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Why do Catholics do that?
׀ The Rosary ׀ Praying to the Saints ׀ The Stations of the Cross ׀ The Sign of the Cross l Anointing with Oil l The Angelus l Mass Vestments
Incense is one of the most ancient elements in worship. In Exodus 25.6 God includes it among the offerings that he seeks from the children of Israel, and in Exodus 30 He gives Moses detailed instructions for the manufacture of incense and commands that ‘The incense that you make… shall be to you holy for the Lord’. God speaks through the prophet Malachi: ‘For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, my name shall be great among the Gentiles; in every place incense shall be offered to my Name, and a pure offering, for my Name shall be great among the nations.’ Early Fathers of the Church, like Irenaeus, Justin Martyr and Hippolytus, saw Eucharistic worship as a fulfilment of this prophecy.
Even more significant for us perhaps are the references to incense in the Book of Revelation, because here there is a direct connection between incense and prayer:
‘Now when he had taken the scroll the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.’ (Rev 5.8).
‘Then another angel having a golden censer came in and stood at the altar. He was give much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar that was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. (Rev 8 3-4)
Reading these quotations it is not difficult to see how the Church has come to regard incense as a natural feature of its worship.
In the Mass incense is used in two ways. First, it cleanses symbolically the people and the things involved in the Eucharist. Almost the first action of the celebrant is the censing of the altar, after which he is himself censed. The book is censed before the Gospel is sung, while in the course of the offertory the Host and Chalice are censed when their preparation is complete. Shortly afterwards all those present, in the sanctuary and in the congregation, are ritually cleansed with incense.
Secondly, incense is a visual representation of prayer rising to God. This can be seen most clearly when the thurible is used at the elevation of the Host and Chalice at the consecration. No cleansing is necessary here: the incense emphasises dramatically a deeply prayerful moment. This second use of incense is perhaps most strikingly seen in the rite of Benediction.
So is incense essential? Certainly not, but a great many things that Catholics do in worship are not essential, and this leads us to consider the difference between Catholic and Protestant attitudes to worship. It would, I think be fair to say that for Protestants worship is a matter of mind and speech; faith leads to the desire to pray, and that desire is articulated in the saying of prayers.
For Catholics worship, especially the Holy Eucharist, is an action - something done, not simply said – so the body and the senses are much more deeply involved. Bowing, genuflecting, the sign of the cross are all signs of personal involvement with what is happening in the Mass. And whereas Protestants will tend to regard the senses as undesirable sources of distraction during worship – hence, for example, the lack of ornamentation in the church - Catholics freely engage all the senses. They smell the incense, they see the statues and holy pictures, they hear the music, they feel the rosary beads in their hands, they taste the Blood of Christ in the chalice. All this is a rich accompaniment to saying the prayers This is not a distraction but a powerful enhancement of worship.
There is nothing wrong in striving for the beauty of holiness. The Orthodox are fond of saying that worship should be a foretaste of heaven, and anyone who has been present at a celebration of the Divine Liturgy in an Orthodox cathedral will know that it can be an overwhelming, other-worldly experience. Even in our own modest churches incense makes a powerful contribution to that other-worldliness.
At first sight the Rosary seems an odd way to pray. It appears to consist mainly of repeating the same phrases over and over again – Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.’ But those sentences (known as the ‘Hail Mary’) have a distinct purpose. They are a mantra. Many religions make use of mantras, which are familiar words known by heart and constantly repeated. Their purpose is to be not so much a prayer in themselves as a background to prayer and meditation.
Among the difficulties people commonly experience when praying are first of all getting into ‘prayer mode’ – banishing the everyday thoughts and preoccupations that crowd our minds all the time - and then maintaining full concentration on the prayers without letting the mind wander again. A mantra can solve this problem. The constantly-repeated phrase first relaxes the mind and then drives out irrelevant thoughts. Soon the mantra retreats to the back of the mind and allows silent meditation and prayer to take over. It takes a little practice, but it works.
So in the Rosary we have running continuously at the back of our minds the plea to Mary to add her intercession to ours while simultaneously at the front of the mind we summon up the objects of our particular prayers at that moment.
