Meeting Christ in the Community

Details: 25 March 2011

We are invited into more intimate union with Jesus whenever we are with others, especially with those who share our faith. The most profound and obvious encounters with Jesus take place at Mass. Dr. Tom Curran’s book, The Mass: Four Encounters With Jesus That Will Change Your Life (our current One Book One Diocese selection) outlines four distinct ways that we come into contact with Jesus at Mass: in the community, in the Word, in the priest and in the Eucharist. This reflection examines the first of these four encounters—namely, meeting Christ in the community.

Dr. Curran identifies three attitudes that prevail among those gathered for the liturgy: uninterested spectator, critical observer, alert readiness. He spends little time with the first because of the obvious problems with such a contemptible disposition. Being merely a spectator suggests that one is not even participating, which casts suspicion upon one’s motivation for coming to Mass at all. The critical observer misses Christ’s appearances and is instead distracted: by who is seated ahead of him, by what the usher is doing, by when the Mass will conclude, by where the readings are in the missalette, by why the music director chose a particular song, by how the Lector pronounced a word, etc. This attitude invites multiple distractions that prevent us from encountering Jesus in precisely the place where we are called to meet him first at Mass—that is, in the community of the faithful.

Adopting a disposition of alert readiness for the ways in which Jesus shows up at Mass helps us to prepare our minds and hearts for the many graces Jesus has in store for each and every participant at each and every Mass. This begins with our reverent and quiet entry into the worship space, typically blessing ourselves with holy water that reminds us of the gift of divine life given to us through Baptism while honoring our triune God, signing ourselves in the name of the Holy Trinity. Our genuflection is our next sign of reverence that we share in common with other believers as a way to recognize that we are gathered not only in each other’s presence, but in the Real Presence of Jesus in the tabernacle. We come together with a common need for God.

We begin Mass with an acknowledgement of our common state of sinfulness. We beg for the Lord’s forgiveness together, acknowledging that the Church gathered at Mass is much larger than what we see with our eyes. It includes the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the angels and saints whose prayerful intercession we request during the Confiteor ("I confess…") and whose presence is often depicted in pictures, statues and stained glass. We then join those same angels and saints in giving glory and praise to God while praying the Gloria (except during Advent and Lent). Our awareness of the presence of these non-corporeal persons worshipping with us at Mass can help us to focus on what is important and be ready for further encounters with Jesus.

While our prayer with Christ in the community gathered at Mass continues throughout the celebration, being especially mindful of our meeting with Him through others will help us to be ever more ready to encounter Him more intimately as Mass progresses. Stay tuned!