Our Response is Faith
by Fr. Erasto Fernandez
When asked about what is our response to God's Word proclaimed for us in the Eucharist, most people would reply: 'Thanks be to God' or another popular reply is, the 'Responsorial psalm.' While the 'Thanks be to God' is an immediate response to the proclamation of the Word in the Eucharist, the Responsorial psalm is most certainly not our response to God's message. A little quiet examination of any given psalm used in the so-called 'responsorial psalm' would reveal that the chosen section of the psalm is rather a meditation on the key point of the first reading than a response, as such. One has only to pay attention to the first reading and then compare the main point with what is recited or sung in the following psalm to realize how true this is. This procedure of giving the assembly time and opportunity to absorb the key point of the reading also emphasizes the importance of looking for God's qualities in any given reading. It is the quality of God's love that is taken up for deeper reflection in the Responsorial psalm.
Since the psalms reflect mostly the feelings of the praying devotee, they form the best meditation on the key point of the first reading. However, it is important that while proclaiming the psalm it is presented more as poetry than as prose and secondly that the assembly focus mainly on the feeling contained in it - often more explicitly than in the reading. One important consequence flowing from these reflections is that the allotted psalm should never be substituted by a more familiar or popular hymn. When the psalm can be sung to a tune known to all, it is preferable that it be sung rather than recited - nevertheless the key point is the deepening of the 'feeling' aroused through the first reading!
Our Response: a Deepening of Faith
Our real response to God's Word is a deepening of our faith in God. Aware that our level of relationship with the Father has deepened through our being more clearly convinced of his love, we then express our faith publicly through the Profession of faith (Creed) and the Prayer of the faithful. Unfortunately in practice, in most Eucharistic celebrations on a Sunday, both these elements have very little to do with the growth or even expression of the personal faith of the assembly. On Sundays most people recite the Creed by rote, hardly paying any attention to a single word of what is being said. There is hardly any concern about how one's faith has been deepened through a better understanding of the text read. In fact, most people celebrating Eucharist would be rather blank when asked 'what was God's message to you in the readings of this Eucharist?' This lapse of memory or, at the best of times, trotting out a vague response simply emphasizes the need of serious training and education in the art of listening to God's Word in the Eucharist.
Besides expressing our deepened faith in the Creed, we have also the Prayer of the Faithful which receives even worse treatment by most participants almost everywhere: it generally takes the form of a readymade formula prepared by somebody not hailing from this particular assembly. These prefabricated leaflets are circulated by individuals or agencies to make things easier for the 'busy' parish clergy - but the presumption underneath is hardly attended to, viz. that the busy parish clergy are happy and satisfied with merely conducting a ritual which has little to do with the faith of the gathered assembly! This pre-packaged formula is merely recited without the people seeing much correspondence between their petitions and the readings, nor do the petitions reflect the (raised) faith level of this concrete assembly. Further, what depth of response can one expect when the assembly can hardly hear or sometimes even understand what is being said as the petitions are read out? In most cases, the entire proclamation becomes merely a ceremony, a ritual that needs to be performed without anyone understanding the reason behind it, nor anyone really praying them from the heart.
The understanding needed here is that in the readings God reveals the unfathomable quality of his love for his people. He then asks the assembly (as in Ex 19:3-5): 'Have you seen how much I love you, how much I am prepared and eager to do for you because I love you?' Once this unbelievable love of God has been personally realized and appreciated, it becomes relatively easy for the assembly to pour out its heart to God expressing the most pressing needs of the community or to surrender itself for the great work of evangelization throughout the following week. While there is generally a given format to be followed in composing these prayers of the faithful, (first for the Holy Father, Bishops, Pastors and ministers of the Church, then the needs of the country, followed by the needs of this praying community and rounded off with any particular needs that are urgent or topical), it must be remembered that the petitions are really meant to be sparked off by the readings themselves. After all, it is the text of the readings that has deepened the faith of the community, isn't it?
Prayers of the Faith-ful
A practical example would help. On a Sunday when the parable of the Prodigal Son is read (Lk 15:11-32) some of the petitions made could be:
"The father welcomed him with open arms": we pray for those in the Church who represent God the Father, viz., our Holy Father, Bishops and priests, that they may consistently show to everyone the compassion of God…
"The younger son gathered all his belonging and went off to a distant country": we pray for those who have distanced themselves from Mother Church because of some emotional hurt received, that these persons might once again taste the unbelievable love of the Father and return to the fold…
"The elder son got angry and refused to enter in": we pray for those who like the elder boy feel that God is unjust to them, that they may understand more deeply the incredible love of the Father for his wayward children…
"But we had to celebrate": We pray for those celebrating this Eucharist that we all remember that it is the Father who calls us to share in the joy of the homecoming… and so on.
