How To Pray the Mass, Part 1: Active Participation

When you go to Mass, do you sometimes just feel like a “spectator” - just watching Father “do his thing” at the altar, while you are largely uninvolved? Do you tend to speak of “attending” or “hearing” Mass rather than “assisting” at it? Do you wonder how necessary your role is in the liturgy? Have you ever wished that you could really pray the Mass, but not known exactly how?

If you’ve ever had these or similar thoughts (and even if you haven’t!), this blog series is for you!

As contemplative nuns, we live the liturgy on a deep level. Between the Mass and the Divine Office, we spend about 3 hours of our day in liturgical prayer! It is a great privilege and a solemn duty for us to offer up Mother Church’s “sacrifice of praise” in this intense way - and we hope, through this little blog series, to share with you some of the riches we have received. Each post will focus on one aspect of the Mass and how you, as Christ’s lay faithful, can use this aspect to enter into this most perfect of all prayers.

Before we dive into the Mass itself, however, let’s review a concept that will be central to our whole discussion.

Active Participation

One of the central goals of the Vatican II Council Fathers was to promote active participation of the congregation in the sacred liturgy. This term has been subject to much interpretation - and misinterpretation! - over the years. Many assume that active participation consists simply in “doing” things during the liturgy: singing, joining in the responses, serving as lectors or acolytes, etc. While these elements do hold an important place, they fall short of what the Church is asking of us as we participate in the Mass.

Active participation in the liturgy means, first and foremost, the engagement of heart and mind, and the joining of one’s own prayer and self-offering to that of Christ. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it, “The lives of the faithful, their praise, sufferings, prayer, and work, are united with those of Christ and with His total offering, and so acquire a new value. Christ’s sacrifice present on the altar makes it possible for all generations of Christians to be united with His offering.” (CCC 1368)

By virtue of your Baptism (and Confirmation), you have received a special share in Christ’s priesthood. The Baptismal priesthood is different from, but complementary to, the ministerial (ordained) priesthood. The ordained priest acts in persona Christi Capitis (in the person of Christ the Head), offering the one Sacrifice of the Cross under the unbloody form of bread and wine; the Baptismal priests act in persona Christi Corporis (in the person of Christ the Body), offering the sacrifices of their own lives and prayers. Both priesthoods are necessary for the Church to be present in her fullness!

So next time you are at Mass, try to pay attention to the hymns, prayers, and responses that you sing or recite. How do they invite you to participate actively, to exercise your Baptismal priesthood?

Next time, we’ll start exploring these parts of the liturgy in greater depth!