Prayer Before Mass (1.4)

26 January 2007

These are two (either or) our music team prays every week.

PRAYER BEFORE MASS*
O God, to whom every heart is open,
every desire known and from whom no secrets are hidden;
purify the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love you and worthily praise your holy Name.
Amen.

OR

PRAYER BEFORE MASS**

Lord, I come to this Mass to praise and thank you. On this holy ground and in this sacred space, I remember and celebrate your presence.

No matter how solemn or simple this Eucharistic liturgy will be, it is celebrated in response to your invitation "Do this in memory of me."

Thank you, Jesus, for the privilege to worship you in this way. Thank you for planting in my heart the grace to desire your presence in those gathered here today, in your sacred Word and in the bread and wine.

I come in faith. May I be open to your gentle touch.

May I be open to your sacred Word and listen to it as a personal challenge.

I bring you my special needs, fears, grudges, self-pity and petty concerns. I ask your help and guidance, Lord, to become a better
person. If my cares and worries interfere with my prayer at this Mass, accept them as my feeble gifts. Transform them by your grace.

As the bread and wine will be changed into your sacramental presence, so also change me. My whole being praises, honours and glorifies you. I come into your presence with joy.

AMEN
..............................................................................
*I have this scribbled in my prayer book, don't quite remember where it came from.
**Our parish prays this one, though not together or aloud.
................................................................................

Here's a thought......

What is there to prevent every 'ministry' from saying either of the above prayers just before they 'serve' Mass? Instead of the dissimilar, inconsistent (some prepared, others less so) and ad-hoc utterances which masquerade as pre-Mass prayers.

Think about it.

Existing Opening Prayers (1.3)

26 January 2007

"We don't know what to do! We want to start the meeting with prayers but what can we use? How do we start?..."

Be assured you are already praying suitable prayers and have not realised it.
Try this.

1.
Sign

2.
Let us glorify and praise you O Lord.

Our Father in heaven....
Hail Mary......

3.
(Prayer Before A Day's Work)*
Direct, we beg you, O Lord, our actions by your holy inspirations,
and carry them on by your gracious assistance,
that every prayer and work of ours
may begin always with you,
and through you be happily ended.
Amen.

OR

(end of Morning Prayers)*
Father,
may everything we do
begin with your inspiration
and continue with your saving help.
Let our work always find its origin in you
and through you reach completion.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

..................................................................
*prayers are from the
Handbook Of Prayers
A complete Treasury of Prayers and Order of Mass
(third edition)
ed.: Fr. Charles Belmonte & Fr. James Socias
Aletheia Foundation, Inc. , Manila
Nihil obstat: Josefino S. Ramirez, Vicar General
Imprimatur: Jaime Cardinal Sin, Archbishop of Manila

Template to Ritual (1.2)

26 January 2007

Following from the previous post, the prayer template is just one of many 'tools' to help the various ministries serving Mass to engage in one same habit. This prayer 'habit' (words and rendering) is to be repeated every time we meet to prepare for Mass. Here's an example of the template fleshed out very simply. One is not a prayer expert. Feel free to improve on the simple offering below:

A.
1.
Sign
2.
Heavenly Father, let our mouths speak (or sing) your praise. It is your grace which has brought us together. Let us glorify you and bless your holy Name.
3.
Our Father
4.
Hail Mary
5.
Technical matters/agenda/etc.
6.
As we come to the end of this meeting, we thank you Father for being with us. We thank you for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We ask your blessings for our Parish. Keep us faithful to your ways. We ask your blessings for our families and all who have asked us to pray for them. We ask all this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
7.
Sign

And repeat at next month's preparation meeting and the month after that and the month after that and the month after that........

Think about it.

Woofie-ism & post-Woofie-ism(1.1)

18 January 2007

"We celebrate the Eucharist that God be glorified and man sanctified"

Post Woofie-ism must focus clearly on this fundamental. How is any Formation going to achieve this focus?

I have always advocated Formations and training which are highly contextual, specific and hands-on. As well as Formations which address the "small things" within the bigger picture, coupled with very easy-to-follow steps ie. pragmatic. It means you could put the 'improved habit' into practise immediately if you chose to do so. There are far too many "formations" which sit the pariticpants down for hours while the presenter does his/her monologue to everyone.