The important point in making these petitions is to link the petition with a phrase from the text, without necessarily quoting it verbatim. And the petitions should arise from the actual needs of the entire parish. With regard to the text taken as an example, there certainly would be several people who have left the Catholic Church and gone either to some fundamentalist sect or other, or have just given up the practice of the faith; or pastors who have hurt their parishioners, knowingly or unknowingly, on some occasion or other… and so on. Such petitions being more true to life would certainly touch the hearts of the praying community and make them want to 'own' these petitions. They could be encouraged to pray for these needs not only during the Eucharist, but expand on them later, making them much more personal and concrete. The idea behind the Prayer of the Faithful is that God still continues to show such lavish mercy and acceptance of the sinner - which is why we are encouraged to pray for even people who might seem totally lost to God's love and the Church.
Performatory Prayer
Another very important idea with regard to these petitions is: we should never put forth an intention unless we ourselves are prepared to do something about it. From this angle, these prayers are known as 'performatory.' The intention expressed must include on the part of the petitioner a readiness to take effective action. Here too an example would help us understand the point clearly. Let us imagine that we are experiencing a lot of trouble in the family, constant bickering and squabbling which produces a very tense atmosphere the whole day long. Against this background we pray for peace in our family. Now, asking God to grant us peace will not help bring peace to this troubled family, unless the petitioner is prepared, as a member of the family, to do something to effectively bring about this peace. Maybe, he would need to have the courage to call for a family meeting in which all look at what is happening squarely without apportioning out blame to any particular person. It could be that the causes are much deeper than is perceived, but unless they are unearthed and seen for what they are, there is no likelihood of peace descending on this family like rain from the skies.
Even if it is peace on an international level that one prays for, one should be ready to do something at least in the form of reducing the causes of fraternal breakdown of peace in one's own life! In other words, we do not put the burden of clearing up a difficult situation entirely on God. He has already given us the wherewithal to handle the situation. Having willingly ensured our participation and cooperation, he will certainly show us a way out and work together with us to grant what we have prayed for.
Universal Prayer
From yet another angle, these prayers are called 'Universal prayers' because they are meant to span the needs of the entire world. It is worth remembering that when we celebrate Eucharist, our very presence there is a great gift to us from the Lord. Now, no gift or blessing is given to a person for his/her benefit alone; all of God's gifts are always meant to be shared with others who are less privileged. In fact, that is the core meaning of Eucharist itself - it is 'bread broken to be shared.' So, if we are privileged to place our petitions before the Father at Eucharist, we remember that we pray in the name of the whole Church and world. Most Christians would need a fair bit of education in this regard; their prayers are usually centred round themselves only - at most they would reach out to friends and relatives, and maybe some acquaintances, but that too only because they are in some way connected with the petitioner.
It would be a good practice to train people to keep a writing pad and pencil near them as they listen to the TV news bulletin or when reading the daily newspaper, jotting down the urgent needs of people all around the world. In fact, these petitions can be picked up from any source as long as they represent a real need among people. These needs are to be reflected in the petitions made at Eucharist, either expressly or at least silently in one's heart as the prayers of the faithful are being done. Incidentally, this approach also applies to the petitions that are part of the Eucharist prayer - after the Institution Narrative! Doing this would also show that we appreciate our privilege of being present at Eucharist, and that we have understood a little more deeply the real meaning of being Church. Our own experience shows us that when we are caught up with pain and severe problems, it is difficult to focus our minds on prayer for others. So, it is helpful and necessary for others around us who are not suffering that severely, to pray on our behalf. In Mk 1:29-31 we are told that when Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew they immediately told him about Peter's mother-in-law who lay in bed with a fever - and he 'raised her up.' When the Christian community gathers for Eucharist it must express its concern for members who are in need as this community did when Jesus visited their home.
Eucharistic Values
A deep shining faith would be the outcome of entering into the Liturgy of the Word meaningfully each time we celebrate the Eucharist. We recall that "faith is the assurance of things as yet unseen" (Hebr 11:1). It requires of us that we adopt God's own vision of the world and everything in it. So, once we make God's vision our own and begin to live our entire lives according to that vision, that would be a sure sign that the Eucharist is working in our lives. But we should not forget that most people tend to take either a very rational, natural view of life or what is worse, a pessimistic negative view of everything. Against this background, our faith vision should shine like stars in a dark world. However, it would be worth noting that we cannot expect others to readily adopt our faith vision of life, because in most cases, it will not make much sense to them; faith is something deeply personal. So, we would naturally be rather isolated, maybe sometimes we could even become the butt of the jokes and ridicule of others (often within the family itself). But all these 'persecutions' should serve to make our faith all the deeper and more personal. To strengthen us in such situations we recall that even Jesus was ridiculed as he hung on the Cross believing in the Father's love for him and for all of us, his brethren!