In the conventional Rosary the thoughts at the front of our minds are not so much prayers as meditations on the ‘Mysteries’ – the significant events in the lives of Jesus and his mother. Various pamphlets are available to explain how to use the Rosary in this way. The ‘scriptural Rosary’ helps meditation by supplying brief Bible extracts between the Hail Marys to guide meditation. But the Rosary can be equally valuable as a way of structuring our personal prayers. Its five divisions of ten beads each allow us to decide in advance whom and what we intend to pray for and then to offer our intercessions systematically. This may seem a little mechanical, but there is no harm in being efficient in our prayers rather than relying on the inspiration of the moment!
(A useful pamphlet on the use of the Rosary is available from our Archdiocesan office.)
The ancient Catholic practice of praying to the saints is often misunderstood. We do not pray to the saints as an alternative to praying to God, nor do we believe that the saints can answer our prayers of their own accord, independently of God. The purpose of praying to the saints is to ask them to give added power to our prayers.
We know only too well how unsatisfactory our own attempts at prayer are. We are hampered by many things, including perhaps a weak faith, nagging doubts about the effectiveness of prayer or simply the cares of everyday life that intrude on our minds as we try to pray. We know too that the saints in heaven do not have these problems. They are in much closer communication with God, they have no doubts, no distractions, so we believe that their prayers are infinitely more powerful than our own feeble efforts. In particular we believe that the Blessed Virgin Mary has a unique relationship with her Son in heaven, and that her prayers on our behalf can have a specially powerful effect.
Nevertheless many non-Catholics object to the practice of asking the saints in heaven, including the Virgin Mary, to pray for us. They often quote 1 Timothy 2:5, "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." Since Jesus is our only mediator, they argue, Mary (or any other saint) shouldn't be asked to pray on our behalf.
But this idea can be held only if you believe that death creates a chasm between Christians on earth and Christians in heaven. Jesus Christ is indeed our Mediator, but as a mediator he represents his Body, the whole Church. Catholics believe that Christians aren't separated from Christ or each other at death. We are members of the one Body of Christ, and we don't become amputated from the Body when we die. Nor is it true that there two Churches, one in heaven and another on earth, separated by death and thus somehow not in communion with each other. We reject any idea that separates us from one another and consequently destroys the unity of the Church. The Gregorian Canon has the homelier word ‘household’ to describe this one-ness - the saints, the departed souls and we on earth are a family united under its head, Jesus Christ. The saints, as part of the family, look to Christ as their Mediator just as we do, and this will remain true until the final resurrection, after which there will be no need for a mediator.
In the Apostles’ Creed we say that we believe in "the communion of saints." This means that since we are, together with the saints, all one in Christ, we can ask the saints in heaven to pray for us in exactly the same way as we might ask our fellow-Christians here on earth to add their prayers to our own - and no-one thinks that is odd.
In previous articles in this series we have seen that there is a Catholic instinct in worship to do rather than simply hear and say. The Stations of the Cross are a good example. We can follow the events of Jesus’ sufferings and death by reading the Gospels ourselves or listening to somebody else reading them, but the Stations of the Cross are a way of actually following Jesus as he makes his way to Calvary and hangs on the Cross.
The Stations are a series of fourteen pictures or carvings portraying incidents in Christ's journey from his condemnation by Pilate to his being laid in the tomb. They are arranged around the inside walls of churches and chapels, but are also to be found in other settings such as along wooded paths near shrines. In the devotion of the Stations, an individual or group passes from station to station, reciting prayers and meditating on each incident.
In the middle ages the ultimate destination for pilgrims was Jerusalem, although few were able to accomplish the journey. It is believed that those who managed it adopted the habit of following the ‘via dolorosa’ - a walk through the streets and up to the site of Calvary, following the route traditionally taken by Jesus. The walk would end at the tomb.
It is thought that the Stations originated as a way of allowing those unable to travel to follow the pilgrimage route in Jerusalem. The devotion became popular when it was promoted by the Franciscan order, who were given custody of the Holy Places in the Holy Land in the 1300s.
The fourteen events commemorated in the Stations are as follows:
1. Jesus is condemned to death.
2. He receives his Cross.
3. He falls for the first time.
4. He meets his Mother.
5. Simon of Cyrene is made to help carry the Cross.
6. St Veronica wipes the face of Jesus.
7. Jesus falls the second time.
8. Jesus meets and addresses the women of Jerusalem.
9. He falls for the third time.
10. He is stripped of his garments.
11. He is nailed to the Cross.
12. He dies on the Cross.
13. He is placed in the arms of his Mother.
14. He is laid in the tomb.
There is no fixed form of prayers for the Stations of the Cross. A traditional form, used before each Station, begins: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by your Holy Cross, you have redeemed the world. This is followed by a brief meditation, after which is said the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary and Glory be to the Father….
