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Immaculate Conception Parish
Prayer and Worship
LITURGY AS PRAYER

We call liturgy a celebration, a ritual act, the communal worship of the people. We process during liturgy, sing, acclaim, proclaim. Liturgy is filled with many different kinds of activites. The gospel for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) challenged us to consider whether we approach liturgy as prayer. True, we pray the Our Father just before Communion, the prayer that Jesus taught us and we hear about in Luke 11:1-13. Since this is the prayer that Jesus taught, we rightly think of its prominence. At the same time we cannot forget that all of liturgy is prayer, from the beginning sign of the cross to the concluding blessing. A prayerful attitude should mark how we celebrate liturgy.

Why is it important to insist that liturgy is prayer? An attitude of prayer keeps us focused on the relationship we share with God. It helps us realize that we celebrate liturgy not because of any power we have but because God invites us and gives us the Spirit who enables us to respond with praise and thanksgiving.

True, different kinds of prayer mark our liturgies. Sometimes we pray aloud together, such as during the responsorial psalm and the Our Father. Sometimes we are given silent time to very personally pour out our hearts to God in prayer, such as in the quiet times after the readings or after Communion. Sometimes we actively listen as another voices our prayer, such as during the presidential prayers (opening prayer, prayer over the gifts, prayer after Communion) and the eucharistic prayer. Surely our acclaiming and hymn singing is also prayer. But for all these (and other) types of prayer during Mass, the real challenge is to make the whole Mass the one prayer of the one Body of Christ.