2016-2017 Liturgical Year A

 

Sing Alleluia!

Augustine says rightly, 'Singing is for one who loves', and there is also an ancient proverb: 'Whoever sings well prays twice over.'

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal 39

 

 

Silence in the Liturgy

Silence is an integral    element of liturgy. 

The whole way in which liturgy is celebrated should foster reflectiveness.  In addition, the dialogue between God and his people, which happens through the power of the Holy Spirit, requires short intervals of silence.

Words are crucial to the liturgy:

• words of the songs we sing.
• words of the Scripture readings that we hear,
• words of the prayers that we pray together.

God addresses God's Word to us. and we address words to God and to each other. But silence is what helps us discover the meaning and power of all these words. Silence  is a way for the many words of the liturgy to 'sink in', to be absorbed into our minds and hearts like rain falling upon ground well-prepared to receive it.  Silence opens our minds and hearts to hear what the prophet Elijah heard at Mount Horeb: the tiny, whispering sound of God's  voice addressed to each of us (see 1 Kings 10:12)

 

The Liturgy of the Word is to be celebrated in such a way as to favour mediation, and so, any kind of haste such as hinders recollection is clearly to be avoided.  After  each of the Scripture readings and the homily, a period of silence helps us make the message our own.   Under the action of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God may be grasped by the heart and and a response may through prayer.