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The Mass and the Community of God

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2024

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We all know that the mass is the centre of our lives, that it is the most important thing in the life of the Church; but often we have to make a real effort to see this. It is not the obvious proposition it ought to be. We even have to make an effort to show that the Church really thinks this, rather than simply saying it for effect. What began as a common meal, feeding the people of God both with physical food and with the food of scripture, has become a largely silent ritual performed by one man with his back to the people in a dead foreign language. The bread which we eat has been carefully manufactured to look as little like bread as possible, and there has grown up a tradition that one should, out of reverance, avoid chewing it. Clearly there are reasons why all this should be so, some of them better than others, but looking at our modern liturgy from a distance shows why it is so hard to believe the truth about it.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1963 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers

References

1 E. Schillebeeckx O.P., Worship, May 1961.

2 Ibid.

3 Theological Investigations. London 1961.

4 Christus, Sacrament van de Godsontmoeting, Bilthoven, 1960.

5 Theological Investigations, London 1961.

6 Free Speech in the Church, London 1960.

7 Public Worship; The Eucharistic Prayer; etc., London 1956-9.