Gestures in the Mass

Pastor’s Column

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

August 18, 2024

Walking in the Door

To enter a church is an act of deep communion with all who have gone before us. We are intimately connected with every other Mass everywhere in time, those we have assisted at in our own lives and all others. Each Mass is the Last Supper: the same sacrifice made present to us in this particular time and place, that we might be a part of God’s great and secret plan for the world and to be present with him sacramentally in his death and resurrection. The Masses we have attended in life are among our greatest investments in the future.

Making the Sign of the Cross

The Sign of the Cross ought to be an act of profound devotion. We dip our hands into the holy water and sign ourselves upon entering a church as a reminder of our own baptism, when a small cross was made on our forehead as we were claimed for Christ and then blessed water poured over our heads. This cross will be carried into eternity!

Three Crosses of Blessing during Mass

There are three distinct crosses the priest makes during the Mass itself, which is symbolic of the Trinity. One at the beginning of Mass, one as a blessing over the people at the end of Mass and one cross which the priest makes over the bread and wine just before the consecration. Just as Christ was accompanied at Calvary by two thieves (one of whom made an act of faith and accompanied Jesus into heaven!), so are these three crosses symbolic of our own crosses that we can offer to the Lord at Mass and unite with him. Though we are sinners, we make an act of faith in his mercy.

The Offertory

The Mass consists of two parts: The Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. After the general intercessions, the priest or deacon prepares the altar for the Eucharistic Sacrifice.  At this time, we offer our humble gifts of bread and wine, but also our tithes, which represent the sacrifice we are willing to make for the Lord. Do I plan how much I will be giving?  What we give in our tithe and attention within Mass is symbolic of what we are willing to give the Lord in our lives outside of Mass. The priest waits in front of the altar with open hands, as a representative of the people, just as Christ waits with open arms for us.

The Corporal

The priest or deacon places the offerings of bread and wine upon a cloth placed carefully on the altar which is called a corporal. In its most elemental sense, the role of the corporal is to catch any crumbs from the Eucharist. Additionally, everything that is placed on the corporal is intended to be consecrated. The corporal also has a symbolic meaning, inasmuch as it represents the burial shroud of Christ.

The Comingling

The priest places a tiny bit of water in the chalice before the beginning of the Eucharistic Prayer. What does this mean?  In the early church, wine was much stronger and typically would be diluted with water before being consumed. We continue to do this simple ritual today because it has taken on a deep meaning. Here the priest prays: 

By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share inthe divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity.

The water symbolizes the humanity of Christ; the wine his divinity. Just as water, once mingled with wine cannot be un-mingled, so the Lord’s humanity is comingled with his divinity forever: it will never be undone. Our humanity has a place, higher than the angels, within the Trinity itself, forever. This is the great mystery symbolized by this action.

The Fraction Rite

After the Eucharistic Prayer, the priest breaks the consecrated host in half, taking a tiny bit of the large host and placing it in the chalice. This reminds us that Christ’s Body was broken for us, and that his Blood was poured out for us. Here, the priest says quietly:

May this mingling of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christbring eternal life to us who receive it.

In the early church, each Sunday the pope would go from parish to parish in Rome, and at each stop he would break off a small piece of the consecrated host, take it with him and place it in the chalice of the next church he visited, this symbolizing the unity of the Church. In the same way, by our receiving the Body and Blood of Christ (even a spiritual communion if we cannot receive for any reason) symbolizes the unity Christ wishes for us with him and his Church, by our faith, our words and our deeds.

Father Gary