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Sunday Celebration of the Liturgy of the Word

From the first century onward, the Church (the people of God) has always insisted on the importance of gathering on Sunday. Early Church documents attest to Christians gathering on the Day of the Lord to break bread and give thanks in remembrance of Christ. Each Sunday was, and still is, considered “Little Easter” since the Resurrection of Christ is the central event in our faith. Moreover, we believe it is the Risen Lord himself who gathers us and is sacramentally present to us each time we gather for Eucharist.

When Christians cannot be nourished at the table of Christ’s Body, however, they can still be nourished at the table of His Word.

The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) restored the importance of the Liturgy of the Word to its rightful prominence that it had during the first centuries of the Church. (Remember, it wasn’t that long ago when some Catholics felt that as long as they made it to Mass in time for the consecration “it counted!” They had fulfilled their “obligation”). Vatican II, thankfully, reminded us that the readings from the Old Testament, the Psalm, the New Testament writings, and the Gospels was like a feast God spread before us and invited us to take in the mysteries of how God saved our ancestor and how God is saving us here and now. Do we ever see the first part of the Mass, the Liturgy of the Word, as a feast that is meant to nourish us? The Prophet Jeremiah certainly saw it that way when he said, “When your words showed up, I ate them—swallowed them whole. What a feast!” (Jer. 15:16).

In the Liturgy of the Word, the first half of Mass, hopefully we can say as Eli taught the boy, Samuel, to say, “Speak, Lord, for your servants are listening” (1 Sam. 3:10).

Sunday Eucharist is not always possible, but gathering to huddle around God’s Word is always possible; it is by no means something new. Catholics have been nourished for hundreds of years on God’s Word (in the absence of a priest) long before it was legitimated by the Church leaders at the Second Vatican Council. The opening lines of the Bible, the creation story, attests to the importance and power of God’s Word long before Jesus was born and long before the Church was established. We are told in the Book of Genesis that all God had to do was speak His Word and creation emerge. When the prophets appeared to tell us of the importance of God’s word they spoke with conviction: “Just as the rain and snow fall from the sky and don’t return until they have watered the earth, so it is with my Word. It, too, will not return to the heavens empty-handed. My Word will bring good to the earth as it was always meant to do” (Is. 55:11).

Vatican II (1964) along with the Code of Canon Law (1983) gave us the provision to provide Sunday Celebrations of the Word. The ritual was put into book form in Canada in 1995, although it was prayed by Catholics in this country for at least 10 years prior to that. While Catholics are no less responsive to the call of the Risen Lord for the Sunday Celebration of the Word, we must never see this ritual as a substitute for Eucharist itself. The Sunday Celebration of the Word is not a mini-Eucharist. It is celebrated in anticipation of the day when the faithful can gather with their priest and celebrate Eucharist. Provisions are deliberately built into the Sunday Celebration of the Word so that it won’t be perceived as a watered-down version of Mass.

Sunday Celebration of the Word is not a mini-Mass, but it is a legitimate prayer form that makes the saving action of Christ present in its own way. God’s creative Word is not thwarted because there is no priest to celebrate Eucharist on a particular Sunday. The faithful are still nourished by the Word proclaimed, the “homily,” the intercessions, the hymns, and the thanksgiving that arise from their mouths.

With the clear shortage of priest, and their increasing age, Sunday Celebration of the Word is becoming increasingly important in the life of the Church. I hope you will always support this ritual, take your place around the Risen Lord, and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with your brothers and sisters in faith.

~Fr. Phil