Each month, I explore an aspect of our liturgy experience. This series is called Mass Communication. Today’s focus is on the Liturgy of the Word. We keep Abbot Jeremy’s quote in mind, “The Mass is about love. It is not an idea about love but the supreme encounter with love.” 

We strike our breast in sorrow for our sins. We sing the ancient hymn of praise with the choirs of angels. The priest collects the intention of all our hearts and gives voice to utter to the Father. Then, we sit. We listen.

In the Liturgy of the Word, there is a twofold movement: God toward the world and the world toward God. This movement happens through speech.

When God speaks, God speaks life and love. Jesus is life and love fully disclosed. He is God’s final and ultimate WORD. Abbot Jeremy points out,

“The Word of God is the creation, is the history of Israel, is the story of Jesus Christ. Christians are those who have heard and received God’s definitive Word in Jesus Christ.” 

We can think about the experience of listening to music. We have the choice of listening to it on a CD in our car. Alternatively, we can experience it in a symphony hall. These are two distinct experiences. The recording is something that was done in the past, which is stagnant and permanent in time. Listening to music in a symphony hall was made for that moment. You hear the music in live time, created for the space where it lives.

Abbot Jeremy says,

“The words in the book are rather like the notes of a musical score. The score is not the music. But the score lets the music sound. When from the score of the biblical book the words are proclaimed in the midst of a believing assembly, the music of God’s events sounds forth in the midst of that assembly!”

The proclamation of the Word unfolds all the events of salvation history. At the center of the proclamation is the death and Resurrection of Jesus.

The Word enters our hearts through our active listening to the proclamation of the Word and the homily. The preacher preaches the whole paschal mystery to prepare the people for Christ’s dying and rising in the Eucharist.

After much listening, we respond. We use ancient formulas known as creeds. They remind us succinctly and poetically of our belief in God. These creeds highlight the relationship we share in God’s covenant.

The whole Church offers public prayers after the Creed. These prayers are for its leaders, government leaders, the sick, the dying, and the world’s salvation. Through these intentions, the Church gives voice to her relationship with the world. 

The Liturgy of the Word will conclude with the Preparation of Gifts, which I will think about next month. In the Eucharistic celebration’s first half, we tip our hat to Abbot Jeremy for “the Mass is about love.”

Here is a recording of Hassler’s Verbum Caro Factum Est. Yes, the Word became flesh … and dwelt among us.