If you must, consider our Catholic faith, specifically our celebration of the Eucharist, as the "bigger picture". The "small things" are our habits and the way we come to celebrate Mass and actually celebrate it. Within the Eucharist, we have yet to realise the 'formation'/training value of the texts of the prayers, the lyrics of the hymns/antiphons, our gestures and movements, the contemplative silences - to name a few. Why look to external formats, external training contexts and the like when the best context is right in front of our noses!

So, let's begin.

To achieve this focus, we begin with another fundamental, that of prayer. Specifically in the context of group meetings. Every "minstry", be it Altar Servers or EMOHC or Wardens or Choir etc., must at some point in time, meet, either by themselves or collectively to prepare for the coming Eucharist or other celebrations. Meetings generally begin and conclude with prayer. It is in this context of the opening and concluding prayers which the following is proposed.

But before that, an aside. Our Choir's (as the Church udnerstands it, and a.k.a. Music Ministry in some parishes), very existence is a direct result of the celebration of the Eucharist. The Choir's "life" is all about singing and playing (instruments) in Mass. Another way of saying it - the Music Ministry has no "life" outside of the Eucharist. It is born for the Eucharist. It is sustained and renewed by the Eucharist. It lives to serve this Eucharist, over, above and beyond everything else.

If you are a Warden or Altar Server, (dare I add - Priest.....) or from another 'ministry', put your name and the capacity in which you serve, in the above and see if it means anything.
Think about it.

I have digressed. Meanwhile back at the farm....opening and closing prayers in the context of ministry meetings.

1.
To provide a "template" (or prayer structure if you like) of common prayer/s (either existing ones or new ones) for all the "ministries" for their opening and concluding prayers.

We are different 'ministries' serving Mass. We have a shared existence and a shared mission. Would it not be sensible to pray prayers with the same words and in the same manner to bind us and reflect our one-ness. Such important prayers need preparation and should not be left to a spur of the moment "spontaneous" prayer alone.

Then there is the agenda and deliberations. Do these often take precedence over praying?

2.
Without re-inventing the wheel, common prayers are already in existence. So what's so different about this "template'? The approach and the rendering. It goes without saying, you are not allowed to change the words of the prayers, no matter how 'spontaneous' you feel.

3.
Some examples of "common" prayer:
(Sign of the Cross)
The Creed
The Our Father
Hail Mary

4.
What of the 'approach' and rendering?

4.1
The approach:

4.1.1
Let's be clear shall we.
Prayers are PRAYED. They may be rendered as spoken prayer or recited or chanted or sung or whatever other ways you can think of.
We really should grow out of introductions like, "Let us say(?) the Our Father"
The distinction is all about clarity in our understanding and in our describing it exactly as it is. Being absolutely clear (or as "absolutely" as our present understanding permits) is neither about semantics nor hair-splitting.

4.1.2
As we come to room where the meeting is to held, let us begin to calm down. Finish our chit-chat with our friends. Be acutely aware that we are coming together
- by the grace of God
(turning God-ward)
- to glorify, praise Him and bless his holy Name (..in this little meeting)...gratitude/thanks
(our primary purpose)
- to prepare for an Eucharistic celebration
(our secondary purpose, the 'technical' matters)
- that everything to be done is "...through Jesus Christ our Lord..."

Immediately you have all the ingredients for a common opening prayer should you string the above words together.

I can see the light bulbs. I can see some of you already making the connections. For those of us who are a little more senior, how often have we heard this:

"Before Mass, as you come to the entrance of the Church, be mindful you are coming into the house of God, a sacred and holy place. He is here. Move to the font of holy water, reverentially dip your finger and sign yourselves. Genuflect. ....."

As we prepare to celebrate Mass, by our movements, state of mind, preparedness or absence thereof; so too the same approach for simple meetings whose aim is to prepare for Mass.

