Moving from Thought to Experience: The 5 Rests in the Mass
Last month I had the pleasure of
spending the evening with members of the parish liturgy committee. We talked of
prayer and how the efforts of the committee contributed to the vibrant
liturgies that are celebrated here at St. Francis De Sales. A topic we began
discussing was how the Mass could be more of a spiritual experience rather than
simply a series of words, prayers and songs. In other words, how could we move
the celebration of Mass from a largely cerebral activity to a more deeply
heart-felt one? With this great question in mind, I found the readings of the
Sunday that followed the meeting perfect for preaching on this very topic. You
may recall the Gospel where Jesus has his disciples “come away to an out the way place to rest a while.” I would like
to suggest that the same invitation can be made to us when celebrating Mass, “to come to that inner space, that inner
room of our hearts in the midst of the Mass and experience God’s special
presence.”
I began the
homily that weekend by noting that in
music we have what is called a rest. The rest is simply a slight pause, a
space, a silence between the sounds. In itself, the rest is nothing, however in
relationship to the other notes, it is crucial. The rest provides a moment to get
your breath, to reflect, or to highlight.
It makes the music a beautiful composition instead of just a series of
notes.
Jesus
invites the apostles to rest a while from their busyness. He does this because he knows that a
prayerful rest, first of all, helps us to appreciate and place in perspective
what we have been doing. And second, a prayerful rest prepares us to say and do
what comes next in our lives. In other
words, as in the case of a musical piece, life and prayer can be just a series of
words and actions without these rests. The prayerful rest brings wholeness and
a certain beauty to our life and our prayer. Yes, it does much the same as the
musical rest does for a piece of music.
There are times for such a prayerful rest within our
celebration of Mass. For example, right at the beginning of Mass, the priest asks us to recall our
human need for healing, our sinfulness.
As soon as he invites us to do this, there is a rest. And we have a
moment, a few seconds, of silence. This
brief space puts us in touch with our need for forgiveness. The words asking
for God’s forgiveness or mercy that follow can only make sense after this rest.
Then after we sing the Glory to God the priest says, “Let us pray.” And again, there is a pause, a rest. In
this rest, we silently open our minds and our hearts to God and express our
intention to have God come to us here in the Mass. This prepares us for the prayer that concludes
the silence. It’s called the Collect because it collects together the silent
prayers that we have all just offered.
After the homily, there is yet another pause, space, or
rest. By this time, we have listened to
three passages from Scripture and to the homily on them by the priest or
deacon. Here we pause and let the words sink into our minds and then into our hearts
a bit or to ask what idea or cluster of words speak to me. The Profession of
Faith, which follows, feels right and makes sense, if we have first had this
moment of rest.
During the Eucharistic Prayer, there are actually two rests.
After
the priest pronounces the words of consecration over the bread and then over
the wine, there is a pause, a silence as the bread and then the wine are shown
us. Here the rest awakens us to what is happening, something beyond words. It enables us to realize that we are actually
repeating what Jesus did at the Last Supper.
And finally, there is a rest after all have received Communion
and the hymn is completed. This silence
makes us aware that we have received the Lord Jesus himself, that we have
actually consumed his Body and Blood under the forms of bread and wine. This
pause is there to help us sink into God’s presence within us at that moment,
with the taste of wine still on our lips and of bread still in our mouths. It also helps us to live with that awareness
as we leave church and go about our everyday lives.
So, much like a musical rest in a glorious piece of music, the rests
in our celebration of the Eucharist makes this “masterpiece” more than just a
series of words, gestures, and song either of our speaking to God or God
speaking to us. The rest helps us to experience and revel in what is being
proclaimed or what is about to be proclaimed. It makes our prayer a direct experience of
union with God. I look forward to seeing you again next Sunday when you can “come away and rest a while.”
Fondly,
Father Nicholas
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