Last week, I went with Sr. Alma to lead teacher in-services on Meditation with Children at two different primary schools in Co. Wexford. During these in-services, we explain what Christian Meditation is (in both the John Main and Thomas Keating traditions), talk about its benefits and fruits, lead a couple of short meditations, and give the schools resources to begin meditation in their classrooms. Christian Meditation is about being present to God, and open to God’s presence and action in our lives. I would be lying if I said that didn’t impact the post-communion reflection I gave at the ACE Mass last Friday. In this Year of Faith, all of the ACE Mass reflections have been based on different Vatican II documents and included two questions for post-dinner discussion. Here is mine.
I have received a double challenge: to reflect on Sacrosanctam Conciliam, in line with our Year of Faith reflections, and to reflect on my time in the House of Brigid. The first is the document that got the Second Vatican Council rolling; the second, nearly two years of ministry, learning, deepening faith, and personal growth. Needless to say, I can barely skim the surface of each in the next 5 minutes. But I will be rather bold and try to knit them together.
Sacrosanctam Conciliam is the Vatican II document I studied most often and most closely as a Master of Sacred Music student at Notre Dame. It does not have modest goals, as its opening paragraph shows. It says:
This sacred council has several aims in view: it desires to impart an ever more increasing vigor to the Christian life of the faithful; to adapt more suitably to the needs of our own times those institutions which are subject to change; to foster whatever can promote union among all who believe in Christ; to strengthen whatever can help to call the whole of mankind into the household of the Church. The Council therefore sees particularly cogent reasons for undertaking the reform and promotion of the liturgy.
I think it is really marvelous how the first article shows how important the liturgy is. Such lofty goals to impart vigor, adapt, foster union, and strengthen the church, and where is the place to start? Liturgy. Later, the Council identifies the liturgy as source and summit of all the Church is and does. Big changes start small, with ordinary practice and daily habits. Of course big changes in the Church start with what happens daily, weekly, when Christ draws us together as His body in the Eucharist. Of course it all begins with how we pray together!
Here’s where I want to draw the first parallel. If liturgy is the source of all the Church is and does, it is certainly the source of what I have done as part of Teach Bhríde and the Church. I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t been rooted in weekly Mass and church choir with my family. The Teach Bhríde community grew out of the Notre Dame Folk Choir community and its prayer at rehearsals and Sunday Mass. And where did the Teach Bhríde community start work in Clonard Parish if not with music at weekend Masses? I have participated in many ministries in the last two years, but our bread and butter is liturgy. Radio shows, the new Passion Play, carol services, sacramental preparation sessions, Confirmation retreats, and choral workshops come and go, but we still attend daily Mass and make music at Sunday Masses and with the ACE community. Christ is our source as Christians, and the liturgy is where we receive him and learn to see him in the rest of our life. All the ministries we do outside the liturgy point towards it, teach about it, dramatize its message, and provide resources for it. The liturgy is the source of all the other ministries. It is where our primary parish community prays together. It is the first and, in most cases, only place where we can be present to parishioners in prayer.
So we have a starting point! Sacrosanctam Conciliam gives many specific instructions about where to go from there with liturgical reform, about which I will not go into detail, even on the points about sacred music. It also gives us the catch-phrase “full, active, and conscious participation,” and that is what I’m going to focus on. The Council was referring to actions within the liturgy, but I have found it to be a model for many ministries during my time in Teach Bhríde. It’s really all about presence. Regardless of what we do in our many ministries, and sometimes in spite of our busy-ness, what matters is presence.
We strive to be fully present: to be prepared, to be on time, to be focused on the task at hand – in other words, to “show up.” More importantly, we try to focus on the people we’re with, be they choir members, Passion Play cast members, 12-year-old Confirmation retreatants, parents, school kids, parish staff, the ACE community, parishioners, or indeed, the other members of Teach Bhríde. I am not always successful at being fully present. I, like many in my generation, am used to multitasking and running from one thing to the next. Over the last year and a half, though, I have had the opportunity to practice. One of my favorite aspects of Irish culture is tea. I don’t mean the beverage itself as much as the fellowship around it: people stop what they are doing, put aside work, and take a few minutes to catch up with each other. They are usually willing to do this at any given moment – stop, focus on the person, be fully present. It’s a switch from American culture where most people drink their caffeinated beverage of choice on their way from one thing to another, or schedule in coffee dates when it’s convenient. I hope I can take the Irish practice of presence back to the States with me. We can certainly bring it into our liturgies. I don’t mean we should drink tea during Mass. We can learn to stop and focus on the persons of Christ, the Father, and the Holy Spirit – we can learn to be fully present at least during that relatively short time of Mass.
We strive to be actively present. I think the other members of Teach Bhríde will agree we have been active this year! Between once-off events like the Notre Dame vs. Navy game, continuing ministries to choirs and schools, and new ministries like Advent Eucharistic Adoration services, RCIA, and the Passion Play, we have not been bored. We are good at “active.” We have trained in activity-juggling since high school. It is important that our parish sees us performing our “activities” in music and catechesis. Our involvement is a visible and audible sign that we care about them, about the Church, about God, and about our faith. We hope it also gives them permission to be actively involved themselves. I love the words of article 29: “Servers, lectors commentators, and members of the choir also exercise a genuine liturgical function.” If that were not true we would not be here in Teach Bhríde! But I think we must remember that what might look like our active presence does not really belong to us. We are blessed to participate in the Holy Spirit’s action.
We strive for conscious presence (and I don’t just mean “not asleep”). This seems like a pre-requisite for the other two. After all, you can’t be fully present to anyone or actively present in a community if you aren’t consciously present. I think what the Council meant by “conscious” is catechized and aware. While our goal in all of our ministries is to provide scriptural, sacramental, liturgical, or musical catechesis, it’s the awareness that is most challenging. As we become aware of family situations, of deaths within the parish community, of past differences or underlying politics, we may realize that getting everyone on board with a new idea will be trickier than we thought. If we remain aware of the goals of a certain ministry, we may realize that the plans we had for its implementation simply won’t work, and our enthusiasm might be left stranded. Most importantly, if we are aware of our own histories, biases, agendas, inclinations, and quirks of personality and working style, and we share that awareness with our community members, we can better understand how to be present to each other. I’ve certainly grown in my understanding of community over the last two years. Conscious presence means intentional presence, even with the awareness of all the history and meaning of a given situation. That applies to the liturgy too. We show up knowing the Church’s history, the way it is perceived by the media, and knowing the history of our own relationship with the Church. We show up, hopefully, understanding the depth of meaning in the sacraments. We show up as we are, aware of our faults, and ask God and the community to love us and forgive us.
And so my first question for you is this: at this point in our history, how are we Christians fully, actively, and consciously present at Mass and outside it?
I’d like to return to the phrase “source and summit.” How is the liturgy the summit of all the Church is and does? It is the summit because it is where earth meets heaven, where we meet God in prayer and sacrament. I think if we are present at the liturgy, we’ll find that. We don’t make the sacraments better or worse by changing the words, the music, or the artwork. God shows up either way! We can only find ways to express that truth and enable people to be present to God, too. Which leads me to my second question: how are we enabling our students and parishioners to be present to God?