4.1.3
Items below are self-explanatory:
Closing & concluding prayers -
- thanksgiving
- pray for others/intercessory/prayer for vocations.....through Jesus Christ our Lord.
- glorify....Glory be to the Father, and to the Son...etc.
- sign

4.2
The rendering:

4.2.1
The prayers are to pre-prepared.

4.2.2
The prayers are to be 'sounded', regardless of whether they are read or recited or chanted by all present. No business of the leader reading and everyone else being quiet. Feel free to render it
- with everyone reading it TOGETHER
- antiphonally, ie., with two groups
- responsorially, ie. one "cantor" and everyone else "responding"

4.3
Every word and every sound produced by the enunciated word is precious.
Breathe.
Prepare your face - mouth, tongue, cheeks, etc. to enunciate the words.
Lengthen each vowel a little.
Be crisp and timely with the consonants, dipthongs, etc.
Listen to the sound you have produced; its beginnings and endings.
Listen to all the tiny silences in between phrases or at punctuation points.
Listen to the resonance of the ends of phrases.
Listen to the resonance of the silence which follows.
Immerse yourself in the depth of the 'silent' echoes.

In celebrating Mass, every word and every sound of every hymn, Reading and other prayers is even more precious. Prepare for each one. Breathe. Enunciate. Read/chant/sing. Listen to these precious sounds and silences.

5.
Try it.


Glory be to the Father,

and to the Son,

and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning,

is now,

and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Woofie-ism & post-Woofie-ism(1.0)

18 January 2007

"FOCUS !!!!"

Dear Fr.,

Yes, I have been thinking about the Liturgy Formation to address the liturgically-challenged. I have been doing a lot thinking & reflecting since the idea was mooted way back when.

For many years now (even before you mentioned the above) our Choir has read and reflected on the Sacramentum Concilium, the GIRM and other documents and encyclicals by various pontiffs. We have been respectful and reverent and tempered our rendering of the hymns to reflect the different parts of Mass. Our regular rehearsals are preceded by prayer. We encourage and help each other improve our music skills and our knowledge of liturgy. We have done our best in being faithful to the Church documents and to only do as much Latin as our choir and Assembly can handle.

But nothing prepared us for the brainstorming session held in anticipation of the more detailed planning for said Liturgical Formation. I am sorry Fr., but the discussion went everywhere except towards Liturgical Formation. Even in writing to you I am having tremendous difficulty simply trying to describe to you what this "everywhere"-discussion was all about.

There was talk that the Formation should make people (ie. all those involved in serving Mass) aware about their "calling". Then someone brought up people's attitudes to different methods of formation. Somebody else mentioned that the structure would be that you would talk then everybody would get into groups and reflect on what you said. Then someone else said that there should be more than just you and there should be three different people talking. Then someone else said that the formation can expect something like 200 (!!!!) participants, and the time alloted for the whole thing was from 1.30-5pm. The logistics alone is mind-boggling. The discussion continued to meander without proper focus. Despite the usual interjections from this quarter, the Woofies ruled the roost.

Thinking back on it again and again, one cannot help but surmise the brain-storming was an extravagant exercise in self-indulgent introspection. It is the latter plus the inability to look at the problem squarely in context which bedevils efforts to get us back on the right liturgical track.

The issue of liturgical-correctness in the celebration of the Eucharist is an issue of context. Sepcifically - a clear understanding of the rites and rituals of the Eucharist. The flogging of the traditional-hymns-vs.-contemporary-songs horse is about the understanding (or absence thereof) of context. That which is good for private devotions or other praise/worship occassions may not necessarily be appropriate within the celebration of the Eucharist. A style of singing and timbre of voice deemed impressive in the opera houses of the world may be a little excessive for the Responsorial Psalm. A volume of pulsating musical accompaniment essential for an outdoor jamboree will have to be made much more 'discreet' in the context of Mass inside a church where instruments 'exist', primarily, to accompany. Similarly, wonderfully uplifting lyrics with craftily manipulated harmonies are great for the emotional value but is that what music in Mass should be about? Is the Assembly there to be emotionally uplifted and/or entertained? That celebrating the Eucharist is all about 'man' instead of 'GOD'?

Yes Fr., extravagant self-indulgent introspection. This contemplation of one's own navel must cease. Post Woofie-ism must involve the return to fundamentals.

"We celebrate the Eucharist that God be glorified and man sanctified"

That is THE fundamental.

Think about it.