Daily Meditation: Sunday, April 21, 2013

Mass - the meaning of the consecration rites for the priest and the faithful

04/21/2013

Before saying mass, the priest begins by exorcizing and consecrating all the objects he is about to use, as well as the incense, the wine, the hosts, the oil, the holy books and the clothes he is going to wear. For even if no one has touched them, these objects have been exposed to all the currents passing through space, and they have absorbed impurities. The priest says words of purification and consecration for himself too, so that he may be worthy of being a mediator between God and humans. But what do the faithful who are present witnessing this understand? If Christians knew how to interpret the gestures the priest makes when he is about to say mass, they would know why they were attending it. And they would understand that they too must make their whole being a place set aside for the Divine.