The Christian faith, the Holy Mass, is either a living encounter with Christ or it is not. That is why the Liturgy guarantees us the possibility of such an encounter with Him.
In a letter to his family dated July 14, 1929 in New York, Federico García Lorca writes: "Solemnity in religious matters is cordiality, because it is a living proof, for the senses, of the immediate presence of God. It is like saying: God is with us, let us worship and adore him (...) They are the exquisite forms, the nobility with God".
I do not know what Federico had in his heart and in his head when he wrote these words. I can suggest that they are a manifestation of his poet's soul and of his ability to appreciate the beauty of an encounter with the living God; and I do so, because before those lines, he wrote: "Now I understand the fervent spectacle, unique in the world, which is a Mass in Spain".
In his Apostolic Letter "Desiderio Desideravi"in the section The Liturgy: place of encounter with Christ Pope Francis wrote: "Herein lies all the powerful beauty of the Liturgy (...) The Christian faith is either a living encounter with Him, or it is not. The Liturgy guarantees us the possibility of such an encounter. A vague memory of the Last Supper is of no use to us; we need to be present at that Supper, to be able to hear his voice, to eat his Body and drink his Blood: we need him.
In the Eucharist and in all the Sacraments we are guaranteed the possibility of encountering the Lord Jesus and of being touched by the power of his Passover. The saving power of Jesus' sacrifice, of each of his words, of each of his gestures, looks, feelings, reaches us in the celebration of the Sacraments" (nn, 10-11).
"A living encounter with Christ. And if in all the Sacraments Jesus Christ is present and acts, in a very particular way, sacramentally, he does so in the Holy Sacrament of the Blessed Sacrament. Mass.
"It is the Sacrifice of Christ, offered to the Father with the cooperation of the Holy Spirit: an oblation of infinite value, which eternalizes the Redemption in us (...) The Holy Mass thus places us before the primordial mysteries of faith, because it is the very gift of the Trinity to the Church. Thus it is understood that it is the center and the root of the Christian's spiritual life....
In the Mass, the life of grace, which was deposited in us by Baptism and which grows strengthened by Confirmation, is brought to its fullness. When we participate in the Eucharist," writes St. Cyril of Jerusalem, "we experience the deifying spiritualization of the Holy Spirit, who not only configures us to Christ, as happens in Baptism, but also christifies us completely, associating us with the fullness of Christ Jesus" (Josemaría Escrivá. Christ Is Passing By, nn. 86 and 87).
These texts referring to the beauty of the Liturgy expressed in the celebration of the Holy Mass came to my mind on Sunday afternoon. After taking care of a sick person, I went to a church to accompany the Lord for a while. It was a quarter of an hour before the celebration, at 8:00 in the evening. The parishioners began to arrive, in silence and a certain recollection. A large number of the men were wearing shorts, and a smaller number of women as well.
Would they have shown up in those clothes at the party of a family friend? Or at a meeting with their bosses in the area of their professional work? Would they have gone with those clothes to receive an award for a professional performance, for a published book, etc.?
At the entrance door to the church there were none of those signs - which surely all readers will remember - prohibiting entry into the church dressed in that way. Perhaps the priests would not have said anything when they saw them on other occasions approaching in this way to receive Jesus Christ in Communion.
A good number -more than a hundred- of these men and women approached the altar to receive Communion. As soon as the Mass was over, the church emptied. The priest kept the interior silence for barely half a minute, after picking up the altar, without kneeling as he passed in front of the tabernacle. And the faithful who remained in the church thanking God for having received the Eucharist were barely a dozen. Were the parishioners aware of having met the Son of God made man? And of having lived with Jesus all the moments of the Mass, and of having "eaten" Him in the Holy Host?
Original published in Religion Confidential
Ernesto Juliá, ernesto.julia@gmail.com
