How to celebrate the liturgy fully, consciously, and actively -
even when there is no Mass
There are several ways in which the domestic church can celebrate authentic Sunday liturgy to keep the Lord’s Day holy. None of these are Mass, of course. But since participating in (as opposed to watching) Mass is not possible, these forms of full, conscious, and active participation in the official rites of the church would seem to reflect the lens of the Second Vatican Council. In fact, the Code of Canon Law recommends that families and individuals participate in these kinds of prayer forms in their homes when they are unable to participate in the eucharistic celebration (see CCL 1248 §2).
Liturgy of the Hours
Sanctifying the hours of the day is an ancient practice in the church. In the early church, the cycle of the day was marked in the domestic church by praying the Lord’s Prayer in the morning, at noon, and in the evening. In more recent times, especially in German and German American households, the day was marked by praying an evening Rosary after dinner. And Christian households can also mark that day by celebrating Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours. Give Us This Day has granted free access to their online prayer resource, which includes a simple Morning and Evening Prayer that can be used at home.
Liturgy of the Word
The church teaches that the presence of Christ is with us when we proclaim God’s word and when the church prays and sings. So when we gather as the domestic church to celebrate the Liturgy of the Word, we gather in and as the presence of Christ. Give Us This Day is an excellent resource to use for household liturgical celebrations of the word. Also, the US Bishops have published Tools for Building a Domestic Church.
Blessings
Some of us think of blessings as something a priest does. He blesses us at the end of Mass, for example. Or he might do a quick blessing of a personal rosary or a new car just before Mass begins. But blessings are actually liturgies. And there are many blessings that can be celebrated in the domestic church. This article gives a good overview of the purpose of blessings. For some blessing prayers you can celebrate, click here.
The church teaches that the presence of Christ is with us when we proclaim God’s word and when the church prays and sings. So when we gather as the domestic church to celebrate the Liturgy of the Word, we gather in and as the presence of Christ. Give Us This Day is an excellent resource to use for household liturgical celebrations of the word. Also, the US Bishops have published Tools for Building a Domestic Church.
Blessings
Some of us think of blessings as something a priest does. He blesses us at the end of Mass, for example. Or he might do a quick blessing of a personal rosary or a new car just before Mass begins. But blessings are actually liturgies. And there are many blessings that can be celebrated in the domestic church. This article gives a good overview of the purpose of blessings. For some blessing prayers you can celebrate, click here.
The Church has a rich treasury of resources for celebrating liturgy in the domestic Church. All of these answer the mandate of the Second Vatican Council to consider before all else the full, conscious, and active participation of the baptismal priesthood in the liturgy of the Church.
If it is spiritually helpful to your parishioners to add a live-stream of your Mass to the hundreds of others that are already available, please do that. But at the same time, catechise the faithful in ways they can celebrate liturgy through the lens of participation so they may continue in their mission to bring God’s salvation to the whole world.
What would happen if we used this current crisis as a teachable moment to help all our parishioners better grasp their baptismal dignity and vocation?
Excerpt from “Do we need another televised Mass? Liturgy in the time of coronavirus.”
https://liturgy.life/2020/03/do-we-need-another-televised-mass-liturgy-in-the-time-of-coronavirus/
