What Are You Looking For? Part 2: The Liturgy and the Sacraments

The Liturgy: The Holy Spirit in the Liturgy

The Holy Spirit in the Liturgy

            Like everything else in the Christian life, the liturgy happens by the power of the Holy Spirit.  This shouldn’t surprise anyone, because that’s how things worked in Jesus’ life when he was here on earth, therefore that’s how it works for us.  Without him, everything would be meaningless and empty.  Even before Mass, or church, begins, the Holy Spirit wants to be there.  We often wait until the opening hymn, or processional to invite him, but he would like to be invited sooner.  What do I mean by this?  The Holy Spirit wants to begin the work of the liturgy, of the Mass, of the church service, as soon as we enter the building and sit down.  His first job, if you will, is to prepare our hearts and minds to receive what is about to happen.  But we rarely let him.  Either we come in late, or barely on time, or we’re so busy greeting our friends that we haven’t seen in a week and checking in with their lives, we forget the most important Person of all. 

            It’s not that the Holy Spirit doesn’t want us to greet our friends; it’s just that he wants the time before Mass (or church) to be focused on us and him, not us and others.  To do that, we need to come early, enter quietly, spend some time in prayer and prepare ourselves.  He’s right there waiting to help us to do that.  We just forget.  His job, at that point, is to enable us to properly celebrate the Holy Mysteries.  To forget, just for a little while, the kids and the job and everything else and just focus on Jesus.

            Once the Mass (or service) begins, the Holy Spirit adds another dimension to his interaction with us.  He enables us to hear the words he inspired to be written in the Scriptures.  He speaks through the priest (or pastor) the words we need to hear.  He challenges us to apply what we have learned and thought about to our lives every day.  If you have a hard time remembering what was said, I would suggest taking notes.  Often I will hear something that I want to remember.  If I write it down, I will.  (Also I can “borrow” it for using here at a later date.) 

            Another thing the Holy Spirit does is he makes the mystery of Christ present to us today.  “Christian liturgy not only recalls the events that saved us but actualizes them, makes them present.  The Paschal mystery of Christ is celebrated, not repeated.  It is the celebrations that are repeated, and in each celebration there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that makes the unique mystery present.”  (CCC 1104)

            In the Mass, it is the Holy Spirit who comes upon the bread and the wine so that they become the body and blood of Christ.  It is also the Holy Spirit who is asked to enable the faithful who receive them to become “a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.”  (Romans 12:1 NABRE)

            In short, everything is through the Holy Spirit, from enabling us to enter into the Divine Mysteries, to challenging us and purifying us.  It is through the Holy Spirit that we are then to leave the sanctuary and go out into the world and bring light into the darkness.