In recent years the custom has developed of adding the Resurrection as a fifteenth Station. While we must never separate in our minds the death of Christ from his Resurrection, the customary fourteen Stations do have the effect of concentrating our attention on Christ’s suffering and sacrifice, and are thus a powerful devotion for Lent and especially for Good Friday. The addition of the Resurrection is entirely appropriate when the Stations are said at other times throughout the year.
It is odd that Protestants should regard with distaste the Catholic custom of making the sign of the Cross during their devotions. The Cross, after all, is the supreme symbol that unites all Christians, representing the sacrifice by which we have received the possibility of salvation By signing ourselves with the Cross we declare our allegiance to Jesus Christ, and remind ourselves of the Cross made on our foreheads at baptism.
Yet many people still insist on seeing the sign of the Cross as a superstitious gesture rather like touching wood. (And it has to be said that Catholics, through long habit, can use the sign automatically with no real thought as to its significance.)
Catholics use bodily actions a great deal in their devotions, especially during the Mass. We kneel for intercessory prayer and to receive the Sacrament, because it is natural to do so when asking Almighty God for something and certainly when receiving the great gift of Christ himself. We sit when being instructed in the homily or in the Epistle (which is rightly called the Lesson). We stand to express our praise in the Gloria and to proclaim our beliefs in the Creed. We also stand in solidarity with the priest during the Gospel, because the Gospel is not only a lesson for the congregation but a proclamation of Christ’s word to the outside world (which is why the priest directs the reading through the north wall.) We incline our heads at the name of Jesus to acknowledge our King.
The thing to remember is that we don’t hear Mass – we do it. So Catholic liturgy involves the body as well as the mind and soul, and there are good reasons for making the sign of the Cross during the Mass.
First and foremost it is a way of involving ourselves directly in the action of the Mass. For example, at the final Blessing the priest signs the Cross over the congregation; as he does so the people also make the sign, thus symbolically conveying the Blessing to themselves. The same thing happens at the Absolution after the Confession. It is not necessary to do so, but we feel instinctively that it is not enough to remain passive at such important moments. When we make the sign of the Cross immediately before receiving the Sacrament we remind ourselves positively of the agony that made possible this gift of Christ’s Body and Blood.
There are other solemn moments when we feel it right to reinforce what we are saying with the action of signing ourselves - at the end of the Creed, for instance, when we express our hope for ‘the Life of the world to come’. Similarly in the Angelus we sign when we pray that ‘we may be brought unto the glory of his Resurrection’. Indeed, although it has become a custom for everyone to make the sign at certain moments, there is no reason why we should not sign ourselves whenever we wish. If you attend a celebration of the Orthodox liturgy you will see people crossing themselves frequently at moments when they feel that what is being said or done is of particular importance to themselves.
Holy oils are used for a wide variety of purposes in the Church. The authority for making and using them comes from both the Old and New Testaments For example, in Exodus 30:22-25 God instructs Moses: ‘Take spices, of principal and chosen myrrh five hundred sicles, and of cinnamon half so much, that is, two hundred and fifty sicles, of calamus in like manner two hundred and fifty. And of cassia five hundred sicles by the weight of the sanctuary, of oil of olives the measure hin: And thou shalt make the holy oil of unction, an ointment compounded after the art of the perfumer..."
The Church uses three kinds of sacred oils, all of which signify the work of the Holy Spirit .
The Oil of Catechumens is used primarily in Baptism together with water. (Catechumens is a term used those under instruction in preparation for baptism.)
The Holy Chrism, which is olive oil mixed with a small amount of balm or balsam, is used in Confirmation, in the consecration of a Bishop and in the consecration of objects used in the Eucharist – for example chalices.
The Oil of the Sick is used in Unction, the sacrament of healing.
In each case we follow the sacramental principle that earthly things can be used to mark the passing to us of spiritual grace.
Anointing the sick is perhaps the best-known use for holy oil, and the purpose of doing so should be clearly understood.
