50/50 - IT'S ALL ABOUT PRESENCE
 The
"Gathering Rite" and the "Liturgy of the Word" in GIRM 2000
Recently a
friend said: "The older I get the more I realize that 50% of life is
'showing up.'" I responded: "So true, and the other 50% is being
as fully 'present' as possible." What a gift when we are totally
attentive - sharing and listening with body, mind, and heart - it has
the potential of changing lives.
It is this
spirit of undivided attention - loving presence - that The General
Instruction of the Roman Missal - 2000 reminds us that we are to
'show up' - Gather - and 'get involved' - be present with
body, mind and heart an the "Liturgy of the Word" and all other parts of
the Mass. We are not called to be passive participants at any part of
our liturgical celebrations but rather active participants who join in
the dance of movements (gestures and changing postures), spoken and sung
words, silence and listening that will bring us to new understandings of
our faith and thus live our faith more efficaciously.
Perhaps
the best way to understand the readings at the Mass and our response
to them is offered by Pope John Paul II in his Instruction Dies
Domini. He encourages those who take part in the Eucharist,
priest, ministers and faithful ... to prepare the Sunday liturgy,
reflecting beforehand upon the Word of God which will be proclaimed
and adds that if we do not, it is difficult for the liturgical
proclamation of the Word of God alone to produce the fruit we might
expect. (n. 40) In this way we till the soil, preparing our
souls to receive the seeds to be planted by the Word of God so that
seed may bear fruit.*
* From the
Roman Missal Formation and Materials provided by the Secretarial for the
Liturgy of the United States conference of Catholic Bishops, 2002.
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