PARISH PRACTICE JAMES LEACHMAN
Words made flesh M
any churchgoers since Vatican II have benefited from shared reflection on the Scriptures in groups. In the United States,
there are groups such as the Little Rock Bible Study and in Britain we have Bible Alive as well as many others. Parishioners, perhaps with readers and catechists, gather to prepare for the Sunday celebration of the Eucharist by reflecting on the scriptural passages proclaimed from the lectionary each Sunday. But if the reflective reading that aids our listening to the Liturgy of the Word at each Mass, and which structures our celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, is to lead to a moment of prayer and an appreciation of the encounter with God, then I suggest that we reflect also on the Church’s liturgical prayer. Reflections on the Opening Prayer, the Prayer Over the Gifts, the Prayer After Communion and the entire formulary for Sunday or Feast Days will help parish- ioners use the Sunday prayers of Mass as a way of moving into prayer and a way to appre- ciate how we encounter God. The Opening Prayer estab- lishes our ecclesial identity as the body of Christ and our hope in Christ, thus we can come to appreciate “who we are” in the Church. The Prayer Over the Gifts and the Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer express the divine-human exchange of gifts according to which we offer bread and wine as representatives of our self-offering to God, who in turn offers the body and blood of Christ, which we who are received by him, receive in Communion. Thus we come to appreciate “how we become who we will be”. The Prayer After Communion prepares us to conduct our daily lives in accord with this mystery, helping us to appreciate “how we are in the world”. Several parish Appreciating the Liturgy pilot groups tested this new form of reflecting
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on the prayers of the Sunday liturgy during last Advent and Christmas, both in the US and in Britain. One of these groups was ecu- menical. They had been meeting regularly for some time as a small Christian community using diocesan resources and they agreed to join the pilot project. These different groups gathered weekly and gave feedback to help revising the reflections for distribution this year.
One group of parishioners in Kansas took
part in a day of shared reflection in a parish Appreciating the Liturgy workshop before Epiphany. The priest welcomed and hosted the group in the rectory dining room, and for the meeting prepared handouts with the prayers for the upcoming Feast of the Epiphany plus reflective questions for each of the four prayers. In this group, the Opening
TO DO
Consider starting a parish Appreciating the Liturgy group
Invite six or eight others to join you and agree on a leader or coordinator and a reader
Ask for the pilot materials and agree on a weekly meeting time and place
Prayer for the Epiphany peti- tions that God lead us by the light of faith to our goal of glory in heaven. The group reflecting on this prayer can ask how each person per- ceived God to be leading them by the light of faith and how each has already caught a glimpse of the glory of heaven. Thus, the prayer helps parishioners to reflect upon, and to name, God’s working in their lives. The Prayer Over the Gifts for Epiphany declares that when the community presents the gifts of bread, wine and
an offering for people in their need, the gifts themselves represent the gift of God and the work of human labour. As the pro- cession approaches the altar with the gifts, the faithful also present themselves as gifts to God, and with themselves their daily lives and service to others. In return they receive the gift of Christ’s body and blood. In the communion procession the faithful present themselves to God once again. St Augustine says that when we receive Communion it is not changed into us as mere food, but we are changed into Christ.
Coming together in groups to consider the text of the Bible has proved invaluable for many of the faithful in the years since the Second Vatican Council. But such shared reflection can also be of great benefit in illuminating the Liturgy of the Mass
Thus, reflecting on the Prayer Over the
Gifts for Epiphany, the prayer helps the parishioners reflect on how they have received God’s gift of self and how they are giving themselves to God in response. Christian lives are considered in terms of the mutual exchange of personal self-gift. The Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer names the saving deeds of God for which we give thanks in this liturgy. The Preface for Epiphany says that Christ’s glory has shone among the faithful and that God has renewed humanity in Christ’s immortal image. The prayer helps the parishioners reflect how they have seen God’s glory among them and how they perceive Christ’s immortal image in themselves and in one another. The Prayer After Communion concludes the communion procession. This prayer typ- ically petitions that we deepen our appreciation for the gift we have received and become, and that we live according to this mystery in our daily lives. In light of the Prayer After Communion for Epiphany, parishioners can reflect upon how they have welcomed Christ with love and how they perceive God to be leading with divine light. Reflecting on the Sunday prayers helped
Christians to see how God is working in their lives. The liturgy calls us to respond to the Scriptures by joining in the mutual exchange of self-gifts in the Eucharist and then to see this exchange as the pattern for our daily lives. Materials are available for groups that might want to have similar reflection sessions on the prayers each Sunday of Advent and Christmas this year. Make enquiries to Sandy Fitzmaurice at St Benedict’s Abbey in Kansas (sfitzmaurice@kansasmonks. org).
■James Leachman is a Benedictine monk- priest of Ealing Abbey in London. He writes and teaches liturgy in Rome and London. His latest book, written with Daniel McCarthy, Listen to the Word: commentaries on selected Opening Prayers of Sundays and Feasts with sample homilies, was published by The Tablet Publishing Company Limited last year.
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