Exploring The Tradition Of Our Mass
In the previous article, we presented the idea of “Ressourcement,” meaning that the bishops at Vatican II wanted theologians and liturgists to return to the earliest ancient treasures in the Church’s storehouse. Their intention was to understand the spirit imbuing these ancient rituals so that in restructuring the Mass, we could recapture this same spirit. This early spirit emphasized the central place of Jesus, and his death and resurrection.
Liturgists realized that the most ancient tradition of the Church had several Eucharistic Prayers (actually the prayers were not written down but were left to the priest’s inspiration). Since 492 A.D., the Roman Rite used only the Roman Canon. Nothing had changed in that prayer until Pope John XXIII added the name of St. Joseph following the mention of Mary. Some bishops were disturbed by this change, but Pope John XXIII was very much aware that the liturgy had changed over the ages.
The Church wanted to provide several additional Eucharistic Prayers in keeping with this ancient tradition of the Eastern Church. They kept the Roman Canon; wrote Eucharistic Prayer III from “scratch”, and modeled Eucharistic Prayer IV after the way the Eastern Church offered praise. Eucharistic Prayer II was written by Pope Hippolytus in 215 A.D. and so it was introduced into the Mass. The variety of prayers helps us to avoid a “routine;” often, like in our relationships with loved ones, when we hear something so often it “goes in one ear and out the other.”
Another custom discovered by liturgists after Vatican II was lay people taking communion to the sick or imprisoned. When I celebrated my First Communion in October 1958, I remember a story about St. Tarcissius told by the good Benedictine Sisters from Ferdinand. Tarcissius was a teenager, who, when taking Communion home following Mass, was arrested by the Romans and martyred for his faith.
Lay Eucharistic Ministers in the Church have a long history. Lay Eucharistic ministers disappeared as a result of the Black Plague when the death of 2/3 of Europeans was seen as a punishment by God. Christians considered themselves unworthy; not only unworthy to receive the host in their hands, but also even unworthy to receive communion very often. (Therefore, the Church law was written that Christians must receive communion and celebrate confession at least once a year before Trinity Sunday.) The custom of receiving communion on the tongue continued until 1972. All Christians are anointed with the oil of Chrism at baptism and confirmation (not just the priest at his ordination) which made them “holy” by the grace of God. The threat too by the rising Lutheran Reformation of 1517, which stressed that all Christians shared in the common priesthood of Jesus by virtue of their baptism led to a decrease in the use of Eucharistic Ministers. The threat was that there was no longer a need for the ordained priesthood. It’s good to keep in mind that all liturgical customs had an origin, important at a certain time, but perhaps no longer.
Many Catholics do not realize that the gifts presented to the priest during the “Offertory” were usually live animals (chickens, lambs) or food (eggs, fresh vegetables). This required that the priest had to wash his hands because of possible dirt on the gifts. Although we receive monetary gifts today, the priest still washes his hands. This is no longer a practical action, but took on the meaning that we ask God to wash away our sins so we may be worthy to preside over the Eucharist.
In the next column, we’ll examine a few other examples before explaining the various parts of our contemporary Mass.
The next installment of Father Sauer’s series on the Mass will appear in the May 6 issue of The Message.