An offshoot of this faith vision is that we become witnesses of the risen life of Jesus. With his dying-rising, Jesus has conquered all forms of sin and its consequences, especially death. Thus, even if we do not explicitly refer everything to the power of the Risen Lord and his Spirit, we would certainly be pointing to a higher level of life than what is found among others. Our optimism, peace and joy too would be enduring and more often than not, contrast sharply with the opposite attitudes of others around us.
Another characteristic would be the manner of praying we habitually adopt. Our prayer would have very little of petitions in the sense that our preoccupation in life would not just be to get things for ourselves in order to make life more easy. Our faith would assure us that our Father knows what we are in need of already before we ask him and his tremendous love for us would prompt him to supply all that we need. Rather, the few petitions we make would be mostly for others as we reach out to them in compassion, the same compassion which the Father has for them. And as mentioned above, we would not shy away from being instruments in making that compassion reach them in a human form. Our prayer would include a fair amount of praise and thanks, or even a silent wondering and marveling at God's love and providence!
Further, when we pray for ourselves our petitions should be that we make better use of the gifts the Father has already blessed us with or that God provide us with challenging opportunities to use these gifts. The Letter to the Ephesians reminds us that the Father has blessed us with every spiritual gift in the heavenly places through Christ, his Son! (Eph. 1:3-10). Hence there is nothing that we need ask God to grant us - he has granted us everything we need already. So our prayer is rather that we may use the gifts we already have, dispelling all fear and reluctance to act on behalf of our neighbour. Further, we also ask the Father to grant us opportunities and challenges that will enable us to use our gifts and share them with those in need. A good example of this is found in Luke's 'Lord's Prayer' in which we ask: 'Give us, each day, our very special Eucharistic bread!' But the specialty of the Eucharistic bread as understood by the early Christians is not that Jesus is really and wholly present in the broken bread, but rather that the Eucharist is 'bread that is broken to be shared!' So the Lord's Prayer teaches us to pray that the Father bless us with plenty of gifts - gifts that we will break and share with others in need. A true Christian never prays for gifts only for himself; in fact, he doesn't even live for himself but for others, just as Jesus did (See 2 Cor 5:14-15).
The fact that we pray for challenges to break our bread is demonstrated in the parable that follows the Lord's prayer (Lk 11:5-8). Here, the man in need goes to his neighbour at the dead of night to ask for a loan of three loaves of bread. The friend from inside objects that even if he wanted to give his friend the bread, it would mean a lot of inconvenience and disturbance to the entire household that is asleep. We note that he does not say that his reluctance to give what his neighbour needs stems from the fact that he does not have bread. He does have bread, but is challenged to incur inconvenience (and also cause inconvenience to the entire sleeping family) to help his neighbour in his need. Eventually realizing that the Christian challenge is always a demanding one for all who follows Jesus, the man gets up and gives his neighbour all that he needs. Had the man asked for the same bread earlier in the evening that would have posed no problem at all - but that he should come at midnight makes it all the more difficult to accede to his demands. So, what we are taught to pray for is: bread that we will break and share with our needy brethren especially when it is inconvenient for us. Thus the real breaking is of the Self and the narrow horizons we place for our lives!
We can be sure that if we pray in this fashion, as Jesus himself taught us, the Father will answer our prayer and give us several opportunities, and difficult ones at that, but never more difficult than we can handle. With the challenge will come the strength to face it - that is our firm belief, for the Father loves us and chooses with great care his instruments to demonstrate his compassion, attending both to the one in need and also to the instrument chosen. With such a faith in him, we can step out and literally break of our lives without too much fear of losing or missing out on God's gifts to ourselves.
Summing up all these Eucharistic values we would like to develop in our lives as a result of our celebration in which we listen to God's word, we have:
- A deeper and more lively faith - seeing God at work in our lives and around us
- A more selfless manner of praying - more for the needs of others than for ourselves
- Praying rather that we use our gifts and for challenging opportunities to do so
- More praise and thanks expressed in our prayers
- A greater peace, optimism and joy in our daily lives
- On openness to the needs of others, all over the world
- A deeper sense of what it means to be Church, one body in Christ.
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Copyright © Fr. Erasto Fernandez. All rights reserved.
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