The liturgy—including prayers, songs, and kneeling— is ‘totally permeated by the Word of God’
By Father Randy Stice
If you attend Mass regularly, you probably know more Scripture than you realize. In addition to the readings in the Liturgy of the Word, much of the Mass is drawn from Scripture: “the prayers, collects, and liturgical songs are scriptural in their inspiration and their force, and it is from the Scriptures that actions and signs derive their meaning.”1 In this column, I want to share examples of these elements of the Mass that “are scriptural in their inspiration and their force” and of signs and actions that are taken from Scripture.
Mass begins “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” which comes from Jesus’ command to the Apostles in Matthew 28:19 to make disciples of all nations and to baptize them in the name of the Trinity. The options for the greeting that follows are all from Scripture: “The Lord be with you” is from Ruth 2:4; “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit” is from 2 Corinthians 13:13 (v. 14 in some translations); and “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” is found in several of St. Paul’s letters, including Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, and Ephesians 1:2.
Many of the collects (the opening prayer) include or are interwoven with passages from Scripture. One collect for Lent refers to the “riches hidden in Christ” from the description in Colossians 2:3 of Christ “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Another asks for us “while still on earth to be partakers of the things of heaven,” an allusion to 2 Peter 1:4 that we may “become partakers of the divine nature.” An Easter collect refers to “Christ our High Priest, interceding on our behalf,” combining Hebrews 2:17, Jesus, “a merciful and faithful high priest,” and 7:25, who “lives forever to make intercession.”
A collect for Ordinary Time addresses “God, who has prepared for those who love you good things which no eye has seen” from 1 Corinthians 2:9, quoting Isaiah 64:3: “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” Another collect addresses “God of might, giver of every good gift” from James 1:17: “Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.”
The eucharistic prayers are also interwoven with Scripture. Perhaps the most familiar, Eucharistic Prayer II, asks the Holy Spirit to come upon the bread and wine “like the dewfall,” an allusion to the appearance of manna in Exodus 16:13-14: “when a layer of dew all about the camp…evaporated, fine flakes were on the surface of the wilderness.” Following the consecration, we offer to God “the bread of life,” from Jesus’ statement in John 6:35: “I am the bread of life,” and “the chalice of salvation,” from Psalm 116:13: “I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.” The petition to bring the Church “to the fullness of charity” is from 1 John 4:18: “perfect in love”; and the petition to “welcome [the dead] into the light of your face” is from Psalm 89:16: “Blessed the people…who walk in the radiance of your face, Lord.”
Texts that are said or sung at every Mass are also drawn from Scripture. The Holy, Holy, Holy (Sanctus) combines two passages. The beginning is from Isaiah 6:3, the song of the seraphim: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts! All the earth is filled with his glory,” and the “Blessed is he who comes…” is from Matthew 21:9, Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, quoting Psalm 118:26: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” The Lamb of God (Agnus Dei) is from John 1:29: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
At several points during the Mass, we are quoting biblical figures. When we say the “I confess” (confiteor) and confess “I have greatly sinned,” we are quoting King David after he had carried out a census in 1 Chronicles 21:8, sinning by trusting more in his military strength than in the Lord. John 1:29 appears again when the priest shows the host and chalice and says, “Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sins of the world,” quoting John the Baptist pointing out Jesus to his disciples. And when we say, “Lord, I am not worthy,” we are quoting the Roman centurion’s plea in Luke 7:6-7 for Jesus to heal his servant.
The postures and gestures of the Mass are also derived from sacred Scripture. Kneeling, a sign of worship, is mentioned in 2 Chronicles 6:13, Ezra 9:5, and Psalm 22:30. The imposition of hands as a sign of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is found in Acts 8:17-19; 13:3, and 19:6. The priest proclaims the prayers of the Mass with his arms extended, a gesture found in the Old Testament (Exodus 9:29; Psalms 28:2, 63:5, and 134:2; and Isaiah 1:15) and taken over by Christians in memory of the Lord’s passion, as described by Tertullian, “Not only do we raise our hands, but also hold them outstretched, so that by imitating the Lord in His passion, we bear witness to Him as we pray.”2
The liturgy, said St. John Paul II, is “totally permeated by the Word of God.”3 In the prayers, we hear words of sacred Scripture and sing the song of the seraphim. At every Mass, we repeat the words of John the Baptist, pray the prayer of the Roman centurion, and confess our sins with King David. We kneel like King Solomon and Ezra and listen to the priest as he imposes his hands and invokes the Holy Spirit and, like John the Baptist, shows the people Jesus, the Lamb of God. Our participation in the Mass imbues our lives with the power and meaning of sacred Scripture.
1 Sacrosanctum Concilium, 24
2 Ceremonial of Bishops, 104
3 Vicesimus Quintus Annus, 10
Father Randy Stice is director of the diocesan Office of Worship and Liturgy. He can be reached at frrandy@dioknox.org.