Exploring the Mass in silence

One very vital thing the Church deeply needs today is to recapture the devotion to the real and abiding presence of Christ in the Eucharist. And this not only during Mass, but also outside Mass when Christ's presence continues, and is celebrated in an atmosphere of silence through devotion and prayer before the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.

It is appropriate to say that the late Cardinal Basil Hume had repeated on various occasions that "devotion was slightly weakened in the years that followed the Vatican Council. But we need to rediscover it... as we kneel or sit, quietly and alone."

Way back in 1980, Pope John Paul II said: "The Church and the world have a great need for Eucharistic worship. Jesus awaits us in this Sacrament of love. Let us not refuse the time to go to meet Him in adoration, and in contemplation full of faith."

Since his elevation to the Papacy, Benedict XVI has been stressing the need to rediscover the Mass. Following the steps of his great predecessor, the Holy Father has been saying, in simple language too, how we must treasure the Mass, and how important it is that it should always be celebrated with dignity and reverence, and in a prayerful manner.

This is a crying need for the Church to address today, and we have somehow to make the celebration of the Eucharist attractive. We will not do it by making it consciously cheerful, or by eccentric celebrations. We will do it by going deeper and deeper into its meaning: that is the secret. Priests and laity need to rediscover the numinous. And this is what the new generation is looking for. People come to our churches because they want to discover God, and they want to go out feeling that they have been touched by Him.

Priests and laity need to regain the art of "peaceful silence". Throughout the Mass there are, or should be, moments of peaceful silence. Indeed, silence does increase our awareness of God's presence.

Silence also increases our awareness of our presence and that of those with whom we worship together as God's holy people. It is in moments of deep and active silence that we can discern those aspects of our lives we might need, to offer or give thanks for in prayer.

In silence we must pause at certain moments, such as when we call to mind our sins at the beginning of Mass, or when we make our thanksgiving after Holy Communion. How very important is that precious moment when priests and laity are united with Christ and absorbed by Him in His self-giving. Moments of silences and stillness after Communion are very important, moments before the final prayer and blessing, and those moments after, when we stay behind in church - alone, in "peaceful silence" with Him.