church’s Year annually throughout one’s life also helps us to appreciate Christ and his work of salvation all the more. As the Family of God, the Church fittingly marks off special days to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and other key aspects of God’s plan of salvation.

In the first reading which comes from the Old Testament, “the mystery of our salvation" is present in a hidden way. In fact, one cannot adequately understand Jesus and the New Testament Scriptures without knowing the story of Israel in the Old Testament. The inclusion of the Old Testament reading at Mass helps us to enter into that story of Israel and thus see the unity of the Bible more clearly. These readings generally correspond to the Gospel reading for the day. As such, the beautiful symphony of Scripture resounds in the Liturgy of the Word.

Lector: The Word of the Lord.
People: Thanks be to God.

Our response is then followed by a moment of silence, which is part of the heavenly liturgy. It gives us time to reflect on the words we’ve just heard.

After hearing God’s word proclaimed in the first reading, we respond next not with our own meager human words but with a responsorial psalm, God’s own inspired words of praise and thanksgiving. The recitation, or even better the singing of the psalms helps to create an atmosphere of prayer conducive for meditation on the readings. The book of Psalms represents a collection of 150 sacred hymns used for private devotion and public worship.

In the Old Testament Temple liturgy, the verses of the psalms would be sung by two alternating groups with a common refrain that was sung before and after the psalm itself. This back and forth “antiphonal” movement is found not only in the Responsorial Psalm, but throughout the Mass. It is also found in the Bible, from Moses’ covenant ceremony at Sinai, to Ezra’s reading of the law to the people, to St. John in the book of Revelation. Clearly, the liturgical dialogue in the Mass follows a biblical model for worship, and a heavenly model for worship.

The second reading comes from the New Testament. Though often selected independently of the first reading and the Gospel, these New Testament writings reflect on the mystery of Jesus Christ and his saving work, and the meaning it has for our lives.

Lector: The Word of the Lord.
People: Thanks be to God.

Again our response is then followed by a moment of silence, which is part of the heavenly liturgy. It gives us time to reflect on the words we’ve just heard.

While the whole Bible is inspired, the gospels have a special place and the Mass reflects this preeminence. First, the people stand to welcome the Lord Jesus who is about to be proclaimed in the Gospel reading. Second, the people say or sing “Alleluia”, which is an expression of joy and praise. Third, the deacon or priest begins to process in the sanctuary, taking the Book of the Gospels from the alter to the lectern. The deacon or priest announces the Gospel reading and then traces the sign of the cross on his forehead, mouth and breast and then on the book. The people also make the three-fold sign of the cross over themselves, a ritual by which we consecrate our thoughts, words, and actions to the Lord, asking that his Word in the Gospel be always on our minds, our lips, and our hearts.

All this ceremony shouts out to us that we are approaching a most sacred moment in the Mass. The Gospels consist of God’s own words about Christ’s life. The proclamation of the Gospel, therefore, makes Jesus’ life present to us in a profound way. Christ speaks personally to each one of us through the divinely inspired words in the Gospel.

Priest: The Gospel of the Lord.
People: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.

From the earliest days of Christian liturgy, the Word of God was not read on its own. It was accompanied by a homily which explained the meaning of the Scriptural readings and drew out the application for people’s lives.

Yet the liturgical practice of explaining the Scripture reading did not start with Christianity. It is rooted in ancient Jewish custom. The homily is to be given by an ordained minister; such as a deacon, priest, or bishop. The same is true for the reading of the Gospel at Mass. Although God’s people as a whole are to give witness to the faith of the Church, it is the particular responsibility of the bishop as a successor of the apostles to teach the apostolic faith.

People: I believe in one God, the Father almighty,
 maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ
the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made. For us men
and for our salvation he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the scriptures. He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.
I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come.
Amen

The Creed is a summary statement of the faith used in the early Church as a rule or standard for Christian belief. Originally part of the rite or baptism for catechumens to profess the faith of the Church, the creeds later served as a means for ensuring right doctrine and curbing heresy.

The Creed summarizes the story found in the Scriptures. In one short statement of faith, we draw out the narrative thread from Genesis to the book of Revelation. The practice of prayerfully reciting a creed has deep biblical roots. These sacred words were to be constantly on the people’s hearts, taught to their children, and recited regularly throughout the day.

The Hebrew Shema told a very different kind of story about the world than what was commonly known by the people surrounding Israel. Jewish monotheism had a subversive edge. It proclaimed not only that there was one God, but that this one God was in a special relationship with Israel. In other words, Israel’s God was not merely one god among many deities in the world, but the one, true God over all the nations. We must see the Creed we recite at Mass as our Shema. Like the Shema of old, our creed has a counter-cultural message today. In this “anything goes” cultural milieu, the Creed grounds us in reality and reminds us that our beliefs and choices do matter. The Creed presumes a narrative framework to human history. In other words, the Creed assumes that there is a plot to life, and that we are here for a reason.

Thus the Creed reminds us that our little lives are caught up into this much larger story. The Creed will not let us persist in the modern relativistic myth that says there are no right or wrong choices, that it doesn’t matter what we believe or what we do with our lives. The Creed reminds us that at the end of our lives we will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ, and at that moment, all our life choices will be weighed in a balance before the divine judge. So the Creed will not let us be lukewarm bystanders in this cosmic struggle. When we profess our faith at Mass in the Creed, we publicly stand before the whole congregation and Almighty God and plant the flag with Jesus.

But why do we need to repeat this same profession of faith week after week? Belief is something intellectual; it is “a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed”. Belief is also even more fundamental to faith, being a personal adherence to God. Belief in God does not simply express an intellectual conviction that God exists. It also means a personal entrusting of one’s life to God. It expresses how God is truly the foundation for our lives. Just as a married couple may affirm their trust and commitment to each other and regularly tell each other “I love you”, so do we in the Creed renew our commitment to the Lord each week, lovingly telling him over and over again that we give ourselves to him, that we entrust or entire lives to him, that we believe in him.

The Creed is not merely a list of doctrines on a sheet of paper that need to be checked off. The Creed invites us to surrender more and more of our lives to God each week. Though none of us have perfect faith, when we recite the Creed, we express our desire to grow in our faith in God, to entrust more of our lives to him. The Liturgy of the Word culminates in what is known as “The Prayer of the Faithful”. This is one of the most ancient parts of the Mass. With the strong call for intercessory prayer in the New Testament, it is fitting that general intercessions formally found a home in the Mass from the earliest centuries of Christianity.

These general intercessions at Mass represent a significant moment for the faithful. If we are truly in tune with God’s heart, we will naturally want to pray for others. The culmination of the Liturgy of the Word is a fitting time to offer up these intercessions. Having been formed in Gods’ Word, the faithful respond with the heart and mind of Jesus by praying for the needs of the Church and the world. The intercessions train us to look not only after our own interests, but also to the interests of others.