Nunraw Abbey sign - roadside Last Supper |
Chapter Talk - 2 September 2015
Br. Philip
The Mass and Monastic Life
At
every liturgical function Jesus, Head of the Church, is present with His whole
mystical Body, offering praise to the Father and sanctifying the souls of men.
Therefore
it is clear that in the Liturgy we find Jesus as our Redeemer and Sanctifier. But
it is above all in the mass, which is the very heart of the Liturgy, that we discover
Christ Himself and ourselves in Him
The
mass, particularly the Conventual m. ass, is the very heart of the monastic life,
because in it the monastic community and all the persons who go to make it up, unite
with Christ the High Priest in the very Mystery of His great Redemptive act
which is made present upon the altar. At every mass, Christ Is present to us as
immolated and risen from the dead and the Church is immolated and rises with
Him. At every mass, the new life of the Spirit, the life of the sons of God, is
renewed in us as we participate in the sacrifice of the Divine High Priest, the
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
The
Mass is the very heart of our monastic sacrifice of ourselves to God. At every
mass and Communion we have the very essence of our monastic immolation of
ourselves with Christ. At the Consecration we bow down and renew our total
surrender to the will of God in and with Jesus Crucified. At mass we enter into
the holy of holies, the sanctuary of Heaven with him. At mass, the whole Body
of Christ stands before the face of the Heavenly Father and adores His infinite
holiness, makes perfect reparation for all sin, thanks Him for all His gifts
and above all thanks Him for His great glory. In so doing, the Church also
petitions Him for mercy and for grace and for all the temporal blessings that
we need in order to live as the children of God. Above all, in Communion we are
sacramentally united to the risen and glorified Saviour, the principle of our
life "in the Spirit". We are also united to each and other more
closely in the "Spirit of Christ" because by our Communion we grow in
charity.
It is
in the Mass and Liturgy that we are most truly and perfectly monks, because it
is there that we most fully live our life in Christ, finding Him whom we have
come to seek, submitting in and with Him to the Father's will.
Cf. Thomas Merton, ocso.
No comments:
Post a Comment