Long Walks & Deep Talks

LITURGICALLY THINKING:

LONG WALKS & DEEP TALKS

The Communion procession leads us to the most climactic moment in the Mass. It is here where we, the Church, the bride, come to meet our Divine Bridegroom and receive Him in the most Holy Eucharist - body, blood, soul, and divinity. There is great weight on this procession, on this pilgrimage up the aisle of the church. How do you utilize it? It is easy to fall into distractions at this moment - Oh, there’s the so-and-so family, I wonder how they are doing! or whatever the temptation might be, it’s at this point at the Mass that we should be most fervently preparing for what…or rather Who, we are about to receive. Utilize this walk/procession up the aisle to offer a prayer. A formula (based on a formula found in the book His Angels at Our Side by John Horgan) that I have found to work well during this procession is a four-fold prayer: Faith, Love, Invitation, and Desire. Making an act of each of these, no matter how brief, is a beautiful way of preparing yourself on this walk. For me, this prayer often takes the shape of:

Dear Jesus, I believe that you are present here in the Most Holy Eucharist which I am about to receive and I want to love you with all my heart.

I invite you now into my heart and desire that you may fill even its deepest and darkest corners with your radiance so that I may fruitfully be a light to the world.

Liturgically Thinking is a series of reflections on the Mass written by Connor Miller, director of music.