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Symbolism in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass a Man Once Had a Dream

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Symbolism in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass a Man Once Had a Dream Symbolism in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass Page 1 of 3 A man once had a dream (David). In this dream God came to the man whose name was David, and told him that his son would build a temple for God. When David awoke, he diligently wrote down all that God commanded him to do in that temple. He concluded with the words, “All these things came to me written by the hand of the Lord.” In the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we have so much rich symbolism but also mysterious symbolism. And in a certain but very real way, what we do in the Holy Mass came by the hand of the Lord. Today we are going to take a look at some of the symbolism that someone coming to the Latin Mass will see, to hopefully look into the mystery and see the reason behind it, to understand a little better why we do the things we do in the Latin Mass. Much of what we talk about today was explained by Fr. James Meagher, Teaching the Truth by Signs and Ceremonies. First – why do we even do things in the Mass that really give spiritual blessings through actions that have symbolic meaning? First, as human beings we have to understand that we are partly spiritual and partly corporal – that is, we are made of a combination of part spirit and part body. We are spiritual in our souls, and corporal in our bodies. Our souls are contained, you might say, in our bodies. Now the truths of religion are spiritual, yet our ceremonies are corporal – we do the ceremonies through physical actions. So just as the soul is contained in the body, so the truths of religion are contained in the rites and ceremonies of the Church. On a much smaller scale, don’t we see something like this in everyday life? For example, greetings are carried out in a small ceremony even with those who we love and are most close to us: we say “good morning, good afternoon” and “good bye”. Another little ceremony, even with people we know and love: we shake people’s hands. So even though we know someone and are close to one, we still do these little ceremonies that symbolize our good will towards them. It is like that with God, but when it comes to God, doesn’t it make sense that the signs of our good will toward God, Our Creator and Our Redeemer, should be on whole different level than how we show good will toward fellow human beings? Though we may know God and be very close to Him, our spirit-and-body nature has it written deep in us that we should also have sensible signs and figures of how we love Him and of our good will towards Him, however our nature and His nature calls for and requires that we have sensible signs of our good will toward God that are on a level that are worthy of Him. So why do we even come to a church to offer the Mass? Someone might say, “I can find God anywhere: why can’t I just go out into nature to worship Him? The reason we come to a place chosen by God to offer this Sacrifice is because of command that is 3,500 years old. The place of worship must be chosen by God: “Beware lest thou offer thy holocaust in every place, but in the place which the Lord shall choose… shall thou offer sacrifices” (Deut. 12:13-14). The place we worship in has to a special one chosen by God. One of the first of these uncommon symbolic actions that someone coming to the Latin Mass notices is the direction that the priest faces during Holy Mass. We have all week to see and serve God in our neighbor. Can’t we give God one hour a week where He gets all the focus? At Holy Mass is when we get to turn to God as He is in Himself – in His Real Presence in the Most Blessed Sacrament. For this reason we face Him during the prayers that are spoken to Him in the Mass. Symbolism in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass Page 2 of 3 Another symbolic action that someone coming to the Latin Mass notices is the use of Latin. “Why aren’t we praying in my language,” someone seeing the Latin Mass might ask. What at first may seem counterproductive in a worship ceremony (to offer it in a language that is not spoken by the people attending it) is actually one of the reasons for using this language. Because the languages used in the Mass cannot be claimed by any one nation today, we are made aware that the worship service that we are entering into at the Mass rises above all distinctions of nations and races. Instead, in the Mass we use the three languages that God chose to publicly proclaim Christ the King when no one else publicly would. These languages I’m referring to are Hebrew, Latin and Greek, the three languages in which the inscription of Our Lord which hung on the Cross were written (John 19:19); the INRI we see on crucifixes today, the same three languages used in the Mass, for besides Latin, in the Mass there is Greek (Kyrie eleison) and Hebrew (amen, alleluia, hosanna). The mysterious spiritual realities that take place at Mass are too beautiful to put into any language that everyday language. That is the idea behind this use of Latin in the Mass. Another symbol that someone coming to the Latin Mass will notice is the vestments that the priest wears at Mass. Police officers, soldiers, judges, and doctors wear special clothes when performing their special duties, so does a priest. I’m going to focus on two vestments that are really only used at a Latin Mass: the biretta (the black hat the priest wears) and the maniple (the cloth the priest wears on his left arm). Now, remember, if we were only spirit, then our religion would be purely spiritual, but we are spirit and body. The truths of religion must be both spiritual and corporal. We are moved by what we perceive by the senses. Thus what we see or hear, etc. raises up our minds to a knowledge of religious truths. And so, when we see the priest approaching the altar and uncovering his head to begin Mass it is teaching a spiritual truth. For the hat the priest wears, the biretta, is shaped like a Cross on top, and so having this Cross covering his head as he approaches and leaves the altar is a symbol that he should be thinking of and grateful for the Cross while approaching and finishing the Mass. While Jewish men covered their heads to pray to show that God was still hidden from them, Father uncovers his head at the beginning of Mass to show that God the Father has been revealed in the person of Christ Jesus. The maniple is worn whenever the priest is actively engaged in offering the Sacrifice of the Mass, so it is not worn in processions or if the priest is giving the sermon. Like a worker in a vineyard gathering in the harvest in his left arm while he picks the fruit with his right arm, the maniple worn on the left arm symbolizes the harvest of good works that the priest brings on behalf of all the people to present them to God and unite their little sacrifices to the great Sacrifice of Our Lord in the Mass. So when he is actively bringing this harvest of our sacrifices to God he wears the maniple, and takes it off when he is not. Now let’s consider why we do actions that are ancient and are not done any more in everyday life in the world today. All these actions, then, which are not done in everyday life tell us that the Church is ancient, that it’s customs go beyond any one national custom or time in history. The Church is eternal – that’s what the use of these ancient and uncommon actions during the Mass tell us, to begin with. At the Latin Mass one will notice that the priest begins Mass at the foot of the altar instead of right at the altar. This shows that a humble preparation is needed before approaching Symbolism in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass Page 3 of 3 these sacred mysteries, which includes a public confession that we have sinned. One will also notice how the priest holds his hands during Mass. His hands joined and pointed upward symbolizes that his hands – his works – are being directed to God. He crosses his right thumb over the left to form a Cross. Sometimes he has his hands extended at his shoulders. This is a moderated symbol of how Christ had his hands extended on the Cross. We should have in mind that the prayers said by the priest with his hands in this position are ones that are especially connected to prayers offered by Christ Himself while He was on the Cross. There are SO MANY more symbols to discuss. But I hope you get the idea that everything we do in Holy Mass has an important spiritual meaning. If we don’t understand the rites that are done during Holy Mass, let us not conclude that the error is in the Mass, but rather in our understanding.
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