Sense of the sacred

FOR one week after the celebration of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, we had a daily solemn benediction to adore and venerate the real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

Beautiful Eucharistic prayers, hymns and readings were made. Fragrant incense was swung and spread. The monstrance used was embedded with precious stones of rubies, emeralds and pearls. The cope and humeral veil were in resplendent gold thread.

Everyone tried his best to pray and behave. And then after the liturgical acts, a young fellow came, jolting me with a question: “Father, why do we do all this stuff? What am I supposed to think in all those acts?”

I immediately recognized ignorance and confusion more than unbelief and malice in the one who asked the question. For that, I was happy he asked. He voiced what I know was in the mind of many people. Instantly I was convinced it was an honest question that needed to be answered properly.

And so I had to muster all I’ve got to convey the proper doctrine in the proper spirit. I told him that the Blessed Sacrament is the real presence of Christ. How would you behave if you are right in front of Christ, I asked him in return.

Before he could form any word, I told him that we need to make an act of faith and love to enter into the sublime reality being presented in that liturgical act. Without that gesture, without that attitude, the whole ceremony would fall flat. We would miss the most precious reality we can be in.

Than I told him how important it is to take care of one’s faith, nourishing it to make it vibrant and expressive. I told him that the faith is the culmination of our knowledge of things, since it is the knowledge of God and of spiritual and supernatural realities that also govern our life. It’s God’s gift to us.

But that faith, I told him, should be kept in good condition and should grow. It should be made to embrace and affect all aspects of our life. It cannot be restricted into some areas of our life. That’s our problem and challenge, because our tendency is to confine it such that we live a double life or an unintegrated multi-sided life.

Then I told him what I consider as a sense of the sacred that everyone should always try to cultivate, by explaining some aspects of the ceremony. The prayers and hymns are taken from Scripture and writings of saints, and represent the purest and distilled expression of adoration.

When we pray, we should see to it that the words really spring from the heart, a heart already filled with faith and love for God, since out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The lips and the heart should be in harmony. And when many people pray together, the prayer should form a lovely symphony.

What can help is that when we pray we should think to whom are we talking, what are we saying, how should we say it, with what sentiments should accompany it, what resolutions should come from it.

I remember that as a kid I saw old women in the church praying, and I could not help but be moved to see their faces brighten and darken as they prayed. I understood then that they were talking to God, and what they talked about was reflected on their faces.

We have to remember that in any liturgical act, no matter how handicapped by our human limitations and mistakes, we are actually doing and participating in the act of Christ, the act of the Church with all the saints and angels and the Christian faithful.

It is our most social act, because it is a concrete articulation of the communion of saints that we are meant to live as Christian believers even while here on earth. We anticipate heaven on earth with the liturgy.

It is communion of life and love, and not just something external, something social or political. It goes deep into our heart where we become one in Christ in spite of our human differences and conflicts.
When we say the litany of praises, our heart should sing with joy. When we swing the incense, we should realize that we are offering a sacrifice that hopefully is pleasing to God. These are the thoughts we should have in a solemn benediction, I told him.