PRINCIPAL PARTS OF THE MASS
(Given: March 7, 2010 3rd Sunday of Lent)
Some of us were raised with the Baltimore Catechism, first written in 1942. It said that the Mass was composed of three principal parts: Offertory, Consecration and Communion.33 Many of us remember that if you missed one of those principal parts of the Mass you had, in effect, missed all of the Mass and may, therefore, have committed a grave sin. Suddenly that definition of the parts of the Mass disappeared after the Second Vatican Council. Why?
The main reason for the change was to restore the Scriptures to their proper role. So if the Baltimore Catechism were to be written today, it would say that there are two principal parts, the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. They are of equal importance. It would be true to say that, if you missed one of these two principal parts of the Mass, you missed Mass -- as we used to say!
We should listen attentively to the
scriptures as they are proclaimed. And
when we say, “Thanks be to God” at the end, a custom
that goes far back into the history of the Roman Mass, we should really mean
it. We are grateful that we have heard
God’s Word proclaimed to us.
The Liturgy of the Word ends with the General Intercessions or Petitions. Our attention then shifts from the pulpit, sometimes called the ambo, to the altar as it is prepared for the celebration of the Eucharist.
Rev.