I Fall On My Knees

Liturgy: how do I love thee! The question is, why? What does liturgy mean to me?

The liturgical calendar seems like an obvious place to start. For a long time, the pattern of my life has followed Church seasons. Advent is the beginning of the year, and I always find myself full of anticipation. Christmas, of course, is full of joy. Lent is difficult, sorrowful, a steep descending path to death full of danger. Easter is, again, joyful and light, and it fills me with a sense of hope and new life. Jesus has triumphed and, by trusting in him, so may I. Pentecost is fire and energy, a time of new vision and understanding. Through all this, the chain of ordinary time carries me forward through the ebb and flow of the week, punctuated by remembrance of the Saints and of events in Jesus' life.

Because the calendar s informs my lived experience of Christianity, I find it important that the liturgy reflect the changes that shape the year.

One of the reasons I like processions is because of the way they can inform the geography of the church. A procession can come out of the sacristy and pass through the center of the church, symbolically gathering the congregation together under the sign of Christ. It ritually connects the nave with the sanctuary since it incorporates the journey through the church into the journey toward the altar.

I like how changes in the procession can change my experience of the rest of the liturgy. On Christmas Eve, a baby Jesus can be carried in and placed in a manger at the foot of the altar. On Palm Sunday (Passion Sunday) the procession stops at the back of the church and continues after a reading; it recreates Jesus' joyous, welcome entry into the city, and the Eucharist takes on a bitter-sweet depth of meaning by following the happy reception. I like that the priest wears a 'cape' in that procession, and that they're re-dressed in a chasuble in the sanctuary. The garment -- the perception of Christ -- changed in such a short period of time.

I love that the Holy Thursday procession stops at the altar of repose, that Good Friday has no procession at all (at least until the veneration of the Cross). I love how the light from the congregation's candles spreads slowly forward alongside the procession at the Easter vigil, all the light coming from the Paschal fire.

Seasons and movement: so powerful for me!

Which is why we shouldn't say 'alleluia' during Lent. That defeats the purpose of glutting yourself on it at Easter.