We believe that Christ empowers his ministers to continue his own acts of healing. In Mark 6 13 we read that after Jesus had sent out his disciples to minister to the people ‘they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them.’
So we have the authority of Jesus Christ for the use of oil in healing. In his Epistle, James says: "Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord."
There are two misconceptions about anointing that need to be corrected. First, it is not confined to the dying , although it plays an important part in the ‘last rites’. Secondly, we do not anticipate a miraculous cure. There is no expectation that a sick person will necessarily recover physically as a result of anointing, but it is an accepted fact that bodily healing depends a good deal on the patient’s state of mind. Anointing is therefore an act of spiritual healing, designed to strengthen the will of the patient, to fortify him against anxiety and to reconcile him with God, which is why anointing is normally preceded by an act of penitence and absolution.
Even in the case of diseases that are regarded as incurable anointing can bring benefits. Those suffering in such cases may wonder whether they have been abandoned by God or even whether they are being punished. The reasons for their suffering may still be hard to understand, but anointing with the sign of the cross is a reminder that Christ suffered unspeakable agonies on his cross and is with them in their pain. It is a reminder, too, that they are not alone – they are still members of the Body of Christ, and are prayed for by their fellow-members.
The blessing of oils is performed by the Bishop of each diocese on Maundy Thursday ("Holy Thursday") in the diocese's cathedral during a "Chrism Mass." After the Mass the priests of the diocese will take away supplies of each oil for their own use. Lay people are not normally allowed to handle holy oils.
When the famous painting called ‘The Angelus’ by Jean-Francois Millet came up for auction in 1899 it was described in the catalogue as follows:
‘The night is coming: the sun, already below the horizon, is still shining with a warm and golden light on the lower part of the sky and the vast cultivated plain that stretches away as far as the horizon. The countryside is already radiating the mysterious quietness coming with the end of the day. On the foreground, in a potato field that they are harvesting, two young people, a young peasant and his companion, have interrupted their work. They are standing up and out against the bright sky. The young man has taken his hat off and his pose expresses a feeling of innocent and touching respect. His is holding his beret in his hands on his chest and his head is bowed. The young girl is joining her hands up close to her face. The two of them are bending their heads; they are meditating and praying to the Creator silently. Actually the Angelus is ringing in the distance, from the steeple of the village church that can be seen on the horizon on the bright sky golden with sunset. A deep religious feeling radiates from this famous painting that is undoubtedly the masterpiece of Jean-Francois Millet.’
The Angelus Domini, shortened to "the Angelus," is a short devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary that originated in medieval monastic prayers said at Matins, Prime and Compline. . While the monastics said their prayers at the sound of the Angelus Bell, the faithful would stop what they were doing and say three Hail Marys in honour of the Incarnation. It became the custom to ring the Angelus bell at 6am, noon, and 6pm, providing incidentally a useful guide to the progress of the working day for people out in the fields. The ring is distinctive, consisting of three groups of three chimes with a pause in between each group, followed by 9 consecutive strokes.
Later, from about 1612, verses were added to the Hail Marys as the devotion began to be used more widely in churches. Translations from the original Latin vary slightly, but a commonly-used version is as follows:
The Angel of the Lord brought tidings to Mary.
And she conceived by the Holy Ghost.
Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death. Amen.
Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
Be it unto me according to thy word.
Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death. Amen.
And the Word was made Flesh.
And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death. Amen.
Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
We beseech Thee, O Lord, pour thy grace into our hearts; that as we have known the Incarnation of thy Son by the message of an angel, so, by his Cross and Passion, we may be brought to the glory of His Resurrection. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
We can see that a great deal is packed into this short devotion. First, we echo the tribute paid to Mary by the angel – ‘Hail Mary, full of grace….blessed art thou among women…’
Secondly we renew our plea to Mary to add her prayers to ours. Thirdly, we are reminded by the scriptural verses of the mystery of the Incarnation – the announcement to Mary, her vital words of consent and the fulfilment of God’s promise – ‘the Word was made Flesh’. Fourthly, in the final prayer, the Incarnation is linked to our hope of salvation and personal resurrection.
Newcomers to the Mass will immediately notice that those in the sanctuary are wearing special dress. If it is a High Mass there will be three men wearing elaborate coloured vestments. If it is a simple Mass only the priest celebrating will be wearing vestments. There may be others assisting the priest as 'servers', and they will be wearing predominantly white garments.
