Preparation for Mass

Date: 18 November 2006 11:24:35

Thanks be to God the Bible studies continue to go well: I was a bit scattered this week, and a bit unhappy with my scatteredness, but, thanks be to God, it did seem to come together and there was a lot of discussion. We are beginning to look at an overview of Jesus' ministry in the synoptic Gospels, and tonight we had a brief (you could spend a whole study on each of these) look at John the Baptist, Christ's baptism, His temptation, and we began to look at what "The Kingdom of God" means. Next week, God willing, we'll be looking at the Kingdom of God more deeply through the Sermon on the Mount (and the Beatitudes, the Lord's Prayer, and Christ's fulfilling of the Law) and various Parables.

One of my beloved books is my Monastic Diurnal from Lancelot Andrewes Press. God willing, this Nativity season I may be spurred on to use it more frequently and make it more of a part of my daily prayer rule. In the back section as part of an appendix is a service "said according to the opportunity of the Priest" for Preparation for Mass. I make the necessary changes, and omissions, being a layman, but I find it a beautiful preparation for Liturgy after Vespers.

Five Psalms begin this preparation [84; 85; 86; 116 (from v. 10); 130], which are followed by a number of beautiful prayers. Here are some selections:

Purify our consciences, we beseech thee, O Lord, by thy visitation: that our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son, when he cometh, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself.

I love the use of "mansion" in relation to ourselves: it reminds me of Christ's promise of many mansions prepared for us, but in this instance we prepare ourselves to receive Christ.

... Let thy good Spirit enter into my heart, there silently to sound, and without clamour of words, to speak all truth ...
(from a Prayer of St Ambrose)

This reminds me of the verses in 1 Kings 19 (and the final verse of Dear Lord and Father of Mankind!) where the Lord was not in the loud wind, or the earthquake, or the fire: but in the gentle whisper. And it also reminds me that words are sometimes not needed, and often get in the way, of such great mysteries as the Eucharist.

... I draw nigh as one sick, to the Physician of life; unclean, to the Fountain of mercy; blind, to the light of eternal brightness; poor and needy, to the Lord of heaven and earth ... O most merciful God, grant me so to receive the body of thine only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, which he took of the Virgin Mary, that I may be worthy to be incorporated into his mystical Body and accounted among his members ...
(from a Prayer of St Thomas Aquinas)

I love the imagery and contrast of sick / Physicians; unclean / Fountain... ; and the last part of the prayer reminds me of Christianity's relational aspect: we are not solo Christians, but we are members of Christ's body, His church, here on earth: we are united to one another, and to Christ, in a mystical union.