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Worship
and the Lamb of God
January
16, 2005
Fr.
George Smiga
John
1:29-34
Those
of you, who were listening attentively to the Gospel may have
noticed that there was a line in the Gospel that is used in
another place in our liturgy. John the Baptist speaks it:
“Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
These are the very words which are said at every mass by the
presider as he invites the assembly to communion. So we have
the same words found in the Gospel of John and also in our
liturgy.
If
I were to ask you to guess in which of these two places did
this saying first occur, you would probably guess the Gospel
of John. It is easy to imagine that John wrote it into his
Gospel and later it was taken from the Scriptures and made
a part of our liturgy. But there are serious reasons to suppose
that the exact opposite is true. You see, the Gospel of John
was written at the end of the first century and by that time,
Christians had been celebrating liturgy for many decades.
Therefore it is actually more likely that John chose to include
this saying within his Gospel because his community had been
using it in its liturgy for many years. Before there was the
Bible, before there was the New Testament, there was a community,
a church, which gathered for prayer. Before Christians could
find the presence of Christ in the written word of the Scriptures,
they found the presence of Christ as they gathered together
to worship. This primacy of worship is a good topic for us
to consider as we begin this New Year and as we return to
Ordinary Time in our Liturgical Year.
Why
is it so important for us to gather in worship? Or to put
this on a more personal level, why is it that you come regularly
here to share this Eucharist? Do you come out of obligation
because you will feel guilty if you do not come? Do you come
out of habit because you have been conditioned to do so? Those
reasons will get you here but they are not the best reasons.
The fundamental reason we gather together as we do each weekend
is because Christ is here. Christ has promised to be here.
He has told us that where two or three are gathered in his
name, there he is in the midst of them. He has commanded us
to share this meal in memory of Him. So when the community
gathers, Christ is present. And the community gathers in order
that they might encounter the Risen Christ.
Now
when I say this, I am not saying that this is the only place
that Christ is present. Christ is present in many places.
Often when you talk to Catholics who do not come to church,
they point this out to you. They will say, I do not go to
church but I find Christ in my prayer. I find Christ when
I read the Bible at home. I find Christ as I walk out into
nature. I find Christ as I serve other people. I find Christ
every weekend on the 18 th tee. I will not argue with any
of those statements. Christ is found in all of those places.
However, the primary place where Christ has promised to be
present is here—when we gather together to worship. From the
beginning of Christianity, from the evening of the Resurrection,
the community gathered, and when the community gathered, Christians
encountered the Risen Christ.
So
what does this mean for all of us? It means that we should
come here every weekend expecting to meet Christ. We should
not come out of obligation or habit but out of faith and anticipation,
believing that Christ is here and we will encounter Him. It
might be in a word, a line that you hear from the Scriptures
being proclaimed. It might be from a point in the homily.
It could be as you sing the acclamations during the Eucharistic
Prayer or as you come forward to receive the real presence
of Christ, the Body and Blood of our Savior. It might be as
you meet other members of the community who you know or see
faith in the face of a stranger. It might be in the music,
it might be in the silence. Wherever it is, Christ is here
and we should come expecting to meet Him. The words of John
the Baptist should ring in our ears and in our hearts, reminding
us why we gather: “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away
the sin of the world.”
Christ
is Savior!
Christ
is here!
Don't
miss Him!
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