An experience in disruption (Bread for the Journey 9)

 

The first reading for mass this Sunday is taken from Isaiah 42:6-7:

I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations,  to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.

Lest anyone think that the celebration of mass is an entirely private matter where people can take time out from the world of business, community, politics as if we can divide up and compartmentalise life. The mass brings heaven down to earth and raises earth up to heaven.  We offer our worldly concerns, struggles and hopes to God the Father through his son Jesus Christ.  

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes (1 Corinthians 11:26)

The Eucharist does not end with the priest’s blessing and dismissal. Rather, the mass sends us back out into the world to live and work to his praise and glory. We do not have the luxury of not playing our part with others in a struggle against injustice and for human dignity, rights and freedoms near and far.  In this sense, mass is political because it challenges our complacency just as Isaiah tells us in the reading for this Sunday.  If we are not shaken by what we hear and experience at mass then we must ask if we are really present and attentive and well disposed to receive the immeasurable graces, inspirations and mandate that flows from this source and summit of all Christian life.