About a month ago, we had here at Epiphany a fantastic talk from Fr. Schumer, who teaches liturgy at the Seminary. The talk was given to all of our volunteers in liturgical ministries: sacristans, ushers, lectors, and extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. The topic was on active participation in the Mass. I thought this was a helpful and encouraging explanation of how we all pray the Mass together and thought I might share a few thoughts along these lines.

In the years before the Second Vatican Council, there was a priest in the Archdiocese of St. Louis named Martin Hellreigel. He was the pastor of Holy Cross parish in Baden, just north of the city overlooking the river. Msgr. Hellreigel had recently read a Papal Encyclical, published in 1947 by Pius XII, called Mediator Dei, and this encyclical encouraged congregational singing. Now, no parish (I am told) at this time sang. The priest might sing and the choir might sing but no one else did. People didn’t refuse to sing because they didn’t like singing back then, or because Latin is too hard, or the Gregorian chant too difficult. They didn’t sing because their priests had never taught them how. Msgr. Helleigel decided to try a different way, because he wanted the entire Church to participate in the Mass as fully as possible. He taught the parish children to sing hymns and simple chants before and after mass. The children formed a choir and soon enough were singing the mass itself. The parish loved hearing them and the adults requested to learn too. Eventually, everyone was singing. Not everyone was a professional, but Msgr. Hellreigel taught that music cannot be sung for its own sake, but is sung for the glory of God. Most importantly, we sing because it is the language of love. We love God and at Mass it makes sense that all of us would sing to him together.

When a priest offers the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, he does so not on his own but he does so as an action of Christ and the whole Church. We are not here to watch the priest while he does all the work for us, or to pray the rosary at Mass. We are here to actually pray the Mass together. In this, Msgr. Hellreigel anticipated the Second Vatican Council, which reemphasized a full, active, conscious participation in the Mass. One of the ways is to pray the mass through our singing.

There are other roles besides singng in which the laity are invited to assist the clergy to offer the mass. Many of these are the active roles that we have already mentioned: choir, ushers, readers, altar servers, Extraordinary ministers, sacristans… It is good to share the burden of the ministry with the priest. If he is called to the ministerial priesthood by virtue of his Holy Orders, we too have a priestly dignity by virtue of our baptism. We are a priestly people and it takes all of us to offer a mass. But assisting at a mass is not only reserved to those who happen to be doing something. If it was, then it would mean that if you aren’t on the schedule for today for some active role, you are not actually participating today. No, we don’t want to confuse Doing with Participating.

Participating fully in the mass means a different kind of activity; the activity of prayer and the activity of the Holy Spirit in your soul. All of us have an apostolate, or a mission. We are called to bring the joy of the Gospel to all aspects of this world; through the work we do, in our families, and through our suffering. God doesn’t merely love the Church, he loves the whole of his creation and he is working to redeem the entire world. When we come to pray the mass together, each of us brings our entire lives and, as a priestly people, place ourselves and the experiences we bring with us onto the altar. Along with the Bread and the Wine, we offer up to God the world and in such a way consecrate it to his love. When we consciously pray the mass in this way, we truly assist the priest as he leads us and we actually increase the fruits of the mass. By our active and full participation, the grace dispensed by Our Lord is made more abundant because we are more open to it. God will give us as much grace as we are prepared to receive.

Simply by engaging as fully as possible this morning, by singing, learning from the readings, thoughtfully considering the homily, praying along with the priest in your heart, or even quiet silence while you kneel down after communion and adore Our Lord and thank him, you are fulfilling the goal of the Church to fully participate in the Mass as the Body of Christ.

How wonderful is the Body of Christ and how even yet more wonderful is Jesus Christ to whom we are united.