The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1960-12-02

lice is II we become one with
Christ.
Therefore, ii isn't our sacri-
flee, it is Christ'S sacrifice to
which we become partakers
by uniting ourselves to Him
in His Mystical Body.
/ don't understand Latin,
either, but it doesn't take too
mnch effort to glance at the
English translation OCCASION
ally once one has caught on
to the Latin recitation and in
this way to pick up the mean
ing of the Latin prayer.
In addition, there is not
one of us who can really UNI
derstand the depth of mean
ing in the celebration of the
Mass. whether in Latin or
English, for the concept of
God loving us so much that He
would sacrifice His Heart and
His Will as well as His Body
to make it possible for us to
live with Him forever, is be-
yond our comprehension; it is
so important that we under
stand, rather, that we are unit
ing ourselves to Christ, that
we are submitting our wills
to His, that we are sacrificing
ourselves with Him TO God
the Father in the Mass.
AS VICTIMS of the original
sin, not one of us is capable
of easily seeing our unity with
Christ In our fallen nature
that makes these things SO
difficult to understand, don't
we need every outward sign
we can muster up to remind
us of this unity?
Isn't making the effort to
speak out at Mass a visible
sign of our submitting our
wills to God? Doesn't the
sound of many voices speak
ing as one in words that are
spoken throughout the world
in the same way, with the
same vocal unity, give a graph
ic understanding Of our unity
of the fact that we are Of
fering this Sacrifice to Cod
with one voice.?
IT is often said that one can
pray the Mass with more de-
votion if he says the prayers
to himself, without the dis
traction of babble' Il cringe at
the adjectiveD Such a system
of silent prayer is far more
appropriate to a noVena which
Is a devotional exercise rather
than a uniting with Christ in
His own sacrifice, but who
complains of community pray
err at a novena?
Can one read the Creed or
the Gloria and persist in say
ing he would rather read the
Mass to himself? What worth
would the apostles declara-
ton of faith have been if, in
stead of shouting their belief
in Christ to the rooftops, they
Thought ii to themselves?
Who ever heard of "Hosanna
i'm the highest" whispered?
How would Christ have felt
if, when he rode into Jerusa-
lem on Palm Sunday, the
crowd stood by the road and
thought their praise in sill
ence?
SUCH PARTICIPATION at
the Mass can be likened to a
great orchestra performing
before a king: When the con-
ductor raises his baton, two
violins begin Beethoven's
Fifth Symphony while the
other musicians read their
music in silence. A little ride
ulous, isn't it, when by pick
ing up their instruments and
joining the two violins, these
musicians could produce a
beautiful performance Of the
great work for the king?
Father M. Eugene Boylan,
In his wonderful book, This
Tremendous Lover" tells us
that when we give up our pri-
vate prayer, which may give
us a certain feeling of "devo-
ton to assist in public lit
urgical prayer, 1--WE are really
exchanging our own poor
prayer for the powerful pray
err Of Christ" With such odds,
do we have a choice?
Mrs. Walter r. Platte