Teaching Mass

Yesterday Father Richard Dion, the pastor of Saint Anthony's Parish, held a teaching Mass for our school community.  During this Year of Faith, we felt it was a good opportunity to teach our students more about the Mass and its importance so they can better appreciate it.

Father Richard spent about 30 minutes explaining some of the symbolism, history, and theology of the Mass.  He explained that before the printing press most people did not read and so the Church relied heavily on symbolism during Mass.  Following the invention of the printing press, literacy became more widespread and so the Mass became more "wordy."  During this era too many people used "flowery" language in everyday speak, so too did the Mass.

He also explained that the altar symbolizes Jesus' grave and the linens used during the Liturgy of the Eucharist expand on that - the corporal (from the Latin word "corpus" which means "body" - the square like linen), the purificator (dead bodies were purified in Jesus' era - the linen used to clean the chalice), and the pall (like a funeral pall which covers the body - the square piece of cardboard).  He also shared some other stories, mainly how a bride's wedding veil evolved from when she would leave her parent's house to get married, the only thing she would take would be her baptismal robe and she would wrap that around her head.

Following these explanations he then celebrated Mass for us.  There was so much he could have covered and we didn't have hours and hours we could spare so it was a fantastic and very rich introduction.  We will spend more time in the future going over the parts of the Mass and the theology of the Mass.