The Structure of the Liturgy of the Word: Prophet, Apostle, Gospel
Fr. Roch Kereszty, O. Cist.

The traditional structure of the Liturgy of he Word appears in full clarity on feast days and Sundays: both the Prophets (meaning the whole Old Testament as a prophecy or preparation of Christ) and the Apostles bear witness to Christ who himself speaks to us in the Gospel. Of course the entire Liturgy of the Word mediates to us God’s Word, but each part in its own distinctive way. We find here a gradual development that culminates in the Gospel passage that conveys to us the deeds and words of the Word made flesh. (Unfortunately, only on feast days and on Sundays of the Easter and Christmas cycles are all the three readings coordinated to form one single theme; on ordinary Sundays, however, only the Old Testament and the Gospel texts are so arranged as to shed light on each other.)

The responsorial Psalm and the Alleluia with its verse express our response of faith, praise or contrition to what we have heard. If at all possible, these responses should be sung. Singing expresses more naturally the response not only of the will but also of the heart. It is good to know that even our response to God’s Word is inspired by God since both responses are taken from Scared Scripture.

As I mentioned before, the Gospels are not merely the record of the past deeds and words of Jesus. Jesus speaks now, he heals and raises from the dead now, he teaches, praises, chastens and gives thanks here and now. The role of the homily is to make this clear by showing how the deeds and words of Jesus address the life of a given congregation. (As far as possible, we should explain the Gospel text in the light of the Old Testament reading and the teaching of the Apostle.) Obviously, a priest can do this application or rather actualization of the Word of God in his homily only to the extent that he first digests the readings in personal meditation. A priest friend of mine said once that first you, the preacher, should apply your homily to your own life. If it shakes you up, if it moves and challenges you, then it might shake, move and challenge your audience, too.

It is important for us priests to preach the fullness of the Gospel, in the words of St. Paul, “the entire plan of God” (Acts 20:27) rather than only those fragments that people love to hear. It is easier to talk about God’s unconditional love for us than to make our people aware of God’s holiness and majesty. It is easier to preach about being an honest and generous citizen than about the duty of the rich to use their surplus wealth not for their own luxuries but for helping the poor and promoting the common good. Rarely do we speak about what it means to embrace the cross of Christ in our daily lives, and perhaps even more rarely do we emphasize that this life is only a training ground, a preparation for eternity. How often do we speak about heaven as sharing in the vision and love of the Father through the Son and as being fully united to the Son and to each other by the Spirit of the Father and the Son? Do we mention that heaven is not only eternal rest from trials and struggles but an ever new challenge of “ecstasy” --namely., living “outside of ourselves” in becoming a total gift of self to God and to one another?

The short pauses after the readings are an invitation to personal meditation on what has been read. We should prolong this meditation at home, or read the texts before Mass, but read them slowly, chewing and digesting what we read, asking God to speak to us so that we know how to respond to him during the rest of the day or week.

The response to the Gospel is our profession of faith, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed that takes us beyond our limited personal experience of faith in order to embrace the central mysteries of God’s revelation in union with the worldwide community of believers.

The Creed is followed by what we call the General Intercessions or Prayer of the Faithful. This is the point of contact between the universal Liturgy of the Church and the particular needs of a local congregation. Prayers for the parish or individuals’ needs in the parish, prayers for those who have died who are sick or poor could be integrated here with the general needs of the Church and mankind. It is important for the celebrating community to express these prayers in their own words rather than just reading the intentions from a printed publication. Printed samples may serve as an inspiration for composing our intentions but should not replace them.

The Liturgy of the Word ends with these intentions. In ancient times the catechumens were dismissed at this point because only the baptized faithful could participate in the offering of the eucharistic sacrifice.

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