The well people in my family went to Epiphany Mass this evening. Meaning Precious (dd 11) and myself. It was nice to go with her by ourselves. She is very devout and we both are able to focus completely on the Mass. For some reason with the other girls there, and dh, it is a bit more distracting at times.
The choir was there, the organ playing, all the Christmas decorations still up and the Wise Men had completed their journey across the miles (and the dais) to worship the Baby Jesus in the manger in our creche. I was not scheduled to serve as Eucharistic Minister, but ended up serving anyway which is always a great privilege.
Lately I’ve been engaged in some discussion on a home schooling forum with protestants over the Eucharist. Someone stated that college students praying over and calling some Ritz and Pepsi communion was perfectly ok. Believing in the Real Presence and having a particular passion for the Eucharist due to the manner of my marriage and reconciliation, I had to disagree. This led to the usual, ‘we can worship any way we please’ type argument on the protestant side and the ‘no, God never left how we worship up to us, remember Nadab and Abihu’ from me. It’s a common exchange with only minor variation as the protestant in question changes over time.
This has been on my mind a great deal of late, the differences in how we approach worship and praise and sacrifice. Most protestants view worship as what ‘feels good’ or is ‘comfortable’ or what seems right in their own eyes. A sin of which I am guilty above all, God forgive me. I do not speak about that which I am not also convicted! However, God did not leave the details of proper worship up to us. He didn’t in the early days of the covenants with Israel, and He didn’t in the completed Covenant with Christ either.
Then tonight in Mass in the prayers and Consecration of the Eucharist, a phrase caught my attention and I found myself struggling not to give in to meditation on it.
We offer you the Sacrifice of Praise.
The Sacrifice of Praise… I had always thought of that as several things… a gift, as something we owe God, as an offering… but the sacrificial element of giving God praise hit me today. It is a sacrifice because we can’t just give whatever we think is best. It is a sacrifice because we must give to God the type of praise GOD has said is appropriate. It is a sacrifice because we die to ourselves, give up our own desires in form of worship, give up our preferences in forms of worship, give up our own comfort with what constitutes worship and praise and instead give to God what is RIGHT to give Him. The praise we offer truly IS a sacrifice… and our humbling ourselves, worshipping Him as HE has said is right and good is part of that sacrifice. It is a sacrifice because it is not we who limit God by worshipping as we please, but God who limits US to worship that accurately reflects who He is and what He has done. Yet it is a sacrifice of praise because in humbling ourselves we truly see in ever new and deep ways how majestic and holy He is and respond with praise. The more fully we humble and reconcile ourselves to true worship, the more aware we become of all the grace and blessing and glory that God has revealed of Himself in that worship, and our willingness to praise is magnified, and our sacrifice more willing and more perfect.
I too had to sacrifice my personal comfort level and preferences in worship when God called me home to Rome… I am so grateful for all the sacrifices God asks of me because they always make me more like Himself… and hope that I am always willing to see what new sacrifice He requires. In the end, I have found that the Liturgy is so precious to me… I can’t imagine anything else as worship now that I’ve truly experienced it. Reconciliation to the Church has helped immeasurably in that way… and yet I must keep being willing to be shown where I yet fail to die to self… I’m a poor and unwilling sacrifice despite my desire to be a better one.
