A Biblical Walk through the Mass: Understanding What we say in the Liturgy is a practical 2011 book. In A Biblical Walk through the Mass: Understanding What we say in the Liturgy, Dr. Edward Sri takes readers on a tour of the Mass. A Biblical Walk through the Mass: Understanding What we say in the Liturgy does exactly what it says in the title. Based on the revised translation of the Mass, this book explores the biblical roots of the words and gestures we experience in the Mass and explains their significance. Will this intriguing look at the Catholic Mass is sure to renew your faith and deepen your devotion to the Eucharist?
Summary of A Biblical Walk through the Mass: Understanding What we say in the Liturgy
A Biblical Walk through the Mass: Understanding What we say in the Liturgy does exactly what the title describes. Author Edward Sri goes through the Mass in detail in 157 pages. Along the way, Sri explains the origin of the Mass’s prayers, symbols, and rituals with specific biblical references. A Biblical Walk through the Mass: Understanding What we say in the Liturgy will be of great interest to Catholics.
The biblical connections to the Mass exist both in the words of the Mass being quoted or paraphrased from scripture (eg. “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world”), and also in the practices (eg. asking for God’s mercy, or the way the Eucharistic prayers are modelled on Jewish table prayers).
A Biblical Walk through the Mass: Understanding What we say in the Liturgy is a fascinating read, packed full of interesting things many people do not know. Edward Sri’s writing is clear, concise, engaging, and easy to read. It provides food for thought to help all focus and concentrate a bit better in Mass. Now, when we go to Mass, we can think back to the explanations in this book. The book also has reasonably short sections, which made it easy to pick up, put it down, and read bits at a time.
The Mass
The Catholic Church sees the Mass as “the source and summit of the Christian life.” Remembered in the Mass are Jesus‘ life, the Last Supper, and sacrificial death on the cross at Golgatha, or ‘the place of the skull.’ The priest or bishop is acting in persona Christi, as he recalls the words and gestures of Jesus Christ. There are two primary parts to the Mass, the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
Although similar in outward appearance to the Anglican Mass or Lutheran Mass, the Catholic Church distinguishes between its own Mass and theirs based on what it views as the validity of the orders of their clergy. It is all about the Priest, who, unique to Catholicism, is celibate.
In a 1993 letter to Bishop Johannes Hanselmann of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria, Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) argued that “a theology oriented to the concept of succession [of bishops], such as that which holds in the Catholic church, need not in any way deny the salvation-granting presence of the Lord [Heilschaffende Gegenwart des Herrn] in a Lutheran [evangelische] Lord’s Supper.”
The Decree on Ecumenism, promulgated by Vatican II in 1964, records that the Catholic Church notes its understanding that when other faith groups “commemorate Jesus’ death and resurrection in the Lord’s Supper, they profess that it signifies life in communion with Christ and look forward to His coming in glory.”
Within the fixed structure of the Mass specific to the Roman Rite includes the Scripture readings, the antiphons sung or recited during the entrance procession and at Communion, and certain other prayers vary each day according to the liturgical calendar. All Masses, everywhere in the world, are exactly the same everywhere in the world.
Conclusion
A Biblical Walk through the Mass: Understanding What we say in the Liturgy is a practical 2011 book. It can be used by Catholics as a reference to understand Mass. It will only apply to Catholics who attend Mass, though it might appeal to anyone who is curious and wants to understand the Mass.