Are these special clothes necessary? Well, they are not absolutely essential - the Mass could be celebrated in any clothes - but there are good reasons for wearing them. When the servers put on their white cottas they are reminded that they are moving from the everyday world into the sacramental world of the Holy Eucharist, so the white garb of purity is appropriate. The same applies, of course, to the bishop or priest celebrating the Mass and (if they are present) the Deacon and Sub-Deacon assisting him. Their vestments, however, are more elaborate, and each garment has a distinct significance.
Let's start with the colours. However heavily patterned they may be, the vestments will be of one dominant colour, and the colour will vary according to the season of the year or the particular occasion of the Mass. The full 'colour code' is too complicated to be explained in full here, but we can say roughly that for the Feasts of Martyrs, Apostles and Evangelists (Gospel writers), and for Pentecost the colour will be red, to signify the fire of the Holy Spirit. For all the other great festivals, for Feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the other Saints the colour is white. Violet or purple, signifying penitence, is used on Sundays during Advent, for the three Sundays before Lent and during Lent itself. Green is used mainly on Sundays during the long Trinity season between Pentecost and Advent.
In addition to their colour the priest's vestments each have a symbolic meaning, and as he puts them on the priest says an appropriate prayer.
He first puts on the amice, a rectangular piece of white linen with two strings at the upper corners which the priest wears underneath his alb to cover the neck . Originally the amice also served as a head covering, rather like a monk's hood, and the priest briefly places it on his head before tying it, saying the prayer: Set upon my head, O Lord, the helmet of salvation, that I may overcome the assaults of the devil.
The alb goes on next. It is the long white, robe-like vestment worn by all clerics at liturgical celebrations. The alb (from Latin word 'alba', meaning "white") can be traced to the ancient Roman alb worn under a cloak or tunic; its colour symbolises purity. As he puts on his alb, the priest prays: Make me white, O Lord, and cleanse my heart; that, being made white in the Blood of the Lamb, I may have the fruition of everlasting joy.
The cincture, or girdle ties the alb at the waist. As he ties it, the priest prays: Gird me, O Lord, with the girdle of purity, and quench in my loins the passion of lust; that there may abide in me the virtue of continence and chastity.
The maniple is a narrow strip of cloth, of the appropriate liturgical colour, worn on the left forearm. Its origin was the ordinary piece of cloth used in the time of the early Church as a handkerchief or by servants as they served meals (like the modern waiter's cloth), and it reminds the priest that he is a labourer – a humble servant of God and of God's people. As the priest puts on the maniple, he prays: May I be worthy, O Lord, to bear the maniple of tears and sorrow, that I may receive with rejoicing the reward of my labour.
The stole, matching the liturgical colour, is a long, scarf-like vestment. The priest wears the stole around his neck and crosses it in front of his chest. The deacon wears his stole over the left shoulder and tied at his right side, while the Bishop wears his stole so that it hangs straight down. As he puts it on the priest kisses the Cross on the stole and prays: Restore unto me, O Lord, the stole of immortality, which I lost through in the transgression of my first parents; and although I be unworthy to draw near to thy sacred mystery, yet may I be worthy of everlasting joy.
The final vestment is the chasuble. Also in the appropriate liturgical colour, it is the long, often ornate, sleeveless poncho-like garment worn over the alb and stole. As he puts on the chasuble, the priest, conscious of its weight, prays: O Lord, Who has said: My yoke is easy and my burden light: make me so to be able to bear it that I may obtain thy grace. Amen.
You can see now why, when he is fully vested, the priest is said to be 'clothed in prayer'.
It is sometimes said that vestments are an old-fashioned custom that should be done away with, and that a priest should dress in ordinary clothes in order to ‘identify himself’ with the congregation. But this is not an option. A priest is not like everybody else; by his ordination he has been set apart by the Church to carry out a special function, and those who refuse to wear the appropriate dress (or their clerical collars for that matter) are denying the spiritual status that they have chosen to receive.
There is another and quite different point in the wearing of vestments. The priest virtually disappears inside them, so that his personal identity is concealed. If, as he should, he avoids idiosyncratic voice and mannerisms he becomes an anonymous servant, the voice and hands of Jesus Christ, who is the real Celebrant at the Mass.
Copyright 30th September 2006