What does it mean to participate?

When it comes to the celebration of the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and our part in Christ’s saving Sacrifice, full and actual participation are the key words. But what does that mean? How do we “participate” in Christ’s Passion and Resurrection which are both represented at Mass? I think we should look first at how Christ is present at Mass. For that, we can turn to the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on the Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Conciluum, paragraph 7: “Christ is always present in His Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations. He is present in the sacrifice of the Mass, not only in the person of His minister, ‘the same now offering, through the ministry of priests, who formerly offered himself on the cross,’ but especially under the Eucharistic species. By His power He is present in the sacraments, so that when a man baptizes it is really Christ Himself who baptizes. He is present in His word since it is He Himself who speaks when the holy scriptures are read in the Church. He is present, lastly, when the Church prays and sings, for He promised: ‘Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them’ (Matt. 18:20).” From the Second Vatican Council, we recognize the last form of presence is in the gathered congregation. This is not because we are less important, but because by Christ’s presence in the other ways described above, the Lord helps us to participate. The Church does not want us to think that participation is measurable by our human standards (i.e., the louder the better, doing a particular ministry, etc.). Instead, participation means to make Christ more present within ourselves. “He must increase, I must decrease” (John 3:30). He is fully present in the Mass, most especially in the Blessed Sacrament. We fully participate at Mass when we surrender to the Lord in our hearts and allow His presence at Mass to make Him present in our souls. We place our hearts on the altar and invite Jesus Christ, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit to set our hearts ablaze in zeal and love for God and in thanksgiving for the great good God has already done for us (Psalm 116:12-13). In the preface dialogue before the Eucharistic Prayer, the priest tells the people to “Lift up your hearts” and the people respond, “We lift them up to the Lord.” We are to offer our hearts to God, raising them to the heavenly throne. This is what it means to worship: that to God alone do we owe honor and thanksgiving. Put Him first and everything else will be provided for us (Matthew 6:33).

IMPORTANT REMINDER: This coming week, the four priests in our Family of Parishes will be at the Archdiocesan Priest Convocation. This will give us an opportunity for fraternity, rest, and further education. We will be leaving Monday, September 26, after the usual Monday Masses. We will return the evening of Thursday, September 29. Fr. Thomas Steinke will be covering daily Masses for us at St. Michael. Here will be the schedule for the week: Tuesday, September 27, St. Michael will have Confessions 5:00-5:45 p.m. and Mass at 6:00 p.m. Holy Angels will also have Confessions from 5:00-6:00

p.m. on Tuesday, September 27. Wednesday, September 28, St. Michael will have Mass at 8:25 a.m. and Confessions from 12:00-1:00 p.m. On Thursday, September 29, St. Michael will have 8:25 a.m. Mass; Sacred Heart will have Confessions from 6:00-7:00 p.m. followed by 7:30 p.m. Mass. On Friday, September 30, we will have our usual schedule with the addition of Confessions being heard after all the Friday morning Masses.

Next weekend we will begin the process of choosing a patron for our Family of Parishes. Please check your bulletins for the nomination form and explainer sheet. Remember to pray over who our patron should be for our Family of Parishes.

Thank you to the vicars of NW-7! They have been amazing, and I am so grateful to have such devoted and prayerful priests

working under me as pastor. They have helped to draw the people of NW-7 more deeply into their Faith. Peace in Christ,

Fr. Jarred Kohn

Julie Petersen