Pastor’s Corner

Fr. Joseph LoJaconoIn this third article explaining my understanding of liturgy that corresponds to the IVE, I want to highlight a focus on “play” as symbolic of liturgy. The future Pope Benedict XVI explained, “Children’s play seems in many ways a kind of anticipation of life, a rehearsal for later life.” He further explains that, “On this analogy Liturgy would be a kind of anticipation, a rehearsal a prelude for the life to come, for eternal life” This may seem a bit odd to many, until one really considers the analogy. One can recognize that some forms of play are serious and structured, such as Stanley Cup hockey. And some forms seem more joyful, such as the play of small children, which often enters into a “fantasy land” or just mimics adults in a free-flowing way. My religious order, the IVE, has a saying, “from feast to feast to the great high feast.” This means we enter into great solemnities with great reverence and devotion during the Mass and enter into the festivities around the feast days with great rejoicing. This follows the old missionary way which would serenade people in missionary lands with popular songs then bring them into the solemnity of the Mass to give them a different experience of solemn ritual play. Thus, both forms of “playfulness”, solemn ritual and childlike joy, help one know the faith and give one a prelude to the great feast in heaven.

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