February 17, 2014
In October 2012 we celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. The first of the major documents that the Council created was called Sacrosanctum Concilium.
The document, which was overwhelmingly adopted by the Council Fathers (only 46 voted against it), created the liturgy as we know it today and called every one of us to holiness. I’m sure some who are reading this column will remember a time in our Church when those who were called to be holy were often limited to brothers, sisters and priests or monks. The second Vatican Council blew that concept out of the water by reminding us that because of our baptism we were all called to be priests, prophets and kings – all called to be holy.
The Council Fathers chose to center our being holy together around the liturgy and particularly around the Liturgy of the Eucharist celebrated on Sunday. In an article in “Worship,” Brian Dunn states that the liturgy document “highlighted Sunday as the original feast day and called for a revision of the liturgical year in such a way that Sunday would be the foundation and kernel of the entire liturgical year.” We know because we continue to do it, that Christians for a long time have experienced Sunday as the first day of the week, “since it constitutes the radical newness brought by Christ” through the Resurrection. Sunday was often seen as the day in which the disciples encountered Jesus again. And what are we, if we are not disciples?
So, Sunday becomes an important day for us, not just because we normally have the day off, but because it is the day when we encounter Jesus again in the Eucharist. It is also the day on which we encounter each other as a Christian community and it is the day on which we hear the proclamation “Go forth, the Mass is ended.” Since the new translation of the Roman Missal we are also liable to hear “Go and announce the gospel of the Lord” or “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.” What is it that these dismissals are urging on us? When we go in peace glorifying the Lord by our lives we are being sent forth from the Sunday Eucharist to be Christ to others and to be reminded that every aspect of our lives – our work, our play times and our relationships are to be permeated with our faith in Jesus.
It is our Sunday liturgy together that is preparing us to encounter the risen Lord in our daily lives and it is in that encounter that liturgy and justice get together. It isn’t easy to remember the task of being Christian in our everyday lives, but that is what the Lord is calling us to and reminding us of when we get together each week for our Sunday Liturgy. Knowing about the importance of the Sunday liturgy helps us to recognize again the importance of getting to Mass each Sunday in order to deepen our faith, and to help us live our faith more effectively every day.